CHAPTER 1
“Don’t make any sudden moves!” Zak hissed. Beside him, his sister, Tash, obeyed, and the two Arrandas froze.
Before them, a remote sentry droid hovered. It didn’t look dangerous-it was only a tiny metal ball covered with small silver studs. But Zak, who tried to keep up with the latest technology, knew that it was a Balmorran HK-130 sentry droid. Each of those little silver studs could fire a stun beam strong enough to put a bantha to sleep.
It was early morning, and Zak and Tash were inside the headquarters of the Galactic Research Academy on the planet Koaan. Their uncle, Hoole, an anthropologist, kept an office at the Academy, although he rarely visited there. He spent most of his time traveling across the galaxy, studying alien cultures as part of his research. Zak and Tash had gone with him on several of these field trips. Lately, however, those trips had turned deadly. After their last adventure on the planet Gobindi-where Tash had nearly been killed by a deadly virus-Hoole had taken them directly to the Galactic Research Academy.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Tash whispered as the sentry droid continued to study them.
“Relax,” Zak whispered.
“How can I relax with that thing scanning me?” his sister grumbled. “What if it fires at us?”
Zak held hack a sigh of irritation. For someone who read all day, Tash didn’t know much about technology.
“This is a trouble-seeker droid,” he explained, trying to stay as calm as possible. “The Academy custodians probably let them loose overnight to watch for maintenance trouble or vandals. This one’s just trying to decide if we’re a threat or not. Once it makes up its mind, it will let us go.”
“Or shoot us,” Tash whispered. “Who’s to say it’s not going to-“
Before she could finish her sentence, the hovering ball of firepower turned and zipped away. Zak grinned. “See, technology can be your friend if you let it.”
“Let’s just get on with this,” Tash replied.
Soon after they had arrived at the Research Academy, Uncle Hoole had vanished without a word, leaving Zak and Tash with a thousand unanswered questions.
They had decided to find the answers on their own.
They had located one of the Research Academy’s core computer libraries. These weren’t exactly maximum security zones, but Zak and Tash knew they weren’t supposed to be there without supervision.
They were going to sneak a look at Uncle Hoole’s computer files.
The two Arranda children had been adopted by Hoole seven months ago when their parents and everyone they knew had been killed during the destruction of the planet Alderaan. But in all those months, Hoole had told them almost nothing about himself-not even his first name.
During the last few weeks, Hoole had become even more mysterious than usual. He had taken them on several unexplained adventures, often disappearing on long errands without ever telling them where he was going, and leaving them in the hands of their caretaker, the droid DV-9. At first Zak and Tash hadn’t thought much about this. After all, Hoole was an anthropologist. It was his job to travel to distant planets and study the species that lived there.
However, Hoole’s recent “studies” had taken them to some strange-and very dangerous-places. Tash and Zak soon learned that they had stumbled onto a scheme called Project Starscream, run by someone powerful in the Empire.
But had Uncle Hoole, a simple anthropologist, gotten himself involved in a galaxywide Imperial plot?
That’s what Zak and Tash wanted to find out.
They entered the core computer library. It was a large room, lined with video screens and shelves of datadisks. Because it was so early, they had the room to themselves, and Zak quickly dropped into a seat in front of a computer terminal.
“It’s easy to access the main computer files,” Tash noted. “But the Academy personnel files are under tight security. How do you plan on getting in?”
“With this,” Zak said confidently. He held up a small datadisk. “This is a decoder. Deevee had a fancier name for it-“
“A cypher,” Tash finished.
“Right, hyperbrain,” her brother agreed with a smirk. “Deevee designed it while trying to break down the computer files we found onboard the Shroud.”
Tash nodded. On one of their recent journeys, they had acquired a starship called the Shroud and discovered that its computers contained coded information about the mysterious Project Starscream.
Zak continued. “This cypher will break through the code and let us look at Uncle Hoole’s personnel files. Then we can figure out if he’s involved in this Imperial plot.”
Punching in a command on the control panel, Zak called up the personnel records. A second later the computer screen flashed the message ACCESS DENIED. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED.