Lightsabers

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Master Lowbacca suggests that it might, perhaps, be premature to feel

  safe and comfortable quite yet," Em Teedee translated. "You see, he

  hypothesizes that this wavespeeder was purposely sabotaged."

  "What do you mean?" Jacen asked. "Those numbers don't mean anything to

  me."

  "I think he means this." Jaina nodded down at the console, indicating

  the preprogrammed course coordinates. "The autopilot was set to take us

  into the middle of that killer seaweed-with no return course!"

  ^ 7 ------------------THE GURGLING, SHUSHING sound of gentle waves

  lapping against stone docks and anchored boats f illed the cave grotto.

  With each breath, Tenel Ka drew comfort from the salty smells and the

  cool, solid rock around hen Sitting with bare, crossed legs, using a

  Jedi calming technique to help herself think clearly, she let her gaze

  drift across each of her friends.

  Jaina, head under the control panel and feet high in the air, checked

  the wiring of the wavespeeder's directional controls. Lowbacca tinkered

  with the navigational computer from above, handing Jaina tools as she

  asked for them. Tenel Ka felt a pang of loss as she watched her two

  friends working witn such confidence and agility, completely unconscious

  of how easy it was for them to use either one hand or the other.

  Jacen lay stomach down on a ledge beside Tenel Ka, his right hand

  reaching deep into the water while the fingers of his left teased the

  surface, 162 LIGHTSABERS

  ^ trying to lure a glowing amphibious creature close enough to grasp it.

  "Hand me that hydrospanner, would you, Lowie?"

  Jaina said in a muffled voice. "I need to take this access plate off."

  Without looking up from his wore, the Wookiee plucked the too] from the

  case behind him with one nimble-fingered hand and passed it to Jaina.

  It is so simple with two arms, Tenel Ka thought.

  As quickly as the jealousy rose within her, she squelched it, chiding

  herself for being irrational.

  Even if she still had both hands, she might not have been able to do the

  things Lowbacca could do with his long, limber arms. He used everything

  he had, body and mind, to the best of his ability. Just as Jacen and

  Jaina did.

  Just as Tenel Ka always had.

  Was she still that same determined person, using her skills and

  abilities to their fullest, she wondered, or was that person gone now

  that she had lost her left arm?

  She scowled at the thought. If the missing limb was the only thing that

  bothered her, then surely she could have accepted the biosynthetic

  replacement her grandmother offered. . . . So perhaps the injury itself

  was not her primary problem, after all.

  Tenel Ka noticed then that Jacen had propped himself up on his elbows

  and had turned to look at her, his eyes serious. "Hey, you fought really

  well out there yesterday, against that killer seaweed."

  "You mean for a girl with only one arm?" Tenel Ka said bitterly.

  "I . . . no, I-" Jacen's cheeks turned crimson and he looked away. His

  voice was low when he spoke again. "Sorry. All I remembered was you

  fighting that plant. I didn't even think about your missing ann-it

  didn't slow you down a bit."

  Tenel Ka flinched as if he had slapped her. He was right, she realized:

  she had not fought like some weak, pitiable invalid. Instinctively, she

  had battled with everything in her repertoire, drawing on all of her

  resources. She had truly been herself, using every weapon at her

  disposal.

  "Do not be sorry, Jacen," she said. "Your words were meant kindly. It is

  I who must apologize." She thought again of the battle, niusing over

  what she had accomplished. "I might have fought better, though, if I-"

  "-if you had had your other arm?" Jacen finished for her. "Hey, I might

  have fought better if I'd had a blaster cannon, but I didn't. I just did

  my best."

  "No." Tenel Ka looked at him in surprise. "I meant to say, I might have

  fought better had I used a lightsaber."

  With a hesitant smile, Jacen looked up at her again. "Yeah . . . You're

  pretty good with a lightsaber. Of course, you're pretty good at a lot of

  things."

  LIGHTSABERS

  ^ This was a fact, she thought in wonderment. She was indeed good with a

  lightsaber. Still. And s was also still a good swimmer, fighter, runner.

  But she had stopped believing in herself, stopped using every portion of

  her body and mind to their fullest ability. These things were an

  integral part of the person Tenel Ka had always prided herself in

  being-and that was what she had been missing since the accident.

  "Thank you, my friend," she said. "I had begun to forget who I was."

  He dazzled her with one of his famous lopsided grins. "Hey, if it was as

  dangerous to be me as it is to be you, I might try to forget who I was,

  too."

  "There, that ought to do it." Jaina's voice was loud and clear as she

  climbed out of the wavespeeder.

  Lowbacca growled and gesticulated.

  "Yep," Jaina agreed. "Sabotage, no doubt about it." With her usual

  directness, Jaina looked at Tenel Ka and asked, "Any possibility your

  grandmother could be behind this?"

  Jacen gulped. The thought had not occurred to him. "Your grandmother?

  She wouldn't try-!"

  Tenel Ka considered the question seriously. "No," she said at last. "Had

  that been my grandmother's intention, she would have . . . disposed of

  me long before you arrived." Lowbacca gave an interrogative growl, and

  Tenel Ka continued. "Do not misunderstand me. I believe her capable of

  murder-but I also sense that her intention is to keep me from danger, to

  protect me, whether I become a queen or a Jedi."

  Lowbacca growled a reply, and Em Teedee said, "Master Lowbacca points

  out-and quite rightly, I might add-that with Ta'a Chume traveling back

  and forth between here and the Fountain Palace, as she did today, she

  can hardly be counted on to provide protection."

  "Well, she did leave some guards on duty," Jaina said.

  "And Ambassador Yfra," Jacen added, rolling his eyes. "Oh boy."

  Jaina bit her lower lip. "Yfra's the one who suggested we go out in the

  wavespeeder, you know."

  Lowbacca barked a comment. "Not to mention the fact that she claims to

  have programmed the wavespeeder herself," Em Teedee supplied. "Oh, my!"

  Tenel Ka, who had never trusted Ambassador Yfra, made no comment as her

  friends voiced their suspicions. In the distance she could hear the

  sound of the large Hapan Water Dragon approaching.

  "Perhaps it would be safest for the moment to trust no one," she

  suggested.

  Jaina and Lowbacca agreed.

  "And maybe we'd better stay as far away from Ambassador Yfra as

  possible," Jacen added.

  Just then, the royal yacht floated into the grotto on a wafer-thin

  cushion of air. Tenel Ka's grand LIGHTSABERS

  ^ mother stood at the helm. Ta'a Chume brought the Hapan Water Dragon to

  a complete stop near one of the stone piers and climbed out onto the

  dock while her guards secured the craft.

  Stepping forward to greet her
grandmother, Tenel Ka tried to sense any

  harmful intentions the matfiarch might have. The only emotions she

  picked up, however, were weariness, frustration, and a sense of grim

  determination.

  "We had one of the bomb conspirators in our grasp today," her

  grandmother said in a tired voice, "but before I managed to question

  her, she was poisoned." Ta'a Chume shook her head. "She was under guard

  the entire time. I don't see how an assassin was able to get to her so

  quickly."

  "You appear to require rest, Grandmother," Tenel Ka said, trying not to

  seem unduly concerned at the former queen's haggard appearance. "Perhaps

  you should not conduct this investigation yourself."

  Ta'a Chume's eyes narrowed shrewdly. "For decades I ruled the entire

  Hapes Cluster by myself."

  The woman sighed and seemed to relent. "But perhaps you are right. I

  will send Ambassador Yfra back to the mainland to continue the search."

  Tenel Ka bit her tongue to keep from voicing her suspicions that Yfra

  might sabotage the investigation rather than help it. But at least such

  an assignment would get the possibly murderous ambassador away from the

  Reef Fortress. Far away.

  ^ 8 BY NOW ZEKK considered his lightsaber an old friend.

  Though he had not taken the time or care to build his own weapon, he

  practically lived with the scarlet beam. He knew how to make it dance

  against imaginary enemies He had fought and defeated every simulated

  monster the computers could portray in the training room. He had slain

  mynocks, Abyssins, krayt dragons, wampa ice monsters, piranha beetles,

  and hordes of angry Tusken Raiders.

  In one battle he had even felled a ferocious rancor with his lightsaber.

  After that difficult victory, Zekk wished he could have watched the

  reaction of his rival Vilas, who seemed so enamored of the hideous

  beasts.

  Now Zekk strode beside Brakiss as the Master of the Shadow Academy led

  him down corridors toward the station's central hub. Busy with his

  training, Zekk had never thought to venture here before. No longer an

  underconfident and overwheimed trainee, Zekk walked in his full leather

  ^ LIGHTSABERS

  ^ armor with ease, lightsaber at his side, as if he were almost

  Brakiss's equal.

  The Shadow Academy Master seemed quiet and withdrawn, though. The

  perfectly chiseled features of his handsome face were set in an

  unreadable mask, his forehead showing just a trace of a frown.

  Zekk cleared his throat, finally curious enough to speak. "Master

  Brakiss, I sense . . . uneasiness in you. You haven't told me about this

  next exercise. Is there something I should know?"

  Brakiss paused and fixed the young man with a calm, piercing gaze. "You

  are about to face your most difficult trial, Zekk. Everything depends on

  this. You must dei-nonstrate how talented you truly are."

  Zekk lifted his chin and drew a deep breath, flaring his nostrils. His

  hand moved instinctively to his lightsaber. "I'm ready for anything."

  They reached a thick metal door, and Brakiss punched in a code that

  opened pneumatic locks. The heavy hatch opened slowly, revealing a small

  airlock chamber and a second sealed metal door blocking the other side.

  Brakiss said, "Trust in your abilities, Zekk. Feel the Force."

  Zekk nodded solemnly. "As always, Master Brakiss. I will pass your test.

  But why is this so important? Why should you be so concerned?"

  Brakiss gestured the young man inside the chamber. Zekk entered and

  stood waiting, but Brakiss remained outside. "Because it will be a fight

  to the death," he said, then slammed the door, locking Zekk inside.

  Within the echoing airlock chamber, Zekk waited.

  Master Brakiss's words reverberated in his mind.

  The doors remained sealed, and he forced himself to breathe calmly,

  though he felt claustrophobic and trapped. Drawing his trusted

  lightsaber, he gripped it until his knuckles turned white, but he did

  not yet turn on the blade.

  The seconds pounded by, and still the other door didn't open. Fear

  swelled within him, but he pushed it aside. A Jedi had no place for

  fear, no reason to fear. The Force was in all things, and the dark side

  was his ally.

  Still, although Zekk had defeated ferocious creatures in the simulation

  chamber, those opponents had been mere phantoms. He knew that many more

  dangerous things might happen in a real battle with a real opponent.

  He looked at the inner door, wondering if he should hack it open with

  his lightsaber and force his way free. He needed to see what lurked on

  the other side. Was this perhaps part of the test? How long should he

  wait?

  LIGHTSABERS

  ^ Patience, he told himself. He began to count to a hundred-but before

  he reached ten, the automatic locks on the inner door gave a thump that

  vibrated through the metal wall. The door swung open by itself.

  Zekk felt a disorienting lurch as he stepped out into well-lighted

  nothingness. . . . The floors and ceilings and walls spun about in a

  blur until he finally realized that he had tumbled into a chamber where

  the artificial gravity had been turned off the zero-gravity arena at the

  hub of the Shadow Academy! He floated free in the open air of the

  spherical chamber, with no sense of down or up, with nothing to stop his

  motion.

  Zekk's stomach gave a lurch, but he drew a deep breath and concentrated

  on not throwing up. He focused on the images around him, trying to

  snatch answers from the briefest glimpses. Grasping the hilt of his

  lightsaber, he slowed his weightless tumbling and balanced himself. Only

  then did he notice the seats and standing areas that studded the walls

  of the chamber, the dozens of noisy onlookers, the balconies pasted on

  at haphazard angles to accommodate spectators in zero gravity.

  Stormtroopers stood in ranks, gripping the balcony rails. The other

  students at the Shadow Academy sat all around, ready to watch the

  spectacle. He stiffened, wondering just how difficult this test was

  going to be. What had Brakiss meant? What was Zekk supposed to do now?

  Boulders like miniature asteroids floated in the center of the open

  arena, along with metal boxes, small cargo containers, and artificial

  geometrical constructions. Long durasteel pipes drifted free.

  Zekk could make no sense of the random mix of large and small objects.

  Suddenly he understood: they were obstacles.

  On the curved wall at the far side of the arena, Zekk saw the clear

  blister of an observation dome.

  With his sharp eyesight he spotted figures inside, figures he

  recognized: the silver-robed figure of Brakiss; the intimidating

  Nightsister Tamith Kai, with her voluminous ebony hair and her

  blackspined cape; and the black-armored figure of Qorl the TIE pilot.

  Master Brakiss leaned forward and spoke into a voice amplifier. His

  words boomed through the amphitheater, and all background noise faded '

  "You are all here to witness the selection of a leader for our new Dark

  Jedi trainees-a leader who shall be the first general of our Shadow

  Acad
emy forces when the Second Imperium makes its grand foray to reclaim

  the galaxy. Here, before you, we will witness the great battle."

  On the other side of the chamber, where the view was partially blocked

  by drifting obstacles, another LIGHTSABERS

  ^ airlock opened, and a dark figure emerged. Because of the floating

  debris, Zekk couldn't see who it was.

  Brakiss continued, "This will be a duel to the death between Zekk"-he

  paused, but none of the students cheered; they knew better, for they

  Would have to follow whoever the victor of this contest might be-"and

  Vilas!"

  Zekk turned, keeping his lightsaber handle in front of him as he faced

  the thick-browed young man from Dathomir, Tamith Kai's most powerful

  trainee. Vilas held his ignited lightsaber ready for the duel.

  Vilas pushed off from the far wall and flew toward the obstacles at the

  center. Zekk switched on his weapon and did the same, moving to meet his

  opponent in the open space. Zekk's heart pounded, and he realized that

  despite his anxiety, this was a battle he had longed for. How many times

  since he'd come to the Shadow Academy had Vilas been his rival? After

  today there would be no question as to who the greater student was.

  Vilas shouted in his mocking, oily voice, "If you surrender now, young