trash collector, I may only cripple you." He laughed. Zeick felt himself
flush.
Norys or one of the other Lost Ones must have told Vilas their
derogatory nickname for him. Trash collector.
Zekk reached the floating debris and found a pitted oblong stone, an
iron-hard meteorite. He graspedit. "If you think victory is going to be
that easy, Vilas, I'll defeat you before you can blink!"
Zekk hurled the stone with all his strength. In zero gravity the
meteorite shot toward the other Dark Jedi-but the equal and opposite
reaction after he threw the stone surprised Zekk, and he found himself
tumbling backward from the momentum. He slammed headfirst into one of
the floating metal cargo containers. A flash of bright pain burst inside
his skull. His ears rang. He cleared his vision just in time to see
Vilas easily nudge himself out of the path of the flying rock.
Vilas laughed. "Is that the best you can do, trash collector?"
Zekk realized he had been foolish. He concentrated, using the abilities
he had recently acquired.
Since Vilas was no longer looking at the stone, Zekk used the Force to
yank it back toward his enemy. The rock didn't have enough distance to
build up much speed, but it struck a sharp blow to Vilas's shoulder. The
other young man cried out, rebounding from the impact.
Zekk found himself floating out of control, unable to move where he
wanted. He couldn't swim through the air, and he felt entirely
disoriented. The walls spun around him. Finally, his feet pressed
against the side of a drifting cargo container, and he LIGHTSABERS
^ propelled himself toward Vilas again. His lightsaber drew a fiery
streak through the air as he plunged forward.
Vilas was ready for him, though, his glowing energy blade held up as he
spun forward. The two opponents approached like colliding cannon balls.
Zekk swung, and Vilas met his lightsaber with his own. The blades
clashed and sparked. Bolts of electricity splashed off in random
directions. Then Zekk shot past while Vilas scrambled in the empty air,
trying to pursue.
Zekk tried to locate one of the floating obstacles for something else to
bounce off of-but suddenly Jedi instinct warned him to twist out of the
way. In that instant, Vilas came flying by, his lightsaber slashing and
humming through the air. Zekk contorted as if leaping backward over a
low fence-but not quite fast enough. His enemy's fiery weapon skimmed
too close, nicking Zekk's prized leather armor and leaving a smoking
gash.
When Vilas turned with a hoot of victory, Zekk felt anger boil up from
the depths of his mind, allowing him to draw more strongly on the dark
side of the Force. Reaching out into the floating debris, he grabbed a
pyramidal greenhouse module and smashed the massive object into Vilas
with enough force to shatter its transparisteel panes.
As Vilas reeled, he chopped with his lightsaber to cleave the greenhouse
module in half. The two smoldering portions tumbled in opposite
directions.
His face contorted with rage, Vilas kicked off of one of the floating
segments and hurtled toward Zekk, who waited with his lightsaber held
low.
Vilas made ready to swipe his blade across the space where Zekk was.
Zekk knew that if their blades clashed again, the momentum would send
them both tumbling out of control. Just as Vilas drew back his
lightsaber for a mighty blow, Zekk used the Force to give himself a
sharp shoveaway.
Vilas swept out with full force-and the energy blade buzzed through
empty air. Because nothing had stopped the stroke of his sword, Vilas
spun about like a slow tornado, tumbling and disoriented.
Zekk saw his opportunity to buy time. He shot up behind one of the
larger meteoroids hanging in the center of the weightless arena and
plastered himself to the rock surface, pressing his back against the
rough stone.
He could hide here for a moment, and then come back fighting.
Inside the arena's observation blister, Qorl remained standing while
Brakiss and Tamith Kai both sat in padded chairs, watching their
respective champions and hoping for a personal victory. Qorl LIGHTSABERS
^ tried to hide his uneasiness, but could not divert his attention from
the two talented young opponents fighting viciously out in the
zero-gravity chamber.
Tamith Kai's eyes blazed with violet fire as she fixed upon the battle.
She spoke out of the corner of her wine-dark mouth, mocking Brakiss.
"Your boy has no chance," she said. "Vilas is much more ruthless. I have
trained him. Vonnda Ra has trained him. Even Garowyn has trained him.
That young man is the culmination of our efforts on Dathomir.
Why bother with this wasteful contest? Just give Vilas command of the
new Dark Jedi."
Brakiss sat, exuding outward calm, though Qorl could tell from the
subtle reflexive expressions on his face each time the battle reached a
new peak that this duel had filled the Shadow Academy Master with
tension.
"Ali, Tamith Kai," he said, "you forget that I trained young Zekk. That
counts for more than all the schooling of all your Nightsisters put
together."
Tamaith Kai tore her gaze away from the contest and glared at him. She
gave a derisive snort.
"I think," Qorl said, "that Tamith Kai has a point.
This type of contest is an utter waste-no matter what the outcome, we
still lose our second-best trainee, someone far superior to any of the
others we keep."
"This is a different kind of contest," Brakiss said, as if explaining to
one of his students. "Those other trainees know their places and will
follow orders without second thoughts. These two, though . . .
each thinks he is best. But only one can command.
Only one can be the greatest warrior. If we allowed the loser to live,
he would always resent the rule of the other-perhaps even try to
undermine his authority. No, it is better that we see who is the
stronger."
Tamith Kai agreed. "Yes. It is good for the other Jedi trainees to see
one of their number die. Only then will they understand the depth of our
convictions . . . and realize that the Second Imperium may demand the
supreme sacrifice of them, as well." Brakiss nodded.
Qorl made no answer. He did not wish to argue with his two superiors.
Obviously, both Brakiss and Tamith Kai believed in the process; who was
he to question it? And even if one of the two contestants out there
were to forfeit the battle in hopes of saving his life, it would be a
terrible blow to morale.
Surrender is betrayal, after all. Qorl leaned forward to watch the
struggle.
But he still thought it a wasteful exercise.
Zekk tried to catch his breath. He couldn't hide for long, of course-not
in front of so many cheering spectators, who were growing more and
LIGHTSABERS
^ more enthralled as the battle grew more vicious. His hands were
slippery with sweat, and he knew he couldn't afford to lose his weapon
at the wrong moment during this b
attle. He would have to be alert and
aggressive. Just to be certain, he locked his lightsaber in the ON
position and cast about in his mind for a plan that might let him take
out Vilas once and for all.
Then, behind him through the rock, he heard a crackling sound and
instinctively threw himself away just as Vilas's blazing blade sliced
completely through the meteoroid, leaving each chunk of tumbling rock
with a flat edge that was so smooth it looked like a molten mirror.
If he hadn't moved at the last instant, the lightsaber would have
bisected Zekk just as it had the meteoroid!
He turned in the air to see Vilas hurtling toward him, slashing again.
Zekk raised his blade to meet the other lightsaber, and their edges
crossed in a shower of sparks. They pushed against each other, but found
nothing for traction in weightlessness.
They drifted aimlessly, blades locked, jaws clenched, glaring defiantly
into each other's eyes.
When Vilas's eyes were drawn for a moment to a point just behind Zekk's
shoulder, Zekk barely had time to wonder what his opponent was doing
before a drifting metal rod crashed into the small of his back, sending
an avalanche of pain along his spine.
He gasped, then released his held breath in a rush.
His lightsaber, still blazing, tumbled out of his hand.
The crowd roared as Zekk flailed in the air, trying to move away from
his opponent. With an evil grin, Vilas charged toward him. Zekk could
not reach his lightsaber in time: it spun like a fiery glowrod toward
one of the balconies, where spectators scrambled to get out of the way.
With no weapon at hand, Zekk reached beside him to grasp the
still-drifting metal rod. He grabbed the pole and swung it through the
air with such speed that it made a sighing sound. But, in zero gravity,
he was on the other end of the pivot point, and he began to spin around
like a baton.
Vilas slashed at the oncoming metal pipe, slicing off half a meter of
it. Zekk continued to spin, and Vilas swung again. The blow went wide.
Zekk jabbed with the superheated end of the severed pip" and the hot tip
burned through Vilas's armor, searing his ribs.
Vilas yowled in pain and grabbed the pipe himself, flinging it sideways
and using the momentum to toss Zekk free. Zekk sailed across space,
rebounded off one of the floating meteoroids, and reached out with his
mind to call his lightsaber back to him. The weapon stopped its
spiraling plunge toward the wall, reversed itself, and zipped into his
grasp.
LIGHTSABERS
^ When Zekk turned and looked for Vilas again, though, he found that his
opponent had vanished.
The brooding young man from Dathomir was hiding, just as Zekk had. Zekk
narrowed his eyes and opened his mind to the Force, listening, trying to
sense Vilas among the obstacles.
The noise of the crowd gave him no hints . . .
but somehow he was able to hear a faint tink-tinktink, coming from
behind two joined cargo containers. Zekk struck out for that point. He
didn't know what Vilas was doing, but he wouldn't give the other young
man time to complete his plan.
Zekk used the Force to direct himself toward the noise, but when he
grabbed the edge of the cargo container and pulled himself around it,
his lightsaher at the ready, he found only a small chunk of rock
invisibly tapping itself against the metal wall.
Vilas had managed to distract him, creating a diversion with the Force,
while he hid elsewhere and prepared to strikeWith a sudden powerful
premonition, Zekk whirled. Vilas had to be coming for him. Using his
instinct, his sense with the Force, Zekk acted without thinking.
Before he could see, before he could consider what he was about to do,
he pulled back to strike with his lightsaber, putting everything he had
behind one powerful stroke.
In that instant, through the blaze of light smearing across his eyes, he
saw Vilas launch himself out of the cargo container, wearing a predatory
grin. He had hidden in ambush, hoping to kill the unsuspecting Zekk.
But Zekk had outsmarted him.
Zekk's slashing blade encountered resistance as Vilas flew across his
path. Then, with a flash of smoke and a terrible stench, the bright
energy blade cleaved through flesh and bone, cauterizing as it went.
Vilas made a choking, gurgling sound and continued his tumbling flight
through the air-but now his body moved in two separate, smoking pieces.
Vilas's death rattle was swallowed up in the triumphant roar of the
crowd.
Zekk stared down at his pulsating scarlet lightsaber, too horrified at
what he had done even to look at the body of Vilas. The spectators still
cheered.
This had been no simulation, he realized. This was real.
Zekk knew he had taken one giant step farther down the road to the dark
side. He raised his head, speechless, as the voice of Brakiss echoed
through the zero-gravity chamber, drowning out the praise of the
onlookers.
"Excellent, Zekk! I knew you could do it."
Tamith Kai's somewhat petulant voice came next. "My congratulations,
young Lord Zekk."
Then, to his absolute amazement, overwhelming LIGHTSABERS
^ even his shock at the violence he had committed, the air in the center
of the arena shimmered until an ominous image engulfed the drifting
obstacles. The huge hooded head of the Emperor himself offered its grim
congratulations directly to Zekk.
"You have won this battle, Zekk," the Emperor said in a voice so filled
with cold power it could freeze blood. Zekk drew in a quick gasp. All of
the other trainees watched, absorbing their Great Leader's words.
"You are my Darkest Knight, Zekk. I have chosen you to personally lead
my Jedi into battle against Skywalker's Jedi academy."
------------------THE MUFFLED THUMP of an explosion in the middle of the
night was already fading by the time Tenel Ka reacted and sat up,
suddenly wide awake.
She strained her ears, but heard nothing more.
She had slept fitfully a few times since coming to the thick-walled Reef
Fortress-but she had never woken up without cause. Had she really heard
the sound of a blast? She couldn't be sure. Perhaps it had merely been
a part of her uneasy dream. . . .
Around her, the room was dark and shadowy, lit only by the metallic
silver glow of moonlight spilling in from the window. The deep darkness
was quiet. Too quiet. With a fluid motion Tenel Ka slid off her bed,
stood, paused to listen, then crept forward to the fortress window.
Her skin prickled, but not from cold. She recognized the reaction of her
Jedi senses transmitting messages of danger-an indefinable uneasiness
that was rapidly growing closer to full-fledged alarm. Something was
definitely not right.
Tenel Ka looked out the stone-framed window
^ LIGHTSABERS
^ down to the glossy midnight ocean that stretched into inky blackness.
The breakers, capped with moonlight, crashed against the dark reefs. She
heard the rushing, hissin
g ocean-and realized that the sound should not
have been so clear.
Where was the background hum of the night perimeter shields?
Leaning forward, Tenel Ka narrowed her eyes to study the air. A telltale
shimmer should have been visible to demonstrate that a protective field
surrounded the fortress-but she saw nothing. Then her attention turned
to a glimmer of light and a smudge of smoke rising into the air near the
generator station.
The shield generator had been destroyed! That meant Reef Fortress now
stood unprotected.
Tenel Ka drew back, intending to whirl around and sound the alarm-when a
faint motion far below caught her eye. Her heart pounding, all Jedi
senses alert, she glanced down to where the steep stone walls blended
into the uneven lumps of the reef. A strange camouflaged ship, long and
angular, floated just above the waves on repulsorfields.
"Ah. Aha," she said. "Assault craft of some sort."
Then she sucked in a sharp breath as she saw figures moving-more than a
dozen.
Black, many-legged creatures like large insects swarmed up the base of
the fortress-and scaled the sheer wall.5 effortlessly. Tenel Ka
instantly recognized the tactics, the black body armor, the skittering,
segmented movements. Her stomach tied itself into an icy knot, and
adrenaline shot through her veins. The Bartokks, deadly humanoid
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