LUKE SKYWALKER ARRIVED across the river at the Ma.s.sa.s.si ruin known as the Temple of the Blue Leaf Cl.u.s.ter, a tower of crumbling stone blocks. He came alone, hoping to negotiate but ready to fight.
This was the site Brakiss had chosen for their meeting, their confrontation... their duel, if it came to that.
Luke listened to the jungle noises: the chatter of creatures in the underbrush, birds in the vines overhead-and explosions from Imperial fighters in the sky. He hated to be here by himself when he could be beside his students, fighting with them to defeat the forces of the dark side.
But Luke had a greater calling, a more important one-to stop the leader of these Dark Jedi, a man who had once been Luke"s own student.
Branches parted in a thicket beside the carvedpillars of stone. A man stepped out, moving as if he were made of flowing quicksilver,a confident liquid shadow. His perfectly formed, sculpture-handsome face smiled. "So, Luke Skywalker, once my Jedi Master-you have come to surrender to me, I hope? To bow to my superior abilities?"
Luke did not return the smile. "I came to speak with you, as you requested. "
"I"m afraid speaking won"t be enough," Brakiss said. "You see my Shadow Academy overhead? The battle fleet of the Second Imperium has just arrived. You have no hope of victory, despite your meager reinforcements.
Join us now and stop all this bloodshed. I know the power you could wield, Skywalker, if you ever let yourself touch the powers you have neglected to learn."
Luke shook his head. "Save it, Brakiss.
Your words and your dark-side temptations have no effect on me," he said.
"You were once my student. You saw the light side, saw its capabilities for good-and yet you ran from it like a coward. But it"s not too late.
Come with me now. Together we can explore what remains of the brightness in your heart."
"There is no brightness in my heart," Brakiss said. "I did not come here to banter with you. If you won"t be sensible and surrender, then I must defeat you and take the rest of your Jedi academy by force." He withdrew a lightsaber from the silvery sleeve of his robe. Long spikes like claws surrounded the energy blade that extended as he pushed the power b.u.t.ton.
Brakiss heaved a quick sigh. "Ms seems like such a waste of effort."
"I don"t want to fight you," Luke said.
Brakiss shrugged. "As you wish. Then I"ll cut you down where you stand.
That makes it easier on me." He stepped forward and swung his blade.
Luke"s reflexes kicked in at the last instant, and he leaped back, using a touch of the Force to add power to his spring. He landed with legs spread, crouching, and pulled his own lightsaber from the belt at his waist. "I will defend myself, Brakiss," he said, "but there is so much you could learn here at the Jedi academy."
Brakiss laughed mockingly. "And who"s going to teach me-you? I no longer recognize you as a Master, Luke Skywalker. There is so much more that you yourself don"t know. You think Fm weak because I left here before I completed my training? Who are you to talk?
You were only partially trained yourself. A short time with Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi before Darth Vader killed him, then a brief time with Master Yoda before you left him... you even came close to true greatness when you went to serve the resurrected Emperor - and you backed away. You"ve never completed anything."
"I don"t deny it," Luke said, holding his lightsaber in a defensive position. Their blades clashed with a sizzling sound.
Brakiss"s lips drew back in a grimace as he lunged again, but Luke parried his attack.
"You taught that becoming a Jedi is a voyage of self-discovery," Brakiss said. "I have continued that self-discovery since I left here.
I abandoned your teachings, but I found more, much more. My self-discovery has been vastly greater than your own, Luke Skywalker, because you have locked many important doors to yourself." He raised his eyebrows and his eyes glinted a challenge. "I have looked behind those doors."
"A person who willingly steps into mortal danger is not brave," Luke said, "but foolish."
"Then you are a fool," Brakiss said. He swept his lightsaber low, intending to slice off Luke"s legs at the knees-but Luke lowered his blade in turn and went on the offensive, clashing, striking, driving his opponent back. The Dark Jedi"s silvery robes fluttered around him like nightwings.
"You can"t win, Brakiss," Luke said.
"Watch me," the Master of the Shadow Academy said. He attacked with greater fury, opening himself up to anger so that his viciousness grew as he struck again and again.
But Luke maintained his quiet center as he defended himself "Feel the calm, Brakiss," he said. "Let gentleness flow through you... peaceful, soothing."
Brakiss merely laughed. His perfect blond hair was tangled and plastered to his head with perspiration. "Skywalker, how many times will you try to turn me? Even after I fled your teachings, you pursued me. Don"t you know when you have lost?"
Luke said, "I remember our confrontation at that droid manufacturing facility on Telti. You could have joined me then-you still can now."
Brakiss dismissed that with a snort.
"Those events meant nothing to me, a diversion until I found my true calling-forming the Shadow Academy."
"Maybe you need to look for a truer calling," Luke said. He slashed sideways to deflect Brakiss"s lightsaber again.
Now Brakiss took a different tack, whirling around. Instead of striking at Luke, he slashed one of the tall temple pillars, a cylinder of marble etched with ancient Sith symbols and Ma.s.sa.s.si writings. Sparks flew from the blow, and the lightsaber sheared the column completely through.
Gravity, clinging vines, and the overhanging stone made it unstable.
Luke dove out of the way as the pillar split in two. The front lintel of the Temple of the Blue Leaf Cl.u.s.ter tumbled down.
Stones and branches crashed from side to side, broken stone flew in all directions but Luke danced out of the way, avoiding injury.
"You seem quite light on your feet, Skywalker," Brakiss said.
"You seem quite destructive to ancient structures," Luke said. He scrambled over the new rubble, coughed in the settling dust, then clashed again with Brakiss. "Perhaps you should check on how your Dark Jedi are doing. My students have been defeating them quite consistently."
He heard the battle continuing in the jungles and longed to get back to his trainees. The meeting with his former student had been no more than a distraction; it was leading nowhere. "This has gone on long enough, Brakiss. You may either surrender or I"ll defeat you directly, because I have work to do. I need to get back to defending my Jedi academy."
Brakiss showed the faintest glimmer of uncertainty in his normally calm and peaceful eyes when Luke drove in, this time intending to win. Luke struck again with the lightsaber, always maintaining his focus and drive, not letting anger take control, doing only what he wished to do.
The Master of the Shadow Academy defended himself, and Luke saw his chance to strike. He altered his aim just slightly, not striking the energy blade itself. He could have swung lower to take off the hand of his former student, much as Darth Vader had cut off Luke"s own hand-but Luke didn"t want to maim Brakiss in such a way. He needed only to ruin his weapon.
His lightsaber struck across the top of Brakiss"s handle, just below the terminus of the energy beam and above the knuckles of the grip. The top two centimeters of the spiked-claw end of Brakiss"s lightsaber sprayed off, sheared away in a smoking, molten ma.s.s.
Brakiss shrieked and dropped his sparkling lightsaber to the ground, where it lay useless, smoldering, no longer a weapon, simply a hunk of components... none of which worked.
The Master of the Shadow Academy held up his hands and staggered back.
"Don"t kill me, Skywalker! Please don"t kill me!" The terror on Brakiss"s face seemed all out of proportion to the threat. Surely the shadow Jedi knew that Luke Skywalker was not the type to strike down an unarmed enemy in cold blood. Brakiss clutched at his silvery robe, fumbling with the fastenings.
Luke strode toward him, lightsaber extended. "You are my captive now, Brakiss.
It"s time for us to end this battle. Order your Dark Jedi to surrender."
Brakiss let his robes fall away, revealing a jumpsuit and repulsorpack.
"No. I have other business to attend to," he said, and ignited the repulsorjets.
As Luke stared in astonishment, Brakiss rocketed skyward, flying high out of reach.
The Dark Jedi instructor must have landed his ship somewhere nearby, Luke realized, and he would no doubt head directly back to the Shadow Academy.
In dismay, Luke watched his fallen student escape once more-defeated, but still capable of causing further damage.
The pain of loss flooded Luke"s mind, as fresh as on the day Brakiss first fled the Jedi academy. "Brakiss, I"ve failed to save you again," he groaned.
The other man dwindled to a small point in the sky and disappeared.
IN s.p.a.cE, THE Second Imperium fleet fired their weapons.
Ackbar shouted, "All personnel, battle stations!" The Calamarian admiral gestured with his flippered hands. "Shields up! Prepare to return fire!"
The two front-most modified Star Destroyers lunged forward, their turbolaser batteries blazing. Brilliant green streaks sliced out, zeroing in on Ackbar"s flagship.
Jaina stood beside the Calamarian admiral and squeezed her eyes shut as the blinding flashes shattered against their forward shields. "The Second Imperium must have been building their fleet in secret," she said.
"Those ships look like the construction was rushed." "But they are still deadly," Ackbar said, nodding solemnly. "Now I know why they stole those hyperdrive cores and turbolaser batteries when they attacked the Adamant."
He turned to his communications systems, bellowing orders in his gravelly voice. "Shift target from the Shadow Academy. That training station is a lesser threat than the new battleships. Target the Imperial Star Destroyers."
The weapons officers working at their command stations called out in alarm and dismay, "Sir, our targeting locks won"t match! Those ships are broadcasting friendly ID signals. We are unable to fire."
"What?" Ackbar said. "But we can see the Star Destroyers."
"I know, Admiral," the tactical officer shouted. "But our computers won"t fire they think those are New Republic ships.
It"s built into the programming."
Suddenly understanding, Jaina exclaimed, "They stole guidance and tactical computer systems during their raid on Kashyyyk! The Imperials must have installed them in their own ships just to confuse our weapons computers. Well have to change our targeting locks, or else we won"t be able to fire. The "Identify Friend or Foe"fail-safe systems will prevent it." Lando Calrissian had been listening on the open channel; his voice now boomed over the comm. "Since my ships from GeniDiver Station use different computers, I guess the first round is up to us." Lando"s hodgepodge group of independent ships swept in on the Star Destroyers from all sides, firing a barrage of proton torpedoes at key points to dilute the overall shield strength.
"A little trick I picked up," Lando explained over the comm unit as Jaina stood beside Ackbar watching. "This whole thing reminds me of the battle of Tanaab." Then he gave a whoop of triumph as another volley of torpedoes detonated at once, two of them penetrating the shields and leaving a white-hot chain of flames along the side of one Star Destroyer.
Lando"s ships kept firing and firing, but now the Imperials began targeting the smaller craft, leaving Ackbar"s vessels alone.
"Admiral," Jaina said, "if the Second Imperium is so clever that they can use our own computer systems to trick us, can"t we turn the tables-use our computers against them?"
Ackbar turned his enormous round eyes on her. "What do you have in mind, Jaina Solo?"
She bit her lower hp, then drew a deep breath. The idea was crazy, but "You"re the supreme commander of the entire New Republic fleet. Isn"t it programmed into the computers that they must accept some sort of override signal from you in cases of extreme emergency-like this one?"
I Ackbar stared at her, his mouth gaping as if he needed a drink of water or a long breath of moist air. "By the Force, you"re right, Jaina!"
"Well, what are we waiting for?" she said, rubbing her hands together.
"Let"s get reprogramming."
After destroying his own student Norys to rescue Jacen Solo, Qorl"s insides felt deadened, as if the rest of his body had turned into a droid... just like his mechanical left arm.
After all his years of training and loyalty, he had betrayed the Second Imperium" Betrayed! He had allowed his heart to decide, rather than following blind obedience and cold ambition.
But young Jacen had been kind to him, had helped rescue him, had shown him warmth and friendship, though Qorl knew he had done nothing to deserve it....
He had taken the twins prisoner, threatened their lives, forced them to repair his crashed TIE fighter so he could return to the Empire. Since then he had made small, secret gestures to repay them, such as when he"d cautiously helped them to escape the Shadow Academy. But killing his own student to protect them...
Qorl had committed a grave mistake by making decisions on his own. He should have known better. It wasn"t his place to make decisions. He was a TIE pilot, a soldier of the Second Imperium. He helped instruct other pilots and stormtroopers. His allegiance was to the Emperor and his government. Soldiers didn"t have the luxury of making up their own minds about which orders to follow and which ones to ignore.
His mind in turmoil, he took his TIE fighter up toward orbit. Most of his squadron had fallen out of formation, attacked or destroyed by unknown defenses on Yavin 4.
He should return and report to his superiors. He would have to decide whether to surrender or confess what he had done... and face Lord Brakiss"s retribution.
Qorl"s jaw clenched. Surrender is betrayal.
How could he be willing to do this? His ship"s engines howled as he tore free of the atinosphere and headed straight toward the looming Shadow Academy station.
He saw with astonishment that he had stumbled into the middle of an enormous s.p.a.ce battle.
New Republic warships had appeared unexpectedly, firing and firing upon the Shadow Academy. But then came the newly arrived fleet of Second Imperium ships, cobbled-together Star Destroyers, Imperial battle cruisers a.s.sembled from leftover pieces in reclaimed shipyards. The new fleet used the computer systems, hyperdrives, and turbolaser batteries that Qorl himself had helped to acquire.
But seeing the Second Imperium"s ships filled him with a sense of dismay.
The new fleet lacked the grandeur and impressive presence of the original Imperial armada.
Qorl had flown on the Death Star, served as part of Grand Moff Tarkin"s Imperial Starfleet.
This new fighting force looked somewhat... desperate-as if people whose dreams stretched far beyond their resources had leaped into the fray.
Qorl saw the Second Imperium ships pounding the Rebel rescue fleet-but as he watched, the tide turned and cl.u.s.ters of nondescript ships attacked the Star Destroyers.
Then the Star Destroyers"defensive shields suddenly and inexplicably went down, as if their own computers had switched them off.
As if they had agreed to surrender!
Rebel battle cruisers fired into the opening at full strength, ripping great gashes in the hulls of the new Star Destroyers. M%at was going on?
Why didn"t his comrades reestablish their shields?
As Qorl flew toward them, frantic to do something to help with the fight, fresh TIE fighters streamed out of the Star Destroyers and began to pound the Rebel ships, though they seemed no more than tiny gnats against Ackbar"s great fleet.
Qorl suddenly saw his chance to redeem himself. He had already been a traitor to his rescuers and friends and to the Second Impezium. No matter which choice he made, he would be cursed-he would never be able to live with either betrayal.
At the moment, though, Qorl could join the fight on the side of the Second Imperium and cause whatever damage he could... perhaps even die fighting. He was a TIE pilot. He had trained for this. Long ago, he had flown from the Death Star on a similar mission-and now he would make everything right again.
Qorl powered up his laser cannons, weapons that had last been fired against Norys"s ship to stop the bully"s murderous frenzy.
Qorl could now use the weapons against his a.s.signed targets: the Rebel Alliance.