Jedi Under Siege Page 10

  Ship after Imperial ship arrived, an entire, fully armed fighting force

  that owed allegiance to the Second Imperium. Before even orienting

  themselves, the Imperial ships opened fire on the New Republic fleet.

  ^

  "Shields up!" Admiral Ackbar ordered. He turned to Jaina, his round,

  fishy eyes swiveling in alarm. "It appears that we may experience some

  difficulty after all," he said.

  ^ 7 -----------------LUKE SKYWALKER ARRIVED across the river at the

  Massassi ruin known as the Temple of the Blue Leaf Cluster, 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 button.

  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

  Kenobi 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

  op

  ^ ponent back. The Dark Jedi's silvery robes fluttered around him like

  nightwings.

  tcyo u 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 Massassi 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 Cluster 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

&nbs
p; 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 mass.

  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 stu

  ^ dent 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 SPACE, 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<
br />
  ^ 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