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The sudden tug was enough to slow Xizor, but not enough to break his one-handed grip. He lunged after Jax as the lightwhip slipped free of the lightsaber, sending more sparks flying. Jax ducked, letting the luminous blade whistle by barely above his head, then dived into a roll as Xizor slashed again, missing him by a finger’s breadth. He came up, half turned, and, while still moving, snapped his hand around at Xizor. The glowing whip lanced at the Falleen, almost as if it were a hurled spear.

Xizor ducked and spun in a full circle, dropping the blade to chest level as he moved, seeking to bisect Jax. But the Jedi was too fast—he was already in full backpedal, snapping the lightwhip to cover his retreat. Xizor had to parry the flailing energy line to keep the tip from taking an arm off.

Once again Jax reached for the Force, and once again he found only cold vacuum. Evidently, understanding the problem wasn’t the same as fixing it. And this was the worst possible situation in which to attempt a reconnection: in the midst of battle, overwrought and worried.

He should not have been so foolhardy as to challenge Prince Xizor. He should have simply had I-Five take him out; the Falleen was stronger than Jax, but little match for a laser-packing droid. Now it was starting to look like his macho posturing might have doomed them all. I-Five was occupied with 10-4TO, and Laranth was still out of the game.

He heard an odd noise behind him, but he could not afford to take his eyes off Xizor, who was pacing just outside the lightwhip’s reach. The noise grew louder; a popping, tearing sound, which Jax recognized too late as the rending of the reinforced plasteel bolts on the other set of doors. He whirled about in time to see a wheel-mounted maintenance droid rolling at him, with pieces of jagged scrap metal welded to its chest, extruding like knives. It babbled in Binary, a nonstop cacophony of clicks, chirps, whistles, and trills, as it came directly at him. Jax sidestepped and brought the lightwhip up, over his head and out. The energy braid struck across the rounded dome of the droid’s CPU and sizzled through it. Its brakes locked up, and Jax could smell the odor of burned silicone as the treads locked and skidded on the floor, the gyroscopes whining to keep it upright, but too little, too late. The glowing braid sheared through the droid’s head and body at an angle, and, with a burst of electrical sparks and sputters, the droid collapsed, falling in two pieces.

Jax dropped flat onto the grimy floor, and not a heartbeat too soon—the energy blade hummed through the spot where he’d just stood. He rolled onto his back and came up, lightwhip describing a rapid circle in front of him.

The disadvantage of the lightwhip was that it took more time to recover from a committed stroke. Jax had to be careful lest Xizor spot him leaving an opening. He took a deep breath, allowed half of it to escape. A connection with the Force would sure come in handy about now …

“Jax! Look out!” Den cried.

He half turned, tried to duck, but too late. A chunk of debris, flung by yet another feral droid entering the shattered door, struck him a glancing blow on the head. Momentarily stunned, he dropped the lightwhip, which fizzled out as soon as it left his hand. He staggered back and caught a glimpse of the droid: an astromech, with a makeshift catapult-like contraption secured to its dome that hurled fist-sized pieces of metal and duracrete.

Jax was a dead man. Xizor had him; Jax knew it, and the prince knew he knew it.

The lightwhip was out of reach, and Xizor loomed over him, skin flushed crimson with the anticipation of the kill. Jax accepted the fact. Now he would join the Force, and perhaps all those unanswerable questions would be—

As if operated by some unknown puppeteer, his right hand shot out, palm forward. Xizor was hurled backward as if hit by a repulsor beam, to slam against the wall three meters away.

Jax felt the Force wrap itself around him, felt the familiar threads attach themselves to him once more. He let them move and manipulate