Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights 01_ Jedi Twilight - Michael Reaves [124]
“That may be possible,” Rhinann said, in answer to Jax’s last statement. “It will take some time, however, to assemble all the necessary equipment and materials. In the meantime, I suggest this.” He withdrew from beneath his robes what appeared to Den at first to be an antique sword. The blade was slightly longer than a meter in length and pale silver, almost white, in color. The metal was not chased, although, Den realized, there did appear to be delicate whorls and patterns woven through it. They almost seemed to move, like oil on water.
The hilt was ornate but functional. It looked like it was made of electrum, a rare fusion of silver and gold. Mounted in the guard were two small faceted crystals that scintillated even in the relatively dim interior light.
All in all, very pretty, Den had to concede. Even impressive. But insofar as being able to block a blaster bolt, it seemed about as effective as a pointed stick.
Jax seemed somewhat nonplussed as well. Both I-Five and Laranth stepped forward for a closer look. There was wonder in the Paladin’s normally grim face.
“A Velmorian energy sword.” She looked at Rhinann incredulously. “You couldn’t find a lightsaber, but you could find this?”
The Elomin shrugged. “Things are tough all over. I was able to obtain this in an online auction from a member of the Velmorian royal family who had fallen upon hard times.”
Laranth shook her head and took the sword from Rhinann. Den watched as she extended it. He didn’t see her do anything to activate it, but the length of the blade suddenly blazed with a cold and crackling silver flame.
“There’s something you don’t see every day,” Den murmured.
The Paladin carefully handed the energy sword to Jax. He held the weapon up, admiring the coruscating shifting waves of power. It was quite different from a lightsaber, and it lacked the latter’s purity of design. Still, it was obviously a weapon to be reckoned with. It seemed much more akin, as far as the mechanics of it went, to the lightwhip.
“It’s activated by a pressure pad in the hilt,” Laranth explained. “The generator feeds plasmatic energy through the crystals and along the blade. A magnetic feedback loop contains it.”
Jax relaxed his grip experimentally, watching the superheated gas retreat, leaving the blade as it was before. He held his other hand close to the metal. “No heat,” he murmured.
“The containment loop keeps the plasma from direct contact with the blade. Otherwise it would melt.”
Jax squeezed the hilt, triggering the plasmatic coating once more. He swung the weapon a few times, testing its weight and balance. “Easy there, big fella,” Den said, backing up quickly.
Jax moved through a few steps of one of the seven forms. There was more weight to the energy sword than there was to the lance of pure energy that was a lightsaber, of course, but nothing that he couldn’t compensate for easily enough. Since it was a sheath of energy surrounding a solid blade, it obviously did not have the same frictionless edge that a saber had. He wondered how it measured up against a vibrosword.
Well, he thought grimly, if life continues to be as interesting as it has been, I’ve no doubt I’ll find out. Sooner, probably, than later.
THE OLD REPUBLIC
(5,000–33 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE)
Long—long—ago in a galaxy far, far away … some twenty-five thousand years before Luke Skywalker destroyed the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: A New Hope … a large number of star systems and species in the center of the galaxy came together to form