Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [53]
Dorvan stopped, too, uneasily aware that a single wrong move might lead to his death. He felt as if a heavy weight were resting on his chest. It was difficult to breathe. “Jedi Saar, I’m unarmed.”
Saar seemed to disappear. Dorvan blinked and realized that Saar was still before him, now a dozen meters away and running at such speed that he appeared to blur as he headed for the exit. There was a shriek as the Jedi brushed past an aide carrying a precariously balanced stack of datacards; the cards went flying in an arc, clattering to the stone floor of the hallway.
Dorvan grabbed his comlink. “Lockdown, lockdown!”
Those words, broadcast by his comlink, triggered an instant and automated response in the building’s security system. The sunlight ahead suddenly narrowed as blast doors began a rapid close-and-seal. A low, bone-rattling alarm tone began cycling.
The blur that was Jedi Saar suddenly became even harder to focus on as he raced to the exit, diving through the closing doors when there was less than a meter’s gap between them.
Dorvan cursed.
“Dorvan, this is Captain Brays in security. What is—”
“Jedi male, Chev, leaving main entrance, dark robes, is a mad Jedi. Repeat, mad Jedi. Bring all resources to bear to track him. Do not confront him unless you have the resources necessary to take down a Jedi Knight.”
“Understood.”
JEDI SAAR RACED ACROSS THE PLAZA BEFORE THE SENATE BUILDING. He had to get away from the broad open space and had to do so fast, before the inevitable stream of security airspeeders launched to follow him. He couldn’t keep up that Force-boosted running speed for the entire distance. He slowed to a rate that was merely that of a championship runner.
Ahead was the security station that screened all pedestrians and speeders entering the plaza from that direction. The agents in it would just now be receiving the alert. He raced past, ignoring the cries of the helmeted workers. The station’s automated defenses, designed to detect and bring down vehicles coming in from the other direction, could not impede him as he passed by.
Now he was on the street beyond, a street thick with pedestrians. It would take him a mere second to shuck his cloak, perhaps grab a gaudy tunic from a passerby, making himself visually distinct from the image he’d presented to the Senate Building holocams—
He almost gasped in relief. Ahead of him, departing from a hired airspeeder and awkwardly handing credcoins to the driver, was Master Cilghal. She would know what to do, she—
It was not her. In the seconds it had taken him to cross most of the thirty meters separating them, Saar realized that the Mon Calamari female he was facing, for all that she was identical in garb and appearance to Master Cilghal, was not Cilghal.
He stopped. He heard a snap-hiss and realized that he had ignited his lightsaber without meaning to. Its blue-black blade glowed as it stretched like a teacher’s pointing tool. Pedestrians exclaimed, changed direction, drew away from the two Jedi.
The driver of the hired speeder hit his thrusters and sped away, scattering Cilghal’s credcoins. They clattered to the permacrete pavement and rolled in all directions.
The Mon Cal Jedi looked steadily at Saar. “Jedi Saar, I suspect I know what you are experiencing.”
“What have you done with Master Cilghal?”
The false Cilghal blinked at him, each eye blinking separately, as she considered her answer. Finally, she nodded, as if coming to a decision. “I know how this conversation progresses. There is no point to it. You cannot be reasoned with.” She reached for her lightsaber, drew it forth, ignited it.
Saar leapt toward her.
Their blades came together in a spectacular clash of sparks and pop-zapp noises. Those few people surrounding the scene who had not already drawn back did so now, in a hurry. A moment later the hum of the lightsabers was drowned out by the sirens of oncoming