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Saar threw a quick series of blows, intended to draw his larger, clumsier opponent into an ever more extravagant series of blocks, the last ones pulling her out of line or off-balance. But she wasn’t clumsier. She fought like a Jedi Master, lightning-fast, anticipating every attack, not being fooled by feints.

He backflipped to put a few meters’ distance between them, but when he was upside down and facing away from the false Cilghal, he felt a pulse of Force energy from her direction. He was hurtled forward into the granite facing of the closest building. With his own use of the Force he tried to slow his rate, to soften the impact, but to no avail. He hammered into the building edifice.

The last thing he saw was the street pavement above his head sliding down to meet him.

CHIEF OF STATE’S OFFICE, CORUSCANT

Daala looked up as Dorvan walked into her office. Her expression was hard, but there was concern in her voice. “Are you all right?”

“I managed not to impale myself on his weapon while we were talking.” Clearly upset, he flopped down into a chair without waiting to be asked. “I’m mostly mad because the lockdown I called for didn’t even slow him down but it kept me from getting here for half an hour. What does security say?”

“He ran into Jedi Master Cilghal, dueled with her her briefly, and was flattened like a bug. She commandeered a passing commercial speeder and took him back to the Temple.” She glanced down at the monitor on her desk. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she read an update. “The Coruscant Security officers I dispatched to the Jedi Temple are there now and have issued an order to the Jedi. They must turn over Jedi Saar within the hour or there will be consequences.”

“Will there be consequences?”

“Oh, yes. Definitely, yes.”

JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT

The news about Jedi Saar’s madness and the Coruscant Security officers parked on the Temple’s front steps circulated with the speed of comm traffic. When Jaina swept into the medical ward, the first thing she saw was news coverage of the event on the chamber’s main monitor. It showed an aerial holocam view of the Temple, uniformed security officers and Jedi guards standing stiffly, meters apart, in a temporary standoff.

Cilghal or Tekli had switched the sound off. Jaina turned to Cilghal, who was bent over the unconscious form of Saar. The Jedi Knight lay on his back on a hovergurney, the device currently settled on the floor. His tunic was off, and he wore a monitor ring on his brow like a headband. His eyes were closed; his wrists and ankles, shackled to the bed. There was a formfitting blue plascast on his nose.

Jaina moved up beside the Jedi Master and Shul Vaal, Jedi medic and Cilghal’s aide, a middle-aged blue Twi’lek whose unhurried movements and soothing manner made him seem the island of calm at the center of any storm of chaos. “Same as the others?”

Shul Vaal nodded. “Paranoia and hostility. No manifestation yet of Force powers he should not possess. Master Cilghal gave him a concussion and a broken nose.”

“I had to end the fight quickly.” Cilghal sounded gruff, even defensive. “Sometimes to heal, you must first hurt.”

Jaina grimaced. “In just a few words, you’ve summed up my love life. Anything I can do?”

Cilghal nodded. “Prep a shuttle. Before the government gets the bright idea to examine every vehicle leaving the Temple, I want to get Jedi Saar offworld and to the Transitory Mists.”

“Will do.”

Several levels down in the Temple, Jaina walked into one of the building’s civilian hangars. The chamber was broad and deep enough to host a ball game, and the ceiling was ten meters high, to accommodate repulsor takeoffs and landings. Two Lambda-class shuttles and a number of airspeeders and speeder bikes were in place there. Both shuttles had their wings locked in upswept position. One had a panel off at the engine section, but the mechanic, a woman in Jedi robes, was leaning against the fuselage, watching the same news coverage on the wall-mounted monitor. She gave Jaina a distracted nod. “Jedi Solo.”

“Jedi Tainer.