Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 07_ Conviction - Aaron Allston [121]
In the distance ahead, Kandra could see two colorful glows bobbing with their holders’ movement—lightsabers, one blue and one red.
Then Luke spun, leaning over the speeder’s windscreen and slashing with his lightsaber as if he wanted to cleave the seat between Beurth and Kandra. Kandra shrieked and jerked away, looking up, and only now saw the man standing on the back of the seat. Dressed like most other winter travelers on Nam Chorios, he held a red lightsaber and raised it, catching Luke’s slash. The power of the blow knocked the man off the back of the seat; he fell backward, landing on his feet on the rear seat.
Luke bounded over the windscreen and landed between Beurth and Kandra. He slashed again. The other man deflected the blow, just barely, and leapt up to land on the speeder’s rear.
Luke continued his advance, landing on the rear seat exactly where his opponent had been a moment earlier. He thrust with his lightsaber, its blade engaging the other man’s. His foot lashed out, catching the other man’s weapon hand. The red lightsaber flew free. Luke caught it with his left hand, twirled both blades in an intricate green-and-red array of color, and then advanced onto the back of the speeder.
His enemy dropped off the speeder, turned, and ran into the cloud of dust behind.
Luke turned to face forward again. He gestured at Kandra with his right-hand weapon. “You, backseat.” He pointed at Beurth with the other weapon. “You, get this thing running.”
Kandra scrambled over her seat back and dropped into the rear seat. She resisted the impulse to crawl down into the foot well. “What’s happening?”
Luke jumped into the seat she’d just vacated. “Don’t be silly. What’s happening is you’re rescuing us.”
“Oh. I feel so brave.”
The seat to Kandra’s left lurched. She looked up to see a young woman standing there, holding another red lightsaber. The newcomer raised her voice to be heard over the roar of wind—and, now, the sound of repulsors coming online. “Ben! This way!”
Suddenly there was someone above the girl—a man, dressed like the other attacker, inverted, seeming almost to fly at the apex of his acrobatic maneuver. He thrust down with his lightsaber. Kandra opened her mouth to shout a warning, knowing it would be too late, but the girl raised her own lightsaber in a sweeping maneuver that deflected the attack; the blades crackled as they crossed. Her attacker landed several meters off to the starboard side, rolling in the sand, continuing his roll forward to get clear of the speeder.
Luke deactivated the red lightsaber he’d seized. The girl—it had to be Vestara Khai, from the reports Kandra had seen—dropped to a kneeling position on the seat but kept her blade lit, her eyes on the sands around them.
The speeder was up a meter in the air now but not yet moving. Luke looked at Beurth. “Scoot over this way.”
Beurth offered him a squeal, an interrogative one, but didn’t move.
A moment later Ben Skywalker smashed down into the Gamorrean’s lap. “Hey. Scoot over.”
Now Beurth did, squealing complaints as he wriggled out from under the human teenager.
Luke shouted, “Go!”
Not deactivating his own lightsaber, Ben tossed it back over his shoulder. Vestara caught it, bringing both weapons up in what Kandra assumed was some sort of defensive pose.
Ben accelerated, immediately banking to port. A man with a red lightsaber, emerging from the dust cloud, had to run farther to get at the speeder. Luke slashed at him as he got near; their blades crossed, sparking and sputtering, and then the attacker was behind them.
Luke jammed the point of his lightsaber into the speeder’s dashboard.
Kandra’s eyes got wide. “Hey, this is a rental.”
“It’s a rental with transponders.” Luke deactivated his lightsaber, then yanked at the dashboard where he’d cut it. A panel came free; he tossed it over his shoulder. With the hilt of her lightsaber, Vestara whacked the panel, sending it sideways, directly in the path of another attacker charging out of the dust. Unable to adjust in time, the woman tripped over the debris and sprawled in