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“Dual-phase blades seem to be something of a fad among Jedi at certain points.” He tossed me the lightsaber. “Still, I like the blade and it seems well made.”

“Little bit ugly, but I used what I had available.” I caught it and screwed the pommel cap on. Standing, I stretched, then clipped the weapon to my belt. “One question before we get going, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, us Jedi, we’re only supposed to be using our powers to defend, but we’re going to be assaulting a base.”

Luke nodded. “Right. We’re acting to defend Mirax’s life, and the lives of Tavira’s future victims.”

“I’m with you so far, but I’m wondering if we don’t have a little more immediate moral obligation, say, concerning those folks who will see us as aggressors.” I frowned. “I’m guarding something and I see a guy coming at me with a lightsaber, I’m going to shoot. You know, it’s that ‘certain point of view thing.’ ”

The Jedi Master frowned. “I see your problem. When I had to deal with Jabba the Hutt, I warned him to let us go or he’d be destroyed. He didn’t listen and that was, more or less, the end of that.”

“So, warn those who might not realize what they’re doing?”

Luke nodded. “If we can find any down there. An Impstar Deuce ships, what, ten thousand stormtroopers? I don’t imagine the Invidious is fully crewed anymore, but she’s got plenty of folks at her disposal. Want to guess how many are down guarding the palace?”

“Doesn’t matter.” I tightened my robe’s belt. “The Emperor didn’t mint enough of those guys to keep me from rescuing Mirax. They can run or they can die, their choice.”

“Corellians.” Luke shook his head. “No wonder the other Jedi didn’t want you leaving your system.”

I winked at him. “The rest of you were just afraid we wouldn’t leave anything for you to do after we were done.”

“I hope you’re right, my friend.” Luke hooked his thumbs in his belt. “Mission like this, we’ll both have more than enough to do.”

Luke and I had tried, albeit briefly and in vain, to get Ooryl and Elegos to remain behind on the ship and monitor starship traffic in and out of the system. A comlink call could warn us about Tavira’s Invidious moving out, or anything else that could cause us to shift our plans. Ooryl and Elegos had anticipated us and programmed the ship’s computer to pull down all system traffic data, then relay it through a scrambled comlink channel to the datapad Elegos had jury-rigged to receive the signal.

Elegos noted that between his sense of smell, and Ooryl’s ability to see beyond what we humans rather arrogantly called the visible light spectrum, we could move through the night more effectively and without having to rely upon our Force-enhanced senses, delaying our detection by the Jensaarai. I had to agree with that point, and having seen Ooryl in a lightfight before, having him with us didn’t hurt at all. He carried a blaster carbine and a string of powerpacks slung across his chest.

Elegos hefted a blaster carbine and strapped a belt of powerpacks on around his slender waist. I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “You don’t want to be a part of this, do you? You don’t want memories of the killing here.”

“I am coming with you, and if I do not carry a weapon and assist in our defense, I will be just a burden. If you fail because of me, that memory would be worse, and I will not have it. I intend, instead, to have memories of your saving your wife to carry with me.” Elegos held the weapon up in his left hand and thumbed a lever. “And the stun function on this weapon seems to work.”

I smiled, then looked at him and Ooryl and Luke. “Before we go, I just want to thank you all. Better friends a man’s never had. You’re all insane, but friends nonetheless.”

Elegos looked at Ooryl. “Corellians never know when to stop talking, do they?”

Ooryl’s mouthparts opened. “Other Corellians do.”

Luke laughed, then jerked a thumb at the egress hatch. “Let’s go do something else Corellians never shy from. Let’s beat some long odds.”

We stalked through the darkened streets of Yumfla with impunity, all but unnoticed.