• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

She had mixed emotions about it all. This war was in-deed a situation that called for heavy emotional re-sponse, and she had been on a lot more pleasant worlds, that was for certain. But it was all part of her test, her path to Jedi Knighthood-and if she was called away, then what? What would her own future bring? She was not afraid-her training did not admit many fears-but it was... unsettling.

What would be, would be. It was not up to her.

The day faded into evening, and eventually Barriss was finished with her medical chores.

She decided to skip dinner and go to her cubicle. Perhaps another ses-sion of quiet meditation and deep breathing would shed some light on whatever it was causing those small, but continuing, disturbances in the Force...

The camp was quiet as night crept over it. Few people were about; shift change was long past, and most were either eating supper, or resting, or doing whatever it was they did when they weren’t working. For the most part, that didn’t include taking in the fetid, hot night air.

As Barriss neared the mouth of the alley that led to her quarters, she felt a presence in the shadows. She saw no one, but the Force’s prompt was clear and unmistak-able-almost the psychic equivalent of a hand on her shoulder.

She stopped. Her hand moved slowly toward her lightsaber.

"You won’t need that," a voice said. "I’m not going to do you any real harm. Just teach you a little lesson in humility. You Jedi are big on that, aren’t you?"

Phow Ji.

She still couldn’t see him, but she knew where he was. Just over there, in the dark shadow of a quiet power gen-erator, a few meters to her right. He was an evil presence, a pulsing obstruction in the Force’s smooth continuum.

Her voice was low and even. "What makes you think you are the person to give lessons in humility?"

Phow Ji glided from the darkness. "Those who can, do. Those who can’t, don’t."

"Very succinct. What do you want?"

"Like I said-a lesson is required. The last time we chatted, you tripped me. From behind.

I owe you a re-turn of the favor. I think a mud bath is only fair. Noth-ing serious, no broken bones or anything. This is an exercise in reciprocity, nothing more. If your Force can stop me, then by all means"-he held his arms wide in a beckoning gesture-"use it."

What an egotist he was! So convinced in his own mind that he was unbeatable. And that he was so good he could humiliate her without hurting her-there was a real challenge for a fighter.

She briefly considered touching his mind with a sub-liminal suggestion that he didn’t really want to do this, that what he wanted was go back to his quarters and take a cold shower-but she could feel the discipline of his thoughts. They were a dense weave, as impenetrable as spin-worm silk. Ji was not weak-minded enough for a Padawan’s ability to sway him easily, if at all.

Ji settled into a stance, legs planted low and wide. He raised his hands, beckoned with one in a flippant gesture. "Come, Jedi. Shall we dance a little? "

I shouldn’t be doing this. I should refuse and walk away. Let him think I’m afraid-what does it matter?

But he should respect the Jedi, even if he didn’t respect her. It sat poorly with her to hear the name of her Order coated with contempt.

She stayed where she was.

She shifted her weight slightly, not moving her feet, just balancing herself so that she could push quickly with either leg, forward or back.

The evening was muggy; everything was damp, even the air. Her perspiration had nowhere to go; it gathered and rolled down her face and neck, soaked into her jumpsuit, threatened to drip into her eyes.

Ji smiled. "Good move. You don’t want to be com-mitted one way or the other when facing a skilled oppo-nent."

He circled to his right, and Barriss moved away from him, maintaining a wary distance.

The temptation to reach for the Force, to use it to flat-ten Ji, was almost overwhelming.

She had no doubt she could do it. One gesture, and Ji would fly into the near-est tree like a rabid rockbat. No fighter, no matter what his physical strength, could pit muscle