Star Wars_ Rebel Force 04_ Firefight - Alex Wheeler [26]
Or maybe she was there after all, resting in pieces, beneath Grish.
Div had never thought of himself as a squeamish person. And something might be buried in the detritus that could serve as a weapon. Grish's blaster might even have made it through intact. But Div just couldn't bring himself to look. Not yet. "Well?" he snapped at Luke. "You going to stand there and daydream, or you going to help me find a weapon?"
Luke jerked his eyes away from the water. "When that thing comes back, I'll be ready." He pulled a slim gray rod from beneath his coat. A beam of blue light blazed from the base.
Div's eyes widened. He felt all his breath sucked out of him, like he was back in the creature's belly again. And in an instant, he was on top of Luke, his hand around the Rebel's throat. The lightsaber dropped to the ground and rolled a few feet away.
"Get off me!" Luke shouted, but Div only tightened his hold. He dragged Luke off the ground and pinned him to the cave wall, banging his head against the rocks. "Where'd you get it?" he growled. "The lightsaber?"
"It's mine," Luke gasped, trying to suck in more air. Div's fingers tightened around his windpipe.
"The truth," Div whispered harshly. "Jedi leave their lightsabers behind only in death.
So are you a thief or a murderer? Or both? "
Luke stopped his feeble attempts to escape. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut and stretched a hand toward the lightsaber, Div watched him for a moment in disbelief. Was the Rebel pilot actually trying to summon the lightsaber? Was he trying to access…the Force?
"One more time," Div said, watching Luke carefully. He would recognize a lie when he saw it. "Where did you find the Jedi weapon?"
"My father," Luke choked out. "It belonged to my father."
Div searched Luke's face. The Rebel's expression was as sincere as his voice. But Div didn't need the confirmation. He knew it was the truth. Maybe he'd known since the first time he'd seen Luke, that moment in the lab when Luke had disappeared inside himself.
The truth was in the way Luke moved, the way he held himself. And when Div released him, the truth was in the way Luke snatched the lightsaber from the ground and held it to himself. After checking it for damage, he activated the blade and faced Div.
His grip was clumsy, his stance unbalanced, but there was no mistaking it: This was Luke's rightful weapon.
Which could mean only one thing.
"This lightsaber belonged to my father, and now it belongs to me," Luke said, his tone a warning.
Weapon or not, Div could have disarmed him easily. But he had no desire to do so.
Not anymore. "Your father was a Jedi," Div said quietly. It wasn't a question.
Luke nodded. "And so am I."
The young man actually sounded proud.
"All you are is a blasted fool," Div spat, "if you think being a Jedi is anything other than a death sentence."
Luke advanced with the lightsaber. Div held up his hands. "No need," he said calmly.
"You have nothing to fear from me. But out there…" He gestured to the water, to the wider galaxy, where a man would have to be insane to label himself a Jedi. "You have no idea what kind of misery you're going to attract."
"You know about the Jedi?" Luke asked searchingly with a hopeful note in his voice.
"No."
"But you said—"
"I know only what everyone else knows," Div said tersely. "The Jedi are dead and gone. All of them."
"Not all of them," Luke said.
"Not yet."
"But—" Before Luke could persist with his annoying questions, the water rippled and churned. The creature surfaced, dragging itself onto the rocks with giant tentacles. Luke raised the lightsaber and rushed at the beast.
"Luke, no!" Div shouted.
But Luke ignored him and slashed at the creature with rough, clumsy strokes. The beast moaned in pain once,