Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 03_ Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [47]
“I’ve found only sketchy information, but it seems that in the final battle the unified Jedi wiped out most of the jungles on Yavin 4, laying waste to everything in their efforts to destroy Exar Kun. Kun drained dry the life force of all his Massassi slaves in one last gambit. The ancient Jedi succeeded in destroying much of what he had built and obliterated Kun’s body, but he somehow managed to preserve his spirit within the temples. For all these years.”
“Then we must finish the job,” Kirana Ti said, standing up. She wore her reptilian body armor all the time now, unencumbered by a Jedi robe because she did not know when she might need to fight at a moment’s notice.
“I agree,” Kam Solusar said. His gaunt face held the expression of a man who had long ago forgotten how to smile.
“But how?” Streen said. “Thousands of Jedi could not obliterate the Dark Man. We are only twelve.”
“Yes,” Kirana Ti said, “but this time Exar Kun doesn’t have a race of enslaved people to draw upon. He has no resources but himself. Besides, Kun has already been defeated once—and he knows it.”
“And,” Cilghal interjected, gesturing around the table, “all of us have trained together from the beginning. Master Skywalker made us to be a team. Leia called us champions of the Force—and that is what we must be.”
• • •
Standing at the pinnacle of the Great Temple, Luke Skywalker’s shimmering form could not feel the cool twilight breeze as the lumbering orange hulk of the gas giant cast fading light across the jungles. Luke watched a flock of batlike creatures take to the air and swarm across the treetops in search of night insects.
He remembered his nightmare when Exar Kun, disguised as Anakin Skywalker, had urged Luke to dabble in the dark side. Against the backdrop of history Luke had seen the labors of the broken Massassi erecting mammoth temples, working until crushed by sheer labor. Luke had cast off that nightmare, but he had not interpreted its warning soon enough.
Now he turned to see the hooded form of Kun standing black against the jungle landscape, but the sight no longer had the power to make him afraid. “You’re growing bolder, Exar Kun, to keep showing yourself to me—especially when your attempts to destroy my body continue to fail.”
In the aftermath of the reptilian creatures’ attack, Luke had watched Cilghal tend his body’s minor wounds, cleaning them and binding them with the meticulous care and empathy he had sensed from her first days at the Jedi academy. Cilghal was a born Jedi healer.
She had spoken aloud to Luke’s spirit, though she couldn’t see him. “We will do whatever we can, Master Skywalker. Please keep faith in us.”
Luke had indeed maintained his faith. He felt it throbbing within him as he confronted Exar Kun atop the temple, where the Sith Lord and Kyp Durron had defeated Luke once before.
“I have been toying with you.” Kun waved his silhouette hand. “Nothing will affect my plans. Some of your students are already mine. The others will soon follow.”
“I don’t think so,” Luke said with fresh certainty. “I have instructed them well. You might show them easy ways to glory, but your tricks carry a high price. I have taught them diligence, confidence in their own worth and abilities. What you offer, Exar Kun, is mere parlor magic. I have given them the true strength and meaning of the Force.”
“Do you think I don’t know of the laughable plans they make against me?” Kun said. The spirit of the Dark Lord seemed to be growing more full of bluster and threats. Perhaps his confidence was shaken.
“It doesn’t matter,” Luke answered. “They will defeat you anyway. Your imagined power is your weakness, Exar Kun.”
“And your faith in your friends is yours!” Kun snapped back.
Luke laughed, feeling his strength and determination increase. “I’ve heard talk like