Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 08_ Edge of Victory 01_ Conquest - J. Gregory Keyes [111]
Corran’s eyes widened in surprise. “How did you manage that? Why didn’t your lightsaber cut through them?”
“It’s not a lightsaber.”
Corran’s expression was almost worth the damage to the droid.
“It’s just a blade-shaped force field, a weak one,” Anakin explained. “Wouldn’t cut anything. The things my droids have act like amphistaffs and move like them, but they just spit dye and deliver a shock when they hit. They only weigh a kilogram or so.”
“I guess I ruined your droid for no good reason, then,” Corran said.
Anakin’s anger was entirely mastered now. It was something he had been working on. “It’s okay. I built it; I can fix it. I’ve got nothing but time.”
“I’m just curious,” Corran said, eyeing the droids. “Booster has a couple of duelist elites in storage. Why not use one of them to train with?”
Anakin deactivated the “weapon” and returned it to the cabinet. “Duelist elites don’t move like Yuuzhan Vong warriors. The droids I built do.”
“I wondered what you’ve been puttering at for the last few weeks.”
Anakin nodded. “I don’t want to lose my edge. You saw what happened—the one you shot had me.”
“Practice is fine,” Corran said. “I just wish you had informed me of what you were doing. Might have saved me a skipped heartbeat and you a droid.”
“Right. I forgot,” Anakin said.
Corran nodded again, this time with a more thoughtful look in his eye. “You didn’t notice me coming. That’s not good. You have to learn to extend your sphere of responsibility beyond the immediate battle.”
“I know,” Anakin replied. “I wasn’t using the Force. I’m training to fight without it.”
“Because the Yuuzhan Vong can’t be sensed in the Force, I assume.”
Anakin nodded. “Of course. The Force is a wonderful tool—”
“The Force isn’t merely a tool, Anakin,” Corran admonished. “It’s much more than that.”
“I know,” Anakin said, a bit peevishly. “But among other things it is a tool, and for fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, it’s just not the right tool for the job, no more than a hydrospanner is what you would use to calibrate the input feed of an astromech.”
Corran cocked his head skeptically. “I can’t precisely dispute that, but it’s not because it isn’t wrong.”
Anakin shrugged. “Try it like this, then. All Jedi training involves the Force, even combat training. Sensing blows and blaster bolts before they happen, that sort of thing. Shoving our enemies around telekinetically—”
“With some exceptions,” Corran dryly reminded him.
“Right. So you should know what I mean. What do you think of Jedi who can’t win a fight without resorting to telekinesis? For that matter, you were CorSec long before you were Jedi. You should be able to see that the Force has become as much of a crutch for us as anything. The Yuuzhan Vong prove that.”
“Sounding a little like your brother. Are you abandoning the Force?”
Anakin’s eyebrows arched up. “Of course not. I’ll use it when it works. When I was being hunted by the Yuuzhan Vong on Yavin Four, I discovered ways to use the Force against them. I looked for the holes in the Force around me. I listened to the voices of the jungle and felt the fear of its creatures when the Yuuzhan Vong warriors passed near.”
“And you learned to sense the Yuuzhan Vong themselves,” Corran pointed out.
“Not with the Force, though. With the lambent I used to rebuild my lightsaber.”
“How can you be sure? I’ve never believed the Yuuzhan Vong don’t exist in the Force. They must. Everything does. We just don’t know how to do it. You attuned yourself to a piece of Vong biotech and now you can sense them. Can you be sure you haven’t found where they live in the Force?”
“Maybe I did make some sort of metalinkage, but if I did I think it’s more of a translation from one to another. I can’t be sure. All I know is, I can use it. But if I lose my lightsaber, or it’s destroyed, or the lambent dies—I still want to be able to fight them.”
Corran placed a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “Anakin, I understand