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“I’m fine,” Anakin said, rising from the chair. Unknown to the officer, he’d already unlocked his stun cuffs using the Force; now he shucked them from his wrists.

“You’re not fine,” Tahiri said, touching the side of his head. He winced. “You see?” she said. She turned back toward Themion, who was trying to rise. “You smelly Jawa, I’m going to—”

“You’re going to put the stun cuffs on him and that’s all,” Anakin said.

“He deserves worse. He’s a liar and a coward who beats helpless people.” Her eyes narrowed.

“Stay out of my mind, you stinking Jedi,” Themion snarled.

“Give me the blaster, Tahiri.”

She handed it to Anakin without looking.

“Now,” Anakin said. “You let her put these cuffs on you, or I’ll let her do whatever she wants.”

Themion let her. Then Anakin leaned around the doorway. A blaster bolt greeted him—down the hall, another judicial was rushing forward.

The shot missed, and he ducked the next one. He felt another surge in the Force, and the judicial went flying into the corridor wall. The impact knocked his senses out of him.

“I think we’d better leave,” Tahiri said, from behind him.

“I think you’re right,” Anakin replied. He knelt and took the guard’s blaster and dialed it down to the lowest setting. He took the stun baton, too.

“After we find our lightsabers,” Tahiri said.

“If we can find them,” Anakin cautioned. “They took mine somewhere downstairs. Or at least I think so.”

They reached the turbolift with a minimum of effort.

“Be ready when we reach the bottom floor,” Anakin said. “They’re sure to be ready for us. One of these guys must have called down by now.”

Tahiri nodded, an unsettling smile on her face.

“Tahiri?”

“Yes.”

“Beware of anger.”

“I’m not angry,” she said. “Just ready.”

Anakin eyed her dubiously, but they didn’t have time to go over it now. “Stand against the sides of the lift. They may shoot before it even opens.”

She did as he suggested. A moment later, the doors sighed open.

No sizzling bolts of energy greeted them. Instead they were met by laughter and shouts of encouragement. Puzzled, Anakin peeked around the lift door.

Two judicials stood in a ring formed by their comrades. They were swinging clumsily at one another with lightsabers. One was Anakin’s, the other Tahiri’s.

“Use the Force!” someone hooted, as the man wielding Anakin’s violet blade accidentally sliced a desk in half.

It took only a minor suggestion that they weren’t there for Anakin and Tahiri to walk out of the lift and around the edge of the excited crowd. Apparently, either no one upstairs had called down or—more likely—no one here had bothered to answer the call. In any event, everyone in the building seemed completely engrossed in the “duel.”

“Keep cool, Tahiri,” Anakin said as they drew near the door to the outside. “I have an idea.”

The fellow holding Anakin’s lightsaber made a clumsy jab at the other judicial, who replied with an equally inept circular parry. Anakin took that opportunity to use the Force to wrench his weapon from the officer’s hands—it looked as if the parry had disarmed him. The lightsaber flew high in the air, sending everyone in its possible trajectory scurrying away. It struck the argon arc fixture in the ceiling, then continued on to strike the power grid node on the other side of the room. The room plunged into darkness, save for the two lightsabers, both of which suddenly vanished.

On the street, Tahiri burst into laughter.

“Don’t laugh,” Anakin said. “Run!”

“I’m just thinking we probably saved their lives,” Tahiri replied. “The way they were going, they would have lost at least a hand or two. If—” She stopped as Anakin abruptly halted.

“What?” Tahiri asked.

“Maybe running is the second-best idea,” Anakin said, pointing at the police airspeeder parked in front of the station.

The two jumped into the rusty orange vehicle. It had an old-fashioned computer input, and it took Anakin only a few seconds to slice into the security system. Just as a mob of officers burst onto the street, he bypassed the code and started the speeder. He throttled it up