Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 02_ Ruin - Michael A. Stackpole [117]
That Yuuzhan Vong warrior sighed all too peacefully as he collapsed. Another warrior arced his amphistaff at Mara, opening a cut in her left shoulder. Mara parried the return slash, then spun and kicked the warrior in the chest. He pitched back, then caught his heels on his dead comrade’s body. As he went down, Mara disarmed him with a cut through the wrist, then stabbed him through the chest and melted his heart.
Kyp’s violet and white blade swept up in a mighty cut that sliced through the Yuuzhan Vong’s chest from right hip to left shoulder. The Yuuzhan Vong spun away from the blow and staggered several steps, clutching at his ruined middle. He held the cleaved breastplate closed as if that would save him, then sat back against a wall and slid to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Mara jabbed her lightsaber toward Wurth. “Get him out of here. I see blood—it’s a compound fracture. Cauterize it with your lightsaber if you have to.”
Kyp’s eyes narrowed. “He’ll survive. I’m not going to leave you here.”
“I don’t need your help, Kyp. He does. Just go on while there’s still time. Do it.”
He stared at her through a mask of blood flowing from a scalp wound. “I know my duty.”
“Then do your duty toward your friend.” She snarled as she ran toward Anakin. “Get him clear!”
Up on the walkway, the twin lightsabers had allowed Anakin to hold off the reptoids, but the four of them were pressing him closely. Mara gathered the Force to herself to make the leap up to his level, but before she could launch herself, one of the reptoids shifted his grip on the amphistaff and swung it around at waist height. His blow bisected his target.
Then the reptoid lunged and caught the second of his comrades with a thrust to the chest. As the third looked on in amazement, Anakin lashed out with his purple blade, burning the surprise from that reptoid’s face. A quick lunge with Daeshara’cor’s scarlet blade killed the last reptoid, who thrashed out his last moments of life at Mara’s feet as she landed.
“What did you do, Anakin?”
“Nothing.” The boy smiled and looked past her. Mara spun and saw Luke standing there, all serene and calm in the midst of the chaos.
The Jedi Master waved them toward him with a hand. “Let’s go. Anakin, you lead.”
Mara extinguished her lightsaber, then tossed Daeshara’cor over her shoulders in an emergency carry. “What did you do?” She took great comfort in his presence.
“Swapped images of Anakin and the other reptoids in that one’s mind. Wasn’t much of a trick.”
“But an effective one.” She nodded. “You saw Kyp and Wurth.”
“Ahead of us. You can see the blood.” Luke touched his hand to the middle of Mara’s back. “You should have called me to help.”
“I figured you heard my comm and would come if needed.” She laughed lightly so he’d know she was smiling. “And I’m glad you did.”
“Thanks for saving Anakin.”
“I owed him.” Her smile broadened as she saw Anakin warding a corridor entrance with his twin blades. “Besides, a century from now, when Jedi are singing ballads about the great Jedi hero, Anakin Solo, I want to be known for being a bit more than the woman he saved at Dantooine.”
“Oh, I think, Mara,” her husband said quietly, “that won’t be a problem at all.”
Aboard the Legacy of Torment, Deign Lian saw the weapons on one of the infidel ships flash. Their golden-red bolts lanced down at one of the smaller ships in the Yuuzhan Vong formation and blew through the voids raised to intercept such weak shots. The energy projectiles boiled yorick coral on the hull, converting it from solid to vapor, which jetted back out into space.
Two shots that hit along the dorsal ridge exposed the living ship’s main neural channel to the cold of space. Tissue froze instantly, imposing