Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 02_ Ruin - Michael A. Stackpole [5]
She swung her blue blade to batter Corran’s blade aside, but got no spark and no hiss from a collision of the blades. Her mighty swing spun her around, and as she completed the circle, the blue blade carved an infinity symbol in the air before her. She dropped back two steps, then thumbed her blade off and bowed in Corran’s direction, before slumping to her knees with sweat pasting locks of hair to her cheeks.
Luke arched an eyebrow at Corran. “How long have you been waiting to use that tactic?”
Corran shut his blade off, then rotated the assembly back into its original position. He slid off his right ankle and onto his butt, then sat cross-legged on the floor. “The Vong got me thinking about it. We can’t feel them through the Force, so we can’t feel where they are. That makes them difficult to defend against.”
Mara snorted. “Turning your blade off in the middle of a fight like that is a foolish thing to do.”
“I know, but I could have just as easily switched blade lengths as you went to beat my blade aside. A stop thrust is very effective against an incoming enemy, if you know the enemy is incoming. I figured you’d have to press your attack. I doubled the blade, giving you a way to take my weapon out of play, then killed the blade as you went to knock it aside. Another touch of the thumb and you get spitted.”
Luke felt a chill run down his spine. He recalled his teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi, raising his lightsaber in a salute, then killing the blade even as Darth Vader killed him. It worked that time as a tactic, too. The ultimate in self-sacrifice for the ultimate in victories.
The Jedi Master smiled and opened his hands as he walked to the center of the training floor. Above and around him, through a great transparisteel dome, he could see the orderly flow of airspeeders and hovertrucks moving through Coruscant’s sky. Everything seemed so natural and normal when he looked at the outside world, yet beneath the dome, in the Jedi headquarters on Coruscant, things boiled like storm clouds on the horizon.
“Both of you did very well, all things considered.”
Mara forced herself to her feet. “We can do better. We have to do better. C’mon.”
Corran shook his head, spraying sweat from his brown hair and beard. “I’ve got at least one more go-around in me, I think.”
Luke frowned. “No, right now, this was enough for you both.”
Beyond the two of them, striding boldly through an archway, came a Jedi with a black cloak billowing behind him. Slender and sharp featured, the Jedi had an incendiary gaze. His upper lip curled with a hint of contempt, then he smiled carefully. And coldly. “Good afternoon, Master Skywalker.” The way he spoke the word Master made it a simple title, draining it of any sense of respect.
“Good afternoon to you, Kyp Durron.” Luke kept his voice even, despite his dislike of Kyp’s tone. “I thought you’d be here later.”
Kyp stopped on the other side of the sweating combatants. “I convinced the others to speed their arrangements.” He waved a gloved hand back toward the archway. “We’re ready to convene the council of war right now.”
Luke raised his chin slowly. “This is not a council of war. The Jedi do not go to war. We are protectors and defenders, not aggressors.”
“With all due respect, Master Skywalker, the difference is a mere semantic one.” Kyp clasped his hands together at the small of his back. “The Yuuzhan Vong are here and are intent on conquering at least some, if not all, of our galaxy. As defenders we have already failed, and yet, as aggressors we knew success. Ganner Rhysode and Corran attacked on Bimmiel and came away with their prize. We defended at Dantooine and were driven away.”
Corran sighed. “Bimmiel belongs to the Vong now, too, Kyp, in case you hadn’t noticed. And Ganner and I did what we did to protect some