• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Kyp frowned at Corran, allowing annoyance to ripple off him. “Semantics again. You attacked the Yuuzhan Vong and slew them, which is the only way you succeeded in getting your charges freed. Regardless, I have the others here with me. They are waiting below in the auditorium. What shall I tell them, Master?”

Luke closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded once, wearily. “Tell them I appreciate their coming here so quickly. I wish them to relax. They should spend this evening in contemplation of the Force. Their input will be treated with respect and considered fully. We will meet with them tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? I understand and obey, Master.” Kyp bowed once, quickly and shallow, then spun on his heel and marched out very precisely. Luke noticed Corran watching the other man’s departure, his thumb caressing the black ignition button on the lightsaber’s grip. Mara spared no glance for Kyp, but flashes of fury came off her like bursts of radiation from a pulsar.

“I know you find him annoying . . .” Luke said.

Corran turned at the sound of Luke’s voice. “Annoying? Either I’m covering my feelings, or you’re being kind. If I had any talent for telekinesis at all, I’d have strangled him with his own cloak.”

“Corran!” Mara frowned as she looked at him.

“Sorry, I suppose that would have been out of character for me—”

“Out of character to be so obvious.” Mara’s green eyes narrowed. “You need to be more subtle. Locate a partially blocked artery in his brain, then just pinch it off. Bang, he’s down and it’s over.”

Corran smiled. “Now I’m really sorry I don’t have TK.”

“Stop it, both of you.” Luke shook his head. “Even joking that way compounds the problem we have with Kyp and his faction. They’ve all grown up in the post-Empire era. They’ve always had dreams of being Jedi that could destroy the greatest evil we’ve ever known. What I did fighting the Empire, what I had to do fighting the Empire—that’s how they think we should handle all evil. The slash of a lightsaber is the last word in justice. They know better than that, but the Yuuzhan Vong, because they are outside the Force, seem to leave us with only the lightsaber to deal with them.”

The Corellian Jedi flicked sweat out of his beard. “I suppose that killing two Vong at Bimmiel didn’t help dispel that impression, did it?”

“You had no choice, Corran, and you came very close to dying on Bimmiel.” Luke sighed heavily. “That lesson was lost on Kyp’s faction, too. You got hurt; they see you as weak. They’re missing how good the Yuuzhan Vong are. Since Kyp’s followers see themselves as better than you, your ability to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong means they, too, can defeat them, and easily.”

Mara nodded. “And Anakin killing even more of them on Dantooine likely has encouraged some to severely underestimate the Yuuzhan Vong. The lesson of Dantooine is a terrifying one. The Yuuzhan Vong care more about doing their duty than worrying about death. Those Jedi who use fear or intimidation to keep enemies in check should be terrified of an enemy that isn’t afraid to die.”

Luke pressed fingertips to his temples. “That’s what has me worried the most: fear and terror, pain, envy, and contempt. They’re all of the dark side.”

“Yes, but, Master, we have to be realistic.” Corran clipped his lightsaber to his belt. “The Vong are formidable and merciless. We can’t sense them with the Force. This takes away a lot of the abilities most Jedi have come to rely on. The loss of our edge has got to bring fear.”

“No, Corran, you’re wrong.” Luke made his right hand into a fist and thumped it against his heart. “Being Jedi is what we are. It’s not the power we wield and the weapons we carry. I don’t stop being a Jedi when stripped of the Force by an ysalamiri. The others are letting fear distance themselves from this basic truth. We serve the Force, whether our enemies are part of it or not.”

Corran frowned as he thought for a moment, then nodded. “I see your point, but I’m not sure they will. Face it, a normal reaction to fear is to strike out at that