Giving herself a silent countdown, Jaina pointed her lasers at the closest ship. What am I waiting for? she asked herself.
Gritting her teeth, she fired a single shot, then swiveled the laser cannons, moving with hyperspeed, to target a second TIE fighter. Even before her second bolt struck the narrow joint next to the cockpit and sliced off the planar array, the first TIE fighter careened into a spin.
Jaina blasted again at the rear engine pods of the second ship. The TIE fighter exploded in front of her, momentarily blinding her, but she quickly averted her eyes. As she brought the laser cannons to bear on a third target, Jaina heard the TIE pilots shouting in outrage and panic. The formation began to split apart.
She didn’t have much time.
The third TIE fighter turned toward her, and Jaina strafed across its surface, severing one of the planar arrays and striking the viewports in the cockpit. The third ship went down—but by now the remaining three Imperials had spun around and were headed straight toward her.
Jaina blinked as fiery bolts from their laser cannons shot past her. She put her TIE fighter into a spin. Now using the Force to anticipate the incoming weapons fire, just as her uncle Luke had used his lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts, she spun and turned and banked, then began to fly away at her fighter’s top speed.
But the other three Imperial ships came howling after her, releasing a constant volley of laser fire, ignoring targets below now that they had acquired a single target … a traitor in their midst.
Jaina ducked and dodged, no longer enjoying the thrill of flight. She had a bad feeling about her impulsive attack. She streaked over the jungle, the three TIE fighters hot on her tail.
10
The dim forest floor near the Great Temple was familiar ground for Luke Skywalker and most of his Jedi trainees. Even with a battle of light and dark raging around him—or perhaps because of the battle—he found it soothing to be out in the wilds. The jungle itself was rich with life, and therefore rich in the Force that bound all life together.
Reaching down to confirm that his lightsaber was securely attached to his belt next to his comlink, Luke drew on the Force. He let it flow through him, let it show him the skirmishes all around him.
Alert to the emotions of his students, Luke reached out to bolster flagging confidence in one trainee, to warn another against an unexpected attack, to send encouragement to yet another who was growing tired.
An energy bolt from a TIE fighter sliced through the trees close by and set fire to the underbrush, forcing Luke to retreat behind a thicket to avoid choking fumes from the burning vegetation.
With his mind he searched for the center of the battle, the place where he could do the most good. Decades ago, when the Death Star had loomed over the jungle moon, his mission had been clear. The battle station’s superlaser could turn an entire planet to rubble. Luke had had no doubt in his mind that the Empire’s most powerful weapon must be destroyed. And with the Force to guide him, he had succeeded.
But today’s battle was different—it had no focus. This time he had no superweapon to disable. The Jedi academy’s long-range transmissions had been jammed, the defensive shields sabotaged. With Artoo-Detoo and the Shadow Chaser trapped in the Great Temple’s hangar bay, Luke had no way of reaching orbit to fight the Shadow Academy directly.
The ground assault itself was directed from the giant battle platform that hovered over the treetops a few kilometers away, but Luke sensed that the military component of the attack was mere harassment.
TIE fighters had made direct attacks on the Great Temple—and yet ground forces and Dark Jedi had been sent to fight on a nearly even footing against Luke’s students. With a different strategy, the Shadow Academy’s victory would have been far easier—it almost seemed as if Brakiss wanted to do it the hard way.
Luke knew that must be the answer.
A loud incoming message signal on his comlink startled him. Students at the Yavin academy rarely carried comlinks, but the Jedi Master kept one at his side during times of turmoil so that he could be reached more easily. Even though the Shadow Academy had jammed long-range transmissions, local signals from Artoo could still get through.
Luke switched on the comlink. “Sit tight, Artoo. We’ll be able to get you when the fighting’s over.” Before he could say more, a man’s voice blared from the tiny speaker.
“—essage for Luke Skywalker. Repeat: this is a message for Luke Skywalker. If anyone can hear me, respond immediately.”
Luke stared at the small device before replying, “Who is this?” But before he heard the answer, his Jedi senses told him the man’s identity.
“You can call me Master Brakiss,” the voice said. “Tell your teacher that I’m transmitting on all channels. He will want to speak to me.”
“This is Luke Skywalker,” he said. “If you have a message, Brakiss, you can give it directly to me.” Luke’s heart knocked painfully against his rib cage, though from surprise rather than fear.
A cultured laugh came over the comlink. “Well, my old teacher … the man I once called Master. This is a pleasure.”
“What do you want, Brakiss?” Luke asked.
“A meeting,” the smooth voice replied. “Just the two of us. On neutral ground. As equals. We didn’t have a chance to finish our … conversation when you came to my Shadow Academy to rescue your Jedi brats.”
Luke paused to consider. A meeting with Brakiss? Maybe this was the answer to the problem he had been trying to solve. After all, who was more central to this battle than the leader of the Shadow Academy himself? If Luke could reason with Brakiss, turn him away from the dark side, this battle could be won before too many lives were lost.
“Where, Brakiss? What neutral territory do you propose?”
“I think both your academy and mine are out of the question right now.”
“Agreed.”
“Away from the fighting, then. Across the river in the Temple of the Blue Leaf Cluster. But you must come alone.”
“Will you?” Luke asked.
Brakiss gave a rich chuckle. “Of course. I have no need for reinforcements—and I know you are true to your word.”
Luke paused to reassure himself that the Force was indeed guiding his actions. Both he and Brakiss were strong enough in the Force to sense any betrayal by the other.
“Very well, Brakiss. I’ll meet you there. Alone. We can settle this once and for all.”
11
“Hey, that wasn’t so hard,” Jacen said, leaning forward in the copilot’s chair of the Lightning Rod. The chair creaked, its padding bulging out through countless small rips and tears in the cushion. The engines rumbled and coughed and whined as the cargo shuttle finally broke free of the atmosphere.
“You had to say that, didn’t you, boy?” Peckhum said as sensor alarms squealed on his control panel. Incoming enemy ships. Again. “We got TIE fighters coming, four of ’em. Looks like they were launched directly from the Shadow Academy.”
Jacen swallowed, studying the pattern, and shook his head. “Oh, blaster bolts! We’d better transmit our distress message now before they get us. Otherwise help for the Jedi academy will come too late.”
Peckhum looked over at him, his eyes red-rimmed, his haggard face serious. “You’ll have to take care of that message yourself, Jacen. I’m gonna be mighty busy doing some fancy flying here—if she’ll hold together.” He patted the cockpit controls. “Sorry to do this to you, girl, but I didn’t name you the Lightning Rod for nothing. Let’s show these Imperials our stuff.”