Lightsabers

by Kevin J. Anderson

for today."

  I 0 -----------------DOCTORS WERE BORN meddlers, Tenel Ka decided with

  annoyance.

  The fifth court physician in as many hours continued explaining in a

  calm, patronizing voice that, although Tenel Ka was perfectly correct in

  not desiring a crude droid arm, she could have no objection to a

  lifelike biomechanical prosthetic replacement. (Apparently they thought

  they knew her better than she knew herself.) Tenel Ka finally raised

  the stump of her arm in exasperated surrender and let the doctor have

  her way. The physician looked satisfied and not at all surprised that

  Tenel Ka had agreed. After all, it had been the only reasonable choice.

  The doctor beckoned to one of her nurses, and the man came forward to

  begin taking measurements of the stump of Tenel Ka's left arm. Next, an

  engineer placed electrodes against her scarred skin and sent

  intermittent jolts of electricity into the flesh-to measure the nerve

  conduction, she explained.

  Meanwhile, the nurse placed Tenel Ka's right arm

  ^ LIGHTSABERS

  ^ in a holographic imaging chamber. Each time the engineer administered

  a jolt to Tenel Ka's stump, the nurse patted her shoulder comfortingly

  and asked her to hold still. The man took great pride in telling her how

  the holographic image would be reversed to make a pattern that could be

  used as the mold for her new biosynthetic left arm.

  Like children let loose at a sweets bazaar, physicians buzzed around the

  room snapping orders, conferring with each other, and making

  preparations. Allowing the poking and prodding and the chaos of voices

  to fade into the background, Tenel Ka sank into her own thoughts.

  As the daughter of two strong ruling families, one from Hapes and one

  from Dathomir, Tenel Ka had long known who and what she was. Her

  philosophy of life had been as clear in her mind as her views on

  lineage, loyalty, friendships, and even her own physical abilities and

  limitations.

  If one of those components changed, did everything else change as well?

  From childhood, Tenel Ka's parents had taught her to make her own

  decisions based in equal part on reason, fact, and personal belief.

  Therefore, she had never been one to sit passively while others made

  choices for her. Yet, since the loss of her arm, hadn't she done just

  that?

  She had hardly given it a thought when Ambassador Yfra appeared in the

  middle of the night to whisk her away from Yavin 4 in secret. In these

  last few days on Hapes, Tenel Ka had allowed her grandmother to control

  her movements and communications, tell her when to sleep, bring all her

  meals, and select appropriate clothing for her. And now Tenel Ka, who

  had always relied on her own mind and body, was allowing herself to be

  fitted for a biomechanical arm.

  Had she truly changed so much?

  The Force was a part of her, flowing through her just as the blood of

  her parents flowed through her veins. But this artificial ann was no

  part of her.

  If she accepted it, then she was allowing the loss of her limb to change

  her in ways that reached deeper than the eye could see. She didn't

  object to changing-but this change was not for the better. If she

  allowed herself to be transformed, it should be in the direction of

  becoming stronger or wiser.

  Tenel Ka's reverie was cut short by the sound of whirring servomotors.

  The doctor and an engineer stood before her holding a grotesque metallic

  arm.

  I A droid arm. It reminded Tenel Ka of the unw,eldly contraption she had

  heard the former TIE pilot Qorl now wore since going back to serve the

  Second Imperium. Tenel Ka shook her head in wordless denial.

  "Now this is only temporary, of course," the doctor said with the same

  infuriating condescension she had used before. "Just accustom yourself

  to it while we're synthesizing the biomechanical arm."

  LIGHTSABERS

  ^ Tenel Ka decided then and there that she had not, in fact, changed

  that much. If she needed to use the Force from now on to assist her in

  small ways, then so be it. But she refused to become dependent on a

  machine that masqueraded as part of herself.

  "No," she managed to croak when the doctor moved to attach the

  mechanical arm to her severed limb. The engineer backed away uneasily,

  but the doctor continued as if Tenel Ka had not spoken.

  "This is all part of the process of making you whole again," the doctor

  said in her maddening voice, "and that is exactly what you want."

  "No," Tenel Ka repeated, setting her jaw stubbornly. Anger seethed

  inside her at the doctor's confident presumption that she knew what was

  best.

  The doctor shook her head and bent down, as if chiding a young child.

  "Now, you agreed to be fitted for this new arm and-"

  "I've changed my mind," Tenel Ka gritted, clamping down on her temper to

  hold it in check.

  The doctor's lips were still smiling, but grim determination shone in

  her eyes, indicating she would never take no for an answer-not from any

  patient of hers. The woman kept up a steady stream of talk and motioned

  for the engineer to help her position the droid prosthetic against the

  stump of Tenel Ka's arm, as if the doctor thought that by forging ahead

  she could overwhelm her patient's determination with her own.

  "Now, there's no disgrace in having a biomechanical arm, you know. Even

  your great Jedi Master Skywalker has a prosthetic hand."

  Tenel Ka acknowledged inwardly that there had been no weakness in Master

  Skywalker's choice. It made him no more or less than what he was. He had

  wrestled with his own decisions and made his own choices, just as she

  must make hers. The Jedi Master would not ask her to do otherwise-as the

  people who surrounded her here on Hapes seemed intent on doing.

  "Your new arm will look quite natural," the doctor went on in her

  exasperating, soothing voice, "and your grandmother has spared no

  expense."

  When the cold metal of the mechanical limb touched Tenel Ka's arm, she

  lost the last vestiges of control over her anger.

  "No!" Tenel Ka cried, unconsciously using the Force to give the engineer

  and the doctor a backward shove. The droid arm was already clamped in

  place against her skin, however, like a protruding cancerous growth.

  "I said NO! " Tenel Ka quite consciously used the Force to yank the

  contraption free and fling it with blinding speed against the nearest

  wall. It hit the stones with a clang and a crunch and fell in pieces to

  the cold tile floor.

  LIGHTSABERS

  ^

  Gasps went up from all around the room, and a dozen pairs of eyes

  regarded her with shock and apprehension.

  Having vented her fury, Tenel Ka's voice was now quite calm. "And I

  meant no."

  THE BUZZING VIBRATION of the T-23 skyhopper both soothed and unsettled

  Jacen for some reason he could not define.

  Up in the cockpit with Lowie, Em Teedee amplified his speaker volume to

  be heard above the whine of the engines. "Really, Master Lowbacca, I

  don't see what the point of all this flyin
g about could be, without even

  so much as a destination in mind."

  At Lowie's soft growl, the little droid replied, "Therapeutic? For

  what? And in any case, I should think that performing some sort of

  physical exercise would be far more beneficial than flying aimlessly

  over the treetops."

  Jaina sat pensively beside Jacen in the skyhopper's cramped passenger

  seat, toying with her lightsaber. "We actually tried that, Em Teedee,

  but lately it seems like any exercise we do only reminds us of the

  things we were trying to get our minds off of in the first place."

  Jacen was surprised to hear Jaina answering the 94 LIGHTSABERS

  ^ pesky little droid just as Lowie had addressed it a moment

  earlier-without annoyance, and as a friend.

  In fact, a full day had passed since any of them had had the heart to

  switch Em Teedee off. It was as if they hoped the little translator's

  chatter might fill the void that none of them wished to think about.

  But something was missing, Jacen thought. Different. Under normal

  circumstances he probably would have been crowded into the tiny cargo

  well behind the passenger seat . . . and he would have happily endured

  that discomfort, if it meant that Tenel Ka could have been with them,

  sitting where he now sat.

  "Oh, dear me!" Em Teedee said in a much subdued voice. "How terribly

  insensitive my processor can be. You've all been thinking of Mistress

  Tenel Ka, haven't you? I am dreadfully sorry."

  Jacen saw Lowie reach down to give the little droid what looked like a

  comforting pat. Now that Em Teedee had brought up the subject the

  friends had been avoiding, Jacen felt Tenel Ka's absence all the more

  keenly.

  "It's okay, Em Teedee," Jaina said. "We all miss her."

  Jacen sighed. "I wish I could just talk to her."

  Jacen, Lowie, and Em Teedee voiced agreement.

  Then, as though they had discussed it and come to a unanimous decision,

  Lowie turned the T-23 about and headed back to the Jedi academy.

  Master Luke Skywalker looked down at his small barrel-shaped astromech

  droid as they entered the hangar bay at the base of the Great Temple.

  "I'm fine, Artoo," he said, answering the droid's questioning whistle.

  "I just have an important decision to make."

  Luke frowned and thought back on the direct communication he had just

  sent to the Fountain Palace on Hapes. He had been unable to get hold of

  Prince Isolder and Teneniel Djo, Tenel Ka's parents.

  Instead, Ta'a Chume, the matriarch of the Royal House, had come onscreen

  and told him in no uncertain terms that Tenel Ka's parents were

  traveling outside the Hapes Cluster and could not be reached, and that

  the princess herself had already endured enough trauma because of her

  Jedi training.

  Under no circumstances would the young woman be allowed to speak with

  Master Skywalker. With that, the former queen had abruptly terminated

  the connection, leaving Luke with an entirely new set of concerns.

  Tenel Ka's grandmother had never approved of the direction the girl had

  chosen for her own life.

  The harsh old woman had always wanted to mold her granddaughter into a

  scheming politician of whom she could be proud-someone just like

  herself.

  What if, Luke wondered, instead of supporting LIGHTSA ER

  ^ and comforting Tenel Ka during this time of turbulence, her

  grandmother chose to use Tenel Ka's weakness to her own advantage?

  Without Isolder and Teneniel Djo to support their daughter emotionally,

  Tenel Ka might be too despondent or confused to make her own choices. It

  was possible she would blindly accept any decision the matriarch might

  make on her behalf.

  Luke shook his head. Political considerations aside, Tenel Ka would not

  find the comfort she needed from her grandmother. He thought of the

  close bond the four young Jedi Knights had developed from working and

  training together at the academy. Tenel Ka needed that kind of closeness

  right now. She needed the unselfish caring that Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie

  could provide.

  Luke had no wish to influence Tenel Ka's decision about whether or not

  to return to Yavin ; t at would have to be her choice, and hers alone.

  And certainly any competent medical droid could be trusted to tend Tenel

  Ka's physical wound. But she needed the warmth and support of friends in

  order to heal her emotional wounds and come to her own decision.

  Luke smiled as he saw Lowbacca maneuver the T-23 skyhopper onto its pad

  in the hangar bay.

  Those Jedi trainees needed to have their emotional wounds healed as

  well. He straightened and walked toward the T-23. "I think we'd better

  do a preflight check on the Shadow Chaser, Artoo. Let's get ready to

  fly."

  Artoo warbled and beeped, asking a question.

  "Yes," Luke Skywalker said. "I've made my decision."

  From the moment her uncle announced he would take them to see Tenel Ka

  after all, adrenaline began to rush through Jaina's veins. She made a

  mad dash for her chambers, snatched a fresh jumpsuit, a Jedi robe, and a

  few other odds and ends, then stuffed them along with her lightsaber

  into a small flight duffel. By the time she raced back out of her

  quarters, down the echoing stone stairs and hallways, and out onto the

  landing pad, where their ship waited, she no longer had any idea what

  she had packed.

  Jacen arrived ahead of her, running up the ramp of the sleek Shadow

  Chaser, a disordered pile of clean clothes tucked under one arm, his

  lightsaber under the other. Jaina didn't slow as she followed him up the

  ramp, marveling as she always did at the powerful ship and its glossy

  quantum armor. The ship had once been the finest craft created by the

  Second Imperium. After Master Luke Skywalker and Tenel Ka had used it to

  rescue the twins and Lowie from the Shadow Academy, the New Republic had

  given the Shadow Chaser to the Jedi Master for his own use.

  LIGHTSABERS

  ^ Once Lowie had scrambled aboard with Em Teedee, his lightsaber clipped

  to the webbed belt at his waist, Luke instructed Artoo-Detoo to raise

  the boarding ramp, and the Shadow Chaser lifted off.

  Jaina felt a thrill as the Shadow Chaser's repulsorlifts boosted them

  off the landing field; sublight engines kicked in, launching them away

  from the jungle moon. The last few minutes of rushed preparation were a

  blur in her mind, and she looked around for something else to speed them

  on their way.

  Lowie rumbled a question from the navigation console, and Em Teedee

  answered, "No, I'm certain Master Luke doesn't need our assistance in

  plotting the most efficient route."

  Her uncle smiled down at the Wookiee. "We'll be going to lightspeed in

  just a few minutes. Why don't you all try to relax, get some rest."

  Jaina took a deep breath and watched the stars through the

  viewports-like glittering gems sinking in a depthless black sea-until

  each pinprick of light elongated into a starline and the Shadow Chaser

  made a smooth jump into hyperspace.

  The three Jedi trainees found they were too excited to rest,
though.

  They spent the remainder of the journey trying to distract themselves

  aboard the tiny ship. Jaina and Lowie were just about to remove an

  access panel to the rear thruster stabilizers to study how they worked

  when Luke announced their final approach to Tenel Ka's home planet.

  The three friends rushed to the cockpit. As they took their seats behind

  the Jedi Master, Lowie squinted and scanned the star system around them.

  When she saw his ginger-fuffed face register surprise, Jaina looked

  around, seeing no nearby planet that could have been Dathomir.

  "That's odd," she said at last. "From the descriptions I've heard and

  the star charts I've studied, I could swear we were in the Hapes

  Cluster."

  Her uncle swiveled in the pilot seat and met each pair of eyes in turn.

  "We are in the Hapes system," Luke said gravely.

  "It's time I explained to you that Tenel Ka is more than just a simple

  warrior from a backward planet."

  ^ 2 ----------------BROAD-SHOULDERED NORYS, former leader of the Lost

  Ones gang and new stormtrooper trainee, spread his white armor on the

  bunk in front of him. He studied the pieces carefully, then began to

  assemble the glossy outfit, donning the components one at a time-and

  enjoying every minute of it.

  The boots went on first, stiff and sturdy. Then the greaves, the shin