Jacen blinked. “Hey, they’re gone!”
“Not gone,” Luke said. “Just invisible. When you look at the remotes through the red filters, you can’t see them anymore.” Luke smiled. “That’s the point. When Obi-Wan Kenobi taught me, he made me fight using a helmet with the blast shield down. I couldn’t see a thing. You’ll at least be able to see your surroundings … but not the remotes.”
Jacen wanted to ask how he was supposed to fight what he couldn’t see, but he knew what Uncle Luke would say.
“I didn’t want you totally blind,” Luke continued, “because all four of you will be training here in the clearing with different remotes. This way you’ll be able to see each other. I don’t want anyone getting too enthusiastic and causing injuries instead of just deflecting laser bolts.”
This brought a small chuckle from Jacen and Jaina, but Master Skywalker looked at all of the trainees sternly. “I wasn’t kidding,” he said. “A lightsaber can cut through practically any substance known—and that includes people. Remember this warning: lightsabers are not toys. They are dangerous weapons. Treat them with the utmost care and respect. I hope that the time you each spent building your lightsaber has taught you more about its power and its risks.”
Luke picked up a set of controls. “Now let’s see how well you work with the Force and your own energy blades.”
He flipped a switch, and Jacen heard a hissing, whirring sound. But he saw nothing until he pushed up the scarlet visor. The four remotes drifted into the air, spinning around and scanning the vicinity.
“These lasers are low power,” Luke said, “but don’t think they won’t sting if you get hit by one.”
Jacen muttered to his sister, “At least he’s not throwing rocks or knives at us, like at the Shadow Academy.”
“Visors down,” Luke said. “Take your positions.”
The companions spread out in the clearing, tramping down the weedy underbrush.
“Ignite your lightsabers,” Luke said, then sat back. He seemed to be enjoying himself.
As one, the four Jedi trainees held out the handles of their new weapons and depressed the power studs. Brilliant beams sprang out in the red dimness, bright slashes the length of a sword blade burning through the thick crimson in front of Jacen’s eyes. The tinted masks drained all other color from their lightsabers, transforming them into glowing red rods. It reminded Jacen of Darth Vader’s weapon.
“The remotes are circling now,” Luke said. “In the next thirty seconds they’ll begin to fire at random. Reach out with the Force. Feel them. Sense the impending attack—then use your lightsaber blade to deflect it. A lot of your training has been leading up to this. Let’s see how well you do.”
Jacen tensed, holding his lightsaber ready. Much as he hated to admit it, he drew upon some of the skills Brakiss had taught him at the Shadow Academy. He felt the energy blade humming in his hand, pulsing with power. The sharpness of ozone reached his nostrils. He heard his friends moving about, preparing for an attack that could come from any direction.
The buzzing lightsabers muted all other sounds, just as the red filter drowned all other colors. Suddenly Jacen heard a snapping shot, though he saw nothing. A loud Wookiee yowl preceded the vibrating hum of a lightsaber blade sweeping sideways and hitting nothing. Lowie roared again.
“Dear me, Master Lowbacca, that wasn’t even close,” Em Teedee exclaimed. “I do hope you’ll improve significantly with practice.”
Lowie snarled, sounding hurt, and Em Teedee responded in a somewhat cowed fashion, “Well, all right. I understand it’s more difficult since you can’t see anything…. Even so, I should think it inadvisable to allow it to strike you again.”
Jacen’s interest in the conversation vanished when a sizzling bolt shot out from behind and struck him squarely on the backside. He yelped with pain. The tiny wound burned as badly as if a stinger lizard had zapped him. He whirled, slashing with the lightsaber, but by then it was too late.
From across the clearing another bolt shot out, followed by a crash of underbrush. Through the visor he saw Tenel Ka leap to one side. A branch snapped in two as the invisible laser struck it where Tenel Ka had stood only seconds before. The warrior girl crouched, holding her lightsaber up, her head cocked in concentration.
Jacen reached out with his mind, trying to sense through the Force where his remote would shoot next. He heard two more laser blasts and then a spang as Jaina successfully deflected one of the bolts. Jacen focused on the pain at the spot where he had been struck by the laser, using it to intensify his determination. He didn’t want to be stung again.
Another laser beam shot out. He swiped the lightsaber at it, barely missing—though his motion was enough to shift him out of its path so that the beam sizzled past. He felt the warmth of its passage, but could not see it.
“That was close,” he said, then instinctively swung to strike again as the remote fired once more.
Jaina parried a flurry of bolts as her remote attacked mercilessly, firing five times in rapid succession. One of her bolts ricocheted off the glowing edge of her lightsaber directly toward Jacen. He responded without conscious thought, using the Force and flowing with it, somehow knowing what to do as he shifted his own blade sideways just enough to catch the diverted bolt. The deflected blast bounced up into the trees, where it fried a fistful of leaves.
In a single follow-through motion, Jacen spun, reaching up with the lightsaber blade to ward off a second bolt fired from the other remote hovering in front of them.
Lowbacca bellowed with triumph as he, too, got the hang of defending himself.
Except for her heavy breathing, Tenel Ka was quiet, thoughtful. Through the red filter Jacen watched as she parried one of the lasers and leaped upward with all her might, using her lightsaber like a cleaver. A shower of sparks erupted and a smoking hole appeared in midair. Jacen heard a thunk as pieces of Tenel Ka’s remote fell useless to the jungle floor.
“All right. That’s enough for now,” Luke Skywalker said.
Tenel Ka switched off her weapon and stood with her hands on her hips, her elbows spread. Jacen flipped up his red visor to discover his own remote hovering barely at arm’s length in front of his face. He stepped back, startled.
Tenel Ka’s remote lay on the ground sliced in two, its circuits flickering and sparking. Jaina and Lowie also shut off their weapons and stood panting and grinning. Jacen rubbed the burning pain in his backside and grimaced sheepishly, hoping none of the others would notice.
“Excellent, all of you—except now it looks as if I’ll need a new remote,” Luke said, smiling wryly at Tenel Ka. “You did very well with the Force.”
“Not only with the Force,” she said, thrusting her chin upward and squaring her shoulders. “I also used my ears to track the remote. When I concentrated, I could hear it even above the sound of the lightsabers.”
Luke chuckled. “Good. A Jedi should use all available skills and resources.”
Jaina gripped the lightsaber in both hands and positioned the brilliant, electric-violet blade in front of her. She looked past the searing line of controlled fire at Lowbacca, her opponent, who stood opposite her, a lightsaber in his hairy grasp. He growled his readiness.
Jaina looked into the young Wookiee’s golden eyes, saw the dark streak of black fur swirling up from his eyebrow and around his head. She swallowed and tensed. Though lanky, Lowbacca was much taller than she, and Jaina knew he was about three times as strong. But in his furry expression she saw an uncertainty, a genuine discomfort that mirrored her own.