“Which means we’ve been expelled,” Hurana said.
“Which means, dear friends, that we have nowhere to go,” Gillam said. “It’s a big galaxy out there. We only have one another. And that’s a good thing. Together, we can be the best. We can have everything we want, if we just stick together. At first we did it because nobody wanted us. But now we can do it because we’re the best. We belong together.”
Gillam’s voice was low and compelling. Anakin saw the charisma and charm that had led these students to join him.
“Maybe nobody wanted the others,” Anakin said. “Or you convinced them that it was true. I don’t know about that. But what about you? You’re the son of a powerful Senator. Who didn’t want you?”
Gillam’s face went white with sudden rage, and for the first time, Anakin could see that he was quite capable of killing him. “My father!” he shouted. Gillam regained control of himself with an effort. “And now he’ll realize how wrong he was. Everyone will realize who underestimated my resolve. Well, Marit? Are you with us?”
Marit turned to Anakin. “I have nowhere else to go,” she said.
“Marit, we’re not doing anything wrong,” Gillam said. “We’re doing what we set out to do. We knew what the stakes were.”
Anakin held Marit’s gaze. “Did you know the stakes would be murder?”
“No one is asking you,” Gillam snapped at Anakin. “You’re already dead.”
“He’s a Jedi,” Marit said. “If you think your plan will be easy, think again.”
Gillam shrugged, coming closer to Anakin. “He has six blasters pointed at him. Even if you don’t fire, I don’t think we’ll have a problem. I know the Jedi. I’ve seen them around the Senate all my life. They are basically servants of the Senators. Whatever power they had is gone now.”
Anger coursed through Anakin. He saw the privilege Gillam had been brought up with, and how it had corrupted him. He saw that Gillam had counted on the feelings of the others, how they had felt lost and alone in a world he knew and they didn’t. He had taken their minds and hearts and fashioned them into a weapon aimed at his father. The squad wasn’t about justice. It was about revenge.
Anakin jumped up and kicked out with one foot in a spinning arc, booting the blaster from Gillam’s hand while he held out a hand and, using the Force, tore Rolai’s blaster from his grip. He landed on one leg and used the other to disarm Tulah with another well-aimed kick, grabbing the blaster from Ze’s hand at the same time. He used his knee to dislodge the weapon from a surprised Hurana and then simply took Marit’s from her hand. The entire series of attack moves took only seconds. The squad barely had time to blink.
Now they stared at him, or down at their empty hands. There was a beat, a moment of silence and surprise. Anakin pulled out and ignited his lightsaber, holding it in a posture any Jedi would recognize as offensive. He was ready to strike. He did not want to hurt anyone. That was his first concern. But he had to stop the squad’s mission.
“Just don’t move,” he told them.
Anakin sensed movement behind him and turned slightly. Rana Halion had taken a step inside the hangar. As soon as she saw the lightsaber, she hit a button on her cuff.
Gillam smiled. “Looks like your luck has run out, Jedi.”
“Jedi don’t need luck,” Anakin said, just as the attack droids swarmed into the hangar.
Blaster fire erupted from the droids, aimed at Anakin but scattered enough so that he feared for Marit and the others. The squad dropped, scrambling for their blasters. Anakin saw at once his problems. Gillam and Rolai had found blasters and were trying to aim at him as he moved. Fire from the droids was heavy. Marit had ducked behind a starfighter. He did not think he could count on help from her. She seemed dazed.
He saw the smile of triumph on Gillam’s face as he retrieved and aimed his blaster, and Anakin’s anger returned. He reached out to the Force. He remembered the lessons he had learned from Soara Antana, the great Jedi Master. The Force comes from stillness, she had said. Find your still center, even in the midst of battle.
He saw time unspool before him like a ribbon. He saw it freeze like ice on a river. He saw that he had infinite time to do everything he needed.
With an outstretched hand he knocked the blaster from Gillam’s grasp and sent it flying across the full space of the hangar. It hit the wall so hard it shattered. Gillam’s smile disappeared.
At the same time he was moving, diverting the droids’ blaster fire from where Tulah and Hurana had taken cover, pushing Ze behind a durasteel container, and knocking out one attack droid with a thrust to its control panel.