And finally, because he had the ticket off this world and out of this system, Lando could take charge again. “Pulsar Skate,” he said, “and X-wing escorts, form up on Looooove Commander. We’re headed for orbit.”
“And then where?” Han asked.
Finally Wedge’s voice crackled over the comlink. “To a gathering of old friends,” he said.
CORUSCANT
JEDI TEMPLE
Ben’s opponent wasn’t particularly impressive. The droid had a scrawny body, its four spindly legs just sturdy enough to allow it to walk around. Its two arms ended not in hands but in tubes about eight centimeters in diameter. And its head was huge, the size of an entire R2 unit, with two green glowing optical sensors where eyes would be and a set of speaker vents in the position of a human mouth.
In the mirror that ran the full length of the chamber on one wall, they seemed unlikely combatants-a droid with a ludicrously large head and a friendly-looking teenage boy with bright red hair in a buzz-style haircut.
“Last series,” it announced, its voice surprisingly human considering its alien appearance. “Ready.”
To better test himself, Ben left his lightsaber off for the moment … and turned his back on the droid. He extended his feelings through the Force and tried to find the droid, and was mildly distressed, once again, to find that he could not. He concealed his worry. “Ready.”
There was a ponk noise as the first foamsteel ball left one of the droid’s arm tubes. And that Ben felt, as a displacement of air; as a little tickle of worry. He could sense the direction of the ball’s travel, straight toward the back of his head …
He swung around, sidestepping the ball’s path, igniting the lightsaber as second, third, and fourth balls shot out toward him. He swung at the first one, but his blade was only half extended and his strike was half a meter short of its target. The second ball shot harmlessly past him, but he connected with the third and fourth, sending them ricocheting away from him. Their glossy exteriors took the momentary contact with the coherent light blade without melting or deforming.
Then more balls came pouring from the droid’s arms, ponk ponk ponk ponk ponk … The droid varied its aim, firing at Ben’s feet, chest, head, arms, aiming at positions bracketing Ben in case his dodging moved him into their path.
He didn’t deflect all of them. One cracked painfully into his left knee. Another grazed his cheek. But his success ratio was pretty high.
He could feel the balls moving around behind him along the gleaming apocia hardwood floor. They separated into two streams, circling around him back toward the droid, controlled by the magnetic impulses it was sending. As Ben watched and deflected two more balls, the first ones that had been sent against him reached the base of the droid, flew up to hover above the droid’s head, and dropped into the slot there. Back in the hopper, they could be fired at him again.
On impulse, Ben chose one of the balls now approaching the droid and reached out to it through the Force. He stomped with his foot, physicalizing the way he wanted to direct his attack, and lashed out with Force energy.
The ball flattened, becoming a disk wider than but about half as tall as it had been before. It still flew up to hover above the droid’s head … and when it dropped toward the slot, Ben gave it some extra energy. It hit the slot and half folded, jamming into place.
Swatting away at the next four balls, Ben watched as half a dozen more dropped onto the droid’s head, bounced off the ruined ball, fell to the floor, and rolled around to get to the backs of the two lines of balls awaiting retrieval.
No more balls emerged from the droid. Ben waited, watching, as expended balls from the two lines flew up over the droid, bounced off, fell to the ground, and got back in line again.
Then that action, too, ceased. Released from magnetic control, most of the balls now stayed where they lay; a few rolled a hand span in one direction or another before coming to a stop.
Ben felt the tiniest of tugs against his lightsaber. He gripped it hard just before it tried to yank itself out of his hand. It struggled with him, attempting to fly to the droid, but he got his left hand on it as well and held firm. He deactivated it and grinned at the practice droid.
Finally the lightsaber, too, stopped trying to move on its own.
The droid said, “Have you sabotaged me?”
“Yes,” Ben said. “In the, uh, spirit of defeating an enemy.”
“I shall file your action under `tactics,’ then. I designate this exercise complete. Last series success ratio ninety-four percent, last series ended at twenty-two percent of balls expended due to tactical sabotage. Learner weapon retention successful.” The droid rolled toward the door out of the Training Hall, and the balls, now returning to their straightline formations, rolled out after it.