[Legacy Of The Force] - 08(65)

“If his granddaughter tried to kill him, and his daughter even killed a man who looked like him, what do you think his ex-wife’s going to do if she remembers who he is?”

Jaina didn’t know what to say, but she thought of Jag, and her parents, and knew she had plenty that Fett didn’t. He was too old and isolated to even hope to have it. But it gave her no sense of satisfied vengeance that her father’s old enemy was so damaged; all she could feel was pity.

“Let’s get on with it, then, “she said, wanting to forget a miserable story. She had enough of her own; there were surely more to come. “Call me a Twi’lek dancing girl one more time, and I’ll show you how mean they make us at the academy.”

Beviin grinned and slipped on his helmet. “Talk’s cheap, Jedi. Get your plates on.”

The training armor wasn’t custom-fitted and the helmet was just a head guard, but it was beskar. The worst injury she could get while sparring was bruising from impact. Beviin took out two metal sabers and handed her one, hilt first.

“Durasteel, “he said, “and so is this one, because we both want to see our grandchildren grow up. Come on.”

“So you think I should try to face down my brother with a real saber, “Jaina said, hefting it and testing the weight.

“No, I think you should learn a different technique, because you’re predictable.”

“Because Jedi all learn the same basic moves?”

Beviin demonstrated a few mock lightsaber passes. “It’s all long sweeps. Every part of the blade cuts, so you don’t have to think about the angle, and it’s light, so you don’t put much weight into the blow. And you spend a lot of en-ergy leaping around opponents, just trying to get past their defense. See what happens if you get used to a beskad. It’ll change how you handle that shiny stick.”

Jaina examined her beskad; a blade forty-five centimeters long, maybe five or six centimeters wide, with a single cutting edge curving to a point-and much heavier than it looked, perhaps more than two kilos. The leather-bound grip with its plain guard and weighty pommel made it feel like a well-balanced hammer-no, more like an agricul-tural tool, meant for hacking down grain or undergrowth. She could see how easily it could embed itself in a Yuuzhan Vong’s skull.

Jaina tested her balance to allow for the extra weight. Immediately she missed the reach of the lightsaber-two-thirds of it, in fact-and she also found that she couldn’t grip the saber two-handed. It made her feel suddenly exposed. Beviin just stood relaxed, tapping his blade against his thigh plate. If he’d been a Jedi…. both of them would have adopted opening stances and begun the careful maneuvering to find the optimum moment and angle for the first strike.

Beviin stood still for so long that Jaina found herself un-able to stay back, and began sidling up to him, not sure what to do with her left hand other than extend it for balance. As she swung the beskad around in a horizontal arc into his chest, she felt the tip hit his plates-she was too far back, still thinking with a longer weapon-and he simply smashed his saber arm down on top of hers, brought his left fist up into her sternum and punched her back a few paces. He followed through and flattened her simply by jumping on her. It was over in two seconds, and he hadn’t even used his blade.

“Great start, Solo, “she said. It was the first time she had been taken down in a saber fight of any kind for years. Beviin jumped to his feet and pulled her up. “I can’t be that stupid…. can I?”

“The only point I’m making, “Beviin said kindly, “is that you know none of my moves-yet. I made you come to me, and that led to a few mistakes. Next time, anything goes as long as we don’t hit unarmored body parts. Ready?”

“Ready.”

This time she just took a couple of steps back and slashed diagonally without squaring up. The blade rang on impact, painfully loud, and suddenly his beskad was in his other hand, she couldn’t get past his blocking move, and he ducked low to ram her with helmet and shoulder. Every time she got up, she ended up flat on her back again after a few thrusts and slashes, and yes, he used that left hand a lot; a follow-on punch, a one-two maneuver after a bone-shaking saber blow, kilos of dead metal slamming into her. The blade didn’t even have to cut her. She was being hammered every time she was hit. All she could do was Force-leap out of the way.

Beviin was heavy, confident, and used his greater body weight as another weapon, as a battering ram. She couldn’t find a way to get inside his reach that wasn’t blocked by his free arm-armor changed the game, making any limb both a shield and a weapon-and didn’t leave her wrong-footed. Eventually the only way she got in two consecutive blows and still stayed standing was to Force-push him to compensate for her lack of weight and momentum. She knocked him down and pinned him with the Force, panting.