Star Wars_ Legacy Of The Jedi Part 2

"Room for everyone," she said. "Don't worry, I'll have you at the starting point in no time. In the meantime, you can start on your strategy. "

The two transports lifted off. Dooku found that every Blue Team member was staring at him, waiting for him to begin. He was the leader, after all.

He cleared his throat and looked down at his datapad. The map of the area they would be operating in flashed onscreen. Dooku was familiar with much of it. It consisted of the Senate buildings, several grand boulevards that he knew quite well, and the All Planets Market, which was held in a large plaza near the Senate complex. As a promising student of diplomacy, he had signed up for special tutorials in Senate procedure, so he'd had plenty of opportunities to explore the Senate grounds.

Quickly Dooku scanned the map, trying to locate streets and alleys and s.p.a.ce lanes. Everyone had to be coordinated and a strategy must be devised. They should spread out and each student should get a muja fruit.

That would increase the odds of their win.

But why? Dooku thought suddenly. It was just what Lorian would expect him to do, so why should he do it?

"Our starting coordinate is Nova level," Galinda said. "That's good. There are many alleys there to hide in. And the gravsleds and truck transports will be unloading supplies for the market. We can use them for cover." She looked over Dooku's shoulder at the map.

Hran Beling nodded. "We can pick the fastest among us to pick up the fruit."

"They'll probably be staking out the fruit stands," Galinda said.

"We have to get there first."

"Maybe not," Dooku muttered, his head bent over the map.

"Do you have a better idea?" Hran asked.

Dooku didn't answer. He was thinking. What would Lorian expect him to do?

He would expect me to race to get a muja fruit first. He would expect me to send three Padawans to retrieve the fruit, and guard them with the rest. If they all didn't make it, I'd send back two.

He looked at the map again.

"Do you have a plan or, what?" Galinda asked impatiently.

Dooku looked up at last. "Yes," he said. "We're not going after the muja fruit at all."

They looked at him skeptically. Dooku only smiled. He would bend them to his will. He would make them see his strategy. Because he knew one thing on this day: He had to win.

CHAPTER No. 5.

"Why expose ourselves to get the fruit at the start?" Dooku asked them. "Why not let the Gold Team try for the fruit, and pick them off one by one? We might lose a few team members, but not as many as they will.

When you are intent on getting something, you take more chances. Then, when no Gold Team members are left, we can simply stroll to the market, pick a fruit, and head back to the Temple. Simple."

"Sure, if we're able to pick them all off," Galinda said. "What if one of them gets through and makes it back to the Temple?"

"That is not an acceptable outcome," Dooku said. His coolness made the others exchange glances. Dooku had learned early that in order to inspire confidence he should not admit doubt.

Galinda was still skeptical. "But where can we set up surveillance?

There's not much cover in the market. We need good sight lines."

"I have a plan for that, too," Dooku said.

Dooku stood as the transport landed. He noticed that Master Doliq was watching him curiously. He tucked his data pad into his belt. "Follow me," he told the others.

He jumped off the ramp and led the way through the twisting streets to the Senate complex. He walked so purposefully that no one asked him where they were going.

When he arrived at the complex he led the others onto a turbolift and descended to the lower sub-offices. He had a foolproof strategy. It just depended on his powers of persuasion and how much a friend of his was willing to bend the rules. He was learning that sometimes it was better to come at things sideways, especially when his opponent a.s.sumed he would come at them head-on. Persuasion and deception could work better than battles.

Dooku turned to the others as he reached a door. "Wait here. I'll just be a minute."

He accessed the door and walked in. A tall, spindly creature with waving antennae and bright yellow eyes sat at a datascreen. He looked up and saw Dooku, then pretended to tremble.

"Dooku! Oh, no! Have you come to show me up again?"

"Not at all, Eero." Dooku smiled. His first meeting with the young Senatorial aide Eero Iridian had cemented their friends.h.i.+p, but not in the usual way. Dooku had been attending a seminar on the political history of the Correllian system. Eero had read a paper he'd written on the subject, and Dooku had raised a hand to correct a number of points he felt were inaccurate. Eero had bristled at the newcomer, but a quick search of the archives had revealed that Dooku had been right.

Eero had been hoping to impress both his father, a Senator, and his boss. Instead, he'd been publicly embarra.s.sed. Yet after the seminar he'd come up to Dooku and asked if the student would be interested in joining his study group. He'd been annoyed at Dooku, but he wanted to learn from him, too. Dooku had joined the group for a time, and he and Eero had become friends. Eero's father was powerful and Eero longed to follow in his footsteps. Dooku admired how hard he studied and the fact that he took the job of a Senatorial aide so seriously.

Of course that was not why he had come to see him today.

"I need a favor," Dooku said.

"Anything I have is yours," Eero declared.

"I need your code card to the C level transport hallway," Dooku said.

"Except that," Eero said.

Dooku said nothing. He just waited.

Eero fiddled with a flexible antennae. "Okay, why?"

"A Padawan exercise," Dooku said. "I need the element of surprise, and that pa.s.sage overlooks the All Planets Market. There's also an exit with a turbolift straight down to market level. We can use it as a base."

"But it's restricted to Senate personnel."

"That's why I need your access card," Dooku said patiently. Eero's fault as a scholar, he recalled, was that he had trouble putting different facts together to reach a conclusion. He noted the reluctance on Eero's face. Maybe he should offer a favor as an exchange. This was the Senate, after all.

"I'll help you with that Tolfranian brief that's giving you so much trouble," Dooku offered.

Eero looked torn. "I could use the help. But I could get in trouble with Senate security if I give you the code card. It could go on my record. On the other hand, this brief is really important to my boss...."

Eero began to fiddle furiously with both antennae now, twirling them around his fingers until they sprang loose in coils. "Okay," he finally said in a rush of breath. He tossed the code card to Dooku.

"I'll have it back to you by this evening," Dooku said, hurrying out.

Now I have you, Lorian. You won't beat me.

The plan worked perfectly, for a while. Dooku and the team had a perfect view of the muja fruitseller from a window in a storage area.

They could clearly see the bustling market and the fact that Lorian and the Gold Team members had set up several stakeout areas. They were waiting for Dooku to strike. Dooku knew that Lorian believed the Blue Team would make an aggressive first move. It was usually how Dooku began a lightsaber battle. But a trademark move could betray you. It was better to mix up tactics. Lorian had no idea that he, too, had a trademark move.

When he began to lose a battle, he made a deliberately wide pa.s.s to the left, then spun around to his opponent's rear. This gave him precious seconds to catch his breath and compose his mind.

Dooku sent out his group in pairs. They communicated by comlink.

From their perch above they were able to track the evasive procedures the other team employed. It was easy to direct their team members below. With a slight touch of the lightsaber, one after another, Gold Team members went down. Each hit was recorded on everyone's datapad.

They were winning. Lorian's team had managed to hit only one Blue Team member, and they'd taken out five of his.

Then Lorian must have figured out what they were doing.

Suddenly Dooku saw two Gold team members running toward the turbolift. Unable to access it, they began to use their cable launchers to scale the gla.s.s tube. They would find a way in. That left three Gold members. If Dooku were Lorian, he would try to ambush them at an exit.

Or Lorian would go for the muja fruit while he was running from him.

No, Dooku thought. Lorian knows the Senate well. He will think he can catch me here.

Just in case, Dooku barked into his comlink at his two team members in the market. "Guard that fruitseller. We have to abandon the surveillance post." He turned to the remaining six members of his team.

"Let's get out of here."

The team members raced out of the storage unit. There was only one other way down - through the turbolift that connected to the Senate main halls. Dooku thought rapidly as the turbolift sank downward. Lorian had also attended seminars in the Senate. Lorian knew the building even better than Dooku. Lorian loved poking around in places he shouldn't. If he didn't know before that this turbolift led to only two exits, he had no doubt made it his business to know. It would have been easy to access a Senate map and find out.

Dooku reached out and pressed the b.u.t.ton to stop the turbolift.

"We're not getting out," he told the others. "We're going up."

He leaped up and balanced on the handrail. He accessed the escape hatch at the top and climbed up. Above his head was a door leading to a Senate level. A training lightsaber did not have the power of a true lightsaber, but it could most likely get through the metal door over his head.

He worked his lightsaber along the seam of the door. "Galinda, Hran, I need some help," he called down as he worked.

The two Padawans squirmed up through the opening. They got out their lightsabers to help him. Within minutes they had peeled back the metal just enough for them to squeeze through.

They crawled through the opening. Dooku saw an orientation kiosk and hurriedly accessed the Senate map. He found the fastest route to an exit.

"We have about three to five minutes before Lorian figures out that we're not coming out of that turbolift and we're no longer in hallway C,"

Dooku said. "That's enough time to buy some muja fruit, I think."

Stained and dirty now from the turbolift tunnel, the rest of the team grinned as they tucked their lightsabers into their utility belts.

Winning was so close now they could taste it.

They ran down the hallway toward the exit. They burst into the open air and ran in the direction of the market. The sun was high overhead now, but clouds were beginning to gather. Shade and shadow dappled them as they dodged shoppers and carts and made their way toward the fruitsellers.

Suddenly Dooku wished they had formed a plan before they'd charged into the market. They were all running full-tilt, all of them hoping to be the first to buy a muja fruit and get it back safely to the Temple. He had lost his focus because the end was so near.

His datascreen flashed. His other two Blue Team members, the ones in the market, had been hit. Lorian hadn't set up an ambush in the Senate after all.

"They're in the market!" Dooku yelled. "Split up!"

A blur of red, then green came to Dooku out of the corner of his eye. He stopped so quickly he almost fell backward into a display of children's toys. Members of the Gold Team were charging at his team, their lightsabers held discreetly at their sides, but ready to strike. He saw Hran get tapped and he turned away, a disgusted look on his face.

Galinda held a muja fruit in her hands as Lorian suddenly appeared from behind an awning. His lightsaber whirled gracefully and came down with the slightest touch on the back of her shoulder. Galinda winced. Lorian smiled, plucked the muja out of her hand, and tucked it into his tunic.

Now each team had five members left. It was a tie. Dooku had lost his lead.

Lorian threw a glance at Dooku through the crowd. Dooku saw a playful challenge in his friend's gaze. Fury coursed through him. He didn't feel playful.

This isn't a game, he thought. Not for me.

Dooku leaped over the display of toys. He snaked around a couple with a baby in a repulsorlift carrier. He dived under a table, rolled, and came up behind a Gold Team member. He struck him lightly between the shoulder blades. He didn't stay to notice his reaction, but moved on, striking another team member from behind, then moving in to engage in battle with another. He dodged the whirling lightsaber and kicked at a jar of syrup on display. It smashed on the floor, the Jedi student slipped, and Dooku claimed another hit. He did not pause but ran full-tilt toward another Gold Team member who was racing toward the fruitseller. Dooku accessed the Force and leaped. Usually his control wasn't the best for this maneuver - he still had much to learn - but he surprised himself with perfect execution. He landed in front of the student and simply tapped his shoulder.

Breathing hard, Dooku glanced at his datapad. Lorian's strike had been successful. Every one of his team members had been hit. But he had managed to take out the rest of Lorian's team. That made them even.

Except for the fact that Lorian had a muja fruit.

No time to get the fruit. If he got Lorian, he'd get the muja. He'd make it to the Temple and deposit it politely right into the hands of Master Yoda.

The Padawans had all trudged off, some in pairs or groups, to make their way back to the Temple. They were not allowed to help their captains. Lorian had disappeared into the crowd.

Think, Dooku. Don't act until you think. Dooku called on the Force to help him. At first he saw only beings and goods in the market. He concentrated, waiting until his brain registered the familiar. A certain tilt of the head. A step. An angle of the chin. Some movement so tiny that his senses would pick it up in a sea of information that he couldn't process. But the Force could.

The Force surged. Everything fell away, and he saw Lorian. Cleverly he had reversed his cloak so that the darker underside was out. Dooku set off after him. He would not make the same mistake again. He would wait for his moment.

He stayed well behind Lorian. He didn't think Lorian knew he was on his trail. Lorian headed out of the market and turned down an alley that Dooku wasn't familiar with. Leave it to Lorian to find all the back ways in Coruscant. Dooku faded back, careful to stay out of sight. It was afternoon now, and the sun had dropped behind heavy cloud cover. It was almost as dark as evening, and the glowlights were on their lowest setting.

The alley twisted back behind the market and made a sharp left turn, now snaking along the back entrances of a variety of shops and restaurants. The odor of garbage was strong. Dooku put his cloak over his nose. He had a fastidious nature. He liked cleanliness and order.

To Dooku's surprise, the Temple suddenly loomed ahead. They were much closer than he'd thought. His heartbeat raced. Lorian was in sight of winning! He couldn't let that happen. He had to strike now.

Gathering the Force, Dooku leaped. He landed on a soft heap of garbage, which gave him plenty of spring. Garbage is good for something, after all, he thought as the momentum sent him skyward. He flew over Lorian's head and landed in front of him, lightsaber activated. He did not wait to absorb the shock of his landing but used the bounce for his charge.

Lorian had less than a second to adjust, but his reflexes were excellent, a source of envy among the other students. He leaped backward, reaching for his lightsaber and tilting his move so that Dooku's first strike whistled through the air.

"So you found me," he said. He seemed delighted, not dismayed.

Their friends.h.i.+p had been built on compet.i.tion. It had always been fun.

But Lorian's reaction only enraged Dooku. He resented Lorian's ease, his a.s.sumption that they would always be friends, no matter what. That's what made Lorian push the boundary of their friends.h.i.+p. He pushed too hard.

Then he expected Dooku to take it.