Chapter 12

Bellum, Part II

"Master! I've been looking everywhere for you! We're going to be late!"

Nothing.

"Master, please. We don't have time for this!"

Nothing.

"Master Rimasiss—"

"Patience, Padawan." The Jedi Master's voice had a tinge of amusement to it. Yoda swallowed his annoyance. "I promise you that no one is going to cut your braid without you there." Rimasiss turned sighed. "They can wait. Now please, come in from the doorway. You're letting too much light in."

Obediently, Yoda lowered his head and stepped into the chamber. The door whooshed shut and the room was plunged into darkness.

Yoda concentrated on his breathing while waiting for his eyes to adjust. The blackness was oppressive.

Light.

There.

And there!

Yoda squinted at the sudden bursts of illumination on either side of the room.

"What do you see, Yoda?"

"Red spots," Yoda replied dryly.

Rimasiss' chuckle resonated well in the silent chamber. "Focus, Yoda. As you've said, we don't have much time."

Yoda nodded silently and stared towards the sources of light. After a moment the glare resolved into a miniscule spinning orb floating several meters above the ground on the far side of the room. When Yoda looked to his left, an apparently identical sphere hovered at the opposite end of the room. Only apparently, Yoda was sure, because he was sure Rimasiss had a final lesson for him.

Yoda watched the orbs closely. Finally, he saw it. Smiling to himself proudly, he spoke. "I see two light orbs, Master. They are similar in virtually every way but they are not identical. The one on the left is spinning in the opposite direction from the one on the right."

"Well done, Yoda." Rimasiss' voice had a definite smile to it. "Well done."

Yoda sighed relief. "Can we go now? If we hurry we can avoid being late."

Rimasiss snorted. "Yoda, you see but you have not seen." The Jedi Master turned at last and walked toward Yoda. He bent low and grasped Yoda's shoulders, turning him to face the center of the room. "I don't have much time left either, my friend. Allow an old man to show you one final truth."

Yoda's cheeks flushed. "Of course, Master…I'm…sorry."

The light from the floating spheres glinted off Rimasiss' smile. "No need." The Jedi Master sat next to Yoda, cross-legged. His voice fell to a reverent hush. "Today is your last day as a padawan, Yoda. It is an important day. I wanted to give you something."

Yoda glanced at his Master, confused. Rimasiss was never this congenial with him. The Master seemed to know what Yoda was thinking because he started to chuckle.

"Today will close the door on our Master-padawan relationship and open the path to our everlasting brotherhood, Yoda."

Yoda smiled. "Thank you, Master. You have given me more than I could possibly hope for. I do not want for—"

"Shhh…" Rimasiss put his fingers to his lips and glanced at the glowing globes. "Watch."

Suddenly the two lights started to move toward each other. As the distance between them shrunk, they accelerated. Rimasiss began to narrate.

"The two orbs are a design of mine to mimic particle and anti-particle behavior." Rimasiss paused and watched as the orbs approached each other with blinding speed. Yoda sat transfixed, finally understanding that the particles would meet directly in front of them.

In short order, the particles found each other. Surprisingly, they glanced by one another rather than clashing together as Yoda had expected. Before he had grasped what had happened, the particles had slowered, reversed course, and started to move toward one another again. Again they missed each other and spun around.

"Notice the dance they engage in, Yoda. They swing each other around like lovers meeting for the first time, hovering and circling, unsure how to proceed. And then…" The two particles suddenly entered a stunningly fast and rapidly tightening spiral. "…they decide."

Yoda watched in silence as the two particles moved faster and faster towards each other. After an eternity, they were so close to each other it was impossible to distinguish one's light from that of the other. A moment after that, the room exploded with light that centered on the dancers.

Silence.

"They are gone…" Yoda was surprised to hear the croak in his voice.

"Indeed." Rimasiss stood. The lights in the room came up. "I have run this scenario hundreds of times. The specifics are details of probabilities, of course, but the pattern is almost always the same."

"Almost? There's an alternative?"

Rimasiss rubbed his chin. "I once saw a rather odd thing happen. Both orbs rushed into each other and did their dance. Just when I was sure they were going to go into the annhilation phase, they both spun away from each other at astonishing speed."

Yoda's eyes widened. "What happened next?"

Rimasiss smiled wryly. "It took a while, but they eventually turned around and annihilated each other."

"Oh."

"It is the way of things, Yoda."

Yoda nodded.

"The way of the Force."


One minute…

Twenty breaths…

Fifty beats of the heart…

One thousand clashes of Light against Dark.

Had this battle been recorded in the annals of the Jedi Archive, it would have been among the most celebrated.

The exchanges were maddeningly fast, accelerating with every second. Within moments the emerald blade of the Jedi and the ruby blade of the Sith became nothing more than a haze of deadly particle energy.

The two combatants moved as quickly as their blades, whirling about each other trying desperately to gain the upper hand.

The Force surged between them with every crash of their blades. Each slash was filled with all the power that each could call upon. Every deflection was an attack.

The battle harkened back to the final moments of the Great Sith War and the waning days of the Light and Dark War. In those dying breaths of the great Sith Army, power had pitched and swelled between the Jedi and the Sith. Over five centuries later, the war had begun anew.

But this battle would never be recorded in the holocrons on Coruscant…

This conflict was not about the balance of power between the Jedi and the Sith.

This engagement was not about the nature of the Force. Not any more.

This fight was personal.

The deadly ballet of two lovers…

Two warriors…

Fifty beats of the heart…

One minute.


Kaine rushed into the main hangar bay, glancing up at the ceiling as he felt new surges in the Force. He scanned the scattered ships that had been thrown about during the gravity shears, settling his gaze on a tiny craft that hung in the air with twin-ion engines and a permanent hyperspace ring attached.

The Dark Lord smiled.

The ship had remained undamaged.

Perfect.


Rizza grunted as yet another blow rained down on her from above. Futilely she thrust her weapon towards her attacker, knowing all to well that he was no longer there. She spun toward the new warning in the Force and met Yoda's blade again.

"You cannot defeat me, Yoda. I'm sure you can sense it by now."

She could sense nothing about Yoda's intentions through the blinding light that poured from him. No matter.

"My ally is the Force," Yoda replied simply as he leapt again.

Rizza slipped to the side and contemplated her options. Yoda was a master of Ataro and his skill was proving insurmountable.

Clash.

Rizza leapt across the room, trying to collect her thoughts.

Having honed her lightsaber skills in the Soresu defensive fighting style, Rizza knew she could keep Yoda at bay for an eternity.

Impasse.

Rizza's knitted her brow.

Yoda needed to watch the destruction of Migruna III if there was to be any hope of saving him from the light.

It was time to end this now.

They only had thirty seconds…


Yoda sensed the shift at the apex of his leap.

For a brief moment Rizza seemed lost in thought, her brows knitted tight, eyes distant. As the artificial gravity of the station pulled his form out of the air in a graceful arc toward her, he saw the physical manifestation of the change he had sensed.

Her lips curled into a snarl.

Her brow tightened.

Her jaw flexed.

She leapt.

A desperate heave in the Force changed the trajectory of his descent enough to keep her slashing attack from severing his arms and legs.

It was not enough to prevent the tip of her blade from slicing through his knee.

Yoda did not feel the damage done until he landed near the wall. As he placed his feet firm against the obsidian floor, he collapsed against the wall.

NO!

He sensed her sailing towards him, her lightsaber poised to deliver a killing blow.

Desperately he pushed himself off the wall with all his strength and slid a few meters out of reach. Rizza landed in the spot he had occupied only a moment before.

Crimson particles retracted into her blade.

She turned.

She smiled.

"I'm sorry, my love, but I really wanted you to see this."

Yoda stared down at his wounded knee. Fortunately the wound had been cauterized, most lightsaber wounds were. Unfortunately, he could not stand.

Hmm…a problem, this could be.

Yoda glanced at the chronometer.

Ten seconds.

There is no emotion; there is peace.

Rizza swept an errant lock of hair back into place.

Eight seconds.

Yoda called his deactivated blade to his hand and clipped it to his belt.

Rizza arched her brow.

There is no passion; there is serenity.

Yoda struggled to his feet. After several failed attempts, he called the Force to his aid and infused his knee with power.

Five…

"Rizza, turn me to the dark side, this will not."

"Perhaps. But if you do not turn at least I will have the pleasure of watching you suffer."

Four…

They both turned to the screen. Yoda tightened his fists.

Three…

"I really do love you, Yoda."

Two…

Yoda relaxed his hands.

"I will not turn."

One...

"I know."

There is no death; there is only the Force.