"I would suggest stepping a good distance away from them," Obi-Wan said to two of his students, referring to the lightsabers that now sat on two separate plasteel pedestals. "I once remember hearing of a Neti Jedi Knight who made a defective lightsaber. It took him years to regenerate that lost limb. I don't think humans have that ability; although I may be mistaken," Obi-Wan said, attempting to get his serious message into the minds of his students with a joke.
"I don't think so either, Master Kenobi," Keyan Farlander replied. "The closest thing is cybernetic prosthetics. If we can't turn on our lightsabers without the possibility of it taking our arms off, how are we going to test the lightsabers to make sure they work?"
"Droids possibly?" Kyle Katarn wondered aloud.
"With the Force," Obi-Wan stated. "It's not that hard, just a simple step forward from moving rocks. Luke, even though you opted not to build your own lightsaber, you should go ahead and attempt this as well."
Obi-Wan watched Luke pull up another pedestal next to the others and then place his father's lightsaber on top of it. He had wondered why Luke had decided not to create his own lightsaber after retrieving the creation supplies from Tatooine one week previously. Perhaps it was out of respect of who his father was before the Jedi Purge had "ended his life." Luke had no idea of the evil acts that the wielder of that lightsaber had committed. Yet the lightsaber was a tool, it only did what the owner told it to do. A single artifact couldn't be blamed.
The sight of three lightsabers hovering above the pillars that they had previously rested upon snapped Obi-Wan out of his thinking. "Good, now use the Force to attempt to ignite the weapon," he instructed. The Jedi Master watched as two of the blades faltered as their creators couldn't handle the stress of attempting to finely manipulate the Force. Only one lightsaber ignited, and with its blue blade shining into the room, Luke's lightsaber remained the last weapon floating.
"Remain in control of the lightsaber," Obi-Wan said as the blade began to slightly falter, "one day this could save your life."
"I'm trying," Luke said as he exerted his will upon the weapon. It was not to last.
"Blue and Rogue Squadrons," a female voice sounded over the ship's intercom, causing Luke to "drop" the lightsaber, "please report to Simulator Room Alpha."
"Well," Keyan said as he went to retrieve his lightsaber, "looks like it's from one training room to another."
"Antilles, hold still so I can shoot you. That's an order!" Keyan joked as he attempted to draw Wedge Antilles into his line of fire. What was supposed to be a simple training exercise to keep the pilots sharp had quickly deteriorated into what could only be considered clowning around. The mission: keeping a Rebel transport safe from an attacking TIE squadron, had now turned into every pilot gunning for a member of the opposing squadron. Keyan, Wes and a Bith pilot from Blue Squadron had even bribed the sim operators to let the pilots under Keyan's command to switch from TIE fighters to X-Wings.
"Can't do that Commander Farlander," Wedge replied as he took a shot at the Blue Seven. "I don't think I have to obey your orders."
"Let him shoot you Wedge," Wes Janson joked. "Death's not that bad."
"Considering that you've been the only casualty so far, I think you should know," Blue Three reported, trying to keep from laughing. A blinking red light filling the canopy soon stopped the laughter.
"Looks like Wes isn't going to be alone anymore," Hobbie laughed after scoring the "kill."
"Not a Blue guy!" Wes exclaimed. "They're no fun… Hey, Rogues: a case of Tanaab whiskey for who ever shoots down Farlander," Wes offered. "Not you Luke, you're too young," he added with a laugh.
"Two can play at that game," Blue Three said. "A bottle of Selvernan wine for whoever shoots Skywalker down!"
"You know this isn't really fair," Keyan said as he dodged the lasers fired at him by half of Rogue Squadron. "Half of Rogue Squadron is chasing me while the rest is attempting to guard Skywalker. And it looks like my squadron is doing the same…" Keyan quickly rolled his starfighter and outflew another round of laser fire.
Wedge focused on his new target, one of the few humans in the now mostly alien Blue Squadron. "Give me a missile lock," he ordered his astromech droid, who frantically attempted to perform the task. "Hurry it up, he might be attempting to do the same on Commander Skywalker," Wedge hastily said as he activated his targeting computer. The X-wing showed up in yellow as it attempted to juke out of the way of the gun sights of one of the Alliance's best pilots.
Following a confident whistle from his astromech droid, Wedge Antilles pressed the trigger on his flight stick, sending two guided proton torpedoes towards Blue Ten. The tenacious pilot did his best to shoot down Luke in his last few moments, his laser cannons spewing red blasts towards the Jedi pilot.
Luke Skywalker felt the simulated ship shake as two or three of the random laser blasts impacted upon his shields, bringing them to about 60 of their original strength. The five remaining fighters from Blue Squadron that were doing their best to vape him had now fallen into a complicated dogfight with his four defenders. Luke turned his starfighter around and went towards the mess, attempting to thin out the herd.
"And Skywalker narrowly avoids a mid-space collision with Blue Two," Wes Janson narrated as he watched the simulated action.
"Can someone shut him up? He's ruining my concentration," Blue Two asked as she attempted to right herself.
"I'd shoot him, but he's already dead," Blue Seven quipped as he took a shot at Hobbie, one of Luke Skywalker's two wingmen.
"Can any of you in the control room shut him up?" Blue Two asked.
"C'mon, you're ruining all the fu…" Wes began to say before his audio feed was cut off. "Sithspit," he said to himself in the silence of his own cockpit.
Darth Vader looked at the newest model of battle droid that stood before him. At first glance, the grayish-black armored droid appeared to be just another member of Prophet Cronal's elite Stormtrooper guard, yet the high-tech assault cannon that the droid held would be difficult for a Stormtrooper to wield properly, and the jetpack on every unit of the droids could quickly distinguish between the two.
"So, general," Darth Vader said as he inspected the droids, "the units are prepared for the demonstration?"
"Yes Lord Vader," General Mohc replied. "I do believe that the Rebels on the planet have had enough time to sufficiently prepare for a ground-based attack, for Rebels that is."
"Excellent, general," Vader commented. "How many units will you be sending down onto the planet?"
"I presume that the entire base can be 'pacified' with at most fifteen units, Lord Vader."
Fifteen units! Mara Jade thought as she listened in on the conversation through a set of listening devices. Those droids are that powerful?
"Very well, General Mohc," Vader replied. "You may begin the demonstration…"
"Lieutenant," General Mohc commanded a battle officer on the bridge of the Arc Hammer. "Release the Dark Troopers."