Conquest: Edge of Victory I Read Free Page B

Your blood doesn’t burn to
do
something about it?”
    “Of course I want to do something about it,” Luke said. “That’s why I’ve called this meeting. But anger is not the answer. Attack is not the answer, and retribution most certainly is not. We are Jedi. We defend, we support.”
    “Defend who? Support what? Defend those beings you rescued from the atrocities of Palpatine? Support the New Republic and its good people? Shield the ones we have all shed blood for, time and again in the cause of peace and the greater good? These same cowardly beingswho now defame us, deride us, and sacrifice us to their new Yuuzhan Vong masters? No one
wants
our help. They want us dead and forgotten. I say it’s time we defend ourselves. Jedi for the Jedi!”
    Applause smacked around the chamber—not deafening, but not trivial either. Anakin had to admit, Kyp made a certain amount of sense. Who could the Jedi trust now? Only other Jedi, it seemed.
    “What would you have us do, then, Kyp?” Luke asked mildly.
    “I told you. Defend ourselves. Fight evil, in whatever guise it takes. And we don’t let the fight come to us, to catch us in our homes, asleep, with our children. We go out and find the enemy. Offense against evil
is
defense.”
    “In other words, you would have us all emulate what you and your dozen have been doing.”
    “I would have us emulate
you
, Master Skywalker—when you were battling the Empire.”
    Luke sighed. “I was young, then,” he pointed out. “There was much I did not understand. Aggression is the way of the dark side.”
    Kyp rubbed his jaw, then smiled briefly. “And who should know better, Master Skywalker, than one who
did
turn to the dark side.”
    “Exactly,” Luke replied. “I fell, though I knew better. Like you, Kyp. We both, in our own way, thought we were wise enough and nimble enough to walk on the laser beam and not get burned. We were both wrong.”
    “And yet we returned.”
    “Barely. With much help and love.”
    “Granted. But there were others. Kam Solusar, for instance, not to forget your own father—”
    “What are you saying, Kyp? That it is easy to return from the dark side, and that justifies the risk?”
    Kyp shrugged. “I’m saying the line between dark and light isn’t as sharp as you’re trying to make it, or exactlywhere you want to put it.” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin, then shook them with an air of contemplation. “Master Skywalker, if a man attacks me with a lightsaber, may I defend with my own blade, that he not take my head off? Is that too aggressive?”
    “Of course you may.”
    “And after I defend, may I press my attack? May I return the blow? If not, why are we Jedi
taught
lightsaber battle techniques? Why don’t we learn only how to defend, and back off until the enemy has us in a corner and our arms grow tired, until an attack finally slips through our guard? Master Skywalker, sometimes the only defense
is
an attack. You know this as well as anyone.”
    “That’s true, Kyp. I do.”
    “But you back down from the fight, Master Skywalker. You block and defend and never return the blow. Meanwhile the blades directed against you multiply. And you have begun to lose, Master Skywalker. One opportunity lost! And there lies Daeshara’cor, dead. Another slip in your defense, and Corran Horn is slandered as the destroyer of Ithor and driven to seclusion. Again an attack is neglected, and Wurth Skidder joins Daeshara’cor in death. And now a flurry of failures as a million blades swing at you, and there go Dorsk 82, and Seyyerin Itoklo, and Swilja Fenn, and who can count those we do not know of yet, or who will die tomorrow?
When
will you attack, Master Skywalker?”
    “This is ridiculous!” a female voice exploded half a meter from Anakin’s ear. It was his sister, Jaina, her face gone red with internal heat. “Maybe you don’t hear all the news, running around playing hero with your squadron, Kyp. Maybe you’ve started