a man, tall, with long, straight brown hair and a beard. The woman carried a small girl. The man carried an unconscious woman, but when he saw Jaden, he let her slide to the ground and activated his lightsaber, red and angry.
Jaden lunged forward. The woman backed off a step, shielding the child, and the man met his charge, parrying Jaden’s overhand slash with his red blade.
Across the intersected blades, Jaden locked eyes with the clone—and gasped.
He was staring into gray eyes the mirror of his own.
The realization took a moment to register, and when it did, it hit him like a punch in the face, staggering him. He lost focus, lost his concentration. The realization pulled a single word from him as implications crashed down on him.
“How?”
The clone unleashed a blast of Force that drove Jaden up against the far wall. Jaden recovered himself enough to cushion the impact with the Force, but the clone followed up immediately, leaping forward and unleashing a crosscut at Jaden’s throat.
Jaden ducked under the red blade at the last moment and it cut a deep groove in the wall, causing a shower of sparks. He kicked out a leg and swept the clone’s legs, but instead of falling prone, the clone caught himself on one hand before hitting the ground, pushed off, and backflipped away from Jaden.
Battle cleared the surprise from Jaden’s mind, and the moment the clone’s feet touched the ground, Jaden unleashed a blast of power designed to slam him into the wall.
The clone snarled, held up a hand, palm outward, and met Jaden’s blast with his own. Power pressed against power and Jaden and the clone eyed each other across the landing, jaws fixed, eyes locked, neither gaining the advantage.
On the stairway above him and to his left, Jaden saw the clone he had dazed rise to his feet and shake his head, growling. His angry eyes fixed on Jaden. He gestured with both hands, and sent a burst of power at the Jedi.
Jaden held out his left hand—his maimed hand—at the last moment, intercepted the blast, and answered with his own power. The clone’s push caused him to stagger, but he nested himself in the Force and stood his ground against both clones. He held his hands out, the clones’ power pressing at him from right angles. The yellow line of his lightsaber, which he still held in his left had, sizzled before his eyes. The effort squeezed sweat from him, taxed mind and body. He took a step back, another, and found himself pressed against the wall. He could not hold out for long.
The female clone stared at him, a strange smile on her face. Her strong jaw and almond-shaped eyes clicked in Jaden’s memory and he recognized her as a clone of the Dark Jedi Lumiya. Her baldness had thrown him at first. The child, her face dirty, her long red hair matted, did not move at all.
“What do you want?” Jaden asked through gritted teeth.
“To go home,” the Lumiya-clone said.
“I can’t allow that,” Jaden said.
Her smile deepened. “You cannot stop us. No one can. Mother has called.”
As one, the two male clones took a step toward Jaden, their power pressing against him. He fell to one knee, grunting against their onslaught, barely holding on.
They took another step and he fell to both knees.
The larger of the two grinned. Jaden recognized him now, behind the beard and hair. He was a clone of Jaden’s Master, Kyle Katarn. Anger poured off both clones, anger born of years of frustration and mistreatment. It hit Jaden like a hailstorm. His elbows bent. He was failing, failing.
But he refused to give in.
He grunted, summoned a reserve of strength, extended his arms fully, pushed back against the clones, stood up, and held his ground.
“I won’t let you pass,” he grunted. “I can’t.”
His words erased the smile on the Lumiya-clone’s face. She shrieked, her calm façade shattering under the sudden expression of her rage. Power went forth from her, joined that of the other two clones, and slammed him against the wall.
“Kill him, Soldier!” she screamed. “Kill him!”
The Jaden-clone deactivated his lightsaber and raised his free hand, fingers spread like a claw. Jaden knew instantly what was coming and braced himself as blue Force lightning filled the distance between them.
Jaden adjusted his blade slightly and the lightning caught in it, snaked around its length, spiraled toward the hilt, hit Jaden’s hand, his forearm, his bicep.
The power burned his flesh while turning his spirit