Without even pausing, the woman turned on Elzar, bringing her lightsaber around. Sensing the attack, Elzar brought his own blade up, using the Tholothian’s momentum against her. The locked blades completed a perfect arc, Elzar slamming the tip of her saber into the ground. Elzar slid his blade up the length of hers, the plasma screeching as he aimed for her hands, but she realized what he was doing and landed a boot in his chest. Elzar was knocked flat against the wall as the strange-looking machine reached its crescendo, the whine almost unbearable. Stellan shouted out a warning, but the Tholothian struck, burying her saber up to its hilt in Elzar’s chest.

“No,” Stellan yelled, calling on the Force to pull the woman away from him. She flew across the room, slamming into the wall, her lightsaber spinning from her fingers. Bell raced to Elzar who had his hand to his chest, but when the Padawan pulled it away there was no hole through Elzar’s heart, only bloodstains where the woman’s spiked hilt had punctured his skin.

“What?” Stellan breathed, keeping the Tholothian pressed against the wall.

“Look to your own lightsaber,” the Kuranu said, ridiculously animated considering the situation. “Light it.”

Stellan drew his lightsaber up to his hand and thumbed the activator. The emitter spat, but no blade extended from the hilt, the quillons remaining locked. None of this made any sense.

“Padawan?” Stellan asked, and Bell tried to light his own saber only to have the same result, or lack of it. Elzar’s was the same, all three weapons incapacitated.

“It’s the machine,” the Tholothian hissed. “It extinguished our blades before I struck the killing blow.”

“And you knew that would happen?” Elzar asked, pushing himself up.

“No,” the woman scoffed, and Elzar took a step forward before stopping himself.

“Someone needs to explain what she means,” Stellan demanded, his head thudding from the throb of his nose and the pulsing of the Kuranu’s device.

“I agree,” Toon said, stepping up to join Stellan, his eyes fixed on the woman.

“Only once you release my associate.”

“You are in no position to make demands, Ms. Chekkat,” the senator snapped, surprising all of them with the fury of his words.

The woman raised her hands as if they could somehow protect her. “Very well. The nullifier generates a frequency that can disrupt any energy weapon, from the humble blaster to, yes, the weapon of a Jedi.”

“And why exactly would I be interested in such a device?” Toon demanded.

The woman looked at him confused, as if the answer was obvious. “Your opposition to the Jedi is well known, and the nullifier …”

“The nullifier swamps everyone in a ten-meter radius with dangerous radiation,” Toon snapped. “Turn it off. Turn it off this instant!”

Chekkat swallowed, shaken by the senator’s tone. “But—”

“You heard what he said,” Stellan warned.