The eye rolled, fixed him in its black stare. The pupil tightened. It had seen him. Before Starkiller could move, one mighty hand came from behind him and, with the force of a mass-drive cannon, swept him from his precarious perch.

For a moment he was both weightless and stunned. The world turned around him, and he thought he heard Juno saying, "Have you done this before?" and himself responding, "Trust me. I'm doing the right thing, for both of us. "

Then he hit the stadium, and only a Force-barrier reflex honed by thousands of hours of punishing training stopped him from breaking every bone in his body.

His senses only slowly returned. Holograms flickered and sparked around him as he climbed groggily to his feet.

Chapter 5