'You must keep to the segment mapped out on your datapads. To cross the line is to be disqualified. Do you understand this?'
The students nodded, trying to conceal their anticipation. They all knew the rules.
Yoda nodded, letting them know that their attempts to hide their impatience hadn't fooled him a bit. 'Perhaps wait you should until the sun is higher….' he began, his eyes twinkling.
'No, please, Master Yoda!' the students chorused the words together.
'Ah, then teams you will become. Look on your data-pads, you must.'
The students reached for the palm-sized datapads on their utility belts. Dooku's screen glowed blue.
'Blue and gold, the team colors are,' Yoda said. 'And the captains are these: Dooku for blue, Lorian for gold. Waiting, the Jedi Masters are, to take you to your starting points.'
Startled, Dooku looked first at Yoda, then at Lorian, whose blank face showed how deeply surprised he was. Why had they been chosen as captains? Maybe yesterday morning they would have been chosen.
Yesterday morning, when they were not suspected of stealing a Sith Holocron. Yesterday morning, when they were still Padawans in good standing.
Dooku gripped his datapad, still reeling by Yoda's words. He had not yet completely figured out Jedi logic, that was certain.
'Hey, Dooku, wake up!' Hran Beling grinned at him as he tugged on the sleeve of his tunic. 'Is it a little early for you?'
'Jedi Master Reesa Doliq is waiting,' Galinda Norsh said briskly.
'Let's get started.'
Dooku noticed that the Gold Team members were all scrambling to board a transport. He hurried behind the other Blue Team members to get aboard their own transport. Reesa Doliq smiled at the students as they crammed in.
'Room for everyone,' she said. 'Don't worry, I'll have you at the starting point in no time. In the meantime, you can start on your strategy.'
The two transports lifted off. Dooku found that every Blue Team member was staring at him, waiting for him to begin. He was the leader, after all.
He cleared his throat and looked down at his datapad. The map of the area they would be operating in flashed onscreen. Dooku was familiar with much of it. It consisted of the Senate buildings, several grand boulevards that he knew quite well, and the All Planets Market, which was held in a large plaza near the Senate complex. As a promising student of diplomacy, he had signed up for special tutorials in Senate procedure, so he'd had plenty of opportunities to explore the Senate grounds.
Quickly Dooku scanned the map, trying to locate streets and alleys and space lanes. Everyone had to be coordinated and a strategy must be devised. They should spread out and each student should get a muja fruit. That would increase the odds of their win.
But why? Dooku thought suddenly. It was just what Lorian would expect him to do, so why should he do it?
'Our starting coordinate is Nova level,' Galinda said. 'That's good.
There are many alleys there to hide in. And the gravsleds and truck transports will be unloading supplies for the market. We can use them for cover.' She looked over Dooku's shoulder at the map.
Hran Beling nodded. 'We can pick the fastest among us to pick up the fruit.'
'They'll probably be staking out the fruit stands,' Galinda said. 'We have to get there first.'
'Maybe not,' Dooku muttered, his head bent over the map.
'Do you have a better idea?' Hran asked.
Dooku didn't answer. He was thinking. What would Lorian expect him to do?
He would expect me to race to get a muja fruit first. He would expect me to send three Padawans to retrieve the fruit, and guard them with the rest. If they all didn't make it, I'd send back two.
He looked at the map again.
'Do you have a plan or, what?' Galinda asked impatiently.
Dooku looked up at last. 'Yes,' he said. 'We're not going after the muja fruit at all.'
They looked at him skeptically. Dooku only smiled. He would bend them to his will. He would make them see his strategy. Because he knew one thing on this day: He had to win.
Chapter 5
'Why expose ourselves to get the fruit at the start?' Dooku asked them. 'Why not let the Gold Team try for the fruit, and pick them off one by one? We might lose a few team members, but not as many as they will. When you are intent on getting something, you take more chances.
Then, when no Gold Team members are left, we can simply stroll to the market, pick a fruit, and head back to the Temple. Simple.'
'Sure, if we're able to pick them all off,' Galinda said. 'What if one of them gets through and makes it back to the Temple?'
'That is not an acceptable outcome,' Dooku said. His coolness made the others exchange glances. Dooku
