Star Wars - Darth Plagueis

clattering backward, and fixed the false Mirax with a hard look. “Just a moment.” He dashed to his room.
    His lightsaber was still where he’d left it, on the night-stand beside his bed. He snatched it up and gave it a near-instantaneous examination. Battery power was still optimal; there was no sign that it had been tampered with.
    He returned to the dining room with the weapon in his hand. Not-Mirax, clearly confused and beginning to look a little alarmed, stood by the stove, staring at him.
    Valin ignited the lightsaber, its snap-hiss of activation startlingly loud, and held the point of the gleaming energy blade against the food on his plate. Hotcakes shriveled and blackened from contact with the weapon’s plasma. Valin gave Not-Mirax an approving nod. “Flesh does the same thing under the same conditions, you know.”
    “Valin, what’s wrong ?”
    “You may address me as Jedi Horn. You don’t have the right to use my personal name.” Valin swung the lightsaber around in a practice form, allowing the blade to come within a few centimeters of the glow rod fixture overhead, the wall, the dining table, and the woman with his mother’s face. “You probably know from your research that the Jedi don’t worry much about amputations.”
    Not-Mirax shrank back away from him, both hands on the stove edge behind her. “What?”
    “We know that a severed limb can readily be replaced by a prosthetic that looks identical to the real thing. Prosthetics offer sensation and do everything flesh can. They’re ideal substitutes in every way, except for requiring maintenance. So we don’t feel too badly when wehave to cut the arm or leg off a very bad person. But I assure you, that very bad person remembers the pain forever.”
    “Valin, I’m going to call your father now.” Not-Mirax sidled toward the blue bantha-hide carrybag she had left on a side table.
    Valin positioned the tip of his lightsaber directly beneath her chin. At the distance of half a centimeter, its containing force field kept her from feeling any heat from the blade, but a slight twitch on Valin’s part could maim or kill her instantly. She froze.
    “No, you’re not. You know what you’re going to do instead?”
    Not-Mirax’s voice wavered. “What?”
    “You’re going to tell me what you’ve done with my mother! ” The last several words emerged as a bellow, driven by fear and anger. Valin knew that he looked as angry as he sounded; he could feel blood reddening his face, could even see redness begin to suffuse everything in his vision.
    “Boy, put the blade down.” Those were not the woman’s words. They came from behind. Valin spun, bringing his blade up into a defensive position.
    In the doorway stood a man, middle-aged, clean-shaven, his hair graying from brown. He was of below-average height, his eyes a startling green. He wore the brown robes of a Jedi. His hands were on his belt, his own lightsaber still dangling from it.
    He was Valin’s father, Jedi Master Corran Horn. But he wasn’t, any more than the woman behind Valin was Mirax Horn.
    Valin felt a wave of despair wash over him. Both parents replaced. Odds were growing that the real Corran and Mirax were already dead.
    Yet Valin’s voice was soft when he spoke. “They mayhave made you a virtual double for my father. But they can’t have given you his expertise with the lightsaber.”
    “You don’t want to do what you’re thinking about, son.”
    “When I cut you in half, that’s all the proof anyone will ever need that you’re not the real Corran Horn.”
    Valin lunged.

The STAR WARS Novels Timeline
    OLD REPUBLIC 5000–33 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    Lost Tribe of the Sith *
Precipice
Skyborn
Paragon
Savior
Purgatory
Sentinel
    3650 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    The Old Republic: Deceived
    Lost Tribe of the Sith *
Pantheon
Secrets
    Red Harvest
    The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance
    1032 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    Knight Errant
    Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
    Darth Bane: Rule of Two
    Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil
    RISE OF THE EMPIRE 33–0 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    Darth Maul: Saboteur *
    Cloak of Deception
    Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
    32 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    STAR WARS: EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace
    Rogue Planet
    Outbound Flight
    The Approaching Storm
    22 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    STAR WARS: EPISODE II: Attack of the Clones
    22-19 YEARS BEFORE STAR WARS: A New Hope
    The Clone Wars
    The Clone Wars: Wild