Move, move, move!

Affie pushed herself onto her feet, desperate to run away. In what direction, she couldn’t tell; the world had turned to smoke and ash, almost devoid of light. But she had to get out of there before the Nihil found her.

She braced herself against the walkway rail, trying to catch her breath—then gasped as a gloved hand grabbed her hair.

“It has to be her!” One of the Nihil dragged her close to him. His many-tubed breathmask had the greasy sheen of an oil slick. Through the visor Affie met his narrowed eyes. “She threw the explosive—she may have more!”

He was rabid with fury, which was probably why he didn’t think to check her for a blaster right away. His hand shifted to the place at her holster the moment after she’d drawn. Affie shoved the muzzle into his gut, hard, hoping it would hurt.

“Let me go,” she said. Her voice was scratchy from all the cinders in the air. “Now.”

Instead he hurled her sideways, violently. Affie hit the railing hard, lost her balance, and tipped over.

She screamed as she fell, certain she’d plummet onto metal and dash her brains out. Instead, she landed on some other Nihil, sending all of them sprawling. The landing still hurt, but Affie ignored her injuries as she tried to escape from the tangle of arms and legs and weapons below her. But the Nihil were recovering even faster than she was, and when one of them seized her forearm she realized she’d lost her grip on her blaster in the fall. She was surrounded by helmeted figures, all of them angry, all of them armed, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do about it.

At that moment, through the sooty smoke came a swirling circle of brilliant white light shining in the darkness. Panels of heavy metal slammed across the tunnel with a thud, and then three rays of light shone out—one blue, two white.

Lightsabers, Affie realized. She just hoped the Nihil recognized them, too.

They must have, because her attackers instantly released her and stormed toward the Jedi. Affie ducked down to avoid getting clobbered by their weapons, but once she was down, she realized how hard it was to catch her breath. The smoke was getting to her.

Her comlink buzzed. “Affie?” She’d almost never been gladder to hear Leox’s voice. “We just picked up some serious shock waves—”

“I threw the thermal detonator at the Nihil,” she said. She was crawling across the floor, down low where the air was cooler and marginally clearer. Inhaling had gotten a lot easier.

“An understandable impulse, even if I might express some quibbles with its strategic value. Can you get back to the ship?”

“I don’t think so. Besides, I’m not done yet.” Affie felt her bag; while a few devices had rolled free during her tumble from the walkway, she still had the majority of what she needed to take the records she sought.

“The hell you aren’t.” It was so weird hearing Leox sound stern. “The Nihil change our whole strategy, in that our only strategy is now ‘Get the heck outta here.’ We need you on board.”

They didn’t need her. Leox was just worried because the situation had become more dangerous. Maybe Affie should’ve been concerned, as well, especially since the Jedi and the Nihil were battling furiously only meters away, the frenzy of it not entirely obscured by smoke.

But her parents would’ve been frightened, too. Frightened for their own lives, frightened about what would become of their little girl. Scover had taken their choices away. Affie intended to make sure everybody had a choice from that moment on.

“Hold down the ship,” she said. “I’ll be back soon.” And she shut off her comlink before Leox could say one more word.

Reath couldn’t center himself. If he could, maybe he’d be able to levitate Dez, ease him out of the tunnels into the station at large, and get him to the rest of the Jedi. Maybe he’d be able to levitate his own body, save them both. But he was too scattered to do it, the adrenaline in his blood at war with his better instincts.

“When you cannot achieve balance within yourself,” Master Jora had said, “simply lean toward the light and do your best. There’s no point in reacting to a lack of calm in a way that makes you even less calm.”

“Okay,” Reath muttered as he balanced Dez against him, Dez’s arm around his shoulders. “For light and life. Here we go.”

“What did you say?” Dez looked over at him groggily.

“Keep walking forward, all right? We’ll try climbing up through the roots in a few minutes. Maybe you can hang on to my neck.” Reath managed a smile. He wanted to reassure Dez, though there was very little that was reassuring about their current situation. But when he thought about what Dez must’ve endured over the past several days—delirious, in pain, surrounded by creatures who tortured him for information he wasn’t even in a state to give them—it was impossible not to want to give some comfort.

All thoughts of comfort fled when Reath heard the telltale thuds of the Drengir pod settling into its base.

In just a minute, they’ll be loose. Coming after us.

So I won’t give them a minute.

“Stay here,” Reath said unnecessarily, allowing Dez to slump onto the floor. Then he ran toward the Drengir pod.

The Force led him to their hatch, which they would open at any second; already he could see green frond-like hands grappling with the handle. Reath held out his hand and mentally pushed the Drengir away from the door. They went toppling backward. That was the easy part.

He closed his eyes and reached out again with his feelings. This time he wrapped his mind not around the Drengir but around the pod itself. Its shape became real to him, tactile, almost as if he were holding it in his palm.

Finally he pushed the entire pod backward down the launch tunnel. It felt as though he were physically shoving pure heavy metal backward, straining every muscle in his body—but he managed to move it a couple of meters. That would be enough, if his plan worked at all.

Despite the thick hatch door, Reath could hear the Drengir emerging from their pod, simply crawling out into the tunnel. They were heading for the hatch, coming to confront him—

Brilliant white light flashed in the tunnel, and howls of pain echoed for just one instant. Then the tunnel fell dark; all was silent.

Lightsaber in one hand, Reath used the other to swing the hatch door open. Instantly he was greeted by the scent of charred plants—slightly pleasant, actually, like woodsmoke or fragrant herbs.

By the glow of the saber, he could see limp, blackened leafy scraps on the bottom of the tunnel, smoldering just over the helix rings. Their energy had destroyed the Drengir in a split second. There was a sense of rightness in knowing that the rings had spared Dez, instead killing the ones who had tortured him.

There is no rightness in slaying an enemy, Master Jora scolded within Reath’s mind. Killing is never true victory. At best it is the knowledge that you have done what you must.

“I’ve done what I must, master,” he whispered. It seemed possible that perhaps, in the cosmic Force, she could hear.

“Affie?” Orla cried out. She couldn’t see the girl in all that mess; she could barely see her own lightsaber in front of her face. Deep within she sensed that the girl remained alive, but she couldn’t yet spare the mental energy to search any farther.

Not until she’d driven back the Nihil.

Orla faced off against two Nihil warriors, one for each of her blades. They bore energized polearms that could parry a lightsaber’s thrust—but it cost them, every time. They slashed at her, their attack savage but uncoordinated. She let the Force flow through her, sensing all their moves the instant before they were made, her saber moving almost of its own accord to block each one. They were shifted back with each strike, not far, maybe not even enough for them to notice, but enough for Orla to know she was the master of the situation.

Next to her, Cohmac was extinguishing his lightsaber. Before Orla could even consciously wonder why, Cohmac reached out with the Force toward a metal beam lying on the floor, dragging it toward the Nihil. It never entirely rose into the air, but he didn’t need it to; as it was, the beam swept under the Nihil, knocking them off their feet and sending blaster bolts flying in random directions.

But one of those directions might be the place where Affie Hollow was trying to hide.…

Almost as one, the Nihil turned and ran away from the Jedi, back toward the airlock ring. The movement was too coordinated to be a simple flight or surrender; it was a strategic retreat. The Nihil would regroup and attack again, stronger than before. All the more reason to wrap up their business on this Force-forsaken station and leave.

Cohmac gestured after the Nihil. “They will return with more firepower.”

“Undoubtedly,” Orla said. “Do you see Affie?”

“No. The girl has moved deeper into the station.” Cohmac gazed into the middle distance. “We must find her, and Reath, and remove them as soon as possible.”

Orla nodded. “We know Reath’s in the tunnels. Cohmac, why don’t you head down there while I search for Affie?” He ran toward the nearest access point for the lower rings, which would have to serve as a yes.

Already Orla sensed that Affie was missing on purpose. She was trying to do something she thought the Jedi shouldn’t know about. Orla didn’t know what it was and didn’t care. She just had to get Affie and get out before the Nihil attacked again.

Dez swayed on his feet, leaning against Reath as they walked through a jungle.

It’s the arboretum of the Amaxine station, he told himself. The farther away from the Drengir he went, the more Dez could remember. But he could still feel the toxins in his blood, making his body and thoughts sluggish, and everything remained dreamlike and surreal.

In the center of the arboretum, he could dimly make out shapes that he recognized as the Drengir. They’re here, too. They’re everywhere. I can’t get away.

Before panic seized him, however, Reath murmured, “It’s all right. We brought the idols back to imprison the dark side again. They must have trapped the Drengir, because look—they can’t get away.”

Dez realized the Drengir weren’t moving. Once again the four idols stood sentry, watching over them all. That helped the fear, though the burning strangeness in his blood continued muddying his mind.

“Do you think that would stop the Drengir from ever using this station again?” Reath said. “The power of the idols? Because we can’t let them take possession of this place. It’s too dangerous.”

Dez managed to say, “Am I supposed to actually come up with an answer? Or are you just trying to get me to talk?”

“The second one. You’re doing better!” Reath grinned.

Dez might’ve smiled back, except that then he saw a figure approaching them from the darkness. Fear spiked within him, crushing and complete—until his blurry vision cleared enough for him to make out the person’s face. “Master Cohmac?”

Cohmac hurried toward them, eyes wide with wonder. “How is this possible?”

“The lower rings are a transport area,” Reath said. That made sense, Dez thought. They’d been in hyperspace. Hadn’t they? His head still hurt. “They’re outfitted with automated hyperspace pods. Dez wasn’t killed; he was sent from here to the home planet of these evil plant guys called—”

“The Drengir,” Cohmac finished. “We’ve made their acquaintance. By the Force, Dez, what did they do to you?”

How bad do I look? Dez thought. Probably I don’t want to know.

“They were interrogating him,” Reath said quietly. “They drugged him with something, sent him out of his mind for a while. But I don’t think he’s critically injured. We just have to get him off this station.”

“Easier said than done. The Nihil have boarded. They may suspect the transport capacities of this station.”

“Oh, no.” Reath’s eyes widened. “Right now the controls are programmed for the Drengir homeworld—at least, I guess it’s their homeworld. Maybe it’s just a planet some of them live on—never mind. Those controls could be reprogrammed to direct the transit pods anywhere. To Republic shipyards, to frontier planets, even to Coruscant itself.”

“They are only pods—” Cohmac began.

Reath said, “It only takes one or two agents to take down a security shield, or provide reports on defense capabilities. I’d bet anything this is how the Amaxines got intel on their targets before they struck.”

“Or carried explosive devices to detonate only after they were gone. All the more reason to stop the Nihil,” Cohmac said. “Let’s get Dez to the Vessel, if we can. And take it from there.”

The words were getting away from Dez. He couldn’t focus for more than a few moments at a time, on more than one or two things at once. He was with his friends again; he was in danger. That much he understood. The rest would be up to his fellow Jedi.

Aboard the Vessel, Geode was the lone element of calm as Leox paced around the bridge.

“There’s about eighty other ways we can stop Scover Byne from sending indentures to this station,” Leox said. His beads swayed across the bared expanse of his chest as he walked. “But no. Little Bit’s gotta perform cryptanalysis—and yeah, I know, she’s outgrown that nickname, it no longer describes her myriad complexities as an individual, so spare me, all right?”

Geode spared him, which was about the only break Leox figured he’d get all day.

“We now have only a very roundabout pathway from the center of the station to the ship, and I suspect Affie is unaware of this important fact.” Leox breathed out in frustration. By then the Nihil knew another ship had docked, but they either hadn’t found the Vessel yet or were distracted by other concerns. For the moment—for a very brief moment—this ship remained the one safe place around, and it was the one place Affie couldn’t get to. “She’s not going to be able to come back to us. Which means we’re gonna have to be the ones who get to her.”

Leox Gyasi was not a warlike man, but he was one who believed in the power of preparation. He went to the painted, carved trunk he kept on one side of the bridge, opened it up, and dug around beneath the shirts and incense for a second before he pulled out a blaster. It had been a long while since he’d shot anyone, but he remembered how it was done. If anyone got between Affie and safety, pulling that trigger wouldn’t be hard.

He turned to face Geode, who looked on in solemn silence. “Guard the ship,” Leox said. “Stay at the controls. And don’t even think about coming after us unless the situation gets a hell of a lot worse. Not sure exactly how that would even be possible—but fate has a way of showing us how, doesn’t it?”

Which was when the readings on the console began to spike in ominous ways. Solar flares—coming in hard, and soon—extreme enough that they might cause damage even to ships hidden behind the station. Which would mean penetrating the Vessel, and everyone within it, and vaporizing them instantly.

And there wasn’t a damned thing Leox could do about it.

He refused to worry about things he couldn’t change. Time to concentrate on what he could.

With a final nod of farewell, Leox headed for the airlock, toward Affie.

Reath, Dez, and Master Cohmac reached what had once been the closest entrance to the airlock ring and was now a mass of twisted metal. An abandoned Nihil weapon lay on the floor; it took Reath a moment to realize the Nihil lay there, too, half-hidden and crushed by the fallen beams. The man’s helmet had been ripped off in the collapse, revealing a human face that was utterly ordinary except in its slack paleness.

“Who are they?” Reath whispered. “Why do they want us all dead?”

“According to the limited information we have so far, the Nihil are generally more interested in capturing wealth than in slaughter.” Master Cohmac readjusted Dez against his shoulder, all the while looking around them and analyzing the scenario. “However, they won’t hesitate to kill when it serves their purposes, as it very often does. If they want to claim this station as their own, use it the way the Amaxines did, as an advance scouting point for their attacks—”

“Then killing us serves their purposes,” Reath finished. The way to the ship was all but blocked by the wreckage of what appeared to be some kind of blast doors or emergency airlock. “We’ll have to find our way through this mess.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than someone hoisted himself through an opening in the wreckage and landed on their side. Leox Gyasi had removed his beads and carried a blaster, which Reath found unexpectedly jarring. Apparently he’d overheard them, because Leox grinned and said, “That’s the way through this mess. You’re welcome.” Then he brightened. “Dez! Good to see you, my friend! Looks like you’ve got a story to tell.”

Though Dez was patently in no shape to tell his story or any other, he managed a crooked smile.

Master Cohmac was less amused. “Captain Gyasi, your courage is commendable, but your prudence is lacking. You are safest aboard the ship—”

“For one, while Affie’s in danger on this station, my own safety doesn’t mean a damn thing,” Leox said. “For two, we’ve got more solar flares coming in any second now, intense ones, so I’m not sure any of us is particularly safe anywhere in this system.”

Reath thought fast. “The station’s shields. Can we strengthen them? Then we could expand them to protect the ships.”

“Perhaps,” Master Cohmac said. “But finding the controls, much less interpreting them—”

“They’ll be in the lower levels,” Reath interjected. Had he really just interrupted a Jedi Master? But this was too important, and they had little time. “I’ve learned my way around down there, and I think the controls are starting to make sense to me. Maybe I can boost the shields.”

Leox nodded. “Sounds like a plan, kid. Good luck down there.” With that he jogged off in search of Affie Hollow.

Master Cohmac wasn’t as easily convinced. “I should be the one to—”

“Please, master. I’m the one who has experience with Amaxine tech.” Reath’s experience primarily consisted of being shot into hyperspace against his will, but it was still more than anyone else in their party possessed. “This task should be mine. Besides, Dez needs you right now.”

His plea might not have worked, if it weren’t for Dez’s knees buckling at that very moment. Master Cohmac caught him, then shook his head. “Very well, Reath. May the Force be with you.”

Reath smiled, turned, and dashed back toward the central arboretum, and the passage that would lead him down to the lower rings.

With the 8-Ts no doubt distracted by all the other mayhem aboard the Amaxine station, reaching the lower levels was easier than it had been. At this point, Reath was grateful for any break they got. Once he reached the main controls, he was able to bring up the station schematics fairly easily—and from there, it was merely a matter of touching the screen. The low hum of power surged through the station, including the shields.

Reath hoped it included the shields, anyway. They’d find out one way or another. With any luck, it wouldn’t be the way that involved being burnt to a crisp by solar flares.

He’d done all he could do, and all that was left was to get back to the ship as fast as possible.

As he hurried back along what remained of the corridor, the scent of smoke thick in the air, he caught sight of more Nihil corpses, more abandoned Nihil weapons. A lightsaber was by far the best weapon to have in battle, but it struck Reath that a blaster could come in handy. One lay far enough away from any of the Nihil bodies for him not to feel like a grave robber, so he knelt to retrieve it. Just before his hand closed over the grip, someone said, “Don’t move.”

Reath froze—except for his eyes, which looked up to see Nan standing there, her blaster aimed directly at him.