Light of the Jedi(66)

They stopped, their duralloy hooves locking into the ground with the organomagnetic field that allowed them to climb even the steepest of Elphrona’s mountains—here, the maneuver simply removed all velocity cold, in one quick, snapping movement.

Velocity, but not momentum, not inertia. Three of the Nihil were thrown from their saddles, whipping forward at enormous speed. Their guard, too, who was in the worst possible position when the steelees stopped—standing, unbalanced, in a fast-moving repulsorcart. She shot up and out, as if fired from her own rifle.



A moment later, a thick, hard sound, between a snap and a thud, the sound of something very hard breaking when it hit something even harder.

Erika didn’t see it happen, because she, along with the rest of her family, was pressed together against the front edge of the repulsorcart, a tangle of limbs and pressure and future bruises. Despite that, she was fairly sure she now knew what it sounded like when a Trandoshan’s skull split open against hard ironstone.

And good bloody riddance.

“Is everyone all right?” Erika said.

“I’m okay,” Bee said. Tough little kid.

“Hurt my hand, but it’s nothing too bad,” Ronn said.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you,” Ottoh said, pulling himself out of the tangle. “It wouldn’t have worked if it didn’t surprise them. “Now try to do what I do.”



He rolled himself onto his back, then pulled his legs up close to his chest and extended his arms as far as they would go, trying to get his cuffed wrist out and over his feet, so at least he’d be able to use his hands again.

Erika got ready to repeat the maneuver herself. If they could use their hands, maybe they could find a way to get free, or at least to run.

The butt of a rifle slammed down on Ottoh’s head, and he slumped. His eyes went blank and dazed. He was alive, but Erika didn’t know how much of him was left just then. Her husband wouldn’t be cooking up any more surprises, of that much she was sure.

The Nihil weren’t gone. They had fallen, some had fallen hard, but they were still there, and they still had guns, and now they were very angry. The one who hit her husband lifted his rifle for another crack, and she knew this one would most likely crack his skull for good if the first blow hadn’t.

Erika lunged forward, covering his body with hers, trying to intercept the blow.

“No!” she cried.

The rifle hit her in the side, and she curled up against the pain, which was immediate and immense. But better her than Ottoh.

“Move or you die, too,” the Nihil growled, its voice low and strange.

Someone else outside the cart grabbed the attacker and pulled him back. Erika was struggling to breathe, but she could still hear.

“Don’t kill any of them.”

“Asaria’s dead. She’s dead.”

Asaria, Erika thought, what a lovely name.

“These stupid miners killed half of us already, Dent.”

“Damn right,” she heard Ronn whisper.

“It’s time for some payback.”

“I said no. Every one we kill, that’s twenty-five percent of our take. I’m not worried about the people we lost—it doubles our share. But we lost a speeder, too, and that means we’re in the red on this. We need every credit we can get. Don’t kill any of them. You’re just a Strike. I’m the Cloud. You do what I say.”



A long moment of silence, and Erika knew that the lives of her husband and maybe the rest of her family were dependent on how much respect this Strike had for his Cloud, whatever that meant.

“Fine,” the first Nihil spat, and she heard him walking away.

Erika exhaled slowly.

“Ottoh,” she said.

No answer. She decided she would just believe he was still alive. Hope was a choice—and not unwarranted, either. In the distance, she could hear a sound. Hoofbeats. Their pursuers were catching up.

“We need to kill whoever’s coming after us,” the Nihil’s leader said to the rest of her crew—a Cloud, she had called herself. “Egga, Rel, get up in the hills, on either side. Find spots where you have a good view of the canyon. Mack, Buggo, and I will keep going for the ship. We’ll take the family with us, so they’ll have to come this way. Take them out.”

Erika listened as these arrangements were put into play, and with a jerk, the cart began moving again, rapidly picking up speed.

But now there was no guard, and she was able to complete the maneuver her husband had shown her, getting her hands in front of her as opposed to stuck behind her back. First, she felt Ottoh’s pulse—steady and strong. He was unconscious, but maybe that was all. Her husband attended to, Erika turned to her children. She touched Bee’s face and kissed her, and then took Ronn’s hands in hers.

“You’re both being so strong, so brave. We’re so proud of you.”

“Is Dada all right?” Bee asked.

“He will be. Don’t worry about your father. Just stay calm, and be ready to do whatever I ask you to do, when the time comes. For now, try to get your hands out in front of you, like I did. You’re a little wriggly worm. You can do it, I know you can. You, too, Ronn.”

She watched as both her children contorted themselves as she had requested.