Light of the Jedi(95)

He saw his three Storms considering these possibilities.

“Wet Bub, get on the comm. Try to raise the Eye. Tell him what’s happening, and ask him for a Path out of here.”

The Gungan gave it a second or two, then holstered his blaster and turned to the communications console.



“Dellex, you give the order to the rest of the fleet. Tell them to run, get to the other transfer point as fast as they can. Gravhan, get back to the weapons grid, just in case these Republic bastards decide to start shooting.”

“No answer from Marchion Ro,” Wet Bub said. “But the Republic Cruiser is hailing us again.”

Kassav gave his lieutenants a knowing look.

You see? that look conveyed. We’re on our own out here.

Without another word, they put away their weapons and followed his orders.

He felt the New Elite’s engines kick into a higher gear as it prepared for its run to escape the trap he was increasingly sure Marchion Ro had led them into.

“Ugh,” Dellex said, her voice uncharacteristically subdued.

“What now?” he asked.

“Another fleet just dropped in. From the other hyperspace transfer point. We’re boxed in, Kassav.”

“Tell me it’s Nihil,” he said. “Tell me it’s Pan Eyta’s Tempest.”

“It’s not. The ships all register as being from Eriadu.”

“That’s where we messed up the extortion job,” Wet Bub said. “Where that moon got obliterated.”

An entirely unnecessary clarification. Everyone on that bridge knew exactly what they had done at Eriadu.

What they might not know, though, was the reputation of the people who lived there. Kassav did. He had looked them up after his little visit to their system. What he’d learned had made him curse for a minute straight. Turned out that the Nihil weren’t the only predators in the galaxy.

Eriadu was one of those warrior planets. A whole culture steeped in ideals of revenge and justice and blood and honor, easily slighted, always having duels and poisoning each other and whatever.

But for the moment, it seemed like they had stopped squabbling long enough to come together to hunt him.



“Guess we’re not running after all,” Kassav said. “Tell every ship. Time to fight. Let’s kill ’em all.”

Everyone on the bridge turned back to their stations, getting ready for battle. They seemed excited, even his idiot lieutenants, who should probably know better.

Kassav tapped a control on his command chair, and the music started. More wreckpunk, throbbing and pulsing and clanging. He set the volume to full.

“For the Nihil!” Kassav shouted, painfully closing his maimed hand into a fist and holding it above his head.

“For the storm!” came the answering cry, anticipatory and eager.

Kassav looked at his crew, his eyes flitting from face to face.

In the green light of the Kur Nebula, still pouring through the bridge viewports, they all looked like corpses, three days dead.

For the Nihil, Kassav thought. For the storm.





Loden Greatstorm pushed his Vector a bit harder, accelerating toward the wounded Nihil ship through the vacuum, the iron-and rust-colored orb of Elphrona receding behind them. He sensed Indeera doing the same in her own ship.

Not far now. He knew that a safe jump to lightspeed required a significant amount of distance from Elphrona. Like the world’s surface, the space around the planet was a roiling mass of magnetic fields and gravity distortions. There was no way the Nihil would be able to escape before he and Indeera caught them.

And then…well, the Force would be his guide. He did not want the Nihil kidnappers to die. He did not want anyone to die, ever—but sometimes, he had found, people chose their own ends, and there was nothing he or even the Force seemed to be able to do about it.

Well, that was fatalistic. He’d do everything he could to save every life on that ship. But the innocents would have priority, and the line between innocent and guilty had been drawn very clearly when the Nihil chose to throw a young child out the air lock.



He keyed on his comm. “Bell, do you read me?”

“Master!” came the immediate response.

“Did you…”

“I did,” Bell said. “I caught her, and we came down safely. Her name is Bee. She’s afraid for her brother and father, but she’s all right.”

Loden grinned.

“I knew you could do it, kid,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing the Council could come up with for your trials would beat what you just pulled off. I’m going to put you in for elevation to Jedi Knight as soon as this all gets wrapped up.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. You heard me, right, Indeera?”

“Absolutely, Loden,” came Indeera Stokes across the comm.

“See, Bell? All set,” Loden said. “But you need to get Bee back to the outpost. Her mother’s there, with Porter Engle. Tell her we’ll have the rest of her family with her before she knows it. Have Porter give her some stew.”

“I thought I’d introduce her to Ember, too,” Bell said.

“Perfect. I’m going to sign off, Bell. Indeera and I have some work to do. I look forward to celebrating your elevation, Jedi Knight Zettifar.”