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.”