“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.

Chapter Twenty-Tree

The strangest part was that Nan looked so very much the same. Despite the fact that she wore a coverall instead of her colorful patchwork dress, that her bared arms turned out to be thick with tattoos, and that the blue streaks in her hair were matched by lines painted down her face, no great transformation had taken place. Her behavior before hadn’t been a disguise, Reath decided, just another facet of her personality. She was both Nihil warrior and lonely young girl.

Which side of her would win out?

The only reason Reath didn’t assume it would be the Nihil warrior was the simple fact that she’d gotten the jump on him, yet he remained alive.