But Orla’s words had stopped him, hand halfway to the holo-transceiver switch. He couldn’t believe he’d been on the verge of trusting the frontier.

Affie had obviously gotten there even before Orla’s warning. “What if they’re pirates? What if they’re Nihil? What if they’re just desperate people who’d raid us for food?”

“I’m sorry,” Reath said, apologizing for the mistake he’d nearly made. “These aren’t risks we have to deal with very often in the Republic.”

Leox Gyasi eased around Orla and strolled back onto the bridge, clearly having overheard much of this. “That’s about the first good thing I’ve heard about our joining the Republic,” he said. “Makes me reconsider my reservations, and I sincerely appreciate any chance to look within. But this ain’t the Republic yet, my man. Not by a long shot.”

Master Jora’s voice echoed in Reath’s head: Whenever you feel foolish, remember that you have been given an opportunity to learn. The truly foolish act is to refuse that opportunity. “All right. Pirates I know about. But the Nihil? Who are they?”

“Good question,” Orla said. She remained still and quiet at the door, though the tension Reath sensed within her seemed to arise from something other than their current situation.

Leox and Affie shared a glance that somehow seemed to include Geode, despite Geode’s notable lack of eyes. “They rose up a few years ago,” Affie said. “I mean, they’ve been around longer, but they just recently became dangerous. Nobody’s sure where they’re from.”

“Nor can we determine their ethos,” Leox added. “A confounding people. But we know three things for sure: they’re raiders, they’re brutal, and they’re not out there right now.”

It was Affie and Reath’s turn to share a glance. Reath said, “How do you know it’s not them out there?”

“I know it because we’re still alive.” Leox took his seat. “Doesn’t mean we couldn’t have some trouble, though. Tell you what. You pull the head monk or whatever in here, and we’ll go through the signals together. See if we’ve got help, or need to give help, or should absent ourselves posthaste.”

“We’ll go get Cohmac,” Orla said, already turning to leave.

Reath scrambled to catch up with her, thinking, Master Jora couldn’t have known about any of this, or she’d never have brought us out here.

As soon as Reath and Orla were gone, Affie turned to Leox. “Since when do we need Jedi to help us decide what’s dangerous and what’s not? Especially since they’ve never even heard of the Nihil.”

“We don’t need ’em for that,” Leox said. “But we three need to have a quick talk without any Republic types present.”