The hope had been to prove that the rings hadn’t instantly disintegrated Dez. Now Reath had to pray that they had. The alternative was that Dez had been flung forward at bone-crushing speed and then ejected into the vacuum of space. He knew from research that death took longer in outer space than most people realized—up to fifteen seconds to lose consciousness. Not a long period in any absolute measure, but an excruciating amount of time to suffer the hopelessness of mortal terror. And if Dez hadn’t been able to exhale, then he would’ve endured the oxygen expanding within his lungs until they ruptured.

Reath closed his eyes. All he could do was bear a kind of witness to that suffering.

“Are we done here?” Nan said, very quietly.

“Yeah. We’re done.”

As they emerged from the tunnels, Reath heard the sounds of—celebration?

That sounded so wrong right then. He and Nan shared a look, and he could see that her consternation matched his own. The two of them hurried toward the airlocks, where the Orincans and the Mizi were chuckling and clapping hands on one another’s backs. Leox stood nearby, his expression more solemn, but not unhappy.

“What’s going on?” Reath asked.

“Looks like our time on this depository of strangeness is coming to an end,” Leox said. “The galaxy at large just got a communique from the Chancellor of the Republic.”

Nan lit up. “Is hyperspace cleared? We can travel again?”

“Travel’s still limited.” Leox sighed. “But there’s an open channel to Coruscant. The senior Jedi have decided it’s time to go back home.”

25 Years Earlier- Part Three

Cohmac’s lightsaber flew from his belt to his hand, igniting the second he touched it—

Which was very nearly too late. The giant white serpent slithered toward them at incredible speed, a fine spray of salt marking its way like the wake of a ship. Its mouth opened wide, revealing three huge fangs and a throat already rippling in anticipation of prey.

As soon as his blue blade illuminated, it was joined by another—Master Laret’s—and two white ones. Cohmac had wondered whether it was really necessary to have a two-bladed lightsaber, whether maybe Orla wasn’t just showing off.

Faced with the serpent’s fangs, however, he could see the appeal of an extra blade.

In the very second the serpent struck, all three Jedi attacked at once—Cohmac from one side, Master Laret from another, and Orla from top and bottom simultaneously. The serpent had no chance; it was dead almost within the same second. However, its weight and momentum sent it barreling forward, knocking Cohmac and Orla onto their backs before it skidded to a permanent halt with its head at the very mouth of the cave.