“Got it,” came Te’Ami’s voice over the comm, satisfied, content.

Mikkel almost had the missile…he could feel it, almost as if it were gripped in his hand. He could destroy it. The Force was his ally, and a powerful ally it was. He squeezed the missile…and suddenly, in a blast of violent flame, it was gone. But not by any action of his.

It was gone.

And so was Te’Ami.

The loss hit him like a blast wave, no less intense than the one that had killed his colleague. Mikkel clenched his fists, searching his spirit for calm.

His Vector’s targeting scopes lit up with data—the full outline and location of the ship that had murdered Te’Ami, as well as detailed specifications of its armaments and defenses.

“Whoa, you guys seeing this? Target acquired—battle corvette…ugly-looking thing,” came Joss Adren’s voice. “Not the New Elite, another ship. Master Sutmani, how about your Vector and my Longbeam go after it while Captain Meggal grabs the flight recorder?”

Mikkel did not answer. He did not ask where this information had come from, or any questions at all, really. He just pushed his control sticks forward, as far as they would go, and his Vector’s engines roared in response.

I have work to do, he thought.

“Blast it!” Lourna Dee cried, more emotional than she generally preferred to be.

The cursed Jedi had shot down her last missile before it could reach the flight recorder. Yes, that particular Jedi had died, but Lourna still had not succeeded at the mission, and it seemed like she’d probably revealed her position, too. She had a Longbeam and a Vector headed straight for her.

“Do we fire more missiles?” Attaman asked.

“Yes,” Lourna said. “Send out the rest—everything we’ve got. We’ll kill these idiots, too, and then go after the fragment.”

The Lourna Dee shuddered slightly as the rest of its complement of missiles fired—another half dozen, trailing exhaust as they raced out toward the two growing dots of light headed toward her cruiser.

The Jedi…the blasted Jedi in that blasted Vector…shot down four of them. The other two were headed for the Longbeam, and it killed one with a laser blast and distracted the last with a flare.

“Who…are these guys?” Belial said.

He was worried. Lourna Dee could hear it. So, for that matter, was she. The Lourna Dee wasn’t designed for straight-up fights. It was built to strike from hiding, kill its target, and leap away. It was light on armor, light on shields, and didn’t have much in the way of laser cannons, either.

Could a Longbeam and a Vector actually take out her flagship? Just those two little vessels?

She decided she didn’t want to find out.