Marchion put his boot on the Tempest Runner’s chest. Not lightly, either. He pressed hard, like he wanted to shove the man right through the blasted deck, into the empty space on the other side.

“I am the Eye of the Nihil, as was my father before me,” he said. “We made this organization what it is, and I will not watch you destroy it with your selfishness, fear, and weakness. You made a mistake at Eriadu, Kassav, and it showed us your belly. You need to remember how this works, Chief. The Nihil need to stay strong. And one way that happens…”

He bent at the waist, his eyes narrowed, his teeth bared.

“…is by cutting out the weak.”

Marchion pressed harder with his boot.

“I have a plan to fix this,” he said. “Fix all of it. Do you want to hear it?”

Marchion Ro put a little more weight on Kassav’s chest, and the man groaned. He nodded. Marchion stepped back and watched as Kassav pulled himself to his feet.

“I understand why you’re all worried. This isn’t a good situation, and it’s on the verge of getting worse. But listen to what I have to say,” Marchion said.

The Tempest Runners looked at him, wary but interested.

“This will solve everything,” Marchion said. “Get the Republic off our backs, maybe even kill some Jedi. It’ll be back to business as usual. No more Emergences. Just the Paths, and the plunder. We can start bringing in new Strikes again. The good times will keep on rolling.”

The wariness dialed back, and the interest dialed up, even from Kassav. Marchion knew it would. None of them wanted to go it alone, without the Paths. They’d all made piles of credits from the Nihil, but they spent it as fast as it came in, on fancy ships and fancy clothes and elaborate banquets. Their greed would make the decision for them.

“Look—we’re smarter, and faster, and we’ve got the Paths,” he went on. “We’re ten steps ahead of the Republic. I’m telling you, we can fix this whole thing. The Nihil are my whole life. I’m not walking away without a fight.”

“We’re listening,” Pan Eyta said.

“Okay,” Marchion said. “We can get the flight recorder back, and without that, the Republic won’t be able to find us. We can lie low for a bit, reorganize, even move to the Mid Rim…the Paths let us work anywhere in the galaxy.”

He pointed at Kassav and Lourna Dee, one with each hand.

“You both made big mistakes, and your crews saw you do it. People are talking. You look weak. Your Storms have to be thinking maybe this is their chance for a hostile takeover. You can fix all that. Do it right, you’ll be heroes to your Tempests.”

He smiled at them, a big, encouraging smile. They didn’t seem reassured.