Kassav considered his fleet, casting his eyes from one ship to the next. Basically his entire Tempest, barring a few of his people off on jobs. Might not be the prettiest in the galaxy, but it was powerful. It could cause some real damage. Pan Eyta chose stuck-up thinkers for his crews. Lourna Dee picked liars and sneaks. Kassav…now, he had always chosen warriors. He thought if it came to it, his Tempest could probably take Pan Eyta’s and Lourna Dee’s groups combined. Warriors, every one of them, and they all believed the same thing, a lesson Kassav had learned by the time he could walk: When you’re in a battle, you never stop fighting. Win or die.

In fact, looking at his Tempest swarming around the New Elite, the idea occurred to him, and not for the first time: Did he really need the Nihil at all? Why not just take his people and go? Head across the Rim, find somewhere else to work. The Paths were useful, but he didn’t need them, and he sure as hell didn’t need Marchion Ro. It was a big galaxy. He could start a new Nihil; he’d learned all the techniques—no reason he couldn’t use them somewhere else.

But none of this blasted storm business. He was sick of it. Maybe something to do with…fire. That could work. Sparks on the bottom, then flames, blaze, inferno…yeah, that could work just fine. And him at the top, as the sun. Kassav, a big, powerful star around which all else revolved.

Perfect. It would work like a charm. There were always people looking for something to belong to, a way to get ahead—and the Republic was rich, fat—ready for plucking. The Jedi investigators Marchion was so scared of were looking for the Nihil, not him specifically. Yeah, maybe they knew his name, his ship, after Eriadu…but he could change both. If Marchion Ro and the other Tempest Runners loved the organization so much, let them take the heat and figure out how to deal with everyone who wanted the Nihil gone.

In fact, why the hell was he waiting around for those Republic ships with that stupid flight recorder? Better if they kept it, and used it to track down Marchion and the rest of the Nihil. It would solve two problems at once. He had his entire Tempest assembled right here. He could give the order to leave right now.

Kassav waved the medical droid back. He reached for the communications controls on his command chair, a little awkwardly with his bad hand, and began to key in the code for a fleet-wide transmission.

Goodbye storm, hello fire, he thought.

Dellex, over at the monitoring station, spoke.

“Ships dropping out of hyperspace, Kassav.”

He looked at her, his eyes narrowed.

“The Republic transports?”

She leaned forward, as if she couldn’t believe what the screens were telling her.