“Master Malli,” he said, “we’re going to attempt to contact the Nihil command ship. Occlusion from the nebula means there aren’t many spots to jump to hyperspace, and we’ve blocked most of them off. The majority of the Nihil ships don’t look big enough to have onboard navicomps that can calculate another way out in any reasonable amount of time. They’ll have to either talk or fight—they can’t just run. If they do decide to light things up, you’ll be ready to go?”

“Of course, Admiral,” came the smooth voice of Jora Malli. “I think I’ll take a Vector out myself, if it comes to that. I have Avar Kriss here on the Ataraxia—she can help link the Jedi together, as she did in the Hetzal system.”

“Fantastic,” the admiral said, and he meant it. The Jedi were always impressive, but what he’d seen in Hetzal during the Legacy Run disaster was remarkable. If Avar Kriss could apply that skill set to an actual battle, it could bring a decisive advantage.

Admiral Kronara clasped his hands at the small of his back. He gave the tactical display one last look, then gave the order.

“Open a comm channel,” he said. “We’ll see if these criminals want to talk.”

“They’re trying to talk to us,” Dellex said.

“Don’t answer,” Kassav snapped.

“I wasn’t going to,” she snapped back. “But we need to do something. All this space dust from the nebula means we can’t just jump from anywhere without blowing up. The Republic ships are blocking the closest clear access point to the hyperlane. We could get out with a Path, but the Eye didn’t give us one.”

“We gotta attack, right?” said Gravhan, at the gunner’s station. “Battle fleet or not, if we don’t kill these guys, no more Nihil.”

“Just give me a second to think, will you?” Kassav snapped.

He turned to Dellex.

“Is there another one? An open spot to get to hyperspace without a Path, I mean.”

The woman consulted her screens.

“Yeah. Not super close, but if we go for it full throttle, we can probably get there before the Republic ships catch us.”

“Okay,” Kassav said. “Give the order. All ships, head for that other exit point. From there, scatter, and wait until they hear from me before they do anything. Anything, you got it? No raids, no nothing. Just lie low until I give the word.”

Gravhan spoke up. “I don’t want to question you, boss, but—”

“Then don’t,” Kassav said, giving him a dark look.

His hand hurt. His head hurt. Everything hurt. He just wanted something good to happen. Gravhan didn’t seem to get that, though. He swallowed. His throat felt dry as dust.