A brief moment, a breath, as if the enemy fleet was considering the same collective decision, and then blasterfire. Everywhere, a cascade. Loden banked and wove and tried to be as challenging a target as possible, knowing that with this level of fire coming at him, he was just as likely to run into an off-target bolt as he was to be hit by a Nihil with exceptionally good aim.

So he stopped thinking about it at all and surrendered himself to the Force, letting it guide his movements. Overthinking the situation would only end up with him getting in his own way. While he wasn’t certain—no one could ever be—he did not believe it was his time to die.

A blaster bolt sizzled off his front shields, and he reevaluated.

It is probably not my time to die, he thought.

“I’m here, Loden,” Indeera said. “What’s happening?”

“A Nihil fleet dropped in from hyperspace, and they don’t seem particularly happy,” he said.

“Here? That’s not possible.”

“Please let them know that.”

“Are you all right?”

“For the moment. I’m just staying out of their way. But I can’t do it forever. We need to resolve this now.”

A brief pause, then Indeera spoke again.

“They aren’t firing on this ship, or my Vector.”

“I know. They must want to ensure the family survives,” Loden said, sending out a few blasts from his own cannons, causing one of the smaller Nihil craft to explode.

“Who are these Blythes? Why are they so valuable?”

“Does it matter?”

“No…but I can only take one of them with me in my Vector, Loden. The father wants me to take his son first, if I can get him out—but I’m not sure how I get past the Nihil even if I can get back to my ship.”

“Do that. Take the son. I’ll cover your retreat, then I’ll grab the father and follow you back to Elphrona. Planetary security might not want to do anything about a single marauder crew, but they’ll have to respond to an entire invasion fleet.”

“All right…but Loden…how will you do that?”

He put his Vector into a roll, shooting again. This time he missed, but at least he was alive, still fighting.

“Eh,” he said. “I’ll probably just trust in the Force or something.”

Nothing from Indeera. Loden laughed.

“It’ll be all right. Or it won’t, but I’ll do my best. Do me a favor and leave the outer air lock open when you go, Indeera.”

“That sounds like you actually do have a plan.”

“I wouldn’t call it a plan. It’s more like five impossible things in a row. I’m just going to hit them one at a time.”