Kassav had no idea how to answer her question. Marchion Ro’s Battle Paths, whatever they were, seemed to have taken control of his Tempest’s ships through their Path engines, whipping them in and out of hyperspace, a new leap every few seconds. It was making them almost impossible for the Republic ships to hit, but it was unclear whether it was giving them any real advantage, either. The few communications they’d received from Strikes and Clouds out in the battle suggested confusion, even terror.

“Another message from the Eye,” Wet Bub called out. “Your private channel, Kassav.”

Marchion Ro, Kassav thought. Marchion blasted Ro.

He activated his comm and didn’t wait for Marchion to speak.

“What is this?” he said.

“Victory,” Marchion Ro said. “A long time coming. The first of many.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You killed my father, didn’t you?”

Kassav hesitated. Not long, but probably long enough.

“What are you talking about, Marchion? We’re dying out here!”

“I don’t know for sure it was you,” said the Eye of the Nihil, “but I’m choosing to believe it was. And if it wasn’t, well, Lourna Dee and Pan Eyta…their time will come. Goodbye, Kassav, and thank you. You and your Tempest are about to save the Nihil. We thank you for your sacrifice.”

The connection ended, and Kassav looked out the viewport at the battle. He saw what was happening, and so did everyone else on the bridge.

“What are they…doing?” Gravhan said.

The ships of Kassav’s Tempest had changed tactics again. No longer just leaping from place to place through tiny hyperspace jumps, now they were actively targeting the Republic ships—leaping into them, colliding directly in the case of the smaller vessels and jumping inside the shield barriers of the larger cruisers and impacting against their hulls with massive blooms of fire and debris.

“Disconnect the Path engine!” Kassav shouted. “Right now!”

The Third Horizon shuddered as another Nihil craft exploded against its hull.

“Damage report!” Admiral Kronara called out.

This latest attacker had used the same trick a few others had managed—skipping out of lightspeed inside the Third Horizon’s shields.

“Breach on decks three and four, but it was a non-essential area, Admiral—we’ve got emergency crews on the way, but it won’t affect any significant systems.”

He’d never seen anything like this. The Nihil weren’t fanatics, as far as he knew. They were just marauders. What would compel these people to kill themselves like this? They had to know the Republic would take them prisoner if at all possible. None of these people had to die.

“Send another transmission to the flagship,” he ordered. “Reiterate that we will accept their surrender, and they will all be treated humanely. There’s no need for this.”

Whatever he had imagined this engagement would be, it was not this. This was…slaughter.