“Engle,” Elzar breathed, his voice husky from the smoke, unable to believe what he was seeing. At any other time Elzar would have laughed at the audacity of what his friends were attempting, but he could see what they couldn’t, a Nihil cruiser dropping behind them, three jagged lines of paint slashed across its nose and its weapons preparing to fire. It was coming about the last remaining sky-island, dropping toward the Vectors like a shark diving on its prey. As he watched, the ship’s central fin scraped the bottom of the sky-island, finally knocking out the repulsors that had been trying so valiantly to keep the platform in the air. It fell, snow tumbling from artificial mountains that would crush everyone below.

The Nihil ship accelerated, ready to blast the drift from the sky.

“No,” Elzar spat. “Not today. Not now.”

He dug deep, unleashed every emotion he had tried so hard to repress in the months since his vision, the anger and the fear. All at once he was back on Starlight, his legs buckling, blood gushing from his nose, overwhelmed by what he had seen. Lights strobing, screams ringing out. Stellan dead. Chancellor Soh dead. The Council ravaged. Entire planets on fire. He pushed further, mining the disappointment he’d felt when Avar pushed him away on Starlight, the embarrassment of her hand on his chest, mixed with the equal if not greater blow of seeing OrbaLin waddle out of the shuttle in her place. He’d felt so hurt that Stellan hadn’t mentioned it to him, so out of the loop. His oldest friends and yet neither had trusted him. Could he blame them? He’d neglected his duties, seeking out Samera’s bed rather than remaining vigilant. It wasn’t the sex, that meant nothing; it was the realization that he had let everyone down for a moment of pleasure. Emotions roiled around him, through him, in him, like a storm out at sea, powerful and dangerous, but he could control them, he saw that now. He could control the frustration and the anger and the guilt and remorse. He could shape them, mold them, bend them to his will. He could use it all for good. He could put everything right.

Elzar lashed out, his hand outstretched, his fingers spread wide. The Force rushed through him like a wave, up into the air toward the falling island.

Unstoppable.

Defiant.