“It’s either that or climb the legs.”

Stellan looked over to see Matari already doing exactly that, scaling the walker’s leg as if it were a pinnoc tree on the targons’ native world. Force or not, there was no way he could do that. He doubted he could even manage a jump right now.

“Stairs it is,” he agreed, helping Maramis haul them back up. They were heavier than expected, but Stellan had enough strength left to call on the Force to help. The steps clanged into place, and they shoved them as close as they could get to the side of the walker.

With a bloodcurdling scream, more Nihil burst from the cloud, clubs and axes raised. Maramis drew his own weapon, taking down two of the raiders with a succession of blasts from his kiavene.

“What are you waiting for?” the captain yelled, taking out a third. “Move!”

Stellan wasn’t stubborn enough to argue. Jedi or not, Maramis was in better condition than he was, as became painfully apparent when he was forced to grab hold of the stairs’ railing to haul himself up to the walker. The structure shook worryingly, but he made it to the top, Regasa Elarec helping him over the edge, the second of the targons following him. Then it was Maramis’s turn, racing up the stairs, ignoring how much they swayed.

“Look out!” Madam Conserra shouted as Nihil charged up after him, but they wouldn’t get far. Stellan waited until Maramis vaulted the edge before giving one last push with the Force. The stairs toppled this time. Stellan spun around, grabbing a nearby seat to steady himself. Chancellor Soh had clambered into the walker’s cockpit and was activating the control, the metal giant taking its first thunderous step.

“We’re moving,” Lerahel cheered, hugging her child to her as blaster bolts shot up from below to ricochet harmlessly off the walker’s belly. Stellan staggered to the front, ignoring the scream of the Nihil who found himself under one of the walker’s feet as they lumbered forward.

“I didn’t know you knew how to pilot one of these things,” he said to Lina Soh as he reached the cockpit.

“Neither did I,” she admitted, peering into the smog, which thankfully was a little thinner this high up. “So where do we go?”

“Forward,” Stellan said, pointing in the direction he hoped was Valo’s temple outpost. “Always forward.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

The Innovator

Let’s go and see the Innovator on our own, he’d said. I can get us in, he’d said. No one will miss us.

What an idiot.

“Kip, take my hand.”

Jom reached down to Kitrep, ready to pull him up a stairwell that was now leaning the wrong way. It had gotten so that they couldn’t tell what was floor, wall, or ceiling, not that it mattered as long as they got out before the ship sank.