“Of course,” Vam said, flicking a switch. A series of numbers scrolled down a screen set into the table.

The Aqualish frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Bell asked.

Targes jabbed a button, and they turned to see the space surrounding the shipyards displayed on the main viewscreen. “The data suggests the opening will appear in one of these locations, but no one in their right mind would jump this near a gravitational body. There must be something wrong with the calculation.”

As if to prove him wrong—or rather his calculation correct—a ship appeared on the screen, jolting into realspace. It was a junker, patched together from a number of different vessels, although Bell guessed that it had started life as a Corellian deep space cruiser, but no civilian ship would boast such armaments. Turbolasers. Blaster cannons. Torpedo arrays. And even this display of raw strength paled into insignificance against the threat of the three lightning bolts that were slashed across the craft’s blunt nose cone. They meant only one thing.

The Nihil.

Indeera was already running, Bell and Ember keeping pace. “Scramble all skywings,” she commanded. “And tell me this flying laboratory has weapons.”

“We’re a scientific vessel,” Vam shot back. “Besides, it’s just one ship.”

“The Nihil never come alone,” Bell shouted back as he jumped into the waiting turbolift.

“Do they know we’re here?”

On the Nihil Cloudship, the seething lump of Gloovan hate known as Sarn Starbreaker eyed the shipyards hungrily.

“Well?” he demanded wetly when no one responded to his question.

A bulb-headed Fluggrian at the comm terminal cocked her head, listening to the device crammed into her tiny ears.

“I’m picking up frenzied chatter on all frequencies. They know all right.”

Good, Starbreaker thought. That meant they were scared. He liked it when they were scared. When they were scared they made mistakes.

“Any distress calls?”

“Not any that can get past our jammer.”

Starbreaker grinned, his slime-covered face glistening with anticipation. “Perfect. Target the shipyard and fire.”

His crew didn’t have to ask what weapons. They knew their Cloud well. When Sarn Starbreaker said fire, he meant all the weapons. Every single one.