Elzar drew back his arm and threw the lightsaber with all his might. The blade pinwheeled through the air like a plasma disk, Elzar guiding its flight so it dipped down into the path of the first fighter. The Nihil had no time to pull up. His mount howled in triumph as the spinning blade sliced through the fighter like a circular saw, the marauder bursting into flames as plasma met fuel. The sanval pulled up to sweep over the explosion, Elzar calling out in the Force to draw the now extinguished hilt back to him. He glanced down at the weapon, gratified that it showed no signs of damage, although the same couldn’t be said for the second Nihil fighter, who suddenly found itself peppered by bolts from Burryaga’s cannons.

The Wookiee peeled away to find his Master, although Elzar could feel the Padawan’s gratitude and prepared himself for a bone-popping hug when all this was over.

“Nice trick,” a voice came over the comm. “You’ll have to teach me how to do that sometime.”

Elzar looked back to see Ty coming up fast on their tail, her own sanval panting heavily.

“So you’re my apprentice now?” he asked.

Ty barked a sharp laugh. “You wish.”

She brought her sanval alongside him, and Elzar couldn’t help but notice the blaster burns on the creature’s side.

“What happened to you?” he shouted across. Ty had peeled off not long after they had engaged the Nihil. Elzar losing her in the theater of war.

“You asked whether sanvals fly in twos? Turns out it’s threes.”

“There’s another?”

Ty’s sanval bucked beneath her. “Apparently these two are the babies. Mom was still out there, trapped by a bunch of Nihil in the middle of the crazy exhibit with creepy singing holograms.”

Now it was Elzar’s turn to laugh. “United in Song” was still playing, even through all of this. He hoped it had given the Nihil an earworm they would never forget.

“But you got her out?”

Ty patted her sanval’s neck. “This little fella came to Momma’s help and took a bruising in the process, but he’ll live.”

Elzar scanned the skyline. “So where is she now?”

“Safe and sound with a group of Padawans. You’ll be pleased to know the place is now crawling with Jedi. Never thought I’d be so glad to see it.”

“The Force provides …” he began, before looking down to the ground.

“What is it?” Ty asked, as Elzar clambered to his feet on his sanval’s back. “And what in stars’ name are you doing?”

“You’ve handled the momma … Reckon you can handle both kids at once?” he asked, igniting his lightsaber.

“Do I have a choice?”

“No,” Elzar replied and leapt into the air.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

The Unity Arc