Behind him, Ember barked once as they cleared the doors and shot into space.

“You all right back there, girl?” Bell shouted over his shoulder. “Ready to crew the blasters?”

The hound yapped again, drawing a smile from the Jedi. “Good to know you have my back.”

He swung around, shifting the Vector to the left to avoid debris that had been blasted clear from the shipyard. Laserfire raked the hangar, sending fresh shrapnel flying in every direction. The hull wouldn’t last long, and then there would be nothing to stop the Nihil from reaching the Innovator.

No, that wasn’t true. There was him.

Smaller fighters had swarmed out of the main Nihil ship, darting toward the shipyard. Bell picked out a ragged-looking hopper barely any larger than the Vector, its stubby wings laden with laser cannons. Bell didn’t need a targeting computer or a holosight. He only needed the Force. His thumb brushed the trigger on his flight stick, and the emitters fired, deadly beams finding their target and slicing deep into the Nihil’s hull, rupturing the fighter’s fuel line. The hopper erupted into starlight.

Behind him, Ember yapped and Bell smiled, pleased with the strike. “The next one’s yours, girl.”

Indeera Stokes’s voice came over the comm, the Vector automatically switching to a Jedi-only channel.

“Careful, Padawan. Do not glory in the death of your enemy. That way leads to the dark side.”

Bell felt a sudden flash of resentment, which he instantly fought to quash. Indeera was right. He had felt satisfaction at the Nihil’s demise, satisfaction that was fueled by the feelings he tried so hard to ignore. Anger. Grief. He still had much to learn.

“Thank you, Master,” he said, sending the Vector into a spin to avoid fire from another fighter. “May the Force be with us.”

“For light and life,” Indeera replied, engaging an enemy of her own.

The fighter was on Bell’s tail, the pilot firing indiscriminately, gambling that sooner or later they’d get lucky. Bell kept spinning, creating a moving target that was ten times harder to hit. Any other time, he would bring the Vector up and over, the hunter becoming the hunted in his sights, but this time there was no need.

The Nihil starfighter erupted into silent flame, and Bell swung away, using the Force to switch channels to thank the local defense pilot he’d sensed zeroing in on the Nihil’s tail.

“You’re welcome,” came a synthesized voice in reply. “Do you want to let us handle the fighters while you take on that beast out there?”