Lights flashed to her right. A Vector was coming in from the direction of the Gaze, close to the ground, its lasers churning up the ground toward them. Lourna rolled, taking Amarant with her. The Lamproid screamed as his body was ripped apart by the Vector’s fire, his thick coils providing just enough defense as the Vector screamed past. Lourna kicked out, pushing Amarant’s pulped remains from her, and scrambled up, one thought in her mind—she needed to get on that shuttle.

Marchion Ro came around with a start. The air lock was a mess, sparking cables hanging from the ceiling above his head, the bulkheads twisted and blackened. He had only a vague memory of the Vector firing on him as Loden tumbled from the open hatch. The sudden flare of the laser, followed by blazing heat. He must have thrown himself to the deck at the last minute, his armor saving his life. Not that it mattered. All that mattered was that he’d survived.

He looked up to see his father’s ruined face leering down at him. You think you’re so clever. So unstoppable. Indomitable Marchion. Indestructible Marchion. You have no idea how weak you are.

Ro grabbed one of the cables, pulling himself up. Weak or not, he had no time for ghosts.

He stumbled ahead, grabbing the edge of the hatch to stop himself pitching forward. His breath rasped within his helmet. The heat from the lasers must have scored his lungs. No matter. What he saw was so much worse. The camp lay in ruins, fires burning on the ground. And within the smoke, the accursed flash of plasma blades. One in particular caught his eye, wielded by a dark-skinned Jedi far below, little more than a boy. He was engaged in a fight with two lowly Strikes, batting back their blaster bolts, while beside him stood …

No.

No, it could not be.

Loden Greatstorm fought alongside the young Jedi, his lightsaber back in his hands, the lightsaber that by rights belonged to Ro. How could the Twi’lek be alive after everything they’d done to him? Why wouldn’t he break?

That is why you should fear them, his father whispered in his ear. They are indomitable. They are unstoppable.

“We shall see,” Ro rasped, his voice loud in his helmet. He reached beneath his cloak, pulling the artifacts he had gathered, the first from his father’s treasures, the second from the Kharvashark Ruins. Finally, it was time to put his prize to the test. The Leveler had proved powerful enough while encased in ice. He could only imagine how glorious it would be now that it was free.

No, Asgar said, the old man’s voice brimming with fear. Don’t do this. It will be the end of you.

Ro laughed. “This is why you’re dead, Father, and I live. This is not the end. It is only the beginning.”