He tapped the side of his helmet, opening a vid stream on his heads-up display.

What are you seeing?

“What you never could,” Ro told the figment of his imagination. “Uttersond grafted a cam onto its back.”

Then he’s a fool. You’re a fool.

“Tell that to the Leveler.”

Ro watched the cam feed, seeing corridors he recognized, not far away. He could hear it now, growling, bestial. Insatiable.

For a second Ro saw himself in the cam as the Leveler tore into the air lock, but the creature didn’t want him. He stepped back as it rushed past and, howling, leapt from the ship.

Elzar felt a tremor in the Force and came about. A shuttle was hanging in the air in front of the warship, its engines burning bright. He grinned as he realized what was holding it tight. Bell was on the ground, Loden Greatstorm beside him. They were struggling, the act of stopping the shuttle no mean task, but they were together again.

The universe had been put right.

Something caught his eye, on the edge of the battle cruiser. It was the open hatch he’d blasted, no doubt saving Loden’s life in the process. Unbelievably the figure in the armor was still standing, but for a split second Elzar thought he saw something else, something hunkered down on all fours, throwing itself from the air lock.

Elzar’s vision flared. Suddenly he wasn’t in the Vector anymore, he was back on Starlight writhing on the floor as images of the future tore through his brain. He cried out in confusion, unwittingly pushing down on the flight stick. Why was the Force punishing him like this? The prediction had come true, at least part of it. The Nihil had all but razed Valo to the ground, killing thousands in the process. It was over. It was done.

Wasn’t it?

Elzar’s Vector plunged nose-first into the ground below.

The explosion, whatever it was, rumbled beneath Bell’s feet. It might as well have been a planet away for all he cared. He was focused on the shuttle, staring into the blazing rockets, the glare burning deep into his retinas. He could feel Lourna Dee’s frustration as her ship bucked and lurched in the sky, but she wouldn’t get away. They would stop her. Loden and Bell tog—

The world shifted.

The ground was gone, the shuttle too, the sky screaming away to a riot of impossible colors. Bell was falling, but there was no one to catch him. He thought he heard a voice, his name screamed in terror.

Bell.

Bell. Help me.

The words bent in on themselves, echoing back and forth, losing all sense of meaning.

He hit something, hard. Pain blazed across his cheek, but he didn’t recognize the sensation. He didn’t know anything anymore. He didn’t know his name or where he was. He barely knew what he was.