“Come on,” he yelled at his oldest friend. “You’re not finished yet. Do you hear me? You’re not finished.”

Elzar convulsed, coughing painfully.

Stellan sank back on his legs. “Thank the Force. Elzar? Can you hear me? Elzar!”

“Shouting at him won’t help,” Ty said.

“She’s right,” Elzar wheezed. “It won’t.”

Stellan wanted to pull Elzar close to him, but had no idea the full extent of his injuries.

“I thought I’d lost you.”

Elzar’s eyes flickered open, and he reached up and grabbed Stellan’s arm, leaving a bloody mark on his sleeve.

“I thought it was over, Stel. I thought it was finished, but it’s not. They’re coming, Stellan. They’re coming, and we can’t stop them.”

Elzar’s body shook as he was racked by another coughing fit.

“He’s inhaled a lot of smoke. I’m surprised he’s still with us.”

“He’s stubborn. Aren’t you, Elzar? Hey.”

Elzar slumped in Ty’s arms, his eyes rolling up into their sockets. Stellan reached for his neck. There was a pulse, weak but there all the same. He would pull through. Stellan would make sure of that.

“Master Gios. Come in please.”

Indeera’s voice made him start. He pulled his hand away from Elzar, activating his comlink.

“Stellan here. What is it, Indeera?”

“You … you need to see for yourself.”

Indeera was as pale as a ghost when he found her standing in the middle of a group of abandoned shuttles. Stellan could feel anxiety rolling off her in spades. What in the light’s name could’ve happened to shake a Jedi as experienced as Indeera Stokes?

She looked up before he could ask. “It’s Bell.”

“What is?”

She nodded to a gap between the shuttles. “See for yourself.”

Stellan squeezed past the ships, thinking that nothing could be as bad as what he had seen on Valo.

Once again, the universe proved him wrong.

Bell Zettifar was curled up in a ball, sobbing gently, Ember standing guard. The charhound’s hackles rose as Stellan approached. She snarled, flames flashing behind her teeth.

Stellan raised a hand to ward off the animal.

“It’s okay, girl. It’s me.”

Ember’s growl turned into a bark.

“What’s wrong with her?”

Indeera was behind him now. She pointed beyond the traumatized Padawan to a lump of rock that Stellan hadn’t even noticed. The battlefield was strewn with rubble. What was one more rock among the devastation? But this one was different, its shape strangely familiar.

Two legs.

Two arms.

A head, twisted to the side, features frozen into a scream.

Elzar’s words echoed through his mind. They’re coming, Stellan. They’re coming, and we can’t stop them.

He took an uncertain step forward.

“I think it’s Loden.”

“Loden? Here?”

“He was on that ship. Bell sensed it. I sensed it, but then …”