There’s also an Ugnaught who simply can’t be bothered.
Starlight Beacon has fallen.
Marchion Ro and the Nihil have struck their biggest block against the Jedi order.
Cover of ‘Star Wars: The Eye of Darkness (The High Republic)’ by George Mann.
So what’s next?
But every attempt to breach the Stormwall has failed, and even communication across the barrier is impossible.
The failures and losses weigh heavily upon both Elzar and Bell as they search desperately for a solution.
And what other horrors does Marchion Ro have in store?
“Who are you?”
KC-78 trundled in behind her.
“It doesn’t matter who I am.
I’m here to help.”
He caught sight of the holster strapped to Avar’s hip.
Avar narrowed her eyes.
“You sound worried.”
“Wellof courseI’m worried!”
Avar tried to keep her smile to herself but failed.
“All uppity?”
“Well, you do seem rather pleased with yourself.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”
“You’re not Nihil, then?”
I’ve got nothing to do with those mask-wearing fools.
I mean, look at me."
He thumped his chest.
“Do I look like I go running about threatening folk and daubing blue paint on my face?
Well, do I?”
“You don’t,” conceded Avar.
“So I’d imagine you’ll be happy to be free of them.”
“Free of them?They’ll probably feed me to a whickersnipe for this!
That’s all I’ll be good for.
That’s assuming I even survive whatever foolishness it is you have planned.”
He shook his head.
“Jedi,” he muttered under his breath.
Avar examined the navigation readouts.
“Don’t you want to know what I’m doing?”
“I don’t know.Do I?”
“I’m redirecting this cargo.
To people who need it.”
It was close by.
They’d be unloading the grain within a couple of hours.
It was utterly barbaric.
“Are you mad?
If the Nihil catch you .
Avar shot the Ugnaught a glance.
“They won’t.”
“So you say.
They’ve caught plenty of others.”
The Ugnaught stuck out his chin.
“And what about me?
Where doIfit into this plan?”
“you’re able to tell them I held you against your will.
Threatened you if you didn’t help me.”
“Areyou threatening me?”
asked the Ugnaught, cautiously.
“Of course not.”
“What have you done with the guards?
Killthem,did you?”
“No,” said Avar.
She slipped into the copilot’s chair as she finished inputting the new course.
She was beginning to like this spiky Ugnaught pilot.
“I didn’t kill them.
I knocked them unconscious and jettisoned them in the escape pod.
They’ll be picked up by another Nihil ship within a few hours.”
The Ugnaught looked stricken.
The color drained from his face.
His hands clutched the arms of his chair.
“You’ve killed us both, you fool!”
“And how’s that?”
“The Nihil patrols!
This ship doesn’t have a Path engine.
It’s just a hauler.
Without the guards to vouch for us, we’ll never get past the blockades.”
The Ugnaught was right.
No one moved inside the Occlusion Zone without the correct permissions.
Avar had just assumed a haulage ship from Hetzal would be programmed with the correct codes.
Clearly, she’d been wrong.
Of course, the Nihil would ensure any haulage ships were reliant on them for safe passage.
Especially as they knew the pilots and other workers were operating under duress.
Avar examined the flight map, seeking alternative routes.
Making use of such a route risked attracting the attention of the scav droid swarms, too.
Without the right access codes, the swarms would attack indiscriminately.
But there was no other option.
Avar couldn’t give up now.
She started inputting the new coordinates.
The Ugnaught’s frown deepened as he watched the new route appear on the readouts.
“You’re taking us through an unapproved hyperspace lane!
And into the middle of a debris field!
What about the scav swarms?”
His voice rose in pitch as he grew increasingly panicked.
“We’ll deal with them.
Kaysee has been working on slicing their attack protocols.
We’ll find a way.”
Avar looked across at him.
The Ugnaught folded his arms across his chest.
“And abandon my ship?
I don’t think so.”
Avar engaged the hyperspace drive.
“Then you’d better hold on,” she said.
Reprinted fromStar Wars: The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness.
2023 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
Published by Random House Worlds, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
