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“You’ve done very well here,” Bhindi said. “I can show you how to do better.”

That got Tenga’s attention. “Better how?”

“Hide better, ambush and defeat Vong patrols better, repair and maintain equipment better.”

“I’m listening,” Tenga said.

“First things first,” Mara interrupted. “A little more information. Have any of you seen or felt anything unusual in this region? I mean, unusual in excess of all the changes brought on by the Vong?”

Most of those present shook their heads, but one, in the second rank of the circle, a thin, middle-aged man with a dark, suspicious look to his features, said, “Lord Nyax.”

Some of his companions sighed; one or two offered up little groans.

Luke grinned before he could suppress it. “That’s a children’s story.”

“He’s real,” Yassat said.

Mara raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t heard this one.”

“In ancient times,” Luke said, “on Corellia, Lord Nyax was what parents threatened their children with if they didn’t eat their stewfruit or go to bed on time. ‘If you keep on being a bad boy, Lord Nyax will come for you.’ He was a monstrous pale ghost who took children away, and no one ever saw them again.”

“A typical folk tale,” Mara said.

“Yes.” Luke sobered. “But a while back, stories of Lord Nyax got a lot more common. Because during the Jedi purges, there was someone who came for children in the night—someone who came for Force-sensitive children.”

Mara’s reply was a whisper: “Darth Vader.”

“That’s right. I think that some of Darth Vader’s covert missions to round up Force-sensitive children became merged with the Lord Nyax legend, and spread from Corellia all over the galaxy during the early Imperial years.”

“Yassat here is one of our far scouts,” Tenga said. “He travels out beyond our territories, exploring and scavenging.”

“And he sees things,” another said. That man tapped his temple with one hand while jerking a thumb at Yassat with the other, suggesting that Yassat was not completely functional in a mental sense.

“I do see things,” Yassat said. “But they’re there.”

“Tell me what you see,” Luke said.

“I saw Lord Nyax for the first time about a month after Coruscant fell.” Yassat’s voice lowered in tone and volume. “This was over toward the old heart of the government district, where things are crazy now. I was on one side of the main chamber of a textile factory, hiding from a Vong hunting party; they were on the other side. I was already scared, but I got a lot more scared and didn’t know why. Then the screaming started. Where the warriors were, I could see someone moving. A big man, ghostly white. There was a roar, and flashes of red all around it, but no sound of blasters. I got away. Hours later, I came back. I found the Vong warriors dead. Chopped to pieces, burned in places, some of them eaten on.

“The second time was four days ago or so.” From a pocket, he pulled a functional chrono and checked local time. “Four days. I felt that fear again while I was prowling through rooftops well below the skyline. It got worse and worse, and I knew I was being stalked. I knew I was going to end up like those Vong warriors.”

“How did you get away?” Mara asked.

Yassat shook his head, not meeting her gaze. “I just got away.”

“That’s not good enough,” Tenga said. “No one ‘just gets away.’ You get away by getting captured and selling us out?”

“No.” Yassat’s voice became emphatic. He returned his attention to Mara. “There’s a man, calls himself Skiffer. Part of a group not part of the Walkway Collective. They prey on us. They’ve killed a couple of our scouts, found and stole one of our grayweave reactors. Grayweave’s not enough for them; I’m sure some of them are cannibals. I know where their territory is. I led Lord Nyax through the heart of their territory, and when I heard Skiffer give his people a call to action, I made a break for it. I heard them screaming.” He met Tenga’s eyes. “I didn’t sell us out, Tenga. I sold Skiffer out.”

Tenga clapped him on the shoulder. “Good work.”

Another man said, “You were being stalked by Vong, Yassat. There is no Lord Nyax. Just your imagination.