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The hull temperature climbed as they entered Stable Zone One. Smoothly, with skill borne of long practice, Luke slowed the vessel. All was going as well as could be expected, but there was something wrong. Something was not as it had been the first time. Abeloth’s presence was of course hidden from them, but Luke knew that. Something else …

And then he knew.

The last time they had come this way, both of them had sensed what they first assumed to be a hive-mind. Later, of course, they realized it was the Mind Drinkers, or Mind Walkers as they called themselves, on Sinkhole Station. Their connectedness had initially made them seem to be more akin to Killiks than individual beings. But now, Luke could sense nothing. Was Abeloth so powerful she could cloak their presences in the Force as well? They were in thrall to her. It was not impossible.

The only other explanation was one Luke did not want to consider.

“Dad,” Ben said. “The Mind Walkers—I’m not sensing them.”

“I know,” Luke said quietly. The silence filled the cabin. Luke continued to extend his senses in the Force, trying to find any hints of life from the station that was now not far.

He found none. But his danger sense began to tickle at the back of his neck. Instantly he dove, throwing himself, Ben, and Vestara back against their crash webbing. With only centimeters to spare, the Jade Shadow slipped under a huge chunk of something that had not been there the last time they were here.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ben murmured.

Luke brought the navigation sensors back up, turning on the floodlights, and instantly realized why they had not been able to sense any life emanating from Sinkhole Station.

Sinkhole Station had been destroyed.

INSIDE THE MAW CLUSTER

THE LARGE, SPINNING CYLINDER RINGED BY A DOZEN ATTACHED TUBES that had been Sinkhole Station was nowhere to be seen. All that was left of the enormous station, and those beings who had lived on it—if you could call Mind Walking living—was chunks of debris. Huge pieces of what were once the gray-white domes, looking like broken eggshells, hung in the icy cold of space, with flotsam and jetsam that were once vessels of all varieties. They were not close enough yet to see bodies, but bodies there would be as well.

In addition to managing his own shock, Luke attempted to send calm to the rest of the fleet even as he continued to maneuver the Shadow. He sensed the astonishment and almost—affront?—of the Sith, as if they were offended that anything would dare get in the way of their plans.

“It’s—just gone,” Ben said quietly. It was stating the obvious, but the shocked silence had to be broken.

“Detecting no life signs, no infrared,” Luke said. “Whatever happened to it did a fine job of destroying it completely.”

Vestara was silent. Ben glanced at her over his shoulder.

“This wasn’t anything you did, was it?”

She had been staring, wide-eyed, as they had been, but now she snorted derisively. “Oh, of course, I planted a bomb that was able to blow apart the entire station, but was unable to escape from two Jedi. Right.”

Ben flushed. “Sorry. Just—really shocked, you know?”

She seemed slightly mollified. “Yeah, I know. I am, too. This does seem the sort of thing Jedi would do rather than Sith—destroy technology rather than let bad people have it.”

“Oh, trust me, we wouldn’t want to destroy this,” Ben said. Luke shot him a quick look.

“Oh? Why not?” Vestara asked.

A bright flash of light caught Luke’s eye. “Blast it,” he said. “Who among your Sith is foolish enough to keep going into this mess?”

Sure enough, a pair of the Chasemaster frigates had decided to ignore what seemed to Luke as common sense and instead had moved forward at far too great a speed to negotiate such a debris field. Doubtless the hapless captain was hoping to score points with Taalon by gathering some information or perhaps looting a body. Daring, but foolish. Luke, Ben, and Vestara watched as, too late, the frigate realized its mistake and tried to avoid a collision.

That was when something very large