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The last beast proved more agile than the others and, freed of Kun’s waning influence, wheeled through the sky and dove at the Headhunter. I got the nose up and flicked on the shields in time to intercept its attack. The beast rebounded off the forward shield, but stabbed out with one clawed foot and snagged hold of the Headhunter’s nose. Sparks shot through the cockpit as the forward shield failed, and the short circuit killed the ion cannon. The beast grabbed the nose with its other foot, durasteel screaming as it sank its talons in. It hunched forward over the fuselage, its wings wrapping the Headhunter in an embrace, as its heads snapped at me in the cockpit.

The blasters couldn’t hit it and the ion cannon wouldn’t fire. I could have hovered the craft, opened the cockpit canopy and engaged the monster with my lightsaber, except I’d left it back in my room. As one thrusting head ricocheted off the transparisteel canopy, I knew it was only a matter of time before the canopy gave way.

“Fine.” I smiled. “You want to play? Let’s play.”

I pointed the nose up and kicked the thrusters in full.

At top speed it only took a handful of seconds to reach the edge of the atmosphere. Air pressure slammed the beast against the hull and kept it laid out there like a blanket. The friction heated up the ship’s durasteel hull, causing bits and pieces of the creature’s wings to fry. When it tried to rear back and unfurl its wings to get them off the hot metal, the air pressure snapped both of them and swept them in around the monster, then pitched it forward and smashed it down on the hull again.

Once outside the atmosphere, a different problem presented itself for the creature. The vacuum of space effectively cooled the hull, sucking all the heat out of it. It did the same thing for the creature, leaving the angry and fearful expressions on both of its faces frozen there for an eternity. I killed thrust as the beast cooled, letting the Headhunter drift as my nose ornament chilled rather quickly. I was quite relieved to see the beast wasn’t suited to surviving in space’s cold void, but then I’d not thought anything originating on Yavin 4 would be.

Finally, when I thought it had gotten cold enough, I hit the right rudder hard. While the ship’s inertial damper field kept me and the Headhunter from feeling any of the effects of such a violent maneuver, the creature was not so lucky. Its body sheared off at the ankles and started a rolling tumble off toward the gas giant, while I looped the Headhunter and started back down toward the Temple.

Kam met me in the hangar as I brought the Headhunter to a stop. I popped the cockpit canopy and hopped down to the deck. Kam regarded me with cold eyes as I swung under the fighter’s nose.

“There was an attack on Master Skywalker. Where were you?”

I smiled, then reached up and plucked a talon from where it had lodged in the Headhunter’s nose. I tossed it to him. “Target practice.”

“That’s not the sort of thing you should do on your own.”

I frowned at him. “It was the only thing I could do, Kam. I couldn’t get up there fast enough to help inside, so I stopped Kun’s reinforcements.”

“You don’t know it’s Kun.”

“I know.”

Kam shook his head and jerked a thumb toward the audience chamber. “But we just learned that, from Luke.”

“Luke’s awake?”

“No, but his nephew and niece can hear him. He said Exar Kun was behind the trouble.” Kam’s face darkened. “We have to defeat Kun if we are to get Luke back. We’re preparing a council of war right now to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“Council of war, good. Right now, not good.” I sighed. “Kun has been defeated tonight. He’s not going to be coming back right away.”

“How do you know that?” Hints of betrayal and confusion arced through Kam’s question.

“Trust me on this, Kam, I know it.” I reached out with a hand and laid it on his shoulder, but he shrugged me off. “Look, if I was on Kun’s side, I’d not have vaped four of his pets, would I? I’ve got my own lightsaber and I could have filleted Master Skywalker on any of my watches.