• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Other ships were making for the gap, though. Wedge shifted his line to break and form on either side of the already damaged vessels.

“Sir!”

From Cel’s frantic tone, he knew it would be bad.

Ships were decanting near the interdictor—Yuuzhan Vong ships. A thin chill lifted the hair of his neck.

“They’ve figured out we weren’t a feint,” Wedge said. “They’re back.”

That meant he had a whole new battle on his hands.

THIRTY-ONE

The door opened, and Nom Anor stepped out, smiling, his hands extended with open palms.

“Stop right there,” Tahiri commanded.

“If I don’t, will you cut me down?” Nom Anor asked. “I have no weapons.”

“You wouldn’t use them if you had them,” Tahiri snapped. “Coward. You wouldn’t fight Anakin at Yag’Dhul.”

Nom Anor shrugged. “True enough. How is the young Solo brat? No—didn’t I hear he died? Yes, that’s right, he did. And you two were close, were you not? What a pity.”

“Shut up,” Tahiri said. The hatred was welling up in her, urging her to do exactly as he had suggested, cut him down and slash that murderous smug leer from his face.

“You’re angry,” Nom Anor said. “I thought you Jedi weren’t supposed to get angry.”

“I make an exception for you,” Tahiri said.

“How flattering,” the executor purred. “You would turn to the dark side just for me?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tahiri said.

“Wrong,” Nom Anor replied, taking a step out of the turbolift. “I have studied your ways, Jedi. I know that if you strike me down in anger you will have committed the most terrible sin your kind can commit.”

“You won’t care about that,” Tahiri said. “You’ll be dead.”

“Will I?” He took another step.

“Stop,” Tahiri commanded.

“Very well. I will do as you ask.” He stopped, less than a meter away, staring at her. She felt her hands shaking—not with fear, but with the effort to control her passions.

“Kill him,” Harrar said.

“He’s not armed,” Tahiri said. “I won’t murder him.”

“No!” Harrar said, leaping forward.

It distracted Tahiri for an instant and she looked away, noticing even as she did that one of Anor’s pupils was growing—

Memory clicked—something Leia had said about that eye.

She leapt aside as the glob of venom spurted toward her, but she hadn’t taken the guardrail into account. She hit it with her hip and agonizing pain jolted up her side. She tried to turn and managed to just in time to see Nom Anor sidestep the priest and kick viciously at her. The kick connected, flipping her back. She dropped her lightsaber, grabbing wildly for the railing.

She missed and then she was falling.

Part of Nom Anor was amazed it had been so easy to deal with Tahiri. He turned on Harrar, and found the priest coming for him again, a snarl on his face.

Nom Anor hit him with a q’urh kick, then spun and snapped his fist against the back of the priest’s head. Harrar faded with the blow, however, dropping and sweeping. He caught one of Nom Anor’s feet, putting him off balance long enough to launch a powerful thrusting punch.

More by luck than from any design on Nom Anor’s part, the punch missed. Nom Anor brought his fist up under Harrar’s jaw with such force that the priest left the ground. Bits of shattered teeth sprinkled the floor as Harrar thudded to it, slid up to the wall, and lay still.

Nom Anor took quick stock of his situation and saw that his day was getting even better. The Jedi had dropped her weapon. Quickly he picked it up. He had experimented with them before, and so found it easy to ignite. Then, remembering Horn, he severed the power conduits to the lifts, starting with the one in motion. He heard it drag to a stop someplace not far below.

Knowing that this might not be good enough—for all he knew Horn might cut hole in the wall and fly up—he left the building and struck off through the driving sheets of rain toward a high, flat spot he’d picked out some time before, shoving the now quiescent weapon under his sash.

Tahiri flailed in space, reaching desperately to grab something, anything, but nothing was in reach. From the corner of her vision she caught sight