strides down the hallway, Nyss hit the button to summon the lift and spun around to face Soldier’s onslaught. Soldier unleashed two-handed overhand slashes that Nyss parried with his blades. The cortosis coating his blades not only allowed them to withstand the slash of a lightsaber—at least for a few passes—they also caused Soldier’s weapon to spark wildly. Contact with cortosis for a long enough time could temporarily short out a lightsaber, but Soldier’s blade moved so quickly that the contact between the weapons was momentary at best. But eventually, Soldier’s lightsaber would destroy Nyss’s blades.
Nyss dropped to the floor and swept a kick at Soldier’s legs, but the clone anticipated the attack, leapt over the sweep, and slashed downward at Nyss’s leg.
Nyss pulled his leg close—the lightsaber put a gash in the deck, showering the corridor in sparks—rolled aside, and rode the momentum to his feet. The clone growled and lunged at Nyss, his blade a whistling red line of slashes, stabs, and cuts. Sweating, panting, Nyss positioned his vibroblades to form a wall, answering every blow of the clone with a parry. He did not even try to counterattack. He was trying to hold his ground and play for time.
The door to the lift opened behind him.
Bursting into motion, Nyss unleashed a desperate series of stabs, blocking the clone’s lightsaber out wide with one vibroblade and stabbing at his chest with the other. The clone flipped backward, temporarily disengaging, and Nyss ran for the lift. When he got inside, he slammed his hand against the button to close the doors.
Soldier roared, bounding after him.
The doors started to close, but too damned slowly.
Desperate, Nyss flung one of his blades through the shrinking opening between the doors. Soldier, unprepared for the throw, pulled up short and deflected the vibroblade with his lightsaber.
The doors closed and the turbolift started downward.
The red line of Soldier’s blade shot through the metal of the doors. As the lift descended, the weapon cut a sparking vertical gash in the side—but in a few seconds, the lift had moved out of reach.
Nyss did not let himself relax. He paced the lift as it descended to the cargo bay. The supply ship had four escape pods, and he knew where he needed to go to get access to them.
The lift reached the cargo deck and the doors parted. An impact on the roof of the turbolift caused the entire car to vibrate. Soldier.
Nyss crouched low as the red line of a lightsaber scythed out of the ceiling and began to cut a circular hole in the roof. Sparks and slagged metal rained down.
“You are not getting away from me!” Soldier shouted. “And if you’ve harmed Grace …”
He left the threat unspoken, but Nyss understood it well enough. He bolted out of the lift and headed for the escape pods.
Khedryn doubled back for the second time. Sweat dripped into his eyes. His breathing was coming too fast. He had to be going in the right direction this time, didn’t he? The darkness made it hard to know whether he was retracing the same path. The cargo compartments and the corridors connecting them all looked the same.
He saw writing on the wall ahead, got close enough to read it in the dim glow of the emergency lights. Stenciled letters pointed him to the emergency escape pods. He breathed a sigh of relief and ran, following the arrows. He reached an intersection and turned.
On the far end of a long compartment, a metal stairway descended ten meters into a bay lined with four doors—the escape pods. He hurried for the stairs. He’d be aboard Junker in moments.
Something whistled past his ear, pinged into the bulkhead, and ricocheted to the floor. He froze and looked down to see what it was: a crossbow quarrel.
He whirled, cursing, and saw the Umbaran running toward him.
Khedryn turned and ran, hunching to make himself small. Another shot pinged off the bulkhead. The Umbaran must have had some kind of repeating mechanism on the crossbow. He darted across the large compartment. The distance might as well have been a parsec. He didn’t figure there was any way he could make it.
He zigzagged as he ran, wincing at the expectation that he’d be shot from behind at any moment.
A shout and growl sounded from over his shoulder and he looked back. Soldier barreled around the corner behind the Umbaran, his lightsaber lighting the way before him.
The Umbaran saw Soldier, too. He slung his crossbow and ran for