Клаудия Грэй - Into the Dark

“We came close,” Reath said. “If we try again—”

“No.” Orla shook her head. “Two people aren’t enough.” With that she kneeled amid the debris on the station floor and took up a blaster.

Reath frowned. “What are you going to do?”

“Desecrate history,” Orla said. “Sorry about that.”

She aimed directly at the idol of the human queen—right between her golden eyes—and fired.

The field is woven through the idols , Reath was thinking. Destroy one of the idols, and you destroy—

A wave of energy hit Reath like a tsunami, sending him sprawling backward on the floor, sliding for more than a meter. The electric charge of it tensed every muscle in his body and made him bite down on his tongue hard enough to taste blood.

And the Drengir were free.

The Drengir stood there, shuddering, apparently struck by the same charge that had felled the Jedi. It would take them another second or two to figure out they were free again. That gave the Jedi a few moments to escape. Orla looked dazed, maybe semiconscious, as she struggled to stand. He crawled to her and tugged at her white robes. “Get up. We have to move, now .”

As she recovered, so did the Drengir. Frond-like hands pointed in their direction as Reath and Orla clambered to their feet, and already it was time to run.

Running over the arboretum floor was like traversing rocky terrain, covered as it was with vines, debris, and the remnants of 8-T droids destroyed in the explosion. It would’ve been difficult to make good time even if Reath didn’t feel seasick and dizzy from the sheer impact of the Force barrier’s collapse.

Behind them he heard the eerie rustle-thudding that had to be the sound of the Drengir running. Whatever it was, it was getting louder. And closer.

Ahead of him was the entrance to the equatorial ring—which was no longer empty, but filling with dark-clad, breathmasked, blue-striped warriors.

For the first time, and the last, Reath was relieved to see the Nihil.

One of the Nihil threw a gas missile, probably intending to hit the Jedi. But both Orla and Reath ducked it handily while sucking in deep breaths. A Jedi could last longer without breathing than the average sentient being; that gave them a chance to put distance between them and the toxic gas.

Instead, the gas detonated in the heart of the Drengir—

And they weren’t fazed in the slightest.

Gas weapons only worked against beings who breathed the same gases. That didn’t include plants.

The creepy rustling laughter of the Drengir grew louder as they bounded forward—passing Orla and Reath completely—in favor of attacking this new enemy. Looks like the Drengir didn’t just wake up hungry , Reath thought as he kept running. They woke up ready for a fight.

For a split second, the Nihil hesitated. That second was long enough for Reath to recognize that these were raiders, not warriors, and their courage faltered in a conflict where no profit was to be had. But all beings will fight for their lives.

The Nihil shouldered weapons and began firing. Brilliant light from blaster bolts flickered in the darkness as Orla and Reath kept running toward the Vessel .

We have to get out of here , Reath thought. Then—do we just leave this station to the Nihil or Drengir?

We can’t do that.

No matter what.

Returning to the Vessel already felt like surrender. Affie’s mood plunged even further when she and Leox reached the airlock ring to find their way almost completely blocked by collapsed, smoldering debris. Ash still fogged the air. She groaned. “Did I do this?”

“Pretty much.” Then Leox stopped beside her and studied the wreckage more carefully. “Wait. Maybe you didn’t.”

The scene around them was obviously the aftermath of the explosive she’d set off, so Leox’s reaction caught her off guard. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Everything’s been moved. More debris has been shifted into this area.”

That made no sense. “Who would do that?” Affie said. “With all the things happening on this station, who’s got time to rearrange the wreckage?”

Leox picked up one of the smaller beams and tossed it aside. In the newly cleared space, Affie was startled to see vines growing—thick and ropey, spiny like cacti. At least half a dozen vines reached along the length of the floor. “They’ve grown this far in the past several minutes? How is that possible?”

“We don’t have a damn clue what the Drengir can do now that they’ve been set free.” Leox folded his arms across his chest. “Looks like the vines are working their way through the entire station as they grow. Not promising.”

He had a gift for understatement. Grimacing at the twisted vines, Affie said, “Let’s just get to the ship before the vines do.”

“We might be too late.”

She thought Leox was being fatalistic until they made their way toward the airlock, vines underfoot the whole way—and then rising along the walls of the airlock itself, stems poking through every vent and crevice. Affie dashed onto the Vessel and sighed with relief to see the plants hadn’t grown on board. That relief lasted only as long as it took her to reach the cockpit, where she saw thick vines reaching across the entire front of the ship.

Leox sat in the pilot’s seat and began checking sensors. “Dammit, I told Geode to stick around.”

“What could he have done about this?” Affie gestured toward the vines.

“Not a thing. I just wish he were here instead of mixing it up on the station—he never does know when to walk away from a fight.” Leox slumped in his chair. “We’ve got ’em all over us. The Drengir have tied us tight.”

Affie tried to imagine how the vines could possibly live in the cold of space. Probably they didn’t have to survive for long. Dead vines could bind the Vessel in place nearly as strongly as living ones.

“Signal the Jedi,” Leox said. “Let them know we have yet another complicating factor to deal with.”

Quietly she asked, “How do we get away from here?”

Leox replied in the same tone of voice. “Blast our way out or die tryin’.”

As softly as they spoke, they were still audible to Cohmac, who stood not far from the cockpit entrance. He’d meant to talk with them about Dez, to get more information on the scene inside the station, before returning to fight alongside Orla and Reath. Instead, he turned and dashed out of the ship, back into the docking ring.

What happens between the Nihil and the Drengir at this point is no longer our most immediate concern , he reasoned as he leapt over the snarl of vines along the deck. We are responsible for the lives of the Vessel ’s crew, and that of Dez Rydan. Any other complications can be dealt with later.

Now, we must escape.

His pathway through the debris scattered across the station led him closer to the arboretum, where a battle was raging. Before he could even seek Orla and Reath through the Force, they burst from one of the passageways, smelling faintly of toxic chemicals. Their comlinks were blinking at their belts, no doubt with Affie’s warning about the vines.

However, they were able to see the problem for themselves. “What now?” Orla said. “Is it some kind of…giant Drengir?”

“Uncertain,” Cohmac said as Reath kicked at one of the vines. “Undoubtedly the Drengir have created the vines; that’s all we know. The vines have already begun to entrap the Vessel . We must leave immediately.”

Orla fell into step at Cohmac’s side while they hurried back. “The good news is, the Drengir and the Nihil are keeping each other busy. If we can get away, I don’t think we have to worry about being pursued. How’s Dez?”