
one of the Imperial troops' own speed-ers. There was a guard, but he hadn't seen Trever.For a brief
moment Trever had thought of stealingthe speeder, but he knew he'd be blasted to bits inseconds.
When he and Solace had returned from the disas-ter at the Jedi Temple, Solace had heard the
battlebefore he did. She had leaped off the ship andstraight into the thick of it.
He had seen battles before, but none like this.He had run from Imperial officers, he had brokeninto
buildings, he had taken the risks needed tomaintain his own black-market operation, but thiswas
different. This was terrifying. The eerily whitestormtroopers were bent on annihilating everythingin their
path.
He had caught glimpses of Solace, fighting furi-ously to save her followers. He'd seen her moving,
diving, never losing her balance or her grace despitethe ferocity of her attack. Her lightsaber was a bea
-con of light, glowing green through the smoke.
She would lose. She would hold out as long asshe could, but she could not win. There were simply
too many of them. Almost everybody was dead now.Slaughtered without thought, without pause.
Rhya Taloon was dead. He saw her die. She'dbeen a Senator once, until they targeted her forprison
or worse and she had joined the Erased, thegroup who'd destroyed their former identities andhid in the
lower levels of Coruscant. She had fash-ioned a new, fierce look for herself, twisting hersilver hair into
horns and wearing holsters acrossher body. She'd learned how to shoot a blaster, but she'd never been
very good at it.
He and Ferus had traveled down here with othermembers of the Erased, but now they were dead,
too. It must be so, because all he could see werebodies. Among them lay Hume, who'd once been apilot
in the Republic Army. Gilly and Spence, thebrothers who hardly spoke. Oryon, the fierce Bothanwho'd
been a spy for the Republic during the CloneWars. Curran Caladian, the young Svivreni who'donce been
a Senatorial aide, had leaped to defendthe houses in the central catwalk. Trever had seen the
stormtroopers send flame grenades into the homesand had turned away.
And Keets Freely, the journalist. Trever hadseen his body, bloodied and battered, as he andSolace
had run up to investigate. He couldn't believeit, couldn't believe that the mocking, indestructibleKeets
could fall. But fall he did, from a platformabove, landing at Trever's feet. That had been thebeginning of
Trever's true terror.
In the short time he'd been traveling with them,they'd all become his friends. And now he didn'tknow
what to do or where to go, because he wassure that this was the day he would die.
A new voice rose in his mind, not a voice of fearbut impatience.
Well, if you're going to die, show some guts,will you?
He slowly, painstakingly, raised his head, ready for it to be blown off at any moment.
The battle had moved to an upper level of thecatwalks and landings that twisted so crazily belowthe
cavern walls. But there wasn't much battle left.He saw a few holdouts, but they were surroundedand
soon would be dead. He wrenched his gazeaway. He couldn't watch anymore, couldn't bear itanymore. .
. .
Suddenly a streak through the smoke made himraise his head. Solace had made an incredible leap,