Nearby, however, Burryaga and another rathtar were locked in a messy fight—one angled so that Pikka couldn’t fire without possibly hitting Burry. The other two rathtars were almost at the far edges of the bay at this point. Bell ran toward Burryaga and his opponent, thinking, Usually teaming up helps, because most beings can’t fight in two directions at once, but rathtars can fight in every direction at once.

This one was considerably bigger than the others, too—so large that Bell wasn’t sure even a strong lightsaber stab could penetrate to its heart.

If they couldn’t defeat the thing, they’d have to escape it.

“Emergency flare!” Bell shouted as he leapt into the fray beside Burryaga. “Somebody find one and ignite it now!”

With that, Bell was back in battle mode, slashing and hacking his way through what seemed to be a forest of tentacles. Burryaga howled in fury as the rathtar kept coming, undaunted, always with more tentacles to spare.

“Heyyyyo!” Leox’s voice rang out through the cargo hold. “Bet you’d like one of these!”

With that, he ignited an emergency flare. An almost blindingly white glow filled the hold like a miniature sun.

The nearly brainless rathtars only knew that something was very bright and so needed to be chased. With its eerie cry, the big one rolled away from Bell and Burryaga toward Leox and the flare; the other two followed. Once both Jedi were clear, Leox threw the flare with all his might. As it soared to the opposite end of the bay, every other being in the cargo bay ran like hell for the doors.


Star Wars The High Republic The Fallen Star Chapter 25