They were moving fast, plunging toward the planet.

Alarms began to blare as the external shielding took damage from the scav droids. Seswenna filled the viewscreen, features far below coming into view as Deva pointed them into a steep dive right at the planet.

"I'm aiming for as close to Seswenna City as I can." Deva yelled to be heard over the alarms, which blared as nearly every single system was compromised by the scav droids dismantling the ship piece by piece. "But we're going to be a bit outside of the city."

"We should hide out in the escape pod," Vernestra said, and Deva shook her head.

"It's barely more than a single seat. You go, and I'll try to hold the ship together." A strange expression came over the Shani's face, her usual mirth falling away to reveal a deep sadness. "You have to survive. Avon needs you more than she needs me."

Vernestra blinked as she realized the Nihil's affection for Aron was even greater than shed imagined. But she also had seen the way Avon's face looked when she talked about the Shani, the image of them growling and chirping at each other in Shani coming back to Vernestra.

Few things mattered more than caring for people and being cared for. That wasn't attachment. That was what it meant to truly be of the Force: love and acceptance.

Vernestra took a deep breath. "We'll both fit. I refuse to leave you behind. So Avon either loses both of us or neither of us."

The despair melted away from Deva's face, and she nodded.

It was, of course, easier said than done. The ship was in free fall, and the on-board gravity had failed, so they had to pull themselves along the interior of the ship to the escape pod. It was designed for a single person, and once Deva had pressed into the seat, Vernestra had to crush herself into the remaining space. As the hatch closed, trapping them inside the pod, Vernestra had to fight the feeling that all her air was being sucked away.

That could, of course, be because the scav droids had compromised the life support. She decided not to think about it.
"Let's hope we can get this to launch," Deva muttered, her words muffled because her head was turned to the side, her cheek pressed into Vernestra's back. Vernestra pressed the launch button, and after a few moments the sense of falling changed, the pod releasing from what was left of the skiff to plunge toward the planet.

"Why aren't the engines activating?" Vernestra asked. A few scav droids changed trajectory to attach to the escape pod, but Vernestra could see them easily through the clear hatch. She flicked them off, and they careened toward the ship, which was falling away from them.

"Nihil aren't exactly known for maintaining their emergency systems," Deva said, the movement at Vernestra's back feeling like a shrug.

"Can't you use your Jedi tricks to land us?" Vernestra took a deep breath and let it out. She tried not to think about the way shed been unable to reach the Force on Aricho, and instead focused on Imri, on how he had grown and changed and become so much more than she'd ever thought he could be.

He was an inspiration and a challenge all at once, and Vernestra had never balked at a challenge.

"Yeah, let's do this," Vernestra said.

She closed her eyes and connected with the Force, feeling it come to her easily, naturally. She expanded her consciousness to include the exterior of the shuttle and waited. She couldn't fly the shuttle in any way, but she could wait until a few seconds before impact and save them from plunging into the ground.

She hoped.

The landscape changed, the trees and waterways going from far-off landmarks to definable landscape, creeks and leafy branches. Deva began to swear, a mishmash of several languages, only a handful of which Vernestra could under-stand. But she didn't bother listening. She was waiting for just the right moment, sensing the increasing life all around her as they grew closer, the shuttle falling straight down since even the pulse steering of the pod was unresponsive.

Vernestra waited, her breathing even, and then, when they were a few hundred meters above the ground, she pushed.
It wasn't like softening her own fall. The pod was heavy, and they were falling so fast that it felt like slamming into a wall when she reached out toward the ground with the Force.

But she gritted her teeth and held on, even as sweat broke out from the effort.

"That's it, Jedi! Were too young and good-looking to die!" Deva shouted.

Vernestra barely registered the words. Everything was the pod and keeping it from slamming into the ground.

She pushed, and Seswenna pulled, and a few meters above the ground, she could no longer hold on and the escape pod crashed into a small copse of trees, their coniferous branches adding a bit of cushion to the impact.

It was a good thing Vernestra was pretty good at crashing. Because this time, it had saved their lives.


Star Wars The High Republic Defy the Storm Chapter 33