Luke decided that previous encounters with the vornskrs--and their cloned, bioengineered cousins the voxyn--still weren't enough to prepare him really for an encounter with them. But his goal was to keep Arha and Kyle from getting in over their heads. Kyle appeared to have things under control for the moment, so with one eye still on him just in case, Luke came up behind the one attacking Arha, watching its lashing tail.

When he'd met Karrde's pet vornskrs, their tails had been docked and they'd been more or less calm. Still predators, still very deadly, but they hadn't been wild. And while he could amputate this one's tail, if it were a real vornskr in the wild it then wouldn't be aggressive enough to hunt on its own, and it would die. It wasn't right to him. He didn't have to kill it.

When the vornskr snapped again for Arha's throat, he lunged forward, dodging the tail that whipped his way and jabbing his lightsaber into its side with the hissing sizzle of burning flesh.