Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil
- Автор: Зан Тимоти
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: Random House
- ISBN: 9781473596580
- Жанр: Боевая фантастика
Электронная книга - «Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil». Краткое содержание книги:
So naturally, he’d come to Sposia. Of all the times—and all the places—for him to pop randomly back into view.
Or was it random?
Thrawn could easily have heard that she and the Vigilant had been assigned to protect Sposia. Had he come here expecting to find an ally and a sympathetic ear?
Very likely. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have predicted the Tahmie and Droc would decide to pick a fight at Jamiron, and that Ar’alani would be sent to break it up. Now, instead of a sympathetic ear, he had Dy’lothe, admiral of the Chiss Defense Force, who was reputed to have not a single sympathetic bone or ligament in his entire body.
“Jump ready, Admiral,” Octrimo called.
“Venturous says this is none of our business, ma’am,” Larsiom added.
“Do they,” Ar’alani said coolly. “Octrimo: Three, two, one.”
A flicker of stars, and they were there. Ar’alani did a quick scan of the sky through the viewport—
“There,” Wutroow said, pointing. “There’s the Venturous.”
“I see it,” Ar’alani said. The Groundlion man-of-war was at a midorbit altitude, but using its thrusters to maintain a geosynchronous position instead of circling the planet. Ten kilometers farther inward was the Nikardun blockade frigate, facing the Venturous and also using thrusters to hold position.
And both ships were sitting directly over the UAG complex.
Ja’fosk had been right, Ar’alani thought distantly. Someone had gotten into the UAG vaults. The supreme admiral had simply been wrong about who that person would be.
“Get me a tight-beam to the Venturous,” she ordered Larsiom. “Biclian, is that a shuttle loading into the blockade frigate?”
“Yes, ma’am, it is,” Biclian confirmed. “Not a familiar configuration—must be one of theirs.”
“A Paccian one, yes,” Ar’alani said. “Larsiom?”
“Venturous says Admiral Dy’lothe is busy, ma’am,” Larsiom reported.
“Tell him that Nikardun ship is commanded by a Chiss officer,” Ar’alani said. “Oeskym, prepare a laser salvo, aimed through the open space between the Venturous and the blockade frigate.”
“And make sure the backtrail is clear of patrol ships or civilians,” Wutroow added, leaving Ar’alani’s side and crossing to stand behind the weapons station.
“Larsiom?” Ar’alani asked.
“They say they already know that, ma’am,” Larsiom said. “They say Admiral Dy’lothe contacted Csilla and was told the Syndicure has ordered that Senior Captain Thrawn be detained.”
Ar’alani scowled. This just got better and better. “I need to talk to him.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but he’s refusing your call.”
“Sounds like he needs a tap on the shoulder,” Wutroow said darkly.
“Apparently so,” Ar’alani agreed. “Oeskym?”
“Ready, Admiral.”
“Fire.”
The Vigilant’s spectrum lasers spat out, cutting through the gap between the other two ships. “I’m guessing a four-count,” Wutroow said. “One, two—”
“Ar’alani, what the hell are you doing?” a voice bellowed from the speaker.
“Just getting your attention, Admiral Dy’lothe,” Ar’alani said. “I’m told you have an order to detain Senior Captain Thrawn?”
“Yes, I do,” Dy’lothe growled. “Would you care to see it?”
“All I need to know is if it’s from Supreme Admiral Ja’fosk, Supreme General Ba’kif, or someone on the Council.”
“You need a comm officer with cleaner ears,” Dy’lothe said. “Mine already told him the order came from the Syndicure.”
“And since when does the Syndicure have direct authority over the Defense Force?”
“It doesn’t matter who gave the order,” Dy’lothe countered. “The Syndicure wants Thrawn, I have him, and I’m going to deliver him. You can assist or stand down—your choice.”
“Did you ask Senior Captain Thrawn why he’s here?” Ar’alani asked.
“I don’t care why he’s here.”
“Maybe you should,” Ar’alani said, some impatience creeping into her voice. “You need to look past your orders to the bigger picture.”
“My eyesight is just fine, thank you.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Ar’alani said. “I know Thrawn, and he has a good reason for everything he does. Whatever his reason for being on Sposia, it’s important.”
“Maybe to your Expansionary Defense Fleet it is,” Dy’lothe said disdainfully. “All you do is look out at the Chaos. The Defense Force sees things rather more on that larger scale you just mentioned.”
“How about the survival of the Ascendancy?” Ar’alani countered. “Is that a large enough scale for you?”
Dy’lothe chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. “You always did tend toward the overly dramatic. Well. It’s been nice chatting with you, but I have work to do. The warship’s captain requested that I hold off any action until Thrawn’s shuttle was aboard, and now it is. If you’ll excuse me, I have a tractor beam operation to direct.”
Ar’alani stared out the viewport, trying to sort through the possibilities. Was the request to allow the shuttle back aboard the frigate before being taken into custody nothing more than stalling? Or did Thrawn already have a plan for getting out from under the Venturous’s thumb?
In other words, should Ar’alani sit back and watch, or should she intervene?
More risk. More consequences. But down deep, she knew she couldn’t leave this to chance, or even to Thrawn’s tactical skill. Whatever he was doing, it was important, and it was part of her job as an Expansionary Defense Fleet officer to do what she could to help him succeed.
“I’m sorry, Admiral,” she said. “But I can’t let you do that.”
“Excuse me?” Dy’lothe said, his voice gone dark. “You can’t let me carry out my orders?”
“Your illegal orders,” Ar’alani countered, looking at the tactical. The Vigilant was in combat range now, which meant she could fully engage the Venturous if she chose. If she picked her target carefully enough …
“And who are you to decide which orders I should obey and which I should ignore?” Dy’lothe retorted. “I swear, Ar’alani. One more word out of you—”
And in that instant, Thrawn made his move.
The blockade frigate leapt forward, charging straight at the Venturous. Ar’alani caught her breath, waiting for the man-of-war’s lasers to open fire and blast the Nikardun warship into bits of broken metal and ceramic. But before Dy’lothe’s weapons crews could react, the frigate did a pitch-and-roll, turning away from the Venturous and blazing off at an angle across the edge of Sposia’s atmosphere.
“Electrical discharge from the Venturous,” Biclian snapped. “Looks like a massive short circuit around the bow laser and tractor emplacements.”
“Run it back,” Ar’alani ordered, turning to the secondary sensor display. With her full attention focused on Thrawn’s maneuver, she hadn’t even noticed whatever it was Biclian was talking about. The sensor image of the Venturous flowed backward as Biclian reversed the recording … there was the flash … was that something that had been launched from the blockade frigate …?
“That’s not a short,” Wutroow said suddenly. “That was a Crippler net.” She looked at Ar’alani, her expression seemingly caught amid surprise, outrage, and admiration. “Thrawn threw a Crippler net at him.”