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:
“Oh,” Thalias said.
“Oh is right,” Samakro said. “Needless to say, that didn’t exactly endear us to any of the Nine or Forty.” He nodded sideways. “As you can see.”
Thalias looked around, focusing for the first time on the people they were passing. Most of them simply ignored him, while some glanced at the uniform and then looked away with complete indifference.
But there were a few, invariably in Aristocra garb, who stared at him with narrowed or openly hostile eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “We don’t do this because we want to be loved. We do this because it needs to be done. Come on—I’ll put you on the shuttle so you can get to the ship and settle in. We’ll be leaving as soon as I’m back.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
“I need to talk to someone important first,” Samakro said. “Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take long.”
“Who is this important person?”
“I don’t know yet,” Samakro said. “Hopefully a Speaker, though I may have to settle for a Syndic Prime if I can’t find one. Basically, I’ll talk to whoever will listen.”
“Is there anyone in particular you’re looking for?” Thalias persisted.
“Well, I won’t be approaching the Tahmie or Droc, that’s for sure,” Samakro said, frowning at her. “It’s something Senior Captain Thrawn needs that only someone at the Syndicure level can provide.”
Thalias braced herself. “Would a Patriarch do?”
Samakro stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes suddenly hard and suspicious. “Interesting question,” he said softly. “Why do you ask?”
Thalias forced herself to meet his gaze. There it was at last, the end of the path she’d been walking since she first boarded the Springhawk. Probably the end of her career, as well. “Enough games, Mid Captain,” she said softly. “We need to talk.”
“Fine.” His eyes flicked around the corridor, settled on an unoccupied vender alcove. “Over there.”
A minute later they were in the alcove. “I’m listening,” Samakro said.
“I know that you’ve never liked me,” Thalias said. “You also think I came aboard the Springhawk to spy on Senior Captain Thrawn.”
“Correct on both counts,” Samakro said evenly. “I’ll note that the one comment feeds directly into the other.”
So apparently he didn’t dislike her just for herself? That was something, anyway. “And you were partially right,” she said. “Syndic Thurfian’s price for getting me aboard as Che’ri’s caregiver was a promise that I’d report Thrawn’s activities to him, especially anything that seemed illegal or improper.”
“Why?”
“Why did he make me promise?” Thalias asked. “Or why did he want to know about the senior captain?”
“Let’s go with the latter,” Samakro said. “The reason for making you promise is pretty obvious.”
“He wanted a reason to get Senior Captain Thrawn off the Springhawk,” Thalias said. “Possibly out of the Expansionary Defense Fleet entirely. He thought—probably still thinks—that he’s a danger to the Mitth and to the Ascendancy as a whole.” She winced at the memory of that painful conversation she and Thurfian had had just before she went to the Mitth homestead to take the Trials. “The point is that I never gave him anything.”
“What about your promise?”
“I told him I never saw Senior Captain Thrawn do anything questionable, illegal, or unethical, and never anything against the Mitth.”
“He accepted that?”
“Not really,” Thalias conceded. “He threatened to have me rematched out of the Mitth completely if I didn’t cooperate. But I got around that.”
“How?”
“I took the Trials and passed them,” Thalias said. “That meant he couldn’t just casually get me thrown out of the family without going through official procedures that might attract attention he didn’t want. More important—to me, at least—while I was at the homestead I met Patriarch Thooraki, who asked me to keep an eye on Senior Captain Thrawn and keep him out of—what’s funny?” she interrupted herself as Samakro’s lip suddenly curved into a smile.
“Nothing,” Samakro said, the smile fading. “I’m just thinking of you as Senior Captain Thrawn’s big, strong protector.”
“Smile all you want,” Thalias growled. “Physical threats aren’t the ones he needs protecting from.”
“Point taken,” Samakro conceded. “So where does that leave us?”
“It leaves us with you able to trust me,” Thalias said quietly. “I interpreted Patriarch Thooraki’s support as meaning Thurfian no longer had any hold on me. Here and now, it leaves us with you needing a favor, and me having a lever I can use against him.”
“What lever?” Samakro scoffed. “Blackmail? He’s the Patriarch now. Who are you going to take those charges to?”
“It’s not blackmail, and the lever’s just for him,” Thalias said. “I can’t explain further. Just—” She felt her throat tighten. “Just trust me.”
“Tell me about this lever.”
“I can’t,” Thalias said. “Not now. Maybe not ever. But it’ll work. I know it will. Just tell me what you need Thurfian to do.”
For a moment Samakro looked at her. “I’m still not convinced,” he warned. “But I’m not having much luck finding someone myself. I suppose you can’t fail any worse than I have already. Fine. Here’s what Thrawn needs.”
He laid it out for her, everything Thrawn needed Thurfian to do. “Any questions?” he asked when he’d finished.
“No,” Thalias said, feeling her head spinning. Talk about climbing a tall hill.
But then, she’d climbed a tall hill back in the Mitth homestead, a literal one, during the Trials. She’d survived that ascent, and had come back better and stronger and more focused than she’d ever been in her life. She could climb this hill, too.
“I’ll call the homestead and see if I can get permission to come talk to him,” she went on. “Are you going to wait, or go back to the ship and send another shuttle for me?”
“I’ll wait,” Samakro said. “I get a feeling it might not go as smoothly as you seem to think.”
“All right,” Thalias said. “I’ll call when I’m back from the homestead.”
She was within sight of the tube car terminal, her comm pressed to her ear as she wove her way through the pedestrian traffic, before she finally got through to Senior Aide Thivik. “Senior Aide, this is Mitth’ali’astov,” she said. “It’s urgent that I speak with Patriarch Thurfian as soon as possible. Can you help me?”
And as they talked, Thalias found herself understanding like she never had before how warriors like Samakro felt. She was doing this because it needed to be done.
And she absolutely wasn’t going to be loved for it.
“I apologize for passing on incorrect information,” Qilori’s voice came tensely over the Whetstone’s bridge speakers. “But he told me he was going to Csilla, and I had no reason to suspect he was lying.”
“Except that he’s Thrawn, and you are a fool,” Jixtus growled.
Nakirre stretched with disdain for both of them. Conflict, fear, anger—all were marks of the unenlightened. They would never know order or discipline until they and all around them had been taken down that path. By persuasion if possible; by the new tool of conquest if not.