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:
But it had happened.
And for the first time since Jixtus had dragged Qilori into the Grysk war effort, it was no longer a given that the Chiss would lose.
“I believe Jixtus has fully assumed command.” Thrawn’s voice came over the Vigilant’s bridge speaker.
“So it would seem,” Ar’alani agreed, looking out the Vigilant’s viewport. Up to now the giant warship FateSpinner had floated motionless above the planetary surface, staying aloof from the melee and letting the other ships’ commanders handle their individual battles without any attempt at coordination. She and Thrawn had speculated earlier that the warship’s extended idleness was probably due to the time it was taking for the Whetstone’s escape pod to be pulled into a docking bay, Jixtus himself to be extricated from it, and however long it then took him to get to the FateSpinner’s bridge.
Chiss warships’ passageways were relatively easy to get through, making for quick transits between different areas. Aliens concerned with slowing down potential boarders, though, might deliberately make such internal travel more difficult.
But now, finally, the FateSpinner was on the move, turning toward the Vigilant and Aelos where they nestled together at the edge of the battleground. “You still want to play it as planned?” she asked.
“I think it’s our best option,” Thrawn said. “The FateSpinner is the most dangerous of the enemy ships. Jixtus has to be hurt sufficiently that he continues to hold back, but not so badly that he’ll feel threatened enough to take his forces and run.”
Ar’alani felt her throat tighten. Unfortunately, he was right. Without knowing where in the Chaos the Grysks were located, if Jixtus escaped there would be no chance of tracking him down.
And if that happened, the next time he challenged the Chiss he wouldn’t allow himself to be lured to some out-of-the-way place like Sunrise for their battle. The next time, he would hit directly into the center of the Ascendancy.
He had to be stopped: right here, right now. “Understood,” Ar’alani said. “Stingfly, we need you.”
“Acknowledged, Vigilant,” Stingfly’s commander said briskly. “Moving into position.”
“Stand by.”
The FateSpinner had fully turned toward the Vigilant now, lining up its bow and shoulder weapons clusters on the Nightdragon, and was nearly within combat range. Ar’alani looked past the Grysk’s dorsal surface, searching the starscape for the nearest of the small asteroids Thrawn had moved close to Sunrise two days ago in preparation for this particular part of his battle plan. There it was, right where it was supposed to be. “Lock tractors on asteroid,” she ordered Oeskym. “Full power.”
“Tractors locked,” the weapons officer said. “Aelos?”
“Tractors locked,” Thrawn confirmed. “Admiral, your sight angle is better than mine. You give the orders.”
“Acknowledged,” Ar’alani said. The FateSpinner’s distance and speed … “Tractor beams: Activate,” she ordered. “Stingfly: Stand ready.”
“Tractors locked,” Oeskym confirmed. “Asteroid’s on the move.”
“Stingfly, your estimate is three seconds after the FateSpinner opens fire,” she reminded the other commander. “Oeskym, stand by lasers and spheres. We’ve got about twenty seconds before things get nasty.”
“Weapons and weapons crews standing ready,” Oeskym said. “Barriers at full strength.”
Ar’alani made a quick visual check of the battle swirling in the distance behind the FateSpinner, then paused for a longer look at her tactical display. So far things seemed to be following Thrawn’s anticipated schedule.
But hanging over everything she could feel a vague sense of foreboding. The Vigilant’s sky-walker, Ab’begh, had reported a strange resistance during the last leg of their approach to Sunrise, and Samakro had told her and Thrawn how the Magys had tried to take over Che’ri, purportedly to help the Chiss win against the Grysks. Samakro’s counterthreat had gotten Che’ri and Thalias out of that situation, and since then the Magys seemed to be staying out of it.
The question now was what she might do if, having refused her help, the Chiss lost the battle. Would she seek vengeance against them as punishment when the Grysks reestablished their control of her world?
Or what if Jixtus was able to capture her? Would he be able to force her to see into the roiling futures of his next battles, giving him a preview of his opponent’s moves in time to counter them? Would that make him and the Grysks truly and permanently invincible?
But that was if Jixtus won. What would happen if Ar’alani and Thrawn prevailed today? The Magys had already made a bid for Che’ri, and had even considered taking Thalias. Would she want Che’ri and Ab’begh and maybe even the Grayshrike’s sky-walker Bet’nih?
Ar’alani had no feel for how the Magys’s mind worked, or what motivated her, or what limited her abilities to touch the Beyond. But through Che’ri she’d apparently experienced a level of foresight power she’d never before tasted.
And if there was one thing Ar’alani had learned about power, it was that for far too many people a small and fleeting taste wasn’t nearly enough.
The FateSpinner was nearly to combat range. “Stand by spheres; stand by lasers,” she called. The range indicator ran to the designated mark—“Fire spheres; fire lasers.”
The plasma spheres erupted from their tubes as the Vigilant’s lasers simultaneously lanced out. The FateSpinner replied with its own lasers, the barrage accompanied by a salvo of dibber missiles targeting the Vigilant’s spheres. “Continuous laserfire,” Ar’alani ordered. From the Vigilant’s starboard side, the Aelos opened up with its own lasers, Thrawn concentrating his attack on the dibbers. “Fire spheres; breacher salvo behind them,” Ar’alani added.
Six more plasma spheres erupted from their launchers, with six breacher missiles running close behind. Again, the FateSpinner responded with more dibbers. Ar’alani kept one eye on the duel, the other on the asteroid steadily picking up speed toward the FateSpinner’s stern. If Jixtus was too distracted by the battle in front of his ship to notice the threat to its rear …
And then the Grysks finally seemed to spot the danger hurtling in behind them. The FateSpinner’s aft batteries came to life, the spectrum lasers blasting away huge chunks of rock and metal ore as they tore the asteroid apart. Ar’alani watched as it was whittled down; and then with one final, massive salvo, the remnant disintegrated into a shower of gravel. The final bits dispersed across the starry sky.
Revealing the Stingfly’s breacher missiles that had up to now been traveling in the asteroid’s visual shadow.
The FateSpinner’s lasers instantly shifted to the new targets. But the breachers were too close, and going too fast, and the entire group slammed unimpeded into the Grysk’s stern, their acid loads splashing against the hull and chewing into thrusters, weapons, sensors, and electrostatic barrier nodes.