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, once, had been the device called Starflash.
“I keep having this disturbing image,” Zistalmu continued. “An entire UAG wing dedicated solely to Thrawn’s findings.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Thurfian said. “You’ll recall we’ve speculated once or twice that someone high in either the Syndicure or the Defense Hierarchy Council has been protecting Thrawn from the repercussions of his political blunders. Maybe that artifact wing is the reason.”
“I don’t know,” Zistalmu said doubtfully. “The UAG is mostly the province of the Stybla family, and they don’t have anywhere near enough pull with either the Syndicure or the Council. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Patriarch Thooraki who was Thrawn’s primary defender.”
“Perhaps,” Thurfian murmured.
“In which case, you may now have the power to finally get rid of him.” Zistalmu tilted his head slightly. “If you still want to.”
“If I hadn’t already been convinced that was necessary, the fiasco at Hoxim would have done it,” Thurfian said heavily. “The question is still how.”
“Yes,” Zistalmu said, nodding. “Good.”
Thurfian frowned. “What do you mean, good?”
“I mean,” Zistalmu said, “from your new position the solution to the Thrawn problem is obvious. You simply petition the Defense Hierarchy Council to promote Thrawn to commodore—”
“And put him in a position where he can cause even more damage?” Thurfian cut in. “Are you serious?”
“—thereby removing him from the Mitth,” Zistalmu continued calmly, “and guaranteeing the family name won’t be tarnished when he finally falls from grace.”
“I hardly think I would find solace in Mitth family honor remaining intact if the Ascendancy itself had fallen,” Thurfian said stiffly.
“I agree,” Zistalmu said. “I just wasn’t sure you did. As I said: Good.”
For a long moment the two men locked eyes. Then Thurfian took a deep breath. “So you trust me now?”
Zistalmu shrugged. “More than I did when I walked in here today. So. We take him down?”
“Yes,” Thurfian said. “I don’t know how yet, but we do.”
“Well, we can start by figuring out what happened at Hoxim,” Zistalmu said, standing up. “I’ll get back to the Syndicure and start digging. I assume you still have a lot of pomp and ceremony to go through?”
“More than I like, yes,” Thurfian conceded. “But as soon as all of that is over, I’ll start looking at what options I have as Patriarch.”
“All right.” Zistalmu smiled slightly. “I suppose we won’t be meeting anymore in the March of Silence.”
“What we give up in secrecy and convenience, we make up in comfort,” Thurfian said, giving him a same-sized smile in return. “The food is better, too, if and when we have enough time to sample it. Let me know when you have something, and we’ll set up another meeting.”
“I will,” Zistalmu said. “And once again, congratulations.”
Thurfian gazed at the door a moment after he left, sifting through the bits of data Zistalmu had given him, then turned back to his questis.
He was in the middle of Thivik’s third file when the senior aide returned. “Has he gone?” Thurfian asked.
Thivik nodded. “He and his escort are on their way back to Csaplar,” he said. “I must also soon head in that direction.”
“Your trip to Naporar?”
“Yes, Your Venerante,” Thivik said. “Your credentials must be officially presented to the Expansionary Defense Fleet.”
“Understood,” Thurfian said. Thivik had already made a similar trip to the Defense Force. But their headquarters were only a couple of thousand kilometers away, outside the capital, an easy trip by tube car. Traveling to the Expansionary Defense Fleet headquarters, in contrast, required a family spaceship and a couple of days for the round trip.
But it could be worse. A hundred years ago, the new Patriarch had been required to present all those credentials in person. Five hundred years before that, a grand tour of all the Ascendancy’s worlds and meetings with all the Mitth Patriels had also been required.
The Patriels now had to do all that traveling on their own. But the military still wanted at least a senior aide to make the journey to them.
Maybe in another hundred years, the traditions would bend enough to allow all of it to be done via comm.
“Before you leave, check and see if there are any documents that need to be taken to Naporar,” he instructed Thivik. “If so, you can save some courier a trip.”
“I’ll do so, Your Venerante,” Thivik said. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can. In the meantime, do spend some time with the new files I sent you. There are a great many subtleties involved with your new position.”
“I’m sure there are,” Thurfian said. “I’ll do my best to master them as quickly as possible.”
“I know you will,” Thivik said, bowing again. “Good day, Your Venerante.”
He left the office, and with a tired sigh Thurfian turned again to his questis and the stack of files.
Besides, even if he tried to push the Expansionary Defense Fleet into promoting Thrawn, they probably wouldn’t do it.
CHAPTER THREE
It took Ba’kif three days to finish interviewing the captains of the three groups of family warships that had been at Hoxim. He saved the Springhawk for last, partly because the ship was still being examined for damage and he wanted both Thrawn and Samakro on hand at the bluedock to oversee the work, partly because he expected Samakro to finally offer him information he wasn’t getting from anyone else.
On that latter, at least, he was disappointed. It was clear that Samakro held crucial facts about the Springhawk and its participation that none of the family ship officers was aware of. It was equally clear that the Springhawk’s first officer wasn’t going to divulge those details without more pressure than Ba’kif was prepared to bring. It was also unfortunately clear that asking Thrawn those same questions would be a waste of time.
Which didn’t mean that Ba’kif wouldn’t eventually get the whole story. That much he could promise himself. But right now, with the Syndicure buzzing like stingflies whose nest had been kicked, discretion was the better option.
And so he contented himself with finishing his interviews, writing and filing his reports, and otherwise making the military side of the Hoxim issue as quiet and straightforward as possible. It was only when that was finished that he requisitioned a shuttle to Bluedock One, where the Springhawk was currently housed, to finally find out what Thrawn had wanted to tell him back at Sposia.
It was quickly clear why Samakro hadn’t been looking forward to the conversation.
“What in the depths of the Chaos were you thinking?” Ba’kif demanded as he stared in disbelief at the alien figure lying motionless inside the hibernation chamber. Not just in hibernation, but in hibernation in Caregiver Thalias’s sleeping room in the sky-walker suite, supposedly one of the most secure places aboard the Springhawk.
“It was a humanitarian gesture toward the Magys’s people—” Thrawn began.
“I don’t want to hear any excuses,” Ba’kif cut him off.
“She was the cause of a death aboard the Springhawk—” Samakro offered.
“I don’t want to hear you quote protocols, either,” Ba’kif snarled.