Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil

CHAPTER SEVEN

The last hour was the hardest. The last half hour was almost literally painful to watch.

Samakro spent that time standing beside Thalias, watching as she swayed visibly despite her grip on the back of Che’ri’s chair, waiting for her to either call an end to the session or else collapse onto the deck from sheer exhaustion. If it came to the latter, hopefully he would be quick enough to catch her.

More worrisome, though far less visible, was the physical and mental state of the sky-walker herself.

Sitting in her chair, gazing at nothing as she manipulated the controls, she looked mostly the way she always did. But Samakro could see the fresh creases around her eyes, the unnatural paleness of her skin, the slightly jerky movements of her fingers. She was as fatigued as Thalias, probably more so, with her smaller child’s body less able to handle the accumulating stress. The longer she kept this up, the more likely she would miss something in the Chaos they were driving through and either damage the ship or send it skating completely off course.

Thrawn surely knew that as well as Samakro did. And yet he continued to sit quietly in his command chair, his eyes moving systematically among the status displays, keeping an occasional eye on Thalias but making no attempt to intervene. Samakro had done a search earlier on his questis, and Che’ri was already long past the record for a sky-walker navigational session. Was Thrawn so obsessed with Rapacc and getting the Magys off the Springhawk that he was willing to risk everything to do so?

Possibly. Or possibly it was simply that Thrawn knew Che’ri better than Samakro did. The senior captain and sky-walker had spent several weeks together out at the edge of Lesser Space, after all. Perhaps during that time Thrawn had gained insight into Che’ri’s stamina and ability to spend extended periods in Third Sight.

But everyone had their limits, and with the Springhawk one easy jump away from Rapacc, Che’ri and Thalias finally reached theirs.

The bridge viewport was glowing with the swirl of hyperspace when Samakro returned from escorting Thalias and Che’ri back to the sky-walker suite. “How are they?” Thrawn asked as Samakro came up beside the command chair.

“About as close to being literally asleep on their feet as I’ve ever seen,” Samakro said. He lowered his voice. “In my opinion, Senior Captain, and off the record, that was an unnecessarily dangerous thing to put the Springhawk through.”

“I agree, Mid Captain,” Thrawn said evenly. “Except for the unnecessarily part.”

Samakro frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t entirely understand myself,” Thrawn conceded. “I simply note that the sudden intensity of Che’ri’s nightmares may point to something significant.”

“You think that the Magys was pushing her extra hard for reasons of her own?”

“Or else that the Magys’s pressure on Che’ri has reached a breaking point,” Thrawn said. “Either way, it suggests that we should take whatever actions and risks are necessary to get her to Rapacc as quickly as we can.”

Samakro looked at the hyperspace swirl. “I hope you’re right, sir.”

“As do I,” Thrawn said, looking over at the nav display. “Lieutenant Commander Azmordi, stand by. Bring us to space-normal a bit farther out from the inner system than you did our last trip here.”

“Yes, Senior Captain,” Azmordi said from the helm. “Breakout position marked.”

“Thank you,” Thrawn said. “Prepare for breakout. Three, two, one.”

The star-flares burst out of the swirl and contracted into stars, and the Springhawk was back in space-normal. “Full scan,” Thrawn ordered.

“You think Uingali foar Marocsaa will still be on station in their captured Nikardun blockade frigate?” Samakro asked.

“That’s one of the things I hoped to see,” Thrawn said. “If he’s not, that may tell us something about the situation here.”

Samakro nodded silently. The last time the Springhawk had paid a visit, Uingali had mentioned other ships having tried to enter the Rapacc system. If one of them had decided not to take no for an answer …

“Combat range clear,” Dalvu called from the sensor station. “Mid-range … three warships, Senior Captain.”

Samakro looked at the sensor display as Dalvu keyed in full magnification. There were three ships out there, all right, though the distance made positive identification impossible. Two of them, battle cruiser size, were facing away from the Springhawk, while the third ship, smaller and somewhat more distant—Uingali’s blockade frigate?—was facing off against them. All three were holding position, and something about their bearing and positioning gave Samakro the impression that he was seeing the last stages of a confrontation.

“Acknowledged,” Thrawn said. “Battle stations.”