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:
“That’s different,” Samakro insisted. “Sky-walkers can only see ahead a few seconds, and only events like hyperspace bumps that are governed solely by physics. You’re talking—what? Hours? Days? And all of it involving people doing things and making their own decisions. How is that even possible?”
“I don’t know,” Thalias said. “But I keep thinking about how we got to Rapacc just in time to keep the Kilji warships from attacking and kidnapping the Magys’s people. The only reason we got there when we did was because Che’ri was having terrible nightmares.”
“It’s still not possible,” Samakro said.
But what if it was? Because he had to concede that there was a certain logic to it.
The Magys was carrying the burden of responsibility for her refugees, and had a connection to something she called the Beyond. Che’ri was a sky-walker, with the ability to use Third Sight to see a few seconds into the future. The Magys needed to protect her people and her world. Che’ri was close to Thrawn, whom the Magys had now proclaimed to be her people’s Guardian. Could the two of them somehow be mixing those emotional connections and combining their individual abilities?
“Fine,” he said. “I still don’t believe it, but I’m willing to be convinced. Go check with Che’ri. If she still thinks she can handle the approach, have her report to the nav station.” He leveled a finger at her. “If you think she’s too fatigued—in fact, if there’s any doubt at all in your mind—you take her back to the suite right now and put her to bed. Clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Thalias said. “Thank you.”
She opened the office hatch and disappeared inside. Samakro stood still another moment, then returned to his command chair.
He was checking the Springhawk’s combat status when Thalias and Che’ri returned to the bridge and crossed to the nav station. The girl was a little unsteady on her feet, Samakro noted, but otherwise seemed all right.
Azmordi turned and looked at Samakro, his eyebrows raised in silent question. Samakro answered with a nod. Azmordi nodded back and keyed flight control over to the sky-walker’s station.
Two minutes later, with Che’ri once again in Third Sight, the Springhawk was in hyperspace. Five minutes after that, they arrived in the Sunrise system.
“Sensors: Full scan,” Samakro ordered. “Lieutenant Commander Azmordi: Locate the planet.”
“Combat range clear,” Dalvu reported from the sensor station. “Mid-range, clear. Far range … clear.”
“Sunrise located, Mid Captain,” Azmordi added. “Computing in-system jump.”
“No,” Thalias said in a quavering voice. “Not yet.”
Azmordi turned a frown toward Samakro. “Mid Captain?” he asked.
“A moment, Lieutenant Commander,” Samakro said, watching as Thalias bent down and held a whispered conversation with Che’ri. He waited until she straightened and turned to him. “You have an explanation, Caregiver?” he asked.
“She says we can’t go closer, Mid Captain,” Thalias said. “I mean, we shouldn’t go closer. It’s not time yet.”
“Any thoughts on when it will be time?”
Again, Thalias leaned over for a couple of seconds, talking to the girl half hidden in the navigator’s chair. “We’ll know, sir,” Thalias said. Her lip twitched. “She’ll know.”
For a moment the bridge was silent. “Very well,” Samakro said. “We’ll hold here for now. Senior Commander Afpriuh, confirm that all weapons systems and crews are ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
The normal bridge conversation resumed, though at a more subdued level than usual. Samakro checked the status boards, did quick evaluations of his bridge crew, and did all the other things a Chiss commander was supposed to do when preparing for action.
But mostly he watched Thalias, standing rigidly behind Che’ri’s seat. If the caregiver even looked like she was falling asleep on her feet, he would have both of them summarily hauled back to their suite and tossed into their beds.
In fact, that might be the best thing to do whether they were half asleep or not. Because Thalias clearly hadn’t thought this though.
The Magys hadn’t had these exaggerated Third Sight abilities when she first came aboard the Springhawk. There were too many things back then that had taken her by surprise, too many decisions she would surely have adjusted or revoked if she’d been able to see even an hour into the future. It was only after she’d been in hibernation in the sky-walker suite in Che’ri’s proximity for several weeks that this connection had happened. Normal logic might not work here, but Samakro assumed there was a fair chance that connection would likewise fade once the two of them had been apart for a similar length of time.
The Magys had had her first success with the Rapacc intervention. Now, if things worked out the way Che’ri and Thalias clearly expected them to, the alien was about to garner herself a second. Two triumphs in a row should be ample confirmation that she now possessed an awesome and incredibly useful power.
What if she decided she didn’t want to give up that power?
The sky-walkers are the key to our entire mission statement, Samakro had once told Thalias. We need to protect that resource as much as we can.
And he would. Against any force or manipulation that might come against her.
Whatever the cost.
With one last touch of the Great Presence, Qilori brought the Aelos out of hyperspace.
They had arrived at the system Thrawn had designated, the one he called Sunrise, the one the other Pathfinder had arrived in a few hours ago. At least they’d proved that Thrawn’s guess as to the Hammer’s destination was correct.
The Paccosh were ready. All of them were outfitted in heavy commando fighting suits, encased from the tops of their heads to their splay-toed feet, though their feathery headcrests were curiously left uncovered. Thrawn was similarly dressed for the occasion, wearing an armored version of the usual Chiss military uniform.
And Qilori still had no idea what exactly was going on.
One thing he did know, though. In his time as a Pathfinder, he’d seen hundreds of different planets. He’d seen major worlds, minor ones, worlds that held nothing but mining colonies, worlds that were all but uninhabited.
This world was different. This world had been utterly devastated.
The evidence was everywhere he looked. The clouds on the sunlit side were laced with the gray and black of smoke or blast debris. The strips of land visible beneath them were charred, with mere patches of fading green or the muted glitter of contaminated rivers and small lakes. He could see no city or travel lights at all on the night side.
And Thrawn, who’d clearly already seen the catastrophic panorama now stretched out in front of them, had chosen to call the place Sunrise?
“Are they there?” Uingali demanded, looming suddenly over Qilori like an angry storm cloud as he gazed out of the bridge viewport. He turned slightly, the massive weapon holstered at his hip coming uncomfortably close to the side of Qilori’s head. “Pilot?”
“There!” one of the other Paccosh announced from his station. “Two ships, alien design, in a low synchronized planetary orbit.”
Qilori leaned a little forward, trying to see what the alien was pointing to. It was no use—his eyes weren’t good enough to even pick up the dot that should be all that was visible at this distance.
“Why are they so far away?” Uingali asked.
“We arrived farther out than planned,” the pilot said.