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:
It was a bold plan, he had to admit. It was also a huge and dangerous gamble. Qilori had seen enough battles from the bridge of General Yiv’s flagship to realize that, while the Springhawk was probably only slightly less powerful than the Grysk warship awaiting it, the Aelos was far outmatched by the Kilji picket cruiser they were racing toward. Even if Thrawn could get in the first shot—and the second, third, and fourth as well—the Paccosh would probably be overwhelmed.
“Tell me, are you proficient with weapons?” Thrawn asked.
Qilori’s winglets rippled. What kind of question was that? Surely he wasn’t inviting Qilori to take over the weapons console, was he? “No, not at all,” he said. “I’m a navigator, not an armaments expert.”
“I know,” Thrawn said. “I was asking about hand weaponry, not shipboard.”
And with a jolt of stiffened winglets, Qilori finally understood. Thrawn wasn’t going to get in close to the Kilji picket cruiser and trade spectrum laser shots.
He and the Paccosh were going to board it.
“I … no, I’m not,” he managed. No—surely Thrawn wasn’t thinking of dragging him into the middle of their attack. “The Navigators’ Guild forbids us from carrying sidearms.”
“That also wasn’t what I asked,” Thrawn said. “But no matter. The Paccosh and I will protect you.”
“You can’t do this, sir,” Qilori begged, the winglets now vibrating at high speed. “If the guild ever found out that I was involved in a military action, I would be instantly expelled.”
“I think they’re likely to be more charitable toward you than that,” Thrawn said. “Certainly once they learn your involvement was solely to help rescue a fellow Pathfinder.”
Qilori stared at him. “To rescue—?”
“Commander, they have us in a tractor beam,” the pilot cut in.
“Maintain course,” Uingali said. “Do not attempt to break free. Senior Captain Thrawn?”
“They want to control our approach,” Thrawn said, stepping to Uingali’s side and studying the helm and sensor displays. “Do you have an origination point?”
“The outer edge of the portside shoulder weapons cluster,” the pilot told him, pointing to a partial schematic of the Hammer that had now appeared on one of the displays.
“Near the midships docking port,” Uingali commented.
“I expect their plan is to park us right at the tractor projector,” Thrawn said. “That will position us directly beneath the weapons cluster, where we’ll be out of position to damage it.”
“And put us far enough from the docking port that we won’t have easy or immediate access to their ship,” Uingali added.
“Indeed,” Thrawn said. “I think we can modify their plan somewhat.”
“I think we may,” Uingali agreed with dark amusement. “Weapons?”
“The Crippler net is ready for deployment,” one of the other Paccosh confirmed.
Qilori looked at the weapons display, trying without success to decipher the unfamiliar Paccian script. Crippler net—what kind of weapon could that be?
He had no idea. But the orange marker that had just begun flickering seemed to be located in or near one of the Aelos’s forward missile tubes. Was a Crippler net some kind of Chiss missile he’d never heard about?
“Prepare to launch on my signal,” Thrawn said. He looked at Qilori, and it seemed to him that the Chiss almost smiled. “Don’t be concerned, Pathfinder. It will be over soon.”
The glowing red eyes glittered as he turned back to the viewport and the Kilji ship rushing up at them. “Very soon.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Samakro had assumed that both Thalias and Che’ri would have to be carried back to their suite, and had made sure there were enough warriors on hand for transport duty. To his mild surprise, Thalias managed to make it off the bridge under her own power, and was even able to rouse Che’ri enough to stagger along beside her. Samakro made sure the warriors went with them anyway, just in case they collapsed halfway to the suite.
Then they were gone, and the bridge hatch was sealed behind them.
And Samakro could finally get to work.
“Afpriuh: Report,” he said, resettling himself in the command chair.
“Barriers at full power, weapons and weapons crews ready,” Afpriuh said. “Still no attacks from Bogeys One and Two.”
“Bogey Two has a tractor beam on Senior Captain Thrawn,” Dalvu added. “Looks like he’s being pulled to their portside near the amidships docking port.”
Samakro nodded. So far the scenario was playing out exactly the way Thrawn had anticipated, with the Kiljis and their unidentified companion allowing the Aelos to race past their point defenses and into their protection.
Though as Thrawn had also predicted, and as Samakro himself now recognized, there was very little altruism involved. With Samakro having loudly proclaimed his intent to capture or destroy the Nikardun blockade frigate, the enemy commander was playing on that apparent obsession in the hope of drawing the Springhawk close enough to launch a withering attack, ideally inside Sunrise’s gravity well where there would be no easy escape.
“Azmordi, increase speed to match,” he ordered. “I want us slowly gaining on them, but I also want to stay out of the bogeys’ laser range until Senior Captain Thrawn makes his move. Can you do that?”
“No problem, sir,” Azmordi assured him, hunching over his helm controls.
The Springhawk leapt forward. Samakro kept an eye on the tactical, watching as both ships approached the waiting enemies. As always, the timing on this one was going to be critical.
Timing that Samakro had nearly screwed up.
He’d assumed Thalias would come to confront him as soon as the Springhawk and Aelos left Rapacc to head off in their respective directions. If she had, he could have had the necessary conversation with her then and there, and wouldn’t have had to spend the next five hours sending the ship back toward the Ascendancy.
But Thalias had fallen asleep, and the conversation had been delayed, and as a result they’d been far enough out of position that Che’ri had had to really push it in order to get the Springhawk here in time.
But Samakro had had no choice but to play this little charade. If Thalias was still acting as a spy for Patriarch Thurfian, letting her see Thrawn disobeying Ba’kif’s order to return to Naporar and once again trying to dodge the prohibition against preemptive combat would have given Thurfian a double handful of fresh ammunition.
Never mind that Thrawn was completely within his authority as commander on the scene to countermand Ba’kif’s order about a swift return. Never mind also that the senior captain was riding with Uingali aboard a Paccian ship where Syndicure prohibitions were meaningless. Thurfian and those members of the Syndicure who were already predisposed to dislike Thrawn would still have found a way to use that against him, and would possibly have dragged in the rest of the Springhawk’s officers as well.
But as it now stood, all Thalias could tell her Patriarch sponsor was that Thrawn had accepted a plea for help, and that it was she and Che’ri who had forced Samakro to chase after him. The Council and Syndicure might take issue with parts of it, but at least there wouldn’t be any calls for the wholesale slaughter of everyone’s careers.