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:
“Sounds like fun,” Che’ri said with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Still worried about Thrawn, Thalias suspected, or about the Magys and the dreams. Unfortunately, there was nothing Thalias could do about that.
Or maybe there was. “Do we have to stay here?” she asked.
“You mean in Csaplar?”
“No, I mean on Csilla,” Thalias said. “Could we go somewhere else?”
“Well, Che’ri can’t,” Samakro said. “She has to stay on or near the ship.”
“What about me?” Thalias asked. “Could I go?”
“You want to go somewhere without me?” Che’ri asked, frowning at her.
“It would only be for a few days,” Thalias assured her. “I need to visit someone on Ool.”
“I don’t think that’s allowed,” Samakro said. “You’re Che’ri’s caregiver. You’re supposed to stay with her at all times.”
“I know,” Thalias said. “But—”
“Who do you want to visit?” Che’ri interrupted.
“It’s a woman who was mentioned on that data cylinder we got on Naporar,” Thalias said, choosing her words carefully. She’d mentioned her brief encounter with Senior Aide Thivik to Thrawn, but only because the warriors waiting at the Springhawk’s shuttle had seen him and would probably report it. But she’d kept the existence of Syndic Thrass’s data cylinder totally secret. “There are some questions I need to ask her.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Samakro said firmly. “You can’t leave Che’ri.”
“I don’t mind,” Che’ri said, her eyes steady on Thalias. “I’m old enough to be alone for a few days.”
“And it’s not like she would be alone anyway,” Thalias added, trying to read Che’ri’s face. She clearly recognized that this was important, though there was no way she could know its full gravity. But she was also clearly willing to trust Thalias. “She’d have a whole ship full of people around her.”
“That’s not the point,” Samakro insisted.
“She left me alone before once, when she and Senior Captain Thrawn went to the asteroid base at Rapacc,” Che’ri reminded him. “I did okay then.”
“Yes, but you had Ab’begh and her caregiver to look after you,” Samakro countered. “And as I recall, Admiral Ar’alani looked in on you occasionally, too.”
“You could look in on me,” Che’ri said. “And Mid Commander Dalvu said she would play Gribblehex with me whenever I wanted.”
“There’s plenty of prepared food, and Che’ri knows how to use the cooker,” Thalias added. “Or you could maybe bring in a temp caregiver.”
“No,” Che’ri said flatly. “I don’t need one.”
“And I don’t want one,” Samakro agreed. “There are enough strangers running around the Springhawk as it is.”
“Then just let me stay alone,” Che’ri persisted. “I’ll be all right.” She looked at Thalias. “I’ll even promise to do my lessons.”
For a minute Samakro looked back and forth between them, his forehead wrinkled in thought. Letting Thalias abandon her sky-walker for more than a few hours at a time was probably a violation of protocol, and he and the Springhawk didn’t need any more trouble than they already had. But he’d clearly figured out that this wasn’t just some whim on Thalias’s part.
His shifting gaze steadied on Thalias. “What is this about?” he asked.
“It concerns Che’ri and her recent dreams,” Thalias said carefully, mindful of the two warriors standing within earshot.
Samakro’s lips compressed briefly. “All right. There are emergency circumstances under which I can circumvent normal protocols. I suppose I can invoke one of them.”
“Thank you, Mid Captain,” Thalias said. “Che’ri?”
“I’ll be fine,” Che’ri again assured her. “Besides, I’ve been wishing I had someone else to play Gribblehex with. No offense, but you’re terrible.”
“So I’ve been told,” Thalias said drily, feeling a sense of relief. “Just don’t go easy on Mid Commander Dalvu.”
“Because she certainly won’t go easy on you,” Samakro warned. “She’s one of the most competitive gamers I’ve ever seen. All right. It’s a day and a half each way to Ool, and Supreme General Ba’kif wants you available in one week. That gives you four days, maximum.”
“That’ll be enough,” Thalias said, nodding. “Thank you, Mid Captain.”
“You’re welcome.” He leveled a finger at her. “This just better not be a social call.”
“It isn’t,” Thalias promised.
“All right,” Samakro said. “Go see the receptionist, and make sure she gives you a chit that’s good on Ool, too, and not just on Csilla.”
“I will.” Reaching over, Thalias gave Che’ri a quick but firm hug. “Thanks for being brave, Che’ri,” she murmured. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I know,” Che’ri murmured back, her voice muffled by Thalias’s shoulder. “Be careful.”
“I will.” Giving the girl one last squeeze, she let go and stepped back. “Go with Mid Captain Samakro now.”
“Okay,” Che’ri said. “See you soon.”
Samakro nodded a silent farewell to Thalias, then headed down the corridor toward the exit, Che’ri beside him with the two guards trailing a watchful step behind them. Che’ri sent a single lingering look at Thalias, then turned back and started talking inaudibly to Samakro.
Thalias watched them go, a picture flashing through her mind: Che’ri’s internal child striving for balance with her internal midager. This time, at least, the midager had won out.
Shaking away the image, she turned and headed toward the receptionist station. Fortunately, ever since she’d first read Syndic Thrass’s data cylinder she’d kept it close to her, storing it in her questis’s spare cylinder rack.
Just as well. With her about to be away from the ship for several days, it was more important than ever that she not leave it lying around the sky-walker suite where someone might stumble across it. Not until she’d decided exactly what she should do with the information it contained.
The woman on Ool was someone Thalias very much wanted to meet. She could only hope that she would be equally happy to meet Thalias.
“I don’t know what you thought you were doing, Captain,” Patriarch Rivlex bit out, glaring at Roscu with an intensity she’d rarely seen him use except on rival Patriarchs or minor Aristocra who had annoyed him. “You had exactly two jobs at Ornfra: to catch the Dasklo family in the act of making fake patrol ships at Krolling Sen, and to find and expose the Mitth spy platform. You failed at both.”
“It wasn’t a spy platform, Your Venerante,” Roscu said stiffly. “As my report detailed, it was an enemy weapon.”
“Which was conveniently destroyed before it could be examined.”
“Which self-destructed before it could be examined.”
“You’re sure that’s what happened?” Rivlex asked scornfully. “Were you even there at the time?”
Roscu scowled to herself. No, unfortunately, she hadn’t been. The in-system jump Ziinda had sent her on had put her out of the immediate area when all the fireworks took place. By the time she got the Orisson turned around and jumped back, the asteroid and freighter had both been reduced to rubble fields. “No, Your Venerante, not personally,” she said. “But I have the records that were made of the—”
“Records made by Dasklo warships?” Rivlex asked pointedly.
“And by the Grayshrike.”
Rivlex snorted. “An Expansionary Defense Fleet ship that shouldn’t even have been at Ornfra, let alone been issuing orders to anyone. More than that, a ship with an Irizi captain and a Csap first officer, neither of whom would be sympathetic to a Clarr problem.”