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:
“On it, Admiral,” Wutroow said, punching orders into her questis. “Don’t worry, we’ll get there in time.”
Ar’alani looked out the viewport. And if they didn’t, she reminded herself soberly, everyone aboard those shuttles would probably die.
She could only hope that whatever secret was lurking inside that battered hull was worth the risk.
Ar’alani had been concerned that their attackers might have had time to set several bombs aboard the wrecked Nikardun base before fleeing. Fortunately, there was only one very large one. Even more fortunately, it remained dormant, frozen by the massive ion storm the Vigilant had hit it with, until the Chiss techs were able to get aboard and disarm it.
It was as the survey teams worked their way through the station that Ar’alani finally realized what had been nagging at her.
“There,” she said, pointing to one of the images being sent back to the ship by the survey teams. “That blast point. A single close-range shot, just enough to break through the hull and depressurize the compartment.”
“But not so much as to make the damage a lengthy pain in the neck to repair,” Wutroow said thoughtfully. “So after their sneak-attack asteroid missile blew in the front door, and a few follow-up missiles popped open the command and control areas, they charged in and just poked holes in the walls until everyone inside was dead.”
“And then continued the same pattern in the interior,” Ar’alani said, pointing to another set of images. “Their plan all along was to kill the Nikardun who were running the base, make enough of a mess to convince any passersby that they had gone away, then slink back after everyone left and put the station back together.”
“Because why would anyone ever come back for a second look at a place that was obviously useless?” Wutroow agreed. “So most of the debris out there was just for show?”
“I doubt that,” Ar’alani said. “The Nikardun probably had a fair number of ships here, both visiting and standing guard. That’s where all the wreckage came from.”
“Right,” Wutroow said. “Which makes this … what? Some kind of fueling stop that Yiv wanted to downplay?”
“No, I think it was more than that,” Ar’alani said, a shiver running through her. “I think this base was set up as a rendezvous and coordination point for Yiv’s people and their allies.”
“I don’t remember any allies showing up at the Primea battle,” Wutroow said. “You think we and the Vaks just wiped out the Nikardun before Yiv had time to bring any new forces into play?”
“Or they were never intended to be brought in,” Ar’alani said. “Note the base’s location: hidden and out of the way, but relatively close to Sunrise.”
“And between Sunrise and the Ascendancy,” Wutroow pointed out.
“That, too,” Ar’alani agreed. “An ideal spot for someone who wanted to keep an eye on either us or the Magys’s people.”
“Or both,” Wutroow said. “At least that explains why we kept seeing the same Battle Dreadnought at Sunrise. This was also probably going to be their repair and refurbishing center, only they don’t yet have it up and running.”
“That was my thought, too,” Ar’alani said, nodding. “I’m guessing they didn’t expect us to find Sunrise as quickly as we did.”
“Which only happened because Thrawn met the Magys and her refugees and decided to play a hunch,” Wutroow murmured. “That’s going to frost some people.”
“Thrawn’s ability to frost the Aristocra is hardly new,” Ar’alani pointed out. “Regardless, the fact that the same asteroid missile launcher trick was used in both places adds additional confirmation that the people we tangled with over Sunrise are the same ones who hit this base.”
“Plus the other Nikardun base we checked out before this one,” Wutroow reminded her. “Can’t be a coincidence that both were hit.” She lifted a finger for emphasis. “Something else occurs to me. You called them allies a minute ago; but for them to come in and wipe out two different Nikardun bases …?”
“You’re right,” Ar’alani said, feeling her lip twitch. “The Nikardun weren’t the attackers’ allies. They were just their tools. And you don’t destroy a good tool unless you have something better at hand.”
“Or unless you think that particular tool is about to break,” Wutroow said. “I wonder if they know Thrawn took General Yiv alive.”
“Interesting question,” Ar’alani said. “We might want to suggest a couple of new topics for the Council’s interrogators.”
“Assuming we make it back to Csilla in one piece,” Wutroow warned. “Even if this base isn’t open for business, those patrol ships may have friends in the area.”
“Excellent point,” Ar’alani said, touching her command chair’s comm key. “Survey leader?”
“I’m here, Admiral,” Biclian’s voice came back. “We just found another equipment dump. That makes at least four of them, and we’re not even quite done yet.”
“Actually, you are,” Ar’alani said. “I have the sense we’re close to overstaying our welcome. How long will it take to make recordings of this latest dump?”
“If you don’t want any additions to the physical evidence we already sent to the Vigilant, we can have it done in fifteen minutes,” Biclian said. “If you want a sampling, it’ll take another hour.”
“Just make the recordings,” Ar’alani said. “I think we have enough crates to keep the Naporar techs happy. Pass the word to the other teams that they’re to finish up and get back to their shuttles. I want to be back in hyperspace in forty minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Biclian said. “We’ll be there.”
Ar’alani keyed off the comm. “You all heard,” she added, raising her voice to include the rest of the bridge. “Hyperspace in forty minutes.”
“Hyperspace in forty minutes,” Wutroow acknowledged, keying the order into her questis. “Do you want me to go get Ab’begh? I assume you’ll want her to handle the first leg of the trip home.”
“Definitely,” Ar’alani said. “But there’s no rush on that. You can leave her in her suite for another half hour.”
“Right,” Wutroow said drily. “We wouldn’t want her to get bored.”
“I’m not worried about boredom,” Ar’alani said grimly, looking across the bridge at the tactical display. “As you said, those patrol ships may have friends.”
Many years ago, when Senior Captain Xodlak’in’daro first joined the Expansionary Defense Fleet, there had been an elaborate ceremony to celebrate her rematching from her birth family to the Xodlak family. Lakinda didn’t remember much about the ritual except that it was big and flashy and completely overwhelmed her simple commoner tastes.
Today’s rematching, she suspected, would be far less extravagant. Not because being rematched from one of the Forty Great Families to one of the Nine Ruling Families wasn’t a big deal—because it most certainly was—but because all the flurry of activity in the wake of the fiasco out in the Hoxim system was taking up the majority of everyone’s focus today.
Which was fine with her. Most people who were offered such a social step up, she knew, would grab at it with both hands, moving into their new position without so much as a glance backward. But while Lakinda recognized the honor that was being given to her by the Irizi family, she couldn’t help feeling a certain guilt over her abandonment of the Xodlak. They’d taken her out of obscurity, after all, and she’d always believed that such a gesture should be repaid with loyalty.