Тимоти Зан - Star Wars - Thrawn Ascendancy (Book I - Chaos Rising)

“But if I get us lost…?”

“You won’t,” Thalias said firmly.

“What if I do?”

“You won’t,” Thalias said. “Trust me. And trust yourself.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You have to,” Thalias said. “Uncertainty can be the most difficult and frightening of mental states. If you’re always wondering which way to go, you might freeze up and not go anywhere. If you’re afraid you can’t do something, you might not even try.”

Che’ri shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you don’t have to know anything tonight,” Thalias said. “All you have to do is lie down and try to get back to sleep. You sure I can’t get you something to eat?”

“No, that’s okay,” Che’ri said. She looked down at the pillow in her arms, then shifted it around behind her. “Maybe I’ll draw for a while,” she added, settling herself against the pillow and snagging her questis from the bedside table.

“Sounds good,” Thalias said. “Do you want me to sit with you?”

“No, that’s okay,” Che’ri said. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Thalias said, standing up and backing toward the hatchway. “I’ll leave the door open. If you need anything, just call, okay? And try to sleep.”

“I will,” Che’ri said. “Good night, Thalias.”

“Good night, Che’ri.”

Thalias waited another hour, just in case Che’ri changed her mind and decided she needed something. By the time she finally turned off her light and settled into bed, Che’ri’s own room light was out, and the girl was once again fast asleep.

And of course, because Thalias had talked about them, her own sky-walker nightmares chose that night to come back.

—

“This just came in, Admiral,” Wutroow said, handing over her questis. “Not entirely sure what it means.”

Ar’alani ran her eyes over the message: Rendezvous with me at the following coordinates as soon as possible. Bring only the Vigilant. Do not hire a navigator.

“I checked the coordinates,” Wutroow continued. “It’s pretty far out. Without a navigator it’ll take four or five days to get there.”

“Not exactly Thrawn’s usual definition of as soon as possible,” Ar’alani agreed. “All right. I assume you signaled Naporar and asked if they could assign us a temporary sky-walker?”

Wutroow nodded. “I did. And—”

“No, no, let me guess,” Ar’alani said. “You got shunted around to at least three different desks until you finally reached someone who said it would be a month before anyone was free?”

“Not exactly,” Wutroow said, her voice odd. “I got sent directly to Supreme General Ba’kif.” She lifted a finger for emphasis. “Not the general’s office . The general.”

“Ba’kif took your call personally ?”

“I was rather shocked, too,” Wutroow said. “Especially when he said a sky-walker would be waiting for us when we reach Naporar.”

“Well, that’s one for the archives,” Ar’alani said, frowning. “No fuss or anything?”

“Not about the sky-walker,” Wutroow said. “But there was one other odd thing. When we see Thrawn, we’re supposed to ask about his sky-walker’s caregiver. There’s apparently some confusion as to who she is and how she got the job.”

“Really,” Ar’alani said, looking at the questis note again. So whatever Thrawn was doing was important enough that one of the top people on the Council was taking a personal interest, while at the same time there was something going on under the surface involving his sky-walker and her caregiver.

Naturally, Thrawn would be oblivious to both currents. “Very well,” she said. “Set course for Naporar; best speed we’ve got.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Wutroow said.

“And once we’re on the way,” Ar’alani added, handing back the questis, “have the weapons crews start full-service scans on their equipment.”

“You think there’ll be combat at the other end of this trip?”

“Thrawn’s there,” Ar’alani reminded her. “So, yes, I’d say that’s pretty much guaranteed.”

The Springhawk was waiting precisely where Thrawn had said he would be. A quick shuttle ride across, and within an hour of arriving in the system, Ar’alani and Wutroow were sitting in the briefing room with Thrawn and Samakro, reading through Thrawn’s data and proposal.

Ar’alani took her time looking through the material. She read it a second time, as she always did such things. Then, just to make sure it really said what she thought it said, she read it a third time.

By the time she lifted her eyes from the questis, she saw that Wutroow and Samakro had made it through, as well. The two officers were gazing at the sections of table in front of them, their expressions a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and apprehension.

She shifted her gaze to the end of the table. Thrawn was waiting patiently, trying to hide his own anxiety. “Well,” she said, setting down her questis. “It’s inventive, I’ll give it that.”

Some of Thrawn’s anxiety faded away. Apparently, a lot of his concern had been centered on how she would react. “Thank you,” he said.

“With all due respect, Senior Captain, I’m not sure that was a compliment,” Samakro spoke up. “The plan may be inventive, but I don’t think it’s physically possible.”

“Actually, Mid Captain, I’ve seen it done,” Ar’alani said. “Back at the Academy, Captain Thrawn pulled off this same maneuver.” She raised her eyebrows. “On the other hand, that was a patrol ship. This time you’re talking about a heavy cruiser. Big difference.”

“Not as big as it might seem,” Thrawn said. “True, the Springhawk ’s mass is greater, but its thrusters and maneuvering jets are correspondingly more powerful. With proper care and preparation, I believe it can be done.”

“And you’re sure this is the right system?”

“The indications are there,” Thrawn said. “I won’t know for certain until I’ve examined the mining station.”

Ar’alani pursed her lips and picked up her questis again. It certainly wasn’t going to be easy. The place Thrawn proposed to infiltrate was what was colloquially known as a box system: unusually strong electromagnetic fluxes wrapped around the outer edges, interacting with the solar wind to create even more obstruction to hyperspace travel than usual. Unless a ship was willing to come out of hyperspace outside the cometary belt and spend days or weeks traveling through space-normal to the inner system, there were only a dozen reasonably safe inward pathways.

Even more intimidating was the fact that some cataclysm millennia ago had seeded the inner system and much of the outer system with large meteors, making the entire area a sort of miniature version of the Chaos itself. Taking those additional navigational hazards into account, the number of safe lanes to the inhabited planet dropped to exactly three.

Three routes to one single, isolated planet, unknown to the Ascendancy and apparently unconnected with any known species in the area. A somewhat larger selection of pathways to the outer asteroid belt, which consisted of several tightly packed clusters and a number of possibly abandoned mining space stations.

But while the mining stations might be abandoned, the rest of the system was active enough. Thrawn’s brief reconnaissance had picked up a fair amount of travel within the system, mostly between the planet and a handful of colony or manufacturing stations orbiting it. Unfortunately, the Springhawk had been too far out to tell whether or not those ships were similar to the destroyed refugee ships whose records Thrawn had now shared with her and Wutroow.