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

“Acknowledged,” Samakro said. So the Springhawk, all alone against a Battle Dreadnought? Terrific.

“At least she’s not expecting us to destroy it outright,” Kharill said drily. “I don’t suppose you have any idea how we keep something that size occupied?”

Samakro smiled. “As a matter of fact,” he said. “I do.”

B ut before you leave this life, Yiv had said in a voice that had sent a fresh shiver through Che’ri’s skin, I’ll show you exactly what I have planned for your entire species.

He was taking about her, she knew. Her and Thalias. Thrawn had promised that no harm would come to either of them, and Che’ri had held on to that hope through this whole thing.

But now doubt was beginning to chew away at the edges of that hope. Thrawn still sounded confident…but he was out there, all alone, and Che’ri and Thalias were in here, surrounded by Nikardun.

And yet, somehow, it felt like Thrawn was still in control. Admiral Ar’alani and a fleet of Chiss warships were at the planet, and they’d done something that had made Yiv so angry or frightened that he’d sent his other three big ships over there to stop them. That had to be part of the plan, didn’t it?

She stole a sideways look up at Yiv, wincing. She’d been wrong. He wasn’t frightened, not at all. He was just angry. Angry, hate-filled, and confident.

The other Nikardun on the bridge were talking together in a language Che’ri didn’t understand. Carefully, trying not to attract Yiv’s attention, she leaned a little closer to Thalias. “Do you know what they’re saying?” she whispered.

Thalias shook her head. “It’s their own language,” she whispered back. “It’s only when they talk to us or Thrawn that they use Minnisiat or—”

Abruptly, someone gave a wordless scream.

Che’ri flinched back, her heart seizing up. The scream had come from behind her, from Yiv himself. He’d heard her talking to Thalias, and now he was going to hurt her. Another wordless scream, and out of the corner of her eye she saw his hand jab out over her head at one of the other Nikardun. The other gave a nervous-sounding answer and touched a switch on his control board—

“Nikardun Battle Dreadnought, this is the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet warship Springhawk, ” a calm Chiss voice came over the speaker in Minnisiat.

Che’ri frowned. Was that Mid Captain Samakro? Why was he talking to one of the Nikardun ships?

“I feel you should know that we’re Senior Captain Thrawn’s personal ship,” Samakro continued. “As such, it’s only sporting for me to offer you the chance to surrender before we destroy you.”

Yiv gave out another scream and again jabbed a finger. The same Nikardun gave a jerky nod and hastily shut off the transmission.

Jerky. Hasty. Like he was scared?

Carefully, she looked back at Thalias. The older woman was keeping perfectly still, but there was a tiny smile playing at the corner of her mouth. Che’ri frowned.

And then, she got it. The Nikardun on the Deathless ’s bridge were scared, all right. But they weren’t scared of Thrawn. They were scared of their own leader. Whatever Samakro had been trying to do with that transmission, he’d made Yiv even more furious than he’d been before.

Which might not be a good thing, Che’ri realized with a fresh shiver. The stories about Thrawn talked about times when he’d deliberately made an enemy angry in order to keep him from thinking straight. But in this case, Yiv had her and Thalias as hostages, and he’d already threatened to hurt them. Making him angry might just make him hurt them sooner.

“That’s good advice, General,” Thrawn’s voice said over the speaker. “Be advised that if you continue along your current path I’m fully prepared to destroy you.”

“Your freighter against a Battle Dreadnought?” Yiv said contemptuously. “Your foolishness is matched only by your arrogance. Both will light your way to destruction. Whatever you do now, you die. You and all the Chiss will die.”

“Then make an end of it,” Thrawn invited. “Come and take me.”

Che’ri could feel her breath coming in quick, shallow gulps. Again, she could sense that this was all part of Thrawn’s plan. Again, she had no idea what it might be.

But again, Thalias was smiling.

—

Again, Qilori hadn’t the slightest idea what Thrawn was doing. But the small smile on the Chiss’s face chilled him straight to the bone.

He was up to something. Sitting out here, making no move to either advance or retreat, inviting Yiv to come and get him…but there wasn’t any possible end to this gambit except Thrawn’s utter destruction.

And then, suddenly, he got it.

Yiv was focused on Thrawn. Completely and obsessively on Thrawn. Nothing would distract him from that focus.

Which left the Deathless completely open to an attack from the rear.

Qilori felt his winglets quivering. He’d never anticipated he might need to communicate surreptitiously with the Benevolent on this trip, and so had never set up a tap into the freighter’s comm system. How could he warn him that Thrawn was goading him from here to keep him from anticipating the attack that would come from a completely unexpected direction?

“Pathfinder Qilori.”

Qilori jerked. “Yes?”

“You seem upset,” Thrawn said. “You’re possibly thinking I have another force prepared, waiting for the proper time to launch its attack?”

Qilori’s winglets flattened. How in the Depths did he do that? “I have no idea one way or the other,” he said diplomatically.

“But you know how it could be done, don’t you?” Thrawn persisted. “Even given the altered coordinates that you substituted for the ones in Yiv’s original message.”

“I don’t—” He broke off as Thrawn turned those glowing red eyes on him. “It’s not my concern.”

“Come now, Pathfinder, don’t be so modest,” Thrawn said. “You and I understand, even if many of Yiv’s victims don’t. For a long time he’s been using the Pathfinders’ ability to locate each other through hyperspace to coordinate his attacks.”

“No, of course not,” Qilori protested reflexively. “Direct cooperation with a military force would be a blatant violation of Navigators’ Guild rules.”

“And would likely lead the guild to eject the Pathfinders from its organization?”

Qilori swallowed hard. “It could happen,” he admitted.

“Not just could, ” Thrawn said. “You’d prefer, then, that I keep that knowledge to myself?”

Qilori glared at him. “Of course,” he ground out. “What’s your price?”

Thrawn turned back to the viewport. “The price,” he said, “is for you to forget everything you see from this point on.”

“Fine,” Qilori said.

It was a simple enough promise, he told himself. Yiv would probably also want him to forget today’s events, and he had a long history of obeying the Benevolent’s orders.

“And as to your earlier fear,” Thrawn continued, “there’s no need for me to launch any attack. The battle for the Vak Combine is taking place over Primea, and has left Yiv with only two options. One: He can stay here and attempt to destroy me, thus giving the impression that he’s hiding from the battle. Two: He can leave to bolster his forces, and thus appear that he’s running from me.” He gestured toward the Deathless. “Even now he attempts to decide which of those scenarios will damage his reputation less.”

“It will be interesting to see which way he goes,” Qilori muttered.

And really, there would be no question of Thrawn keeping that potentially devastating knowledge about the Pathfinders to himself. Not once he was dead.