James Luceno - Tarkin

Even so, his optimism was short-lived, undermined by a memory of something Jova used to say when they had turned the tables on a predator, making it the hunted rather than the hunter.

“Think first when you’re in pursuit: Is your prey trying to escape, or is it going for reinforcements? Is it perhaps looking for a temporary hiding place from which to spring at you, or — still driven by hunger — has it decided to search out a more vulnerable target?”

DARTH SIDIOUS WAS ANNOYEDabout having been disturbed from his meditations at the shrine. By the time he ascended to the pinnacle of the Palace spire to meet with Mas Amedda, he was ready to take someone’s head off.

“Must I attend to every trivial matter, Vizier?”

“I apologize, my lord. But I believe you will want to attend to this one.”

Sidious eyed him for a moment. “Murkhana,” he said in arrant disgust.

The Chagrian bowed his horned head in acknowledgment. “Just so, my lord.”

Sidious took to his tall-backed chair while Amedda readied the table’s holoprojector, then moved to stand silently by the window-wall. In the hologram that emerged, several members of Military Intelligence and the Imperial Security Bureau were grouped before a positioning grid in one of the ISB’s situation rooms.

“My Lord Emperor,” Harus Ison of ISB began, “I’m sorry—”

“Reserve your apologies for when they are most needed, Deputy Director,” Sidious said.

“Of course, my lord.” Ison swallowed hard and found his voice. “We thought it prudent to appraise you of recent developments on Murkhana.”

“I’m well aware that Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin found and investigated the cache of communications devices.”

“Of course, my lord,” Ison said. “But we have since received a subspace transmission from Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin informing us that the Carrion Spike has been seized.”

Sidious sat straighter in the chair. “Seized?”

“Yes, my lord. From a landing field on Murkhana — by unknown parties.”

Sidious used the chair’s armrest controls to mute the audiovisual feeds and swiveled to Amedda. “Why have I heard nothing of this from Lord Vader?”

“Without the Carrion Spike , neither Lord Vader nor Governor Tarkin has access to the Imperial HoloNet or other suitably encrypted communications devices. The first subspace message originated from the ambassador’s residence in Murkhana City. The second was sent from a starship in the Murkhana system.”

“Lord Vader has procured a replacement ship?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Sidious re-enabled the holofeeds to the situation room. “Proceed with your report, Deputy Director.”

Ison bowed his head once more. “Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin have commandeered the starship of a local crime lord and are in pursuit of the Carrion Spike . In their most recent transmission, they stated that they were jumping the commandeered ship to the Fial system, Coreward of Murkhana, though still far removed from the Perlemian Trade Route.”

“Do we have a military presence in that system?”

Vice Admiral Rancit stepped forward to address it. “No, my lord, we don’t. We do, however, have a presence in the Belderone system, which is nearby.”

“My lord, if I may interrupt briefly,” Ison said.

Sidious motioned with his right hand.

“My lord, most of the star systems in that region of the Tion Cluster lack hyperspace relay stations. Given the likelihood that the ship Lord Vader commandeered has only a standard navicomputer, he and Governor Tarkin will be forced to navigate buoy-to-buoy.”

“Your point?”

“Only that we face a hopeless task in trying to establish a rendezvous while the pursuit is in progress.”

Sidious swiveled the chair slightly. “Vice Admiral Rancit?”

“Military Intelligence is even now calculating and prioritizing possible jump and egress points in those local systems, and on into the Nilgaard sector. Ships can be dispatched accordingly, my lord.”

Sidious muted the feed once more, steepled his fingers, and brought them to his lips. During his meditations he had tried without success to trace a snaking current of the dark side to its source. What had it been trying to communicate to him?

No doubt Vader was tracking the Carrion Spike by focusing his attention on his meditation chamber. But why had he not sensed a disruption in the Force when Tarkin’s ship had been taken? In the private transmission he had sent from Murkhana he had dismissed the communications cache as inconsequential; nothing more than misplaced hardware left over from the war. So did his inattention owe to a lingering sense of frustration about the mission? Perhaps he was at odds with Tarkin. Or had he allowed himself to step willingly into the trap, as Sidious had encouraged him to do?

“Tell me, Deputy Director Ison,” he said when the audio feed was reestablished, “do you suspect any link between the communications devices and the theft of Governor Tarkin’s ship?”

“My lord, we are investigating the recorded evidence and serial numbers in an effort to ascertain the identities of those who gathered the components. At the moment, however, we have no leads.”

“There has to be some link, my lord,” Rancit said. “Those now in possession of the Carrion Spike had to have sliced into the ship’s security systems, and are likely the same assailants who launched the attack on Governor Tarkin’s base. That means they have now added one of the navy’s most sophisticated ships to their arsenal of warship and droid fighters.”

Harus Ison was shaking his head. “There’s no proof of that. We don’t have enough information to establish a solid connection.”

Sidious took a moment to consider the options, then said, “Vice Admiral Rancit, instruct your analysts to continue their calculations. You will also inform the Admiralty that their resources in the Belderone system should be prepared to jump to whatever target systems Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin deem significant.” He leaned toward the holocam’s lens. “Deputy Director Ison and the rest of you are to devote yourselves to unraveling the intentions of our new enemy.”

“Imperial Security will not rest until it has done so,” Ison said with a stiff bow of his head.

“We will apprehend them, my lord,” Rancit added. “Even if that requires repositioning half the capital ships in the fleet.”

The Carrion Spike reverted to realspace in the Fial system with the eyes of the six shipjackers focused on the main display of the sensor suite.

“Anything?” Teller asked Cala.

“No sign of the Predator so far.”

Teller waited a long moment, then breathed a guarded sigh of relief and got to his feet. “Time to get down to business.” He turned to Salikk. “Coordinates for Galidraan?”

Salikk watched the navicomputer. “Coming up.”

The words had scarcely left the Gotal’s full-lipped mouth when Cala said, “Teller!”

“I knew it, I knew it,” Hask said, pacing through tight circles while Teller hurried back to the sensor suite.

Cala was sitting stiffly in the chair, staring fixedly at the display. “The Predator !”

“Right on cue,” Artoz said from the far side of the command cabin.

Teller blinked in disbelief.

In a gesture of concern, Cala touched his forehead below the dangling headcloth. “It’s the Predator , and she’s coming for us all speed.”

“Not even Vader could do this,” Teller said. “There’s a tracking device hidden somewhere aboard this ship.”

“Or on the hull or concealed in a landing strut or just about anywhere,” Hask said. “But unless you want to power down and perform a full EVA search you better come up with a revised plan.”