Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(110)

“I do.” Reaching over the chair back, Anakin touched her shoulder. “Trust me.”





“Lord Vader?” Thrawn’s voice came through the blackness. “Come back, my lord.”

Vader opened his eyes. To his mild surprise he was still seated at the Chimaera’s helm. “I have not left, Admiral,” he said, putting some warning into his voice. “There is no need to return.”

“My apologies, my lord,” Thrawn said, inclining his head.

Vader looked around. Thrawn had been wise enough to clear this section of the bridge, leaving no one to gawk at him, either in the crew pit or on the command walkway above them.

Fortunately for Thrawn. Even more fortunately for whoever that unlucky person might have been.

“They are preparing the Chimaera for attack,” Thrawn said, answering the unasked question.

“I see,” Vader said, turning back to the helm readouts.

They had arrived.

“Yes,” Thrawn said. “The system has no name among the Chiss, nor has it any inhabited worlds. In the distance ahead lie two ships in parking drift, most likely part of the moon-transport group. They are largely dormant, presumably awaiting the return of the ships from Mokivj.”

“Is there a base?”

“There is nothing except the ships.”

“Perhaps the Grysks are nomads, after all. We are undetected?”

“As yet, it appears so.” Thrawn hesitated. “I have a plan, my lord. It will require your participation, if you are willing.”

Vader eyed him. At least this time the Chiss was asking instead of ordering or assuming. “Tell me your plan,” he said.

“I wish you and your First Legion to go aboard the Darkhawk. You will intercept the Grysk ship, go aboard—”

“No,” Vader said.

Thrawn seemed taken aback. “Excuse me, my lord?”

“I will not go aboard the ship,” Vader said. “Commander Kimmund and the First Legion are more than capable of handling a breach and rescue mission on their own.”

Thrawn’s lips compressed, just a bit, just briefly. “Yet of all of us, my lord, you are the only one who can utilize the Force.”

“Does that bother you, Admiral?” Vader asked. “The creature you described on Atollon. It nearly defeated you because you could not understand it.”

“In the end it was vanquished.”

“Was it?” Vader countered.

Thrawn’s lips compressed again. “This is hardly the time to discuss such matters.”

“It is the perfect time.” Vader waved a hand toward the viewport and the two Grysk ships in the distance. “You propose to take the Chimaera against a people whom the Emperor has not yet declared as an enemy. You propose to do so without orders, and in an action that benefits your people and not the Empire.”

“We have already discussed this,” Thrawn said. “I maintain that it serves both.”

“Does it?” Vader countered. “We are on a mission for the Empire, Admiral. The mission is all that matters. Victory is all that matters.”

“The future of my people also matters.”

“No,” Vader said flatly. “Victory is the goal.”

“And not revenge?”

“Not revenge,” Vader said. “Not even rescue.”

For a moment Thrawn was silent. “I understand,” he said. “But I believe we can do both.”

Vader stretched out with the Force. Again, Thrawn seemed so certain, so confident that he was in the right.

Vader could stop him. Perhaps he should stop him.

But he’d seen this confidence before, long ago, in The Jedi. He, too, had had perfect assurance that what he was doing was both right and necessary.

And once again, Vader found himself curious to see whether Thrawn could truly deliver everything he’d promised.

“Very well,” he said. “But understand this. All the strength of the creature you faced on Atollon pales in comparison with the power of the Emperor. Are you truly willing to risk his anger?”

“There is no risk,” Thrawn said evenly. “This mission will indeed meet with the Emperor’s ultimate approval.”

“Perhaps,” Vader said. It might not, of course. But again, the Chiss’s quiet certainty was unmistakable. Whether Thrawn was ultimately proven right as to the Emperor’s approval, there was no doubt that he himself believed such approval would be forthcoming. “Very well, I will permit this attack.

“But this is how it will be carried out…”



* * *



—

“Bridge reports ready, Admiral,” Faro said. Her voice holds tension, her body stance trepidation. She is not convinced the battle can or will be won. “All weapons systems standing by, ready to activate at your command.”

“Thank you, Commodore,” Thrawn said. “And the Darkhawk?”

“In position, sir.” Her voice holds a fresh layer of uncertainty.

“You do not believe we can achieve victory, Commodore.”

She hesitates, her expression holding reluctance. “I’ve seen the scanner reports, sir,” she said. “I’ve counted the number of weapons emplacements. Each ship is nearly as big as we are…and there are two of them.”