Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(113)

Kimmund scowled to himself as their formation continued down the maze of corridors. This ship was a lot bigger than the simple freighter they’d attacked before, with a lot more deck space and a lot more capacity for crew or passengers.

And yet to this point they hadn’t run into much opposition. Either the Grysks had been caught by surprise and were still trying to organize a proper defense, or else they were simply biding their time and luring the stormtroopers into a trap.

Kimmund was pretty sure it would turn out to be the second.

“Very near,” Rukh muttered. As Kimmund had picked up the legion’s pace, the Noghri had responded by dropping into a sort of primate-run, loping along on all fours with his electrostaff strapped across his back. It made him look even more bestial than he already did.

Ahead, a Grysk popped out from the edge of a side compartment and blasted off a shot with his lightning gun, the bolt catching Jid on his right upper chest and staggering him back. Morrtic swung her E-11 around and returned fire, but the Grysk had already ducked back out of sight. Morrtic hurried forward, only to have the hatch close in front of her. Cursing under her breath, she dug into her utility pouch.

“Belay that,” Kimmund called to her, dropping to one knee beside Jid. As satisfying as it would be to blast the door and then fry the Grysk, they didn’t have the time to spare. “Just seal it and leave him there. Jid?”

“I’m okay, Commander,” Jid said, his voice coming out from between clenched teeth as Morrtic gave the hatch control two point-blank blaster bolts. “Damn, but that stings.”

“Can you walk?” Kimmund asked. Their earlier tangles with Grysk lightning guns had shown that a close-in shot could scramble a stormtrooper’s muscles and nervous system, leaving him temporarily unable to function.

“Not yet,” Jid growled. “Leave me here—I’ll watch your backtrail.”

Kimmund snarled a silent curse. The ten stormtroopers he’d left the Chimaera with were already down by four: two left to guard the Darkhawk, and two more lost to enemy fire. If he now also had to leave Jid behind, they would be down to five stormtroopers and one Noghri. Half his force, and the Grysks had yet to spring their main trap.

Elebe was obviously thinking along the same lines. “Sir, depending on what we find up ahead, we might end up taking a different route back to the Darkhawk,” he pointed out quietly. “If we leave him here, we may not be able to retrieve him when we’re done.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jid said. “Go on—I’ll catch up.”

“Sure,” Kimmund said. Or else some Grysk would stroll up to him while he was unable to aim and take him out with a single leisurely shot.

But there wasn’t anything Kimmund could do about it. He couldn’t afford to leave another man behind to guard Jid while he recovered.

“I could carry him,” Elebe offered.

“Carry me and shoot, too?” Jid scoffed. “You’re bad enough when it’s just you and the firing range. Go—I’ll be all right.”

“Right,” Kimmund said reluctantly. Leaving another man behind…but the mission had to come first. “Elebe, you and Morrtic are on point. Rukh?”

“That corridor, to the right,” the Noghri said, pointing ahead.

“Let’s go,” Kimmund said. Letting Elebe and Morrtic get a three-pace lead, he motioned Rukh ahead and fell in behind him.

“How the hell can he possibly know that?” Drav growled from behind Kimmund as they headed out.

“The air currents change,” Rukh said over his shoulder as he again dropped to all fours. “The scent rides the currents.”

“Just make sure you don’t mix up your directions,” Kimmund warned. “We can’t wander around the ship all day.”

“One corridor,” Rukh promised.

Morrtic reached the corner and swung around it to the right, her E-11 ready. She paused a split second, then did a 180 to face the other way down the corridor. “Clear,” she murmured.

She stayed in position as Elebe rounded the corner beside her, bringing the long muzzle of his DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle around and leveling it to the right, the direction Rukh had indicated. “One hatch twenty meters directly ahead,” he reported. “Sealed; no side access.”

“There,” Rukh said. “In that compartment.”

Kimmund muttered a curse. Twenty meters of bare corridor, with no cover and nowhere to run. Traps couldn’t get any more obvious.

But he had his orders. Thrawn wanted the Chiss children out, and Vader hadn’t disagreed, so that was what the First Legion was going to do.

“Morrtic, Drav: rear guard,” he ordered. Bad enough to be walking into a trap. No sense giving the enemy a chance to close in behind them, too. “Stay sharp.”

He rounded the corner as Drav took up position with Morrtic, the two stormtroopers standing back-to-back and watching the other approaches. Elebe slipped into formation on Kimmund’s right and slightly behind him, while Sampa settled on Kimmund’s left. Rukh was somewhere, but Kimmund’s full attention was on the hatch and he didn’t have time to check on where the Noghri might have gone.

Morrtic had been right. Bare corridor, no cover, no exit. Kimmund glanced around, looking for signs of hidden gunports, but the walls, ceiling, and deck seemed solid. It was just the hatch, then, which would presumably open at the Grysks’ chosen time and unleash their carefully prepared firestorm.