Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(115)

He pointed at the two gunports. “And you are going to point out every attack before it happens. Got it?”

He held out his hand. Hesitantly, the two girls came out from behind the console. One of them looked at the outstretched hand…

“Show them you’re human,” Elebe suggested.

Holstering his E-11, Kimmund pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his left arm. “See?” he said, giving the girls his best smile. “Not a Grysk. Not even a droid. Human.” Once again, he held out his hand.

This time, the girl reached out and took it. “Move out,” Kimmund ordered quietly, offering the second girl his other hand. “Drav and Morrtic at point; Chiss girls behind them, Elebe and Sampa behind them, Rukh and me at the rear. Vanguard and rear guard’s job is to block any attack on the girls; Elebe and Sampa’s job is to have blasters lined up wherever the girls point. Let’s go.”

And as they maneuvered their way down the corridors, and the increasingly panicky Grysk attacks were steadily fought off or blocked practically before they could even be launched, a stray thought whispered through Kimmund’s mind.

He could really, really get used to this kind of combat.



* * *



—

“Commander Kimmund, Admiral,” Kimmund’s voice came in Vader’s helmet. “The Chiss prisoners have been recovered; Imperial forces have returned to the Darkhawk.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Thrawn’s voice came in response. A cool voice, Vader noted, a voice that was neither surprised nor impressed by the First Legion’s success.

Because that was, after all, simply what Thrawn had ordered and expected them to do. “And now the Grysks have lost the ability to navigate across unfamiliar regions.”

“Do you want us to destroy the ship before we leave it, sir?” Kimmund asked.

“Unnecessary,” Thrawn said. “It is sufficiently disabled to keep it from further combat, and I have need of the Darkhawk’s resources elsewhere.”

“Yes, sir,” Kimmund said. “Casting off now.”

“Well done, Commander,” Thrawn continued. “And now, Lord Vader, you may prepare for your attack. The enemy believe themselves superior to Imperial forces. Let us prove them wrong.”

“We shall,” Vader promised. “Defender Squadron: Form up on me.”

And so the children were safe. Force-sensitive Chiss children, alive and well.

Mentally, Vader shook his head. All those private meetings. All those secret conversations. All his personal misgivings about what Thrawn and the Emperor were doing.

But he realized now that he had nothing to fear. Thrawn’s loyalties would always be split between the Empire and his own people, a fact the Emperor undoubtedly knew. No matter how high Thrawn rose in the ranks of the military, he would never have the necessary standing to challenge Vader’s position at the Emperor’s side.

“Lord Vader, you will lead the Defender squadron as Wave Three,” Thrawn continued. “You will match speed and firepower with the TIEs, and you will not use missiles or shields until cleared to do so.”

“Acknowledged,” Vader said. Captain Skerris had argued long and hard against that part of the plan. Long enough, and hard enough, that Vader would have sent him to his knees had the man been under his command.

Thrawn had been more patient and forgiving. Briefly, Vader wondered if the pilot’s attitude would someday come back against him.

“All TIEs: Attack,” Thrawn ordered. “Take out the cruisers and engage Bogey Two.”

“Acknowledge,” the TIE commander said. “All right, Imperials. Grand Admiral Thrawn wants to see carnage. Let’s make some.”

The TIEs leapt forward, sweeping toward the Grysk ships at full power. Vader let the first two waves pass, then drew his Defender squadron in behind them.

The first attack had been a test, a free shot Thrawn had offered the Grysks in order to confirm his analysis of their tactics. This time the enemy was going to have to work a lot harder for prizes. Even as the cruisers opened fire, the TIEs veered off their vectors, swerving to the sides and re-forming in pairs to swarm the cruisers.

And every attack the cruisers launched was at the leading fighter of each pair.

Vader nodded to himself. So Thrawn had been right about the Grysks’ tactical pattern. Now, with the cruisers fully engaged, it was time to see whether or not they could change that pattern.

“Defenders; TIE Four: Follow me,” he ordered. Sweeping up and over the cruisers, he drove his Defender out of the battle and turned toward Bogey Two, the lead Grysk ship. Around him, the other Defenders arranged themselves into a broadside as the fourth TIE squadron swept through their formation and formed up in front of them.

“Admiral?” Vader called.

“I place the Defenders under your command, my lord,” Thrawn said. “You may act on your own discretion.”

Once, Vader reflected, he might have considered that an off-handed comment, a veiled hint that this part of the mission wasn’t important enough for the grand admiral to bother with personally.

But having watched Thrawn’s interactions with Commodore Faro, and having heard him give her an almost identical order, he knew now that wasn’t the case. What Thrawn was telling Vader was that he trusted him to command that part of the operation.