Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(7)

Once again, it failed.

“It’s almost like there’s an Interdictor cruiser somewhere nearby, sir,” she told Thrawn as the Star Destroyer continued its realspace journey through the starlit darkness. “But there’s no way it could be big enough to have this kind of power without being in scanner range.”

“Unless it were cloaked,” a deep voice came from behind them.

Faro twitched. Vader had asked to be notified when the Chimaera had cleared the mysterious blockage. She’d taken that to mean the Dark Lord would remain elsewhere until that message came.

Apparently, he’d gotten bored.

“My lord,” Thrawn greeted Vader calmly. “I believe you’ll find it is impossible to run a gravity generator and a cloaking device at the same time. The two fields work against each other.”

“Perhaps a new technique has been discovered,” Vader countered. “Unknown Regions science may be different from ours.”

“Technologies may certainly be different,” Thrawn said. “Science itself, less likely. There are certain laws that are universal.”

“Perhaps,” Vader said. “Regardless, it appears we are at an impasse. What is your proposed solution?”

For another moment, Thrawn remained silent. Faro noted his gaze shifting among the starscape, the regional map, and the close-in diagram of their current hyperlane. “If the existing path cannot be followed, we shall forge one of our own,” he said. “Commodore Faro, change course forty degrees to portside.”

“Is there another route the Empire is unaware of?” Vader asked.

“None that I know of in this region,” Thrawn said. “Our options are to send out a scout ship to map a route for us, or to proceed via those same short jumps ourselves. The latter seems the more efficient choice.”

“That will take time,” Vader warned, an edge of threat in his tone. “The Emperor’s instructions were to proceed with all haste.”

“Following the hyperlane has proved less than successful,” Thrawn pointed out. “Continuing as we have will likely cost even more time.”

“Unless we are already at the end of the blockage.”

Thrawn inclined his head. “Helm?” he called. “Make the jump to lightspeed.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

Faro turned to the viewport, bracing herself. The stars flared into starlines—

And with the sputtering tonal descent from the hyperdrive that indicated a failed jump they collapsed again into stars.

Faro knew better than to swear in front of superior officers. But even so, it was a close thing.

“Interesting,” Thrawn murmured. If he was perturbed by the failure, it didn’t show in his voice or face. “Commodore: Take the Chimaera forty degrees to portside.”

“Yes, sir,” Faro said. “A suggestion, if I may?”

“Your admiral has given you an order,” Vader said.

“Continue, Commodore,” Thrawn said calmly.

Faro felt her throat tighten. Vader’s comment, underscoring as it did Thrawn’s order, was in itself an additional order. Was Thrawn simply going to ignore it? “I’ve done some calculations, sir,” she continued hastily, wondering if Vader was going to interrupt. Or worse. “Traveling to Batuu jump-by-jump will take approximately thirty-nine hours. If we instead travel to Mokivj, we can then take a different hyperlane from there to Batuu, with a savings of fourteen to fifteen hours.”

Thrawn inclined his head. “Show me.”

Faro keyed the route to the display, bracing herself as she waited for Vader’s inevitable question as to what kind of lane could possibly connect two such minor worlds.

And it would be an entirely valid question. The nav charts showed that such a pathway existed, but it was even less well defined—not to mention less well traveled—than the one the Chimaera had been following to Batuu. If the same faulty data that had diverted them from the Batuu hyperlane also affected the Mokivj-to-Batuu route, they might find themselves in the same situation they were in right now.

But for once, the Dark Lord seemed to have nothing to say.

“An excellent suggestion, Commodore,” Thrawn said. “Set course for Mokivj.”

“Yes, sir.” Turning to the helm station, Faro caught the eye of the officer seated there and nodded. He nodded back, acknowledging the order, and the massive warship began turning to starboard.

“Eleven,” Vader said.

Thrawn turned to him. “Excuse me?”

“Eleven hours’ savings at the most,” Vader said.

“Agreed,” Thrawn said. “Still, it will be worthwhile.”

“Perhaps,” Vader said. “We shall see.”



* * *



—

As Vader had expected, he was right. The jump-by-jump passage to Mokivj took three hours longer than Commodore Faro’s estimate, putting their time savings exactly where he’d calculated.

He hadn’t wanted to travel to Mokivj. He hadn’t wished to see it.

But now that they were here, and within sight of the planet…

“Analysis, Commodore?” Thrawn asked quietly as the Chimaera circled the planet toward the entry point to their target hyperlane.

“It’s a mystery, sir,” Faro said, frowning at her datapad. “I don’t know any kind of catastrophe other than a comet strike or massive volcanic eruption that could have caused this kind of widespread devastation. But I’m not finding evidence of a comet or any active volcanoes.”