Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(90)

“I see it,” Thrawn said calmly.

Calmly, but Faro could sense the grimness beneath the words.

From behind them came a set of heavy footsteps. “We have arrived?” Lord Vader asked.

“Yes, my lord,” Thrawn said. “Have we arrived in time?”

Vader stopped beside Thrawn, his long cloak settling around his shoulders, and for a moment he stared out the viewport in silence.

Or at least, Faro assumed he was staring out the viewport. For all she could tell from his helmet faceplate, he could be taking a quick nap in there.

Mentally, she slapped herself across the cheek. Stop that. It was rumored the Dark Lord could read people’s thoughts, and that was not a thought she wanted him to know about.

Vader stirred. “Yes,” he said. “They are there.”

“Excellent,” Thrawn murmured. “I had hoped the Grysks would believe themselves safely hidden here. Can you tell where precisely they are?”

“Not from this distance,” Vader said. “We shall need to move closer.”

“Commodore?” Thrawn asked.

“Velocity unchanged, sir,” Faro reported. “Do you want the drive activated?”

Thrawn eyed the distant planet. “Not yet,” he said. “Let us close the distance a bit more before we announce our presence.”

“Those ships,” Vader said, raising a gloved hand to point out the viewport. “What are they doing?”

“What they have done at least four times before,” Thrawn said. “They are taking one of the moons.”

For another moment Vader was silent. “That makes no sense.”

“On the contrary, my lord, it makes perfect sense,” Thrawn said, his voice dark. “We have already seen their goal of closing off this region to easy and rapid hyperspace travel. The gravity projectors are effective, but they are costly and have only limited range and lifetime. Far more efficient in the long run to move lunar-or planetary-sized masses into hyperlanes, where they will continue to disrupt travel for decades or centuries to come.”

“How is this achieved?” Vader asked. For once, even the Dark Lord sounded awed. Faro guessed that didn’t happen very often. “What is their technology?”

“I do not know,” Thrawn said.

Vader rumbled in his throat. “Whatever it is, I have no doubt it will fall to turbolaser fire.”

“I agree,” Thrawn agreed. “But not yet.”

Faro smiled to herself. Of course not yet. There was nothing Thrawn valued more than information and knowledge. He would absolutely not attack until he figured out a way to infiltrate a team into the network of ships surrounding the moon and collect the Grysks’ secrets.

“Commander Hammerly?” Thrawn called.

“Not yet, sir,” the sensor officer replied from her crew pit position.

“What are you waiting for?” Vader demanded.

Faro mentally shook her head. They were waiting for Thrawn to come up with his infiltration plan, of course.

“The moon they are moving still endangers the planet,” Thrawn said. “We must wait until they have given it escape velocity.”

Faro frowned. Endangering Mokivj…but surely that wouldn’t matter if Thrawn was simply sneaking into the enemy fleet. Was he actually thinking—?

“Clear, sir,” Hammerly confirmed. “Escape velocity achieved. The moon can no longer impact the surface.”

“Stand by to attack,” Thrawn said. “Commodore, is my ship ready?”

“It is, sir,” Faro said, feeling the universe tilting a little around her. When he’d ordered her to prepare the Chimaera for combat, she’d assumed it was merely a contingency plan in case his real plan was somehow disrupted.

Did this mean that simply wading in and destroying the Grysk forces was his real plan?

“Activate all systems,” Thrawn ordered.

“Activating all systems, sir,” Faro repeated, looking over at the status board. Lights were rapidly turning from orange to green as the systems that had been on standby while the Chimaera drifted unseen toward the planet came back to life. “Combat readiness in twenty seconds.”

Thrawn nodded acknowledgment. “Lord Vader, I will need to know as soon as possible in which ships the prisoners are located.”

The twenty seconds had passed, and the Chimaera had lit its thrusters and was driving toward the distant Grysk ships before Vader answered. “A small number are located aboard the ships. Two, perhaps three. The remainder are on the planet.”

“Understood,” Thrawn said. “Commodore Faro, you will initiate an attack on the Grysk forces. Lord Vader, I request a favor: that you assign the Darkhawk and a squad of First Legion stormtroopers to accompany me to the surface.”

“What of your duties to the Chimaera?” Vader countered.

“Commodore Faro is more than capable of handling the assault,” Thrawn said. “Commodore, the enemy response to your attack will most likely be to launch multiple counterattacks from—”

“Precise orders to the commodore are unnecessary, Admiral,” Vader interrupted. “You will remain aboard the Chimaera and lead the attack.”

“My lord—”

“I will take the First Legion to Mokivj,” Vader continued. “You will deal with the ships, Admiral Thrawn. I will deal with the planet.”