Light of the Jedi(94)
* * *
He refocused on the display, thinking through the tactics he was about to employ. His forces were in green, in disciplined, uniform rows. The Nihil were a swirling, chaotic blob of red. A lot of ships out there. Made it difficult to predict how things might go. Kronara had studied the few bits of intelligence available on the Nihil, gathered by security forces from various Outer Rim worlds. By reputation, they were a pretty savage bunch. More troubling—reports suggested they could almost appear and disappear at will. He didn’t know what that meant, but it suggested they could have some very unique tactics to deploy.
Well, let them. He had some tactics of his own.
He looked again at his own small fleet on the display. Not exactly an armada, but plenty of force, all things considered.
If the Nihil wanted a fight, they’d get one.
Admiral Kronara keyed his comlink, calling over to the Ataraxia in order to coordinate his initial moves with its commander, Master Jora Malli. He knew her decently well—she had a strong military mind, as much as any Jedi could, and was slated to run Starlight Beacon’s Jedi temple once the station became operational. But since that had not yet come to pass, she was here, in command of the Order’s response to the Nihil.
“Master Malli,” he said, “we’re going to attempt to contact the Nihil command ship. Occlusion from the nebula means there aren’t many spots to jump to hyperspace, and we’ve blocked most of them off. The majority of the Nihil ships don’t look big enough to have onboard navicomps that can calculate another way out in any reasonable amount of time. They’ll have to either talk or fight—they can’t just run. If they do decide to light things up, you’ll be ready to go?”
“Of course, Admiral,” came the smooth voice of Jora Malli. “I think I’ll take a Vector out myself, if it comes to that. I have Avar Kriss here on the Ataraxia—she can help link the Jedi together, as she did in the Hetzal system.”
“Fantastic,” the admiral said, and he meant it. The Jedi were always impressive, but what he’d seen in Hetzal during the Legacy Run disaster was remarkable. If Avar Kriss could apply that skill set to an actual battle, it could bring a decisive advantage.
Admiral Kronara clasped his hands at the small of his back. He gave the tactical display one last look, then gave the order.
“Open a comm channel,” he said. “We’ll see if these criminals want to talk.”
* * *
“They’re trying to talk to us,” Dellex said.
“Don’t answer,” Kassav snapped.
“I wasn’t going to,” she snapped back. “But we need to do something. All this space dust from the nebula means we can’t just jump from anywhere without blowing up. The Republic ships are blocking the closest clear access point to the hyperlane. We could get out with a Path, but the Eye didn’t give us one.”
“We gotta attack, right?” said Gravhan, at the gunner’s station. “Battle fleet or not, if we don’t kill these guys, no more Nihil.”
“Just give me a second to think, will you?” Kassav snapped.
He turned to Dellex.
“Is there another one? An open spot to get to hyperspace without a Path, I mean.”
The woman consulted her screens.
“Yeah. Not super close, but if we go for it full throttle, we can probably get there before the Republic ships catch us.”
“Okay,” Kassav said. “Give the order. All ships, head for that other exit point. From there, scatter, and wait until they hear from me before they do anything. Anything, you got it? No raids, no nothing. Just lie low until I give the word.”
Gravhan spoke up. “I don’t want to question you, boss, but—”
“Then don’t,” Kassav said, giving him a dark look.
His hand hurt. His head hurt. Everything hurt. He just wanted something good to happen. Gravhan didn’t seem to get that, though. He swallowed. His throat felt dry as dust.
“Thing is, Kassav, Marchion Ro told me, Wet Bub, and Dellex about the orders he gave you, and he said that if you didn’t do what he wanted, then—”
“Then what? What do you think you’re going to do?” Kassav roared, pulling his blaster with his left hand and pointing it at his supposedly loyal Storm. Now Marchion Ro was telling his people what to do? Giving them instructions behind his back?
Wet Bub and Dellex drew their own weapons—well, Dellex just powered up her shoulder cannon, but he saw it light up and heard the little hum. The other Nihil on the bridge froze, unsure of what to do, waiting to see how it would all play out.
“We’re supposed to kill you,” Wet Bub said. “That’s what the Eye told us to do, if you didn’t do what he said. He said what you did at Eriadu put everyone in danger, and this is the only way to keep us all safe. Only way to make things good again.”
What I did at Eriadu, you traitorous lizard? What I did? Like you weren’t standing right there next to me, helping me run the whole job, Kassav thought.
He could maybe have taken all three…but not with his bad hand. He kept his blaster aimed at Gravhan and spoke, snarling out the words.
“You think Marchion Ro knew we’d end up with a Republic battle fleet on us? Look, this is one of two things—either he knew, and he sent us out here to die, or he didn’t, in which case he’d want us to get out of here to live to fight another day. Whichever it is, we need to go. We can find another way to deal with the stupid flight recorder.”