by Star Wars
These attacks will be followed immediately by a launch of TIE fighters.
“Right,” Faro said under her breath. “Bring it on.”
Finally, the waiting was over.
“Two Grysk warships have emerged from hyperspace,” Sensor Officer Tanik reported, his voice stiff and formal.
Big ships, too, Eli noted with a twinge of apprehension. The warships that had been protecting the observation post and the conjoined forward base ships had been slightly smaller than the Steadfast. These two, in contrast, were each half again as big, running the on-profile odds to something closer to three against one than two against one.
The ships were big enough to carry up to thirty fighters each, as well. Eli had studied Imperial military history enough to know that in melee battles, a fighter wing or two could make the difference between victory and destruction.
“Bearing thirty left, twelve up, distance sixteen hundred,” Tanik continued.
So less than a quarter of the way around from the spot where the scout had popped in and out of the system earlier, and at about half the distance from the Steadfast. The Grysk commander had apparently expected Ar’alani to move to a new vantage point and had hoped to catch her off guard.
In fact, if she’d moved in to guard the scout’s insertion point, the attackers would have arrived into an almost perfect flanking position.
Which didn’t mean the Grysks couldn’t try again. This far out from any sizable mass, they could pop back into hyperspace, come around, and try to catch the Steadfast from behind.
But they probably wouldn’t. Microjumps without nav computers were all but impossible—hyperspace navigators like those used by the Grysks didn’t usually work that way. Besides, that kind of bouncing around had always struck Eli as being beneath Grysk dignity.
That, or Grysk commanders simply preferred standing toe-to-toe with their enemies as they beat them into dust.
“Swing ship to face them,” Ar’alani ordered. “Prep plasma spheres, both starboard and portside. Lieutenant Eli’van’to?”
“Tractors ready, Admiral,” Eli confirmed. “Awaiting your command.”
“Hold,” Ar’alani said, her eyes narrowed as she watched the two warships gliding toward them, one pulling ahead as the other took up a more protected position behind it. “Hold…”
“Lead Grysk launching fighters,” Tanik reported. “Twenty targets.”
And that was what Ar’alani had been waiting for, Eli knew. With the majority of its fighters loose and preparing to attack, the lead warship, at least, had committed itself to staying in this area for the immediate future lest it risk losing two-thirds of its fighter force. Now the Steadfast could launch its secret weapon with reasonable confidence.
“Lieutenant Eli’van’to: Execute slingshot.”
“Executing slingshot,” Eli confirmed, keying the order to the tractor operators. For a second there came the faint whine of overstressed engines as the tractor beams grabbed the cloaked gravity-well generator floating beneath the Steadfast and sent it flying toward the distant Grysk ships. A slight rise of the warship’s bow to let it sweep past, as Thrawn had specified, and the generator was on its leisurely way.
Eli had already concluded the Grysks couldn’t do a microjump. Now, assuming the Grysks stayed on their present course toward the Steadfast, they would soon find themselves unable to make any hyperspace jumps at all.
Which also assumed, of course, that they didn’t have a way of detecting their own cloaked devices.
He hissed softly between his teeth. That one hadn’t occurred to him until just now. If they could see through their cloak tech and spotted the gravity generator, this whole thing could come crashing down.
Still, given how much the Grysks used client surrogates in their battles, it seemed likely that their most closely guarded secrets would be kept out of their warships, lest a defeated ship’s wreckage yield unexpected bonuses to the winner. A detection method for their cloaking fields would probably be considered just such a secret.
All the same, it was a possibility he needed to be aware of.
A multitone trill sounded, indicating that Ar’alani’s comm was now live. “This is Admiral Ar’alani of the Chiss Ascendancy, commanding the Defense Fleet warship Steadfast,” she called. “The Grysk Hegemony has intruded into the Galactic Empire and has furthermore committed multiple criminal acts against it. You are hereby ordered to withdraw immediately from this system and from the Empire and return to your own territory.”
There was a moment of silence. Then the speaker gave out a soft clattering noise.
Eli frowned. Anger? Defiance?
Amusement?
“Has the self-important Chiss Ascendancy then extended its jurisdiction deep into Palpatine’s Empire?” a cold, dry voice came. “Or does your vaunted Admiral Mitth’raw’nuruodo now rule in Palpatine’s stead?”
“Palpatine’s Empire will make its presence known soon enough,” Ar’alani promised. “I say again: Withdraw immediately to your own provinces or face destruction. The same destruction that all those sent before you have already suffered.”
“You amuse me, Admiral Ar’alani,” the Grysk said, and there was no mistaking the contempt in his voice. “A scientific study post, a simple communications relay station, and a poorly armed supply freighter? Victories over such helpless craft are the proud triumphs you claim?”
“You conveniently forget the two warships,” Ar’alani reminded him.
“Not at all,” the Grysk said. “Destruction of the first required the aid of one of Palpatine’s warships. Destruction of the second was accomplished entirely without your aid or presence.”
“Without our military aid, perhaps,” Ar’alani said. “However, Admiral Mitth’raw’nuruodo did require Chiss interrogation methods in order to locate the communications base.”
There was another silence. Eli watched the tactical, tracking the paths of the twenty enemy fighters as they made their leisurely way toward the Steadfast. The majority of Grysk attacks, at least the ones the Ascendancy had records of, were akin to the pounce of a predator: quick, vicious, and decisive. The fact that this commander had decided to talk first suggested he still didn’t have a complete picture of what had happened out here and very much wanted one.
Eli could sympathize. The freighter Thrawn had allowed to escape the observation post would have reported the post’s capture, but would have been unable to confirm that the two Grysk overseers and their slaves had all been killed. That, plus Ar’alani’s casual comment about Chiss interrogation methods, had to have the commander wondering how the forward communications base had been located.
As for that second battle, only the first few seconds could have been transmitted before the triad was wrecked, with the warship’s destruction quickly following. Now, of course, the second of the conjoined ships currently floating beside the Steadfast was silent proof of the fact that even the Grysks’ final self-destruct system had failed.
Possible Grysk prisoners, possible effective Chiss interrogation, definite capture of potentially vital Grysk hardware. The commander could pretend contempt and amusement as hard as he wanted, but Eli had no doubt that he was worried. He was here for answers, and if talking to the hated Chiss got him those answers, he would do it.
Eli smiled grimly. Fat chance of that. Ar’alani had no intention of sending back any answers.
But with warrior’s luck, they would soon be delivering the Grysks one final message.
“Fighters accelerating,” Tanik said. “Angling outward for a closed-fist sweeping attack.”
“Parameters?”
“Dual lasers, quad missiles, light electrostatic barriers.”
So: somewhere in the mid-range of the Grysk fighter arsenal. Not unreasonable for a secret foray deep into enemy territory, where a commander would want a powerful fighter f
orce, but not something top-line that might be captured. Not as bad as it could have been.
But not exactly good, either. Four missiles each meant a full eighty missiles that could be unleashed on the Steadfast, far more than its defenses could handle if they were launched in rapid succession. Dual lasers meant the fighters could stay on the attack even after all their missiles had been expended, while the electrostatic barriers meant each fighter could take at least one and possibly two laser or plasma sphere attacks without serious damage.
Still, an incoming fighter was easier to hit with a plasma sphere than with the much narrower laser beam, so that was probably where Ar’alani would start.
“Fighter spread halting,” Tanik said. “Holding position…moving to attack.”
“Spheres?” Ar’alani called.
“Primed and ready,” Khresh confirmed.
“Yaw ninety degrees to portside,” Ar’alani ordered. “Lock targets and prepare full starboard salvo.”
The sky outside the viewport shifted as the Steadfast turned its right flank toward the incoming fighters. “Salvo: Fire,” Ar’alani said.
“Spheres fired,” Khresh said. “Rolling to starboard.”
Again the stars careened wildly as the Steadfast rolled to bring its portside plasma launchers to bear.
“Missiles away!” Tanik snapped. “Ten missiles from the ten starboard fighters, running intercept vectors. Portside fighters holding from attack.”
“Spectrum lasers, lock on missiles,” Ar’alani said. “Fire at will.”
Eli held his breath as he watched the missiles converging toward the Steadfast and the tracks that marked the warship’s lasers. Hitting something that small usually required multiple shots, and Ar’alani was taking full advantage of the time and distance she had available.
Which immediately brought up the question of why the fighters had fired so soon instead of waiting until they were closer. The first salvo of plasma spheres swept across the missiles—
Five of the missiles abruptly skittered off course as the plasma enveloped them, disrupting their electronics and partially burning into their control jets.
An instant later the other five missiles exploded, bursting outward in overlapping clouds of dust and debris.
The clouds were still there as the second plasma sphere salvo slammed into them. For a second the spheres held shape as they ripped through the dust; then they burst apart and dissipated.
Eli made a face. So that was why the fighters had fired early. The Grysk commander had deliberately sacrificed ten of his missiles in order to protect his fighters from the Steadfast’s first plasma sphere attack and let them move in closer.
It had protected most of them, anyway. “Two hits on fighters,” Tanik reported. “First shows barrier down, no other damage. Second has barrier down and is drifting with drive and electronics temporarily deactivated.”
“Portside launchers ready for another salvo,” Khresh said. “Starboard launchers fifty percent recovered.”
“Debris clouds still pose a threat to spheres,” Operations Officer Velbb warned.
And plasma spheres, Eli knew, weren’t an unlimited resources like spectrum laserfire. The Steadfast carried only a limited amount of the highly specialized concoction that went into the plasma generators, and when it was gone, it was gone.
The Grysk commander had now goaded Ar’alani into wasting two salvos. Maybe his strategy was to force her to drain the Steadfast’s supply completely.
Given that he had another entire warship’s worth of fighters, missiles, and other resources waiting behind him to attack, it wasn’t an unreasonable plan. At this point, he could afford to trade one-for-one with the Steadfast.
Ar’alani, unfortunately, couldn’t. Not unless Thrawn managed to finish his business with Grand Admiral Savit early and come to the Steadfast’s aid.
Such an unexpected rescue would be timely, dramatic, and utterly devastating to the Grysks. But Eli and Ar’alani both knew it was an appearance they couldn’t rely on.
“So he enjoys playing games, does he?” Ar’alani said, her voice still calm. “Very well. Let’s see if we can change the rules. Officer Khresh, can the tractors get a lock on the neutralized fighter?”
“I think so, Admiral,” Khresh said, a little uncertainly. “But it could regain full power at any moment, including laser and missile control.”
“Then we’d best not give it time to do that,” Ar’alani said. “Tractors: Grab that fighter and bring it in.”
“Bring it—?” Khresh broke off. “Admiral, you did hear what I said? If it comes back to full power too close—”
“And when it gets close, run the tractor to full power and slam the fighter as hard as you can against the hull,” Ar’alani continued. “Hard enough to kill or at least to stun.”
Eli looked over at Khresh in time to see a sudden understanding come into his eyes. “Understood, Admiral,” he said, his hesitation gone. “Tractors? Lock on, and bring it in.”
It took nearly half a minute for the Grysk commander to react—probably, Eli suspected, he assumed the fighter’s new movement meant it was coming out of the plasma sphere’s effects and trying to get back into the battle. All around it the other fighters continued to swarm, maintaining a cautious distance from the Steadfast as they dodged its lasers, throwing missiles in twos and threes in their continuing effort to drain the Chiss plasma sphere resources.
Ar’alani seemed perfectly willing to keep the Grysk thinking it was still his game. She replied to the Grysk missiles mainly with laserfire, but threw enough plasma spheres to keep the enemy focus on that part of the battle.
Twenty-eight seconds after the Steadfast’s tractors locked on, the Grysk commander suddenly seemed to wake up to the unexpected threat. But by then it was too late. The captured fighter was too far out of range of the other fighters for any of them to catch it, and it was moving too fast for their missiles to take it down. Their only hope was to destroy it with laserfire, but with the Steadfast’s tractor operator continually and randomly tweaking both power and direction, they couldn’t calculate its trajectory well enough to get a clear shot at it.
Even as the laserfire became increasingly frantic, four of the fighters launched missiles in one final attempt, missiles the Steadfast’s plasma spheres made quick work of. The fighter arrowed toward the Steadfast—
And with a jolt that rattled the ship all the way to the bridge, it slammed into the hull.
“Bring it aboard—quickly,” Ar’alani ordered. “Senior Commander Cinsar?”
“We’re ready, Admiral,” the voice of the Steadfast’s fifth officer came over the speaker. “Tech teams and equipment are in position.”
“Good,” Ar’alani said. “Secure the pilot if he isn’t dead, then get busy.”
She looked at Khresh. “Every war machine—warship, fighter, or missile—has at least one fatal weakness that can be used against it,” she continued.
“Find it.”
* * *
—
The minutes dragged by. Eli watched as the Grysks continued their war of attrition against the Steadfast, the fighters pushing forward and then retreating, trying to goad the Chiss into wasting resources they would desperately need once the warships themselves made their move. Ar’alani, for her part, continued to keep them on the string, doling out just enough of the irreplaceable plasma spheres to keep them busy and buy the techs as much time as she could.
A movement across the bridge caught Eli’s eye: Vah’nya, looking at him and beckoning, a worried look on her face.
Eli hesitated. But at the moment he had nothing to do in the battle. Unstrapping, he made his way across to her station.
He could feel Ar’alani’s eyes on him as he walked, as well as the eyes of some of the other officers. There was no way to know what they were thinking about him l
eaving his assigned position, but none of them ordered him back.
“Is there a problem, Navigator Vah’nya?” he asked as he reached her side.
“A question, Lieutenant Eli,” she said. “The Grysk ships are our enemies, and they seem very determined to destroy us. Yet they continue to just rest there, outside combat range. Nor do they bring their fighters in for true battle. What are they doing?”
Eli hesitated, wondering how much he should tell her. Defense Fleet General Orders stated flatly that strategy, tactics, and weaponry were not to be discussed with navigators. Eli wasn’t sure whether that prohibition was to keep the young girls from worrying, which might affect their ability to utilize Third Sight, or whether it was because navigators, of all the Chiss going into battle, were the prizes an enemy was most likely to try to take alive.
But Vah’nya was smart, and had been performing her duty for a good deal longer than any of the other navigators aboard. Along the way she was bound to have learned more than anyone really wanted her to know.
“They’re trying to drain the Steadfast’s defenses,” he told her. “We can keep firing spectrum lasers forever, or at least as long as we have power, but plasma spheres and Breacher missiles are limited resources. If they can get us to waste the spheres on their fighters, we’ll be more vulnerable when they finally bring their warships into play.”
“But we can simply jump away, can’t we?” Vah’nya asked. “I can be ready to guide the ship whenever Admiral Ar’alani gives the order.”
“In theory, yes, that’s a warship’s last-ditch option,” Eli said, again wondering how much to tell her. “At least if we’re not too close to a planetary mass.”
“Which we aren’t.”
“Right.” Eli hesitated. But she deserved to know the truth. Besides, the two of them had already decided they wouldn’t survive long enough to be captured. “But the Grysk have a method of creating artificial gravity wells that work the same way as that kind of mass. The supply ship that we chased away from the observation post had one.”
