The downside, which Lhagva always thought about when he rode one of the things, was that it also left the squad bunched close together and thus vulnerable to ambush.
But so far the enemy here hadn’t made any such moves. The houses the three A-racks rolled past were showing no signs of life, not even the occasional furtive peek by a curious face at any of the windows. The Workers were apparently all out of the city as usual for this time of the morning, laboring in the fields, forests, and mines stretching out beyond the urban area.
As for the Soldiers, most of those Lhagva could see from his angle were gathered in clumps along the juggernauts’ line of travel a few hundred meters to the north. Their backs were to the incoming A-racks, with no indication that they were even aware that three squads of stormtroopers were coming toward them from the south. It was as if Thrawn had completely blindsided Nuso Esva and the Queen of the Red.
Lhagva didn’t believe it for a minute.
“Tighten it up, troopers,” Sanjin called from the A-rack’s gunner’s seat. “Things are about to get hot.”
Lhagva shot a quick look upward. They’d reached the outer circle of Midli houses, and the sky above them had gone dark and shimmery as they passed beneath the edge of the city’s new patchwork of umbrella shields. From this point on, Commander Fel’s TIEs would be unable to provide the stormtroopers with any cover fire.
Readjusting his grip on his BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle, Lhagva returned his attention to the houses and open areas on his side of the A-rack. Whatever Nuso Esva was planning, he knew, the battle was about to begin.
“Excellent,” Nuso Esva said, his lips curled back, his faceted yellow eyes intent on the line of eight large monitors the other Storm-hairs had set up in the Dwelling of Guests gathering area. “Thrawn is nothing if not always precisely on schedule.” He gestured to one of the monitors. “Observe, O Queen. Here come his soldiers.”
The Queen leaned closer toward the image. Surreptitiously, Trevik did the same. The white-armored soldiers were heading northward through the southwestern part of the city, riding on three bouncy and fragile-looking metal frameworks. On one of the other monitors, larger, more substantial vehicles were rumbling into the city along Setting Sun Avenue.
And just like the soldiers, the large vehicles were moving in a straight line. Trevik didn’t know much about tactics, but even to him that seemed foolish.
It apparently seemed that way to the Queen, as well. “I will order my Soldiers to attack,” she said, picking up the special farspeak that rested beside her armrest, its wires snaking across the room to the connector in the wall. “They will make short work of them.”
“Not yet,” Nuso Esva said, holding out a hand. “Not yet.”
Trevik flinched. The outstretched hand was a signal of command, a gesture Trevik had used many times when overseeing Workers and one that he’d received in turn from senior Midlis and occasional Circlings.
No one ever used such a gesture toward the Queen of the Red. Ever. The very thought of such a blatant insult was both fantastic and outrageous.
Yet once again, the Queen gave no indication of such outrage. “Then when?” she simply asked.
“Be patient, O Queen,” Nuso Esva said. To Trevik’s relief, he lowered the discourteous hand again to his side. “The enemy fighter craft are about to make their first attempt to enter through my trap. When they do, my soldiers will open fire with the blaster cannons I set up in concealment—”
“The guns my Workers set up in concealment,” the Queen corrected him.
Nuso Esva’s eyes might have glittered with new fire. Trevik wasn’t certain. “The cannons your Workers set up,” he amended coolly. “Once they open fire, destroying or scattering the fighter craft, the cannons that I”—he inclined his head—“the cannons that your Workers set up along Setting Sun Avenue will destroy the first and last juggernauts in line. Then you will order your Soldiers to destroy the stormtroopers. All is as I predicted.”
Nuso Esva turned his eyes on Trevik. “Exactly as I predicted,” he added.
“Yes,” the Queen said, and out of the corner of his eye Trevik saw her turn to him. Automatically, he lifted the bowl as he likewise turned to face her.
But to his surprise she didn’t drink. To his even greater surprise, she continued to stare at him. “O Queen?” he asked, not knowing what else to say.
“Nuso Esva of the First of the Storm-hairs did indeed predict all,” she said. “You, Trevik of the Midli of the Seventh of the Red, have betrayed me.”
Trevik froze, a horrible flood of fear and shame exploding inside him. She knew. She knew about his brother Jirvin and the others who’d been in the house that evening. She knew about the cam Trevik had brought into the Dwelling of Guests. She knew that Trevik had given that cam to his brother, who had then given it to the enemy Thrawn.
And Trevik knew that he was dead. The Queen would call in her Soldiers from outside, and they would kill him—
“Calm yourself, O Queen,” Nuso Esva said calmly. “You’re frightening him. At any rate, it’s hardly betrayal when his actions are a deliberate and necessary part of a plan.”
“His actions may have been a part of your plan,” the Queen said, still staring at Trevik. “But in his hidden heart, the Midli committed treason against his Queen.”
“We thought he was controlling you,” Trevik breathed, finally finding his voice. “I was told he was controlling you.”
“No one controls a Queen of the Quesoth,” the Queen said darkly. “It is she who controls.”
“Which you should have realized from the beginning,” Nuso Esva said. “How else do you think that Circling was actually willing to pretend to treason? He acted that way under his Queen’s orders so that he could persuade you to take the pictures I wanted Thrawn to have.”
Trevik tore his gaze away from the Queen’s stare. “To persuade …,” he began weakly.
“Pictures of these,” Nuso Esva said, waving a hand toward the walls of the gathering area. Even with his alien face and voice it was impossible for Trevik to miss his deep and malicious satisfaction. “Artwork carefully selected to lead our oh-so-clever Grand Admiral to exactly the wrong conclusions about my strategy.”
Trevik could feel his breath coming in short, painful gasps. Jirvin had also said that about Thrawn, that in artwork he could read the hidden hearts of people. Trevik had accepted his brother’s word, but he had never truly believed it.
Now, as he felt Nuso Esva’s triumph wash over him, he knew that it was indeed true.
“You don’t believe it, of course,” Nuso Esva continued. “No one does. But rest assured, Thrawn is able to perform such magic. The Queen’s own confidant and ally stayed aboard the star caravan long enough to confirm it.” This time, his eyes definitely glittered. “Before he pulled all of your Stromma allies out of the battle.”
“Which he would still have done without this Midli’s betrayal,” the Queen said.
“Calm yourself, O Queen,” Nuso Esva said again. “Let us watch and savor the defeat of our enemy without these petty distractions. There will be plenty of time later to execute this Midli and his friends if you so choose.” He turned back to the monitors. “Besides, I daresay Thrawn will have another trick or two waiting behind his back. Watch—and see how I anticipate and destroy each of them.”