Fel continued his turn, losing altitude and fighting to keep his wobble from getting out of control, all the while wending a twisting path toward the flytrap opening. He finally straightened out into a course more or less level over the city and perpendicular to Stent’s own current vector. From Fel’s new angle he could see that Stent was coming in at full power, with the same evasive maneuvering that Fel had been trying when the laser cannon opened up on him. Alternating his attention among Stent, the flytrap opening, and the ground, Fel flipped up the protective cover on the add-on section of his control board and braced himself.
For an instant he thought Stent had left it too late, and that Nuso Esva’s gunners would nail him for sure. But at the very last second the Chiss pulled up, arcing off his approach vector just as the laser cannon fired. The bolts burned across his TIE’s belly as he twisted up and away, clawing for altitude as he passed across one of the cannon’s other firing gaps. The cannon spun around, firing through the gap, again just a shade too late, then swiveled to another angle as Stent continued past the emplacement and across another of its firing gaps.
And for the next three or four seconds, as the gunners furiously tracked Stent’s apparently random-motion retreat, taking shot after shot through firing gap after firing gap, the flytrap opening was completely unprotected.
As usual, Nuso Esva had been clever. The size of the flytrap had been carefully tailored to allow insertion from but one direction.
Yet also as usual, he hadn’t been clever enough … because he’d assumed that the intruder would be a whole TIE fighter, a cockpit/body equipped with the standard pair of large, hexagonal solar wings jutting out on both sides.
Smiling grimly, Fel pressed the button beneath the open safety cover.
And as the explosive bolts blew across the wing connectors, ejecting both wings to tumble to their destruction against the umbrella shields below, he deftly slid the cockpit section of his TIE sideways through the flytrap opening.
Nuso Esva’s gunners must have instantly spotted their fatal error. But it was already too late. Even as they tried to bring the cannon around again, Fel rotated on his repulsorlifts and fired a close-in double burst from his own laser cannons. The bolts shattered the emplacement’s rotational platform, leaving the weapons frozen in place, pointed uselessly at the sky.
Then, flying low over the houses, dipping and dodging where necessary to avoid the umbrella shields’ edges, Fel began blasting the houses where those shield generators were located. The rest of Gray Squadron was right behind him, dropping through the ever-widening hole and joining in the task of systematically peeling open the nice secure lair that Nuso Esva had built for himself.
And as the rest of his squadron continued their destruction of the shield generators, Fel shifted to his own special assigned task. Flying widely across the edge of the city, he began eliminating the Queen’s communication loudspeakers.
All of them, that is, except one. For that one, Grand Admiral Thrawn had something special planned.
“There is trouble,” the Queen said.
For a few seconds Nuso Esva ignored her as he continued to jabber on his private farspeak in his incomprehensible alien language. Trevik braced himself, wondering what the Queen would say or do at this latest insult to her.
But she sat quietly on her litter, waiting with eerie patience for Nuso Esva to finish his other conversation. The alien talk ended, and Nuso Esva jammed the farspeak back into his belt. “There is trouble,” the Queen repeated.
“Nothing that can’t be handled,” Nuso Esva growled, his voice barely within the limits of civility. “As soon as your Soldiers breach the juggernauts—”
“There is trouble,” the Queen said again, much more emphatically. “Enemy aircraft fly free over my city, destroying the homes of Circlings and Midlis. You said that would not happen. You said that could not happen.”
Nuso Esva seemed to gather himself together. “Calm yourself, O Queen,” he said, more politely this time. “The fighters may have breached the outer parts of the city, but there’s another angled rim to the shield array farther in. That edge will keep them out of the palace grounds and away from us.”
“Yet they have entered my city,” the Queen persisted. “You said they would not. You lied.”
“They won’t be there for long,” Nuso Esva said. “Unlike the primitive cannons my Chosen have been forced to work with, the juggernauts’ weaponry is equipped with computerized sensor targeting capabilities. Once we’ve gained control of them—”
One of the Storm-hairs by the monitors called something in the alien language. “The hatches are breached,” Nuso Esva announced. “Now watch as I destroy the enemy fighters.”
Trevik looked at the monitors. One of them showed an image that bounced dizzyingly while the Storm-hair carrying the holocam ran behind a group of Soldiers through the jagged metal edge where a hatch had once been. The Soldiers rushed inside, spreading aside out of the view of the cam.
Suddenly the image went still. Very still. For a pair of seconds it showed a view of a compact metal chamber, empty except for blinking lights, softly glowing displays, and some sort of small, round-topped metal object at the far end. Abruptly, the image spun around, paused, spun around again, paused again—
Nuso Esva spat something vile sounding. “No,” he bit out as he snatched up his farspeak. “No!”
“What is it?” the Queen demanded. “What’s happened?”
Nuso Esva ignored her, snarling more of his alien speech into his farspeak. The image on the monitor began bouncing again as the Storm-hair with the cam raced to the end of the metal chamber and stopped beside the round-topped metal object. There was a close-up view of the lights and monitors—
“What has happened?” the Queen bellowed.
Trevik shrank back in terror. Never in his life had he heard the Queen shout that way. Never had he realized she could shout that way.
Nuso Esva barely even took notice. He continued snarling into his farspeak, his free hand gripping the weapon belted at his side. Around the room, the other Storm-hairs also had their hands on their weapons. Trevik tensed, waiting for the Queen to shout again.
But she remained silent. A moment later, Nuso Esva lowered his farspeak, his yellow eyes glittering with fury. “The juggernauts have no crews,” he bit out. “No crews, and no soldiers. Their drivers are nothing but droids. Mechanical Workers.” He hissed something vicious sounding. “And there are no weapons. All have been removed.”
For a long moment the gathering room was silent. Trevik kept his eyes on Nuso Esva, afraid to look at the Queen. “Then you have failed,” she said at last.
“I haven’t failed,” Nuso Esva, turning his head back to the monitors. “The juggernauts are useless to us? Fine. There are other targets that will serve.” He looked back at the Queen and gave the gesture of command. “Order your Soldiers to the transports waiting on the ground outside the city. They are to capture the vehicles and kill everyone aboard.”
“Do the transports hold the weapons you claim will bring you victory?” the Queen countered. “Or do you simply seek a means of deserting Quethold and escaping back to the stars?”
“Don’t waste precious time with foolish prattle,” Nuso Esva spat. “Give the order.”
“I cannot.” The Queen pointed toward the monitors. “The loudspeakers have been silenced. There is no way for my voice to reach my Soldiers.”
“What?” Once again, Nuso Esva twisted his head around toward the monitors. “So,” he murmured bitterly. “We see now Thrawn’s true strategy. He draws the majority of the Soldiers to the juggernauts, where they will be useless to me, then destroys the means by which they could be ordered elsewhere.”