THRAWN ACSENDANCY BOOK II
Greater Good
(Timothy Zahn)
For those who recognize that “the greater good”
is seldom good for all
Dramatis Personae
SENIOR CAPTAIN THRAWN | Mitth’raw’nuruodo — Trial-born
ADMIRAL AR’ALANI
THALIAS | Mitth’ali’astov — Trial-born
SYNDIC PRIME THURFIAN | Mitth’urf’ianico — blood
MID CAPTAIN SAMAKRO | Ufsa’mak’ro — cousin
SENIOR CAPTAIN LAKINDA | Xodlak’in’daro — merit adoptive
GENERAL BA’KIF
CHE’RI — sky-walker
THE MAGYS
COUNCILOR LAKUVIV | Xodlak’uvi’vil — ranking distant
RANCHER LAKPHRO | Xodlak’phr’ooa
YOPONEK | Coduyo’po’nekri
QILORI OF UANDUALON — Pathfinder navigator (non-Chiss)
JIXTUS
HAPLIF — Agbui
Chiss Ascendancy
UFSA
IRIZI
DASKLO
CLARR
CHAF
PLIKH
BOADIL
MITTH
OBBIC
BLOOD
COUSIN
RANKING DISTANT
TRIAL-BORN
MERIT ADOPTIVE
PATRIARCH — head of the family
SPEAKER — head of the family’s delegation to the Syndicure
SYNDIC PRIME — head syndic
SYNDIC — member of the Syndicure, the main governmental body
PATRIEL — handles family affairs on a planetary scale
COUNCILOR — handles family affairs at the local level
ARISTOCRA — mid-level member of one of the Nine Ruling Families
SUPREME ADMIRAL
SUPREME GENERAL
FLEET ADMIRAL
SENIOR GENERAL
ADMIRAL
GENERAL
MID ADMIRAL
MID GENERAL
COMMODORE
SENIOR CAPTAIN
MID CAPTAIN
JUNIOR CAPTAIN
SENIOR COMMANDER
MID COMMANDER
JUNIOR COMMANDER
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER
LIEUTENANT
SENIOR WARRIOR
MID WARRIOR
JUNIOR WARRIOR
A long time ago, beyond a galaxy far, far away ….
For thousands of years it has been an island of calm within the Chaos. It is a center of power, a model of stability, and a beacon of integrity. The Nine Ruling Families guard it from within; the Expansionary Defense Fleet guards it from without. Its neighbors are left in peace, its enemies are left in ruin. It is light and culture and glory.
It is the Chiss Ascendancy.
CHAPTER ONE
Throughout her years in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, Admiral Ar’alani had lived through more than fifty battles and smaller armed clashes. The opponents in those encounters, like the battles themselves, had varied widely. Some of them had been clever, others had been cautious, still others—particularly political appointees who had been promoted far beyond their abilities—had been painfully incompetent. The strategies and tactics employed had also varied, ranging from simple to obscure to screamingly violent. The battle results themselves had sometimes been mixed, sometimes inconclusive, often a defeat for the enemy, and—occasionally—a defeat for the Chiss.
But never in all that time had Ar’alani experienced such a mix of determination, viciousness, and utter pointlessness as in the scene now unfolding in front of her.
“Watch it, Vigilant—you’ve got four more coming at you from starboard-nadir.” The voice of Senior Captain Xodlak’in’daro came from the Vigilant’s bridge speaker, her resonant alto glacially calm as always.
“Acknowledged, Grayshrike,” Ar’alani called back, looking at the tactical. Four more Nikardun gunboats had indeed appeared from around the small moon, driving at full power toward the Vigilant. “Looks like you have a few latecomers to your party, as well,” she added.
“We’re on it, ma’am,” Lakinda said.
“Good,” Ar’alani said, studying the six missile boats that had appeared from behind the hulk of the battle cruiser she and the other two Chiss ships had hammered into rubble fifteen minutes ago. Sneaking into cover that way without being spotted had taken some ingenuity, and many commanders with that level of competence would have used their skill to exercise the better part of valor and abandon such a clearly hopeless battle.
But that wasn’t what these last pockets of Nikardun resistance were about. They were about complete self-sacrifice, throwing themselves at the Chiss warships that had rooted them from their burrows, apparently with the sole goal of taking some of the hated enemies with them.
That wasn’t going to happen. Not today. Not to Ar’alani’s force. “Thrawn, the Grayshrike has picked up a new nest of nighthunters,” she called. “Can you offer them some assistance?”
“Certainly,” Senior Captain Mitth’raw’nuruodo replied. “Captain Lakinda, if you’ll turn thirty degrees to starboard, I believe we can draw your attackers into a crossfire.”
“Thirty degrees, acknowledged,” Lakinda said, and Ar’alani saw the Grayshrike’s tactical display image angle away from the incoming missile boats and head toward Thrawn’s Springhawk. “Though with all due respect to the admiral, I’d say they’re more whisker cubs than nighthunters.”
“Agreed,” Thrawn said. “If these are the same ones we thought were caught in the battle cruiser explosion, they should be down to a single missile each.”
“Actually, our tally makes two of them completely empty,” Lakinda said. “Just along for the glory of martyrdom, I suppose.”
“Such as it is,” Ar’alani said. “I doubt anyone out there is going to be singing the elegiac praises of Yiv the Benevolent anytime soon. Wutroow?”
“Spheres are ready, Admiral,” Senior Captain Kiwu’tro’owmis confirmed from across the Vigilant’s bridge. “Ready to rain on their picnic?”
“One moment,” Ar’alani said, watching the tactical and gauging the distances. Plasma spheres’ ability to deliver electronics-freezing blasts of ionic energy made them capable of disabling attackers without having to plow through the tough nyix-alloy hulls that sheathed most warships in this part of the Chaos. Smaller fighter-class ships, like the Nikardun missile boats currently charging the Vigilant, were especially vulnerable to such attacks.