And then the view outside changed, and they had arrived.
“Contact,” Senior Commander Obbic’lia’nuf called from the sensor station. “Three ships, bearing …” His voice trailed off.
Ar’alani frowned, shifting her attention from the tactical display to the sensor readouts. If those energy profiles were correct …
“Make that three derelicts,” Wutroow corrected, a grim edge to her voice. “Don’t really qualify as ships anymore.”
“Confirmed,” Biclian said. “Reading severe battle damage on all three.”
Ar’alani nodded. “Grayshrike?” she called. “Anything over there?”
“Six more ships, Admiral,” Senior Captain Lakinda’s voice came over the bridge speaker. “Badly mauled, all of them. Looks like someone beat us to them.”
“So it would seem,” Ar’alani agreed.
Only who in the region had both the reason and the massive firepower necessary to take on this many Nikardun ships? And to win? “Start a full sensor scan, Captain,” she ordered Lakinda. “Full range, full depth. Get us on that, too, Biclian. Let’s see if we can figure out what weapons were used on them.”
“Spectrum lasers were definitely involved,” Biclian said, manipulating his sensor controls. “But of course, everyone uses those. Looks like a fair number of missile strikes, too. We’ll need a closer look if you want a blast profile.”
“I do,” Ar’alani said, nodding toward the helm. “Mid Commander Octrimo, take us in. Be ready to go to evasive if they’re playing cute.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the pilot acknowledged.
Wutroow crossed to Ar’alani’s command chair. “You really think the Nikardun have picked up some tactical sense at this late stage?” she asked.
“You mean, as in setting the derelicts out as bait for us?”
“Or for anyone else who might wander along,” Wutroow said. “Or someone could be quietly hunkered down inside the listening post, hoping whoever comes along will see the wrecked ships, assume everyone’s gone, and not take a closer look.”
“If that’s the plan, they’re going to be disappointed,” Ar’alani said. “We’re definitely taking a closer look. I don’t like the idea of someone with this much military power working this neighborhood without us knowing about them.”
“As long as we don’t spend too much time at it,” Wutroow warned, pulling out her questis. “The Aristocra already think we’re cleaning house way farther down the walkway than we ought to be.”
Ar’alani felt her lips compress. Wutroow was right, of course. The Vigilant’s sole purpose out here was to eliminate any lingering Nikardun and Nikardun influence. If they did anything beyond that, she’d better be able to justify it to the Council and Syndicure. “Consider it a threat assessment,” she said. “Until we know who did this, we won’t have any idea what their motives are or what they might intend for the Ascendancy.”
“No argument here, ma’am,” Wutroow assured her, giving her questis a couple of taps and peering at the results. “But that kind of ignorance is considered fashionable in certain circles. Well, whoever was involved, they don’t seem to be local. There aren’t any planets nearby on Yiv’s list of conquests and tributaries. No one who would have known about the Nikardun and had a reason to come after what was left of them.”
“No one that we know of,” Ar’alani corrected. “Lots of small one- and two-system nations out here that we’ve never made direct contact with. Though I’ll grant that if Yiv hadn’t already been threatening them, they would hardly be likely to go out of their way to take on one of his bases.”
“My point exactly,” Wutroow said, putting the questis away. “And Yiv really liked to talk about his conquests. Hard to believe he’d leave any of them off his brag list.”
“Admiral?” Junior Commander Stybla’rsi’omli called from the Vigilant’s comm station. “Message coming through from Schesa; relay from Csilla and Supreme Admiral Ja’fosk.”
“Thank you,” Ar’alani said. Schesa was the closest Ascendancy world with a long-range triad transmitter, but even with that kind of power behind the signal the Vigilant was far enough that it was pushing the limit. “Send it here as soon as it’s decrypted.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“There’ve always been rumors that Ja’fosk could hear his officers’ conversations through solid walls,” Wutroow commented. “First I’ve heard that he could also hear us over multiple light-years of space.”
“You’d be amazed at what they issue flag officers along with these,” Ar’alani said drily, tapping the collar insignia pins on her white uniform.
“I’m sure I would,” Wutroow said. “Ah,” she added as the message appeared on the command chair personal display.
From: Supreme Admiral Ja’fosk, Csilla
To: Springhawk, Vigilant, Grayshrike
Senior Captain Mitth’raw’nuruodo and the Springhawk are to return to Csilla with all due speed for a new assignment.
“Interesting,” Wutroow said as she read over Ar’alani’s shoulder. “I wonder what the Syndicure wants with him now.”
“The Syndicure?” Ar’alani asked, wincing a little. The fact that she and the Grayshrike had been copied on the message implied that Ja’fosk thought the Springhawk was still with the Vigilant’s task force.
Only, of course, he wasn’t. Had Ba’kif forgotten to clue Ja’fosk in on Thrawn’s unofficial side trip?
“Has to be,” Wutroow said. “Ja’fosk or Ba’kif or anyone else on the Council would have added once mission has been completed or some such language. It’s only the Aristocra who expect people to drop everything at the twitch of their collective finger. So now do I get to know where Ba’kif sent the Springhawk?”
“It’s not a huge mystery,” Ar’alani said. Though it was, of course, supposed to have been kept quiet. So much for that plan. “You’ll remember that one of the Paccosh who met Thrawn and Caregiver Thalias on the Rapacc mining station gave him a ring for safekeeping. Thrawn’s gone there to return it to him.”
“Oh,” Wutroow said.
Ar’alani raised her eyebrows. “You sound disappointed.”
“Not disappointed, exactly,” Wutroow said. “But the last time Thrawn went off-mission we got the Republic shield generator, and the time before that we identified Yiv and the Nikardun. I was hoping he was somewhere kicking up that level of excitement.”
“Don’t underestimate him,” Ar’alani warned. “You’d be amazed what Thrawn can do with what looks like a straightforward assignment.”
“I probably would,” Wutroow agreed, half turning toward the navigation display. “Speaking of straightforward …?”
“I know,” Ar’alani said, scowling. If Thrawn was on his planned schedule, he was almost certainly out of range of the Schesa triad right now. He was also out of range of the Vigilant’s own ship-to-ship comm transmitter. If he lingered long enough at Rapacc to make the unofficial assessment of the Paccosh that Ba’kif had privately requested, it could be another week or more before he even knew he’d been summoned home.
And if it was indeed the Syndicure who’d put through the order, they would not be amused at being kept waiting.
Unfortunately, that left Ar’alani only one real option. Knowing exactly how this order would be perceived, she keyed for ship-to-ship comm. “Grayshrike, this is Admiral Ar’alani for Senior Captain Lakinda.”