“He was conducting a battle at the time,” Wutroow pointed out as she continued to work the questis, “so there’s a good chance that even if it was there he’d have missed it.”
“A fair chance, anyway,” Ar’alani corrected. “Even in the middle of a battle, there’s very little that gets past him.”
“Well, given that it would have been drifting around the opposite side of the planet from where the battle was taking place, I promise not to tease him if it did.” Wutroow put the questis away. “I’ve got the sensor techs working on it.”
Ar’alani nodded. “Biclian?”
“Still reading as a fairly normal asteroid, ma’am,” Biclian said. “Unfortunately, the data profile from passive sensors is limited. If there’s a missile launcher hidden inside, there’s no way we’re going to pick up on it.”
“Which may be something we can use to our advantage,” Ar’alani said thoughtfully. If that really was a weapon that had been brought in since the last skirmish … and if there was another unfriendly warship lurking on the other side of the planet … “Continue passive sensors. Captain Lakinda, are you game to try something dangerous?”
“As opposed to just being part of the Expansionary Defense Fleet,” Wutroow added.
“Yes, ma’am, of course,” Lakinda said, sounding a bit uncomfortable with Wutroow’s dry humor.
“Good,” Ar’alani said. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Across the Grayshrike’s bridge, Wikivv gave her helm controls one last check. “We’re ready, ma’am,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Lakinda.
“Acknowledged,” Lakinda said, eyeing the data on the helm display and mentally crossing her fingers. She would put Wikivv up against any pilot in the Expansionary Defense Fleet, but the kind of precision Lakinda was asking from her this time was beyond anything Wikivv had ever done before.
But Ar’alani wanted it, and Wikivv had assured them she could do it, and so here they were. “Shrent, inform the Vigilant that we’re ready,” she ordered, looking over at the combat status display. Whatever the next few minutes brought, the Grayshrike was ready for battle.
“Vigilant acknowledges,” Shrent reported. “Admiral Ar’alani says we can go at your convenience.”
“Acknowledge,” Lakinda said, consciously bracing herself. “Wikivv: Three, two, one.”
There was the usual visual and mental jerkiness as the Grayshrike performed Wikivv’s in-system jump. The black disk of Sunrise abruptly filled half the viewport, and the hyperdrive status indicators changed as the planet began pulling the ship deeper into its gravity well.
Thirty degrees to portside, barely a kilometer distant and moving away from the Grayshrike along its orbit, was the asteroid.
“Portside yaw thirty degrees,” Lakinda ordered. “Slow and casual. Don’t try to close, just ease up into following position behind it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The Grayshrike began its yaw turn, and Lakinda focused her full attention on the irregular mass of rock. If Ar’alani was right about this being the same weapon used against the Nikardun base, and if whoever was monitoring the sensors assumed the asteroid was about to come under Chiss attack, Lakinda’s only warning would be the massive explosion as the shell disintegrated and cleared the weapon to fire. If that happened, the Grayshrike would have only that small handful of seconds to get in the first shot.
But whoever was controlling the weapon was evidently not the nervous sort. The Grayshrike finished its turn, lining itself up with the asteroid, without sparking any reaction. “Wikivv, increase speed to match,” Lakinda ordered. “Excellent job with the jump.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Wikivv said. “Increasing speed … matching, and holding distance.”
“When do you want to start closing the gap?” Apros asked from beside Lakinda’s command chair.
“We’ll wait until Ar’alani’s in position,” she told him. “Vimsk, any sign of the Vigilant?”
“Not yet—yes; there it is,” the sensor officer interrupted herself.
“I see it,” Lakinda said, eyeing the tactical display. The Vigilant had emerged into view a quarter of the way around the planet ahead of them, farther out of the gravity well, in a similar position to the spot the Grayshrike itself had held during the previous skirmish. If the aliens had sent another ship, and if it was again positioned to monitor the same section of the planet, it now ought to be in full view. The secondary sensor display lit up as the Vigilant began sending visual and sensor telemetry—
And there it was. A Battle Dreadnought of the same configuration as the one she and Thrawn had tangled with two weeks ago.
Lakinda frowned. No, not just another warship. It was the same warship. The battle scars from Thrawn’s breacher and laser attack on its port side were unmistakable.
Apros spotted it, too. “So they just sent it back? I’d have expected them to at least slap a fresh coat of paint over the damage before they let it out again.”
“Apparently not,” Lakinda said.
“Unidentified warship, this is Admiral Ar’alani aboard the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet warship Vigilant,” Ar’alani’s Taarja words came over the bridge speaker. “Please identify yourselves.”
“Should we let the Vigilant know it’s the same ship?” Apros suggested.
Lakinda shook her head. “I’m sure Ar’alani’s already figured it out.”
“Chiss warship, you intrude in an area where you’re not wanted,” a harsh voice came back. “Leave immediately or face severe consequences.”
Lakinda straightened in her chair, peripherally aware that a ripple of sudden interest was running through her bridge. None of the ships they’d faced here earlier, not the Battle Dreadnought or any of the gunboats, had responded to their hails. For them to suddenly be talking was a new wrinkle.
More than that, it strongly suggested that Ar’alani’s plan was working. The enemy commander, secure in the knowledge that his asteroid missile could deal a death blow to the Grayshrike at any moment, was hoping to worm a little information out of Ar’alani before he destroyed both ships. At the same time, with the Grayshrike supposedly sneaking up on the main confrontation from behind the asteroid, Ar’alani’s mirror plan to gather data before springing her own surprise attack would also be obvious to him.
Some commanders, Lakinda reflected, would have accepted the simple military value of their perceived advantage and merely used it to overwhelm the opponent. This one was cooler and more ambitious.
The enemy knew he had the upper hand because he had a secret weapon. Ar’alani knew she had the upper hand because she knew about the asteroid, and the enemy didn’t know she knew.
Mentally, Lakinda shook her head. Even Thrawn might have trouble following this one.
“Wikivv, start easing us toward the asteroid,” she ordered. “Not too close, and not too fast. Make it look like we’re making sure we’ll be completely hidden behind it once we come into the Battle Dreadnought’s view.”
“Unidentified warship, this is Admiral Ar’alani,” Ar’alani replied. “Please clarify. Who exactly is it who doesn’t want us here?”