[Black Fleet Crisis] - 02(75)

The roar went on and on, with no sign of abating.

Finally Nil Spaar could stand it no longer and stepped back from the viewport, gesturing to Eri.

The aide quickly closed the screens, making the gallery a private place again. Then he retreated before the viceroy, mindful of the engorged fighting crests.

“You see, etaias,” said Eri, backpedaling. “How glorious for you.”

“I want to go down to them. Is my skimmer ready?” cessional car, built for this occasion by the guildsmen of

Giat Nor as a gift to you. I am told that the craftsmanship is flawless.”

Then I shall go accept this gift, said Nil Spaar, moving toward the entry. “Thank you, Eri. Please see that my family is transferred to the palace after the crowd clears.”

“Yes, Viceroy,” said the aide, his face falling as he realized he was not to be allowed a place on the viceroy’s processional car. Then, fearing his thoughts had been read from his expression, he quickly fell to one knee in obeisance. “I am honored to serve you, dararna,” he said softly.

Nil Spaar’s fingertips grazed the back of Eri’s neck as he strode past him toward the corridor. “I am glad to hear it,” said the viceroy.

“Be careful not to hunger too much for more.”

Blind, silent, and isolated from one another, the 106 ships of the Fifth Battle Group of the New Republic Defense Force bored through hyperspace, counting down to their arrival at Koornacht Cluster.

‘I don’t like to make this long a jump into a hot zone,” General A’baht said under his breath, shaking his head.

Captain Morano, captain of the Fleet carrier Intrepid, flagship of the Fifth Fleet, was the only one on the bridge close enough to A’baht to hear his words.

“A hot zone, General?” Morano asked. “The last report from our prowlers, before we left Coruscant, said that everything was quiet outside the Cluster. I thought we were going in to draw a line in the sky, nothing more.”

“A lot can happen in three days, Captain.” A’baht glanced up at the mission timers. “We’ll know soon.”

The task force would leave hyperspace as it had entered it, with the spacings, velocities, and timings all pre determined.

Before

leaving Coruscant, the Fifth had dispersed into the widest formation the jump lanes to the target coordinates would allow.

The signal ferret had jumped first, followed by the forward scouts and pickets, then the well-spaced capital ships and their screens. No change was possible en route. New Republic engineers had still not found a solution for the hyperspace blackout.

Once the jump began, the Fleet was committed.

So 106 sets of decisions had had to be made before the Fleet moved out, and the number of possible solutions to that matrix was uncountable.

Some solutions were ideal for one tactical situation, and disastrous for others. ‘It was a guessing game, then a waiting game, and A’baht hated the long hours with nothing to do but wonder if he had guessed right.

The worry, always, was that the tactical situation might have changed.

The worst version of that fear was that the enemy might have learned the jump vectors from spies or a prowler and prepared a deadly surprise.

That was why A’baht preferred to jump first to a staging area, where he could pick up updated reports from Fleet Intelligence and make any necessary adjustments before a final jump to enter the target zone. By doing so, he could shorten the window of opportunity created by the blackout to an hour or less.

But caution had its price, and the price was paid in a precious commodity—time. A’baht had been ordered to take the Fifth back to Koornacht with all possible speed.

It was too late to help Polneye or New Brigia, but Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar wanted a quick show of strength. Only that, it seemed, would discourage the suddenly predatory Yevetha from eyeing Galantos, Wehttam, or any other settlement outside the Cluster.

Captain Morano’s figurative description, drawing a line in the sky, was perfectly apt.

The final report from the prowlers General Solo had left in Farlax Sector had shown no enemy ship activity outside Koornacht, and very little traffic of any other kind in the area—just a pair of tramp freighters and a gypsy scoop miner in more than a hundred cubic light-years of space. There had been no attacks on New Republic territory, no confrontations between New Republic and Yevethan forces.

And the mission had begun in secure territory, the Coruscant system.

The risks of a direct jump seemed small.

But there were always risks. And no choice but to plunge through the door without knowing what is on the other side, A’baht thought.

“Signal ferret reentry in ten,” a tactical aide called out. “Nine.