“Now, Grand Admiral.”
Moving quietly in the brittle silence, Pellaeon keyed for a course projection on C’baoth’s ship. “It’ll take at least fifteen minutes to bring him aboard,” he murmured.
Thrawn hissed softly between his teeth; and Pellaeon knew what he was thinking. In the fluid situation of a spontaneous battle, a fifteen-minute delay could easily be the difference between victory and defeat. “Captain, order the Peremptory to assist the Judicator,” the Grand Admiral said at last. “We’ll remain here to consult our ally.”
“Thank you, Grand Admiral,” C’baoth said; and abruptly, the nav officer gasped and slumped in his chair. “I appreciate your generosity.”
Thrawn reached to his board, and with a vicious flick of his wrist cut off the comm. He looked down into the crew pit and motioned to two bridge guards. “Sick bay,” he told them, indicating the now-shivering nav officer.
“Where do you suppose C’baoth found that Lancer?” Pellaeon murmured as the guards helped the nav officer out of his seat and carried him aft.
“He most likely hijacked it,” Thrawn said, his voice tight. “He’s been sending messages for us over distances of several lightyears, and he certainly knows how to take control of people. Apparently, he’s learned how to meld the two abilities.”
Pellaeon looked down into the crew pit, a shiver running up his back. “I’m not sure I like that sir.”
“I don’t much like it myself, Captain,” Thrawn agreed, turning his head to look out the viewport. “It may be time,” he added thoughtfully, “to reconsider our arrangement with Master C’baoth. To reconsider it very carefully.”
Chapter 28
The Katana’s turbolasers flashed, disintegrating the center of the Imperials’ drop ship formation, and one of Wedge’s X-wing pilots gave a war whoop. “Will you look at that?”
“Cut the chatter, Rogue Seven,” Wedge admonished, trying to see through the cloud of flaming debris. The Imperials had gotten a bloody nose, but that was about all. “They’ve got lots more TIE fighters in reserve.
“Wedge?”
Wedge switched channels. “I’m here, Luke.”
“We’ve decided not to leave the ship,” Luke said. “We’d run right into the Imperials, and you know how well transports fight. You might as well get your group out of here and go whistle up some help.”
The surviving drop ships, Wedge saw, were reconfiguring into an evasion pattern with the TIE fighters moving ahead to clear a path for them. “You’ll never be able to hold out,” he told Luke flatly. “There could be three hundred troops aboard those drop ships.”
“We’ll have a better chance against them than you will against a Star Destroyer,” Luke retorted. “Come on, get going.”
Wedge clenched his teeth. Luke was right, and they both knew it. But to abandon his friends here-
“Rogue Leader, this is Gold Leader,” a new voice abruptly came on the comm. Requesting permission to join the party.”
Frowning, Wedge threw a glance out the back of his canopy. They were there, all right: the Quenfis’s two X-wing squadrons, coming up behind his group for all they were worth. “Permission granted,” he said. “I didn’t think Councilor Fey’lya was going to let you come out and play.”
“Fey’lya doesn’t have any say in it anymore, the other said grimly. “Tell you about it later. Captain’s turned things over to Organa Solo.”
“First good news I’ve heard today,” Wedge grunted. “All right, here’s the scheme. You detail four of your group to hit those drop ships; the rest of us will concentrate on the TIE fighters. With luck, we can clear them out before the next wave gets here. I don’t suppose we’ve gut any backup of our own coming?”
“Captain says there’s a Star Cruiser on the way, Gold Leader said. “Don’t know when it’ll get here, though.”
Probably not soon enough, Wedge told himself silently. “Okay,” he said aloud. “Let’s do it.”
A new set of drive trails had appeared near the Star Destroyer’s docking bay: the second wave of TIE fighters had launched. That was going to be trouble down the line; but for the moment, the X-wings had this batch of Imperials outnumbered. And the Imperials knew it. They were spreading out, trying to draw their attackers apart where they couldn’t cover each other. Wedge did a quick evaluation of the situation- “All X-wings: we’ll do a one-on-one,” he said. “Choose your target and go.”