Arihnda felt her lip twitch. She hadn’t thought about that point. “I’m sure they’re loyal to the Empire.”
“Perhaps, Thrawn said. “Nightswan is quite persuasive. I must also point out that even with an ISB escort this will be a dangerous undertaking.”
“I’ll be fine,” Arihnda insisted. “More important, you need the information.”
“The collecting of which you’re hardly an expert on,” Faro pointed out. “It seems to me that limits your value.”
Arihnda had to smile at that. If Faro only knew how good she was at collecting information. “One: Agent Gudry is trained in those things,” she said. “He knows how to pull up the raw data. Two: I know mines, mining, and refining. I’ll know what equipment is supposed to be in those facilities and what isn’t, and what’s worth tagging for orbital destruction and what isn’t. Between his gathering and my sifting, we’ll be a very effective team.” She looked at Thrawn. “The most effective, I daresay, that you can get on such short notice.”
Thrawn eyed her a moment, then shifted his gaze to Yularen. “Do you vouch for this Agent Gudry, Colonel?”
“Absolutely,” Yularen said. “He’s highly competent, both as an investigator and as a protector. He’ll keep her safe. Count on it.”
Thrawn was silent another moment. Then he gave a microscopic nod. “Very well. How do you intend to get her to the mine?”
“I’ll take her to Dennogra and put her and Gudry aboard the regional planet-hopper,” Yularen said. “They’ll come in to Paeragosto City like any other visitors.”
“I see,” Thrawn said. He still had his doubts, Arihnda could tell. But he also knew he had limited power over what an Imperial governor did, especially when that governor already had ISB’s blessing. “Time frame?”
“We can have her to Dennogra and back to Batonn in twelve hours.” Yularen glanced at his chrono. “That should get her to Creekpath about two hours before sunset, local time.” He nodded behind him. “From the looks of your light cruisers, I doubt you’d be ready to take any action before then anyway.”
Arihnda pursed her lips. Yularen was right on that score, certainly. Their corvette had passed close to one of the cruisers on their way in, and the damaged ship’s entire flank was a solid mass of maintenance tugs and huge repair barges. From what they’d seen of the other two cruisers, positioned far from the Chimaera where they’d be out of the way of any firefights, those weren’t in any better shape.
“The cruisers were more heavily damaged in the ion cannon attack than was first thought,” Thrawn conceded. “Still, their state of repair is largely irrelevant, as they would be of little use in a ground assault.”
“Unless Nightswan also has a space component to his plan,” Yularen warned. “Remember that Admiral Kinshara reported most of the insurgents’ ships had already left Denash when the Hundred Twenty-Fifth arrived.”
“That report merely repeated the statements of his prisoners,” Thrawn reminded him. “The presence or number of insurgent ships that were in the system has yet to be independently confirmed.”
“Maybe,” Yularen said. “You’ll still want to keep a close watch on the sky.”
“I always do, Colonel,” Thrawn assured him with a small smile. “For the record, I disapprove of Governor Pryce’s plan, on both safety and effectiveness issues. However, as I am sure she is prepared to remind me, Batonn and Paeragosto City are not yet considered full military zones, which limits my authority over her movements there.”
“And yet, disapproving or not, I know I can count on your instant assistance if there’s trouble,” Arihnda said. Her long years of political combat had taught her that being gracious in victory never hurt. “For that, Admiral, I thank you.”
Thrawn inclined his head to her. “Governor.” He looked at Yularen. “Will you be returning to the Chimaera after you take Governor Pryce and Agent Gudry to Dennogra?”
“Sadly, I have urgent business elsewhere,” Yularen said. “But I trust we’ll meet again soon.”
“I will look forward to it,” Thrawn said. “You will provide the comms and data collectors that Governor Pryce and Agent Gudry will need?”
“Yes, and I’ll coordinate with Commander Vanto on frequencies and passcodes,” Yularen said.
“Very well.” Thrawn again inclined his head to Arihnda. “Success with your mission, Governor. Be cautious, and be safe.”
“And bring back useful data,” Yularen added. “Better yet, see if you can take down the shield. Make things a lot simpler.”
“Don’t worry,” Arihnda assured both of them. “We’ll do our best.”
—
“…and the passcodes will decrypt anything they send back,” Yularen said, handing Eli a data card as they walked toward the hangar bay.
“Thank you,” Eli said, slipping the card into his datapad and giving it a quick check. Everything seemed to be in order. “I presume you want this kept isolated from the rest of the ship’s computer system?”
“If possible,” Yularen said. “It’s one of ISB’s best encryptions, and we really don’t want it wandering around the galaxy by itself.”
“Understood,” Eli said, pulling the card from his datapad. The docking tunnel entrance was just ahead, and Governor Pryce had already drawn away from the others, picking up her pace as she headed toward it. She really was anxious to get this mission started. “Admiral Thrawn’s already been in contact with the Imperial forces on the ground. They’ll be ready to move if and when Governor Pryce and her escort find them a soft way in.”
“Yes,” Yularen said, his voice going subtly odd. “Governor, go on in and get settled. I need a quick word with Commander Vanto.”
Pryce sent a slightly puzzled look over her shoulder but disappeared into the tunnel without comment.
“A problem, Colonel?” Eli asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” Yularen said. “Can you tell me who set up the positioning of the Chimaera and the rest of the task force?”
“I believe the admiral did that himself. Why?”
“Because it’s decidedly nonstandard,” Yularen said. “In fact, it’s borderline insane.” He gestured. “Your three light cruisers are at the corners of an equilateral triangle nearly a hundred kilometers on a side. That means they’re not only too far from your flagship, but too far from one another. None of them can support the others, and none of them are within covering range of the Chimaera.”
“They’re not exactly fit for battle at the moment,” Eli said. Still, he’d wondered about the placement himself. Thrawn’s explanation had been that he wanted plenty of space around each of the cruisers so that the huge and bulky repair barges he’d brought into the system from somewhere wouldn’t get in one another’s way.
But was that an explanation? Or was it simply an excuse?
“Their lack of combat capability is precisely my point,” Yularen said. “As I said: They can’t support the Chimaera, and the Chimaera can’t support them. They’re basically belly-up turtles surrounded and hemmed in by other belly-up turtles. A few armed ships popping out of hyperspace, and you’ll be down by one cruiser and a whole lot of support ships. Three forces attacking in unison, and all three ships and support clusters would be gone.”
“Not in unison,” Eli murmured. “They’d come in sequence. Shyrack, then Flensor, then Tumnor. They’d want to give the Chimaera just enough time to turn its turbolasers toward one cruiser before the second was attacked.”
“I see you’re learning to think tactically,” Yularen said. “The question is, why isn’t Thrawn doing the same?”
“I’m sure he is,” Eli said.
But Yularen was right on all counts. Which left only one reason Eli could think of why the cruisers had been set that far away.
They were Thrawn’s equivalent of traffic zags. Something to slow down a sneak attack by encouraging the raiders to deal with a tempting trio of outlying ships while the Chimaera came to full combat readiness.
Only the bait was helpless…which meant that any attack would instantly degenerate into a slaughter.