Part 33 (1/2)
Star Destroyer Chimaera to Slave I Fett, change of plan.
I need you to seize a Star Destroyer for me.
Before you ask-yes, I know that'll cost extra.
-Message from Admiral Daala to Boba Fett, awaiting orders ten standard minutes' hypers.p.a.ce jump from Fondor ANAKIN SOLO, INSIDE FONDORIAN s.p.a.cE.
Caedus felt stronger now, but the raw energy of the battle link with his commanders, built up and discharged into the minds of the Fondorian s.h.i.+eld technicians, hadn't yet returned.
Exhausted, he had to rely on the natural skill of the com-manders who'd rallied to him. Two Fondorian frigates cir-cled the Anakin Solo, pounding the s.h.i.+eld generator dome.
He was also sick of hearing Niathal's repeated signal to all GA vessels.
”... all s.h.i.+ps, Colonel Solo no longer holds command, You are to pursue and disable the Anakin Solo, or, if necessary...”
”Traitor, ”he whispered. ”Traitor... traitor!” His voice rose to a snarl. ”Traitor! Shut that comm down, Inondrar. Look at her! She thinks she's a martyr, a hero!” Caedus jumped up and stalked to a holochart showing the close view of Fondor. GA s.h.i.+ps loyal to Niathal were formed up with the Fondorian navy, blocking Caedus's fleet by form-ing a defensive barrier between Fondor and its attackers. ”She's spending our lives to s.h.i.+eld the traitors. She's throw-ing away Alliance lives. What does she think, that Fondor's going to make her a national hero now?
They'd better, be-cause she's never setting foot on Coruscant again.
Never.”
Inondrar paused and waited for him to return to his seat. ”Yes, sir.” The Anakin Solo's executive officer now filled the breach left by Captain Nevil. He was doing his best, but it wasn't enough. And when Caedus found Nevil, he was another traitor who would die. ”Sir, there's...”
”Nevil's betrayed me, too, hasn't he?”
”There's one escape pod missing, and Captain Nevil can't be found.
But...”
Caedus considered just jumping to hypers.p.a.ce and fight-ing his corner from Coruscant, but that was just fatigue talking. He had a fleet here, and the battle wasn't over.
”Save your time. I don't feel him on the s.h.i.+p.”
”Sir, the Imperial Remnant-the fleet is turning toward us, and Lieutenant Veila is comming you.”
Caedus was too thinly stretched to read much from her in the Force.
Was the Remnant rejoining the battle to finish him off? He groped around for a sense of danger, but the carnage and chaos of the engagement drowned out all detail. He was under fire on all sides.
”Lieutenant, go ahead.”
”Sir, Admiral Pellaeon is dead, and the Imperial Remnant is rejoining your forces.”
She said it calmly, as if it were a routine thing to have achieved.
A subdued ripple of approval pa.s.sed around the bridge crew. Caedus veered between prizing this loyalty and knowing that they had no choice but to fight, seeing as the Anakin was now the prime target and they were stuck in it.
But they're still here, and Nevil isn't.
Caedus gestured to Inondrar to take over, and moved to a comm station where he wouldn't be overheard.
”Did you finish the job yourself, Tahiri?”
”I... I shot him, sir.”
”You've probably saved the Galactic Alliance.”
”I didn't feel much of a savior. He was just an old man.”
But Caedus noted that she had done it anyway, no senti-mentality, no weakness. ”How do we get you back on board in the middle of this, Tahiri?”
”It's going to be difficult.”
”We'll do it. You're still in Bloodfin, yes? You'll be safe there for the time being.”
”I'm stuck in Bloodfin. The crew mutinied and the com-manders are trying to regain control. We're on emergency power-environment control only.” Tahiri seemed to lose her detachment for a moment. ”We were taking fire from other Imperial s.h.i.+ps until the Moffs called it off-they've transferred the flag. But the senior Moff commanders are all stranded here.”
”I'll come for you, Tahiri.”
”The crew can't hold those sections forever. When the fighting's over, they'll be able to send any number of s.h.i.+ps back to storm Bloodfin.”
And perhaps not be too careful who they blast when they try to get the Pellaeon loyalists out.
”I'll still come for you-when I can extract myself from this.” He could feel her now that he focused. She was un-happy, not afraid; full of doubt, but not about getting out of Bloodfin in one piece. ”Are you ashamed, Tahiri? Are you ashamed because you killed an old man?”
Tahiri didn't answer for a moment. ”It's not quite the heroic role I had in mind.”
”But you did it.”
”Yes.”
”Tahiri, in the long term, it's easier to kill a powerful enemy than it is an apparently weak one. If you bring down a giant, you're a hero. If you kill something weak-even if it has to die-then you endure contempt. Being will-ing to be despised to serve the common good...
that's the mark of a true Sith. You're going to make a fine apprentice forme, Tahiri.”
”Oh. I'm... official, then.”
Tahiri had a way with bathos that he'd thought was sim-pie ba.n.a.lity, but she seemed to use it as to defuse situations she found too awkward. Then again, she might have been subtly mocking him. ”You may call me Darth Caedus. I shall be known only by my true name from now on.”
”Yes.... my lord.”
”And I'll come for you, Tahiri. I won't abandon you.”
The tide had turned. Caedus sensed another cog turn, s.h.i.+fting every part of the whole machine of existence. The galaxy was an altered place.
The majestic power of an Imperial fleet joining his loyal s.h.i.+ps felt like the rush of energy in his veins from eating a sustaining meal after a long fast. There was something else, some other harbinger of great mechanical power and energy, but it was hard to pick it apart from the growing excitement of a fleet about to throw everything it had at the enemy.
”Sir, the senior Imperial commanders want your orders, ”Inondrar said, as if he'd repeated it several times be-fore and got no response.