Che’ri’s shoulder muscles went rock-hard beneath Thalias’s fingers. “No,” she breathed. “They…no.”
“Don’t worry, they won’t,” Ar’alani said. She hesitated a moment, then rose from the command chair and walked over to Che’ri’s navigation station. “You had trouble getting into this system, Sky-walker Che’ri,” she said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry,” Che’ri breathed. “It was just—”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Ar’alani said, a distracted sort of soothing drifting across the tightness of her voice. “I’m not blaming you—this part of the Chaos is particularly nasty to navigate. My question is, just how solidly are we blocked in?”
“In other words,” Thrawn added, coming up beside Ar’alani, “are there particular exit vectors that would get us out faster and easier than any of the other routes?”
“Just take your time and think, Che’ri,” Thalias said. “Being right is better than being fast.”
She felt Che’ri take a deep breath, watched the girl’s hands move hesitantly across the controls and small displays of her board. “This way,” she said, moving her finger to a line about thirty degrees from the Vigilant’s current heading.
“That’s not the way we came in,” Ar’alani said.
“Because we would have had to circle around even more,” Che’ri said, some pleading in her voice. “And there were some big asteroids in the way. Ambassador Ilparg was already mad at me for how long it was taking—”
“It’s all right, Che’ri, it’s all right,” Ar’alani said. This time the soothing sounded more genuine. “We just need to get out of here, preferably faster and farther than they can easily follow us. Doesn’t matter if it takes us out of the way to get back to the Ascendancy. Helm, do you have the vector?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the pilot confirmed.
“Problem,” Wutroow said. “We’re going to have to angle outward to get to it. If we do that, we’ll be moving right into their net.”
Ar’alani pursed her lips. “Not necessarily.”
“We won’t necessarily move into their net?” Wutroow asked, frowning.
“We don’t necessarily have to angle outward,” Ar’alani corrected. Pulling out her questis, she scribbled briefly on it. “Thrawn?” she asked, handing it to him.
Thrawn peered at the questis. “The Vigilant wasn’t really designed for this kind of maneuver,” he warned as he handed the device to Wutroow. “But I think it can handle the strain.”
“What strain?” Ilparg croaked, a layer of suspicion coating the fear in his voice. “What are you proposing?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Wutroow advised, tapping the questis. Out of the corner of her eye, Thalias saw the image and data appear on one of the helm displays. “Mid Commander Octrimo?”
“I see it, ma’am,” the pilot said hesitantly. “Are you sure about this?”
“They want to take the Vigilant intact,” Ar’alani reminded him. “One way or the other, this guarantees that doesn’t happen. Execute.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Visibly bracing himself, Octrimo keyed his board.
And with a sudden muted roar as the thrusters ran to full power, the Vigilant leapt forward.
Aiming straight for the planet in front of them.
Ilparg gave a strange sort of squeal. “Admiral!” he bleated. “What are you doing?”
“Course change one,” Ar’alani said over the rumble. “Three, two, one.”
Outside the viewport Urch moved off to the left as the Vigilant shifted its vector. At least, Thalias thought dimly through the agonized pounding of blood in her head, they were now headed for the edge of the planet instead of straight toward its center. This way, the resounding crash would take a little longer to happen.
“Urchiv ships moving in pursuit,” Wutroow called from the sensor station. “Lioaoin hanging back. Nikardun…ramping up power; looks like he’s going to try to cut us off.”
“Increase speed five percent,” Ar’alani ordered. “Course change two: Three, two, one.”
The planet moved a little more to the side, and now it looked like they were only going to cut through the edge of the atmosphere. Thalias tried to remember if she’d ever heard of a Chiss Nightdragon running at high speed through a planet’s atmosphere, but she couldn’t.
“Urchiv ships picking up speed,” Wutroow announced. “But unless they’ve got a lot more in reserve, there’s no way they can catch us. Ah—they’ve figured that out. Dropping back.”
“Any sign of intercept craft from the surface or behind the disk?” Ar’alani asked.
“Nothing detectable,” Wutroow said. “At this point—”
She broke off as the Vigilant gave a sudden lurch. “Entering atmosphere, Admiral,” Octrimo said. “Cutting deeper; hull temperature starting to rise. No danger yet.”
But there would be, Thalias knew. Her physics classes were only a vague memory, but she remembered enough to know there were good reasons why ships didn’t move through planetary atmospheres at this speed.
“What about the Nikardun?” Ar’alani asked.
“A little unclear—the turbulence is interfering with the sensors,” Wutroow said. “But I think he’s falling behind, too.”
The buffeting was growing stronger. Thalias knew she should find a seat and strap in, but she could sense Che’ri’s fear and didn’t want to abandon the girl. She could almost hear the Vigilant groaning under the unfamiliar stresses and heat and pressure.
Imagination, of course. But still she could hear the ship’s agony…
“Last course change,” Ar’alani said abruptly into the muted cacophony. “Sky-walker, get ready.”
“I am,” Che’ri said, her voice trembling.
“Course change: Three, two, one.”
Octrimo keyed his board, and the Vigilant angled away from the planet one final time. The battering began to lessen.
And suddenly the haziness around the stars cleared, and the groaning faded away. They were again in the welcome vacuum of space, driving hard along the vector Che’ri had pointed them to. The seconds ticked by, the Vigilant driving ever harder toward the distant stars.
“Clear for hyperspace,” Octrimo announced.