Chapter 16
They exited luminar travel, and before them, their prize awaited. Yaga Minor. Its defenses were even smaller then their usual.
After his disgrace during the catastrophic convoy attack, Dervong was barely holding his anger in check. The commander who disgraced him shall pay.
"The infidels are launching fighters commander." snarled the Vong stationed at the sensors.
"Coralskipper groups are launched." came a report.
"Full speed, lets cleanse the universe of this infidels." snarled Dervong.
"Additional ships entering the system." said another Vong. "They number one star destroyer, and five minor ships."
"Our diversion was sucessful. Order our frigates and corvettes to take care of the smaller starships, our destroyers shall take care of the larger defenses." ordered Dervong.
The leiutenant slapped his hands on their opposite shoulders, bowed, and proceeded the order.
"Captain, how much before we exit hyperspace?" said Pelleaon for the first time since he came on the command bridge.
"Approximately twenty seconds sir." answered Ardiff quietly.
"Very good. Carry on." said Pelleaon. Somehow, he felt it in his bones that this battle would be different. He probably got excited about the call he recieved from Organa Solo. Nothing more.
Lines turned into points of light on a black background, and infront of them, Yaga Minor and its defending fleet stood against what seemed to be a swarm of asteroids.
"Order our escort to concentrate on frigate and cruiser analogs. Launch all TIE squadrons. Full speed ahead."
The two forces clashed, and caught between the titans, TIE fighters and Coralskippers blazed around, hoping that in someway they could topple the odds on their side.
Another assault frigate ended its life in a fiery show of sparks.
"TIE Bomber squadron Lota, preform a Concussion run on the corvette in sector 4, TIE Fighter squadrons Alpha and Beta, fire with quad-mode shots at the following coordinates, 2-9-2." said Pelleaon. The squadrons fired volley after volley of laser fire, and a wave of missiles flew unnoticed toward the corvette analog, delivering the death blow.
"Good work. Captain..." continued Pelleaon, but was interuppted by the sensor officer who called out from the crew pit.
"Admiral, ships exiting hyperspace in sector six."
"Identification?" requested Pelleaon.
"Counting two Strike-class cruisers the 'Storm' and 'Lightning', two Lancer-class frigates the 'Warhammer' and 'Trident', and one modifyed Nebulon-B frigate... the 'Reaper', sir."
"Hail them, inform them to cover our flank while we deal the main blow."
"Sir, they arent responding to our hailing."
"Is my admiral ships ready captain?" said Thrawn, his voice deadly cool.
"The 'Reaper' is fully under your command sir." automaticaly replied Cayel.
"Good. Revert to realspace at will." nodded Thrawn.
"Reverting to real space... stand by." said the navigation officer from the crew pit. Lines turned to points of light. They have arrived.
"Shields up! Sensor report?" said Cayel.
"Reading four Imperial class-star destroyers, and about twenty minor starships. Vong ship count... estimated five destroyer analogs, and about thirty minor starship analogs."
"Pelleaon is a little short of ships it seems." noted Cayel.
"Yes indeed. We have arrived in time. Ignore Imperial forces captain."
"Ignore them?"
"The last thing we want after our little exibition in that convoy attack is more proof of my existance. Let the rebels cling to false hopes, they will fall easier."
"As you wish admiral."
As Cayel stared out from the wiew point at their fleet, Lomeir walked aboard the bridge. He was clad in his black pants as usual, only with the addition of a black blouse, which was unbuttoned at the top. His crystal sword was at his side as usual.
"Greetings admiral, captain." he nodded.
"Greetings leiutenant." said Thrawn.
They didnt speak another word, they both knew what they had to do. Only question was who's assigment was more unpleasant. Thrawn turned to face the starfield, gazing out at the Vong swarm. He suddenly thought of Pelleaon aboard the 'Chimaera'. Pelleaon. He wondered how did his old second-in-command handle things after the disaster at Bibirlingi... apparently he had done well. The Yuuzhan Vong would learn the lesson. As would the arrogantly self-proclaimed New Republic.
"Order the 'Warhammer' and 'Trident' to assume drawed flank formation, then order 'Storm' and 'Lightning' to assume line formation with the 'Reaper'" said Thrawn to the communication officer who was somewhere in the crew pit. Soon, the confirmation came in and Thrawn's ships were set in a crude W formation.
"Order 'Storm' to attack the corvette analog to the right!" said Cayel.
"Disregard that order. Lancer frigates, concentrate your fire on Coralskippers, all ships extend your inertial compensator." interrupted Thrawn.
"Admiral?" said Cayel in suprise. Such a clear target should have been exploited, not wasted.
"Tell me captain. Look at that two frigate analogs over there... and the two destroyer analogs creeping in the background there... and you shall know why I dismissed your target." said Thrawn.
"A trap?" asked Cayel in suprise.
"Yes, indeed. A cleverly devised one, but rather primitive in the core." explained Thrawn with a smile on his lips.
"Shall we change course in order to avoid the trap sir?" said Cayel.
"Remember captain, a trap is a double-edged sword. You never know if your prey will fall for it, until the last moment." Thrawn finished, his red eyes blazing.
"Then what do you suggest?" asked Cayel dumbly.
"Time to play the aces from our sleeves captain." said Thrawn, then ordered: "All ships, full speed, pretend we are going to assail the corvette, maintain formation."
"Should we prepare torpedoes?"
"Assuming we still have any. Im afraid I got a bit... over zealous in the use of the torpedoes." Thrawn smiled.
Cayel checked his datapad, it took him four seconds to find the information.
"We still have twelve torpedoes admiral." he informed Thrawn.
"Prepare them for firing." Thrawn said, and rotated his head slightly to face Lomeir, who was standing infront of the wiewpoint with a blank expression on his face. Thrawn nodded to Lomeir, and he nodded back absently.
He understood. And he streched out with his feelings, feeling the delicate net combining all those minds. Slowly and with great strain, he tried and tried.
"Phantom squadron, launch as soon as possible." said Thrawn
"As you wish admiral." replied Kowes.
Kowes switched his comm frequency to his squads frequency, and continued: "Phantom boys, this is Phantom lead. Launch." ordered Kowes, starting the engines of his V-38, activating shield and laser systems. Soon they were out in space.
"Phantoms, report in." ordered Kowes.
"Phantom 2 ready." said Kowas.
"Phantom 3 ready." said Kowis.
"Two, brake off to the left, clear as much skips as you can, three, same orders, brake to the right." said Kowes, and pulled his stick not bothering to acknownledge the confirments. A target came into wiew, three coralskippers vectoring in on the 'Warhammer' which was recieving and delivering a fair amount of pounding. Pressing his secondary fire button, he released a volley of low-powered shots, instantly pressing his primary fire button. While his secondary fire was quad-mode, low-powered shots, his primary was high-powered shots. The skip's dovin basal was straining to suck in laser shots, and missed most of the high-power ones. The skip blew to pieces of yoorik coral.
"Phantom leader, skip at 6-7-6 vectoring in on you." crackled the comm.
Kowes waited, and flew straight, the second skip of the group he was chasing in his target sight. He let loose a volley of quad shots, when Kowis spoke over the comm.
"Lead, evade."
"Three, move in and clear my six." said Kowes and rolled right. The deadly barrage of plasma fire meant for him slammed into the skip infront of him, sending the Vong fighter into death's waiting hands. Something exploded behind him.
"Good work three. Vector in on the target at 3-4-2."
"Roger lead."
They continued their death dance.
"Sir, they are launching fighters." called out the sensor officer from the crew pit.
"ID?"
"Three fighters, designated Phantom 1, 2, 3. Looks like clutches sir."
"Log in on their comm frequency." Palleaon said.
"Yes sir."
Pelleaon nodded. Then fixed his gaze on the little starfighters. The comm crackled and three apparently identical voices spoke. It was not the usual banter you can hear from starfighter pilots, it was cold, calculated and deadly. Something was strange with those starfighters... Explosions bursted out there, all starfighters apparently survived. The lead starfighter vectored in on some skips going for the Lancer... he took out one, then stopped all evading manuevers, lashing out with bursts of shots at the second skip,allowing one skip to get on his tail and release a deadly barrage of plasma fire. Somehow, the lead fighter rolled right, and the barrage meant to tear him apart destroyed the skip he was targeting. Another starfighter got on the skips six, and destroyed it.
"What are those starships doing?"
"Apparently sir, they are going after that corvette there."
Pelleaon frowned. The corvette was an obvious target, but something was wrong. 'Observe all aspects of the problem. With a little imagination they can be turned into useful levers.' grand admiral Thrawn said to him so many years ago.
"Torpedo control, prepare to fire two torpedoes at coordinates 2-1-12, and at 9-11-12 on my mark." said Thrawn coldly, then continued. "order cruisers 'Storm' and 'Lightning' to concentrate their fire on the frigate analogs that are flanking that corvette analog. Lancers 'Warhammer' and 'Trident' concentrate your fire on those destroyer analogs when the corvette is destroyed. Until then all ships pretend we are falling for their trap."
"Turbolaser turret and Quad batteries control, fire on the corvette when we have reached two point zero clicks." said Thrawn.
Slowly, the ship formation came into range, and the 'Reaper' started spitting deadly fire on the corvette's. They came even closer, and then the frigate's started unnoticably moving toward the ships that fell in their trap. Or so they belived. "Torpedo control, mark." ordered Thrawn coldly. Two torpedoes rushed toward the corvette, whose dovin basals were strained to the breaking point with overwhelming fire coming from the 'Reaper'. The corvette exploded, and the prey turned into the hunter.
"Torpedo control, extraordinary work, prepare to fire another two torpedoes at coordinates: 10-10-11 and 1-1-11 on my mark. Turbolaser and Quad laser control, maximum firepower at the left destroyer analog. Engineering, full speed."
Thrawn's ships flew toward the Vong living bio ships, deadly fire blazing from all weapons in sharp formation, unnoticed by all except Thrawn, Phantom squadron devastated the coraskipper swarm.
"Lead, this is three, heavy fire in sector two, skip activity increasing in sector four. Permission to take two and clean up a bit?" cooly said Kowis over the comm.
"Permission granted." boomed Kowes over the comm, and at the same time sending another coralskipper to his gods.
The two Phantoms vectored in juking and rolling in effort to avoid deadly plasma fire, and unleashing volleys of laser fire. They acted in complete symphony, they acted as one. Perfection.
Flying in perfect line formation, the two Phantoms chased after another coralskipper group.
"Phantom boys, watch your six." ordered Kowes.
"Lead, how about Devil manuever?" Kowas interrupted, annoyed with constantly having to evade the insignificant skips.
"Will do, on my mark. Mark." boomed Kowes.
Suddenly, Phantom 2 and 3 broke left and right, forcing the three skips to pick which to follow, they moved in, cannons spitting deadly fire, but that couldnt save them from Phantom lead, who vectored in on them and released a volley of high-power shots, taking out two out of three skips. Phantom two mopped up the rest.
"Navigation, rotate us twelve degree's starboard. Torpedo control, mark." ordered Thrawn. Cayel quietly stood in the background, thinking about the recent events. In less then a month, Thrawn had doubled his fleet, obtained a functional cloning stronghold, and scored a series of stunning victories, beating the odds time and again. A beep on his datapad returned him to the present, a gaze through the wiewport told him that the Vong attack was all but annhiliated, leaving only one destroyer analog in so-to-say functional condition. With a light smile, Cayel raised his datapad, and opened the newly-arrived report. His smile dropped immidiately. He carefully walked toward Thrawn's chair, the admiral was cold and confident, but this would disturb even him. Cayel came closer, and quietly spoke to Thrawn: "Admiral?"
"Yes captain?" boomed Thrawn in his usual emotionless tone.
"We have some problems on Iridonia. A report just came in." said Cayel, mentally preparing for the explosion.
"Explain." Thrawn said in a deadly tone.
"It seems that a faulty cloning cylinder malfunctioned, probably from the moisture in the fort, damage report estimates over fifty percent of the cloning cylinders are disabled, and approximately twenty percent are destroyed forever." Cayel gulped.
"An unfortunate turn of events. We shall deal with that as soon as we are finished here." Thrawn waved with his hand in dismissial.
"Navigation, calculate course for the Hoth system." ordered Thrawn grimly.
"Admiral?" asked Cayel in suprise. A habit he seemed to use more and more.
"Frigate's 'Warhammer' and 'Trident', set course for the Hoth system, and enter hyperspace when ready." Thrawn cooly said, and gently grasped his chin with his index finger and thumb of his right hand, while he thought.
"All ships, fire on the last remaining frigate, the rest of the Vong fleet doesnt concern us." he ordered.
"Sir, we are ready to go to lightspeed at your mark." reported Cayel.
"Very good captain." answered Thrawn.
It was all over in five minutes, and the forces under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn were racing toward Hoth.
* * *
"Admiral?" said Ardiff for the first time since the mysterious ships destroyed half of the Vong armada.
"I saw it captain. Calculate their jump coordinates." Pelleaon said, subconciously smoothing his mustache with his left hand.
Ardiff nodded to the navigation officer in the crew pit to do it.
"Sensors, I want a report on the Vong ships out there."
"Yes Admiral." acknownledged the appropriate officer from the crew pit.
"Admiral, the Vong count one destroyer analog, less then twenty minor starships. Coralskippers... sir, they are all gone."
"Impossible. Such a small squadron couldnt possibly destroy that much coralskippers without suffering casualties." said Ardiff.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I..." Pelleaon started, but was interrupted by the navigation officer.
"Admiral, they made a jump for the Hoth system."
"Hoth... I wonder why Hoth..." said Pelleaon, then continued: "We shall deal with this later, Helm, full speed."
They exited luminar travel, and before them, their prize awaited. Yaga Minor. Its defenses were even smaller then their usual.
After his disgrace during the catastrophic convoy attack, Dervong was barely holding his anger in check. The commander who disgraced him shall pay.
"The infidels are launching fighters commander." snarled the Vong stationed at the sensors.
"Coralskipper groups are launched." came a report.
"Full speed, lets cleanse the universe of this infidels." snarled Dervong.
"Additional ships entering the system." said another Vong. "They number one star destroyer, and five minor ships."
"Our diversion was sucessful. Order our frigates and corvettes to take care of the smaller starships, our destroyers shall take care of the larger defenses." ordered Dervong.
The leiutenant slapped his hands on their opposite shoulders, bowed, and proceeded the order.
"Captain, how much before we exit hyperspace?" said Pelleaon for the first time since he came on the command bridge.
"Approximately twenty seconds sir." answered Ardiff quietly.
"Very good. Carry on." said Pelleaon. Somehow, he felt it in his bones that this battle would be different. He probably got excited about the call he recieved from Organa Solo. Nothing more.
Lines turned into points of light on a black background, and infront of them, Yaga Minor and its defending fleet stood against what seemed to be a swarm of asteroids.
"Order our escort to concentrate on frigate and cruiser analogs. Launch all TIE squadrons. Full speed ahead."
The two forces clashed, and caught between the titans, TIE fighters and Coralskippers blazed around, hoping that in someway they could topple the odds on their side.
Another assault frigate ended its life in a fiery show of sparks.
"TIE Bomber squadron Lota, preform a Concussion run on the corvette in sector 4, TIE Fighter squadrons Alpha and Beta, fire with quad-mode shots at the following coordinates, 2-9-2." said Pelleaon. The squadrons fired volley after volley of laser fire, and a wave of missiles flew unnoticed toward the corvette analog, delivering the death blow.
"Good work. Captain..." continued Pelleaon, but was interuppted by the sensor officer who called out from the crew pit.
"Admiral, ships exiting hyperspace in sector six."
"Identification?" requested Pelleaon.
"Counting two Strike-class cruisers the 'Storm' and 'Lightning', two Lancer-class frigates the 'Warhammer' and 'Trident', and one modifyed Nebulon-B frigate... the 'Reaper', sir."
"Hail them, inform them to cover our flank while we deal the main blow."
"Sir, they arent responding to our hailing."
"Is my admiral ships ready captain?" said Thrawn, his voice deadly cool.
"The 'Reaper' is fully under your command sir." automaticaly replied Cayel.
"Good. Revert to realspace at will." nodded Thrawn.
"Reverting to real space... stand by." said the navigation officer from the crew pit. Lines turned to points of light. They have arrived.
"Shields up! Sensor report?" said Cayel.
"Reading four Imperial class-star destroyers, and about twenty minor starships. Vong ship count... estimated five destroyer analogs, and about thirty minor starship analogs."
"Pelleaon is a little short of ships it seems." noted Cayel.
"Yes indeed. We have arrived in time. Ignore Imperial forces captain."
"Ignore them?"
"The last thing we want after our little exibition in that convoy attack is more proof of my existance. Let the rebels cling to false hopes, they will fall easier."
"As you wish admiral."
As Cayel stared out from the wiew point at their fleet, Lomeir walked aboard the bridge. He was clad in his black pants as usual, only with the addition of a black blouse, which was unbuttoned at the top. His crystal sword was at his side as usual.
"Greetings admiral, captain." he nodded.
"Greetings leiutenant." said Thrawn.
They didnt speak another word, they both knew what they had to do. Only question was who's assigment was more unpleasant. Thrawn turned to face the starfield, gazing out at the Vong swarm. He suddenly thought of Pelleaon aboard the 'Chimaera'. Pelleaon. He wondered how did his old second-in-command handle things after the disaster at Bibirlingi... apparently he had done well. The Yuuzhan Vong would learn the lesson. As would the arrogantly self-proclaimed New Republic.
"Order the 'Warhammer' and 'Trident' to assume drawed flank formation, then order 'Storm' and 'Lightning' to assume line formation with the 'Reaper'" said Thrawn to the communication officer who was somewhere in the crew pit. Soon, the confirmation came in and Thrawn's ships were set in a crude W formation.
"Order 'Storm' to attack the corvette analog to the right!" said Cayel.
"Disregard that order. Lancer frigates, concentrate your fire on Coralskippers, all ships extend your inertial compensator." interrupted Thrawn.
"Admiral?" said Cayel in suprise. Such a clear target should have been exploited, not wasted.
"Tell me captain. Look at that two frigate analogs over there... and the two destroyer analogs creeping in the background there... and you shall know why I dismissed your target." said Thrawn.
"A trap?" asked Cayel in suprise.
"Yes, indeed. A cleverly devised one, but rather primitive in the core." explained Thrawn with a smile on his lips.
"Shall we change course in order to avoid the trap sir?" said Cayel.
"Remember captain, a trap is a double-edged sword. You never know if your prey will fall for it, until the last moment." Thrawn finished, his red eyes blazing.
"Then what do you suggest?" asked Cayel dumbly.
"Time to play the aces from our sleeves captain." said Thrawn, then ordered: "All ships, full speed, pretend we are going to assail the corvette, maintain formation."
"Should we prepare torpedoes?"
"Assuming we still have any. Im afraid I got a bit... over zealous in the use of the torpedoes." Thrawn smiled.
Cayel checked his datapad, it took him four seconds to find the information.
"We still have twelve torpedoes admiral." he informed Thrawn.
"Prepare them for firing." Thrawn said, and rotated his head slightly to face Lomeir, who was standing infront of the wiewpoint with a blank expression on his face. Thrawn nodded to Lomeir, and he nodded back absently.
He understood. And he streched out with his feelings, feeling the delicate net combining all those minds. Slowly and with great strain, he tried and tried.
"Phantom squadron, launch as soon as possible." said Thrawn
"As you wish admiral." replied Kowes.
Kowes switched his comm frequency to his squads frequency, and continued: "Phantom boys, this is Phantom lead. Launch." ordered Kowes, starting the engines of his V-38, activating shield and laser systems. Soon they were out in space.
"Phantoms, report in." ordered Kowes.
"Phantom 2 ready." said Kowas.
"Phantom 3 ready." said Kowis.
"Two, brake off to the left, clear as much skips as you can, three, same orders, brake to the right." said Kowes, and pulled his stick not bothering to acknownledge the confirments. A target came into wiew, three coralskippers vectoring in on the 'Warhammer' which was recieving and delivering a fair amount of pounding. Pressing his secondary fire button, he released a volley of low-powered shots, instantly pressing his primary fire button. While his secondary fire was quad-mode, low-powered shots, his primary was high-powered shots. The skip's dovin basal was straining to suck in laser shots, and missed most of the high-power ones. The skip blew to pieces of yoorik coral.
"Phantom leader, skip at 6-7-6 vectoring in on you." crackled the comm.
Kowes waited, and flew straight, the second skip of the group he was chasing in his target sight. He let loose a volley of quad shots, when Kowis spoke over the comm.
"Lead, evade."
"Three, move in and clear my six." said Kowes and rolled right. The deadly barrage of plasma fire meant for him slammed into the skip infront of him, sending the Vong fighter into death's waiting hands. Something exploded behind him.
"Good work three. Vector in on the target at 3-4-2."
"Roger lead."
They continued their death dance.
"Sir, they are launching fighters." called out the sensor officer from the crew pit.
"ID?"
"Three fighters, designated Phantom 1, 2, 3. Looks like clutches sir."
"Log in on their comm frequency." Palleaon said.
"Yes sir."
Pelleaon nodded. Then fixed his gaze on the little starfighters. The comm crackled and three apparently identical voices spoke. It was not the usual banter you can hear from starfighter pilots, it was cold, calculated and deadly. Something was strange with those starfighters... Explosions bursted out there, all starfighters apparently survived. The lead starfighter vectored in on some skips going for the Lancer... he took out one, then stopped all evading manuevers, lashing out with bursts of shots at the second skip,allowing one skip to get on his tail and release a deadly barrage of plasma fire. Somehow, the lead fighter rolled right, and the barrage meant to tear him apart destroyed the skip he was targeting. Another starfighter got on the skips six, and destroyed it.
"What are those starships doing?"
"Apparently sir, they are going after that corvette there."
Pelleaon frowned. The corvette was an obvious target, but something was wrong. 'Observe all aspects of the problem. With a little imagination they can be turned into useful levers.' grand admiral Thrawn said to him so many years ago.
"Torpedo control, prepare to fire two torpedoes at coordinates 2-1-12, and at 9-11-12 on my mark." said Thrawn coldly, then continued. "order cruisers 'Storm' and 'Lightning' to concentrate their fire on the frigate analogs that are flanking that corvette analog. Lancers 'Warhammer' and 'Trident' concentrate your fire on those destroyer analogs when the corvette is destroyed. Until then all ships pretend we are falling for their trap."
"Turbolaser turret and Quad batteries control, fire on the corvette when we have reached two point zero clicks." said Thrawn.
Slowly, the ship formation came into range, and the 'Reaper' started spitting deadly fire on the corvette's. They came even closer, and then the frigate's started unnoticably moving toward the ships that fell in their trap. Or so they belived. "Torpedo control, mark." ordered Thrawn coldly. Two torpedoes rushed toward the corvette, whose dovin basals were strained to the breaking point with overwhelming fire coming from the 'Reaper'. The corvette exploded, and the prey turned into the hunter.
"Torpedo control, extraordinary work, prepare to fire another two torpedoes at coordinates: 10-10-11 and 1-1-11 on my mark. Turbolaser and Quad laser control, maximum firepower at the left destroyer analog. Engineering, full speed."
Thrawn's ships flew toward the Vong living bio ships, deadly fire blazing from all weapons in sharp formation, unnoticed by all except Thrawn, Phantom squadron devastated the coraskipper swarm.
"Lead, this is three, heavy fire in sector two, skip activity increasing in sector four. Permission to take two and clean up a bit?" cooly said Kowis over the comm.
"Permission granted." boomed Kowes over the comm, and at the same time sending another coralskipper to his gods.
The two Phantoms vectored in juking and rolling in effort to avoid deadly plasma fire, and unleashing volleys of laser fire. They acted in complete symphony, they acted as one. Perfection.
Flying in perfect line formation, the two Phantoms chased after another coralskipper group.
"Phantom boys, watch your six." ordered Kowes.
"Lead, how about Devil manuever?" Kowas interrupted, annoyed with constantly having to evade the insignificant skips.
"Will do, on my mark. Mark." boomed Kowes.
Suddenly, Phantom 2 and 3 broke left and right, forcing the three skips to pick which to follow, they moved in, cannons spitting deadly fire, but that couldnt save them from Phantom lead, who vectored in on them and released a volley of high-power shots, taking out two out of three skips. Phantom two mopped up the rest.
"Navigation, rotate us twelve degree's starboard. Torpedo control, mark." ordered Thrawn. Cayel quietly stood in the background, thinking about the recent events. In less then a month, Thrawn had doubled his fleet, obtained a functional cloning stronghold, and scored a series of stunning victories, beating the odds time and again. A beep on his datapad returned him to the present, a gaze through the wiewport told him that the Vong attack was all but annhiliated, leaving only one destroyer analog in so-to-say functional condition. With a light smile, Cayel raised his datapad, and opened the newly-arrived report. His smile dropped immidiately. He carefully walked toward Thrawn's chair, the admiral was cold and confident, but this would disturb even him. Cayel came closer, and quietly spoke to Thrawn: "Admiral?"
"Yes captain?" boomed Thrawn in his usual emotionless tone.
"We have some problems on Iridonia. A report just came in." said Cayel, mentally preparing for the explosion.
"Explain." Thrawn said in a deadly tone.
"It seems that a faulty cloning cylinder malfunctioned, probably from the moisture in the fort, damage report estimates over fifty percent of the cloning cylinders are disabled, and approximately twenty percent are destroyed forever." Cayel gulped.
"An unfortunate turn of events. We shall deal with that as soon as we are finished here." Thrawn waved with his hand in dismissial.
"Navigation, calculate course for the Hoth system." ordered Thrawn grimly.
"Admiral?" asked Cayel in suprise. A habit he seemed to use more and more.
"Frigate's 'Warhammer' and 'Trident', set course for the Hoth system, and enter hyperspace when ready." Thrawn cooly said, and gently grasped his chin with his index finger and thumb of his right hand, while he thought.
"All ships, fire on the last remaining frigate, the rest of the Vong fleet doesnt concern us." he ordered.
"Sir, we are ready to go to lightspeed at your mark." reported Cayel.
"Very good captain." answered Thrawn.
It was all over in five minutes, and the forces under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn were racing toward Hoth.
* * *
"Admiral?" said Ardiff for the first time since the mysterious ships destroyed half of the Vong armada.
"I saw it captain. Calculate their jump coordinates." Pelleaon said, subconciously smoothing his mustache with his left hand.
Ardiff nodded to the navigation officer in the crew pit to do it.
"Sensors, I want a report on the Vong ships out there."
"Yes Admiral." acknownledged the appropriate officer from the crew pit.
"Admiral, the Vong count one destroyer analog, less then twenty minor starships. Coralskippers... sir, they are all gone."
"Impossible. Such a small squadron couldnt possibly destroy that much coralskippers without suffering casualties." said Ardiff.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I..." Pelleaon started, but was interrupted by the navigation officer.
"Admiral, they made a jump for the Hoth system."
"Hoth... I wonder why Hoth..." said Pelleaon, then continued: "We shall deal with this later, Helm, full speed."