Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy - Greater Good

CHAPTER ONE

Throughout her years in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, Admiral Ar alani had lived through more than fifty battles and smaller armed clashes. The opponents in those encounters, like the battles themselves, had varied widely. Some of them had been clever, others had been cautious, still others particularly political appointees who had been promoted far beyond their abilities had been painfully incompetent. The strategies and tactics employed had also varied, ranging from simple to obscure to screamingly violent. The battle results themselves had sometimes been mixed, sometimes inconclusive, often a defeat for the enemy, and occasionally a defeat for the Chiss.

But never in all that time had Ar alani experienced such a mix of determination, viciousness, and utter pointlessness as in the scene now unfolding in front of her.

Watch it, Vigilant you ve got four more coming at you from starboard-nadir. The voice of Senior Captain Xodlak in daro came from the Vigilant s bridge speaker, her resonant alto glacially calm as always.

Acknowledged, Grayshrike, Ar alani called back, looking at the tactical. Four more Nikardun gunboats had indeed appeared from around the small moon, driving at full power toward the Vigilant. Looks like you have a few latecomers to your party, as well, she added.

We re on it, ma am, Lakinda said.

Good, Ar alani said, studying the six missile boats that had appeared from behind the hulk of the battle cruiser she and the other two Chiss ships had hammered into rubble fifteen minutes ago. Sneaking into cover that way without being spotted had taken some ingenuity, and many commanders with that level of competence would have used their skill to exercise the better part of valor and abandon such a clearly hopeless battle.

But that wasn t what these last pockets of Nikardun resistance were about. They were about complete self-sacrifice, throwing themselves at the Chiss warships that had rooted them from

Timothy Zahn is the author of more than sixty novels, nearly ninety short stories and novelettes, and four short-fiction collections. In 1984, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novella. Zahn is best known for his Star Wars novels (Thrawn, Thrawn: Alliances, Thrawn: Treason, Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future, Survivor's Quest, Outbound Flight, Allegiance, Choices of Onel, and Scoundrels), with more than eight million copies of his books in print. Other books include StarCraft: Evolution, the Cobra series, the Quadrail series, and the young adult Dragonback series. Zahn has a BS in physics from Michigan State University and an MS from the University of Illinois. He lives with his family on the Oregon coast.