manipulator. You have no vision, only a thirst for revenge.' Tierce's eyes darted around the bridge, as if looking for support. 'That doesn't matter,' he ground out. 'What matters is that I can do the job. I can defeat the Rebels. Just give me a little more time.'
'There is no more time,' Pellaeon said with quiet finality. 'The war is over.' He looked over at Ardiff. 'Captain Ardiff, please call a security detachment to the bridge.' He started to turn away—
And in that instant, Tierce exploded into action.
The young woman standing beside him was his first victim, doubling over in agony as Tierce swung his fist viciously down and back into her stomach. In the same motion he plucked away the blaster that had suddenly appeared in her hand, twisting around to fire a shot at the older woman as the younger collapsed to the deck. He twisted back, bringing the blaster to bear on Pellaeon. There was a flicker of movement at the corner of Pellaeon's eye—
And Tierce jerked back, screaming in rage and pain as his gun hand was slapped to the side, the shot going wide, the blaster itself flying uselessly from his grip to skitter across the deck and down into the starboard crew pit.
And from concealment around the side of the archway behind Pellaeon, gliding silently across the deck, came Shada D'ukal.
Tierce didn't even bother to pull out the lacquered zenji needle now waving bloodily from the back of his gun hand. Screaming incoherently, he hooked his fingers into predator's claws and charged.
Reflexively, Pellaeon took a step backward. But he needn't have bothered. Shada was already there, meeting Tierce halfway.
And in a blurred flurry of hands and arms, it was all over.
'Captain Dorja, call a medical team to the bridge,' Pellaeon ordered as Shada stepped over Tierce's broken body and hurried over to kneel beside the injured woman. 'Then order all Imperial forces to cease fire immediately.'
'Yes, sir,' Dorja said hesitantly. 'However...'
Flim lifted a blue-skinned hand. 'What he's trying to find words to say, Admiral, is that they'll expect any such order to come from Grand Admiral Thrawn,' he said. His voice had changed, subtly but noticeably; and as Pellaeon glanced around the bridge, he saw that they finally recognized the truth. 'If you'll permit me?'
Pellaeon gestured. 'Go ahead.'
Flim turned to the comm officer and nodded. 'This is Grand Admiral Thrawn,' he called, once again in that exquisitely perfect voice. 'All units, cease fire; repeat, cease fire. General Bel Iblis, please call on your forces to do likewise, then stand by for a transmission from Admiral Pellaeon.' He took a deep breath and let it out; and as he did so, the aura of leadership and command subtly fell away from him. He was just a man again, a man in blue makeup and a white uniform. And Grand Admiral Thrawn was once again gone.
'And may I say to you, Admiral,' he added as he walked back along the command walkway,
'how relieved I am that you're here. This whole thing has been a nightmare for me. An absolute nightmare.'
'Of course,' Pellaeon said gravely. 'We'll have to make time later for you to tell me your tale of woe.'
Flim half bowed. 'I'll look forward to that, sir.'
'Yes,' Pellaeon said, looking over at Disra. 'So will I.'
CHAPTER
42
The loud gushing sound had subsided now to a quiet sloshing as the water continued to creep its slow but steady way up the sides of the room. A sloshing sound that was being rhythmically punctuated by the splashing of chunks of rock as Luke's lightsaber carved a deepening conical pit into the top of the dome.
'I think you're wasting your time,' Mara said as the splash from a particularly large chunk echoed through the room. 'There's nothing up there but solid rock.'
'I think you're right,' Luke conceded, shifting his arm to a new spot around her shoulders and trying to hold her a little closer. Soaked clear through, they were both shivering in the cool, damp air.
'I was hoping we might be able to punch through to the main power generator area. But I guess if we haven't hit it by now, it's not there.'
'It's probably twenty meters behind us,' she said, her teeth chattering slightly. 'We'd never be able to cut through to it in time. Are your ears starting to hurt?'
