Star Wars - 104 - The Clone Wars 02 - No Prisoners by Karen Traviss

Author:Karen Traviss [Traviss, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Space Warfare, Science Fiction; English, Star Wars Fiction
ISBN: 9780345508997
Google: Jm9r4zgmfwEC
Amazon: 0345508998
Publisher: LucasBooks
Published: 2009-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

I'm a Corellian. As the saying goes, we won't be driven.

-Gilad Pellaeon

REPUBLIC ASSAULT SHIP LEVELER, JUST OUTSIDE JANFATHAL

SPACE

"safeguard, safeguard, safeguard. All hands to action stations."

Leveler was fighting for real now; the work-up seemed a lifetime ago.

Pellaeon stood on the darkened bridge, hands flat on his command console, and stared out into a void that would reveal nothing until it was too late. Intel data said the Sep ship was the light cruiser Discord, but Pellaeon now wondered if he'd trust Rep Intel to tell him the correct time of day.

"Enemy contact localized, range one-three-six-hundred, bearing, tracking

..." The principal warfare officer-Derel- was a clone, and if Pellaeon had had his way, he'd have filled all the warfare posts with them. "In range, sir."

"What do you think our Sep chums want, Derel?"

"Given that Discord is within her firing range, sir, I'd say they want us in one piece."

It would normally have been the PWO's job to decide when to engage a target. This time Pellaeon decided to fight the ship personally, and he hoped Derel wasn't offended.

"I'd go along with that," Pellaeon said. "So why hasn't the rest of the flotilla joined in? They can't possibly be that busy with JanFathal.

The place doesn't have a spacegoing navy, or else they wouldn't need us."

"Perhaps they don't think they're equipped for a fight with us. Purely opportunistic."

"Meriones? Give me that real-time chart on the large display, Lieutenant."

He tapped the kid sharply on the back of the head to get his attention. The tactical workstations were within arm's reach if he took a step left or right.

"Come on. Snap to it."

"Ready, sir."

Pellaeon rubbed his forefinger over his mustache, mind racing through the scenarios. This wasn't about winning a battle. This was about saving the ship and the shuttle, or-at very least-denying the enemy a chance to seize Leveler. She might not have been a pride of the Republic fleet, but she did have advanced weapons, and the Seps' behavior made him wonder if they knew that. The Republic certainly had agents in some CIS yards, but Kemla?

The Seps knew somehow.

They could hit us at this range. And we could hit them.

Why send just one ship after us when there's a flotilla? If they can detect the shuttle, then why don't they attack it?

Because they know we have no reason to stick around once the shuttle's gone. And it's this ship they want.

61

Pellaeon inverted the problem in his mind. The Sep ship was taking a risk by straying out here. If he engaged it, though, he'd end up taking on all of them, and Leveler would probably lose even if she was 100 percent operational. The Seps-in space, at least-were an enemy made up of idiot droids and less-than-inspired organics, but out here they had numbers on their side.

The points of light suspended in the holochart in front of him shifted a little and grabbed his attention.

"Sir, two Seps have broken away from the group and appear to be heading this way, too." Derel paused to check another screen.

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