Star Wars: Tarkin by James Luceno

Author:James Luceno [Luceno, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Novela, Ciencia ficción
Publisher: ePubLibre
Published: 2014-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

DARTH SIDIOUS WAS ANNOYED about having been disturbed from his meditations at the shrine. By the time he ascended to the pinnacle of the Palace spire to meet with Mas Amedda, he was ready to take someone’s head off.

“Must I attend to every trivial matter, Vizier?”

“I apologize, my lord. But I believe you will want to attend to this one.”

Sidious eyed him for a moment. “Murkhana,” he said in arrant disgust.

The Chagrian bowed his horned head in acknowledgment. “Just so, my lord.”

Sidious took to his tall-backed chair while Amedda readied the table’s holoprojector, then moved to stand silently by the window-wall. In the hologram that emerged, several members of Military Intelligence and the Imperial Security Bureau were grouped before a positioning grid in one of the ISB’s situation rooms.

“My Lord Emperor,” Harus Ison of ISB began, “I’m sorry—”

“Reserve your apologies for when they are most needed, Deputy Director,” Sidious said.

“Of course, my lord.” Ison swallowed hard and found his voice. “We thought it prudent to appraise you of recent developments on Murkhana.”

“I’m well aware that Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin found and investigated the cache of communications devices.”

“Of course, my lord,” Ison said. “But we have since received a subspace transmission from Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin informing us that the Carrion Spike has been seized.”

Sidious sat straighter in the chair. “Seized?”

“Yes, my lord. From a landing field on Murkhana—by unknown parties.”

Sidious used the chair’s armrest controls to mute the audiovisual feeds and swiveled to Amedda. “Why have I heard nothing of this from Lord Vader?”

“Without the Carrion Spike, neither Lord Vader nor Governor Tarkin has access to the Imperial HoloNet or other suitably encrypted communications devices. The first subspace message originated from the ambassador’s residence in Murkhana City. The second was sent from a starship in the Murkhana system.”

“Lord Vader has procured a replacement ship?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Sidious re-enabled the holofeeds to the situation room. “Proceed with your report, Deputy Director.”

Ison bowed his head once more. “Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin have commandeered the starship of a local crime lord and are in pursuit of the Carrion Spike. In their most recent transmission, they stated that they were jumping the commandeered ship to the Fial system, Coreward of Murkhana, though still far removed from the Perlemian Trade Route.”

“Do we have a military presence in that system?”

Vice Admiral Rancit stepped forward to address it. “No, my lord, we don’t. We do, however, have a presence in the Belderone system, which is nearby.”

“My lord, if I may interrupt briefly,” Ison said.

Sidious motioned with his right hand.

“My lord, most of the star systems in that region of the Tion Cluster lack hyperspace relay stations. Given the likelihood that the ship Lord Vader commandeered has only a standard navicomputer, he and Governor Tarkin will be forced to navigate buoy-to-buoy.”

“Your point?”

“Only that we face a hopeless task in trying to establish a rendezvous while the pursuit is in progress.”

Sidious swiveled the chair slightly. “Vice Admiral Rancit?”

“Military Intelligence is even now calculating and prioritizing possible jump and egress points in those local systems, and on into the Nilgaard sector.

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