Heir to the Empire: Star Wars Legends (The Thrawn Trilogy)

CHAPTER 1

Captain Pellaeon? a voice called down the portside crew pit through the hum of background conversation. Message from the sentry line: the scoutships have just come out of lightspeed.

Pellaeon, leaning over the shoulder of the man at the Chimaera s bridge engineering monitor, ignored the shout. Trace this line for me, he ordered, tapping a light pen at the schematic on the display.

The engineer threw a questioning glance up at him. Sir . . . ?

I heard him, Pellaeon said. You have an order, Lieutenant.

Yes, sir, the other said carefully, and keyed for the trace.

Captain Pellaeon? the voice repeated, closer this time. Keeping his eyes on the engineering display, Pellaeon waited until he could hear the sound of the approaching footsteps. Then, with all the regal weight that fifty years spent in the Imperial Fleet gave to a man, he straightened up and turned.

The young duty officer s brisk walk faltered; came to an abrupt halt. Uh, sir He looked into Pellaeon s eyes and his voice faded away.

Pellaeon let the silence hang in the air for a handful of heartbeats, long enough for those nearest to notice. This is not a cattle market in Shaum Hii, Lieutenant Tschel, he said at last, keeping his voice calm but icy cold. This is the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Routine information is not repeat, not simply shouted in the general direction of its intended recipient. Is that clear?

Tschel swallowed. Yes, sir.

Pellaeon held his eyes a few seconds longer, then lowered his head in a slight nod. Now. Report.

Yes, sir. Tschel swallowed again. We ve just received word from the sentry ships, sir: the scouts have returned from their scan raid on the Obroa-skai system.

Very good, Pellaeon nodded. Did they have any trouble?

Only a little, sir the natives apparently took exception to them pulling a dump of their central library system. The wing commander said there was some attempt at pursuit, but that he lost

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 One, 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.