“It’s all right, Che’ri, it’s all right,” Ar’alani said. This time the soothing sounded more genuine. “We just need to get out of here, preferably faster and farther than they can easily follow us. Doesn’t matter if it takes us out of the way to get back to the Ascendancy. Helm, do you have the vector?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the pilot confirmed.

“Problem,” Wutroow said. “We’re going to have to angle outward to get to it. If we do that, we’ll be moving right into their net.”

Ar’alani pursed her lips. “Not necessarily.”

“We won’t necessarily move into their net?” Wutroow asked, frowning.

“We don’t necessarily have to angle outward,” Ar’alani corrected. Pulling out her questis, she scribbled briefly on it. “Thrawn?” she asked, handing it to him.

Thrawn peered at the questis. “The Vigilant wasn’t really designed for this kind of maneuver,” he warned as he handed the device to Wutroow. “But I think it can handle the strain.”

“What strain?” Ilparg croaked, a layer of suspicion coating the fear in his voice. “What are you proposing?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Wutroow advised, tapping the questis. Out of the corner of her eye, Thalias saw the image and data appear on one of the helm displays. “Mid Commander Octrimo?”

“I see it, ma’am,” the pilot said hesitantly. “Are you sure about this?”

“They want to take the Vigilant intact,” Ar’alani reminded him. “One way or the other, this guarantees that doesn’t happen. Execute.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Visibly bracing himself, Octrimo keyed his board.

And with a sudden muted roar as the thrusters ran to full power, the Vigilant leapt forward.

Aiming straight for the planet in front of them.

Ilparg gave a strange sort of squeal. “Admiral!” he bleated. “What are you doing?”

“Course change one,” Ar’alani said over the rumble. “Three, two, one.”

Outside the viewport Urch moved off to the left as the Vigilant shifted its vector. At least, Thalias thought dimly through the agonized pounding of blood in her head, they were now headed for the edge of the planet instead of straight toward its center. This way, the resounding crash would take a little longer to happen.

“Urchiv ships moving in pursuit,” Wutroow called from the sensor station. “Lioaoin hanging back. Nikardun…ramping up power; looks like he’s going to try to cut us off.”

“Increase speed five percent,” Ar’alani ordered. “Course change two: Three, two, one.”

The planet moved a little more to the side, and now it looked like they were only going to cut through the edge of the atmosphere. Thalias tried to remember if she’d ever heard of a Chiss Nightdragon running at high speed through a planet’s atmosphere, but she couldn’t.