Timothy Zahn - Outbound Flight

Kav shook his head. “This is too complicated for me.”

“Yes, I know,” Doriana said. “That’s why you have to leave everything to me. Everything.”

Kav rumbled something under his breath. “Very well,”

he growled. “For now. But I will be watching you.”

“You do that,” Doriana said. “Just keep in mind that your life is worth a lot more than your pride.”

“Perhaps,” Kav said. “But you say Mitthrawdo does not believe your warnings about the Jedi. How then will you convince him to destroy Outbound Flight?”

“I have more in my persuasive arsenal than just lies about the Jedi,” Doriana said. “Trust me.”

“Very well.” Kav inclined his head. “For now‘.”

Car’das had been sitting alone at the computer desk in his Springhawk quarters for three hours, struggling through pages and pages of technical Cheunh text and scans, when Thrawn finally arrived.

“My apologies for my long absence,” the commander said as the door slid shut behind him. “I trust you’ve kept yourself occupied?”

“I’ve been studying the tech teams’ reports as you requested,” Car’das said stiffly, turning back to the computer. It was rude, he knew, but he wasn’t in a very hospitable mood right now.

“And?”

“And what?”

“Your assessment of the Trade Federation’s capabilities?” Thrawn asked patiently.

Car’das sighed, feeling like a ship with a misfiring gyro. Right before the battle Thrawn had accused him of lying about widespread Republic slavery; and then, right after the battle, he’d accused him of being a spy for the Federation. Now he wanted a military assessment from him? “Those droid starfighters are top-line weapons,” he growled. “I read a report a few months ago speculating that the only reason they didn’t completely wipe out their attackers at Naboo was that having to control all those ground troops at the same time overloaded the computer systems and made the starfighter control more sluggish than it should have been. Here, they weren’t running any ground troops. In my humble civilian’s opinion, if you hadn’t knocked out their communications the way you did, they’d have cut us to ribbons.”

“Agreed,” Thrawn said. “Fortunately, Expansionary Fleet vessels are equipped with more powerful transmitters than those of the regular Defense Fleet forces, since we seldom have a normal colony system’s network of boosters and repeaters to draw on. What about Vicelord Kav and Commander Stratis personally?”

“Why are you even asking me this?” Car’das demanded, giving up and swiveling around to face him. “I thought you didn’t trust me.”

Thrawn shook his head. “Not at all,” he said. “If you and your companions were spies, you’d have used your access to the base’s computer to study our technology and learn the locations of our worlds. Instead, you’ve merely worked onimproving your language skills. May I sit down?”

“Yes, of course,” Car’das said, scrambling out of his chair and extending a hand. Preoccupied with his own uncertainty and bruised pride, he hadn’t even noticed the utter weariness in Thrawn’s face and posture. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Thrawn assured him, waving off the proffered hand as he stepped over to the bunk and sank down onto it. “It’s simply been a very long day.”

“You look more than just tired,” Car’das commented, peering at him closely. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing serious,” Thrawn said. “I just received word that Admiral Ar’alani is on her way back.”

Car’das frowned. It had been barely five weeks since Ar’alani had taken the captured freighter away with her.

“They’re finished studying the Vagaari ship already?”

“I believe she’s cut short her role in the examination,”

Thrawn said. “That was why I made a point of accusing you of espionage in front of my warriors. After today’s events she will undoubtedly be questioning them, and I wished to have a plausible reason on record as to why you and the others were still in Chiss space. My apologies for any distress that may have caused you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Car’das said, frowning. “You think Ar’alani’s suspicious of you?”

“I have no doubt,” Thrawn said. “Particularly given the reports she’s been receiving from Crustai.”

“But who at your base would have—” Car’das broke off as a horrible thought struck him. “Thrass? Your brother?”

“Who else would have felt it necessary to keep her informed?”

“Are you saying your own brother is trying to sinkyou?” Car’das demanded, still not believing it.

“My brother cares deeply about his blood family, including me,” Thrawn said, his voice tinged with sadness. “But he’s disturbed by what he sees as my self-destructive behavior…

and as a syndic of the Eighth Ruling Family, his duty is to protect that family’s honor and position.”

“So he calls an admiral down on you?”

“If Admiral Ar’alani is here to reverse my orders, I’ll be unable to do anything that will lead to further trouble,” Thrawn pointed out. “Or so he reasons. With a single course of action he thus protects both me and the Eighth Family.”

Car’das thought about the Vagaari attack they’d witnessed, and the people pinned helplessly under fire in their hull bubbles. “And meanwhile, people like the Vagaari will be free to go their way.”

“Indeed.” Thrawn pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead. “Still, until the admiral arrives, command remains mine. What’s your impression of Vicelord Kav and Commander Stratis?”

With an effort, Car’das dragged his mind away from the images of the Vagaari’s living shields. “For starters, I don’t think Stratis is really in command. I just can’t see the Neimoidians handing their own ships over to a human that way.”

“Unless the human is somehow higher in authority than they are,” Thrawn pointed out. “Or if the human is an agent for such a person. Stratis itself is of course an assumed name.”

“Could be,” Car’das agreed. “I do think that they’re telling the truth about not being an invasion force, though. Even if their storage rings are packed to the shock webbing with battle droids, they can’t possibly have enough for a planetary occupation.”

“Then you conclude their mission is indeed to ambushthis Outbound Flight?”

“I might, if I knew what Outbound Flight was,” Car’das said. “But I’ve never heard of it, and I don’t necessarily trust Stratis’s opinions.”

Thrawn nodded. “Perhaps Qennto or Ferasi will have more information.”

“Maybe,” Car’das said. “We’re heading back to Crustai, then?”

“I need to be there to welcome Admiral Ar’alani,”

Thrawn reminded him. “My people here can finish the examination without us.”

“What if Kav and Stratis decide to kill all of them and make a run for it?”

“They won’t,” Thrawn assured him. “First of all, they can’t simply jump to hyperspace, no matter how much the vicelord might like to. Not with the Whirlwind pinning them in place.”

“Ah-ha,” Car’das said, his face warming with embarrassment. With everything else that had happened, he’d completely forgotten the cruiser Thrawn had sent off to the side before the battle began. Apparently, the Chiss techs had figured out a way to tuck the Vagaari gray projector inside a ship’s hull.

“But even if they could escape, I don’t think they would,” Thrawn continued. “Stratis very much wants me to destroy Outbound Flight for him.”

Car’das felt his eyes widen. “Is that where this is going?”

“What did you think all that talk of weaponry and dangerous Jedi was all about?” Thrawn countered.