Timothy Zahn - Outbound Flight

And she and her turbolift car were headed straight toward them.

Stepping away from the wall, she got a grip on her lightsaber. Whether by design or simple blind luck, Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo had made good on his threat to destroy Outbound Flight. And he had, moreover, destroyed it out from under Jorus C’baoth and the rest of the Jedi.

It was time to see how well the Chiss would do in a face-to-face confrontation.

The turbolift car came up short at the D-1 end of the pylon, blocked by a maze of support girders that had broken loose during the battle. Using the Force to augment her efforts,she pried open the car door and climbed through the twisted metal to the entrance door.

The turbolift pylons connected at the base of each of the Dreadnaughts, serving only Decks 1 and 2. The bridge was another four decks up, and under the circumstances it didn’t seem like a good idea to trust the Dreadnaught’s own internal turbolift system. Making her way to the nearest stairway, she headed up.

The door opened in front of him, and with a not-very-gentle nudge at the small of his back the pair of yellow-clad Chiss gestured Doriana forward.

He found himself on a command bridge similar to the one aboard the Springhawk, only bigger and crewed exclusively by Chiss in the same yellow uniforms as his escort. It made Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s black uniform stand out that much more in contrast as he stood in the center of the room before a Chiss in a gray-and-yellow robe. Behind Mitth’raw’nuruodo, a female Chiss dressed all in white stood at stiff attention.

The robed Chiss eyed Doriana as his escort again nudged him forward. He spat something in the Chiss language—

“ ‘So this is your collaborator,’ ” Mitth’raw’nuruodo translated.

“Hardly,” Doriana said, loading his voice with as much dignity and disdain as he could, just in case the robed Chiss was able to pick up on verbal cues. He had no idea of the details, but it was obvious that there was some kind of power struggle going on here.

And Kinman Doriana, assistant to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, was quite familiar with power struggles. “I’m an ambassador of a vast assembly of star systems called the Galactic Republic,” he intoned. “I came here on a mission of goodwill and exploration.”

He studied the robed Chiss carefully as Mitth’raw’nuruodo translated. But the other merely smiled cynically and spoke again. “ ‘You came to bring chaos and war to this region of space,’ ” Mitth’raw’nuruodo translated. “ ‘You havebrought alien weapons that you intended to use against the Chiss Ascendancy.’ ”

The robed Chiss straightened slightly as Mitth’raw’nuruodo finished and spoke again. “ ‘But you have failed. Those weapons are now the property of the Fifth Ruling Family. I, Aristocra Chaf’orm’bintrano, hereby take possession.’ ”

Doriana nodded to himself. So it was Outbound Flight and its technology that was at issue here. And he knew enough about internecine conflict to know that letting one Chiss group have sole possession of it would probably create terrible conflict with the other groups, up to and possibly including civil war.

Which would, of course, be precisely the situation Darth Sidious would want to see here. A Chiss Ascendancy entangled with its own internal problems couldn’t pose a threat to the Sith Lord’s plans for the Republic and the New Order he planned to create. Standing here in the middle of Aristocra Chaf’orm’bintrano’s people, all Doriana had to do was confirm the Fifth Family’s claim and he would help put the Chiss on that long and bitter road.

But as he opened his mouth to speak, he looked at Mitth’raw’nuruodo.

The commander was looking back at him, his face expressionless, his glowing eyes focused unblinkingly on him.

Doriana had already reluctantly concluded that Mitth’raw’nuruodo would have to be killed. But if that death came at the height of a controversy over the disposition of Outbound Flight… “I’m sorry, Aristocra Chaf’orm’bintrano, but Outbound Flight is not yours to take possession of,” he said instead. “As a duly appointed representative of the Republic that sent the project on its journey, I claim full salvage rights.”

Chaf’orm’bintrano seemed taken aback as Mitth’raw’nuruodo finished the translation. He bit something out“ ‘Ridiculous,’ ” Mitth’raw’nuruodo said. “ ‘An aggressor has no rights.’ ”

“I deny your claim that either I or Outbound Flight have behaved aggressively toward your people,” Doriana countered. “And I demand a full hearing and judgment before any Chiss steps aboard Outbound Flight.”

Mitth’raw’nuruodo translated. Chaf’orm’bintrano’s eyes narrowed, his glare shifting to the white-clad female. He said something; she replied, and the argument was on.

Doriana looked sideways at Mitth’raw’nuruodo. His face was still expressionless, but as his own eyes shifted to meet Doriana’s his lip seemed to twitch upward in a microscopic smile of approval.

Just what the commander would do with the mess that had now been stirred up Doriana didn’t know. But to his mild surprise, he discovered he was rather looking forward to finding out.

It had taken longer than Car’das had expected to get Outbound Flight prepped for flight. But at last they were ready.

“Okay, get to the helm,” he told Thrass, glancing out the canopy at the Chiss ships still hovering in the near distance. Why they hadn’t already sent over a boarding party he couldn’t guess.

Apparently, Thrawn and Ar’alani had found a way to stall them.

“Ready,” Thrass called.

Stepping to the navigation console, Car’das gave it one final check. Course set and locked in, ready to take Outbound Flight on its final voyage. Crossing to the engineering console, he settled his fingers on the power-feed controls.

“Watch out!” Thrass snapped.

Car’das spun around, expecting to see a whole squad of yellow-suited Chiss charging in on them.

But to his astonishment, he found himself facing a lone female human. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Thrass snatch a weapon out of concealment in his robe. In reply, the woman produced a short metal cylinder and a green lightsaber bladeblazed into existence.

“No!” he barked, waving a hand frantically at Thrass.

But it was too late. The other’s weapon hissed out a blue bolt, which the woman sent ricocheting harmlessly into the ceiling. “I said stop,” Car’das called again. “She’s a Jedi.”

To his relief, Thrass didn’t fire again. “What do you want?” the Chiss demanded instead, keeping his weapon aimed.

“He wants to know what you want,” Car’das said, translating the Cheunh for her.

Her eyes flicked to him. “He doesn’t speak Basic?”

“No, no one here does except Thrawn,” Car’das said.

“But he knows some Sy Bisti, if that helps.”

“It does.” She looked back at Thrass. “Who are you?”

she asked, switching to that language.

“I am Syndic Mitth’ras’safis of the Eighth Ruling Family of the Chiss Ascendancy,” Thrass identified himself.

“And I’m Jorj Car’das,” Car’das added. “Mostly an innocent bystander to all of this.”

“Mostly?”

“I got here through a hyperdrive malfunction,” he said.

“Who are you?”

“Lorana Jinzler,” she said. Lowering her lightsaber, but leaving it ignited, she crossed the threshold and continued on into the bridge, limping noticeably. Her eyes flicked across the dead bodies, and an edge of fresh pain crossed her face. “Who else is aboard?”

“At the moment, just us,” Thrass said. He hesitated, then slipped his weapon back into his tunic. “But a member of one of the ruling families is trying to claim Outbound Flight for himself. We’re trying to prevent that.”