“That won’t be necessary,” the soldier said. “We have a navigator and ship waiting to take you back to the Chiss Ascendancy. He arrives now.”
Thalias frowned. “No one wants to talk to us?”
The soldier didn’t answer. Instead, he gave an open-hand salute, gestured to his companions, and the whole group of them marched off the landing platform and disappeared through one of the doors.
“Are we still on the plan?” Che’ri asked.
Thalias hesitated. They were, but there were certain parts that Thrawn and Ar’alani had elected to keep from the younger girl. “We’ll find out,” she said evasively.
“Ah—Thalias of the Chiss Ascendancy,” a cheerful voice said from behind them.
Thalias turned, feeling her stomach knot up as she saw the familiar creature walking toward them, a broad smile on his face. “You won’t remember me,” he said, “but we met—”
“You’re Qilori of Uandualon,” she interrupted. “You were with General Yiv at the reception.”
“Ah—you do remember,” Qilori said. “Excellent. Come with me—the shuttle to our transport is right down here.”
A few minutes later they were in the shuttle’s passenger compartment, heading through the thinning atmosphere toward the rows of ships in Primea orbit. “It’s a busy place, Primea,” Qilori commented, peering out the window. “I’m just as glad I never have to take control of a ship until we’re well out of the gravity well and ready for hyperspace. You must have had an interesting time getting through it all.”
“Che’ri did,” Thalias said, looking around the otherwise empty compartment. “She’s the pilot. Where are the other passengers?”
“Oh, they’re already aboard the transport,” Qilori said. “You were a late addition, courtesy of the Combine government. They must be pleased to have their fighter back.”
“It was never our intention to keep it,” Thalias said. “Which one’s our transport?”
“You’ll see it in a minute,” Qilori said. “It’s…there it is, just coming into view.”
“Thalias?” Che’ri asked, her voice uncertain. “That doesn’t look like a transport to me.”
“If by transport you mean something to get you from here to there, of course it’s a transport,” Qilori said. “If you mean civilian transport, though, I’m afraid that’s not what we’re doing today.”
He pointed out the viewport. “That, my noble Chiss hostages, is the Deathless, a Battle Dreadnought and the flagship of General Yiv the Benevolent of the Nikardun Destiny.”
Thalias looked at him, mentally measuring the distance between them. They were both strapped in, but if she got free quickly enough…
“Please don’t,” Qilori said. “The Benevolent would very much like you to be in undamaged condition when he hands you over to Thrawn.”
“He’s going to give us back to Thrawn?” Che’ri asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Qilori said. “He’ll message Thrawn, Thrawn will come, they’ll meet right on the bridge of that warship, and Yiv will hand you over to him.
“And then, of course, Yiv will kill him.”
Treason.
That was really the only word for it, Thurfian thought bitterly as he hurried toward the Convocate Hall for the Syndicure’s emergency meeting. Treason.
And after all the precautions he’d taken—the meetings and comparing of notes with Zistalmu, the careful reading of every scrap of data from every one of Thrawn’s missions and activities—after all that he’d still been taken completely by surprise.
He’d often watched as the arrogant warrior skated up to the line and occasionally stepped over it. But nothing had prepared him to watch Thrawn take a flying leap over that line.
They had him. This time, by every evil of the Chaos, they had him.
But at what cost? What terrible, terrible cost?
The Convocate Hall was packed when Thurfian arrived, and as he headed toward the Mitth section he did a quick head count. The Speakers of all Nine Families were present, as were most of the upper-level syndics. A dozen other lesser families were represented, mostly those with close ties to one of the Nine or aspirations to someday join them in Ascendancy rule. The room buzzed with quiet conversation as those who’d only heard part of the situation were filled in by the others.
Seated at the witness table, a pocket of silence amid the verbal storm, were Supreme General Ba’kif, Supreme Admiral Ja’fosk, Admiral Ar’alani, and Thrawn.
Thurfian had just taken his chair when Ja’fosk rose to his feet.
Instantly the rumble vanished. “Speakers and Syndics of the Ascendancy,” Ja’fosk said, throwing a quick, appraising look around the chamber. “I’ve received a transmission from General Yiv of the Nikardun Destiny.” He lifted his questis. “Quote:
“ ‘I have in my possession the two family hostages of Senior Captain Thrawn, whom he sent to Primea with an offer to the Vak Combine of union and treachery against the peaceful peoples of the Nikardun Destiny. If he wishes the females to be released unharmed, he will travel alone to the attached coordinates in an unarmed freighter with the equivalent of two hundred thousand Univers.’ ” Ja’fosk lowered the questis. “The coordinates given indicate a high orbit over Primea.”
The usual protocol was for one of the Speakers to offer the first response or ask the first question. But Thurfian wasn’t much interested in protocol at the moment. More than that, he needed to make sure the entire chamber had the full horrifying situation. “Leaving aside for the moment the question of why Yiv thinks the Chiss have such a thing as family hostages,” he said, rising to his feet, “I’d like to know who these two women are.” He raised his eyebrows. “Or are they both women, or is one a young girl?”
“One of them is a woman,” Ja’fosk said, his voice under careful control. “Her name is Mitth’ali’astov. The other is indeed a girl, Che’ri.” A muscle in his cheek twitched. “One of our sky-walkers.”
A ripple of disbelief and outrage ran through the assembled Aristocra. Apparently, most of them hadn’t heard the whole story. “I assume Yiv is unaware of her status?” Thurfian asked.
“We believe so,” Ja’fosk said. “There’s certainly no indication that he even knows about the sky-walker program, let alone has any details.”
“I assume there’s also no indication that he doesn’t,” the Plikh Speaker put in harshly. “I would like to know exactly how Senior Captain Thrawn made such a blunder as to put one of our sky-walkers in enemy hands.”
“The Nikardun aren’t our enemies,” Ja’fosk reminded her. “As to Captain Thrawn’s reasoning in this matter…” He looked down at Thrawn.
“I certainly never intended either of them to be put at risk,” Thrawn said. “Their mission was to return the Vak fighter I had borrowed and to bring a warning to the Primea leadership of Yiv’s activities among other species in the region. Thalias was supposed to deliver the message, then take a passenger transport to Navigator Concourse Four Forty-Seven, where they would be brought back to the Ascendancy.”
“And why was a sky-walker even aboard?”
“Che’ri could pilot the fighter. Thalias could not.”
Thurfian felt his lip twist. Liar. Thrawn clearly knew or at least suspected what Yiv would do if Thalias and Che’ri came within reach. This whole thing smacked of a back-door approach to getting the Syndicure to order a retaliatory strike.
And if the mood in the chamber was any indication, he was going to get it. If there was one resource the Ascendancy guarded with insane jealousy, it was their sky-walkers.