But not Lakphro. Haplif had managed enough pass-bys to have a vague idea of the rancher’s goals, but only the general and ill-defined ones of contented family and successful ranch. In the meantime, Haplif had none of the precise triggers he would need to nudge Lakphro into doing what the Agbui wanted.
“What about Yoponek?” Shimkif asked. “He’s one of them, and he hasn’t got much to do right now. Maybe he could go talk to them and smooth it out.”
“It doesn’t need smoothing out,” Frosif said. “I already told you she’s all right.”
“Besides, Yoponek’s living out his dream of mixing socially with the high and mighty,” Haplif said. “We don’t want to interrupt that by throwing him at some random rancher.”
“A random rancher you can’t control,” Shimkif reminded him.
“Maybe I can’t control him, but his wife can,” Haplif said. “What would she think of some genuine Agbui jewelry? Especially jewelry that so far has only been given to her family’s local leader?”
“She’d be suitably impressed,” Shimkif said, her forehead skin crinkling in thought. “Yes, she’d probably be inclined to gloss over anything about us that might bother her.”
“And if she gives us a pass, Lakphro’s not likely to stand in her way,” Haplif said. “That much I know about the man. Maybe a brooch for the daughter, too, as an apology for frightening her?”
“We could, I suppose,” Shimkif said, a little doubtfully. “But that means two more brooches out in public and not in the hands of the elite.”
“We have enough to spare,” Haplif assured her. “More to the point, I don’t want to have to watch my back while I’m focusing on Councilor Lakuviv.”
“All right,” Shimkif said, still sounding reluctant. “But it’ll be on you to keep track of them. We don’t want any news leaking out until we’re ready.”
“It won’t,” Haplif said. “Everything’s on track.” He gave a little snort. “Besides, there’s nobody around here but other yokels. Who are Lakphro’s women going to show off their new baubles to?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It had been a day for the books, Samakro reflected as Supreme General Ba’kif ushered him and Thrawn into the general’s private office. First had been a meeting with the entire Defense Hierarchy Council and a debriefing of the skirmish with the unidentified Battle Dreadnought over the Magys’s war-torn planet Sunrise. After that had come a combination grilling and exhortation by a select Syndicure committee, with some of the most esteemed names of the Nine Ruling Families on the panel. Now here they were in one of Ba’kif’s legendary off-the-record meetings.
And in the midst of those meetings, for possibly the first time since Samakro had welcomed Thrawn back aboard the Springhawk, his commander had shown actual surprise.
Definitely a day for the books.
“No,” Thrawn said firmly even as he and Samakro walked to the chairs in front of Ba’kif’s desk. “I don’t believe it.”
“It’s just a rumor, and an unfounded one at that,” Ba’kif reminded him as he circled the desk and lowered himself into his own chair. “Evaluating rumors is part of the Expansionary Defense Fleet’s job, after all.”
“Though this one may not qualify as unfounded,” Samakro pointed out. “The Aristocra said their sources on this are usually reliable.”
“I don’t care how reliable they usually are,” Thrawn said. “It’s simply not possible. The Paataatus would never ally themselves with the Vagaari pirates, certainly not against the Ascendancy.”
“From a strategic point of view—” Samakro began.
He broke off at a small gesture from Ba’kif. “Why not?” the general asked, his eyes on Thrawn.
“The Paataatus aren’t going to attack us,” Thrawn said flatly. “Not for at least a generation.”
“Which for them is what, twenty years?”
“The range is usually given as seventeen to twenty-five,” Thrawn said. “My point is that the decisive defeat Admiral Ar’alani delivered last year will keep them from any actions against the Ascendancy for at least that long.”
“Maybe the Vagaari have something else in mind,” Samakro suggested. “Something to their mutual benefit that doesn’t involve the Ascendancy.”
“Such as?” Thrawn asked.
“That’s what you’re being sent out to investigate,” Ba’kif said. “Mid Captain Samakro is right, Senior Captain, and there’s no use kicking against the wall. The Council has made up its mind, the Syndicure supports their decision—a rare enough occurrence all by itself—and that is that.”
For a moment Thrawn was silent, his eyes lowered to his questis. Presumably looking over their orders. Possibly looking for a loophole. “If I may, General?” Samakro asked.
Ba’kif inclined his head. “Of course.”
“I’ve looked over the accounts of Senior Captain Thrawn’s last confrontation with the Vagaari,” Samakro said. “I noticed those records are, shall we say, incomplete.”
“Incomplete in what way, Mid Captain?” Ba’kif said, his eyes now holding steady on Samakro’s.
“That’s the question, sir,” Samakro said, choosing his words carefully. Pressing a senior officer on documents that had obviously been deliberately edited was a risky thing to do, and the more sensitive the excised material, the riskier it got. But if the Springhawk was going up against these people, he needed to know the full story. “Specifically, does the Syndicure perhaps have other, more personal reasons for us to take another crack at the Vagaari?”
“You mean is some family’s reputation on the line?”
“I’m thinking more that some family’s profits may be on the line.”
Ba’kif glanced at Thrawn. Samakro followed the look, but there was no reaction there that he could see. “I take it you’ve been listening to rumors,” the general said. “May I ask which ones?”
“Mostly the one about an artificial gravity-well generator,” Samakro said. “A device Senior Captain Thrawn took from the Vagaari that can pull a ship out of hyperspace as if it had run close to a stellar or planetary mass.”
“Interesting rumor,” Ba’kif said, his voice not giving anything away. “You’ll recall what I said a moment ago about testing such things?”
“Yes, sir.” In other words, the general wasn’t going to confirm anything. Samakro hadn’t really expected him to. But Ba’kif’s reaction—or, rather, complete lack of one—spoke all too clearly. “Because if a rumor like that was true, the Syndicure and Council might be sending us out there hoping we’ll be twice lucky.”
“Again, an interesting supposition,” Ba’kif said. “Just bear in mind that your primary task is to learn whether or not the Vagaari are returning to this area, and if so whether or not they’ve allied with the Paataatus. Anything else you might happen upon—” He gave a sort of half smile. “Well, you’ll be the ones on the scene. Use your own judgment.”
“Yes, sir,” Thrawn said for both of them. “What about Sunrise?”
“Sunrise?”
“Our name for the Magys’s world,” Thrawn said. “Are you going to send the Grayshrike back to investigate?”
Ba’kif huffed out a breath. “The Council isn’t exactly thrilled by the thought of sending a major warship that far from the Ascendancy,” he said. “Neither is the Syndicure.”
“I was under the impression that exploring distant regions and searching for potential threats was the centerpiece of the Expansionary Defense Fleet’s charter.”