“It’s not from Naporar this time,” Comm said. “It’s a signal from Mid Captain Csap’ro’strob aboard the Grayshrike.”
Lakinda sat up in her bed, the haze of sleep vanishing. Apros was calling her? “Put him through,” she ordered.
“Ah … may I remind the senior captain that contact with anyone except Councilor Lakuviv’s office has been forbidden?”
“So noted,” Lakinda said, putting some ice into her voice. Apros knew she’d been called to a family emergency. He wouldn’t be trying to reach her unless his ship—her ship—was in serious danger. “Put him through.”
There was a moment of silence. Then—
“This is Mid Captain Csap’ro’strob aboard the Expansionary Defense Fleet warship Grayshrike,” Apros said. “I urgently need to speak with Senior Captain Xodlak’in’daro, current location unknown. Repeating—”
Lakinda tapped the mike key. “This is Lakinda,” she said. “Go ahead, Grayshrike.”
“—aboard the Expan—” the voice broke off as the recorded loop was deactivated. “Senior Captain, this is Mid Captain Apros. Can you please boost your signal? We’re a bit far apart.”
“One moment.” Lakinda keyed for more power. “What’s the matter? Why are you calling me?”
“We need information, ma’am,” Apros said. “We also have information—vital information—that you may need.”
“We meaning the Grayshrike?”
“We meaning myself and Senior Captain Thrawn,” Apros said.
“We need to know where you’re going and the nature of your mission,” Thrawn’s voice came in.
“That’s confidential,” Lakinda said shortly. So her ship wasn’t in danger? “It’s family business,” she added, reaching for the mike switch. “I’m sorry, but I can’t—”
“Were you aware that two other families have also called emergencies?” Thrawn interrupted. “And that all three of your family assembly points are in the Ascendancy’s south and southeast sectors?”
Lakinda paused, her finger hovering over the key. “Which families?”
“The Erighal and Pommrio,” Apros said. “I’m guessing you didn’t know that?”
“No,” Lakinda said, her stomach tightening. Those two encrypted family transmissions … and of course, there were no Erighal or Pommrio aboard the Midsummer to receive and decrypt them. Had those been the same general summons she’d answered from the Xodlak? “Do you know what they’re up to?”
“No, but the fact that everyone’s assembling in the same region strongly suggests a connection,” Apros said.
“Yes, it does,” Lakinda had to concede. Could word of the Agbui mine have leaked out somehow? Were those other two families trying to get there before the Xodlak force? “I’m sorry, but I can’t say anything more,” she said, again reaching for the mike key. First thing to do would be to boost her task force’s speed, perhaps shaving the safety margins of hyperspace travel a little—
“One more question, Senior Captain,” Apros said. “Does your mission have anything to do with alien jewelry?”
Lakinda froze. What the hell? “What alien jewelry?”
“Jewelry that a species called the Agbui have been handing out on Celwis,” Apros said. “They claim they’re the ones who created it, but they aren’t. It comes from Sunrise, the world of the Magys and her refugees.”
Lakinda’s chest suddenly went tight. “Is it just the jewelry?” she asked carefully. “Or does the metal also come from there?”
“I … don’t know,” Apros said, sounding a little confused. “I assume it’s made with local materials, but I don’t know for sure. Is that important?”
“Vitally important.” Lakinda braced herself. “The Agbui claim to have a mine on an uninhabited world. We’re on our way to claim it and the planet for the Xodlak. I’m guessing the Erighal and Pommrio have the same goal in mind.”
“Really?” Apros said. “That seems a little odd.”
“Not at all,” Lakinda said between clenched teeth. “One of the metals in the weave is nyix.”
She’d expected Apros and Thrawn to go silent at that one. She was right.
“Not just nyix, but nyix that’s apparently abundant enough to be wasted in fancy jewelry,” she continued. “What the hell is going on?”
“They’re scamming you,” Thrawn said. “You and the other families. They’re mining nyix from Sunrise—”
“Having possibly incited a civil war there in order to gain better access,” Apros put in.
“In retrospect, I’d say that’s almost a certainty,” Thrawn agreed darkly. “They then created the illusion they were mining the metal from an entirely different world.”
“Complete with a mine, miners, and refining facilities,” Lakinda said, remembering Lakjiip’s assurance that she’d personally seen the place. “Building up a lure so enticing that the entire Xodlak family jumped at it.”
“What I don’t understand is what they hope to get out of it,” Apros said. “Have you paid them for this so-called mining world?”
“They don’t want money,” Lakinda said. The whole, horrible thing suddenly made sense. “They’re getting exactly what they want. Three of the Forty Great Families are preparing to fight to the death to own a worthless piece of rock.”
“And each of the three is allied to one of the Ruling Families,” Apros said grimly. “They’re trying to start a civil war.”
“And they’re damn well likely to succeed,” Lakinda said bitterly. “I don’t know about the other families, but I have a frigate and a light cruiser. Even with thrown-together crews, that represents a lot of firepower.”
“I suspect the other families have only patrol ships,” Thrawn said. “But depending on how far their leaders were willing to strip away their planetary defenses, they could bring a fairly comparable number of lasers to the scene.”
“Yes,” Lakinda agreed. “But how did they pull it off? As far as I know, the Agbui never left Celwis.”
“Maybe that group didn’t,” Apros said. “But it’s starting to look like they had other groups scattered around the Ascendancy spinning their own little poison webs.”
“I agree,” Thrawn said. “A coordinated operation, exquisitely planned and timed.”
“Never mind the artistic beauty of it all,” Lakinda snarled. “We need to send a warning to Csilla right away.”
“We’re already too far out for a clear signal,” Apros said. “Besides, it’s too late for them to send anyone to stop it.”
“Mid Captain Apros is right,” Thrawn said. “However, there may be something the three of us can do. Senior Captain Lakinda, how much do your officers and warriors know about your mission?”
“Nothing, really,” Lakinda said. “Certainly not the end goal. I don’t give them those details until we reach the planet.”
“Good,” Thrawn said. “At least that buys us some time. Here’s what I have in mind.”
Lakinda and Apros listened in silence while he laid out his plan. It was, to Lakinda’s mind, about as crazy a scheme as she’d ever heard.
But it might work. And at the moment, she didn’t have anything better to offer.
“Understood,” she said when he’d finished. “We’ll go with that for now. But I reserve the right to revisit it if we come up with something better by the time we arrive.”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Thrawn said. “Assuming there’s time to reconfigure for an altered plan.”