Thrawn Ascendancy Book I: Chaos Rising

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Thrawn and Che’ri were gone for nearly five weeks, and with each day that passed Thalias felt her soul die a little more. She should have been out there with them, she knew, facing the same dangers they were facing. The fact that her Trials gambit had thrown Thurfian off the scent didn’t really count as being useful to their mission.

The Patriarch’s command to watch over Thrawn just added that much extra knife twist to her sense of guilt.

She therefore felt a huge sense of relief when Ar’alani finally called to inform her that the scout ship had entered the Csilla system, that it was staying away from the capital itself for the moment, and that a shuttle was on its way to bring Thalias to the Vigilant.

It turned out that the travelers’ quiet and unannounced return was only the first of the surprises.

“This could change everything,” Ar’alani said.

Thalias nodded, thoughts and possibilities spinning through her mind as she gazed at her questis and the details of the Republic energy shield Thrawn and Che’ri had brought back with them. In a quiet spot in the back of her mind, she found extra amazement in the fact that Thrawn and Ar’alani trusted her enough to share their secret.

But then, Che’ri knew everything, too, and sky-walkers and their caregivers spent a lot of time together. The two officers had probably decided that Thalias might as well hear the whole story up front rather than getting it in dribs and drabs from a nine-year-old.

“This is light-years beyond the electrostatic barriers we’ve been using,” Ar’alani continued. “We’re going to have to rethink our tactics, our fleet array, the whole balance of power. Everything.”

“But our advantage is only temporary,” Thrawn warned. “Even if we can reverse-engineer the one we brought back—”

“We can,” Ar’alani said. “We will.”

“Even if we can,” Thrawn continued, “no technology remains exclusive for long. Once it’s known to exist, others will develop their own version. Or will simply steal it.”

“Not from us,” Ar’alani said, her lip twisting. “But getting one from the Republic should be easy enough.” She tapped the questis thoughtfully. “The real question is why Yiv hasn’t gotten something like this already. You said there was some group of aliens involved with the Separatists, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but there’s no reason to think they’re necessarily associated with the Nikardun,” Thrawn pointed out. “Even if they are, they may have the same concerns we do. If they show the Chaos that such a shield exists, the Ascendancy and everyone else will soon have one.”

“So they’re thinking to use it as a surprise somewhere down the line?”

“As are we,” Thrawn said. “But unlike them, we can’t afford to wait. We have to use it now, and against Yiv, before he knows we have it.”

“Though he may already know,” Ar’alani warned. “It sounds like you and this General Skywalker made quite a loud mess out there.” She shook her head. “Skywalker. Bizarre coincidence.”

“I understand it’s not that uncommon name in parts of Lesser Space,” Thrawn said. “But you’re absolutely correct. There’s no way the incidents on Batuu and Mokivj can be kept quiet for long.”

Thalias winced. Running battles, interrogations, wholescale destruction on a planetary scale. Incidents.

“Fine,” Ar’alani said, setting the questis aside. “You obviously have a plan. Let’s hear it.”

Thrawn paused, as if gathering his thoughts, and Thalias took the moment to give Che’ri a surreptitious look. The girl had first greeted her with hugs and tears, some of joy and some of simple released tension. In that respect, she was very much the little girl who’d left the Ascendancy on this adventure.

But as Thalias looked at her now, she could see that the journey had added more than a few weeks’ worth of age to her. Not in the sense of aging, exactly, with the extra stress or weight that might have been laid on her from weeks of danger or fear or exhaustion. Instead, it was as if a fresh layer of maturity and confidence had settled across the child’s face.

“First of all, we know Yiv isn’t ready to take on the Ascendancy,” Thrawn said. “That much was clear after our first visit to the Lioaoin heartworld. Surrounded by his allies, facing an enemy he very much wanted to capture or kill—”

“You?” Ar’alani suggested.

“Me,” Thrawn confirmed. “He nevertheless withheld his fire and let us leave in peace.”

“It could simply have been a matter of time and place,” Ar’alani said. “But let’s assume you’re right. Continue.”

“We also know that Yiv is still working on bringing the Vaks under his control,” Thrawn said. “That caution is evidenced by the fact that, again with Vak forces presumably available to him, he instead brought in Lioaoin warships to handle the fighting when you came to extract Thalias and me from Primea.”

“I agree,” Ar’alani said. “And given your reading of the Vak passion for exploring all thought lines, it may be proving harder than he expected to get the entire leadership, let alone the entire planet, to follow him.”

“Exactly,” Thrawn said. “And therein lies our opportunity. If we can draw some of the Vaks to our side and show the rest that Yiv’s intentions aren’t to build them up in prestige but merely to use them to fight and die in his battles, we may drive a wedge between them. If that doesn’t halt his plan completely, it should at least buy us enough time to convince the Syndicure that the Nikardun are a threat that needs to be dealt with.”

“Excuse me,” Che’ri spoke up hesitantly, half lifting a hand.

Thrawn and Ar’alani looked at her. “Yes?” Thrawn invited.

“What if he just leaves Primea and goes somewhere else?” the girl asked. “There are a lot of other aliens in the area.”

“He could do that, yes,” Thrawn said. “But he’s put a lot of time and effort into winning over the Vaks. I don’t think he’ll give up without serious persuasion.”

“It’s not just the Vaks themselves, either,” Ar’alani added. “Primea is a center of diplomacy and trade for that entire region, a place where people from all those other alien species you mentioned come to talk and do business. If Yiv can get the Vak leaders to endorse him, or at least let him hang around and meet visitors, he’ll have vectors into all those other nations.”

“We’ve already seen that he likes a mixture of conquest by force and conquest by persuasion,” Thrawn said. “Even his title, General Yiv the Benevolent, tries to have it both ways. No, I think that if we try to move him off Primea he’ll choose to stand and fight.”

“Or bring the fight to us,” Ar’alani warned. “Even if it’s not his preferred timing, he might decide he needs to hit the Ascendancy.”

“He won’t do it directly,” Thrawn said. “He’s more likely to send the Paataatus against us again.”

“And that’s better how?”

“Better for him because he doesn’t waste his own forces,” Thrawn said. “Better for us because we already know how to beat them.”

“Well, you know how to beat them,” Ar’alani muttered. “Sometimes I’m not so sure about anyone else.”

“We can beat them,” Thrawn assured her. “But no, the crucial battle will be at Primea. If we can demonstrate Yiv’s weakness and his treachery in front of the Vaks, they may reconsider their choice of allies.”

“Sounds like a long shot,” Ar’alani said. “But barring any kind of direct intervention, I think it’s all we’ve got. So how do we do that?”

Thrawn seemed to brace himself. “We invite the Vaks to help us.”

And as he laid out his plan, Thalias discovered that he had one more surprise left to offer.

“You disapprove,” Thrawn said.

Ar’alani eyed him, her head still spinning from the idea he’d presented to her and the two younger women. “Of course I disapprove,” she said. “The whole thing is totally illegal in at least three directions. Not to mention insane.”

“Agreed,” Thrawn said. “The question is, are you willing to go through with it?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course,” Thrawn said. “If you don’t want to be part of this, say so now, and we’ll do it alone.”

“How?” Ar’alani retorted. “If Yiv behaves the way you expect, the three of you will end up alone against his entire Primea force.”

“The Vaks will come to our aid.”

“If the message gets to them and they don’t decide to ignore it.”

“There are clearly thought lines of distrust toward Yiv,” Thrawn said. “The message will offer another thought line, one I hope their culture will require them to at least consider. And if I’ve read Yiv correctly, he should soon find himself in deeper trouble than he expects.”

“If you’ve read him correctly,” Ar’alani said, leaning on the critical word. “Come on, Thrawn, this is crazy. Even for you.”

“Do you see an alternative?” Thrawn countered. “We can’t just sit back and let the Nikardun close in around us, gathering allies and biding their time until the Chaos closes around us and we stand alone against them. Yiv has to be stopped, and this is the best time and place to make our move.”

“Again, what if you’re wrong?” Ar’alani asked. “What if everything you’re reading in Yiv and the Vaks is wrong? You’ve been wrong before, you know.”

It wasn’t the most diplomatic thing she could have said, she realized, and instantly regretted it as a flicker of old pain crossed his face. “I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“No, you’re right,” he said. “My failure with the Garwians…but this is different. This is war, not politics.”

“Which are just two sides of the same coin,” Ar’alani said. “You’ve never understood that or been able to deal with it.”

“I know,” Thrawn said. “That’s why we need to flip this particular coin over to the war side.”

Ar’alani sighed. He’d been wrong once—spectacularly wrong—and it had cost him. But it was no use arguing about it.

Besides, he was right. Yiv and the Nikardun had to be challenged, and doing so in a system the enemy wanted to hold on to was their best chance. “I’m not sure the techs are entirely finished with the Vak fighter we brought back from Primea, but Ba’kif can probably talk Ja’fosk into letting us return it. You’re sure Che’ri can fly it?”

“Absolutely,” Thrawn said. “She proved quite adept at flying our scout ship, and the fighter has similar parameters. I’ll just need to relabel some of the controls and run her through an exercise or two and she’ll be ready.”

“I assume you aren’t going to let Ba’kif or Ja’fosk in on that part of the plan?”

“I’m not that crazy,” Thrawn said with a small smile.

“But they’re going to find out eventually,” Ar’alani said. “Have you thought about what they’ll do to you afterward?”

A muscle in Thrawn’s throat tightened. “If we’ve eliminated Yiv as a threat, it doesn’t matter what they do to me.” He cocked his head. “My real concern is you. What they’re going to do to you when it all comes out.”

“I’m an admiral,” Ar’alani reminded him. “Not nearly so easy to get rid of.”

“They’ll still try.”

“Only if we fail. If we succeed—” She shrugged. “But the future’s out of our hands. Let’s go with the present. So. First job: Retrieve the Vak fighter from the techs and get it prepped to fly. Second job: Teach Che’ri how to fly it. Third job: Get started on the customized freighter you want. Fourth job: Work out the message you want delivered to the Vaks. Fifth job: Get the Republic shield ready to go for our surprise attack. Sixth job: Get my fleet ready to go.”

“That one may be seventh,” Thrawn interjected. “Sixth job is probably to get Ba’kif and Ja’fosk to sign off on this.”

“I was thinking of waiting on that until after Che’ri and Thalias have left,” Ar’alani said. “That’s not going to be a pleasant conversation, and it’ll be safer if it’s too late to call the fighter back. Eighth job—” She braced herself. “Spin it all up, and turn it loose.”

“And hope that my assessment of General Yiv is correct.”

“Right,” Ar’alani said. “Let’s really hope that.”

“They’re calling us,” Che’ri announced. “That light, right there.”

“I see it,” Thalias said, her head pounding with a tension that had nothing to do with the extra weight of the hard-crust makeup once again creating the hostage-marking ridges and shallow plateaus across her face. With both the Nikardun and the Vaks here, the entire Primea system was enemy territory.

And she and Che’ri were all alone in the middle of it.

She looked at the girl, leaning forward a little over the fighter’s control board, her eyes narrowed with concentration. At least half of her expression was covered by the same makeup that Thalias was wearing, but there didn’t seem to be any tension there. Was she feeling any of the qualms Thalias was? “You’re awfully calm,” she said.

“Aren’t I supposed to be?” Che’ri asked, throwing a puzzled look at Thalias. “It’s all under control, right?”

“Well…sure, I suppose so,” Thalias said. “I just…”

“You trust him, don’t you?” Che’ri pressed.

“Yes, I guess so.”

“Because we’ve both seen him do some amazing stuff,” Che’ri went on, still frowning. “Getting that shield generator, getting you off Primea, battles and other stuff. You’ve seen all that, too, right?”

“Right,” Thalias said. “Only this time…”

“There’s no difference, really,” Che’ri said. “It’s all under control.”

“Of course there’s a difference.” Thalias said. “All the other times, Thrawn was here with us. If something went wrong, he could adapt or come up with a new plan.” She waved a hand around the cramped command deck. “Here…Che’ri, we’re on our own.”

“But he gave us our instructions,” Che’ri said. “We know what we’re supposed to do.”

“I know that,” Thalias said. “I’m just saying it’s not the same.”

“Oh,” Che’ri said, the part of her face that Thalias could see suddenly clearing. “It’s not that you don’t trust Thrawn. You don’t trust yourself.”

“Of course not,” Thalias said, hearing the edge of bitterness in her voice. She’d been aware of that nebulous feeling ever since Thrawn first proposed this plan. But up to now she’d never dared to even think those words. Now, with them out in the open, she felt a sudden weight of fear and doubt and inadequacy. “Why should I? What have I ever done to make him—to make anyone—think I could be trusted with something this big?”

“Well, you’re here,” Che’ri said. “That must mean he trusts you.”

“I asked for a reason.”

“We don’t always get reasons,” Che’ri said earnestly. “Whatever he sees in you, it was all he needed. He trusts you.” She paused. “So do I, if that helps any.”

Thalias took a deep breath, gazing at Che’ri’s eyes. The enhanced maturity she’d seen in the girl back aboard the Vigilant was still there, and for a moment Thalias noted the irony of a nine-year-old comforting an adult. “You know, when I was your age I remember being terrified of my future,” she said. “It was all so big and unknown, and I had no idea what my place in it would be.”

“I used to feel that way, too,” Che’ri said. “Not so much anymore.”

“Which all by itself is crazy,” Thalias said. “The future you’re facing—for that matter, the future you and I are facing just today—is way less secure than anything I could have dreamed of.”

“You just said it,” Che’ri said. “Dreams. I never knew what to dream. I mean, I was just a sky-walker. I didn’t know if there was anything else I could ever do.”

She gestured at the control board in front of her. “But then Thrawn taught me how to fly. In just a couple of weeks he taught me how to fly.” She smiled, her whole face beaming with happiness and accomplishment. “If I can do that, I can do anything. Do you get it now?”

“Yes,” Thalias said. “And I’m happy for you.” She took another deep breath, willing the tension away. An accomplished warrior like Thrawn; an accomplished pilot like Che’ri. With them trusting her, how could this go wrong? “You said the Vaks had hailed us. Do we need to send a message back?”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Che’ri said, pointing to the mic. “Got your speech ready?”

“I’ve got Thrawn’s speech ready,” Thalias said, forcing a small smile. “Good enough?”

“Good enough.” Che’ri touched a switch. “You’re on.”

Thalias braced herself. This was it. “Greetings to the people of Primea,” she called in Minnisiat. “I am Thalias, companion to Senior Captain Thrawn of the Chiss Ascendancy. In his escape from your world some time ago, he inadvertently took this fighter craft with him. It has been repaired, and my pilot and I are here to return it.”

“You have stolen from the Vak Combine,” a harsh voice came in the same language. “What makes you think you won’t be punished for your crime?”

“I would beg the Combine to accept my visit and the spacecraft’s return as a gesture of goodwill,” Thalias said. “I’m certain that I can explain from Thrawn’s thought line the reasons behind his actions.”

There was a pause. “There is never a valid reason for theft,” the Vak said. But to Thalias’s ears he sounded a little uncertain.

Exactly as Thrawn had predicted he would be. “I would again beg your indulgence,” she said. “I bring a written explanation and an overture of peace and reconciliation from the senior captain. Will you permit me to land and bring it to your military leader?”

Another pause. “You may land,” the Vak said. “I’ve activated a navigational beacon to guide you.”

“Che’ri?” Thalias murmured.

The girl nodded. “Got it. Shifting course now.”

“Thank you,” Thalias said. “I will bring the document with me. I was ordered to place it directly into the hand of your military leader. I beg you to permit me to fulfill my duty.”

“Land first,” the Vak said. “Once we’ve examined the craft and assessed any damage, we shall see about your document.”

“Thank you,” Thalias said. “We shall look forward to seeing you soon.”

There was a click as the Vak closed off the transmission. “So far, so good,” Thalias said, trying to sound casual.

“It’ll work,” Che’ri assured her as the fighter angled down toward the lights of a city far below. “Thrawn’s got this. We’ve got this.”

Thalias nodded. She still wasn’t sure about herself, but she was confident in Thrawn’s skills.

Because, really, when had he ever been wrong?