by Timothy Zahn
“Yes,” Vader rumbled. Like everything else Thrawn saw or deduced, it was very simple once it was explained. “Then we could have returned to hyperspace immediately?”
“Indeed,” Thrawn said. “Rather, we could have returned until we reached the next projector in line. In fact, that was exactly what happened during our first trip through this region. Several projectors were laid out along the hyperlane to disrupt all traffic.”
He pointed at the distant object. “The challenge in finding it was that the gravity well was not spherical, but was projected asymmetrically to cover as much of the hyperlane as possible. I needed to find the edge of the field from several different directions in order to calculate the asymmetry and define its precise position.”
The projector’s slow drift abruptly became a rapid approach as the Chimaera’s tractor beam locked on and began reeling it in. Vader thought back to their earlier attempt to pass through the hyperlane, to the hours of travel and the repeated and failed attempts to return to hyperspace. “Why?” he asked.
Thrawn half turned to him. “Explain.”
“Why did the Grysk do this?” Vader asked. “What did they hope to gain by blocking the route to Batuu?”
“I do not yet know if Batuu itself is of any significance to them,” Thrawn said. “Sealing the Batuu corridor could be a test project, the first step in closing this part of the Unknown Regions to Imperial incursion.”
“So they wish to avoid the might of the Empire.”
“They wish to block Imperial incursion,” Thrawn said. “That is not necessarily the same thing.”
“How is it not?”
“The hyperlanes are not the only way to move in and out of the Unknown Regions,” Thrawn said. “A jump-by-jump method is also able to breach the boundary. But that method is far slower. More significantly, it does not lend itself to the passage of an armada.”
Now, finally, there it was. “No, it does not,” he agreed. “So you fear that when these Grysk attack your people, you will be unable to bring Imperial forces to their defense?”
“That is one consideration,” Thrawn conceded. “There are others.”
“But none so close to your thoughts.”
Thrawn was silent a moment. “We spoke earlier about loyalty,” he said. “The Emperor, too, once asked where my thoughts and heart would lie if the choice came to defend the Chiss Ascendancy or the Empire.”
“Your answer?”
“My answer to him then was the same as my answer to you now,” Thrawn said. “I am a warrior. A warrior may retreat. He does not flee. He may lie in ambush. He does not hide. He may experience victory or defeat. He does not cease to serve.”
“But to serve whom?” Vader countered. “That is the question you have yet to answer.”
“I do not believe I must make a choice,” Thrawn said. “I believe in this instance we can serve both.”
“We do not serve both,” Vader ground out, waving an arm to encompass the Chimaera and its entire crew. “We serve only the Empire. And while you stand aboard this ship, that is your duty as well.”
“The Grysk are a threat to us both, my lord,” Thrawn persisted. “I believe I can demonstrate why our service to the Empire requires their defeat.”
Vader shook his head. “Not good enough, Admiral.”
Again, Thrawn remained silent. Vader stretched out to the Force, trying to read the sense of the figure standing beside him. But the Chiss’s thoughts were as closed to him as always. “Many years ago, I served briefly alongside General Anakin Skywalker,” Thrawn said at last.
Vader felt an unpleasant sensation creep across his back. Was the Chiss really going to invoke The Jedi’s name now?
“There came a moment when I had completed the task the Chiss Ascendancy had set for me,” Thrawn continued. “At that point I was free to abandon him to his own task.” He turned to face Vader. “You have that same freedom of choice. I am asking that you remain at my side.”
Vader stared into those glowing red eyes. No—it was impossible. The relationship between him and The Jedi was one of the darkest and most impenetrable secrets in the galaxy. It was unthinkable that the Chiss could have found his way through the barriers.
Unless the Emperor had told him.
At Vader’s belt, his lightsaber twitched, reacting through the Force to the surge of emotion that suddenly boiled up within him. No—that was even more impossible. The bond between Master and apprentice was unbreakable. No matter how deeply the Emperor might have taken Thrawn into his confidences—no matter how close the two of them might have become over the years—that was a boundary Vader’s Master would never cross.
He scowled, forcing back the emotion. That couldn’t have been what the Chiss meant by that comment. Vader had simply misread it, that was all. “Anakin Skywalker is dead,” he said.
“So I was informed,” Thrawn said. He bowed his head slightly—acknowledgment or sorrow; Vader couldn’t tell which. “But for his sake, and for the sake of the Republic he served and the Empire that the Republic became, I ask you to return the debt of my service to its proper balance.”
Vader clenched his teeth. Balance to the debt. Balance to the Force. Without knowing it, Thrawn was hitting all the trigger words, and in the process pulling up far too many of The Jedi’s unwanted memories. “There is no debt,” he said. “You had a choice. You made it. The Empire does not owe you.”
“No, it does not,” Thrawn said.
For a long moment, they gazed at each other in silence. “We will continue,” Vader said. “For now. What is your plan?”
Thrawn inclined his head. This time, the intent was unambiguous: a gesture of respect and gratitude. “The crew of the Grysk freighter took great pains to destroy all evidence of their home and base,” he said. “We shall need another source of that information.”
“And you know such a source?”
Thrawn smiled. “I believe so,” he said. “Do you recall your suggestion that the Grysks were surprised by the Chimaera because they had never seen a warship of this size before?”
“Yes,” Vader said, frowning. “Are you suggesting I was wrong?”
“We shall soon find out,” Thrawn said. “Come. Let us examine our new prize, and then gather the others.”
* * *
—
Seated in the freighter’s copilot seat, Kimmund gazed out at the hyperspace sky. Somewhere along in here, if Grand Admiral Thrawn was right, they would find their target.
Mentally, he shook his head. This was crazy.
Beside him, Tephan muttered something under her breath. “What was that?” Kimmund asked.
“I said this crimped freighter handles like a dropped rock,” the pilot growled. “I thought it was supposed to be this wonderful six-tricked surprise package.”
“I assumed all the cool add-ons were out of sight,” Kimmund said. “Extra armor and shielding and all.” He pointed to a section of Tephan’s board. “Not to mention a pair of fire-linked blaster cannons.”
“Which we can’t use.”
“Well, not yet anyway,” Kimmund conceded. “Doesn’t mean—”
And even though he was expecting it, the sudden switch from sky to starlines to stars caught him by surprise.
Evidently, it did Tephan, too. “Whoof!” she puffed. “I guess Thrawn was right.”
“I guess he was,” Kimmund said, keying for a sensor sweep as he punched the intercom. “We’re here,” he announced. “Incoming…two ships. Elliptical shape, about the size of Corona-class frigates—”
The freighter shuddered as a pair of laser blasts burned into a section of hull. “And heavily armed,” Kimmund added drily. “Damage?”
“Shot directly over the hyperdrive,” Tephan reported. “Damage…outer hull, nothing else. Well, damn—I guess this thing is tricked out.”
/> “So it seems,” Kimmund said. “Looks like one’s standing off, and the other one’s coming in for boarding.” He slapped Tephan on her shoulder as he popped his restraints. “I’m heading back to suit up,” he said, levering himself out of the cramped seat. “Don’t forget to look scared in case they peek in through the window.”
“Right—sitting here looking like a vagabond,” Tephan groused.
“Don’t be snobbish,” Kimmund reproved her, looking at her grubby merchanter’s jumpsuit. “Most people in the galaxy always have to dress like that. Stay sharp.”
Thirty seconds later, he was in the ready room. Two minutes after that, he was suited up in full stormtrooper armor. One minute after that, he was standing with his fellow First Legionnaires at the freighter’s cargo hatch.
Ten seconds after taking his place, he heard the metallic screeching as the attacking frigate grappled onto the freighter’s side, followed by another pair of thuds as the boarding tunnel locked an air seal around both hatches. Kimmund waited…
With a sudden multiple crisscross shower of sparks around the edges and across the face of the hatch the attackers began burning through. “Get ready,” Kimmund murmured into his comm. “Remember, we’re just clearing the hatch.” The sizzling reached a crescendo, and with a scream of stressed metal the hatch disintegrated. A dozen armored Grysks charged in through the opening, dropping to one knee just inside as they began exchanging fire with the waiting stormtroopers. A set of spotlights at the rear of the hold blazed to life, lighting up the attackers and shining squarely in their eyes.
And through that glare, probably visible only as an indistinct shadow, strode Lord Vader.
It was doubtful that the Grysks, fully engaged with the stormtroopers, even saw him coming. But as the attackers began falling from the Defenders’ concentrated fire Vader reached the firing line, the red blade of his lightsaber cutting through the enemy like a scythe through ripened grain as he walked through their midst. A couple of Grysks near the edge of the battle spotted him and swung their weapons around; the Dark Lord countered by waving a hand at one, sending him smashing against the edge of the hatchway, then blocking the shots of the other with his lightsaber and spinning him through the air to land on the deck at Kimmund’s feet.
The Grysk had just enough time to reflexively bring up his weapon, his eyes wide with disbelief and confusion, when Kimmund’s stun blast ended his part of the fight.
“Secure him,” Kimmund snapped to Viq, looking up again. With the initial wave dealt with, Vader was striding into the enemy ship, lightsaber blazing, heading for the bridge. “Troopers: flanking!” Kimmund ordered, gesturing them forward as he set off at a quick run after the Dark Lord.
“Commander, the second frigate is moving in, weapons hot,” Tephan reported. “Orders?”
“We’ve got this one,” Kimmund said. “As per Admiral Thrawn’s orders, go ahead and dust it.”
“Yes, sir.”
And as Kimmund and the rest of the squad ducked into the enemy ship, following the blazing lightsaber ahead of them, he felt a tight smile pinching at his cheeks. Let the Grysks try to destroy all the data and evidence this time. Let them just try.
They did indeed try. They didn’t succeed.
* * *
—
The curves on the left half of the helmet denote a people of grace, likely with a close affinity to the air and sea creatures of their world. The right side of the helmet has been distorted and defaced by metal tools, the colored sections coming under special attention. More than half of the helmet is so defaced, but the marks are not recent, indicating that the desired level of degradation was achieved.
“Well?” Vader asked. “Will this be sufficient?”
“Indeed it will,” Thrawn said. “You and your legion have succeeded brilliantly.”
“As the Emperor ordered, we serve at the grand admiral’s command.” The tone perhaps holds deference, perhaps holds pride. “How did you know there would be an attack?”
“I did not know for certain, but suspected it would occur,” Thrawn said. “While the primary purpose of the gravity projectors is to block traffic through the hyperlane, it is seldom that a marauding people ignore a chance at plunder. When the Chimaera first encountered the trap, its size discouraged those watching against launching an attack. I reasoned that a smaller vessel, approaching from the opposite end of the lane, would present a more inviting prize and draw out the enemy.”
“And that with a proper military response, we could capture their records intact,” Vader said. His voice perhaps holds satisfaction, perhaps understanding. “The other reason the freighter’s prisoners were surprised at seeing the Chimaera. Not because of the size, but because they had seen it in the hyperlane and were not expecting to see it again at Batuu.”
“Indeed,” Thrawn said. “Perhaps that was also the reason all the Grysk ships arrived together. Their leaders feared someone had noticed their presence and had ordered them to quickly withdraw from the Black Spire region.”
“Yes.” Vader pointed at the row of helmets and weapons on the wardroom wall. “What do you read here?”
“Perhaps the key that the Chiss have long sought,” Thrawn said. “I believe this is the trophy collection of this group of Grysk marauders. Assuming it is representative of overall Grysk military history, I may be able to use it to learn the location of their home.”
“Explain.”
“You see how each helmet or weapon has been ritualistically disfigured on the right side,” Thrawn said. “I speculate that the degree of destruction is related to the depth of animosity the Grysk have for that particular species, or perhaps indicates the length and bitterness of that particular conflict.”
“They appear to be in chronological order, as well,” Vader said. “The damages to the leftmost show more signs of age.”
“Agreed,” Thrawn said. “There are tales of some of the Grysks’ wars, a history which I will attempt to connect to these artifacts.”
“Tales and histories often lack accuracy.”
“That is true,” Thrawn said. “But two of these helmets may alleviate some of that difficulty. You are aware, I presume, that I have some skill in anticipating enemies’ tactics from a study of their artwork.”
“I am.”
“That skill can also work in the opposite direction,” Thrawn said. “If I am familiar with a warrior’s tactics, I can in some measure identify that warrior’s artwork.”
“Interesting. You have fought some of these species before?”
“The Chiss have records of many battles. Some we participated in, others we merely observed. I believe I know the species involved with these two helmets. If I am correct, I can match this part of the Grysk timeline with known historical events.”
“Will that gain you their location?”
“It will narrow it down,” Thrawn said.
“And then?” Vader’s voice perhaps holds interest, perhaps suspicion.
“We will not attack, if that is your concern,” Thrawn said. “Not with a single Star Destroyer. At any rate, our first responsibility is to seek out their local base and free the prisoners they took from Batuu.”
“Those who created the disturbance in the Force.”
“Yes.”
“You said you would tell me who they are.”
“If we take them alive, I will tell you,” Thrawn said. “If not, there is no reason for you to ever know.”
“I disagree,” Vader said. “The matter is of interest to the Emperor. It is therefore of interest to me.”
“I will reveal the secret if we free them,” Thrawn said. “That is all I can do.”
“All you can do?” Vader’s voice holds perhaps warning, perhaps outright threat. “You have sworn loyalty to the Emperor, Admiral. Is your loyalty to him, or to your own interests?”
“The two are not incompatible, my lord.”
“So you say,” Vader countered. His voice holds impatience and growing anger. His hand reaches to hook into his belt near his lightsaber. “But you have offered no proof.”
“The Emperor has great interest in the Unknown Regions, my lord,” Thrawn said. “This secret is strongly connected to that interest, and to his ultimate goals in this part of space.”
Vader tightens his grip on his belt. “Is that to always be your excuse, Admiral?” Vader demanded “The Emperor and his goals? The Emperor is my master, as he is yours. Do you suggest I would betray him?”
“Not at all, my lord,” Thrawn assured him.
“Then you will tell me,” Vader said. “All of it.”
Vader’s body stance holds menace. But his hand does not move closer to his lightsaber. His voice holds threat, but it also holds self-control. “I offer a compromise, my lord,” Thrawn said. “I will tell you some of the truth now, and the rest when the prisoners are recovered.”
Vader remains silent for four seconds. His hand does not move in that time. “You ask a great deal of trust, Admiral,” he said. His voice holds perhaps slightly less threat. “I will not be mocked or toyed with.”
“I do not mock, my lord,” Thrawn said. “When you hear the truth, you will understand my reasons and my concerns, as well as those of the Emperor.”
Again, Vader is silent. But this time only for two seconds. “Very well. The Emperor has confidence in you. I will honor that confidence. For now.”
“Thank you, my lord.” Thrawn keyed his comlink. “Commodore Faro.”
