by Timothy Zahn
"Doesn't sound familiar," Luke said, searching his memory. "Mara?"
"No," Mara said. "Who is he?"
Karrde shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don't know, either."
"Wait a second," Mara said. "This is one of your people, and you don't know everything there is to know about him?"
The corner of Karrde's lip twitched. "I didn't know everything about you when I hired you, either," he pointed out.
"Sure, but I was a special case," Mara countered. "I thought you knew better with everyone else. Do we have any idea where the message originated or who sent it?"
"Actually, we have both," Karrde said, his voice going even darker. "The planet of origin was Nirauan." He paused. "The sender was an Admiral Voss Parck."
Luke felt his forehead creasing, a strange sensation trickling through him. Nirauan: Thrawn's private base, full of Imperials and warriors of Thrawn's own people, the Chiss. The fortress he and Mara had escaped from by the skin of their teeth three years before.
And Admiral Voss Parck, the onetime Imperial captain whom Thrawn had left in command of that base before his death. They'd had a brief run-in with Parck during their time on Nirauan, too, right after the admiral had tried to recruit Mara to their side.
"I see that name is familiar to both of you," Karrde said. "I've always had the feeling I didn't get the complete story of your little visit out that way."
Luke could sense Mara's sudden discomfort. "That was my doing," he said. "I insisted we keep most of the details from everyone except the highest-ranking New Republic officials."
"I quite understand," Karrde said calmly. "Actually, with Parck's name I think I can probably re-create most of the missing pieces myself. He was a close associate of Grand Admiral Thrawn's, wasn't he?"
"Actually, he was the Victory-class Star Destroyer captain who found Thrawn at the edge of the Unknown Regions after he'd been exiled by the rest of his people forty-odd years ago," Mara said. "He was so impressed with Thrawn's tactical skill that he took a chance and brought him to Palpatine. When Palpatine himself later exiled Thrawn back to the Unknown Regions, Parck was one of the officers who was sent out there with him."
"Exiled," Karrde murmured. "Yes. And I take it whatever Thrawn's true mission was, Parck stayed behind to complete it?"
"Basically," Luke conceded. So much for the clever little cover story Palpatine had created to explain Thrawn's departure from the Empire. But then, Karrde had always been good at reading between the lines. "I wish I could be more specific."
"That's all right." Karrde smiled. "I suppose the New Republic has to have some secrets."
"Not that they have very many from you anymore," Mara said. "So what's the story on this Dean Jinzler?"
Karrde shrugged. "He's a middle-age man, somewhere in his sixties. Quite intelligent, though he's apparently never made much of a name for himself in any profession or system. He traveled around quite a bit during the Clone Wars, though the details of his activities are sketchy. He joined the organization about a year ago with certificates in comm tech, droid maintenance, and hyperdrive tech."
"Impressive credentials," Mara commented. "Doesn't sound like the sort of person you'd stick in an Outer Rim Dead Zone station."
"Well, that's where it gets interesting," Karrde said heavily. "When I pulled up his file, I discovered that about eight weeks ago he himself asked for a transfer to that particular post."
Luke and Mara exchanged looks. "Now, that is interesting," Mara said. "Eight weeks, you say?"
"Yes," Karrde said. "I don't know if it means anything, but that was just about the time my researchers finished pulling together the material I'd asked for on Nirauan, Thrawn, and associated topics."
"Sounds like our boy Jinzler may have a certificate in creative eavesdropping, too," Mara said. "I presume we have someone digging up everything we can on him?"
"We do," Karrde said. "Unfortunately, it's going to take time. In the meantime, Admiral Parck has apparently sent you a message important enough for Jinzler to consider worth stealing. The question is what exactly we do about it."
"I don't see that we have any choice," Luke said. "Until we know what the message says, we can't even begin to guess what Jinzler might want with it." He shrugged. "So I guess we're off to Nirauan."
Beside him, Mara stirred in her chair, and he sensed her sudden tension. But she remained silent. "I was afraid you'd say that," Karrde said heavily. "Given all I don't know about your last trip there, I do know that you were chased out of the system. True?"
"Not exactly chased out," Luke said. "On the other hand, I'll admit I've never felt we'd be especially welcome if we went back. But the situation's changed. If Parck has a message for us, I assume he'll at least wait until he's delivered it before he tries to shoot us out of the sky."
"Not funny," Mara muttered.
"Sorry," Luke apologized. "I'm open to other suggestions."
"Why can't you just signal him from here?" Karrde asked. "Between the Venture and the HoloNet, we should be able to boost a signal that far."
Luke shook his head. "No. He sent the signal through your station, not the regular HoloNet. And he addressed it to me, not the Senate or anyone else on Coruscant. That implies it's something he doesn't want leaking out."
"A little late for that," Karrde murmured.
"Even so, we can't risk running any of this through regular communications channels," Luke said. "And under the circumstances, we'd better not trust your network with it, either. Jinzler may have left friends behind in case of follow-up messages."
"I suppose that makes sense," Karrde said reluctantly. "Mara? Thoughts or comments?"
"Only that if we're going, we'd better do it," she said, her voice under careful control. "Thanks for the heads-up."
"Under the circumstances, it seemed the least I could do," Karrde said. "It also occurred to me that if you went, you might prefer to use that alien ship you brought back from there. I've sent Shada and Wild Karrde to go pick it up."
"A nice thought," Luke said. "But I don't think we've got time to wait for it."
"Definitely not," Mara agreed. "Thanks anyway. How many people have you told about that ship, by the way?"
"Just Shada," Karrde said. "No one else."
"Good," Mara said. "I'd like to keep it a secret a little longer, if we can."
"No problem," Karrde assured her. "If and when we dig out information on Jinzler, shall I send a courier to Nirauan to meet you?"
"Don't bother," Luke said. "Chances are we'll be heading straight back to Coruscant within a couple of days anyway."
"And never mind Jinzler's history," Mara added. "You just concentrate on tracking down the man himself. The last time secret information slipped through our fingers, we nearly ended up with a civil war."
Karrde winced. "Yes; the Caamas Document," he said. "Don't worry, we'll find him."
"Good," Luke said. "We'll talk to you when we get back to civilization."
"Right," Karrde said. "Good luck."
"And happy hunting to you," Luke said.
He touched the comm switch, and Karrde's face vanished. "Well, like you said, the trip was starting to get routine," he commented.
Mara didn't answer. "I take it you're not happy about all this?" Luke suggested as he punched for the nav computer.
"You mean about going to Nirauan?" Mara asked, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Nirauan, where I single-handedly destroyed their whole docking bay deck for them? I'm sure Parck's just dying to see me again."
"Oh, come on," Luke soothed. "I'm sure he's gotten over that by now. Anyway, it's really Baron Fel you should be worried about. He was probably the one in charge of the fighters you wrecked."
She turned a high-voltage glare on him. "You're just dripping with cheer and good humor today, aren't you?"
"Somebody has to be," Luke said, giving her a totally innocent look.
Mara held the glare another moment. Then her face softened. "You're as worried as I am, ar
en't you?" she asked quietly.
Luke sighed. "I can think of only one reason Parck would suddenly want to talk to us," he admitted. "Probably the same reason that's already occurred to you."
Mara nodded. "The unidentified enemy he told me was coming this direction," she said. "The one that had both him and Fel seriously concerned."
"Unless they were lying about that," Luke suggested. "They were trying to talk you into joining them, remember."
Mara turned to look out at the canopy. "No," she said. "No, they were convinced. They might have been wrong, but they were sincerely wrong."
"You're probably right," Luke agreed. "I wish now we'd brought Artoo with us. He came in pretty handy the last time we were there."
"We're not going down to the planet itself," Mara said firmly. "Besides, I know Leia is a lot more comfortable having him aboard during this stage of Jaina's flight training."
Behind Luke, the computer beeped completion of its task. "Here we go," he said, feeding the course setting into the helm.
"It's almost funny, you know," Mara commented thoughtfully. "You actually called it, not fifteen minutes ago. Remember?"
Luke grimaced. Especially since I made it clear to Leia at the start that we weren't supposed to be disturbed unless it was a flat-out invasion. "The Force is strong in my family," he murmured.
"So I've heard," Mara said. "Let's just hope that was you talking and not the Force. Come on; let's get this over with."
* * *
Two days later, they reached the Nirauan system.
"Looks quiet enough," Luke said as they flew through space toward the battle-scarred planet itself. "No fighter patrols or anything else I can pick up."
Mara was silent a moment, and Luke could sense her reaching out with the Force. "I'm not getting anything, either," she said. "I get the bad feeling Parck wasn't expecting us."
Luke frowned at her. "I thought you didn't want him waiting for us."
"I didn't want his fighters waiting for us," Mara corrected. "But the complete lack of a welcoming committee implies that the message he sent was complete in and of itself. He may be annoyed to find he has visitors."
"Well, there's one way to find out," Luke said, adjusting the comm for one of the frequencies the Imperials and Chiss had been using the last time they were here. "Let's knock and see if anyone's home."
He tapped the key. "This is Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master of the New Republic, to Admiral Voss Parck. Repeat; this is Luke Skywalker calling Admiral Parck. Please respond."
He leaned back in his seat. "Now, I guess we wait until—"
Abruptly, the comm display came on, revealing the blue face and glowing red eyes of a Chiss. "Hello, Skywalker," the alien said. His eyes seemed to burn into Luke's face. "And Jade is here, too, I see," he added, his face turning slightly to gaze at Mara. "This is Kres'ten'tarthi, commander of Mitth'raw'nuruodo's household phalanx for the Empire of the Hand. This is certainly a surprise."
"I don't know why it should be," Luke said evenly. "Or didn't you know Admiral Parck had sent me a message?"
"Yes, I knew," Kres'ten'tarthi said. "The admiral will be here in a moment. In the meantime, would you care to land and join us?" His face seemed to tighten slightly. "Don't worry, the docking bay has been completely repaired since your last visit."
"Thanks for your hospitality," Mara said before Luke could answer. "I think we'll stay here."
The Chiss inclined his head. "As you wish."
The display blanked. "You know him?" Luke asked.
"Yes, though I'd only heard his core name, Stent," Mara said. "He was one of the Chiss on guard duty when Parck and Fel were talking to me. I think he took it personally when you came charging to the rescue."
Luke shook his head. "We have friends all over this planet, don't we?"
"We have friends all over this whole region of space," Mara retorted. "Don't forget, the rest of Thrawn's people are out there somewhere. Whole star systems full of Chiss, whom I notice haven't exactly been eager to make their presence known to the New Republic."
"Maybe they've got enough troubles of their own, and figure they don't need to share ours," Luke offered.
"Maybe," Mara said. "Interesting term Stent used. Did you notice?"
"Empire of the Hand," Luke said, nodding. "Probably relates to the Hand of Thrawn."
"Obviously," Mara said. "I was wondering more about the Empire part. You and your Rebel friends certainly had plenty of trouble with Palpatine's Empire. You suppose the Chiss might be having similar problems with Thrawn's?"
"Could be," Luke said doubtfully. Grand Admiral Thrawn—Mitth'raw'nuruodo, to give his full Chiss name—had been arguably the greatest military genius the galaxy had ever known, certainly the greatest the Empire had ever had in its ranks. Palpatine had sent him and a task force out into the Unknown Regions before the Rebel Alliance had been formed, ostensibly in punishment for a breach of palace politics, but in reality with the secret mission of exploring and conquering new systems for future Imperial expansion.
On their last visit to Nirauan, Luke and Mara had learned just how well he had succeeded at that task. In just those few short years he had opened up huge expanses of territory, putting them under the control of his Imperial forces and the handful of Chiss such as Stent who had remained loyal to him. The original secrecy of the project had also been maintained, with the leaders of the Imperial Remnant on Bastion having never even heard of the project up to that point.
Now, three years later, Supreme Commander Pellaeon and a handful of trusted advisers had had some limited contact with Parck and the Nirauan offshoot of their former regime. Leia and some of the other top people in the New Republic also knew of its existence, though Luke suspected neither government had any idea how extensive the new territory actually was. Only he and Mara knew that, and for the moment they had decided to keep it private.
The designation Empire of the Hand for the region, however, was a new one on them. "I can't see Thrawn becoming that kind of tyrant, though," he went on, thinking back over the New Republic's own struggles against the Grand Admiral. "He never struck me as the sort to rule by terror or suppression."
"Doesn't mean he couldn't have learned," Mara pointed out. "Palpatine was an excellent teacher. Or if not Thrawn himself, maybe those who succeeded him went in that direction. Happens all the time."
"I suppose," Luke conceded. "Still—"
He broke off as the comm display came on again, this time revealing a gray-haired human with a lined face and quick, shrewd eyes. "Hello, Mara," he said. "Master Skywalker. This is a surprise, I must say. I assumed you'd be well on your way to Crustai by now."
Luke frowned. "Crustai?"
"The rendezvous point," Parck said, his forehead furrowing as he frowned in turn. "Didn't you get my message?"
"Unfortunately, it took a wrong turn," Mara told him. "Someone named Dean Jinzler made off with it before anyone else could see the contents."
"Really," Parck murmured, looking back and forth between them. "You know this man?"
"Never heard of him before," Mara said. "I take it this message was worth stealing?"
"In the proper hands, it could very well be," Parck said, his lips compressing briefly. "This is not good at all."
"Yes, that's basically the conclusion we came to," Mara agreed. "You want to fill us in?"
"Of course," Parck said, his thoughts clearly still on the wayward message. "Though if the Chiss..." He seemed to shake himself. "Well, what's done is done," he said briskly. "Reality must always be dealt with, whether we like it or not. Tell me, Skywalker, have you ever heard of something called Outbound Flight?"
"Yes, I think so," Luke said slowly, thinking hard. "I came across a reference to it when I was searching for information on Jorus C'baoth, back when his clone was working with—was trying to kidnap Leia's twins," he corrected himself quickly. C'baoth's former connection with Thrawn, and especially his connection with Thrawn's death, might not be a wise subje
ct to bring up. "Wasn't it some grand effort a few years before the Clone Wars to send an expedition to another galaxy?"
"Very good," Parck said. "Yes, that was basically it. The project consisted of six brand-new Dreadnaughts, clustered together in a hexagonal pattern around a central storage core. The personnel consisted of six Jedi Masters and a dozen Jedi Knights, including C'baoth himself, plus some fifty thousand others, crewers and their families."
Luke blinked. "And their families?"
"Traveling to another galaxy would take time," Parck reminded him. "Especially at the low speeds Dreadnaughts were capable of making. In addition, since they would be passing through the Unknown Regions on the way, there was some suggestion of planting a few colonies as they went."
"Ah," Luke said, nodding. "Hence the design."
"Correct," Parck said. "If a colony was indeed formed, one of the Dreadnaughts could be easily detached from the cluster to provide the colonists with protection and mobility."
"Yes," Luke said. "Aside from that, about all I know is that the expedition never returned. Did they make it to another galaxy?"
Beside him, Mara stirred. "They didn't even make it out of ours," she said quietly. "Thrawn intercepted the mission at the edge of Chiss space and destroyed it."
"Yes," Parck said. "The rest of the Chiss were not pleased, to say the least. Thrawn was nearly exiled on the spot, though he apparently was able to talk his way out of it somehow."
"Yes, I remember the history lesson from the last time I was here," Mara said. "The Chiss are fanatics on the topic of preemptive strikes. So what does a fifty-year-old tragedy have to do with us?"
"Just this." Parck's eyes bored into hers. "The Chiss have found the remains of Outbound Flight. And they want to give it back."
* * *
For a long moment, Mara just stared at the screen, a hundred different thoughts and emotions twisting themselves through her mind. "No," she said, the word popping out without conscious effort. "That's impossible. It has to be a trick."
Parck shrugged. "I agree it sounds odd. But Aristocra Formbi seemed sincere when he contacted me."
"It's impossible," Mara insisted again. "You told me Thrawn destroyed Outbound Flight. When Thrawn destroys something, he does a very thorough job of it."
