Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil

Prologue

“Prepare for breakout.” Senior Captain Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s voice echoed across the Springhawk’s bridge. “All officers and warriors stand prepared. We’re not here to start trouble, but I intend to be ready for it.”

First Officer Mid Captain Ufsa’mak’ro scowled to himself. Of course Senior Captain Thrawn didn’t plan to start trouble. He never did. Yet somehow trouble always seemed to happen.

If that pattern was determined to continue, it couldn’t have picked a better spot for it.

Bad enough that Zyzek was an alien system. Worse that Chiss records had nothing about it beyond its location and that it was a trading center for several of the small nations to the east and southeast of the Chiss Ascendancy. Even worse that Thrawn believed this to be the system where Captain Fsir and his fellow Watith had been recruited to launch their ambush attack on his ship.

Worst of all that no one else knew the Springhawk was here.

They should have gone straight back to the Ascendancy. They should have left the planet Hoxim and the skirmish Samakro had privately dubbed the Battle of the Three Families and headed back to Csilla for repairs, debriefing, and what was likely to be a memorable job of sweeping the whole mess out the door. All the other Chiss warships, the ones crewed exclusively by members of the Xodlak, Erighal, and Pommrio families, had done exactly that, making the slow jump-by-jump back home while their commanders no doubt struggled to write all this up in their logs.

But not the Springhawk. The hours Thrawn had spent studying the Watith freighter before its destruction had somehow convinced him that Zyzek was where Fsir had come from. From there, it was only a small leap of tactical logic to swinging by that system on their way home and taking a look.

Samakro understood the strategy. On one level, he even agreed with it. The Springhawk had Sky-walker Che’ri to speed it on its way through the twisting hyperspace pathways of the Chaos, while any observer who’d been lurking around to report on the battle would have some lesser navigator or none at all. The fact that Thrawn could get to Zyzek ahead of that news could be a major advantage in information gathering.

But that was one small plus, and it was piled on top of a whole stack of minuses.

“Breakout: Three, two, one.”

The star-flares collapsed into stars, and the Springhawk had arrived.

“Full scan,” Thrawn ordered. “Pay special attention to the ships in the various orbits. I’ll want as complete a catalog of ship types as possible, along with where in the orbital stack they are.”

“Yes, Senior Captain,” Mid Commander Elod’al’vumic acknowledged from the sensor station.

“Kharill, assist her with the cataloging,” Thrawn added.

“Yes, sir.” The voice of Senior Commander Plikh’ar’illmorf came over the speaker from secondary command. “Dalvu, mark which sectors you want us to handle from here.”

“Yes, Senior Commander,” Dalvu said. “Marking them now.”

“Watch for movement, either inward as an attempt to hide from us or outward in an attempt to flee,” Thrawn said. “We’re here to see if we can create a reaction.” He nodded toward the helm. “Azmordi, start moving us inward. Sky-walker Che’ri, stand ready in case we need to leave quickly.”

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Tumaz’mor’diamir said from the helm.

“Yes, Senior Captain,” Sky-walker Che’ri’s caregiver Mitth’ali’astov echoed.

Samakro let his eyes sweep slowly across the bridge. Dalvu, Kharill, Azmordi. Officers he’d served with a long time, dating back to when he’d commanded the Springhawk and continuing through Thrawn’s current tenure as captain. He knew them and their abilities and trusted them with his life.

Thalias, on the other hand …

He focused on the caregiver as she turned back to the viewport, her hand resting reassuringly on Che’ri’s shoulder. Thalias was still far too much of a mystery to him, with uncertainties and doubts swirling around her.

Worse, from Samakro’s point of view, she carried the stench of family politics. Syndic Mitth’urf’ianico had done some fancy maneuvering in order to get her aboard the Springhawk, and Samakro still didn’t know what Thurfian’s game was.

But he would find out. He’d already planted the seeds, feeding Thalias a story and conspiracy theory that painted Thrawn in a bad light, a story he knew she would eventually spill to Thurfian or possibly to someone else. When she did—when she betrayed that confidence—he would finally have proof that she was a spy sent to destroy or at least damage the Springhawk’s commander. Then, maybe, he’d be able to convince Thrawn to get her off his ship.

Until then, all Samakro could do was watch her and guard as best he could against any mischief she might make.

We’re here to create a reaction. Unfortunately, Samakro had seen the kind of reaction Thrawn’s unexpected appearances tended to spark. Especially in potentially hostile territory and moving among large numbers of probably unfriendly ships.

But Thrawn was the Springhawk’s commander, and he’d given an order. Samakro’s job was to do everything in his power to carry it out.

And if part of his duty was to defend his ship to the death … well, he was prepared to do that, too.