Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil

According to the protocols Thurfian had read, each Patriarch at the Circle of Unity was permitted a single aide, who would sit behind him or her during the meeting and could offer quiet advice or information as their Patriarch requested. Thivik was already seated behind Thurfian at the Mitth section of the ancient round table, and as the others settled in Thurfian saw that most had brought either their senior aide or their family’s Syndicure Speaker.

Patriarch Irizi’fife’rencpok, to Thurfian’s surprise, had brought Zistalmu.

From Thurfian’s position, the Irizi Syndic Prime was only partially visible, the view blocked both by Zistalmu’s own Patriarch and the Chaf Patriarch seated beside him. But he could see enough of his former collaborator’s face to recognize the other was still holding on to the bitterness of their last conversation.

And he would be the one advising Patriarch Zififerenc on how he should deal with the Mitth and everyone else.

Thurfian sighed. This was going to be a long day.

The Circle of Unity began.

Each Patriarch was permitted an opening statement. Most of them used their time to list their grievances, though to their credit most spoke calmly and also offered ideas as to how they could compromise with their rivals. Patriarch Rivlex gave the most heated of the presentations, accusing the Dasklo family of planning violence against the Clarr, though Thurfian noted that he presented no proof to support his allegations. The Dasklo’s response was far more measured, which only seemed to add additional heat to Rivlex’s simmer.

And then it was Thurfian’s turn.

“I appreciate Your Venerantes’ willingness to come here today,” he said when he’d finished going through the prescribed greetings. “I also welcome the opportunity to air our grievances and look to each other for solutions. But instead of adding to that list, I’d like to speak of a hitherto unknown threat to the Ascendancy. A threat that has just been made known to me; a threat posed by Expansionary Defense Fleet Senior Captain Mitth’raw’nuruodo.”

A small ripple ran around the table. They all knew that name, all right. “Ah, yes—the Syndicure’s favorite ungimbaled laser,” the Ufsa Patriarch said, a hint of snide amusement in her face and voice. “What’s he done now?”

“You may have heard that he abandoned his ship, the Springhawk, in favor of joining an alien expedition to a world known to us as Sunrise,” Thurfian went on, ignoring the interruption. “What you may not have heard is that he’s persuaded some of his colleagues to join him in laying siege to that world and ultimately conquering it.”

“What?” the Ufsa demanded, her amusement vanishing.

“We don’t conquer inhabited worlds,” the Plikh put in, sounding more puzzled than outraged. “What does Thrawn think he’s doing?”

“It appears there’s a colony of aliens on that world who can see … well, it’s a bit vague,” Thurfian conceded. “But these particular aliens are sometimes able to touch something they call the Beyond, which Thrawn believes may be connected to the same force that gives our sky-walkers the ability to see into the future the few seconds necessary to guide our ships in hyperspace. Because of this connection, the aliens seem able to sometimes work with a sky-walker to allow both to see more deeply into the future than either can do alone.”