Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil

“But I’m not useless,” Qilori insisted, his voice shaking now in rhythm with his winglets. “I can still serve you.”

“How?” Jixtus countered. “As a navigator? I can return to the FateSpinner and use my own. As an information source? You just saw how much better Patriarch Rivlex serves in that capacity.”

Qilori looked around the bridge, trying to think, noting the utter stillness of Generalirius Nakirre and his vassals. Jixtus was probably still just playing with him, he told himself firmly. This was the Grysk’s petty little game of driving fear into Qilori’s soul.

But what if it wasn’t? What if Jixtus’s increasing frustration had finally pushed him over the edge? What if he was descending into rage and really, really wanted to kill someone?

What if he’d already decided he didn’t need his tame Pathfinder?

“Patriarch Rivlex may have more knowledge,” he said. “But I know Thrawn better. I’ve talked with him. I know how he thinks, and what’s important to him.” He paused, trying to wrap his thoughts around the germ of an idea that had just occurred to him. “In fact, I think I know why he told me there was only one other alien besides the Magys.”

“Do you?” Jixtus said. “Very well. Tell me.”

“I think he expects you to come to Sunrise,” Qilori said. “I think he plans to allow you to put him in a losing stance, then offer you the Magys and one other alien in exchange for pulling back and leaving him and his people alive. You would then leave, thinking you had all the prescients, while he left with the rest of them.”

“Interesting theory,” Jixtus said thoughtfully. “And what of the Chiss force the Patriarchs are now sending to bring him home? What if they take him from Sunrise before my forces can arrive?”

“They won’t,” Qilori said. “He’ll try to persuade them to wait until he’s finished with his collection before they leave Sunrise. Even with the device Rivlex said he brought from Sposia, that procedure will certainly take enough time for you to confront him.”

“To confront him and fourteen or more Chiss ships,” Jixtus said, still thoughtful. “At the very least, he surely has the Springhawk and Grayshrike. And Rivlex’s assurances notwithstanding, I presume the Vigilant is also with them. Still, my fleet will be more than sufficient to deal with them.”

Across the bridge, Generalirius Nakirre stirred. “If you wish, I could summon some ships from the Kilhorde to assist,” he offered.

“Hardly necessary,” Jixtus said. “You really think Thrawn would willingly sacrifice a pair of aliens?”

“To keep all the others?” Qilori said. “Yes, sir, I do. Actually, I believe he would give you all of Sunrise if you insisted on that as part of the deal.”

“He would hand me an entire world in exchange for a few aliens who might or might not prove useful?”

“If he wants them, you can be sure they’ll be useful.” Qilori’s winglets twitched as he thought back to that quiet moment aboard the Aelos. “He told me once that the sole reason for his existence was to defend the Chiss Ascendancy and protect his people. He said he would do whatever was necessary to achieve that goal, and that nothing and no one would be allowed to stand in his way.”

“And you believed him?”

A shiver ran through Qilori’s winglets. “Yes. If you’d heard him … yes, I did.”

“An interesting analysis,” Jixtus said. “I will consider it. Tell me, what price will you pay if you’re wrong?”

Qilori’s winglets twitched. “Sir?”

“If I plan my actions at Sunrise according to your analysis, and if you prove to be wrong, what price are you willing to pay?”

“I … can’t answer that question,” Qilori stammered.

“Then I will answer it for you,” Jixtus said. “If you are wrong, you will die.”

The word hung in the air like a poisoned mist. Nakirre and his vassals, Qilori noted distantly, had again gone quiet.

“Just so we understand each other, even as you claim to understand Thrawn,” Jixtus continued into the silence. “Go and rest, now, Pathfinder. In a few hours we’ll reach the edge of the Ascendancy and enter into the Chaos, and your navigation skills will be required.”

“Yes, sir,” Qilori managed.

“And who knows?” Jixtus added, the hidden eyes nevertheless somehow seeming to bore into Qilori’s face. “If you’re wrong about Thrawn, perhaps you will join the aliens of Sunrise in learning what it means to touch the Beyond.”