Thrawn Ascendancy Book 3: Lesser Evil

“Yes, sir,” Ziinda said.

“As for you, Admiral Ar’alani,” Ba’kif continued, “you’ll turn over command of the Vigilant to Senior Captain Wutroow and prepare a shuttle for Csilla. Your meeting request has been approved.”

Ar’alani stiffened. “Understood, sir,” she said through suddenly dry lips. “I’ll leave as soon as I can.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Ba’kif said. “Senior Captain Wutroow, watch yourself and Sposia very carefully. There’s no reason to believe Jixtus knows about the UAG or the items stored there. But since we don’t know the full extent of his conversations with Patriarch Rivlex, I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Understood, sir,” Wutroow said. “We’ll be ready for whatever anyone throws at us.”

“Good,” Ba’kif said. “I’ll be in contact if and when there are further updates. Until then, you all have your orders. Good luck.”

Ar’alani keyed off her mike. “Junior Commander Larsiom, close comm,” she ordered. “Then alert Senior Warrior Yopring to prep a shuttle for Csilla; full long-range crew; one passenger.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“Well, that was an interesting way to spend an hour,” Wutroow said as Ar’alani picked up her questis and stood up. “Any further orders, Admiral?”

“Just the one Ba’kif already gave you,” Ar’alani said. “Stay alert and watch for trouble. Oh, and if trouble does arrive, squash it.”

“The simple orders are always the best.” Wutroow cocked her head. “Speaking of not simple things, any thoughts as to what Ziinda meant by that Thrawn’s gunners comment?”

Ar’alani shook her head. “Aside from the fact that she really didn’t want to talk about it, nothing at all.”

“I presume you’re going to rectify that omission?”

“You presume correctly,” Ar’alani assured her. “But not right now. We’ve got bigger problems than whatever connivance Thrawn might have pulled off at Hoxim. More important, Ziinda and Thrawn are two of our best and most trustworthy assets, and I have no interest in losing or weakening either of them.”

“Does that mean you’re also not going to mention this to the supreme general?”

Ar’alani hesitated. There were still things about Hoxim that no one knew, and that everyone wanted to know.

More than that, there were things people like Ba’kif needed to know. Whatever scheme Thrawn had pulled off at Hoxim, it might be something that could be used in the future.

But if the plan had required Thrawn to once again skate over the line, Ba’kif would be bound by the protocols to pass it on to the Council. And there were only so many times he could cover for Thrawn.

Besides, it wasn’t like Ziinda had actually said anything critical. There was certainly nothing in the protocols that required officers to pass on rumors or half-truths to their superiors.

“Not right now,” she told Wutroow. “We’ll wait until we have more details. Assuming we can get Ziinda to give those to us.”

“Understood,” Wutroow said. “And speaking of things people don’t want to talk about …?”

“If you’re asking about my meeting request to Supreme General Ba’kif, I didn’t say anything about it to you because I assumed it would be denied,” Ar’alani told her. “Now that it’s been granted … I think it might be best to keep it quiet a little longer. At least until I get back from Csilla.”

“I see,” Wutroow said. “You know, there’s an old saying that keeping secrets killed the whisker cub.”

Ar’alani snorted. “There’s no such saying. You just made that up.”

“Well, if there isn’t one, there ought to be,” Wutroow said. “Safe flight to you, Admiral.” She turned her head to look out the viewport at the Orisson, now settling into orbit in the distance. “And hurry back,” she added. “I get the feeling we’re going to need you. Probably sooner than later.”