"Don't worry, I'm sure your n.o.ble-minded Commander Thrawn won't fall for it," Qennto said sourly.

"But even if Thrawn doesn't cooperate, Stratis still has an intact Trade Federation battleship on hand," Car'das reminded them. "That's a lot of firepower, and they might have more of them on the way."

"So what do we do?" Maris asked.

"We do nothing," Qennto said firmly. "It's not our job to look out for this Outbound Flight."

"But we can't just sit here and do nothing," Maris protested. "No, we can run like scalded hawk-bats," Qennto retorted.

"And I'm thinking this would be a real good time to do just that."

"But..."

"Maris," Qennto said, cutting her off with an uplifted hand. "It's not our problem. You hear me? It's not our problem. If the Jedi are going to go flying off into the Unknown Regions, it's up to them to figure out how to protect themselves. It's up to us to figure out how to get ourselves out of here. That is, if you think you can drag yourself away from all this n.o.bility and culture."

"That's not fair," Maris protested, her eyes hard even as a touch of pink colored her cheeks.

"Whatever." Qennto turned back to Car'das. "You're his confidant these days, kid. You think you can sweet-talk him into letting us have that Vagaari loot his brother locked away?" He jerked a thumb at Maris. "Or should I ask Maris to do it?"

"Rak-" Maris began.

"I don't think sweet talk is going to be the issue," Car'das said hastily. The tension between Qennto and Maris was starting to drift into the red zone again. "He can't give it to us unless his brother and Admiral Ar'alani both let him."

"So how do we get Ar'alani back here?" Maris asked.

"We don't have to," Car'das said grimly, glancing at his chrono. "As a matter of fact, Thrawn's probably welcoming her onto the base right now."

"Great," Qennto said, brightening. "Let's get our hearing, get our loot, and get out of here."

"I don't think so," Car'das said. "She's here to see whether or not Thrawn should be relieved of command."

There was a moment of stunned silence. "That's insane," Mavis said at last. "He's a good commander. He's a good man."

"And when did either of those ever matter?" Qennto muttered. "Oh, boy.

And she was already dead set against giving us the Vagaari stuff. This is not good."

"Can't you for one minute forget about your loot?" Maris asked crossly.

"This is Thrawn's career and life we're talking about."

"No, I can't forget about the loot," Qennto countered. "In case you've forgotten, sweetheart, we're already two and a half months late getting Drixo her furs and firegems. The only thing that's going to keep us alive when we finally show up is if we have something extra to calm her down with."

Maris grimaced. "I know," she murmured.

"So what do we do?" Car'das asked.

"What you're going to do is convince them to hand it over," Qennto said.

"And don't ask how," he added as Car'das opened his mouth. "Beg, cajole, bribe-whatever it takes."

"You're the only one who can do it," Maris agreed soberly. "Anytime Rak or I even step outside our quarters, we have an escort following us around."

Car'das sighed. "I'll do what I can."

"And don't forget this is a limited-time window," Qennto warned. "Right now, we have at least half an ally in Thrawn. If he gets the boot, we won't have even that much."

Briefly, Car'das wondered what they would say if he told them Thrawn had publicly accused all three of them of espionage. But there was no point in worrying them any more than they were already. "I'll do what I can,"

he said again, getting to his feet. "See you later."

He left their quarters and started down the corridor. Ar'alani's welcoming ceremony was probably over, but she and Thrawn were most likely still together. Probably talking about Thra.s.s's accusations; Ar'alani hadn't struck him as the sort who would waste any more time with ceremonial niceties than necessary. Maybe he could leave word with one of Thrawn's officers that he wanted to see the commander at his earliest convenience.

"So you do have free run of the base."

Car'das turned. Thra.s.s was coming up behind him, his expression giving no hint as to what was going on behind those glowing eyes. "Syndic Mittlfras'safis," Car'das greeted him, fighting to get his brain online again. "Forgive my surprise; I a.s.sumed you'd be with your brother and the admiral."

Thra.s.s inclined his head. "Come with me, please." He turned and strode off down the corridor. With his pulse pounding uncomfortably in his throat, Car'das followed.

Thra.s.s led the way to the upper level of the base, where Thrawn and the senior officers had their quarters. They pa.s.sed a few warriors along the way, none of whom gave either the syndic or the human so much as a curious glance, and finally arrived at a door marked with Cheunh symbols that Car'das couldn't quite decipher. "In here," Thra.s.s said, opening the door and gesturing inside. Bracing himself, Car'das stepped past him into the room.

He found himself in a small conference room with half a dozen computer-equipped chairs arranged in a circle around a central hologrammic display. Seated on the far side of the circle, resplendent in her white uniform, was Admiral Ar'alani. "Be seated, Car'das," she said in Cheunh as Thra.s.s stepped into the room behind him.

"Thank you, Admiral," Car'das said in the same language as he took the seat directly across from her. "Welcome back." She nodded acknowledgment, studying him thoughtfully as Thra.s.s sat down in the chair to her right.

"Your proficiency in Cheunh has improved," she commented. "My compliments."

"Thank you," Car'das said again. "It's a beautiful language to listen to.

I only regret that I'll never speak it as well as a Chiss."

"No, you won't," Ar'alani agreed. "I understand you were with Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo on this latest military venture. Tell us what happened."

Car'das glanced at Thra.s.s, back at Ar'alani. "Forgive my impertinence, but shouldn't you ask Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo about this instead of me?"

"We will," Ar'alani a.s.sured him darkly "Right now, we're asking you. Tell us about this latest act of aggression."

Car'das took a deep breath. "First of all, it wasn't really an act of aggression," he said, picking his words carefully "It was an expedition to investigate unknown warships that had been reported in the area."

"Vessels that wouldn't have been reported at all if Mitth'raw'nuruodo wasn't already inclined to premature military action," Ar'alani pointed out.

Beside her, Thra.s.s stirred in his seat. "The Expansionary Fleet's charter does require observation and exploration in the regions around the Chiss Ascendancy," he said.

"Observation and exploration," Ar'alani countered. "Not unprovoked military action." She lifted her eyebrows. "Or do you deny military action was taken and Chiss casualties sustained?"

Car'das frowned. Thrawn hadn't mentioned anything about casualties. "I was unaware that any Chiss warriors had been lost."

"The Whirlwind did not return from the battle," Ar'alani said.

"Oh," Car'das said, breathing a little easier. Of course; the missing cruiser was still at the battle scene, keeping the Darkvenge pinned down with the Vagaari gray projector. But he obviously couldn't tell Ar'alani that. "I still maintain that Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo fought only in self-defense."

"Did the unknown enemy fire first?"

"The firing of weapons isn't always the first act of aggression," Car'das hedged, once again feeling as if he were walking a narrow board over a pit of gundarks. "The Trade Federation battleships launched a ma.s.sive force of droid starfighters. I've read reports of battles in which these weapons were used, and if Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo hadn't acted to neutralize them, his force would quickly have been overwhelmed."

"Perhaps," Ar'alani said. "We'll know better once you've shown us around the battle zone."

Car'das felt his mouth go suddenly dry "Around the . . . ?"

"You object?" Ar'alani demanded.

"Well, for starters, I don't even know where it is," Car'das said, stalling for time as he thought furiously. If Ar'alani found the Darkvenge sitting out there "The location isn't a problem," Ar'alani a.s.sured him, holding up a slender cylinder tapered at both ends. "I have the last two months' worth of the Springhawk's navigational data."

Car'das fought back a grimace. Terrific. "All right," he said. "But shouldn't we check first with Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo?"

"We're going now precisely because I don't want Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo to know about it," Ar'alani said. "I've sent him on a security sweep of the nearby systems, which should give us time to examine the battle zone and return." Her eyes glittered. "And only then will we ask for his version of the battle."

"Preparing for first target," C'baoth said, his deep voice sounding strained as it resonated from the low ceiling of the weapons blister.

"Firing now" His hands moved in an almost dream-like way over the controls, and there was a flicker of indicator lights as one of Dreadnaught-1's sets of turbolasers delivered a ma.s.sive broadside blast.

Standing near the blister's doorway, Obi-Wan stretched out to the Force.

On the other side of the Dreadnaught, he could sense Lorana Jinzler also firing her turbolasers, while all the way on the far side of Outbound Flight on Dreadnaught-4 Ma'Ning and the two Duros Jedi did the same.

"Whoa," Anakin muttered at his side. "That's . . . intense."

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed, eyeing C'baoth closely. This was the Jedi Master's third meld today, and the strain of the procedure had to be getting to him. But if it was, Obi-Wan couldn't detect it in the other's face or sense.

He'd always a.s.sumed that at least part of C'baoth's unshakable confidence in himself was either an act or else a vast overestimation of his actual abilities. Now, for the first time, he began to wonder if the man might actually be as strong in the Force as he claimed.

"Spotter control: all test-one volleys on target," a voice reported from the comm panel.

"Pretty good," Anakin muttered.

"Very good, you mean," Obi-Wan said. "Can you sense any of Master C'baoth's commands, or just the presence of the meld itself?"

"I don't know," Anakin said, and Obi-Wan could sense the boy tightening his concentration.

"Preparing for second target," C'baoth announced. "Spotter control ready."

"Firing now," C'baoth said.

Again, the indicators flickered. "Target two hit," the spotter reported.

"One flier."

"What's a flier?" Anakin asked.

"It means one of the shots missed the target," Obi-Wan told him, frowning. There'd been something odd on that last shot, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Stretching out again to the Force, this time focusing on the edges of the meld instead of on its center, he tried to track it down.

"Preparing for third target," C'baoth said. "Firing now." And this time, as the indicators once again flickered, Obi-Wan saw it.

C'baoth had set up a total of six targets in this exercise. Obi-Wan forced himself to wait until all six had been destroyed, the last four with as impressive an accuracy quotient as the first two.

The spotter delivered his final report, and with a shaking jerk of his head C'baoth broke the meld. For a few seconds he just sat there, blinking rapidly as the last tendrils of connection between him and his fellow Jedi dissolved completely away. Then, taking a deep breath, he exhaled a long sigh and turned to Obi-Wan and Anakin. "What did you think, Young Skywalker?"

"Very intense," Anakin said. "I've ever seen anything like it before.

When can I try it?"

"Not until after you've completed your training," C'baoth said. "This isn't something Padawans should be fooling around with."

"But I could handle it," Anakin insisted. "I'm very strong in the Force-you can ask Obi-Wan-"

"When you're a Jedi," C'baoth said firmly, his forehead wrinkling slightly as he shifted his eyes to Obi-Wan. "You have a question, Master Ken.o.bi?"

"If you have a moment, yes," Obi-Wan said, trying to keep his voice casual. "Anakin, why don't you head back to Reactor Two and see if they're ready for us to help with that cooling-rod bundle yet. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay," Anakin said, his forehead wrinkling briefly as he left the room.

"Well?" C'baoth asked, making the word a challenge.

"You had D-Four's Padawans in the weapons blisters with Master Ma'Ning just now, didn't you?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes, I did," C'baoth said evenly. "Is there a problem with that?"

"You just finished telling Anakin that this was way beyond a Padawan's abilities."

C'baoth smiled thinly. "Calm yourself, Master Ken.o.bi," he said. "Of course they weren't actually partic.i.p.ating in the meld."

"Then why were they there at all?"

"For the same reason your Padawan was here," C'baoth said, an edge of impatience creeping into his voice. "So that they could get an idea of what a Jedi meld is like."

"What kind of idea could they get?" Obi-Wan asked. "They've barely even begun their training. They could hardly see any more than any other non-Jedi could."

"Again, is that a problem?" C'baoth asked.

Obi-Wan took a careful breath. "It is if the lure of such advanced techniques goads them into pressing ahead too quickly and too impatiently."

C'baoth's eyes narrowed. "Speak carefully, Master Ken.o.bi," he warned.

"Such impatience is the mark of the dark side. I will not have you accuse me of walking that path, nor of guiding others along it."

"I don't accuse you of anything," Obi-Wan said stiffly. "Except perhaps of having overly high expectations of those under your tutelage."

C'baoth snorted. "Better expectations too high for Padawans to ever quite reach than ones so low they never need to stretch beyond what is already known."