“I accept the first two,” Ilparg said, the disdain still in his voice. “The third is of little to no value. However, now that Senior Captain Thrawn has graced us with his presence, perhaps you’d be good enough to contact the diplomatic office as I requested?”

“Certainly, Ambassador,” Wutroow said, stepping to Ilparg’s side and deftly easing him away from Ar’alani and Thrawn. “We can hail them better from the comm station. This way, please.”

“Thank you for trying,” Thrawn said softly as he came up beside Ar’alani.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ar’alani advised. “Sometimes it’s good to have your talents underestimated.” Though not when your career is being evaluated, she added silently to herself. “What did you find?”

“Our Lioaoi art files are extremely limited,” Thrawn said. “But they should be adequate to our needs.”

“Glad to hear it.” Ar’alani waved toward the viewport. “There’s your canvas. Paint me something.”

For a moment, Thrawn stood silently, his eyes tracking across the scene in front of them. Ar’alani shifted her attention between him and the tactical display, wondering when the Lioaoi were going to make their move. If the Nikardun were here, this group must have heard about the Urch incident by now.

Could the Urchiv-ki have somehow failed to identify the Vigilant before it escaped from their encirclement? Impossible. Could they perhaps not have at least one communications triad on the entire Urchiv-ki capital planet capable of transmitting a message this far? Even more unlikely.

So what were the Nikardun waiting for?

Unless the whole thing was just a product of paranoia and imagination. The alien nations out here were always fighting among themselves—Ar’alani knew that all too well. If the Nikardun were just some small-time species the Chiss hadn’t run across, and their battles were purely local ones—

“Those nine fighters,” Thrawn said, pointing to a group of small ships just coming around the planetary disk. “The craft themselves are a variant of Lioaoin design, but their formation and flight pattern aren’t typical.”

“Maybe they’ve updated their tactics since the last time you saw them,” Ar’alani suggested.

“No,” Thrawn said slowly. “Lioaoi like vertical formations. Their artwork clearly shows that. They would normally put nine ships like that in a three-stack wedge. This formation is planar and far more spread out.”

Ar’alani nodded. That was definitely not a stacked-wedge formation. “Looks like it’s designed for a pincer maneuver, too.”

“Indeed,” Thrawn said. “Attack, not defense. Again, contrary to the usual Lioaoin predisposition. But it’s not just the formation. The pilots seem…hesitant, somehow. As if this formation is new to them.”

“Maybe they’re fresh recruits.”

“All nine of them?” Thrawn shook his head. “No. Those are one-person gunboats. The Lioaoi would never put that many untried pilots alone without a more experienced ship and crew nearby in case of trouble. Certainly not that deep in the gravity well.”