“I don’t understand why you wanted it left intact instead of bringing it in for a more thorough investigation,” she said. “I can’t see how anything in there will do you any good.”

“You may be surprised,” Ba’kif said. “We may both be.”

He looked toward the hatch where Thrawn had gone. “In fact, I’m counting on it.”

Ba’kif had seen the holos the patrol had sent to the Syndicure on Csilla and the Expansionary Defense Fleet headquarters on Naporar.

Like the ship itself, the reality was far worse.

Wrecked consoles. Fried data storage banks and modules. Destroyed sensor clusters and analysis pods.

And bodies. Lots of bodies.

Or rather, the remains of bodies.

“This wasn’t a freighter.” Thrawn’s voice came softly through Ba’kif’s helmet speaker. “It was a refugee ship.”

Ba’kif nodded silently. Adults, midagers, children—the whole range of life experience had been represented.

All of them slaughtered with the same brutal efficiency.

“What did the fleet’s analysis give us?” Thrawn asked.

“Precious little,” Ba’kif admitted. “As you already noted, the ship’s design isn’t one we’ve seen before. The victims’ nucleic code isn’t in our data listings. The size of the ship suggests it didn’t travel overly far, but there are a lot of planetary systems and small nation clusters in the Chaos that we’ve never visited.”

“And their physical characteristics…” Thrawn waved a hand.

“Not easy to read,” Ba’kif said grimly, shivering in spite of himself. Explosive rounds had left very little for even the best reconstruction team to work with. “I was hoping there might be something you could glean from what they left behind.”

“There are a few things,” Thrawn said. “The basic ship design has certain characteristics that likely translate to other aspects of their culture. Their clothing, too, is distinctive.”

“In what way?” Ba’kif asked. “Material? Design? Patterning?”

“All that, and more,” Thrawn said. “There’s a certain air about such things, an overall feeling that forms in my mind.”

“Nothing you can codify for us?”

Thrawn turned to him, and through his faceplate Ba’kif saw the other’s wry smile. “Really, General,” he said. “If I could write all this down, I certainly would.”

“I know,” Ba’kif said. “It would be a lot easier for all of us if you could.”

“Agreed,” Thrawn said. “But rest assured I’ll be able to recognize these beings when I see them again. I presume your plan is to search for the ship’s point of origin?”

“Under normal circumstances, I would definitely do so,” Ba’kif said. “But with the Syndicure in its current state of uproar and outrage, it might be difficult to detach a task force from Ascendancy defense.”

“I’m prepared to go alone if necessary.”