“You’re welcome.” Ar’alani dared a smile. “And not just one, you know. I like to think I contributed my small bit to keeping you in the academy over that cheating charge.”

“Your contribution was far larger than you perhaps remember,” Thrawn assured her. “And your assistance has hardly been limited to the distant past. I never properly thanked you for your support in the aftermath of the Stivic incident.”

“My support was completely unnecessary,” Ar’alani said, looking him squarely in the eye. “The Garwians have stated on the record that it was Security Officer Frangelic who spotted the weakness of the pirates’ tactics and found a way to exploit it. From the way they were raving about him, he’s probably been promoted by now.”

“And he richly deserves whatever accolades he’s received.”

“Agreed.” Ar’alani cocked her head. “Just out of curiosity, I looked into it afterward, and I couldn’t find an obvious way to tie a comm into a ranging laser.”

“There isn’t,” Thrawn said. “But there’s a spot where a questis can be linked for data downloading and analysis.”

“And connectors like that can usually run either direction,” Ar’alani said, nodding. “So you tied your questis into the laser’s frequency-modulation option and used voice-to-script?”

“Just script,” Thrawn said. “If there was an inquiry afterward, having a voice recording would narrow the search a bit too much.”

Ar’alani nodded again. “The Garwians owe you. I hope they realize that.”

“I didn’t do it for their gratitude,” Thrawn said, sounding a bit surprised that Ar’alani would even think of it in those terms. “I did it for the good of their people, and for all who would otherwise have faced those same attackers.”

“A high-minded goal,” Ar’alani said. “I wish the Ascendancy appreciated it more.”

Thrawn smiled. “Nor did I do it for our gratitude.”

“Indeed.” Again, Ar’alani looked over his shoulder. Still six people lingering, but they were engrossed in conversation with one another and would never miss her. “Tell you what. Let’s go someplace a little quieter, and you can buy me a celebratory drink.”

She touched his arm. “And while we drink,” she said, “you can tell me all the other goals you have that the Ascendancy will pretend not to be grateful for.”

Chapter Sixteen

The bluedock foreman shook his head as he ran to the end of the listing. “I don’t know what it is with you folk,” he said. “This is the second time in two months. Do you deliberately run into the middle of your battles?”

“Of course not,” Samakro said stiffly. “It’s hardly the Springhawk’s fault if the Council and Aristocra keep sending us out into the Chaos to fight people.”