“You stole one of my ships and killed one of my crews,” Yiv said, the smugness gone. “For that you’ve automatically earned death at my hand. I’d prefer to bring you aboard the Deathless so I can watch you die, but if you insist I can certainly do it from here.”

“I do not so insist,” Thrawn assured him. “I merely wish to ascertain the parameters of our altered agreement. Do I assume that since the location for our meeting was changed, all the rest of the original provisions are no longer in force?”

“Probably,” Yiv said, the smugness back. With the death sentence now pronounced with the proper harshness, the Benevolent was settling back to enjoy watching his enemy squirm. “Are there any provisions in particular you’d like to revisit?”

“Let me first commend you for your insight in moving the meeting to this spot,” Thrawn said. “I presume you felt Primea orbit would be too public a venue? Especially since you don’t want the Vaks to see how much military force you have in the area?”

“That would hardly be a surprise,” Yiv assured him. “They’ve seen these ships, and more. It’s amazing how the presence of Battle Dreadnoughts can smooth out a round of negotiations.”

“Perhaps in general,” Thrawn said. “Perhaps not with a people like the Vaks. You were also wise enough to stay within the Primea system instead of moving us elsewhere. This way, you can calculate and execute a jump journey over to the planet within a relatively few minutes.”

“I don’t anticipate any reason to hurry over there,” Yiv said. A hint of caution had crept into his voice, Qilori noted with some trepidation of his own. If there was anyone who should be worried about his situation, it was Thrawn. Why was he instead making casual conversation on irrelevant subjects? “Are you expecting the Combine leadership to suddenly need a conversation with me?”

“Not necessarily,” Thrawn said. “You asked which part of our agreement I wanted to revisit.”

“And?”

“Just one provision,” Thrawn said. “The part about me coming to Primea alone.”

The hyperspace swirl became star-flares, then stars, and the Springhawk had arrived.

“Dalvu: Sensor scan,” Samakro ordered, doing a quick visual check of his own. There was a lot of traffic out there, ships of all sizes and styles moving in or out or just orbiting Primea while they awaited their turn. Not surprising for a center of commerce and diplomatic contact, but it was going to make drawing out the enemy that much harder.

Or perhaps even impossible if Thrawn’s analysis of Nikardun ship parameters proved inadequate to the job. If the task force couldn’t pick Yiv’s ships out of the swarm, the mission would be over before it even started.

Leaving Thrawn to face Yiv alone.

“Vigilant has arrived, Mid Captain,” Dalvu announced.