The receptionist answered on the third buzz. “General Ba’kif’s office,” he announced.

“My name is Senior Cadet Irizi’ar’alani,” Ziara said. “Please ask the general if he can spare a few minutes of his time.

“Tell him it concerns Cadet Mitth’raw’nuru.”

Colonel Wevary and the others filed into the hearing room precisely one and a half hours after they left it. Neither the officers nor the Irizi rep looked at the two cadets as they seated themselves.

Which made the suddenly stunned expressions on all four faces all the more amusing when they belatedly spotted the newcomer sitting beside Ziara. “General Ba’kif?” Colonel Wevary said with a sort of explosive gulp. “I—excuse me, sir. I wasn’t informed of your arrival.”

“That’s all right, Colonel,” Ba’kif said, giving each of the men at the table a quick look. The other two officers were as unprepared as Wevary to find a field-rank officer in their midst, but their surprise was rapidly turning to proper respect.

The Irizi’s surprise, in contrast, was quickly turning to suspicion. Clearly, he’d had his own look at Thrawn’s history and suspected Ba’kif was here for a cover-up.

“I understand Cadet Mitth’raw’nuru is under suspicion of cheating,” Ba’kif continued, turning back to Wevary. “I think Cadet Ziara and I may have a way to resolve the issue.”

“With all due respect, General, we’ve examined all the evidence,” Wevary said, some stiffness creeping into his deference. “The exercise cannot be repeated with the same parameters as were in place when he took it, and he claims that without those parameters he cannot duplicate his success.”

“I understand,” Ba’kif said. “But there are other ways.”

“I hope you’re not going to suggest we reprogram the simulator,” one of the other officers put in. “The safeguards that were put in to prevent cadets from doing that very thing would take weeks to unravel.”

“No, I’m not suggesting that,” Ba’kif assured him. “I presume, Colonel, that you have all the relevant exercise parameters?”

“Yes, sir,” Wevary said. “But as I said—”

“A moment,” Ba’kif said, turning to Thrawn. “Cadet Thrawn, you’ve logged two hundred hours on the patrol craft simulator. Are you ready to try the real thing?”

Thrawn’s eyes darted to Ziara, back to Ba’kif. “Yes, sir, I am.”

“Just a minute,” the Irizi cut in. “What exactly are you proposing?”

“I should think that was obvious,” Ba’kif said. “The danger inherent in teaching via simulator is that if the simulation diverges from reality, we may not notice until too late.” He waved a hand at Thrawn. “We have here an opportunity to compare the simulation with reality, and we’re going to take advantage of it.”

“Taharim Academy is under Colonel Wevary’s authority,” the Irizi insisted.

“Indeed it is.” Ba’kif turned to Wevary. “Colonel?”