“They won’t, of course,” Wutroow said as the two women retraced their steps down the long corridor. “Call us back, I mean. Once they figure out what happened, the last thing they’ll want is to draw more attention to such a blunder.”

“Agreed,” Ar’alani said. “So is that story actually true?”

“Absolutely.” Wutroow smiled. “Bluffing an enemy in combat sometimes works. Bluffing the Aristocra doesn’t. No, one of the emissaries was actually stupid enough to stand there and point out our optimal attack vector.”

“You got this from someone in your family, I assume?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Wutroow confirmed. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the specifics.”

“I wasn’t going to ask,” Ar’alani assured her. “I assume leaking it to you had to do with some larger stakes of family politics, and not just getting Thrawn off the hook?”

“No, that was just a fortunate side effect.” Wutroow gave Ar’alani a sideways look. “I note you didn’t credit Thrawn with that prediction of future Paataatus inaction.”

Ar’alani felt her nose wrinkle. Normally, she hated the common practice of one officer taking credit for another’s achievements or ideas. But in this case…“I’ll make sure to correct the record in a year or two, assuming the prediction works out,” she said. “Today I don’t think it would have gone over well.”

“But you wanted to get it on the record,” Wutroow said, nodding. “And this was your best way of doing that. I guess you never realize how important family connections and pipelines are until you lose them.”

“No, you don’t,” Ar’alani said, feeling an old and distant sense of loss. “So enjoy it while you can.”

“What, me?” Wutroow gave a small laugh. “I appreciate the compliment, Admiral. But there’s no way I’ll ever make flag rank.”

“You never know, Captain,” Ar’alani said. “You really never know.”

Chapter Four

Che’ri came out of Third Sight with slightly bleary eyes, a horrible tiredness, and a massive headache. It felt like an overload spell starting to come on.

She hoped desperately it wasn’t an overload spell.

“We’re here,” someone said.

Che’ri turned her head, careful not to move it too quickly. Senior Captain Thrawn was seated in the command chair, with Mid Captain Samakro on his left and Thalias on his right.

That was new. Most of Che’ri’s momishes had walked her to and from the bridge but stayed in the suite while she was on duty. She’d always assumed they simply weren’t allowed inside.

Maybe they all could have stayed if they’d wanted to, and just didn’t want to. Or maybe Thalias was special because she’d been a sky-walker.

Thrawn and Samakro were looking at a planet centered in the main viewport.

Thalias was looking at Che’ri.