A moment later, they were walking down the corridor. “Are you hungry?” Thalias asked as they reached the door to their suite. “Or would you like a hot bath first?”

“A bath,” Che’ri said. “Did you get overload spells like this?”

“Sometimes,” Thalias said. “Mostly when I was just starting out, but I had occasional ones right up to the end. Probably none of them was as bad as this one, though.” She shook her head. “A four-star system. The worst I ever had was a three-star one. You’re pretty amazing, Che’ri.”

Che’ri wrinkled her nose. “Not really.”

But the words felt good. Captain Thrawn taking the time to talk to her had felt good, too.

A hot bath would feel really good.

“Well, you are,” Thalias said. “Let me get you settled, and I’ll go draw your bath. Would you like your questis while you wait?”

Three hours later, with Che’ri bathed, fed, and finally asleep, Thalias returned to the bridge.

To find that the Springhawk was no longer alone. Floating half a kilometer away from the viewport, its outer lights dark, was an alien ship.

Samakro was seated in the command chair, talking quietly with one of the other officers. He spotted Thalias, muttered a final comment, and as the other man headed for one of the consoles he beckoned her over. “How is Che’ri?” he asked.

“Sleeping,” Thalias said, stopping beside his chair and gazing out at the alien ship. The blocky shape made it look more like a freighter than a warship, she decided. “Where’s Senior Captain Thrawn?”

“He went aboard with a survey team.” Samakro shook his head. “Damnedest thing.”

“The ship?”

“The captain,” Samakro said. “How did he know it would be here?”

Thalias started to remind him of Thrawn’s earlier analysis, remembered in time that Samakro hadn’t been there for that. “He has his methods,” she said instead. “Where was it?”

“Orbiting on the other side of the planet,” Samakro said. “It wasn’t until just after you left that it came into sight.”

Thalias winced. A dead ship, probably with dead people aboard. Had Thrawn known or suspected when it would come out of hiding? Was that why he’d suddenly wanted her to take Che’ri out of there and get her back to their suite?

Because the helm officer was right. There were definitely some things that should be kept hidden from the sky-walkers.

“So what’s your story?” Samakro asked.

“Excuse me?” Thalias asked, frowning at him.

“Please,” Samakro said scornfully. “A former sky-walker, now working as a caregiver? Doesn’t happen anymore. From what I’ve heard, once sky-walkers are done they want to get as far away from that life as they can.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Thalias said, only lying a little.