“Right,” Samakro said. “And Mitth family, and aboard Thrawn’s ship? If you’re really who you claim to be, that’s a pretty heaping pile of coincidence.”

The memory of her brief conversation with Syndic Thurfian flashed back to mind. Samakro had no idea. A flicker of movement caught her eye: one of the Springhawk’s shuttles, detaching from the ship and heading back. “If you have a point, please make it,” she said. “The captain’s on his way back.”

“The Mitth sent you to observe us,” Samakro said. “Don’t bother denying it—the officer who put you on the Springhawk told me that’s how you first tried to get aboard, and also that a Mitth syndic showed up at the last minute to give you a push.”

Thalias kept her expression wooden. “And?”

“And I’ve seen the flaming mess observers can make aboard a warship,” Samakro said. “They get in the way, they never know where to stand or which way to jump, and they introduce way more family politics than is healthy.”

“I’m not here to make trouble.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Samakro said. “You just will.” He pointed at the ship floating in front of them. “Everyone over there is dead. Everyone on the ship that was attacked at Dioya is dead. Someone made them that way, someone who may be brand new to us. And somewhere along the line, we may have to fight them.”

His pointing finger shifted to Thalias. “I don’t want to die because people were ignoring their boards and instead looking over their shoulders to see if the Mitth observer was watching them.”

“I think that’s a sentiment we can all get behind,” Thalias said stiffly. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll do everything I can to not make a mess. You’ll do everything you can to let me know when I’m making one anyway.”

“Don’t say that if you don’t mean it,” Samakro warned. “We do have a brig, you know.”

“Don’t threaten something you can’t follow through on, Mid Captain,” Thalias said. “Don’t forget I’m the only one who can take care of your sky-walker.”

“Since when?” Samakro scoffed. “You mix up soup when she gets sick, you cuddle her when she’s crying, and you make sure none of us dangerous warrior types scare her.”

“Trust me, there’s a lot more to it than that,” Thalias said, pushing away her reflexive annoyance. If Samakro was trying to goad her into making enough trouble that he had an excuse to lock her up, he would have to try harder than that. “So what do we know about that ship? You said everyone was dead? How?”