The problem being that he was attempting it with a cruiser and a Nightdragon instead of the smaller and far more maneuverable missile boats.

“Pitch shift on one,” Thrawn called. “Stand by countdown: Three, two, one.”

Samakro tensed, waiting for the inevitable collision. To his relief and mild surprise, the inevitable didn’t happen. Both bows tilted upward at precisely the same time, and to precisely the same angle, and the ships continued on.

“Blockades One and Two are reacting,” came a voice from someone on the Vigilant. “Increasing speed and moving onto intercept vectors.”

“Time to intercept?” Ar’alani asked.

“Projected intercept…three minutes after Springhawk disengages.”

“Thrawn?” Ar’alani asked.

Thrawn didn’t answer. Samakro looked over at the command station, to see his commander working his questis. “I suggest a two percent increase in speed, Admiral,” he said.

“Two percent, confirmed,” Ar’alani said. “Course changes?”

“The next two can run as scheduled,” Thrawn said. “I’ll need to recompute the others.”

“Understood,” Ar’alani said. “Speed increase and starboard turn ready.”

“Acknowledged,” Thrawn said. “Stand ready speed increase. Three, two, one.”

There was a slight sensation, as much imagined as felt, as the Springhawk increased its speed. “Stand ready starboard turn,” Thrawn continued as the two ships settled into their new vectors. “Three, two, one.”

This turn was larger than the earlier pitch maneuver, shifting them a full seven degrees. Once again, the two ships stayed in perfect formation.

“Get busy on those revisions,” Ar’alani warned. “The portside change is scheduled for three minutes from now.”

“Acknowledged,” Thrawn said, his fingers skipping over his questis. “They’ll be ready when we need them.”

Samakro peered out through the canopy, feeling sweat gathering beneath his tunic collar. The more course changes they made, the higher the odds that one of the ships would make a mistake and the whole illusion would pop like a bubble.

But Thrawn had insisted on piling complexity onto their incursion, arguing that a steady, straight-in vector might raise suspicions of a second intruder, while multiple course changes should allay any such concerns.

The other option being the conclusion that whoever was in charge of the mission was crazy. That was certainly the one Samakro himself was going with at the moment.