“The Nikardun frigate,” Thrawn said.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Ar’alani agreed, her voice going a shade darker. “That ridiculously large bridge viewport is a dead giveaway. The question is whether the Urchiv-ki have been completely conquered or if they’re still in the same interdiction phase as the Paccosh.”

“I’d guess the latter,” Thrawn said. “But on a practical level, as long as they’re willing to do General Yiv’s bidding, their precise status is irrelevant.”

“True,” Ar’alani said. “Still, if they’re planning to destroy us, they’re certainly taking their time about it.”

“Destroy us?” Ilparg gasped.

“There’s no real hurry,” Thrawn said, ignoring the ambassador’s outburst. “We’re already too deep in the gravity well for a quick escape, and their net pattern is coming together nicely behind us.”

“Personally, I think they’re going for a mirror payback,” Senior Captain Wutroow put in.

“Interesting thought,” Ar’alani said. “Rather ambitious of them.”

“What’s a mirror payback?” Che’ri whispered, looking up at Thalias.

Thalias shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“It’s a counterthrust by one side that exactly corresponds to an earlier stroke by the other,” Thrawn said, looking over at them. “In this case, Captain Wutroow is suggesting the Nikardun hope to capture the Vigilant in the same way that we captured one of their patrol ships.”

Che’ri’s shoulder muscles went rock-hard beneath Thalias’s fingers. “No,” she breathed. “They…no.”

“Don’t worry, they won’t,” Ar’alani said. She hesitated a moment, then rose from the command chair and walked over to Che’ri’s navigation station. “You had trouble getting into this system, Sky-walker Che’ri,” she said in a low voice.

“I’m sorry,” Che’ri breathed. “It was just—”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Ar’alani said, a distracted sort of soothing drifting across the tightness of her voice. “I’m not blaming you—this part of the Chaos is particularly nasty to navigate. My question is, just how solidly are we blocked in?”

“In other words,” Thrawn added, coming up beside Ar’alani, “are there particular exit vectors that would get us out faster and easier than any of the other routes?”

“Just take your time and think, Che’ri,” Thalias said. “Being right is better than being fast.”

She felt Che’ri take a deep breath, watched the girl’s hands move hesitantly across the controls and small displays of her board. “This way,” she said, moving her finger to a line about thirty degrees from the Vigilant’s current heading.

“That’s not the way we came in,” Ar’alani said.

“Because we would have had to circle around even more,” Che’ri said, some pleading in her voice. “And there were some big asteroids in the way. Ambassador Ilparg was already mad at me for how long it was taking—”