“Never mind the blame,” Car’das put in. “What happened with Outbound Flight? I saw the starfighters take off after it.”
Thrawn and Stratis exchanged looks. “We were forced to go farther than I’d hoped,” Thrawn said.
Car’das felt his heart freeze in his chest. “How much farther?”
“They’re dead,” Thrawn said quietly. “All of them.”
There was a long silence. Car’das looked away, his eyes catching glimpses of dead Vagaari as the Chiss continued carrying him along. Thrawn had abandoned his attack on known slavers and murderers to destroy thousands of innocent people?
“There wasn’t any choice,” Stratis said into his numbness. “C’baoth was using his Jedi power to try and strangle the commander. There was no other way to stop him.”
“Did you ever give them a chance to just leave and go home?” Car’das retorted.
“Yes,” Thrawn said.
“More than just one chance,” Stratis added. “More than I would have offered them, in fact. And if it matters any, I was the one who actually pushed the button.”
Car’das grimaced. On one level, it did matter. On another, it didn’t. “You’re sure there aren’t any survivors?”
“The Dreadnaughts were taken out by radiation bombs,” Stratis told him. “We haven’t actually sent anyone over yet to check, but if the commander’s weapons stats are accurate there’s no way anyone could have lived through that.”
“So you got what you wanted after all,” Car’das said, feeling suddenly very tired. “You must be happy.”
Stratis looked away. “I’m content,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m happy.”
“Well?” Kav demanded as Doriana stripped off his vac suit in the privacy of one of the Springhawk‘s prep rooms. “I hear no wailings of despair for the fallen captain.”
“That’s because the captain isn’t fallen,” Doriana said.
“I never had an opportunity.”
“Did not have one?” Kav asked. “Or did not make one?”
“I never had one,” Doriana repeated coldly. He was not in the mood for this. “You want to try to assassinate a military commander in front of his men, you go right ahead.”
He finished undressing in silence. “Yet he must die,”
Kav said as Doriana began pulling on his own clothing. “He knows too much about our part in what has happened.”
“Mitth’raw’nuruodo is no ordinary alien,” Doriana pointed out. “And there’s still a matter of finding an opportunity.”
“Or of making one.” Stepping close, Kav pressed something into Doriana’s hand. “Here.”
Puzzled, Doriana looked down. One glance was all it took. “Where did you get this?” he hissed as he hurriedly closed his hand around the small hold-out blaster.
“I have always had it,” Kav said. “The shot is small and hard to see, but highly intense. It will kill quickly and quietly.”
And would condemn Doriana in double-quick time if he was caught with it. Feeling a sudden sheen of sweat breaking out beneath his collar, he slipped the weapon out of sight into a pocket. “Just let me handle the timing,” he warned the other. “Idon’t want you hovering around like an expectant mother avian.”
“Do not worry,” Kav growled. “Where is the commander now?”
“Gone to the transport ship to talk to the admiral,”
Doriana said, finishing with his tunic and starting to pull on his boots. “Car’das went with him.”
And that was another problem, he reminded himself soberly. Like Mitth’raw’nuruodo, Car’das knew far too much about what had happened out here. And unlike the Chiss, he definitely would soon be traveling back to the Republic. After he dealt with Mitth’raw’nuruodo, Doriana would have to make equally sure that Car’das never told his story to the wrong people.
The rescued Geroons had been herded into the cargo bay, the only place aboard the transport big enough to hold them all. Most were sitting cross-legged in small groups, talking quietly among themselves, the most recent arrivals still working on the food sticks and hot drinks Admiral Ar’alani’s warriors had provided them. All of them looked a little dazed, as if having trouble believing they were actually free of the Vagaari.
Standing to the side just inside one of the bay doors, trying to stay out of the way of both the Geroons and the Chiss crewers moving about them, Car’das looked out at the multitude, his heart and mind fatigued beyond anything he’d ever experienced. A thousand times in the past day he’d wondered what he was doing in the middle of this whole thing; wondered how in the galaxy Thrawn had managed to talk him into playing bait for the Vagaari.
But it had worked. It had all worked. The Geroons had been freed, not only these particular slaves but probably their entire world as well. Admiral Ar’alani had already said that when the transport returned the slaves to their home she would bring along a task force of Chiss warships for protection. Any Vagaari still hanging around the system wouldn’t be lunging around there for long.
And as for Outbound Flight…
He closed his eves. Fifty thousand people dead, the entire populace of the six Dreadnaughts. Had that really been necessary? Stratis had said it had, and Thrawn hadn’t contradicted him. But had that really been the only way?
Car’das would probably never know for sure. Distantly, he wondered what Mails was going to say when she found out what her noble hero had done.
“Even now, they don’t seem to believe it,” a voice murmured from his left.
Car’das opened his eyes. Thrass was standing beside him, a strange expression on his face as he gazed across the crowded bay. “Syndic Thrass,” Car’das greeted him. “I didn’t realize you were aboard.”
“Admiral Ar’alani suggested I come,” Thrass said, his eyes still on the Geroons. “She seemed to think she and I and my brother could now resolve the question of the Vagaari goods being held at Crustai and allow you and your companions to go on your way.”
He turned his eyes onto Car’das. “Now that you and I have apparently served our purposes.”
Car’das held his gaze without flinching. “I have no problems with having been a part of your brother’s plan,” he said evenly. “Neither should you.”
“I was manipulated and controlled,” Thrass said, his eyes flashing with resentment.
“For your own protection,” Car’das countered. “If Thrawn and Ar’alani had brought you into the plan, your future would have been just as much on the line as theirs were.”
“And as they are now,” Thrass pointed out darkly. “The Nine Ruling Families will not stand for such an illegal and immoral attack.”
“Number one,” Car’das said, lifting a finger. “This system is within the patrol region of the Chiss Expansionary Fleet. That makes it Chiss territory. Number two: the Vagaari arrived in force with the clear intent of causing harm. That makes Commander Thrawn’s actions self-defense, as far as I’m concerned.”
“They were here only because you had so enticed them.”
“I’m not bound by your rules,” Car’das reminded him.
“Besides, as Admiral Ar’alani will attest, your brother had publicly labeled me as a possible spy. If I got desperate enough to go to the Vagaari for help in freeing my companions, you can hardly blame that on him.”
Thrass’s lip twisted. “No, Thrawn has always been very good at hiding his hand when he wishes to do so.”
“Which seems to me takes care of the legal aspects,”
Car’das concluded. “As to your other objection—” He gestured toward the Geroons. “—I defy you to look at these people and tell me how freeing them from tyranny could possibly be immoral.”
“The morality of an action is not determined by the results,” Thrass said stiffly. His face softened a little. “Still, in this case, it’s a hard point to argue.”
“I saw the way the Vagaari treated their slaves,”
Car’das said, shivering at the memories of the Geroons the Miskara had murdered in cold blood. “In my opinion, the universe is well rid of them.”
“I would tend to agree,” Thrass said. “But Aristocra Chaf’orm’bintrano may not see things so clearly.”
Car’das frowned. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“He and vessels of the Fifth Ruling Family are on their way here,” Thrass said grimly. “I had a brief communication with him just before leaving Crustai. I suspect he intends toplace Thrawn under arrest.”