“Congratulations, Commodore,” he said, inclining his head to her. “You’ll remember I said you’d be here one day.”
“Actually, as I recall, you suggested I’d someday make admiral,” Ar’alani reminded him. “I still have a ways to go.”
“You’ll make it,” Thrawn said. “I understand you’ve been assigned the Destrama and Picket Force Six.”
“I have,” Ar’alani confirmed. “I’ve also requested that you be made my first officer.”
“Really,” Thrawn said, clearly surprised. “I thought your babysitting duties had ended.”
“You think you were aboard the Parala because General Ba’kif wanted me to look after you?”
“I think it was more a matter of wanting you to make sure I didn’t go off the edge.” Thrawn paused. “Again.”
“There may have been a bit of that,” Ar’alani conceded. “But that’s not really relevant. I asked for you because you’re a good officer.” She smiled faintly. “I also suspect there’ll be a promotion for you somewhere along the way.”
“Thank you,” Thrawn said. “I’ll try not to make you regret your decision.” He hesitated. “I’m in need of advice, Commodore, if you have a moment to spare.”
“For you, what moments I can’t spare I’ll make,” she said, glancing past his shoulder. None of the other guests were close enough to hear. “And when it’s just the two of us, it can just be Thrawn and Ar’alani.”
He gave a sort of hesitant smile. “Thank you. That’s…I’m honored.”
She smiled back. “So. What do you need?”
“I was recently approached by one of the Irizi,” he said, lowering his voice a little. “He said that some of the Mitth are unhappy with me, and may try to have me released.”
Ar’alani’s first instinct was to deflect the conversation elsewhere. Family politics were always a touchy subject.
But she didn’t have any family politics. Not anymore. “What was his name?”
“Aristocra Irizi’stal’mustro.”
Ar’alani nodded. “Zistalmu. Never met him, but I know of him. Let me guess: He thought you should request to join the Irizi instead?”
“Actually, his tone and phrasings suggested that the rematching was already a given,” Thrawn said. “There was certainly no mention of interviews or other barriers to my acceptance. He also suggested I would be a Trial-born instead of a merit adoptive.”
“Interesting,” Ar’alani said. “You say all this was suggested, but not stated outright?”
“There wasn’t any formal invitation, if that’s what you mean.”
“It is.” Ar’alani pursed her lips, her gaze drifting around the room. The two Irizi who’d been here earlier were long gone, with only a few of the minor families still represented. “Okay, here’s the relevant history. The Irizi have always been strong supporters of the military, particularly the Defense Force. They like having family in the upper ranks—feel it buys them additional prestige, which is of course one of the currencies among the Aristocra.”
“Prestige is a currency?”
“Of a sort,” Ar’alani said. “There are a whole lot of things that factor into a family’s position and power. Some of them are financial or historical; others are more nebulous, like prestige and reputation.”
“I see,” Thrawn said, though Ar’alani was pretty sure from his expression that he didn’t. “What does this have to do with the Mitth and me?”
“The Mitth are overall in a stronger position than the Irizi, at least at the moment,” Ar’alani said. “Over the past few years, the Mitth have also tried to cut into the Irizi military strength by recruiting promising cadets and officers.”
“Such as me?”
“Very likely,” Ar’alani said. “It was clear all the way back at the Academy that you had a strong career ahead of you. The point is that, perhaps a bit belatedly, the Irizi have recognized your potential and are hoping to steal you from the Mitth.”
“Do you think he was right about the Mitth wanting to rematch me?”
Ar’alani shook her head. “Impossible to say. I don’t have a feel for Mitth politics and structure the way I do with the Irizi. I’d guess that if you can avoid doing anything…controversial…in the future, you should be all right. Merit adoptives are always on probation until they’ve proved themselves. But once they do, and once they’ve passed the Trials, they’ll hold a much more secure status. And of course, if and when you’re elevated to ranking distant, you’ll be largely untouchable.”
“I see,” Thrawn said. “Yet if the Irizi are more military-minded, would they perhaps not be a better family for me?”
Ar’alani hesitated. No family. No family. “In all honesty, I’ve never been comfortable with the way the Irizi dominate Defense Force personnel. I know we’re supposed to ignore family identity as we serve, but we’ve all seen rivalries bleed over into conversation and even duty assignments.”
“So you’d recommend I stay with the Mitth?”
“That’s a decision you have to make for yourself,” Ar’alani said. “Being blood of the Irizi was very good for my career, and the family’s done the same for many others. But what was good for me may not be good for you.”
“I understand,” Thrawn said. “Thank you. I owe you a debt.”
“You’re welcome.” Ar’alani dared a smile. “And not just one, you know. I like to think I contributed my small bit to keeping you in the academy over that cheating charge.”
“Your contribution was far larger than you perhaps remember,” Thrawn assured her. “And your assistance has hardly been limited to the distant past. I never properly thanked you for your support in the aftermath of the Stivic incident.”
“My support was completely unnecessary,” Ar’alani said, looking him squarely in the eye. “The Garwians have stated on the record that it was Security Officer Frangelic who spotted the weakness of the pirates’ tactics and found a way to exploit it. From the way they were raving about him, he’s probably been promoted by now.”
“And he richly deserves whatever accolades he’s received.”
“Agreed.” Ar’alani cocked her head. “Just out of curiosity, I looked into it afterward, and I couldn’t find an obvious way to tie a comm into a ranging laser.”
“There isn’t,” Thrawn said. “But there’s a spot where a questis can be linked for data downloading and analysis.”
“And connectors like that can usually run either direction,” Ar’alani said, nodding. “So you tied your questis into the laser’s frequency-modulation option and used voice-to-script?”
“Just script,” Thrawn said. “If there was an inquiry afterward, having a voice recording would narrow the search a bit too much.”
Ar’alani nodded again. “The Garwians owe you. I hope they realize that.”
“I didn’t do it for their gratitude,” Thrawn said, sounding a bit surprised that Ar’alani would even think of it in those terms. “I did it for the good of their people, and for all who would otherwise have faced those same attackers.”
“A high-minded goal,” Ar’alani said. “I wish the Ascendancy appreciated it more.”
Thrawn smiled. “Nor did I do it for our gratitude.”
“Indeed.” Again, Ar’alani looked over his shoulder. Still six people lingering, but they were engrossed in conversation with one another and would never miss her. “Tell you what. Let’s go someplace a little quieter, and you can buy me a celebratory drink.”
She touched his arm. “And while we drink,” she said, “you can tell me all the other goals you have that the Ascendancy will pretend not to be grateful for.”