Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(53)

“What are Grysk?” Vader asked.

“Grysks are a species living somewhere in the Unknown Regions,” Thrawn said. He gazed at the image another moment, then shut off the holoprojector. “Creatures half of myth, whom few have ever seen. It is said that they are nomads, with no fixed home, traveling in spacecraft so numerous they blot out the stars. They are said to be terrifying warriors, overwhelming their opponents by sheer numbers and ferocity.”

Vader looked at Nodlia. The bartender seemed to have shrunk a little further with every word. “Myths, you say.”

“Yes,” Thrawn said. “But many myths are rooted in fact. We must now seek to divide the one from the other.” He laid a coin on the bar. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“Wait,” Nodlia said as the Chiss turned to leave. “That’s it? You’re just leaving us?”

“Did you expect we would stay?” Thrawn asked.

“What about us?” Nodlia asked. “What about the Grysks? What if they come back?”

Thrawn shook his head. “I do not believe they will.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

Thrawn’s eyes narrowed, his face hardening. It was an expression The Jedi had seen on him once, a long time ago. An expression that spoke of imminent death.

“Because you’re leaving a pretty big mess behind,” Nodlia persisted. “We’re the ones who have to stay and—”

He broke off, his eyes going wide, as Vader once again squeezed his throat to silence. “You have been given your answer,” the Dark Lord rumbled.

Nodlia’s head bobbed up and down in a hasty nod, his eyes still wide. Vader held him another moment, then released his grip. “We depart?” he asked Thrawn.

“We depart,” Thrawn said. Like his expression, his voice also spoke of death. “Come. We have work to do.”



* * *



—

The first part of the return trip was spent in silence, Vader piloting the freighter, Thrawn gazing at his datapad. From the shifting reflections of light on Thrawn’s face it was clear he was sifting through his artwork collection.

They had left Batuu’s atmosphere and Vader had laid in the vector back to the Chimaera when Thrawn finally set the datapad aside. “Well?” Vader asked.

“I believe I have gained some insights,” the Chiss said. “First, let us discuss the scenario on Batuu. I presume you have reached some conclusions?”

“I have,” Vader said, wondering darkly if Thrawn was being patronizing. Surely the Chiss had already learned all that there was to learn. The Jedi, certainly, had usually found himself lagging behind Thrawn in such things. “The Grysks hired the Darshi to set up a base and a communications triad at Black Spire. When all was ready, they brought in the cylinders and moved them from the landing field to the house.”

“And the cylinders are…?”

Vader glowered. This time, it was definitely a test. “I believe they are hibernation tanks,” he said. “Perhaps similar to carbonite freezing. The occupants were brought to Batuu, then put inside the tanks for secret transport across Black Spire to the Darshi houses. It was their sudden fear at the knowledge of what was to happen to them that the Emperor detected as a disturbance in the Force.” He paused, stretching out to the Force. “But you already knew they were Force-sensitive, did you not?”

In the brief time Vader had spent with Thrawn, he’d never sensed the Chiss’s emotions register as more than small and brief flickers against the orderly array of his mind. The flicker he sensed now was also small and brief. But it was definitely there. “I suspected, but did not know for certain,” Thrawn said. “It is not something we speak about.”

Vader’s fingers twitched, his eyes and his mind focusing on Thrawn’s collar. A servant of the Emperor did not have secrets. Not from the Sith Master’s own apprentice. Perhaps a reminder of the Chiss’s true position in the Empire was in order. Some pressure on his throat, as Vader had done with the bartender, would bring such things into their proper perspective.

He resisted the temptation. The Emperor clearly still considered Thrawn a useful tool. More important, the Chiss had knowledge that Vader needed.

So let him play games. Let him even think Vader a simpleton, if that brought them to the Emperor’s disturbance and the end of this mission.

Better still, Vader would prove that he wasn’t as far behind Thrawn as the Chiss tactician perhaps thought.

“You will speak of it in the proper time,” Vader warned. “For now, let us continue. The Darshi plan was to move the cylinders and occupants from Batuu aboard one of the two large freighters. But neither freighter could land with ours in the way. So the Grysks ordered their Darshi in Black Spire to distract us while they destroyed the two houses, which provided them landing space. They then evacuated the inhabitants.”

“Having been put inside the ship’s own hibernation chambers,” Thrawn said.

“Yes.” And the same reaction, either fear or revulsion at what was about to happen, was no doubt what Vader had sensed in the cantina.

“And the freighter’s cargo?” Thrawn asked. “The cylinders the Grysk were desperate to destroy?”

“That will require further study.” Vader eyed him. “Or do you already know?”