Part 44 (2/2)

To his relief, Thra.s.s didn't fire again. ”What do you want?” the Chiss demanded instead, keeping his weapon aimed.

”He wants to know what you want,” Car'das said, translating the Cheunh for her.

Her eyes flicked to him. ”He doesn't speak Basic?”

”No, no one here does except Thrawn,” Car'das said. ”But he knows some Sy Bisti, if that helps.”

”It does.” She looked back at Thra.s.s. ”Who are you?” she asked, switching to that language.

”I am Syndic Mitth'ras'safis of the Eighth Ruling Family of the Chiss Ascendancy,” Thra.s.s identified himself ”And I'm Jorj Car'das,” Car'das added. ”Mostly an innocent bystander to all of this.”

”Mostly?”

”I got here through a hyperdrive malfunction,” he said. ”Who are you?”

”Lorana Jinzler,” she said. Lowering her lightsaber, but leaving it ignited, she crossed the threshold and continued on into the bridge, limping noticeably. Her eyes flicked across the dead bodies, and an edge of fresh pain crossed her face. ”Who else is aboard?”

”At the moment, just us,” Thra.s.s said. He hesitated, then slipped his weapon back into his tunic. ”But a member of one of the ruling families is trying to claim Outbound Flight for himself. We're trying to prevent that.”

Jinzler's eyes narrowed. ”How?”

”We're going to have to scuttle it,” Car'das said, watching her face carefully. Even with nothing left but torn and broken metal, there was an even chance she would be attached enough to the hulk to object violently to its destruction. People went all weird like that sometimes.

Sure enough, her eyes widened. ”No,” she insisted. ”You can't.”

”Look, I'm sorry,” Car'das said as soothingly as he could. ”But there's nothing left but dead metal and droids-”

”Never mind the dead metal,” she snapped. ”There are people still aboard.”

Car'das felt his heart catch. No-that was impossible. A Jedi might possibly have survived Thrawn's attack, but surely no one else could have. ”Who?” he asked. ”How many?”

”Fifty-seven,” Jinzler said. ”Including children.”

Car'das looked at Thra.s.s, seeing his own horror reflected in the other's face. ”Where are they?” he asked. ”Can we get them out of here?”

”In that shuttle?” Thra.s.s countered before Jinzler could answer. ”No.

There isn't enough room for even ten.”

”And it would take time to get them up here anyway,” Jinzler said.

”They're still in the storage core.”

Car'das grimaced. The storage core. Of course-the one area Thrawn's attack had ignored. ”What do we do?”

”I don't understand the problem,” Jinzler said, looking back and forth between them. ”Why don't we just leave?”

”For starters, we can't fly Outbound Flight very far, not just the two of us,” Car'das said. ”Not even if we had time to get your people up here to help us.”

Lorana looked around the bridge. ”We won't need them,” she said, her voice tight but firm. ”I can fly Outbound Flight.”

”By yourself?” Thra.s.s asked in clear disbelief. ”One single person?”

”One single Jedi,” Jinzler corrected him. ”Master C'baoth insisted we all learn to handle all of the major systems. At least, under normal conditions.”

”The conditions here are hardly normal,” Car'das pointed out. ”And it still leaves the question of where we go. We'll never make it back to the Republic, not with this much damage.”

”We have to reach a Defense Fleet base, as my brother originally intended,” Thra.s.s said.

”And then what happens to my people?” Jinzler asked. ”Would they be prisoners of war? Captives held for study?”

”The Chiss aren't like that,” Car'das insisted.

”But the end result might be the same,” Thra.s.s conceded. ”If the Fifth Ruling Family chooses to press its claim to Outbound Flight, even if we go to a military base they may demand that all aboard be placed in holding until the matter can be decided.”

”A prison by any other name,” Jinzler said grimly. ”How long would this decision process take?”

Thra.s.s snorted. ”With a prize such as Outbound Flight? It could be years.”

”So we can forget going anywhere in Chiss s.p.a.ce,” Car'das said. ”Any idea what other habitable worlds there might be out here?”

”Even if I did, I would caution against anything nearby,” Thra.s.s said.

”This region is dangerous, with pirates and privateers all around.”

”Not to mention what's left of the Vagaari,” Car'das agreed with a s.h.i.+ver. ”Come on, Thra.s.s, think. There has to be something else we can do.”

Thra.s.s gazed out at the Fifth Family s.h.i.+ps. ”There's one other possibility,” he said slowly. ”Within two days' flight is a star cl.u.s.ter that the Defense Fleet has begun to fortify as an emergency refuge. I've seen the data, and there are at least ten habitable worlds within it that haven't yet been explored.”

”Kind of an out-of-the-way homestead,” Car'das pointed out doubtfully.

”And still in Chiss s.p.a.ce,” Jinzler added.

”But it's a place where vessels of the Fifth Family wouldn't accidentally discover you,” Thra.s.s said. ”Only Defense Fleet personnel go inside, and only to specific systems as they work on the fortifications.”

”So what's the catch?” Car'das asked.

Thra.s.s made a face. ”The catch is that I don't have the safe access routes into the cl.u.s.ter,” he said. ”Are your navigational systems capable of finding such routes on their own?”

”Probably not,” Jinzler said. ”But I might be able to. There are Jedi navigational techniques that should be good enough to take us through even a star cl.u.s.ter.”

”So what happens if she can?” Car'das asked Thra.s.s. ”They set up shop and wait for all this to blow over?”

”Or I return after they're hidden and negotiate in secret with the Council of Families for their safe pa.s.sage home,” Thra.s.s said.

”Even if such negotiations take a few months, the survivors will at least have a habitable world to live on.” He looked at Jinzler. ”There are other hypercapable vessels aboard that I could use, are there not?”

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