They were still an hour outbound from Orron III when Captain Niriz went to see the grand admiral in his personal quarters. Niriz was slightly surprised he hadn't emerged to oversee final preparations, and when he entered Thrawn's chambers he found the grand admiral seated as usual in his command chair, observing holo-projected images. This time he wasn't examining art objects or star maps. The holos that ran before him were publicity images of Wynssa Starflare. At first it struck Niriz as absurd to find the grand admiral examining them like some lovestruck fan. Then he noticed that so many of the holos featured Starflare together with her husband. Many of them looked like they'd been snapped by journalists or papparazi during screening events.

"She's much better at faking a smile that he is," Thrawn observed as he brought on holo up to fore: Starflare in a long sequined dress, holding the arm of Baron Fel in full formal uniform. They were posing for that one and smiling at the holo-photographer, but as Thrawn had said, hers looked more honest than his.

"A strange pairing, sir," Niriz admitted. "A holo-actress and a soldier."

"But both peerless in their respective fields. Both Corellians far from home. I imagine they found some complement in each other." Thrawn's chair pivoted away from the holo so he could look at Niriz. "But I'm sure you didn't come for this. What is it, Captain?"

"We're less than an hour out from Orron III."

"I know. Have the Noghri been moved to the staging area?"

"Yes, sir, and their shuttle has been readied. There was something else though."

"Go one."

"Sir, we just received a message packet from Grand Admiral Makati. He reports that the situation at Etti IV is well in hands and thanks us again for recovering Vengeance."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Sir, he also said that Grand Admiral Grant had taken his star destroyer, Oriflamme, and was coming to meet up." Thrawn's forehead creased in thought. Niriz added, "Sir, I wasn't aware we'd been cooperating with Grand in this."

Quietly, calmly, Thrawn said, "We weren't."

"Admiral, is this going to be a problem?"

Without answering, Thrawn shut off the holo and rose from his chair. He began walking for the exit and Niriz hurried after him.

"I believe we'll have to change our plans," Thrawn said as they turned into the hallway. "Captain, I'm going to request that you drop us out of hyperspace on the edge of the Orron system. Interpose us on the vector one would expect a ship outbound from Etti IV to arrive from and have Corvus bring up her gravity wells to full power.

Niriz didn't like the sound of that at all. "Sir, does this mean we're going to have to fight Grant?"

"What it means is that I suspect Director Isard of trying to renege on our agreement and take Starflare for herself. I made steps to ensure that Baron Fel is also coming to Orron III, but I'm afraid I didn't anticipate Grant's arrival."

It wouldn't be the first time they'd fought a grand admiral, but in chasing Zaarin they'd been chasing a renegade and a traitor.

"Sir..." Niriz said cautiously, "Do really believe Fel is worth making an enemy of Grant and Isard for?"

Thrawn halted before they reached he reached the turbolift that led down from the command tower. He fixed his red eyes on Niriz and said, "My main priority is still what the Emperor tasked to me: securing the Unknown Regions from Nuso Esva and his like. Isard and Grant can't help me with that. Fel will."

"If we do this, sir, I don't think we'd be welcome in Isard's Empire any longer."

"Does that worry you, Captain?

Niriz was surprised to find it didn't, not really. He'd left his old life in the old Empire behind and his return to Imperial space had only solidified his allegiance to Thrawn above all others.

He wasn't worried about that. He was worried about the battle ahead. "A fight against Grant may be difficult, sir. That's my concern."

"As it should be, Captain, but I trust you to hold the line in my stead."

Niriz blinked. "Me, sir? Where will you be?"

"If Grant is after Fel and Starflare, I believe it's all the more imperative that I accompany the Noghri to Orron III myself."

"Sir, that's too-" he was about to say dangerous. "Sir, I just want to advise you to take as thorough precautions as you can."

"Do you doubt the Noghri, Captain?"

"No, sir, I-" Niriz noticed the tight curve at the sides of Thrawn's mouth, and realized the grand admiral was playing with him. Niriz shook his head and said, "Just be careful, sir. We can't afford to lose you."

"I could say the same." Thrawn walked over to the portal and summoned the turbolift. "Hold off Grant for as long as you can. When you get a signal from my shuttle saying we're leaving the planet, feel free to drop gravity wells and run. And if you think the situation had become too dangerous, if Grey Wolf or Corvus are in danger of being outright destroyed, you also have my permission to run."

"Sir, I won't abandon you on that planet."

"This ship is not to be thrown away, Captain. Neither are you."

Niriz's hands clenched at his side. He'd never had a compliment make him feel so awful. "Sir, I promise I will hold back Grant as long as possible."

"I don't doubt it." The lift doors spread open. Thrawn stepped into the tube, then turned to face Niriz. He gave the captain a tiny nod and said, "Fight well."

Niriz snapped a salute. The doors slid shut and took Thrawn away. Niriz listened until the whir of the moving turbolift had faded nothing. Then, slowly, he lowered his hands to his side, turned, and marched for the bridge.

-{}-

Leonia Tavira had been more than half expecting a bluff. What she'd heard about the mysterious thirteenth grand admiral had mostly sounded like incredible rumor, and when Grant had told her that the alien commander was on his way to Orron III to pick up Wynssa Starflare, she'd suspected it was just a delaying tactic, an excuse to hold off giving her Invidious for as long as possible.

When the star destroyer was wrenched from hyperspace too soon, she knew Grant hadn't been lying and immediately wished he had.

"What is this?" squawked Captain Morux. "Why did we leave hyperspace so soon?"

"It's an interdiction field, sir," said the helmsman, who'd been glancing nervously over his shoulder at Rossk for the past hour.

"Put all shields up now," Tavira commanded.

"This is still my ship," Morux glared at her. "Belay that order. Sensors, what have we got?"

"I'm picking up two ships, hard to starboard, sir. Looks like an interdictor, Immobilizer-class, and… one Imperial-class star destroyer."

Morux paled. "Hail the star destroyer. Ask what they want. And… raise shields."

Tavira snorted amusement looked around the bridge. She'd taken advantage of the travel time to reroute her people throughout the ship, putting them at key locations at Grant had advised her, but the still had people on the bridge, including the two Nikto, the four battered Clone Wars battle droids, Rossk, and Levran.

"Captain," said the comm lieutenant, "The star destroyer is already hailing us. They're warning us to back away from the system at once."

"Are they identifying themselves?"

"Not explicitly, sir. ID transponders read Corvus and Grey Wolf."

Morux shook his head. "I've never heard of those ships. Ask them whose flag they fly under?"

"Sir?"

"Isard, Teradoc, Zsinj, Kaine, whoever. Ask them."

As the lieutenant made the call, Morux turned his glare back on Tavira. "What in the devil have you dragged us into?"

Tavira crossed her arms. "You knew other people wanted our quarry. Are you going to fight for your prize or should I tell Treuton you turned your tail and ran at the first sign of trouble?"

"Have you heard anything else from your people?" he glowered.

She shook her head. "Not yet. Stall them, Captain. Buy as much time as you can but don't engage them until we absolutely have to."

"Captain," called the comm lieutenant, "They identify themselves as flying for the Empire. That's all."

Morux kept his eyes on Tavira. "You know who they are, don't you?"

"No, but I have an idea," she said honestly. "The important thing is to hold."

Morux gave another one of his deep-throated growls, turned, and stalked over to the tactical station. "Are shields up?"

"Yes, sir," said a lieutenant. "Guns are warming too. Should we launch fighters?"

"How much time until they intercept?"

"Looks like… fifteen minutes to firing range."

As Morux deliberated with himself, growling all the while, Tavira stepped to the back of the bridge. She brushed the side of her face and tapped on the comlink in her ear.

"Billibango," she said, "Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Captain."

"Are you still in position?"

"Yep. I've uploaded all the programs I could into Invidious' computer core without triggering alarms. I can get us control of the atmo systems, the gravity, the lights, a most of the door locks, and other auxiliary stuff. I can also shut down the sensor arrays and targeting computers if you want that."

If anything, they'd need those systems the most. "What about helm and weapons?"

"I can kill 'em but I can't control 'em. Sorry."

It was as she'd expected. Billibango was one of the best slicers in the Corporate Sector, and she'd set him on the job of hijacking as many of Invidious' computer systems as he could, but even the wily Xexto couldn't commandeer the ship on his own. They'd need Grant's help after all; Tavira just hoped he'd get here in time.

"What should I do now, Captain?" asked Billibango.

"Hold position and wait for my signal. Be ready to start bolting doors and cutting atmosphere in all compartments we don't have people in."

"Okay. You want to kill them or just knock them unconscious?"

Tavira considered for a moment, then said, "Just disable them. We can use prisoners to barter."

She heard Morux walking toward her and tapped off the comlink. She spun on a heel and gave the flustered captain one of her girlish smiles. "Is everything under control?"

"That destroyer will be here in fifteen minutes," Morux said. "They still don't identify their loyalties. Who are they?"

Tavira tilted her head. "You can't even talk to the com-manding officer?"

"Someone named Niriz. I never heard of him. But you know something, don't you? Tell me you know something."

His desperation was almost comical. She walked back onto the bridge, down the center aisle, and looked out the viewport. With her naked eyes she could just barely make out the gray wedge of the approaching star destroyer; she couldn't see the drag ship at all.

"Is Corvus holding position?" she asked.

Morux nodded.

"That means they're probably expecting someone else."

"And do you know who that is?"

"I think I might."

Morux sighed angrily. "And I don't suppose this someone else works for High Admiral Teradoc, does he?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then why shouldn't I just shot you as a traitor where you stand?" he put a hand on the butt of his holstered pistol.

He got his answer immediately; before the handful of guards he had on the bridge even noticed, the four Clone Wars battle droids whipped up their rifles and aimed at his back.

"Thats one reason," Tavira smiled and tapped a finger playfully on his chest. "But since I'm generous I'll give you three. Second, if you kill me you lose my team, and without my team you'll never get to Starflare. Third, the man coming is our best chance against that star destroyer and he won't be pleased it it turns out you killed me."

The last part wasn't exactly true, but the captain didn't need to know that. Morux made another one of those growls before taking his hand off his pistol. The droids, slowly, lowered their guns.

"Tactical!" he called over his shoulder, still glaring at Tavira, "How long until they're in firing range?"

"Eight minutes, sir."

"Then launch a squadron of TIEs but tell them to hold at our bow. Do not engage unless they fire first."

"Yes, sir."

"A prudent measure," Tavira said. "I believe that we can-"

"Sir!" the lieutenant called again. "Another ship just dropped out of hyperspace!"

Morux spun away from Tavira and hurried over to the tactical station. The woman woman was right on his heels as he asked the lieutenant, "Can we identify it?"

"It looks like another star destroyer, sir. The transponder reads… Oriflamme."

Morux knew that ship, clearly. "Oh. Grand Admiral Grant."

"Excellent," Tavira clapped her hands together and said, "Communications! Get me a direct line with Oriflamme."

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Morux as she skipped over to the comm station.

"Captain, our help has arrived!" she said cheerily.

"Help? Grant works for Isard. And you-"

"Captain, listen carefully." Still grinning, Tavira added steel to her voice. "If you want to survive the next hour, you should do exactly as I say."

-{}-

Grant was disappointed when they were wrenched out of lightspeed on the edge of the Orron system, but not surprised. There was only one major hyperspace route leading in and out of the system and it was just like Thrawn to use interdictors to cover his movements.

He took in the scene quickly: one drag ship and two star destroyers. He recognized both big ships immediately. Tavira had already mentioned Invidious as her soon-to-be personal star destroyer, and Grey Wolf had led the hunt for Zaarin.

Grant took a deep breath. For years he'd longed for a chance to go head-to-head with the upstart alien admiral, but he'd never truly imagined a fight would happen, certainly not when the stakes were so high.

"Comm," he said, "Hail Grey Wolf. Tell them I want to speak to their grand admiral."

The lieutenant and his staff looked confused; Thrawn's actions and promotion were still little-known among Navy officers and crew. Before the lieutenant could make the call, he said, "Sir, we're already getting a hail. It's from the other star destroyer, Invidious."

It was probably time to give her what she wanted. Grant walked over to the comm station and said, "All right, put her on."

After a second, the holo-image of Leonia Tavira, still wearing her old Moff's uniform jacket, appeared in front of him. Without prelude she said, "Grand Admiral, it's time you fulfill your part of this bargain."

"How do I know you won't just take it and run?"

"I can't run any more than you right now, Admiral. And I still want Starflare."

"I'm sure you do. What makes you think you can get any closer to her than I can?"

"I still have my personal corvette, Courtesan. It's a fast ship. I'll send one of my lieutenants to the edge of the gravity well. He'd micro-jump around the drag field and get to Orron III."

"And claim Starflare for himself?" Grant raised an eyebrow.

"My men are loyal, Admiral."

"Please," he scoffed. "I'm sure your, ah, charms are the only thing keeping your bunch of alien rabble from mutiny. Why can't you launch this corvette now?

She lowered her voice and said, "Teradoc's people are holding her in the hangar and refusing to let her go. Give me control and we can change that."

Grant glanced at the tactical holo. Grey Wolf had been moving toward Invidious, but on Oriflamme's arrival it had halted its approach and now sat midway between the two hostile destroyers. Corvus still sat far behind it, but from his position Grant could still attempt a charge that would force Grey Wolf to pull back and intercept him, leaving Invidious clear to launch that corvette.

After Tavira hijacked its systems, Invidious wouldn't be able to fight like a fully-manned ship, but a star destroyer was still a star destroyer, and Grant wanted as much firepower on his side before he engaged Thrawn. He still expected Tavira to try and run with Starflare once she had the prize, but he'd deal with that as it came.

"All right," he said finally, and withdrew a small data-stick from his pocket. "This contains all the data needed to override the executive codes on that ship. You have to plug these sequences directly into the main computer cortex."

"I know. I have people who can do it."

"Are you standing by to receive the data?"

Tavira touched a hand to her cheek, briefly brushing back her hair. "I'm ready, Admiral."

"All right. Let's get this over with."

-{}-

The codes came as Billibango had predicted they would, as a data packet attached to the transmission stream from Oriflamme. The Xexto slicer was already monitoring all comm signals coming in and out of the Invidious, and once Tavira sent him a warning, she had no doubt he'd take care of the rest.

For the first long seconds, nothing seemed to change on Invidious' bridge. Then there was a brief flickering of the lights; then Billibango's voice whispered in her ear, "We have control, Captain."

The lieutenant at the helm station was the first to frown and call up to Captain Morux, "Sir, my controls are no longer responding!"

"We're having problems too, sir," said a gunnery ensign.

"What do you mean?" Morux bent over the crew pit. "What kind of problems?"

"I'm getting a message saying I'm not authorized to access, sir."

"That's impossible. Use my override code. Alpha-sigma-nineteen-eighty-six-zero-zero-gamma."

"Nothing's working, sir. It's like someone hijacked the control systems."

"Captain!" someone else in the crew pit said, "Systems all over the ship are going haywire. Atmo's being vented into space; whole decks are losing air."

"What?"

"The crews are trying to move, but… Their access codes aren't working! They can't open the doors!"

As if one cue, the heavy blast doors at the entrance to the bridge came crashing down, sealing the crew on the command deck. Morux's face went red and it looked like he was going to hyperventilate. Then, finally, the obvious hit him and he turned to look at Tavira.

"You," he gasped, "What did you do to my ship?"

She clasped her hands behind her back like a proud Imperial captain and said, "This is my ship now. As I said before, follow my orders if you want to live."

"This is outrageous!" Morux snapped. "You can't just steal a fully-manned star destroyer!"

"I think I just did," Tavira said proudly, though she could see the handful of guards on the bridge reaching slowly for their weapons. "You should tell your men to stand down."

Morux's face was starting to turn from red to an interesting maroon. It had been clear for a while that Teradoc hadn't attracted the best talent to his warlord fleet, and Tavira wasn't surprised when Morux tried to grab his pistol. The other guards raised their weapons too but none of them got off a shot. She'd instructed her guards- organic and mechanical- to choose a single target to kill when the time came, and each one carried out his or its orders with timely precision. Rossk was the one who had the honor of dropping Morux with a single shot to the head. The captain crumpled face-down on the middle of the bride, in front of all his shocked and terrified crew.

Tavira marched over to the captain's body, picked up his pistol, and stuck it under the waistband of her belt. She looked down at all his crew, smiled, and said, "Please remain where you are. If you have sidearms, please hand them over to my people without a fight."

Happily, she trotted over to the tactical station, where Rossk had just grabbed the lieutenant's weapon. The young man stuttered, "What happens to us now?"

She tapped him playfully on the chest. "I haven't decided yet. If you prove useful today, I might just keep you."

"K-Keep me?"

Tavira ignored him and looked at the tactical holo. Grant had stared moving; he was doing the obvious thing and angling for Corvus. Grey Wolf would be able to change course and intercept him before he reached the target, but just barely. In chasing Grant, Grey Wolf would have to turn its aft to Invidious. Tavira had to admit it made a very tempting target.

She tapped her earpiece and said, "Report, Billibango."

"Everything's under control, Captain. The crew are starting to drop."

"Keep their atmo low but stable. What about the rest?"

"I've re-routed gunnery and helm control to the auxiliary stations. We've got people in place should be able to control everything from there. Don't think we'll be at peak effectiveness, though."

"I was prepared for that. Give us forward speed, Billibango. I want to go after Grey Wolf."

"Understood, Captain."

As she tapped off her earpiece, the comm lieutenant interjected, saying, "We're, ah, being hailed, um, Captain. It's Oriflamme."

"Excellent," Tavira said, and jauntily stepped back to the comm station. "Please, put the grand admiral on."

The old man's head and shoulders appeared before her. She said, "This ship is now mine, Admiral. Thank you for fulfilling your part of the bargain."

"As you can see, I'm going after the drag ship now," Grant said.

"I do see, and I just told my, ah, helmsman to come and help."

"You have clearance to launch your corvette. Why haven't you done it already?"

Tavira chuckled and leaned a little closer to the holo. "There's nothing to do, Admiral. The late Captain Morux was actually glad when I said I wanted to launch Courtesan before entering the system; he probably thought it would weaken my hand here. More fool him."

"What are you saying, girl?"

"I'm saying I had Courtesan swing around to the far side of the system and enter from the opposite vector. My people should be arriving at Orron III as we speak."

-{}-

The hyperspace ride to the Orron system had given Wedge Antilles and Soontir Fel the chance to calm down, talk to each other, and come up for a plan for when they arrived at their destination. Both agreed that some kind of trap was likely, so they avoided coming into the system on the direct vector and plotted a series of round-about microjumps to bring them close to the planet.

When they finally did arrive, they nestled their X-wings close to the surface of the planet's second moon, which was currently looking down on the continent where their data indicated Syal was being held. From their hiding place they performed thorough scans and determined that the only ships in orbit were automated CSA drone barges moving cargo.

They were about to move when sensors reported that two big vessels had appeared far out on the system's edge: one Imperial star destroyer and one interdictor, which promptly fired its gravity well projectors to full strength. With the drag field now up over most of the system it would get a lot harder to escape.

Wedge and Fel had spent some fifteen minutes verbally deliberating their options when another star destroyer was pulled into the interdiction field. As first destroyer moved slowly to intercept, Fel spotted a JV-7 Imperial escort shuttle- a nimbler, more combat-capable version of the standard tri-wing Lambda-class shuttle- was heading toward Orron III from a vector that suggested it had come from the first destroyer. At the same time, a third star destroyer dropped in-system.

"I think we've run out of time," Fel said. "We have to move now."

"We still don't know what's going on with those Impstars. They'd look like friends."

"Whatever they're up to it doesn't involve us. We need to get to Syal before that shuttle does."

"Want to shoot it down?"

Fel thought for a moment. Detouring to intercept it would take time, but it was close enough that its crew would certainly notice two X-wings cutting to the target ahead of them.

Before he could give a reply, his sensor board lit up. A new ship decanted from hyperspace right in Orron III's orbit and it was barely slowing down as it careened toward the planet.

"What is that ship?" asked Wedge.

"It doesn't matter. We're out of time."

Fel kicked his thrusters to full and made sure his torpedoes were armed. Wedge was right behind him and together they soared toward Orron III's brown-gold face. The newcomer's engines were burning dead ahead, and Fel's sensors made a quick identification.

"Marauder-class corvette," he said. "Standard CSA picket ship type."

"I'm betting that one's not on official business," said Wedge. "Can you get a lock on it?"

"It's not in range yet." Fel dropped his targetting reticule on the thruster-glow. "I might try a torp anyway."

"That thing'll have shields."

"It's heading straight for where Syal is. We have to stop it."

"I know, I just- ah, stang it."

Fel saw it too, with his sensors and his eyes. Marauder corvettes weren't big ships, and their design had swapped carrying capacity for guns and maneuverability; nonetheless, a standard ship of its class was built to hold a squadron of twelve starfighters.

A full dozen dropped from the ship's ventral hangar bay, spun around, and raced toward Wedge and Fel. They were a motley assemblage of ships- Fel spotted Authority IRDs, T-wing interceptors, Z-95 Headhunters, a V-wing from the Clone Wars- and they were all heading his way.

"Are you ready, Wedge?" he called.

"Do I get a choice?"

"I'm afraid not." He dropped his reticule on the profile of the nearest Headhunter; the ship was coming fast and he get a torpedo lock. "I'll take a Z-95."

"I'll get an IRD," said Wedge.

They let their torpedoes fly and broke formation; the enemy ships broke too and began chasing targets. Two against twelve was awful odds, but they had no choice. Two again twelve, the best starfighter pilots in the galaxy charged into the fray.