AN: Thanks for the follow, al'verde!
Chapter 2
"A Jedi, huh?" Qennto rumbled when Thrawn introduced her to their guests. He glanced at the lightsaber hanging prominently on her hip, rubbing his chin. "What's a Jedi doing all the way out here?"
The three smugglers, as well as Thrawn and Chiara were seated comfortably on the couch in Forward Visual One, enjoying a light snack of btici with cssact. The fact that Chiara was a Jedi seemed more startling to Captain and Ferasi than the fact that Thrawn spoke Basic.
"The same thing you are, actually," Chiara told them, taking a sip from her steaming mug of vikn. "I had a hyperspace accident a few years back in a prototype fighter and was left drifting with pretty much no power. Thrawn found and rescued me. The original plan was that he was going to take me back to the edge of Republic space and drop me at some inhabited world, but our plans changed once we got to know each other." She glanced at Thrawn, smiling fondly at the memory. "I have no intention of ever returning, at this point."
"I've never met a Jedi before," Maris put in, sounding impressed. "But I thought that Jedi were forbidden to have relationships."
Chiara gave her a wry smile. "The Jedi Council forbids it, yes. I've had more than my fair share of disagreements with the Council over the last few centuries, though. It is simply one more reason why I chose to leave the Order."
"Wait, did you say 'over the centuries'?" Car'das put in, giving her an odd look.
"Yes, I did," Chiara confirmed. Thrawn looked amused; this seemed to always be a cause for disbelief for everyone whom she met.
"I'm sure she means she disagrees with the decisions that the Council has made over the years, Jorj," Maris told their junior crewer.
"Actually, I meant just what I said," Chiara told her. "I'm older than I look. I served the Jedi for nearly four hundred years before deciding to stay here with Thrawn."
Maris's jaw hung slighly open in shock. "Interesting," Car'das murmured. "You have witnessed both the Jedi Order and the Republic evolving over the years, then."
Chiara grimaced. "I wouldn't say that either of them have evolved in the last four hundred years, actually. The Republic has devolved into a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy and the Jedi have become ensnared in politics."
Maris continued to stare at her. "I don't think I've ever heard of a Jedi speaking openly against the Republic or the Council before. If you feel so strongly, why didn't you stay and try to affect a change?"
"I did try," Chiara told her, a hint of sadness touching her sapphire eyes. She shrugged, pushing away the fleeting emotion and focusing on the guests before her. "It made no difference. It is clear to me that this is where I am supposed to be, so this is where I will stay."
Thrawn leaned forward to brush the back of her hand with his cool fingertips. It was meant as a gesture of comfort, she knew, and was as close to a physical embrace as he would get in public. She inclined her head slightly in his direction and gave him a grateful half-smile.
"I'm sure this is all very interesting," Qennto interrupted with a bored expression on his face, overriding whatever question Maris had been about to ask next. "But I would like to know just how long you wanted us to stick around."
Chiara caught a flash of annoyance in Thrawn's face at the Captain's rudeness, but he smoothed the expression away almost as quickly as it appeared. "I had intended to leave that choice largely to you," Thrawn told him. "After I have finished examining your vessel, of course."
"Good," the big man grunted, getting to his feet. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to head back to the resting area. Maris?"
"I think I'll stay here, Dubrak. I would like to join Car'das for these language lessons of his," Ferasi told him. "Assuming you don't mind, that is," she added, looking askance at Thrawn and Chiara.
Thrawn smiled at her. "You are welcome to join us, Ferasi."
Qennto grunted and he cast a mildly hostile look in Thrawn's direction. "Suit yourself."
Chiara's eyes followed him as he lumbered out of the room, wondering at his bad attitude. She wasn't normally one to question Thrawn's way of doing things, but he seemed to have alienated the captain quite effectively by choosing to negotiate with his junior crewer. She could understand why he might feel that way, too. She made a note to herself to ask Thrawn why he madet that particular choice.
Thrawn set his glass of vikn aside. "Shall we begin, then?"
"What is your impression of our guests?" Thrawn asked Chiara that evening as they collected their dinners and headed towards an unoccupied table in the corner or the mess hall that would afford them some privacy.
"Car'das and Ferasi I like. They both seem like good, honest people," She told him, sinking into her chair. "Well, as honest as smugglers can get, at any rate. Captain Qennto I'm not quite so sure about. I think his hostility is mainly due to you choosing to negotiate with Car'das instead of with him, but it's hard to tell."
"Yes, he does seem to be put off by that. Still, I believe it was worth it to get honest answers from Car'das. Captain Qennto would have certainly given the answers that he believed would manipulate the situation best to his advantage," Thrawn observed.
"You're probably right. Although, knowing that I am a Jedi usually discourages people from lying when am around. Most people have a much higher opinion of our abilities than is entirely accurate," Chiara told him wryly.
"I doubt that would work on Captain Qennto; he seemed rather unimpressed by the fact that you are a Jedi," Thrawn replied, taking a bite of the spicy hilci.
"That's a good point," Chiara said, slicing off a small piece of the meat. She had tried the hilci before, but the k'imsi vuveb wasn't something she'd had before. Now, sniffing at the strong aroma that rose from the dish, she wasn't quite so sure that choosing it had been a good idea. Nevertheless, she cautiously took a bite of the dish. The spices spread across her tongue like a roaring fire, burning her mouth and making her eyes tear up. She coughed as she tried to choke the bite down, seizing her glass to chase down the offending piece of meat with a drink.
Thrawn's expression was a mixture of concern and amusement as his fingers brushed the back of her hand. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," Chiara managed to get out, her eyes watering as she took a large gulp from her glass. "I wasn't expecting that to be so heavily spiced."
Thrawn chuckled. "Even after three years, you still haven't gotten used to our food."
"I don't think I ever will," Chiara told him ruefully, wiping moisture from her eyes and sipping at her drink again. Her mouth still felt like it was on fire.
Thrawn smiled and shook his head slightly at her as he smoothly switched their dishes. "You can do almost everything you set your mind to, yet you can't learn to pronounce Cheunh correctly or eat proper Chiss food. What kind of Jedi are you?" he teased.
Chiara shot him a mock glare. "I'd like to see you deal with being transplanted into an alien culture," she grumbled, spooning up a bit of the hilci.
"Just for that, I believe I will take my hilci back," Thrawn growled back, reaching for the bowl.
Chiara brandished her knife at him. "Don't make me stab you in the hand with this rather dull knife," she warned.
Thrawn held up his hands in surrender. "I would hate to get into a knife fight with a Jedi," he said, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Especially in the middle of the mess. It would hardly set a good example for my warriors."
"You're just afraid they would take my side," Chiara shot back.
The amused look vanished instantly. "Only until I gave an order," Thrawn returned flatly, his expression going a little stiff. Chiara winced inwardly, knowing she had pushed him too far: He accepted her teasing with good grace and frequently answered in kind, but she was still learning exactly where the line was with him. Apparently, she had just crossed it.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, dropping her gaze to her food. She remembered belatedly that he hated it when she avoided his gaze simply because she felt the slightest bit of tension between them and forced herself to look back up, meeting his glowing eyes.
Thrawn took a deep breath and let it out, the tension fading from his face as he exhaled. "No need to apologize, Elor'endil, I overreacted. I am the one who should be apologizing. Will you forgive me?"
"There is nothing to forgive. I should know better than to tease you about the loyalties of your warriors," she told him, sliding her hand across the table and taking his briefly. She picked up her spoon again and started on her hilci. "Now, didn't we get a new report on the Vagaari movement, today? I didn't get a chance to look it over."
"We did indeed," he told her, changing gears easily. "The scouts think they have found some evidence that they have been amassing a few sectors over. They are going to investigate and try to find what they are up to. I very much want to see what exactly their battle tactics are and just how much of a threat they truly pose to the Ascendancy."
"Perhaps I should help, once we get back to the base," Chiara suggested. "I might be able to locate them more easily than your warriors."
Thrawn shook his head. "No. With these Corellians here, I need you with me. The warriors are fully trained in searches, I'm sure they will be able to find them. It may take a little longer than it would take you, but they will still find them."
Chiara smiled at how carefully he enunciated the world "Corellian" after he had mispronounced it, earlier. "You have a point. Very well, then; I'll stay here with you and let your warriors have all the fun, dashing around in clawcrafts. Who knows? Maybe I will pick up something in these language lessons that I missed the first time around."
Chiara strode down the hall nearly three standard days later, coming to a stop outside the humans' quarters. Nodding to the surreptitious guard positioned a few meters down the corridor, Chiara keyed the door alert. Counting to three to give the smugglers a chance to prepare themselves, she touched the control and the door slid open in front of her.
Car'das and Ferasi were sitting at the table, apparently poring over the vocabulary lists Thrawn had given them to study. Qennto was lying on the bed, with his arms crossed over his broad chest, clearly brooding again. Car'das looked up brightly as Chiara entered.
"It's not time for our language lesson yet is it, Matao?" the young man asked.
Chiara gave him a wry smile. "Please, Car'das, stop calling me that. You can call me Chiara. It's not time for the language lesson, yet. We will be arriving at the base shortly and Thrawn thought you might find it interesting to see the base from the outside."
"Oh, sure Chiara. It certainly sounds interesting. Rak, Maris?" He invited.
"Sure, why not," Qennto said, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and getting to his feet. "It's got to be more interesting than sitting around here."
"Before we go, Chiara, I wonder if you could demonstrate the pronunciation of a few of these words for us?" Maris spoke up, offering one of the vocabulary lists to her.
"I wouldn't suggest using me as a model for your pronunciation," Chiara told her drily. "I still can't speak Cheunh properly, even after three years of living among the Chiss. They can usually understand me well enough, but I often amuse them greatly with my mispronunciations."
"I see," Maris said, absorving that information. "But you can still communicate with them effectively enough. That is the most important thing."
"True," Chiara said, turning towards the door. "I still have to revert to Sy Bisti on occasion to get my point across. I get the job done one way or another, though."
The smugglers followed her down the corridors to the bridge. Thrawn looked up and gave her the barest hint of a smile of greeting as she entered. His eyes drifted over her shoulder to the humans trailing along behind her and he nodded in greeting. Chiara saw him relay a few more orders to the navigations specialist he was standing behind before circling around to join them at the back of the bridge. "There," he said, indicating one of the larger asteroids visible through the viewport. "The large asteroid with the slow rotation. That's our base."
"That wobble must make it hard to dock with," Ferasi observed.
"It does require a certain degree of skill," Thrawn conceded, lifting his eybrows microscopically. Chiara could tell he wanted to see if the humans would catch on to why they had selected this asteroid, in particular. Car'das was staring hard at the asteroid, clearly considering why Thrawn might have chosen this for his base.
"You've got a passive sensor array at one end. The wobble lets it sweep the whole sky instead of just one spot," he said finally.
"But why spin the whole asteroid?" Ferasi put in, her expression puzzled. "Couldn't you just rotate the array?"
"Sure he could," Qennto growled. "But then there'd be something moving on the surface an enemy might spot. This way everything's all nice and quiet and peaceful, right up to the minute when he blows their ships out from under them."
Chiara threw an amused smile at Thrawn. "Essentially correct," he said. "Though we're not expecting enemies to actually come calling. Still, it's wise to take precautions."
"And they didn't blow our ship out from under us," Ferasi told Qennto, tapping his chest.
"So we're in Chiss space now?" Car'das asked to distract them from the glower Qennto was giving Ferasi.
"Yes and no," Chiara told him. "There are some survey and observation teams here, but this is hardly an example of a proper Chiss system. The second planet is quite nice, though, and will probably be opened up to full colonization within a few years. At that point, it will come officially under the protection and control of the Nine Ruling Families."
"I hope you're not expecting us to stay for opening ceremonies," Qennto muttered darkly.
"Of course not," Thrawn assured the big man. "We tell you this simply because you might wish to return someday and see what we've made of the Crustai system."
"You've named it already?" Ferasi asked.
"The initial survey team always has that honor," Thrawn explained. "In this case, the name Crustai is an acronym for-"
"Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo," one of the crew members called in Cheunh, interrupting Thrawn's explanation. "The scouts report a ship of strangers nearby, on the far edge of the system."
"Prepare for lightspeed," Thrawn commanded, abandong the humans and crossing the distance to his command chair in three long strides. Chiara was only a step behind him. She peered over his shoulder at the row of status lights and sensor displays as Thrawn keyed a new heading over the the navigation station. "Bring us onto this heading."
"Acknowledged," the helmsman replied. Chiara steadied herself with one hand on the back of Thrawn's chair as the Springhawk veered portside and began picking up speed. She ignored the chatter of the humans behind her as they speculated about what was going on, focusing on the status readouts on one of Thrawn's screens.
"Sir, tactical analysis of the images sent by the scouts seems to indicate that this is a Vagaari ship," one of the officers called.
Chiara peered over Thrawn's shoulder at the display where the information they knew about the intruding ship was displayed. It was a mid-sized cruiser, about the size of the Springhawk or perhaps a bit larger, flanked by a pair of fighters. It was large enough to potentially cause them a good deal of trouble. "How heavily do you think they are armed?" she murmured to Thrawn.
"Commander, jump coordinates are ready," one of the navigation techs cut in before Thrawn could answer.
"We're about to find out," Thrawn told Chiara, his expresson tightening briefly. He raised his voice to address the helmsman. "Execute jump."
Chiara gripped the back of his chair a little tighter as they entered hyperspace and the timer counted down to zero. It was a good thing, too; no sooner had they dropped out of hyperspace than the deck rocked beneath her feet as the two fighters spit laserfire and missiles at them. The crew had already raised the shields, though, and the fire did little damage to the Springhawk. The deck stopped shaking as the fighters flew out of firing range and flipped over for another run.
"Thrawn, did you notice that the missiles were always-"
"Preceded by a patterned salvo of laserfire?" Thrawn finished for her, his glowing eyes glittering as he keyed orders in for the gunners. "I did indeed and I know just how to use that to our advantage. Helm, bring us about."
The fighters split apart as the approached, each angling for a different side of the ship, probably hoping to decrease their ability to respond quickly and accurately by splitting their attention. Chiara smiled tightly; they clearly knew nothing of Thrawn or his warriors, if they thought this simple tactic would gain them anything. As ordered, the weapons specialists waited for the salvo of laserfire that Thrawn and Chiara had observed before opening up with the masers, spitting blue fire at the oncoming fighters. With a brilliant flash, the two fighters exploded almost simultaneously.
"Close with the cruiser," Thrawn ordered, not showing the slightest bit of gloating over the easy destruction of the enemy fighters. "Be ready for their counterattack."
As if on cue, the cruiser swung around and unleashed a volley of missiles at the Springhawk. A flurry of blue fire answered as the Chiss gunners vaporized the missiles at a safe distance. In response, the enemy vessel rolled ninety degrees over and launched another salvo of missiles. This threat was neutralized easily enough, as were the third and fourth missile groups.
Apparently, that was all the missile clusters that the other ship had. Thrawn waited for a just a moment to confirm this before ordering the Springhawk to come alongside and lock on to the enemy ship. The helmsman maneuvered smoothly up to the alien vessel, matching their attempts to move away easily. Chiara heard the dull thud of maglocks engaging.
"Go," Thrawn ordered, standing smoothly and heading towards where the three humans stood waiting at the rear of the bridge. "My apologies," he said, switching to Basic. "I hadn't intended to take you into danger this way. But the opportunity presented itself, and I needed to take it."
"That's all right, Commander. And it didn't look like we were in that much danger," Car'das said as Chiara joined them.
Thrawn shrugged fractionally. "As it turned out." He stepped over to the bank of lockers on the rear wall and pulled out two armored vac suits. "Your quarters are too close to the boarding area for safety, so I'll ask you to remain here until we return," he told them, handing one of the suits to Chiara.
"You're going in personally?" Ferasi asked, a frown creasing her normally smooth forehead.
"I command these warriors. Part of my duty is to share in their danger," Thrawn told her, stepping into his vac suit.
"Be careful," Ferasi said, sounding almost embarassed. Chiara paused in putting her own vac suit on, glancing at the other woman. Surely she wasn't developping any untowards attractions to Thrawn? She reached out with the Force, trying to get a sense of the other woman's emotions.
"Don't worry," Thrawn said, giving Ferasi a microscopic smile. He slapped the final seal on his suit closed, then moved to help Chiara with hers. Annoyed at his interruption of her Force probe, she brushed his help aside. His glowing eyes searched hers for a moment, but he apparently decided this was neither the time nor the place to inquire about her refusal. "The vessel is mostly likely severely undercrewed," he told the humans, retrieving their helmets and a charric from the locker. "And Chiss warriors are the best there are. We will return soon."
As she finished sealing her suit and clipped her lightsaber to her belt, Chiara examined her reaction to Thrawn and to Ferasi. Why did she feel this sudden animosity and suspicion towards the latter? She had certainly caught a flicker of some sort of attachment and attraction from the other woman. Am I... jealous? she wondered. Yes, she decided as she accepted her helmet from Thrawn and followed him to the door. That was it. She had noticed Ferasi's obvious admiration for Thrawn over the last few days during their language lessons; her expression of concern had been the final spark to light the suspicion that had been slowly growing in her mind that the smuggler was enamored with Thrawn.
"Would you like to tell me what that was about before we head into battle together, Chiara?" Thrawn asked quietly as the door to the bridge slid shut behind them.
"It's nothing," Chiara told him, feeling her cheeks turn scarlet. Sometimes, she wished he wasn't quite so observant.
"It didn't look like 'nothing' to me," he pressed, taking her arm and drawing her to a stop. Unwillingly, she let him turn her so she faced him. Her gaze lingered on his sculpted features for a moment before she met his glowing eyes. Is it any wonder Ferasi is attracted to him? He's easily one of the most physically attractive men I've met in a very long time, and he is incredibly intelligent. "Chiara?" he prompted when she didn't answer.
"Alright," she sighed, giving in. "I'm jealous. I know it's irrational, but I am."
Thrawn stared at her, clearly not following her train of thought. She could see him replaying the conversation from the bridge in his head, trying to pick up on what she was referring to. She could see it click in his mind just as clearly. "Jealous of Ferasi?"
Chiara hung her head. "Yes. I know I'm overreacting, but I can't help it, at the moment."
Thrawn lifted her chin gently with a gloved finger. "What am I going to do with you? A lone human woman shows up and within four days, you are jealous. I have no interest in Ferasi, Elor'endil. I have no desire to be with anyone but you."
"I know," she whispered, feeling ashamed of her reaction. Thrawn glanced swiftly down the corridor to make sure they were alone, but all the warriors were already gathered at the boarding area. He closed the gap between them swiftly, his warm lips pressing against hers.
He stepped away just as quickly, one hand dropping to the small of her back to propel her towards the boarding area. "We can discuss this further when we return. We have a ship full of alien hostiles to subdue, right now."
It took less than an hour for them to eliminate the relatively small Vagaari crew. The small aliens put up a tremendous fight, given their small size, but they were able track them all down without any serious injury to the Chiss warriors. The one ambush that the bridge crew missed warning them about, Chiara sensed through the Force and was able to protect the warriors from the massive barrage of laserfire that the Vagaari unleashed upon them.
What they discovered once they began examining the ship was nothing short of astonishing. Chiara and Thrawn were studying the hasty and sloppy repairs that had been done to the corridor walls when Thisa hurried up to them.
"Commander, I believe you will want to see this. It would seem that your assessment that the Vagaari are pirates is correct; we've found a large treasure hoard," the Lieutenant told them.
Thrawn straightened from where he had been bending over a patch of sealant that had been slapped onto the wall. "Lead the way," he told the other, his glowing eyes glittering in anticipation. He always enjoyed seeing his predictions come true about a race which was still relatively unknown to them, Chiara knew. It wasn't out of pride, but an appreciation for the affirmation of skills that many other Chiss still doubted. Chiara had encouraged him to continue developing his skills at finding insight into another species from their artwork and whatever other information they could glean about them, but many in the Chiss Defense Fleet heirarchy still held his abilities in doubt, believing that Thrawn's unconventional methods could not be as foolproof as the more traditional methods.
The two of them fell into step behind Thisa as he threaded between the bodies of the Vagaari and lead them down a side corridor to where a door stood open. Chiara caught her breath as they stepped through. Clearly, this ship had been headed for home when they overtook it; the room was packed with treasure of all kinds. There were an assortment of bins along one wall, filled with coins, gems and some sort of packages. Piles of metal ingots towered at various points of the room, held in place by acceleration webbing. There was a line of heavy cabinets against one wall for items that needed to be kept under lock and key.
Thrawn, Chiara noticed, was already engrossed in studying the various bits of artwork that were scattered haphazardly around the room. He turned to her after a moment, his glowing eyes flickering with quiet excitement. "This could be it: The key to understanding the Vagaari and their habits. Who they prey on, what their attack strategies are likely to be to defeat these races, and what it is that they seek from those whom they conquer."
Chiara stepped up beside him, brushing her fingers against his. "If anyone can piece that together from all of this, it's you," she told him.
He paused his study of the artwork long enough to give her a grateful smile. "Do you recognize any of these? It could be that they have preyed on worlds from the Republic."
She looked around the room, searching for anything that seemed familiar. After a few minutes, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't see anyth- wait, that one over there," she went over and knelt beside it to get a closer look. Thrawn followed her, running one hand through his short cropped blue-black hair as he studied the sculpt. "Yes, I do recognize this. In fact, I think I've seen this exact piece before; it was in the House of Parliament for the Ivethran. I negotiated a treaty with an agressor from a neighboring system for them about two hundred years ago."
Thrawn stared at the sculpture in silence for a few moments. "They are not humanoid, are they? The angular model of the sculpture seems to indicate an insect-like race, most likely one with six legs and two sets of pincers. They are a very timid species, though, one that prefers to hide rather than engage in open conflict."
Chiara shook her head in amazement. "I don't think it will ever cease to amaze me when I see you do that. You described the Ivethran perfectly; when I arrived to mediate for them, they had given up nearly half their planet to the invaders. It took quite a lot of work for me to get them off the planet, since they were already so well established."
"Do you recognize anything else?" Thrawn asked, climbing back to his feet and glancing around the room.
"No, but you might consider asking our Corellian guests. Qennto and Ferasi seem to have traveled the galaxy quite extensively and have probably spent more time in the outer fringes of the Republic than I have," she suggested.
"An excellent suggestion," Thrawn said, reaching for his comlink. "But that will have to wait until we reach the base. For now, I'm merely interested in seeing their reaction to all of this.
It didn't take long for the humans to be brought on board. "Come, I want you to see something," Thrawn called to them, stepping out into the corridor and beckoning them forward. Car'das, she noted looked a bit queasy. Probably from all of the bodies, she decided. "What are your thoughts?" he asked, gesturing around them when the three smugglers came to a halt.
"I think they were probably very poor. You can see where they've had to patch and repatch just to keep everything operating," Maris pointed out, a hard edge in her tone. "This isn't a military ship, certainly not one that could have been a threat to the Chiss."
"I agree," Thrawn said, turning to look at her, "So; poor people, you think. Nomads?"
"Or refugees."
Chiara couldn't help but feel a little satisfied by the growing disapproval she heard and sensed in the other woman's voice. Not that the disapproval was likely to last long when she found out just who and what the Vagaari were. "They had an awful lot of missiles for refugees," she pointed out.
"They didn't do the passengers much good, did they?" Maris retorted.
"No, but it wasn't from lack of trying," Thrawn replied, giving Chiara a warning look. "And you, Captain? What's your reading of this?"
"I don't know and I don't especially care," Qennto said evenly. "They fired first, right?"
Thrawn's shrug was almost imperceptible. "Not entirely true. One of the sentries I had stationed here happened to be close enough as they came through to disable their hyperdrive. Car'das? Your opinion?"
The young man looked around, examing the walls and the alien bodies strewn about. "These aren't the ones who did the repairs, are they?"
"Very good," Thrawn answered, a ghost of a smil touching his lips. "No, they aren't."
"What do you mean?" Qennto asked with a frown.
"These aliens are too tall," Car'das explained, pointing to the wall. "See here, where the sealant patter changes texture? That's where whoever was slopping it on had to go get a ladder or a floatpad to finish the job."
"And that worker was much shorter than the masters of this vessel," Chiara finished for him. She glanced at Ferasi. "This vessel has been repaired repeatedly, as you said. But not by its owners."
Ferasi's eyes went cold and her lips compressed into a thin line as she glanced at the dead bodies. "They were slavers."
"Indeed," Thrawn said. "Are you still angry at me for killing them?"
Chiara had to work hard to rein in her own anger that flared up at Thrawn for that simple question. Why should he care what this human thought of him killing the Vagaari? This is not a logical reaction, she told herself, stretching out to the Force for calm. He's being polite and there is no reason to alienate them over something like this. Besides, it's not in his nature to let someone think poorly of him when something isn't true.
"I'm sorry," Ferasi answered simply, blushing.
"I understand," Thrawn replied. His glowing eyes flicked to Chiara, taking in her expression. One blue-black eyebrow arched almost imperceptibly in question. Still trying to grapple with the jealousy that gripped her, Chiara shook her head slightly. The other eyebrow went up in answer to that and Chiara could tell from his expression that they would be discussing this later. Great, she thought.
"Are we done here yet?" Qennto asked, oblivious to the silent exchange.
"Not quite," Thrawn said, turning his attention back to the smugglers. "Come and look."
The trio followed them back into the treasure room, all gasping in surprise as they stepped into the room. "What in the worlds?" Ferasi breathed.
"A treasure vessel, carrying the plunder of many worlds, Thrawn said, slipping into the room behind them. He let one hand rest casually on Chiara's back in a gesture that Chiara knew was anything but casual; he seldom touched her in such a way even in front of their friends, let alone a group of three stangers. She recognized the touch for what it was- an unspoken reassurance of his love for her, even as he spoke to the woman who had awoken such jealousy within her. She tried to relax and let her frustration drain away as she inclined her head gratefully towards Thrawn. The frustration refused to leave, "They were not only slavers, but pirates and raiders as well," Thrawn went on.
"You sound like you already know these people," Car'das observed, glancing back at Thrawn.
"Only by reputation," Thrawn told him, his gentle tone belaying the tension in his face and sense as he surveyed the room. "At least, up until now."
"You've been hunting them?" Car'das pressed.
That brought a frown to Thrawn's handsome features. "Of course not. The Vagaari have made no move against the Chiss Ascendancy. We therefore have no reason to hunt them."
"But you know their name," Qennto pointed out.
"As Thrawn said, we know their reputation," Chiara told him. "They've been moving across this region of space for the last ten years, preying mainly on the technologically primitive or weak."
"What about their slaves?" Ferasi asked. "Do you know anything about them?"
Thrawn shook his head. "We haven't found any aboard this vessel. From that, and from this room, I presume they were en route to their main base."
"And they off-loaded the slaves to keep them from finding out where that base is?" Car'das asked.
"Exactly," Thrawn said, nodding in approval. "The crew complement is smaller than one would expect for a vessel of this size, as well. That indicates they weren't expecting trouble, but instead intended to go straight home."
"Yes, you mentioned back on the bridge that they were undercrewed. How did you know that?" Car'das inquired.
"I deduced it from the fact that their defense was sluggish and mostly ineffectual," Thrawn told him. "They did little but launch missiles, all running the same countermeasures we'd already seen. A fully crewed vessel would have had laser gunners in place and would have shifted the defense patterns of their missiles. Clearly, they were expecting their escort to do any fighting that became necessary."
"And boy, were they wrong," Qennto muttered. "You had them outclassed from the start."
"Hardly," Chiara told him. "We merely noticed that in both of their attacks, there was a distinct and predictable pattern to the laserfire that preceded the launch of missiles. Thrawn was able to find a way to use that against them by firing just as the launch tubes' protective doors opened on the third salvo. The missiles detonated before they could launch and destroyed the fighters from within."
"You see? Nothing to it," Car'das said drily.
"Yeah," Qennto said, his lip twisting. "Right."
"So what happens now?" Maris asked.
"We will have the vessel towed back to Crustai for further study," Chiara told her.
"Question," Qennto said, raising a finger. "You told Car'das you'd be giving us some extra stuff as payment for helping you practice your Basic, right?"
"That wasn't precisely the way I stated it, but that's essentially correct," Thrawn told him.
"And the longer we stay, the more extras we get?"
Thrawn exchanged a smile with Chiara. Yes, there was the typical Corellian smuggler greed she had warned him about. "That may be possible," Thrawn said. "I thought you were in a rush to return home."
"No, no, there's no hurry," Qennto said, his diffident manner disappearing as he gazed around the treasure room with interest. "No hurry at all."