Sergius watched the tactical hologram, where the first of three Keldabe II-class battleships belonging to the Silri Syndicate's strike group was breaking apart.
A ship capable of withstanding significant fire contact with Alliance starships—each of the thirty MC80b and Home One-class Star Cruisers that had arrived in the system—had now turned into pieces of metal, disintegrating before the eyes of every being on the bridge of the Retribution.
Thousands of beings had died in an instant...
And the reaction from Silri and her subordinates was...
"Amusing," the Dathomirian witch said with a clearly audible chuckle, sitting imperiously in her chair surrounded by control displays. "I thought the Imperials would delay intervening in the battle with the Alliance fleet until the very last moment."
"They decided to use their fast bombers to weaken both sides," Namman Cha stated, looking at Sergius.
The three Force-users were positioned at one end of the holographic projector; the commander of the Retribution stood opposite them.
Never stopping his endless cycle of counting cards in his sabbacc deck.
Sergius didn't need spectators reading his thoughts.
"Predictable," Silri said, in a tone that suggested none of this had been a secret to her for a long time. "Both we and the Alliance were lured into a trap to be destroyed. It would be foolish to expect the Dominionites to be content with the role of passive observers."
And she was speaking so calmly about it...
"Does anyone sense our glorious, foolish Jedi?" she asked, as if inquiring whether her caf had gone cold.
"No," Namman Cha answered for himself and his companion. "He's probably dead or escaped."
"Don't underestimate the stubbornness of Corellians, Namman," Silri said with the same lazy tone. "Corran Horn will outlive both of us."
"But he signaled that he was discovered!" Kaissa said.
"So what? If they'd killed him, I would have felt it," Silri stated. "More likely, he was captured for information."
"As expected," Namman Cha grinned.
"Much was expected," the Dathomirian witch Silri cut off the flash of misplaced humor, giving her partners a displeased look. "Including the absence of Alliance ships in the system. But, they're here."
"And they fully understand that our fleet isn't just a band of pirates," Sergius interjected. "If we let them retreat, rumors about our organization will spread."
"We need to destroy the Alliance fleet quickly and then deal with the Dominion," Kaissa hissed, pointing to an Alliance Star Cruiser that had stopped responding to controls, suddenly ceasing its acceleration toward the Interdictor and beginning an uncontrolled drift. "Before that Alliance scum destroys the blockaders and gets out of here."
"Well, then help our boarding parties capture the enemy flagship," Silri ordered in an indifferent tone, pointing to an elegant volumetric model of the MC90 battlecruiser, which, like the Retribution, held position in the center of the invasion fleet.
In addition to four dozen Star Cruisers, the Alliance had dragged up to fifty Corellian corvettes, escort and strike frigates into the Kessel system, indicating the firmness of their intention to capture the system.
And also—to defeat the Dominion.
The fleet they had was quite sufficient to destroy both the Executor, five Imperial-class Star Destroyers, two Venators, three Quasar Fires, three Interdictors, and even a dozen heavy cruisers that happened to be in the system by the Dominion's whim.
On the other hand, the Silri Syndicate fleet, numbering just one Imperial-class Star Destroyer, three (now only two) Keldabe II-class battleships, about three dozen Crusader II-class corvettes, and fifty Kaloth-class battlecruisers, was no less suited for this role.
And considering the fact that the fleet had nearly two hundred various armed frigates and old hulks belonging to the pirate groups that Silri had subjugated, the advantage, of course, lay with the Syndicate.
But it wasn't very noticeable.
Sergius watched the two Silri henchmen leave the bridge of his ship, then shifted his gaze to the Dathomirian witch herself.
She, it seemed, was not at all concerned that the pirate vessels she had gathered from seedy dives over such a long time were dying, thrown into suicidal attacks on Alliance starships.
Dozens of tiny sparks, representing active StarViper-class fighters and Skipray-class gunships, were winking out.
Along with them, armed freighters were dying, most barely managing to clear the system's boundaries of a few enemy fighters before being destroyed themselves.
"Our tactics are ineffective, boss," Sergius noted.
"Oh, really?" Silri smiled. "In my opinion, everything is going according to plan."
"Perhaps," Sergius agreed. "But the number of casualties is increasing every minute."
"That's what they were hired for," the Dathomirian witch snorted. "Stupid, cheap 'meat' that dies first but weakens the enemy. While we do what we came here for."
"I'd like to know what that is," Sergius feigned dissatisfaction on his face. "If we don't take decisive action, we won't be able to capture Kessel and control the spice market."
"As if I need Kessel," Silri chuckled.
Which only perplexed the commander of the Retribution even more.
"A... What then?" the bewildered Sergius inquired.
"Everything," the Dathomirian witch replied curtly. "To push the Dominion against the Zann Consortium or the Alliance and drive them away from the galactic east while my army and fleet are being prepared. And, since we failed to kill their leadership with nerve gas, we need to decapitate the Dominion now. And weaken the Alliance so they lick their wounds but don't touch the Syndicate for the time I need. As recent events show, my assistants were inaccurate in calculating the number of combat-ready Dominion ships, since here we see an entire, fully operational Super Star Destroyer.
"That is one big problem," Sergius stated authoritatively. "Such a ship can cause a lot of trouble for our fleet due to its firepower and durability."
The Dathomirian witch stared intently into his eyes.
The agent continued counting the denominations of the sabbacc cards, arranging them randomly.
Silri smiled in a way that made everything inside Sergius freeze over.
"That power didn't help the Annihilator," the woman said, her dark eyes flashing. "Or the entire fleet that stood in our way."
The named Executor-class Super Star Destroyer had been destroyed during the defense of the Kuat shipyards from an attack by the Zann Consortium and the Rebel Alliance, four years after the Battle of Yavin.
A little less than six years ago.
The man preferred to focus on the battle, trying to push the image of the fleet's defeat at Kuat—which Silri had mentioned—out of his mind.
But the latter had her own opinion on the matter.
"It's funny, isn't it," the woman said, as if to no one in particular, staring with an unfocused gaze at the hologram of the battle.
As if her eyes were somewhere far away...
"Tyber Zann's greatest triumph—his victory over the Imperial fleet and the Kuati almost six years ago—began when, some time before the Battle of Yavin, he escaped from Kessel," Silri continued. "Serg, do you know how he did it?"
"Bribed the guards?"
"Among other things," Silri grinned crookedly. "And hired Han Solo and the Wookiee Chewbacca to make the escape. The owner of the fastest ship in the galaxy, who became a hero of the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic, who kidnapped another heroine of those nations, the last Alderaanian princess, and knocked her up with three kids, is responsible for the fact that Tyber Zann once conquered the galaxy."
Sergius mentally ran through what she had said.
Then he found a discrepancy.
"We're talking about Organa, right?" he clarified.
"Do you know any other Alderaanian princesses?" Silri grinned.
"No, but... I heard they had twins, not triplets," Sergius excused himself as best he could.
"The third is just ripening in her womb," Silri explained. "Another little Jedi brat from Vader's brood will soon appear in this galaxy..."
"So, Organa is already pregnant with a third?" Sergius was taken aback.
Not by the fact itself—that the Alderaanian princess was capable of conception and childbirth—but...
What kind of intelligence network did you need to have to know something like that?!
How close were Silri's agents to the Alliance's most famous family?!
"Yep," Silri chuckled shortly. "She was just dragging babies around as a Dominion prisoner, and now she's pregnant again... Vader's brood multiplies faster than rancors. And the poor thing can't even notice it. Too busy with galaxy-scale affairs. No time to pay attention to a disrupted menstrual cycle... At least, she doesn't have time. Those for whom her family is of interest know when and what to pay attention to."
Honestly, Sergius didn't even want to know what the Dathomirian witch was talking about now.
"Never wondered how I created my organization?" Silri asked unexpectedly.
"No," Sergius lied.
The witch smirked crookedly.
"Zann always thought he was stronger and smarter than everyone else," she began, again peering at what was happening on the tactical map. "Dreamed of the power he obtained. But he simply didn't know what to do with it. Because for weaklings like him, the path they walk is important. Not the goal that awaits them. For me, it's the opposite. The means of achieving the goal don't matter. Only the real power I have, and the power I will have, matters."
Even though no one had asked, the witch clearly intended to pour her heart out to the commander of the Retribution.
And she was completely unconcerned that the watch officers or control station operators might hear them.
As if she didn't even consider them worth her attention.
Or a potential source of problems or information leaks.
"Zann and his lackey Urai Fen found me on Dathomir," Silri continued to unburden herself. "Freed me from Imperial captivity."
"Why?" Sergius asked.
Missing the chance to question one of the leaders of the Zann Consortium as thoroughly as possible would have been simply foolish.
"Zann had an artifact," Silri said, watching the destruction of yet another frigate. "A Sith holocron he obtained once. Even before his imprisonment on Kessel. Do you know what a holocron is?"
"I have no idea."
"Practically unlimited information carriers, through which the Jedi and their opposites, the Sith, passed their knowledge from generation to generation," Silri explained. "But not every Force-sensitive being can access them. Urai could, but he's worthless by definition. Just a tame little animal. Deadly, but useless, in my opinion. Zann needed me to decode the holocron and unlock its secrets."
"I thought it only contained Jedi knowledge," Sergius said, playing the fool.
"Oh no," Silri laughed. "Holocrons are the Jedi and Sith's way of stroking their own egos, of immortalizing their legacy. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there. If you know what you're looking for."
"And what was in that holocron that Tyber Zann possessed?" Sergius inquired.
Silri tore her gaze from the destruction of the Alliance ship and looked at the man with a meaningful smile.
"You can leave the Ubiqtorate, but the Ubiqtorate never leaves you, right, former agent?"
The woman placed a barely perceptible emphasis on the phrase "former agent."
Which caused a Tatooine desert to form in Sergius's mouth.
But Silri didn't pursue that thread, only gave another meaningful smirk.
A very ambiguous move.
The agent was beginning to fear this woman.
Because she was clearly implying that she knew too much about him.
However, considering that she had managed to stick her nose into almost everything, even the pregnancy test of the Alliance's foreign minister himself…
And she wasn't just saying that for the sake of saying it.
She WANTED Sergius to know that Princess Organa-Solo was pregnant again.
And that there were those interested in her health.
An extremely unhealthy behavior for the leader of a criminal organization.
Not to mention that it seemed that it was precisely for this frank conversation that Silri had removed Namman Cha and Kyrisa not only from the destroyer's bridge but from the ship altogether.
Such behavior invited certain thoughts.
"Information is never superfluous," Sergius declared. "Besides, I still haven't received the briefing I was promised."
"Don't worry," the witch smirked. "You're doing everything right. For now, at least. There was a map on the holocron."
"Quite valuable, I assume, since they didn't stick it on an ordinary chip," Sergius supposed.
"Thanks to that map, I created the Syndicate," Silri grinned. "And gained control of an entire army. But that was later. First, Zann sold the holocron to the Empire."
"Why, if it was so important?"
"Because he thought it was useless," Silri continued smiling. "I'm not as stupid as he thought and hoped. And I didn't tell him the main thing. But I let him know the holocron wasn't a dud. However, Zann himself realized that. Unfortunately, in his petty understanding of the holocron's significance. Otherwise he wouldn't have let Bossk hand the holocron over to Thrawn. In the end, thanks to a 'beacon' on the holocron, I, Zann, and Fen were able to get into the Imperial Archive on Coruscant, where Palpatine collected very rare and valuable artifacts."
So, "Bossk's betrayal" was by no means an accident. It was a carefully planned operation by the crime lord, which helped him, with minimal time and expense, learn the location and get into the holy of holies — the Imperial Archive on Coruscant. Neat. But at the same time, very risky.
"What did Zann hope to achieve?" asked Sergius.
"To gain access to the Emperor's secret accounts," Silri grimaced with disgust. "From his spies, bribed senators, governors, moffs, and even their clones, with which he had flooded the Empire to destroy it from within and create his own state, Zann was well aware that the Empire's financial flows were far from clean. Of course, that was obvious anyway. If the Empire were transparent, how could they have built several battle stations the size of moons? Or the huge number of 'super-class' starships? Or their secret research centers? Tarkin alone was something. On one hand, he symbolized his 'Doctrine of Fear,' purging any dissent, but on the other, he fraternized with 'criminal scum' to get what he wanted. He might have managed to silence many, but not everyone."
How did Grand Moff Tarkin and his secret projects, like the Death Star, happen to come up in this conversation? Sergius was increasingly convinced that Silri was a manipulator no worse than the rest. Though she was supposedly a witch who should only think about power and growing her personal might. She was specifically pushing a clear line of behavior, openly sharing information with almost anyone. That could be considered a sign of stupidity or arrogance. But from experience, Sergius knew that idiots don't create criminal syndicates, and certainly don't serve in intelligence. If someone decides to pass important information to someone whose loyalty is questionable, that's a recruitment issue.
In the Ubiqtorate, they often recruited beings by handing them chips with information important to them, to convince them of the right course and make them do what the Empire needed. To some pirates, they would give information about other pirates so the criminals would kill each other. To remove one moff without drawing attention and replace him with their own man, they would feed his competitor compromising material that he could use (and did use). The twist was that the exact same scheme was used to get rid of the 'replacements' themselves.
Secret information is never transmitted on a chip from which it can be copied. So many secret subroutines are embedded in the equipment that even screen recording is impossible. One-time viewing — and the data is irrevocably erased.
What does it take to convince someone of something? Show them what interests them. Want more — they'll come themselves. And if they're too stupid, they'll run with that chip to more influential beings, waving 'proof' of someone's guilt. They'll convince them that they have important information on that very chip. Attract attention… And their career (and possibly life) will be destroyed after they, having stirred up influential beings, show them an empty chip. Usually for such 'empty talk' they are killed for slandering 'competitors' or distracting influential beings from more important matters. That's also a way to purge the apparatus of idiots.
Silri did it even simpler. She suggested she BELIEVE HER WORD. And even introduced a criterion of her awareness into the conversation — the story about Organa-Solo's new pregnancy. A rather subtle and carefully thought-out game. If anyone, an Ubiqtorate agent would never miss such an opportunity — and Silri understood that.
Now, her words about whether he understood why she had spared his life when Namman Cha told him about his agent past take on additional meaning. Consciously or not, Silri KNEW who he really was. And she used him to convey the information she had. To whom? Well, certainly the final recipient was not Sergius himself. If she had believed his story, she wouldn't have gone into such details. A subordinate is not a personal psychologist to listen to his boss's emotional outpourings. At least in the criminal world, that is not encouraged. Any carelessly dropped word can be used against the boss by his subordinates. The power struggle, ruthless and without a moratorium on meanness, was, is, and will flourish in this world.
"What did he need this information for?" Sergius asked.
"The Emperor is a thrifty man," Silri smiled crookedly. "He even kept rejected shipbuilder projects — that's how the Zann Consortium fleet was born. His gifted works of art disappeared without a trace. Zann saw only a practical point of view in all this — a source of wealth. A pathetic little man who thought then and thinks now that money and trinkets are indestructible power. For an extra credit, he's ready to execute; for the Emperor's riches, he's ready to risk everything."
"And why did you go with him to Coruscant?" Sergius didn't mince words.
"I needed the holocron," Silri laughed. "Without the holocron itself, its secrets are just reference information. The holocron itself is the key to a more important secret. Which I obtained by stealing the holocron from the Emperor's Archive."
"And he wasn't against it?"
"The Emperor?!" Silri smiled. "He wasn't on Coruscant. Only the guards and a dark Jedi guarding that treasury. We escaped, and on the way back from Coruscant, I felt the death of both Palpatine and his attack dog Vader. Zann decided to attack Kuat, where all the threads of Palpatine's financial operations that interested him converged. But, as I expected, having obtained such power as the Eclipse-class Super Star Dreadnought, Zann decided that access to the Emperor's secrets and treasures was far more profitable than taking that power for himself. I realized he was no better than the filth he rules. And all his talk of power, authority, his plans for hegemony... It's just the chatter of a being with sick ambitions. I saw the end of his path. So, after decoding the residual information on the holocron, I escaped from Zann."
"And created the Syndicate?"
"It arose from the remnants of the Zann Consortium," Silri corrected him. "Later than I used my knowledge from the holocron. I gathered the most valuable of what remained and began to accumulate strength to demonstrate to the galaxy what real power is..."
Not the most impressive force, really... If a clone army is significant and dangerous, then a motley fleet assembled from pirates and mercenaries...
"I was picking up pieces of the fallen empire, taking the sweetest and most important pieces," Silri continued. "Until I learned that Zann and his hangers-on were alive, not destroyed by the Empire and the rebels. And that became a problem."
"Zann is alive?" Sergius feigned surprise.
Earning a meaningful smile and look from Silri.
"Not just him," the witch explained. "The Emperor is also alive. And he reaches out his rotting mad fingers towards what once belonged to him. Zann is nothing more than his toy, with which he intends to eliminate threats to his return. Oh, I see you're not surprised now, agent..."
A caustic chuckle escaped Silri's lips, sending a chill through Sergius and clenching everything inside him.
"The galaxy does… love surprises," he forced out, trying to continue playing his role.
"Well said," the witch laughed. "Good job. I wasn't wrong about you. You know how to LISTEN. Commendable. So you've heard me too."
"That's true," Sergius confirmed. "But..."
"But?" The woman raised an eyebrow, looking with interest at the little insect who dared to object.
"I have questions."
"I would have been very disappointed if you didn't," Silri smiled. "But —" she emphasized the word, "what makes you think I'll answer them?"
"Otherwise there wouldn't have been this story."
"There would have been," Silri assured him in a persuasive tone. "If not with you, then with some other agent. In the worst case, I would have found another way to find someone who would carry my words to the right ears."
Well. Now it's all said in plain text.
"What exactly should I convey?" the agent asked.
"I don't make a habit of giving second chances," Silri grew serious. "But I'll make an exception. Tell whoever sent you that I propose an alliance. This time — without ulterior motives. I need help in eliminating the Zann Consortium. I assume your boss is busy with the same. And he has major personnel problems. I can help with that."
"On what terms?"
There's no point in playing the legend any further. It was time for a constructive conversation.
Silri smiled again.
"Still so serious and pragmatic, agent. Did you hunt the Consortium with the same attitude and persistence in the past?"
She knows that too. The witch.
"I don't think my life is worth an open conversation," Sergius replied dryly.
"Now it is" Sergius didn't like that 'encouraging' smile. "But it's not your decision."
"The terms," the agent reminded, changing the subject.
"Very simple," Silri answered. "I'll help with the clones that your superiors love so much."
Sergius needed all his willpower to keep his composure.
"Yes, I'm aware," Silri continued with a triumphant smile. "I have many eyes and ears. After all, the entire east and southeast of the galaxy is my territory. And it will remain so. Everything that is mine now will be mine later. You don't come near me, I don't touch you. We destroy the Zann Consortium and the Alliance — Zann's territories go to you, I take the northwest of the galaxy. The ENTIRE northwest. The dividing line of interests is the Perlemian Trade Route."
The east and southeast of the galaxy… Is Silri now saying in plain text that the New Republic and the Hutts located in these territories are her domain? Or that she, like Zann in the past, secretly controls them and receives dividends? The scale, if Silri's words can be believed, is staggering. And frightening.
"Naturally," Silri continued, "you will leave Kessel, Karthakk, and the planets in the south of the galaxy. I'll take care of them myself."
"It's not for me to decide."
"Of course not you," a triumphant smile played on Silri's lips again. "I'm just stating what you will do."
"In exchange for you providing us with personnel for our armed forces?" Sergius clarified.
"Correct," she nodded. "You've seen Kamino's capabilities."
"And that the clones will be ready in ten years."
"Oh," Silri feigned a frown, "don't act stupider than you really are, agent. You have Spaarti cylinders, and you have clones that grow faster than a year. So you have access to those little brown lizards that repel the Force. I don't know if Zann or Karrde let it slip, but you clearly know how to accelerate clone growth with them."
"Perhaps..."
"Don't play games with me, agent," Silri instantly transformed from a lazy bohemian girl into a grim Dathomirian witch, her expression promising painful retribution. "No matter how much you clean up the battlefields to hide it, you're not the only ones who know about ysalamiri and their properties. My people found a couple of your dead clones. And my Kaminoans took them apart molecule by molecule and gave me the full picture. So I know what I'm talking about. Give me the ysalamiri, and you'll get the army you need. In a few months."
The deal didn't even smell of compromise. But even more information was contained in her words regarding the cloning issue and process. Silri knew, or pretended to know, a great deal.
"My leadership will remember your attacks on us," Sergius no longer saw the point in maintaining a respectful tone. "And the offer will be rejected if there are no mutual concessions."
After all, she wasn't his boss. She was using him for her own purposes. But he was no puppet either.
"Consider us even," Silri snorted. "You attacked my planets and took my droid factory that I wanted to evacuate before Zann and his puppets got to it. In response, I sent one of my little witches to you with surprises. I don't know if they worked, but now I'm doing you a favor. The pirates fighting the Alliance right now are potential recruits for the Zann Consortium. And I'm sending them into battle to thin out the Alliance so you don't have to spend your strength. Also, I could attack the Interdictor that's holding us all at bay and is only intact thanks to your pilots' valor. Or I could use the Force to summon my second fleet here — with a clone army that will take every one of your ships by storm. But I don't need that. Your leadership and I misunderstood each other, became victims of others' manipulations. I suggest we don't hold grudges and agree to my terms."
"So far this sounds like an ultimatum," Sergius stated.
A certain thought was taking shape in his mind, intertwined with the ceaseless counting of cards.
"Besides, your little witch caused us great damage with her poisons and mockups of Spaarti cloning cylinders," his voice hardened. "That hurts a lot. If she hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here."
"I can say the same about the attacks on Shola, Saleucami, and Hypori," Silri's voice turned colder than the ice on Hoth. "Since my 'gifts' reached you," she smiled, "then the need for clones grows more than ever. And my offer becomes ever more relevant."
"We could do it simpler," Sergius said. "Hand over a batch of cloning cylinders from Kamino and..."
"No," Silri replied. "That is my monopoly. I will only offer it to you for lease, nothing more."
A lease with ulterior motives and fine print.
"If I can't see the benefits of this offer, then what about my command?" Sergius shrugged. "You demand we step back, offering little. That's not how alliances are made."
"But we're not swearing loyalty to each other," Silri noted. "I am offering you a way to get rid of an enemy that is encroaching on your wealth. I'm telling you that you can take for yourselves all the sectors from the Hydian Way to the Perlemian Trade Route that serve Zann. Up to the Coruscant-Lantilles line, of course. Even such a magnificent financial prize as the Corporate Sector — I give that to you too..."
In fact, she was selling the goods that would sooner or later belong to the Dominion anyway. Probably sooner.
"You can even peacefully absorb the Imperial Space and the Pentastar Alignment," Silri 'generously' offered. "Of course, within the borders as they were before the current conflict. All conquered territories will be returned to the New Republic..."
Wonder what Palpatine and his pack of fight-hungry minions would say about that?
They were silent for a while, looking into each other's eyes.
Finally Silri smirked, seeing two Mon Calamari star cruisers destroyed by a pair of her battleships.
"No one will make you a better offer," she stated. "But I'll sweeten the deal. When Zann is killed, the criminal underworld he controls will be in some disarray. I'll make them leave the territories I'm giving you without a fight. That way you won't have to waste time hunting them. There are always some losses in such cleanups..."
It was unlikely the criminal groups would listen to her. Who was she to them? An uncrowned empress of the underworld that only her close associates knew about? To have the right to give orders to criminal communities, you need to have power over them. Zann, maybe a fool by her words, but he still held the criminals in his grip. How didn't matter. The main thing was that he, like her, was in the shadows. But he acted. She talked. There was a colossal difference.
"And what about Palpatine?" Sergius asked.
"What about him?" the witch looked at the agent in surprise.
As if he had asked her not about the Emperor who cheated death and held significant forces under his control, but about yesterday's lunch.
"How does the division of the galaxy fit into his plans?"
"Not at all," Silri shrugged. "He's more interested in personal scores than a military campaign. Mediocrities and the young are at the helm. The New Republic will destroy him easily. However," she bared her teeth, "at the cost of heavy losses. So he's not your headache."
If only.
"Does your proposal to gain control over the Imperial Remnants apply to all of them?" Sergius played the fool card.
"Only those controlled by Imperial Space and the Pentastar Alignment," Silri repeated. "Before the offensive."
"And the others?" Now he needed absolute clarity.
"Those half-dead remnants, like the Tion Cluster and the practically invisible Federated Alliance of Teradocs in the Mid Rim? And a few other boils on the galaxy's body?" Silri snorted. "They, like the Galactic Core, are mine."
From these proposals, one could draw some impressive conclusions. First: Silri was not so stupid. But that was already stating the obvious. Second. The Teradocs, it turned out, were still holding on in the Mid Rim, sandwiched between the Alliance, the New Republic, the Hutts, and the expanding territory of Imperial Space. Despite their Greater Maldrood having long lost its former size. As well as its significant importance during the division of Warlord Zsinj's legacy, when Trauten Teradoc was severely 'trimmed' and lost most of his territories. For some reason, the Dominion command had never even considered an alliance with them. As with other warlords. Perhaps it was because Trauten Teradoc had a brother, Kosh Teradoc, who was a warlord of his own territories in the Deep Core and was surely already under the Emperor's control. Given how little remained of that part of the Federated Alliance that was now squeezed between enemies and was once called Greater Maldrood, it was no wonder that even in the list of Imperial Remnants, the Teradocs were no longer mentioned as a threat. Although Sergius himself had thought they had been destroyed and subjugated long ago by either the Alliance or the New Republic. Turns out no. This should also be reported to command.
"However, I am ready to give your command a small gift," Silri smiled. "You really love Imperial ships and military equipment from the time of the Empire and the Old Republic. As a gesture of good will, I'll give you this destroyer," she gestured around the bridge. "It doesn't really fit in my fleet anyway, just like the others..."
"Bossk wouldn't approve of such a generous gesture," Sergius stated.
"Bossk wound up as my servant only because for the holocron operation Zann promised him millions, but in reality stiffed him on payment and even hired bounty hunters," Silri smirked. "Serving me was the best option for him. But he couldn't handle that either."
"One destroyer is too little to appease my command," Sergius stated, continuing to test the limits of this negotiation process.
"As I said, Imperial technology doesn't really suit me," Silri smirked. "Fine, I'll sell it to you at reduced prices. After all, the Dominion loves to trade its trophies. How am I any different?"
In every way, Sergius thought. But he wisely remained silent, mentally counting the sabbacc cards.
His head already ached from this conversation, and his thoughts were muddled.
Silri was conducting a casual conversation, literally testing his endurance and his ability to maintain his mental defenses throughout the entire exchange.
Hence all the distractions, the cross-references, the meaningful phrases and emphases...
She was delivering a message, but at the same time—doing everything to make him lower his guard.
And then the witch would undoubtedly get inside his head.
"I have heard your proposal," said Sergius. "Now I need to relay it to my command."
"So what's the problem?" Silri smirked. "Within a single system, they don't block communications. Only long-range. The communication systems of a Star Destroyer are over there," she gestured broadly toward that section of the bridge. "But I'm sure you know that, since you've already reported to your command that we're on our way. And told them about our reserve, waiting only for orders to begin the offensive. Or did you think that little transmitter of yours in the cabin's ventilation had gone undiscovered until now?"
Ridiculous.
A small barb, designed to exploit his fatigue.
Or to make him stop his mental calculations out of shame for the discovered transmitter.
No way.
"I have a counterproposal," he declared. "You take your ship and head for the jump zone. And I'll arrange for a gap to be opened for you, so you won't be endangered."
Silri laughed quietly.
"Not bad," she said. "Really — good composure. But no. I'll leave here with my Keldabe and Crusaders. The rest don't interest me. And yes — I'm leaving now. And I'll be heading for the Interdictor. If by the time we reach firing range it hasn't opened a path out of the system for my ships, I'll destroy it. And I'll leave anyway. But I'll know that the Dominion doesn't agree to my terms. After which I'll commit my reserves, which, as I hope you understand, are far larger than the dozen Lucrehulks you know about. And I'll begin my destruction of the Dominion with Kessel. So it's your decision, Agent. On Kamino, you were very, very eloquent. Let's see if you're as skilled at negotiating with your own superiors as you were with me and the Imperial lackeys."
But at the same time, she had allowed some of the starships she was "interested in" to be damaged or destroyed.
In any case, the number of those types of ships that could get out of here now varied greatly from the number that had arrived in the Kessel system half an hour ago.
Sergius looked at the tactical hologram.
Well, now he understood Silri's plan.
Indeed, everything was unfolding according to her design.
Just as she had laid it out.
Armed freighters and other pirate ships, like the Kaloth-class battlecruisers, were fighting the Alliance in the front lines, while the Keldabes and Crusaders had withdrawn to the second echelon.
And the Retribution was positioned right between those two groups of her armed forces.
And she hadn't given a single order over the comlink or via the holoprojector!
She'd just stared at the tactical hologram!
And it was these very starships that currently controlled the space between the Interdictor and the Alliance fleet.
If Silri wished, the Interdictor-class Star Destroyer would be destroyed by her forces within a short time.
She really was coming to negotiate.
Terms that were, no doubt, favorable only to her.
"You sent Namman Cha and Kyrisa to the Alliance flagship," Sergius reminded her.
"Yes. And what about it?"
"They'll need time to return to the Keldabe and..."
Silri looked at him with something resembling pity.
"I have absolutely no interest in the fate of those Imperial lackey Inquisitors," she said. "But if you're curious about what's happening in the Deep Core, you can try to take them alive. I'm sure that information will be relevant to you. And it'll confirm my words about the state of Palpatine's armed forces."
This very conversation was far more than just words and clarification of vague points.
Silri had known who he was from their very first meeting.
He had thought the witch believed his cover story about being a "former Ubiqtorate agent."
But she had secured a guaranteed channel for transmitting information to the Dominion.
Why was it so complicated?
Because on Kamino, Namman Cha and Kyrisa had been with her.
By her own account—agents of Palpatine.
If so, then the Emperor had sunk his claws into the body of the galaxy, controlling it from within.
Silri hadn't attacked Kessel just for the planet itself or the system.
If she could reach an agreement with the Dominion, she'd get everything she wanted.
Including getting rid of the known spies of the resurrected Emperor.
If not...
Then yes, she would simply fight for Kessel.
And only a Hutt knew how much she was bluffing about having a large reinforcement.
"Don't delay with the information, Agent." Silri rose from behind the holoprojector and walked up close to Sergius.
"How do we contact you to give our answer? The proposal requires time for discussion."
"You have until the end of this month," said the Dathomirian witch. "After that, I'll expect your representative at these coordinates."
As if by magic, a data chip appeared in the light green haze on her open palm.
The Agent, gathering his will, took the storage device and tucked it into his clothing.
The witch watched him like a predator eyeing its prey.
It was... frightening.
The witch leaned toward his neck and took a deep breath through her nose.
"I love the smell of fear," she whispered in his ear. "Especially when I instill it in someone who's used to doing that themselves. Be convincing, Agent. Otherwise, at our next meeting, I'll introduce you to my pet rancor."
Without another word, the woman turned and left the bridge, leaving the Dominion agent standing alone in the middle of the room, surrounded by beings completely uninterested in what was happening around them.
Like droids, they carried out their routine work, continuing despite everything.
Not a single distraction, not a single sideways glance at the ship's commander.
Not a single reaction to what had been said.
And they were, after all, the same kind of pirates Silri had condemned to slaughter, should the Dominion accept her proposal.
Or were they not?
Sergius didn't want to think about it.
And least of all did he want to stay here and watch as living robots continued to control the bombardment of an Alliance cruiser by his starship, turning it into a heap of scrap.
Apparently, along with the Star Destroyer, Silri was also handing over the crew—obedient and compliant.
A free sample of the product that could come about if the Dominion agreed to her terms.
While he was on Kamino, Silri had replaced the pirate crew on his ship with clones.
And now she was handing them over to the Dominion for quality inspection and as advertising for her "product."
Millions of willless slaves who saw the meaning of their lives only in carrying out orders.
It was... terrifying.
* * *
When Captain Pellaeon finished listening to the report from Agent Bravo-Eleven, he felt, to say the least, out of his element.
He couldn't make a decision like this on his own.
And the Grand Admiral sitting next to him was silent, looking more like the statues he so loved.
And he couldn't even ask for advice...
Because uttering Thrawn's name in the presence of an agent standing on the bridge of an enemy starship...
"Stand by," Pellaeon decided on a course of action, looking at the hologram of Bravo-Eleven. "You will be contacted."
The volumetric projection silently faded out.
The commander of the Guardian looked expectantly at the Grand Admiral.
The latter, as if coming back to life, slowly began to stroke his miserable lizard.
At a time like this?!
When the Dominion was being presented with ultimatums?!
"An interesting proposal, Captain," Thrawn said slowly, looking through the main viewport at the battlefield, toward which the Super Star Destroyer was approaching. "Don't you think?"
"I think that witch is fooling us to escape a battle she can't win," the commander of the Guardian replied restrainedly (though he wanted to scream with rage). "We need to finish her off..."
"We will," the Grand Admiral said confidently. "But... later."
The last phrase hit Pellaeon like a bucket of cold water.
Cold, hell—freezing!
"You... intend to accept her proposal?" Pellaeon barely managed to say.
"I agreed to let Silri and her ships out of the Kessel system," Thrawn raised a finger, ceasing to stroke the ysalamiri's back. "Time is needed to consider the rest. The proposal is not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance, Captain."
What could possibly be ambiguous about it?!
The criminal wanted to use them to eliminate a competitor.
Wasn't that what Thrawn had been saying from the very beginning?
"This kind of behavior was calculated beforehand," Thrawn's voice continued to flow like a river across a plain. Slowly, soothingly... As if he weren't discussing an ultimatum presented to the Dominion, but choosing a new uniform from the wardrobe. "But what Silri said..."
"Lies," burst out of Pellaeon.
Oh, how well he understood his donor now.
Even the clone's natural phlegmatism evaporated in such a situation, when emotions were simply off the charts.
"Not at all," declared Thrawn. "We know she has reserves for an attack. The witch is not stupid—she realized, from the Guardian's movements and the continued deployment of the Interdictors, that we know it too. And a surprise attack from behind won't work. Neither will the coordinated two-pronged strike she originally planned. The first group, which we see, is holding back the Alliance. The second will emerge behind our backs. And we'll send the Scimitars there, which will cool their ardor until we can reorient the fleet and make a micro-jump. Two groups are a strength. Separately, we'll grind them to dust."
"Then why not do it?!"
"Because we've heard Silri's proposal," he said, as if that explained everything! "Of course, Agent Bravo-Eleven should relay it in more detail, but the main points are clear even now. Interesting... Don't you find anything strange, Captain?"
"Absolutely everything."
"Oh, don't be so categorical," a sly smile appeared on the Grand Admiral's face. "Not everything she said is a lie or an attempt to deceive us. But far more important is what she didn't say in the conversation with Agent Bravo-Eleven. As well as her slips, her attempt to stall for time in hopes his mental struggle would end... Don't you see the connection, Captain?"
Using the process of elimination to sift through what she hadn't mentioned?
"I do see, sir. It's all connected to our enemies."
"I wouldn't say you're far from the truth," Thrawn nodded. "Arrange for the Interdictor to deactivate all four gravity well generators. Reactivate them one minute after Silri's ships leave the system. Calculate a micro-jump to his coordinates, accounting for the gravity trap coverage zone. The Guardian and our fleet must arrive there in the shortest possible time, using the 'Tartar' attack pattern. After the gravity traps are activated, of course."
Between the Dominion forces and their opponents—one hundred and fifty units of distance.
A flight using sublight engines at the Guardian's maximum speed of forty megawatts—that would take too long.
It seemed that Thrawn had decided to force the enemy to rush to the system's exit point, following Silri, and bring his own fleet there as well.
Preparing the jump, turning the ships onto the right course, and starting the navicomputer all took time.
About a minute...
Pellaeon involuntarily smirked.
In the previous battle, Thrawn had used the reverse tactic—he'd lowered the gravity traps so the enemy ships would "fly right past."
Now he was activating them so no one could slip out of the system after the Dathomirian witch and her fleet.
And to spice up the sluggish exchange of fire, he was preparing to commit all his forces.
Yes, an exquisite plan.
But the impression was spoiled by the fact that the Grand Admiral was apparently seriously considering cooperating with the Silri Syndicate.
Or was he not?!
"Inform the Hand and the Fourth Special Unit that they have a new assignment, Captain," Thrawn's voice reached him. "I will conduct the briefing personally."
When he looked at the Grand Admiral, he was looking at his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Tierce.
Not a single word was spoken, but the officer gave an almost imperceptible nod and quickly left the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer.
It seemed things were about to heat up very soon.
For everyone.