Captain Pellaeon.
Blast it Rukh. What do you think you’re doing?
I’m doing my job.
You may enter.
Come in, Captain.
I thought you’d want to know, Admiral, that the scouts have returned from the Obroa-Skai system.
The wing commander will be ready for debriefing in a few minutes.
Were they able to tap into the central library system?
They got at least a partial dump. I don’t know yet if they were able to complete it.
Apparently, there was some attempt at pursuit. The Wing Commander thinks he lost them though.
No. No, I don’t believe he has.
Particularly not if the pursuers were from the Rebellion.
Yes, sir. I’ve ordered the sentry line onto yellow alert. Shall we go to red?
Not yet.
Tell me, Captain, do you know anything about art?
Ah, not very much.
You should make the time.
Saffa paintings. Note how the style changes right here-
Bridge to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Sir, we’re under attack!
This is Thrawn. Go to red alert and tell me what we’ve got. Calmly, if possible.
Yes, sir. Four New Republic Assault Frigates plus four wings of of X-Wing fighters coming
in on the scout ships’ vector.
Run engines to full power, prepare to make the jump to lightspeed.
Belay that jump order. TIE fighter crews to their stations, activate deflector shields.
Admiral?
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Let’s see exactly what we’re dealing with. Bridge: order the nearest three sentry ships
to attack.
Excellent. Pull the other two sentry ships back.
Shouldn’t we signal the rest of the fleet? The Death’s Head could be here in twenty
minutes. Most of the others in less than an hour.
The last thing we want to do is bring in more of our ships, Captain. After all, there maybe
survivors and we wouldn’t want the Rebellion learning about us, would we?
Bridge, I want us flat to the invader’s vector.
Yes, sir.
Sir?
You don’t have to understand, Lieutenant. Just obey.
I’m afraid I don’t understand either.
Watch and learn, Captain. TIE Fighter squadrons, launch when ready. Head directly away from
the Chimaera for two kilometers, then sweep around in open cluster formation.
Do you understand now, Captain?
Turning the ship gives the fighters some exit cover but the rest is nothing
but a classic Marg Sabl closure maneuver. They’re not going to fall for anything that simple.
On the contrary. Not only will they fall for it, they’ll be utterly destroyed by it.
Watch, Captain. And learn.
What in the Empire are they doing?
They are trying the only defense they know of against a Marg Sabl.
Or to be more precise, the only defense they are psychologically capable of attempting.
You see, there is an Elom commanding that force and Elomin simply cannot handle the
unstructured attack profile of a Marg Sabl.
That sentry ship, you were able to tell from that those were Elomin ships?
Learn about art, Captain. When you understand a species’ art, you understand that species.
Bridge, bring us to flank speed, prepare to join the attack.
Sounds like the Obroa-Skai system is a bust. We cannot spare the manpower needed to pacify the planet.
For now, perhaps. But only for now. Bridge, this is Grand Admiral Thrawn. Set course of
the planet Myrkr.
Myrkr, Admiral?
The first piece of the puzzle, a creature indigenous to the planet. The second piece
lies on a world called Wayland.
May I ask what exactly this puzzle is?
Why the only puzzle worth solving of course. The complete, total and utter destruction
of the Rebellion.