Car'das frowned at it. The asteroid wasn't rotating so much as it was doing a slow wobble, nearly but not quite end over end. Not for pseudogravitational purposes, obviously; theSpringhawk showed that the Chiss had artificial gravity. So why pick a rotating asteroid?

Maris was obviously wondering the same thing. "That wobble must make it hard to dock with," she commented.

"Itdoes require a certain degree of skill," Thrawn agreed, lifting his eyebrows slightly like a teacher trying to draw an answer from a group of students.

Car'das looked back at the asteroid. Could Thrawn have set up a deliberately tricky docking procedure as a training exercise for new recruits? But he could do that more easily and safely with a separate practice station.

Unless this asteroid was merely a training facility and not his main base at all. There were certainly no lights or indications of construction showing anywhere that he could see. Was that the conclusion Thrawn expected them to come to?

And then, suddenly, he had it. "You've got a passive sensor array at one end," he said. "The wobble lets it sweep the whole sky instead of just one spot."

"But why spin the whole asteroid?" Maris asked, sounding 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."

"Essentially correct," Thrawn said. "Though we're not expecting enemies to actually come calling. Still, it's wise to take precautions."

"And they didn't blowour ship out from under us," Maris said, tapping a finger on Qennto's chest for emphasis.

Qennto turned a glower toward her. Car'das spoke up quickly: "So we're in Chiss space now?"

"Yes and no," Thrawn said. "Currently, there are only some survey and observation teams here, so it's hardly representative of a proper Chiss system. However, the second planet is quite habitable and within a few years will probably be opened up to full colonization. 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.

"Of course not," Thrawn assured him. "I 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?" Maris asked.

"The initial survey team always has that honor," Thrawn said. "In this case, the name Crustai is an acronym for-"

"CrahsystorMitth'raw'nuruodo," a Chiss called from across the bridge. "Ris ficar tli claristae su fariml'sroca."

"Sa cras mi soot shisfla,"Thrawn replied sharply, striding back to his command chair in the center of the bridge and sitting down. "Hos mich falliare."

"What did he say?" Qennto demanded, grabbing at a nearby chair back for balance as theSpringhawk veered sharply portside and began to pick up speed. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Car'das said, mentally replaying the Cheunh words and trying to sort out the various prefixes and suffixes. The Chiss grammar was logical and relatively easy to learn, but after only three days of lessons he didn't have much vocabulary to work with. "The only word roots I caught were the ones for `stranger' and 'run.' "

"Stranger. Run." Qennto hissed between his teeth as the stars in the viewport stretched into starlines. "They're after someone."

"Someone not too far away, either," Maris murmured. "Isn'tstae a word root for 'near'?"

"Yes, I think you're right," Car'das agreed. "I wonder if we ought to go back to our quarters."

"We stay right here," Qennto said firmly. "We already saw how they treated one ship that wandered in too close. I want to see what they do with another."

"They only took out Progga because he fired first," Maris pointed out.

"Yeah," Qennto said. "Maybe."

For the next few minutes the bridge crew worked busily at their stations, the silence punctuated only by an occasional command or comment. Car'das found himself staring at the back of Thrawn's head as the commander sat motionlessly in his chair, wondering if he dared sidle up behind the other and ask for an explanation as to what was going on.

A few seconds later he was glad he hadn't. Less than a minute after entering hyperspace, they suddenly dropped back out again. "Already?" Qennto muttered, sounding stunned.

"He did amicrojump," Car'das said, hardly believing it himself

"Ridiculous," Qennto insisted. "You can't hit the side of the Senate Building with a-"

Abruptly, the deck jerked beneath them, nearly knocking them off their feet. Reflexively, Car'das grabbed Maris's upper arm with one hand and a nearby conduit with the other, keeping both of them on their feet.

Just as a pair of small ships roared past the viewport, spitting laserfire and missiles at theSpringhawk.

"I'd say he did a little better than hit the side of the Senate Building," Car'das managed as the deck again shook beneath them. "Looks like he's right where he wants to be."

"Terrific," Qennto bit out. "I'm gladhe wants to be here."

The shaking subsided as the attackers flew out of optimum firing range, and Car'das focused on the visual displays. There were just three ships indicated: the two fighters now coming around for another pass, plus one larger ship considerably farther away. Unlike the fighters, the larger vessel seemed to be trying to move away from the battle zone instead of into it.

"Here they come," Qennto said.

Car'das looked back at the viewport. TheSpringhawk had swiveled to face its attackers, and in the distance he could see the glow as the fighters kicked their drives to full power. "Grab on to something," he warned, resettling his fingers around the conduit as Maris got a grip beside his. The fighters split formation as they approached, veering toward opposite sides of their target, their lasers opening up again. TheSpringhawk 's weapons returned fire.

And both attackers exploded.

"Whoa!" Qennto said. "What in the-?"

"They blew up," Maris breathed. "A single shot, and they just blewup."

"Don't start cheering just yet," Car'das warned. TheSpringhawk was swinging away from the expanding clouds of debris and picking up speed. "There's still the big one left."

The dizzying sweep of stars settled down as they finished their turn, and in the distance he could see the drive glow of the larger ship. "I don't suppose we could be lucky enough for it to be unarmed," Qennto said.