You’ve been hunting them?”
A slight frown creased Thrawn’s forehead. “Of course not,” he said. “The Vagaari have made no move against the Chiss Ascendancy. We therefore have no reason to hunt them.”
“But you know their name,” Qennto murmured.
“As I said, I know their reputation,” Thrawn said. “They’ve been moving through this region of space for at least the past ten years, preying mostly on the weak and the technologically primitive.”
“What about their slaves?” Maris 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 suggested.
“Exactly,” Thrawn said. “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,” Car’das said. “How did you know that?”
“I deduced it from the fact that their defense was sluggish and mostly ineffectual,” Thrawn said. “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 outclassed,” Thrawn told him. “I merely noticed that in both of their attacks a laser salvo preceded their missiles in a distinct and predictable pattern. When they launched their third attack, I was able to fire back just as the tubes’ protective doors opened, detonating the missiles before they could be launched. Fighters that size never have sufficient armor to withstand that sort of internal blast.”
“You see?” Car’das said drily. “Nothing to it.”