When the Grand Admiral left the medbay, Rukh caught the faint nod of his head toward the just-abandoned room.
The Noghri bodyguard's gray shadow was inside in an instant.
"Didn't expect it, guardsman?" Rukh squinted, purring ominously as he appeared by the bunk.
"I never doubted you'd come," Grodin smirked, lying back.
"The droid said you'd recover soon," Rukh said.
"The next one entering my room with that line gets broken a hundred four ways," the guardsman promised. "Talk like I caught a proton torpedo barehanded and survived by miracle. I've had far worse wounds."
"How bad?" the Noghri asked, intrigued.
"Once nearly lost my head," Tierce said gravely. "Dangling by the spinal cord. Vertebrae to dust."
"Really?" The Grand Admiral's bodyguard widened his eyes.
"Oh, Hutta in your kin, of course not, Rukh!" Thrawn's adjutant sighed. "Just shrapnel-stuffed. And this," he indicated the bandage covering his lower torso, "just a scratch. More bacta, stims—and it'll heal like on a rancor. Don't know why you're all so worked up."
"Yes, the Grand Admiral's genuinely concerned for your health," Rukh sobered unexpectedly. "When he left, he went to the droid. Before I entered, I heard him order the most comfortable recovery regimen for you."
The adjutant fell silent for seconds, peering into the Noghri's eyes.
"It happens," he said, wiping his stinging eyes. "Worried about the soldier—DNA and knowledge source for clone guardsmen and storm legion commanders. I figure after I carved up that Zann Consortium lieutenant, new clones with my face will be even better."
"That's good," Rukh said unexpectedly.
He raised his hand, but Grodin reacted on reflex, intercepting the limb too close.
Glancing sidelong, he crooked a smile, seeing the obsidian blade in the blocked Noghri limb.
"Well, even one-armed and one-legged, you still couldn't kill me," Tierce said.
"And I wasn't trying to," Rukh purred.
The blade in his hand spun, then the Noghri bowed lightly and placed the weapon on the bunk beside Tierse.
"Now explain that in detail," the former Imperial guardsman requested.
"When a Noghri hunter, or death commando, is wounded and recovers in his home clanhold, a weapon is always left by him," Rukh explained. "A custom from our ancestors, before Honoghr became a dead world."
"I assume to let the wounded defend himself while clansfolk are in the fields and predators lurk," Grodin said slowly.
"You're wise, guardsman," Rukh agreed. "It's one knife-brother's duty to the other—to ensure even a wounded brother-by-knife isn't left helpless."
Grodin coughed, turning away and wiping his face near the eyes again.
"Thanks," he said in a slightly choked tone. "That… means a lot. I got it right—you consider me a knife-brother now?"
"Yes, guardsman," the Noghri bowed again. "As the elder recognizes the younger."
At the end, he couldn't hold it, and the purring held back a smile and chuckle.
"You little bastard," Tierce gritted, grabbing the impudent Noghri by the scruff.
But he'd already nimbly evaded, ducked under the bunk, and surfaced fish-like by the door.
"Get well, younger knife-brother," the Noghri giggled, vanishing behind the door.
Tierce, reclining on the bunk, twirled the gifted blade in his hand, then examined it under the blinding ward lights.
"Engraving, eh," Tierce said slowly, eyeing the Basic inscription carved on the hilt. "Little punk. I'll borrow a flamethrower from the 'arsonists' and singe you, fulfilling Vice Admiral Pellaeon's cherished dream."
Wincing slightly from pain, Tierce slid off the bunk and began dressing, glaring angrily at the gifted blade.
Get well, my younger brother. One day your snow-white fur will darken too.
Nothing much, but one thing.
Youngest Noghri have light fur.
Elders—dark as night.
Essentially, Rukh called him a milk-drinker.
The little bastard was clearly bored without Pellaeon, amusing himself as he could.
Shedding the medblock garb and donning his usual uniform, the colonel decided that even skewered through, he wouldn't lie in the lazaret for the Noghri's amusement.
Something massive was brewing—Thrawn wouldn't have come just to chat otherwise.
He'd learned of his condition to gauge if he could count on his most loyal fighter and guardsman.
And if so, the situation clearly exceeded tolerable "hospital time."
Plus, easier to repay the little bastard for this show on his feet.
Resolutely silencing the protesting droid, the colonel self-discharged from the shipboard lazaret, returning to duty.
***
One simple truth must be acknowledged—compared to what I previously knew of Tyber Zann, what I'm learning now is progress.
Development not just striding in seven-league boots, but charging like a rhinoceros.
Soon reaching scales where "a charging rhino's blindness isn't the rhino's problem."
Of course, much remains unclear, but the situation is shaping into quite the intrigue.
So, let's turn to my memory's history and the Imperial archives at my disposal.
Gaps in one can be filled from others, and there are plenty.
Tyber Zann was born on Anaxes thirty-four years before the Battle of Yavin.
Worked in the family firm specializing in converting outdated Old Republic and Imperial military tech for civilian use.
Imperials note that upon Academy admission, Zann's file had more marks for illegal gambling than family business.
Thus, one can infer an adventuring nature, thrill-seeking, rejection of routine and desire to eradicate monotony from life.
Also, per ISB—unconfirmed—that in youth, to arm his sabacc buddies, Zann tried stealing a weapons shipment from a parental company warehouse.
Security caught him and informed his father, who, as punishment, arranged his cadet enrollment at the Imperial Academy on Carida.
But no official data on the incident.
Of course not—publicizing a family business theft and inquiry could've closed doors to placing the child out-of-sight in the famed Imperial forces for beating nonsense out of die-hard adventurers.
Now to the ISB departmental investigation on Carida itself.
"Operating from the Academy, Zann created a new smuggler network—the Zann Consortium. Lax object security let him steal Imperial weapons and ship them off-planet to a partner who sold them black market, causing damage in the amount of…"
Official testimony.
More like indictment lines.
These very data formed the basis of Zann's tribunal.
And the author—cadet Thrawn.
That is, Mitth'raw'nuruodo, who uncovered Zann's scheme.
Interestingly—default judgment, as Zann had vanished from Carida Academy by then.
Why?
To ISB operative reports.
"Zann exploited assigned powers for training missions to build a smuggling contact network. The operation became one of the galaxy's largest, drawing attention from more powerful criminals, namely Jabba the Hutt."
Enter the crime king.
Jabba coordinated Zann's capture during a smuggling run shortly before graduation. Luckily for Tyber, his partner (likely Urai Fen, but official docs omit name or even species) intercepted the Imperial alert on the impending arrest.
So Jabba "fed" Zann to the Imperials, eliminating the upstart to strangle competition in the cradle.
Tyber evaded prosecution then, but Zann was forced to leave the Academy for disrespecting its requirements.
In other words—given a chance to leave "honorably," which he took.
Only afterward did cadet Mitth'raw'nuruodo provide detailed data on his activities.
Evidently, Carida brass had no intent to publicize.
I suspect the Emperor's favor to Mitth'raw'nuruodo played, and the tribunal proceeded.
From Imperial Intelligence archives.
Per them, Tyber Zann did ally with Jabba the Hutt.
Subsequently running smuggling ops for the Hutt in exchange for transports and ships, while hiding assets from his criminal biz partner.
Simply put, Zann never intended permanence and planned to "screw" the companion ahead.
Revenge for Carida or not—history's silent.
But anyway, Imperial Intelligence notes Zann stole a certain artifact from Jabba, acquired for an indecent sum.
The galaxy first heard of the "Zann Consortium" when its flotilla ambushed a Mandalorian warlord.
The latter's ship boarded, he himself captured.
Zann got what he wanted—talk in the underworld, boosting new useful contacts, allies, wealthy clients.
Followed by info Zann stole something extremely valuable from Jabba.
I'd bet that's the artifact that bankrupted Jabba on acquisition.
Artifact theft, fortunes sunk.
Battle ensues, Zann loses most forces and "suns" on Kessel.
Whence Urai Fen springs him.
New dawn for the Zann Consortium.
Post-Jabba conflict, Tyber Zann—under threat of executing the last—forces truce.
The artifact, a Sith holocron, stays with Zann to unlock its secret later.
He hires a Dathomirian, freed from her homeworld, to decipher the Sith artifact's secret.
Zann gets dragged into a scrape with Prince Xizor and Black Sun over Bespin tibanna theft.
Xizor aims to frame Zann to Darth Vader as the thief, Zann frames Xizor.
Later Vader kills Xizor partly over the Bespin heist, Black Sun suffers first major leadership losses.
Meanwhile, Zann Consortium ensnares planets in loops of corruption and ties.
Zann's attempt to sell his artifact—the holocron—predictably a trap. Mitth'raw'nuruodo's fleet engages Tyber Zann's.
In battle, one of Zann's underlings steals the artifact from him and delivers it to Thrawn, who then escapes on his Star Destroyer, abandoning the remaining ships to fate. After defeating the left Imperial fleet, Tyber returns to base.
A telling moment, really.
Per which Mitth'raw'nuruodo rather cavalierly dismissed the Zann threat, costing several warships.
Hardly resembling the future Grand Admiral who preempted threats.
But anyway, Mitth'raw'nuruodo didn't.
Later, it culminated in Zann's post-Endor assault on the under-construction Eclipse SSD at Kuat orbit.
I remember that from my past life, confirmed by local sources.
Post-Endor and Kuat raid, the Zann Consortium takes a double hit, defeated by both Empire and Rebel Alliance.
And oddly, that's enough to shake the corruption chains from the galaxy and shatter the Consortium.
Now it turns out Tyber Zann merely went to ground to safeguard himself.
Likely, what I gleaned of this sentient—what was destroyed was the Consortium's most inert, inefficient part.
Judging by Zann's current scope—he grasped perfectly: sacrifice the small and obvious to those bent on his destruction, or the organization falls wholesale.
Result: now we have.
Recruitment via "Black Sun" front of merc and pirate bands.
Allowing concealment of at least the brain center and core, combat wing of the Zann Consortium—the infamous "Vulture" agents, processed so only speculation on Tyber Zann's brainwashing programs.
Must conclude: he commands the full industrial and economic might of the Corporate Sector.
Plus—fighting for mineral deposits, like the Chilon Rift.
Not just an inexhaustible asteroid cluster of minerals, but surely a military base to strike the Dominion's rear.
Rothana and Kamino need no mention—discussed dozens of times.
One might think to emulate this guy—controlling the underworld so effectively from shadows.
But only a hardened criminal like Zann himself could control crime that efficiently.
Can't half-dabble in crime.
You either live it or die.
Neither suits me.
Fundamentally clashes with my past view of him.
If I once thought him mere gangster, now—local Professor Moriarty.
Qualitatively different planning and execution level.
The Zann Consortium has changed utterly.
Questions mount, but key ones few.
First—current link between Zann and Hutts?
If yes, countering this man becomes even more surgical.
Because the Corporate Sector power he surely wields—even the Empire, with its colossal fleet of tens of thousands of Imperators alone, reckoned with.
Add Hutt Space's fleet and forces—and downright grim.
Launching open, full-scale opposition against Zann, clearly intent on destroying the Dominion, and if my Chilon Rift suspicions hold, with direct path to my rear sectors, would be suicide if he has Hutt clan backing beyond thugs and pirates.
Sadly, Grappa the Hutt can't illuminate these nuances—not his level.
Second and chief question—the list of those Tyber Zann cloned and replaced.
Minimum: Fina D'Asta.
Maximum…
If my theory that the "parade of sovereignties" of Imperial fragments is mere show and Zann puppets, then even grimmer.
Fighting free-thinkers is one thing, "brainwashed" executors another.
Because Zann's already effectively warring on me, and I yet know his backstab potential.
But work on this is underway.
Before me appeared Third's hologram.
As always—chewing something on the go.
"Third," I addressed the girl.
"Grand Admiral," she saluted with a meat chunk on her fork.
Her food-stuffed cheeks rhythmically worked, chewing.
"Autopsy complete?" I inquired.
"Uh-huh," she replied.
"And genetic analysis?"
Affirmative head nod.
"On all objects I specified?" I pressed, somewhat irritated by such tactlessness.
But given her unique work specifics—certain protocol breaches are permitted.
"Uh-huh," she said mouth-full.
"Kindly chew your mouthful and speak without culinary impediments," I requested, patiently tolerating the young woman's quirks—and unique specialist's, in her way.
With visible effort, Third swallowed what she'd been masticating, then looked with undisguised regret at her steak remnant and resolutely set it aside.
"No physiological changes in the corpse on autopsy," she explained. "No poison capsules either. Telomeres normal, matching overall organism wear."
In other words—the corpse of Moff Delurin, controller of the warlike lizard planet, isn't a clone.
Already good.
"Grand-Moff Ferrus and his team?" I asked.
"Grand-Moff's original human too," at those words, I eased a bit. "Well, his clones… are his clones. All match creation ages."
So at minimum, Grand-Moff cleared.
"The candidates he selected," I reminded. "What of their telomeres?"
"Well, those as Admiral Trommer, Grand-Moff Heizer, Moffs Winsel and Jarnek—original humans too. But the 'rejected' category, like Grand-Moff Nivers—they're clones, no doubt…"
Ah-ha…
Curious combo.
So those run through counterintel and Jeensaari gauntlet—real people, while those butchered, largely for "unclear threat hidden in mind depths" per the Jeensaari in POW filtration—clones?
Note the thought.
Does this mean Jeensaari can somehow sense such "sleeper agents"?
If yes, fewer worries re: military—they all passed Jeensaari and counterintel.
"Check DNA analyses of former Imperial POWs in the 'rejected' category," I ordered.
Actually, blood samples were for medical health checks.
And, if uncooperative refusal, suitable clone made unbeknownst—never happened in practice.
Now, seems we'll recheck all DNA samples, from top officers to privates.
Colossal work.
"Continue checks," I ordered. "Shelf all current projects, use full capacity for second-wave cloning donor samples on telomerics."
Meaning: first check wave includes all our scant generals, colonels, formation and Star Destroyer commanders, unused specialists as donors.
Essentially—the "fresh acquisitions" genetic database, not yet proven themselves, thus not cloned.
Why waste costly reagents studying blood of one who might be decent commander but won't excel?
First wave I'm calm—officers and specialists repeatedly scanned and cloned.
Their telomer check—given.
But they're few; second wave—vast potential donors.
Can't check all at once.
Not reagent cost (oddly expensive in my past and this life).
But sheer time.
E.g., checking half a hundred key donor names took Third near half a day.
And hundreds more samples ahead.
Not quick.
"We'll work," the girl couldn't resist and bit the steak. "Oh, right—forgot. Another confirmed analysis came in."
I.e.—mismatch on telomere length vs. real age.
"And who?"
"Moff Gronn's corpse," Third replied. "Path-droid established death by fast-acting toxin in a molar, not blaster shot."
"Thank you, Third," I said. "Report all clone detections personally to me, Colonel Astarion, Grand-Moff Ferrus, and Vice Admiral Pellaeon. And all this stays secret."
"Got it," Third mumbled, chewing nonstop.
Can't fix her, pointless scolding.
So I just shut off the holoprojector.
QED.
At minimum, some moffs—clones.
With "Consortium-style" self-elimination.
Curious…
And the "rejected" ones like Grand-Moff Nivers—clones entering prison, or swapped inside Republic cells?
Sol Mon said he kidnapped both Imperial and Republic "brass."
If swap in cells, I even know why.
Grand-Moff Nivers, like the whole "moff barracks"—freed from Republic prison in second or third wave.
First: combat officers—naval, then army.
Bureaucrats—last ops.
Odds Zann foresaw I'd free moffs too, thus slipping me "Trojans"?
Note that thought.
A plan to turn Zann's own actions against him began forming.
Yes, the guy may have wisened post-near-demise after Endor, but forget not: he's extremely reckless, not one to "sit quiet."
He needs motion, action—hence warring me since his pirates smashed in the Hegemony.
Well, it'd be nice to egg him further, give chance for a proper backstab.