“They aren’t, Mom,” Eli assured her. “At least, not the ones you’re thinking about.”
“How do you know which ones I’m thinking about?”
“The ones about cunning and cruel vindictiveness,” Eli said. “If they were, a lot of the cadets you’re looking at would never have survived long enough to graduate.”
He winced as the last words left his mouth. Probably not the best way he could have put that. “He’s okay,” he assured them. “Really. Very smart.”
“So that part of the stories is true?” his father put in.
“Yes,” Eli said. “Let’s not talk about him, okay?”
“Fine,” his father said. “Let’s talk about you. What happens now that you’re off your career track?”
“Who says I’m off it?” Eli countered. “Up until I came here, that was the bulk of my training. As far as I know, that’s still where I am.”
“Well, I hope so,” his father said. “I just…you never know about Core World nonsense.”
Eli suppressed a sigh. After all he’d put up with at Royal Imperial…but then, that was the way of things.
“And hanging around that Chiss might have affected things, too,” his mother added.
“I didn’t have any choice, Mom,” he once again explained as patiently as he could. No matter how far down the social scale a person was, he added sourly to himself, there was always someone lower. “I was assigned to him as his translator.”
“Well, hopefully that’s over now,” his father said. “When do you get your ship assignment?”
“Later today,” Eli said. “And it might be a ground assignment, not a ship.”
“It’ll be a ship, dear,” his mother said, patting his arm. “You come from a family of voyagers, and you’re good with numbers. They’d be silly to put you on a base.”
“Sure,” Eli said. Though now that he had a better understanding of navy logistics, he knew that being good with numbers might be the perfect reason for them to put him at a base or supply depot.
“And we have to get going,” his father said suddenly.
Eli frowned, looking at him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Thrawn approaching at a brisk walk. As his father had apparently also noted.
Always someone lower. “You really don’t have to,” he said. “If you can stay another day, or even another few hours, we can find out my assignment together.”
“We have to go,” his father said, fumbling in his tunic. “We have to…damn.”
And then it was too late. “Good afternoon,” Thrawn said as he joined their little group. “You are Ensign Vanto’s parents, of course. Welcome to Coruscant.”
“Thank you,” Eli’s father said, his voice a little strained. “You are…uh…”
“I am Lieutenant Thrawn,” Thrawn said. “Your son has done quite well. You should be very proud of him.”
“We are,” Eli’s mother said. Her voice was less strained than her husband’s, but the blatant curiosity in her face more than made up for it. “You’re a—you’re really a Chiss?”
“I am,” Thrawn confirmed. “Your son has spoken of your legends concerning us. Be aware that not all of them are accurate.”
“But some of them are?” Eli’s father asked carefully. “May I ask which ones?”
“Dad!” Eli admonished him, feeling his face warming.
“The most flattering ones, of course,” Thrawn said, a small smile touching his lips. “Still, even when false, legends can be most informative.”
“I thought you said they weren’t all true,” Eli’s mother said.
“I did not refer to the legends themselves,” Thrawn said, turning his glowing eyes on her. “But what is remembered says a great deal about those doing the remembering.”
For a moment an awkward silence surrounded the group. “I see,” Eli’s father said at last. “Very interesting. But as I was saying, we have to go.”
“What was the problem?” Eli asked.
“The problem?”
“You said damn. That usually implies a problem.”
“Oh,” his father said. “No, not really. I’d just forgotten we can’t use our beckon call here, that’s all. We’ll have to get an airbus to our landing platform.”
“Which they charge an arm and a leg for,” his mother added. “But we’ll be fine. We need to get back home anyway.” She stepped close to Eli and wrapped him in a big hug. “Thank you for inviting us here, Eli. Let us know where they put you, and take care.”
“I will, Mom,” Eli promised as his father wrapped his arms around them both. “Have a safe trip back.”
“We will,” his father said. “Goodbye, and take care.” He released his hug. “Lieutenant,” he said, nodding gingerly at Thrawn.
“Mr. Vanto,” Thrawn said, returning the nod. “Ms. Vanto. Safe journeys.”
“Thank you.” Eli’s father took his mother’s arm and led her away.
For a moment Eli and Thrawn stood in silence, watching as his parents walked down the path toward the Academy’s landing platform. “They are concerned about you,” Thrawn said at last.
“Parents’ prerogative,” Eli said, wondering uncomfortably how much Thrawn had been able to read from his brief encounters with them. Had he figured out that a major part of their concern was that Thrawn’s presence in Eli’s life might somehow have poisoned his future? “They’re also not all that comfortable here. Big city, Core people. You know.”
“Yes,” Thrawn said. “Your father spoke of a beckon call. What is that?”
“It’s a device that can remotely bring your ship to you,” Eli said. “All my family’s business ships are slave-rigged for beckon calls. With some of our clients, it’s a good idea to keep your ship and the rest of your cargo out of sight and reach until you’ve finished your deal.”
“Because of the potential for theft?”
“Basically.”
“Why does the Empire not suppress such criminal activity?”
“Because they can’t be everywhere,” Eli said. “And Wild Space isn’t exactly high on Coruscant’s list.” He nodded at the lieutenant’s rank plaque, now attached prominently to Thrawn’s tunic. “So is that a new plaque Deenlark gave you at the ceremony? Or did you give him back the old one beforehand?”
“This one is new,” Thrawn said, rubbing his fingertips gently across the tiles. “Evidently he forgot he had already given me one.”
“Ah,” Eli said, nodding. “I guess you can keep the other one as a souvenir.”
“Or find another use for it,” Thrawn said. “When will we learn our assignments?”
Eli checked his chrono. “Could be any time now.” He looked back at his departing parents, now nearly lost among the rest of the family members who’d gathered for the graduation ceremonies. “Might as well head over to the commandant’s office and see.”
“Very well,” Thrawn said. “Why do they not simply send us the assignments on our computers?”
“I don’t know,” Eli said. Turning his back on the other cadets and their well-wishers, he headed toward the commandant’s office. “Probably want to get us used to handling properly encrypted data and orders. Or it’s the way they’ve always done things. Take your pick. Come on—good chance we’ll be the first ones in line.”
—
They weren’t the first. But they were the second and third.
Eli gazed at his data card as he and Thrawn walked past the line of graduates now starting to form, his eyes lingering on the Royal Imperial Academy logo, a new trickle of satisfaction running through his disappointment at his parents’ abrupt departure. They might not think much of his transfer to Coruscant, but everyone else in the navy would.
He’d done it. He’d really and truly done it. Against all odds, the Wild Space yokel had been thrown into the elite of Coruscant and had succeeded.
“Well?” Thrawn prompted.
“You first,” Eli said. And as his time at Royal Imperial was coming to an end, so was his time with Thrawn. It had been interesting, but he was ready to move on.