“Admiral Thrawn!” Eli called, hurrying down the corridor, datapad clutched in his hand. He might have ran to catch the admiral if he’d still been an ensign. But with his recent promotion, he was reluctant to do anything that may tarnish his new rank.
The Chiss broke off his conversation with the chief engineer. “Commander Vanto,” Thrawn greeted. “You have news?”
“I may have found how the pirates in this sector are selecting their targets.”
Thrawn nodded once, an indication to continue. The chief engineer looked slightly miffed at being interrupted, but he excused himself and returned to his duties.
“We already ruled out that they were striking at random, considering how successful they’ve been at hitting the ships and getting out before Imperial backup could be called in.” Eli spoke in a rush, hoping to present his evidence quickly enough that Thrawn could act on it. “And because the attacks are happening all over the sector, we know there’s no single spot they’re ambushing.”
“And as I recall, there was no common thread among the stolen cargo,” Thrawn added. “The freighters carried an assortment of goods, from foodstuff to a few vials of tibanna gas.”
“Funny you should mention tibanna. Lots of different cargo was stolen, yes, but I got thinking about my parents’ shipping company. Even though there’s dozens of different ships that run the supplies, the same types of ships normally deliver similar supplies. Light freighters for standard cargo, different classes for minerals - well, you get it.”
Thrawn considered that. “Most of the ships were more than standard freighters. They had extra compartments and containment units that were unusual for general trade.”
”Exactly. And that got me thinking. So on a hunch, I took a look at the refueling points and log of the attacked freighters.” Eli pulled up the cross-referenced lists on his datapad. One column displayed the ship type, another the trip itinerary of each vessel. “Eighty percent of them had deliveries or pickups on Bespin.”
“Bespin?” Thrawn looked interested as he leaned down to examine the datapad.
“It’s one of the best places to mine and process tibanna gas. It’s their main export.”
“There was no tibanna listed on any of the cargo manifests, except for the first attacked ship,” Thrawn pointed out, still reading.
“Not officially.” Eli shifted a bit uneasily. “I took the liberty of speaking to the captain we have on board. Once I showed him what I’d found, he admitted that the manifest was fake.” Thrawn gave him a sharp look, and Eli shrugged. “I guess the crews doing the deliveries have been nervous about these pirates for some time. Several of the pilots running these shipments have been altering the manifests and hiding the cargo. Tibanna gets frozen in carbonite for transport, so it’s undetectable to most scanners - they just have to hide it from the naked eye in case they get boarded. They take on other cargo in the meantime to throw potential hijackers off their scent.”
Thrawn’s gaze went back to the datapad. “So the pirates are after tibanna. And somehow the pirates still know what ships have it. Commander Vanto, what would you say to that?”
Eli considered it, but only for a moment. In this case, his gut reaction felt like the correct response. “If the freighters are successfully masking their cargo in space, then the only time the pirates would get to find out if there was tibanna being loaded would be on Bespin itself.”
“In short?”
“The pirates have someone on Bespin that tags the ship for their accomplices to hunt down later.”
Thrawn nodded in approval. “Well done, Commander Vanto. This is good work.” He tilted his head to the side. “You brought this over in quite a hurry. Is there something else?”
“Yes, sir.” Eli straightened. “According to the freighter captain, one of his subordinates is due to collect another batch of tibanna from Bespin tomorrow.”
“Then we must not linger here.” And with that, Thrawn strode towards the bridge, Eli hot on his heels. Thrawn spoke quickly into his comm for the deck crew to begin making the calculations for lightspeed. Then he glanced at Eli. “In the future, Commander Vanto, perhaps lead with the knowledge of a possible attack.”
Eli felt his face flush. “Sorry, sir. I thought it more likely that you’d agree to go after you’d heard my reasoning.”
“With or without evidence, I trust your reasoning at all times, Commander Vanto,” Thrawn said simply.
“Thank you, sir.” Eli couldn't help but smile as he felt the ship jump to hyperspace.
