Treason (Star Wars: Thrawn #3)

by Timothy Zahn

He looked at Thrawn. “Can you imagine what the twenty-two I’ve saved would add to the Chimaera’s defenses? Or the Firedrake’s, or the new Star Dreadnought class Lord Vader’s been pushing for? What could you do with the weapons and matériel—with the sheer number of credits—that are going into Stardust? The TIE Defenders, certainly; but how many other vital projects have been scrapped to feed Krennic’s insatiable appetite?” “So you steal from Stardust in order to equip other ships?” Thrawn asked. “I steal from Stardust so that not everything Krennic has poured money into goes up in smoke and flame or scrap metal,” Savit said. “I want something from Stardust to end up being useful to the navy.” “So ultimately you did this out of loyalty to the Empire,” Thrawn said. “Is that how you see this?” Ronan demanded. “No. What he did was treason, pure and simple.” “Treason, yes,” Thrawn said. “But hardly simple. Tell me, Admiral: What would you do if I offered you a chance to redeem yourself?” Savit studied him. That blue face and those red eyes were hard to read, but he seemed sincere. “Explain.”