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counter it?” he asked.
     
    “We first let him think his plan is working,” Thrawn said. “That means sending the line of juggernauts in as he expects.” His eyes glittered. “But before he can launch his attack, we destroy the trap.”
     
    “Allow me to guess,” Nyama growled. “Squadron Commander Fel and his oh-so expert TIE pilots fly in through the gaps between the umbrella shields and blast the hidden guns.”
     
    “You scoff, but it’s actually quite possible,” Fel said. “The shields don’t overlap nearly as well as they should. There are numerous gaps between them, including at least one along one of the steepest parts of the main city hill that’s big enough to fly through if we come in at just the right angle. Once we’re in and below the level of the shields,  everything but the palace and palace grounds should be wide open to us.”
     
    “That assumes your pilots are able to insert at the necessary angle,” Nyama countered. “In the heat and flurry of battle, such precision would be impossible.”
     
    Fel shrugged. “Impossible is Gray Squadron’s specialty.”
     
    “And what of the laser cannons spread throughout the city?” Nyama persisted. “We gave them those cannons, Commander Fel, years before Nuso Esva’s intrusion into this region. Each cannon is twin-barreled, with rapid-fire capabilities and enough power to take out one of your vaunted TIE fighters with a single shot. /And/ they have massive forward shield
    plates, which makes them nearly impossible to destroy along their own fire-lines.”
     
    “But they have only manual targeting,” Thrawn reminded them. “And the very shields that protect them also make them heavy and unwieldy. Even Nuso Esva’s most expert gunners will have trouble with TIE attack speeds.”
     
    “Unless the TIE is coming straight at them, as is the case with Commander Fel’s scenario,” Nyama said acidly. “No, Admiral Thrawn. Trust me: your TIE fighters will be useless in this battle.”
     
    “Perhaps,” Thrawn said. “We shall see.”
     
    “We shall see?” Nyama echoed. “Tell me, Admiral: if the /Admonitor’s/turbolasers are incapable of penetrating the shields, your TIEs certainly won’t be able to do so. What then will you have them do? Destroy the homes of the Workers and Soldiers that lie outside the  shield zone?”
     
    “We do not make war on civilians, Liaison Nyama,” Thrawn said, his voice suddenly cold and brittle. “A fact you well know.”
     
    For a second Nyama’s antagonism seemed to waver. Then, his natural Stromma leadership attitude reasserted itself. “Then what /will/ they do?” he demanded.
     
    “As Commander Fel has already stated, there are gaps between the shields,” Thrawn said. “While the juggernauts move into the city, the TIEs will be shooting through those gaps with the goal of demolishing one or more of the shield generators.”
     
    “Generators that are protected by the very shields they create?” Nyama scoffed. “You can’t hit the generators unless you’re already beneath the shields.”
     
    “Unless it happens that a gap between two shields opens up a targeting vector to a third,” Thrawn pointed out. “I admit the probability is low, but as Commander Fel pointed out, the coverage is not as good as it would have been if Nuso Esva had had more shields available. And if such an attack succeeds, the TIEs will be in position to take full advantage of the situation. But no, the downfall of Nuso Esva’s plan will not be our TIE fighters, but our stormtroopers.”
     
    “Your /stormtroopers?”/
     
    Across the table, Balkin stirred at the implied slight against his forces. Thrawn’s hand twitched a warning, and the other subsided.
     
    “Nuso Esva will have instructed the Queen to array the bulk of her Soldiers along Setting Sun Avenue to prevent a sortie from the juggernauts,” the admiral said. “We’ll therefore send a small stormtrooper force into the city southwest