A Tempting Diversion
by Sofia Dragon
(beta read by E.M.D.)
Five years after Endor, and in two weeks the Imperial forces would launch a campaign that would test the stability of the New Republic. Just another stop for Sophia Grey, dimensional traveler. It was her job to make sure a certain military commander kept his spirits up while he slaughtered the New Republic's solders.
The Chiss believed in a strict policy of military defense and abhorred violence. Even Thrawn, a prominent military leader and High Imperial Commander here, felt that killing was wrong. Without some form of distraction there was a serious danger of him becoming preoccupied with the moral complexities involved in defending an evil Empire, thereby destroying one of the best works of science fiction in Sophia's home dimension. Sophia has to prevent this, or else an entire cultural movement in the twenty-fifth century would collapse.
Not too much pressure. It was the idea of changing little things, such as fixing metaphorical literature or preventing a parking ticket that would snowball through time and space to prevent horrendous events or cause great ones. Sophia's job was to give Thrawn a pre-owned book.
Easy at the face of it, but far more complicated in practice. She had to give it to him in person or else it may be delayed by nosey subordinates and security checks. Sophia had never gone on a mission that ended up being simple. Sophia was now walking through the streets on a fanatically loyal planet in a heavily loyal city, which he said a lot about the people in the city. Here, Thrawn was going to announce his return perform the proper ceremonies to take over the remnants of the Empire. Perhaps she could sneak the book onto the platform? No, too much security there. She could slip onto a transport ship afterward and…no, Thrawn wouldn't talk to her then.
Come on, Sophie! a voice in the back of her head called. This is World War Three we are dealing with here. Right, but Thrawn wouldn't give two licks about an ancient, to him, civilization that would eventually give him nothing but grief and casualties. Nor would he believe that he was a fictional character, mostly because he wasn't a fictional character in this dimension. It seemed hopeless.
Sophia turned a corner, and nearly died of shock. There was Thrawn, completely out of uniform, sitting at a small open-air café table waiting for service.