Before I begin this story in earnest, I'm sure a lot of people are wondering where a lot of these characters are coming from. Let me be clear in saying that very few of them are original characters of my own. Below, I will be including a list of all major and some minor characters and where they come from in the EU/Legends. The main characters from the movies, I'm going to assume you know well enough. Here it goes:

Mara Jade - The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (A man of Genious)
Talvon Asant/Darth Diabolis - Empire at War: Force of Corruption/Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Lucas Arts
Xaset Tarap/Darth Heluquin - Empire at War: Force of Corruption/Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Lucas Arts
Tyber Zann - Empire at War: Force of Corruption by Lucas Arts
Urai Fenn - Empire at War: Force of Corruption by Lucas Arts
Silri - Empire at War: Force of Corruption by Lucas Arts
Kyle Katarn - Dark Forces/Jedi Knight by Lucas Arts
Jan Ors - Dark Forces/Jedi Knight by Lucas Arts
Gavin Sykes - Battle for Naboo by Lucas Arts
Wade Vox - Demolition (yes, that crappy Playstation and Sega Dreamcast game) by Lucas Arts
Col Serra - Battlefront: Renegade Squadron by Lucas Arts
Qu Rahn - Dark Forces/Jedi Knight by Lucas Arts
X2 (Ferroda Grey) - Battlefront: Elite Squadrons by Lucas Arts
X1 - Battlefront: Elite Squadrons by Lucas Arts
Shara - Battlefront: Elite Squadrons by Lucas Arts
Keyan Farlander - X-wing by Lucas Arts
Clone of Jorus C'Baoth (Joruus C'Baoth) - The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (A man of Genious)
Ysanne Isard - the X-wing Graphic Novels
Trioculus - The Jedi Prince Novels
Talon Karrde - The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (A man of Genious)
Kasan Moor - Rogue Squadron 3D
Winter Retrac - The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (A man of Genious)
Nisotsa - Empire at War: Force of Corruption/Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Lucas Arts
Cariaga Cin - Empire at War: Force of Corruption/Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Lucas Arts
Galen Marek (General Starkiller) - The Force Unleashed games by Lucas Arts
Rahm Kota - The Force Unleashed games by Lucas Arts
Maris Brood - The Force Unleashed games by Lucas Arts
Ezra Bridger - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Kanan Jarus - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Hera Syndulla Jarus - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Sabine Wren - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Garazeb Orrelios - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Chopper - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Admiral Sato - Star Wars: Rebels by Disney
Ta'a Chume - The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton
Isolder - The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton
Tenenial Djo - The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton

Now, I know that a lot of these, I have taken some liberties with but I figured hey, it's a fanfic and I'm not making money so it's fine. Now some of my Characters are original such as the Naboo Royal Family from a Host from the Past. Please each of these characters above from Wookieepedia and if I made a mistake, let me know so that I can correct it. Now, for the story you've all been waiting for - the first chapter of 'To Rule an Empire'.

Coruscant - The Former Darth Vader's Retreat

Luke Skywalker finished rinsing the cleanser off his face and looked in the mirror. He saw a strong jaw, a dimpled chin, battle scars and blue eyes - all things that his wife insisted made him absolutely endearing. In those crystal-clear blue eyes he saw the earnestness, naivete and optimism that constantly made her call him 'Farmboy' with such fondness. His mind then strayed to the thoughts of his wife - Mara Jade Skywalker. Luke smiled happily as he always did when thinking about his wife and his mind began to travel back through the past. He remembered with absolute clarity the first time they had met on Tatooine when she had tried to kill him with a vibro-pike while dressed as a dancer on Jabba's Sail Barge. From there it went to when they had first spoken together on Dagobah after Yoda had opened her eyes to the truth about Palpatine and his evil. They had immediately become friends and perhaps even more, warding off the Emperor's mental attacks and facing Darth Vader and Palpatine together on the second Death Star. They had survived only because Vader turned against the Emperor and he and Luke battled him. In the end, after an effort of all three of them, Palpatine was defeated.

From that point, his mind rifled through the fast-paced life of a Colonel in the Alliance Special Forces, combating Imperials and Zann Consortium Mercenaries alike until that fateful trip to Naboo. It was there that Luke and Mara confessed there love for one another and made love to each other for the first time. It was there that Mara finally stepped firmly onto the path of a Jedi Knight and where her own training began. They celebrated their birthdays together, spending time in the former Emperor's suite. Luke grinned foolishly, remembering the countless hours wrapped in each other's arms in heated passion and love.

When the events on Naboo had concluded, they had gathered their first students, Wade Vox, Kyle Katarn, Ferroda Grey, Keyan Farlander and Luke's twin sister Leia Organa, now Leia Organa Solo, and began their training to be Jedi Knights. Suddenly, a shadow crossed over Luke's face as he remembered what happened a little over six months into the New Jedi Students' training - Darth Heluquin. Darth Heluquin was a Sith who came out of nowhere and captured both Luke and Mara, albeit in very different ways. On Mara he used a toxic dart to inject a dark side infused poison that minimized her strong feelings of love, compassion, joy and understand and strengthened the darker feelings of resentment, jealousy, lust and anger that all sentient beings possessed, essentially turning her to the dark side without even tempting her. In turn, Heluquin had used Mara to capture and torture Luke, taking everything he could away from the young Jedi - his health, his freedom, his pride and his connection to the force via a force dampening cage. Heluquin and Mara even convinced him that his family and friends were killed in a battle, making it seem as though they had taken Luke's loved ones away as well. To cap it all, Mara had made love to Heluquin as Luke watched, wrenching his heart in two. After that, Luke had slipped into darkness himself and successfully escaped, killing the Sith Lord and threatening even to kill Mara. They were both saved when their students arrived and rescued them, shielding them from the dark side and administering an antidote. It had taken a long time to recover. During that time, the Alliance had taken Coruscant, declared itself the New Republic and accept the Hapes Consortium into it. The Hapan Prince Isolder had asked Mara to marry him. Luke grinned remembering how he had taken her to the Outer Rim, away from the pressure of the Ruling Council and Military High Command and the Jedi Masters so that she could meditate and make her decision in peace - a decision between the Prince and a life of Royalty and comfort or Luke and the life of a Jedi and relative simplicity and difficulty. In the end, she had chosen Luke and, after a massive victory on and over the Outer Rim World Dathomir and an even bigger victory over the traitorous Imperial Warlord Trioculus on Coruscant, they had settled to planning their wedding and training their students.

Luke grinned at himself again, threw his shirt over his shoulder, and headed to the kitchen to grab a snack bar and water glass for his wife, knowing that Mara would want them in the middle of the night.

Mara sat in bed looking at her datapad but not reading a word of Kyle Katarn's report on Imperial activity. She had sensed her husband's nostalgia and it had brought on a contemplative mood for her too. She remembered Han and Leia's wedding before they had gone to Hapes for there honeymoon. Apparently they had gone traveling after that and wound up on Tatooine where they met some of Luke's and Leia's father's childhood friends and a journal from their grandmother Shmi Skywalker.

Mara thought of the weddings themselves. Leia's wedding had been small, with friends from Alderaan, their family, fellow Jedi and the members of the Ruling Council and High Command. In contrast, Mara's and Luke's wedding had been huge. Well, the public wedding had been huge. In private, with only Luke, Mara, the Jedi and their very closest friends and family, they had a smaller and, in Mara's mind, far more meaningful ceremony officiated by Rahm Kota. The official wedding was completely open to the public and security had been at an all time high. Every sewer system, traffic lain, maintenance shaft and street had been monitored by the Coruscant Security Forces, New Republic Intelligence and six of the best civilian security contractors in galaxy. The skies were filled with patrolling starfighters and combat airspeeders and a large New Republic Fleet, including the one of the three Executor-Class Star Dreadnaughts, the Star bird, was in orbit above to make sure that no one tried anything. It had been magnificent. Mon Mothma had officiated it herself. The reception had been quite limited in comparison, consisting of only friends, family and honored guests.

Mara smiled happily but then considered the events that occurred while she and Luke were away on their honeymoon on Naboo. Wade Vox, Keyan Farlander and Nisotsa had all been sent on a mission with Alliance Special Forces to a strange facility hidden in the tibanna glass clouds of Tallaran. There they had found one of Darth Vader's most dangerous experiments, a station and a Star Destroyer that had been used to study a artificial virus called Imperial Bioweapons Project I71A, dubbed Blackwing. On that station, they had battled horrible monsters, a Dark Jedi Master that had once served Palpatine and a Nightsister Witch who was so evil, she had been exiled from the Nightsister clan. Mara shuddered, remembering the reports - reports of the Blackwing virus bringing the dead to life. She hastily cleared her mind of the memory even though they came with a spike of pride since the Old Masters - spirits of Jedi Masters Yoda, Qui-Gan Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qu Rahn and Anikan Skywalker - had conferred upon the three Jedi students the rank of Jedi Knight with the approval and support of the Jedi Master's Rahm Kota, Galen Marek and Kanan Jarrus.

Mara also recalled the battles that had followed several months after. Ferroda Grey, the clone Jedi who was formerly known by the designation X2, had lead the battle against his clone brother X1, destroying cloning facilities that the Dark Jedi Warlord was using to create armies of soldiers, stromtroopers and Wookiee warriors and factories he was using to build Dark Trooper battle droids. Worst of all, X1 had somehow managed to clone many of the most power human force users from before and during the Clone Wars, including the Sith Lords Darth Sidious and Count Dooku. X1 had killed the Jedi Master Rahm Kota and it had taken the combined power of the New Jedi Order and the New Republic Military to finally destroy him and his clones with Ferroda delivering the killing blow in a duel against his brother. Mara sighed at the memories and even felt a lump in her throat. Rahm Kota had been a wise, kindly and powerful if slightly ill tempered, impatient and irascible Jedi Master. But he had died a hero and just as with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda before him, his armor had been found empty when he died. In the end, Ferroda had defeated his brother and the Masters had elevated him to the rank of Jedi Knight as well.

After that, some lawyers and bankers had somehow found a document left with them by Darth Vader after Luke's confrontation on Bespin. It had contained a very, VERY large sum of money and an estate on Coruscant, an estate that was very large and mostly empty. No record even indicated that Vader had used it yet he had it constructed anyway. With all this went a message stating that, should Lord Vader die, his son was to take up his legacy and defeat the Emperor and bring order to the galaxy. Luke did not need the large estate so he had turned it into the official Headquarters of the New Jedi Order, giving his students and fellow Jedi Knights and teachers quarters and renovating it to serve as an extensive training facility. To Mara, however, it was now home. The main suite had been completely renovated into a large penthouse for her and Luke and she loved it.

Mara sighed and remembered with fondness the past months. They had been peaceful and happy. Back when she had first met Luke on Dagobah, she would never have expected this life. Now, five years after the Battle of Endor and nine after the Battle of Yavin, Mara still couldn't believe it sometimes. Smiling and closed down her datapad. "Luke, get your gorgeous behind in here. I'm ready for bed."

A low chuckle came from the hallway and Mara's beloved husband appeared in the doorway, his shirt tossed over one shoulder, his chest bare and with a snack bar in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Mara smiled and said, "You take such good care of me and spoil me. I don't deserve you, you know."

Luke chuckled and set the water and snack bar beside her. "After the life you've had, Mara Jade Skywalker, peace and happiness like this is exactly what you deserve - you and our future child."

He placed a gentle hand on her slightly swollen belly and rubbed tenderly. Mara looked down at it and smiled, placing her hand on Luke's over the bump. "This has been a long and hard road, Beloved and I can't wait to see the life that we created. Do you remember what I told you during the first trimester?"

Luke chuckled. "Oh yeah and the second and I'm sure you'll tell me during the third trimester and during labor too;" and in a ridiculous imitation of Mara's voice, he said, "'Luke, I love you. You are the light of my life and the lover of my soul - but if you ever do this to me again, I'll make you suffer for as long as I have to.'"

Mara laughed and smacked him on the shoulder lightly. "And don't you forget it, Buddy cause that warning still stands."

Luke sighed in mock-sadness. "Yes, I know. My dreams of having a dozen children to spread the name of Skywalker across the galaxy are crushed."

Mara gasped and swatted him again. "Bite your tongue! If you think I'm going to go through this eleven more times, you must have been hitting spice while I wasn't look, Skywalker."

Luke chuckled and went around to his side of the bed, folding back the blanket and climbing in. Using the force, Mara shut the lights off and snuggled up to her husband, hugging his right arm since she couldn't do as she normally did, lying half on and half off his bare chest and abdomen because of her own swollen belly. Luke kept chuckling to himself and Mara asked, "What are you laughing at now, Farmboy?"

Luke chuckled more and said, "Just remembering what Han said when we told him that we were pregnant."

Mara giggled tiredly and repeated the Corellian's words. "'You had to get Mara pregnant at the same time Leia was, didn't you? Now I have nowhere to escape when I need a break from all of the craziness that comes with pregnancy!'"

Luke and Mara laughed at the memory of Leia and Mara's reply to his ill-chosen words. "Excuse me?" Leia nearly shrieked. "When YOU need a break?" growled Mara. Luke just shook his head and said, "Run, Han! Run for your life!"

Han had slowly backed away, his mouth working but without any noise coming out. Every door into and out of the living room slammed shut, leaving both of them locked in the room with the two angry woman. They both laid into Han, Leia saying, "You men have nothing to complain about, do you hear? Nothing at all! Do you have any idea what it's like to carry a child? Of course not! You're a male!"

Mara had continued, "Not only that, YOU are the ones who DO IT TO US. You should be doting on us for the entire pregnancy, not looking for breaks!"

Then, they both went into excruciating and rather unpleasant detail of human pregnancy and Luke did everything within his power to keep from laughing, knowing that if even one snort, even one smirk or even one amused thought made it through his mental shielding, they would both be on him like wamp rats on a wounded bantha. Finally, they both stopped assailing Han and just glared at him. He had been backed up until he had been forced to sit in an overstuffed reclining chair, looking white and wide eyed at the two strongest women that he knew as they laid into him. When they finally finished, Leia said, "Well what do you have to say for yourself, Mister?"

Han gulped and hazarded a guess and prayed that it was the right answer. "I am so sorry for being so insensitive and saying such a horrible thing. Why don't I make it up to you both and go work on making dinner? What sounds good?"

They both glared at him but Luke remained completely stoic lest he in-inadvertently volunteer to clean up the dishes all by himself. Leia glared for just another moment before smiling and saying, "Apology accepted. Mara, Luke, do you both like Alderaanian-style nerf casserole? Han is very good at it though it is a lot of work."

Han didn't dare complain as Luke and Mara nodded eagerly before the beautiful redhead turned on Luke and glared. "Do you have any snarky remarks, comments or thoughts, Skywalker?"

Luke took her hand and asked, "Can I get either of you wonderful ladies anything?"

Leia had thrown a smirk at her husband, who rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Luke. Han will take care of it."

"But I would like to help. Anything for the two most important women in my life during such a difficult time;" Mara had rolled her eyes but smiled while she did. "Oh brother, Luke; alright, you're off the hook. Come on and sit with us while Solo makes dinner."

Awhile later, when Luke came in carrying three empty glasses to refill them with carbonated soft drinks, Han growled, "Thanks for the help, 'Buddy'."

Luke chuckled and said, "Hey now, don't blame me. You should have known what was going to happen if you said something like that. This is Leia and Mara we're talking about."

Han snorted and said, "Still could have said or done something instead of just standing there trying not to laugh."

Luke chuckled and said, "And risk joining you in evening cooking duty? I think not, my friend. You and your big Corellian mouth brought it on yourself."

From the other room, Mara's overly cheerful voice called, "Everything okay in there, Love?"

Luke finished filling the glasses and called back, "Yup. On my way back in, Mara."

Han smirked. "She has you whipped."

Luke laughed and said, "Oh yeah - has since Endor. But that's okay because Leia's had your whipped since the first Death Star. You just weren't willing or able to admit it."

Before Han could retort, Luke had returned to the other room.

Mara and Luke were both laughing hysterically at the memory. They were still chuckling as they drifted slowly but surely off to sleep.

Coruscant - The Imperial Palace - The quarters of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo

Han sat happily whistling to himself as he scrubbed the last few dishes before putting them in the drying unit. Leia watched him fondly, sitting on the couch and humming along with the tune as she rubbed her slightly swollen abdomen. She looked down and smiled as she did, happy, content and excited to bring two new lives into the universe. Twins. She and Han were going to have two little twins. The force was strong with them - she could already tell. "Do you need anything, Honey?" Han asked, the last dish in his hand and a towel over his shoulder. Leia smiled and said, "Yes. Put that dish in the dryer and come sit with me. I need you - right now."

Han smiled and hurried to do her bidding. When he sat down, Leia carefully levered herself into his lap, placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him long and sensually. Han wrapped one arm around his wife's back and placed the other gently on her stomach, relishing the feel and taste of his Leia's lips. Slowly, Leia's hands drifted down to his shoulders and to the buttons of his shirt. One at a time, she undid them and pressed a hand against Han's warm skin. "Mmph;" he murmured. "Your hands are cold;" he said around her lips. Leia giggled and said, "I'm sorry;" as she pushed the other inside as well, allowing her cold hands to absorb the warmth of Han's body. Han chuckled and pulled her as close as he could, resting his chin on her head gently. "I love you;" he whispered. Leia smiled and pulled away. "I know."

They chuckled at their private joke and she kissed Han again, running her tongue along his lips. Han groaned and granted her entrance. Slowly, she pushed him back against the corner of the couch while she un-tucked his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. Han pulled back and looked up at her with such tenderness in his eyes. Leia smiled down and asked, "He do you so easily affect me, Han?"

Han grinned roguishly and said, "It's just my Corellian charm, Princess."

Leia's smile became seductive and she reached down for the belt at his waist and began to slowly and teasingly unbuckle it. "Oh it certainly is, you Scoundrel."

Outside the Obroa-Skai System

"My Lord, I have a report. The Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera has just dropped out of hyperspace. It would seem that this Imperial Grand Admiral was true to his word"

Darth Diabolis digested the news of his Dark Jedi Master. The Sith Lord had never had any doubt that this would be the case. The Grand Admiral was a man of tactics and strategy and there would be too much tactical and strategic gain for both of them. "Very good. Await his call and when he does, invite him aboard the Emergent in my name. I have a feeling he will wish to stay aboard his own ship but that is no reason not to at least make the invitation."

Diabolis gazed as the spear-head shape of the Imperial Star Destroyer winked into existence. Far behind him, the bridge door opened and Diabolis smiled as he sensed his apprentice and lover striding up behind him. "How goes the training of our new acolytes, Lady Silri?" asked the Dark Lord without turning to meet her. The Nightsister Witch and Sith Apprentice replied, "It is adequate, my Lord. Several excelled and will be powerful servants indeed."

Diabolis frowned. "'Adequate', you say? How do you mean 'adequate'?"

"They have passed our trials thus far. The fact that their were no fatalities as of yet causes me to wonder if they are difficult enough, my Lord."

Diabolis's handsome face broke into a chuckle. "They are, my Dear. This was only the first of many and they will only become stronger. The goal is not to kill our students but to make them powerful. If they cannot become such, then they will die."

Silri was about to reply when the Captain of the ship said, "My Lord, I apologize for the interruption but Grand Admiral Thrawn is awaiting you via holo-communications."

Diabolis nodded and went to the comms station. The blue image of a tall near-human in a white uniform with blue skin and glowing red eyes greeted him. Diabolis gave a short bow. "Greetings again, Grand Admiral Thrawn. I look forward to our meeting in person."

The Grand Admiral bowed low and replied, "It is an honor, Darth Diabolis. Allow me to invite you aboard my command ship the Chimaera where we can discuss our plans and perhaps demonstrate to one another how we may benefit from this partnership."

Darth Diabolis inclined his head and said, "I would be honored, Grand Admiral Thrawn. I will come only with my apprentice, of course."

The Grand Admiral offered a small smile. "You may bring whomever you wish, My Lord. I look forward to the honor of your presence."

"And I, the honor of yours, Grand Admiral;" replied Diabolis with a bow. The comms unit deactivated. "Captain, have a shuttle prepared. We will go over immediately. Come, my Dear. Let us meet our new ally."

Captain Gillad Pellaeon watched the ugly though obviously advanced shuttle cut space from the Kelbade-Class Cruiser towards his own Star Destroyer. He was decidedly uneasy about having a Dark Lord of the Sith, or anyone who claimed to be for that matter, on board and wondered what the Grand Admiral was thinking about doing so. "Attention on the bridge!" shouted a nervous, young voice. Pellaeon snapped to attention and turned. Down the long catwalk, in measured strides strode Grand Admiral Thrawn. Pellaeon saluted and reported, "Admiral, Sir - our guests are on their way."

The Grand Admiral nodded and stepped to the viewport beside Pellaeon. "As you were;" he said in a calm voice that all could hear. As the crewers returned to their work, Thrawn murmured to Pellaeon, "I take it that you do not approve have having our new allies aboard, Captain."

Pellaeon was used to the Admiral's seeming omniscience and replied, "I do wonder at the wisdom, Admiral. If this Sith Lord is anything like Darth Vader, we could be in grave danger."

To his surprise, Thrawn chuckled. "This Sith Lord is nothing like Darth Vader, Captain. Come, let us greet our guests. Have a detachment of Stormtroopers meet us in the hanger to welcome Darth Diabolis and his Apprentice."

Diabolis and Silri stood at the bottom of the shuttle ramp and waited as a dozen of the Empires vaunted, white-armored Stormtroopers strode towards them, escorting two tall figures. One was the blue skinned being in white and the other was a tall man with grey hair and mustache. Diabolis could tell that the latter was a veteran of wars and battles that spanned decades. The former, however, was harder to read. Carefully, he reached out with the force only to find the highly disciplined mind of a brilliant military leader and strategist. As they approached, the being in white said, "It is an honor to meet you in person, My Lord. Allow me to introduce myself and my captain in person. I am Grand Admiral Thrawn and this is Captain Gillad Pellaeon and welcome aboard the Chimaera."

Diabolis bowed and said, "It is an honor, Admiral. I am Darth Diabolis, Dark Lord of the Sith and this is my Apprentice and Shadow Hand, Lady Silri. We thank you for your gracious welcome and eagerly await these discussions."

The Admiral smiled and motioned towards the hanger doors. "Please follow me. Our Stormtroopers will provide an honor guard and they will take us to my personal meditation chamber. There, we may discuss our arrangement without being disturbed."

The meditation chamber contained two semi-circles of repeater displays, one slightly higher than the other, in front of a ship's captain's chair. There were three other chairs set as well - one beside the captain's chair and two in front of them. Suddenly, Silri hissed and Diabolis looked at her, one dark brow rising. In the corner was a Noghri warrior, watching them through large, dark eyes. The Nightsister did not like them. Diabolis placed a hand on the small of her back and ushered her to a seat. The Grand Admiral courteously said, "Please sit. In your honor, allow me to display something for you."

The room darkened suddenly and dozens upon dozens of works of art appeared. Diabolis recognized all of them. Some were ancient Jedi workings and some ancient Sith. There were also holos of a few Nightsister works as well. Diabolis nodded in approval. "This is quite impressive, Admiral. Many of these came from the Jedi Temples on Coruscant from four thousand years ago and some from the ancient Sith even before that. These I recognize from Dathomir as well."

Thrawn nodded and went from one piece to another, admiring them. "Unfortunately, they are mostly holos only. I am particularly fond of these pieces here - they are from the Tython Jedi temple during the Great Galactic War just before the fleets of the Infinite Empire arrived. See the flows and subtly curved lines - magnificent. They are quite a contrast to these over here;" and the Grand Admiral strode over to another set of holographic works. "They are hard, straight and there is little to nothing subtle about them. Do you know what I read in these exquisite pieces of art, My Lord?"

Diabolis shook his head and the Grand Admiral continued, "Two very different philosophies of course. To the Jedi, the force is an ally, called upon at need. It is the source of life and flows through everything on currents. The Sith believe that the force is a servant, a weapon one wields to attain and maintain power. It is even written in the runes and glyphs of this artwork."

The Dark Lord nodded and stood, going from piece to piece himself until he and the Grand Admiral were side by side. "I do not wish to be rude or insulting but how is this useful to us, Grand Admiral Thrawn."

The blue skinned man smiled and said, "I will show you in a demonstration I have prepared for us. In about five minutes, a New Republic Assault force will drop out of hyperspace from the Obroa-Skay system."

All three of the rooms other occupants started slightly, though Diabolis recovered quickly and said, "I see. What will this be a demonstration of, Admiral?"

"The utmost importance of truly knowing one's enemy AND one's ally. Come, let us head to the bridge. Captain, set alert to red and have our sentry ships on full alert. Send crews to their TIE Fighters and send full power to deflector shields."

When they reached the bridge, they had but a moment to wait for four assault frigates and a pair of Marauder-Class Corvettes to drop out of hyperspace. With them were three squadrons of X-Wing Starfighter and a Squadron of Y-Wing Bombers. The Captain looked at his Admiral anxiously, "Sir?"

Grand Admiral Thrawn stood, his confidence emanating throughout the bridge and even effected those who were crewing the ship. Diabolis cleared his throat and said, "If you wish, Admiral, I can summon my flag ship to our aid."

"There is no need, My Lord. I would be much obliged, in fact, if you send your ship further away, making it clear that it will not be a part of this engagement. Captain, have three of our sentry ships engage but be ready to recall them. Now, we watch;"

They all watched as a the holographic representations of the sentry ships and the enemy approached one another. Suddenly, one of the blue dots representing a sentry ship winked out and Thrawn nodded matter-of-factly. "Good. Recall the sentry ships to there previous positions."

Pellaeon desperately wanted to suggest sending for reinforcements or at lest allowing the Sith Lord to summon his Cruiser but he held his tongue, knowing that he would incur the Grand Admiral's extreme displeasure to do so in front of their guests. "Helmsman, I went a twenty degree port yaw rotation. Bring us flat to the enemy's vector with our superstructure pointing at them. As soon as they are within the perimeter, the sector four sentry line is to reform behind them and jam all transmissions."

The Lieutenant, seeming to understand just as Pellaeon did, obeyed the Grand Admiral's command. Silri turned to her master and was surprised to great interest on his face and little more. "What are you doing, if I may ask, Grand Admiral?"

The Grand Admiral turned and smiled, "I do not mean any disrespect when I say that you may not fully recognize the strategies I use do to your age and stasis. Please, observe and if you have questions, remember them and inquire at the conclusion of the engagement."

Diabolis nodded and they continued to observe. The Star Destroyer turned as per orders and they all watched. After the turn was complete, the Grand Admiral said, "That's fine, Helmsman. Drop docking bay deflector shields and send all power to boost the others. TIE Fighter squadrons launch when ready. Head directly away from the Chimera for two kilometers. Then sweep around in open cluster formations - backfire speed zone attack pattern."

After receiving the acknowledgements, Thrawn turned to his captain. "Do you understand now, Captain?"

Pellaeon, not at all surprised that his commander had recognized his confusion, pursed his lips. "I'm afraid not. I see that the reason you turned the ship was to give our fighters cover to launch. The rest is nothing but a classic Marg Sabl closing maneuver. They're not going to fall for anything that simple."

Thrawn gave a cold smile. "On the contrary, Captain. Not only will they fall for it, they will be utterly destroyed by it."

The TIE's launched away from the Chimera, following the ordered vector. To Pellaeon's surprise, the enemy ships changed vectors to engage. "What in the Empire are they doing?"

Thrawn could have been laughing. "They're trying the only defense they know against a Marg Sabl - that is to say, the only defense that they are psychologically capable of attempting."

With what could have been a smirk, the Grand Admiral pointed to the enemy ships, "You see, gentlemen and Lady, there is an Elom commanding that attack force and the Elomin simply cannot handle the unstructured pattern of a perfectly executed Marg Sabl."

Blatant awe shone from Diabolis's yellow eyes as he watched. "You were able to determine that from that simple engagement of the sentry ships. Remarkable."

Silri looked at her master in mild surprise. He had never shown such awe for any other being - well, any other being save her but that was different of course. Thrawn looked at them all, his captain and his guests. "Learn about art, My Lord, Captain. If you learn about a specie's art, you learn about that species. Helm, bring us to flag speed. Prepare to join the attack."

An hour later it was all over and Thrawn turned to Darth Diabolis and said, "Join me in my private dining room, My Lord and let us discuss this partnership over dinner. No doubt you have many questions."

Diabolis bowed and nodded, a new level of respect in his manner. "It would be my pleasure, Grand Admiral Thrawn. There is much that I would ask you."

Here it is - finally! I had to brush up on my Thrawn trilogy for it and am working my way through the books again so that I can alter them just enough to make them fit in this alternate universe. I hope you enjoyed. Oh and there will be no smut in this fic. Sorry.

Updated 12.04.2017