Disclaimer: Everything Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm. I claim only my original characters, and those are always up for grabs if you ask nicely. I make no profit off of this drivel.
Seal My Lips
Chapter 1
"No."
Silence rippled out on the heels of the word, spreading to lap at the corners of the throne room. Thrawn forced himself to breathe normally, bracing himself for the emperor's inevitable outburst. After an eternity, the cloaked figure on the throne stirred.
"Perhaps I misheard you," he hissed, his voice brimming with menace. Thrawn noted how the emperor's hands clutched the armrests of his throne like the claws of an animal and lowered his chin, hoping that the display of deference would help to mollify him.
"Regretfully, Your Majesty, I must decline to press the attack into the Atabegan sector at the moment. The men of my attack force are too inexperienced. Without the assistance of another force—"
Thrawn cut his carefully worded speech short as the Emperor rose to his feet. His hands shook with rage as he raised them toward Thrawn.
"Traitorous alien! Insignificant worm!" Flecks of spittle flew from his lips along with the epithets. "How dare you? You would be nothing without me!" Bolts of lightning flew from his fingertips, sending Thrawn staggering back a few steps. Thrawn grit his teeth against the pain, determined not to cry out. A show of strength against the emperor's wrath could be chancy in the short term, but assuming he survived the next few minutes it made it that much more likely that the emperor would listen and trust his assessments in the future. After a few seconds that seemed to last forever, the barrage let up, and Thrawn fought to stay on his feet as his locked muscles suddenly released.
"Your Majesty, please be reasonable—"
Another bolt of lightning cut his words off, this one more intense than the last. Thrawn was driven to his knees, and as the agony went on and on, an involuntary cry finally escaped his lips.
Apparently satisfied with Thrawn's loss of composure, the Emperor ceased the flow of electricity. Thrawn deemed it wise to swallow his pride and remain on his knees. Not only would it help to placate Palpatine, but he wasn't entirely sure his legs would hold him at the moment.
"I should have known you would betray me. There is a very good reason I don't trust aliens. I thought it safe to make an exception in your case, but clearly my trust has been misplaced."
Thrawn took a breath to reply—
"Be silent!"
Thrawn swallowed his words and focused on his body language, realigning it from frustration to penitence. The emperor watched him in silence, probably hoping he would speak and planning what to do to him if he did.
"You will suffer long for this betrayal," he finally said. Thrawn fought not to show his relief that he wasn't to be executed summarily for his act of defiance—one he deemed necessary despite the risks it entailed. "Don't think I haven't noticed your pride," Palpatine continued. "I know just how to bring you low." He gestured with one hand, ripping Thrawn's rank bars off his uniform with the Force and tossing them casually to the ground. He returned to his throne, seating himself and activating the comm built into the arm of the throne.
"Bring me a slave collar at once," he ordered the aide on the other end of the line. "Make sure it is one with some sort of disobedience control."
Rage rose in Thrawn as he realized the emperor's intentions, and he forced it back with great effort. He reminded himself that this would only last a short while, until Palpatine realized that Thrawn had been right.
"And summon Senior Captain Shiro to my presence as well," Palpatine continued, waiting until the man acknowledged before terminating the call. The silence stretched out for several minutes, and Thrawn fought the urge to explain himself, suspecting that the emperor was trying to pressure him into doing just that.
"Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
Thrawn risked a glance at Palpatine's face and found it composed, if not calm. He certainly wasn't ready to trust Thrawn's judgment, but he seemed to have mastered his rage.
"I have not betrayed you, Your Majesty," he said softly.
Palpatine gave a soft snort. "Save your words for someone who believes them."
Thrawn had not really expected him to believe or understand just yet, but in a few days, when Thrawn's replacement had failed the suicide mission the emperor had originally ordered Thrawn to do, he would remember Thrawn's words. Thrawn had to trust that his assurances now would pave the way for a triumphant return.
After a few more minutes passed in tense silence, the door of the throne room opened to admit a robed aide. He bowed deeply before approaching the throne.
The emperor gestured lazily at Thrawn. "Put it on him."
The aide complied silently, and Thrawn clenched his jaw at the unpleasant, claustrophobic pressure around his throat. The aide came to the edge of the throne's dais and stopped. "The controls, Your Majesty."
The emperor levitated the controller using the Force, moving it from the aide's hand to his own. Thrawn wondered at Palpatine's surprising use of his sorcerous powers in front of others; no doubt it was a symptom of his loss of self-control.
"Do you require anything else, Your Majesty?" the aide asked, bowing again.
The emperor pondered for a few seconds. "Yes," he said slowly. "Two weeks ago I attended the debut of a young singer. Find her and summon her to my presence at once. And bring some kind of jumpsuit for this scum," he added, almost as an afterthought. "Something hideous, preferably."
"Right away, Your Majesty." The man bowed a final time and left.
.~*
Thrawn kept his eyes on the floor, listening as the emperor gave Senior Captain Shiro his orders. Palpatine had tested the collar's controls, alternately shocking and strangling him until Thrawn feared he would lose his composure. Then he had declared him unfit to wear an Imperial officer's uniform. Now he was wearing a somewhat scratchy jumpsuit in an obscene yellow-green color. He had been made to sit on the floor near the emperor's throne like a disobedient pet, forced to listen as his attack force was handed over to someone else.
He found it frustrating in the extreme being unable to do a thing as the emperor took all his careful training, all the promising men under his command, and short-sightedly jettisoned them into the heart of the nearest star. Not for the first time, he reminded himself that he had done all he could.
"You have your orders, Senior Captain Shiro. Carry them out."
The senior captain saluted crisply. "Yes, my Emperor." He executed a precise about-face and strode purposefully to the door of the throne room. Before the door could slide closed behind him, someone else entered the room.
Thrawn raised his head to study the new arrival. She was a young human woman, most likely in her mid-20s. She was wearing an understated tunic and slacks, not what someone would wear if they expected to visit the emperor. Most likely this was the singer Palpatine had summoned.
"Amarylla Terabine," announced the page from the doorway.
Thrawn looked closer. Now that he had a name, he recognized the woman's face from her debut a few weeks back. She looked very different dressed in casual clothing and with her hair down.
She approached the throne, stopping the required three meters away from the dais, and sank into a deep curtsy. She managed to make it look practiced and elegant even without a skirt.
The emperor studied her for a long moment. "You may rise."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said, straightening.
"I have summoned you here because I was greatly pleased by your performance. I wish to give you a gift, a token of my esteem." He gestured at Thrawn, and her eyes widened in surprise. "He has served me well until recently; now he will serve you in whatever capacity you desire."
She stared at Thrawn for a moment, eyes still wide, then dropped her gaze to the floor. "You are too kind to me, Your Majesty. Surely I don't deserve a gift of this magnitude."
"On the contrary, my dear. I know you to be an alien lover. Who better could I give him to?"
She froze for an instant before recovering. When she spoke, her words had an unhurried, carefully chosen cadence. "It is very considerate of you to take my preferences into account, Your Majesty."
Palpatine watched her, a small smile playing about his lips. Then he turned. "Come here, Thrawn," he commanded.
Thrawn stood and approached the throne, and the emperor placed the controller for his collar in his hand. "Give this to her."
He turned mechanically to obey, his mind racing. A thousand possible scenarios chased each other through his head…but none of them ended with his redemption and reinstatement. A bit reluctantly, he handed the small chunk of duraplast to the woman.
"You may find," Palpatine said as Thrawn stepped to the side, "that he is a bit stubborn and prideful. The collar will keep him from harming or disobeying you."
Standing next to her, Thrawn could see that the woman was nervous and upset, though she hid it fairly well. She studied the controller for a few seconds before pocketing it.
"I don't even know how to thank you, Your Majesty," she said, and Palpatine chuckled, a dry, raspy sound.
"Just don't use him too roughly; I may have need of him again someday." He waved his hand. "You are dismissed."
The singer curtsied again. "Thank you, Your Majesty." She turned and left, and Thrawn was left to follow in her wake.
A young lieutenant met them at the door. He did a double-take when he saw Thrawn but apparently knew better than to say anything. "If you'll follow me, miss?"
He led the way through the maze of passages and turbolifts in the heart of the Imperial Palace. After several minutes of walking in silence, Thrawn decided to poke the zhirva nest.
"You don't seem particularly pleased with your gift."
Amarylla gave him a sharp warning look, then covered it quickly with a sweet smile when their escort turned back to glance at them. "Why would you say such a thing?"
It sounded like an innocent question, but Thrawn understood the double meaning easily. "You've been rather preoccupied, perhaps even disinterested, since the emperor dismissed you," he replied with a shrug.
She lifted her chin. "I have been considering how best you might serve me," she said archly. "I will inform you once I have decided what I require from you."
There was nothing he could say to that, at least not in the palace with listening ears all around them. The group lapsed into a silence that lasted the rest of the way to the palace's garage.
.~*
The lieutenant courteously walked them to the door of Amarylla's apartment. She unlocked the door, gesturing for Thrawn to proceed, but paused before entering herself.
"Thank you for the ride," she said politely.
The lieutenant demurred. "Just doing my job, miss."
Thrawn listened to their conversation with half an ear as he took in the apartment. It was done in a subdued style and seemed to be neatly organized aside from odd bits of clutter here and there. He saw no artwork in the kitchen or dining room, into which the foyer opened, aside from a lamp on the high counter made of a mosaic of colored transparisteel.
He heard the door close and turned back to see Amarylla leaning against the now-closed door, eyes shut and with a look of exhaustion on her face. A moment later she pushed herself off the door, striding to the kitchen's refrigeration unit and pulling out a bottle.
"Wine?" she offered, decanting the dark liquid into a tall-stemmed goblet.
"No thank you, mistress."
She winced. "Please don't call me that."
He raised an eyebrow. "And what should I call you?"
She began to sip at her wine. "You may as well call me Ama, at least in private. I have the feeling we're going to get to know one another pretty well."
He shrugged mentally and seated himself at her table. She stood across the room, leaning against the counter and staring at her wine as if the deep blue liquid was withholding answers she needed.
"You seem a bit distressed," he ventured, reasonably confident she wouldn't be upset at him for speaking without an invitation.
She heaved a sigh and straightened to face him. "Nobody bothered to explain beforehand why the emperor wanted to see me. Needless to say, I've had a rather stressful evening."
He deliberated for a moment whether or not to speak. "If it's any consolation, I doubt the ones who brought you in knew any more than you did at the time."
She studied him. "Do I even want to know what you did to anger him?"
He grimaced slightly. "I'd rather not discuss it."
She nodded, seeming to accept that.
He watched her closely for a moment, but she remained silent. "You could order me to explain, you realize?"
She winced a bit at his bluntness. "Perhaps, but it's hardly any of my business."
He rose and stalked toward her, making a point of how much taller and stronger he was. "Do you intend to issue me any commands at all?"
"Sure," she replied. He could see signs of nervousness in her posture, but she refused to back down. "Don't kill me. Don't hurt me. Don't try to get me in trouble. Don't break my stuff." She shrugged. "I'll let you know if I think of anything else." She gave him a small, hesitant smile. "If you hadn't guessed already, I've got no use for a slave. Something I'm sure the emperor knows well," she added, her expression darkening.
Thrawn leaned on the counter, toning back the aggression in his posture. "Really? When he called you an alien lover, I had assumed…" She blushed deeply, clearly uncomfortable with his insinuation. "No?" he said, not bothering to disguise the amusement in his voice.
"Not like that," she said, embarrassed. "I was involved with the Equality Movement when I was younger. And you know the saying, Intelligence never forgets."
"So you wouldn't sleep with an alien."
He was amused to discover that her face could turn an even deeper shade of red. "That's not what I meant, either," she said, flustered. "It's just, I mean, it's not a big deal. Species, I mean." She gave up and took a deep drink from her wine, draining the cup. "Whatever. Let me show you to the guest room."
Thrawn decided he'd had enough fun at her expense this evening and followed her in silence. He reflected with dark humor that his stay here might not be too terrible after all. If nothing else, Ama was fun to tease.
.~*
Author's note: This story is completely finished. I will be posting updates periodically, leaving each chapter up to gather views for a while. If there's a lot of interest, (i.e. reviews and such asking for more), I'll post updates sooner. It's all up to you.