The Grand Admiral had barely made a dent in viewing his new collection of art when a knock sound broke his concentration.
"Enter," Thrawn said, not bothering to mask the annoyance in his voice as he powered down the holographic display. He thought he'd have at least three hours of uninterrupted time to himself, but the Imperial Command proved this calculation wrong.
Side-stepping around Rukh, Pellaeon entered Thrawn's quarters. After a customary greeting, Pellaeon provided information regarding their capture of several Rebel ships. Pellaeon had anticipated the Grant Admiral to be pleased by this update, but was perplexed when Thrawn's expression did not change.
After a moment of silence, Thrawn pressed a number of buttons on the control panel, reigniting the display of light that had been there moments before.
"Sir?" Pellaeon asked.
"Take a look at this painting," Thrawn said, nodding at the floating image in front of them. "What do you see?" Pellaeon was not interested in another abstract art lesson from his superior, but having no other choice in the matter he complied.
"I see a wasteland with malleable clocks," Pellaeon squinted. "In front of what appears to be a body of water,"
"In a physical sense, yes," Thrawn said. "But oftentimes with art there is more than meets the eye; an underlying layer so to speak. Take this painting for example: The Persistence of Memory, beautifully crafted by a human named Salvador Dali,"
"I'm afraid I do not understand," Pellaeon confessed. "Is this a surrealistic piece of Old Republic art?"
"On the contrary," Thrawn corrected, "This painting originated on the planet Earth, located in a galaxy so far away its inhabitants are not even aware of our intergalactic war,"
"That's hard to imagine," Pellaeon remarked.
"Yes," Thrawn agreed, "But we must not digress. One of the themes presented here seems to be the suspension of time," Thrawn waited for a response from Pellaeon, but when the Officer remained silent the Grand Admiral continued. "Timelessness, to a certain extent, would be a gift. Imagine what could be accomplished if time were to stand still. What we could observe, what we could learn, how we could plan for what was to come when the clocks began ticking again," Thrawn stared at the painting, a look of longing in his eyes. "But alas, that is not how the universe works. We simply cannot drop everything and pursue our interests to our hearts desire. Time marches forward, and we must remain at a brisk pace if we are to keep up,"
Thrawn turned his red eyes on Pellaeon. "That is why I ask for time alone. Unless we are under attack, or a life-altering piece of information has surfaced, we need to graciously accept the free time we have and not squander it with updates that can wait for an official meeting,"
Pellaeon felt an urge to shift uncomfortably at his folly, but ignored it. "Yes sir,"
"Always seize the free time you have been given," Thrawn advised as he turned back to the piece of art "You never know what you will discover,"