Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, or any characters in it.
Authors Note: I little shorter chapter, but I hope since its close to when I published the last one, it will make up for it. Thanks for the Reviews, and enjoy!
"What?" Niriz shouted, jumping to his feet. Parck seemed to be stunned silent. His jaw was slightly agape, eyes wide in horror.
"A Jedi? On my ship?"
Thrawn raised an eyebrow.
"No Captain, a Jedi on my ship. If I remember correctly, the Admonitor is my flagship, and obeys my orders."
Niriz snapped into attention. "Of course sir, I just-"
"Understood Captain. Commander, your thoughts?"
Parck was just regaining his composure as Thrawn asked him.
"I trust you know what you're doing, Admiral. That's all I need."
"Thank you Commander. What about you, Captain? Do you also trust me?"
Niriz trusted him alright. That was easy. He had seen Thrawn's tactical genius too many times not to trust him. But this, this was almost too much.
Almost.
"Of course, sir. Completely."
Thrawn nodded at him, and Niriz breathed easy.
"Trust me Captain; your fears of the Jedi are unfounded. In my personal experience, they die just as easy as anybody else. Besides, this certain Jedi has a slight disadvantage."
"And that would be?"
Thrawn raised an eyebrow. "He is locked inside a box, Captain."
There was an awkward silence as all three men stared at the crate in front of them.
"Why does the Emperor want it?" Parck asked.
"The Emperor and Vader have been obsessive in killing any Jedi they find, Commander." Niriz pointed out.
"That is correct Captain, but not the reason. Palpatine wants to use Revan."
Niriz chose to ignore that Thrawn called him "Palpatine," and not "The Emperor."
"Use him for what, sir?" Parck asked.
"Something that will tear the Empire apart. And something that only we can stop."
"That's why you asked me how many people knew of the crates existence?" Parck asked, slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Exactly. The less people that know of its existence, the better. I wanted Palpatine to know of its recovery from me personally."
"If you planned on keeping it from the Emperor anyway, why did you tell him we had it?"
"Palpatine has certain ways of discovering information. Certain, unorthodox ways."
Parck nodded. Niriz could only imagine what kind of 'unorthodox ways' Thrawn was referring to, and whether or not Thrawn had experienced these ways personally.
"Yes sir."
Thrawn nodded to the door.
"Everything said in this room is confidential, gentlemen. The Admonitor will go to radio silence immediately. The rest of the fleet has been ordered into defensive positions around key systems to thwart any activity from Esva. If the crew asks any questions, tell them nothing. They will be informed of our decision in due time. Until then, keep this course. I will soon have an alternative course that we will switch to. That is all."
Niriz and Parck exchanged glances, and slowly stood up, and walked out of the room. Niriz glanced over in the corner, but couldn't see the Nohgri. He wondered where it went. As the door behind them closed, Parck pulled him aside.
"Captain, a word?"
Niriz glanced around the hall way. When he didn't notice any lingering crewman, he nodded to Parck.
"Yes Commander?"
"How long can we keep this from the crewman? How long should we?"
"I don't understand."
Parck chewed his lip, deep in thought.
"Permission to speak freely?"
"Of course."
"It was wrong for the Admiral to keep this from us. But he did it for security reasons. But we've just signed out souls away. We've betrayed the Emperor, and thus the Empire. He's sending an assassin to kill the Admiral and return this Jedi to him. Is it right that we keep all this from the crew? Don't they need to know?"
Niriz shrugged. He was a "Need to know" kind of officer, and he didn't think any of the crew needed to know.
"The crew's allegiance is to their commanding officer, who is Thrawn."
"Their allegiance is to the Empire! It's up to them to decide who the Empire is: Thrawn or Palpatine."
"Listen Voss, we are not traitors. We have not committed treason. None of us. Not you, not me, and certainly not the Admiral. Whatever he has planned, it is not leaving the Empire. You should know that more than me."
Parck straightened up.
"Yes sir."
Niriz nodded, and headed towards the bridge. As he walked towards the turbo-lift, he noticed that the crew on this deck weren't on duty, and wondered if Thrawn relieved them for the duration of their meeting. Niriz typed in the bridge to the turbo-lift, and slowly tried to regain some calm before entering the bridge. The turbo-lift door opened, and Niriz stepped out. It was crowded; too crowded. There were several high ranking officers, and what looked like two squads of Stormtroopers. As Niriz took a step towards the command chair, the Admonitor dropped out of hyperspace, well before it should have. A Stormtrooper raised his E-11, and Niriz knew it was up. The crew knew about the treason. And he was as good as dead.