The Bridge
The Chimaera
In orbit around Kuat
1 day later
"Sir, the hyperdrive will be back online in 90 minutes."
"Very good, Captain Pellaeon," Admiral Thrawn responded coolly. "As soon as the hyperdrive is operational, set course for Imperial Center."
Pellaeon opened his mouth as if to protest, shut it, then nodded meekly, "Yes, Admiral."
"Admiral?"
The blue skinned Chiss turned to face the lieutenant who was approaching rapidly.
"Yes?"
"Sir, we have a priority signal, source location unknown, with the following codes."
Thrawn reached out to take the holopad, stared at it for a long moment, then lifted his head to stare out at space through the front window of the bridge. The Kuat shipyards were, as usual, a buzzing mass of ships and machinery, all focused on increasing the might and efficiency of the Imperial Navy.
"Very well, I'll take the transmission in my private chambers," he said, and strode briskly off the bridge.
/
Darth Vader's Palace
Imperial City
Imperial Center
Emperor Sheev Palpatine irritably leaned back in the temporary throne which graced his former apprentice's main audience chamber.
He had known, of course, that the former Anakin Skywalker was rather an ascetic except for battle droids and his collection of Jedi lightsabers, but this, this was pathetic.
He glanced around wearily. Black, black, and more black. He liked black, of course. It was very Sithly. But here in Vader's palace he had expected at least a splash of color, perhaps a moss painting from Alderaan, perhaps a ... something from Tatooine?
No, Vader wouldn't have wanted art from Tatooine. He loathed that planet. And Tatooine was not known for its art anyway.
With a sigh, the former senator of Naboo shook his aged head. Vader had been a powerful and accomplished apprentice, but he had the cultural sense of a monga snake.
Thrawn, at least, was eminently sophisticated. Palpatine reminded himself for the fifth time not to kill the Chiss when he arrived for his discipline. Bacta could do a great deal, but if Sidious really unleashed his full ire on the alien over the loss of the Death Star and Vader's escape, Thrawn would die. And now, more than ever, he needed the Chiss's brilliance.
There was a soft, melodic chime, and Palpatine irritably gestured to the giant holoscreen which hung nearby.
Ysanne Isard appeared, looking more nervous than usual.
"Yes?" Sidious hissed.
"We have received intelligence from Siskeen, my master," she stated carefully. "A holo of the woman whom Darth Vader met in his pursuit of the leader of Dalam Enterprises."
"And?" the Emperor demanded impatiently
"My master, the woman matches the holo of a woman thought dead long ago ..."
The image changed to show the woman in question.
For a long moment, the breath froze in Palpatine's lungs.
Isard continued, "Perhaps she merely resembles ..."
Palpatine cut her off.
"Amidala!" he snarled with incredulous fury.
/
Outside the Emperor's Palace
Imperial City
Imperial Center
"Sir?
Engineer Kroft glanced up distractedly from the blueprints he was perusing on his holopad.
"Yes?"
He devoutly hoped this wasn't going to be a long question from his underling because he was incredibly busy right now. The damage to the Emperor's palace was extensive and sections of it had sustained metallurgical damage due to transient high temperatures. It was a fascinating problem to consider what needed to be replaced, what could merely be repurposed or shored up ...
"Sir, look over there!"
Kroft turned his gaze in the appropriate direction and gasped in astonishment, and yes, satisfaction.
Weird blue lightning was coursing around the top of Darth Vader's castle and even as he watched, a section broke loose and fell many stories to the ground below.
He smiled to himself. Job security.
/-
Thrawn's private chambers
The Chimaera
Kuat
Thrawn took an unusually deep breath, made his face a calm mask, and activated the holoscreen.
The image which formed nearly instantly was not a two meter, heavy breathing cyborg. Instead, he regarded with astonishment the face and form of a beautiful woman, with dark hair piled high, brown eyes gleaming with curiosity and intelligence.
"Admiral Thrawn?"
"Lord Vader?" he replied sarcastically.
The woman chuckled softly, "My apologies, Admiral Thrawn. Anakin gave me his codes, of course."
The Chiss stiffened, "Anakin?"
"Anakin Skywalker, who is now the man you know as Darth Vader," the woman continued calmly, "Anakin tells me that you met during the Clone Wars during the battle in the Thrugii Asteroid belt."
Thrawn's mind whirled. Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader? It made a weird kind of sense, but ...
"And you are?" he inquired politely.
The woman tilted her head, "You might know me as Padme Dalam, the head of Dalam Enterprises?"
Again, Thrawn was startled. This woman was the head of Dalam?
"I have heard of Dalam Enterprises, certainly," Thrawn said cautiously.
"And I am indeed its leader," Dalam responded firmly. "We've had some dealings with the Chiss Ascendancy, as I presume you are aware."
"Yes."
Her gaze sharpened now, "Admiral Thrawn, Anakin - Lord Vader - speaks very highly of your brilliance, and the Rebel Alliance is equally impressed. I would like to propose a partnership with you."
Thrawn's black eyebrows rose incredulously, "You suggest I rebel against the Emperor?"
"Absolutely," Padme Dalam returned swiftly. "Thrawn, I don't pretend to know a great deal about you, but I have made it my business to study the Chiss culture because of my work in the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions. Palpatine openly favors humans over non-humans, and thus his decision to promote you to Grand Admiral is a testament both to your brilliance and, I am assuming, your knowledge of the Unknown Regions. Adding in the frequent orders from the Ascendancy for long range sensors, and I propose that there is something out there that concerns you. Something or someone."
Thrawn stared at her for a long moment before replying, "You are – I believe the Basic phrase is 'fishing', are you not?"
"For information?" Dalam inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Certainly. As you fish for information about me. But there is little time, Mitth'raw'nuruodo. You must choose before you depart for Imperial Center. Or to put it more directly, if you go to Imperial Center, any alliance between us is no longer an option."
"And you think I am going to Imperial Center because ...?"
The beautiful face darkened now, "I assure you, Admiral, that if there is one thing Anakin knows well, it is Palpatine's penchant for painfully punishing his underlings for failure. Ordinarily, the destruction of the Death Star would have been laid at Anakin's door, but since he is out of reach ..."
"Is he?" Thrawn interrupted.
The woman moved the holoproj slightly with her hand, to show the glowering form of Darth Vader looming a short distance away.
"Anakin, would you care to provide the Admiral with some details of his likely punishment at Palpatine's hands?"
The cyborg hesitated, then growled, "Suffice it to say that Force Lightning is always supremely painful, often permanently debilitating, sometimes fatal. If you have not experienced such discipline, my suggestion would be that you avoid it."
The holo swung back to Padme Dalam in time for Thrawn to say, stiffly, "A warrior has no fear of pain."
Dalam openly rolled her eyes at this, "Admiral, that's the first stupid thing you've said. A sensible sentient does fear pain, but has the moral strength and courage to do what is right regardless of possible pain. That is not the situation here. You know as well as I do that Sheev Palpatine, while brilliant and extremely powerful, is supremely selfish and egotistical. If your purpose in allying with the Empire is to protect your people, I can respect that. But I promise you that if you continue to work for Palpatine, your people will be in greater danger, not less."
"If you destroy the Emperor ..." Thrawn began.
Dalam interrupted, "Not if, Thrawn, when. Palpatine's days are numbered. If you join with us, the number will be smaller but he will fall, I promise you that."
The Chiss eyes narrowed. On one hand, this seemed the blathering of a mad woman, but Thrawn had studied sentients of many species and he was reluctantly impressed with this Dalam person.
"You don't need to make a decision this minute," Dalam continued smoothly. "And indeed I recommend you read the files I am sending you now before you make a decision. But you have only two hours. If you don't decide to join us by that deadline, your de facto answer is no."
"Files?" the Admiral asked cautiously.
"Yes, I have many contacts and I believe we have the ways and means to upgrade your sensor arrays on your homeworld of Csilli, thus increasing the protection for your people from threats from the Far Unknown Regions. If you work with us, of course. If you don't, I will do my best to cut the flow of trade to the Chiss Ascendency. We are either your enemy or your ally, there is no middle ground."
Thrawn forced himself to relax his body, to allow his brain to process. This woman was truly a gifted orator and most compelling, but ...
"You truly expect me to believe, Dalam, that the Sith Lord Darth Vader, destroyer of the Jedi, can work with the Rebel Alliance? They are mortal enemies. That is one partnership that is doomed to failure."
The woman gazed directly into his eyes across the many unknown parsecs.
"Admiral Thrawn, I was a Senator of the old Republic, and many of the leaders of the Alliance are my friends and colleagues. They trust me, and I in turn trust Anakin."
"Why?" Thrawn demanded bluntly.
The woman gazed at him intently, "Because I married him over 23 years ago, and I am confident of his loyalty to me and our union."
As Thrawn goggled over this statement, she continued calmly, "I'll contact you in two hours, Admiral Thrawn."
"Wait," Thrawn said quickly.
"Yes?"
"You realize, of course, that I could curry favor from the Emperor by revealing all that you have told me."
"Limited favor, Thrawn," Dalam returned drily. "I have word from Siskeen, where Anakin found me, that holos of me have been retrieved by Imperial agents. I am sure Sheev Palpatine is already aware of my tiresome survival when he thought me dead long ago. What he probably does not know is that I was aboard the shuttle with Lord Vader, the shuttle you failed to capture or destroy. You were unsuccessful in not only capturing Vader, but the wife who was the catalyst for his rebellion against the Emperor. Not one of your more successful days, Admiral Thrawn. Dalam out."
/-
Padme's quarters
The Liberty
In space 4 parsecs from Quindar
"Well, that went well," Padme said with satisfaction, turning away from the holotransmitter.
"Did it?" Luke asked in a puzzled tone. He had been carefully hidden behind a movable screen to avoid possibly being caught on holo, but he had listened intently.
"Yes," Padme said confidently, "Not that it is 'in the bag', so to speak, but I estimate we have a 60% chance he'll join us."
"As high as that, Mother?" Leia asked. She too, had been cowering behind a screen, though her fascination with the conversation had proven a challenge to her self control. She knew a great deal about politics and persuasion, but listening to her biological mother was truly inspiring.
Padme nodded firmly, "He might die if he goes back to Imperial Center and suffers Palpatine's anger, and he knows it. We have spies there who say Palpatine has damaged both his own palace and your father's in major Force tantrums the last couple of days. And the trade numbers don't lie. I've sent information about our recent shipments to the Ascendancy showing that if Dalam Enterprises pull out, the Chiss in general, and the Ascendency in particular, will suffer."
Luke nodded abstractly as his com went off.
"Yes?"
There was muttering at the other end and Luke lifted a puzzled glance to his mother.
"Mother, the pilot of a ship called the Millennium Falcon just came out of hyperspace with codes from you."
"Excellent," Padme said with a smile, "Please tell Rebel High Command to let him land and then would you please both escort him here, along with any guests?"
"Padme?" Vader inquired suspiciously, "What are you up to?"
"You'll see, Ani."
/-
Docking Bay #7
The Liberty
"This way," Solo said to the aliens following him. The individuals in question were obviously nervous, but that was no surprise given their planet of origin.
The Corellian marched down the ramp with his companions and halted in some surprise. Waiting at the bottom were two youngsters, each approximately 20 years of age. The youth was blond and wiry. The girl was dark haired, tiny, and gorgeous.
Solo made a sketchy bow toward the woman and smiled, "Captain Han Solo, at your service ..."
"Princess Leia Organa," the girl replied, a rather disdainful look on her face. That wasn't the usual response he got from young women, but whatever.
"And I'm Luke Dalam," the young man returned. "My mother, Padme Dalam, asked me to escort you and your guests to her chambers."
"Well, let's be on our way, then," Solo said with a cocky grin toward the princess. "Come on."
/-
Thrawn's office
The Chimaera
Admiral Thrawn finished reading the last file sent by Padme Dalam, leaned back, closed his eyes, and began waggling his ears. The Chiss Admiral had learned to make human gestures to better fit in with the largely human Imperial military. But in the privacy of his own chambers, he permitted himself the luxury of ear waggling. It soothed him and, he believed, helped him think better.
Padme Dalam's information was quite startling. The woman obviously had tremendous resources at her disposal, and far more information about the needs of the Chiss than he had thought known outside of the Ascendency itself.
And, if she was to be believed, she had Darth Vader firmly on her side in this Galactic Civil War.
He sat up slightly with a nod, his decision made.
"Captain Pellaeon," he said after pushing his com button.
"Yes, sir?"
"We will not be departing for Imperial Center as previously planned. Stand by for further instructions."
"Yes, sir."
The captain's voice held a hint of relief, which was no surprise. It was all too likely that Palpatine would carry out his fury on not just his admiral, but the captain of the Chimaera as well.
Well, the die had been thrown and he had made his choice. Whether this decision would lead to victory or defeat was not yet known, but given Palpatine's uncertain temper and all other considerations, this was the best plan.
/
Padme's quarters
The Liberty
In space 4 parsecs from Quindar
The door to Padme's quarters slid open and Luke and Leia stepped in, followed by Captain Solo, two tall, thin aliens, and finally a gigantic Wookiee.
"Captain Solo," Padme said, surging forward with a smile, "Many thanks for providing passage to our friends from Kamino."
She turned now to the Kaminoan in the lead, a tall male, "Kama Chu, it is my honor to finally meet you in person."
The male bowed his head in respect, and spoke quietly, "Madam Dalam, it is my honor as well. It is rare, as you know, for the people of my world to leave their home planet, but your request was most urgent. Kamino is grateful for your trade provisions during the challenging times of the last years, especially the medical assistance during the Kurati epidemic."
Padme nodded regally and turned to his companion, a tall female, "Sheko Ta? I welcome you."
The female Kaminoan nodded but did not speak.
"Padme, what is the purpose of summoning these individuals here?" Vader asked with suspicion.
She turned to him now with a sad smile, "I asked Kama Chu and Sheko Ta here to analyze whether we can improve your health, Anakin."
He stared at her for a long moment, then actually took a step back, "Nothing can be done, Padme. You should have consulted me before wasting the time of these ..."
"Your suit, it is for life support?" asked the female, Sheko Ta.
"Yes, he was very badly burned more than 19 years ago," Padme said briskly, "but it seems impossible to me that something cannot be done for him ..."
"Padme," Vader said again, clear discomfort in his voice.
She turned to him, swiftly, her eyes suddenly filled with tears, "Anakin, do you think I don't know the burden of the suit, the pain you are in nearly constantly? I didn't consult you because I know you believe nothing can be done, but the Kaminoans are brilliant cloners. They know how to regenerate tissue. Perhaps you can be at least partially healed."
"There is no doubt something can be done," Kama Chu, the male, stated firmly.
He walked carefully around Vader's form holding a handheld instrument in his hand.
"Indeed, I am confident much can be done," he continued in a professional tone, "Sheko?"
The female nodded gravely and also started circling around the uneasy Sith.
"Luke, Leia," Padme said with a smile, "perhaps you can take Solo and Chewbacca for some food and a drink? I think Ani and I will be busy with our new friends here for quite some time."
Luke's eyes were wide, but he nodded and turned obediently.
"Come on, guys."
Author Note: My husband and I did something amazing! We went to see the Solo movie IN THE THEATER. Gasp. Anyway, we liked it! It was much more lighthearted than The Last Jedi and any plot holes were lost in the general bonhomie of the movie. And the big tentacle space monster? Just cool. Yep.