Thirty-Six

Chiss Expansionary Defense Force warship Tempest

17 ATC

The latest round of discussion was in full swing, so the bulk of the Chiss soldiers were positioned around the conference room. Thaera managed to make her way all the way to the Aristocra's quarters, located on the opposite side of the ship from where the Imperials were staying, without encountering anyone at all.

That was good, because she was wearing her black Intelligence uniform, and it would have been difficult to explain what she was doing in that area. She had worn it for a reason, however. She had to make the proper impression.

Thaera sliced the lock, opened the door, and stepped inside the Aristocra's cabin, closing and relocking the door behind her. It was a much larger room than the one she was staying in. The furniture was sparse, but elegant in the distinctive Chiss minimalist style. A small viewport on one wall gave a view of deep space.

A table with two chairs was set up against one wall. Thaera sat down in the chair facing the door and waited.

The negotiations were not going well. Verani, for all her famed prowess as a diplomat, was failing to make any sort of headway. Although Thaera had not said so, she was not surprised. Mitth'elen'invari had led the anti-Imperial faction within the Ascendancy government for years. Her staunch isolationist views had never wavered. Now that the Empire was starting to falter in the war against the Republic, it was inevitable that she would find enough support to attempt to break all ties.

As she sat and waited for the Aristocra to return from the talks, Thaera wondered why she bothered. She surely had no more hope of success than Verani. The Ascendancy's alliance with the Empire seemed destined to come to an end.

But she was going to try anyway. She had to.

She was reluctant to admit it, but she was glad that she would soon be returning to Dromund Kaas. The way the other Chiss looked at her and at the Imperial uniform she wore… To those loyal soldiers, she was a traitor to their species.

Even after a decade in the Empire, even knowing that she had left of her own accord, she couldn't entirely disagree with that.

Thaera waited, trying to keep her thoughts on the moment. It was some time before the door opened and the Aristocra walked in, alone.

She spotted Thaera immediately, and she froze in place, her eyes going wide. For a moment, Thaera thought she might call for the guards, but instead she keyed the door shut and walked forward slowly until she was less than two meters away.

Ten years had passed since Thaera had last seen her. Mitth'elen'invari, core name Theleni, had grown no softer with age. Indeed, the lines on her face had deepened, and her hair was starting to turn gray, a rare phenomenon among Chiss. Surprise was an odd expression on her face, which seemed made to show only sternness and disdain.

"I don't believe it," Theleni said softly in Cheunh. "It's really you. Mitth'aer'akuesa."

Thaera stiffened at the sound of her full name. "Can I even still be called that?" she asked, lapsing effortlessly into the Cheunh dialect unique to the upper echelons of the Eighth Ruling Family. "I thought you would have disowned me by now, Mother."

"I thought about it," Theleni admitted. "But I couldn't. You are still my daughter, even if you did desert our house for the Empire." Her lip curled on the last word. "I notice you're in uniform."

"I didn't want you to get the wrong idea and think I was coming back to the Ascendancy."

"Ah, I see." Theleni strode forward and seated herself in the chair across from Thaera. "You're here on behalf of the Imperials, then. To convince me to see 'reason,' as it were."

"Yes." Thaera's hands balled into fists in her lap almost of their own accord. "That's why I'm here."

"You're wasting your time. You and that Verani woman both. It's a shame, really—for a human, she is almost enjoyable to debate with. But in the end, there is nothing to debate."

"I had a feeling you would say that."

Theleni raised an eyebrow. "What, no argument? No attempt to convince me that cooperating with the Empire is more beneficial than harmful?"

"I've changed," Thaera said quietly.

"I suppose it's plain enough to see. I barely recognized you."

"It's been ten years. What did you expect?"

Theleni looked away. "To be honest, I don't know."

"You never expected to see me again," Thaera stated, calm and matter-of-fact. Her initial tension was fading. She had changed, and her mother hadn't. She could handle this.

Theleni turned to meet her eyes again. "No, I didn't. Once I saw that that woman from Imperial Intelligence had gotten through to you, I knew there was nothing I could say or do that would convince you to stay." She sighed. "I should have tried harder."

"Don't act like this was your fault," Thaera said sharply. "I chose this."

"Yes, and look at where it's gotten you!" Theleni snapped. "I heard what happened to Imperial Intelligence. You were lucky you weren't killed by the very people you swore to serve. All those years of complaining that you had no freedom to choose your own path in the Ascendancy, and you signed your life over to those who are within their rights to end it on a whim. Can you really sit there and honestly tell me that it's better? That you're happy?"

"Happiness is no longer a factor. I do what I have to."

"Have to?" Theleni repeated, crimson eyes going wide with outrage. "You don't owe them anything. You never have. You're a Chiss. You belong here, not serving an Empire that hates and fears you."

"You don't understand."

"Clearly."

There was a long silence.

"When I first saw you," Theleni said softly, "I thought you might be here to kill me."

Thaera frowned. "What?"

"I know how the Empire operates. Eliminate all opposition. And I certainly qualify."

"Mother…" Thaera started, although she had no idea what she was going to say.

"It would have been a brilliant ploy, I must admit. Send my own daughter to assassinate me."

"Mother," Thaera said again, feeling no more certain of her words. "Did you really think that I would—that I could—"

Theleni stared her down. "I don't know. You said it yourself: you've changed. For all I knew, it was your idea."

Unease whispered down Thaera's spine. "How could you possibly think that?" she demanded, trying to burn away the uneasy feelings with anger. "I'm still me. I'm still a Chiss. Family is everything to me. I came here to talkto you, nothing more."

"I couldn't help but be suspicious," Theleni said grimly. "I may not like the Empire, but I would be a fool to ignore everything that happens in it. I know more than you think."

"Really." Thaera tried to remain calm, to pretend that she didn't know what was coming. Lying to herself, however, had never been something she was very good at.

"I know, for instance, that you are the head of Sith Intelligence."

She hadn't been expecting that. "That's classified information."

"Officially, perhaps, but almost everyone in your organization knows who you are, 'Seeker.'" Theleni said the word in Basic, the frown lines on her face intensifying as she spoke. "And some of them can be persuaded to talk. But that's not your only title."

No. "You don't want to do this, Mother."

"Do what? Ask how my daughter managed to become associated with an individual who, as I understand it, was one of the most feared Sith in recent history? How my daughter is said to have cooperated with this Sith to carry out an attack that cost thousands of innocent people their lives?"

Thaera's hands clenched tighter in her lap. "You don't understand."

"It seems clear enough to me." Theleni shook her head. "You don't deny it. I had hoped you would. Not the answer I wanted."

Thaera's hands started to tremble. "I had to."

"You had to be an accomplice in mass murder. Of course." Theleni's lip curled. "So this is what the Empire has made you. I suppose Darth Jadus gave an order, and you felt obligated to follow it, no matter what."

"I didn't want to," Thaera whispered.

Theleni arched an eyebrow. "Is that how you justify it to yourself? I'm sure most of the victims were only human, but that's still a war crime by any civilized definition of—"

Thaera's self-control shattered.

She was on her feet with no memory of rising, her hands slamming down on the tabletop. Theleni jerked backwards in her chair, fear rising on her face.

"I didn't want to do it," Thaera said, half-choking on the words. "I would have died before I gave up the command codes. I would never have—I never—" She gasped in a breath. "Jadus made me do it. The darkness was inside my head, and I couldn't—I couldn't fight him." She closed her eyes. "I couldn't stop myself from killing them."

She leaned heavily against the table. It was so hard to stay upright when the darkness was weighing her down. It receded a little each day since Jadus had vanished from the known galaxy, but it would never be gone. It was still there in the back of her mind. Waiting. She would never be free of it.

Never.

A soft touch on her shoulder broke through the fog of despair. Thaera opened her eyes to see her mother standing beside her.

"Thaera," Theleni said, "I apologize. I had no idea—"

"I don't need pity," Thaera interrupted. "And you shouldn't apologize."

"Very well," Theleni said stiffly, removing her hand from Thaera's shoulder. "If that's what you want."

She lowered her hand to her side, and Thaera noticed it was trembling. Looking upwards, she noted the set of her jaw, the tight line of her mouth, and realized that she was shaking with rage.

"What I do not understand," Theleni said slowly, "is why, after everything that's happened to you, you still came here to convince me to support the Empire."

Thaera swallowed hard, pushing herself away from the table to stand upright. "Because you have to."

"I have to? After what you've told me, I'm more convinced than ever that the Ascendancy needs to stay as far away from the Empire as possible. Our people's history has had its dark moments, but the Sith are monstrous."

"They are," Thaera agreed. "And that's precisely why we have to stay allied with them."

Theleni put her hands on her hips. "Explain."

"The Sith are just a fraction of the Empire. A powerful, dangerous fraction, but still only a small piece. Most of the Imperial citizens are just people. Ordinary people, not so different from us, except for the fact that they live under the perpetual durasteel fist of the Sith."

"And?"

"And they need us, Mother. They've never known anything other than the Empire. They need the Ascendancy to show them that a society can be great without the Sith. A society as advanced and orderly as their own, but where the people don't have to live in fear. We're the only ones who can show them that."

Theleni frowned, clearly thinking hard. "I will have to consider this."

"That's all I ask." Thaera started towards the door. "I should be getting back."

"I suppose…I will see you later, then." Theleni moved back over to her chair and sat down, turning her back.

"I suppose so," Thaera said, and left.