Chapter Four

After a just day's experience, Captian Parck came to a simple conclusion: the
Imperitor was a dream. The battleship was superior in every way to the
standard Imperial design. A fleet of vessels like these could pacify the
sectors of the Unknown Regions in no time at all. A smug smile creased his
face as he silently invited the Yuuzhan Vong to throw their worst at them.

On exiting hyperspace near one of their shipyards, Parck left his first officer,
Commander Veenir, in command and reported to the Grand Admiral in his private
chambers. It was a precise duplicate of his chambers in the Admonitor, with
his holographic artwork downloaded along with the other information from the
flagship.

"Ah, Captain," Thrawn spoke as his chair swiveled around. "How do you find
our new flagship?"

"More than satisfactory, sir. The shipyard is ready for your inspection."

"Very good. I have meanwhile composed a list of new regulations in light of
these new developments with the Yuuzhan Vong." He picked up a datapad.
"I want the sensors on our bases and sentienal ships to scan for organic matter
as well as metal and electromagnetic radiation. Also they are to be on alert
for gravitational anomolies. I have several outlines for new TIE fighter training
simulations based on information of the Vong fighters as well."

"Base security will also be tightenned. No one will be permitted to enter or
leave an Imperial base or vessel without proper clearence, no matter the
circumstances. I will not have a repeat of the events that left the Admonitor
crippled."

"From Lt. Tevock's debriefing, sir, I gather the Yuuzhan Vong wont be able
to pass as human under close examination, even if those masker-things let
them take the places of our crewers." Parck put in.

"Precisely. Now our first order of business is to destroy the fleet being built
at Sevac III." He indicated one of the monitors, displaying a chart of the
little known system and the hyperspace lanes that led into it. "Sang Anor has
access to Coerl's information sources, so we will have to be cautious not to
alert him of our plans."

"We can muster ships at these points," three lights appeared onscreen,
representing three worlds in Zoab sector under Imperial control that boardered
Coerl's territory, "and rendevous at the edge of the Sevac system. A quick but
effective first strike should be enough to end that threat." More charts
appeared on the monitors.

"After that the real challenge will begin. We can assume the Vong worldship is
in Coerl's territory, but that still leaves a lot of space. We are lucky in
that I was planning on moving against him soon anyway. I will simply have to
rethink my list of likely targets to include planets the Yuuzhan Vong will find
valuable." A screen showed the planned invasion route that would take the fleet
to Orune Prime, Coerl's seat of power.

"I'll begin implementing these changes immediatly, Sir." Parck began, then saw
The comm on Thrawn's armrest begin blinking. Thrawn glanced down.

"Moff Niriz's private comm frequency." He said and switched it on.

"Shall I leave, Admiral?"

"No, I don't think so." Thrawn stood and walked to the holopad in front of the
command chair and a blue-tinted hologram of Moff Niriz appeared before him.

"Admiral, we have a problem." Niriz spoke quickly in clipped tones that Parck
only heard from his former commander when he was worried.

"I'm listening."

"Approximatly five hours ago there was an outbreak on Arkenue, one of our
strongest bases. Some kind of plague. Since then I've heard reports of plague
on three other worlds we control, all in the Zoab sector."

"How bad could it be?" Thrawn's eyes narrowed. "If the first case was only
five hours ago?"

"Thousands are infected, sir, and hundreds are dead already with numbers
mounting every minute. The diseases seem to affect humans and Chiss worst,
but none of the other races that have come in contact with it seems immune.
And the ways they die, sir, they're not pretty."

"This is impossible." Parck murmured to himself. Just seconds ago
everything had been under control. How could this be happening?

"There's rioting in the streets, sir, and I've had to declare martial law on the
infected planets, but the troopers I've sent down are themselves terrified of
being infected."

"Quarenteen the planets," Thrawn ordered. "and arrange for medical teams to
be sent down. I want to be informed of all their progress and findings."

"It's being done as we speak."

"Good. And try and keep this news from becoming public knowledge." The
Imperials must, at all costs, maintain an image of unassailable strength.

"Too late for that, sir. That's another problem I wanted to alert you to. For
an hour now all Warlord Coerl's ships and bases have been broadcasting broad-
band communications to everyone who cares to listen, in Zoab sector and
outside it. Another one's just starting."

"Give me the frequency." Thrawn ordered. The Moff complied and Thrawn
quickly accessed the signal. It was being broadcast in several languages
including the Chiss dialects. Thrawn selected Basic and seconds later the broad
face of Warlord Coerl filled one of the screens.

The brilliant general who, nearly twenty years prior, had staged the bloody coup
that had made him the ruler of Orone Prime and from there made himself The
most powerful Warlord in Zoab sector was still a striking figure. His
varicolored scales shined to perfection and his fighting crest up and flaring.

His uniform was likewise impressive, though it didn't completely disguise the
results of a few decades' soft living. For all his posturing, Coerl was
happiest sitting back in his luxurious and well-shielded bunker and 'commanding' from a distance.

"Peoples of the Unknown Regions," the droid-dubbed voice speaking Basic
was out of sync with Coerl's mouth-movements, "my fellow warlords, traders,
and common citizens. I have uncovered a heinious secret. A conspiricy that
threatens all of us."

"The Imperials that have been among us for a number of years now are not what
they claim. They are renegades and refugees, seeking to escape the certain
death that prowels their own regions of the Galaxy, and putting us at risk of
that death in the process. They serve no Emperor, their Empire no longer even exists!"

"Insanity." Niriz murmured. Parck had to agree. Had Coerl lost his mind?

"Plague runs through the so-called 'civilized' sectors of the galaxy. Diseases
a thousand times worse than the dreaded Death Seed of ancient times. 'Grand
Admiral' Thrawn is no more than a petty warlord himself. He saw the collapse
of his civilization and fled like the coward he truly is, taking a handful of
ships and soldiers and leaving his Empire to fragment in anarchy!"

"These charlatans have deceived thousands of young and impressionable Chiss
with their trickery and conned the planets and peoples of eight sectors into
serving them. They are not joining a vast Empire, these are only lies to keep
us awed and afraid, to keep you as slaves to Thrawn!"

Parck was fuming. How dare that fool spew such blatent lies! He glanced over
at Thrawn and saw, to his surprise, that the Admiral did not seem nearly as
affronted. His eyes glowed brightly as he watched the posturing Warlord.

"Artisticly done." He said under his breath.

"But this lying Chiss was mistaken in believing he had escaped the plagues.
He and his Imperials have brought the diseases with them. Brought them to
us!" The Warlord's face was grim, his large, ribbed ears twitched and flapped.
"Plagues infest the worlds they have conned into serving them, and the young
and foolish Chiss who enlisted to serve this false Empire are dying as well."

The image shifted to a gloomy fortress-camp in a mountain range. The image
jerked and wobbled as the hand holding the recording device shook. There
were lookout towers where guards were stationed. Stormtroopers patroled the
grounds and energy shields crackled in the air, closing in the captives.

"This is just one of the hundreds of death camps hidden on Orrso, Thrawn's
capital world. Thousands of infected beings are forced into them to hide the
pestilence." Coerl's voice from the background while the scene moved in to
show the occupants of the camps.

"That isn't Orrso!" Niriz bit out.

"Of course not." Thrawn said coldly. "This was doubtless staged on one of
Coerl's worlds. Xan probably, the arcitecture of that camp is Xanian, though
an old style. Probably an abandoned prison camp from the Dres wars 200 years
ago."

Gaunt figures milled around without direction outside the buildings. Humans
dressed in tatters and covered in sores. Chiss with the red light fading in
their eyes dropped to their knees in supplication to beings only they could see.
Aliens were there as well, though not nearly as many as the humans and Chiss,
and they're races were all but unrecognizable.

A Chiss seemed to go wild then, he ran at the force fields and rebounded in
arcs of electricity. The blue-skinned alien bounded up and ran back at the
field until a stormtrooper sent a stun blast his way.

"These camps exist on every world the Imperials hold sway over, and worse
yet, Thrawn has begun using the diseases that worry at his own troops against
us! Seeding our worlds with plague to make them easier to conquer. I call on
every power in the Unknown Regions to unite against this common threat! For
the worlds Thrawn has conquered to rebel and throw off the Imperial yoke! To
fight against the true enemy, Thrawn, the would-be ruler of a thousand
poisoned planets!" The signal cut off.

********************************************
"Sit down." Kei Rascer ordered as soon as the recording device, another
filthy machine-thing, was shut off. In response to his chief minder's command,
Coerl's face instantly lost all the passion that had animated it seconds before.
Seeming almost to deflate, the most powerful warlord in Zoab sector shuffled
over to a chair and sat down, resembling what he truly was: a puppet.

Kei Rascer glanced down at her charge. The man's scales and tall crest easily
concealed the Obeyers he had been inplanted with, and his spirit had by now
been completely and effectivly broken after his earliest attempts at defiance
had been punished. He would do as he was told. "Take that thing away." She told
two of the other minders: Vong in human ooglith masquers wearing the uniforms of
Coerl's personal guard. They wheeled the recorder out of the room. She shrugged
slightly in the ridiculously scanty and clinging concubine's garments she wore over
her own human masquer.

If any of his Coerl's underlings thought to wonder at their leader's new taste
In concubines and bodyguards, exclusively human, and his desire for utter
seclusion, none of them dared question the Warlord.

Right now, Kei Rascer thought, the brain inside that beaten shell was regretting
the unquestioning obedience he had demanded of his people, and the fact that
he'd never been seen in public without being surrounded by bodyguards and with a
pretty female on his arm.

"Feed him." She said to another minder, like the rest he was in a human ooglith
masquer and bodybuard's uniform "And give him a treat for his fine
performance." She grinned down at the slave as she walked past his chair and patted
him on the head. If the Obeyer's had allowed it, Coerl would doubtless have flinched
away from her touch. A far cry from the lustfull leers that had creased his face when
he had first seen her two years ago.

But then, he had since seen what was under her second skin. She had subdued
and implanted the Warlord on their first night together, with the guards just
outside the sleeping chambers never suspecting, and most of his breaking had been at her hands.

Leaving the other minders, she went to her chambers to report to the Executor.

*********************************************
"What was that?" Niriz clenched a fist. "I'll have my people examine that so-
called evidence. It has to have been faked!"

"The footage was real." Thrawn spoke at last. "In that the recording itself
was not doctored. The humans and Chiss we saw were most likely Yuuzhan Vong
in diguise, as were their 'stormtrooper' guards. The aliens were doubtless
prisoners taken from the star-lanes and subjected to experiments over the last
few years."

"Yuuzhan Vong?" The Moff raised an eyebrow. "They are behind this?"

"I had expected something like this." Thrawn said. "But not so soon.
Obviously Sang Anor had set up a contingency plan in case my assassination
failed, and loosing plagues throughout the galaxy has always been something
he's had in the works. I have underestimated the Executor. It is a mistake I
will not repeat." The Admiral's voice was grim.

"But what can we do?" Parck asked.

"Implement all the changes in protocol I drew up, for one. Quarenteen planets
where plague has broken out and have our medical teams get to work on finding
a solution. Imperial garrisons are to remain in their bases unless ordered
otherwise and no infected Imperial will be permitted onboard a ship."

"The fleet is to be put on alert, there are sure to be riots in some of our
worlds after enough of this propaganda gets out. Not to mention attacks by Coerl's
forces and other local powers." Thrawn turned to face them both.

"I don't expect the entire Unknown Regions to turn on us at once: the Warlords
are a suspicious lot. They will be afraid of committing to a large offensive
and so leaving their own worlds undefended, at least until they've decided these
plagues aren't just an elaborate trick on Coerl's part."

"Of course, Sir." Said Niriz. "But that will tie up most of our military
resources and throw our organization into chaos, at least for a time. It will be
impossibleto muster the ships and men needed for a large-scale attack on Coerl's territory."

"Exactly what Sang Anor wants." Thrawn's eyes pulsed. "Our enemy is cunning,
but his overconfidence is his weakness. He has won this round but eventually
he will overreach himself and make a mistake, of that I've no doubt. The
question is whether or not we shall survive until that time comes."

Thrawn sat back in his command chair. "But I have no intention of allowing the
operation of Sevac III to continue. I will put together a small but effective
strike force that will see to it that the Executor gets no help from that quarter."

********************************************
Vergere put the Hit'n Fade on an automated course through hyperspace and
sat back in the bridge command chair to think.

"Hungry?" Oin asked. "He had a plate of foodstuffs Vergere didn't recognize
and a glass of some beverage. "The larders of this ship are well-stocked,
but I've no taste for the stuff. Nesz food tastes more...real, than this."

Vergere had to agree, she too preferred the simpler fare of the 'primitive'
races to starship rations. "Where do we go from here?" Oin asked.

"We have to get rid of this strike cruiser for starters." Vergere said firmly

"It is powerful and well-armed." Oin pointed out.

"It will get us into trouble." Vergere ammended. "No one notices traders
in a beat-up frieghter, and if they do they assume we have nothing worth
stealing. A battleship though, no port will let us just slip in and out with no
questions asked. We will be seen as a threat, and we don't have the crew to
operate this thing. Our best bet is to sell it as soon as possible." She
sipped the beverage. "Now, we-"

Vergere jerked ridged in midsentence. Her violet eyes bulged and stared at
something only she could see. "Vergere?" Oin asked quickly. "What is it?"

But the Jedi did not hear him. Her mind wasn't on the cruiser's bridge, the
shock had driven her conciousness out of her flesh.

People were dying.

She felt it, heard their cries echo through the Force. Reflexivly, she pulled
Her robes around her to protect her from the psychic chill and slipped from her
Chair to fall to the floor.

Death was spreading like a dark stain on cloth. Not easy deaths, or quiet.
Beings were dying in pain and fear. Many of them. And it was not quick. She
quickly realized it was not the deaths themselves she was feeling, but the
suffering beforehand. And she knew who was responsible: the creatures of the
Yuuzhan Vong might not exist in the Force, but their actions registered there sure enough.

Sang Anor had begun a massacre.

The Force swirled around her, with myriad paths stretching off into the
distance, except she knew that the 'distance' was the future, and all the paths were bloody.

"What can I do? How can I stop this?" She spoke without a voice, with her
mind alone, and was slightly surprised when a familiar figure took form in the
waves of energy around her. Someone she hadn't seen in so long..."Master."
She whispered to Thracia.

"All the ways lead through danger and death, child, but only one ends with
hope." The shade pointed to one of the hardest paths. "Follow where it leads,
and stand true when the time comes. Jedi."

Vergere peered through the mists and tried to see where the paths would take
her, increasingly aware of hands shaking her and a voice yelling in her ear.

"Wake up!" Oin bellowed at the senseless Jedi. "Vergere!" He breathed a
sigh of relief as her violet eyes blinked.

"I need to get to the navicomputer." She struggled to her feet. "We have to
change course."

"Where are we going." Oin asked. He half-knew the answer, but he needed
her to say it.

"To your planet, Oin." Vergere shuddered. "It's the only place we can go."