Hello again! I bet some of you didn't expect to see another chapter of this story. Although it took certainly
too long to write, here it finally is, chapter 5! I am proud that I really got it done in the end. Let's just
hope the next one doesn't take that long…
To those of you who took the time to write me:
Thank you ever so much!!!
You certainly were a wonderful support. If there hadn't been your mails I really might have considered
letting this story die – but not anymore, rest assure of that!
And – of course – I would like to thank my wonderful Beta for giving all this support and useful advice.
As always, you're the best!!! ;-}
Now I don't want to keep you from reading the chapter any longer.
You know the trick: If you're done please consider writing a review. Like many writers I like to know what you think.
"AFTERMATH"
From: caius julius
Chapter 5: Return to Duty
Slowly, but deliberately, he made his first steps out of the hospital. It was just past midnight
and the medics had strongly suggested he stayed in bed just another night but that was not what
he had in mind - losing another day while Zaarin was wreaking havoc somewhere out there.
It would have cost him valuable time. Time, he certainly didn't have.
Another cause for leaving at this hour was that the bridge was not fully occupied. It was the night shift after all.
Not even Parck would be there.
The Grey Wolf's current destination was Harvas, a small world not far from Zaarin's newly won territory.
That was to be their base for the coming weeks. Harvas seemed totally unimportant and could well
be described as a backwater world. Thus, no-one would look for his task force there.
Or so he hoped.
It seemed he was alone on this part of the deck since no-one passed his way.
All that could be heard was the quiet humming of the Grey Wolf's engines.
As he entered the turbolift he wondered only briefly how the bridge crew would react to his sudden appearance.
But knowing them well from his past missions he knew he could count on them.
Anyway, he would soon see for himself.
He entered the keys for the bridge and the turbolift began to move.
Tomorrow they would arrive at Harvas, the rest of their fleet two day later. Until then, he had enough time
to plan his first move in a mission that would lead to Zaarin's destruction, eventually. To be honest he already
knew the rough outline of that particular plan. The key was Zaarin's main weakness - and that was undoubtedly
the former Grand Admiral's faible for technology. If he could find something as the perfect bait,
he could set up the perfect trap. Although he had to set the stage first.
Well, he had arranged a few additional surprises when they arrived at Harvas.
The Grey Wolf wouldn't have to wait for its task force to begin with the raid.
He allowed himself a slight smile. It sounded quite easy but that was exactly the danger of so called 'easy' plans.
If one didn't look closely into every detail one was bound to overlook some vital information. Finding Zaarin's
weakness was one thing - turning it into victory was something entirely different.
Having Lord Vader breathing down his neck didn't make the task any easier.
Every small mistake could be his last.
Finally, the turbolift arrived at the bridge. He straightened his shoulders and entered.
The ensign who stood guard at the bridge's entrance was obviously surprised by his commander's sudden appearance
but he recovered quickly.
"Admiral on the bridge!" he shouted and immediately the quiet buzz of low voices stopped and everyone snapped into
parade attention.
Nodding towards the ensign, Thrawn slowly walked along the aisle.
He didn't miss the look most crewers gave him - a mixture of pride, loyalty and confidence.
Confidence in his ability to thwart Zaarin.
At that sight he felt more at ease than ever before during the last weeks. His hopes had proven to be true.
This crew was ready to follow him to hell and back again.
If anything, his capture by Zaarin had only increased their loyalty towards him.
At the bridge's end Commander Jovis was waiting for Thrawn. When the admiral had arrived at his side, he gave a sharp salute.
"Good to have you with us again, Sir."
"Thank you, Commander." Thrawn replied.
"Captain Parck told me you have been a most reliable help during my absence. I expected no less from you.
We will need more of it in the near future."
Jovis seemed more than pleased with this praise.
"Now it is my turn to thank you, Admiral. I only fulfilled my duties as First Officer."
Thrawn held up a hand.
"Don't belittle yourself, Commander. Sometimes, doing one's duty is a very difficult thing to do. Especially in times like these."
He looked out of the huge windows at the stars that rapidly passed by. Only now did he notice how he had missed that view.
He closed his eyes and suddenly became aware of a most peculiar sensation. As if he hadn't really expected to see that
view again. During the long nights on Zaarin's ship he had often tried to distract his thoughts with trivial things.
This view out of the bridge windows was one of those things.
Sighing deeply, he opened his eyes again. His wounds may have healed but inside he was still hurting.
And there was nothing he could do about this.
But he was glad. Glad to feel this pain, glad to feel anything at all.
Because he knew he would not have been able to hold on in that hell of Zaarin's any longer.
***
When Captain Parck entered the bridge the next morning he was only slightly surprised to see Thrawn at the command centre.
He knew his friend well enough to expect him to flee the hospital as soon as possible.
Parck himself didn't like wasting his time there, either.
"Good morning, Admiral," he said. "I trust you had an interesting night?"
Thrawn cocked an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't call it interesting, Captain. We are still in Hyperspace, after all."
Parck grinned.
"Well, whatever. How long until we reach Harvas?"
"Two hours, Sir." a young officer at his right answered. "We will be there as scheduled."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." the Captain replied.
"Now," Parck turned to Thrawn. "I take it you want to stick to our plan then?"
Thrawn nodded.
"Yes. I have no doubt Zaarin guesses of the Emperor's intention to have me withdrawn from this task force if
I can not counter him. His hatred for me is only beaten by his thirst for power and control. He knows he has a much greater chance
of winning when I am no longer in command. He knows me well, Captain. I can still trick him but it would be a lot easier if
he believed someone else was leading this strike force."
Parck frowned. "Are you telling me you are going to give up?" he asked unbelievingly.
Thrawn gave a small sigh.
"Of course not, Captain. I just wanted to hint at the fact that we might want to take an advantage out of this situation.
Zaarin probably knows Lord Vader is keeping a close eye on our progress. What he doesn't know is that our dear
Sith Lord only does so grudgingly and would rather see me staying in command.
So what if I made a... 'mistake' and Vader had to relieve me of my command? Wouldn't Zaarin rejoice?
Whoever the new commander would be, the traitor would most probably behave carelessly."
Understanding dawned on Parck's face and he began to nod.
"You want him to believe someone else is leading the Grey Wolf. And you want to use Lord Vader's trust in you to accomplish this."
He raised his brows.
"What does the Dark Lord say to this? I didn't know you had contacted him."
Thrawn smiled strangely.
"He hasn't disagreed. Simply because of the fact that I haven't explained the matter to him, yet."
Now Parck looked at him with an even bigger frown but Thrawn raised a hand.
"Don't worry, Captain. I will do so as soon as we arrive at our destination. To be honest, this particular thought only occurred
to me this very night so there was simply no time to tell Vader earlier."
Again, Parck nodded, but a lot more uncertain than before.
He hoped his commander knew what he was doing. The Dark Lord was certainly no tool one could play with as one liked.
"Still," he said at last. "What exactly do you want to gain from this scheme? I see that Zaarin might act differently
if he really is convinced someone else is in command. Surely you must have planned more than your fake replacement."
Thrawn gave him a small smile.
"Very good, Captain. Yes, as a matter of fact I have. If I am right Zaarin will become more careless. That is exactly what we need now.
Due to my absence the traitor has had enough time to win a considerable part of this region. He becomes stronger every day
and even now several smaller worlds think about joining his forces. If we don't act now, more will follow suit shortly.
We need more time and above all we need to make a point here. If we can show that Zaarin is not the Emperor-in-the-making
he wants himself to be, we have to battle him - and win."
He sighed.
"I will be perfectly honest with you, Captain. This campaign will probably be very draining and exhausting but we made him retreat
before. We just have to prove we are still able to do so. And this is where my plan comes in. It is the first step in the right
direction, so to speak.
"Like I said, you were perfectly right. My 'replacement' is only part of it. We will use it to fool Zaarin.
Unfortunately it will only succeed once. But that will be sufficient.
We have much bigger chances of winning this war if we focus on many small goals instead of one big one.
So the first one is showing that the Empire is still the ruling party in this galaxy.
Even - or better - especially here, near the Unknown Regions."
Now Parck began to understand. Thrawn might not have told him his entire plan, yet. He had no doubts the Admiral would do so
at the proper time, though.
In less than two hours they would drop out of Hyperspace and soon after that the Grey Wolf and its task force would make sure
that the traitor Zaarin was on the run again.
TBC...
Yes, I still intend to finish this story although it took me rather long to write this chapter.
Now to the Roll of Honour:
Prince Luke Skywalker: Thank you very much! That really pleases me.
Steven: Well, you see, I did write it eventually. Now perhaps if you were able to write another chapter, too?
You know, you have a tendency to start really promising stories BUT you don't finish them! Grrr!
Vanessa: Hey! nice to hear (read?) from you again! To your question: I believe it is some sort of virtue
of the Chiss, although I don't know for sure. Anyway, it wouldn't fir for Thrawn to lose his temper
or let himself be ruled by his emotions.
Siana: Well, I guess you really needed patience if you are still with me. Sorry!