Thrawn had just exited the dwelling, a feeling of uncertainty eating at him. He should not have admitted what he did to Lady Luxsolaria, for a myriad of reasons. It was dangerous knowledge. Even if she already knew that Palpatine was Force-senstive, did she know he was a Sith Lord? Did she even know what a Sith Lord was? While the Emperor had obviously shown some of his cards to her early in her life as an Imperial, it was not the same knowing the entire hand.
As he walked into the sunshine of the courtyard, he fought with a slight niggle of jealousy over that. The Emperor had, indeed, dealt with her much more gently than he had Thrawn. And perhaps only once, at that. The Chiss Grand Admiral brought his hand to his throat absently as he recalled Emperor Palpatine's display of his Sith powers on him. The power of the Force. A power that Thrawn did not understand. That did not sit well with him.
It seemed, as he walked away from her, that there was some sort of pull in his gut, like a cord was connecting them. He did not tend to share secrets. Sharing of secrets bound people together in an uncomfortably intimate way. He had enough military secrets that bound him to other officers. He had deep secrets, whether he wanted them shared or not, with the Emperor. And while what he had told Lady Luxsolaria was not exactly a secret, it had the flavor of one.
Suddenly a loud explosion sounded, the force of the shock wave sending him careening to the ground. He felt the heat from the detonation on the left side of his body and face. His ears popped and the world went silent. Getting to his hands and knees, he saw that speeder had exploded. "Get the fire out!" He knew he had spoken, he felt his throat rumble, but he could hear nothing.
No sooner had his mind registered that, than another eruption of metal and fire ramblasted up farther down the courtyard. He dropped to his belly again as bits of shrapnel rained down from above, stinging his exposed skin. He gingerly raised his head and shoulders to see another speeder had burst into flame, spreading fire to anything flammable that was nearby.
Sound was slowly beginning to come back to him, in a low rumble of yelling voices. He felt emotion drain from him, his mind tamping it down, replacing it with battle readiness. Logic took over, being brought out by the chaos that needed to be returned to order.
Scanning the area, he noted the two speeders, both close to him or in a path he would take to get to the exit. Fire was erupting around the courtyard where flaming shrapnel had fallen. The entrance to the courtyard was unguarded. Several stormtroopers were on the ground, not moving and several others were caught under fallen debris. Most of the troops were unharmed.
"Block the entrance!" he ordered, standing up and dusting off his pants. They were covered in the burnt sienna dust that covered the mountainous terrain. It would take several washings to get it out.
Three stormtroopers ran to the open entrance of the courtyard, effectively blocking everyone in. That was when the first zing from a blaster whizzed through the air. It barely missed his torso. An assassination attempt, he surmised calmly, while he made for the cover of a stack of crates near the entrance that were not yet on fire.
His eyes surveyed the area where the laser had come from, seeing no one immediately, but knowing at least one assailant was there. Indeed, a green Twi'lek poked her head out and shot at him before ducking back behind her cover.
His eyes caught an odd movement to the left and when he moved them to it instinctively, he saw Lady Luxsolaria running out of the house and toward a stormtrooper that had his arm caught under a crate. For some reason, he was surprised that she moved with such alacrity and purpose, though he knew he shouldn't be. She had been a soldier once herself and would know the battlefield well.
He turned his attention to his assailant once more as two stormtroopers joined him behind the crates. "Sir," said one of them, the tick of the metallic voice piece distinct with the quickness of his words, "there are three Twi'lek over there." He motioned to where the green skinned woman had shot from.
"I want them taken alive," Thrawn said. The predatory thrill of the fight followed by imminent victory filled him so that he squinted toward the shots. "I want captives who can talk."
"Yes, sir!" both stormtroopers said in unison.
He shot at the woman as she poked her head out again, barely missing her and hitting the crate instead. No matter, he could now correct the shot when next she emerged. And he did, hitting her directly in the head with the stun. She fell to the side, half of her body now sticking out from behind the cover. One of her companions dragged her back, the two stormtroopers behind him missing her as they fired. They were at an odd angle, making it difficult to cut past the corner of the crate.
"Cover me," he ordered.
As the stormtroopers plastered the area with suppressive fire, Thrawn came out from behind his crate and fired at the crates across the courtyard with his blaster at full power. The shots chipped away at the corner, sending debris flying. A purple skinned Twi'lek fired at him, then ducked back behind cover just as Thrawn's shot whizzed past where his head had been only a moment before.
A stormtrooper was making his way over to where Thrawn was, crouched with his rifle against his chest as he ran, but was hit by a bolt just as he arrived. Thrawn left him where he was, not willing to risk himself or the other two stormtroopers to drag the soldier to them.
Thrawn felt more than saw Viita run into the courtyard and duck behind another stack with a stormtrooper. Viita yelled, "We need them alive!" He glanced the other man's way, thinking, Of course we do. I am glad we are in agreement. He said nothing, however, and only nodded slightly and lifted his gun to show that he had already thought of such measures.
Turning back to his quarry, he readied his shot for when one of the Twi'lek dissidents showed their head or shoulder again. A yellow one came out, but instead of firing at Thrawn, he fired at Lady Luxsolaria, who was dragging a bleeding soldier across the courtyard toward the house's front door. Luxsolaria saw the shot. Her head swiveled to the right as her eyes followed the path had followed, but barely missed her shoulder. Her eyes went wide and she doubled down on her dragging.
Thrawn felt a flare of indignant anger lick at his chest. It wasn't rational or expected. Part of him was surprised it was there at all. The errant thought that she was not to be fired upon floated somewhere in his brain, unanchored as it bounced around, almost like an echo in his head, until the anger ate it up.
Viita's panicked shouting hit his ears, instructing that his sister get back in the house. She made no move to do so, just continued her dragging. "Suppressive fire, full power," he ordered the two stormtroopers with him. Both troopers peppered the corner of the crate across the yard with lasers, the bits of crate flying this way and that as they chipped away at it. Thrawn raised his hand to indicate they stop, then fired as soon as the yellow Twi'lek emerged. A second shot took out the purple one.
He stood up, a sneer on his face, the anger still having a hold of him. Lady Luxsolaria and the wounded soldier she was dragging were no longer in the courtyard. He heard Viita somewhere behind him shouting incoherently. The grand admiral walked across the courtyard, back straight, toward his opponents' position. When he reached it, his thumb bumped the blaster he held back onto full power. As he approached, He looked over all three now unconscious Twi'lek. His red eyes landed on the yellow one, his color superimposed over his heat signature in Thrawn's vision.
He aimed his blaster at the Twi'lek's head and fired.
