They were in Hyperspace for hours. This planet was on the other side of the galaxy. Pellaeon stood at the front of the bridge. Thrawn had placed a command chair near the middle of the bridge. Pellaeon thought it was a sign of weakness if an admiral couldn't even stand for long periods of time. But Pellaeon had read in Thrawns back round profile that he had always had a chair on his bridge. Something he was used to by now. Pellaeon stared out at the blue space streaming by the ship. He turned a little to his right. Thrawn was reading a tactical display on his chairs readout monitor. Pellaeon turned back, looking around outside the ship.
"A question captain?" Thrawn asked, not even taking is eyes off the display. Pellaeon turned and looked at Thrawn.
"No sir, I was merely glancing around. What is it you're reading?" Pellaeon asked.
"The report from the recent encounter you had with the 4 rebel frigates. Very impressive." Thrawn said with his eyes still on the display. Pellaeon noticed every time the Admiral called them rebels. He had become so used to them being known as the New Republic it was strange to here Thrawn refer to them as that.
"Glad you think so sir. I suppose it was the prior experience I've had with that maneuver." Pellaeon said. Although making sure not to express it through his voice, he was priding himself that an Admiral such as Thrawn would compliment him on his tactics. Pellaeon waited a few moments for Thrawn to speak again. But he didn't. Pellaeon turned back to the view port just in time to see the space outside changing from the ship's decent from Hyperspace. The scenery ahead was amazing. A small planet. Brown with white clouds, and the occasional blue green ocean. The backdrop of space was a reddish nebula with purple rims. Certainly this system was loaded with radiation, the nebula was a class-x nebula. One created by a Red Giant star going supernova. Pellaeon looked to his right and saw the Star in this system. It was a basic Yellow star. As the Chimaera got closer to the planet, Pellaeon noticed the surface was a total wasteland.
"Do a sensor sweep, I want to know if there are any settlements down there." Pellaeon ordered to the new deck officer. Thrawn had replaced Mr. Zimmer with a chubby Commander named Alkar.
"Calm down captain, there is, just be patient." Thrawn said.
"How can you be sure?" Pellaeon questioned. He quickly kicked himself for it. But didn't seem to offend Thrawn with his comment.
"Trust me Captain" Thrawn said, getting up from his chair, " the emperor certainly wouldn't keep a secret of a deserted planet."
"Well where do you suppose he kept this secret?' Pellaeon asked.
Thrawn was doing a scan of the planet on his tactical display. It beeped at him.
"There." Thrawn said pointing at a small yellow circle on his display. Pellaeon leaned over and looked closer at it.
"A city? On this planet?" Pellaeon asked.
"Get 3 shuttles ready, I want a squad of Storm Troopers on each." Thrawn ordered.
"Sir, I don't think we should send so many down there, it might be dangerous," Pellaeon said "and we can't afford to lose any-"
"Well we certainly can't go down there alone, now can we?" Thrawn asked, but wasn't really asking a question, just stated the obvious.
"We, sir?" Pellaeon asked back.
"Yes captain, you and I" Thrawn said. Thrawn began heading off the bridge.
"You coming?" Thrawn asked Pellaeon.
"Yes sir." Pellaeon said. This was really quite confusing. Normally the Commanders stayed on the ship while a dispatched team investigates the surface. Pellaeon hoped Thrawn was doing the right, no, the smart thing this time.
Five minutes later the 3 Lambda class shuttles took off from the landing bay of the Star Destroyer. The ride was routine and very smooth. But Pellaeon was nervous. This was an uncharted planet. And they were landing right in the middle of a city.
When the shuttles passed beneath the clouds Pellaeon could see some large structures outside of his view port. The buildings looked frail and poorly designed. This was no advanced civilization. Then Pellaeon noticed movement down near a town square looking area. There were Humanoid figures moving about. The shuttle made a loud bang as it touched down. Steam was released from the pressure tubes and the ramp slowly slid down. Thrawn sent two storm troopers outside first, and then followed, signaling for Pellaeon to stay close. As they walked outside the ship. Pellaeon was shocked to see a large crowd of Grey aliens in a greeting formation.
"Well this is quite unexpected wouldn't you say?" Thrawn asked with a grin on his face.
"Quite Admiral, Quite unexpected." Pellaeon said, nervously looking around.
The Aliens had extruding jaws with little ridges of sharp teeth sticking out. Their eyes were black as space, and just seemed to sink into their faces.
A small group of the strange aliens walked towards them.
"Welcome lord Thrawn, we are pleased by your return to us." One of the aliens said.
Pellaeon almost jumped.
"What!!??" Pellaeon said, shocked out of his wits. A large smile appeared on Thrawns face.
"Do not be surprised, I have been here before. I just didn't think it was necessary to tell you in front of your bridge crew." Thrawn said, it almost looked as if he was going to laugh.
"What do you mean!??" Pellaeon franticly questioned.
"Think of it as a test, a test of your acceptance to my leadership. I was half expecting you to question our reason to fly this far just to investigate. But as a man who obviously knows his boundaries, you didn't, congratulations." Thrawn said still smiling.
"I don't understand. Who are these people? And why couldn't you tell me in your chamber or something?" Pellaeon asked. Completely filled with anger, trying as hard as he could to not let it be known in his voice.
"I for one wasn't even sure if these people were still here. I had hopes they were and I suppose I was correct." Thrawn said, then he leaned slightly toward Pellaeon and whispered, " I have some things to do down here, why don't you head back for the ship."
This was so frustrating. He had kept information from Pellaeon; he insulted him, and now was ordering him back to the ship. He stood there for a few moments staring at the Admiral. He gathered his thoughts and finally managed to leak out a response.
"Yes, sir." Pellaeon said. He boarded the shuttle and decided to sit in the cockpit. He couldn't show his anger in front of his Storm Troopers back in the cabin. As the shuttle took off he began questioning some pretty heavy thoughts. He had considered leaving Thrawn on that Planet and secretly ordering his other two shuttles back. But it was stupid. First he needed to know why Thrawn had put on such a big show about a planet he already knew about, and had visited.
When the shuttle returned to the Chimaera Pellaeon went to Thrawns personal chambers and waited for him there. The room was very dim. Candles were lit along the corners. Pellaeon looked around. There were paintings on the walls. As Pellaeon eyes became adjusted to the light, he noticed there were more than just paintings there were all types of art, from all types of cultures. It was a good hour before Thrawn returned. When he finally walked into his quarters, Pellaeon stood up.
"What the hell do you think your doing?" Pellaeon said, finally expressing his anger.
"Captain, I understand your position. But what I did was necessary; I had to know what kind of person you were. See I've met up with a few captains in my day, when dealing with a higher ranking Officer on their ship, they go crazy, asking questions to every move. Here you proved that your questions were only the necessary ones, such as landing on an unknown planet," Thrawn said.
"But it wasn't and unknown planet, you knew all about it, why the games!??" Pellaeon questioned.
"I just told you, I needed to know what kind of person you were. Relax Captain; it was the first and only test on you. From now on it will be different. I won't keep such knowledge from you, not important information anyway. This was a simple test. Now get over it." Thrawn said as he sat down in his command chair. Pellaeon was furious. Thrawn was certainly making this appear like he had been in command all these years. But Pellaeon knew deep in the back of his mind that all Admirals are hard to get along with.
"Who are these people?" Pellaeon finally questioned again.
"Ah, these are the Noghri. A wonderful race of warriors. In fact, my personal body guard Rukh has been standing behind you this whole time." Thrawn said with a slight smile on his face. Pellaeon jumped around and just as Thrawn has said, there was a Noghri, this one was even more intimidating than the others his eyes stared into Pellaeon.
"Whoa, when the hell did he get on board!??" Pellaeon said, embarrassed that he could have been killed that easily by one of these primitive beings.
"When I first came on board. They are excellent hunters. They can move in and move out without being detected. He went with me on my mission to the unknown sector." Thrawn explained.
"When did you first meet up with the⦠what are they?" Pellaeon said, still looking at Rukh.
"Ah yes a very long time ago. When I had proven myself worthy of the Emperor, Vader had brought me to this Planet, and instructed them to follow my orders as they followed his." Thrawn said.
"And why did they follow Vader?" Pellaeon said, starting to become nervous as Rukh just simply stared at him.
"Rukh, leave us." Thrawn said, noticing the Captains nervousness.
Rukh left the room just as ordered, as a child listening to its parent.
" Well the story of these people is interesting. It seems long ago, the Rebels were engaged in a Duel with an Imperial ship in orbit of this planet. How either of them found this place is beyond my knowledge, but in the end the Rebel ship crashed into the surface, leaking toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and destroying a large portion of the plant life, and also a large amount of the Noghri people. Vader came to them and helped them in their struggle. He gave them food and shelter, and for that they devoted their lives to him and His Emperor, our Emperor. Vader and the Emperor used them as assassins and because of it, they kept them a secret. They were used to capture a large amount of Rebels during the Time before the Battle of Endor. When Vader brought me here, he had said his Affairs with the Rebels would prevent him from being the Caretaker of the Noghri people anymore, almost as if he knew he was going to die at the Battle of Endor. Well soon after I was given my assignment to the unknown sector, and promised I would once again return the Noghri, so they sent Rukh along with me. Are you familiar with the Wookie life debt?" Thrawn asked.
"Yes sir I am" Pellaeon responded.
"Well the Noghri make the Wookie life debt look like child's play. These people are devoted to me, and the Empire. So that is why the first thing I did when I returned, was to see that these people are aware of my return, I'm sure we will have many assignments for them in the future." Thrawn said.
Pellaeon was still angered about Thrawns deceit. It was uncalled for. It would take some time to get over it.
"That is interesting sir, what are your plans now?" Pellaeon asked.
"Well first things first, we need a larger fleet. I'd like to make contact with another group of Imperials, see if maybe they would like to join us. Also I'd like to dispatch a task force to a Rebel stronghold and steal whatever information they have on us. I doubt they know of my existence, but you never know." Thrawn said. "I want to begin searching the data base for any viable candidates who might be of use to us, and then we will go out and find them. I want to get back to Yarstoss immediately, leave me I need time to think." Thrawn said.
Pellaeon saluted then left the room. Out side the door Rukh stood silently guarding the entrance to his masters quarters. The crewmen who walked by only looked at him then turned away, perhaps fearful of his stare, perhaps they didn't mind he was there.
Only 10 minutes later the ship left orbit of the Noghri world and headed back to the Yarstoss system. Thrawn was a strange man, quiet, didn't blabber about how great he was, like all the other admirals Pellaeon had met in his day. But at the same time his quietness was what Pellaeon was angry about, to test Pellaeon like that, was frustrating and now, Pellaeon would constantly feel like he had to question Thrawns motives, his reasoning, his trust.