"Skywalker, you let me out of here right now!" Mara shouted, banging on the door.
"What? Don't enjoy being caged like the beast you are?" Kantasha shot.
Mara glared at the door to her "prison." She could not believe that they had her locked in this cramped room on board this cramped ship. She could almost, almost understand their locking her up on the Imperial base, where she just might be able to escape, but what did they think she would do here? Slice the throats of the two Force-users after stealing their weapons and then outwit what was possibly the smartest being in the universe?
Ammo, Jade, ammo, Mara thought to herself. "Hey, Skywalker, remember that time you got drunk and began to give a pretty good impression of a male str—"
"I thought we agreed that would never again be discussed," Luke hissed, cutting her off, his eyes blazing as he stared at the door to her "cell."
"You've gone traitor on me. All bets are off."
The man's blue eyes began to gleam, "So that includes the time you got so drunk you pledged your undying love to Lando and—"
"Shut the Sith up!" Mara growled, glaring at the door.
His taunting laughter rang clearly through the walls. Kantasha soon joined him, adding an even darker note to the sound.
"One of these days," Mara Jade muttered to herself, "I'm going to kill you, Skywalker. But that will only be after I've ripped out what's left of her heart and stomped on it."
On the other side of the door, Kantasha purred loud enough for Mara to hear, "So, will I ever be able to see this impression of yours, Luke?"
"Maybe some day," came the reply.
Mara gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to take off her shoes and throw them at the door. "I'm going to—" she cut off as the door opened, and in stepped a being with a very cool countenance.
"You'll what, Ms. Jade?"
"Nothing," Mara muttered.
"I apologize if our two Force-using companions have been less than polite company. I am afraid they are rather on edge about our upcoming operations, having not attempted anything quite like it before."
"Quite like what?" Mara inquired off-handedly, hoping that maybe she would at last get some information.
But Thrawn disappointed her. "Ah, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. You'll learn of our plans soon enough. Indeed, the entirely galaxy will find out soon enough. But by then, it will be too late, and the irreversible collapse of the Rebellion will have already been initiated."
"What, so you've just come in here to gloat?" Mara snapped, growing irritable.
"Now, Ms. Jade, surely your opinion of me is not that low. Gloating is for pirates and traitors."
She ignored his last word, for she knew he was referring to members of the New Rebellion—Republic, she corrected herself. Stang, now he's got me doing it, she thought to herself. Aloud, she asked, "Then what do you want?"
"I wish to ask for your aid once more...You would be a powerful ally. I remember your duties in the height of the Empire's power. You may have been a shadow agent, but you did your job better than many Imperial Moffs ever did theirs. Remember the position you held, Ms. Jade. Remember the Empire's glory days, when the Senate was finally dissipated. No more squabbling Senators, no more territorial disputes—the Emperor took care of all that. There was profitable trade between unified systems. Quarrels between species or systems could not tear the government apart—Emperor Palpatine would not allow it. You were his Hand, Mara Jade. Do you not remember?" The Chiss almost seemed to be entreating her to remember.
Yes, she remembered.
She had performed Palpatine's bidding, completing missions using all that was available to her: her dancer's skills, her stealth, her skill with weapons, her ability to read people, Palpatine's vast resources...She had been able hear that man's voice halfway across the galaxy, and she had performed duties that helped keep his government running smoothly.
She had been the Emperor's Hand. In some ways, the power she had held was greater than that of Vader's, for she had one thing he did not: Palpatine's trust.
She could be the Emperor's Hand again. She could be Luke's.
She looked up into her master's chilling blue eyes. A small, barely perceptible smile creased his face, and he brought his hand up slowly and caressed her face possessively. "You have done well, my Hand," he said softly.
"Thank you, Master."
His black hood fell back, revealing what had once been kind young features, now hardened by the years and the Dark Side. He pulled her head towards him, engulfing her mouth with his, kissing her with a dark passion, his probing tongue forceful, abusive, rapacious.
Gasping, Mara pulled away from the vision, snapping out of the spell Thrawn had put her under. Her vision was what would happen to her and Luke if she gave in to Thrawn. Whatever the cost, she would never let that happen, even if she had to kill both Luke and herself.
"You don't understand the cost of the darkness you want to bring upon us all," she whispered.
Thrawn gave an almost bitter smile. "What you do not understand Ms. Jade, is that there is no darkness at all. We are all enshrouded in a veil of gray which we cannot penetrate. Neither the overly optimistic nor the overly pessimistic can see this as it is. They see light or darkness, but they do not see the truth: neither exists, and yet both exist." He tilted his head towards the door. "I do sincerely hope that you will reconsider aiding us, Ms. Jade."
Mara stared at the door long after his departure. What was it about this man, this Chiss, that enabled him to turn a person's whole world upside down, to make a person's rock-solid ideals melt like ice under the sun?