Chimaera

Following the battle, Thrawn stared out at the view port after dismissing the wing commander, staring down at a data card absently.

"It appears that the Obroa-Skai is a dead end," Piett said, concerned when Thrawn didn't seem all that bothered by this. "Admiral?"

"Only for now. We have something much more important," Thrawn said, still staring down at the data card. "It is the piece of the puzzle Admiral Piett. The piece I have been searching for now for over a year."

Piett stared at Thrawn silently, wondering what he was talking about when Thrawn activated the intercom.

"Bridge, this is Grand Admiral Thrawn. Signal the 'Death's Hand', inform Captain Harbid we'll be temporarily leaving the fleet. He is to continue making tactical surveys of the local systems and pulling data dumps wherever possible. Then set a course for a planet called Myrkr, the nav computer has its location," Thrawn waited for an acknowledgement before turning to Piett, who was looking at him confused. "You seem lost, Admiral. I take it you've never heard of Myrkr."

"Should I have?" Piett asked wearily.

"Probably not. Most of those who have have been smugglers, malcontents and otherwise useless dregs of the galaxy," Thrawn said, pausing to take a sip of his mug before continuing. "I ran across an offhand reference to it five years ago. What caught my attention was that, although the planet has been populated for at least three hundred years, both the Old Republic and the Jedi of that time had always left it strictly alone. What would you infer from that, Admiral?"

"That it's a frontier planet, somewhere too far away for anyone to care about," Piett said immediately.

"Very good Admiral. That was my first assumption to…except that it's not. Myrkr is in fact no more than a hundred light years from here – close enough to our border with the Rebellion and well within the Old Republic's boundaries," Thrawn revealed as he glanced back to the data card. "No Admiral, the actual explanation is far more interesting. And far more useful."

"And that explanation became the first piece of the puzzle?" Piett inquired and Thrawn smiled.

"Very good. Yes, Myrkr – or more precisely, one of its indigenous animals – was the first piece. The second is on a world called Wayland. A world which, thanks to the Obrians, I finally have the location," Thrawn said as he gestured with the data card.

"May I ask what exactly this puzzle is?" Piett asked and an unnerving smile crossed Thrawn's face.

"Why, the only puzzle worth solving, of course. The complete, total, and utter destruction of the Rebellion."

Coruscant

Same time

In the apartment of Luke Skywalker, which was located in the same building where Han and Leia had taken up residence just down the hall, Luke and Willow sat across from each other in meditative poses.

"The Force is what gives a Jedi their powers," Luke began, thinking back to when Ben had explained this to him. "It exists in all living thing in the universe. It surrounds and binds us all together."

"Sounds like magic from my dimension," Willow noted and Luke smiled slightly.

"I guess magic is your version of The Force. But the two are not the same, you have to feel The Force around you," Luke told her. "But you have to be weary of the Dark Side."

"The Dark Side?" Willow inquired.

"There is both a good and a bad to The Force. The Jedi use the Force for good, but even we are tempted by the Dark Side. The Dark Side relies on anger and aggression. A Jedi can never in, or he may be lost forever," Luke said, thinking of his father. "The Dark Side is extremely seductive. A wise man once told me if you start down that path, it will forever dominate you."

"Was he right?" Willow inquired and Luke was silent for a long moment.

"From a certain point of view. But I've seen people come back," Luke said, once more thinking of his father. "It all depends on who you are and how much you actually want to be free of it."

"I guess I know how that feelings," Willow mused, thinking of her magic addiction and what she had done after losing Tara. "A while back, I had a magic addiction and then…I hurt a lot of people, people I cared about. Then it got worse when I lost…."

Willow trailed off, unable to say it. But Luke seemed to understand and looked at her with compassion. A beat passed between them.

"Given you've already beaten an addiction to magic, I feel better knowing you'll be less tempted by the Dark Side. Still, teaching you The Force won't be easy. Since you're so used to magic, it'll be like trying to reteach you how to ride a speeder," Luke said and Willow looked at him oddly.

"I'm sure that's supposed to be a reference I understand, but I don't," Willow said with an apologetic smile.

"Okay. So, it's going to be like learning a skill you already know, but you need to do it in a completely different way than you're used to. It's hard to go against something so ingrained in you," Luke explained and Willow nodded, understanding what he was trying to say.

"I understand, but I've done more difficult things in my life. I'm not afraid to do this," Willow said confidently and Luke was taken back years ago to Dagobah, when he had said the same thing to Yoda.

Luke only hoped he could be as good a teacher as Yoda had been.

Across the hall, Faith was sitting down at a table, taking a drink out of a mug. She gave a content hum before looking over at Han.

"Guess one thing our dimensions have in common is hot coco," Faith noted and Han shrugged.

"Guess so. It's just something I learned how to make from my friend Lando. Always seems to do the trick when we need to relax around here," Han grumbled before taking a drink of his own cup. "So, magic exists. And here I was just wrapping my head around The Force."

"Hey, at least you haven't met the demons and vamps. Boy do we have stories," Faith quipped and Han grumbled for a long moment.

"So, what's a girl like you doing with Willow and…Bunny was it?" Han asked as he tried to remember the blond girl's name.

"Buffy. And what's that supposed to mean?" Faith inquired and Han shrugged.

"Well, before I met Luke, I was a smuggler, had my own share of secrets and shady deals. Let's just say I know a former criminal when I see one. Luke and Leia, they're good people; they even saw good in someone like me when I was a scoundrel. They're trying to build something here. So if you're here to threaten that-" Han started.

"I'm not alright? We're just trying to help; we didn't mean to screw everything up. We didn't even know Red's spell could affect other dimensions. Now that we know, we're doing our best to help out while we're here," Faith snapped angrily, glaring at him.

Han stared at her for a long moment before nodding.

"Alright. I'm just looking out for Luke and Leia. They're not as cynical as me, don't want them to be," Han said.

As much as Faith wanted to be angry with him, she kind of got it. She, Willow and Faith had literally popped out of thin air and revealed that they were responsible for all their problems over the last couple months. In his shoes, she'd probably react the same way.

The door to the apartment then opened. Hearing loud footsteps, Faith looked over, shocked as a large, hairy creature entered the room.

"What the Hell?!" Faith exclaimed as she got to her feet, ready to fight.

Seeming to sense her intention, the creature opened its mouth to reveal sharp teeth and let out a threatening growl. Before things could escalate, Han stepped in between.

"Hey, it's okay. We're all friends here. Chewie, this is Faith. Faith, Chewie," Han made the introductions. "Chewie's my co pilot."

"A hairy dog thing is your co-pilot?" Faith asked in disbelief and Chewie let out an offended growl.

"Don't mind her, she's not exactly from around here," Han told Chewie before turning to Faith. "You might want to be a little more polite. Wookie's are known to rip people's arms off when they get offended."

Faith glanced back at Chewie, who seemed to give her a smug look before she smiled.

"I like you," Faith decided.

In the current headquarters of New Republic leadership, Buffy was currently contending with her own problems. She stood nervously, Leia by her side as Mon and Ackbar explained the situation to the rest of the made Council.

"You're saying that this girl and her friends are responsible for what has happened? Yet you expect us to work with them?" One of them demanded as he eyed Buffy suspiciously.

"Why should we trust anything she has to say?" another demanded hotly.

"Jedi Skywalker has vetted them all with his Jedi abilities. He believes they are telling the truth and mean no harm," Mon tried to calm the situation.

"The Jedi were fooled once by the Emperor. How do we know they are not fooling him?" another Senator challenged.

"The Emperor was a Sith Lord, he fooled us all. But please, put aside your paranoia and think. If they did mean us harm, why come to us in such a manner? Why admit they are responsible for empowering all these women?" Mon pointed out and a moment of silence passed. "These are frightening times; none of us are certain what may come next. But if we turn on each other out of fear, everything we are trying to build will fall before it can be made."

"We need more Jedi, and Jedi Skywalker is beginning the process of training one of these women even now," Ackbar continued. "And the other two will be put through military training until we are certain they understand our protocols and gear. They will not be sent on any solo missions until we are sure they can be trusted."

As the members of the council muttered among themselves, Buffy fought the scowl that threatened to cross her face. She did not want to go through this training. She was used to giving orders, not taking them. But a voice in the back of her mind that sounded suspiciously like Tara told her that she had to meet them halfway after causing so much of the problems they were going through right now.

"You okay?" Leia whispered next to her.

"No. Don't exactly have good experiences with people giving me orders," Buffy whispered back.

"I understand. But this is how our world works. You have to compromise a bit, work with people to get them to trust you. And considering how you came to our world, can you really blame them for not trusting you?" Leia pointed out.

"Guess not," Buffy admitted before pausing. "I'm sorry. I didn't know…I didn't think about how my plan would affect people like you. I just wanted to stop The First, I wasn't really thinking about the consequences."

For a long moment, Leia was silent.

"I get just wanting to stop this First. But you made a decision that affected my life and the lives of others, a decision that could have turned the tide in this war. People might be dying right now because of your actions. I understand why you did it, but right now, there's too much going on for me to forgive you. So you need to work us if I'm going to trust you," Leia told her, her voice neither angry nor spiteful, just neutral.

Buffy nodded with a sigh, realizing, as much as she didn't want to admit it, Leia was right. And so were Willow and Faith. The consequences of their actions seemed to far outweigh the gain. So Buffy would put her pride aside and do what these people wanted of her. For now. She'd see what the future would bring later.

Not a very eventful chapter I know, but I wanted a chapter to begin developing some dynamics between the Buffyverse and Star Wars characters.