Chapter 2
For a pair of heartbeats, the command room was silent. Then, with obvious effort, Niriz mustered up the words, "Did you say Imperial Star Destroyers, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir," the Lieutenant confirmed. "A-at least, that's what the display is registering," he amended.
Colonel Ringer hissed, a sight that would normally be funny given the cigarra in his mouth, except for the threat of having the awesome weaponry of the backbone of the Imperial Fleet pointed directly at them. And not just one, but two Imperial Star Destroyers were hovering over the planet Nirauan, somehow undetected until a few moments ago.
"Give me a visual display, Lieutenant," Niriz ordered. "And get me the ID's of those Star Destroyers while you're at it. I want to make sure they're Imperial."
"Yes, sir," the Lieutenant replied hastily. His hands flew over the keyboard controls as he pulled up the databases and began sifting through them.
Niriz turned to walk over to the screen projector—and was stopped mid-stride by a strong hand grabbing his arm—
"You realize, Admiral, that those ID's will have been altered by now," Ringer muttered into his ear. "So why waste the effort in tracing a useless tag?"
"You'll have to trust me on this one, Colonel," Niriz replied. "It's a little trick I picked up from Grand Admiral Thrawn."
"In the meantime, they're readying their cannons to blow us to space dust," the Colonel bit out. "What then?"
Niriz smiled tightly. "Colonel, this fortress can withstand a lot more fire power than what those Star Destroyers can throw out. Probably why Nuso Esva is so obsessed with capturing this fortress. He'll have access to a nearly impenetrable base to launch his attacks
on-"
He broke off as a sudden realization just struck his mind. "Of course," he continued. "Esva is not after the fortress, he's after the data archives."
"Excuse me, sir?" Ringer enquired.
"Colonel, just before Admiral Thrawn was assigned to the Unknown Regions, he received a complete copy of the data archives at the Imperial Center in Coruscant," Niriz answered. "Those data archives were stored here in this fortress to be used by Thrawn whenever he needed them. No direct contact was to be made with Coruscant. Everything was classified TOP SECRET." He paused a moment letting the realization of the calamity sink in to Colonel Ringer. "All Imperial Intelligence data are in those archives. If that information gets in the hands of Nuso Esva, he'll have access to over a dozen different Imperial secret weapons to dismantle the Empire from the inside out, not to mention the locations of our Imperial bases, facilities, fleet positions, and shipyards."
"Visual contact established sir," the Officer of the Watch stated. The image of two Star Destroyers came on the main display screen.
"They're Imperial ships all right," the Colonel acknowledged. He pointed a finger at the arrow head as the screen zoomed in close on the ships. "Look at the hull markings and the gun turrets. They're in good condition too. Class II Imperial Star Destroyers by my estimate."
The Admiral nodded. "Now the question is from whom did he get those Star Destroyers?"
Niriz saw a hand signal from one of the bridge officer. With a quick nod he gave the command. "Standby ion control….fire."
The scout ship dropped out of lightspeed just a few clicks from the Endor moon. Getting the confirmation from the crewman at the sensor displays, Voss Parck briskly walked over to the command chair in the center-front of the Admonitor's bridge…..and sat in it.
For all practical purposes, Grand Admiral Thrawn did not exist on this ship—at least not to anyone in the Imperial proper. With the top echelon of Imperial Military Command about to breathe down their necks, Thrawn and Parck both thought it best that the Grand Admiral should remain in the "Secondary Bridge" whenever contact was made to other ships for the time being.
And it may have been a good choice, considering who was in the scoutship. Parck barely had a civil conversation with Thrawn regarding the contact, and it was only at the Grand Admiral's insistence, and his cunning logical mind, that he was able to persuade the Captain to accept the proposal. Not that he needed Parck's permission nor approval, but Thrawn always possessed a quality that other leaders lacked—the concept of listening to his colleagues' and subordinates' concerns. Yet another reason why Grand Admiral Thrawn should have been Supreme Commander. If Thrawn had been in control at Endor and not the Emperor, perhaps this debacle would never have happened.
But that was wishful thinking. A bridge officer approached him on the right side, gently whispered into his ear. "I've checked the command codes just as you ordered, Captain. The scout ship has transmitted all the proper all-clearance and authority-override codes."
Parck nodded his head and waved him away. Straightening his tunic and sitting upright in the command chair, he switched on the comm relay. The screen viewer came on and the pilot came into view. Parck couldn't see the face; the pilot was wearing a helmet, but it was definitely who Thrawn was looking for. The codes said as much. "This is Captain Parck of the Star Destroyer Admonitor. Identify yourself."
There was a brief pause. "Ellysia," the pilot responded, a woman by the tone of the voice. Though sometimes pitches could be muffled through the garbled gasp of a helmet, but it was definitely a woman. Exactly who Thrawn was looking for.
"Identification accepted," Parck answered, "Hangar Bay 16."
"Acknowledged." The scout ship shifted its vector and proceeded subtly under the Star Destroyer as the tractor beams locked on it. From there the ship would be brought into the main hangar bay and guided to the appropriate dock.
It took a full 15 minutes for the ship to lock into the hull, the bay to refill with oxygen, for Captain Parck to arrange an arrival party in the hangar, and for him to alert the Grand Admiral that she was here. And to Parck's astonishment, it was a good reason that he let Thrawn know Ellysia had arrived. The Grand Admiral had decided to accompany him down to the bay. Standing beside Parck, Thrawn looked quietly with expectation as the ship's ramp descended from the front and a slender-figured female in a complete dark jump suit and black helmet glided downward. And attached to her belt was a lightsaber.
For a pair of moments, Parck froze in horror, and he could see a slow dread creep on the faces of his fellow commanders. If this were a ship that consisted of inexperienced officers and crewman, Parck figured that there would be some hisses and gasps.
"What do you think?" Thrawn murmured into Parck's ear. "Jedi or Sith?"
"How do you tell?" Parck whispered back.
There was a quiet chuckle. "How do you tell, indeed," Thrawn replied. "Fortunately, for us, she is neither."
"If you two gentleman are through talking, we can get this overwith," Ellysia said abruptly. Somehow, the woman had made her way right up to Parck and Thrawn without him realizing it. She was still wearing her helmet, and from an angle, Parck had an amusing thought of a female Darth Vader. A thought that quickly evaporated when he realized what kind of person Vader would be as a woman. Hell hath no fury as a woman's scorn he reminded himself.
Thrawn's eyes bored into hers. "Madam, I am quite aware of your arrogance to Imperial officers, even to Grand Admirals such as myself. That being said, you will treat all Imperial personnel on this ship with the utmost respect during your stay." He let a small, knowing smile slide across his face. "Do not forget, that if it weren't for me, you would be dead now; executed, as an enemy of the Emperor."
"Spare me the debt-honor monologue, Thrawn," Ellysia bit out. "I'm here because the Empire uprooted me from my home, and you got to me before the Emperor did. Let's get this over with."
She was rude, angry, and annoying; and very lucky that no one else heard what she spoke to Thrawn in those moments. For if anyone were to hear, Parck highly doubted Thrawn would let her live with such insolence to a Grand Admiral. Thrawn, too, was apparently thinking about executing her. For a pair of heartbeats, the Grand Admiral said nothing, his face unreadable. Then, with a gesture of his hand, "This way, Madam Ellysia."
The three made their way to one of the Admonitor's main conference rooms, a room that was in Parck's opinion, way too large for such a private meeting. No other officers accompanied them into the chamber, and the conference table, lined with dozens of seats in a long circular pattern, looked unusually empty. The void-feeling kept getting stronger as the quietness of the space set in.
With a small unclasping of the locks on the side of her helmet, Ellysia took it off and revealed her visage. She was a beautiful woman, unusually young, by the looks of it, with short strands of black hair, pale skin, and crisp-blue eyes. She looked to be in her early to mid-twenties by Imperial and Old Republic dating. For a moment, Parck thought it was best that she kept her helmet on in the hangar bay. Young male Imperials would have shown a more inappropriate side of themselves toward her. It wasn't every day that one would see a beautiful woman walk on this ship. Then again, one look at her lightsaber, might just as quickly change their mind.
"Did you see it?" Thrawn asked, eyes concentrating on hers.
"What exactly?" Ellysia replied.
"The destruction of the Endor Death Star. Did you see it?"
She paused for a brief second. "No," she answered. "I didn't. And I suspect neither did Palpatine."
Thrawn wasn't going to let her go that easily. A small gleam came into his eyes. "You would stand a lot to gain from the Death Star's destruction; namely, your home."
"Endor had nothing to do with it, Thrawn," Ellysia snapped, biting out each syllable of the word Endor. So that was her home…the Endor moon. Wait….
"Excuse me," Parck interrupted. "I don't mean to intrude on your…moment here you two. But are you telling me that YOU ARE the Witch of Endor?"
"I am," Ellysia said, and there was no mistaking the tone of regal haughtiness in her tone. "My reputation precedes me, I see."
"You can see the future?" Parck asked blankly.
"Of course I can," Ellysia stated. "I am well-known for doing so. I can see your life in front of me, if I chose to, Voss Parck." She paused a second to let the satisfaction of knowing Parck's first name hang in the air. "I can see the fate of you, you're Empire, even you Thrawn," she said, turning back to look at the Grand Admiral.
But Thrawn wasn't impressed. At least he didn't show it. Apparently, he experienced her tirades of self-gratification before. "Then tell me," he said quietly. "Why couldn't you see the Death Star's destruction by the hands of the Rebel Alliance?"
"Probably the same reason the Emperor couldn't see it," she retorted. "Oh, yes, that crotchety, old, windbag couldn't even see his own death coming. I'm sure he made a great speech how Endor was going to be the end of the Rebellion and the dawn of a new age, and how he orchestrated their destruction single-handedly, and-"
"You made your point," Thrawn cut in. He waited expectantly.
"I told you, the first time we met," Ellysia said. Her tone changed from arrogant to ominous in the blink of an eye. Her emotions were that of a teenager, and for a brief moment, Parck thanked the Force that he never had a daughter. "There's a darkness coming. The Emperor saw it. I know he did. 'Cause I saw it too." She looked at Thrawn deeply. "I AM grateful for what you did Thrawn. You coulda just let me die, or worse, become a stool-pigeon for the Emperor."
"There's a darkness coming," Parck echoed her words. "Okay. Can you elaborate?"
"Patience, Captain," Thrawn said to him. It was the first words he spoke to him since the hangar bay. "She goes into a trance when she sees the future. Her tone, pitch, even her entire behavior patterns shift."
"Oh," was all Parck could say. So, maybe it had nothing to do with teenage hormones after all.
"I see a darkness coming," Ellysia repeated. "A darkness that will cover this entire galaxy. A force of evil that threatens every walk of life on every planet." She looked at Thrawn, her eyes pleading, "You must have seen it, Thrawn. I know you've seen it. You've seen the darkness haven't you?"
"I have," Thrawn said. "Nuso Esva."
"Nuso Esva," she said softly. "Yes, that sounds right. That is him." Her eyes started to flutter and roll back into her head. "Something's not right. Nuso Esva is not the darkness. It envelops him. It uses him. But he is not the darkness."
"Excuse me, but what is 'the darkness'?" Parck cut into her musings. "Surely, you can be more descriptive. What does it look like?"
Her eyes cut back to normal and flashed at Parck angrily. "What does it look like?" Ellysia asked sardonically. "All right I tell you. I saw a dark creature extend his hand over the galaxy and blot out every light in it. It covered everything, the stars, the planets, all forms of life, everything. We seers can't always discern what things represent. All I can do is be your eyes in the future and tell you what I see."
"That's about all I can tell you now, Admiral," she said, turning back to Thrawn. It was the first tone of respect Parck heard from her since she came on board. "If you want more, I'll bring down my cards, boards, and seers stone, and meditate."
"Do as you see fit," Thrawn said. "I'll arrange quarters for you onboard the Admonitor. You can continue your studies until you are ready."
"I'll be back," she said. Ellysia got up and left but turned around right before exiting. "Straight down the hall, turn left and take the elevator down seven levels, then down to the hangar bay, right?" she said. There was a blank stare on both of the men. Parck's eyes were as big as sausages. How did she memorize the path back to the hangar bay? "Thought so," she said, and went through the door.
"Is she always this….personal?" Parck asked.
"Which are your referring to?" Thrawn enquired. "Her brash behavior, her entire disrespect for the military chain of command, or her anger toward Imperials?"
"How about all three?" Parck took a breath, and let the oxygen enter his lungs. "Do you really buy all that stuff she was saying about darkness and end of life as we know it? I've read many apocalyptic religious texts in my youth, and never cared to believe anyone of them. And they were a whole lot more detailed than the vague garbage she just threw at us."
The Grand Admiral stood up, and paced slowly. "I know that her visions can seem farfetched. I was skeptical too, the first time I met her. I never really accepted the whole Jedi- Sith, Force connection." He turned back to the Captain. "But believe me when I tell you, her visions have a way of coming to pass."
"What did she predict that convinced you to have faith in her?" Parck asked.
There was a glitter in Thrawn's eyes. "She predicted that the Emperor would die."