Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars and I make no money off of this. Anyone who wants to sue me is warned that the most I can give you is a button and some dryer lint.

Ties that Bind

Luke looked out the window of the cockpit of the large frigate the New Republic had lent them for the mission and watched as Wedge, Wes Janson and Tycho Celchu were finishing transporting their X-Wings into the frigate's cargo hold. His own X-Wing was sitting this mission out, both because he hadn't completed repairing it from his last space battle and because Lando couldn't fly the freighter by himself if a battle broke out. In truth, the X-Wings were just a precaution, the last thing the New Republic council wanted was for any fighting to break out in the Killiset's territory. The plan was to disguise themselves as tourists and search for as much information on the Empire as they could without raising any suspicion. It was that fear of suspicion that had forced Luke to resist Chewie's offer to join the mission but Luke sensed that the Wookiee was actually somewhat relieved by his answer. He considered Chewie one of his closest friends and knew the Wookiee felt the same but ever since the Empire's kidnapping attempts on Leia he had become incredibly protective of the princess and her twins. Luke knew that it must have been pressure from either Leia or Han that had caused Chewie to offer his assistance to Luke…a smile touched his face…actually, he'd bet it was both of them. A cheerful twitter came from behind him and Luke turned to look down at Artoo. Even without his X-Wing Luke had decided to bring the little droid along, although he was pretty certain Artoo wouldn't have given him a choice in the matter anyways.

"Hey Artoo, giving Lando a break from driving him crazy?" Luke grinned at the little droids indignant squeals of denial. Lando had wanted to make a few last minute "improvements" to the ship before they left but Artoo had been following him around trying to improve his improvements and generally getting in Lando's way. Which of course, Luke had found incredibly amusing even though he had pretended not to notice. He gave the loyal droid a pat on the head and started for the door.

"I guess I better check that Lando hasn't completely gutted the place before we take off, right Artoo?" The droid gave an enthusiastically relieved twitter and Luke chuckled as it followed him out the door.

"I heard that Luke!" Lando called from somewhere down the corridor, toward the hangar bay. His voice held that mixture of humour and false hurt that only he and Han could truly pull off. Luke chuckled but didn't respond until he reached the spot where Lando's feet were sticking out from underneath a bulkhead.

"Oh come on you know I was only saying it to humour Artoo!" Now it was Artoo's turn to give an indignant response and Luke dramatically rolled his eyes. "Look if you two want to fight go ahead but don't drag me into it!" He could hear Lando laugh as he pulled himself out from under the bulkhead.

"Well we should be all ready to take of oh fearless leader, just as soon as the Rogues are finished loading their babies into the back." Lando said with smug satisfaction as he wiped his hands off with a rag.

"Do I dare ask what you were up to?" Luke's eyes widened and his voice dripped with phoney nervousness.

"Just a little work on the hyper drive." Lando said lightly but with a smirk on his face. Given the infamous problems that Han, Lando, Chewie and Luke had had with hyper drives in the past any mention of repairing them had become something of a run-on joke for the group.

Luke threw up his hands in mock defeat. "OK I'm sorry! Don't tell me I don't want to know." Both men laughed while the droid twittered in confusion. Wedge's voice cut them off as he rounded the corner after exiting the hanger bay.

"Everything's ready Luke, Wes and Tycho are just locking things up. We can head out when you're ready." Wedge paused for a second and eyed Lando's slightly dirty outfit. "Have you been tinkering with the equipment Calrissian?"

Before Lando could reply Luke cut in. "Oh don't worry Wedge it was just the hyper drive, everything will be fine."

"Oh if that's you give me a minute? I just need to get my X-Wing off this ship!" Luke and Wedge started laughing and Lando crossed his arms.

"No matter what I do for you people, you have no faith in me…" But the laughter around him was contagious and he joined in too. Wes and Tycho poked their heads around the corner to see what was going on.

"We miss all the good stuff…" Wes muttered.

Luke looked up and noticed the other pilots' confused faces. He realized that if the two men were here then everything must be ready and they should head out. He took a breath to calm himself and spoke, to his credit, calmly and seriously.

"OK it looks like everything is ready so we better get going. It will take a few days at least to make it to the Killiset Sector and we don't have a lot of time to spare. When we arrive we'll head to Seti I. Not only is it the central planet in the sector but it reportedly has the most Imperial activity seen so far which makes it the best spot to start our search."

Lando shook his head. "This has to be the first time I've been on a mission where heading to the planet with the most Imperials is considered the best idea."

Luke smiled. "It does feel a little weird doesn't it? But think on the bright side, it means they're the ones on the run from us now. OK everyone; let's get this ship in the air!"

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Captain Pellaeon entered the Grand Admiral's private chambers and was surprised to see that it was devoid of any art. He was certain that it would be filled with the art of the Killisets or perhaps art from the home world's of the various New Republic leaders. Instead the admiral's attention was focused on the flat screen attached to the right side of his control panel. Pellaeon waited patiently for the admiral to address him and after a few more moments Thrawn looked up.

"Have you heard from all of the Moffs yet, Captain?" Thrawn's smooth voice calmly filled the room.

"Yes sir. As you requested the meeting will be arranged over the Empire's highest security holonet service rather than in person."

"I take it the Moffs were pleased that they didn't have to leave the comfort of their sectors and meet with me face to face?" The Grand Admiral's face hardened and Pellaeon had to admit that a part of him was pleased that the admiral was so angry with his subordinates' behaviour during his absence, in particular their treatment of Pellaeon himself. He knew it was petty but he had thoroughly enjoyed watching the admiral chew out the captains who had begun to question Pellaeon's authority before the admiral had awakened and he knew that even worse awaited the Moffs.

"Of course, you will also be present Captain." A small smile twisted the corner of Thrawn's lips and the captain had a sneaking suspicion that Thrawn knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Yes sir, of course." Pellaeon allowed his own lips to twitch upward slightly and a moment of shared amusement passed between them. It was then that the captain remembered the lack of art in the room and decided to ask about it. "I must say, sir, that the room looks unusually barren."

"Ah yes, very perceptive captain. I was focussing my attention on this," Thrawn gestured to the flat screen. "And decided to turn off my display to prevent myself from distraction."

"My apologies if I distracted you sir, shall I leave you to your work?" Pellaeon was curious to know what had so captured Thrawn's attention, but the last thing he wanted was to annoy the Grand Admiral.

Thrawn gave him another small smile. "No apologies are necessary Captain. Before you leave I must also mention that the Killiset Royal Council has invited me to a banquet in the royal palace of Ashwaraseti, I thought perhaps you would like to come as well."

"I would be honoured sir. Might I inquire what the occasion is?" Pellaeon always found it helpful to know if he was stepping into some alien holiday or ritual.

He was somewhat surprised by the smile that crossed the admiral's features, showing his perfect, white teeth. Such a bright, genuine smile was such a rare expression from the admiral that the captain felt a strange sense of pride to witness it.

"The banquet is in honour of my brother. Actually, that was part of what I was doing on the flat screen when you entered, reading the message sent to me by the Mayor of Ashwaraseti on behalf of the Royal Council."

"They certainly seem to be falling all over themselves to please you sir." Pellaeon hadn't intended for his response to sound so suspicious, but the betrayal of the Noghri was too fresh in his mind for him to trust another seemingly Empire loving species too easily.

Thrawn's smile instantly vanished. "You are thinking of the Noghri." Pellaeon gave a short nod and Thrawn sighed. "In truth captain, I do no grudge them what they did; I knew it was the risk I took when Lord Vader first assigned them to me…To pretend to be a saviour when you are not is a dangerous game. That is where the Killisets differ from the Noghri and that is why you can have faith in the Killisets…we earned their respect Captain Pellaeon, we truly earned it." Thrawn's eyes narrowed slightly as if deep in thought but the captain could no longer hold his question back.

"How did we earn it Grand Admiral? What happened here?" Pellaeon watched as the admiral's eyes regained their focus and turned to him.

"As you know, the Killiset sector was never a member of the Empire, until recently their area was considered a part of Wild Space bordering the Unknown Regions. Due to their advanced ships they were able to trade with relative ease within Imperial space and also within Wild Space. Several of the planets, in particular Seti I, became popular tourist attractions because of their combination of core world standards of sophistication and ability to remain neutral during the war. However, about a year and a half after Endor a bizarre disease began to spread among the Killisets. It is unknown which planet it started from but by the time they recognized they were dealing with a full scale plague it had already spread to every inhabited planet in the Killiset sector. At first they tried to deal with it themselves. They quarantined their planet preventing tourists from visiting for fear of spreading the disease further. They used every medicine, every treatment that was known to them but the disease was like nothing their people had ever experienced before.

In the beginning, the first few weeks at most, only infants and very small children seemed to be getting infected but soon older children and pregnant women. Everyone infected died within days and the child mortality rate climbed to unheard of levels. My forces in the unknown regions relied on certain supplies to come from Killiset so it was not more than a month into the plague that I was informed of the situation. By the time I arrived the full reality of the disease had hit the Killisets. It did not simply hit children or those with weak immune systems, for unknown reasons females had absolutely no immunity to it. The death toll was staggering. A species can survive the deaths of even a whole generation of children, tragic though it might be, so long as there are adults to rebuild but no species can survive losing all of its' females and that was the horrific reality the Killisets faced. No sooner had we arrived then the Imperial doctors and scientists I had brought with me were baffled and refused to go down to the planet itself for fear of contamination. It was then that I contacted my brother and informed him of the situation. He arrived in remarkable time, packing only medical supplies and information. Theeon did not hesitate to go down to the planet, even though I insisted he work from the safety of the ship. For weeks he worked side by side with the Killisets, combining the full force of their medicine, Imperial medicine, Chiss medicine and his own brilliance against the seemingly unstoppable disease. After two weeks duty called me and I was forced to leave my brother with the Killisets, giving Theeon full access to whatever Imperial resources could be spared." Thrawn paused and his next words came out softly.

"For a month I heard almost nothing from my brother or the Imperial forces I had left with him. I continued with my task of preparing the Imperial fleet for the campaign against the rebels, I made plans, did research and found allies all with the dread that it was only a matter of time until I received the call that my brother had come down with the illness that was devastating the Killisets. It was at the end of that nightmare month that I received a simple message in text on my communicator: Return to Seti I as soon as possible- Theeon. I had the ship turned around immediately and within only a couple days the ship was in orbit again. As soon as I arrived Theeon contacted me once more, this time via holonet projector, informing me the Killisets needed help shipping the vaccine from Seti I to the other planets in the Killiset sector. For several days and nights Imperial troops worked side by side with the Killiset army to spread the vaccine to every corner of their sector. The vaccine worked with remarkable speed and all who received it, even those on the brink of death, survived. In total billions of lives were lost, including almost every child under the age of five years and over a third of the female population…but it could have been worse Captain, much worse and the Killisets know that the one thing that had stopped their species from extinction was the vaccine created by my brother."

Captain Pellaeon stood silently in front of Grand Admiral Thrawn, speechless at the revelation. Never before had the admiral revealed so much to him on any topic, much less one that held so many personal details. Yet it did not lesson the man or make him seem more vulnerable in the captain's eyes. In fact, it made him realize just how complicated and inherently noble his superior was.

"I have always considered it an honour to serve with you for the Empire Admiral. I was certain that you would restore us to our former greatness but from what you've just told me I realize I was wrong." Pellaeon watched as Thrawn's eyes widened with shock and the captain continued gravely. "I know now that the old Empire could never compare to the greatness that we will achieve with you as our leader."

Thrawn bowed his head for a moment and when he lifted it that genuine smile once more lit his features. "I promise you Captain, that I will do everything I can to prove you right."