Approximately six years earlier, aboard the Victory Star Destroyer Avenger, Outer Rim Territories

Garin stood silently in Thrawn's quarters as the Admiral looked out the viewscreen at the debris that had presumably been the mystery TIE production facility. Salvage operations were already being conducted by Thrawn's task force, the reason for Garin standing here was a far more personal matter.

"So you knowingly assisted Rebel forces in destroying a facility that, for all you knew, could have been run by the Emperor."

Thrawn's back remained turned, but Garin nodded nonetheless. "Yes Admiral, I take full responsibility for my actions. If there is any punishment, I accept the full burden of it."

"Protecting your people? Good," Garin saw the reflected smile in the plasteel as Thrawn continued to stare out into space. "I'm glad to see you're willing to stand up not only for your actions, but for you unit as well. Very few in the Empire's forces I've found are willing to risk their neck for such things. It is a quality that we are sadly lacking I'm afraid."

He turned to Garin, sitting down at his desk. "You've seen the data, and you know who was running the facility and this one which the Rebels beat us to?"

"A Grand Admiral named Zaarin."

Thrawn nodded, "you may or may not know this, but Zaarin is responsible for many of the innovations in fighter technology that the Empire has been enjoying. Everything from the original Avenger fighter and the newer Defender, to the Bomber and Interceptor; they are all products of his various research projects."

Garin swallowed, "so this was an official project?"

Thrawn smiled at him, steepling his fingers and leaning forwards. "No, it isn't. None of these experiments you've been fighting are official, and as far as I can discover, they are not unofficial either."

A frown crossed Garin's features as the implication hit him, "sir?"

Thrawn smiled again, and it spread to his eyes. "Yes Captain, Zaarin is developing a fighter force completely independently of the Empire. No one, not even Palpatine himself knows about this. What Zaarin intends to do with these experimentals is beyond me, however the fact that he has them at all constitutes an act of treason."

Garin sucked his breath in through his teeth, a Grand Admiral committing treason? That was ludicrous! There were only twelve Grands in the Empire, and they were all selected by the Emperor himself. For one of them to betray the trust the Emperor vested in them sounded impossible, and yet the evidence was there, though there was still a chance it could be a case of Thrawn missing something. Garin laughed at himself, Thrawn missing something? That was comical, his thoughts focused on the matter at hand.

"What do you intend to do Admiral?"

"For the moment, nothing, I've submitted my report, along with your report, to the Emperor. He will determine what we shall do."

Garin tensed, wondering how much was in that report, Thrawn must have noticed his ill ease because he waved his hand dismissively.

"I've kept your interaction with the Rebels out of it for obvious reasons; you've proven a valuable asset. I do not wish to lose a unit as gifted as yours."

Garin breathed a sigh of relief, "thank you sir."

"I do not begrudge you intelligence Captain. In the same situation, who is to say I would not make use of my enemy as well? After all, my enemy's enemy is my ally in many cases. However that is not what we need to talk about at the moment, we need to discuss your unit; firstly, your losses, I believe you've lost ten people?."

"We've lost ten ships," Garin corrected," three Defenders, four Avengers, and three Missile Boats. We lost seven pilots in total, from the TIEs, the Missile Boat pilots were able to eject."

Thrawn nodded, tapping keys on his terminal. "You will have noticed that there is a transport in my task force, it is carrying replacements for the ships you've lost as well as reinforcements. I will give you a roster of my task force pilots. You may make your selections from there. When all is said and done I expect your force to comprise four squadrons, one of Avengers, one of Defenders, one of Gunboats, and the final one of Missile Boats; in addition I am assigning five Blastboats to your command. Also, I'm assigning you an infantry regiment in addition to your commando unit, I believe the leader of your commandos is a Major; she will be in overall command of your troops. Is that acceptable?"

"I will have to consult with my XO and officers about the new craft and personnel, but there is certainly more than enough room aboard the Knight. May I ask why we're being reinforced?"

Thrawn nodded, smiling slightly. "I recall Arusi's refusal to transition to the Blastboat originally and I respect your men enough to allow them to make their own choices about ship types. As for the reason behind this upgrade, one because I want your unit to have more firepower and operating capacity in your traditional role, the other is because we may be going up against a Grand Admiral very soon if what you've found turns out to be what I think it is and if that happens you'll be part of my task force as a fleet unit and this complement is more suitable to that role."

"I understand Admiral."

"Good, now the other matter at hand. I received Lieutenant Sajuuk's report pertaining to you. She doesn't seem to put much stock in your abilities."

Garin simply nodded despite his discomfort, "yes sir, she expressed such to me."

Thrawn nodded, smiling with what Garin swore was enjoyment. "I looked over her report, and considering your interaction with the Rebels in this last engagement she might have a point." Garin felt himself starting to perspire, was he about to get the axe? "However, I disagree with her conclusion that you are unfit for command of Hades, I feel that your actions thus far have been exemplary and I can think of few officers with your limited experience that would have performed as well in the situation I have placed you in. So, provided that you and the Lieutenant can continue to serve together, I see no reason to remove you, or her, from Hades wing."

Garin nodded, "no sir, I am more than happy to leave her in command of second squadron."

Thrawn looked like some kind of large feline that had a saucer of milk before it. "Excellent, for the time being I want the Black Knight to remain with the task force. We need to await orders from the Emperor before we act further against Zaarin. I suggest, Captain, that you get some rest, I imagine your unit could use it."

Garin saluted, "thank you sir, I'll do that as soon as I have the new ships and pilots integrated into the unit."

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"So after you reported in to Thrawn you received a significant upgrade as far as firepower was concerned."

I shrugged, smiling slightly. "Well he was right, if we were going up against a Grand Admiral we needed all the help we could get. The new men complicated things a little bit more than I liked, but we did have plenty of room aboard the Knight. She was designed to carry four-hundred soldiers and three wings of fighters and support craft. Up until that point we'd had only one wing of fighters, two assault shuttles and some small utility transports with only eighty commandos. We had all the room we needed to add the additional men and material."

"Just so we're clear on something, Thrawn kept your collusion with the Liberty task force a secret from even the Emperor?"

I nodded, sitting a little straighter in my chair, "he protected us from everything he could, even ourselves when the situation called for it."

"So then you received your orders?"

I smiled, so they didn't know everything that had happened, or why it took so long for us to move against Zaarin. Well there were something's best left to mystery, Thrawn's promotion was one of them. Besides, I could easily skip over the details and create something entirely feasible.

"It took a while, and at some point along the chain Zaarin realized what was going on and moved before we could…."

Approximately six years earlier, aboard the Victor Star Destroyer Avenger, Outer Rim Territories

"It's good to be back with the rest of the unit sir." Garin said, stepping off the shuttle and onto the ramp.

Thrawn nodded silently as the rest of the guests aboard his shuttlecraft debarked. Toth stretched luxuriously. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait to get back aboard the Knight."

Vic'que jabbed an elbow and glowered at him reproachfully, Toth shut up immediately as Thrawn turned to look at the pair appraisingly. He scanned the small entourage.

"Just so we are clear, no one outside of those who were at that ceremony are to know."

Everyone nodded and a chorus of 'yes sirs' answered him. Thrawn nodded his approval; "we will be waiting here until the rest of our task force arrives. We have been given a rather sizeable fleet to deal with this threat. Though we will, in all likelihood still be outnumbered. I will be counting on your unconventional tactics to help us prevail. Now, Captain, Lieutenants, report back to your ship and await further orders."

They saluted a final time as Thrawn turned to leave them; Garin glanced as his friends and nodded back towards the shuttle.

"And back we go," Matrin said with a smile, "home again home again--"

"--jiggery jig," Kalan finished with the same smile.

"Remind me to assign the pair of you extra training duties." Harth said.

"Yes sir!" Matrin chimed in.

As they boarded the shuttle Garin took a seat besides Toth, "nervous Lieutenant?"

"Who wouldn't be? I just got assigned my own squadron for no apparent reason other than we needed someone to command it."

"Sounds like a perfectly good reason to me." Matrin supplied.

"Just remember to remain sober while on duty and you'll do well." Harth said coldly, leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed.

"Gee thanks for your support," muttered Toth.

"Stop complaining Luixana," Vic'que said, despite being the only member of the current group not on a first name basis with the others she still mouthed off to all of them like she was.

"Well excuse me, I don't like being responsible for the lives of this many people, for that matter I don't like being responsible."

"Which makes me wonder how you got to be the Captain's exec," Harth muttered stoically.

"My infinite charms," Toth said with a grin.

"I'm sure the Major appreciates that more than most of us." Vic'que said coldly.

There was a sudden silence that settled over the group and everyone exchanged glances; that comment had just taken the conversation out of the realm of jest and into a more personal area that no one wanted to joke about.

"Alright, that's enough." Harth said, he held the highest rank of everyone barring Garin, and Garin was grateful his executive officer knew how to shut people up easily with his dangerous tone. "Lets all concentrate on our own affairs before we worry about everyone else."

The shuttle lifted off from the Avenger's hangar and they began the short trip to the Knight in silence, the feeling of animosity directed towards Vic'que was almost palpable.

"Do you think Toth can handle the new squadron?" Garin asked seriously as he looked over the latest personnel assignments.

"He's a solid combat officer, and he's done well as Shadow Squadron's XO," Harth said considering quietly as he looked over his own datapad. "He should be fine, and if not we can always give the squad to another officer."

"Practical as always, are you satisfied with the organization of the Skiprays?"

"They're light corvettes; they're better armed than most corvettes. I still have the same objection to them that I did before; they're too crew intensive for little purpose."

"They've got one of the most diverse armaments of any of our craft Harth," Garin reminded him.

"True, but they add no additional capability to our unit, your Defenders are already capable of performing any mission that they can barring capital ship assault, and especially with the addition of the fourth squadron equipped with Star Wings, it makes them redundant."

"So how do you suggest we use them?"

"As escort for the Knight and Razor team for now, if we really need them on heavier missions they can be used as heavy support for the assault shuttles."

Garin snorted, "those pilots are not going to be happy being assigned escort duty."

"They can either get used to it, or transfer as far as I'm concerned." Harth said without missing a beat.

"Diamond One indeed," Garin said with a smile, "why didn't you transfer Kal and Mat to the Skiprays? We could use a more experienced officer corps leading that unit."

Harth shrugged laconically, "their skills would be wasted, they are bomber pilots, pure and simple. I don't want to lose their skills to some pointless rear-guard unit."

Garin chuckled and shook his head, keeping his own opinions about why Harth kept the pair in Diamond. He'd be lonely without the pair of them to harass when they misbehaved or got too annoying. Of course that was just Garin's suspicion and he had no way to confirm it since Harth would never admit to something like that.

He frowned as he looked over the data before him, "has Toth given you the name for the new squadron yet?"

Harth looked up at him appraisingly, "yes, and he selected one for the Skiprays as well while he was at it."

"Of course," Garin said with a shake of his head. "What are they?"

"The Assault Gunboat unit is now callsign Gorgon, the Skiprays are Mantis."

"Well at least he stayed with reason for a change." Garin muttered with a smile.

"He wanted to call his unit the Drunken Banshees." Harth replied with a raised brow, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Garin winced and pinched the bridge of his nose, "okay, I think I'll need a drink to cure me of the headache that just caused."

He reached down to his cooled drawer and brought out his latest acquisition, courtesy of Toth no less, a Chandrillian Ale his friend had come across at some point in the last few weeks they'd been stationed with Thrawn's task force waiting for their reinforcements. He pulled out a pair of glasses and poured both, handing one to Harth who eyed it suspiciously.

"Don't make me order you, I'm not going to drink alone, and besides," he added, putting the bottle away. "One glass isn't going to get either of us drunk and you know it."

Harth snorted and took the offered glass, eying the amber liquor dubiously. "I submit that I do this under protest."

"So noted, cheers Lieutenant Arusi," Garin threw back his drink and placed it on the desk.

Harth raised his glass in turn, "and to you Captain Durives," and threw down his own drink before placing the glass next to Garin's. He winced a little and smacked his lips, "that is stiff, what in space did he put in it?"

Garin nodded clearing his head before he spoke. "I have no idea, but I stand by just one glass of it."

"Agreed sir, I will leave the drunk and disorderly to Toth if it's all the same to you."

Garin was going to make a further comment about it when his door shot open and without so much as a salute or an 'excuse me sir' Vic'que burst into the room.

"Have you seen?" She asked her tone hard and acidic.

Harth and Garin exchanged looks, "seen what 2nd Lieutenant?" Harth asked, emphasizing their rank difference rather pointedly.

She didn't react though, instead handing him the datapad she was clutching with white knuckles.

Harth took it and eyed it momentarily, his eyebrows raising speculatively. "Oh," was all he said before handing the pad to Garin.

Garin took it from him and looked, his reaction was more verbose than Harth's, he looked up at Vic'que he hadn't realized she was blonde there as well. He had a feeling he might need another drink considering the expression she had on her face, someone was going to need bacta.