Approximately 13 months earlier, Outer Rim Territories, on approach to the Star Destroyer Chimaera

Garin looked out the viewscreen of the shuttle and couldn't help the feeling of awe that crept into his gut; he hadn't seen a fleet like this in years. Not since Endor had he been in the presence of this many capital ships, he counted six Star Destroyers, both Imperator and Imperial classes* arrayed in a battle line, with smaller flanking cruisers and frigates hanging in their shadows at least two dozen of these smaller warships.

"Impressive isn't it," the shuttle pilot said without looking up from his task.

"Yeah, I haven't seen anything like this in a long time; I can't say it isn't intimidating."

The pilot chuckled, adjusting his thrusters, "yeah, the Admiral is good at scaring the spit out of people. Chimaera this is shuttle Aleph-Zeta, we are on approach."

"Clearance granted shuttlecraft, you are cleared to the secondary hangar."

The shuttle's wings folded up as it maneuvered into the smaller hangar, touching down gently on the deck.

"Good luck sir," the pilot said as he powered down the craft.

Garin nodded, not sure how much luck he'd need as he walked back towards the ramp leading down to the deck. It extended slowly, and he started down it before it touched the hull, stepping off before it made the metallic clink of touch down. He looked around the hangar with a deep breath, which quickly turned to a whistle as he saw the various shuttle and transport craft berthed in the hangar; it was quite the armada. He found himself wishing he could have landed in the main hangar where the fighters be loaded, he'd like to see the firepower that Thrawn was carrying. He spied an officer striding towards him, he stood to attention as the officer approached, this wasn't the Knight and Garin was once more under the command of ship captains. He'd have to get used to that he imagined.

He saluted as the officer reached him, and the salute was returned crisply. "Captain Gilad Pellaeon of the Chimaera; you must be Lieutenant-Commander Durives."

Garin froze, Pellaeon must have seen the shift because his eyes narrowed, "have we met?"

"Just in com logs sir, your order left a lot of good men and women at Endor to die."

Pallaeon's jaw tightened, "I did what I thought was tactically sound, preserving the fle—"

"With all due respect sir, if you hadn't conflicted with Teshlik we might have rallied the fleet and smashed the Rebellion; with the Emperor and Vader both gone we might have had a chance of seriously ending the war then and there."

Pellaeon ground his teeth, "I saved the fleet and maintained our fighting strength, the Grand Admiral—"

"Would have outnumbered the Alliance fleet by several factors and stood a good chance of crushing them, despite the losses sustained, if you had stayed and fought. It would have been a brutal battle, but we could have crushed them and rebuilt instead of losing more and more ground to them all these years."

Pallaeon regarded him for a long moment before finally speaking, "so what will you do now Lieutenant-Commander?"

"A year ago I probably would have hit you, but I'm too tired of all this for that anymore. I'm willing to start over, since it would seem that Thrawn has rebuilt the Empire's spine."

Pallaeon heard the insult and his face tightened significantly as he spoke, "the Grand Admiral is waiting for you, follow me."

Garin doubled over, clutching his stomach from the vicious kick the small, gray alien had delivered to him. It was the same species of whatever the one that had approached him on Coruscant had been and if it couldn't pack a hit he didn't know what did.

"Somewhere, you thought that I intended for you to squander the resources I had put at your disposal. I'm not entirely sure where you got this idea, but it is incorrect Lieutenant-Commander."

"What," Garin coughed, "what did you expect me to do? The Empire was shattered, scattered between maniacs like Isard and Zsinj, did you expect me to serve them obediently?"

Thrawn smiled coldly, steepling his fingers. "I expected you to survive, with Hades intact. Not disband it and scatter your forces to the winds. You're very fortunate that you and your men had the forethought to implement the ability to recall your people. Though I must admit, making this recall voluntary is yet another mistake on your part; I find your performance lacking."

"Oh forgive me for fighting all these years and finally realizing that it was no longer viable to maintain the unit safely." Garin snapped.

"Well," Thrawn said with measured annoyance, "you'll be glad to know that I have contacted Captain Chapela and she'll be joining the fleet within the next week. She has already issued the recall order, as for you Commander," Thrawn smiled at Garin's expression, "yes, you are now a Commander; I am assigning you a composite wing of Howlrunners and Scimitar bombers. I think that you need time away from your old command in order to rehabilitate yourself. Once that has been done, I fully intend to make use of both you and Hades."

Garin was standing again, looking at Thrawn dubiously, "what do you plan exactly?"

Thrawn chuckled, "I fully intend to wipe the Republic from the galaxy, and then finish what the Emperor started. Only as a united imperium can this galaxy hope to survive."

Garin blinked and studied Thrawn's features, survive what? Looking at Pallaeon he saw no recognition of what Thrawn meant and that was worrisome considering the Captain's place by the Grand Admiral's side. Thrawn was back…Garin wasn't sure how he felt about it.

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

"That was the end of last year wasn't it?"

I nodded, "I learned later that Thrawn had returned just before Zsinj's death and begun to consolidate his forces."

It hadn't been smooth sailing though; something, or someone, had gotten in Thrawn's way. I still wasn't sure why so many Imperial assets vanished into the deep core, but roughly seven tenths** of all Imperial combat units just vanished without a trace. The local warlords and moffs answered Thrawn's call of course, but where those other units had gone to, I'll probably never know.

"Why did Thrawn place you with another unit?"

"He felt I'd grown weak I suppose, that I needed to be reminded how the military worked." I smiled and chuckled a little, "worked too. Within that month my new unit was one of the best Thrawn had at his disposal and I was ready to fight again. Not as good as the 181st or Hades mind you, I didn't have that caliber of pilot or the time, but still damned good. We were responsible for bringing the last wayward moffs and warlords to heel and we did that job with excellence. Later, after Thrawn had brought in all the reinforcements he was going to get, we were among the first units to start conducting hit and run attacks on Republic targets."

Deana checked her datapad for a moment before nodding, "yes, the first attacks were by small composite groups if I recall correctly, Howlrunners, Star Wings, Skiprays, the new Scmitars*** and even advanced TIE models. We didn't know what was going on at first, but it was clear that someone had organized at least a component of the Empire's forces to start striking at us in such a coordinated manner."

"Yes, my team was one of those first strikers. It was actually relieving to finally have a mission again."

"You mean you were relieved you didn't have to make the decisions," she said, her tone growing hard and accusatory.

I shrugged, "use that tone all you like, but seriously. Can you tell me that you'd rather have absolutely no direction from a higher command that you'd rather be left to your own discretion for all your operations with no one higher than you?"

"Of course not, I wouldn't get anything done if I didn't report in or ask for orders."

I shook my head and smiled, "exactly, I'm no different. Sure I was a bit more independent than most commanders could have been, but after a time it got to the point where I couldn't make those kinds of choices anymore. That's the whole reason I disbanded the unit, because we just didn't have a mission any longer. We lost our purpose, with the return to a proper chain of command, and with a leader that we trusted, things were back to normal."

"But wait, you said that Thrawn beat you when you first returned."

"Yes, and he also executed those who performed with gross incompetence, he wasn't exactly forgiving and I would never claim otherwise. However he gave everyone who served under him reason to fight, and the confidence to do so. That direction had been sorely lacking in the Empire until that point."

The expression on her face was nothing short of complete bewilderment, "and yet you were willing to defect to the Alliance just before Endor, suddenly you became an Imperial all over again?"

"It wasn't about being an Imperial, it was about being home. Despite the reprimand from Thrawn, despite not flying with my unit those first weeks, despite all the doubts I'd had previously; when I went rogue I was fighting for a stable galaxy. Thrawn was offering that stability. He was that stability. More so than your Republic or Palpatine's Empire ever was; he was a chance to put the war to rest finally."

"The Empire could have just surrendered," she said darkly, "they still can."

"You see that's your problem," I said, leaning back and folding my arms. "You wont' accept anything short of total victory yourself. Nor will the Empire, both sides want the same thing, complete dominance. The only difference is in policy. What has the Republic gotten itself with all its freedoms? I knew what Thrawn was doing in the senate; he was setting your people off against each other like ravenous mynocks. You even canned your best admiral because a flea bitten senator sought that admiral's place of power. Thrawn's way wasn't brutal, he didn't conscript entire populations, xenophobia existed only because he'd yet to transition from typical Imperial units, and all he asked from the planets he took was that they provide his forces with supplies. Their customs, their way of life, was theirs to be had."

"And what makes the Republic worse?"

"I didn't say you were worse, just the same. You want people in this democracy of yours, they don't have a choice. If they aren't in it, you see them as a threat and move against them. You're doing exactly what Thrawn would have done, but you won't admit it to yourselves."

She worked her hands tensely and I smiled, yeah she didn't like what I was saying, but it was true. The senate was full of power players who cared little about the overall workings of the galaxy or its people so long as they got what they wanted. There were plenty of Imperials like that too, I wouldn't deny it, but again you knew the ones who would do it and you could deal with them knowing they'd do it. The Republic, you couldn't tell the poisonous snakes from the harmless ones; any of them could be your enemy as easily as your friend and all it took was a little personal gain for them to tip the scale against you.

Finally she spoke, "when did Hades return to operational status?"

I smiled, she was thinking now; I just wondered how far we were going to get though considering what was bound to happen sooner or later.

Approximately 11 months earlier, deep space, aboard the Black Knight

Garin looked around the hangar as he stepped off the shuttlecraft, immediately he was greeted by Kalan and Matrin's smiling faces as they mobbed him and slapped him on the back.

"Hey, we hear you've been having fun without us!"

"Yeah," Matrin said dubiously, "something about a bunch of new blood being trained for hit and run ops?"

Garin chuckled and held up his hands, "I swear it wasn't my idea."

"Good to have you back sir," Harth said stoically, though the larger man was smiling for what it was worth.

"It's good to be back," Garin looked at Orlis and Iriana, "how did you do on your own?"

Orlis raised an eyebrow, his hands clasped behind his back, "we managed sir."

Iriana smiled back at Garin ferociously, "I think it was actually quieter without you around Commander, congratulations on your promotion."

Garin looked at Harth, Kalan, and Matrin, "you've all been promoted again too, Lieutenant Commander Arusi and Captains Sele and Reath."

"Oh good, a new pay grade," Matrin said with a snort. "I wonder if I'll actually get paid now."

"What about Vic'que and Toth," asked Kalan curiously.

Garin smiled a little sadly, "Vic'que is staying with the 181st, she's still a captain last I heard. As for Toth," he shrugged with a smile, "he's a captain now too, that should make him happy, have no idea where he is; probably drunk."

"I the Major knows how to fly," Iriana said with a snort.

Another shuttle touched down and a small crowd came tramping down the ramp as it touched the deck.

"Speaking of Captain Luixana," Orlis said with a faint smile.

"Hey everyone, you aren't starting anything without me are you," Toth said jovially as he spied them and came over, looping an arm around both Harth and Garin's shoulders.

"Been behaving yourself captain," Harth inquired, shrugging off Toth's arm.

Before Toth could speak, Sissir joined the party with her usual gruff demeanor intact.

"We managed to start a small place despite Toth's rather lackluster money management skills. Once this is over we're going back to finish what we started."

"So you guys actually did it," Kalan asked excitedly, "started a vineyard?"

"Better believe it," Toth said grinning, "all of you had better come by sometime when this is all over."

"I'm sure we'll have the chance once we've finished," Iriana said handing Garin a datapad and stylus. "This is the list of everyone who will be returning."

Garin looked over the list and smiled, it wasn't that bad at all, most of the absentee Hades had taken the recall address with them when they'd left and it looked like almost all of them were coming back. He hadn't asked for replacements for those they'd lost just before disbanding, or to fill up the ranks of those who wouldn't be returning. Thrawn didn't have that kind of manpower to spare at the moment. The unit would be able to handle itself for now; they had their hardware intact after all. Automated systems and droids could pick up the slack where there was any. There was however, one request he needed to make; he tapped a slot and selected an item with a smile before handing the datapad back to Iriana.

She looked at the screen curiously curiously, "are they any good?"

"The maintenance crews are good, Chief Kerrila will make them better, the pilots aren't up to our standards but that will change. They're good at what they do and should integrate well; we need the reinforcement anyways."

"Speaking of Blue," Sissir said curiously, looking around the flight deck, "where is she? I'd expect to see her around here to welcome everyone back."

Iriana waved across the hangar to the opposite flight deack, "she's glued herself to the fighters again. I don't know how we would have kept everything in working order without her here. She's been working miracles with the members of her crew that stayed, and she's programmed the rest into the maintenance droids with a vengeance. Not a single slip up since we disbanded."

"That would be Daru," Toth said with a careful smile, watching Garin who was staring across at the rows of fighters and the swarm of techs and droids crawling over them. "You could go talk to her Gar."

"I could," Garin said simply before turning and walking towards the hangar's exit without a backwards glance.

They all watched him leave and exchanged the same expression; Orlis spoke first in his usual monotone manner.

"I do perceive that we might have a crisis on our hands."

Author's Note: It should be noted that there is some debate as to when exactly Thrawn returned. Some sources say he was back and in command of the Empire's forces around the time Isard lost Coruscant, roughly 6 years ABY. He may have very well returned by then, however given the lackluster performance by the Imperials at that time I do not believe he had yet taken command even if he had returned. There is no confirmed sighting of Thrawn until 8 years ABY, just before he commenced his assaults on the Republic.

*Since I don't recall if I ever clarified the distinction between these two warship classes I will do so now. The Imperator is also called the Imperial I, however many within and without the Empire still called it by the (Old) Republic title of Imperator. The true Imperial was the Imperial II class, so in my writings I have kept them distinct by titling Imperial I as Imperator and Imperial II as Imperial.

**This vanishing act was orchestrated by the cloned Emperor Palpatine who had finally issued a call for Imperial forces to rally at Byss. It is never established in canon whether or not Thrawn knew of this; whether he had his own agenda or was merely buying time for the revived Emperor. Given Thrawn's own words and actions, and what others who were close to him say in other sources after his death, I'm assuming that he was operating on his own and fully intended to unite the galaxy against the eventual threat of the Far-Outsiders (presumably the Yuuzhan Vong [it is interesting to note that Thrawn felt that even with the galaxy united behind him and his military genius at work, that he could not guarantee a victory against them. To my knowledge, this is only time he made such an admission]).

***As far as I've been able to tell the prototype for the Scimitar Assault Bomber first flew at Endor and saw service with various Imperial forces afterwards. The prototype version was based off of the original TIE Bomber; the final model did away with the twin ion engines that gave the TIE models their name and dual hull for a single cylindrical hull and more powerful engines. It was a much heavier and all round better bombing platform equipped with a substantially larger payload, shields, and even a hyperdrive. Despite proving superior (in every way but cost) to older bomber types, the Scimitar did not start seeing widespread use until Thrawn's return.