From Flames, I Soar

by Kurenaino

With the Empire at the height of its power and the shadow of a greater threat hanging above all those who would oppose Palpatine, the Specters, led by former Jedi Padawan Kanan Jarrus, are forced to contend with the Sith Lord that set the galaxy ablaze. Sequel to In Chaos, I Thrive.

72. Treason

AN: Hi. Long time no see, huh?

Part of the reason is that I just don't have time to write over the summers, but now summer is over and I can be back to writing regularly. This chapter actually comes to you in two parts. Part one is this one, obviously, and part two should come to you in September, hopefully on the early side. Why? Because, you silly bitches, it's actually almost done. Why not just release it in one chapter, then? Well. I'll tell you.

It's too fucking long. Alright?

Even by my standards, it's enormous. I don't know how it got to be this way, but I think you guys like shorter chapters better, and I'll get them out quicker that way too. But also, I wanted to get an Ahsoka theory out into the ether because I feel like that show's going to destroy my entire world without any mercy. Given the heavy wolf mythology that's been happening in the show so far, guys, you know they're bringing my boy Thrawn home in a ship called the Fenrir. Just watch.

Anyway! Enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think. I'm real excited for the next few chapters, so hopefully I'll get them out faster than I've been doing them.

Chapter 72: Treason

The Chimaera spent two more days in the region running cleanup operations, a task that Ezra was particularly fervent about, and his enthusiasm for drawing out Grysk ships was infectious. In the unassuming Ghost, Hera and her team managed to draw out two small warships by intentionally running into the blockage along the Batuu hyperlane. The first ship self-destructed as soon as it had sustained enough damage, but the second ship they managed to disable and capture, though by the time they boarded the ship, every alien aboard was dead.

However, what they found aboard the ship more than made up for it, the hasty attempt to manually destroy everything when Sabine had very cleverly disabled their electronics left behind a trove of information for the Chimaera's analysts to sort through. But best of all, in the commander's quarters, they found artwork, a collection of helmets and weapons that had been damaged, but were generally intact, more than enough to be useful to Thrawn. They weren't of Grysk make, that much was obvious from the widely different look of the pieces, but, as Thrawn was quick to determine, the damage to them was the work of the Grysk, a ritualistic defacing that expressed varying degrees of animosity and told him a very great deal about the enemy they faced.

Even more than the vast array of weapons, ships, technology and bodies they collected from Batuu.

On the second day, they uncovered the forward base, or what was left of it. There was little more than a debris field, the remnants too small for any sort of proper analysis. After devastating losses at both Batuu and Mokivj, it was little surprise that the Grysk had destroyed everything as they pulled out. With the Grysk gone, their time at the fringes of the Unknown Regions was over, and the Chimaera was on its way back to Imperial space, back to the mission they had abandoned when the Force called them out here.

And instead of finding Thrawn on the bridge, where he always was, Obi-Wan found him in one of the Star Destroyer's guest suites, surrounded by happily chattering little girls as they drew, read and, in the case of the youngest, was very delicately making a mused mess of the Admiral's usually immaculate hair as he studied one of the defaced helmets.

Obi-Wan was never going to stop teasing him.

"Oh, baby, you're so domestic…" Kenobi drawled as he stepped into the room, not a single one of the Chiss so much as looking up from what they were doing when he entered. With an amused smirk, he realized that they had likely already acknowledged his presence in the moments before he arrived. Precognition was always so delightful. "Having fun?"

"I have learned more about the Grysk these past few days than I have the entire duration of my campaign against them," Thrawn said, a slight, excited trill in his voice, and finally glancing up from the helmet, he caught the Sith Lord's eye and gestured to the seat across from him. Obi-Wan did as he was asked, settling into the indicated seat and flashing the girl in the seat beside him a tight smile, a thing she quickly mimicked before returning to her drawing.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you'd keep art supplies handy," Kenobi teased, the sly grin on his face dropping swiftly with a roll of his eyes when Thrawn didn't react. Making fun of the man was utterly pointless.

"The study of their weapons and armor informs our strategy and defenses of how best to deal with them," Thrawn continued, his eyes returning to the helmet in his hands. "That information, along with the understanding of their biology the dissection of the bodies provided us with, can likewise allow us new tactics that would allow us greater success in taking prisoners. But this…" he said reverently, his thumb slowly dragging along the slanted visor of the helmet. "While not created by the Grysk, this trophy, along with the others Captain Syndulla secured for my examination, has provided me with insight no amount of technology could."

"The damage was caused by the Grysk, yeah?" Obi-Wan asked, his head tilted as he looked at the alien helmet, the entire left side of it heavily defaced. "That sort of precision malice no doubt gives you a good look into their psychology."

"It gives me far more than that," Thrawn said, his voice low and grim, but an actual, genuine smile spread across his thin lips, the glowing red eyes flicking up to meet the Sith Lord's. "I believe I can discern the location of their homeworld."

"…you know where to find them?" Kenobi asked, his heart pounding with the excitement he felt charging the air, one of the few times he was able to clearly feel the flow of calm, stoic Thrawn's emotions.

"I believe I do," Thrawn said, his head tilting to the side when the little girl running her fingers through his hair climbed onto the arm of his chair to allow herself greater access to her work. "The Chiss have records of species and battles throughout history across the Unknown Regions, some of which correspond to the artistic style and design of these trophies the Grysk have collected. Cross-referencing them, I-"

"Have a general idea of where to find them," Obi-Wan finished, and Thrawn nodded, adjusting himself in the seat to allow more space for the girl. "I suppose," Kenobi drawled as he leaned back in his seat and grinned at the frankly absurd sight before him, "that all the tech you've captured, the location of the Grysk homeworld, and ten Chiss children will make a fine gift for that girlfriend of yours."

Obi-Wan's grin grew wider. That, at least, did get a reaction out of Thrawn, subtle as it was.

"Of course she will be pleased," Thrawn said, his voice the even monotone it so usually was, but this time, it was in contrast to the ever so slight crease between the ridges on his forehead. "She is an Admiral of the Chiss Ascendancy. Any information I can bring her on the nature of our enemy will be welcome. And the children," he said as he lifted the girl on the chair beside him and placed her delicately on the ground, "must be returned to the Ascendancy. Their abduction is a crime we will repay multifold."

"You're worried," Obi-Wan said flippantly, and Thrawn scoffed, his fingers running through his hair in an absent attempt to bring order to the mess that had been made of it, his eyes fixed on the girl as she skipped across the room to sit beside another girl and, chatting amicably, began to braid her hair.

"Why should I be worried?" Thrawn muttered. "I bring Admiral Ar'alani nothing but good news. And," he swiftly interrupted when it looked like the Sith Lord would speak again, "if things were catastrophically dire in the Ascendancy, they would not have sent her on an investigation so far from home. Things are not too late for my people."

"You're worried," Obi-Wan said again with a roll of his eyes. "Not about your people, not now that you have what you need to destroy the threat against them. You're worried about seeing her." That sly grin spread across his face again when Thrawn's features hardened with disagreement. "Because she isn't just an Admiral, is she? She's your girlfriend."

"Your logic is seriously flawed," Thrawn said stiffly.

"That's because this isn't logic, it's emotion," Kenobi drawled, the satisfied grin on his face growing wider when the Chiss' brow furrowed. "You have heard of emotions before, haven't you, dear?"

"I have been away from my people for a very long time," Thrawn said reluctantly, his gaze falling to the table for a moment before he glanced over at the group of four girls drawing at the other table. "I am eager to return to them."

"Oh, I know that," Kenobi said flippantly. "You never would have agreed to this alliance otherwise. I'm saying," he said as he leaned in toward the man, "that you're worried about seeing her. Specifically."

"Ar'alani is my oldest and closest friend," Thrawn said after a moment's hesitation. "I have spoken to her only briefly on a few occasions, but not often. It will be good to see her again."

"But?" Obi-Wan prompted, and this time, there was no mistaking the tightening of the Admiral's jaw and the hardening of his features.

"But…" Thrawn said slowly. "As I noted before, she may not be so eager to see me. My choice to join the Empire is likely to be seen as treason. I was sent to observe the Empire, not to join them. My mission was originally intended to take a few months, a year at most." He gave a small, defeated wave of his hand. "As you can see, I have been gone for considerably longer, under an unintended context."

"So you broke up with her to join the Empire," Obi-Wan said, and he pointed an accusing finger at Thrawn when the man drew up, his entire body tightening with objection. "Don't deny it, darling, it's obvious she means something to you, and from the way you describe her, I'd say it goes both ways. I can't think of a single military commander that wouldn't be thrilled to get rescued captives, a wealth of intact technology and information on an enemy force, not to mention all the Imperial intel I'm sure you'll be turning over. And yet, here you are, saying she won't be happy to see you?" Obi-Wan scoffed. "No, Thrawn, this is personal. And you know it."

A sly smirk pulled at the edge of Obi-Wan's lips as he leaned his cheek on his palm and watched the Admiral's confidence swiftly shatter. It was exactly as Thrawn had said. All he knew was war. Shifted away from battle, into a territory that was largely emotional, the man couldn't find his feet. It was like he knew the outcome, but was entirely incapable of understanding how it had gotten there. For a moment, Obi-Wan wondered if it wasn't just the woman's feelings he couldn't understand, but if Thrawn struggled with identifying his own emotions as well.

The longer he looked at the subtle changes in the Chiss' expression, the more he believed that was exactly what was going on in the Grand Admiral's head.

"What exists between Ar'alani and I is deep and extremely personal," Thrawn muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "It is unaffected by time and distance and it is not so simple or common to be reduced to the terms you are attempting to ascribe to it."

"I'm not ascribing anything…" Obi-Wan drawled as he leaned in to match the Grand Admiral. "All I'm saying is that this is personal."

"…yes…" Thrawn reluctantly agreed.

"Obviously this means a lot to you," Obi-Wan said as he leaned back in his seat. "You're worried that time and distance has eroded it."

"No," Thrawn said firmly, the confidence he had lost in the moments earlier swiftly returning. "What happens to me is irrelevant. If that is what I must pay in the protection of my people, so be it. It would not be the first time that the things I hold dear were demanded as sacrifice for the sake of the Ascendancy and I will gladly give all I am able to that end."

"You speak of your exile," Kenobi said, and Thrawn gave a small, tight nod.

"My preemptive strike against the Grysk forces orchestrating the destruction of the Ascendancy," Thrawn said, a hard, bitter edge in his tone that made Kenobi think that maybe, while the Chiss before him would always do what must be done, he had been deeply wounded in the process. "They had infiltrated our political system and turned the families against each other. Our leaders became so preoccupied with manufactured threats from within that they never bothered to look for the actual threats outside the Ascendancy." Thrawn shrugged. "I had to do something, or there would not have been an Ascendancy left to defend."

"So you brought the battle to them," Kenobi added.

"I did," Thrawn said darkly. "Ar'alani assisted me in gathering as many forces as we could manage in order to end the threat. We lured them into a trap and destroyed them all." Thrawn's shoulders slumped slightly, but his glowing eyes narrowed, the hard edge of his expression sharpened. "Preemptive strikes count among the most serious crimes in our current military doctrine, and the Syndicure wanted to bring all the commanders involved up on charges. The Supreme General and I decided it was best to give them me to spare the rest." At this, the Admiral's expression softened, a deep melancholy settling in beside his unshakable resignation. "It had to be done. Ar'alani knew this, though she disagreed with the decision at the time. Depriving the Ascendancy of all the commanders who had stood against the Grysk, those who could recognize their tactics and respond accordingly, would have been catastrophic."

"It's still a shoddy way to treat someone who protected them from disaster," Obi-Wan growled, offended for the man that sat before him showing no signs of offense himself despite what had been done to him. A faint, sad smile touched Thrawn's lips, his gaze flicking sideways for just a moment to see that all ten girls had stopped what they were doing and were resolutely staring at the two adults, nervousness and concern upon their faces.

"Ar'alani thought the same," Thrawn said quietly, flashing the girls a small, reassuring smile, but those glowing eyes still blazed with pain. "My command was taken from me, my honors and commendations stripped away, my family status revoked." He shrugged. "And then, exile, as you know."

"And you really want to save these people?" Obi-Wan asked, the challenge in his eyes disappearing swiftly when he too looked over at the children they had saved. The change in him didn't escape the Admiral, and he didn't respond, the question already answered.

"This is why we needs Ar'alani," Thrawn said instead. "I do not need permission to defend my people, but we will need her support to maximize our chance for a proper alliance."

"And you're sure she'll help?" Obi-Wan asked. "You said she might see your actions as treason."

"I also said this was strictly a military matter," Thrawn said calmly, his confidence and command back firmly in place now that they had returned to war. "She is an Admiral of the Chiss Ascendancy. Regardless of what she thinks of me, she will accept the information I have gathered and the assistance I can provide."

"And still," Kenobi drawled, "you're worried."

This time, when Thrawn's calm, unreadable expression faded away, a faint, sad but certain smile touched his lips, vulnerable and honest in a way he hadn't been before.

"I am not worried, but your assertion is generally correct," Thrawn said quietly, the hard edge gone from his voice and the smooth, even timbre of his voice almost soft. "Ar'alani likely does not view the…personal aspect of our separation as unchanging as I do." His shoulders hunched, and Thrawn's gaze broke from the Sith's to stare at the table, the briefest flash of guilt and regret in his eyes before he looked away. "She is…wounded. It is made all the worse by the knowledge that I am the one that inflicted the wound."

Thrawn paused for a moment, but Obi-Wan said nothing, allowing the Admiral the space to collect the thoughts that were obviously difficult for him to grasp. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the girls, all of them close together and deeply concerned, the youngest of the bunch shifting restlessly on her knees and looking as if she would leap up at any minute to run to their distressed savior. Obi-Wan shot them a swift, tight smile, pressed his finger to his lips, and though still concerned, the urgency of their agitation was relieved as they settled down and waited.

"I am not worried," Thrawn finally said, more confident than before, but the softness in his tone remained. "I am…uncertain. By how badly this wound persists, and by what her reaction will be. It is an easy thing for me to see and understand in an enemy," he said almost flippantly. "But with a friend. With her…" He shook his head and said nothing more, but he didn't need to. Finally, after all these years, after learning so much about the Chiss that had been his constant antagonist, Obi-Wan now finally understood him.

"I see now why this is eating at you," Obi-Wan said after a moment of silence, those red eyes flicking up from where he had been resolutely staring at a smudge on the table left by one of the girl's markers. "It's as you said. After all this time, for you, nothing's changed. You want to get back with her."

The visible confusion on Thrawn's face was, in short, the sweetest, most delicious thing Obi-Wan had even seen.

"Do I?" Thrawn muttered, more to himself than directed at the man opposite him, and again, his gaze drifted to the table, the shame and guilt and pain of the moments before gone as he now sat in silent contemplation of a thing that Obi-Wan realized the Admiral had never considered. And how could he, Kenobi thought wryly. When every thought was of war, it let little room for the consideration of love.

"I…do not know what I want," Thrawn finally said with a shake of his head, the confusion that had been there only a moment ago gone, the confidence returned along with the hard edge in his voice. "But it is irrelevant regardless. The only thing that matters is the elimination of the Grysks."

"For now, in any case," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "You know, Thrawn, when this is all over, you're going to have to deal with this."

"When this is all over, we begin our campaign against Palpatine," Thrawn said flatly, and the hard look the Sith Lord shot him made an ever so slight smile play at the edge of his lips. "…perhaps…" His calm restored, Thrawn turned his attention on the children. "Yes, girls?" he asked in Cheunh, and only the eldest, a girl of twelve, had the nerve to stand and speak.

"Is something wrong?" she asked timidly. "Are we going home?"

"Nothing is wrong," Thrawn said, the calming monotone of his voice firmly back in place as his emotions were pushed to the back of his mind. "As we discussed earlier, we will first rendezvous with a warship of the Expansionary Defense Fleet. Then," he said quietly, his eyes closing as he took a long, deep breath, "yes. We return home."

---

Commodore Karyn Faro paced the command walkway, getting the results of yet another system check she had ordered from the officers in the crew pits. After their brief foray into Wild Space, they were finally back on track and solidly within the boundaries of the Empire, the ship returned to reliable, calculated navigation through well defined hyperlanes. And now, back en route to track down and rendezvous with the Chiss conducting a survey deep in Imperial territory, another thing that didn't sit terribly well with Faro, all that was left to do was wait until their arrival at the target system.

Faro hated waiting.

The waiting was made even worse by the unwanted presence on the bridge. While most of the other rebels kept as far away from the command structure as possible, the menace that was Obi-Wan Kenobi had barely left the Grand Admiral's side since he was brought on board. Even now, he stood beside the command chair, looking over Thrawn's shoulder as they read through the information on his datapad, the two occasionally speaking to each other in every language imaginable except Basic. It carried a sense of secrecy that Faro didn't much like. She was used to Thrawn playing things close to his chest, but she trusted Thrawn implicitly and knew that, when the time came, he would tell her everything she needed to know.

She didn't trust Obi-Wan Kenobi at all.

All that mistrust, all that suspicion came to a grinding halt when the Chimaera dropped out of hyperspace a full hour before they were scheduled to arrive.

"Battle stations!" Faro snapped, a deep pit sinking in her stomach when she saw the scanners showed nothing in range. It was as she feared. This situation was identical to the situation they encountered on their way to Batuu only a few days ago. The Grysks were here. Deep in Imperial space. True, they were nowhere near any of the main hyperlanes, choosing instead to take smaller, less defined routes on their way to meet the Chiss just in case Vader had sounded the alert on the Chimaera seemingly having gone renegade. But from where they were right now, it was only an hour to the nearest major system, and from there, only a three hour jump to Coruscant itself.

By preparing the ship for combat, she had effectively usurped command from the Admiral on the bridge, but given the circumstances, she was certain Thrawn wouldn't mind.

"Full sensors," Thrawn said from just behind Faro, and the woman flinched. She had been so preoccupied with what was going on that she hadn't noticed the Admiral had left his command chair. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Kenobi had taken the command chair, his head bowed and his eyes closed.

"Contact!" Hammerly called from the sensor station, and both Faro and Thrawn looked down into the pit where she sat. "Ship debris bearing zero-one-eight by twelve, two kilometers out."

"It must be the Grysks, sir," Faro ground out between clenched teeth, her gaze shooting toward the viewport. "What are they doing this deep in the Empire?!"

"Patience, Commodore…" Thrawn muttered, his datapad in hand as he quickly worked. "If it is indeed the Grysks, we will discover their purpose soon enough. But first, we confirm it is them."

"Which we should be able to easily do…" Faro said, a grim smile on her face. "Because you've studied the gravity well generators we captured at Batuu. If it's them-"

"We already have the parameters of the device they use," Thrawn finished, his finger swiping across the datapad. "Lieutenant Pyrondi, I have sent you your targeting coordinates. Ion cannons."

"Yes sir," Pyrondi said, and out the viewport, the black of space lit up with streaks of green ionic energy precisely fired at the three target zones Thrawn specified. Most of the shots hit nothing and dissipated, but the second target area flashed with a flicker of light, and a cylinder, the same cylinder as the ones they captured at Batuu, popped into view.

"Cease fire," Thrawn commanded into the suddenly deathly quiet of the bridge, and the ionic energy swiftly ended. "Commander Hammerly, continue your sensor sweep. Lieutenant Pyrondi, keep weapons on high alert."

"They're here…" Faro said, her mind still reeling from the implications of hostile aliens in Imperial territory with seemingly nobody even aware of them. "Do you think-"

"Yes," Thrawn interrupted, his eyes fixed on the sensor display at the asteroid field out near the ruined ship. "They certainly have someone monitoring this area. There is likely a cloaked ship somewhere nearby."

"More than that…" Kenobi muttered, and both Faro and Thrawn turned to face the command chair where the Sith Lord sat, his eyes open and glowing a blazing gold. "There's a disturbance in the Force. Something else is out here."

"A disturbance like before?" Thrawn asked, and slowly, Kenobi shook his head.

"No, not like before…" the Sith Lord muttered, his eyes closing as he dipped back into the Force. "This disturbance is different. But there are Chiss here, Thrawn," he said, a wry smirk on his lips. "Nearby. Lots of them."

The Chiss warship, Faro thought as she looked to her Admiral, and though Thrawn didn't so much as acknowledge it, there was no mistaking the silent satisfaction and relief on his face.

"What can cause such a disturbance?" Thrawn asked instead, his steady gaze fixed on the Sith Lord as the golden eyes twitched.

"Fear and terror in suitable amounts can disturb the Force, as it did with the girls," Kenobi said, his fingers drumming on the arm of the command chair. "But the most reliable cause of a disturbance in the Force? Murder…" For a moment, Thrawn was silent as he stared at the Sith Lord, and without warning he turned away from him and strode down the command walkways, his eyes narrowed with new resolve.

"Commander Hammerly, widen the search," Thrawn ordered calmly. "We now seek an observation post or a research center."

"Sir, the warship…" Faro began, but was pinned in place by glowing red eyes that glanced at her from over the Admiral's shoulder.

"We have time, Commodore," Thrawn said, continuing his way toward the viewport, and Faro fell in behind him when he gestured for her to follow. "Observe the asteroid field," he said when she reached his side, and with a frown, Faro slid her datapad out of its pouch on her belt and pulled up the sensor readings Hammerly was working on, the focus shifting to expand her previous search, but her earlier results were available. "While it may provide ample places for a cloaked ship to conceal itself-"

"It will also show the gravitational effects of an invisible mass nearby," Faro finished as she understood, her eyes raking over the data as she looked for the subtle signs of the cloaked ship.

"Found it!" Hammerly called from her station. "There's a research post four kilometers to starboard."

"Well done, Commander," Thrawn said quietly, his eyes never leaving the viewport. "Helm, bring us in."

"Sir…" Faro said quietly as the stars outside the viewport shifted as the Chimaera rotated to angle in toward the research post. "We know there's a ship out there, we know where it is-"

"Our answers will be at the research post," Thrawn interrupted, his eyes fixed forward and a hard, determined edge in his voice. Breaking his focused stare, he glanced down at Faro and gave the worried woman a small, tight smile. "We have time, Commodore, and we must intercept any efforts they make to destroy the outpost," he said quietly, reassuringly, his attention returning to the viewport. "Helm, continue."

Not a second later, the rear displays lit up with a flash as one of the larger asteroids in the field exploded, sending a shower of smaller rocks and debris flying outwards, and in its place now sat a warship, the breaking wave designs of the hull similar to the ships they had encountered at Batuu, but this one was far larger, a heavy cruiser class at the very least. The asteroid had merely been a protective shell to conceal the ship, and now exposed, the Chimaera's sensors began to flash with warning alarms as the ship behind them began moving toward them, their weapon systems quickly coming on line and locking on to their target.

Faro looked up at Thrawn and saw a smile on the Chiss' face.

"Found the warship, sir," Hammerly said dryly from her station.

"Indeed…" Thrawn said, the slightest hint of amusement in his voice. "We have a few more moments before they are in range. Continue your sweep, Commander." He took the com off his belt, paused for a moment, and then activated it. "Lieutenant Dobbs, how long before your squadron will be prepared to launch?"

"You called battle stations, sir," the TIE Defender's commander voice came from the com, and Thrawn looked sideways at Faro, a small, approving smile on his lips. "I assumed you'd want us. We're ready to go at your order."

"Very good," the Admiral said briskly. "Prepare for launch."

"Contact!" Hammerly said stiffly, and both Thrawn and Faro looked down into the pit at the sensor station. "Second warship, sir, unknown design! They…sir, they're firing weapons!"

"Yes…" Thrawn muttered quietly, his eyes running over the scroll of information. "Though not at us."

"Is it the Chiss, sir?" Faro asked, and this time, there was no mistaking the satisfied smile on the Admiral's face.

"It is indeed…" Thrawn said quietly, and Faro looked over her shoulder at the Sith Lord who had known the Chiss had been here, so very far away from where they were supposed to be. "Lieutenant Pyrondi, on my mark, fire ion cannons at the research post, then full turbolaser salvo at the Grysk ship. Lieutenant Agrol, once the salvo is away, swing to face the approaching ship while dropping our bow and turning to present our dorsal surface toward them. At that moment, Commodore, you will launch the TIE Defenders."

A chorus of affirmatives sounded across the bridge as the officers set to work preparing their stations for the Admiral's orders. Eyes fixed on the displays, Thrawn silently counted down, watching as the Grysk approach toward them slowed as they turned their attention on the smaller and closer Chiss warship. They were out of range, the Chimaera drifting even further away as they continued their drift toward the research post when Thrawn's features hardened.

"Lieutenant Pyrondi, fire," The Admiral commanded, and all at once, everything was set into motion. Shots of ionic energy struck the research post, the lights flickering as the power within was overloaded and disabled temporarily, and immediately after, a full spread of turbolaser fire shot toward the warship, the viewport shifting and turning with the ship just in time to see the green energy dissipate uselessly before it even reached the Grysk ship. It would have been a waste, and utterly careless mistake, if the show hadn't concealed the launch of twelve TIE Defenders. Which it obviously had. The Grysk ship hadn't even responded to the Imperials, and the Defenders were well on their way and quickly closing the gap.

"Lieutenant Dobbs," Thrawn said, his fingers swiftly moving over his datapad. "I am sending you your targeting information. Divide your force to attack the following targets, one group to destroy the hyperdrive, the other to take out the weapon emplacements."

"Got it, sir," the TIE commander said briskly, and on the tactical, the Defenders split up as they converged upon the warship, who had finally woken up to the starfighters that were suddenly upon them, the entire ship seeming to jerk as it moved to respond to the new threat.

"Helm, move us into combat range," Thrawn said coldly, a hard, tight smile on his lips as he watched the Grysk ship turn away from the Chiss and begin moving in quickly toward the Chimaera. "Let us see how well they fare against an Imperial Star Destroyer. Lieutenant Pyrondi, turbolaser fire. The Chiss have laid the groundwork for their destruction. Let us finish it."

There was a brief flicker of confusion on Pyrondi's face, her eyes narrowing as she leaned forward and took a closer look at the displays and Hammerly's scans. A satisfied, understanding smirk slowly spread across her face as she leaned back in her seat and keyed the turbolasers onto her chosen targets.

"They've weakened the integrity of the hull," Pyrondi said as the turbolasers she fired flew across the open space and slammed into the blackened pits on the otherwise pristine gray hull of the Grysk warship. Jets of fire and debris shot into space as the ship was cracked open, the blackened metal disbursing the energy across the area made brittle by the Chiss attack, the shields that protected the rest of the ship unable to cover the sections of hull that the damage had left unmagnetized.

"That's a pretty good trick," Faro said, glancing sidelong at the Admiral. "How'd the Chiss manage that?"

"The weapons and technology used in the Unknown Regions is quite different from what you are accustomed to," Thrawn said quietly as he watched Pyrondi's precision attacks perfectly strike the weaknesses burned into the Grysk hull. "But so far as I know, the Chiss are the only ones that load breacher missiles with acid."

"Clever…" Faro muttered as she quickly entered in orders on her datapad for the Defenders to retreat, the tactical showing the entire squadron peeling away a moment later as they swiftly followed the order. If she was right, it wouldn't be long now before the Grysk destructed their own ship. With their damaged hyperdrive leaving them no chance of escape and the battle swiftly having turned against them with the appearance of the Chiss warship, destruction seemed inevitable. When Thrawn didn't countermand the order, she knew she had the right of it.

"Sounds to me that acid would be difficult to pull off or it would be more widespread," Hammerly said, and Pyroni scoffed from her station.

"Maybe," she said with a shrug as she fired another salvo of turbolaser fire. "But when it works, it works really well." Not a moment later, the Grysk warship exploded, a bright flash of light making Faro shield her eyes and flinch for the impact of debris she knew was coming, but nothing came. The explosion was so violent, so complete, that the ship had been reduced to dust and debris no larger than pebbles, the remains so small that the bridge's point defenses didn't even activate in response. All that was left, now clearly visible in space before them, was the Chiss warship and the occasional flash of light off the hull of the Defenders as they returned to the Chimaera.

"Open a channel to the Chiss ship," Thrawn said quietly, and the communications officer quickly did so, the Admrial drawing up tall when the channel had been open. "Chiss warship," he said in Cheuhn, "this is Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Empire. I thank you for your assistance, and would be honored if you joined me aboard the Chimaera for a consultation." With a gesture of his hand, the com cut, and Thrawn turned on his heel and strode down the command walkway, Faro following close behind him.

"I am going for an examination of the research post," Thrawn said to the Commodore. "Have a squadron of Stormtroopers readied to accompany and prepare my shuttle. Obi-Wan," he commanded as he passed by the command chair where the Sith Lord still sat. "With me."

"Sir, wait!" Faro called as Kenobi rose to follow, and the Admiral turned, looked at her for a long moment, and then slowly strode back to where she stood, just out of earshot of the Sith Lord. "There is a hostile alien force in Imperial space," Faro whispered, a low, angry rumble in her voice. "This is a matter that very directly concerns the Empire, and I don't trust the rebels to be involved in handling it."

"I agree," Thrawn said quietly. "The rebel anger against the Empire is indeed deep, and would likely severely impact their judgement in a matter such as this. We will not involve any of the Phoenix Squadron while we seek a resolution to this incursion." Thrawn gestured back to Kenobi, who now stood waiting at the door to Thrawn's aft bridge office. "But Obi-Wan Kenobi is not one of them, as much as they wish to believe it, and I would like to test his abilities further."

"You actually trust him?" Faro scoffed, her reflexive revulsion only growing in the pit of her stomach when the Admiral nodded.

"I do," Thrawn said. "He has had countless opportunities to destroy us or seize command of the Chimaera. We live, Commodore, because he is committed to cooperation." A shiver ran up Faro's spine, but she said nothing more, only gave the Admiral a tight nod, her eyes fixed on the unnatural, molten eyes of the Sith across the bridge. "The ship is yours," Thrawn said as he turned away and began making his way back toward his office, his fingers sliding over his datapad. "Lock down the rebels if you feel you must."

He didn't look back to see Faro salute in acknowledgement of her orders, only looked at his datapad as he read the terse Chiss response to his invitation. Faro wouldn't lock the rebels down, he knew. She was too good for that, and despite her objections, she had seen the Phoenix Squadron work well with Imperial forces over the past week during their work out by Batuu. There was a long way to go before either group trusted the other, a thing that perhaps would never be truly accomplished, but the first steps had already been taken.

For now, though, the commander of the Chiss warship Steadfast was on the way, at their convenience, to meet aboard the Chimaera, and Thrawn had every intention of being in the hangar to meet her.

"Trouble?" Kenobi asked as he followed the Admiral into his office, his eyes fixed on the man as he watched him take an armored chest protector off a hook on the wall and strap it to him.

"No trouble," Thrawn muttered, walking round to the other side of his desk and pulling out two additional weapons from the desk drawers that he secured to his belt. "What will we find at the observation post?" Thrawn asked the Sith Lord as he passed by him on his way out of the office, gesturing for him to follow as he stepped into the waiting turbolift.

"Bodies," Obi-Wan said as the doors slid closed. "And maybe an awful lot of information. I don't think they'll be able to purge the entire system so quickly. They certainly weren't expecting us to stumble on them."

"Were they not?" Thrawn asked, and the Sith's eyes narrowed. "They set up a gravity well generator out here, far away from any major travel lanes. The purpose here is not obstruction, as it was at Batuu. It is capture and research."

"Which lends itself to a more important question," Obi-Wan said with a slow, understanding nod as he followed the Admiral's line of thought. "Why here?"

"Indeed…" Thrawn said grimly, his voice lowering as the turbolift door slid open to the deck of the primary hangar, and the two men stepped out into a bustle of activity. Technicians and pilots tended to the starfighters and various equipment within, orderly rows of Stormtroopers marched across the deck and up the ramp of a waiting transport, and a small group of officers were preparing a Lambda shuttle for flight. But more importantly, there was a nervous buzz in the air as the arrival deck was cleared and prepared, and only a few moments later, all sound was drowned out by the sharp whine of engines and the roar of maneuvering jets as a foreign shuttle passed through the environmental shields and settled down on the deck.

Obi-Wan looked up at the Admiral when he saw the multi-circle design on the side of the almost reptilian looking shuttle, a far cry from the Empire's more stark, angular design. Thrawn's face was expressionless, the blank neutrality there familiar and simultaneously so different from usual. Normally, Thrawn exuded calm, a thing that came from his infuriating talent for predicting how his enemies would behave. But Obi-Wan had cracked that shell just the other day, had gotten beneath the impenetrable shell of warrior and tactician to find the man, just as flailing and vulnerable as the rest of them.

Thrawn looked calm now, yes, but it was deliberately affected, not genuinely felt, a thing the Sith Lord could easily detect in the subtle shifting of the muted grays of the Chiss' presence. He wasn't sure if Thrawn was capable of being anxious, but as the ramp of the foreign shuttle hissed open, he suspected this was as close as the man got to it.

The entire situation was made even more tense with the Sith's keen awareness that every Imperial in the hangar had stopped what they were doing to watch their visitors disembark.

A wide grin spread across Obi-Wan's face as he watched a Chiss woman stride down the ramp and he immediately understood where Thrawn's nerves came from. The woman was beautiful, her blue skin and long, straight blue-black hair a stark, intimidating contrast to the white uniform she wore, much like Thrawn, but she somehow wore it better. Thrawn was genius, yes, an unparalleled tactician and strategist who had more than earned the respect of his crew, but this woman exuded command in a way Thrawn didn't, a thing that came from a place that forged passion, which was something calm, muted Thrawn didn't express.

A brown haired, anxious human in a black Ascendancy uniform followed the imposing woman, and Kenobi's grin was wiped away by an inquisitive glance up at Thrawn, which the Admiral ignored entirely. Certainly they didn't have humans all the way out in Chiss space, and by the way the man's ruddy skin paled when his eyes met the Sith Lord's, Obi-Wan decided that this man must have come from the Empire, must have worked with Thrawn and been sent to the Chiss, if he could recognize him on sight like that. And he did recognize him. Even in that brief surge of shifting emotions in the Force, Obi-Wan could see that.

The woman gave away far less, but like Thrawn, the neutral expression on her face was studious, effectively concealing the anger Kenobi could sense within her. No wonder Thrawn had been nervous.

"Admiral Ar'alani," Thrawn greeted the woman in Cheunh, his voice grave, but otherwise as monotone as always. "It is good to see you again."

"And you, Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo," Ar'alani said with a nod, and while neither Chiss displayed any emotion, Obi-Wan found himself biting back an instinctive cringe. Full names were never a good thing, and if Thrawn was as close to this woman as he had previously said, then his assessment was most likely correct. Ar'alani was certainly not happy to see him.

"I trust you are well?" Ar'alani continued.

"I am," Thrawn said, his posture straightening. "The Empire appreciates your assistance in defeating the Grysk warship."

"The Ascendancy was pleased to do so," Ar'alani replied, so stiff and formal that Obi-Wan nearly rolled his eyes. "I trust you suffered no casualties."

"None," Thrawn said quietly. "And you?"

"The same."

Thrawn nodded, took a small step back, and looked at the human standing at Ar'alani's side. "Good day, Lieutenant Vanto," Thrawn said to the human, his attention swiftly shifting back to Ar'alani, and Obi-Wan kept his attention on the young man, his expression shifting from anxious, to hopeful, then to flabbergasted disbelief all in the span of a few seconds. "We need to go to the observation post," Thrawn continued, gesturing for the Chiss and her human lieutenant to follow as he began striding toward his own waiting shuttle. "Time is short, and we must move swiftly to secure the post before the information is destroyed."

"You have not yet secured it?" Ar'alani said, a frown on her face as she recoiled even as she followed Thrawn toward his shuttle.

"My resources are limited," Thrawn said, gesturing toward the troop transport and the division of neatly ordered Stormtroopers as they secured themselves for their departure. "My soldiers will accompany us now for an initial sweep."

"This is reckless," Ar'alani admonished, the slightest hint of anger and disapproval entering the edge of her voice. "Even for you."

"You are welcome to remain here," Thrawn said, stopping before the ramp of the Lambda to turn and look at the woman. "I can send you word once the observation post is secured."

"And what if something happens to you?" Ar'alani said stiffly. "What will your ship do should they suddenly lost their commander?"

"My Commodore is more than capable," Thrawn said dismissively as he turned and started up the ramp, his hand on Kenobi's shoulder. "And nothing will happen. That is what I have him for."

"An aide?" Ar'alani scoffed. "What good will he do?" she asked, but Thrawn and the Sith Lord had already disappeared inside the Lambda. Giving Vanto an exasperated look, she rolled her eyes and cautiously followed Thrawn up the ramp, her eyes roving around the inside of the Imperial ship and settling on where Thrawn and his human were strapping into the acceleration couch. Gesturing for Vanto to follow, Ar'alani sat in the seat opposite Thrawn, swiftly strapped herself in, and locked eyes with the other Chiss. The ship shuttered beneath them, and a moment later, they were off, the Lambda flying swiftly and smoothly toward the observation post, the troop transport visible out the viewport as it flew beside them, the cabin deathly silent as the two Admirals stared each other down.

"He's not an aide," Vanto choked in accented Cheunh, breaking the heavy, awkward silence, and wishing he hadn't said anything when he felt three pairs of glowing eyes suddenly upon him. He sunk down further into the seat, silently cursing himself for thinking that talking was better than the silence of powerful people. "He's a rebel leader," Vanto continued, looking at Ar'alani and staunchly refusing to meet the golden gaze of the man he was speaking about. "A Sith Lord."

"Sith?" Ar'alani asked skeptically, her gaze flicking over to rake over the human beside Thrawn. "He is a sorcerer?"

"He is also fluent in Cheunh," Thrawn said quietly, his gaze fixed out the viewport. "There is a ship docked to the station."

"Yes…" Ar'alani said, turning around in her seat to look out the viewport to see what Thrawn did. "We observed that ship pulled from hyperspace and attacked."

"How long ago?" Thrawn asked.

"Not long," Ar'alani responded tersely. "A few hours." She gestured out to the station as they rapidly drew closer to it. "It's an interesting design. Not one I've seen before."

"Nor I," Thrawn muttered, his eyes narrowing as his gaze tracked along the dark station, still out of power after the Chimaera's ion attack. "It is certainly not a design that is used within the Empire. I believe it was created by one of the Grysk client species."

"Perhaps they can give us some insights regarding our enemy," Ar'alani said tersely, and this time, Obi-Wan shook his head.

"No, they won't," the Sith Lord said in Cheunh, and Vanto ground his teeth together when he heard how much better Kenobi's Cheunh was than his. Ar'alani's eyes narrowed, a scornful frown on her lips as she turned her attention on him.

"Perhaps their reluctance can keep information from you, sorcerer, but the Chiss have methods of extracting the information we want," she snapped, and a slow, easy smile spread across Obi-Wan's lips.

"I'm sure…" Kenobi drawled. "But I somehow doubt that even the Chiss have ways of extracting information from the dead."

"They have been murdered," Thrawn said quietly, a slight twitch at the edge of his lips, his brow furrowing slightly, and he glanced at the Sith beside him. "All of them?"

"All of them," Obi-Wan said, closing his eyes and dipping into the Force, turbulent and disturbed as it was, and he frowned, sensing something else, something familiar…

"He cannot know that," Ar'alani said stiffly, this time addressing Thrawn, the calm neutrality that had been on her face before now gone and replaced with disbelief and irritation.

"He knows," Thrawn said, so calm and confident that Vanto couldn't keep himself from shivering. He had been in the presence of the Emperor once, long ago, and he had the same sense about him, the same glowing, unnatural eyes that seemed to look right through everything and instinctively know. It was absurd, a thing born from magic and myth, but for a Chiss, an orderly, logical species, for Thrawn, to believe such a thing, it had to be true.

And that was the worst part about it.

"There are Grysk aboard," Obi-Wan said, opening his eyes and looking out at the observation post they were now flying closely beside as they began the docking procedure.

"Many?" Thrawn asked, and Kenobi shook his head.

"Only two. But that's not what matters." Eyes narrowed as he grasped hold of that faint, familiar feeling in the Force, he locked gazes with intense, commanding Ar'alani before he looked up at Thrawn. "There's a Chiss in there. A girl."

This time, all sense of carefully crafted neutrality failed the two Admirals, expressions of surprise and disbelieving horror on their faces, if only for a moment.

"You are certain?" Thrawn asked, and the Sith Lord nodded.

"That's impossible!" Ar'alani snapped, her furious glare fixed on Thrawn. "What did you tell him, Mitth'raw'nuruodo!"

"If you are asking if he knows about the Sky Walkers, he does," Thrawn said calmly, which only seemed to make the Chiss woman seem more betrayed than angry, though out of the corner of his eye, he could see a wry, amused grin coming to Kenobi's face. "Only because necessity demanded it."

"The deepest secrets of the Ascendancy are not yours to give!" Ar'alani snarled, all pretense of attempted professionalism gone in an instant.

"They are," Thrawn said evenly, "when he rescued ten Chiss girls from Batuu only a few days ago." A storm of emotions played across Ar'alani's face, rage, fear, shock, disbelief and relief, all which translated to the wide-eyed stare she fixed on Thrawn, her slack jaw stunned into wordlessness. Thrawn unfastened his restraints and stood, an intense, urgent glow burning in his eyes as he looked at the Sith Lord. "Is the girl alive?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan responded without delay. "But something's off. She feels distant."

"Perhaps you sense the Sky Walker aboard the Steadfast," Thrawn suggested.

"No," Obi-Wan said firmly as he also unfastened his restraints and stood. "I can feel the Chiss navigators. Five of them, but only four are children." Thrawn flicked a glance over at Ar'alani and Eli Vanto for confirmation, and the stunned disbelief of both showed everything he needed to see. Obi-Wan pointed out the viewport at the observation post they were now docking with. "I know what I feel, Thrawn. She's alive, and she's in there."

"Then we must act with all due haste, before she is killed as well," Thrawn said, pressing the hatch controls and standing back as the door hissed, the docking mechanisms and environmental seals engaging to lock them to the hull.

The door finally slid open to reveal the smooth surface of the observation post's docking door, unable to open since the ionic attack from the Chimaera sapped the stations power and it had yet to return. Standing aside and gesturing to the door, Thrawn took a few steps back to where Eli and Ar'alani now stood as Obi-Wan strode forward, lightsaber in hand. With a snapping thrum, the red blade extended, the low hum becoming a sharp, crackling hiss as Kenobi drove the blade through the metal and began cutting away at the door, the molten trail of super-heated metal swiftly warming the cabin.

"You have Sky Walkers aboard your ship?" Ar'alani finally asked, drawing closer to Thrawn as she watched the Sith Lord work. "Ten of them?" Thrawn nodded, but said nothing, and the woman's anger flashed red through her. "And when exactly were you planning on telling me this?"

"When it became convenient to do so," Thrawn said flatly, drawing his blaster as the circular cut in the door passed the halfway point. "The current situation has rendered our time short and valuable. This particular mission must come before all else." He glanced down at the woman, the neutrality of his expression broken by the faintest smile that touched his lips. "When we have the time, there is a great deal we must discuss."

"Ready?" Obi-Wan asked as he pulled the blade out of the metal and stepped away, the blade remaining ignited in his grasp as he raised his other hand toward the circular wedge he had cut still sitting in its place.

"I will be taking Lieutenant Vanto and Admiral Ar'alani to the control hub to secure what information we can," Thrawn said, an almost urgent strain in his voice. "The Stormtroopers will secure the station. You locate the Sky Walker."

"Got it," Obi-Wan said, his fist clenching as he grabbed tight to the Force, and it slipped through his fingers when Thrawn's cold hand grasped his shoulder.

"When the Stormtroopers find you on their sweep," Thrawn whispered in Basic, so quiet there was no chance that Ar'alani or Eli heard him, "tell them the Sky Walker is dead. I feel there is a mystery here we must solve."

With a nod, Obi-Wan's hand tightened again, and he pushed outward, the cut wedge flying out of the door and slamming against the corridor wall, and without a moment's hesitation, Kenobi rushed into the station, following the small tremor of life through the wild disturbance of death in the Force. It didn't take him long to find bodies, aliens he didn't recognize laying in pools of pale pink blood, their bodies covered in stab wounds. It was gruesome, needless when faster, cleaner methods of execution existed, which meant the Grysks that has enacted the slaughter likely weren't armed with blasters.

A smile fluttered across Kenobi's lips as he slowed, coming to a stop outside an open door that led into what looked like a medical center. Thrawn was right. There was a mystery to solve here.

There were more bodies in the room, three of the aliens he had seen scattered through the ship crumpled on the floor, in addition to a human strapped into an examination chair and slumped where he sat, blood still sluggishly dripping out of the stab wounds near his heart. In the middle of the room was an examination table and a small body laying upon it, the head and chest covered by a folded white cloth, pristine despite the slaughter around it.

Stepping closer, Obi-Wan pulled the covering back and looked down at the Chiss child that laid upon it, still and silent, her hands tucked underneath her. Head tilted, he pressed his fingers to the girl's neck, the blue skin cold to the touch, and grinned. Chiss body temperature was considerably colder than humans, and there was no doubt this girl was alive even though she didn't respond, not asleep, but instead deep within the Force, a sort of dissociative meditation that he himself used frequently to rest and recharge. Perhaps it was this that had saved her from the slaughter. The Grysks may have believed she was already dead.

But then, why would they think so? Why not just stab her a multitude of times as they had with all the others, just to be sure? Kenobi found his gaze drifting to the body of the alien on the ground, a species likely in service to the Grysk, and wondered if they had been responsible for her survival, if telling their overlords in the midst of their slaughter that she was dead already was a slave species choosing their last act before their deaths to be one of rebellion. Maybe – just maybe – the Grysks, confident in their dominion, took their slaves at their word, unable to comprehend even the smallest act of resistance from a group of beings that accepted their own massacre. And they had accepted it. There was no evidence of a struggle, no sign that they had fought back.

Except for this Chiss girl's survival. Because even as Obi-Wan considered, he saw the truth of it. This girl was vital, a valuable navigator, as Thrawn had pushed him to become, one that could guide ships safely through the most dangerous parts of space. On that possibly had guided the Grysk ships before. One that knew where to find them, and could bring them right to them. She might very well be a weakness in the Grysk designs, a weapon to be used against them.

It explained everything, Obi-Wan thought with a smile, his eyes closing as he touched the Force and felt the lives on the station, including the two Grysk he had sensed earlier, still living despite the fact that everything they had seen of the Grysk so far indicated they'd rather be dead than captured. If this girl had guided them, if she could prove to be their undoing…

Perhaps it was no surprise they were having second thoughts about trusting their slaves. Perhaps enduring capture was worth it to discover if the girl was in fact dead as they had previously believed so they could know how big of a mistake they had made. Which led to a more distressing thought. This was only relevant if they had a way of communicating with someone outside. And there was. There, in the Force, a low, angry vibration, disdainful and murderous and wound tight like a predator ready to strike.

There was a second ship out there, hidden and waiting to strike until they knew if they had been compromised.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as he opened them and glanced down at the still girl. Tell them the Sky Walker was dead, Thrawn had said. Once again, the Chiss had been right. There was something much bigger at play here. Again, that wry, amused smile touched his lips as he looked down at the girl. A Sky Walker. Coincidence, of course, but the irony of the name wasn't lost on him. For what felt like his entire life, he had fought tooth and nail against a Skywalker, fought so hard that he had been driven to darkness for it. But now, out here, so very off the path he had intended, he now fought to protect a Sky Walker.

It was almost poetic, the sense of humor the Force had at times.

Obi-Wan was so lost in thought, he almost didn't hear the armored clank of the Stormtroopers' boots as they cautiously entered the room on their sweep, their weapons raising at him for only a moment before the commander called them off.

"Sir," the commander said, Carvia, Kenobi remembered, the man stepping further into the room as his troops fanned out behind him to secure the area. "We haven't finished securing the station. It isn't safe for you to be alone."

"I'm a Lord of the Sith…" Obi-Wan said as he arched an eyebrow. "Everywhere is safe for me." He gestured toward the door. "Perhaps you should instead be concerned about your Admiral."

"I have already detached part of my squadron to the Admiral's aide," Carvia said stiffly, and Kenobi gave the man a small nod of approval.

"You're aware, then, that there are two Grysk running around on the ship?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Not anymore," Carvia replied swiftly as he stepped close to the Sith. "We captured them shortly after boarding. The Admiral has them in custody." Obi-Wan couldn't see the man's face for his helmet, but through the Force, he could feel morbid curiosity and a tight dread. "Is that…a Chiss?" he asked tentatively, and Obi-Wan gave a slow, solemn nod. "Dead?" the Stormtrooper asked, and with a sharp intake of breath, Kenobi turned away from the table the girl laid upon and strode toward the back of the room, his eyes roving over the cabinets and tools upon the wall.

"She wasn't slaughtered, if that's what you're wondering," Obi-Wan muttered as he plucked a sharp, wicked looking tool from the magnetic strip on the wall, more torture implement than any proper or useful tool. "The Grysk passed her by. I think she was already dead."

"How?" Carvia asked distantly as he looked down at the girl, and Obi-Wan shrugged.

"I've only begun my investigation," Kenobi said with a dismissive wave of the tool in his hand. "Maybe Thrawn's uncovered records or logs of what happened. Maybe he'll drag something out of his prisoners, they were the overseers here."

"He's going to hate to hear about this…" Carvia said in that same, distant tone, the Force rippling with sorrow and anger, both things that spoke well of the Imperial soldier.

"You worried to tell him?" Kenobi asked with a cynical smile. "Thrawn doesn't strike me as the sort of boss that would shoot you for delivering bad news."

"He's not Vader," Carvia shot back, a strain of disgust in his voice. "I just think he won't like hearing that one of his own died alone and so very far from home, that's all…" He carefully pulled the sheet over the girl's face before he turned away and slowly made his way over to the Sith Lord. "And I don't know how the other Chiss will take this," Cavia said in a hushed voice. "You know. The woman."

"Not well, I suspect," Obi-Wan said as he placed the tool back on the magnetic strip. "I can go with you. I don't mind telling them what happened, and it'll take the heat off you." For a moment, the Stormtrooper's shoulders dropped, relief washing over him for just a moment before he drew up again, stiff and formal as he stood at attention.

"I'll tell him," Carvia said stiffly. "It's my duty, after all."

"If you insist," Obi-Wan said. "But I'll come with you anyway. Leave behind a couple of your men to stand guard and we'll get going."

He nodded, ordered a few terse commands to his men, and they were off to meet the Admirals. With any luck, Thrawn would have an idea about what the hell was going on.

---

Thrawn stood at the viewport in the observation post's command center, his hands clasped behind his back and, despite himself, his attention continuously drawn to the wrecked freighter secured to the hull that he could only just see from his position. Even after all they had managed to learn on Batuu, the two captured Grysks on their knees before Ar'alani now were of great interest. They had allowed themselves to be captured, that much was obvious, or they would have been dead already. As they discovered on Batuu, even disabled, captured Grysks had methods of killing themselves to evade capture, a thing that came in the form of removed teeth and hollowed implants filled with deadly toxins.

No, these two were alive because they chose to be, meaning there was something they needed to discover before they took their lives. Which in turn had a disturbing implication. They had a way of communicating with someone outside the station, and more likely than not, there was a third ship hiding nearby.

He already had a suspicion about what it was the Grysk found so vital they were willing to be captured to discover, but the real mystery here was the freighter. Unlike the observation post, this ship was very distinctly from this part of space, an Allanar N3 light freighter that was commonly used in shipping and transportation, and this system was out of the way of the main shipping lanes. The chances of stumbling upon this place, right into the limited range of the Grysk gravity well generator, was vanishingly small.

But then, the Chimaera had done it. Small as the likelihood was, the possibility did still exist.

"Chiss…" one of the Grysk hissed in Meese Caulf, dragging Thrawn's attention away from his thoughts on the mystery of the freighter and to the two kneeling aliens, their noses flattened against their face and the lines around their eyes deepening. Possibly contempt, Thrawn thought as he stepped away from the viewport and looked closer at the first living Grysk he had ever seen. "I suppose we should have expected you."

"I suppose you should have," Ar'alani said, her voice tightly controlled, but obviously angry. "I thought you would like to know that your backup defense ship has been destroyed." There was a slight shift in the Grysk's positioning, their bodies tensing as they drew back before they swiftly relaxed again, but Thrawn had seen it.

"To what exactly do you refer?" the Grysk on the left asked, a probing question that confirmed Thrawn's suspicions about why they were still alive. They had questions, and they needed answers before they took their lives.

"The warship that was hiding beneath a pile of rock," Ar'alani said flatly. "The warship waiting for trouble. The warship that found that trouble and paid the price for overconfidence."

The Grysk on the right, the younger or subordinate one, Thrawn decided, began to look at his companion, and quickly broke off the motion. This was a surprise, that much was obvious, and neither seemed to believe it, but it made it obvious to Thrawn that neither knew of the warship's presence. He didn't know yet what that meant in the Grysk power structure, but it did confirm the presence of another ship in the immediate area.

"If you speak in bluff, you make a poor job of it," the left Grysk said, his voice slower and deeper than before, the disdain and anger gone in favor of caution or disbelief. A hiss sounded through the room as the command center's doors slid open, and Major Carvia entered with two of his troopers and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the Grysk attention didn't so much as flinch away from Ar'alani. The presence of this other ship, it seemed, was important enough to monopolize their attention.

"No bluff," Ar'alani said, still calm and controlled, but Thrawn could see the satisfaction on her face. "Perhaps you would like to see an image of its current state?" The left Grysk shifts again, only slightly, but this time, it was enough for Ar'alani to catch what Thrawn had seen moments ago. "Or didn't you realize there was anyone else out there?" she asked.

"There wouldn't be much use in having a guardian if we didn't know about it, now, would there?" the left Grysk said, his expression shifting now to deep anger. Thrawn's glance shifted over to Kenobi who stood leaning against the back wall, a slow, amused smile growing across his face. He had felt what Thrawn had seen. This was, in effect, a betrayal, a vital crack in the Grysk command structure that could be used in their campaign against them.

A thing that could be exploited to great effect at the present time, since it was obvious that the Sith Lord had keyed into the emotions of the captured Grysk with the ease he so usually exhibited.

"Commander Vanto," Thrawn said evenly in Basic as he took a step toward the captured Grysks, and Eli snapped to attention. "Translate for the Admiral." Thrawn shifted his attention to the captives, pointedly ignoring the irritation on Ar'alani's face as he effectively usurped her interrogation. "Tell us what happened here."

"Figure it out yourself," the Grysk hissed back in Basic, a wet, scoff accompanying the heavily accented words.

"I was not speaking to you," Thrawn said coldly, meeting the Sith Lord's eyes for just a moment before he looked at Major Carvia. "I was speaking to my troop Commander."

This time, the Grysk's expression clearly shifted, anger and contempt written plain on his face and in the tightness of his shoulders. But more than that, Kenobi shifted from his position on the wall, his gaze intense and focused as he looked down at the captive. Something had indeed changed, and whatever magic governed the Sith had opened up with the Grysk's surge of emotion. Exactly the conditions Thrawn knew Obi-Wan Kenobi worked best in.

"You ask a mere hireling for his thoughts?" the Grysk snarled, and again, Thrawn glanced over at the Sith Lord, not at the aliens at his feet.

"A human hireling is more to be respected than a Grysk slave," Thrawn said calmly, which only enraged the Grysk more.

"You dare call me a slave?!" the alien snarled, the deep, rumbling growl in his chest audible in his voice. "I am Lifeholder and Deathbringer! I am Seeker of Conquest!"

"Commander?" Thrawn said flatly, and the enraged Grysk hissed and spit on the ground.

"It looks like they went through the post and killed everyone, sir," Carvia reported. "Five humans and eighteen beings of a species we couldn't identify, all of them stabbed multiple times. The humans were in what looked like examination or confinement rooms. The others were in various places around the ship." He stopped, his helmet turning slightly toward Kenobi before he drew up taller, as if he had resolved himself for what came next. "We also found a Chiss. A young girl," Carvia said, his voice lower, the regret in his voice noticeable even through his helmet's filters. "She wasn't slaughtered like the others. I think she died before the killings started."

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was Eli's whispered, stuttering translation to Ar'alani, which was followed swiftly by the sharp look of anger and suspicion on the woman's face. A thing that would be followed swiftly by something far more hopeful when she understood the girl was likely alive.

Which was something Thrawn couldn't allow. Not yet.

"Obi-Wan," Thrawn commanded, but the Sith never took his predatory gaze from the aliens. "Defang them."

It was a vague command, one that could mean many things, but Thrawn was certain that Kenobi would understand its meaning. A wide, wolfish grin spread across the Sith Lord's face, and Thrawn knew he had understood, and without so much as a movement from Obi-Wan, the two Grysks rose into the air, their eyes wide with confusion and fear as their heads snapped backward, their mouths open in silent screams as they thrashed against both their tangible and invisible restraints. The magic at work had also disrupted Ar'alani, who had grabbed Eli Vanto and was now backing as far away from the suspended Grysks as she could, her blaster drawn and aimed directly at them, all thoughts of the Chiss girl swept from her mind in the face of something she didn't understand.

The sound of something small clattering to the ground disrupted the tense silence, then again, and again, as the Grysks' teeth, one by one, were torn from their mouths.

"What kind of devilry is this?" Ar'alani muttered, her voice quivering slightly, but her blaster was steady, its aim now shifted to the Sith Lord.

"The kind of devilry that I will bring against our enemies," Thrawn said coldly, picking up one of the teeth off the ground and examining it carefully. "We had intercepted the Grysk on Batuu only a few days ago. Unfortunately, we were unable to take any of them alive, but our examination of their bodies allowed us an understanding of their methods." He held out the tooth toward the other Admiral. "An implant, hollowed out and filled with a deadly poison, in the event of capture."

Ar'alani didn't take it, but she did manage to take her eyes off the Sith in order to look at it, but the blaster in her hand remained steady and resolutely pointed at Kenobi.

"This is what your sorcerer does?" Ar'alani asked coldly. "He uses magic to extract teeth?"

"Obi-Wan?" Thrawn prompted.

"They have a forward base a few hours from here," Kenobi said briskly in Cheunh for the benefit of the Ascendancy Admiral, the intense glowing of his golden eyes remaining fixed on the suspended Grysk. "The freighter outside is the first they took, but not the first they observed coming to this system. They waited until their base was established before they captured a ship for the study of the crew."

"The crew," Thrawn repeated. "Not the contents of the freighter?"

"If the freighter was examined, these two had nothing to do with it," Obi-Wan said after a moment of silence, a gesture of his hand lowering the two limp Grysks to the deck, the two staring glassy eyed at nothing at all from where they lay crumpled on the floor, their struggling ending with the Sith Lord's invasion of their minds. He gestured casually to where Carvia stood uneasily by the wall. "As your troop commander said, they stabbed everyone to death. A thing they began before we launched our attack."

"Everyone but the Chiss girl," Ar'alani said slowly, the anger returning to her eyes as her hand tightened around her blaster and adjusted her aim to level it at Obi-Wan's chest. "Take me to her."

"He will gladly do so," Thrawn cut in, giving the ruined freighter out the viewport a final glance before he strode toward the door. "Major Carvia, keep our prisoners here under close guard. If it looks like they are trying to communicate, with each other or otherwise, shoot them."

"It doesn't look like we'll have a problem with that, sir…" Carvia muttered, shuffling closer to the two crumpled bodies and gingerly poking at one with his boot, though the alien remained unresponsive. Thrawn turned an inquisitive glance on Kenobi, and the Sith merely shrugged.

"I can't say for certain," Obi-Wan responded to the silent question. "Different species react to mental intrusion in different ways, but what I did to them leaves most humans scattered for a couple hours at least."

"Your orders stand, Major," Thrawn said quietly, and strode out the door into the hallway, the Sith Lord falling into step beside him, and Ar'alani and Eli following after them a moment later.

"The freighter came to this system?" Thrawn asked the Sith Lord quietly.

"This freighter, and nine more they observed arriving fairly regularly," Kenobi said. "There's a mobile waystation they traveled to. They studied the pattern and placed the gravity well generator on their arrival vector. And before you say anything," Obi-Wan said as he pointed a finger at Thrawn, "they've already attacked the waystation and killed everyone inside."

"That was my assumption," Thrawn muttered. "But it may be worthwhile to seek out the wreckage. A regular pattern of travel to a far-removed system such as this is unusual enough to warrant examination." His expression darkened. "Especially if now the Grysk have access to it." He paused, considering for a moment, then looked down at the Sith. "Can you take us to the Grysk forward base?" Thrawn asked, and Obi-Wan shook his head.

"They've obviously traveled to and from there, but neither of them navigated the ship," Kenobi muttered in response. "To know how to get there, I'll need someone who's actually navigated their ships." He shrugged. "Given the circumstances, I think it's pretty likely the Chiss girl has navigated for them."

"She's alive?" Ar'alani asked, more than a little relief breaking through the angry, standoffish hiss. "Your troop commander didn't seem to believe so, Mitth'raw'nuruodo."

"My troop commander reported what I had told Obi-Wan to tell him," Thrawn said quietly, his pace slowing slightly to allow Ar'alani to catch up and fall into step beside him. "The Grysk actions here suggest they have a way of communicating with the ship hidden in the system, but we do not yet know how it is done." Ar'alani's blank expression didn't so much as twitch. It seemed she too knew about the other ship that still lurked nearby. "I suspect part of the reason the Grysk allowed us to capture them was to get confirmation of the Sky Walker's death. If she has in fact navigated Grysk ships, her survival could prove to be catastrophic to their operation"

"A mistake, then, that they didn't check that she was dead," Ar'alani said in a low, angry growl, her eyes narrowing as she glanced over at the Sith Lord with unfiltered mistrust and suspicion. "And you're certain she is alive?"

"He is certain," Thrawn answered for Kenobi.

"We have a navigator aboard the Steadfast with Second Sight," Ar'alani said. "If the girl has been to the Grysk base, we can learn of its location."

"There is no need to bring a navigator from the Steadfast here," Thrawn said calmly. "Obi-Wan is capable of touching a mind and gleaning information from it."

With a quick glance down the hallway to be certain there were no Imperial troops were standing guard, Ar'alani placed a hand on Thrawn's chest and shoved him hard against the wall, her blazing eyes pinning him to the spot as she glared up at him, her fingers digging into his uniform and pressing hard against the muscles of his chest. Her eyes narrowed when, despite everything, the humans scattering out of the way at the swiftness and suddenness of the movement, Thrawn's face remained expressionless, and the slow, even beating of his heart beneath her hand hadn't so much as skipped.

"I have seen what your sorcerer does to those he extracts information from," the woman said slowly, her voice low and dangerous, the words almost hissed. "Do you mean to subject a Chiss child to such a thing?"

"The information she may possess is vital to our victory," Thrawn said in his flat, calm monotone. "Both here in the Empire, and back home."

"What he means," Kenobi cut in as he shot a quick glare at Thrawn, "is that I don't need to savage the minds I enter." For a moment, the Chiss Admiral didn't move. Then, her glowing red eyes flicked to the side to glance at the Sith Lord. "She has the Force," he continued. "Third Sight, yeah? I can walk her through what she needs to do to show me her memories." Obi-Wan glanced quickly at Thrawn, and a wry smirk touched the Sith's lips. "It'll be like walking through an art gallery."

"I don't want some human sorcerer touching her soul," Ar'alani said, her attention shifting back to Thrawn. "Not when I can send for one of our own to do the same thing."

"We do not have that option," Thrawn said quietly, a tightness at the edge of his voice. "Not when we have someone stronger and more skilled at hand." His jaw tightened. "Not when there is another enemy ship nearby."

"You have no evidence of another ship," Ar'alani said curtly.

"I do," Thrawn responded quickly, his tone just as cold as the other Chiss. "Your presence here." Ar'alani's jaw tightened, her eyes narrowed, and Obi-Wan could feel a surge of irritation through the Force.

"We have already destroyed a Grysk warship," Ar'alani said, no hint of the irritation she obviously felt in her voice. The corner of Thrawn's lips twitched, his head tilting slightly sideways as he observed the woman.

"Were you following a Grysk warship, Admiral?" Thrawn asked coldly, and after a moment, Ar'alani gave a tight shake of her head. "We are wasting time," Thrawn said as he pushed off the wall and continued down the corridor, his stride longer than before, the others nearly needing to break into a slow jog to follow. "Obi-Wan will retrieve the path to the Grysk base, if it is possible to obtain. He would be happy to share the path with your Sky Walkers after this region has been secured."

They were silent the rest of the way as Obi-Wan led them to their destination, only a short distance that was made to feel all the longer by the tense, uncomfortable silence between the two Admirals. Spotting the Stormtroopers standing guard when they turned into the last hallway, their pace slowed, Ar'alani, Eli, and Obi-Wan hanging back as Thrawn approached his troops and issued them new orders.

"Do you have this power, sorcerer?" Ar'alani asked quietly, and it took Obi-Wan a moment to realize the woman was speaking to him. "You are able to show other navigators a path you have not traveled?"

"It's just a matter of sharing knowledge," Obi-Wan said, looking between Ar'alani and her tense, uncomfortable Lieutenant. "Yes, I can do it."

She nodded, her expression shifting from suspicious to resolved and with a deep breath, she stepped forward when the Stormtroopers hurried down the hall and Thrawn motioned for them to follow. They walked into the examination room, the bloody bodies of the aliens and the human left exactly where they had died, and with a soft hiss, Ar'alani pushed past Thrawn and Obi-Wan and strode quickly to where the tiny body of the Chiss girl laid upon the exam table.

"Somnia?" Thrawn asked quietly, and Ar'alani nodded as she very carefully removed the cloth from the girl's face.

"A variant of the technique," Ar'alani responded absently, her eyes flicking up for a moment to look at Thrawn as he came to stand on the opposite side of the table. "You'd already left before this one was developed." Her attention returned to the girl. "I need the lights lowered."

Glancing around the room and finding a small control console, Thrawn motioned for Kenobi to follow him, and he laid a hand on Eli's shoulder, gently pushing him to indicate that he should follow as well, a thing Vanto did quickly as he seemed jolted into movement, Obi-Wan couldn't keep the grin off his face. This human in service to the Chiss was so delightfully high-strung that he wanted nothing more than to take him apart.

"Some navigators," Thrawn explained quietly when they reached the control console, "especially the younger ones, occasionally experience a sort of sensory overload."

"That's a normal thing with Force users," Obi-Wan said with a shrug. "The Force is large and strange and connected to everything. Tapping into that interconnected network can easily be overwhelming."

"So…the treatment for that is sensory deprivation," Eli said slowly as he glanced back over to the table where Ar'alani stood, her red eyes glowing eerily in the dim lighting when Thrawn lowered the lights. "Her hands are tucked under her to limit touch? And the cloth at least partially blocks sight, smell and hearing."

"Very good…" Thrawn said quietly, and instantly, Eli seemed to relax, like he had finally released a breath he had been holding. "In addition to a mental regimen called somnia, the goal of which is to lower the metabolism in such a way as to diminish physical symptoms, the sensory deprivation speeds the mental recovery." He glanced over at Obi-Wan. "Did the Jedi have a similar technique?"

"In the form of meditation, yes," Kenobi said absently as he watched Ar'alani examine the child. "Though with training, the need for such a thing lessens. The Jedi were taught to embrace the Force. Getting overwhelmed like this just didn't happen by the time the kids became initiates."

"I need a cloth soaked in warm water," Ar'alani commanded from where she stood, and Eli shot to attention and quickly did as was commanded, moving quickly to one of the sinks along the wall, and Thrawn and the Sith made their way back to the Chiss Admiral's side. "She's alive," Ar'alani said quietly, her eyes briefly glancing at Kenobi. "As you said." She held out her hand as Eli rushed back to her and dropped a warm cloth into her hand, which she quickly folded and laid on the girl's forehead.

"What do you want me to do?" Eli asked.

"Stand back," Ar'alani said absently before her face hardened and she looked up at Thrawn. "All of you. I don't want the first face she sees to be human. Or Imperial."

Eli winced and backed away, looking at Thrawn as he did so, but the Admiral only nodded and did as he was asked, his face as expressionless as always. Ar'alani was right, of course. With what the girl had no doubt been through, she needed to wake up to an unambiguously friendly face, but ordering Thrawn away, another Chiss, was deliberately charged, meant to be standoffish and insulting, and Eli felt the full weight of that, even if his former commander didn't.

"How long will this take?" Eli began asking Thrawn, and not a second later, the girl on the table twitched violently, her back arching off the table as she choked a pained whimper.

"Come back!" Ar'alani said, her voice hard and commanding. "Navigator of the Chiss Ascendancy, come back!"

The girl's eyes shot open, and for a long moment, she just stared, still and silent, at the woman that leaned over her. Then, with a desperate, strangled cry, she lunged up from the table and wrapped her arms tightly around Ar'alani's neck, and burst into tears. Her hand supporting the small girl's back and gently running her fingers through the child's straight black hair, Ar'alani whispered soothing words to the terrified girl, promising her that her ordeal was over and soon, she would be returned home.

When Eli turned away, Thrawn had gone, the Imperial Admiral standing by the door and his shoulders hunched as he studied something on his datapad, and to Eli's horror, he found himself staring into glowing gold eyes so very like the eerie gaze of the Emperor that he had seen once many years before and still thought about.

"So…" Obi-Wan drawled in Basic. "This is awkward, isn't it?"

"W-what's awkward?" Eli stammered, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice and wincing when he heard how spectacularly he failed in that as the Sith Lord's grin grew.

"This," Obi-Wan said as he gestured around the room. "Whatever's going on between Thrawn and Ar'alani."

"Oh…" Eli muttered, looking back at his Admiral and the girl, and then over to his former Admiral, relaxing despite himself with the presence of a mystery that he'd been too tense to notice before. "Yeah, it is a little weird, isn't it?"

"There's no accounting for love, I suppose," Obi-Wan sighed dramatically, and flashed Eli a wolfish grin when the man's nose wrinkled. "What, you don't think so?"

"I…don't think it's appropriate to speculate about my commander's personal life," Eli said slowly, but there was no hiding the burning curiosity on his face as he looked over at Thrawn working diligently on his datapad. Realizing that his thoughts had gotten away from him, Eli quickly shook his head, his attention returning to the Sith Lord. "So…last I heard, the Emperor had sent Thrawn to hunt you," Eli said cautiously. "How'd you come to be helping him?"

"The same way you came to be helping the Chiss, I suspect," Obi-Wan said with a shrug. "We struck a deal." He paused, frowning when he saw the way the younger man's eyebrow arched up in a way that plainly said he didn't believe him. "…after," Kenobi begrudgingly added, "he kidnapped my family, destroyed my fleet, and killed my cat."

"Ah…" Eli said, the slightest hint of smugness in the small smile that touched his lips, and Obi-Wan had half a mind to introduce the Lieutenant to the ceiling. "So, less of a deal, and more the terms of your surrender?"

"We made a deal," Thrawn said quietly from behind Eli, and Eli jumped, not having noticed that Thrawn had apparently finished his work and come to rejoin them. "The terms of which I am not prepared to discuss." He held out his datapad, a long series of numbers and lists arranged in separate, organized files all open on the screen. "This is the navigational and communication records my Stormtroopers retrieved from the N3 Allinar freighter the Grysk attacked upon their entry into this system."

"Those records weren't erased?" Eli asked as he took the datapad and studied the lists.

"I do not believe the crew had the time to do so," Thrawn said. "If they even thought to do so, as their ship had been attacked and boarded. And as we have already seen, the Grysk did not have the time to cleanse their own data from this station, let alone the information from the freighter."

"I guess we have to assume they got everything they could have from the freighter…" Eli muttered as he looked the numbers over. "Did you get the shipping manifest, by any chance?" A slight smile turned up the edge of Thrawn's lips, and Eli couldn't help but feel the warmth of his former commander's approval.

"The navigational and communication records were the priority, but my Stormtroopers are now retrieving the crew and cargo manifests," Thrawn said, a hint of amusement burning in his eyes. "Better yet, it seems as though the cargo remains intact."

"The Grysks didn't go through the cargo?" Eli asked, the datapad in his hands forgotten, and Kenobi reached over and effortlessly plucked the device from Vanto's hands.

"Information is their primary motivation," Thrawn said flatly. "If they are here in the Empire searching for the means to bend humans in the Empire to their will, then the crew would be of greater importance, and the cargo secondary to that." His head tilted slightly as he examined Eli. "As Ar'alani said, the Chiss observed the attack only a few hours ago. They most likely retrieved what information they could from the ship's computer, but it is unlikely they had the time for a more complete examination of the ship's cargo."

"So we have to look at what they did get," Obi-Wan cut in, turning the datapad toward Thrawn. "And the only thing of direct importance here is this." He pointed to one of the open files, and Thrawn's expression hardened. "A complete communications log, including the encryption codes. If they can gain access to a communication record that people believe is secure, even if it's just a group of smugglers or pirates, they can learn a very great deal."

"Indeed…" Thrawn said darkly, gently taking the datapad back. "Though I do not believe this encryption will be so widely used as you fear."

"No?" Kenobi asked, and Thrawn shook his head.

"No," the Admiral repeated. "This is not an encryption used by pirates or smugglers. This is an Imperial encryption. A high level one." Thrawn's jaw tightened, and staring at the screen a moment more, he shut off the datapad and returned it to his pocket. "The G77 encryption is reserved exclusively for use by the twelve Grand Admirals."

For a moment, the two humans were silent as they sorted through and considered the implications of this. It was Eli who spoke first, his head shaking slowly and a mix of worry and disbelief on his face.

"If the Grysk have access to a high-level military encryption, they could be ready for any action taken against them," Eli said in a near whisper, his voice tight with strain and fear for the regime he once served.

"That is indeed the worst-case scenario," Thrawn said.

"But it's not the current concern, is it?" Kenobi asked, earning him a scowl of disapproval from the Lieutenant. "What!" the Sith scoffed at Eli. "We're about to head off and destroy their base in the region, and after that, we're going to reduce the Grysk to a bad memory. They aren't exactly a long-term threat."

Eli's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched tightly before he gasped and, eyes wide and jaw slack, looked up at Thrawn.

"Let us focus on the current situation," Thrawn said evenly, directing the attention back to the task at hand, but Eli knew Thrawn too well to not to notice when the Admiral was being purposefully evasive.

"Fine," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes. "The current situation is that we have another mystery." A slight smirk quirked his lips, and he pointed to the pocket where the datapad had been concealed. "How did a group of pirates or smugglers or whatever come to use an encryption reserved exclusively for the Imperial Grand Admirals?"

"That's…actually a really good question," Eli said thoughtfully. "Maybe they're not smugglers at all. Maybe this is an official chain."

"Yeah, a perfectly legal, remote, secret supply line," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes. "That's not circumspect at all." Crossing his arms over his chest, Obi-Wan looked back at Ar'alani and the girl, the Chiss Admiral finally having untangled herself from the child's death grip on her and was now quietly speaking to her. "You don't think this has anything to do with Stardust, do you?"

"At this moment, we can only speculate," Thrawn said quietly, but there was no mistaking the tension in his voice. "But that is indeed the concern."

"What's Stardust?" Eli asked, and Thrawn stared at him for a long moment in silence, his glowing eyes slowly raking over Vanto's face and seeming to weigh his options before he drew up, his hands clasping behind his back, his expression resolved.

"Stardust is the codename of an Imperial military project of massive proportions," Thrawn said quietly as he shifted closer to Eli. "The very same project I had you beginning to look into when you served under my command."

"You found it?" Eli asked, an excited strain in his voice that quickly vanished before concern that tightened his chest. "So, what is it?"

"A thing we will discuss in due time," Thrawn said dismissively, his attention drawn to where Ar'alani stood looking at them, her hand on the girl's shoulder, and she beaconed for them to come. He placed a hand on Eli's shoulder and gently pushed him toward the other two Chiss. "But first, I believe the Sky Walker is ready to speak."

Ar'alani's eyes narrowed slightly as they approached, her suspicious glare fixing on the Sith Lord, and the child grabbed tightly to the Chiss Admiral's arm and pulled herself closer to her. The girl's tight grasp loosened slightly when Thrawn inclined his head, a quiet calm about him that did nothing to conceal the graveness of his expression.

"Navigator of the Chiss Ascendancy," Thrawn said evenly in Cheunh. "I am Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, currently in service to the Galactic Empire. This," he said as he gestured to the humans beside him, "is Lieutenant Eli Vanto, currently in service to the Chiss Ascendancy, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, an…" He paused, his head tilting slightly as he considered the Sith Lord. "An ally to the Chiss," he finished.

"I am Un'hee," the girl squeaked, her hand once again tightening on Ar'alani's arm. "I was…" She stopped, her grip on Ar'alani tightening as she gave a small, pitiful whimper. "I was taken from my home by the Grysks two years ago. I've served them ever since."

"She was five when she was taken," Ar'alani added, and there was no mistaking the hard edge of anger in her voice. "And she may prove to be the Grysk's biggest mistake." Again, her eyes shifted to the Sith Lord. "She's navigated Grysk ships through a large part of their hegemony."

"Pathways which are now available to us," Thrawn muttered as he too looked at Obi-Wan, before his attention returned to the child. "Are there other Chiss aboard this group of Grysk ships?" he asked, and the girl shook her head, her tiny body beginning to shake as a wave of pain and fear swept across her face.

"No…" Un'hee said quietly. "They use others as their navigators. I was the only Chiss. I was…" She stopped, whimpering again as she clutched Ar'alani's arm closer and pressed one tiny ridge on her forehead against the crisp white sleeve of the Admiral's uniform. "I was a gift…"

"Excellent," Thrawn whispered, his eyes meeting Ar'alani's and a brief flicker of a smile touching his lips. "That means we may fire upon the Grysk without concern for Chiss lives."

"You have a plan for exposing the other ship?" Ar'alani asked, and this time the smile on Thrawn's face was clear.

"As it turns out, while you were tending to Navigator Un'hee, I was given confirmation that high level Imperial communications have been compromised."

"Ah…" Ar'alani said, and for the first time since she had been in Thrawn's presence, the tension and anger vanished from her face and the faintest smile cracked the hard shell she had built around her. "You have the makings of a trap, then." Thrawn gave her a slight nod as he slid the datapad from his pocket. "Alright. What's the plan?"

"We will discuss the plan while my sorcerer gets the necessary information from the navigator," Thrawn said, and the slight smile on Ar'alani's face swiftly vanished. Without seeming to notice the Chiss Admiral's discomfort, Thrawn gestured toward the girl. "If you will, Obi-Wan."

Flashing a smile at the girl and ignoring the protective hand on the child's shoulder and the vicious glare now aimed at him, Obi-Wan stepped forward, a flick of his hand calling a stool from across the room to his hand, and he sat before the astonished girl.

"Hello there," Kenobi drawled, his smile becoming a full grin when the girl's glowing eyes widened at the sound of Cheunh out of the mouth of a non-Chiss. "I've heard you got Third Sight. That true?" The girl nodded slowly, and Obi-Wan laid a hand upon his chest. "Me too! Have you navigated many ships?"

"I-I…yes," the girl began, swallowing hard and looking up at Ar'alani for a moment before she released her death grip on the woman's arm and folded her hands in her lap. "Do you navigate ships too?"

"Only on a few occasions, but I have, yes," Kenobi said with a shrug. "It's something of a new skill for me. My people use Third Sight in other ways." For a moment, the girl sat silently in thought, then her nose wrinkled.

"In what ways?" she asked tentatively.

"To move things, as you've seen," Obi-Wan said. "To sense the thoughts and emotions of the beings around us. To learn information, as I've been asked to do with you." He flashed her an easy smile when she shifted uncomfortably. "To wield it as a weapon against my enemies, and right now, that enemy is the Grysk. Can you help me do that?"

"Yes," Un'hee answered in a low hiss, the words so reflexive and intense that she winced away from her own tone, and cast another look up at Ar'alani, this one looking somewhat embarrassed. But the Admrial only laid a hand on her shoulder, and with a tight nod, the girl looked back at Obi-Wan, her shoulders hunched timidly, but a new resolve burned in her eyes. "I want to help," she said quietly. "But…I don't know how."

"It's easy," Obi-Wan said, just as much for the child as for the suspicious Chiss Admiral. "You just need to slip into Third Sight, like you're navigating a ship. You can do that, can't you?" The girl nodded. "With you in Third Sight, I'll be able to drop in beside you, so to speak, and see what you have seen." Again, Un'hee's nose wrinkled.

"That isn't Third Sight," the girl protested. "That's Second Sight. You have Second Sight?" Un'hee asked, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eli look up at Thrawn, as if the silent Chiss had answers, and through the Force, he could feel Ar'alani's discomfort rise.

"I do," Obi-Wan said. "Third Sight, Second Sight, First Sight too, if such a thing exists."

"It doesn't," Un'hee said flatly, though her lips curled up in a faint smile.

"Alright, it doesn't," Obi-Wan said with a shrug. "But this, at least, I can do." Palms up, he held out both his hands to the girl. "So? Will you help me defeat the Chiss' enemy?"

For a moment, the girl looked at the upturned hands of the human. Then, with a deep breath, she placed her own trembling hands in his, bowed her head, and slipped into Third Sight, and the Sith Lord followed after her, diving into the Force alongside the young Chiss' consciousness.

"You're certain this is safe?" Ar'alani asked after a moment of silence watching the pair, her expression hard as her eyes met Thrawn's.

"Do you have reason to believe it is not?" Thrawn asked quietly, and Ar'alani scoffed.

"Other than witnessing what your sorcerer is capable of doing to another?" Ar'alani snapped, her jaw clenching and her teeth grinding together as she looked back at the young Chiss they had saved. "We do not have Un'hee's records," the Admiral said reluctantly. "Second Sight does not typically manifest so young, but if she is capable of such a thing, she and the sorcerer could become entwined in each other's souls and be unable to break free."

"I see…" Thrawn said, then waved a hand dismissively. "There is no risk of such an occurrence."

"There is!" Ar'alani shot back, striding away from the table where the child sat to stand before Thrawn. "This the nature of Second Sight!"

"The Chiss understanding of such things is extremely limited," Thrawn said calmly as he turned his attention to the datapad in his hands. "As you have already seen, Obi-Wan's understanding is far more complete." Tapping his fingers along the datapad, he glanced up at the hard, uncompromising face of the woman that stood before him. "I am going to send the captured Grysks back to the Chimaera," Thrawn said evenly, the sudden abandonment of the current discussion so jarring that Ar'alani forgot her growing irritation.

"You're going to use them as bait for the other ship?" Eli asked when Ar'alani remained silent and moved to Thrawn's side so she could see his datapad.

"Two high level, living captives are certainly a more alluring target than anything here on this station, especially after it had been purged," Thrawn said as he handed the datapad to Eli. "Given the other ship remained hidden while their fellow was being destroyed, it suggests that it is considerably smaller and less well-armed than a warship. The Chimaera is likely too large for them to realistically attack, making it of the utmost importance that the captives not be allowed to reach my ship."

"Which will force both the time and target of the attack," Ar'alani mused. "And with your communications compromised, you are able to inform the hidden ship of your plans."

"Indeed…" Thrawn said as he plucked the datapad out of Eli's hands. "We will load them on my shuttle and have the Chimaera tractor them in. A TIE Defender escort should be sufficient enough to protect the shuttle from most attacks."

"You have a TIE Defender?" Eli asked, the strain of excitement in his voice putting an anticipatory smile on his face. "You got the project approved?"

"Yes…" Thrawn said slowly as he looked over the datapad and made some changes to the information there. "I have two full squadrons at my disposal."

"What's a TIE Defender?" Ar'alani asked.

"A peerless starfighter," Eli answered. "Admiral Thrawn was designing them when he sent me to the Ascendancy. They're very different from the standard Imperial TIE Fighter."

"The Grysk are familiar with Imperial tactics," Thrawn said quietly as he handed the datapad back to Eli. "We saw that in our previous encounters with them. But they are not familiar with the TIE Defender."

"You know this for certain?" Ar'alani asked, and Thrawn's face hardened as he gave her a tight nod.

"The funding for the Defender was revoked just before they went into production in favor of another project that we will speak about in due time," Thrawn said, casting a glance back at the still and silent Chiss child and the Sith Lord. "Our time may be short. We must put the plan into action as soon as possible."

"Agreed," Ar'alani said as she took the datapad out of a puzzled Eli's hands and read over the plan once again. "Are your people going to be able to destroy this ship? Firing its weapons may reveal its location, but the ship is still cloaked. If it is in motion, they will be unable to follow it."

"I have no way to communicate with Commodore Faro about the emission profile of Grysk ships," Thrawn said with a shrug. "I am counting on them escaping. They will return to their base with news of what happened here, which will draw their forces to them, and given the circumstances, they will be unable to leave."

"Because we have living captives," Ar'alani finished. "And they need information. They must know if we managed to learn their location, and will remain there to see if we arrive."

"Exactly."

"Well, it's bold, I'll give you that," Ar'alani said stiffly as she handed the datapad back to Thrawn. "Let's do it."

"How did you get two squadrons of TIE Defenders?" Eli asked quietly as he faced his former commander. "If they pulled your funding before they went to production-"

"I had them built anyway," Thrawn said flatly, and Eli reflexively winced. "The consequences of such are irrelevant, as I will not be returning to Imperial service." Eli gawked at the man for a long moment before he looked at Ar'alani, the same stunned expression on her face, and the immediate follow-up questions were silenced before they could be spoken when Un'hee gasped. Swiftly turning around, they saw the Chiss child shuddering as she opened her eyes, her hands grasping tightly to the Sith Lord as he carefully helped her slide off the examination table and supported her as she stabilized her wobbly legs.

Concern, fear and anger flitted across Ar'alani's face, but swiftly dissolved into relief when Un'hee let go of Kenobi's hands and actually smiled, the girl looking tired, but no worse for wear for the ordeal she had gone through with the Lord of the Sith.

"That was considerably faster than I had anticipated…" Ar'alani said, eying Kenobi suspiciously as she laid a hand on the child's shoulder. "You have the information you need?"

"I have more than we bargained for," Obi-Wan said, a wolfish, victorious grin spreading across his lips. "I can share the route with your navigators and bring you to the Grysk forward base at any time. And," he said slowly, his grin growing wider, "get me a star chart, and I'll show you where to find the regions the Grysk call their territory."

"Excellent work," Thrawn said quietly, the Grand Admiral's shoulders dropping slightly with a sense of relief that was palpable. "We shall have to see if your information matches up with my analysis. But first," he said as he turned from the group and began walking toward the door, his hands clasped behind his back. "We have a trap to set."