Chapter Three: Emperor's Hand
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Hey, everyone, hope you are enjoying these What Ifs, I am having fun making them, so that is what matters right? Leave any suggestions for What Ifs in the comments, maybe I'll use them.
I will say, to the guest reviewer that already left a list of Ideas. I will say, two of those I could write a whole multichap story dedicated to them, and in fact I already am, about what if Anakin won the duel at Mustafar, just need to restart that, as I need to fix chapter one.
As for the one about if Qui-Gon surviving TPM, well, perhaps a future story.
Anyway, get excited guys, I promised Mara last time, and she is here.
Enjoy, On With the Show:
Beyond Reality
There Splendid Ap floated, his assistant sitting down on the walkway next to him. He was getting ready to begin his narrations for the second experiment. He had just recently finished manipulating the time-space continuum to watch this current experiment he wanted to run. He had fun with the last one, and was hoping this would be a similar fun thing for him.
"Are you ready to begin?" the Pink conical entity asked his assistant, a Shaman of the Whills, who was just finishing up a few last notes.
"I am, Splendid Ap," the Shaman responded as he readied his writing implements.
"Very well," Ap said, as he turned his attention back to the Multiverse. The portal they were viewing things through zoomed in the universe that he had just meddled with, and he began his narration.
In the foundational universe at the far right end of the Multiverse, in the run up to the battle of Atollon, the Rebel Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger let himself be captured to try to spring their inside agent Fulcrum, from the Empire after suspecting that his last broadcast was monitored by the Empire. They had to evade Grand Admiral Thrawn and Colonel Yularen aboard the Chimaera in order to protect the hidden rebel base, and Kallus framed another officer as Fulcrum to keep hidden, despite Thrawn knowing it was him.
However, in this new universe, The Emperor decided that the business in the Lothal sector required additional help to uncover and eliminate the spy in Thrawn's ranks, so he sends a personal agent to aid the Grand Admiral. An agent he personally trained to be his assassin.
From the foundational universe at one end of the Multiverse, priorly dubbed Universe 1138 aka Skyriver, as called by a species that calls it home comes the experimental subject. The other foundational universe was named Universe 42514, also known simply as the GFFA. The subject in question this time is a Force-Sensitive Human teenager who was the personal assassin of the Galactic Emperor. The question being pondered is What If Mara Jade assisted in tracking down Fulcrum.
We begin with the rebels' plan already in place, in the space above the world of Lothal, where the Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger had hijacked a ship from the Lothal spaceport.
Lothal's Orbit, aboard an Imperial Light Cruiser
Imperial Internal Security Bureau Agent turned secret Rebel Spy Alexsandr Kallus had been sleeping peaceably enough, until he was rudely awoken by a sound no soldier wanted to be awakened by, the sound of the klaxon alarms signaling troops to battle stations.
What in the Underworld? Kallus' first thoughts were of his Coruscanti heritage. He stood up and stumbled toward the door to see what was going on.
Opening the door, he saw several Stormtroopers rush by him before one stopped to inform him of what was going on. "Battle-stations, sir!" was all the trooper said to him before moving on. Kallus hit the door button and turned back inside a sec, as it shut behind him. He went over to his sink, turned it on and looked at himself in the mirror. A perk of his station was that he was allowed hot water in his quarters, most had to deal with the sonics. He gazed in the mirror, a moment of reflection. He was a traitor to the Empire, an Empire he helped enforce Order in. An Empire he had ordered a genocide for, and now it is coming back to haunt him. He had told himself for a long time that he was doing the right thing, that the Empire was the right thing for the galaxy. However, the events on that ice moon changed him, having to trust a man that he had hunted for years, and returning to an Empire that didn't seem to care that he was gone for any length of time. It was why he became a Fulcrum for the Rebellion.
He also knew however, that the noose was tightening. He had a feeling that Thrawn was on to him and was waiting for him to slip up. The time was coming for him to decide when to openly defect to save his life, at least for the time being.
He splashed some hot water on his face, and steeled his resolve to get on with the day. He knew Lyste was going to be wondering where he was if he did not show up at the bridge soon. He knew he could keep his cover well around the lower ranks, and that was the part he had to play right now.
When he arrived at the bridge, he saw the world that he and everyone around him, on both sides of the brewing conflict, was involved around: Lothal, and the site of an important Imperial factory that was soon to be a target for Phoenix Squadron. What a strange way of fate the universe had when it decided what worlds were of great importance, for now, Kallus fell into his role as an ISB Agent. "Lieutenant Lyste, are we under attack?" he asked of the other officer, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out of the viewport.
"No, and I intend to keep it that way," Lyste answered him as he turned to the windows. Kallus was now definitely confused as to why the attack klaxon was sounding earlier. However, his answer was given in that moment as he saw a shuttle being pursued by Tie Fighters. "This stolen shuttle blasted its way out of the Lothal spaceport. I am moving to intercept." He turned to a subordinate to issue a command, "prepare tractor beam." They watched a moment as the Ties were able to hit one of the shuttle's engines, rendering it unable to escape.
"We have tractor lock," a crewman said, as they engaged the tractor beam to capture the target vessel.
As Kallus watched what was unfolding, something seemed all too familiar about this situation, and he had a feeling he knew who was on the shuttle. "I'll head up the boarding party," Kallus turned on his heel to do just that. As he made his way to the cruiser's airlocks that were used to board ships, he had to wonder as to which Rebel it was. He was half-sure it was the young Jedi as it seemed like something he would do. As he approached the door, it slid open to reveal a Corporal and a regular trooper having captured the thief.
"Let me go! You're making a mistake." the helmeted thief said as he struggled against the troopers. Kallus could already tell who it was, as he saw the little Loth-cat design on the helmet. It was indeed Bridger, after all.
"Remove his helmet," Kallus ordered, wondering what Ezra was going to say to him, while not blowing his cover.
"What are you looking at, Imperial scum?" Ezra said, keeping the guise up.
What are you doing here? Kallus mentally asked the boy, considering this may backfire on him. Thinking fast, "Take him to the detention cells," Kallus turned and walked back into the cruiser as the troopers disarmed the prisoner.
As they walked, Kallus' mind was racing as to how to play this situation, Ezra being here, puts both of them at risk. Please tell me you brought your droid, his mind begged, considering that that C1 unit was very handy in these types of situations. They got to the cells and pushed Bridger in, Kallus turned to the troopers, "Leave us, I'll interrogate him myself," he ordered, and the troopers left. Before entering the cell, Kallus stuck his code cylinder into the port, to disable the cameras to give them some privacy. Upon entering, the door closed behind him, and now it was time to find out what was going on. "Don't you realize how dangerous it is for you, of all people, to be here? If anyone recognizes you…"
"They won't, you know how big the Empire is." Ezra interrupted him, as he turned around for Kallus to undo his binds. "Most troopers don't even know what I look like now," that was if they had survived multiple encounters with the Jedi, which was unlikely. The issue was not so much the troopers, it was the officers that were the issue.
"I hope that is true, for both our sakes. If anyone discovers you here, I'll be executed for treason!" Kallus impressed on the Jedi how much danger he was in with Ezra there. Many higher ups in the region knew that Kallus hunted the Spectres for a while and would get suspicious if he didn't alert them to the presence of one of those rebels being on his ship.
Ezra laughed a moment, which did not put him at ease, "you might be anyway. We think the Empire was monitoring your last Fulcrum transmission."
"So, you got captured to warn me?" That plan seemed ill thought out to Kallus.
"Nope. To get you out of here." That was unexpected to say the least.
"Well, I guess I have no choice now," Kallus had been hoping to wait and do more damage while still undercover but it seemed his hand was forced.
"Look, I am not happy about either. For all I know, you're playing the long game to set us up," Ezra said as he walked around Kallus. It was a very Thrawn tactic to do such a thing.
"I could say the same for you," He was partially still convinced that after everything he had done for them, that they still wanted him dead. "For now, I suppose, we'll just have to trust each other," he held out his hand for the young Jedi to shake.
"Open this door!" the voice of Lyste came through the cell's door.
Sithspit! Kallus thought, what was Lyste doing there? Ezra grabbed Kallus' hand and to his confusion used it to punch himself and fall back on the stairs. Just in time as the door slid open, "Stop!" Ezra seemed to cry, making up a ruse on the spot. "I'll tell you anything." Kallus knew he had to just go along with it at this point.
"A confession already?" Lyste asked, surprised. "You are good, but it will have to wait. Admiral Thrawn's fleet has just arrived, and has summoned us aboard his ship." Lyste turned to the trooper at his side, "bring the prisoner."
Sithspit, both secret rebels thought. Thrawn being there was going to be a problem. "The Prisoner?" Kallus was worried now.
"To show the Grand Admiral how effective I am in dealing with the rebel threat." Lyste said with pride.
So it was clear, Lyste wanted to be a bootlicker to try to get himself a promotion. "He's a bounty hunter, not a rebel." Kallus tried to manage the situation, but it did not work in his favor.
"He's from Lothal. It's enough," Lyste said with a degree of finality to it. So, now they had to do this the hard way. Kallus had no choice, but to follow Ezra and Lyste out of the cell.
As they made their way to the boarding ramp to transfer over to the Chimaera, Kallus saw the droids that came with Ezra and was glad to see the C1 unit with him, in his usual Imperial disguise paint. "Excuse me," AP-5 spoke up.
Lyste stepped in front of the group to handle this, "I did not request any droids to accompany us." Lyste didn't seem to know that the droids had been on the shuttle with Ezra and had been told to wait for processing.
"My counterpart has a recording of the shuttle theft. Protocol is for us to provide it as testimony against the thief," the protocol droid told Lyste.
"Very Well," Lyste agreed, better than to argue the point any further, and they all boarded the shuttle.
As they made the short trip to the ISD, Kallus was getting nervous about this encounter with the Grand Admiral, especially with Bridger involved. "I haven't been summoned by ranking officers since that incident with the princess from Alderaan. Oh, that was not a pleasant meeting. I shall endeavor to make a better impression this time" Lyste told Kallus. Now, Kallus understood why citizens thought of Imperial officials as bootlickers, Lyste was a real one. Either that or was a true believer, or both, which was worse. "I'm sure you will, Lieutenant," Kallus said, just to say something, not wanting to continue this conversation any longer, as he was trying to figure out what the plan was.
"Shuttle TYA77, transmit clearance codes." Chimaera's comms officer's voice came over.
"Copy, Chimaera, transmitting codes now," the Shuttle's pilot said as he hit a button on the console.
The ship entered the Hanger Bay and set down gently. Everyone disembarked and Ezra was hauled off to Detention block B-7. Kallus decided that he would worry about that later, after meeting with the Grand Admiral, over whatever this was about. He and Lyste were escorted to Thrawn's office while AP-5 and Chopper got to work, getting a message to their retrieval team.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Hyperspace.
"You're where?" Kanan asked the astromech, to make sure he heard clearly. Chopper grunted his reply again, warning Kanan and Rex of the change of location.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn's Star Destroyer? What in blazes are you doing there?" Rex asked, angry things were not going to plan. Chopper warbled the response, explaining how things went wrong.
"They transferred Ezra there after he got captured," Kanan repeated.
"Well, that really changes the plan." Rex commented. Either Thrawn suspected something or they just had an overzealous mid ranking officer that wants to impress their boss to deal with. "Our clearance codes are for the light cruiser, not Thrawn's Star Destroyer," Rex commented, thinking about what to do.
"Chop, you got to get us those clearance codes," Kanan ordered, to which the droid warbled his acceptance of the mission. As he settled back into his chair, Kanan felt a warning from the Force. He tried to see what it was, but could not pin down what the Force was trying to warn him off.
Rex saw the look on Kanan's face and knew from experience what the Jedi was sensing, "What is it, Kanan?"
"I am not sure, the Force is warning me of something, but I am not sure what it is trying to tell me." Kanan was not sure what was going on.
"Do you think it is about Ezra or Thrawn?" Rex asked.
"Not sure, but I get the sense there will be another complication before the end of this," Kanan remarked. It did not put Rex at ease at all to hear that.
With Kallus
As he and Lyste were walking, they passed by another group of officers, one of which was Brom Titus. "That was the sector command staff, what are they doing here?" Lyste asked.
"I can only guess," Kallus said. In truth, he was getting nervous. Thrawn was being thorough, in whatever he was up to. They approached Thrawn's office and were stopped by a Stormtrooper Corporal. "Your code cylinders," the trooper held out his hand for them.
"Now see here, I am a Lieutenant," Lyste seemed offended that a trooper asked for his code cylinders.
"Understood, Sir. Your Cylinders?" The corporal repeated.
Kallus stepped forward and handed his cylinder to the trooper, and Lyste begrudgingly handed his over as well. "Thrawn is known for being thorough," Kallus told the other man. The Trooper turned and put both codes into the reader, creating a log of who was there. "You are clear to proceed, Lieutenant," the trooper said with some snark to his voice, and turned and hit the door release. As they entered, they saw the Grand Admiral sparring with DT-series sentry droids, it was quite impressive to see a higher ranking officer practicing their martial abilities. Getting a few solid kicks in, "Override code: Ruhk," the Admiral commanded and the droids shut down, as the door slid shut.
The door in front of the two officers opened up and Admiral Konstantine greeted them. "He is ready for us," Kassius told them.
Who? Kallus was confused as to who could be waiting for them if it was not the Grand Admiral. They followed the other man into the office and there they say an older officer in a white ISB uniform. The man turned around to greet them. To Kallus's delighted surprise and hidden horror, it was Colonel Yularen, his superior and the one who trained Kallus to be ISB. Things were lining up in ways Kallus was not pleased by. "Colonel Yularen, I don't know if you remember me from the academy…"
"Of course, young Agent Kallus. I keep tabs on all my star pupils," Yularen greeted his former student with a handshake.
"What brings you to Lothal?" Kallus asked, hoping this was more a social call.
"We are in need of his expertise," Thrawn said, coming into the room, still fixing his white Grand Admiral's officer uniform top after sparring with his droids. "There is a rebel spy in our midst, codename: "Fulcrum" and perhaps today we are going to learn their true identity." There it was, Ezra was right, they had been monitoring Kallus' last transmission. Kallus steeled his nerves to not show anything in front of the Grand Admiral who could pick on the slightest detail.
Thrawn walked around his desk as the two non ISB navy officers took the two chairs in front of the desk and the two ISB officers stood behind them. "A traitor in our ranks is feeding the rebel's information. That is the only logical explanation for their success and our failure," Thrawn informed them of the situation at hand.
Lyste stood up, "I will do everything in my power to find this spy, Grand Admiral" trying to make a good impression. The other three just looked at him with various looks of not the time.
"Thank you for your enthusiasm, Lieutenant." Thrawn looked over his shoulder briefly at the low officer. Thrawn needed competency, not blind fanaticism. "However, few are above suspicion." His words were dripping with warning. "ISB Colonel Yularen will question each of you."
Yularen put his hand in a comforting manner on the young officer's shoulder. "In the meantime, be vigilant. Watch your subordinates closely and your peers even closer."
"Our spy must be unmasked quickly, as I am on the verge of locating the rebel base in this sector." Thrawn hit a button on his ideas and a holo display of the sector appeared. "I have narrowed it down to these worlds," the ones in question lit up red.
"From among thousands, how?" Konstantine asked.
"An analysis of rebel hyperspace routes, their attacks on Imperial ships and facilities, and rather importantly, proximity to Lothal. As the holo deactivated, Kallus' face hardened a bit. He needed to learn where the base was from Ezra, so that he could erase it from Thrawn's map. "You're dismissed."
As the four of them walked out of the office, Yularen stopped Kallus a moment to speak with him. "Agent Kallus, you've had multiple encounters with the rebels in this sector. Any thoughts on our traitor?"
"A high level intelligence leak suggests an officer." Kallus had to play his part, just had to not incriminate himself.
"True, but in our technological system, accessing information tends to be easier than having the means to transmit it without the Empire's knowledge." Yularen was puzzled about that part of it. To be honest, Kallus was wondering how he was able to get away with using Ezra's house for as long as he did to transmit information as Fulcrum.
"Perhaps the communication division?" Kallus offered the idea, anything to throw attention away from him.
"Too obvious," Yularen dismissed it, then continued. "Whoever this spy is, they have a method of transmitting that we are, as yet, unaware of."
"If I can do anything to help…" It was theater to keep up the act of a loyal ISB agent.
"I'll let you know, Agent." Yularen dismissed him and went back inside, and Kallus went and caught up with Lyste, as much as he did not want to.
"It is said no traitor escapes the eye of Yularen for long," Lyste said when Kallus walked by him.
"I guess we'll see…" Kallus was unable to finish his statement before another officer interrupted him, being Governor Pryce.
"Kallus, I saw a report that a shuttle theft from Lothal was prevented," greeted him.
Kallus took this opportunity to start to improvise a plan to deflect any suspicion from himself. "Actually, Lieutenant Lyste was responsible for that."
"Really?" Pryce asked, surprised. "Well, that deserves commendation."
"Thank you, Governor," they stepped aside to allow her to pass by.
"Step carefully, ISB is watching her," Kallus put the next part of his improv plan into action, to get Lyste to think that Pryce is the traitor. "You should too." Kallus discretely swapped Lyste's code cylinder for one of his own.
"What? Why? You don't mean Pryce is the rebel spy?" Lyste wanted to make sure he was hearing correctly. Then it seemed to click, "That's why she wasn't in the meeting!"
All Kallus had to do was encourage Lyste. "Thrawn has no proof yet, I am sure he'd be grateful if you kept an eye on her."
"He can count on me," Lyste walked away to shadow Pryce.
Gullible fool, Kallus thought, now to make the rest of the plan work. He started to head to the detention block.
Inside Thrawn's Office
Pryce walked into the Grand Admiral's office to find Yularen looking over a report and that Admiral looking at an artifact he had. "Any progress?" she asked.
"I'm certain the spy was present at our interviews. Now, to see if they take our bait and warn the rebels," Thrawn said.
"I may have something: A coded rebel message was beamed from this ship right after an off-ship prisoner was transferred to your detention block, B-7," Yularen informed them.
"Well, then… shall we visit this mysterious prisoner?" Thrawn has a sneaking suspicion of who the prisoner might be. The Rebels of this sector had a habit of having one of their number be captured to be able to have a man on the inside. As they were about to leave to do so, Thrawn's communications terminal in his desk beeped. A brow arched in question as to why he was being hailed as he had told the bridge crew not to call him unless it was of utmost importance.
He walked over to his terminal and hit the answer key, "What is it, Captain Faro?"
"Sorry to disturb you, Grand Admiral," the female voice of Captain Karyn Faro came over the comms. "However, a ship just dropped out of hyperspace, requesting permission to dock with the Chimaera, and they identify as the Emperor's Hand."
Thrawn took a moment to look at Yularen who was also puzzled at this development. "There are multiple with that designation, however, they are not all his personal agents. Is it the young woman?" Him asking that would identify if was indeed the proper person.
"It did sound like a young woman, indeed sir," Faro responded.
"Then it is indeed the Emperor's Hand, let her land. I am on my way down to the Detention Block, but I will meet her in the hanger before then," he ordered.
"As you wish sir," Faro obeyed the order, as the comms went silent.
"What is she doing here?" Yularen asked, confused. As a high ranking ISB agent, he knew that the Emperor only sent that Agent when it was of utmost importance.
"I don't know, but I am going to find out. We will greet her at the hanger and then interrogate our prisoner." Thrawn led the way out of the office, with Pryce and Yularen following behind him.
A few minutes ago
From the swirling blueish white tunnel of hyperspace, and dropping into the inky black void of realspace, came a personal starship, bearing a very important occupant.
Sitting in the pilot seat was a young woman, though only still a girl of about fifteen, she was a feared agent of the Emperor, she was his Hand. The Emperor sent her to get the jobs done that would be too noticeable or inappropriate for Vader or any other obvious agents. Unlike others that bore the moniker of Emperor's Hand, she was the actual Hand of the Emperor. That she took humor in. Her name was Mara Jade, and the Emperor had given her a task to do. She was to help find the spy in the ranks of the Seventh Fleet and eliminate them.
Mara had been in telepathic communication with the Emperor through the Force to inform him that she had arrived at Lothal, when the communication console beeped. They were being hailed by Thrawn's Star Destroyer. "Come in, unidentified Imperial ship. This is a restricted area, provide clearance codes, and state your destination."
"This is Jade Shadow, it is my intention to dock aboard you, Chimaera," Mara said in the comms.
"Copy Jade Shadow, we read you. Transmit Clearance Codes and state destination." The voice of the comms officer came back to her, a bit frightened. It seemed that they knew her ship by name.
"Access Code: Emperor's Hand," Mara said, with that identifier, she did not need any currently updated codes to go where she needed. "I repeat, it is my intention to dock with you, Chimaera. I must meet with the Grand Admiral."
"One Moment," the officer told her. Minutes went by, and Mara began to wonder what was taking them so long. However, she did surmise that since she had been informed that ISB Colonel Yularen was already there, Thrawn had probably ordered heightened security, so the bridge crew would have to inform him of her arrival to let her land.
Finally, the officer came back to her. "Come in, Jade Shadow, you are clear for docking in the main hangar. An escort will be waiting for you." The line went silent, and Mara navigated her personal starship to the Chimaera's hanger bay.
Hanger Bay
As the shuttle touched down, Thrawn had to wonder why His Majesty decided to send his personal assassin to aid them in tracking down the spy. They had things under control with what they had available. However, if the Emperor deemed it necessary to do so, then an extra pair of eyes wouldn't hurt, he supposed. The ramp descended and a woman, no older than fifteen or sixteen, with fiery red-gold hair and green eyes, wearing a black skin-tight bodysuit and a cape, with a blaster on one hip, and a lightsaber on her other hip, walked down the ramp. She smiled as she saw the Grand Admiral, "good to see you again, Grand Admiral," she greeted.
"Agent Jade, it is indeed to see you again, my dear," Thrawn greeted the young woman.
She turned to the Colonel. "Colonel Yularen, you are looking well. You seemed unwell when at the Emperor's Ball." This was when she had last seen both ranking officers in person.
"Yes, thank you, my dear for your concern, I had come down with some food poisoning, but it passed quickly," Yularen greeted her.
"We are on our way to interrogate a suspected Rebel that has been talking with our unknown spy. We can fill you in as we walk," Thrawn offered her the way, and they got moving toward the cell block.
"What do we know?" Mara asked as she walked alongside the other two.
"This spy, codename: Fulcrum, has been feeding the Rebels in this sector, the so-called Phoenix Squadron, information for the past while. It has been a hindrance to our operations in this sector, and evidence suggests that they are about to mount an offensive strike, aimed at my factory planetside." Thrawn informed her
"Very well, I am here to help stop this traitor," Mara assured both High Officers. Thrawn secretly hoped they could catch Fulcrum alive, so as to feed the rebels false information, but that would depend on who got to them first, him or Jade.
Detention Block B-7
Kallus had made his way down to the Detention Block where Bridger was being kept. The first thing he did was to make sure to disable security, both to give him privacy and to implicate Lyste, by using the stolen Code cylinder to shut down security, right where the two rebel droids were arguing over what should take priority, he only told the droids to follow him. Opening the cell, he found it seemingly empty, knowing the kid well enough, all Kallus had to do was look up and he saw him. "Please stop doing that," exasperation was clear in his voice.
Ezra dropped to the floor, "What? It worked before." Kallus remembered all too well what he was referring to. "Now, let's get out here." Kallus descended into the cell to take the binders off of Ezra.
"None of us will be leaving without the clearance codes to this ship," AP-5 warned them.
Ezra grunted at his oversight, as the plan was for the light cruiser, Thrawn just had to show up at the worst time. "I hadn't thought of that."
Kallus had more bad news for the young Jedi, "and I'm afraid there is another complication. I've just learned that Thrawn is very close to locating your base. You have to tell me where it is." Kallus was planning on deleting it from Thrawn's records.
"So you can tell him? No Way! You'll find out when we get there." Ezra had no reason to trust Kallus before, and he didn't now.
"Not if Thrawn destroys it first," Kallus warned. "I need to know where it is so I can remove it from his database."
"If it's even on his list," Ezra was still wisely, if annoyingly playing things close to the chest.
"If I may…" AP-5 interjected with an idea to solve both issues at hand, "we can achieve both of our goals by infiltrating Grand Admiral Thrawn's office. Agent Kallus can keep our base hidden, and we can gain the clearance codes we so desperately need."
"Okay, we'll do it, but how will we know if Thrawn is in his office?" That was the one caveat, they couldn't go there if the Admiral was sitting there, waiting for them.
Kallus took a moment to think, then realized he already had the perfect way to answer that, as he pulled out his comlink. "Lieutenant Lyste, where are you?" Kallus asked into his comlink.
"Following Pryce, she and the Admiral and Colonel Yularen are on their way to the detention area to interrogate the prisoner," Lyste informed them.
"Keep on them, Lieutenant, but remember, don't let them see you," Kallus ordered.
"One more thing, they stopped in the hanger and now there is a young woman with red hair tagging along with them," Lyste told them.
"A woman with red hair? What is she wearing?" Kallus got concerned, and Ezra looked at the ISB Agent in confusion.
"It looks like a black bodysuit and a yellow cape, with a blaster and…" Lyste cut off a moment of thought.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" Kallus demanded.
"Is that a lightsaber?" Lyste said in question. Both rebels grew concerned for different reasons.
"Like Lord Vader carries?" Kallus asked, to keep his cover, and to confirm things.
"Yes," Lyste confirmed.
"Keep your distance, Lieutenant, but keep on them," Kallus said, and put his comlink away.
"Another Inquisitor?" Ezra asked aloud, worried, considering he did not have his lightsaber on him at the moment.
"No, something else, and perhaps, worse, however, she is not here for you, Bridger," Kallus said. She was there for him.
"What is she then?" Ezra asked as they walked out of the cell.
"An assassin, in the Emperor's service, sent to hunt down corrupt officers and traitors in the ranks of the Empire," Kallus sighed, he had to get off this ship now. "We need to get you a uniform."
"Since when do Imperial assassins carry Jedi weapons?" Ezra asked, confused as to who this woman was.
"They don't, well, aside from this one. She is known by a title, the Emperor's Hand," Kallus informed him, and he began to get nervous that may not be able to keep up his cover with her onboard.
"That's not concerning at all," Ezra tried to lighten the mood, but clearly failed. "When we get the codes, we can have Chop warn Kanan about her."
"First, a change of dress," Kallus was not going to risk Ezra being seen with him without a disguise. Luckily, finding a low-ranked officer uniform was the easy part. Now all Kallus needed to do was have Ezra convince people he was Lyste.
With the Grand Admiral
Unbeknownst to the Grand Admiral and his companions, they showed up to the detention block mere minutes after Kallus and Ezra got out of there. Thrawn immediately picked up that something was wrong. "Surveillance has been deactivated," he had noticed the cameras not working.
"And where are the guards?" Pryce asked, looking down part of the hall.
"This is not like you, Admiral. Normally, you have a tight ship." Mara snarked. The other officers brushed it off as both her being a teenager still and the fact she was only one of a few that could get away with talking to high officers like that, especially someone of the rank of Grand Admiral, being the highest Military rank in the Empire, short of Lord Vader being the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military.
Yularen inserted his code cylinder into the port and the door opened to reveal an empty cell. "And where is the prisoner?" Thrawn asked. It seemed that the spy had already made contact and now they had two Rebels aboard the ship to find.
Quickly checking the code logs, "The code records show your Lieutenant Lyste was the last person to access this cell." Thrawn thought for a moment about this information and it did not line up well. Yes, Lyste seemed overplaying his role at the interviews, but Thrawn could tell that he was just trying to curry favor, in a way other Officers liked, but Thrawn did not.
"Well, it seems we have our man, do we not?" Pryce thought the hard part was over, now all they had to do was find and execute the traitor.
"Not quite, something is amiss here," something told Thrawn that things were not as they seem.
"I agree, things are not always as they seem, a sleight of hand, a pickpocket, a good lie, and someone has swapped code cylinders to frame someone," Mara inputted. It has happened before where she initially thought she had someone dead to rights, but turned out it was the wrong guy. Mara took a moment to reach out with the Force to see if she could glean any new information. She felt the Force in someone aboard the ship, heading toward the Admiral's office, A Jedi, here? A part of her wanted to have a Jedi to her name to prove that not just Vader or his lackeys in the Inquisitorous could kill Jedi, as the Emperor trained her how to fight them in case she came across one. Also, the Force warned her that they had a tail.
Having been around Force-Users long enough, especially young female force-users Yularen could tell she had felt something. "What did you pick up, my dear?" While Yularen believed that the Jedi Order had betrayed the Republic as the Emperor had told everyone, he did admit their abilities were useful to have around, which is why the Inquisitors were around. Sometimes, though he did wonder what happened to the Jedi Generals and Commander he served with during the War, how they met their ends. Also, he wondered who Vader was behind that mask, but then again so did everyone.
"I think we may have a Jedi aboard," Mara told them.
"Jedi?" Pryce repeated, a bit concerned.
"More than likely the young padawan, Ezra Bridger, being a native of this planet, he is tied to it," Thrawn explained, putting the pieces together.
"Bridger? If that's the case, why didn't Kallus alert us?" Yularen asked, confused why the agent who had been hunting the Spectres for years never said anything. There was an unspoken accusation in the air, they all were thinking it, it being possible that Kallus had turned. They wouldn't know for certain until they questioned him.
"They are heading in the direction of your office, Grand Admiral," Mara finished telling them.
"Then, let us hurry," Thrawn ordered and they began to head that way, when Mara suddenly turned a different way and there was the sound of someone getting punched in the stomach and then getting dropped to the floor. The Rank officers turned her way and saw her dragging a low ranking Lieutenant over to them.
"Lieutenant Lyste, what are you doing following us?" Thrawn asked, wanting to confirm how far in this conspiracy he was.
"I was following Governor Pryce, Agent Kallus told me that ISB was watching her. I was trying to gather any evidence of her treason to report to you, Grand Admiral." Lyste said from the floor, wondering why he just got decked by the young woman. The four of them shared a look, Lyste was clearly an idiot, but he was innocent in this matter. No wonder why he didn't question what Kallus told him, given ISB's reputation.
"I think we have our answer now," Mara said, intent on doing her job.
"Indeed, let us hurry, we may be able to catch them," Thrawn and everyone began to run toward the turbolifts, hoping to stop the Rebels from doing what they were going to do, leaving Lyste dazed and confused.
With the hidden Rebels
Kallus and Ezra, along with Chopper and AP-5 were closing in on Thrawn's office. Ezra did not like how the stolen uniform was fitting to him. "I liked being a bounty hunter better."
"We all make sacrifices," Kallus commented, wanting to get this done so he could get out of there.
Ezra turned around to address the droids, "Okay, AP-5, stand guard here and let us know if anyone's coming."
"Oh, good, the thankless job," the droid grumbled as the others moved on.
As they approached Thrawn's office, Ezra thought that it was weird seeing a Trooper standing guard there.
Kallus leaned in and whispered instructions to Ezra, "See that trooper? Convince him you are Lieutenant Lyste." Kallus needed Lyste to take the fall for this, but he had his doubts with that Hand aboard if he could pull this off. "Here is his code cylinder," Kallus discreetly handed it to Ezra. "Get him to open the door with it."
Walking up to the trooper, Ezra kept his hat low to hide his eyes, and had to use a little bit of the Force on his persuasion skills, doing his best impression of Lyste. "I am Lieutenant Lyste. Admiral Thrawn told you to expect us."
"Lieutenant Lyste, Thrawn told me to expect you." the way the Corporal said it, made the rebels worried this was not going to work a moment. However, the trooper held out his hand for the code cylinder, and used it to open the office door, standing aside for them to enter.
As they walked in, Ezra took a long look around and spotted Hera's kalikori and started to go for it. Kallus had to remind the Jedi that was not why they were there. "We are not here to steal art!." Chopper warbled something.
"Chopper just stole the codes. Fine, Chop, transmit the codes to Kanan, and warn him of the assassin," Ezra ordered.
"Are you crazy? They'll intercept the transmission!" Kallus was incredulous to the idea.
"Yeah, that a secret code was transmitted from Thrawn's office," the Jedi rebutted.
Ezra had Kallus there, "Good point." Now, to see if they get out of this.
Meanwhile in Hyperspace
Rex and Kanan were rapidly approaching Lothal and were in desperate need of the clearance codes when Chopper managed to get in touch with them.
"Chop, what's going on?" Kanan asked the astromech. Chopper grunted out his response. "The codes are coming through now."
"Good job, Chopper, tell them to get to the hanger. Hurry!" Rex ordered the droid.
Chopper warbled something, which was clearly a warning. "What is aboard?" Kanan asked, making sure he heard Chopper right. After the droid repeated his warning, Kanan understood. "A personal assassin of the Emperor is there, and she carries a lightsaber?"
"Well, that complicates things, doesn't it?" Rex mused.
"Good thing I packed ours just in case," Kanan reached down and stowed his saber on the back of his belt. All things go well, no one will see it nor will he need it. "Seems the Emperor deemed Kallus a bigger threat than we thought."
"Great for us," Rex commented with concern. Experience was telling him this was going to be messy.
Thrawn's Office
As Chopper was sending out the message, Kallus and Ezra went about the other reason they were here, to hide the location of the rebel base. Ezra activated the desk holoprojector and took a quick look at the progress Thrawn had made. "You were right. Thrawn is close to finding our base."
"Droid, erase that planet and add another as a decoy," Kallus ordered. Chopper did as he was commanded to protect Atollon.
Kallus' comlink beeped and AP-5 came over it. "Unfortunate news. Grand Admiral Thrawn is headed for his office."
"What? Try to stall him!" Ezra panicked.
"Oh, wait, I can't. He's at the door." AP-5 told them.
"I'll handle it," Kallus said as he turned and walked away from Ezra with an idea in his mind, as he remembered the sentry droids the Admiral had for sparring.
Outside
AP-5 was hiding around the corner, having just warned his comrades. He would have said something sooner, but Thrawn had come around the corner from the other side and was basically at the door before the droid finished warning Ezra. He knew that Ezra would have to figure out something to get out of this now. He thought himself hidden, when all of a sudden he had to power down. Mara had come up behind the droid, while it was distracted by watching Thrawn and flipped his power switch. She slipped a tracker inside the droid, turned him back on and quickly joined the Admiral so as not to alert the droid she was there. Thrawn realized what she was doing when she came over to him from the far side than he did a moment after he reached his office and heard the droid uttering a few confused remarks. He let it be for now, as he had more pressing concerns. He had already sent Pryce and Yularen elsewhere to complete the trap.
"Lieutenant Lyste is inside, sir," The door trooper reported.
"Ready your weapon and follow us," Thrawn ordered. He already knew it was not Lyste, as they left him dazed and confused after Mara decked him. Mara primed her blaster in its holster and laid a hand on her lightsaber, not knowing if the Jedi had their weapon on them.
Inside
"Chop, shut off the holomap," Ezra ordered, and it disappeared. Turning around and realizing Kallus was not there, Ezra and Chopper hid behind the large relief of Sabine's artwork. Just in time as the door slid open and there was the Admiral.
He left the troopers at the door as he and Mara walked further in. Thrawn went to check his holomap and Mara took a look around, trying to see if she could find Kallus or Ezra. Thrawn studied the map for a moment, trying to see if any planet was out of place, and nothing immediately stood out as being deleted.
Ezra took a chance and looked out from behind the relief at the door to see the troopers there, wondering what he was going to do to get out of this, hoping that Kallus didn't just give them up. Things went from bad to worse as he turned to look and see where the Admiral was, and his blue eyes met emerald green. In a moment of panic, he stumbled backward out into the open. "Hello, Jedi," the woman greeted, as she activated her lightsaber.
Ezra was expecting crimson from a servant of the Emperor, but was surprised to see Magenta, and when he opened himself to the Force as there was no reason to hide it now, as he would need to to save his skin, he was met with confusion.
He did not sense the corruption of the Dark Side in her, nor specifically the Light either. She was just unaligned it seemed. He never fathomed that it was possible to be a servant of the Emperor with Force abilities and not be corrupted by the Dark Side.
"What are you?" he asked as she advanced on him.
"Did you think I was an Inquisitor? Do I look like one of Vader's Lackeys?" Mara asked, sounding a bit offended at the idea. "I am the Emperor's Hand, but my name is Mara Jade."
"Ezra Bridger, at last we meet again," Thrawn came up and stood next to the woman, hands behind his back. "Tell me, where is Agent Kallus?"
Ezra had no intention of giving up Fulcrum, the fact that Thrawn asked, meant that Kallus hadn't betrayed him, and so in turn, Ezra will not betray him. As for the woman, he did not so much fear her, he stood against Vader and he was not afraid that day. Just wished he had a weapon in his hand.
As if by the will of the Force, salvation came. The door behind the troopers opened and two large black Imperial Sentry Droids came in shooting, immediately taking out the two troopers and began firing on Mara and Thrawn. Mara spun her blade in hand to defend both herself and Thrawn from the droids, who was returning fire with his sidearm, doing little damage. Ezra took the opportunity to use the Force, to bring the mural down on top of them to split her attention so he could get out of there. Mara had to split her concentration between stopping the mural coming down, and the droids.
In all of the chaos, Chopper had snuck his way around the back of the room as everyone that was focused on Ezra, over to the display where Hera's Kalikori was, swiping it and waited for Ezra to get them out of this.
As soon as Ezra brought the mural down, both of them took off out the door, confident they had bought themselves some time. Thrawn noticed the Rebel book it out of the room, but knew he couldn't do anything about it. He took two shots at the droids which meant both of them turned toward him, and he dived behind his desk in time as the droids let loose a barrage of blaster fire.
Given the distraction, Mara was able to get herself out from under the falling mural and let it hit the ground. Now free, she advanced on the sentry droids, with a few quick motions of her magenta blade, the first droid was made into scrap metal, then she advanced on the second one. Cutting off the hand E-11 first, then the other melee arm, and bisected this one down the middle.
With both droids down, they finally were able to catch their breath. The only sound in the room other than their heavy breaths was the hum of her lightsaber. When Thrawn had his back, he reached into his belt and grabbed his comlink. "Colonel, listen to me carefully…"
Ezra and Chopper ran out the room as fast as they could, meeting back up with Kallus, and they all took off running toward the hangar, grabbing AP-5 on the way.
Stolen Imperial Shuttle
The extraction team finally made it to Lothal, knowing this had to be precise to make it out of here. "Well, here goes nothing," Rex pulled the lever to drop them out of hyperspace, and was met with the sight of the entire Seventh Fleet over Lothal. "Whoa," Rex was both impressed and concerned at how many ships there were. He was expecting a light cruiser and a Star Destroyer, not the entire fleet.
"Hey, gramps, mind filling me in?" Kanan said, reminding Rex that Kanan was blind.
"Lot of ships," was what the response was, not exactly what Kanan was looking for, but it would have to do.
"How Many?" Kanan pressed.
"Don't worry about it, just transmit the codes. Fast." Rex did not intend to get shot out of the sky just for being there. Kanan did as he was told to do.
"Shuttle TY992, you are clear to land," the comm officer said over the speakers. One hurdle down, one to go, as they navigated to the Chimaera's hanger bay.
As the shuttle touched down, things seemed to be clear for the Rebels. Both of them grabbed their helmets to the stolen trooper armor they had on, and went to the landing ramp.
Noticing Rex having some difficulty, "Comfortable?" Kanan jabbed at the Clone Captain.
"I thought I lost a little weight," Rex was sure being back in service would have helped him slim down, but was still having problems.
Speaking of problems, over on the other side of the hanger, blast doors opened and Ezra and Kallus came into the bay. "There's our ride," Ezra was glad to be able to get out of there.
"And there is Governor Pryce," Kallus warned him. Thrawn must have put her and Yularen on high alert.
Back on the other side, Kanan and Rex were concerned as they saw the Governor walk up with a Trooper Sergeant. "Troopers, stand down and remove your helmets, I'm placing you under arrest," Pryce commanded.
"There must be some mistake, sir." Kanan tried to deflect and tried to see if he could get off a Mind Trick. "I'm sure we can…" he never even finished it, as Pryce ordered the Sarge next to her to fire. A quick motion and the trooper got off a stun blast, knocking Kanan out. Rex returned fire, but his was not set for stun, immediately taking out the trooper and firing on the Governor, missing the one shot, before Pryce had knocked it out of his hands and they had to use their martial skills to see who would come out on top.
"Chop, seal the doors," just in time as a squad of troops came running down the hall.
Colonel Yularen and Mara Jade arrived on an upper balcony to oversee things, when she saw Kallus, she used the Force to jump and cushion her landing from the balcony, and began to creep up on the rebels, leaving Yularen to have to link up with the troops downstairs.
As Pryce got her hands on a blaster and aimed it at Rex, a force push from Ezra sent her flying to the side, landing against a cargo crate, knocking her out momentarily. Rex helped Kanan to his feet as the droids got on the shuttle first, Ezra stopped to make sure Kanan was alright, needing a moment to get his bearings. Getting stunned like that is worse when you have to use the Force to be able to see.
"We have to get out of here, now." Agent Kallus said, as they all got their breath, at the foot of the transport.
"You won't be leaving, traitor," a female voice said from behind Kallus and he was immediately in immense hot pain, he looked down and saw a magenta lightsaber blade sprouting from his chest. "So you're the traitor, Agent Kallus?"
"Oh no, it's her," Ezra's face showed fear. Mara withdrew her blade and Kallus crumpled to the deck.
"Get aboard, get the engines going, I'll handle this," Kanan told the others, as he drew his lightsaber and ignited it.
"I had hoped that Vader had not finished your kind off, Jedi. I was hoping to test my skills against one of you," Mara said as she raised her blade in a defensive position and walked toward Kanan.
Swinging first, Mara's blows were intercepted and battled away by Kanan's use of Form III, Soresu. Back and forth they lightly dueled. Kanan, though struggling a bit for numerous reasons, was able to hold his own against her. Having fought multiple Inquisitors, and Maul while blinded, was good enough to hold his own. He had to admit, she was good, whoever had trained her had trained her well, but he could tell that the lightsaber was not her preferred weapon of choice. She was also young, about Ezra's age, only a little older than Kanan was during the Clone Wars, so she did not have the experience needed to fully defeat a Jedi Knight.
Like his padawan, he was confused as to the fact that he did not sense the Dark Side in her, yes, there was aggression, but not enough to fuel the Dark Side. Little did it matter, though, as during the duel, the others got the shuttle warmed up and ready to go. They had begun to lift off, and with a light Force push, Kanan managed to get a moment of space between him and her and made it to the ramp, hitting the button to close the door just in time as Mara was right on top of him as it closed. Ezra gave them some breathing room, with a Force push of his own and they were away.
There, Mara stood, in the Hanger bay, with the blade still ignited, and her teeth gritted. The Jedi had escaped her, and she was unable to prove to Vader that she could do his job as well as he could. The sound of the blast doors in the back being blown open brought her back to reality. At least she had gotten the traitor in the ranks of the Fleet. She deactivated her blade and hooked it to her belt and walked over to where Kallus' body was, already going cold.
Pryce by this point had already gotten up and was making her way over to them, getting there as Yularen got there as well. "So, you got him?" Pryce asked, rubbing her shoulder from where she impacted the crate.
"Yeah, I did. Would have preferred to get the Jedi as well, but I got a tracker in the protocol droid, that will lead the Admiral back to them," Mara told them as she briefly looked back out the Hanger into space.
"At least, that will be one sector free of rebels in the coming days," Pryce said as Yularen knelt down and frisked Kallus' body for his Code Cylinders.
Just by looking at it, Yularen knew it was not Kallus' own, as ISB had separate looking ones. "So, he did try to frame Lyste," Yularen's voice was heavy. It was like the truth was settling in, Kallus had been one of his best students at the academy, and now he has betrayed the Empire, and paid the price for it. "The Admiral will want to know what has transpired here," and the three of them returned to Thrawn's office, still a mess from earlier with droid parts all over the place and a broken mural to the side.
"So, it is true then," Thrawn asked as soon as they walked in, without Kallus in custody.
"Yes, Admiral. Kallus was the traitor all along. He tried to frame Lyste by using his code cylinder on the cell door," Yularen informed him.
"Did he escape with the Rebels?" Thrawn's red eyes flicked over to Mara for an explanation, who shook her head, indicating that she got him. "Very well, while the issue of the rebels of this sector knowing our movements is fixed, I am no closer to finding the base, and I have a suspicion that my charts have been tampered with."
"I have a solution to that problem, Grand Admiral," she placed the transceiver of the tracker she put in the protocol droid. "I placed a tracker in the rebel protocol droid, it should lead you straight back to them."
"Very good," he turned to the others. "Governor Pryce, return planetside, and oversee things until I am ready to launch my attack on their base. Admiral Konstantine, return to the Relentless and prepare for battle. Colonel Yularen, I thank you for your assistance today, a shame what we found out. You are all dismissed," everyone that had been named filed out of the room, leaving only the Grand Admiral and the Emperor's Hand.
For a moment, neither spoke as Mara took the seat just vacated by the ISB Colonel, Thrawn's hand on his chin in thought about something, and it had to do with Kallus. "I wonder, what would drive a man like Kallus to betray our Emperor?"
"Who knows, I have seen many things as reasons, some want to be their own Lords and have their little kingdoms, without the Empire, which would in all honesty damn their people. Some are just corrupt and will allow anything if they are paid right. Even some have allied with pirates for either a cut of the haul or to try to become independent, some are the true believers in the rebel's cause, those are the worst ones."
"Indeed, thankfully we have you and the others of the title to aid the Emperor maintain security of the Empire," Thrawn meant it as a compliment.
"I never was a fan of the others that got the title," Mara shook her head, thinking about the other assassins and agents that got to call themselves Emperor's Hands. As a favor to her, though, only she was allowed to identify over comms as the Emperor's Hand, all the others needed their unique clearance codes.
"But, you are the only one that carries a weapon like that, yes?" Thrawn asked, in regards to her lightsaber.
"As far as I am aware, yes. You know, besides the Inquisitorous, Lord Vader has a pet trooper that he lets use a green one, and even taught the trooper himself to swing it,"
"Yes, Sergeant Greel, I have heard of him. Speaking of Lord Vader, I have to say, we are all unique instruments carrying out the Emperor's will, we all have a task we are specialized for." Mara's brow arched in confusion.
"Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin, for example, are blunt instruments. Crude, effective, but not precise, made to enforce fear. You and I, on the other hand, are more precision based, you are sent target by target, weeding out corruption in high places, strengthening the Empire as a whole over time, and I am a scalpel in war, to destroy the Emperor's enemies and do so more effectively and less costly than say how Tarkin would." Thrawn explained, to which Mara understood what he was getting at, they were alike in their service to the Emperor, in that they were what the Emperor sent to get a job done as cleanly as can be, Lord Vader was sent to bring the fist of the Empire down on anyone and everyone in an area, not caring about mass casualties. Thrawn has told the Emperor before that he would not waste trooper lives on pointless campaigns, and that made the difference.
"Speaking of our Emperor, I must contact him and let him know that I am done here. Good day, Grand Admiral, happy hunting, and we will see each other soon, I think." Mara stood up to leave.
"Indeed, good luck out there, Hand Jade," Thrawn bid her farewell. Mara would return to her ship and use her connection to the Emperor to let him know the task was done. He was pleased with her and allowed her a week of rest, before the next task.
Outside Reality
So it was that Kallus met an unfortunate end, but sooner or later, he would have been found out, and the price for treason was always death. The members of Phoenix Cell would return home to Atollon, and Chopper would return her stolen kalikori to her. However, the death or presumed death of another Fulcrum would weigh over the cell of rebels. Also, concerning to them was when their protocol droid, days later, told them of the fact that he had temporarily and involuntarily switched off for a moment on the mission. Hera would get suspicious enough and order the droid to be looked over. The Rebels would find the tracker and knew they had to leave. The Ghost was able to make the jump to hyperspace just in time as an Imperial Fleet came out of hyperspace, with Interdictor cruisers. Phoenix Nest would be lost with all hands aboard, including Commander Jun Sato; many other members of the cell would also perish in the ensuing battle. Phoenix Cell was finished, and the Liberation of Lothal would never come.
When finished with Phoenix Cell, Thrawn would move on to the next target, eventually leading the Empire to Yavin 4 and crushing the Rebellion before it had a chance.
In recognition for his service at Atollon, Thrawn's Tie Defender program would receive further Imperial funding, with even Lord Vader's approval of the fighter, Tie Defenders would turn the tide, becoming a symbol of Imperial domination.
As for Mara Jade, she continued to serve her Emperor well, eliminating traitors to the Empire. Despite their differences, Mara would even earn Vader's respect, by discovering and handing over information that lead not only to the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but to both of his children. Speaking of Vader's children, well, let's just say she took an interest in the farm boy from Tatooine.
"That should do it," Splendid Ap said as he finished narrating his story.
"Not going to lie to you, kinda dark ending there, Ap," the Shaman said as he finished writing his Lord and Master's story.
"I agree, but not all of them can have happy ends," Ap told his aide.
"Do you happen to have anything against the poor man, Kallus?" The Shaman asked, this was the second story in a row where Kallus got found out, and killed.
"No, I do not, just effects of inserting any one person into a new timeline," Ap told him. He was above such things as hatred for the tiny movers, now Tilotny on the other hand, woman could hold spite in her heart that could freeze stars.
"So, on to the next story?" The shaman asked.
"As ever onward, I got one more idea for this era of the continuum for now." The time viewer shifted again, and this time focused on a pair of people they seemed to know all too well by this point. It was Ezra and Sabine that were on the portal viewer. What Ap had planned, the Shaman could not tell, but was interested to see where this one went, as Ap began to glow with power to affect the time-stream.
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of this anthology I am working on. To be honest, this was one of my first ever what ifs that would become this collection, even before the last one. I just had thought that one was funny enough to me to do first, to set the stage as it were. This I had from since I learned that Mara would not be in Rebels after they announced Thrawn for Season 3. Actually, the original idea was a lot more Meta in a way where Thrawn and Mara kinda knew they were characters but still did things like as if they were in continuity, there is a remnant of that idea when they sat down and chatted alone, also a reference to another of my works that is meta as heck.
Anyway, glad to have seen Mara and Thrawn together again, as they are the big fan favorites of the old EU, also, yes, somethings never change as I nodded to the idea that she and Luke still get together here. I know it was a bit on the somber ending side, but that happens, ya know.
So, Next time, something I personally think should have happened in the show. See you all then.