"I don't want to do this anymore! You're just like all the other liars!"
The intensity of Ahsoka's glare was enough to silence Leia's outburst. Over the past few weeks, the young student had been put through all manner of gruelling challenges. The intense physical and mental exertion she'd endured at the hands of the various instructors hand-picked by Ahsoka had undoubtedly been immense.
"But none of it," Ahsoka thought to herself, "...is half as bad as the trials I've faced. She has it easy. It's precisely that fact that makes her too ignorant to realise it."
Just a few more years and Leia would be the same age Ahsoka was when she'd been cast into the crucible of war. From the earliest age, Ahsoka had been witness to devastation on a scale most sentient species could not properly comprehend. She'd led soldiers to their deaths and had to bear the weight of that guilt. She'd watched her closest friends give their lives for a cause she never truly grasped- not until it was too late. And she lived in perpetual fear for her own life, knowing every single day could easily be her last. Back then she could not imagine a future that did not see herself trapped in an everlasting war.
"But what's changed? I'm still trapped. I'm still fighting."
The war was over. But the battle raged on. The power of her theocracy meant few would even entertain the possibility of opposing her, yet there remained that fear and unease. It would never cease- Ahsoka knew it all too well. Still, she vowed to fight against it. A bulwark against chaos- a pillar of stability- that was the purpose of the First Light. If Leia was to be heir to this noble ambition- if she was even to be an agent of it- she would need her own convictions forged in a similarly searing flame. She would need to persist.
"Fine," said Ahsoka, feigning indifference. "I warned you that this path would be difficult. It looks like I was right. You're too weak to endure it."
"What?! No! That's not what I-"
"Look at yourself, Leia. The cuts, the burns- if you'd been in a real battle, any one of them would have been fatal."
Indeed, Leia's once peerless skin had been peppered by the remnants of scorch-marks left by low-power blaster fire. Long scars marked the places she'd taken hits from similarly low-powered energy blades. Ahsoka remembered the sensation from her own Jedi training. Though the hits weren't lethal, they were exceptionally painful- almost as painful as a military-grade stun blast.
Leia gritted her teeth.
"I don't know what you want!" she screamed. "You said I was special! You said I... wh- why are you- all I wanted was for you to tell me the truth! But all you and your teachers do is hurt me!"
Ahsoka could see the tears welling up in Leia's eyes. The child was nearing her breaking point. It was time for a more delicate approach.
"Hurt you?" said Ahsoka, a note of sympathy and bewilderment in her voice.
The small room in which the pair stood became even more suffocating for Leia when the Empress stepped forward. Ahsoka placed a hand on Leia's shoulder to which she briefly recoiled.
"Why would I want to hurt you? When I said you had a purpose, I meant it."
"Then why-"
"I'm trying to strengthen you. If I did not give you the strength to protect yourself and others... that would truly be hurting you."
"But-"
"Those injuries you've suffered are marks of your failures. Each one is proof that you aren't ready for what lies ahead."
Leia's frustration turned to contempt.
"I am ready! You- why should I keep listening to you?!"
"That's not your real question, is it, child?" responded Ahsoka, her voice shrouded in a hypnotic sweetness. "What you really want to know is whether the pain you're enduring is worth it. And that's a question only you can answer, but... I can give you a glimpse of what lies at the end of this path."
"...tell me."
"I and I alone see your true worth. Because within you are the makings of another prophet. Another arbiter of the Light's will. That is to say, you have the potential to become the First Light's next Empress."
The anger in her face quickly turned to awe.
"W-what?"
"Do not mistake me. You are slow, sloppy, and petulant. Your wounds are a testament to that fact. But behind these failings I see a core of limitless potential. Learn to wield it, and no one in the galaxy will be able to hurt you again. Nobody will be able to command your will. And because I care about you- because I see in you all this potential- I want to help you fulfill it."
"You... care about me? No, I don't- why..."
"I knew your father. Did you know that? Your real father, mind you, not the one who perished in the Purification."
"Wh- what?! Who was he?"
"He was... a great leader and a greater warrior. Strong, compassionate..."
Ahsoka's eyes turned almost longing.
"...and without him, I wouldn't be standing here today. He was my teacher. For so long, I couldn't understand why he was always so hard on me, but... a time came when my entire world collapsed. I had nothing and no one. But thanks to him- thanks to what he taught me- I survived. I persevered. He gave his life to protect mine, but if he were still here, he'd want you to learn those same lessons."
"...what was his name?"
Ahsoka's breathing hitched. The facade almost slipped.
"Anakin..." she muttered, before speaking more clearly. "Anakin Skywalker."
"This is... highly irregular. With all due respect, Captain Thrawn..."
The Communications Officer of the Blitzkrieg seemed to be a perfect embodiment of the grievances Thrawn had with the First Light's naval personnel. They were competent enough as far as protocol was concerned. They were generally capable of performing the jobs they were assigned. But they seemed miserably devoid of any kind of individual autonomy. Thrawn recognised that discipline and loyalty served as the foundation for an effective military- but at the same time, he'd grown increasingly weary of those who lacked any capacity for creative thought.
"Apologies, officer, but would you care to remind me who has been assigned command of this ship?" he said, his impatience bubbling to the surface.
"...You, sir. But-"
"And given the unique nature of my command, is it not the case that my authority supersedes standard protocol?"
"Technically, yes-"
"Then do as I say," said Thrawn, his voice developing a dangerous edge. "I want all network traffic aboard this ship intercepted and logged. There is a very real possibility that these terrorists have collaborators within the Light. I want a record of every outgoing transmission- all authentication credentials- everything. Am I clear?"
"Yes... Sir."
It was unlikely that there were traitors amongst the Blitzkrieg's crew- both Thrawn and the Communications Officer were well aware of that fact. But it would serve as a convenient excuse for what the captain had planned. Just as Thrawn turned away from the officer, his commlink beeped.
"Captain Thrawn-" came a voice from the other end. "High Paladin Kryze has arrived."
Bo-Katan and Thrawn entered the captain's office, the doors sliding closed behind them.
"You'd better have a good explanation for this, Thrawn. The situation on Krownest is-"
"I assure you, High Paladin, that this information could not wait. Nor could I allow it to be leaked to a third party. Though... when last we spoke, you mentioned an Inquisitor was assisting in your investigation?"
"They are, but... their orders are to apprehend the Council Chamber bomber. Nothing more. I imagine they're pursuing their own leads at the moment."
"Ah... A pity. I would very much have liked to glimpse these... 'echoes of the past' you described. Still, I suppose there are more pressing matters at hand. You are no doubt aware of the advanced technology employed by the Children of the Watch. Kyber-based explosives- personal cloaking devices... these aren't even the full extent of the resources at their disposal. Whatever their relation to the Beskar Raiders... they are inseparably linked."
"You've found a new connection?"
"An old connection, but one I was hesitant to reveal over comms. To cut a long story short, the reason the Raiders can evade our patrols so easily is they do not emerge from hyperspace from a known jump point. Rather, they microjump from some position on a hyperlane into the Mandalore system- always arriving above Concordia and using the moon to conceal their approach."
"Surely you're joking. That's just not possible!"
"Ordinarily, you would be correct. A pilot would have to be supernaturally skilled in order to perform such a precise manouvre. That is why they rely on yet another advanced technology- an interdiction field."
"I'm... not familiar."
Thrawn nodded.
"I can't imagine you would be. Interdiction fields are artificial distortions in spacetime, created using what's known as a gravity well generator. Such technology is a rarity even in the Unknown Regions. And the technical expertise required to create them is even rarer."
"And these... interdiction fields... I assume they have something to do with how the Beskar Raiders enter the system?"
"Precisely. While in an interdiction field, it is impossible to enter hyperspace. In addition, any vessels in hyperspace whose path meets an interdiction field will instantly be pulled back into real-space. It is this second property the raiders take advantage of. Over the past few weeks, I've discreetly observed a number of raids and was able to determine the border of the interdiction field, and in doing so, triangulate the approximate location of the gravity well generator. As was my initial suspicion, it seems to have been built on Concordia itself."
"Wait," said Bo-Katan, her voice growing indignant. "All these raids- you let them happen?! You just... watched... and didn't think to intervene?!"
Thrawn raised an eyebrow.
"Intervene? With what? These decrepit old relics well past their prime? This cruiser is incapable of catching up with their fighters... and to send in my TIEs would be to condemn the pilots to a pointless death."
"You could have at least tried to do something! Or better yet, you could have warned us! Told us where these raiders were coming from!"
"And what good would that accomplish? Suppose they see our patrols adjusting to intercept their attacks- suppose even that we succeed in capturing the raiders- what would stop the operators of this gravity well generator from scattering to the wind? We may never get another chance to apprehend the masterminds behind this. Right now, information is far more important than hollow victories."
As much as Bo-Katan wanted to disagree, she couldn't fault Thrawn's assessment. The beskar stolen- the lives lost- they were nothing compared to the destruction she knew such terrorists could unleash.
"...okay. You make a good point. So... is there anything else I should know?"
"One final thing. I examined records of Concordian land permits to see whether any infrastructure existed at the interdiction field's origin."
"And? What did you find?"
"A beskar mine."
With a wave of his hand, Thrawn brought up a hologram of the old complex- a large, rectangular central hub, from which an uncountable number of shafts extended in all directions.
"Is it still in operation?"
"Official records say it was abandoned a long time ago. However, the land itself is still property of House Vizsla. I believe that this former mine has been repurposed into the base of operations of our enemies. The surrounding terrain makes for an easily defensible position- the depth and layers of soil and rock make it difficult to detect if one did not know where to look- and a number of our unpowered flights over the area recorded energy signatures consistent with both particle and ray shielding."
"What about other defences? Cannons? Turrets?"
"Unfortunately, the shields produce a kind of... Interference... which makes further analysis with passive sensors impossible. They only go down while the interdiction field is active- likely due to power constraints- and that's too narrow a window to get any solid readings."
The horrible implications of Thrawn's discoveries took a moment for Bo-Katan to process as she removed her helmet, placed it down on Thrawn's desk, and turned away.
"Dammit," she muttered, rubbing the tiredness from her weary eyes.
"That was... not quite the reaction I anticipated," said Thrawn. "Each piece of information we gather contributes to our understanding of the larger picture. It is better to know the nature of the threat than-"
"Dank farrik, Thrawn, has it not occurred to you what this means?! If you're right- if the Children of the Watch are operating from a Vizsla-owned mine- House Vizsla would be implicated in this conspiracy!"
"Not necessarily. Given that the installation was abandoned-"
"I know Vizsla. My own clan was part of it for a time. And there is no way anything happens on Vizsla land without House Vizsla knowing about it."
"...hmm. Fair enough. But even so, I fail to see the issue."
"The issue is that most of the great houses are former clans of House Vizsla! Kryze, Wren, Saxon- not to mention the countless lesser houses. Even though Vizsla isn't what it once was, those ties run deep. If House Vizsla is implicated in this conspiracy-"
"I'm aware of the resources they might have at their disposal. We will need to prove a worthy match for them. Not necessarily in sheer numbers, but in ingenuity and tactics... certainly. As for how we might breach the shields, I have a few-"
Bo-Katan let out an exasperated chuckle.
"How is it that you can see so much and still be so blind?! It's not the military considerations I'm worried about!"
"Then what is it? Politics?"
"If House Vizsla is revealed to have orchestrated these insurrections, none of us are safe! House Wren has already been implicated in the Council Chamber Bombing. What's to stop suspicion from falling onto other houses which were once subordinates to Vizsla?!"
"...such as House Kryze. You fear you might be suspected of collaboration with these terrorists."
"Ahso- Empress Tano knows me. She knows I wouldn't betray her. But the people will want a scapegoat. And if it isn't me, it'll be Governor Saxon, or some other easily replaceable stooge."
"Would they not be satisfied with the punishment of those we know for a fact are culpable?"
"You still don't get it. These attacks have eroded people's faith in the Light. The Children of the Watch have made us look weak and ineffective. Do you think our Empress will be happy with Mandalore seeing the First Light as anything less than an absolute force of good and justice in the universe? No. Any mistakes the First Light makes must be attributed to outside forces- to scapegoats who can easily be blamed for these failings."
"...I see. In that case, the best course of action would be to act swiftly and decisively. Minimise the uproar these insurgents cause, and we minimise the chance that such measures will be necessary."
Bo-Katan couldn't help but smile at Thrawn's comment.
"What?" asked Thrawn. "I don't believe anything I said was particularly amusing."
"No, no, it's just- I'm grateful. Really. Even though all of this may or may not fall within the scope of your investigation, the fact you've managed to learn so much with so few resources... it's astonishing. Establishing a tangible link between the Children and the Raiders- identifying the method by which they bypass our security- even locating a possible base of operations... when this is over, I'll make sure you receive appropriate commendation for your efforts. Still, I- I just struggle to see how you can make these connections that none among our ranks have before, but still be so naive in the face of political manoeuvring."
"You're not the first person to recognise that. I have theories as to why politics seems to elude me, but we will have plenty of time to discuss my... naivete... once these enemies have been vanquished," said Thrawn with an uncharacteristic smirk. "Is that not so?"
"...It is. And I'd say we have our work cut out for us."