The Shattering Tide 2

My uncle was right. I worried too much about things I could do nothing about and the days passed one after the other without me doing much at all. I supposed that the time I had spent working so closely with Lord Vader and under the Emperor’s piercing gaze had made me a little paranoid. It was a hard habit to break. I had gotten used to being wary, always getting a sense for Lord Vader’s current mood in order to dodge when necessary. I remembered the ever increasing sense of doom when the Emperor showed up or requested my presence, although I could hardly be blamed for feeling that way especially after my very last meeting with him. I still shuddered involuntarily when I thought about what he had planned to do. However, these two men were no longer alive and the galaxy had moved onwards for almost three years. I wondered why I could not seem to let go of some of my past. When I had voiced these thoughts to my uncle had had nodded and then suggested I stop avoiding the job I had come here to do and simply get on with it. I had explained that my biggest issue was that I did not really want to go into Lord Vader’s home on my own. Uncle Vahlek’s solution had been simple. “Well Lei'lei, if that’s all that’s stopping you then I will come with you.”

The truth was that I wasn’t exactly sure what it was that was holding me back but I couldn’t exactly argue with my uncle’s logic and accepted his offer of help. He had also wanted to return to the old Jedi temple and had been genuinely surprised when I had explained to him that Palpatine had removed everything of use from the building shortly before heading off to Endor and I had no idea where he had hidden it all.

“He didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands, he had told me.” I had said.

My uncle had made a face. “What about your little library?”

I’d shrugged. “I haven’t been there yet, either. There are just too many memories here and I don’t know what to do with them all.” As I said this, I realised it was a terribly lame excuse for not actually wanting to get on with the task of cleaning out my life here so that I could really move to Nirauan. I had discovered that I liked being back on the Core world, I liked being with my friends who knew me almost too well and accepted me anyway. I liked the constant availability of shops and culture and everything else that went along with being on a highly populated planet with huge cities. I had stopped mid sentence as I had explained all this to my uncle realising that the place I had always thought of as too loud and busy had now become a place I felt I had missed terribly. When had that happened?

My uncle had simply laughed then. “Lei'lei you know what you are?” he had asked with a grin.

“What?”

“A jax who is always on the wrong side of the door.”

I could not argue with him because it was sort of true. I had lived in so many places now that none of them really felt like home, yet at the same time, all of them felt like home. It was strange. No matter where I was I now missed being some place else.

It was decided after this conversation that we would go into the library together and then to Lord Vader’s home and get the tasks at hand done. Then, my uncle had told me, I could decide what I really wanted to do.

The Imperial palace was quiet when we ventured in through the mostly disused south entrance. Isard, Shiv had told me, was away at the moment. Not that I thought she cared a Jawa’s damn about what I was doing. I was, on the scale of people she thought of as important or dangerous, somewhere around a minus one hundred, which was fine by me.

We walked in silence through the vast and empty corridors, our footsteps echoing around us in a manner I found almost melancholy. Once upon a time this building had been full of people, working and living here. Now it seemed more like a shell full of ghosts who couldn’t let go. It was interesting that both the Emperor and Isard had terrible reputations for being cruel and strict but the Emperor’s charisma had some how counteracted his mean side. He had brought a sense of majesty and glamour to the Imperial court which had carried out into the rest of the palace daily life. Isard on the other was like a black hole that sucked away anything that smacked of frivolity. Under her rule the Imperial palace had become a place of quiet fear and drudgery, Shiv had told me. Most of the extraneous jobs had been eliminated and over half the staff fired or moved to different, more useful jobs. The sparkle of the court had gone along with the courtesans and courtiers as well as the rest of the hangers-on. I could not blame her for wanting to shake up the place but the atmosphere her changes left was one of quiet impending gloom and it made me a little sad.

“That is the difference between a military leader and a political leader, Lei'lei.” My uncle had explained when I had voiced these thoughts. “The one sees only the bare essentials, paring down to nothing to get the job done. The court finery and all the trappings that go along with it are distractions and are therefore removed. Strong military rule and obedience keeps the workers in line not the promise of more wealth and a better life. The politician, on the other hand, dresses his will up in glamour and glitter to bespell the public into towing the line. He makes you want the better things and more things and promises you will have this life if you do as he asks.”

“People loved Palpatine’s court.” I said.

“Of course they did, it was stunning but underneath all the twinkle and glitz, people were lobbying, manoeuvring themselves into better positions through the currying of many favours and buying their way to the top. Did you never notice these intrigues going on while you were here?”

I nodded. “Yes, Thrawn often pointed it all out to me but I thought it was stupid.”

My uncle grinned. “Well, you never did like playing games. You always were rather direct in things.”

When I opened the door to the little library the Emperor had long ago given to me I was not very surprised to see that it too had mostly been cleared out. I wandered around the now empty room and sighed. Brushing my fingertips along the various dust filled shelves I sighed with a resigned sense of loss I could not explain. When the sudden and short image of the Emperor flashed into my mind I was unprepared for it. He had known about my talent and I suppose he had known I would return here. Once I got over the shock of seeing and hearing him again I was just angry.

“What is it?” My uncle asked as I sat down hard on the ground to catch my breath.

“He took everything away.” I said. “He didn’t think it was safe here any more.” Which was partly the truth. I had seen him, standing almost exactly where I sat now, and as if he were actually speaking to me and not to thin air he had said. “If you wish to further your education about the force and its intricacies you must come to me little one.” My hatred for this man knew no bounds and I had to fight to get my heart rate back down to normal.

The books that were left I gathered up and put in the large pack I had brought with me. There were not that many but I wanted them anyway. My uncle took the heavy back from my hands and slung it over his shoulder. With one last glance around the now empty and abandoned room we left and I wasn’t sorry to say goodbye to this part of my life.

As we made our way back through the palace it suddenly occurred to me that part of the reason I found the place so gloomy now was that many of the really beautiful works of art and precious sculptures were gone. I found this very odd and wondered if the Emperor had foreseen something that everyone else was over looking. I had been going to suggest heading to the small private room he had once shown me to see if the little statue of the dancer was still there but I knew it would not be. He had coveted that sculpture, and his glee in learning its little mysteries convinced me that he would no more leave that behind than he would his soul if he even had one of those. Instead I urged my uncle to leave with me and we headed over to Lord Vader’s home. Once I was done here there would be no more real reasons to stay on Coruscant and I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with that but I couldn’t put this off any more.

Getting into his home was effortless. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, after all I had a key and the security code passes, but still the ease of it all surprised me. Perhaps it was because I was very used to seeing the Dark Trooper guards he had stationed there and the many other people he had employed to keep unwanted people out. Now the place was deserted.

The silence around me was deafening and the sadness which engulfed me felt a little like drowning. Surprisingly enough, while getting into Lord Vader’s home had been effortless, actually standing in it was more difficult that I could have imagined. I had not really been prepared for the sudden ache of loss that I experienced and it caught me completely off guard.

“Lei'lei, are you alright?” my uncle’s voice was surprisingly gentle.

I nodded as I wiped away my tears, now grateful he had insisted on coming with me. I wondered if this dreadful sensation of missing someone ever truly went away. I took a deep breath and swallowed the rest of the sadness down. I had not come here to mourn. I had come here to do a job and crying would not help me at all. We walked through the lonely halls to my old office, the sense of gloom dissipated when I turned on the lights and I was grateful I had my own space to return to. I went over to my desk and sat down. I let out the breath I didn’t even realise I had been holding noisily and switched the computer system on.

It did not surprise me that all access from this particular terminal was denied. I stared at the annoying words on the screen and then typed in the set of codes which I knew would get around the security lockout without letting the system watchers know. I had not used this ability I had been granted all that often while Lord Vader was still alive but occasionally he had wanted some information retrieved which had required bypassing the standard security protocols. I had never dreamed that I would be using it after his death to spy on the Empire for another Imperial. While it was one thing to log into the system it was quite another to find what I wanted to and my annoyance grew exponentially as I was stonewalled at every turn.

“What exactly is it that you are looking for?” Uncle Vahlek asked after about an hour of listening to me sigh in frustration.

“That’s the trouble, I don’t really know and the system is huge.” I replied staring at the screen. “I suppose I am trying to find a listing of spy-ware that transmits long range or something that would help Thrawn get a handle on what is going on here but I have no idea where to even start looking.”

My uncle shooed me out of the chair. “Here, let me.” He said.

I got up and let him sit down, then stared in surprise as he waltzed through the system as though he had used it his entire life. What had taken me the better part of an hour took him no more than fifteen minutes. A complete listing of all the listening devices and their transmitter codes in the palace.

“How did you know how to do that?” I whispered in amazement.

“Evidence of a misspent youth.” He replied cryptically. “Do you have a data-disk to download this onto?”

I nodded and gave it to him, watching as he initiated the information transfer like a pro. He asked for a second one to make a backup copy, something I might not have thought about doing.

“Shall I encrypt them?” He asked.

“Might be a good idea.” I nodded.

I watched as he began the encryption process. “How with Thrawn know how to decode this?” I asked.

“I am using a Dantassi cypher he’ll recognise it as soon as he sees it but it is insanely difficult for someone who does not know it to slice.” He said.

There was a moment of silence while I digested this information and then I asked, “How do you know so much about the Dantassi, Zte’sa?”

He glanced up at me. “There was a time in my life when I wanted to join them.” He replied.

“They don’t let outsiders in.” I said.

“I know that but at the time I had hope to prove my worth and become the exception to the rule, seems that you have that honour instead.” He said and there was no mistaking the odd mixture of sorrow and pride in his voice. “But that did not stop me from learning all I could while I was allowed to. The Admiral will know how to decrypt this when he gets it.” And with that I knew he would not talk any more about his past. He was too full of secrets and mysteries. When I was a child he had both scared and fascinated me now I just found his mysteriousness vaguely annoying.

The downloading seemed to take forever even though it was no more than a minute. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to reach out with my force sense, looking for danger, looking for the mass army of Stormtroopers coming to shoot us as infiltrators for slicing into the main frame but there was nothing. The place was quiet and as far as I could tell no one had discovered what we were up to. It surprised me that these back door pass codes were still good but then again if even Isard had not known about them who would have ever changed them. While no one knew I was rummaging around the system if they actually bothered checked the logs they’d know that this terminal had been accessed recently but they wouldn’t know who had done so or for what reason.

“I’m done, is there anything else you need from here?” Uncle Vahlek asked breaking into my thoughts.

“I don’t think so.” I replied with a shrug, then a sudden thought came to me and before I had even thought about why I would ask for such a thing I said, “Wait, can you wipe all traces of me from the system?”

He glanced up at me. “What do you mean?”

“I want to disappear from official records the same way Thrawn has.”

“Why?”

“If Coruscant falls and the palace is taken over then I don’t want my name on any lists that people can call up. I don’t want the fact that I worked here to come back and haunt me or my family.” I said. “It seems to me that getting labelled with a faction that isn’t the one in power could be a death sentence for us all.”

“What makes you think that the New Republic will be able to take Coruscant?” He asked stopping to stare at me.

I swallowed. “I don’t know, Zte’sa it’s just a nagging feeling that something big and bad is coming. I’ve had it ever since we landed and I can’t seem to shake it.”

“Does this have to do with these dreams you are having?”

I shrugged slightly. “They may be part of it but there are other things going on here. The rebels took Borleias even though that world was supposed to have been well protected by the Imperials and from the report I just read it fell far too easily.” This was not a very plausible reason but the truth of the matter was I had no concrete answers except the Emperor had removed everything of beauty, importance and wealth. He had taken away anything that could be used as teachings for people who were force sensitive and I knew that Lord Vader’s son considered himself a jedi. What was more valuable to a would-be Jedi than a room full of information about the history and the use of the force? It felt to me as though the Emperor had prepared for an invasion and now, more than ever I was sure Coruscant would fall it was a question of when not if. I wondered if Isard suspected or knew this as well and if she did then why was she not doing more to protect the planet.

For a moment Uncle Vahlek regarded me and then he nodded. “I can probably set that up so that your name is impossible to find, make you obscure and invisible but this will take a little time. If I erase you completely from the system you’ll lose all access, among other things, and I don’t think you want that do you?”

“No, losing access would be bad. I just want to vanish from all the records.” I said quietly.

He nodded. He understood the need for anonymity and secrets. “Okay, but keep an ear out, this might raise a few flags if I touch the wrong thing.”

I nodded and as he began the process of making me disappear I wandered around my office, restless and bored. Then because I had nothing else to do I vanished into the little kitchen area that Lord Vader had ordered built just for me and rooted around to see if there was anything left I could maybe make something to drink with.

My uncle accepted the cup of tea I had made him with an absent nod. I sipped from my own cup, watching the computer screen through the steam that curled into the air. My uncle worked the system with a slicer’s ease that puzzled me. I knew that as Tze’yusha’Jin he was essentially a well trained assassin but slicing was a smuggler’s tool.

“The Emperor once told me that papa was a smuggler. Is this true?” I asked suddenly, remembering Palpatine’s biting statement as he had once tried to coerce me into doing his will.

Uncle Vahlek glanced up at me, his pale green eyes boring into mine. “Do you believe him?”

“Why would he lie about that?”

His shoulders heaved as he looked at me. “Your father has done many things in his life, Lei'lei.” He said evasively.

I rolled my eyes at his non answer. “Oh for goodness sakes Zte’sa!” I hissed in exasperation.

“Yes, he was a smuggler.” He admitted after a moment’s stare down. “He was actually very good at it and for a while we worked together in this area but if you are asking if this is when and how I learned to slice the answer is no it isn’t.”

“Why did he stop?”

That made my uncle smile. “That answer is easy, your mother.” He said. “He met her and his world changed. Her one condition for marrying him was that he find work that was legitimate. It took him longer than expected but eventually he bought the docking bay in Mos Eisley fulfilling his promise to her.”

“So were you all on a smuggling run when you found me?”

“No, that was a legitimate transport run, unless you call moving people from one star system to another, smuggling.” He smiled at the memory.

“What do he smuggle?” I asked suddenly curious about this part of my father’s life I had never known before.

“What ever was in demand and what ever he was paid to move. Smugglers don’t generally choose their cargo unless they want to get blacklisted as picky and difficult to work with.” He explained. “He didn’t ask too many questions, he just did his job.”

“Did he ever get caught?”

“No. Your father was very good at that job just as he is good at the one he does now.”

I nodded feeling a sense of pride, wondering why no one ever told me any of this before. As if he had read my thoughts my uncle continued.

“Once he left that life behind it was in the past. He never saw any reason to talk about it because it wasn’t relevant and he did not feel you needed to know and perhaps he was worried you would think less of him.”

I shook my head. “That’s not likely to happen Zte’sa.”

“I know but maybe you should write home more and let him know that yourself?”

I grimaced at his suggestion but nodded anyway then, sipping my tea, allowed the quiet to slip back into the room so when my seldom used, private comm went off shattering the silence I jumped slopping tea on the floor. It was Shiv.

“Merly?” He asked, “Where are you? I’ve been trying to reach you at the flat for hours! I couldn’t remember this comm’s blasted code!”

“What’s up?” I asked ignoring his question because something in his voice put me on alert.

“It’s Cati.” He said, “I think you’d better come.”

“Cati?”

“We’re at the Naberrie Medical facility in the Co-co district.” He said and his voice wavered.

“Shiv, what is going on?” I asked.

“Just get here.” He replied flatly. “Now.” And then he shut the comm off.

I looked at my uncle who nodded that he was finished with what he was doing. He shut the system down and wordlessly we left as ghost like as we had come. Worry and fear gnawed at my gut as he drove us to the medical center.

The Shattering Tide 1

If there was one thing that drove me crazy it was the terrible sense of impending doom countered by the fact that nothing terrible or out of the ordinary happened. Although I woke up almost every night bathed in sweat, stifling screams with my fists, the next day brought an eerie normality. It was so normal in fact that sometimes I even forgot the Emperor and Lord Vader had died. It was eerie to spend time in my old office going through old business, getting my affairs in order and sifting through three years worth of interoffice nonsense. Every now and then I would look up from my desk half expecting to see Lord Vader walk through the door way, barking orders in his usual acerbic manner. I missed him still although the ache had lessened but it was enough that I still had not gone to his Coruscant mansion to search the Imperial Data base from his computer there.

I took my time when it came to dealing with the office stuff. My droid had been destroyed when the Executor had blown up and I was saddened by his loss. While he had been an annoying chatterbox he knew his job and had done it well. I did not feel like training a new one in so this mean I did all the sorting out myself and this was far more time consuming than I had imagined. In between the work, Shiv made certain that I was not left alone much and whenever he had the time we went out to lunch and met with friends. It was so good to sit amongst people who knew me almost better than I knew myself, to laugh about mundane stuff and forget the terrible things that had happened. I was never sure if Shiv had told everyone not to bring the subject up or if enough time had passed that no one really thought about it any more, but what ever the reason I was glad not to have to talk about Endor or my own stupidity afterwards. Even my relationship with Thrawn seemed to be a topic that was kept quiet until Cati joined us for dinner. Once we had settled at the quiet table to chatter about everything she had asked the one question no one else dared to.

“So, how is your gentleman doing?”

Everyone had stopped and stared at me, then at Cati then at me again. She had just grinned and given me a look that only a rodian could which said…so are you going to answer me or what?.

After a careful and considered sip of my drink I told her and everyone else about my adventures with Thrawn and what had happened between us, in an abbreviated form. After I had finished the questions never seemed to end but it was Ynyth who had the presence of mind to raise her glass and propose a toast to the ‘happy couple.’ It felt a bit odd to say the least but I had smiled anyway, accepting their congratulations and good wishes with a blush.

Cati was always a welcome addition to our small gatherings. Her bright cheerful curiosity always made for fascinating conversations and this time was no exception. She knew even more gossip than Shiv and imparted it with a cheerful glee. It was interesting to hear how many things had changed but also to see that things had stayed the same. Despite the death of the Emperor and Lord Vader things, on the grand scale, had not really changed all that much.

We met often and I was grateful for the company. My uncle sporadically vanished, saying he had business to attend to, leaving me to my own devices which would have been spent alone had Shiv not seen to it that this was not the case. Before I knew it almost three weeks had passed and I was no closer to finding a way for Thrawn to get more information than before but I was fairly sure he would not mind so much. It had occurred to me after the first letter from him had arrived that he had half expected me to forget about my self appointed mission and settle back into a routine on Coruscant again. He understood, I was sure of it, that seeing my friends again was be good for me and I suspected that a break from me would do him good as well. By the end of the third week my life on Coruscant had almost become routine and only the terrible holo-news casts about the outbreaks of the mysterious disease that was killing aliens seemed to disrupt the day to day comings and goings but even this, like most other news which did not directly concern me, eventually got pushed into the back ground. I probably would not have given it much thought at all had it not been for the continuing dreams that woke me up almost nightly.

Gasping for breath and soaked in cold sweat I had gotten up and showered because I knew there was no going back to sleep from that. The nightmares were disjointed and made no sense, more often than not simply a collection of terrifying images that I could not put any meaning to. More often than not I had woke up as a crowd of alien beings surrounded me, their skin sloughing away from their bodies, craziness in their eyes crying for me to help them. In my dreams I could smell the rotting of their flesh and the memory of this stench often made me sick upon waking. My uncle got used to my screams shattering the still of night and had long since stopped running to see if I was being murdered in my sleep. Instead he would sometimes come to stand hesitantly at the door way to the main bedroom before I alleviated his fears by telling him I was okay. If I asked, he would keep my company while I got up to get a drink, sitting with me as we sipped brandy listening when I wanted to talk about the nightmares and keeping his peace if all I wanted was not to be alone. It was during these times that I missed Thrawn desperately. I spent a lot of time at the Palace in my office. I was a place I felt comfortable and safe, though I was never sure why. Time slipped away from me there and without Shiv badgering me to join him and Ynyth for supper or going out to meet up with the gang I had a tendency to forget the passage of time and work until I was almost falling asleep. I always had an excuse to not go home it seemed and this time it was because at the last minute Cati had called off the get together we had planned due to a headache.

During our last get together, I had been describing my time with the Dantassi when she had asked about the clothes they wore. Despite her high fashion designs she maintained a keen interest in the traditional clothes from other worlds. I had told her I would bring my Dantassi clothes over for her to see. Since both of our schedules were fairly flexible I didn’t mind her putting this off till later. I had told her I would drop by the next day and that had been fine wit h her. She had sounded exhausted but that was not too surprising as she had been busy with a large order that had her going a bit frantic and the last time we had all been together Shiv had commented that she aught to take things easier because she looked tired. She had told him tartly that he should try making ten dresses in four days and he had backed off but I had had to agree with him, she looked tired so I wasn’t too surprised when she messaged me to let me know she was making an early night of it. I, on the other hand, was not. I was almost done with the major sorting out and I wanted to finish it so I ignored the fact that I was yawning my face off and continued to work despite the late hour.

I suppose I should not have been shocked when a letter arrived for me from Thrawn but I was. I was even more taken aback that it was Jarack who delivered it because I had not seen or heard from him in ages. He found me sitting in my office going through the last of the paperwork which I felt I had to sift through. He grinned as he walked in but before he could say anything I had surprised him by jumping up and flinging my arms around him in a huge hug.

“Thrawn had told me you were still alive but until now I hadn’t believed it.” I said in a rush as he gently and somewhat embarrassedly untangled himself from me.

“I could say the same about you Miss Gabriel.” He chided as he pulled out a letter from his satchel and laid it on my desk.

“Cup of spiced coffee?” I asked.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He said and then, with his hands wrapped around the small cup for warmth he chatted to me about the latest news to come from Nirauan.

“So he’s busy?” I said after Jarack had finished telling me about the work to expand the Empire’s presence in the Unknown Region.

“Especially in the last week. They began the push out past the Braxant Sector but of course it is slow going. You know the Admiral, he likes to make sure that all his dejarik pieces are in place before he sweeps the board.”

I nodded, that certainly sounded like Thrawn. “I didn’t think that I had a way to send mail to him so I didn’t write anything.” I said as he finished his drink and handed me back the cup.

“He expected as much.” Jarack replied. “He told me that he would enjoy surprising you for a change.” When I rolled my eyes at him he grinned. “Well, I will not be leaving for twenty hours or so, my ship needs some repairs and I have some other business to attend to here, so if you can write something for me to take to him in that time I can swing by tomorrow to pick it up.

“I can do that.” I nodded.

“Good then, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said cheerfully then added. “It is good to see you again Miss Gabriel.”

“You too.” I replied, meaning every word.

Only once he had left did I pick up Thrawn’s letter and allow the barrage of images that flowed with it to wash over me. They made me smile. He knew I would see these pictures and had planned accordingly. I loved him for it but would wait until I was done here before I opened the envelope to read what he had to say. As usual, I got home later than I had planned. I had decided to stay and finish up so that in that in the morning I could close all the open files and essentially be done. This meant that I could then begin the clear out of Lord Vader’s office which would be both short but painful. I still was not quite ready to face going into his house.

The flat was dark and quiet when I arrived. My uncle had left early in the morning the day before and had not yet returned. I had long since given up on questioning about his mysterious ways and accepted that he came and went much the same way the wind did. I showered, dressed for bed, made a cup of tea, settled down to read Thrawn’s letter and then once I had read his news I wrote him back, telling him everything that had happened so far not leaving anything out. I described the nightmares I had been having, similar to the ones I had had on Hjal when he had come back and wondered if he would have any interpretations for me. Once I was done, I sealed it and then went to bed but I couldn’t sleep.

Thrawn’s letter had been cheerful and chatty but underneath the banter was something else. He was busy with the expansion into the Unknown Regions, even more so than prior to the Emperor’s death but he was also preparing for his return to the core, a long term plan that would take several years and he was looking for a way to increase his military numbers. The word Clone popped into my head, although he had not written it and I knew it was on his mind as well as mine but the problem of how to get clones grown fast was the hurdle that seemed impossible to overcome. There was also the issue of where to find reliable cloning facilities. I wished that Lord Vader was still alive, because I was sure he would have some answers for me on this, and then I smiled because if he was still living this problem would not be on the table to begin with. Still this problem weighed on my mind and I wrestled with it as I fell asleep.

I walked down a long dark corridor flanked on either side by doors with transparasteel windows which showed into small padded cells. The corridor seemed endless. As I passed each door I glanced in and saw that these cells were inhabited. Without thinking about I started to look inside each cell. Alien eyes looked back at me, blank and staring. Some of them were screaming and clawing at the walls, others were simply sitting and staring, their skin sloughing off their bodies and faces. Despite my horror I could not look away.

“Tragic, isn’t it?” asked a voice from behind me.

I wheeled around to stare directly into the face of Ysanne Isard. “What is wrong with them?”

“They are dying.” She stated as blandly as if she were speaking about the weather.

“But you’re working on a cure.” I said.

She simply looked at me, her mismatched eyes boring right through me. “A cure?” she asked. “Bacta is the cure.”

“Bacta? Then why are so many dying?” I asked as we walked down the corridor some more. I tried to shut out the screams of agony which wailed all around us.

“Perhaps you should ask the rebels that question, after all, it is they who keep interrupting our supply line.” She replied calmly.

“Why don’t you stop them?”

“It is all a matter of numbers and force and I do not wish to leave Coruscant unattended in the event of an attack.”

I shook my head. “Grand Admiral Thrawn could help you.” I said.

Her lips twitched in a slight smile. “He too, is alien.” She said gesturing to the door we had stopped in front of.

I could not help myself as I looked into the room. Gorge rose in my throat as my eyes met those of a Chiss male, writhing in agony as he lay twisted and bent on the floor. I could not tell who it was because his skin, including his face was full of broken and oozing sores and pustules.

“Who is he?” I whispered, sure it was not Thrawn.

“Why don’t you go in and ask him?” Isard asked as she opened the door and pushed me in.

I fell on the floor, hands sprawled out before me. The first thing that hit me was the stench of decay and waste. The second thing that I realised was that there were suddenly more beings in this room than the Chiss. I got to my knees and looked around me. I saw faces that seemed familiar but were so badly distorted and destroyed it was impossible to tell. They all stared at me and then before I could move or do anything they began to close in on me, their ruined hands outstretched calling my name until I knew that these had all been my friends once upon a time. I tried to back away but there was no place to go and I ended up backed into a corner, curled up as small as I possible could.

It was the Chiss who reached me first, his hands cupping my face before I could stop him. I looked up into his eyes because there was no place else to look and realised that I knew him as well but I could not be sure if I was looking at Thrawn or Navaari because his eyes kept changing from one to the other.

“Help us.” He said and puss oozed out from cracks in his lips. “Help us tekari.” And he leaned in to try and kiss me. I went berserk fighting him off but he was strong and the others, their faces so familiar to me, were at his side, their hands reaching for me, clawing at me all the while moaning for me to help them. I could not get away from them and from outside in the corridor I could hear Isard laughing as she ignored my screams.

I woke up so suddenly that there was not even time to think before I bolted to the ‘fresher to vomit. I sat with my head resting against the lid of the toilet bowl catching my breath. A soft knock on the door let me know that at some point in the night my Uncle had returned and I had woken him up. When he knocked again I yelled that I was okay and he came in, I heard running water and then accepted the glass he offered gratefully.

“These nightmares, Lei'lei, they’re getting worse.” He said after a few moments, helping me get to my feet and watching while I brushed my teeth.

I nodded although he had not actually asked me a question.

He sighed. “Come on, I will make you some tea and you can tell me about what you saw.”

I shuddered I followed him into the living room and once he had brought tea recounted the dream that had made me sick to my stomach. When I was done he sat back in the chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“I don’t envy you, these dreams are terrible.” He said, “But you know that Thrawn is alright and not any where near this planet and as far as I know the outbreaks are all contained to Coruscant.”

I nodded glumly. “I know he is fine, I got a letter from him today. This wasn’t about him, it’s about something else but I can’t seem to define it or put my finger on exactly what it is. Half the battle is trying to unravel what the hell these dreams are really about.”

“How do you know they mean anything at all? News of this virus is all over the holonets. It is in your subconscious and you are particularly sensitive to your surroundings, something which comes with the territory of the force sensitive I’m afraid.”

I sighed and cupped the hot mug of tea in my hands grateful for its warmth. “Because firstly, they have that feel to them and secondly, it is virtually the same dream every single night.” I sighed. “Ever since I returned to Coruscant I have been dreaming the same thing over and over again. It doesn’t make sense and it’s driving me crazy.”

He regarded me for a moment then nodded. “Maybe there is no direct message. Perhaps you should stop looking so hard at the dreams themselves, try not thinking about it and the answer will come to you sideways.”

As odd as that sounded, he was right. We talked until I began to doze in the chair.

“Go back to bed and get some sleep, Lei'lei.” My uncle said nudging me to get up. “As you keep telling me they are only dreams and if bacta is the cure then there is nothing to worry about is there? Not even the rebels would stop bacta from getting through if they knew that beings were dying from lack of it would they?”

I had nodded at him, too shattered to speak but I wondered if he was right. Then decided I was too tired to try and sort it all out. I needed to sleep I had a dinner date with Shiv, Ynyth, Cati and the others. The last thing I wanted was to be told I was starting to look like I was back working for the Emperor again.

Foundations and Factions 8

“I don’t know.” Shiv said looking from me to my uncle then back again. We were in the middle of supper, discussing Derricote and Loor.

After my meeting with Isard I had not felt much like doing anything else. The journey to Coruscant had been tiring and mostly I just wanted to relax a little and think. I had swung by Shiv’s office to find him mostly bored, convinced him to come home with me, stopping along the way to pick up take away food. My uncle was at the flat when we arrived, if he had gone out and run his errands I didn’t ask. I was glad we had bought enough food for three.

I drummed my fingernails on the counter top until my uncle gently clamped his hand on top of mine. I was annoying him with my impatience. “Lei'lei why do you think this is important? It has nothing to do with why you came here?”

I sighed and sat back a little, picking at the Zabraki food with my food sticks. “Isard is hiding something, something big. She was almost nice to me and that’s just plain weird.” I fiddled with the cup of stimcaf. “Why would she keep this Derricote alive? If he was responsible for the fall of Borleias he should be dead. She doesn’t tolerate failure.” I hadn’t spoken about the flash of memory from the datadisk. I was still trying to make sense of what I had seen.

“Well he must have a use then.” Uncle Vahlek shrugged.

“The droid said Biological and chemical research facility. Shiv do you know anything about this place?”

“No. But you might be able to access Derricote’s file you have high enough clearance.”

I shook my head. “Even with my clearance a query on something like that would be flagged and she’d be able to back track it unless….” I stopped mid thought.

“Unless what?” Uncle Vahlek asked carefully. He didn’t like the expression on my face. He knew it far too well.

“Lord Vader’s Coruscant city home had direct access to the Palace mainframe that bypassed Intel security. I used to work from there a lot so he made sure I could get in without all the annoying security stops.”

“Wouldn’t Isard have had that shut down?” Shiv countered.

“I don’t think so. I don’t think many people actually knew about it to be honest” I said. “Lord Vader pretty much had the run of the system though most people would never have guessed this. He did a lot of things without going through official channels.” I said.

Shiv gave me a look.

“I could go in and look at classified personnel files if I wanted, I don’t think anyone except maybe the Emperor knew just how deep into the system Lord Vader had my access allowed.” I clarified.

“How did you get that?” Shiv asked in surprise.

“Lord Vader got fed up of me bothering him every single time I needed to do a deep core search, he went in one day and upped my security level, bypassed the usual Intel application and poof, suddenly I could go anywhere in the system.” I answered with a shrug. “He jokingly used to call it emperor mode.”

“How the hell did he do that? I thought there were security systems in place to prevent that?”

I made a face. “Oh please, he built a pod racer and a protocol droid by himself before he was even twelve years old, do you think he didn’t get to know his way around the Imperial computer system? Spying was an art form and Lord Vader did it remarkably well. He used to say in order to stay ahead of the Emperor’s game one had to know how to bend the game rules.”

“Oh.” Shiv said.

Uncle Vahlek nodded. “Anakin Skywalker was a very talented pilot and engineer; I do not think it is such a leap of faith that, as the Emperor’s second in command, to think he could not bypass the system here. You think this clearance is still open, Lei'lei?”

“I am sure it is.” I said. “Lord Vader made sure that when I needed to retrieve information for him I could do it without having to ask for permission and more importantly without anyone knowing. He didn’t tell any one about it and neither did I. I didn’t think it was prudent to let that sort of information slip.” I looked at them both. “Not even Thrawn knows about this.”

“And you think you can do this safely from his Coruscant residence?” Uncle Vahlek asked thoughtfully.

I nodded. “I think that in the madness that followed the Emperor’s and Lord Vader’s deaths no one has even thought about his home and all the stuff that was there. He had several residences on this planet and most people never even knew about them. No one… well almost no one, could get in without going through the security checks. It was very heavily guarded and the security system was impenetrable, well mostly.” I amended thinking of Jix, wondering briefly what had happened to him.

“I thought you wanted to clear out your office in the Palace and see about trying to set up some sort of information network for Thrawn. He did not send you here to spy on Isard!” Uncle Vahlek said not liking the direction I was starting to go.

I looked at him. “Isard is up to something. I need to figure this out so I can pass on the information to Thrawn and maybe he can stop it and bring back some sanity to the Empire.”

“You are not one of the Emperor’s agents. Saving the galaxy from Isard is not your job.” He countered.

“The difference between setting up a way to pass on information and actually doing some digging for actual information myself is minimal. It would not be the first time I have done something like this” I said, although the last time I had tried it had nearly ended up with Zaarin having his way with me but I didn’t think they needed to know that. I grinned and added, “And besides, it will be fun.”

Shiv glanced at my Uncle. “Fun?”

My uncle frowned, “Do not encourage her, Siavaan.” He turned to me and pursed his lips. “Concentrate on the job you came here to do Lei'lei. Isard’s machinations are not your concern and I am certain your bond-mate would not be happy if you were to be incarcerated or shot for treason.”

I sighed and rested my chin on my fist. “Well I am not about to do anything crazy right now anyway.” I said looking at the chrono on the wall. “I want to wait till tomorrow evening before I head back to the palace. It will be quieter then and since I told Isard I would be packing up things it won’t be unusual for me to be there.”

Shiv’s eyes followed mine to the chrono on the wall. “Damn, this has been fun but I have to get home.” He said getting up. “Will you be free to have lunch tomorrow? I can get a hold of Cati and Ynyth if you want?”

I grinned. “That would be great!” I said as he pulled me into a hug.

“It’s good to have you back, Rim-Girl.” He said quietly in my ear. I just nodded and watched him leave with mixed feelings. So much had changed, even he had changed. I sighed as the door to the speeder parking area closed. The sky was streaked with red and purple as the last light from the setting sun painted the sky. It was beautiful but not quite as impressive as the sunsets on Nirauan were. I shook my head and made my way back to the kitchen. My uncle was staring at me thoughtfully when I returned to sit at the breakfast counter.

“What?” I asked.

“So, what was it you were not telling us that has got you suddenly tied up in knots?” He asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it just yet.” I said as I began to clear up the dirty dishes.

“Did Isard say something to you?” He dug.

I shook my head. “I saw something when she handed me a data disk.” I told him. “But I am still trying to make sense out of it. Lord Vader once told me that sometimes if the images I saw from an object were jumbled and without meaning that it was better to allow the visions to sit for a little while and not think on them. To let the subconscious mind work them out.”

Uncle Vahlek nodded. “Very well. So now what do you want to do?”

I smiled. “Nothing. I’m exhausted. I thought I would make some tea, curl up on the couch and watch some HoloNet and then go to bed early. I have stuff at the palace I want to do tomorrow that doesn’t have anything to do with Isard.”

For the first time since arriving upon the planet my Uncle seemed to relax. “Tea and HoloNet sounds wonderful.” He said. “I didn’t feel much like chasing you all over Coruscant tonight anyway.” He added with a slight smile. He looked as tired as I felt.

The HoloNet News showed an increase in the number of strange deaths from the mysterious illness that seemed to find its way into pockets of the planet. It was virulent and deadly. The images they showed scared me. They were graphic and terrifying. It was not a pretty way to die at all and apart from complete immersion in bacta early on there was nothing anyone could do. The report hinted that contaminated water was to blame and that anyone seeing suspicious behaviour should report it. The planet was apparently crawling with rebel spies trying to eliminate the population to take over. I was curled up on the sofa, the Dantassi blanket wrapped around my shoulders. My uncle sat in the large comfortable chair, his ankle resting on his knee. His face was expressionless as he watched the images but I could sense his own anger at what he saw.

“This isn’t natural, is it” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think it is the rebels either do you?”

He glanced at me before answering. “It is not their style, but there are other factions out there who would love to bring down Isard’s government who do not have the lofty ideals of the New Republic and I am quite sure they’d not be so hesitant about using biological warfare to get what they wanted.”

“You don’t think that Isard would have anything to do with this do you?”

“Why would she poison her own planet Lei'lei? That makes no sense at all. How would you even come to that conclusion?”

“She is cruel and evil?” It wasn’t really an answer and Uncle Vahlek knew I was stalling. He gave me a look which said just spit it out.

“I saw her in a medlab, an observation room watching someone infected die, it was terrible.” I said carefully. The image had been momentary and almost too quick to really understand at first but allowing myself time to unwind it, slow it down I understood better what I had seen. “She asked the man standing next to her if it was ready? He told her no, he needed at least another month. She told him to hurry up that they were running out of time.”

“That could mean any number of things, least of all that she is to blame. It could be she is trying to find a cure to prevent this disease from spreading further, after all if the planet succumbs to a pandemic she does not gain anything by it and everything to lose. Things won’t get out of hand unless there is a bacta shortage.”

I nodded, feeling both a little relieved because this answer was the most plausible and a little foolish that I had not come to this conclusion first. I had let my fear and my dislike of Isard cloud my judgement. It certainly made sense and it would explain why she had kept Derricote alive. He was some sort of a biological engineer who could probably come up with a cure. No wonder she wanted to keep this a secret though. If word got out for certain that this virus was planted there would be mass panic on the planet. “Why doesn’t it affect humans?”

“If it is an engineered virus it would have been made that way. Xenophobia is not new to this galaxy and the Empire is not the only ruling body that is prejudice against non human races.”

I sighed. “Everything is such a mess. If the Emperor had never died none of this would be happening.”

“Perhaps.” Uncle Vahlek replied cryptically. “But Palpatine was no saint either.” He reminded me. “He had no problems with such tasty little things as slavery, genocide or even wiping out entire planets if it helped him achieve his goals.”

My uncle’s not subtle reminder about Alderaan was not lost on me and the Emperor had been number one on my top ten most evil beings in the galaxy list but somehow I could not help shake the feeling that were he alive there would be less chaos and more order. I wasn’t sure what was worse, a dictator who kept the peace at any cost or a democratic government that allowed a free for all, leading into a descent into anarchy.

“Lei'lei, the whole foundation of Palpatine’s rule was fear. It was how he rose to power in the first place. He played one faction off against the other using their weaknesses and their insecurities to boost his stature and seemingly benign nature. No one knew what had happened until it was too late. He played everyone to achieve the ultimate goal, galactic domination. He had the entire jedi order eliminated in such a way that the majority of the beings in this galaxy thought they were the ones who had tried to over throw the very government they had sworn to uphold in the first place. People are nerfs, especially in a herd or a mob. They follow where ever they are told and whom ever they are told without thinking that maybe, just maybe something isn’t quite right with the picture at hand. When Palpatine told the galactic senate that the jedi Order had attempted to assassinate him to take over the government there was not one voice that day which opposed him. If people had risen up against him at that moment you would be looking at a very different galaxy today.”

“How do you know this?” I asked.

He drew a deep breath. “Because I was there when he made that speech.” He said. “I was working for the Old Republic at the time and I snuck into the gallery to hear what he had to say. I know that there were people who opposed what he had done but no one spoke up, not one. He managed to fool them all and they let him do it gladly with a thunderous applause, thinking that he had saved them all from a fate worse than death.”

I swallowed. If this had never happened my birth mother would never have been hunted down and killed and I would never have had the life I had known. I would never have come to work for the Empire and worst of all I would never have met Thrawn. “So this is why the rebellion began?”

He nodded. “The galaxy was at war and they saw Palpatine as a way to end that war, which he did. He had the military might and once the jedi were no more he had the freedom to do as he pleased without any major opposition. People don’t really care who rules, for the most part as long as they are fed, clothed and can make a decent living. A few disagreed with his policies and his taking of absolute power under guise of uniting the galaxy. They saw it as an infringement of their rights and freedoms, but they were too afraid to fight him openly and they were vastly out numbered so they began an underground rebellion which became what you now know as the New Republic. They fought against Palpatine because they thought he was evil and to some extent they were right but the majority of peoples and planets did not see it this way.”

“And Isard took over where he left off.” I muttered.

My uncle snorted. “Isard is a pale imitation of Palpatine. She is nothing more than a power hungry megalomaniac without vision. She will lose because unlike Palpatine she does not have the charisma or the manipulative skills to hold this galaxy together and she has made enough enemies that few would wish to fight for her if they think she would fall easily enough.” He shook his head. “The Empire is not what it once was and she is not the leader to bring it back.”

“Thrawn could.” I said quietly.

For a moment my uncle regarded me his head tilted slightly to one side. “Your faith in him is admirable Lei'lei but it would take a miracle for him to pull such a thing off. Perhaps had he moved in directly after the death of the Emperor this would have been the case but now, there are so many divisions and so many factions all fighting for a piece of the galactic pie that he would not only have to have a brilliant plan but a whole lot of luck as well.”

He was right and I sighed with the knowledge but it didn’t shake my faith. I had seen what Thrawn could do and unlike Lord Vader or the Emperor who had ruled by fear, Thrawn inspired people to follow him. The men and women under his command would die for him and never think twice about it because he would do the same for them.

“What would happen were he to some how accomplish the goal of winning back the galaxy for the Empire? Do you think he would hand over the power to Isard without a say in the matter? What if he chose to rule the Galaxy instead of leading the military? Would you stand at his side as his queen or his Empress?” Uncle Vahlek asked breaking into my thoughts.

I looked at him, not wavering under the questioning gaze of his pale green eyes. “It wasn’t something I ever thought about, Zte’sa.” I sighed. Being queen of the galaxy had not ever been on my list of things I wanted to do with my life and somehow I could not see me in that role ever but as his bond-mate I would stand at his side no matter what he chose to do.

“Perhaps you aught to give it some thought. If he were to win and take over as supreme ruler of this galaxy things between you would change, he would change.”

I shook my head. “I don’t believe that he would.” I refused to believe this even though I suspected what he was telling me would be true.

The smile that graced my uncle’s lips was sad, almost pitying. “Power always changes people, no matter what. It is simply a question of how they are changed by it and how well they are able to use it rather than be corrupted by it.”

“You make it sound like something terrible.”

“That is because it can be. Although we are speaking theoretically here since the task we are discussing is a damned near impossible one.”

“That may be so but I think he will try anyway, although when you put it this way I don’t really know why he would want to.”

“With a man such as he, it is not a question of want; it is a question of must.” He said thoughtfully. I sighed because I wasn’t quite sure what uncle Vahlek meant by that and I was too tired to ask and this just made him smile at me. “Though if you do somehow manage to become empress, or queen, or princess of the galaxy you must promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You will write more than once every three months to your father!”

I laughed. “I guess that’s a promise I can make and maybe even keep.” I said as I stifled a yawn. It was late and it had been an incredibly long day.

“Go to bed and get some sleep.” Uncle Vahlek said after watching me try not to yawn again. “You have no deadlines to keep and you be far better off being well rested if you are going to go sneaking around the Imperial palace behind Isard’s back than beat out like an over worked ronto.”

As usual he was right and before I fell asleep on the couch I decided that bed was a far more comfortable choice. Thrawn’s couch was very nice but it wasn’t the most comfortable in the galaxy and I knew this from first hand experience. With a kiss goodnight on his stubbled cheek I left my Uncle to his own devices and went to bed.

It seemed strange to slip between the clean sheets of the beautiful antique bed that Thrawn and I had shared on my own. Lying awake in the dimly lit bedroom I missed his presence and his guidance more than ever before and wondered, self pityingly, if he missed me at all. As tired as I was I couldn’t sleep. My uncle’s words kept marching through my head over and over driving me crazy. He was right about everything he had said, which made it worse. I desperately wanted to be able to talk to Thrawn about it all but he was more light years away than I could count in a place where the HoloNet did not reach so relaying a message was the only way to get in touch with him, or by courier. I sighed feeling very alone.

Eventually, some hours later, I slipped into an uneasy nightmare filled sleep that had me waking up sweat soaked and crying out in my sleep in the early hours of the morning. I could not recall the images that had spiralled around me in my sleep but the terror they had left in their wake remained. There was no going back to sleep after that so I got up. Wrapped in the warmest robe I could find I made my way to the kitchen, found the bottle of Corellian Brandy and poured a generous glass then headed out to the balcony only to find my Uncle had beaten me to it.

“Bad dreams?” he asked, turning his head to look at me. He was standing at the railing staring out over the city.

“Did I wake you?”

“No. It seems that sleep eludes us both tonight.” He said sounding weary.

“What is bothering you?” I asked.

“How did you put it earlier? Old ghosts.” He replied.

I came to stand beside him and sipped the brandy slowly. “Why did you come with me? You didn’t really have to.”

“You are not the only one with unfinished business here, Lei'lei.” He answered cryptically, taking the brandy glass that I offered and sipping from it.

“Jyrki?” I asked.

But uncle Vahlek did not reply instead he turned back to continue staring out over the city skyline as if that would give him the answers he was looking for. I followed suit and as I watched the never ending stream of lights from the traffic I hoped that coming back here had not been a colossal mistake. If the truth were to be spoken out loud in my heart, I had a terrible feeling about it all and the desire to haul tail and go back to the safety of Nirauan and be with Thrawn was far greater than I could ever have admitted to. For the first time in a very long time I was afraid but I didn’t know what it was I was scared of. My uncle must have sensed this because he put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a hug.

“Whatever you are worrying about hasn’t happened yet.” He said.

And before I could sensor myself I said. “I know but it will and that frightens the hell out of me.”

At a loss for words my uncle just glanced at me then nodded grimly. I suppose he had known enough jedi and force users in his time to know when to accept a bad feeling for what it was and leave it at that. Somehow it was comforting to be with someone who wasn’t trying to sugar coat the truth. I just hoped that when whatever it was that I was sensing finally came, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined and I was ready to deal with it.

Foundations and Factions 7

The palace had not changed much, though it did seem a little run down, darker, gloomier somehow and there were not nearly as many people wandering around as there had been during the Emperor’s reign. I guessed Isard had slashed departments and staff to save credits. It was strange to be back, as though nothing had ever changed but the atmosphere was definitely different. During the Emperor’s reign, while he had been a powerful leader, people who worked at the palace on a day to day basis did not fear him, it was more like they were in awe of him. Now as I walked along the corridors with Shiv I sensed fear and lots of it. Isard terrified people and she both knew this and used it. With every step that brought me closer to her office I considered just how risky and how stupid what I wanted to do here in this building really was. If I got caught I would most likely be condemned to death for treason or something along those lines. Thrawn’s advice to me as I had mentioned this possibility had been to tell me dryly “Well then, my dear, don’t get caught.”

We were stopped three times and asked for ident cards and clearance codes. All three times nothing happened except some off hand conversation between Shiv and the one guard he knew by name. For the most part everyone seemed a little bored. What ever Thrawn had done with my security clearance had worked, there were no raised flags or cause for alarm and the only comment that I did get from one of the guards on duty was ‘Welcome back, Miss Gabriel.”

“It would appear you are either lucky or unlucky.” Shiv told me after speaking with the receptionist droid, in the waiting area outside of Isard’s Palace offices.

“Why’s that?”

“She’s actually here today so you will get to see her when she has a few minutes, but it will mean waiting.” He explained.

I rolled my eyes, made a face and nodded. While I didn’t like sitting around much, at least I knew the data disks Thrawn had given me would be placed directly into her hands and not those of some lackey who may or may not give them to her. Shiv walked with me to the austere waiting area.

“I’m not sure how long this will take and I have some things to do so I’ll be in my office, comm me when you’re done.” He said.

“Okay.” I replied. “Thanks Shiv.”

He gave me a smile and a nod and then left. The waiting area was designed to appear comfortable and welcoming but as I sat there I noticed that in fact it did just the opposite. It was clever really, how the chairs were just uncomfortable enough that one could not relax while sitting on them, that the lighting was somehow irritating and the room after a few moments began to feel oppressive and claustrophobic despite its spaciousness.. As I studied my surroundings I was surprised that the lessons I had learned in the past began to come in to play. Thrawn, Master Kjestyll and Lord Vader had indeed taught me well. This room was created in such a way to make the person waiting ill at ease so that by the time Isard called them in for their meeting she had the advantage and they were completely off balance without ever even knowing why. It made me shake my head, this subtle art of power play and in some ways it diminished Isard’s aura for me. Lord Vader had never needed parlour tricks to make people uncomfortable or ill at ease nor had the Emperor or even Thrawn for that matter.

I smiled to myself as I sat in the quiet and it did not go unnoticed by the young guard standing by the main office door. I had not forgotten the calming techniques I had been taught and I used them now as I sat, fining my center, becoming the stillness. I had nothing to fear from this woman. The worst she could do was to kill me, although unless I gave her reason to I didn’t think that she would and I had already met death a few times in my life anyway so this possibility didn’t scare me all that much any more. I watched with feigned disinterest at the people who came and left her office. Primarily military officers bringing reports, I assumed. Eventually she found time for me and after what seemed hours a young man, an aide, told me my waiting had come to an end.

“The Director will see you know, Miss Gabriel.” He spoke crisply and gestured for me to go into the office through the door that had just opened silently. I nodded my thanks, and walked in to my first face to face meeting with Isard since the fall of the Emperor. I would have been lying to say I was not a little nervous but I worked at not showing it.

She was standing, her hands clasped behind her back, staring out of the large window into the morning fog. Her posture, this scene were so reminiscent of how Lord Vader often stood that I wondered if it had been a deliberate move on her part to put me off balance. Then I wondered with a rueful smile if I was not giving her too much credit. She was smart and she was cruel but in the end I was unimportant. I stood a polite distance away from her and said nothing. I was used to this manner of treatment, meant to discomfort and intimidate, it actually had the opposite effect. Lord Vader had done this with me for years, I was used to it. I waited until she turned around to look at me before speaking.

“Miss Gabriel, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” She asked. Her voice was rich and deeper than I remembered.

“Grand Admiral Thrawn sends his greetings, Madam Director and has asked me to personally deliver this into your hands.” I said retrieving the data disc from my satchel and holding it out to her.

She stared at me for a moment and then after too long a pause had passed she gingerly took it from my hand and glanced at it disdainfully before setting it on her desk. “Thank you.” She replied.

I did not back down from her stare but I didn’t challenge her either. She had aged since I had last seen her and the tell tale signs of stress from holding what was left of he Empire together showed on her face. She was still beautiful in a strange, austere sort of way, wearing her long hair loose so that it framed her face and fell over her shoulders to contrast starkly with the blood red uniform she had on. Her eyes, which bored into mine were mismatched. One was an icy blue, reminding me sharply of Jyrki, the other was blood red, like that of an albino animal. It was said they were exact mirrors for the two aspects of her personality, cold and unforgiving, fiery and unpredictably violent. None of which were exactly comforting. For a moment in time it seemed as though she were trying to delve into my very soul to unravel any duplicity I might have locked away in there but she was not a force user and in the end all she could do was read my expression which I hoped said I am just doing my job, as I have always done. After what seemed forever she gave a small nod and then turned to look at her desk and the data disk that lay there.

“I see you have fully recovered.” She said. “I was informed that you very nearly lost your life at Endor.”

I nodded slowly. “Yes.” I said. I wasn’t sure how much of the details she knew but she hadn’t asked so I didn’t feel like giving her more information.

She paused to draw a deep breath. “I am curious as to how you ended up in the Unknown Regions and not with the rest of the fleet when they jumped to hyperspace.”

“My shuttle was damaged in the explosion from the space station. I had no time to plan a course or try to find the rest of the fleet I jumped blindly in to hyperspace. I did not realise at the time that there had been significant damage to the hyperdrive and when I came out of hyperspace, Nirauan was the closest known Imperial base to my current location.”

She paused for a second, digesting what I had told her then gave another curt little nod. Thrawn shown me the report he had sent her concerning this so she already knew what I was telling her. “You served Lord Vader well, Miss Gabriel, he spoke highly of your work for him. I trust you have returned to full active status and are now ready to continue serving the Empire?”

I nodded. “Yes, Madam Director.”

“Grand Admiral Thrawn has asked that you be allowed to remain on Nirauan to assist him in …various duties. I see no reason to deny this request; I have no need of a civilian such as your self working here for me.” She spoke coolly and as she did so picked up another data disk that had been sitting on her desk. “You may take this to the Grand Admiral, confirmation of your transfer to his office.”

I took the disk from her hand and slipped it into the small pocket in my satchel made for exactly this purpose. There was a sudden flash of memory from the disk which caused me to suck in my breath hard. I hid my surprise at the disjointed and frightening images which smashed their way into my head for a split second with a half feigned coughing fit.

“Is everything under control, Miss Gabriel?” She asked with disdain but I heard something else underneath her words that I could not quite read.

I nodded and stopped coughing. “Yes, thank you, I will see that the Grand Admiral gets this.” I patted the side of my satchel which now held the little disk.

“Be sure that you do.” She bit back sharply and for a second I saw the creature that everyone feared underneath the polished veneer of civility. She stared at me, her eyes moving up and down over my body. While I could not read her thoughts but I sensed the question she was about to ask, in her position I would have asked it as well.

“What happened at Endor, Miss Gabriel?”

“Ma’am?” I asked.

“You were there, an eyewitness. You were one of the people closest to Lord Vader in all things. I want to know what happened.”

“Are you asking me if the rumours are true? That it was Lord Vader who betrayed the Empire and murdered the Emperor?”

“I am asking you to give me your version of what went on at the Empire’s biggest military disaster.”

“Well, there isn’t much to tell from my version.” I said carefully wondering if the two officers the Emperor had sent to baby-sit me had actually told the truth of what happened.

“Tell me what you do know.” Her voice had gone ice cold and the expression in her eyes reminded me of some bounty hunters I had met, empty and soulless. She gestured for me to sit and I did without thinking.

I closed my eyes for a moment, calling up from memory images of that moment in time. Then with a sigh I told her what had happened. I told her how the Emperor had revealed to me his plan to capture Luke Skywalker and destroy the Rebellion once and for all. I did not tell her how the Emperor had dumped this information on me, she did not need to know this. I told her the little I knew about the Emperor’s plans to use the deception of a half completed battle station to lure the Rebels out into an all out space battle that they could not possibly win. I was certain that she knew most of this but I had some details to give her that would satisfy her curiosity.

“So they actually captured Skywalker?” She asked.

“It was my understanding that he gave himself up to save his friends. He was on the battle station at the time the space battle began.” I replied.

“How did he defeat the Emperor?” She asked.

I couldn’t help the shrug I gave and I sense the wave of annoyance it created from her. “In truth, ma’am, I don’t know. By the time that occurred I was no longer on the battle station. The Emperor had sent me on an errand and I was in the middle of my run when, if you will forgive the term, all nine Corellian Hells broke loose.” In my mind’s eye I watched the sequence of events unfold like a flower to the sun. I described to her the fall of the Executor as it crashed into the battle station, the warning cries over the comm about the explosion that was to come only moment later. I described as best I could what happened in the minutes that followed up until the part where I got the hell out of Endor space. My words were calm and cool but it did not escape her notice that my fingers trembled and I suppose this added credibility to my tale, after all I was recounting the death of the Emperor of the galaxy.

“How did Skywalker escape?” she asked after a very long silence.

I looked up at her in surprise. “I have no idea. I only know that he was with Lord Vader and the Emperor just as I left the Battle station. In order to know what really happened in that room you would have to ask Luke Skywalker.”

She snorted and I guessed that this had already crossed her mind. “I am surprised that you do not know more.” She said a little too casually.

“Why is that?”

“I was led to believe that you were force sensitive. Is it not the nature of your kind to be able to sense more?” She asked. She was digging, she didn’t know for sure and I was surprised by this. I guess Lord Vader had kept my abilities more to himself than I had thought. I suppose it made sense he hadn’t told the Emperor about so why would he tell Isard?

“My talents are small and limited and my ability to sense things of that nature is non existent. I don’t read minds or see the future.” I said blending truth with lie. “Lord Vader often commented on how useless I was in this area. He called me disappointing.” My uncle had once told me that a touch of truth will add credence to more lies than straightforward lying.

“Yet he kept you at his side.” She said snidely.

“While I may not have much use in other areas of service to the Empire, I am a very good personal assistant.” I said coolly. “I always assumed this was why Lord Vader kept me on.”

“That and you had the favour of the Emperor.”

I glanced up into her mismatched eyes. “The Emperor favoured many young women he considered pretty and decorative, he also let me know that I was useful because I kept his pet alien amused.” I retorted.

She smiled and it was cruel. “As you still do, I see.”

I played along and sighed, bowing my head as if I carried shame in my heart for my liaison with Thrawn. She underestimated him in all things just as she also underestimated me. “There was no where else for me to go, Madam Director.” I said in a quiet voice.

“Just so.” She nodded. I could feel the sense of smug satisfaction coming from her in waves. She did not like or trust Thrawn and she feared him. She also thought that he had bought her lies and was securely tucked away in the Unknown Regions doing his thing far away from her. She had wanted to see me to get a sense of whether or not he was planning to return, my demeanour and remarks allowed her to believe she was, for the time being, safe to continue her own way. She was hiding something terrible but I could get no real sense of it at all.

“I am sure that Grand Admiral Thrawn will find suitable work for you and being in the Unknown Regions will offer you a unique perspective on the Empire.” She said coldly.

I merely nodded unable to reply because at that second the inter office comm buzzed.

“What is it?” Isard asked.

“Kirtan Loor is here to see you Madam Director.” The droid said.

Her whole body posture changed. “Here?”

“He requested to tell you that he has urgent news about progress with the ….”

“Tell him I’m busy, he’ll have to wait a moment.” She snapped cutting the droid off. She was angry at this Loor person and she had not expected his visit either. I watched her in silence, pretending to be bored, and wondered what it was about this man that had rattled her cage.

“Is there anything else?” She asked me after a moment, as if she had momentarily forgotten I was there.

“I would like to request permission to spend some time to pack up my belongings from when I lived here and to sort out the mess in my previous office before I return to Nirauan, the Grand Admiral gave me leave time so that I might set my affairs in order, he wished there be no reason for me to have to return here and deal with any unexpected issues that might occur in the future.”

The expression on her face was peculiar and I couldn’t decipher it yet it sent shivers up and down my spine. “Yes, getting your affairs in order is a wise move all things considered. Take all the time you need. You are Thrawn’s responsibility not mine, if he allows you to slack off in this manner then that is his choice.”

“Thank you.” I said ignoring her barb about Thrawn. She feared him, I could taste that in her words every time she spoke his name. Me, she thought of as nothing more than office fluff. I had been known as Vader’s Handmaid and most people had assumed that he had kept me around because I was simply good at my job as his assistant, among other things. The rumours that the Emperor had taken a liking to me had not hurt this any either. If Isard had hoped to glean new information from me about what had happened at Endor she had been disappointed. I offered nothing new, just a different spin on the story she had already heard a dozen or more times. She knew that I was force sensitive, just not how deep my talents went or exactly what I could do and she did not really place any faith in something she considered a dead religion. Her worries were about Thrawn and about something else I could not figure out. I had come here expecting to be challenged or worse, instead it was as my Uncle had said, I was nobody and Thrawn was not coming to overthrow her from her place of power. Once she had confirmed these two things I was of no more interest to her, if anything I bored her and my visit to her office was a mild inconvenience in her otherwise busy day. She had other things on her mind.

I waited for a few seconds then asked. “Will there be anything else, Madam Director?”

She flapped her hand dismissively at me. “No, you may leave.”

And just like that my meeting with her was over. I stood up and gave her a small polite nod then left her office. On the way out I brushed past a harried, gaunt officer who for a split second reminded me a little of Grand Moff Tarkin. As I stared at him for a moment our eyes met then the reception droid told him he could go in to Isard’s office. He stomped in as though the entire galaxy owed him everything and before the door had even closed he had started the conversation with a terse “Derricote is complaining! You are rushing this project….” He began.

She cut him off. “Is it ready yet?”

“No. He says it will take time to ….”

I watched as the door closed shutting out anymore conversation wondering what they had been talking about. I waited until her door closed then asked the droid about the man who had an eerie resemblance to a long dead Moff.

“That was Kirtan Loor, Miss.” The droid answered not really telling me more than I already knew.

“What does he do?”

“Oh he works for the Director.” The droid said promptly then added in a quiet voice, “He hunts down rebels.”

“Oh.” Was all I could think to say. “What about Derricote?”

“Evir Derricote?”

I nodded assuming there was only one.

“He is doing biological research for the Director.” The droid answered. I guessed that so far I had not asked any questions that would be considered classified because usually protocol droids were easy to programme against giving out such information.

“If I needed to see him where would I find him?” I asked.

“At the biological and chemical research facility but I believe he is very busy Miss, I could try to make an appointment for you?”

I shook my head. “No thank you I was just wondering why his name seemed so familiar to me.”

“Perhaps because he was once the commander of the one-eighty-first and then in charge of Borleias before it fell.” The droid answered.

“Ah of course. Thank you.” I said, more confused than ever. If he had been in charge of Borleias when it fell why wasn’t he dead? It made me wonder what he did that was so important that Isard save his life. I wondered where the research facility was but didn’t dare ask. If Isard caught wind that I had been pestering her reception droid for information that was considered classified she might be less inclined to think of me as harmless. I walked out of the reception area feeling as though I had overlooked something important or forgotten something but I could not for the life of me figure out what it was so I shrugged it off. If it was important sooner or later it would come to me. In the mean time I had things to do.