Ten years, two months, and sixteen days after the Battle of Yavin...
Or the forty-fifth year, second month, and sixteenth day after the Great Resynchronization.
(Nine months and first day since arrival).
Slowly, very slowly, as if climbing a long and steep staircase, Mara Jade forced herself back to consciousness.
Her state was as if she had just ascended through dozens of meters of water, experiencing all the delights of colossal pressure.
Her body ached as if a Star Destroyer had collapsed on her, and then nudged her a little.
The girl struggled to open her eyes, looking around aimlessly in the hope of understanding where she was.
The familiar interiors quickly provided the answer.
She was on "The Flame," her ship, honestly stolen from the Imperial Palace and once belonging to an assassin who worked exclusively on Palpatine's orders, Ennix Devian.
At the moment, she was in her cabin, and, of course, there was no one else here but her.
Her mind slowly detached from contact with the Force, refreshing her memories.
It took only a few seconds, but now she was, as they say, fully armed.
"Meditations are for Jedi," she grumbled, sending a wave of Force through her stiff limbs to warm her muscles.
Her stiff limbs reluctantly yielded to persuasion and returned under her control.
The girl, with the grace of a dancer, stood up and, slightly swaying, headed for the table by her bunk.
Taking a bottle of water, she drank half of its contents.
Then she looked at the disassembled parts lying on the floor.
Most of them were in the same place as before, when she had closed her eyes.
She hadn't progressed that much, it turned out.
It didn't take long to get herself in order and change into her combat suit.
The ship's chronometer obligingly informed her that she was literally half an hour's flight from her destination.
Not the one, of course, for which she had been preparing for a long time on Thrawn's orders, but still.
Grand Admiral Thrawn had made adjustments to her mission at the last moment, adding a delivery mission to her assignment.
Fastening the lightsaber, which once belonged to Jedi Master Mace Windu, to her belt, she moved towards the entrance hatch leading from the cabin to the ship's common area.
She waved her hand over the lock sensor, the door obediently slid aside, and Mara stepped over the threshold... and froze in confusion.
"Hello, Mara," Genth greeted.
He held a mug of caf in front of her, looking at her with devoted, slightly fawning eyes.
"How are you feeling?" he asked out of politeness.
"And to you as well," Jade grumbled, grabbing a glass of scalding hot drink and taking a sip.
Or rather, the caf was supposed to be hot.
The one Genth handed her was slightly warmer than the ship's hull in hyperspace.
If only less radioactive.
"You know that caf is supposed to be hot, right?" the red-haired woman asked, pouring the slop into the sink in her small galley.
"Well, I'm sorry," Genth replied, frowning worriedly. "I didn't think you'd sleep so long. And you ran out of bean caf. But there's instant. Want me to make some?"
"About as pleasant as getting shot in the stomach with a blaster," the red-haired vixen admitted.
"I thought working for Thrawn would make you less sarcastic," Genth pouted.
"Can Hoth suddenly turn from an icy desert into a subtropical region like Haarun Kel?" Mara caught Genth's interested gaze. Realizing he was caught staring, he slipped onto the sofa, shielded himself from Jade with a datapad, and began to search for something intently on her screen, without looking up.
And they had already had a similar scene.
True, in a different context...
Mara forced herself back to reality.
"I hope that while I was unconscious, you didn't bring any blonde girl onto my ship who used to be an Alliance informant," she asked.
Genth looked at her over the datapad.
"No," he said slowly. "Why, could I have?"
Mara forced out the most benevolent smile she could muster, which fell into the "sardonic" category.
"Only over my dead body," she warned.
Genth, meeting her gaze, hurried to bury himself in his personal datapad again.
"What are you doing there?" Mara asked, approaching the kitchen cabinets in search of something to eat.
Finding a freeze-dried energy cocktail, she poured water into it and waited for the powder and water to mix, turning into an opaque bright blue liquid.
This version of the drink was the tastiest she had tasted recently.
"Nothing special," the slicer replied. "Just regular tasks from the Grand Admiral," he waved his hand somewhere towards the ceiling. "Well, at least, that's how it seems at first glance."
"And in practice—it's much more complicated, convoluted, and dangerous than it seemed at first?" Mara clarified, taking a sip. "And you have to work at the limit of your knowledge and abilities?"
"No, of course not, why would I," Genth waved it off modestly. "I just don't understand why I was sent on this assignment. Pent obtained this data, my first clone and a terrible conversationalist. Some kind of neurotic... Only interested in 'coding,' nothing to talk about or tell stories. An uncomfortable type. We worked together on a project. If only you knew how exhausting it is to be around him!"
"I can't even imagine what it's like—to work with someone who is only interested in two things in life: 'ice carving' and smuggler stories," Mara chuckled. "Do you think it's pleasant to talk to someone who has shut you out with a datapad?"
"Uh..." Genth seemed a little embarrassed. Just a tiny bit. He didn't even get the hint—the datapad was still there. "Well, probably. And why talk to someone like that if they're completely uncommunicative?"
Mara sighed with regret and took another sip.
"We'll be arriving at Trogan soon," Jade announced, sipping the blue drink.
"Yes, I'm aware," Genth nodded. "When you blocked the controls and went to your quarters, I connected to your ship's chronometer and duplicated the notification to my datapad..."
He added each phrase quieter and quieter, looking fearfully at the red-haired beauty sipping the blue liquid.
"Uh..." Genth mumbled, chewing his lips. "Don't look at me like that! I didn't bring spare pants!"
"Thank you for the warning," Mara thanked politely, suppressing the urge to clearly and precisely explain where she had seen all his unauthorized actions and technological tinkering. "Remind me to hire a good 'ice carver' when you get off my ship."
"Uh..." Genth started mumbling again. "I'll tell you, of course. What do you need him for? If you need something reprogrammed, I'm always 'in'!"
"Yeah," she said with a professionally restrained smile, trying with all her might not to be rude to the 'ice carver,' who also happened to be an old acquaintance. "That's the problem, my dear curious friend with mischievous hands. I don't like it when my ship is tampered with without my permission."
"I didn't do much," Genth blurted out, shielding himself with the datapad again. "You should be kinder to friends, Mara. You don't have many as it is."
"I don't need friends," Mara snapped back very politely. "What I really need is for you to stop messing with my ship's systems. At all. Once and for all. Got it?"
Genth nodded vigorously, causing his blue hair to ruffle and resemble a small tsunami.
"Let's hope you don't forget my little request this time either," the girl chuckled, snatching his datapad from the 'ice carver's' hands with a wave of her hand. "Let me see what you're fiddling with there."
"This is actually classified information," he replied distractedly. "I don't think you're supposed to see it."
"And I don't think you were allowed to access my ship's systems," Mara rebuffed his weak attempts to recall subordination. "Well, let's see what this is and how it works..."
Glancing over the open page, she frowned.
Then, turning the electronic page of the document, she continued to read.
And another page.
And another.
"Where did Thrawn get this?" she asked in a tone she usually used on assignment when she was still the 'Emperor's Hand.'
"I told you," Genth stammered, "Pent got it. I don't know where..."
"Don't lie to me," Mara warned. "Or I'll turn you into a newt!"
"You can't turn a person into an amphibian!" Genth's eyes widened. "That violates the laws of biology, anatomy..."
"There is nothing that the Force cannot do," Mara narrowed her green eyes, demonstratively raising her hand to snap her fingers. "So, my young friend with the secret mission? Will you talk?"
"What is there to talk about?" Genth blinked.
"Where did Thrawn get the blueprints and specifications for Kuat's mass-shadow mines?" she asked.
"I told you—Pent got it," the 'ice carver' stammered. "I don't know how. I think they bought it..."
"The Kuati would sell their own mothers for organs before they let anyone even glance at their gravity mines," Jade stated confidently. "And you have the full data set here—from 'bandages to bacta-patches.' They don't sell this. Especially considering that it was precisely these mines that caused a succession crisis on Kuat three hundred years ago because the then head of 'Kuat Drive Yards' blew herself up on her own mines while traveling to Rothana via their secret hyperspace route leading from Molavar to Rothana. Without the correct identification codes, these mines will detonate, pulling starships out of hyperspace like a gravity trawl and destroying them! This technology allowed Kuat to protect its most important secrets, fleet anchorage points—they would never sell such information. They have so much money themselves that they could buy half the Core Worlds. Thrawn simply has no way to obtain such a sum of money or technology that would interest the Kuati SO MUCH!"
"Probably," Genth said quietly, looking at her with frightened eyes. "I'm not briefed on where and what came from. They just gave me chips with files, Pent mentioned that he obtained them and was supposed to work with this technology, but the Grand Admiral ordered that it be me..."
"What were you told to do?" Mara asked demandingly, pinning the 'ice carver' with her gaze.
"Figure out how the 'friend or foe' identification signal exchange system works," Genth said, practically stammering. "As I understand it—you need to disable the mines remotely so they don't react to the passage of ships. Either that, or find the correct transponder frequency of the recognition system..."
"And in that case, ships will be able to fly past the minefields without being damaged," Mara realized.
Considering that during the Empire, intelligence knew that the Kuati produced millions of such mines every standard week and sowed them in areas they didn't want enemy ships to approach, it becomes clear: they mined the approaches to their facilities so densely that not even a minock could fly through without the correct code.
If you look at the blueprints, Genth was studying one of the simplest designs of barrier mines.
Each more advanced mass-shadow mine is equipped with magnetic grapples and its own engines, so there's no hope that anything will remain of the intruder's ship after the first detonations.
Until the ship is destroyed, the mines will move towards it, stick to its hull, and detonate.
And so—until the entire ship explodes.
Or until the Kuati get tired of messing around and board the offending starship to have a "heart-to-heart" chat with its crew members and commander.
A terrible weapon.
Despite the fact that in the Empire, arms trafficking was strictly controlled by special bodies, the Kuati, one of the main military contractors of the Imperial Armed Forces, were allowed much.
Including—the production of such explosive equipment.
However, knowing Palpatine, it's not surprising if he allowed such experiments and self-defense measures to obtain effective defensive weapons at someone else's expense and use working and proven models for his own purposes.
The Emperor has plenty of secrets, so...
Mara felt a chill run down her spine.
Access to Byss is restricted.
Only by knowing the correct identification codes can one penetrate there via a man-made hyperspace route.
And if the most important values and artifacts for the Emperor are gathered on this planet, then he certainly didn't create a two or three-level security system.
Just recall that the Star Dreadnought "Eclipse," being built at "Kuat Drive Yards," disappeared from the slipways and departed in an unknown direction along with the best Kuati engineers, shipbuilders, and other outstanding scientists.
It's impossible that the Emperor didn't include mass-shadow mines in the defense system of the captured space within the Galactic Core?
And if so, then Genth's study of this technology must mean that the Grand Admiral is seriously considering striking at Byss.
Penetrating the very heart of hostile territories.
Therefore, Genth must be figuring out how to pass through the mass-shadow mines.
And Pent and his other clones (and likely not only them) are obviously developing countermeasures for other defense systems of Byss and territories controlled by the Emperor.
That's why Mara felt anger boiling within her.
Thrawn is sending her to the other end of the galaxy, while he intends to attack elsewhere?!
Perhaps he even deigned to show up at the Emperor's doorstep and give him a good kick in the backside?!
Without her?!
"Mara," Gent called to her softly. "You know, I was thinking... If the Kuati are defending their territories with these mines, it seems like we'll be attacking Kuat soon."
"Thrawn isn't foolish enough to do that," Mara said sharply, feeling a tingling in her fingertips. She thought she even heard the crackle of electricity. She needed to calm down. It couldn't be that simple. Thrawn wouldn't deny her the chance to fight the Emperor. Not now, certainly. If he intended to attack Byss, it wouldn't be anytime soon. He wouldn't do that to her, knowing her feelings about Palpatine and her desire to kill the bastard with her own hands. "Kuat is practically on the front lines – the Republicans on one side, the Consortium on the other, the same Imperials. The Dominion's relations with both aren't the warmest. Most likely, if they strike Kuat, both sides will attack the Dominion forces. Simply because they can. No, I think Thrawn has something entirely different in mind."
If only she knew what.
Mara tried to push away the anger boiling inside her and clear her thoughts.
It took a while, but she managed.
She did.
So, what did the Grand Admiral have in mind?
Attack Byss?
Yes, with the fleet the Dominion had, it was possible.
But the problem was that four-fifths of the Dominion's ships were simply without crews!
Thrawn had certainly proven himself a genius of tactics and strategy, capable of winning even when outnumbered, but attacking Byss in the current situation would be, at the very least, foolish and short-sighted.
No, he was clearly planning something more sophisticated.
And surely the goal was less ambitious than Kuat and Byss.
But what?
"How long ago did Pent acquire these blueprints?" she asked.
A wild thought struck the girl.
What if Gent's assignment wasn't to prepare an attack?
But defense?
"Certainly a few months," the young man said uncertainly. "Like I said – it's classified information. And he himself is as difficult as I don't know what! Even if I asked him, he definitely wouldn't answer."
So, a few months.
And yet, the Dominion already had quite a few industrial facilities – and those were only the ones Mara knew about.
It was quite possible (and even obvious) that the Grand Admiral had a couple, or perhaps a dozen planets up his sleeve, where robotic factories were built, producing these very mass-shadow mines around the clock.
And they were seeding the space around important Dominion systems with them – both in the core worlds and on the periphery.
Considering the fact that the Grand Admiral had shifted his attention from the Republicans and Imperials to the Zann Consortium and was clearly preparing some powerful attack, wasn't he trying to test the reliability of his perimeter with Gent's help?
Yes, one might think he could have said so directly, but this was about the Grand Admiral!
Experience showed that he rarely did anything relying on just one outcome.
It was most likely that this assignment had far-reaching consequences beyond a single operation.
Whatever the goal.
Mara frowned in puzzlement.
It was good that she had managed to calm down.
Now, everything became perfectly clear.
Palpatine had thousands of ships at his disposal – and most of them were capital ships.
Surely, crewed by elite crews.
A massive offensive against superior enemy forces was not at all like Grand Admiral Thrawn.
He wouldn't venture into unexplored, fortified enemy territory with a handful of ships, knowing that he needed to secure his rear first.
And they were precisely threatened by the forces of the Zann Consortium.
Perhaps the mines were somehow connected to them.
The girl chose to delve deeper into reading the documents, more to avoid Gent's tense gaze than to actually find answers to her questions.
And, strangely enough, with a clear head, she immediately noticed a small detail that made Gent's mission very, very dangerous.
"Do you know that the mines' transceivers have a small operating range?" she asked.
She certainly knew that the first models had a practically tiny range.
The minefields were built on the principle of exchanging recognition signals picked up from moving starships.
The old mines didn't react to the appearance of starships immediately, detecting them so close that they detonated behind the stern of a ship traveling in hyperspace without consequence.
Therefore, their first versions were built with the expectation that the first line of defense would work against ships approaching in real space, and for those that overcame the light barrier, it would transmit an invasion signal to their other deadly comrades.
Given that hyperspace communication was much faster than any hyperdrive, it was certain that if not the first, then the second line of defense would work.
That's why Kuat had produced them in huge quantities for decades – both before and after the Clone Wars.
"Not good," Gent confirmed his awareness. "Only ten units of distance. But I'm hoping I won't be put in a spacesuit in the middle of a minefield."
'Uh-huh,' Jade thought. 'They'll get a blockade or minebreaker specifically for you, equip it with corpuscular shields...'
She didn't finish her thought – the buzzer announced she had only one minute until exiting hyperspace.
The girl returned Gent's electronic toy to him and headed for the cockpit.
Taking the commander's seat, she moved the hyperdrive control lever to the "zero" position as soon as the numbers on the instrument panel indicated the corresponding mark.
'The Flame' slipped out of hyperspace, and before Mara, the defensive lines of the Trogan system appeared in all their glory.
This world had practically never held any great value for the Empire.
Even the garrison on its surface was no more than a fiction – just a squad of stormtroopers and a couple of companies of army troops.
Thrawn had pulled off a simple maneuver to revive the planet's economy – he simply showed interest in it.
And almost immediately after his departure, after "officially refusing to support the Grand Admiral," Imperial Remnants and private Imperial investors arrived on Trogan, investing millions (if not billions) to establish themselves on the planet.
The Grand Admiral's reputation had allowed him to simply and artlessly implant the idea in people's minds that there was something interesting on Trogan.
Until the formation of the Dominion, the Imperials had never understood the reason for Thrawn's interest in this planet, which had neither mineral resources nor anything else strategically important.
Trogan unconditionally joined the Dominion almost in the first hours after its creation.
And tens of thousands of local residents, no longer secretly but officially, signed up for the Defense Forces.
And now Mara observed two dozen Golan-class defense stations in orbit around the planet, near which numerous light ships swarmed – Corellian Corvettes and frigates, several ancient Consular-class cruisers, which had seen better days even during the Clone Wars.
In addition to all this, there were numerous anti-air and planetary defense systems deployed on the planet itself.
And an impressive stormtrooper garrison supported by armored vehicles and regular army troops, stationed here not so long ago.
Unlike the core worlds, the garrisons on peripheral planets consisted not only of their own recruits and volunteers.
But also one or two legions, fully equipped with weapons and heavy equipment, supported by several squadrons of interceptors and assault gunships, also served there.
Not to mention the numerous TIE fighters stationed in the hangars of the Golan stations.
Mara sometimes wondered how, with a shortage of stormtrooper personnel, the Grand Admiral managed to fill the garrisons of peripheral planets.
Makem-Te, Trogan, Columex, Kelada, Chasin, Garos IV...
Each of them required a garrison – and given the distance from the core worlds, it had to be large enough to repel invasion forces of comparable strength.
We're talking about a legion of stormtroopers alone on each of these planets.
In Imperial times, a company or two of army troops or stormtroopers could be stationed on minor planets – reinforcements could always arrive from the sector base.
If not to save the defending comrades, then at least to punish the attackers by the time they arrived.
In the conditions under which the Dominion existed, such a thing was an unaffordable luxury.
Although Mara didn't have complete information on how many assault legions the Dominion currently had at its disposal, she knew for sure that after Sluis Van, the Dominion's Assault Corps had suffered heavy personnel losses.
Yes, Thrawn no longer needed to resort to conscription – there were enough volunteers willing to join the regular army. True, they first had to serve in the Defense Forces for several months and earn the appropriate reputation.
But from the periphery, people, and other sentient beings, flocked to the army and navy of the Defense Forces with more enthusiasm than during the Empire.
The problem was that the planets Thrawn controlled outside the core worlds were not very populated. And after exhausting service in the Defense Forces (which differed little from Imperial conscription), the percentage of those willing to continue a military career on a professional basis significantly decreased.
But for the defense facilities on planets and in orbit, this influx of volunteers was sufficient.
The only question was – where did Thrawn get an extra six or seven legions of stormtroopers from, if the regular fleet ships (whose crewing required all cloning cylinders) were understaffed? On destroyers, instead of the required legion of stormtroopers, there was at best a regiment.
Even if Thrawn reorganized some of the stormtroopers from the fleet infantry into ground units, the numbers still didn't add up.
You couldn't form six full-strength legions from their conditional eight legions, station them on planets, and still man star destroyers, of which there were nearly a hundred in the active regular fleet, with battalions or regiments.
Not just Imperial-class, of course – a significant portion of the currently active destroyers were Victory-class captured from the New Republic, whose crews were engaged in patrolling the core worlds as combat readiness exercises.
But in any case, the fact remained – the Grand Admiral had somehow acquired a huge number of troops. At least six legions, which he stationed on peripheral planets.
And then there were other systems, whose affiliation with the Dominion was not widely known in the galaxy...
There should be combat units there too, in theory.
And the question arose – where did Thrawn get them from then?
Mara decisively dismissed the unnecessary thoughts from her head and tuned her ship's transponder to a specific frequency, which was supposed to be instantly detected by the scanners of the local regular fleet's flagship star destroyer.
Several plump transport ships passing customs cautiously moved away from the six regular fleet star destroyers guarding the system.
One Imperial, four Victory-class, and one Gladiator, behind which a cruiser-interdictor was visible, its bow pointed towards the system entry vector.
And that's not to mention the dozens of Defense Force ships flying around the system, clearly ready to attack at any moment.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mara caught sight of some impressively large object drifting in orbit, surrounded by many small ships and a dozen cargo barges.
But from behind the Golan's hull, she could only see the general shape of an almost two-kilometer-long cylindrical object, to one part of which five cargo ships were docked – supertransports, capable of carrying even a star destroyer engine within their depths.
The communicator beeped.
"Star Destroyer 'Red Gauntlet' calling private yacht 'The Flame'," the voice of the duty officer sounded. "Transponder signal recognized. 'Omega'-'Gamma'-'Seven'. State confirmation code."
Several patrol TIE Interceptors appeared unmistakably on the right side.
Mara reported the sequence of numbers and letters of the ancient Tionian alphabet into the microphone, completing the sequence.
"Acknowledgement received," the duty officer replied dryly. "Your vector is six. Echelon is three-seven. Station commander has been notified of your arrival, 'Thrawn's Hand.' Upon approaching the object, you will be given a docking vector. All the best."
With that, the dispatcher disconnected.
"And what do we do?" Gent asked, appearing on the bridge.
"Fly where they told us," Mara said, guiding the ship onto the indicated vector. "I could, of course, give you an orbital tour, but something tells me the local defense commander won't be too happy about that."
"Even considering your status?" Gent asked, surprised. "I thought Thrawn's personal agent could go wherever she wanted and do whatever she wanted."
"Yeah, I thought so too," Jade chuckled.
"And what changed?" the 'Slicer' inquired.
"One day I got out of the shower and saw Thrawn sitting on my couch," the red-haired beauty sighed.
"Oh... and?" Gent blinked.
Clearly, the guy expected a thrilling story, like smuggler tales that he loved to hear from Carrde's service.
"And... my world will never be the same," Mara sighed sadly, realizing that her course was leading directly to the two-kilometer cylinder, which, as they approached, took on the features of an archaic starship.
"Curiouser and curiouser," Jade squinted, recognizing the bow of the starship. "Heavy dreadnought 'Indomitable'-class. It seems, Gent, your worries about a spacesuit in the middle of a minefield were unfounded. Wherever you go, you'll go in comfort. Though – not very fast."
***
The ceremony preceding the start of negotiations resembled a cheap farce more than anything else.
But Leia, watching the performance of yet another group of musicians with boredom, understood that Lord Bonteri had spent a considerable sum on this spectacle.
It was just unclear why he did it.
Was he showing off?
Boasting about his wealth?
Or simply arrogantly demonstrating the aristocratic snobbery that had become completely alien to Leia in recent years?
Regardless, the already difficultly scheduled negotiations were postponed indefinitely.
Musicians, dancers, jugglers, magicians, singers, knife throwers...
From the outside, it began to seem as if she had stumbled upon some pre-industrial festival among aristocrats celebrating a blood alliance or a successful hunt for a wild beast.
Pompousness, lack of taste, and a ve-e-ery archaic way of entertaining guests who had grown bored of it all after the first or second act.
Leia looked longingly at C-3PO, envying the protocol droid for the first time in her life for its ability to endure these damned procedures with the dignity of a stone statue.
In the past, she would have undoubtedly shown interest to observe diplomatic etiquette...
BUT SIX HOURS STRAIGHT?!
Mercy, it was past midnight, what kind of negotiations could be discussed in one's right mind?
She looked at Lando, who, like her, dressed in expensive attire, was calmly observing the entertainment with the manners of a true aristocrat.
He kept exchanging words with Bonteri, discussing the dancers' outfits, the jugglers' skill, and the musicians' artistry.
Typical male conversations, which, now and then, always led back to discussing the merits of different dance troupes from the Zeltron, Twi'lek, and Togruta species.
The first two – Lando liked, as did most of the male population of the galaxy.
Bonteri, however, actively sympathized with the Togruta.
Leia wasn't interested in why his opinion differed from the generally accepted one.
She was sure that if Han were with her, he would undoubtedly comment on her pastime as nothing less than "serving diplomatic duty."
The young woman literally felt the weight of this event and only out of duty to the Alliance endured this moral torture, constantly repeating to herself that House Thion had a trait of posturing and demonstrating its status to guests.
Finally, the Bith musicians finished another musical piece and disappeared behind an improvised curtain.
"Minister Organa-Solo, did you enjoy the performance?" Bonteri inquired.
He turned to the waiting and bored Leia, observing her with a slight squint.
"It was beyond praise," the young woman commented modestly, taking a conciliatory sip of fruit juice from her glass.
"Some of the best masters in their field at our court," Bonteri boasted. "Each of them is a treasure in their own right. A unique talent that would have withered if my House hadn't noticed them and brought them into our service."
'So they weren't even invited,' Leia thought.
It turned out all these masters of entertainment were courtiers.
By the most conservative estimates, the services of such ensembles, permanently attached to one noble House or another in the galaxy, were fabulously expensive.
Bail Organa once said that if he had followed this tradition and kept court artists, he would never have been able to finance the Alliance for the Restoration of the Republic.
"Indeed," Leia said. "You know how to find talents."
"It's not about talent," Bonteri stated unexpectedly seriously. "It's about seeing the root of problems. I found them in their time of need and brought them to the House's court. Their skill was honed by the best mentors in the galaxy. And now, when they perform in our sector or others, the name of my House resounds throughout the galaxy. Sentients see that we patronize art. Others know that we welcome many technical specialists and give them work. Even the Imperial military, who have renounced their former ambitions – they too have chosen to serve my House. Because they made the right decision. And they haven't regretted it once during their service. Remind me, what arts or sciences did your family patronize on Alderaan, Minister?"
Leia ignored the jab, not giving the impudent man an opportunity to observe her embarrassment.
"Vice-regent Organa had different tastes and preferences," she said, pretending to be thirsty again. "He cared for refugees. For example, he sheltered some of the few Kaamas after their world was coldly destroyed by the Empire."
It was good she hadn't insisted and brought Chewbacca here – the Wookiee would have certainly ripped off the head of House Thion's head.
"Yes, yes," Bonteri replied indifferently. "We've heard about your adoptive father's hobbies. On one hand, he welcomes refugees; on the other, he trains and finances fighters against the regime. For example, he was very fond of hunting."
Leia endured this hint-jab as well. A direct reference to the death of Lord Thion, killed by Leia because he discovered her involvement with the Alliance. It was presented as a hunting accident... So, she was mistaken – House Thion hadn't forgotten that yet.
Leia mentally performed a few calming exercises taught to her by Luke, and only then continued: "I see you have time not only to patronize many arts but also to gather all sorts of gossip," she said in an icy tone.
"However, everyone has their flaws and virtues," Bonteri smiled charmingly. "They say your real father was fond of strangling sentient beings with the Force. And renegotiating his deals."
Lando, who at that moment decided to treat himself to snacks, choked, and only Bonteri's pats on the back allowed him not to die of suffocation at the festive table.
At the same time, the head of House Thion looked Leia directly in the eyes.
And in his gaze, she felt the icy breath of hatred and contempt.
Here, she couldn't hold herself back in time.
"I thought it wasn't customary for aristocrats to pry into other people's private lives," she said through gritted teeth.
What her own father had done to the galaxy, to her, to her loved ones, in her understanding, deserved no forgiveness, even for dying while saving the galaxy from a mad Emperor.
She still couldn't sleep peacefully at the mention of his name.
As soon as she closed her eyes, she saw the walls of the Death Star's prison cell again.
And the black sphere of the Imperial interrogator droid.
Which was getting closer and closer to her.
And closer.
And closer.
"I thought we gathered here to discuss completely different things," Lando said, taking advantage of the fact that during the performance he had managed to establish personal contact with Bonteri, and his intervention in the dialogue wouldn't be out of the ordinary.
Here, Leia forced herself to stop, feeling that her irritation with Bonteri was getting the better of her and thus giving him the opportunity to draw her into his petty games.
Protocol dictated that she show all possible diplomatic courtesy in her dealings with the envoy.
Now, more than anything, she wished Han or Luke were nearby.
Or possessed Darth Vader's abilities to suppress an interlocutor with a single glance or hand movement.
But she had neither a stylish black armor suit nor a frightening helmet.
"I think we should get to the purpose of our meeting," Leia continued. "The festive nature of the event is not entirely suitable for an official discussion of the situation and your wishes, Lord Bonteri."
The envoy's eyes resembled drunken cherries the most when he turned them towards her.
"Of course," he said, giving Lando a withering look. "Let's go, Minister. We'll talk alone."
With these words, he had just shown Calrissian that their pleasant conversation and discussion of female charms meant nothing to the head of House Thion.
If before Lando's intervention it might have seemed that they had found common ground and shared values, then now...
Now it looked as if the representative of a noble House had alleviated his loneliness and boredom by condescending to converse with a commoner.
'Oh, Great Force, what baseness!' Leia thought. 'He's literally wiping his feet on us, knowing that an alliance with the Hegemony would benefit us.'
"I'll wait for you here, Minister," Calrissian said quietly, also having lost his cheerfulness and idleness by the time they both reached the door of the luxuriously furnished study, where the head of House Thion disappeared, leaving one guard outside.
"Sit down," Bonteri said demandingly, gesturing to a soft armchair to the right of his desk, at the head of which he himself was seated. "We'll talk."
Leia was simply stunned by what was happening.
An unprecedented insult to the Alliance!
Unprecedented in its audacity.
No well-bred aristocrat, when dealing with an ambassador from another state, would allow themselves a commanding tone, let alone dictate where the host of the meeting wishes to see them.
'To hell with all this diplomatic etiquette,' Leia thought spitefully, sinking into the chair opposite Bonteri.
He merely grunted, assessing her defiance of his wishes.
"And I was wondering how long you'd last," he said with a crooked smile.
"My father taught me patience," Leia declared proudly, gratefully remembering Bail Organa.
"And I thought your biological father wasn't known for his patience," Bonteri grunted. "He punished the slightest offense."
Leia decided to ignore this jab and the repeated identification with Darth Vader.
"I admit, I was waiting for you to jump out of your seat, pull out a lightsaber, and start swinging it around, smashing everything," Bonteri said dreamily, taking a puff from his cigar.
Leia braced herself to cough, but to her surprise, she realized that the tobacco smoke didn't bother her at all.
On the contrary – the smell was unusually pleasant, not harsh, and smelled of fresh flowers.
This indicated that the smoker had clearly splurged on elite tobacco varieties.
"Of course, if you wanted to see that, you could have simply asked," well, since we're talking about audacity, why not?
"Thank you, but it's just a wish inspired by the past," Bonteri said. "Childhood memories, youthful infatuation..."
Leia hesitated: "You were in love with a Jedi?"
Tactless, of course, but Bonteri himself was no model of diplomacy and good manners.
"A long, long time ago," he said dreamily. "But, in the end, I chose to serve as a senator from Onderon, and she – to continue her apprenticeship. With your father, by the way."
"What?!" Leia exclaimed, stunned.
"You didn't know?" Bonteri raised an eyebrow. "When your father was still a Jedi, he had a student. A Togruta whom he called 'Snips.' Her name, of course, was different – Ahsoka Tano."
Well, now it was clear why Bonteri was so fond of Togruta.
But Leia had never heard before that Anakin Skywalker ever had a student.
According to the records and chronicles that she and Luke managed to restore, their father in his "Jedi years" was not known for his patience, wisdom, or desire for mentorship, as Obi-Wan Kenobi noted in his records.
"No, this part of my family's history has some gaps," Leia said.
"It's never too late to fill in the gaps," Bonteri said, flicking ash into an ashtray made from a single piece of a huge gemstone.
Leia mentally estimated that the cost of such a "trinket" could equal the cost of a light cruiser.
Indeed, there was no need to talk about luxury – Bonteri's study was furnished with many works of art, many of which were considered lost long ago.
"A remarkable piece," the head of House Thion declared, twirling the ashtray in his hands. "A gift from a wealthy merchant who decided to visit our market and showed me respect by presenting all this."
He pointed with obvious pleasure to the works of art around him.
"Very kind," Leia replied dryly. "But you called me for a diplomatic conversation, not to brag about your wealth."
"As far as I know, you are working in this direction," Bonteri continued, as if not hearing her reproach, "but you try not to advertise your kinship with Darth Vader. And you carefully avoid the fact that he was once a Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker. It's curious – your father, while a Jedi, actively hunted his fellow Jedi."
Leia blinked, once again amazed at how much the head of House Thion knew about her family.
"Everyone has their little secrets that are personal," Leia replied, suddenly feeling helpless.
The New Republic and the Alliance had carefully avoided this page in her biography to avoid unnecessary negativity.
And it turned out, someone knew their entire background and wasn't shy about "bluffing" with what they knew more than others.
Lord Bonteri continued the conversation: "If you want my opinion, it was in vain that the Emperor didn't eliminate all the Jedi. An unfinished job causes additional difficulties."
"Do Jedi knights really inspire such fear in you?" Leia asked quietly.
Although she disliked the topic of conversation, she hadn't lost hope of extracting additional information.
The head of House Thion took a deep puff and exhaled a cloud of fragrant smoke.
"Not at all," he said. "But I believe that Jedi are a relic of the past. And the past must be gotten rid of if it causes difficulties in the present and problems in the future. Destroying Jedi with the help of a former Jedi is an extremely unpopular decision. That's probably why the Emperor gave Darth Vader his new name."
Leia continued the discussion: "The Emperor, whom you speak of with such reverence, also possessed the Force, as did Darth Vader."
"The Emperor possesses special powers," Bonteri replied in a tone as if stating the obvious. "Besides, he is the Emperor. And Vader turned out to be a traitor in the end. I understand he was one of the culprits in the Emperor's death. Here's another confirmation of the harmfulness of all sorts of otherworldly forces."
"And yet the Jedi survived, and their Order will be restored. My brother is currently working on it. In a few years, new Jedi will return to their mission – to be the protectors of the galaxy."
"So be it," Bonteri replied, taking another puff. "When their Order of magicians and deceivers rises again, tell them not to trespass on the territory of the Tion Hegemony. Otherwise, they will simply be exterminated here like wild beasts or psychopaths."
"Aren't you asking for too much by offering an alliance to the Alliance?" Leia narrowed her eyes, completely not understanding what this boor wanted from her.
"I want all our neighbors to hear me," Bonteri said in a tone that allowed no objection. "We do not intend to indulge the desires of the Alliance, the New Republic, or the Empire, whatever they may call themselves. All we are interested in is exclusively territorial integrity, the wholeness of the Hegemony within the borders that have been historically violated."
"Primarily by the Emperor," Leia remarked. "Whom you just spoke of so enthusiastically."
"You are as much a politician as he is, Minister," Bonteri reminded her. "And politicians, as is known, tend to make unpopular decisions. But I will not stop respecting Palpatine for some encroachments on the historical and territorial interests of the Tion Hegemony. As a politician, an organizer, he was incomparable. Before him and after him, no such talents were born."
"But in the meantime, you approached us with an offer of alliance..."
"Negotiations, not an alliance, we were misunderstood," Bonteri declared, taking another puff.
Leia, who had personally seen the official note, silently let Bonteri's next jab pass.
No, the message in the note was directly about an alliance.
Which she did not fail to remind him of.
"Agreements are revised, Princess," Bonteri stated. "Especially – in light of recent events."
"What are you talking about?" Leia tensed.
"I can well imagine that you are not aware of the recent events in the Thanium Worlds sector," Bonteri continued. "Therefore, I will tell you. It so happened that my representatives found common ground with the government of this sector and its constituent worlds. We began negotiations for a peaceful merger. Since the Thanium Worlds are in a rather non-trivial position — they do not have sufficiently powerful armed forces of their own — we provided them with support. Again, so as not to agitate the Alliance, we sent not our military fleet, consisting of ships of imperial construction, but our mercenary forces. Which the Alliance attacked and completely destroyed some time ago."
"That can't be," Leia shook her head.
"So, does someone else in the galaxy have Mon Calamari star cruisers?" Bonteri clarified. "It's not even worth thinking about the New Republic — they have enough problems of their own. And not a single free starship. It's a different matter with you."
"We would not attack a neutral state!" Leia insisted, sticking to her guns.
"Oh, really?" Bonteri chuckled, activating his workstation and turning the monitor so she could see what was written on the screen. "Read this — it's my intelligence data."
The young woman took a few seconds.
"Just nonsense," she expressed her opinion.
"And I don't think so," Bonteri said threateningly. "And the sectors with which we were negotiating — they don't think so either. From your base on Lantilles, five Mon Calamari star cruisers of the MC80a type "Freedom" took off. Exactly the same number of ships, exactly the same design, attacked our base on Galidraan. And then retreated. Our reserves chased after them — and were intercepted, destroyed, and completely exterminated."
"Grand Admiral Thrawn once captured our ships and used them in provocations more than once," Leia blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.
"Yes, but Thrawn is dead," Bonteri stated. "And according to our information, obtained from a reliable source, all the Mon Calamari star cruisers available to the Dominion were sold by Vice Admiral Pellaeon to the New Republic. And in exchange, Pellaeon received a large amount of imperial ground military equipment. And this happened long before the attack was committed. Almost immediately after the New Republic left Coruscant and retreated to the Mid Rim, or even further."
"What kind of source is this?" Leia asked.
"Trustworthy," Bonteri replied.
"Are you suggesting we take your word for it?" the former princess did not give up.
"Why not," the head of House Tion took an information chip from the computer. "Here are all the copies of the documents. Including — the data, identifiers, and engine frequencies of those star cruisers that were in service with the Dominion. As you can see — none of them match those observed near Galidraan by our observation stations."
"The Dominion could have had more ships," Leia understood that her words sounded so pathetic that she herself didn't believe them.
"With the same success, I can say that you committed this attack, and now you are clumsily trying to deflect suspicion from yourself," Bonteri countered.
There was nothing to refute this with.
Leia took the data chip, intending to check everything thoroughly.
"And what now?" she asked.
"The situation has changed," Bonteri declared. "I will not be understood if I form an open alliance with those who, to put it mildly, have spoiled the air we all breathe. The Thanium Worlds, Indrexu, and Keldrath refuse to negotiate with us further. The Kron Mandate is openly arming itself, considering us weak. Allied Tion has also broken off unification talks, although it is certainly not Moff Gronn who will contradict me in the current situation of complete military impoverishment of his sector. I am not satisfied with this. These territories are historical interests of Tion. And they must be ours."
"The Thanium Worlds ceased to be part of Tion after the death of Kzim the Despot," Leia stated. "So…"
"That's why I was negotiating for peaceful accession," Bonteri interrupted her harshly. "And everything was fine until your military got itchy hands. Now they look at me like a weakling. And I have no desire to shed Tion blood to fix what you have done!"
"Your accusations are baseless," Leia rejected the insinuations. "The Alliance would never have attacked neutral worlds! We preach republican values, including the freedom of self-determination…"
"Did you also preach these values when you attacked Lianna?" Bonteri clarified. "And don't tell me that it was the New Republic. The Cyutric Hegemony was also attacked by the New Republic. The government of which included all those who now lead the Alliance. So, forgive me, but I have a living example of how your General Bel Iblis conducted his military operations against the Empire without any government sanctioning. Which, in fact, is why Grand Admiral Thrawn attacked you. Therefore, let's speak in legal terms. We have exactly the same situations — secret attacks carried out by your troops."
"Under the identifiers of our troops," Leia stated.
"Yes, even under flags," Bonteri said indifferently. "Why you did it is your business. But there will be no open alliance between us. Not for the next few years, certainly."
"Then I see no point in continuing this dialogue…"
"But there is a point," declared the head of House Bonteri. "Help me unite the territories around Tion, including the occupied Lianna, and your Alliance will receive regular funding to continue the military campaign. I will allow your ships to move freely through the territory of the Tion Hegemony and all allied sectors. Duty-free trade and many other types of trade concessions. I am sure that one way or another, my offer will be of interest to you."
"I need to discuss this with the head of state," Leia stated, realizing that the negotiations had clearly gone beyond even what had been agreed with Mon Mothma and Bel Iblis. "I am sure we can provide proof of our starships' non-involvement in the attack on your mercenaries."
"I hope they will be so convincing that the most skeptical sectors and planetary rulers will unanimously believe you," Bonteri smirked. "Don't miss your chance, princess. A year or two of secret fruitful cooperation, mutual formal reconciliation, and no one will even remember that you once messed up. Give me what I want, and I will support you in your war with the Empire, if necessary — I will repair your ships for you and supply you with the necessary weapons to continue the war. If the need arises, we will gladly help you in the civil war with the New Republic. But only after you restore our historical borders. As I see it."
"And in what way should we do this?" Leia asked. "If they don't want to negotiate with you, why should they respond to us?"
"What do I care how you draw their attention and achieve your goal?" Bonteri chuckled. "To survive, you need markets for your products, weapons, and equipment. Not to mention the money, which you need like air and immediately. I am ready to provide you with all this. In exchange — I demand back the Tion territories. As far as I'm concerned, you're quite good at organizing sabotage against superior enemy forces. I think if unknown forces start eliminating radical generals and rulers in neighboring sectors, the population will want stability and peace. Which the Tion Hegemony can provide them."
"In fact, he's forcing us to get our hands dirty by acting as aggressors," Leia realized. "And he himself, meanwhile, will present himself as a defender of the weak and downtrodden."
A win-win situation.
In the latter role, the Rebel Alliance managed to defeat the Empire and proclaim the New Republic.
"I will confer with the Alliance leadership," Leia stated crisply. "The answer will be given to you as soon as it is formed."
"Excellent," Bonteri smiled. "I'm satisfied. But I wouldn't advise you to delay too long — I can wait a week or two. And then I'll solve the problems myself."
"Then why don't you solve them without our help?" Leia thought, deciding to use the Force to find out her interlocutor's intentions, but realized with horror that she couldn't.
The cold that permeated her the entire time she was in the residence of House Tion became even more repulsive.
She couldn't help but grimace.
"No need to turn up your nose, dear princess," Bonteri interpreted her actions in his own way. "That sickeningly sweet political life that Vice-Regent Organa accustomed you to is over. Relationships are built purely on mercenary benefit. Grand Admiral Thrawn and his Dominion showed the whole galaxy what happens when states and sentient beings act purely out of their pragmatic interests. Get used to it — you're unlikely to find a friendly atmosphere in negotiations anywhere else."
***
The interference from the cloaking field is no longer even noticed.
A holographic recording from one of Captain Hoffner's clones appeared before me.
"Vice Admiral Pellaeon, negotiations in the Tion Hegemony have taken place," he addressed the Dominion military commander.
It so happened that some agents, like Hoffner or Ferrier, as well as their clones, are not to be trusted.
Therefore, even during direct communication with some of them, I use a cloaking program developed by Mr. Ghent to deceive the republican commander who led the fast dreadnought of the "Warrior" type straight into our hands.
That's why they, as well as many other sentient beings, believe they are communicating with Pellaeon.
"Leia Organa-Solo received a copy of the recordings transmitted to him from Lord Bonteri," the recording continued. "The Alliance mission has left Tion. They have been given conditions — within a maximum of two standard weeks, either accept the offer and help Tion seize the neighboring sectors, or Lord Bonteri will act independently. The connection between the destroyed group in the Thanium Worlds sector and Bonteri himself has been confirmed. It was presented to the Alliance as a group of mercenaries hired by Bonteri as security for the Thanium Worlds. A detailed report is attached to this file."
The hologram dissolved.
I silently transferred the data from the message to an information chip, erasing the traces of communication.
Connecting the chip to an isolated deck, I immersed myself in reading.
Yes, I don't need to be present in every hot spot in the galaxy to control the execution of my plan.
After all, I am currently interested in the eastern part of the galaxy.
Death and fury will arrive in the northeast and a number of other worlds, sectors, and territories a little later.
When the owner of all the distributed assets learns where they are now.
And then we'll see how convenient it is to pull chestnuts out of the fire with someone else's hands.
And for now…
Let's read what is happening in the Tion Hegemony and how masterfully Lord Bonteri has outsmarted Leia Organa-Solo.
There is clearly a lot of interesting information there.
And at least the fact that there are ysalamiri in the residence of House Tion.
Which already says a lot.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan