16 BBY - "Somewhere"
Slowly, Thrawn reopened his eyes, groaning as he did so. Only now could he feel the pain of his head hitting the ground, after Gentis's troops had stunned him, Vanto, and Yularen. Rubbing his eyes, Thrawn sat up, finding himself in a prison cell. However, this cell was unlike the cells he had seen; in those prison cells, there were lights both on the floor and the walls. This cell, however, had none of that. All Thrawn was surrounded by was complete and total darkness. Where am I? The Senior Lieutenant asked himself. He looked around, noticing the other prisoners opposite him were sleeping, and that there were several red lights glowing near the floor, which was giving off an odd humming noise.. Almost as if it was electrified, ready to go off at any moment.
Quietly, Thrawn peeked his head out of his cell, looking to both his left and his right. No TK-Troopers stood outside, indicating that it must have been night time.. Wherever he was. I have to get out of here. Thrawn thought to himself. I have to find Colonel Yularen and Ensign Vanto and make my escape, like on the Dromedar. Thrawn soon lifted his left foot up off the ground, motioning to step outside the cell. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice said. Thrawn tightly grasped both sides of the cell walls, startled by the voice. He turned his head slightly to the left, only now seeing another man in the darkness; a middle-aged man wearing the same orange and white prison attire as Thrawn, who also happened to dawn a mustache. "Apologies for startling you, Senior Lieutenant." The man said. "I wasn't sure if you were awake yet."
Thrawn looked at the man, confused. "How do you know my rank?" Thrawn asked. "I merely saw the plaque on your chest when they dragged you, Colonel Yularen, and Ensign Vanto in here." The man replied. "And yes, I am well aware of your reputation in the Empire, Mitth'raw'nuruodo. I am most fascinated by your escape off the Dromedar two years ago." He continued. "And who may you be?" Thrawn asked. The man smiled gently, outstretching his right hand. "I am Captain Gilad Pellaeon of The Galactic Empire." The man replied. "I was serving aboard Headmaster Gentis's flagship, when his troops stunned me and locked me up here." He added on. Thrawn shook Pellaeon's hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Captain." He said. "Would you happen to have seen where Ensign Vanto and Colonel Yularen were imprisoned?" Thrawn soon asked.
"They are a few cells across from us." Pellaeon replied. "Although they finished their shifts and went to sleep long before you woke up." Thrawn cocked an eyebrow at Pellaeon, confused. "Their... 'Shifts'?" He asked. "If there's one thing I learned about this prison, it's that these traitors like to put their former comrades to work." Pellaeon replied, sitting down on the bunk bed. "Every day, we're called down to some construction lab, where we're assigned to tinker with these.. Rather strange pieces of machinery." He continued, soon lying down on his back. "You'll see for yourself in the morning, Senior Lieutenant. For now, you need rest." Pellaeon then said. Thrawn climbed up into the other bunk above Pellaeon, lying down on his back and staring at the ceiling blankly. His mind raced back to the sphere he had seen outside the shuttle cockpit, right before he was imprisoned, before thinking back to what Pellaeon just told him. Could we be involved in that sphere's construction? Thrawn began asking himself. If so, what purpose does that sphere serve...?
The very next day, Thrawn shot up out of his bed, his eyes wide awake. He groaned for a moment, rubbing his eyes, whilst a loud alarm blared outside. "Rise and shine, Senior Lieutenant..." Pellaeon said, getting out from the lower bunk. "We have work to do." Without saying another word, Thrawn hopped down from the top bunk, following Pellaeon outside the cell. Almost as soon as he joined countless other prisoners in a single-file line, however, Thrawn immediately felt the butt of a blaster jam itself into his ribs. "Hands behind the head, alien freak." One of the TK-Troopers guarding the cells ordered. Thrawn did as he was told, interlocking his fingers together and putting his hands behind his head. Soon, he began following Pellaeon and the other prisoners outside the cell corridor, walking down several tunnels with them.
After a few minutes, Thrawn looked over the shoulders of the prisoners in front of him, seeing several metallic objects with five different legs; in a way, they resembled old Separatist Spider Droids from The Clone Wars, though he knew the objects weren't that at all. If anything, they were most likely for the sphere looming above Narkina's surface. "Move along." Thrawn overheard a few of the TK-Troopers say, watching them gesture for the prisoners to move into the area. Out of the corner of his eye, Thrawn could see Vanto and Yularen behind one of the operating tables, tinkering with the large object in front of them. Slowly, Thrawn approached Vanto and Yularen, joining them on the opposite end of the table. "I apologize for not joining you here sooner, Ensign Vanto." Thrawn said. "I had not woken up until later in the evening."
Yularen looked at Thrawn for a moment, a soft smile crossing his face. "It's good to see you nevertheless, Senior Lieutenant." He said, going back to hooking up an arm to the object in front of him. Thrawn's eyes darted towards the object, a look of curiosity soon crossing his face. "And what may this be?" Thrawn asked. "Our captors weren't really that clear with the instructions..." Vanto began, hooking up an arm into the object himself. "They're supposed to be some type of interlocking gear, possibly for that thing orbiting this planet's atmosphere... Whatever it's supposed to be." He added on. Thrawn nodded, continuing to stare at the object intently. His mind, however, kept going back to the sphere. To anyone else, it looked exactly like that: a sphere. But Thrawn couldn't help but think there was something more to it; a much more grand, possibly even dangerous purpose behind it's construction.
Suddenly, and violently, Thrawn felt the floor shake beneath his feet, hearing an explosion from outside. He quickly turned his head, seeing all the TK-Troopers in the area rushing out the exit doors, blasters at the ready. "Get down!" Vanto shouted, yanking Thrawn to the ground by the back of his prison uniform. All around him, blaster bolts zoomed everywhere, striking the walls and some of the half-finished gears. Before he could look up to see what was going on, however, Thrawn watched a fraction of the door explode, sending a few TK-Troopers back. Slowly, Thrawn looked up to where the explosion had gone off, seeing a platoon of TK-Troopers entering the room. Leading this platoon, however, was an Imperial Moff; one whose arms, eyes, and mouth were replaced with cybernetics. In both hands, the Moff carried two blaster pistols, both of which were smoking from their barrels. "Oh, Moff Trachta!" Yularen exclaimed, rising to meet the Moff's gaze. "I see you have successfully dealt with our traitorous Headmaster."
"You have Lord Vader to thank for that." Moff Trachta replied, placing both of his pistols back in their holsters. "Gentis has been executed. And with him, any and all plans of usurping the Imperial throne have been thwarted." He continued. Thrawn looked around, seeing Pellaeon and the other imprisoned Imperials rising to their feet, walking away from their operation tables. "You are Senior Lieutenant Mitth'raw'nuruodo, I presume?" Trachta asked. Thrawn shifted his gaze to Trachta, slightly taken aback by the sudden question. "You would be correct, Moff Trachta." Thrawn replied, bowing his head. "I have heard a great deal about you, Senior Lieutenant..." Trachta said. "By the looks of things, you appear to be the Emperor's prized possession, aside from his own second in command; after all, there has to be a reason why you've moved so far up the ranks of this Empire so quickly." He added on.
16 BBY - "Coruscant, The Imperial Palace"
A few weeks passed by. As far as Thrawn was concerned, everything was becoming more civilized again; with the death of Headmaster Saul Gentis, his regime was over, and with it, the Emperor was slowly regaining control over his own throne. Though the Palace still had a long way to go before it was fully reconstructed, after what had happened with Gentis's attack. Soon, Thrawn turned his head, seeing Vanto walking up towards him. "Feels weird, doesn't it?" Vanto asked. "Living life as a normal Imperial again, now that the Empire isn't caving in on itself..." Thrawn nodded his head. "I am inclined to agree, Ensign Vanto." Thrawn replied. "If not for the efforts of the few Imperials that evaded Gentis's grasp, the galaxy may have very well fallen into disarray."
Just then, another Imperial Officer ran up towards Vanto from behind. "Senior bLieutenant Thrawn?" The Officer asked. Thrawn shifted his gaze towards the Officer, only now seeing more and more Imperials leaving the Palace halls. "What is it?" Thrawn asked. "The Emperor's calling an emergency meeting with all Imperials regarding The Gentis Regime." The Officer nervously replied. "It's.. It's happening inside The Room of A Thousand Fountains." He added on. Thrawn's eyes briefly darted to Vanto, and then to the Officer. Soon, the two of them followed the Officer into a nearby turbolift, heading down towards The Room of A Thousand Fountains. "I have a feeling this meeting's not gonna end very well..." Vanto remarked, as the lift descended further and further down towards the base of the Palace. "I hear the Emperor's been a little bit.. Displeased with events recently." He continued.
Within seconds, the turbolift doors hissed open. The Officer exited first, followed by Thrawn and Vanto. It was dark inside the chambers, say for a few lights; by now, nightfall had already come upon Coruscant. Thrawn looked around, seeing a few familiar faces, such as Colonel Yularen and Moff Tarkin, standing with their fellow Imperials, arms folded behind their backs. In the center of the room, the Emperor stood with his head hung low, guarded only by his Royal Guards, Moff Trachta, and one other Imperial with scars all over his face. Judging by the plaque that rested on his uniform, Thrawn could only assume this Imperial to be a Lieutenant. Finally, the Emperor looked up, his pupils a golden flame in the dimly lit room. "I am deeply troubled by recent events that had unfolded on this world..." The Emperor said, his gaze shifting between all the Imperials who stood in the room.
Thrawn's posture stiffened, his eyes darting to Palpatine. "As you are all aware, Saul Gentis, a well-respected General of the Empire and Headmaster of The Royal Imperial Academy, betrayed and attempted to take my life." Palpatine declared. "If not for the efforts of Lieutenant Laurita Tohm and Moff Trachta, he would have succeeded in dismantling the very regime he swore to serve until the end." He added on. From behind the Emperor and his Royal Guards, Thrawn heard a noise, almost like that of a hidden door opening. "However... Neither of them acted alone." The Emperor then said. Out of the darkness, Thrawn saw a figure appear behind Palpatine; the figure, as far as Thrawn could see, was a man standing almost seven feet tall, clad in all black armor, with a control box strapped to his torso that had blinking red and green lights. On top of that, Thrawn could hear the man's mechanical breathing louder than anything else, even the running fountains.
"Unlike most of you standing in this room, Gentis failed both in capturing and killing Lord Vader, as you can see." The Emperor said. "In the wake of my recovery from my injuries, he broke the traitor beyond comprehension, and personally struck him down... Though I cannot help but feel that there are still followers of the so-called 'Gentis Regime' standing in these chambers." He added on. Suddenly, Thrawn turned his head, seeing one of the many Officers begin to gag; and then another, and another. His eyes quickly paced around the room, seeing about twenty Officers collapse, gasping for breath and coughing relentlessly. "From this night onward, not a single one of you shall betray me, as that fool of a Headmaster had." Palpatine declared. "And anyone that does so will face the consequences of their treachery."
At that moment, Thrawn heard several necks snapping at once, and quickly looked around, seeing the twenty Officers collapse to the ground, lifeless. A smile crept across the Emperor's face under his hood, before he gestured to Moff Trachta. "For his efforts in stopping this rebellion, I reward Moff Trachta with Gentis's former office as Headmaster of The Royal Imperial Academy." The Emperor declared. "Through him, and his firsthand experience of such betrayal, future generations of troops will learn to be loyal until their time in this galaxy is over." He added on. The other Officers smiled, all of them softly clapping their hands; that is, all of them except Thrawn. The Senior Lieutenant looked at Vader, whose gaze was shifted towards the dead Officers on the floor. Already had Thrawn feared Vader from what Vanto told him firsthand, but now hat he saw the monster for himself, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of broken creature lay dormant behind that mask Palpatine had crafted.
