Ar’lissa stood quietly waiting in Thrawn’s aft office abord the Chimaera.  As she expected the office was practical and not lavish by any standards.  There were various pieces of actual artwork around the room as well as holographic representations of others.   Most would think they were trophies, but she knew better, or at least she thought she did.  The door opened and Thrawn stepped in jotting notes on a datapad.  She felt herself reflexively stiffening to attention for a moment and quickly tried to relax her posture.  She could see from Thrawn’s brief small smile, he saw it too.  “Thank you for your assistance in dealing with that pirate gang.  Please pass along my appreciation to Iz’aphine and Va’lana as well.”

Ar’lissa nodded, starting to feel nervous, her mind jumbling over what she wanted to say.  “You’re welcome, sir.  I’ll pass it along to them when I return to my ship.”

Thrawn nodded back to her as he switched to Cheunh, <You wanted to speak to me privately on another matter?>

Ar’lissa nodded, rapidly switching to Cheunh as well, <It’s more of a question sir.>

Thrawn studied her expression for a moment, <Why I choose to serve the Empire?>

Ar’lissa seemed surprised, her words tumbling out, <Uh yes sir.  You must have seen the evils that have been allowed to propagate.  The strip mining of populated planets, the discrimination, slavery and repression.  All of which is feeding the unrest and insurrections.>

Thrawn raised an eyebrow, <I might remind you that you and your team have served the Empire on several occasions both in combat and in transport of personnel and materials.  You have also benefited from that service.>

Ar’lissa nodded, <Sir, I don’t dispute that.  It doesn't mean I’m always completely comfortable with it either, but it has been necessary for my mission.>  She looked down and away from him for a moment.  <Desperate people will do desperate things, and I’ve witnessed the terrible things on both sides of it.>

Thrawn looked at her sternly, <You and I both know there are more evil things in the galaxy than the Empire.  For that reason, the insurrections must be dealt with swiftly or those evils out there will take advantage of the chaos.>

Ar’lissa looked back at Thrawn and nodded again as she sighed, she couldn’t seem to completely break the old subordinate/officer relationship they had. <Yes sir.>

Thrawn placed a hand on her shoulder, <Our people need you to continue as you have.  Root out the Grysk and those they have corrupted.>

<Sir, that still hasn’t answered my question.>

Thrawn took his hand away and gestured to the Star Destroyer, <You’ve seen the vast arsenal the Empire possesses.  if the Grysk infiltrate and somehow subvert or even subjugate the Empire, do you think the Ascendancy will be able to stand against it and the Grysk?>

Ar’lissa grimaced and then shivered slightly at the thought, <You’re right sir.>  She straightened up a little bit, <But you can’t think the Emperor doesn’t have ambitions outside of Lesser Space?  He is willing to do horrible things to his own people, what do you think he’ll do to ours?  Especially if they decide to resist his influences.> Thrawn stiffed up slightly and Ar’lissa could tell she might have hit on something, <I just ask you keep that in mind sir.>

Thrawn nodded, <I will, as you should keep in mind not everything the Empire does is evil.>

Ar’lissa nodded.  She knew unfortunately that he didn’t really understand politics, not that she was really any better at it.  <Yes sir.>

<I trust I have answered your question sufficiently.>

Ar’lissa looked him in the eye, <I just wanted to understand why you’ve chosen this path. I trust you just as much as when I served under your command sir.  I was just worried that there was an outside influence warping your thinking.>

Thrawn nodded, <I appreciate that.  Now I believe the others are waiting for you on your ship.>

Ar’lissa gave a slight smile recognizing a ‘dismissed’ when she heard it.  She gave a quick and respectful Chiss salute.  Thrawn shook his head giving a slight smile, “You are no longer under my command…” He reached out his hand and after hesitating for a moment she returned the gesture as they did formal grasp of forearms.  “Warrior fortune be with you.”

“With you too sir.”

Minutes later the Wandering Star was flying away from the Chimaera.  Va’lana started plotting the short hyperspace jump in the nav computer with the help of the astrogation droid brain.  “I take it the conversation didn’t go well.”

Ar’lissa sighed, “I can’t help but still reflexively see him as my superior officer.  I was hoping I would be past that but it’s not the case.  Izz should have talked with him, she’s so much better at that type of thing.”

“But she didn’t serve under him.  He also seems to have a trust towards you that he doesn’t have with us.  I think he values your input.”

Ar’lissa shrugged, “Thrawn tends to listen to conflicting viewpoints and values input from others.  I don’t think it really matters if it’s me, Izz or you.”

Va’lana turned her head from the calculations to look at Ar’lissa.  “I disagree sis.  He cut Iz’aphine off and asked you to explain what we were doing on the Demios.  Then he had you stay behind to talk to you specifically.  He could have asked any one of the three of us, you said he knew we were all Chiss.”

Ar’lissa sighed, “Or maybe it was because he thought I would still have the some of the subordinate mindset which I do...” Ar’lissa’s thoughts drifted back to the end of the conversation in the briefing room.  “He did thank me for being honest with him though which means he could have been testing me.”

Va’lana smirked, “I think he was still seeing if what he remembered about you was true.  Didn’t you tell me you went down to the surface of Sunrise with him?”

Ar’lissa nodded as she guided the ship past one of the TIE sentry patrols.  “While the logs would say I stayed on the Springhawk I actually went over with Thrawn onto the frigate Aelos.  I acted as part of the rearguard when the Paccosh breached and boarded the Hammer.  I stayed with Thrawn when he went down to the surface of Sunrise and fought beside the Paccosh as they liberated the mine...”

The hyperdrive computer interrupted Ar’lissa’s tale with a beep indicating the calculations were complete and Ar’lissa casually pulled the levers to engage the hyperdrive and hyperdrive autopilot.  The stars melted into streaks and with a flicker of pseudomotion they made the jump into hyperspace.  Ar’lissa double checked the controls to make sure everything was set correctly and began to unstrap herself.  Va’lana quickly did the same, “So what was the fight in the mine like?”

Ar’lissa sighed, “Intense but short, the Grysk all had armor that would self-destruct, trying to prevent us from learning anything useful about them or their tech.  Sometimes we take out one and the explosion from the suit would take out his own allies causing a cascade of explosions.  After the battle for Sunrise, I arrived back abord the Springhawk with Thrawn.”  Ar’lissa’s expression changed to a mixture of thoughtful sadness.  “When we returned to the Ascendancy and word of what happened began to spread the family pulled some strings and I was transferred off of the Springhawk and reassigned to help protect the diplomatic core.”  Ar’lissa shrugged, “They said they were worried I’d be caught in the whole quagmire, but I think honestly they were worried I was working too closely with Thrawn and his way of thinking was rubbing off on me.”  Ar’lissa scowled, “I wasn’t allowed to attend Thrawn’s sentencing.  Again, probably family interference.”  She shook her head and sighed before continuing, “Sorry, I’m still a little bitter about that.”

Va’lana nodded, “It’s ok.  But you never told me why you became an Agent?

Ar’lissa sighed heavily, “It was my actions during a diplomatic mission, while saving the diplomat’s life as well as the lives of other non-Chiss I acted preemptively and without authorization.  Recovering vital intel and thwarting the Grysk’s plot helped soften the blow when it came, but I knew they would come down on me.  I’ll never be sure if there wasn’t family interference involved in the decision to turn me into an Agent and if there was, was it to either protect me or just to make sure I didn’t tarnish the family name any further...”

The Nav computer beeped out a warning and Ar’lissa checked the countdown timer reaching for the levers she brought the ship out of hyperspace.  Va’lana check the sensors, “Combat range clear.  Mid-range clear.  Far-range clear.  I’ll start the calculations for our return to the Playground...”

“We’ve got an incoming encoded transmission...it’s a prerecorded distress signal from one of our intelligence cells.”

Va’lana nodded keying it on with a concerned expression.  “Any agents in range of this transmission, the station we are on is under attack by pirates and need immediate assistance.  Data on our location and personal is attached.  I repeat…”  Va’lana quickly pulled up the data and keyed the internal coms.  “Iz’aphine, we’ve got a confirmed recorded distress call from one of the intelligence cells.  They claim they are being attacked by pirates.  The location is a station about 5 minutes away via hyperspace...and we just lost the transmission.”

Iz’aphine’s voice replied over the intercom, “If you guys are good with checking it out, we should go.”

Va’lana glanced at Ar’lissa and she quickly nodded in affirmative.  “I’ll start calculating the jump.”

Ar’lissa turned back to her controls, “Checking weapons and deflectors.  I have a feeling we’re going to need them.”