"It's not guaranteed that they wouldn't listen to me. I'm -"

"A Sith Lord. You freely admitted it. Don't you think that every scrap of potential goodwill towards the Sith has been burned to ashes by your predecessors?"

Maybe with Vader such an interruption would earn wrath, but Callida just frowns. I don't have to tell them, is the first reply that she thinks, scrapped near immediately for how much she hates the idea of living what would essentially be a lie. Then I can convince them I'm not crazy or evil, but that wouldn't work with a large governing body, would it, it's difficult to convince a mob. Maybe some of them will listen anyway -

"What I am offering," says Thrawn, almost gently, "is not based on the ever changing whims of a forgetful and treacherous galaxy. The Empire as it was imperfect and tyrannical. But the Empire as it was died with the Emperor at Endor. You can help make something better."

He considers, processing her insistence that she wants to stay out of it when combined with how she obviously doesn't, and then adds, "But of course, if you'd rather pretend apathy, leave all the worlds in this galaxy to their fate, I can find you a nice backwater planet on which you can live out the rest of your life in peace."

Callida twitches.

She glares at him.

"I am seeing now why you are in charge," she mutters.

Pellaeon is just in his chair over here, staying very carefully out of this one.

Yes, she thinks this Grand Admiral does indeed have the skill to achieve his goals. Marvelous.

"I'm flattered. Now. Do we have a deal?"

Callida takes a deep breath, and picks up her annoyance and the emotional trail this man has so skillfully led her down, and shoves it into a box. He's manipulating her and it's pissing her off.

"You know," she says, regaining her composure, "I don't believe you've mentioned the possibility of a peace agreement with the New Republic. Why do you have to rebuild the Empire with war?"

Damn it. He was this close, he almost had her.

"They're ideologically opposed, and believe that all remnants of the Empire must be purged from the galaxy," he says, in lieu of what he's actually thinking, which is I want the entire galaxy, not just half of it. "It is, in many ways, self defense."

"Bullshit, they're ideologically opposed to a monstrous regime, if you cleaned up your act they might be inclined to play nice and make peace."

"And leave a galaxy in fractured pieces, free for the taking by any extragalactic force. The point is not peace, it is unity, so that other atrocities might be prevented."

"That's an awful lot of people that die now for things that might happen in the future."

"Will," corrects Grand Admiral Thrawn, a little coldly. "You recall the scouting parties I mentioned?"

It might just be an excuse, but if he's genuinely worried, then he's at the very least a smart man, and his concerns are valid and she shouldn't ignore them. "Any time estimate for when the main force will show up?"

"Being that we are dealing with a foreign alien entity with unknown technology and psychology, none that I would put any weight in."

Callida doesn't insult him by asking him if he's very very sure. She looks at him, and then looks at Occlus.

Occlus has already made her decision. Callida gets a fractional nod.

Callida would really like Thrawn to be wrong about the weird extragalactic threat he has been vague about, but if Occlus's read on him's the same as Callida's - he's not lying, and he's not (just) using it as an excuse to conquer the galaxy. He's a bit megalomaniacal and manipulative, maybe, but he has seemed very rational so far. If she keeps her stipulations reasonable, she doesn't particularly see why she wouldn't get them, which is more than the other major contender for galactic protection could say. And Thrawn obviously doesn't want to piss off a pair of Sith, immune to the Force though he can make himself. Even if lightsabers might not cut through everything, Occlus could crush him with a table. Immunity to the Force doesn't mean immunity to momentum. Or, if Callida wants to participate, blaster bolts.

The New Republic is not so guaranteed to get along with them. Nor is it guaranteed to even listen to her, and - well, all of his earlier points are still very valid, aren't they. That's annoying. She's annoyed.

She sighs. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh she will still totally try to peace treaty the shit out of this conflict, but ugh.

"Right. I'll - get a list of things that are not okay, and if they are particularly economically, politically, or martially crippling I'll try to work with you on it. I'd really appreciate if you could follow the spirit of the list and not just the straight rules on it. Please do not be terrible."

"Excellent. I expect I will look forward to working with you both," says Grand Admiral Thrawn, pleased.

"Likewise. I believe rooms were mentioned?"

"Ah, yes, my lord," says Pellaeon. "The guard outside can show you the way."

"Very good." She gets up to leave, beckoning her apprentice with her. The guard does indeed show them to their quarters. They are both adjacent and somewhat larger than one might expect for a starship. Occlus sends him off, and he departs with a bow.

"Come, meditate with me," she says to Callida. This is code for we are being watched, we will use a communication trance to talk. Occlus settles on one of the chairs.

Callida follows, of course. Her visible annoyance with the circumstance is controlled soon enough, hidden carefully behind her usual cool mask.

"Yes, my lord," agrees Callida, and she sits in another chair nearby. A proper communication trance is slightly trickier than it usually is, because she is still annoyed, but she can overcome that with sufficient application of practice and willpower. She applies sufficient willpower, and has the practice under her belt already.

Well, 'says' Callida. I hope you at least found my obstinance entertaining?

A flicker of Occlus's amusement crosses the bond.

More so than not. Your principles will someday get you into trouble.