"They got better as they grew up. I hope she I mean he is ok."

Right, he's got to be able to come up with something to take her mind off things and stop Luke being a Jedi at her. 

And decide what the hell he's going to tell Leia that isn't "we've declared war on some magic child-murderers for you". 

"...You do have a way to get out of here, right?"

"If by here you mean the system then yes. The Chimaera no.

This is a hijacking now.

Just remember if anyone asks about Star Trek shoot them then say wrong franchise."

It is at this point that she realises she is alone on a Star Destroyer with a bleeding Grand Admiral and a madwoman. 

"That's not how Star Destroyers work. There are thousands of Imperials on board. It takes a whole crew to operate and we don't have long before they come looking for Thrawn."

Maybe she can... make it out of here, stow away. She knows the layout of these things from an assassin's point of view, she can hide for a while. Possibly steal a uniform and blend in, if she looks like she belongs and lives off meal bars...

"You captured me and are going to be interrogating me as Thrawn's new pet Force user. Thrawn is going to go along with this because he knows enough decision theory to know I would have killed him if he wasn't going to and because I am the sort of outside context weirdness that can plausibly help with the Vong."

Oily Fucking Josh, I think this plan will work but I am taking way too many risks just because Luke and Chuk got in my head and somehow made *me* squeamish about killing a guy.

He is in astonishing pain, in fact, but that is not relevant. Staunching the bleeding is. 

"You could have... just asked... instead of cutting my hand off."

He is an Imperial Grand Admiral, he can have his hand reattached or a custom prosthetic fitted in hours, this is important.

"In fact... I have to consider... if this is mere blackmail. If you would truly... benefit from killing me otherwise. But for aid against... the Vong... I am listening." Did they have to have this conversation while he tries not to bleed to death. 

She does not understand why Thrawn is going along with this and is actually impressed he can still talk. 

"There's no way he doesn't betray us as soon as you're tied up."

He laughs wetly. "She will say... If I will do that in the future... You will simply kill me now. So I can trade... not betraying you in the future... for my life in the present. Such things... are insights of old Sith philosophy... for they can see the future. It is less... reliable... without that. But reliable enough... with me."

The Jedi bullshit made more sense than this. Maybe she should have just surrendered to Skywalker and been done with it. 

"Sorry about the hand. The simplification so we don't spend hours yapping version is; I get a bunch of power from a semi-senitent cosmic entity with the a flare for a dramatic that was willing to get me through security if and only if there was a guarantee of sufficient bloodshed and a default path of murder.

On the order of minutes we need to focus on selling this. But longer term. And still in talking in simplification mode I can provide signficant prophecy based Intel on the Vong as well as various lost superweapons, get my daughter to heal your hand, and help spread access to the sort of entity that both my thing and the Force are subtypes of. 

Will want to be extremely strategic about that last one."

She is in way, way too fucking deep and one unforeseen consequence of her decision not to sleep this week has been shockingly poor orientation to new developments, like for example this entire situation. 

She tries to feel angry about it, to tap the Force and let it burn through her veins and energise her, but really she only feels tired and really that only hurts worse, nothing like that has worked properly since the day Skywalker ruined her life and the galaxy the Emperor did what he did - that thought didn't feel the right way round, the headache is getting hard to ignore even through the military-grade painkillers - 

She gets a grip. Follows through. She can kill Thrawn before he reaches a commlink, she can't bring him back if he bleeds out or falls unconscious. She's carrying a basic medpack, she can give him a jab for the pain and something to cauterise the wound.

"Acceptable. A brief summary of these entities and these superweapons would be helpful."

Chat! Superweapons list and confirm on hostage parole! 

Pweese!

Mwamwmamawa

LilithAthalifaxpalpsatmoonflower

доверяй, но проверяй, Regagin rayguns it, trust gogogogogo.

NO STAR TREK WHILE I AM ON A FUCKING STAR DESTROYER.

"Maw installation, Eye of Palpetine, Centre Point Station, Zonama Sekotprougsend, and don't trust Daala as far as you can throw and AT-AT. Also, I think this was my shit as excuse for comms mangling a system name, but my handlers might want you to know one of the entities lets us use a weird flowers based system for locating people trying to hide.

Oh and I have psychic communications that known space is just barely in range of and a handler with access to prophecy. In case that wasn't obvious."

'known space' wrong fucking franchise, and I am really lies to childrening how magic works but I did meta level disclose that so.

"Interesting. I believe I am willing to accept your terms. My intention had been to reunite the Imperial Remnant into some sort of functional organisation. The focus on superweapons was not all a matter of Sith ideology - we do believe them to be important against the Vong, but they are highly experimental and unreliable even compared with the Death Stars, which, notably, explode - but conventional force and above all discipline are also important. I am happy to discuss things with the New Republic, but they are so unreasonable about the Empire. I expect you may have objections?

"I will almost certainly have objections to some specific Imperial policies given the Sith involvement in setting them, but I don't know much about the specific policies atm."

"I must say, you're far more sensible than the New Republic. I'll just take my hand down to the infirmary to see if it's salvageable, if you wouldn't mind setting up your little interrogation scene yourselves."

He may be a little dizzy from the blood loss and the painkillers. His body badly doesn't want to stand up, but he doesn't care what it thinks. 

(He actually isn't going to betray them, since now he knows they do have foresight.)

"I cannot fucking believe that worked."

"Yooooo let's go, anyway you know how to set up a plausible looking integration right?"