Ah, so it was off the top of Bean's head. Wonderful, since I have the full quote and it doesn't say anything about Thrawn NOT suffering losses... only that he completely slaughtered the Republic taskforce. It's highly improbable that Thrawn took zero losses...
Vision of the Future wrote:"It started better than half a century ago," Parck said, ignoring her question. "Back when the Outbound Flight Project was preparing to fly, just before the Clone Wars broke out. Well before your time, of course - I don't know if you'd even have heard of it."
"I've read about the Outbound Flight," Mara said. "A group of Jedi Masters and other decided to head out to another galaxy and see what was there."
"Ultimately, their destination was indeed another galaxy." Parck nodded. "But before that particular expedition began, it was decided to send them and their ship on a, shall we say, shakedown cruise: a great circle through part of the vast Unknown Regions of our own galaxy."
He waved a hand back toward Stent and the guards. "A route, as it turned out, that was to bring it across the edge of territory controlled by the Chiss."
Chiss. So that was what they called themselves. Mara ran the name through her memory, searching for any reference the Emperor might have made to them. Nothing. "And the Chiss didn't feel like being good hosts that day?"
"Actually, the ruling Chiss families never had the chance to decide one way or the other," Parck said. "Palpatine had already decided that the Jedi represented a grave threat to the Old Republic, and he sent an assault force into the region to quietly take care of the Outbound Flight when they showed up."
"And there they were, busily setting up their ambush, when Thrawn found them."
He shook his head. "You have to understand the situation, Mara, to truly appreciate it. On one side were handpicked units of Palpatine's own private army, equipped wtih fifteen top-line combat ships. On the other side were Commander Mitth'raw'nurodo of the Chiss Expansionary Defense and perhaps twelve small and insignificant border patrol ships."
"I appreciate it just fine," Mara said, suppressing a shudder. "How badly did Thrawn slaughter them?"
"Utterly," Parck said, the ghost of a smile creasing his face. "I believe only a single one of Palpatine's ships remained capable of flight, and that only because Thrawn wanted some of the invaders left alive to interrogate.
"Fortunately for that remnant, and perhaps one day for the galaxy as a whole, among the survivors was the leader of the task force, one of Palpatine's advisers. A man named Kinman Doriana."
Mara swallowed. /That/ name she most certainly /did/ remember. He'd been Palpatine's right-hand man, supposedly one of the grand architects of his rise ot power. "I've heard it, yes," she said.
"I thought you would have," Parck said, nodding. "Very much a shadow adviser - few people ever even heard his name, let alone knew his true position and power. But among those who did it was sometimes speculated that his untimely death left a gap which Palpatine ultimately tried to fill in with three other people: Darth Vader, Grand Admiral Thrawn-" He smiled again. "And you."
"You're too kind," Mara said evenly, not even a whisper of pride rising within her at such a statement. So she had indeed had position and authority in Palpatine's eyes, perhaps more than even she had realized.
But it didn't matter. That part of her life had died, unmourned, a long time ago. "You're very well informed, too."
"This was Thrawn's personal base," Parck said, waving a hand around him. "And information, as you may have noticed, was one of his few obsessions. The databases in the fortress core below us are possibly the most extensive in the galaxy."
"Magnificent, I'm sure," Mara said. "Too bad all of his knowledge couldn't prevent him grom getting killed."
She had hoped to spark some kind of reaction from them. To her surprise, though, none of them so much as blinked. Parck, in fact, actually smiled. "Never assume, Mara," he warned. "But that's getting ahead of the story. Where were we?"
"Doriana and the Outbound Flight," Mara said.
"Thank you," Parck said. "At any rate, Doriana explained the entire situation to Thrawn and convinced him that the Outbound Flight had to be destroyed. Two weeks later, when the ship arrived in Chiss space, Thrawn was waiting."
"Good-bye, Outbound Flight," Mara murmured.
"Yes," Parck agreed. "But though that was the end of that, it was the beginning of trouble for Thrawn himself. The Chiss military philosophy, you see, did not recognize the morality of preemptive strikes. What Thrawn did was, in their minds, equivalent to murder."
Mara snorted gently. "No offense, Admiral, but it sounds to me like it's your perceptions that need an overhaul. How can the slaughter of a bunch of Jedi Masters minding their own business be anything but murder?"
Parck looked at her gravely. "You'll understand, Mara," he said, his voice almost trembling. "In time, you'll understand."
Mara frowned. The man was either a terrific actor or there was something buried in all of this that had him well and truly terrified. Again, she stretched out with the Force; again, she couldn't seem to touch him at all.
With an obvious effort, Parck pulled himself together. "But again, I'm getting ahead of myself. As I said, Thrawn's action did not sit well with the ruling Chiss families. He was able to talk his way clear and retain his position, but from that point on they watched him very carefully.
"And eventually, as he dealt with some of the Chiss's enemies, he pushed things just a little too far. He was brought up on charges, stripped of his rank, and sent into exile on an uninhabited world at the edge of Imperial space."
"Where who should show up but a Victory Star Destroyer," Mara said. "Captained by a man willing to take the risk of bringing him back to Coruscant." She raised her eyebrows. "Only it wasn't nearly as much of a risk as everyone thought, was it?"
Parck smiled. "It most certainly wasn't," he said. "In fact, I learned later that Palpatine had made at least two unsuccessful attempts over the years to contact the Chiss and offer Thrawn a position wtih his soon-to-be Empire. No, he was most pleased with my gift, though because of the political realities of the court he had to keep that pleasure hidden."
"So Thrawn went into private military training and eventually rose to the highest rank Palpatine could offer," Mara said. "And then, what, arranged to have himself send back here so he could make the Chiss ruling families pay for what they'd done to him?"
Parck looked shocked. "Certainly not. The Chiss are his people, Mara - he has no interest in hurting them. Quite the opposite, in fact. He came back here to protect them."
"From what?"
Stent gave a contemptuous snort. "From what," he bit out harshly. "You soft, complacent female. You think that because you lounge around your quiet worlds behind a ring of warships that the rest of the galaxy is a safe place to live? There are a hundred different threats out there that would freeze your blood if you knew about them. The ruling families can't stop them; neither can any other power in the region. If our people are to be protected, it's up to us."
"And you are? You specifically, I mean?"
Stent drew himself up straighter. "We are Syndic Mitth'raw'nurodo's Household Phalanx," he said, and there was no mistaking the pride in his tone. "We live only to serve him. And through him to serve the Chiss."
"Whether they want your help or not, I guess," Mara said, noting the alien's use of the present tense. There it was again: the assumption or belief that Thrawn wasn't dead. Could they be that out of touch? "Do they even know you're out here?"
"They know the forces of the Empire are out here," Parck said. "And while the ruling families pretend they don't know Stent and his unit are working with us, the average Chiss does in fact know. We have a steady flow of young Chiss arriving at our various bases and garrisons to enlist in our fight."
Mara suppressed a grimace. So they did indeed have bases out here. "Palpatine wouldn't have been very pleased to have aliens mixing with Imperial forces," she pointed out. "I doubt the current regime on Bastion would, either."
Parck's expression sobered. "Indeed," he said. "Which brings us to the problem and situation we now face. Many years ago Thrawn told us that if he was ever reported dead we should keep at our labors here and in the Unknown Regions, and to look for his return ten years afterward."
Mara blinked in disbelief. They really /were/ out of touch. "It's going to be a long wait," she said trying not to sound too sarcastic. "He was stabbed in the chest, right through the back of his command chair. Most people have a hard time recovering from that kind of treatment."
"Thrawn is not most people," Stent reminded her.
"Was," Mara said. "Not is; /was/. He died at Bilbringi."
"Did he?" Parck asked. "Did you ever see a body? Or hear anything about his supposed death that didn't come from the Imperials' own news sources?"
Mara opened her mouth . . . paused. Parck was leaning slightly toward her, a glint of anticipation in his eye. "Was that a rhetorical question?" she asked. "Or are you expecting me to have an actual answer?"
Parck smiled, leaning back in his chair again. "I told you she was quick," he said, loooking up at Stent. "As a matter of fact, yes, we thought you might. You have complete access to Talon Karrde's information network, after all. If anyone would know the truth, it would be you."
A sudden jolt of understanding shot through Mara. "You weren't hunting Imperial connections when you buzzed the Cavrilhu base and Terrik's Star Destroyer, were you? You were hunting /me/."
"Very good, indeed," Parck said approvingly. "In fact, when Dreel spotted you near that Star Destroyer he thought you and Thrawn might already have come to an arrangement. Hence, his transmission asking Thrawn to make contact."
