"It was tolerable. I see shipbuilding technology has come some way in the time since last I was aboard a capital ship."

Occlus is very carefully outside the ysalamir bubble.

That is entirely her prerogative.

"I would be disappointed to find that technology did not advance at all while you were indisposed," says Thrawn, a trace of amused. "I can assign someone to reacquaint you with modern technological capabilities, if you'd like." If you join me, goes unsaid. It's so convenient to talk to people that are bright enough to pick up on subtext without any need to belabor the point.

"That would be helpful. But I must confess myself more immediately interested in a historical summary."

"I will see to acquiring one for you. For now," he motions to the mustached human next to him, "this is Captain Pellaeon, commander of my flagship. Also my second-in-command. Captain, this is the Sith Darth Occlus, and her apprentice, Lord Callida."

Lord Callida inclines her head, all thoughts of dead friends put aside. She has work to do.

Pellaeon sketches a bow. Sith. Just what he needed aboard his ship. As though Vader wasn't bad enough. He hopes the Admiral knows what he's doing, inviting these two aboard. They really don't have the manpower to sustain that sort of casualty rate.

"My lords. Staterooms have been prepared for you both. Do you have any, ah, special requirements we should be aware of?"

"I am sure the standard will do, Captain."

The Admiral certainly seems very sure of what he's doing, anyway.

"Excellent. How complete a history would you like? I can have an immediate history prepared in ten minutes, but something stretching to what you last remember would be somewhat... Difficult."

"The immediate will suffice. Enough to give context to our discussion of what place this Empire may have for us."

Grand Admiral Thrawn nods, then turns and quietly order a tech to get a set of datacards outlining recent history and bring them to conference room one.

"Imperial entries and our copies of the Rebels' entries," he adds, and the tech looks at him like he's grown a second head.

"Sir?" says the tech.

"There should be copies in the main databanks. They should be easy enough to find."

"... Yes, sir."

"Now," says Thrawn, turning back to Occlus and Callida. "If you would please follow me?"

Rebels, hmm? Interesting.

"Lead on, Admiral."

He leads the two Sith and the captain to what can only be assumed to be conference room one. There, he sets the ysalamir frame on the head chair, and sits, Pellaeon beside him. The conference room is large enough that all Sith can sit outside the bubble.

"Are there any refreshments you'd like before we begin? Caf, tea?"

Occlus takes a seat at the opposite end of the table.

"Not for me. Apprentice?"

"None for me, thank you," says Callida, sitting next to Occlus.

They look very much like two foreign powers discussing terms. She supposes they are.

"Very well. Now, would you like me to begin by recounting history, or describing what place you might have in the Empire's future?"

"It is my belief that one cannot predict the future until one understands the past."

"Well-founded," agrees Thrawn, smiling slightly.

"Thirty years ago," he begins, "the major governing body of the galaxy was the Galactic Republic. After a thousand years, it had grown to become a bloated nest of stagnation and inaction. Petty squabbles in committees would last months while planets suffered without aid, the inept bureaucracies meant to provide for them disastrously inefficient. Many of the systems part of the Republic grew tired of this treatment and attempted to secede, sparking a bloody conflict known colloquially as the Clone Wars that lasted three years. The war was a messy one - the separatists wanted a better system of Government, but were funded and soon led by unscrupulous business titans that wanted to be free from government oversight. The Republic was slow and inept, incapable of doing what needed to be done, but the only source of order that the galaxy had."

Pellaeon grimaces slightly when the Clone Wars are mentioned. He was serving as a junior officer aboard one of the Republic's few non-clone warships at the time. Messy is certainly one way you could describe that period.

Lord Callida's studying Thrawn with a measured intensity. She doesn't have the Force to figure out if he's lying or twisting the truth, she has to rely on perfectly ordinary observation.

"The Republic won, but it was clear that the Republic needed reformation if it was to continue. The Republic became an empire, led and ruled by its Supreme Chancellor. Reformations occurred, the government centralized and organized and became capable of actually enacting policy. Many found this disagreeable, and rebelled. The Rebel forces destroyed the first Death Star at Yavin in a nauseating display of luck, and then at Endor, the second. The Emperor and Darth Vader with it. In the past five years, the Empire suffered a loss of territory and morale in the wake of the military disaster. I aspire," says Thrawn, eyes glittering, "to change that."

"A neat summary. I trust the information on the datapads will be more comprehensive?"

"Of course."

He glances at Callida, and raises his eyebrows slightly. It appears the apprentice has something to say.

"You said the first Death Star's destruction was luck. What was the second's?"

"Ah, that leads into why I invited you here. The Emperor and Darth Vader were Sith. The Death Star was an attempt to centralize the military further, to ensure that all of the Empire's forces and power were all together, in one place." He smiles, again. "I wonder if you could guess why."

Callida's eyes narrow, slightly. She has an idea, but saying it out loud might stray too close to talking about a subject that Occlus might prefer Thrawn didn't know about. For that matter, Callida might prefer Thrawn didn't know about. She's not sure yet. She doesn't think she knows enough about this mysterious Chiss admiral.