1AT (After Transition)/2171CE - Over Ith'nar, Fringe Terminus Space

Ith'nar was a little known 'independent' Batarian colony with a population of around forty thousand regular personnel handling security and slave processing, with a further five thousand transient personnel that came and went with the numerous slave ships that transited through the system. To enable Batarian society to function on the planet, over a quarter million slaves were generally present, many young or new and in for processing. Some were laborers in mines or farms, others technicians and machinists, or other positions held only by slaves in the stratified Batarian society. All dreamed of freedom, but knew that the odds of them ever attaining it was realistically nearly zero.

The system within which Ith'nar resided contained the only relay that led out of the small and particularly uncivilized eight system cluster (or Imperial sector) of space known as the Fringe Terminus, or Deep Terminus. Though seemingly contrary labels, they were both accurate descriptions depending on the view one took to the sector. Those who made their living in the Terminus called it the fringe, for its existence at the fringe of the Terminus (and more importantly, explored) space. Its location made it mostly dead, which made the dangerous trek there (and the dangerous isolation from security of their home space) nearly worthless for civilized folk, and therefore the space useless for the average pirates that dominated the Terminus. For civilized folk, it is the Deep Terminus, so called because it lay on the opposite side of the heart of Terminus space, only accessible via core Terminus Space. That meant braving all the dangers of the Terminus, to reach an area where you were isolated and at risk from future pirate attacks. As a result, the only ones who bothered were merc operations that pirates were too afraid to mess with and Hegemony sponsored slavers who were at little risk in the terminus, but did need to hide as far from Citadel eyes as possible.

At least that was the case until a fleet centered around ten dreadnaughts jumped into the Ith'nar system and declared it territory of the Empire of the Hand. That got worse moments later when another pair of dreadnaughts and their escorts appeared blockading the relay. A few slaver captains had the presence of mind to attempt to jump their freighters to FTL, but were shocked and horrified when their FTL drives refused to initiate the jump.

A few with actual warships, decommissioned or pirated ones in poor repair though they may have been, actually tried to fight back. They soon found themselves disabled, violently boarded, with their crews arrested and stored in the brig along with the last batarian who had tried to fight back against Thrawn. The smarter captains allowed themselves to be herded into orbit over the planet. They at least got to live freely a little longer, and would at worst face a term of penal labor instead of risking execution to send a message.

By the time that ISD Chimera arrived in orbit over Ith'nar, the slaves had been forced at gunpoint into underground cages and pens to stave off possible revolt or escapes, and all the defences had been manned It was exactly what Thrawn had expected - it effectively removed the slaves from the battlefield and allowed him to destroy any surface facilities with impunity. Using retrofitted Batarian communications equipment linked into the Chimera's comm system, Thrawn triggered the beginning phase of his plan. He ordered Senior Lieutenant Lomar to contact the governor of Ith'nar and reiterate his demands.

"By the order of Grand Admiral Thrawn, this system has been claimed by the Empire of the Hand. You will stand down, and submit to Imperial rule, or you will be made to stand down." The Senior Lieutenant's delivery was flawless, as to be expected of the senior comms officer on the flagship of the Grand Admiral (and nearly an hour practicing in the mirror), not that it actually helped garner a response.

That inevitability Thrawn had prepared for, it was a human addressing them after all. Not only did batarians see two eyed beings as less intelligent and lesser, they loathed humans in particular for expanding into space the Batarians believed was due to them. After nearly half an hour of waiting, Thrawn determined he had let them stew for long enough. "Have the Major report to the bridge with the first prisoner." Thrawn's voice carried across the quiet bridge, and was quickly related to the brig where the Major was interrogating and identifying prisoners. That order was passed along to the Major, who quickly reported to the bridge with a batarian in binders who was still struggling rather intently.

"Senior Lieutenant, raise them again. Let us demonstrate for them the cost of defiance." Thrawn's voice was cold, and the temperature on the bridge seemed to drop a few degrees. All of the officers on the bridge had been hand selected from a pool of volunteers for this shift for their loyalty to Thrawn and The Hand. They had then been informed of Thrawn's plan, and given the choice of whether or not they thought they could stomach the sight. Just because they thought they could stomach it didn't mean most were looking forward to the sight however. Serving as the command staff of an Imperial Ship of the line, these officers were generally quite removed from, and therefore not used to, the sight of personal violence.

The Batarian Governor did appear on the screen this time, but he looked unimpressed. "Did you not get the message implicit in my silence, human?" The distaste at the Senior Lieutenant's species was clear in his voice. "This system is sovereign territory of the Ith'nar Hegemony. Leave at once."

This time, it was Thrawn who responded, standing just beyond the edge of the camera's vision. "No, it is you who does not understand, governor. I am contacting you again to rectify that misunderstanding. Major, show him what happens to those who resist the Empire of the Hand." With that, Thrawn nodded to the Major who bodily dragged the struggling Batarian before the camera, and then kicked his legs out from under him forcing him to his knees. The Batarian stared desperately at the comm monitor. "State your name and position!" Major Ayer paid no attention to the furious looking governor on the commscreen.

"Banoth, Banoth Idnak! Freighter Captain!" The batarian was clearly terrified.

"And Slaver?" The major stated as much as asked.

"And Slaver!" he confirmed, then thought to add, "And, And… And friend of the governor..." He stopped as he almost thought better of it, but he hoped the knowledge that he was friends with someone somewhat important would be enough to get him better treatment, if not release.

He was wrong. "That is why we asked you here," Thrawn initially addressed the terrified batarian, then turned to the major, "proceed with the demonstration."

Two stormtroopers walked up to the downed batarian and grabbed his shoulders to hold him still. The major then drew his blaster pistol, and shot the batarian in the back. The governor looked somewhat shocked, then settled on somewhere between horrified and angry. But the Imperials weren't done yet.

"Governor, humans have a saying: The eyes are a window to the soul. Correct me if I am wrong, but batarians believe something similar. Major?" Thrawn's voice was as cold as ice, and his position outside the visible frame added to the dark vibes his voice delivered. The major looked unaffected as he drew a micro vibroblade and cut the deceased batarian's eyes out. The governor looked positively mortified. Thrawn knew the next part was the turning point between the easy way and the hard way. He hoped that by some providence the governor would surrender, but he was under no illusions that that would realistically happen. Luck only got you so far, skill, planning, and understanding the enemy got you much further. Thrawn had seen what happened when people relied on luck, or the force, first hand. Both were useful tools, but too mercurial to be counted on in critical moments like this. Seeing the governor's resolve harden, Thrawn silently signaled Lieutenant Lomar to signal the fleet to battle stations. Throughout the rest of the ship and across the rest of the fleet lurking over the colony, alarms sounded signalling General Quarters.

"Governor, here's how this plays out. Either you surrender the colony, handle the burial of your friend here, and accept the new leadership peacefully, or I dispose of this corpse with the rest of the refuse, then take the colony from you the hard way. If we do so, the Major will capture you. He will then carry out the same procedure upon you, while you live. You will serve as a warning to your people, a message that tells quite clearly what happens when fools resist the might of The Hand." Thrawn's voice slowly transitioned from calm, to full of clear and dangerous malice. The Governor swallowed, blinked, and answered.

*AN*

Sorry it has been so long, doing a lot of rewrites for quality and ran into a chapter that I am not sure how I want to address. Here is some more to enjoy as I realized how long it had been since I had updated anything here.

Hope you enjoyed.