Clank. Clank. Clank. 

He couldn't believe it. Why hadn't he seen it from the start? Why had he been able to slip right under his mechanical nose? Looking up at where an, an old enemy of his had sat, he snarled hin anger. His sleek metallic body clanked around the room, swiftly increasing in pace as his anger boiled. He coughed. It was a price he would have to live with forever. With a black cloak drapped behind him, people swiftly avoided crossing his path. He was strong and powerful, not with the Force, but with military tactics. He could sniff out a rebel spy by glaring at them. What was left of his old body screamed "kill the rebel" in his mind. And that's what he did. There wasn't one rebel this time he needed to kill this time....his brain demanded him to destroy all of them. And was looking forward to seeing them die on the end of his colourful blades. 

Clank. Clank. Clank. 

Swiftly turning, his eyes followed a figure, sweeping across the hall. Clad in black, the figure graciously placed himself on one of the three silver and turquoise thrones. Lifting their head, the hunched figure's face came into view.  Deformed and grey, the face stared at him, with their wrinkles smiling with pleasure. "General Grevious," smiled the figure.

"My Emperor," bowed the Separatist General, coughing as he did. Keeping his eyes on the floor,  he could see Darth Sidious, getting himself comfortable in the central throne. " It has been too long."

"Yes it has, General." snarled Palpatine, almost choking at the delicate scent the filled the throne room. "Rise. I require your services. Mandalore is in need of a new ruler; somebody who isn't a rebel. I need someone I can trust. Mandalore must pay for dark secrets they have kept from us. They are traitors and they must be punished. Everyone from the oldest to the infants,but I'm willing to show mercy for those who pledge their loyalty to the Empire. I am choosing you to rule this planet with an iron fist, do what you want with it, but make Mandalore suffer so much that Duchess Satine and her Jedi husband, and their daughter, rush back here. Make them suffer more than anyone else and give them a slow painful death."

"As you command," responded General Grevious, already exited to be back in the game. "What do you mean by daughter? They have two little brats."

"Her name is Jade,"  reported Palpatine, spitting at the mention of her name. "I trust you encountered her during the Clone War. She's Kenobi's appreciate and recently escaped from spying on us."

"That insolent scrap pile..." sneered Grievous, instantly remembering their embarrassing crossover, which unfortunately ended with him in a scrap pile,with only his brain and eyes in tact,of course he was still hooked up to his ventilation system. " I will do everything thing in my power to destroy and capture these traitors, my Lord." 

"Very Good," smiled Sidious,pleased with the wise choice his old General had made. "But you will not be working alone. I believe you will work better alongside a more... resourceful ally." Grevious' pleasure was wiped off his face. He needed to be supervised by some petty imperial officer? Had the ancient Sith Lord finally lost it? "I sence you aren't pleased by this, General?"

"I was the General of an elite army and I'm trained in the arts of Lightsaber combat." snapped Grevious pacing up and down the throne room. " I don't need to be supervised by one of your useless desk officers. what do they know about fighting Jedi?"

"I belive that I can provide an alternative perspective." answered a strikingly calm voice from within the shadows. The voice's owner stepped in to Grevious' view. Wearing a khaki green uniform, the figure bared the rank of a General. What shocked Grevious the most about this officer was how different the figure was to other Imps he had seen scurrying around in the past few years. Proudly standing next to the Emperor, the figure stood out with his oceanic blue skin and sleek navy blue hair. Staring at him with blood red eyes, the officer turned to face his boss. "My Emperor."

"Thank you for joining us," replied Palpatine, "General Thrawn." Thrawn was a Chiss and Palpatine hated humanoids in his military. So why on Mandalore had Palpatine allowed it? "Grevious, this is your new partner -General Thrawn. He is highly skilled at tracking and defeating opponents without launching in to a chaotic mess. You will both be commissioned to Mandalore until further notice. Thrawns' fleet will be at your disposal, Grevious; don't do anything reckless, Grevious. I am not cleaning up after your mess." With a crack of his back, the OAP Sith stuffed away, followed by his armed guard. 

"I will not take any orders from you, Chiss." snapped Grevious, already picking his throne. Of course  he chose the middle one. 

"We are to work together," replied Thrawn, keeping a straight face. "I was chosen to serve in the Emperor's military after I showed him I could be a valuable asset towards the Empire, after all the Outer Rim isn't as well known as the Core and Inner Rim worlds.

"I must say, after researching you, you have quite a reputation for getting the job done, General."

Flattery wasn't going to work on Grevious. He operated when he wanted and how he wanted. He was used to working with dumb droids, not Imps who saw themselves as better everybody else. He was a Separatist. Not a rubbish officer, who knew nothing about war, just how to transport taxes and supplies with the tap of their finger. "We will be allies; but don't get in my way. I'm the one with the Lightsabers here. You can stick to you pretty map displays and I will do the dirty work."

"You will soon see that these Rebels are different to Republic troops." replied Thrawn, pulling out a holodisk from his pocket. He activated it. "They are two different pieces of art: From what I understand of the Old Republic, the GAR had a lot of resources, whereas these Rebels only have what they can scavenge." The holodisplay showed an image of a Clone Trooper and what looked like Bo-Katan, hidden under her helmet.  "Some of these clones are apart of the Rebel movement now. Here is where you would come in. You know what weaknesses they have. You can exploit them. We can develop new tactics and use some old ones from the Clone War." What Thrawn had clearly forgotten was that a small platoon of Jedi served that Rebellion. Grevious smiled with pleasure; it was already going his way. Thrawn was going to end up as his underling; Grevious was rising to the top again. Now that there was no old geyser ( Count Dorky) complaining about small failures, nothing could stop Grevious... unless Thrawn had a plan of his own. 

"We should continue this discussion tomorrow," declared Grevious, not wanting to listen to Thrawn rant on about tactics at midnight. 

"Agreed." nodded Thrawn, deactivating the holodisk. Sinking into a synchronised stride, the Generals swept out of the throne room. " I believe that we will forward great things....and reshape this Galaxy into something else."

"Agreed." noted Grevious, not paying attention. All he wanted to do was to flop onto his bed; Even the bad guys needed to rest. "I bid you a good evening."

Clank. Clank. Clank.