Kallus leaned against the frame of the doorway and felt the weight falling harder on his shoulders.

His feet tread heavily on the floor as he approached his bed. Eli Vanto slept like the dead. The hiss of the door opening didn't wake him. Kallus sat on the corner of the mattress, trying not to glance in the other man's direction.

He was really going to hate the plan.

Still, there wasn't much time to waste.

"Wake up."

Nothing.

Kallus sighed, grabbing the other man's shoulder and giving it a hard shake. "WAKE UP."

Eli's eyelids opened slowly and drowsily. Kallus felt worse about his idea. He already looked too worn out to endure what he had in mind.

"I have an idea on how we can rescue Thrawn."

Eli pushed himself up in an instant, apparently forgetting how he'd fallen asleep. Once that dawned on him, he gathered up the blanket around himself, blushing furiously.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Kallus ignored it. "I did some research while you slept. Thrawn's been captured, but I can't find out where. Most likely one of the lower levels-"

"Lower levels?"

Kallus sighed. "Yes, ISB headquarters has special… interrogation cells … hidden underground."

"Off the records?" Eli assumed.

"You can imagine why."

Eli nodded slowly, his face paling. Kallus studied his reactions. It was far more than just a working relationship, he gathered. Something far more serious. Deep. Sincere.

"He's been accused of attempting to assassinate the Emperor," Kallus continued. "Which warrants an immediate execution, but ISB is keeping him alive. I assume it is to gather information. Perhaps on… Rebel cells he may be sympathetic with?"

Kallus was fishing here, his voice rising with his eyebrows to prompt Eli to answer. Eli merely shook his head.

"No… he's… not a Rebel," Eli said. "And I don't believe he was trying to … assassinate the Emperor. He went to go talk about a project the Empire is working on… And well… Thrawn… he's not always tactful."

"The Emperor isn't known for being kind to outside opinions… or aliens."

Eli was far too distracted to comment.

Kallus pressed on, knowing this was not going to go over well. "Without knowing exactly where Thrawn is, trying to engineer an escape is… not going to be possible. All we know is that whenever Thrawn gives up this information, he will be executed."

It was more than a working relationship.

"No," Eli said immediately. With a touch too much emphasis. Definitely more. "You said you had a plan?"

At least Kallus felt better about his idea.

"There's a way I could find out where Thrawn is. If I were to bring in another prisoner… one that might convince Thrawn… to be willing to give information in exchange for their safety…."

Eli connected the dots.

"You're going to turn me in," Eli said. Immediately defensive. Not like Kallus could blame him.

"If you're serious about finding Thrawn, it's the only way," Kallus said. "I arrest you, bring you to ISB headquarters, and while I'm 'interrogating' you, the ISB agent in charge of Thrawn's interrogation will come find you. He'll want to use you.

"Then, I can follow him to Thrawn's cell. Once I know where it is, I can engineer an escape."

"Or you walk away," Eli said. "Bring me in easy instead of fighting me in the street."

"It would look more convincing if you struggled when I take you in-"

"What's in it for you?"

Kallus had no quick answer. Under Eli's accusing gaze, it was even harder to find the words.

But Eli was quick on stopping the conversation from deviating. He was clever. He would know when someone was feeding him a line.

Kallus sighed. "I'm a double agent now. You could use that against me if I don't come back."

"That's not what I'm asking," Eli said. "Why risk any of this? Why not just tell me Thrawn's done for and send me on my way?"

"He could be persuaded to become a rebel?"

"So you're doing this to bolster your ranks? Seems like an awful lot of risk."

"For now, that'll be enough."

Eli narrowed his eyes.

"Look, you're not going to rescue him without my help," Kallus said. "We're wasting time anyways. ISB has some fairly unpleasant ways to extract information."

"Thrawn's tougher than that."

"No one is."

Eli visibly shivered at that.

"Fine," he said finally.

"You're really serious?" Kallus was surprised. "They'll torture you. You're prepared for that?"

Eli didn't answer.

"Well… get ready. Meet me by the shipyards… pretend like you're sneaking aboard a cargo ship, hoping to be a stowaway."

Eli didn't respond, his eyes distant.

"I'll be waiting," Kallus added, before leaving the room.

-SWR-

Eli sat dazed on the bed, his heart racing and his thoughts sporadic and unfocused.

Torture.

He didn't want to imagine it. He couldn't imagine Thrawn being subjected to… anything some sick monster could think of. He'd never seen Thrawn truly hurt… or … even truly vulnerable. Anytime Thrawn had been injured, he'd been able to remain stoic.

But… torture...

Eli glanced down at the pile of clothes he'd left haphazardly at the foot of the bed, and rummaged through it - there. He found the datapad he'd snuck along… and it was safe. He powered it up long enough to see that Thrawn's Sy Bisti instructions hadn't been tampered with. In fact, the datapad hadn't been powered up in over a day.

Kallus hadn't gone through his things while he slept.

And that made Eli trust him more than anything else.

Eli glanced away from the datapad, chewing on his lip.

He had another chance to follow Thrawn's advice. He could ask Kallus to help him sneak away, get a transport of some kind, then fly off to Thrawn's people. He would vanish, just like Thrawn had made him promise to do…

Eli winced. He knew he couldn't.

So he got dressed quickly, knowing each second he wasted was another second Thrawn would be alone, and hoped he knew what he was doing.

- SWR -

Thrawn opened his eyes. They were heavy, but the pounding in his arm would not leave him alone. It pulsed, repeatedly, a rhythmic tempo heavy enough to stir him from unconsciousness. As the room around him came into focus, his eyes settled on the sticky brown liquid slowly drying before him.

Blood… slowly oxidizing…

He knew logically that it wasn't a lot. That his body held a lot more. That blood spilled always looked worse than what it was.

But it was his blood…

Focus…

He was laying on the ground. Even if he'd been unconscious, and it wasn't exactly the same thing as sleep, the rest had helped. His mind felt… less cloudy. More substantial. More concrete.

He didn't dare to move, but a thought settled on him, terrifying and liberating all at once.

You're free.

He wasn't bound up in that contraption anymore. He was laying on the ground. His hand was wrapped up in bloody bandages and he dared not to see the extent of the damage, but his hands were free. His legs… free.

If he had the strength, he could stand. He could move about his cell as he saw fit.

He didn't capitalize on the freedom. Not yet.

Thrawn didn't want to think of it in terms of being afraid. Merely that he didn't want to draw attention to himself until he could figure out what his next move was.

There were only two choices, as far as Thrawn could see.

Either continue to fight, and stand to lose.

Or…

Thrawn closed his eyes, accepting the alternative.

It wasn't what he'd hoped. After nearly a decade working to help his people, he never once imagined it could end like this. But if he chose to fight - he knew it would only be a matter of time.

Eli was loyal. He would follow Thrawn's directives and leave. By now, he was halfway across the galaxy. The others he'd worked with? Captain Faro? Yularen? They would not rescue him. They probably didn't know his circumstances.

No, no one was coming to rescue him.

Which gave Thrawn the only course of action he could take to keep his people safe.

The guards had left the means for him to carry it out. Laying on the permacrete only inches from his hand… a knife… catching the glow from Thrawn's eye.

Thrawn knew what he had to do. And he knew he didn't have much time.

If the Chiss were going to stay safe, Thrawn was going to have to kill himself, and the secrets he couldn't afford to give up.