The Freak Fleet 'verse: A series of stories exploring the dynamics among Grand Admiral Thrawn, Pellaeon, Covell, Parck, Niriz, Dorja, and other members of the Seventh Fleet. Legends cast in Rebels, a couple of OCs. Mix of Canon and Legends (Essentially AU). Serious, as well as not-so-serious fics. Semi-crack.
The Freak Fleet - Breaking the Ice - Of Chiss and Men - Witch Hunt - Second Chances - Chance Encounters - The Evil So Terrible It Tried To Black Out The Stars - An Unstoppable Force Meets an Immovable Object - All Roads Lead to Coruscant - Freak Fleet Files - A Kingdom of Isolation
Author's Note:
Regarding Chiss names and Chiss world building: I've based the image of the Chiss Ascendancy on the late New Jedi Order's (NJO) version – sneaky, cold, and calculating people who place their duty above everything else, and whose main concern is the safety of their own people, not the rest of the galaxy. I know many people dislike the NJO as a whole and/or its description of Chiss species. Guess what, I kriffing love NJO. Still, there are many aspects of the series that I flatly disagree with, and I downright hate that every Chiss the Skywalkers et al. come across is named something'something'nuruodo (or even worse Something Nuruodo).
On the other hand, I don't see why I couldn't combine Zahn's and NJO's naming patterns. Eg.: Mitth'ras'safis
A commoner born as 'Ras,' becoming Ras'safis as a teen/adult, eventually elevated to Mitth'ras'safis thanks to his civil service to the Eighth Ruling Family, becoming Syndic (=the head) of House Mitth.
On the other hand, his brother Thrawn (born 'Raw,' becoming Raw'safis), not only became Mitth (military service), but thanks to his exceptional results he ascended to the direct lineage of the Eighth Ruling Family, Nuruodo, changing the third part of his name into Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
In NJO, the number of the Ruling Families got reduced into Four (as opposed to Nine in the Outbound Flight); this continuity plot hole was later fixed by having Thrawn casually mention that the number of the Ruling Families changed over the time (as many as Twelve, as little as Three), and in the Dark Nest trilogy Aristocra Formbi hinting that there had been a civil war, pardon, a disagreement (I'm quoting here, people) that led to the reduction to Four. It is therefore possible that Nuruodo moved up from the Eighth to the Second position. (At present, the Second Ruling Family in this verse is, unsurprisingly, Harana)
In my mind, each Ruling Family consists of multiple Houses:
For example the Fifth Ruling Family, Bintrano, consists of the House Chaf, but also of the House Kres (among others); all members of its rivaling Houses can ascend into its direct lineage, becoming members of the Bintrano Family by merit (descendants of such trial-borns eventually becoming Aristocras themselves) and, of course, children of the actual "blue blood" Aristocras inheriting the status automatically after their parents.
And lastly, Chiss in my verse come in various shade of blue depending on the planet of origin; not all Chiss come from Csilla or from the Path of the Houses.
Title: A Warm Welcome
Disclaimer: Let's see how many of you've read the New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee, aka the Skywalkers et al. visit Csilla. There will be many hidden references as well as many direct quotations from the book. No copyright infringement intended.
You have nothing to fear from my people if you answer their questions fully and truthfully, Thrawn had said. That might have been true but still it didn't change the fact that Eli was basically a prisoner on this cold, inhospitable chunk of ice. And even if he wasn't confined to his quarters until the Ruling Council decided his ultimate fate, it would be impossible to go out in this kriffing weather.
The Chiss Ascendancy consisted of many different worlds with all possible environmental conditions; one would think with the pick of any of the worlds in the Unknown Regions that they would have chosen one a bit more agreeable than this.
No. Of course these cold-blooded schemers would have chosen a freaking ice-ball as their capital.
Eli let out a deep sigh of resignation as he was being led into the Council chambers; his armed escort looked as cold and impassive as usual- as if they had been taking him out for a dinner or to another routine questioning instead of to his assigned judges and jury. Not executioners. No, the Chiss did not have capital punishment since they believed death served no real purpose. A criminal could not spend the rest of his days regretting his life choices if his life was prematurely terminated.
Eli gulped. Everything he had ever done in his life was for nothing; if he managed to screw even this up, then he would end up confined to his quarters for the rest of his life. It might have seemed like a more humane option than being summarily executed, but in reality it was much worse. The Chiss Ascendancy was far more inventive than the Galactic Empire ever was.
The problem was that Eli knew too much, and allowing him to everleave the Chiss Ascendancy was an unacceptable security risk. Perhaps they would have at least let him wander through the underground cities and talk to the locals had he been unaware of the true nature of Thrawn's exile. However, now that Eli knew that Thrawn had been basically carrying out their secret orders, they couldn't have let him go unsupervised even if they flatly dismissed Thrawn's request. No, that would mean going public with the fact that Thrawn's exile had been a carefully orchestrated move.
Completely unacceptable even by their own standards.
He already lost the count how many times he had been questioned, always by the same anonymous sapphire blue warrior dressed in the black uniform tunic with a burgundy red patch. Fleet Admiral Ar'alani, dressed in the pristine white uniform of the Defense Hierarchy, sat quietly in the corner, observing every session, cataloging Eli's reactions and his facial expressions. After their brief initial exchange, the icy blue woman had never breathed a word aloud.
Eli had delivered Thrawn's message, all right- only apparently Admiral Ar'alani disliked its content. Or the messenger.
As per Thrawn's recommendation, Eli had answered every single question, whether it was related to the Galactic Empire, Galactic Republic, or the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Also, as per another recommendation, Eli stuck to the facts and kept his own political views to himself, since the Chiss apparently cared little for either political system. Now, finally, Eli could at least begin to understand Thrawn's reasoning. Essentially, the Chiss Ascendancy was a form of oligarchy; the commoners had their basic needs provided by the government, and everything else could be obtained through servitude.
Either to one of the Ruling Families or to the Chiss Defense Force.
The reward for such servitude was acceptance into one of the Houses, or, in case of an exceptional record, directly into one of the Ruling Families; meaning even the poorest, most insignificant commoners could become the decision makers themselves. It was a Chiss belief that ruling was simply another form of service. And just as anyone could ascend the societal ladder, anyone could also descend back into the sea of ordinary Chiss citizens. Even the number of the Ruling Families had changed over time, ranging from three to twelve. Currently there were nine, each represented by an assigned color scheme.
Eli took a deep breath to steel himself. Where water froze, only the meanest organisms could evolve, and only the toughest survived. The Chiss clearly fit into the latter category, clinging to their world tooth and claw, no matter how much it tried to freeze them out. They had to be approached from a position of strength and respect; they never dealt with weaklings, and they certainly wouldn't talk to him if he sounded anything but professional. Hopefully, the time spent aboard the ISD Relentless would pay off; a ship full of Core World snobs turned out to be an excellent target practice, and in any case, Captain Dorja was really good when it came to protocol.
Whatever. The cold never bothered him anyway.
TO BE CONTINUED