Baz listened to the two voices bickering on the other side of the door. He considered entering… something in him wanted to very, very badly. But at the same time, some part of him was equally terrified by the idea of meeting the man on the other side of the door.

"Well, you didn't entirely give us a choice to not come, did you?" His mother had always been a sharp-tempered woman, but he'd never heard her like this before, but this was something entirely different from what he'd seen before.

"Nev, I have left you alone for nearly 18 years…"

He'd never heard the man's voice before. It was deep, even and soothing, with an unusual accent.

"You have. So what happened that suddenly brings you back into our lives? Hm?"

He almost felt a little bad for the man. She was on fire.

"You behave as though I left you out of some malicious intent. I left because you told me you did not want me in either of your lives. I have respected that request…"

"Yes. And thank you for that. What could possibly cause the sudden change in heart? We were getting along perfectly fine before you decided to wedge yourself back into our lives…"

"Nev, I have a son who I have never met. I don't even know his name. I have respected you enough to not even request information, though trust me, I have wanted to know. You think I would have brought you here just to get back into your lives?"

"Probably not. Are you dying? Is that it? This is some last-ditch effort to make amends and get to know your son?"

It was a little harsh, Baz thought. But then, maybe the man deserved it. He knew little of their prior relationship, other than the few things he'd managed to eke out of his mother over the years. He rocked back on his heels, wondering whether he should enter. It didn't seem like a good time. But then, was there ever a good time to walk into a room and introduce yourself to your father? Probably not.

He was lost in his thoughts for a moment when the door slid open next to him and someone walked through.

The man wore an all white uniform, with a high collar and gold epaulets on the shoulders. His hair was groomed back neatly, shoulders pinched back in perfect posture.

He glanced to Baz as he passed, then did a double take, freezing in his tracks.

To be fair, Baz was at least as surprised as he was. He'd spent his entire life thus far on Nivo, and had never before seen another person that looked like him. Chiss – Vanto had confirmed the name for him – with blue skin and red eyes. He wondered if he was supposed to offer a hand shake. Something about that felt too official and at the same time not nearly sufficient.

"My name is Baz." He decided that was probably more appropriate than a handshake, considering what he'd just overheard in the next room.

The man opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. Baz didn't blame him for not knowing what to say. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one that felt completely clueless in this situation.

He opened his mouth again, finding something to say, "It is good to meet you, Baz. You may call me Thrawn."

Baz leaned to the open doorway, looking out to the spot they were arguing. His mother had disappeared. "She left?"

"Yes. She was a little… perturbed. I didn't realize you were back here."

Baz was starting to get a headache from all the questions piling up in his mind.

Thrawn glanced out the main area of the small ship, were had been arguing. "Is she usually like that now?"

"No. Not really. This trip has made her abnormally temperamental."

He nodded. "It is good to know that isn't normal."

Baz supposed he could appreciate that Thrawn wanted to know his mother hadn't been completely destroyed since he left. "Do you know where she went?"

"No. I don't think she knows where she's gone to either. I think she just wanted to be away from me."

"Ah. I should go find her then."

Thrawn inhaled deeply. "Yes. That would be a good idea."

The man walked with him to the exit. Baz managed to push one big question out of his mouth. "What exactly did you bring us here for?"

Thrawn didn't respond for a moment. "You will have a much easier time getting her to follow than I will. Can you coax her down that hallway to the left? You need to go to the last door on the left."

"Er… yeah. I think I can."

"Thank you. If you get lost, just ask any of my crew for directions. They will be happy to help."

"Oh. This is your ship?"

"Yes."

"I thought this was your ship." He shrugged to the one they were standing on.

"They both are."

"Oh. You have two ships?"

The man blinked at him. "I have several."

"Oh. That's… neat." So he had a fleet. He must have been high ranking. The white uniform did make him look very important. Baz scanned the hangar, "I'll take her there once I'm able to find her. You…" He paused, looking at the man. "Look, I don't know much about you. She doesn't speak of you much. But… you don't strike me as a bad person. I think the circumstances at the time are probably largely what caused you two to… go different paths. I can trust you, right? This isn't some… malicious thing, is it?"

He watched him desperately for a reaction; he was incredibly difficult to read. Baz couldn't tell if the man was confused or offended or just listening to what he was saying. And then a little something broke. He bowed his head. Baz wasn't sure what it meant, but it was something. "Yes, of course you can trust me."

Without another word, he strode away into the larger ship.

Baz had to pause for a moment as he stepped off the ship. The crew was mostly Chiss. It was momentarily mind boggling - he never imagined there were so many others who looked like he did.

He found his mother near the entry to the ship, watching ships come and go through the forcefield. She leaned against the wall, smoking. She almost never smoked – only when she was under a great deal of stress.

"Mother."

"I'm sorry I let that bastard drag us here. I should have told that Vanto man to leave us." She flicked the cigarette with a measured amount of anger.

He inhaled deeply. "Let's walk a little bit. If we're here… we may as well see some things."

"Mm. Yes, I suppose."

"Do I need to point out that this is the first time I've even been off Nivo?" He shrugged, "I know the circumstances aren't ideal, but cut me a bit of a break. I'd like to at least look around before we go back home."

"Mm."

He took that as a yes, and linked his arm to hers, nearly dragging her along back into the hangar. "It looked like there was some art on the walls down this hallway. We should go look."

"Hm." His mother frowned a little.

The hallway was well lit, with the occasional piece of artwork hanging between doors. "Do you suppose it's their artwork? Chiss?"

"It is not," Thrawn appeared next to them, much to his mother's clear dismay. "They are all pieces from my personal collection, gathered from various cultures. Nev, I have a few of your pieces hanging around the ship. In my office and personal quarters thought. I consider them far too valuable to publicly display."

She scowled at him, "Not like the one you tried to give back to me?"

A smile played on his lips. Baz suddenly understood: the return of the paining was a deliberate decision. Thrawn knew exactly how offended she'd be, and that she'd feel the need to personally let him know. "Please, walk with me for a few moments." He glanced to Baz. "Both of you."

"I see no reason for us to…"

"Mother…"

She looked at him.

He shrugged, "It can't hurt, can it? Just for a few minutes? If he brought us this far he must have something worth saying."

She turned her nose up a bit. "Fine. A few minutes. Then we can discuss how you intend on returning us to our home, Thrawn."

Thrawn nodded, putting a hand on her shoulder to direct her back in the direction they were walking. She shrugged it off defensively, "Don't touch me."

Baz definitely felt bad for the man. She was acting like a child. Though, he also felt bad for his mother. This behavior was very unusual for her. She must have been very deeply wounded by him.

He didn't attempt to touch her again, but rather started walking. Baz ushered his mother along.

"So… you're an art collector?" Baz asked.

Thrawn glanced back over his shoulder. "Yes, something like that. It's been an interest of mine since I was young."

He was about to ask: Is that how you met? But that question was a bomb – it would have set his mother off. So he kept his mouth shut.

Thrawn paused at an open doorway and motioned for them to enter. They stepped through first, into what appeared to be some sort of medical center. Three doors lead to what he assumed were patient's rooms.

An incredibly odd place to bring your estranged lover and illegitimate son. But then, this entire thing was strange.

Thrawn hesitated for a moment. "I am very glad you both came."

"Mm. My only hope now is that you'll actually follow through and tell us why the hell you brought us here." She looked up at him dully, with her arms crossed.

"Nev, if you would just calm down for a few moments…"

"Don't tell me to calm down…"

Baz looked away, not wanting anything to do with the situation. The three rooms all had windows, two of which were dark. Evidently this was not a busy med bay. The first window, the one directly in front of them, was lit. Inside, an old, grey haired man his hunched over a patient, checking something on her face.

"Oi. Is that Doctor Worth?"

Baz hadn't seen the man in nearly five years – he used to make regular visits to Nivo to check in with Baz. The doctors on Nivo were leery of taking on a patient with different biology than a human (though Worth had always spat at the idea, he claimed that Baz's biology was nearly identical to human biology. Baz isn't sure if he believed the man, but he appreciated the sentiment).

The bickering behind him stopped for a moment, followed by a ferocious tone he'd never heard from his mother before. "You are some sort of sick bastard."

"Nev!" Baz turned to the two just in time to see Thrawn catch his mother's swing at him.

He'd never known his mother to be violent before. Baz pulled her away from him quickly, "Mother… stop. What are you…"

"What the fuck is this supposed to be, Thrawn? Some sort of sick joke? You bring me all the way here just to… to…" Her eyes filled with tears, but Baz was afraid that if he let her go she'd attack Thrawn again.

"Nev!" The man's mouth hung open for a moment, at a complete loss for words, "Why would I do such a thing? Have you ever known me to be so cruel? Of course this is not a joke! Would you like to see the tests? I didn't believe it myself when I first saw her. I had my people run DNA tests." He pointed to the room, "That is her. That is our daughter, I promise you."

Baz looked to the room. Worth was just stepping away from the patient.

His mother spoke with relative frequency about his sister. She had died shortly before he was born, in a bombing that had flattened their home city. The tragic event was what had torn the two apart shortly before his birth. His sister was buried in a local cemetery. He'd been to it many, many times. His mother went to it even more frequently than he did.

The woman in the room had a striking resemblance to his mother. Unlike him, she looked very much human. Her hair was dark and frizzy, sticking out from her face at a slightly quirky angle. Her face was quite similar, with the same pretty, square-ish shape. Her eyes were even the same wide, round shape as his mother's, though rather than being grey they were solid black in the same way that his were solid red.

He'd seen other Chiss as they walked Thrawn's ship – they all had red eyes. Maybe this was some odd result of mixing a human and a Chiss? It looked very odd, almost unnerving, like her eye sockets were empty.

Nev seemed to calm a little, so he let her go. Worth was looking through the glass at them, his mouth hanging open a little.

Baz waved. He wasn't sure what else he should do.

Worth flung the door open quickly, entering into the main room with them. "Thrawn… you didn't mention they were coming here."

Thrawn shrugged a little, "It was supposed to be a surprise."

Inside the room, the girl remained seated on the bed, looking out at them with her head tilted to the side, a crease in her brow. She was dressed in a loosely fitted dress that hung to the middle of her calves, with a wide cut neckline exposing her collar bone. There was some sort of marking on he left clavicle.

She stood, and he could see she was built very long and lean. She clearly did not get her height from their mother, who stood barely shoulder height to Baz, but her lanky build did come from Nev.

She made her way out to the main room, poking her head through the door almost cautiously at first. The black eyes made it difficult to tell exactly what she was looking at, but she seemed to be focused on his mother.

His mother, standing between he and Thrawn, looked utterly paralyzed, and was nearly in tears. Like she couldn't quite let herself believe this might actually be happening. Baz couldn't blame her for that – he could barely believe this might actually be happening.

The girl moved closer. "I… seem to remember you being much taller, but I suppose you were. Relatively."

His mother blinked rapidly.

The girl looked at Thrawn, "You didn't say you were bringing her here."

"I sent a ship for her as soon as your initial interview was complete."

She blinked at him a few times. "Thank you." She turned her attention back to his mother, "I… I am sorry to have been away so long. And to have reappeared like this. It must seem terribly odd to you." The girl bounced on her heels for a moment, looking incredibly nervous, "I didn't want to go back to Nivo because I thought you had surely died in the bombing, but now that you are here can I please give you a hug?" She didn't really wait for an answer; rather she wrapped his mother in a tight embrace.

It was really a remarkably odd moment, watching the two of them. This was his sister. His sister who was buried in the cemetery just on the outskirts of town. This was her, live in the flesh, on her knees sobbing into his mother's shoulder.

He wondered how he was supposed to feel now that he had a living sister. He was quite happy for his mother, who had her face buried in the girl's frizzy mess of hair (he was certain she was crying as well).

Thrawn, he noticed, had slowly backed to the door. He was about to step out when that same unfamiliar, terribly frightening tone came from his mother: "Thrawn!"

He froze in the doorway. That tone was enough to paralyze anyone it was directed toward.

With one arm still around the girl, his mother pointed at Thrawn in a very threatening manner, "You are not going anywhere. You are not getting out of this."

Worth, chuckling, made his way to Baz's side, looking at Thrawn. "I do agree with the woman…" He paused at Baz. "It's good to see you again, boy."

Baz nodded, smiling because he didn't know what else to do. "Yes, it's good to see you as well." He'd known that Worth knew his father, he'd pressed the man for details about him when he was much younger. Worth was reluctant to give any details, which was incredibly frustrating at the time, but he'd grown to respect the decision over the years. His mother made it quite clear she wanted his father to have no influence over his life, and the doctor had respected that despite clearly having a friendship with Thrawn. It couldn't have been an easy position to take.

"Where… where did you find her?" The two were still stuck in an embrace in the middle of the room.

"I didn't," Thrawn said simply. "She was found by an officer of another military organization the Ascendancy is considering allying with. It was a stroke of luck that I happened to read his report and see he had found a young woman claiming to be Oni Sabai from Nivo. I really didn't believe it until I heard her speak."

"And K'tizo recognized me." The girl sniffled, laughing.

K'tizo. The word seemed familiar. It must be Cheunh . Maybe the name of a Chiss working under Thrawn?

"That thing is still alive?" His mother's tone bordered on disgust.

He hoped it wasn't a person.

"Where have you been? All this time… where were you?" His mother ran her hand through the girl's hair. "And what happened to your eyes?"

"Oh…" The girl sniffed again, "Oh dear. There are so many things for me to explain…"

"Now may not be the best time for that," Thrawn said quickly.

She backed away from his mother, wiping her eyes. "Yes, that can be discussed later. Oh." The girl looked at him. "Oh."

His mother was wiping at her eyes as well, "Oh, yes I'm so sorry I'm completely a mess right now. Oni…" her voice caught, "… this is your brother. Baz."

"Oh." She blinked at him with huge, shiny black eyes. The more she looked at him, the surer he became that she could see through him. She walked to him, with even more caution than when she had approached his mother. "Your name is Baz?"

"Um. Yes. Hello."

Her head bobbed oddly. "I… I never got to meet you. Mother was very pregnant with you when I was taken."

"Oh." This easily took the cake as the strangest conversation he'd ever had.

"I had hoped for a sister, but I suppose I can settle for this."

He laughed at the comment, not entirely sure if she was joking or not. Either way, it was funny.

A little smirk ran across her face. She was joking." Can I…" She reached out toward him then paused.

"What?"

She placed a hand on either side of his face and looked at him. There was an awkward silence – evidently everyone was as surprised by the gesture as he was. He could hear a faint whirring.

"Are your eyes bionic?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. This is terribly awkward, but they are new and I'm still learning to use them."

"Oh." It felt slightly less awkward now.

Her eyes whirred as they focused on him. "Oh… You look so much like him." She blinked quickly. "You look exactly like I remember him looking before I was taken. A little younger, but… very, very much like him."

Looking back at her, he realized that she has inherited a few things from their father – her eyes were rimmed in black, and she had the same red markings under her eyes.

"It is not quite fair." She dropped her hands from his face, crossing her arms, "I wished so badly I would be blue like our father when I was younger. Genetics are quite odd – you ended up with it and I did not."

He laughed again. The idea of having a sister was slowly growing on him. She was somewhat quirky and odd. He liked her.

"You may have come at the most inopportune time, boy."

Baz looked at Worth, thinking he was speaking to him, but realized he'd moved to the door, where a tall man in a dark uniform stood, looking a little confused. He saw Baz and did a double take. Baz wasn't remotely offended by the gesture – it made him feel slightly better about his exact same reaction to the man. He had bright red hair. He'd never seen such a thing on a person before.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…"

"Armitage!" She bounced a little and pointed at Baz. "I have a brother!"

The man looked as though he'd just walked in on a top-secret meeting and one of the attendees was offering him cookies. "Oh. Er. Hello."

He offered his hand and Baz shook it, "My name is Baz."

"Commander Armitage Hux." He was looking at Oni like he needed some guidance.

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to Nev, "And this is my mother."

"Oh. It's good to meet you, ma'am."

As he shook her hand, he noticed his mother's eyes narrow a little. "My name is Nev. Nev Sebai."

Oni bounced again. "Armitage is the one who found me and brought me back here. Well, he and his crew did."

Whatever expression was on her face disappeared quickly. "Oh. You did?"

"Technically yes, though it's a bit of a long story. I think she helped me and my crew a great deal more than we helped her."

"Eh." She waved a hand at the man like she was trying to shoo him away. "He undersells what he did. If it were not for him I would still be in a very bad situation. And he has been a very good… friend… since bringing me here."

His mother's eyes narrowed at the man once more. Oni looked a little pink, still gripping the man's arm.

"Hm. I think I understand."

He wanted to laugh at his mother's expression. She was watching the Commander so closely it was comical. He imagined it was something of a surprise to not just find her long lost daughter, but to find her a fully grown adult with a friend.

His mother waved a hand, "I do think you probably have a very long story to tell… And I have a good deal of questions for you." She looked to Thrawn, "Is there somewhere we can speak that's less…clinical?"

"There is a small lounge area attached to my personal office, you are welcome to use it. I do think it would be a good place for a more in depth conversation." He paused, looking at Nev. "I would like to speak with you privately for a few moments, Nev. That is, if you are willing."

His mother's tone toward him had changed entirely. "Yes, that's probably a good idea."

"Commander, would you mind directing these two there? You are, of course, welcome to join us. Given your participation in Oni's rescue, you may have some valuable input for us."

The young Commander gave a short nod, "I'm afraid I only stopped by to see that her check up went well. I have important work matters I need to attend to - a few other Commanders and I are spending the day consulting with your weapons department. But I have time to escort them."

"Very well. Thank you for taking them."

"I would," The young man added quickly, looking at Nev like he needed permission, "be more than happy to speak with you once I've completed my work for the day."

His mother gave him a toothy grin – she looked like a predator about to snap at its prey. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Why don't you find us when you're done?"