AN: Thanks for the favorite, cousinitt!

Chapter 20

By the time Chiara woke again, Thrawn had come to the conclusion that the only practical way to keep the Emperor and Darth Vader from finding out about her was for her to never set foot in Imperial space. He had briefly considered smuggling her into his quarters on the Strikefast, but abandoned that idea quickly. Once there, she would never be able to leave and he knew she would go stir crazy before too long. She needed something to do. Although he didn't like it, the best solution to the issue of keeping her safe and hidden from the prying eyes of the Emperor was for her to remain in the Unknown Regions. He knew she wouldn't like the idea of being separated every time he had to return to Imperial space any more than he did, but it seemed like the only possibility.

Thrawn felt Chiara's presence in his mind before he felt her stir beside him. He looked down to find her clear blue eyes gazing quietly up at him. Even though she had only taken a brief nap, she looked far more rested.

"It's amazing what a difference it makes to sleep without having nightmares," she said in answer to his thoughts.

Thrawn frowned. "Daithi mentioned that you have been having a lot of them. Is it really that severe?"

She nodded. "I have been having four or five a night. Daithi has done his best to help me, but I needed you."

"I know you do. I am sorry that I had to leave. I believe I should be able to stay for a few months, this time." Barring more rebellious activity arising that he needed to stamp out for the Emperor, he knew. For such a fledgling government, there was already a remarkable amount of dissent and sometimes blatant defiance of the Emperor's new rule.

Chiara sighed and ran her fingers over his uniform. She stopped when she reached his rank insignias. "Is this different from what you wore, before?" she asked, examining the arrangement of the colored squares.

"It is," he confirmed. "I was promoted while I was away."

"Really? What rank are you, now? I don't think I even knew what you were, before."

"Senior Captain. I am now in command of the Strikefast."

Thrawn noted that her eyes lit up with pride, despite her disapproval of his service to the Empire. "I do believe that congratulations are in order, Senior Captain Mitth'rawn'nuruodo," she said with a grin. She stretched up and kissed his jawline. Her cool lips set his skin on fire and he pulled her up to where he could reach her lips with his. He flipped her over gently and pressed her into the bed, their lips locked together.

She was just beginning to work on the fasteners of his uniform when his comlink picked that rather inopportune moment to chirp at him. Thrawn growled in annoyance. "This is Thrawn," he answered shortly, flicking the annoying thing on.

"Thrawn, it's Daithi. I think you might want to get up to the bridge. We have two unknown tap'vsupah class ships on the radar."

"I'm on my way," Thrawn told him. He flicked the comlink off and looked down at Chiara. "I'll be back soon, I need to get back to the Strikefast's bridge."

Chiara sighed wistfully and Thrawn knew she wished she could accompany him. "Be safe and I'll see you soon," she told him.

Chiara did her best to wait patiently for Thrawn to return, but it wasn't an easy task. She wasn't accustomed to letting him head off into the excitement without her. Any time the Springhawk had been involved in a battle, she'd always been on the bridge with him or leading a ground team. She pushed herself into a sitting position and leaned back against the wall, waiting. She stretched out to the Force and tried to meditate to calm herself, but, as was the case of late, a blind panic seized her just as she was about to relax into the trance. She found herself gasping for breath, her heart pounding in her chest.

This is ridiculous, she thought to herself, struggling to use Jedi calming techniques to slow her heart. I am safe here. I shouldn't be afraid of using a trance. And it's not like I'm really even vulnerable when I'm in a meditation trance, I can snap out of that instantly. Still, even though her ability to use the Force had returned as the drugs cleared from her body, she had yet to be able to use any sort of trance without waves of fear washing over her and threatening to drown her in their depths.

Perhaps, with Thrawn back, she could try it again. It was only when he was with her that she truly felt safe. At all other times, she had a lingering feeling of unease and anxiety that she couldn't quite shake, no matter how many time she ran through her calming techniques. Falmi had assured her this was normal and would fade with time, but she still hated the way it made her feel.

Thrawn. It was good to have him back and to have their argument at least somewhat smoothed over and put behind them. She'd spent a few days after he left fuming and wondering how he could have possibly done something like joining the Empire. It hardly seemed like something the man she knew and loved would do. It was only after she vented her frustrations to Daithi one night that she had begun to understand. Daithi had gently pointed out to her that she wasn't the only one who had suffered during her absence. When he related to her the events that surrounded Thrawn's trial and subsequent exile, as well as what he knew of Thrawn's time in Imperial service, her heart broke for him. It didn't make it easier for her to accept his choices and actions, but it helped her to see that the reason why they didn't seem like something the Thrawn she knew would have done was because he had been changed by losing her and then by having his own people turn their backs on him.

The more she thought about it and the way he had been treating her since she had woken up, the worse she felt about her reaction to him. As the days stretched out into weeks and her nerves started to fray from lack of sleep and from the constant fear that oppressed her, she started to worry that he was never coming back, that he had decided that her broken mind and body weren't worth the effort. That was when the nightmares began to shift and intensify. It was no longer the simple dreams of memory that tormented her as she slept. Now, in her dreams, Thrawn stood dispassionately by and watched as the Laehcar tortured her. No matter what she said or how much she screamed in agony, nothing could move him to help her. That was when Daithi had started sleeping on the couch in an attempt to assuage her fears and to soothe her when he had to wake her from yet another nightmare.

Hopefully, now that Thrawn was back and they'd come to at least somewhat of an agreement to find some way to move forward together, those dreams would subside. Her brief nap in his arms had been peaceful enough.

The door slid open, interrupting her thoughts and making her jump. Thrawn strode in, a broad smile on his face.

"Chiara, we have a visitor whom I believe you will be glad to see," he told her, crossing to the bed in three long steps. Daithi was close behind him, an equally enthusiastic expression on his face.

Chiara's eyes flicked to the door and a small gasp of surprise escaped her lips as a familiar, petite figure stepped into the room. "Anisi!" she exclaimed.

"Hello, Chiara," the other greeted her primly. Her eyes sized Chiara up, clearly assessing her condition. "It's good to see you alive."

"It's good to be alive," she said drily. "What are you doing here? Did the Ascendancy send you?"

Anisi's lip twitched. "Not exactly. I liberated two newly constructed heavy cruisers from the shipyards to bring you as a 'welcome back' present."

It took Chiara considerable effort to avoid gaping at her friend. Quiet, rule-abiding Anisi stole two ships from the Ascendancy? She could only imagine the uproar that the First Ruling Family must have been thrown into by Anisi's actions. "That's quite a welcome back present," Chiara observed.

"Well, I was that pleased to hear that you had been found," Anisi sniffed. "Besides, I've been planning on joining Thrawn since before Daithi left. I stayed behind for a while to feed them information on activities in the Ascendancy and to make sure that he had warning if High Command decided to go after him. It would seem that they are secretly pleased that he is taking the fight to our enemies, rather than waiting for them to hit us first. They just won't admit it."

"I'm not sure they will keep that opinion when they find out that you pocketed two of their new warships," Chiara pointed out.

"They will simply confiscate my property and funds to pay for the ships," Anisi said, waving her down. "They will never attack us - they know that they could never hope to defeat Thrawn."

"If you say so." Chiara still wasn't quite convinced. "Sit down and tell me what I've missed in your life, Anisi."

Thrawn and Daithi excused themselves to allow Chiara and Anisi the chance to catch up. The two of them spent the next few hours chatting about Anisi's promotions and the events in her life. Anisi graciously didn't say anything about the fact that Chiara dozed off halfway through her description about the battle she lead that had resulted in her promotion to Vice Admiral. When Chiara woke again, chagrined, she found Anisi sitting quietly and working through reports on her datapad, waiting for her to wake up again. Her friend picked right back up on her story where she had left off. She finished by telling Chiara about how she had managed to organize a large enough group of warriors to join Thrawn's efforts and about their plot to steal two warships straight out of the spacedocks.

"There's one thing I don't quite understand, Anisi," Chiara told her friend. "I'm quite surprised that you were willing to leave the Ascendancy. I'm delighted to have you here with us, but I would have thought that your family ties would have held you there. Why did you leave it all behind to join us?"

Anisi stared at the painting hung above the bed for a moment, clearly deciding how to answer that. Finally, she dropped her gaze to Chiara's face. "I care a great deal for you and for Thrawn, Chiara, and you know that. You're right, though, I probably wouldn't have left simply for that. The deciding factor was that Thrawn isn't enforcing the rules against pairings between Ruling Families."

Chiara frowned at her friend. "I wasn't aware that you were even interested in any-" she broke off, interrupting herself as the pieces suddenly fell into place. "Wait, you and Daithi…?"

That earned her a smile. "Ever the perceptive one," Anisi said softly. "Yes. Daithi and I have been involved for several years, now. I've tried to get him released from his Family and into the First, but I haven't had any success. His Family refuses to release him. The First Ruling Family will never release me, not given the standing of my blood family."

"So you left so you two could be together," Chiara finished for her friend. "Have you accepted his protection, yet?"

"No. We were waiting until I could get away. Soon, though."

"I'm happy for you, Anisi. I'm sure you will both make each other very happy," Chiara told the other warmly.

"I really have you to thank for this. I don't know if Daithi and I would have ever had the nerve to go against tradition and do this without you and Thrawn setting the example."

Chiara grinned at her friend. "I didn't realize that Thrawn and I had that much influence."

Anisi laughed. "You have more influence than you realize. You two have developed quite a following back on Csilla. I won't be surprised if more warriors start trickling in, now that word has gotten out about how successful Thrawn's strikes have been."

"And we have two very nice heavy cruisers to crew, now," Chiara pointed out.

"We do, indeed. I will give you a tour of them, once you are up to it. They really are top of the line," Anisi told her. "In fact, I have been thinking that you might like to move into one of the commander's suites. They are much larger and more comfortable than what you have here in the Springhawk."

"Won't the captain want the suite?" Chiara asked. The extra room did sound very nice, she had to admit.

"No, the suites are reserved for senior officers or for visiting members of the Ruling Families. A captain would never expect to use one of them. Besides, Thrawn did say that you will probably be commanding one of them, once you have recovered," the other informed her.

Chiara's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, really?"

Anisi made a face. "I probably should have let him tell you that. But why not? You've proved yourself more than capable of running a base on the occasions that he was out on reconnaissance runs or when he was recalled to Csilla for a time."

"No, it's not that," Chiara told the other, a frown creasing her forehead. "I guess I'm still getting used to the idea that I can't be with him to help him with the Strikefast. I understand why I can't. I just wish there was another way."

Anisi winced sympathetically. "I can understand. I'm sure this has been a big adjustment for both of you."

"You have no idea," Chiara told her friend ruefully.

They both looked up as the door slid open to admit Thrawn and Daithi, again. Thrawn was carrying a tray that had some delicious smelling dish on it. "Visiting hours are over. It's time for you to eat," he told her, sitting down beside her and passing the tray to her.

Chiara was tempted to shoot him a mock glare, but given the tentative state of their relationship and recent argument, she was afraid he might misinterpret the expression. She settled for rolling her eyes, instead. "Because I clearly can't eat while visiting?"

"According to Daithi, you've barely been eating at all," Thrawn pointed out. "You will never regain your strength if you won't eat."

"I know. I was too worried about us to eat, though," she confessed.

To her surprise, Thrawn sat down beside her on the bed and kissed her in front of their friends. "Yes, but I am back now, and we will work through this, so you can relax. Now, I brought this from the Strikefast's mess for you and I expect you to eat all of it," he told her with mock sternness as he handed her the tray.

"Sir, yes sir!" she said, giving him her best approximation of a salute. His answering chuckle was like music to her ears. In that moment, surrounded by their friends, she knew that they would, indeed, be okay.