Ballad of the Winter Rose
A SW Rebels/Doctor Who Romance
Written by: Nehru_Amidala aka FossilQueen1984
Genre: Gothic romance, drama, hurt/comfort, dark fantasy, slight horror
Cast list: Minerva- Jenna Coleman, Thrawn- Lars Mikkelsen, Yogar Lyste- Daniel Radcliffe, Admiral Konstantine- Mark Hamill, Governor Pryce- Cate Blanchett
Pairings: Thrawn/Minerva, Lyste/Konstantine
Rating: T/PG-13 for battle sequences, thematic elements, blood, snogging, SPOILERS for Thrawn
Universe: Doctor Who and AU! Rebels
Chapter Soundtrack: It's Hard Work!- Spirited Away OST, The Days Between- John Williams, Cursum Perficio- Enya
Chapter 25: Interlude I
As the Imperial shuttle entered hyperspace to reconnect with the Seventh Fleet, Thrawn took some time to admire his lovely fiancée. The fresh air and battlefield experience had done wonders for her. Her skin tone had taken on a healthy glow, her weight was where it should be and he could make out the amber highlights in her chocolate hued hair. In other words, she was positively radiant.
Turning around in her chair, Minerva inquired to him what he happened to be looking at. Thrawn smiled at her, and she melted. The pilot rolled her eyes at the PDA, newlyweds! YEESH! Trips back to home base always seem to take less time, no matter where you are in the universe. Minerva reflected on this and Thrawn agreed that it was an interesting paradox.
By the time the shuttle reached the Chimaera's hangar bay, it was about half an hour until the second lunch break, or about 1:30 pm. Lieutenant Yogar Lyste, newly promoted from Major, was on patrol duty and he took his job seriously. As the only competent Imperial on Lothal (excluding Kallus and Pryce), he was promoted by Moff Tarkin only two days ago. When he received word that Imperial shuttle 1138-311A was returning, Yogar felt as though he might faint upon learning who was aboard. It was Minerva Hektor who had sent his heart aflutter, and not for the usual reason.
Plenty of cadets had crushes on the Chief Map-maker, but Lyste was not one of them. First of all, he was gay, and more importantly, he had been one of the cadets on Coruscant whose life had been saved when Minerva stopped that awful brawl four years ago. Since then, he had worked hard to prove himself worthy of working on ship, with the ulterior motive of possibly seeing her again one day. Her kind and selfless act had stayed with him, and he wished to thank her. In a way, it had been a self-confidence boost.
The shuttle landed and ground crews leapt out, ready to clean and refuel. Thrawn and Minerva walked out and down the front ramp, where they were saluted by a clean-shaven black haired man a couple of years younger than Minerva. "Welcome back, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Officer Hektor. I take it your trip went well?"
His tone, while cheerful and friendly, had a tinge of nervousness to it. It took Minerva a minute to put two and two together, he was one of the cadets she had saved! She smiled at him and acknowledged him in a kind, sisterly way. Thrawn silently observed them as they made their way towards the bridge, and thanked Lyste for his warm welcome and praised his reliable service. He was also thinking Lyste might be a good match for Eli. However, he would have to observe Yogar longer before playing matchmaker for his human brother.
As they entered the large, open space, they were greeted by Admiral Konstantine, head honcho of the Seventh Fleet. Although he was the ranking officer of the whole fleet, everyone more often than not deferred to Grand Admiral Thrawn because of the higher rank, and it bothered him greatly. It was time to let Imperial High Command know that he was in charge of what went on, and he intended to stop the Grand Admiral and Map Maker from sharing a room. It was inappropriate, he said. Moff Tarkin and Yularen had told him to stop being a prude and since Thrawn and Minerva were consenting adults, why did it matter?
Konstantine had argued about impropriety, and given his terrible track record against the Specters at that moment, it was agreed to let him at least have this victory. It would prevent future tantrums. So when the double doors whooshed open, he was expected to dress the couple down, but that was before his brown eyes fell on Yogar Lyste. As they did, a noticeable flush rose to his cheeks and the entire room became unbearably hot. The new officer was boyishly handsome, tall with some muscle, soft back hair and twinkling eyes. His lips looked soft, and Konstantine found himself wondering if the rest of Lyste was just as soft and inviting.
He addressed Thrawn and Minerva, "Welcome back, Grand Admiral and Lady Thrawn. As much as you two are in love with one another, as the de facto commanding officer, I am ordering the two of you to start sleeping separately." He gave them the sharpest look he could muster, but even that was difficult because Pryce had just entered the room to see what was going on.
Thrawn replied this was fine, he and Minerva had discussed their bedroom arrangement on the trip back, and she was looking forward to having her privacy again. When Thrawn had said this, Konstantine looked defeated, but puffed himself up by boasting about the latest stats relating to the battles against smugglers leaving Lothal to aid the Rebels.
"We have lost more troops than necessary because you insist on space battles rather than ground assaults," Pryce interjected harshly. Konstantine retorted it was no business of hers how he ran things with the Seventh Fleet, and she stood stick with Lothal, as it was her jurisdiction. Pryce glowered at him, and stormed off.
Minerva told them, "I have some maps I need to make for Captain Palleon, so if you excuse me, I will take my leave." She kissed Thrawn goodbye, and left for her office. Thrawn was called into conference with Pryce to discuss the next move for Lothal and the eventual implementation of the TIE Defender. The bridge was empty now, except for Konstantine and Lyste.
Lyste saluted his superior, "Please excuse me, Admiral. I am needed in the armory to start taking inventory of the latest shipment of blasters, laser carbines, and thermal detonaters." Bowing in a reverent manner, he was about to leave when Konstantine grabbed his shoulder suddenly, causing both men to blush.
"Lieutenant, I would be remiss in my duties as Admiral not to give you a tour of the Chimaera…"
"But my duties, good sir!"
"Duties be damned! You are a good looking young man of a certain sexuality and Pryce is a notorious homophobe. Please let me explain how to stay on her good side." He said this last phrase with a sincere, pleading look so Lyste gave in and they went for the tour and ate lunch together discussing the best was to be openly gay while avoiding Governor Pryce's wrath.
May slowly turned into June, and it was during the duration of the month Minerva finally got to see Lothal, at least the industrial center of Capital City, anyway. The factory campus Thrawn was overseeing was constructing speeder bikes and walkers, and now would be building TIE Defenders. Security was tight, but Thrawn felt that with the forced conscription of locals, sooner or later word would leak out to the Rebels.
Thrawn had learned that workers were sabotaging speeder bikes and walkers, and death tolls for stormtroopers were rising. Adding to the problems was that fact Kallus, aka Fulcrum, was leaking details about the mechanical weaknesses and all across the Outer Rim Territories, Rebel cells were using this information to their advantage. One afternoon in early June, Thrawn took Minerva to section A-2.
His office was similar to the one on board, but this office was slightly larger and had a commanding view of the industrial complex. From the window, Minerva watched as the derecho moved in from the northwest and began raining so hard and fast she could barely see anything a foot from the window. Pulling her close, Thrawn kissed her sweetly. "There is a reason I brought you here, I promise."
"Why would I ever doubt you? I love you, Thrawn,"
"I know, and I return the sentiment. Truly, I do."
Breaking apart, Thrawn handed Minerva a small, silver key. Minerva was puzzled, what was the key for? Thrawn smiled in amusement as Minerva tried it on all the doors, and at last she figured it out! The door led to a small apartment meant as a hide-away.
Thrawn explained that the previous magnate had used the apartment to have affairs some 40 years ago, but it was refurbished a few months ago. Minerva was confused about this, until Thrawn told her what had gone on in his meeting with Pryce. She wanted them separated, so Thrawn agreed to have Minerva work planet side for a while. This was to be a safe haven for her! The only other people who knew about it were Doctor Thales and Kallus.
Overwhelmed, Minerva burst into tears and kissed the daylights out of the Chiss tactician. He was not one to complain, so they spent the better part of the afternoon making out and planning what to do next.
Meanwhile, Pryce had been lurking in the shadows planning her next move. Konstantine's insistence Thrawn and Minerva sleep apart helped her, but sneaking around the ventilation shaft was sure to get noticed at some point, and in all likelihood, Thrawn was expecting her to do something like that. It rankled her to no end that he was always one step ahead of her. Not this time! Feigning illness one morning in the first week of June, she stole away to Coruscant and made her way to the ISB's Deep Cover archive. This is where ISB and all the other related government offices stashed away their arcane, dirty, subversive experiments Palpatine did not want his loyal Imperial citizens knowing about, for some reason or another.
She had been toiling around one of the various sub-basements for nearly an entire business day, when she finally found what she was looking for. It was a non-descript vial that contained a living jellyfish, neon hued and less than an inch long. It looked harmless, but the words written on the label in Palpatine's own handwriting showed the creature's true potential:
A nettlefish for the express purpose of torturing meddlesome Time Lords and Force-sensitives. Guaranteed to cause hallucinations, profuse bleeding, and the inhibition of any Force healing and Time Lord Regeneration energy. Useful next time I run into Nine.