"Here," Pellaeon said as he set a bag down onto the table between Thrawn and himself with a solid thunk. "Don't say I've never done anything for you."
"I wouldn't say that anyway." Thrawn looked up from his datapad and glanced between the bag and Pellaeon. "What is it?"
The captain only responded with a wave of his hand at the bag. As if to say, "find out for yourself."
Thrawn sighed and saved his work before he sat the pad aside and turned in his chair to fully face his subordinate. He pulled the bag to him and peeked inside, shot a final look at Pellaeon before he reached in and pulled out the first item.
It was a tall jar, clear and filled with a dark substance. He twisted it in his hands until he saw a handwritten label. The writing was a familiar dialect, but it was rather unpopular outside of Wild Space.
For a second Thrawn thought that Pellaeon had just gifted him some sort of contraband, but reading the label revealed that it was jelly. Supposedly jelly at least, though Thrawn did recognize the ingredients listed on the side.
He set the jar aside and reached back into the bag, only to pull out a bottle next. This one he recognized immediately as a sauce known for its fiery heat, popular amount Outer Rim planets.
He sensed that there might be a pattern here and he began to pull out every item of the bag's contents until they all sat in front of him.
Each object was some sort of food additive, be it a sauce or a jam or even a powder (that one he had eyed with a particular suspicion; he even opened the container and brushed up enough of the purple dust on a finger to taste—
And he tasted home. His mouth lit up at the heat of it – Pe'shrii Spice powder. A popular import and cooking ingredient on Csilla, stars, it had been a staple in everything Thrass had cooked. But it was impossible to get outside of the Unknown Regions at worst, and ridiculously expensive at best. How Pellaeon had gotten his hands on it he couldn't imagine, and hell his mouth was still burning but it was so good, it had been so long since he had tasted it—)
"You've been complaining about how bland the ship's food is for months." Thrawn jerked out of his thoughts and looked up at Pellaeon as the captain gave him a small smile. "And I know you have a preference for spicier food. It took me a while to get it all. Had to call in a few favors, but I hope that you like it."
"Thank you, Pellaeon, truly. I greatly appreciate this gesture."
More so than you can even imagine, he thought as he carefully sealed up the Spice container.