For the first time in many years, Thrawn found reason to be grateful for an ally's error. Only one reason, however, and for one error only. Thrawn harbored no celebration for the bungling of the signals on the ground or the complications in retrieving Governor Pryce. No, the error for which he was thankful was the miscounting of explosives in Nightswan's cache. The blast seen within the shield was smaller than Imperial forces had been led to anticipate, preventing the accidental trigger from causing the complete slaughter of everyone stuck inside.
Once it was over, the Imperial line had come alive on the ground, men and vehicles moving into the blazing buildings and scattered debris that had once held the Creekpath mining complex. Theirs was an effort Thrawn would join once the space side of the battle had been resolved. Thrawn had spoken too kindly of the "Imperial resources" on Batonn to leave them dead in the rubble.
Thrawn kept as much interest as was necessary on affairs concerning the Chimaera and its task force. In contrast to the drama on the ground, the space side of the operation ran smoothly. Content with how his plan was unfolding, Thrawn's mind grew distracted. The conversations Thrawn had held with Nightswan and Yularen blended together, smoky as the haze rising out of the former complex.
Nightswan could have survived that blast. If the man had any agency in the matter, his cleverness would be sufficient for him to slip away.
Perhaps he had learned his lesson now. Working with insurgents was a path to chaos and disappointment. If the tyranny of the Empire remained too much for the man to stomach, the smart thing would be to reconsider Thrawn's offer.
"A man must do what he must, Admiral Thrawn. Even if his stand is against the fall of eternal night."
Thrawn didn't want to imagine the shock on Nightswan's face when he saw the light of dawn once more. He wanted to be there to witness it.
Governor Restos had been shocked when Admiral Thrawn volunteered supplies and personnel for the Creekpath recovery mission. "Are you sure, Admiral? Batonn Defense is more than capable of reclaiming those ruins. We will have no trouble killing every surviving insurgent we encounter."
"That is exactly what I want to prevent, Governor." Thrawn's voice cut like a blade of ice. "Shooting into the heads of the defeated is no victory. The remaining insurgents ought to be aware of the damage their folly has caused. Through their downturned lips and sordid tales, other would-be dissidents shall be turned from the path of rebellion."
"Besides, what do you think your wounded citizens will want to see? Your regime would benefit from the sight of Imperial saviors caring for the poor, injured bystanders of Batonn." Yularen made his own argument from Thrawn's left. "They will remember this battle as being one waged by reckless criminals. Not potentially sympathetic insurgents."
In the end, the political argument fared better in the governor's ears. "Thank you for your assistance Admiral, Colonel. Do what you can for the people of Creekpath."
Despite knowing what Thrawn intended to do, Yularen did not accompany him. He wished to find Agent Gudry's body and determine the cause of the mixed signals. When the two men departed Governor Restos' company, Yularen left Thrawn with a warning. "Whether he is alive or dead when you find him, I want his recovery on official Imperial channels. If Nightswan gets away, I may rescind my former lenience with you."
"Acknowledged, Colonel. I have no interest in letting Nightswan leave on his own terms." Besides, the man was likely injured. Thrawn did not possess the time or resources necessary to heal him out of the Empire's sight. He left Yularen without another word.
Thrawn searched the scorched perimeter for signs of Nightswan. He found numerous dead insurgents with guns clutched to their chest, but none were the man he wanted to find. A few were keeled over and coughing blood, alive for not much longer. Thrawn commed in their location to his men, but he did nothing to ease their predicament.
After a fair deal of searching, Thrawn located his fallen adversary. He recognized Nightswan by the clothes he wore, for his face was nonexistent under the layers of shrapnel. Injuries marred other parts of his body, but none so extensively as his once charismatic face.
Careful not to cause him further pain, Thrawn moved the debris surrounding Nightswan away. He paused to check that the man still breathed, tossed his weapon aside, and knelt to pick him up. Thrawn carried his broken enemy bridal style towards the Imperial medical tent. Nightswan twitched as his body rose from the ground, though he remained semiconscious at most.
Nightswan emitted gravelly groans that may have intended to form words. Thrawn recognized the sound of Nightswan's voice from their earlier conversation, but he could not make out any intelligible language. Nightswan's eyes tried to look at him, but the wounds surrounding them forced his lids closed again. It would be a miracle if neither eye had gone blind.
Thrawn shushed him, his tone low and gentle. "We will continue our negotiations when you are in a state to have them. Your final song has yet to be sung, Nightswan."
The groaning grew louder. Nightswan struggled in Thrawn's arms, to no avail. He was too injured to resist Thrawn's hold.
Thrawn whispered his next words in Nightswan's ear. "We can arrange it so that you do not see Imperial prison. I think you will reconsider my offer now that your 'last stand' has landed in its grave. You are of more use to the galaxy outside the coffin."
Whatever Nightswan's protests, they did not escape his throat. He was bleeding streams over Thrawn's uniform, consciousness leaking out as well. Nightswan would need a great deal of medical assistance, and Thrawn would ensure he received it.
Perhaps the Mining Guild's sense of obligation would work in Thrawn's favor this time around.
Visiting patients in the aftermath of Batonn became increasingly difficult for Thrawn to justify. Soon after Thrawn had transferred Nightswan to a private hospital room in Batonn's capital, the Emperor made his intention to promote Thrawn to Grand Admiral known. He would not hold the ceremony anywhere except his own palace on Coruscant. Thrawn saw no reason he could not be promoted from the field, but it was unwise to tell the Emperor that.
Unable to initiate the next phase of his plan in person, Thrawn left Eli on Batonn with a mission. After the initial treatment of Nightswan's injuries, it was clear the blast he'd taken to the face would leave him permanently disfigured. To avert this unpleasant fate, Thrawn had (discreetly) paid extra for him to undergo reconstructive facial surgery. Not to reconstruct Nightswan's old face, of course, but to give him an appearance no rebel would associate with their former leader: the face of Laevis Vult, a Batonnese civilian whose discovered remains were large in number and small in size.
Laevis was an ideal candidate for Nightswan's new face. His chain code had been recovered intact, his age had been similar to Nightswan's, his family was now nonexistent, and he had no close living associates. Only three people in the galaxy knew that Nightswan was set to assume the identity of this man.
Nightswan did not place on that list, much to Eli's chagrin. His gut twisted at the thought of putting a dead man's face on anyone, much less a longtime adversary. The fact that they had basically hacked a surgical droid to perform the procedure without Nightswan's consent was not improving matters. Eli knew Thrawn wanted Nightswan alive for his own designs, but those designs had not been made clear to Eli yet.
So it was with a lump in his throat that Eli watched the droid put Nightswan under. Nightswan had been in and out of surgery since he came to the hospital. The drugs in his system kept the man distant from lucidity. The treatment plan laid out for him was Thrawn's directive from behind a veil, with occasional input from (as Eli understood it) Yularen.
The last time Eli had spoken with Nightswan, he'd been smug about his plan to kill Thrawn. How did he feel knowing that Thrawn had personally rescued him? He probably hadn't expected a show of grace from Thrawn. No one ever did.
Eli averted his gaze once the surgery began. Of all the tasks he could be handling in Batonn's cleanup, secretly watching the mastermind behind the insurgency get a permanent disguise wasn't what he would have assigned to himself. He'd lied to Faro about his mission on the ground here, and Thrawn's orders stated he wasn't to leave until the surgery was over and he had confirmed the success of the operation. Considering the procedure was expected to take upwards of four hours, that was a long time to do nothing.
Eli busied himself with his datapad in the waiting room, sifting through all the supplies the Chimaera had donated to the Batonnese to ease their recovery. Chief Fennix had already placed an order for their replacement, and everything looked like it was going to arrive on time. As Eli scrolled through the lengthy list, one item struck him as out of place.
A small shuttle, one stripped of all Imperial markings and meant to hold no more than two people. Its rationale for donation was to assist in transporting supplies, but the shuttle's cargo hold was too small to meaningfully contribute. Eli doubted most people would have noticed its inclusion on the roster, but he was accustomed to screening these documents for discrepancies and had no trouble catching this one.
What were the Batonnese using the ship for, if not its stated purpose? Eli looked up the shuttle on the planet's system. There existed no record of the Batonnese having ever received the donation. So… where had the shuttle gone? Curiouser and cur-
Wait. No. Not curious at all. Eli knew what that ship was for. He knew why he was watching Nightswan's recovery and guarding the secret from the rest of Thrawn's crew. Thrawn intended to release the man! He was going to give Nightswan the shuttle and let him flee Imperial justice.
Eli nearly felt anger surge through his veins, but a second thought put the emotion on pause. Yularen was in on the scheme to nurse Nightswan to health. He wouldn't let Thrawn release a rebel into the galaxy just to stir up another incident.
The two men wanted something with the mastermind. Whatever they wanted Nightswan to do, he needed a ship to do it. And whatever it was, they had included Eli in their plot. He had a role to play in Thrawn's designs as well, perhaps one distinct from his time as an aide.
A new emotion coursed through Eli's veins as the droid operated on Nightswan's heavily scarred skin. It could be relief. It could be frustration.
It may also have been fear.
Thrawn got the comm from Vanto shortly after his ceremony with the Emperor concluded. Keeping thoughts of Nightswan out of his mind while in the Emperor's presence was a task that required strict discipline, and Thrawn was grateful that fate had helped him accomplish it by preserving the news for its most opportune time. The next phase of his plan would initiate once Thrawn had returned from Coruscant.
Thrawn had several missions when he returned to Batonn. His first would be to inform the Chimaera of their ship's promotion to the Seventh Fleet. With the promotion would be his duty to brief the crew on their new mission.
Yet before those missions began, the Chimaera would need to complete its current objective. After today, the recovery mission should be well enough underway that their pullout would not damage the operation. It was uncommon for a Star Destroyer to take an active role in relief work, and the longer the ship stayed, the more suspicious people may become that Thrawn was hiding something. Only after today would that accusation no longer be true.
The trip through hyperspace should give Nightswan enough time to wake up from surgery. Advances in facial reconstruction meant his badges should be fit for removal upon Thrawn's arrival. When the fallen mastermind woke, Thrawn would be present as promised for a renegotiation of terms.
Yularen had already departed from Batonn, but his influence on the scheme remained. Thrawn would have preferred to keep the head of the ISB out of this operation. Sadly, it had not been possible. Yularen had heard the initial round of negotiations take place. He had the power to take words Thrawn had spoken in that meeting and paint him a traitor. If Thrawn did not want that to happen, he had to accept Yularen's alteration to the plan.
"I am not proposing we allow Nightswan to cause another insurgency, much less one comparable to Batonn. I am proposing we remove him from the rebellion equation entirely and use his talents for a mutually beneficial purpose."
"You want to send him to your former people. People the Empire has no official contact with, much less a formal alliance. What guarantee do you offer that Nightswan will not attempt what you claim those Neimodians did? He might try to bring the Chiss into a war against the Empire."
"The Chiss Ascendancy has no desire for war against the Empire. They are embroiled in a conflict of their own, one that would deal great damage to the Empire were it allowed to spread beyond the Unknown Regions. We send Nightswan to them, and he helps neutralize a threat to all sides without causing any future trouble for us. If the Empire kills him, they waste that opportunity. If we imprison him it is the same, but he may also cause trouble by attempting to escape."
Yularen studied Thrawn's facial expression, wrinkled lids covering most of his eyes. "You pulled a similar trick on your assailants from Royal Imperial. Would you say that move was a success?"
"Ah. You spoke to Commandant Deenlark." Yularen didn't justify that with a reply. "In that instance, I accomplished an outcome superior to one conventional discipline would have provided. It is the same here."
"Nightswan is not a fellow Imperial. This is not the same." Yularen sighed. "The evidence you have presented on this threat… I won't share it with the rest of the Empire yet, but I will allow you to use Nightswan against it if he proves cooperative. On one condition."
"Which is?"
"He will be monitored. By one of ours."
Yularen's initial proposal was an ISB agent, but he could not spare any agents capable of communicating with the Chiss, be it in Sy Bisti or another trade language. Thrawn had been forced to improvise.
He shouldn't be surprised it had come to this. Thrawn would have made the same choice had Nightswan not survived the battle. All the same, he was not pleased with the outcome.
Thrawn dedicated everything he had to his missions in life. He gave himself no time for leisure or indulgence. Despite that, he had developed a meaningful relationship with Vanto, one he was loathe to change.
Perhaps it was for the best. Thrawn had taught Vanto enough for him to lead on his own. In truth, he had surpassed the need for Thrawn's guidance long ago. Thrawn had just been too selfish to acknowledge it. Now it was time he did, no matter his sentiments on the subject.
With Vanto taking Nightswan's place at the forefront of Thrawn's mind, he settled into his seat and penned the final entry to his journal. "It is said that one should keep one's allies within view, and one's enemies within reach.
"A valid statement. One must be able to read an ally's strengths, so as to determine how best to use him. One must similarly be able to read an enemy's weaknesses, so as to determine how best to defeat him.
"But what of friends? …"
Nevil Cygni had expected to wake up with Admiral Thrawn standing over him, but he hadn't expected to still be in a hospital bed. He thought he would've been transferred to a cell by this point, or perhaps an interrogation room. His head ached as he considered the possibilities, and the pain all over his face stayed searing even with meds.
Thrawn looked different than he had before. His green uniform had been exchanged for a white one, this one with gold bars at the shoulders. His plaque was different too. Shinier. More colorful.
"Don't tell me they promoted you for blowing up Creekpath." His throat was dry. "Really shows how much the Empire 'values' their 'resources', huh?"
"I did nothing to cause the explosion that injured you, Nightswan. My efforts were focused on the battle from space and the ground recovery that took place afterward." Thrawn studied Cygni's face extensively, as if seeing it for the first time. "I rescued you personally, if you remember."
"Rescued is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? You wanted the honor of capturing me yourself."
"Look around. Do you think we saved you for prison?" Eli Vanto spoke up from beside the doorway. Cyngi had been too fixated on Thrawn to notice him at first. "Why would we give you a new face just to ship you off with your rebel friends?"
"You did wh…" Cygni fumbled around, searching for a mirror. "What did you do to my face?"
Thrawn held up a hand mirror, allowing Cygni to examine his new features. He took in the hooked nose, heavy-set eyes, rounded jawline, and tattoo-free cheeks with palpable dismay. "Is being ugly part of my sentence?"
"Your face was chosen for its former user's confirmed dead status and lack of complications in reassignment. Relative attractiveness did not factor into the decision," Thrawn explained, then set the mirror aside. "Commander Vanto is correct. We have not come to your recovery bed to punish you but to continue the conversation we had prior to the battle. You remember what we discussed, I take it."
Cygni rolled his eyes, cringing at the pain the move caused. He tried not to show how much it hurt. "You don't quit. I was meant to succeed in that insurgency or die trying."
"You never would have succeeded. The attempt was doomed from the start. You admitted as much when we last spoke."
"That doesn't mean I'm agreeing to follow you now."
"It should. The path I have offered you is your best option," Thrawn asserted, as if he were the final say on the matter. "The secret of your reassigned face is known outside this room. Your DNA has been recorded during your recovery. If you attempt to return to a life of crime or insurgency, you will fail just as you did before. When that happens, I will no longer be there to appreciate alternate uses for your talents."
Cygni snorted, the act sending a stinging sensation up his nose. "Is that a threat?"
"Certainly." Thrawn's glowing red eyes bore a hole into Cygni's brown ones. The way he stood over Cygni's hospital bed… Cygni wouldn't lie, it was intimidating. Especially to a wounded man still working through recovery. "The Empire will not only kill you for your next offense, but it shall do all in its power to deny you a martyr's death. You will not die nobly at the Empire's hand, but privately. Perhaps even slowly in the depths of a labor camp."
"So you do acknowledge the slave camps." Cygni redirected the conversation. He didn't want the image Thrawn had described in his head. "That's how they're building the weapon, you know. Slave labor."
Thrawn blinked slowly, the closest he would come to a nod. "I no longer need you to look into that project for me. I have most of the information I shall need for the time being. Yet if you wish to take the knowledge with you to the Ascendancy… your commander there is always interested in learning more about foreign technology."
"Warn him yourself. I don't know a thing about your Ascendancy. What guarantee do I have they aren't just as tyrannical as the Empire? Or worse?"
"I can promise you the Chiss Ascendancy has not allowed slavery in their borders for centuries. In fact, the enemies they fight against are the ones who rely on slavery, a form far worse than that which the Empire uses. The Chiss Ascendancy seeks to maintain their borders and end the threat that seeks to enslave all peoples of the galaxy. They fight for the freedom of everyone, not simply that of the Unknown Regions." Thrawn kept his hands behind his back as he made his case, gaze intense throughout. "There are enemies whose methods would make the Empire saintly."
"So you say," Cygni protested. "How do I know this isn't a trap to exile me in the middle of nowhere? Put me in some prison no one else is locked up in?"
"What choice do you have?" Vanto spoke up again, his voice tight. "You either end up in the prison you know you'll hate, or the potential prison you don't have an opinion about yet."
"Meet with your commander there yourself. She will be able to answer any questions you refuse to ask me," Thrawn proposed. "She is a commander without equal in any military. Her character is one you cannot deride."
Cygni hesitated at that. He knew Thrawn was hard to please. For him to heap that much praise on any individual was a sign she was exceptional. Exceptional in what way was the question Cygni still had to answer. What sort of character was the kind Thrawn praised? The kind that didn't make excuses for an oppressive regime, perhaps?
The housepet was right. Cygni's options were between a bad thing and a potentially bad thing. At least going along with Thrawn's plan gave Cygni a chance to escape. Be it on his way to the Ascendancy or after he got there, his options in running away had to be more extensive there than they would be from prison. There was a chance he would become as enchanted with the Ascendancy's cause as Thrawn believed he would be as well, but Cygni doubted that.
He didn't care what Thrawn told himself to get to sleep at night. Nothing could be worse than the Empire. "Fine. I'll go on your field trip. How will I get there?"
"I have left a shuttle for you in the city's spaceport. You are not yet well enough to pilot it yourself, so the task will fall on your partner."
Cygni blinked. "My partner?"
Vanto smiled, a pinched stretch of his lips. "We're going together."
Cygni struggled to hide his surprise. Thrawn could have mentioned he would have a guard on the journey… oh well. Cygni had captured Vanto before. Soon as he was done healing, he could probably take Vanto a second time.
He did his best to seem unaffected. "You could have mentioned that before."
"Vanto's travels would not have mattered to you had you agreed to serve a life sentence in prison." Thrawn was wearing an unaffected demeanor as well. "He has everything he needs to navigate the two of you to the rendezvous point. He is also in possession of your necessary medication. Take your recovery seriously, Nightswan. Your future missions depend on it."
Cygni didn't pay attention to what Thrawn was saying. For the first time that encounter, his attention was on the aide. Vanto's false impassiveness was the most strained of the three. The boy couldn't take his eyes off of Thrawn. When he blinked, traces of emotion shone through on the surface of his eyes.
He'd been a boy when Thrawn swooped him up from the supply officer path. Was Vanto taking this mission as a dismissal? A demotion in Thrawn's personal favor? Cygni doubted Vanto had done anything to deserve that, so the circumstances must be different here.
Couldn't he see he was being liberated? Vanto would be spared the pain of trying to navigate the Empire in Thrawn's ever-volatile shadow. Given the opportunity taking a faraway mission gave him, why would Vanto cling to his chains here?
Then Cygni turned his own logic around on himself, and he wished he could kick himself for being so stupid. This wasn't a liberation at all. Not for Vanto, and not for him. This was just another one of Thrawn's elaborate plans, one that would reach its conclusion as sure as the sun would set.
Cygni almost wanted to change his decision out of spite, but it wouldn't help anyone. If he really wanted to thwart Thrawn, he would need to play his game first. Play the game, then change the rules when the opportunity presented itself. Back Thrawn into the humiliating corner for once.
He tuned back in to hear the tale end of Thrawn's goodbye to Vanto "...and may the warrior's fortune shine on your efforts. This is my last offering to you. It is for your perusal alone. The password is one you know well." Thrawn handed a datastick to Vanto.
Vanto pocketed the item. "Thank you, sir. May… may the Force be with you as well." The pair shook hands for the next five seconds, neither wanting to be the first to pull away.
"Come, let us check Nightswan out of the hospital." Thrawn broke the embrace of hands first. Together, the men led Cygni out of the hospital, through the city, and to the seemingly inconspicuous shuttle.
The shuttle that would lead Cygni and Vanto to a new destiny. A new dawn. A fresh set of faces and a new batch of enemies.
All by Thrawn's hand.
A/N's: This work is inspired by a prompt I received from Cuileth (of AO3 fame) as part of an exchange. The prompt was:
"What if Nightswan survived the Massacre of Batonn because the explosion wasn't as horrible as in the books and Thrawn goes looking for him, getting him out of there before he can succumb to his wounds?"
Hope she likes it, in addition to any other readers I have out there. Thanks for taking the time to enjoy this work and don't forget to leave a review below!