Rulla's Rescue:

D28/1 BBY, Unidentified planet

Thrawn groaned and raised a hand to feel the rapidly swelling lump on his head. His fingers came away wet with drops of blood. He cursed under his breath and ignored his swimming vision as he tried to stand up. All around him he heard the sound of moans and curses as his crew were all in a similar situation to him. A hand appeared in front of his eyes and Thrawn grabbed it thankfully as the walls spun alarmingly as he made it to his feet.

When things settled down again, Thrawn focused on the concerned face of Yarce. "Status?" he asked, trying to divert attention from his less than ideal state of health.

Yarce opened his mouth to say something and then changed his mind at Thrawn's steely eyed look. Instead, he shook his head sadly. "Frankly, Sir, we're up to our eyeballs in mud. Status is kriffed up beyond all recognition."

Thrawn stifled a sigh and climbed out of the pit so he could see for himself, grateful that his limbs were cooperating and the dizziness was passing. The pounding in his head, on the other hand, was as strong as ever. But that would have to wait. He glared at the pit as he pulled himself up onto the deck. "I think, Captain Yarce, that it is past time for railings to be employed. Or perhaps an entirely different design for the Bridge."

Yarce climbed up onto the deck beside him and grimaced sympathetically. "I agree, Sir. I too went sailing into a pit, but I landed on another officer, not a consul."

Thrawn hmmpphed, but moved on to the next subject as he walked to one of the broken windows and looked out. The force shields had failed on impact and some mud and slime had made its way into the bridge from the splash. Thrawn grimaced and stepped in the mud anyway. It was the least of his problems. What he saw made him utter every curse word that he knew, which was quite a lot, but he thought the situation warranted the use. The Chimaera was indeed buried up to its eyeballs in mud and slime. Or to be more realistic; almost to the command bridge at the top of the massive ship. Except for a small amount of grey painted metal in front of him, all Thrawn could see was dark brown water.

"Does anyone know the status of the hull?" he called over his shoulder, concerned about hull breaches and drowning personnel. Anyone in the hangars would definitely be in trouble right now, if they survived at all, being at the bottom of the ship.

"It appears to be intact according to preliminary reports," someone called back. "We've lost them now, but shields were at full power on impact. They seem to have done their job."

Thrawn felt himself relax just a smidgeon in relief. There was still hope then. IF they could get the engines started again. "I want a shipwide status report asap," Thrawn said, turning away from the sight of the swamp and addressing his bridge crew. "If a station doesn't check in right away, send someone to investigate. I need to know the damage reports and if we need to mount any rescue missions. Please warm up the engines again and let's see if we can fly ourselves out of this mud hole. The sooner the better. The hangars will be the worst hit and we need to get them out of the water as soon as possible."

Thrawn turned his attention to Yarce. "Get on the comms and have two of the least damaged ISD's enter the atmosphere above us. If our engines won't get us out of this mess on their own, perhaps a couple of tractor beams will make the difference." Yarce nodded and ran for the communications room.

"Reports coming in now, Sir," a Lieutenant called. "As you expected, the hangars aren't answering comms. Emergency doors are closed due to flooding in the areas in question. Until we get out of the water, Sir, I don't know what we else we can do."

Thrawn tensed up again at the words. He hated that he was right in this circumstance. "I want us out of the water yesterday," he said to the room in general. "I don't care what it takes."

There was a chorus of "yes, Sir's," and an accompanying whine from the engines as someone pushed them into full power faster than they were meant to. Just in time, the two star destroyers he'd asked for appeared above them, casting shadows through the bridge as they blocked the sun.

The Chimaera shuddered and shivered as the thrusters were pushed into full power. Thrawn turned to watch out the window again, holding his breath as more of his ship slowly appeared from the muck. But it wasn't fast enough. The engines were whining horribly as the mud sucked back, holding onto the ship with a death grip. "Use the tractor beams," he called, knowing Yarce would be listening and communicating his wishes.

Ten seconds later, there was a drastic difference as the two ISDs locked onto the Chimaera. They rose out of the swamp faster and faster as the water and mud gave up its hold. The terrible whine and shudder from the engines slowly calmed down to a barely discernable rumble as the stress was removed from them. When Thrawn judged them to be about twenty meters above the swamp he called for them to hover there. He didn't want to attempt going up into space until he was one hundred percent sure that his entire ship was spaceworthy.

Just as he was about to turn away from the window and give Captain Yarce his next orders, Thrawn saw something rapidly approaching in the distance that made him suck in a breath in surprise and shock. "Captain Yarce, organize rescue and cleanup crews and have the hull inspected for any weaknesses or breaches," he said almost absently, eyes trained on the figure that had captured his attention. "I want us back up in space as soon as possible so we waste as little fuel as possible hovering here. And if the engines can take it, the other ISDs can let us go and return to orbit."

Yarce nodded and said " yes, Sirrrrr…?" voice climbing in surprise as Thrawn ducked through a window and actually jogged down the hull of the Chimaera. That was when he spotted what Thrawn had seen. He stared in shock for a moment before kicking himself into action and barking orders to his officers. Thrawn had entrusted him with his ship and he was going to do his very best to please the Grand Admiral.

Thrawn almost ran as he made his way carefully down the slanted hull of the ship to the nose where it was closest to the water. It was a journey that seemed to take forever because the hull was anything but flat and the ship was more than a kilometre and a half long. He jumped over protrusions and down ledges agilely, headache complete forgotten in the excitement of the moment. He came to a skidding stop when he reached the tip of the nose, eyes trained on the approaching sea serpent and its blue skinned rider.

When the massive space ship crashed into the swamp, the thunderous rumble was heard across a good portion of the continent. Rulla'aski'ordo was the only being on the swamp planet who cared though. She looked up, startled, from her seat outside her tiny hut on her equally tiny island. About a minute later, a wave of repulsive water washed up over her booted feet. Being incredibly bored, she decided to investigate. Absolutely nothing happened on the hellhole of a planet. Nothing. Except for surviving from one day to the next.

Rulla's exploration ship had crashed here twenty something years ago, to the best of her knowledge, when she was just a teenager with her parents and a hundred other scientists and wanderers. Rulla was the only survivor of the crash, and only because she had been standing in the observation platform at the very top of the ship. Everyone else had drowned in the bone crushing mud and water that had swept through the ship on impact. Somehow, out of sheer determination, she'd managed to open a hull access hatch above her head and climbed out before the ship had sunk completely out of sight. She'd found out over the years that some pieces of the swamp were much deeper than others. Her ship had found a deep spot and was never seen again.

Rulla had swum and swum, tears streaming from her red eyes at the loss of her parents and friends, arms and legs screaming from forcing herself through the thick water, until she'd finally found a little island. And there she'd stayed, for a whole week, until desperate hunger had forced her to move on and find something to eat. That was when she found her sea dragon and her miserable existence became liveable. At first she thought that Dio'odo was going to eat her, but Dio was a vegetarian, and he'd shown her where to find edible plants. Dio was one of many sea dragons, but the only one who had ever seemed interested in her. He wasn't a sentient being per say, but an incredibly smart animal nonetheless.

Now Rulla whistled for Dio, a piercing sound that travelled for kilometres over the swamp. Dio's hundred metre long bronze body slithered through the muddy water easily as his form appeared in the distance, quickly closing the gap between them. His shuttle sized head, surrounded by a gold fringe, stopped in front of Rulla and he tilted his head to the side in query.

"Did you see what made the noise?" she asked him in Cheunh, the language of the Chiss, one of the two languages that she knew, Cheunh being the favoured of course, even if it was very complicated to speak. Dio turned his head towards the west and gazed that way for a moment before looking at her with his big gold eyes eagerly. "Shall we go see then?" Dio's large flat toothed mouth widened in his version of a smile. He lowered his head so she could climb on and sit just behind his head fringe. Rulla sprang on and they were off like a laser bolt.

It only took five minutes of rapid swimming for Dio to take them to the downed Star Destroyer, except it wasn't so downed. In fact, it was rising up. Rulla gazed in wonder at the massive ship as it emerged from the swamp, engines roaring. And the two nearly identical ships that hovered above it, rising as it rose. She couldn't see the tractor beams, but she assumed that was their purpose. She thought it was a very clever solution.

As they drew even closer, Rulla noticed a blue skinned figure dressed in white more or less running down the hull of the ship. The tall, athletic looking Chiss came to a halt at the edge only moments before Rulla and Dio reached a spot below where he stood. "Up, Dio," she said, hoping he'd get her meaning. The smart sea dragon did. He slithered forward and upward, his strong narrow body easily lifting them.

Thrawn watched in fascination as a Chiss woman who looked to be in her mid thirties jumped gracefully off her sea serpent and came to a halt in front of him. She was dressed in a curious array of what looked like very sturdy braided seaweed, from her halter top, to her skirt and even her boots. She had a breathtakingly beautiful face surrounded by a multitude of waist length dark blue braids. The contrast between beauty and savage enthralled him, making him want to study her further and in depth. They stared at each other curiously for minutes.

Rulla glanced up and down the male's trim form, instantly attracted to him. He was handsome and regal, hair shorn close to his head, red eyes piercing in their obvious intelligence. He had a lump on his temple and drying blood trickling down the side of his face, but somehow that just made him seem manlier. The white uniform he wore was unfamiliar but looked very impressive with his blue skin, and gave her the impression he was a man who wielded a lot of power. Her breath caught in her throat as she imagined what it would be like to be held and loved by such a man, for she didn't know, not being old enough yet to pick a mate when she was shipwrecked. "Hi," she finally managed to breathe out with a hopeful smile.

Thrawn felt himself smile in return like a lovesick boy. Ridiculous really, considering his age of forty-five, but it had been so long since he'd seen another of his kind. And she was beautiful, and obviously far from home, like him. "Hello," he said in return also speaking Chiss, something else he hadn't done for years. "My name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo, but you may call me Mitthra," he said, surprising even himself at the words that tumbled out of his mouth. Yes, the galaxy knew him as Thrawn, and he'd even grown to think of himself by that name, but that was not his true nickname. He'd allowed the butchering of his whole name for the sake of not having to explain himself over and over again, but he hadn't heard anyone call him his proper nickname for almost twenty years. He missed it as it was reserved for family members or loved ones; something he'd been sorely lacking in for much too long. His brother was gone, but his parents should still be alive. He looked forward to seeing them again when he returned home. But this woman, he would grant her the privilege of his nickname even if he didn't know her yet. He didn't care where she came from or what she was doing here, Thrawn wanted her like he'd never wanted another. Suddenly having his ship crash into the swamp was all worth it, for he had found his one true mate. A male Chiss always knew when they'd found the right one, a secret that was never shared with the females, preferring to let them think they were winning the male on their own terms. It made the relationships a lot smoother and challenging at the same time.

Rulla's eyes widened as she heard his name. He was one of the royal class, the Ascendancy, and technically above her reach. (The longer the last part of their name, the more important they were.) She bowed her head respectfully. "I am Rulla'aski'ordo, my Lord," she said to his boots. "If you wish, you may call me Rulla."

Thrawn placed a finger under her chin, rising her face so she met his eyes again. "It would be my pleasure, Rulla. And please, no formalities. You and I are the only Chiss in this section of the galaxy as far as I know. You are alone, correct?"

Rulla nodded, wide eyed. His finger had left her chin, but she could still feel the impression on her skin as it tingled. "Yes. Our ship crashed here about twenty years ago. I was the only survivor."

"The Duantless?" Thrawn asked with a raised brow.

"How did you know?" Rulla asked, blinking in astonishment.

Thrawn smiled a small satisfied smile at solving another puzzle. "Your ship never returned when it was supposed to and I was paying attention to exploration ships at the time. That was twenty-five years ago."

Rulla sucked in a shocked breath. "Oh my. That means I'm thirty-nine years old now. I had no idea. I've been here so long and so alone." A loud rumble from behind her made her amend her statement. "Except for Dio'odo of course."

Thrawn glanced at the serpent that had its chin resting on the edge of his ship, gold eyes staring at him disconcertingly. "Of course. This may be presumptuous of me, but would you like to join me in my journey home, Rulla?"

Rulla's mouth spread into a slow wide smile, showing straight white teeth. "I would love to, Mitthra. I've wanted off this swamp for a very long time."

Thrawn felt an answering smile cross his face. "Excellent." He nodded towards her serpent. "Now, my ship was submerged and I'm worried for my men. Would your creature be willing to carry us to the hangars of the ship?"

Rulla turned and looked at her sea dragon. "Dio?" He blinked his big gold eyes once. She turned back to Thrawn and grinned. "He says yes."

Thrawn raised a brow sceptically but assumed she knew the creature well enough to interpret its facial expressions. He gestured towards it. "Shall we?"

Rulla nodded and mounted her sea dragon, patting a spot behind her.

Thrawn gingerly swung a leg over the wide neck, settling himself close to the lusciously shaped woman and placing his hands lightly on her narrow waist for balance. He had to practice some serious self control to not get too excited by her proximity and enticing scent that seemed to surround him. As the serpent lowered itself back towards the water and swam under the ship, he looked up and concentrated on looking for damage. All he saw was mud encrusting his dripping ship, grimacing as drops of grimy water fell on them. He might have to throw out this uniform after today, he thought. He doubted the cleaning droids would be able to save it.

They soon came to the first hangar, visible as a large opening in the bottom of the ship and Rulla said "up," again. Dio did as asked and surged upwards into the hangar. The force shields had failed shipwide during the crash, letting the water and mud in. Much of it had drained as the ship rose, but too much remained, covering everything in the hangar in muck. Thrawn saw that this hangar, which held troop transports and shuttles were missing a few of the Lambda class shuttles and most of the transports, having been sucked down into the mud, never to be seen again. He also saw a depressing number of bodies floating in the remaining water, knowing that many more were probably lost to the swamp. There were a few survivors wading through the knee deep water though, checking the floaters for signs of life. Some were emerging from inside the transports were they'd managed to take refuge, so that was good as well. Seeing as there was nothing he could do here that wasn't already being done, he pulled his comm off his belt and updated Yarce on hangar one's status.

They moved on to the next hangar. The one with his fleet of TIEs and the two Defenders. These had all thankfully been strapped down and had all survived the dunking, much to Thrawn's relief. There was the same situation with the mud and the bodies though. It was very depressing. Being one of the large open spaces on the Star Destroyer, the hangars were also used as a training yard for the troopers. An unfortunate thing, right now. Thrawn commed Yarce with the update on that hangar as well.

They continued on to the last hangar. The Walker hangar. Here they found even more chaos as the Walkers that hadn't been sucked out of the ship were almost all on their sides or crumpled up and toppled onto each other. More mud and bodies. But also more survivors as the troopers had more to hang on to. With the troopers wearing their helmets, they had a decent chance of surviving a short submersion in water.

Thrawn's sensitive ears heard a banging from inside one of the Walkers that had another Walker on top of it, blocking the hatch. Rulla heard it too. She immediately pointed Dio at the four legged AT-AT and he obliging pushed the large metal vehicle off of the one below it with his nose. The hatch popped open and four troopers emerged, somehow managing to convey shock while wearing identical helmets at the sight of the sea dragon staring at them. Thrawn almost laughed. The troopers were mostly useless at anything but intimidation tactics with sheer numbers, but he secretly found them amusing. In his opinion, the Empire should have kept the Clones, being far superior warriors to the conscripted troopers they now had. The troopers were just one of the Empire's many flaws, but Thrawn was willing to keep them in his fleet, since he already had them.

Rulla patted Dio at a job well done. "What next?" she asked Thrawn as they watched the four troopers scramble off the Walker and into the muddy pond at their feet.

Thrawn thought for a moment. "Back to the bridge I think. There's nothing else we can do here. All that is left is cleanup and I have thousands of personnel and troopers for that."

Rulla nodded and turned Dio back to the exit. Dio swam down the length of the ship and then rose again, more than half of his body rising out of the water so he could reach the command bridge with his head. Thrawn and Rulla stepped off onto the hull near a broken window. Rulla stroked Dio's nose affectionately. "I'm afraid this is goodbye, my friend. I wish you a long and satisfying life."

Dio stared at her sadly, nudged her once with his nose, and then turned and left, sinking down into the water and swimming away swiftly.

"I'm going to miss him," Rulla said, tears forming in her red eyes, making them glisten like rubies, as she watched her only friend of the last twenty-five years leave her for the last time.

Thrawn had never been one for affectionate gestures, but right now he felt compelled to intertwine his fingers with hers in support.

Rulla looked at him gratefully for a moment before staring off into the distance again, straining to catch the last glimpse of Dio's shiny bronze body. When he was definitely out of sight, she shuddered in a breath for courage and then turned to face the handsome Chiss male fully. "Thank you, Mitthra," she said softly, for being patient, and for taking her in.

Thrawn gazed at her understandingly. He raised his free hand and brushed a braid behind her ear. The navy blue hair was soft despite its braided state. He couldn't wait to see it unbound and flowing around her body. Preferably in his bed. He knew she would look stunning against his white sheets. But he was a patient man. He could wait for her to let him know when she was ready for a relationship. And he had no doubt they would be joined in every sense of the word. He'd met many aristocratic Chiss women before he'd left on his long term mission, and not a single one of them had affected and called to him like this one did. He didn't even care that she was beneath him in terms of status. Thrawn had been away from home long enough that the Ascendency's rules no longer meant as much as they used to. He was going to make this woman his wife and the Ascendancy could go hang itself if they didn't like it. He'd dedicated most of his life to a mission for his people. Thrawn was finally going to do something for himself.