Thrawn's Homecoming:

D45/1 BBY, Unknown Space

It had been fifteen days since Thrawn's fleet had left the swamp planet behind and he'd reluctantly come to the conclusion that they were lost in space. Despite having a vast section of the Unknown regions mapped in his mind, none of the systems near the swamp planet matched anything he knew. He had begun to worry when Rulla said that the Dauntless had been about four days away from the outer edges of Chiss space when it crashed and she didn't know exactly which direction that was, only just remembering her father saying it was a four day trip back from wherever they were, not long before something had gone wrong with the engines. Thrawn's assumptions on Purrgil hyperspace travel had been way off and he found that exceedingly annoying.

His only consolation was his ever growing friendship with Rulla. She was incredibly intelligent and sucked in new knowledge like a sponge. He spent every evening with her after his shift was over, enjoying their dinner and talking about everything she'd read that day. Thrawn had little doubt that Rulla would be a commanding officer within a year. And his wife much sooner than that. Last night she'd kissed his cheek as he was leaving her quarters for the night, cheeks darkening becomingly at her daring. Thrawn had smiled softly and kissed her warm cheek in return, fingers running down the length of her silken tresses as they cascaded around her shoulders and torso. And thus the official courtship had begun. Rulla had made the first move in the mating dance, as was traditional, and Thrawn had accepted her proposal. It was only a matter of time and patience now. Both of which he had plenty of.

At the moment, the fleet hung suspended in space as probe droids recorded the nearby systems. If Thrawn didn't recognize anything from their findings, then they would continue their slow journey back the way they'd come from, hopefully correctly retracing the path of the Purrgil. At their current speed of wait and jump a short distance then repeat, Thrawn estimated it would take at least two years to make it to Chiss space. If they were lucky. Hopefully they found a familiar system before that painful process went on too long.

During the waiting periods, he had every available bored person stripping the construction spheres down to the last rivet and storing the pieces in the holds of the ISDs. Wasting fuel on moving the construction spheres made no sense whatsoever, but their parts could definitely be useful. Thrawn got a strange sense of satisfaction from watching the Imperial made spheres get torn apart by unknowing ex Imperials.

And while the enlisted men and the troopers dealt with the grunt work, Thrawn would continue his study of the rocky debris of the Jedi Temple Palpatine had put in his ship. He was ever curious about other cultures, and studying the Jedi one had become a recent obsession of his, looking up everything to be found on the Jedi in his privately acquired stock of Republic history that no one knew he'd been accumulating. He told himself his recent defeat by a fledging Jedi had nothing to do with his increased need to know more about them, but he knew he was lying. Thrawn was determined to be better prepared if the Jedi, or the Sith, or any other type of Force User ever made their way to his part of space and tried to take over his people.

D50/1 BBY

Thrawn had to restrain himself to a sedate walk as he made his way to Rulla's quarters for the evening meal. He had exciting news to share and all he wanted to do was run through the halls like a boy. Not that he'd ever let himself resort to such juvenile behaviour, but it didn't mean that he couldn't have the fleeting thought of giving in to the urge.

Finally reaching her door, he rang for permission to enter, lightly drumming his fingers on the wall before he realized his impatience was showing. Thrawn straightened up and stood at parade rest, disciplining himself.

Rulla opened the door with a smile of greeting. She tilted her head to the side curiously as he entered with an uncharacteristically wide smile on his face at the sight of her. "What is it, Mitthra?"

Thrawn grasped her shoulders gently and smiled into her glowing red eyes. "What if I said I know the way home and we should arrive within the next five days? We've already made the first jump into hyperspace in the correct direction."

Rulla gasped and then squealed his name, throwing her arms around his neck in an excited hug. "Home, Mitthra! We're finally going home."

Thrawn's arms fell naturally around her waist, careful not to pull her hair, holding her for the first time. He almost wished for the return of her seaweed outfit so he could feel the softness of her skin. Instead she was wearing a standard issue grey uniform. At least it did nothing to disguise her enticing curves. "Yes, Rulla. We're going home. We've both been away from Csilla for far too long. The cold will take some getting used to again, I'm afraid," he said, only half in jest.

Rulla laughed softly, fingers brushing the short strands of his hair. "I'll take the ice and snow over that swamp any day."

Thrawn smiled ruefully. "I'm afraid I've lived on a ship for the better part of the last two decades. Any sort of land sounds good to me right now."

Rulla leaned in a little closer to him and looked up at him invitingly. "I know how we can stay warm together."

Thrawn's arms tightened around her waist, drawing her even closer so her chest brushed his. "So do I." He lowered his head a little and she rose on her tip toes, tightening her arms around his neck to hold herself up. Their mouths brushed in the lightest of butterfly kisses before returning for more, a little more daring with every moment that passed. Thrawn groaned a little and she moaned in chorus. As their tongues met in the most intimate fashion Thrawn suddenly found himself holding her entire weight as she jumped up into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Just as he was thinking that this was soooo much better, not having to tilt so much to reach her mouth and feeling her whole body pressed to his, Rulla gasped out the same thing. "So good, Mitthra. You're arms are so strong."

Thrawn smiled against her mouth, feeling ridiculously proud of himself at the moment for all the training he did to keep himself in peak physical shape. "And you're so soft and sweet," he whispered before devouring her mouth again.

They most have stood in her cabin for another fifteen minutes, just making out like teenagers, before Rulla finally pulled her mouth away from his and rested her head against his shoulder, breathing hard. Her legs unwrapped from around his waist and she slid down his body, blushing at the contact with his obvious arousal. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him softly one more time. "Our dinner is probably stone cold by now," she said with a hint of amusement in her newly husky voice.

Thrawn admired the heavy lidded look and the kiss swollen lips of his mate. She looked properly loved and that was just a teaser for the whole act. He looked forward to that with every part of his being, but he sensed that wasn't going to be tonight. Rulla wasn't ready to go that far yet and he understood perfectly. "It can be warmed up again," he finally replied. "Whatever it is won't taste as good as you regardless."

Rulla beamed at him for the compliment before drawing away and heading for the tiny kitchen section of her VIP suite. Since they didn't have any VIP's with them when they left Lothal, Thrawn had pulled rank and given her the suite. The humans could like it or not, he truly didn't care. So far he hadn't heard any grumbling. Maybe they felt sorry for her, living in a swamp for twenty-five years.

Thrawn followed her like a lovesick mooka. If only his enemies could see him now; they would laugh until they fell over. The unbeatable Thrawn had been felled by a woman. And he couldn't be happier about it.

D52/1 BBY

Thrawn's fleet returned to real space only one more short hyperspace jump from the outside edge of the boundaries of Chiss protected space. What they weren't expecting to find was another small fleet already parked there. Unfortunately, it wasn't a section of the Chiss Defence Fleet. Thrawn recognized the coral shaped living ships immediately from stories. It was the Far Outsiders. And they were practically on the Chiss' front door.

"Full power to the shields!" Thrawn yelled. "Comm the other ships. I want everything we have firing at those ships. Now! Deploy the TIEs and the two Defenders. Take them out."

He heard officers scurrying to obey him. Thrawn watched in dismay as their turbolasers and ion canons just bounced off the shields of the seven enemy ships. The enemy returned fire with their plasma weapons, concentrating fire on the closest star destroyer. After a minute of bombardment by the plasma beams, the shields on the ISD failed and the plasma struck the hull of the ship. Thrawn could see the plasma visibly eating through the metal with a malicious red glow. He cursed under his breath. "Tell Captain Skalen to abandon ship while they still can."

As Captain Skalen's ISD was literally eaten away, Thrawn turned his attention to what the TIEs were doing. Perhaps the close quarters fighters would have better luck than their long range guns. Not that he was letting up on the barrage. The TIEs didn't seem to be having any luck either until one of the Defenders hit a lucky spot with a missile. The coral shaped enemy ship burst into flames before exploding into pieces. "Someone figure out what he hit and I want everyone concentrating fire on that spot on the rest of the enemy ships," Thrawn called.

Meanwhile, the enemy ships had turned their attention to the next ISD in the line. It too had lost its shields and the plasma beams were eating through its hull as well. Thrawn didn't have to tell that captain to abandon ship as he saw escape pods already being launched. Kriff. They'd lost two ISDs in less than five minutes. That should never have happened. Thrawn's fists clenched before he forced them to relax. At least they were winning now, as he saw enemy ship after enemy ship explode.

The officers cheered as the last enemy ship met its end, but Thrawn felt like he had nothing to cheer about. The enemy was too close, and undoubtedly had managed to send a transmission with their location at some point. More would come, he was positive about that. Thrawn almost regretted turning has back on the Empire. A Death Star would be handy right about now, if he could locate the enemy's main base and destroy it with said Death Star. Thrawn didn't know much about this enemy except for what was told in the stories.

A scouting party of the enemy had shown up in Chiss space some thirty years ago. The vaguely human looking creatures had hated the Chiss on sight, loathing their use of machines. They'd instantly tried to annihilate everything they could, causing a massive amount of destruction before being defeated. It was rumoured that a Chiss scientist had opened up one of the enemy's bodies out of curiosity and found obvious signs of organ implants. Organs that didn't match the enemy's DNA. The enemy apparently harvested other species for parts. A disgusting practice that the Chiss found highly revolting. That original scouting party of Far Outsiders was the main incentive for Thrawn to infiltrate the Empire. Too bad that hadn't panned out as well as he'd hoped. But at least he wasn't coming home empty handed. He still had thirty-eight ISDs left to present to the Ascendency. It would still be considered a good return for his time.

Too bad he had to deliver bad news as well. The Far Outsiders were back, and Thrawn sensed a full scale war brewing in the near future.

After yet another salvage expedition that took the better part of a day, filling the holds of the remaining ISDs with even more spare parts and the crew quarters to overflowing with the surviving members of the two dead star destroyers, Thrawn made a fleet wide holo call for everyone to see. It was time to break the news to his fleet that they weren't going home, but now he had a perfect excuse to give them. And he was going to do a bit of lying through his teeth without a modicum of remorse, since technically, by keeping the fleet in this part of space, he was also protecting the so called civilized part of the galaxy from the invaders from beyond the black void.

"This is Grand Admiral Thrawn. After today's battle, I have an important update on our status that all of you need to be made aware of. As you know, we lost two of our ISDs in only a matter of minutes. What you don't know is the enemy we were facing, but I do. What you saw this morning was only a small example of the enemy's fleet. It is believed that there are entire planet sized ships of them just waiting in the far reaches of Wild Space for their scouting parties to find them suitable planets to take over. This enemy comes from beyond the reaches of our galaxy after destroying their own with their warring ways. They are humanoid but not humane. They harvest organs and parts from their defeated enemies and use them in their own bodies. They hate all things mechanical and seem to strive to eradicate all machines from their vicinity. With this enemy encroaching on the Outer Rim, instead of returning to Lothal like originally planned, I feel it is best for everyone's sake if we stay here in the Wild regions and protect the Outer Rim from this vile foe's invasion. Teaching Lothal a lesson means nothing in comparison to the bigger picture. There are other fleets who can do that. We have a more important mission. Since my home world is not far from here, we shall use it as base in our war with the Far Outsiders and will eradicate the enemy from our galaxy. We will join my people in defending the entire galaxy and your families from those who would destroy us without a thought. Only then shall we return to Coruscant, triumphant and secure in the knowledge that we did our part to protect our homes."

Thrawn left the holo transmission room and walked into the bridge to the sound of loud cheers and applause. Captain Yarce approached him, smiling widely. "That was a brilliant speech, Sir. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we fully support the new mission. None of us want those disgusting creatures anywhere near our home planets and will do whatever it takes to make sure they never make it that far."

Thrawn smiled ever so slightly, pleased that the speech he'd worked on in his mind for the better part of the day had been a success. "Very good, Captain. Now, since everything is once again organized, I've sent new coordinates to your datapad. Please transmit them to the other Captains and let's get this fleet back in motion, shall we?"

Yarce nodded with a happy smile and went off to do Thrawn's bidding. Thrawn walked up to the repaired transparisteel windows and stared out at the wreckage of the Far Outsider's ships. He hadn't dared send so much as a probe droid to investigate them, worried that some sort of unseen biological weapon might still be active. The enemy was crafty and he didn't know enough about their ways yet. Nor did he particularly want to, but sometimes sacrifices must be made for the good of everyone else. Thrawn was resigned to learning as much about the enemy's culture as he could, whenever a safe opportunity presented itself. He didn't consider this to be one of those opportunities.

D55/1 BBY

Thrawn's fleet jumped into hyperspace for the final time. Csilla was only three hours away now. He sent a comm message ahead so as not to alarm his people when a new fleet appeared above their planet. Thrawn was amused by the lackey who answered his comm that spent a great deal of time sputtering in shock at hearing the name Mitth'raw'nuruodo. That lackey was replaced with another and another until someone in charge finally answered the comm.

Thrawn was pleased to hear Eli Vanto's voice. "Eli, my friend. I have returned."

"So I hear. And bearing presents," Eli said with amusement in his voice. "It's been a while, Mitthra."

"Yes, it has," Thrawn replied seriously. "I have much to report, but that can wait until everyone is gathered in one place. I take it you've found your place within the inner workings of the Chiss easily enough?"

"With only one or two hiccups," Eli said. "You're name goes a long way, Mitthra, even if they were all starting to believe you were never coming back."

"And did you share their beliefs, Eli?" Thrawn asked curiously.

"Never, Mitthra," Eli said adamantly. "I knew you wouldn't send me here if you didn't plan to return as well."

Thrawn smiled to himself. Eli had ever been a loyal friend. His only one, to be truthful, in the entire Imperial Military. "Thank you for your faith, Eli. Now, I have a request for you."

"Anything," Eli answered.

Thrawn lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I've found my mate, Rulla'aski'ordo, on a desolate swamp planet of all places."

"That's wonderful! You have to tell me how that came to pass," Eli exclaimed.

"I promise I'll tell you the story as soon as I have a minute once I return. But back to my point; I would like to marry her right away, but as can be expected, she has nothing appropriate to wear to a wedding. If I send you her measurements, can you purchase an appropriate gown for me to give her? Also, see if you can locate her surviving family. Her parents are deceased but she has an older brother that had just enlisted in the Military when they left twenty-five years ago. There's also supposed to be an aunt that Rulla remembers fondly."

"Already on it," Eli said brightly. "Anything else? Shall I track down an officiator?"

"That would be appreciated, thank you. If you have time, you could perhaps look for my parents? I'm sure they would like to be at the wedding as well."

Eli laughed. "I don't have to track them down. Somehow I found myself living in their mansion as soon as they found out I was your friend. I'll give them the good news right away."

Thrawn found himself smiling wider. "Thank you again, Eli. I have so missed your efficiency and companionship. I'll see you soon."

"Looking forward to it, Mitthra." Eli disconnected the comm call and Thrawn soon left the communications room to spend a couple of hours with Rulla before arriving at Csilla. It was time to ask the lady in question the most important of questions before he actually sprung their surprise wedding on her. He wanted them married before too many people noticed or questioned his choice of a lower class bride, because once it was done, it couldn't be undone. And once they were married, her name expanded to reflect her new status and then there would no longer be any questions from any who didn't already know what she was. The ironic thing was that if they'd just been normal Chiss, they most likely never would have met. Bridger and the Purrgil had actually done him a favour. Who was laughing now?

Thrawn arrived at Rulla's room in a fantastic mood. The door opened and his mood quickly evaporated as he saw Rulla's tear stained face as she glanced over her shoulder at him where she was standing by the window, the lights of hyperspace highlighting the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What's wrong, dearling?" he asked in their native language of Cheunh. They'd been working on her Basic so she could talk to the humans but it was never going to be their primary language. He went to put an arm around her and draw her close in a hug but she stepped away, keeping her face averted.

"I realized that we won't be able to be together once we get home. You'll be ridiculed for being seen with a lower class female and I could never live with myself for doing that to you," she said in a barely audible tone full of sorrow.

"Oh, Rulla." Thrawn grasped her shoulders gently and turned her around to face him, then putting a finger under her chin and forced her swimming eyes to meet his. "Rulla, I don't care about that. I love you, dearling, and you would do me the greatest honour by agreeing to be my wife."

Rulla froze as she heard the words she never expected to hear. "But... I thought I would be just your mistress at best. You could lose your status by marrying me."

Thrawn smirked slightly, thumb caressing the line of her jaw. "They would never dare try. I can guarantee you there's not another Chiss on the planet who is equipped to deal with the pack of humans I brought back with me. Trust me, Rulla, this will all work out."

"If you're sure?" Thrawn nodded his head and Rulla sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Then yes, Mitthra. I will marry you. I love you too."

Thrawn smiled as his good mood was restored. He lowered his head and kissed the tears off her cheeks before moving to her mouth and kissing her sweetly.

Rulla hummed into his mouth and pressed the kiss into deeper territory, all of her fears forgotten. Eventually she pulled away and pulled Thrawn by the hand towards the bedroom. She'd waited long enough to experience passion at its fullest, and now with his declaration of love, Rulla couldn't think of a good reason to wait any longer.

Thrawn went along happily, content in the knowledge that his patience had paid off and the beautiful girl from the swamp was finally going to be his; by deed in a few minutes and by word in a few hours. He loved when his plans worked out the way he expected them to.

Rulla stopped beside the bed and then didn't know where to go from there. Fortunately, Thrawn did. He kissed her again with all the passion he'd kept pent up for most of his life. His self control didn't let him show it to others very often, but Thrawn was almost always humming with suppressed energy. As his kisses trailed down the line of her jaw and onto her elegant neck, Thrawn was also undoing her uniform, having already memorized long ago exactly what he needed to do to remove her from it.

When he was finished, Rulla stood in nothing but her cascades of hip length dark blue hair, blushing furiously. Thrawn raised his hands. "May I?" he asked gesturing to her hair. She bit her lip, thinking, then nodded. Thrawn gently brushed her hair behind her shoulders and gazed at his perfectly shaped mate in awe. "You're the most beautiful work of art I've ever seen," he breathed, making her smile and meet his eyes more confidently.

She stepped closer to him again and started undoing the buttons on his uniform jacket with slightly trembling fingers. "Fair's fair, dearheart. I get to see you too."

Thrawn stood still and let her undress him as slowly and carefully as she wanted, calling on his self control again, as all he really wanted to do was set a record for stripping and toss her on the bed and have his way with her until she screamed in ecstasy. Her fingers traced the muscles in his arms admiringly, causing a little thrill to go through Thrawn. Her touch was electric and he craved more of it. When she pulled off his belt and her fingers came oh so close to his aching arousal, Thrawn had to close his eyes for a moment and recite a calming chant to keep himself in check. And that was nothing compared to when she actually undid his trousers. That oh so close turned into a reality as she brushed his throbbing hardon accidentally. He'd sucked in a breath and she'd actually stopped breathing before blushing harder but continuing anyway and tugging his trousers down so he could step out of them.

When Rulla had him down to just his undershirt and shorts, she lost her courage and stopped again, looking up at him with wide eyes. Thrawn reassured her with a gentle kiss to the forehead and pulled off his own undershirt. Her fingers grew courageous again and she placed her hands on his pecs, eyes running up and down his torso with raised brows. "If anyone is perfection, it is you, Mitthra."

That was it. Thrawn's control snapped momentarily at her compliment. He shucked his undershorts and picked her up before she really had time to more than glimpse the hard length that stood at attention for her. Thrawn walked the two steps to the bed and gently placed her on it. He lay down beside her, kissing her like his life depended on it. One hand lost itself in her wonderfully soft hair while the other travelled from her chest down to her warm center. She gasped into his mouth as his finger found her clit and tweaked it a little. He quickly moved further down and found her moist opening, feeling way too small to fit his girth.

Thrawn groaned and kissed her some more before working his way down to her breasts and lavishing attention on them. Meanwhile, his fingers were busy with her clit and her opening. He worked a finger into her slowly, relishing how tight she was but knowing she needed to relax if he was ever going to join with her without hurting her.

Rulla whimpered and cried as Thrawn made her feel things she'd never felt before. Being so young when she was shipwrecked, she only had a basic understanding of how this worked. She'd experimented enough to know that if she played with her clit enough, she would climax pleasurably, but this was already way beyond those meagre sensations. Thrawn had her body humming and jolting as he worked it. She could feel herself getting wetter and wetter and she heard his little grunt of satisfaction when he managed to insert a second finger in her.

While his fingers stroked in and out of her, gradually widening, Thrawn kissed his way back to her mouth. He withdraw his fingers and rolled on top of her, perching just above so as not to crush her delicate frame with his weight that almost doubled hers. He kissed her deep and placed the head of his cock at her opening, now ready for him. Thrawn shuddered as he slid into her tight heat all the way to the very depths of her. He was in heaven and he never wanted to leave. He slowly withdrew until only the head remained in her clasping tunnel and then surged back in.

Rulla cried into his mouth at the sensation and grabbed onto his back tighter, digger her nails in. As his thrusts gradually increased in speed, Rulla tossed her head back and just felt the pleasure being driven into her.

Thrawn kissed the line of her neck and sucked the side gently, but not long enough to leave a mark. He would never embarrass her on her wedding day, since a marriage gown would leave her neck and shoulders bare for everyone to see. "Is this good, dearling?" he asked as he kept up his pace of fast and deep. When all he got was an ecstatic sounding cry in reply, Thrawn smiled and thrust a little harder, quickly working towards what felt like a soul shattering climax.

Rulla was starting to tense and tremble as her orgasm built and built. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clawed his back out of sheer desperation. "Mitthraaaaaa," she cried.

Thrawn got the hint and took his thrusts up to the final level of hard and deep, really pounding into her hot tunnel. She tensed even further and her back bowed off the bed as she spasmed around his thrusting length. Thrawn let go of the durasteel hold he had on his control and released into her, sending his seed deep inside her womb in blast after blast of pleasure that wracked his body.

They clung to each other as the tension slowly drained from their sweat covered bodies. Thrawn rolled over onto his back, keeping them joined as she draped over his chest, feeling boneless. He could feel the caress of her hair as it fell over both of them and he knew he would never get tired of her glorious hair. He'd never seen such a length of hair before and he loved it. The elite of the humans might grow it that long, but they tended to keep it up in fancy braids or headdresses. The Ladies of the Chiss weren't much different, but as far as he knew, they never let it grow past the middle of their backs, as more hair than that was a pain to take care of. Rulla had mentioned cutting her hair once and only once. Thrawn had begged her to leave it, and she'd agreed with a knowing smile. He thought afterwards that she had just been testing him to see if he really did like her, for if he didn't, he wouldn't care what she did with her hair.

After many wonderful minutes just being held by his strong arms, Rulla worked up the energy to sit up enough so she could see his handsome face. "Mitthra?"

"Hmmmm?" he rumbled.

"I hope you want children, because you just came in me and I'm not on anything," she said as she nibbled on her lip worriedly.

Thrawn smiled beatifically and ran a hand through her tresses. "I would love some children with you, dearling. The sooner the better. We're not getting any younger, you know," he said teasingly.

Rulla rolled her eyes and snuggled back down into his chest, drawing an absent pattern on the muscle beside her eyes. "Don't remind me."

She wriggled around a little more, looking for an even better spot, but froze as she felt his length harden again inside her. She sat up again. "We can do it again?" she said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Thrawn chuckled and thrust up slightly, demonstrating. "Yes, Rulla, if you want, we can do it again."

Rulla smiled in anticipation, but not knowing what to do next. Thrawn showed her by grasping her hips and raising her with his strong arms and letting her fall back down. "Ohhhh," she cried. Getting the idea, Rulla took over, raising herself up and dropping back down.

Thrawn smiled up at her and watched the show as she learned how to pleasure herself with his body. And what a show it was. Her eyes closed and her lips parted as she panted. Her breasts bounced enticingly with every movement of her body and her blue skin glistened. She really was the most perfect piece of art ever made.

After giving Captain Yarce some last minute instructions regarding rotating shore leave for the crews of the ISDs, Thrawn and Rulla took a shuttle down to the capital city of Csilla, Csaplar. They both stared at the ice bound planet as they descended, eyes looking for it be different somehow, but the planet looked exactly as they both remembered. White and frigid.

"Home," Rulla breathed.

"Home," Thrawn agreed. The trip from orbit to city couldn't go fast enough for either of them.

They landed on the private pad of Thrawn's ancestral home, on the outskirts of the city. For now, Thrawn was avoiding giving his report to the Ascendency. They were impatient, but he'd said he needed an hour of personal time, so they reluctantly granted it. Not like they had a choice. Thrawn wasn't going to show up until he was good and ready, and that wasn't until he'd married his mate.

As the ramp of the shuttle lowered, Rulla got her first look at the people who came rushing out of the mansion to meet them. She didn't recognize some of them, but two stood out and her eyes were immediately drawn to them. "Byrni," she cried as she rushed into her older brother's waiting arms, hugging him tight. He wasn't the young man she remembered but was instantly recognizable as her brother. Next she moved into the arms of her mother's sister. "Delpha."

Thrawn was enjoying his own reunion with his parents that he hadn't seen for almost half his life. His tiny mother hugged him tight and his father had a look of fierce pride on his face as he they gazed at each other over his softly crying mother's head. Thrawn's parents' hair was greying now, but they looked much the same as he remembered.

Eli stood patiently off to the side, waiting his turn to greet his best friend. He admired the woman Thrawn had found, thinking his friend had done very well for himself, but she didn't quite compare to the girl he had found. He'd tell Thrawn about her when things settled down.

Soon enough, Thrawn turned his attention to Eli. They exchanged smiles and back claps. "Did you find a gown?" Thrawn whispered.

Eli grinned and whispered back. "Did I ever. It turns out that Rulla's aunt has had her mother's wedding gown in storage all these years. It's the traditional gown of their family and is in perfect condition and happens to be the correct size. Your girl should be very happy with it."

"And an officiator?" Thrawn asked, pleased for Rulla that she would get to be married in her family gown.

"Inside, waiting."

Thrawn squeezed Eli's shoulder thankfully. "Eli, I don't know what I would do without you sometimes. I owe you a great debt."

Eli smiled with a lot of teeth showing. "You could take me back as your second in command. Living planetside is boring. I want to go on adventures again and fight the Far Outsiders with you."

"Done," Thrawn said before getting distracted by Rulla, who came over, happy tears in her eyes.

"Thank you, Mitthra, for the gift of finding my family," she said, hugging one of his arms and looking up at him adoringly.

Thrawn smiled down at her and kissed her temple. "That's not the only surprise I have for you, dearling."

A/N: And that's it for Thrawn's storyline (or is it?). Writing space battles really isn't my thing, so you'll just have to imagine a long drawn out war that lasts years. But at the same time, Thrawn and Rulla live happily ever after on the Chimaera with the twin boys that she had a prompt nine months after their wedding day. Eli Vanto also marries his girl and they join Thrawn on the Chimaera and have a couple of kids as well.

I hope you all enjoyed my sappy version of Thrawn's story. I sincerely doubt this is what really happened to him, but hey, even the villains deserve a happy ending sometimes, right?