Chapter 20: A Dangerous Revelation
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"Long is the war. Only by surviving it, will you prevail." —Yoda
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Stormtrooper Commander Ayer's armored boots produced hollow clacks as he slowly made his way down the metallic hallway leading into Thrawn's— Commodore Faro's— office. He had his helmet tucked underneath his arm and glanced at small pieces of art resting on top of pedestals lining the entryway as he walked. An eerie aura of the past day crept up Ayer's spine. Sentinel droids no longer stood guard, but the décor of the corridor had not changed.
Major Ayer paused at the end of the hallway, and he found Commodore Faro sitting on top of the desk, unfurling a partially bloody bandage off of her right hand in obvious frustration.
Faro froze with a jolt. Her right hand hovered before her face, partially unwrapped, and she held a mangled bunch of unfurled bandage in her other hand. The outstretched bandage hung lackadaisically between, connecting the two. Faro's eyes twitched over the sight of her hands and then to Ayer's face. Both were frozen silent, but the contortion of Major Ayer's eyebrows was enough to convey a question.
"Oh, I'm a blubbering mess," Faro muttered. She cleared her throat. "Come in, come in, Major."
"Can I—," Major Ayer began, but abruptly stopped with a flinch as Faro became animated again.
She fiercely tugged the bandage, and most unraveled with a mighty whip through the air. But part remained anchored around her wrist. Faro stubbornly tugged a few more times against the cloth's resistance but moaned when she realized it wouldn't budge. Doctor Zahara Cody had masterfully wrapped the injury.
"Can I be of assistance, Commodore?" Ayer slowly asked as Faro pressed the mangled bunch of released bandage to her right palm.
"Ah… yes," Faro said. Her palm began to throb as a small amount of blood trickled away from her wound. "The very top left drawer…" She indicated the direction behind her with her left elbow. "…I have bacta ointment stored there."
Ayer nodded and stiffly made his way around the desk. He opened the drawer and hesitated when he found a collapsible melee baton and an old but sleek blaster pistol tucked inside beside the ointment.
"It should be just on top," Faro said.
Ayer glanced his intuitive eyes up at Faro, her back to him as she sat on the desk and pressed on her hand. The Jedi Temple Guard mask rested behind her there on its stand, and Ayer's combat sense oddly felt it observing him as he returned his attention back to the drawer. Glancing over the unusual blaster one more time, he grabbed the small bacta canister and made his way to the front of the desk.
Ayer realized she would have trouble handling the canister, so he set his helmet down on the desk with a small clonk and twisted the canister open with armored hands. Faro grimaced as the canister popped and ripped, revealing it was the first time being opened and used. He rose an eyebrow and glanced from the canister to meet Faro's guilty eyes.
"If I may speak freely Commodore Faro," Ayer said softly.
Faro nodded, her voice equally soft. "You may, Major…"
Ayer shifted away from the desk slowly. His armored feet clacked methodically on the metallic floor as he positioned himself in front of her, and he dared to face her rather closely as he narrowed his eyes with a sigh. Even though accusing, Faro saw his eyes echoed a kind concern.
"Did not Doctor Cody say to apply this every twelve hours?" Ayer insisted. He held the canister closer to her in emphasis.
"She did," Faro replied.
"And nearly sixteen have passed."
Faro's voice held a defiant edge. "That would be correct, Major."
Ayer's unfaltering gaze held her own and remained steady in the wake of her exposed stubbornness. She huffed in frustration and began patting the blood away from her right palm with the frazzled bunch of bandage. Ayer hummed a sarcastic affirmation.
"If I'm allowed a defense," Faro said. "Our standard arrival to Lothal was going to be my indication as time for application."
Ayer shook the bacta canister as if it were sauce intended for a meal. "That was before our own blockades hindered our progress and altered routes."
He squeezed the bacta canister gently one last time and offered it to her.
"Right." Faro swiped a portion of the bacta. "Thank you," she muttered.
She avoided Ayer's eyes and applied the cool healing ointment to her pained palm. It was a nice comforting sensation as the medicine began to calm her wound. Should have applied this sooner, Faro thought.
The bandage loosely hung to the ground, still anchored to her wrist. Ayer chuckled softly and reached for the back of his belt.
"Here, let me see your hand," Ayer said offering a hand to her. With a flip of his other wrist, he expertly unhooked and extended a collapsible knife.
Faro startled at the ease with which he brandished the knife. Ayer saw her hesitation and rose his eyebrows insistently. "It's just in the way," he said.
Faro scrunched her face and scrutinized him as if he had lost his mind. Ayer realized her train of thought and nearly rolled his eyes were it not for his hold upon Imperial decorum.
"The bandage?" Ayer emphasized.
"Oh…"
Ayer masked his amusement. "Let me cut it off, it's in your way. We can get Doctor Cody to apply a new one later."
Faro saw her palm had stopped bleeding, though still angry and inflamed. She offered her arm to him with a timid stubbornness, and his touch was surprisingly delicate. Ayer placed his armored palm underneath her wrist, careful not to cause her any pain, and gently lifted the bandage with his thumb. An inexplicable urge to giggle rose up Faro's spine. She had to look away as she pursed her lips, trying not to laugh.
"What did you think I meant?" Ayer asked with a small smile. He began carefully slicing at the bandage.
"I thought you'd gone completely mad quite frankly," Faro began, as she looked back at him. There he was, the man beyond the soldier. "Like you just transformed into an uncivilized Hutt that had determined my hand to be worthless scrap to be thrown as fodder to a wild tusklan."
"Quite the description," Ayer said with a huff. He rose an eyebrow. "How much sleep have you gotten?"
"A little here and there," Faro said.
"So, none at all," Ayer said as the bandage fell away into his hand.
Faro sighed. Major Ayer was good at reading people. That's what made him an excellent Stormtrooper Commander for the ISD Chimaera.
"I caught myself nodding off at one point," she said as she slid down from the desk, careful with her right hand. She scooped up the now useless cloth from the floor, and Ayer allowed the bandage to slide from his armored hand. It was as if the joviality of the moment slid away with it, a grim but shared tension replacing it.
Ayer re-secured the knife to his belt with instinctive ease and assessed Faro's demeanor with his soldier's bearing. He could see there was a burden and an air of anxiety hanging around her as she rounded the desk. She opened a low cabinet with a small kick of her foot.
"Which, you're correct…" Faro threw the remains of the bandage into a waste basket tucked inside the desk cabinet. She sighed again as she straightened and looked to Major Ayer with the tired eyes of leadership. "…not really any at all. Too much to think about and consider."
Major Ayer picked up his helmet from the desk and tucked it underneath his arm again. He nodded in deference and offered the bacta canister to her. Ayer witnessed her regress toward her memories as she took it. Her expression held an aura of sour confusion mixed with almost a hint of grief. And betrayal?
Her eyes wandered up and caught Ayer's. Unspoken understanding rested between them both as leaders on the ISD Chimaera and as shaken souls caught together inside a callously austere system of Imperial authority and dissimulation.
"Thank you, Major," she said quietly. With almost an air of reverence, she opened the drawer and placed the bacta canister inside.
"It was the Grand Admiral's?" Ayer asked.
Faro caught her breath and paused with her hand on the drawer.
"The blaster I mean," Ayer continued, motioning toward the drawer.
"Ah— yes, I believe it was." Faro grimaced. It was. Not, it is. She cleared her throat, looking down. "The baton as well I'm sure, though, I never saw him use either of them."
Ayer hummed thoughtfully, his gaze lingering on their former leader's effects.
"How is the crew?" Faro asked, slowly closing the drawer. Ayer moved his gaze up and met her eyes, lingering there a moment with calculations echoing like a distant shadow. It was as if he had just closed himself off from her.
"Quiet," Ayer said eventually. "Grand Admiral Thrawn's absence is felt ship-wide, though the crew remains efficient and ready."
His eyes flashed subtly, and Faro seemed unsure how to proceed.
"Crew morale isn't why you requested me here though is it," he continued after her hesitation.
"Not entirely, no," Faro said.
"There's no indication any suspect the true nature of his absence," Ayer said. "Only Doctor Zahara Cody knows outside you and I."
"That's… not why I—"
"Though if the crew were aware, I would advise you to be cautious of discontent. The Grand Admiral inspired a rare loyalty among us."
The emphasis Major Ayer placed on us did not go unnoticed by Commodore Faro. Was that a threat? Or just blunt advice?
"I appreciate the assessment," Faro said. Her voice remained strong and powerful, but a part of her began to worry if Ayer would be a problem. She relented yet another sigh and leaned her forearms on the chair in front of her. The tension she held released as she relaxed her shoulders. She was tired.
"I know you're in a nearly impossible position," Ayer said quietly. "I acknowledge that…" Faro looked up to find a rigid sympathy, as if the soldier in Ayer was afraid to show anything other than the indifference of Imperial regulation. "…I just can't accept Lord Va—," he stopped himself. Can't accept Lord Vader's actions. Can't accept what Lord Vader did to his Grand Admiral. It was dangerous to finish the sentence aloud even if Faro and Ayer perhaps shared the same mentality. He averted his eyes in the quiet room with a grimace and shook his head.
"I couldn't stop it," Faro eventually whispered, understanding his train of thought. Her eyes began to glisten with a haunted sheen. Ayer's Imperial dignity began to crack as well, his gaze contorting to mirror hers as he looked at her again.
She shook her head. "I tried—"
"I know you did," Ayer said, taking a breath. "I've heard stories of Lord Vader, some from Commander Kimmund himself while he and his First Legion were stationed here while in the Unknown Region. There's only so much you can do against that kind of fury. I tried myself and were it not for your interference…"
Ayer's voice trailed off as memory involuntarily flashed before his mind's eye. An invisible force around his throat. The need to get to his Grand Admiral. Can't breathe. Lifted into the air. Can't breathe. Vader's malicious voice, "The only thing you must understand Major Ayer is that I have power." Can't breathe. —
"Major?" Faro's voice was soft. She saw his mind return and perhaps again glimpsed the man beyond the soldier, seeing now a troubled spirit through his glossed eyes instead of that jovial soul from before.
Ayer's voice was soft and slow, as if he were unsure of its current strength. "Were it not for your interference, I would have fallen victim to it as well."
His eyes spoke thanks. And loyalty. Was that a loyalty Faro deserved? Her guilt would always tell her, no. Faro rose to a timid straightness. She blamed herself and felt Ayer should direct that same blame toward her also, not toward himself. But it became evident they both carried a personal blame, each toward themselves and found a companionship within that depression.
"It was only something Grand Admiral Thrawn would have done himself for you," Faro said.
Ayer hummed. "No doubt."
Faro blinked her emotion away along with a shaky breath, while Ayer appeared to be in a similar struggle in the echoed silence of the office. They found themselves as companions standing upon a narrow sand bridge that held them up toward what was now a crumbling Imperial longevity. A narrow sand bridge that was quickly eroding and under which neither knew rested below.
Faro pressed her hand to the spherical instrument panel before her on the desk, and her voice became hushed as a small trill emitted from the device. "I wanted to show you something," she said.
The office holoprojector whirled to life, and a cool light illuminated them in an eerie blue glow as projections of Thrawn's research and art appeared around them in a semi-circle. Ayer slowly turned as he examined the array of images. Ancient depictions of Mandalorians hovered beside pictures of a young Ezra Bridger and Hera Syndulla with her parents. Curious images of what appeared to be a maze inside of a wolf's head and people riding atop other wolves racing across an unknown plain completed the array.
"These are some of the images that so enraptured Grand Admiral Thrawn amid our campaign to capture the rebels of Phoenix Squadron, or the Spectres as they labeled themselves," Faro said as she walked to stand with Major Ayer. She placed her right wrist in her left hand behind her back as she stopped, unconsciously mirroring Thrawn's typical stance. "Have you seen these before, Major?"
"Not long enough to appreciate the detail," Ayer said. His voice held awe as he stepped closer to the image of the wolf riders. Such a curious image. "One time I believe I interrupted his studies…" Ayer was caught by surprise as he turned, noticing Faro's familiar stance. "…He didn't leave them up long enough for a good look, Commodore."
"I see." Faro narrowed her eyes briefly before scanning the array of images herself again. "There's a lot more going on than I think we realize."
"In what way?" Ayer asked, his face abandoning wide-eyed curiosity for layered concern.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn left me a holo-message upon his inability to lead the Chimaera any longer. It activated just before I injured my hand." Faro unconsciously pulsed the fingers of her right hand. Her eyes became a masked pain as she continued. "He was highly cognizant of the dangers of battle and even more so apparently of Lord Vader's bearing toward him. I would show you part of the message, but it can only be activated when I'm alone."
"I don't understand," Ayer said, shaking his head. "He knew Lord Vader might take him out?"
"Grand Admiral Thrawn was aware of a threat beyond the known galaxy that apparently rivals the Empire's strength. I don't believe Lord Vader agreed," Faro said as she caught his gaze. Ayer flinched at the prospect.
"What could possibly rival our fleet?" Ayer muttered.
"I don't know; he described the Grysks as a branch toward another, though never named it. He seemed concerned about revealing everything to me. There's something evil out there in the Unknown Regions, and his Chiss Ascendancy hoped to find allies against it. He said his people are dying…" Faro's voice trailed off, and she averted her eyes as she remembered the look in Thrawn's own crimson orbs in the holo. That coupled with the more recent revelation of his homeworld being attacked with someone dear to him missing nearly broke her where she stood. Major Ayer was shocked to silence as he watched his Commodore. Faro had been carrying a burden of knowledge beyond what he expected.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn mentioned mixed loyalties during our battle with the Grysks. It is there where I believe Lord Vader saw the basis… or excuse… for his actions," Faro said, her voice a bit shaken as she met Ayer's gaze again. "No matter how vain or contrived."
"This evil…," Ayer softly prompted. "Is Imperial leadership aware of it?"
"It doesn't seem so. Or they've ignored him entirely," Faro said with exhaustion. "Lord Vader wouldn't heed his warnings, and I don't believe other officers in a position of influence would have listened with their xenophobic inclinations… It is that resistance to his efforts to warn them that I believe led to the Grand Admiral acting alone and, ultimately sparking Lord Vader into actions of his own."
Major Ayer considered the mural of Rebel Captain Hera Syndulla and her parents. "That explains Thrawn's need for the rebellion to end so quickly; they're just a distraction from the true threat. Also, his disagreement with leadership in spreading the fleet too thin."
Ayer noticed Faro's questioning look. He tilted his head, offering, "I was present during a conversation between the Grand Admiral and Grand Moff Tarkin. Apparently Imperial leadership was entertaining the idea of a more powerful singular project at one point instead of the Tie Defender program and overall fleet production."
Faro nodded her head and looked away, her eyes unfocusing. Her face was grim as she entrenched herself in her thoughts. Is that the object they were scanning that sparked this mess? It would make sense. She shook herself out of her reverie.
"This array of images," Faro said waving her hand across them. Ayer followed her motion and entertained his curiosity again. "These are the last of Grand Admiral Thrawn's research. Do you see a common link?"
"I see two of our primary targets, Ezra Bridger and Hera Syndulla…" But Ayer didn't see a connection. He shook his head as he stepped toward the Mandalorian and waved his hand across the ancient image. "…but this, and the wolves; I am unsure."
Faro watched him patiently and then scanned the images again in measured silence before making her way to an unusual statue that stood just beyond the image of the wolves at the far side of the room. It was then that Major Ayer saw an echo of his Grand Admiral and was unexpectedly comforted at the sight. How she slowly carried herself with her hands crisply set behind her back; her methodical patience amid questions of intellect and revelation. It was an echo but it was there. All of that time as his second-in-command shaped the bounds of her nature.
The statue was tall and grotesque. It resembled perhaps a monster of myth that would surely send children into a fright at the sight of it. Faro placed her left hand on its seemingly wooden surface and turned to face Ayer, her jaw stiff.
"The Force is what they have in common, Major Ayer," Faro said with a grim confidence. She softly patted the statue. "This is a Bardottan statue. It depicts a demon of war worshipped by some of the Bardottan people called Malmourral, and in myth it would drain the Living Force of individuals offered as sacrifice to it."
She nodded toward the images of wolves and continued, "The wolves are creatures of Lothal and so named Loth-wolves. Research reveals them to have a connection to the Force and are a sort of guardian to the planet. And the maze within one of their minds, that is perhaps the most perplexing, but it seems to depict ancient pathways or coordinates. Whether the path is literal or not remains a mystery."
Faro's hand slid from the Bardottan statue and indicated to the other images as she made her way to the semicircle's center again. Her voice was filled with a smooth reverence as she revealed the nature of her Grand Admiral's tapestry.
"Ezra Bridger, a Jedi and strong student of the Force. Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian Jedi of ancient times, carrying the unique Darksaber. The Jedi temple mask on the desk, I believe indicative of Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus," Faro said. She placed both hands behind her back again with a deep breath and caught Ayer's curious gaze. "It seems Grand Admiral Thrawn sought to understand different aspects of the Force, and I believe wished to utilize it toward an advantage against whatever evil awaits us beyond the known galaxy."
Ayer scrunched his eyebrows. "But what of Hera Syndulla?"
"Where she goes, so follows Kanan and Ezra… and with her removal from the Rebellion's leadership, much of their cause would also crumble."
"And the quicker Grand Admiral Thrawn would be able to focus on the greater threat out there," Ayer said, beginning to understand.
"Exactly." Faro turned her focus to the spherical statue flanked by creatures known by only a few as ysalamiri. A chill seemed to envelop the atmosphere of the room as Ayer saw her gaze shift to a haunted echo. And fear? "The sphere. What do you make of it, Major?"
Major Ayer pursed his lips and followed her gaze. He didn't recognize anything unusual about the spherical statue, but, glancing back to Commodore Faro's haunted eyes told him he should reconsider the assessment.
"I… see a statue of a world, Commodore," Ayer said as he hesitated his eyes toward the sphere again. "I always assumed it to be an artistic rendition of Grand Admiral Thrawn's homeworld. A sort of keepsake and memory, though… I'm sure you're going to tell me otherwise now."
Faro huffed an apprehensive chuckle. "Yes."
A part of her was enjoying this despite the serious nature of their conversation. Faro felt connected to Thrawn's legacy as she perhaps took on the role for Ayer that he so patiently enveloped for her. Teacher. Leader. Fath—
She rubbed her right wrist with her left thumb as she sought the proper words and fought her foreboding dread about her discovery. Her shoulders were unrelenting in her attempts to relieve the tension.
"It is no artistic rendition," she said quietly. "Perhaps it did serve as a reminder for him, but it is so much more. That is a Bardottan or Living Sphere. Similar and perhaps of familiar ilk as the orbs of the arcane Nightsisters, it was used in ancient rituals to drain and store the Living Force from others."
Ayer felt the breath leave his lungs as he took in the orb with new eyes.
"The ysalamiri creatures flanking the orb indicate to me that Grand Admiral Thrawn was aware of its original purpose," Faro said. "From the little notes I was able to read, ysalamiri in nature have an innate ability of creating a Force-neutral field around them. I think he therefore understood the dangers of the orb, and whether the statues here are merely an artistic warning or have an active effect on the Living Sphere I cannot say."
"Well I'm not touching it to find out anytime soon," Ayer said.
"I would advise against that, yes," she said with a small smirk. "Though apparently the sphere glows green once activated and is therefore inert as it stands now. The means of activation are also unknown and perhaps require the Force itself."
"Now I don't blame you for getting little rest," Ayer said. Faro found his face to be kind.
"Indeed. To have something like that hovering behind you… it's not the best feeling in the worlds…" Faro smiled a sad smile, averting her solemn eyes. The burden of her newfound position, and the knowledge she carried, was beginning to take its full weight upon her. "I don't know how he did it all," she muttered.
"Only today," Ayer said softly. He returned her sad smile when her glistening and unsure gaze reached him again. "He said that to me once, while I was… entrenched… in compiling problems as Stormtrooper Commander. It can be tricky sometimes, juggling the needs of many troopers at once. He was kind to offer me advice…" He chuckled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling to the tone. "…I may have resigned or requested transfer were it not for him. One thing at a time. Focus on what you can accomplish today, but still with the larger point of view in mind, is essentially what he told me."
"Only today," Faro muttered. She narrowed her eyes, eventually focusing on the Living Sphere again. "That's good advice…" She took a slow breath, her shoulders finally relaxing. "…I'm glad you stayed, Major Ayer. Though I'll understand if you may not share the same sentiment after all of this."
"I don't intend on going anywhere," Ayer said, shaking his head. His eyes were piercing with conviction, his voice strong. "Not after what they did to him…" His voice took on an angered shake. "…Damn… or what they're currently doing to him."
Faro had resolved to not think about what her Grand Admiral was currently enduring. Especially considering how injured he was when she last saw him. Though never personally involved with the higher echelons of interrogation— torture, she knew and was horrifyingly aware of what could be happening to Thrawn at the moment. While the rest of the Empire was unaware of the truth, Faro, Ayer and Zahara were alone, together, in what they knew.
"We must be careful," Faro said, filled with caution. "I intend to learn more of this greater threat; intend to continue the research that Grand Admiral Thrawn started, but… the entire ship is under scrutiny after Lord Vader's accusation."
"Is there nothing we can do for him?" Ayer asked. He knew the question was nearly pointless, but it was a hope that they both felt in their heart. Their loyalty for their former leader was strongly rooted within each of them.
Faro solemnly shook her head. Her eyes spoke of the doubt and chagrin that her voice dared to not utter, for if her fears, grounded in a harsh reality, were said aloud, that last spark of hope may ultimately be extinguished within them both. She didn't have the heart to do that.
After a moment, Commodore Faro opened her mouth to speak but flinched as she was interrupted suddenly by a mellow tone of her comm. She pressed her hand to the device and Lieutenant Lomar's unsettled voice emitted over the comm.
"Commodore Faro, Lieutenant Lomar here; I apologize for the interruption. A live priority message has just been received for you."
"Ah…that's okay, Lieutenant. Who's trying to reach me?"
"Grand Moff Tarkin."