"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."

Joseph Addison

As Grand Admiral Thrawn's Lamda shuttle docked with the Star Destroyer the Crimson Asp, the Chiss readied himself to exit. Standing erect, hands behind his back, Captain Vult Skerris, Commander of his TIE Defender Squadron to his right, Thrawn was an imposing sight even though there was yet anyone to observe him. He was not entirely pleased about being invited aboard the Crimson Asp. But having just been promoted to Grand Admiral, Governor Arhinda Pryce had been told it was quite necessary for the politics involved if he wanted his Defender Project to keep its current funding.

And Grand Admiral Uriellien Viita had asked for a small contingency of TIE Defenders to use for his own fight against the rebels on Astarrax. His home planet, now within his jurisdiction at the borders of Wild Space, it, like Lothal, had cells entrenched due to its remote location. "An experiment, if you will," Uriellien Viita had said. "It will give you more information on the validity of your craft and give me a chance to eradicate some of the space-borne terrorists that bother my system."

Thrawn had conceded to the request, allowing three of Viita's pilots to train under Skerris before returning to the Crimson Asp for the 'experiment' to begin. Now, he was going to see the results, albeit from a holoprojector, before getting his three Defenders back.

The back of the shuttle lowered, showing Viita with two attendants on each side of him. "Grand Admiral Thrawn!" he boomed, coming forward with a wide smile. The man was what most human cultures would have considered a sun god—golden curls swirled about his head, eyes the color of an oxygen-rich blue sky, skin like a porcelain doll. Thrawn had heard him called The Light of the Navy. He guessed this was why.

He held his hand out and grasped Thrawn's forearm in a firm, friendly grip. "Welcome aboard the Crimson Asp."

"Thank you for the invitation," Thrawn said in reply, releasing Viita's forearm. He was much too touchy-feely for Thrawn's taste. Though a study of Astarraxian culture had told him that among family and close comrades, a great deal of touch was common. It was one of the things that, in a crowd, differentiated closeness from social distance.

"Captain Skerris," Viita acknowledged with a nod of the head.

"Sir." The commander of the TIE Defenders saluted.

Viita gestured to the individual on his right, a native Astarraxian. His lavender skin was marked with red swirls up the side of his face to his hairline and down his neck into his tunic collar. High cheekbones and large, black eyes looked back at Thrawn. "Grand Admiral," he said with a slight bow. "I am Governor Ophun. Astarrax appreciates the help you've given us with our fight against the rebels."

Thrawn gave a small nod in reply. "Whatever help I can render, I am happy to give."

"Come!" Viita clasped Thrawn on the shoulder and all but pushed him forward as he turned to walk. Thrawn glanced at his hand in warning, but the other man didn't seem to notice. "Let me show you what we were able to do with your TIEs. And only three of them! I can't see how you can be denied funding for this project. These things are like buried treasure!"

He led them to the command conference room. Thrawn already knew the way, of course. It was identical to that of the Chimaera, as was the conference room itself, save it had obviously been recently refurbished. With Uriellien Viita being the newest appointed Grand Admiral, one of his benefits had most likely been the overhauled Crimson Asp. Thrawn was aware that Viita had taken a long shore leave after his promotion, which was most unusual. Perhaps that was the reason why.

On the holodisplay now presented a fight scene with the three of Thrawn's TIE Defenders against seven mismatched spacecraft above the surface of Astarrax. With their superior speed, maneuvering, weapons, and shields, it took no time at all for the three Defender pilots to ground or destroy all seven rebel fighters.

Thrawn wasn't impressed.

"That was an easy victory, Grand Admiral," Thrawn said cooly.

"With those," Viita gestured to the now empty holodisplay. "And with pilots like that. I don't know what you did to train them, Captain Skerris, but you did a damn good job. I'm making them train the rest of my TIE fighter pilots."

Skerris smiled smugly and nodded. "Thank you, sir."

"I hate to be giving them back," Viita said.

"Giving them back?" Ophun was abashed. "What do you mean, give them back?"

"That's the definition of the word borrowed, Governor," said Viita, annoyance creeping into his voice. "You give them back."

"But—but—I thought we were to keep them!"

"You thought wrong, Governor." Viita's voice was cold. He turned to Thrawn. "I will, of course, be putting in the paperwork to obtain a squadron."

"I look forward to receiving the order," Thrawn said.

Viita took out the datacard from the holodisplay and held it out to Thrawn. "This has all of the battle stats from the Crimson Asp's perspective. The rest of the data is in my office."

"The rest of the data?" Thrawn asked, following Viita out of the conference room. He noticed that Ophun walked with them, his steps hurried trying to keep up with their military gait.

"Someone smarter than I told me if this was an experiment then I should give you as much data as I could," Viita said. "So I have all of the data from each training flight, the actual flight, the care logs, and a journal of each of the three pilots for your people to review."

Thrawn raised his eyebrows. While he had anticipated the logs of the Defender's themselves and the Crimson Asp, the journals of the pilots were not something he expected. "That is very thorough of you."

"I like to be thorough when I can," Viita said, glancing at Ophun knowingly.

The Astarraxian governor's cheeks turned a darker shade of purple and he averted his eyes. That there was obvious strain between the two men over something was obvious now to Thrawn. That they would be showing force over it in the presence of someone else particularly Astarraxian of them both.

The door to Viita's office opened, welcoming the three of them in. While the room was in the same place and structured the same way as in the Chimaera, Viita's decor was radically different. Live plants stood on pedestals and hung from the ceiling, displaying all colors of green. Several of them bloomed in large, colorful flowers of deep pinks and oranges. Several lace pieces were framed and placed upon the wall, and everything that was set on the bookshelves or desk had a lace mat or doily underneath it.

But what dominated the room was a huge portrait of a woman who looked like a female version of him. Though it was an Imperial-style painting, the woman's long golden curls were piled on top of her head naturally without a hair-adding headdress. Her dress was obviously expensive, but not overly ornate. In her lowered hand she held a datapad, and in the raised one a stylus. Her bright blue eyes stared out into the office sweetly, just as her smile radiated off the canvas.

"Uh…" Ophus looked the painting up and down and took a deep breath in. "Your mother?" he asked in a confused voice.

Viita looked at him as if he'd gone crazy. "No," he said in a withering voice. Then turned to the portrait. His gaze changed to one of adulation or wonder as if he could contemplate the piece for a long time if he chose. "That is my sister," he said with reverence. "Everything good I learned in this life, I learned from her."

"Ah!" Ophus said with a sigh that sounded relieved. "That makes much more sense."

"In fact, Grand Admiral, you remind me of her," Viita said gently. It was the first time his voice had been mild the entire time Thrawn had heard him speak.

"I am afraid I do not see the resemblance," Thrawn said.

Viita laughed. "Not in how you look. Or in how you act." He shook his head, still gazing at the picture. "But in how you feel. She's like you. She can do whatever she sets her mind to." His gaze turned to Thrawn, and it had the same look of wonder on it that it did while looking at the painting.

Just as Thrawn was about the say something, the look was gone.

"She chose to set her mind on poetry," Viita said, turning and heading to his desk. "I will have to introduce you to her one day." He picked up a box that was sitting on it and handed it to Thrawn. "This is the rest of the Defender data. I hope that you can find it useful."

Thrawn took it. "I will, indeed," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I will show myself back to my shuttle. I have things to attend to. " He had no desire to stay here. He had his own rebels to take care of, his own Governor to chastise, and his own TIE Defender Project to oversee.

Viita seemed visibly disappointed. "Of course, Admiral. You know the way."

"I do. The pilots I have brought along have already procured the TIE Defenders, I am sure."

"I am sure they have," Viita agreed. "Thank you again for lending the TIEs to me."

"You are most welcome." And with that, Thrawn turned his back on Viita and walked out of the office, Captain Skerris right behind him.