Fate, So Beautifully
A Star Wars Romance
Written by: Nehru_Amidala
Inspirations: the myth of Hades and Persephone, Sailor Moon, Edward Scissorhands, The Nutcracker, The Thrawn Trilogy, Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Downton Abbey
Pairings: Thrawn/Jaina (Main!), Luke/Mara, Han/Leia, Jacen/Tenel Ka, Anakin/Tahiri, Ar'alani/Paelleon, Thooraki/Thurfian, Eli/Vah'nya
Author's note: Please do not nitpick with the ideas presented here. I will not change my stories to make you happy.
Tropes used in this story and trigger warnings: time travel, true love conquers all, earning a happy ending, grey vs gray morality, miscarriage, premature birth, abandonment, redemption, rising to meet your fate, to see with eyes unclouded
Timeline: Mix of Legends and Canon
Voice cast list: Thrawn- Benedict Cumberbatch, Jaina- Anne Hathaway, Luke- Mark Hamill, Mara- Karen Gillam, Han- Harrison Ford, Leia- Carrie Fisher, Jacen- Elijah Wood, Tenel Ka- Renee Felice Smith, Ar'alani- Angie Harmon, Paelleon- Joe Spano, Thooraki- Hugh Bonneville, Thurfian- Elizabeth McGovern, Eli- David Tennant, Vah'nya- Stephanie Sheh
Author's note: I claim nothing, except this is probably the VERY FIRST fan fiction is Star Wars fandom history to pair Thrawn with Jaina Solo. Having read all the Legends books, I can say for certainty that everyone will be in character. Any naysayers will be fed to Moro no Kimi.
(Moonlight Densetsu)
Stave 3: Moonlight Destiny
The command bridge of the Chimaera was a flurry of activity, officers hustling hither and yon to bring directions to their subordinates, or updates to their superiors. MSE droids wheeled and squeaked underfoot (they were so cute!) and stormtroopers stood at attention, ready to dispatch any punishment deemed necessary. When Thrawn entered with Jaina at his heels, hazel eyes focused straight ahead, more than a few heads turned before returning to their tasks in order for the reset on the disastrous battle maneuvers from yesterday. When it came to battle strategy, Ozzel was a blithering idiot. Of course, none of them would dare say it out of fear of retribution, but that didn't stop them from thinking it!
Lieutenant Lyste and Commander Eli Vanto were the officers of rank on the bridge at the moment, and they turned around and greeted Thrawn and informed him of any updates, and right now they were on schedule. Thrawn turned to his side, "This is my aide, Jaina Antilles. She was put under my protection under Lord Vader's orders." Jaina introduced herself and the two men did so likewise.
Turning their attention to the task at hand (after much wailing and gnashing of teeth from both the Stormtrooper and Pilot Corps), the redo of yesterday's battle maneuvers was carried out. It was exciting to watch, and Jaina observed Thrawn give orders. It thrilled her to see him command this many ships and execute the orders so gracefully. She was seriously impressed, a slight blush rising to her cheeks. Eli and Lyste exchanged a glance and nodded, someone had a crush on the Grand Admiral. Thrawn gave commands in a dulcet baritone, and Jaina would blush even brighter.
Jaina watched from the bridge and began tracing where the Dreadnaughts and transports jumped in and engaged in mock combat. Thrawn was taking notes and noticed Jaina making mental notes about how the Seventh Fleet executed the strategies. Of course, Thrawn knew full Jaina would have learned about this in history class, either at school or from historical records Skywalker kept at his Praxeum on Corsucant at the rebuilt Jedi Temple. The timing was tighter, TIEs flying closer together and moving as a unit, it was rather like a mechanical dance.
As he observed the goings on, Thrawn asked Jaina, "Jaina, what do you think of the maneuvers thus far? You are a pilot yourself; did you learn of the Battle of Geonosis in school?" His gaze was still steely, but Eli swore his attention was completely focused on Jaina. His posture had relaxed by a small fraction, his body position was slanted slightly, so their shoulders were touching. His tone of voice was quieter, all of the non-verbal body language screaming Thrawn had the hots for his aide, but his stoic demeanor was doing a really good job hiding it from everyone. Except Eli, who was Thrawn's best friend, and had known Thrawn long enough when the Chiss was letting someone get close enough he could lower his shields, as Thrawn was quite a private person. He was genuinely interested in her, and it was plain to see Aide Antilles was quite interested in her Grand Admiral as well.
Jaina was watching all of this with great enjoyment, and this was when Captain Paelleon, one of the few other competent Imperial officers (excluding Thrawn, Jaina, Eli, and Lyste). He was still the gruff and taciturn military leader she knew him to be, but here he seemed in his prime, when the distant death knell of Endor was two years away. He had gotten the memo that Thrawn had a new aide, what he was unaware of that it was a young woman in her early twenties. There was something familiar about her, he just couldn't put his finger on where he had seen her before.
"Admiral Thrawn, I see we have battle maneuvers underway again. Were yesterday's exercises not living up to Lord Vader's standards," he queried cautiously. Thrawn turned around and nodded curtly. Paelleon nodded and inquired about Thrawn's new aide. Jaina introduced herself, and Gillald now realized he was looking at Thrawn's mystery girl. She was uncommonly pretty, and looked a hell of a lot like Han Solo? His illegitimate daughter, perhaps? If that was the case, why would Lord Vader leave her here, was Qi'ra her mother? That seemed to be the most reasonable explanation, he thought.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Antilles. I see you are observing our fleet exercises. What do you think," he asked. Jaina explained while she thought everything went well, she explained that from what she had read, there were fewer capital ships and smaller everyday frigates and far more Jedi fighters coming in from short range distances. "Jedi fighters relied on hyperdrive rings as the ships lacked hyperdrives, and this left them vulnerable after coming out a jump. With all that congestion, there was a larger chance for collateral damage as the CIS leaders escaped in the melee." Thrawn swore his heart stopped when he heard her explanation, her tactical skills were quite good, with time he could sharpen them. She had the raw talent; it just needed some fine tuning. He was very close to kissing her, but he stopped himself. Best to let Jaina find herself first and go from there.
The battle exercises continued, and they passed with flying colors. The pilots and stormtroopers were thoroughly exhausted when they reported back to the main bridge. Thrawn addressed them, "After today's recreation, I am pleased to say today's battle exercises were a success. We will continue tomorrow at 10 AM local time for ground exercises. Please note that sloppy battle exercises are inexcusable and will no longer be tolerated within the Seventh Fleet. You are dismissed." They left and Thrawn turned to Jaina, instructing her to follow him and to please take notes during his conference with Vader, Moff Gideon, General Piett and Emperor Palpatine. Jaina gulped and paled. Thrawn suggested she shield herself and Palpatine would hopefully not pick up on her Force sensitivity. Jaina thanked him and kissed him on the cheek as they strode down the corridor together towards his office. She was feeling much more at home now, this was working well for her.
Meanwhile and back in the future, a week had been spent scouring the area where Jaina and Luke's rickety X-Wing had gone missing. The wormhole had closed (courtesy of Darth Vader), but the time anomaly remained. It was chalked up to some sort of remaining tesseract in the Force, and there was nothing Luke nor Mara could do about it. It was with a heavy heart Ackbar and Pash Cracken called the ships back, there was nothing more to be done.
Leia and Han wore mourning for a whole week, Chewie was sadder, while Jacen and Anakin weren't sure what to think. Jaina surely had to be somewhere, and with the Bounty Hunter Guild refusing to cooperate, it was a long shot at hope getting any sort of closure. Things soon returned to normal on Coruscant, but something inside Leia had died. Her eyes had a duller shine to them, she was combative with the Imperial senators, many of whom were nice people. Han spent more time piloting and evenings in with Leia.
"They are definitely depressed," Lando observed one afternoon. He was catching lunch at Dex's Diner with Cracken and Ackbar, with Reikkan joining them. Ackbar nodded, "I agree. It's a tragic thing to lose a child, particularly a blood relation. However, I disagree with how Leia is lashing out. She takes too much after Anakin, and even the fact Anakin was Vader isn't very well known." The other men nodded in agreement, that was true.
In between taking bites out of his gyro, Wedge inquired, "Is it me, or am I seeing Leia play the role of Demeter to Jaina's Persephone?" Cracken stared at him, what in space was Wedge blathering on about? "Wedge, are you insinuating Jaina time traveled to marry herself off to Grand Admiral Thrawn," Lando hissed in disbelief. Wedge shrugged, he never said it was Thrawn, per se. The others argued he was implying it, and where was the logic in his argument? Wedge was far more practical than this, what in space had he been reading on the Holonet?
Wedge told them to meet up at his apartment later, he had something to show them. The afternoon dragged on, and the men showed up and were gathered in Wedge's office with mugs of caf in their hands. Iella and the girls were out, they were college shopping that week. Making sure the doors were locked, Wedge swore them to secrecy. What he was about to show them could not be made public, not to Han and Leia. More information was needed first. Reaching into a folder, he produced a beautiful charcoal drawing with the words "To my beloved darling, I hope we can meet in another life." written on it.
"Who is that? That can't be Jaina, can it?"
"She looks so much like Leia, whoever drew this has talent."
"Your wrong, Pash. She takes after Han!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! We all agree that the girl is Jaina, and we have all known her since she was a baby. Heck, she's Rouge Squadron's unofficial mascot. Who drew this and where did you get this, Wedge," Lando question, preparing himself for answers he may not like hearing.
Wedge let out a sigh, "I won this of Paelleon during an undercover mission on Berchest during the Darksaber incident during a game of Sabaac. Didn't even think of it until Bokku attacked Yavin IV." There were murmurs of worry, Paelleon had seemingly vanished around the same time as Jaina had and it had gone unreported and now this. This was far too sinister of a coincidence. Who had drawn the picture?
Wedge whispered, "Thrawn. Thrawn drew this picture." The bombshell shattered the silence, all the men gave cries of protest. From what they knew of Thrawn (or what they thought they knew), there was no way in the Nine Hells he would lust after Vader's granddaughter. Had they been in cahoots, using the Force to arrange a marriage to solidify Vader's grip on the galaxy? After all, hadn't Anakin fallen trying to save Padme from death? There were too many questions left hanging in the air, none of the pleasant. The next right thing was to keep this quiet for as long as possible. Han and Leia were under too much stress right now, this would be a catalyst for Fey'lya and his cronies.
"Thrawn is still something of an enigma, we know next to nothing about the Chiss or why they allied with the Empire," Lando told Ackbar as they left. The Mon Cal nodded slowly, "We must tread carefully with this." In a moment, everything had shifted, and the immediate future was mercurial and unsettled.
Lando prayed Jaina was safe, that was all he and the others could do.