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. Also, big thanks to Darth Bernael for suggesting the idea for the ops mission. Minor references to Monty Python: Life of Brian and Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.
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, Ochi of Bestoon- John DeLancie, Justinian Konstantin (OC)- Peter Capaldi, Theodora Konstantin (OC)- Catherine Tate, Cassandra Konstantin (OC)- Michelle Dockery
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.
(Finladia- John Sibelius)
Stave 9: Undercover on Berchest, Part 5
The following morning found Jaina and Thrawn once again entangled in each other's arms, with the chrono blinking at them. Had the power gone out? From where they were, all they could hear was the light patter of rain, and the occasional gust of wind. One of the power stations must have blown a fuse or something, or maybe there was a power surge. These things did happen, to cut power to areas that were seen as seditious. Thrawn blinked at the glowing holographic numbers, only 3:22 AM? Too early, he decided, and thought it best to go back to sleep…if he could convince Jaina to get some sleep.
"Heart's half, go back to sleep."
"I can't sleep."
Thrawn rolled over and gently kissed her brow, no fever. Rolling over so Jaina was nestled in his arms, Thrawn stroked her soft hair. Jaina went back to sleep, and so did Thrawn. A couple of hours later, they were awakened when a lightning strike hit an ancient oak not thirty feet from the house! Jaina and Thrawn ran to the window and watched the tree burn. The outdoor staff used sand hoses to control the flames and keep it far away from the main building.
Eli was already awake; his mind had been ruminating about how the spice had been shipped off world. All the reports he had scoured in academic circles and ISB seizure logs stated the same fact: Spice infused produce rotted from the inside out well before reaching the desired destination. It didn't matter the produce: Kuati tomatoes, Erebor golden potatoes, Nubian spring pears, oranges, celery, fractal broccoli (commonly known as fractoli), basically every fruit and vegetables known to galactic civilization. Oh, come on, I have got to be missing something. For kark's sake, I'm a numbers man, he thought to himself. He watched the orange glow of the now smoldering flames, the shapes reminded him of mushroom spores for some reason…
Mushrooms? Fungi? AHA! Beaming, he retyped his search into the ISB seizure database, and set clearance result records to "Top Secret Clearance Level 2". The results came back negative, Jaina's hunch had paid off! He was embarrassed he had forgotten the discussion regarding mushrooms and Delta Source so soon, but if a search of ISB seizure reports related nothing, these results could be read one of two ways. The first was that the ISB agents in the report had been bought off, but they were held to such a high scrutiny since Kallus defected three years ago- so that was least likely. The second option was that the spice was shipped in mushrooms genetically modified to look like another fungal variety, one that matched the forged manifests and would only make sense to whoever was getting the shipment. Thrawn and Jaina had to know! Allonsy!
Looking for a dressing gown, he threw one on and made a hasty dash for Thrawn and Jaina's room. He found them asleep on the window seat and gave a soft cough. "Do that again, Eli, and you are officially disinvited from the wedding," Thrawn groused as he gave his best friend a cold side eye. Jaina yawned and bid him good morning. Once they were more awake, they all sat on the floor by the carved marble fireplace. Had Eli found something?
Eli handed them his datapad and explained how he had run with Jaina's suggestions about the spice being smuggled via mushrooms, albeit genetically modified. Jaina read the reports and speculated that Justinian would be just as likely to smuggle the spice out whatever parts of the mushroom were not used in cooking. Considering the climate was cool and somewhat dry year-round, that would limit the species of edible mushrooms they were looking for. Thrawn added that with Justinian putting out the fire, he would be holed up in his bedroom, trying to sleep. That gave them enough time to narrow down what kind of fungus they were looking for, and then they could update Kassius and Lord Vader.
The kitchen staff was severely pressed for time to get breakfast on at a decent time, and they were so busy doing a slap dash job of making bangers and mash, they failed to notice Eli wander into the garden to get soil samples. There was a mass spectrometer in the basement, off of the butler's office, and this was noted in the reports that would later be sent to Darth Vader. The machine beeped, the soil was good for growing one particular species of mushroom, the mycelium anorexia.
Mycelium anorexia, more commonly known as the skinny maiden, was one of the longer mushrooms seen at the local grocery store. The cap was a flat triangle, resembling the body of a skate, with long, feathery tendrils hanging from the edge, a strange mix of deep lavender and silver. Directly under the cap was a bulbous dome, and under it a rapidly thinning stalk. The odd shape had given the fungus its moniker. Only the cap and the tendrils were edible, the bulb and the stalk were poisonous, and inexperienced chefs made fatal mistakes serving the stem and dome along with the cap. As a result, Imperial Customs put warnings in every cookbook, and the bulbs and stems were always destroyed before being sold. The only thing they were good for was plant food and fertilizer.
As they walked down to the breakfast room, Jaina said they needed to let Kassius know sooner rather than later. This was his mission after all, and Thrawn was inclined to agree with her. As they sat down, Kassius was complaining he had been contacted by Lord Vader that morning. "I do hope you three actually have something- my head is on the chopping block," he protested as he drank some tea. Thrawn said they did have something, and passed him the report they had been drafting. Konstantin nodded, this was it! "At least we have something, will be eating them with luncheon today?" Considering it was the beginning of mushroom season, Justinian would be eager to flout local cuisine in haute style to such privileged guests. Cassandra waltzed in, and said she was playing hostess this morning, and out came a lackluster breakfast. Putting out the fire took more manpower than was being let on, it seemed.
A plan was formed, they would split up and gather evidence, and once they had enough, Konstantin would contact the local garrison, simple as that. However, plans have a way of going awry, and it did. For starters, Jaina found that the spice was being smuggled out in the fronds, and they were being packaged as off market mung daal noodles. She had to use the Force to find the ones she was looking for and was almost caught! She had to hide for almost an hour in the industrial freezer before she could get back upstairs. Thrawn hacked the comm calls, and found recorded messages about shipping to the Hutt cartels and the Crymorah syndicate, and followed up with the real tracking numbers and a list of ISB Customs agents who had been either blackmailed or bought off. Eli was able to contact the garrison, and everyone was ordered to meet them at the gatehouse.
Once they were outside, the garrison commander was there with some shock troopers. "I see you all have the necessary evidence, well done," the commander told Thrawn. "It's my case, you should be thanking me," Konstantin cut in. "Of course, it was your idea," the commander retorted sarcastically. He turned to Jaina and winked and made her blush. "Oy you, she's engaged," Eli cut in. The commander nodded, he was only joking. They walked up to the house, where the blood covered corpses of the servants were laid out like firewood.
"Did you have to kill them all? What about witness evidence," Jaina protested as they walked towards the front door. "There was no need, Lieutenant Antilles, we have all the physical evidence we need," the commander informed her, suddenly all business. Cassandra and Theodora were dragged out in binders. They were yelling that they were loyal Imperial citizens and knew nothing about the smuggling. The commander was about to shoot them, but Jaina stood in front of them!
"Grand Admiral, tell your aide to return here! Listen girl, or I shall have you stripped naked and flogged publicly," the commander shouted, turning as red as a Sith's lightsaber blade. Thrawn's eyes turned dangerously cold, he stepped forward…Thwack! His gloved hand struck her cheek, and he forced her into a deep kiss. Breaking apart, he forced to stand by his side. Jaina was too much in shock, what had that been about?
"Haven't broken her in yet, have you," the commander jeered, turning his attention to Thrawn. "No, I have not. I am waiting for our wedding night for that," Thrawn replied smoothly, his voice still cold. Eli was glaring daggers at him, what had that been all about? It was here that Justinian was dragged out, roughed up. The jig was up!
"Cashus, this is how you repay my hospitality?" Cashus shot him point blank, no more loose ends to tie up. He ordered the troopers to scour the house for additional evidence, Jaina was to be locked in the brig until sunrise the following day for "cheek". The Konstantin family was flown away for interrogation, and Kassius went to comm Lord Vader to boast, as well as give his report in the findings.
Left alone, Eli was fuming. He was seeing Jaina as his little sister, and he felt he needed to defend her honour. He poked Thrawn sharply in the chest, "What was that all about, you are a two-faced, slimy bastard! You beat Jaina and forced a kiss on her!" His dander was up, and if he had to report Thrawn for domestic abuse, he would. Thrawn shoved Eli into a wall and got into the other man's face.
"Eli Vanto, you will do no such thing! You know as well as I do that, I love Jaina dearly, but she crossed certain lines and as such I had to act as the disciplinarian. Actions have consequences, and she must learn them, for her continued survival. I will apologize for being harsh, but Jaina must learn to play the masquerade," Thrawn explained stoically. Eli felt the anger burn in the pit of his stomach. Imperial officers were still a mostly boy's club, and Jaina as a junior officer would have been under much worse if Thrawn were not her superior.
Alone and angered, Jaina could feel herself feel the lull of the Dark Side, velvety soft, a melancholy tune on a piano playing in the forefront of her mind. No stars, just a darkness that started warmly, then got progressively colder and tighter. She pushed it away, and practiced her deep breathing, and gave thought to what had happened. She knew how regimented the Imperial Navy was, but she had never thought she would be treated like that, as a pretty doll for Thrawn to show off and take notes. "I guess everyone has to play the game," she said to herself.
Not the best way to get noticed, young lady.
Grandfather?
Yes, I felt your anguish. You do have to play the role as set by Imperial society. Learn your place and thrive.
Jaina nodded, if she had to fly further under the radar, she could. It was here Thrawn entered, and she stiffened. "Are you here to gloat," she questioned sharply. "You needed to stay quiet," Thrawn chided her. Letting out a sigh, he applied a bacta patch to her cheek, and explained she was too free spoken for a young Imperial officer, and had he not been there, she would been overhead and too far away for him to have any say in how she was treated. He apologized sincerely and kissed her.
"I regret smacking you greatly, you are not the only one playing a role, Mitth'Jai'nasolo. Young female aides are often married off to their commanding officers, and more often than not, physical punishment is used on female officers for speaking out. Please, for both of our sakes, do not act rashly," Thrawn implored her.
Jaina said she would aspire to do so. She was still sore at Thrawn, and gave him the cold shoulder on the trip back to the Chimaera. Thrawn gave her some space, and both went to bed with broken hearts. It would be some time before things would be right between them again.