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, Eli/Vah'nya
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, Eli- David Tennant, Vah'nya- Stephanie Sheh, Ysanne Isard- Lucy Liu, Supreme General Bak'if- Mark Harmon, Ar'alani- Angie Harmon, Al'iastov- Liv Tyler, Che'ri- Jessica Brown Findley, Thurfian- Dan Stevens, Aristocra Formbi- Allen Leech, Captain Niriz- Antonio Banderas, General Covell- Michael Weatherly, Lieutenant Tschiel- Art Parkinson, Captain Voss Parck- Matt Smith
Author's notes: The opening paragraph is my homage to T.S. Eliot's Old Possums Book of Practical Cats, which was adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber into the musical, Cats. I have never seen the musical, but I have read the poems.
(Birthday- Joe Hisaishi)
Stave 16: By The Emperor's Hand
Voss Parck, Captain of the Imperial Navy, was a most persnickety man. If he was fighting Rebels, he would prefer fighting space pirates. If he was fighting Rebels, he would prefer pirates. If there was tip-yip on the menu, he would want steak. If he had steak, he would rather have tip-yip. On Corulag, he was the man about town, spending time at Macavity's, a most particular club where men would read and discuss economic news, sports, and hunting. For Covell would continue to do as he did, and there was nothing to do about it!
Dinner was to his liking, but he would have preferred cream of mushroom soup and molten chocolate cake on the menu and said as much. "You are such a fop," Niriz complained, "never satisfied with what you have." Parck retorted he was satisfied with where he was, and considering how long he had been a captain, he seemed to be happy with the middle rank. Covell rolled his eyes, leave it to the younger generation to get lazy when they hit a certain rank or related pay. At least with Thrawn, he rose to the occasion. While Thrawn was good at what he did, it had to be said Jaina Antilles was a good influence on him.
The day shift ended, and as Jaina and Thrawn turned in for the night, he asked her about what she thought of the new officers on board. Jaina said Niriz and Covell were easy to read; by the book and rational. Parck thought a bit too much of himself, and Tschiel had no idea what he was doing. Thrawn nodded, with the lack of officers on board the Seventh Fleet, Isard had sent over four who would be a good fit. Besides, the Seventh Fleet wasn't held in high regard, mostly because Thrawn was running things. "You're not human," Jaina responded before leaning over to kiss him. Thrawn stroked her cheek gently and returned the kiss. Turning out the light, they fell asleep nestled in each other's arms.
(Love Theme- The Dark Crystal)
The next morning was clear for a couple of hours, and this allowed Thrawn, Jaina and Eli plenty of time in the science lab to experiment on the odd kyber crystal they had brought back from Csilla. Placing it in a small petri dish, Eli lowered a see-through blast shield around it, and ran a sonic test. When vibrated, the average kyber crystal resonated at A sharp and sounded like a bell. This sounded more like the piercing cry of a lone reed pipe. Taking notes, Eli hit a switch and applied an electric current. Zzzzap!
A blinding flash of light send the men to the floor, but Jaina approached it, it was calling her. The dark hue of the crystal snaked out around her, calling her. Jaina stepped closer, she saw things, places, out of time and space, but at the same time familiar. Faces, names, and places flashed before her eyes, the wail of a flute, the rasping orders of the Skekses, the wonder of Aughra's observatory. "Turn it off," Thrawn ordered as he shielded his eyes from the neon glare. "I can't, it'll cause a feedback loop and explode," Eli argued from the other side of the room, "We need to inform Lord Vader about this!" Jaina touched the crystal, and it exploded. Jaina fell to the floor, and Eli nodded, "Well, hot dang! You would have to go and marry a Force sensitive now, wouldn't you?" Thrawn glared at him, this was not the time!
What was left was a very ordinary quartz crystal that zapped lighting every few seconds. Eli was excitedly jotting down in a notebook; this was a scientific breakthrough! Thrawn had managed to raise the blast shield and made his way over to Jaina. She was quite frazzled from the experience, and was muttering the phrase, "By Gelfing hand or none at all." He gently shook her shoulders, only for Jaina to look past him…and faint. Thrawn and Eli exchanged a glance, this was not good. Making the situation even more complicated, who should walk in but Paelleon? He looked around the room, and Jaina passed out in Thrawn's arms, Eli's notes, and the lightning emitting kyber crystal. "What the hells is going on in here," he asked in an exasperated tone. Thrawn and Eli exchanged a glance, where to begin?
First things first. Jaina needed medical attention, so Thrawn had a med droid tend to her in their bedroom, while Thrawn hosted the two men. Once the men were seated, Thrawn pulled up the reports and showed them. "What is going with Lieutenant Antilles, Thrawn? Who is she?" Paelleon was not about to break up the marriage, he was concerned about what Thrawn may be getting into.
Thrawn let out a deep sigh, "Lord Vader swore me to secrecy about Jaina's origins, but after witnessing what happened with the kyber crystal, it was bound to come out sooner or later. That said, what I am about to tell you must not leave this room."
Both men agreed, and Thrawn said simply, "Jaina Antilles is the daughter of Han Solo, as you rightly expected, Captain Paelleon, but her mother is not Qi'ra- her mother is Leia Organa of the late planet Alderaan. Of course, the timing doesn't add up, and there is a reason Lord Vader left her in my care. Jaina Antilles, or rather Jaina Solo-Thrawn as she will be known as after we are wed, is Lord Vader's eldest grandchild, and Heir to the Empire."
Paelleon and Eli felt their eyes go wide and jaws go slack, even with the DNA test results right in front of them. Eli asked, "It's well-known Leia Organa was adopted, but how in space is Darth Vader her biological father?" "Vader wasn't always ensconced in that armor of his, and whoever his wife was probably gave her up. So, the question is, why was Jaina piloting Luke Skywalker's X-Wing? Thrawn dropped the bombshell, "Luke Skywalker is Leia Organa's twin brother, and Jaina time travelled from twenty-six years in the future to our time."
"Say what now?"
Thrawn repeated himself, and both men had to ask questions. While there were known instances of time travel were well recorded, the fact Jaina was born in possible peacetime, there was the fact what happened in the future was more or less set in stone, but even then, certain events would already be in flux. Hence the caution and secrecy. It was here Jaina entered the room, having heard everything.
"So, now you know the truth," she said matter of factly. Paelleon confirmed this, but he and Eli promised her secret was safe with them. Now, there next step was to send the findings to Lord Vader, and possibly pay him a visit with said crystal. Also, what bothered Thrawn even more was that he may have seen the face of the Grysks, he was going to have to take Jaina to Rentor to investigate further.
Back on the Executor, Vader had finished the paperwork with regards to the battle of Hoth. He let out a sigh, the representatives from the Bounty Hunter's Guild were here and waiting on the main bridge. It was the usual group, Boba Fett, Bossk, Dengar, and IG-88. "Bounty hunters, we don't need their scum," one of the deck officers sniffed. One of the junior officers agreed and handed him a report.
Vader strode back and forth as he addressed the motley crew, "There will be a substantial reward for whoever finds the Millennium Falcon. You can use any means necessary, but no disintegrations." This last part was aimed mostly at Fett, who had a bad habit of frying bodies before they reached the correct Imperial garrison. It certainly had not helped the last time Fett tangled with Skywalker on Tatooine, Skywalker nearly died. "As you wish," Fett replied. With their orders given, the bounty hunters left. Fett piloted the Slave 1 to wait for the Falcon to leave. After all, Boba Fett was the best bounty hunter and easily knew how to track his quarry.
It was about know Vader got Thrawn's report on his datapad. Retiring to his chamber, Vader meditated on what would happen next. It was unfortunate that Paelleon and Eli had discovered Jaina's true identity, but the longer she stayed in this time, more people were going to put two and two together. Of course, Paelleon and Vanto could keep a secret. He could not let Palpatine find out about Jaina, and how was he going to get Thrawn and the Seventh Fleet away for the next year or two.
Vader read over the text, and watched the video file of the kyber crystal experiment. Having bled his fair share of them in his time as Dark Lord of the Sith, he had never seen one act this way before. Something about this one small shard seemed to be oddly attuned with the Force in such a way crystals from Illum were not. In the report, Thrawn theorized that whatever planet in the Unknown Regions it was from, there was the distinct possibility that the Force, or something like it, originated from here. With meteorites and comets crashing into planets and carrying debris from one sector to another, this was a plausible theory.
Summoning his datapad, he typed up a message to Thrawn:
From: darth_vader .emp
To: grand-admiral-thrawn .
About: Kyber Crystal test results
The results of the test you and Commander Vanto performed were most impressive. However, kyber crystals do not react in such a way, bled or otherwise. Ergo, I am requesting you and Jaina please join me on Mustafar at the beginning of September so we can discuss our next steps.
-Vader
P.S. I have secured Padme's wedding dress for Jaina to wear at your wedding. My valet, Vaneè, is decent at clothing alterations and hemming. He will also be on hand for the dress fitting.
As soon as Vader sent the message, he returned to the bridge. The Millennium Falcon had flown into an asteroid field, and Vader sent half a dozen Imperial Star Destroyers in there to flush them out. As he waited, he would get sporadic reports, and as the hours wore on, the ships took heavy damage, and some junior officers were getting antsy.
Now, it was just a waiting game.