8 BBY - 3rd person POV
Imperial star Destroyer - Brema Sector
Two stormtroopers wrestled their captive down the hallways and shoved him into an interrogation room, where they forcefully cuffed him down into the chair sitting before a simple table. The prisoner threw his head back and glared at the two troopers.
"Rude pieces of kriffing junk," he said.
In response, one trooper raised his blaster and smacked him on the head with the butt of it. "Quiet you smuggler scum!" the trooper said angrily, and the two left the interrogation room, their captive rolling his eyes but grimacing from the pain caused by the hit to his head. Once the door closed, he began looking around the room with narrowed eyes, scanning the area for any ways of possible escape, or something to help further along his purpose here.
Eventually he spotted a small electrical socket about the size of his thumb and smiled. As best as he could, he carefully managed to wedge a small file drive out of his arm sleeve, and tossed it at the socket. Such a toss in his position would barely go very far because of his hands being cuffed to the chair, but luckily he didn't really need a good throw, and the drive quickly flew through the air and plugged itself in, unnoticeable to any of the Imperials.
"Wonderful," he said quietly to himself with a small smile.
He quickly wiped the smile off his face when the door once again opened, revealing a high-ranking Imperial officer, with the rank of commodore and someone else, who he was surprised to see was a nonhuman with the commander rank in the Imperial navy. Didn't the Empire have a strong dislike for alien species? By the alien's side was someone who looked like an aid, with the ensign rank.
"So, I suppose we best get to the point then shall we?" the commodore said not to nicely, sitting down in the chair across from him while the blue skinned alien stood a few steps to the side, gazing at the scene calmly with blood red eyes.
The commodore narrowed his gaze. "Mr. Aven Ikorria," he continued.
Aven focused his gaze on the commodore, smirking slightly to himself at the officer's demeanor. If only they knew who he really was... although if they did he would have Darth Vader on the ship in a heartbeat.
Ahsoka POV...
"I can't believe he's doing this," I muttered to myself in annoyance, pacing around the ship's common room, R5 and Mara both watching. Right now Jarik decided to have the brilliant plan of getting himself captured by the Imperial's in the Brema Sector in order to get some classified intel on the Moff overseeing the area, Moff Malcom. R5 responded with a few beeps, once again showing how unconcerned he was.
"I know it's some important information, but I still don't like it," I said with a sigh.
Mara crossed her arms in a pout. "I wish I could do some sneaky work like this."
I stiffened and narrowed my eyes at her. "Absolutely not young lady! No way are you doing stuff like this when you're only nine years old! Besides, they'd sooner throw you in an orphanage or prison then bother interrogating someone your age."
"Well that stinks," she replied.
R5 speaks up again triumphantly, and I looked over at the computer screen. "He actually got through?" I asked.
R5 beeps in affirmative, and on the small datapad numerous bits of intel started streaming through, which meant that one way or another Jarik managed to get his drive connected to some electrical socket. He is so, so proud of his invention of that particular socket, because as long as the port is electrical, it can find a way through the system to a file database, which is of course a genius creation. Makes espionage work much easier, and doesn't require infiltrating a heavily fortified Imperial control room to gain access to intel.
"That is so cool!" Mara says happily, her disappointment briefly forgotten.
"Yup," I said proudly before my face fell. "Now he just has to escape the place. R5, get the ship ready in case we need an evac," I tell the droid, and he complies, heading towards the cockpit with me following him.
Jarik POV...
"So, what problem you boys have with me? I ain't do nothing wrong!" I said casually, putting on my best smuggler impression, trying to appear dumber and innocent.
"The problem," the commodore growls. "Is that you have been stealing from the Empire, and that is punishable by death!"
I rolled my eyes in disinterest. "So? I know the penalty, but I haven't stolen nothin' man!" I protested.
"Oh really? We seen proof of your crimes when you stole four shield generators for your clients," he accused, leaning forwards. "Don't try and play dumb with me you filth."
Oh yeah, real intimidating for sure. Obviously this commodore only got to his position through influence and wealth, so he obviously doesn't have much to offer for his services except for that massive ego of his, although his pride gets damaged easily. However for some reason, the other guy in the room, the blue skinned alien with red eyes has me unsettled. The way he stands there so calmly, so silently as if he were a statue is offsetting. Something about his gaze has me wary, although I don't show it.
"Shied generators? Naw naw, you must be mistaken man, I did steal a few shield generators, but they weren't, they weren't Imperial," I said with a laugh, waving my finger in a 'no-no' motion. "Got a pretty good pay from the Hutts for those generators, yup," I tell him.
"They. Were. Imperial generators!" the commodore says, slamming his fist on the table. I jump slightly in surprise, playing my character very well. "Either you confess for a prison sentence Ikorria, or we execute you right now for treason!"
"Look man, it- it wasn't me!" I protest, developing a more panicked tone to sell the act.
Before the commodore can respond, the blue skinned officer finally speaks up. "If I may make an observation, with your permission commodore?" he asks calmly and respectfully.
The commodore turns to face him. "What would you have to say Commander Thrawn? I'm the one conducting this interrogation," he says, with a look of disgust that makes me roll my eyes. Imperials, unnecessary hate towards non-humans. Ridiculous.
To his credit however, Thrawn, that's his name apparently, doesn't give any indication that he is effected by the obvious discrimination. "I do not truly believe that Mr. Ikorria here will confess to stealing Imperial generators, but there is something... odd about him."
"Like what?" the commodore demands, and the ensign looks over at Thrawn questioningly. As for Thrawn, he turns his gaze to me, and I full uneasy with the way he looks at me, although I don't visibly react.
"As if he isn't who we believe him to be," Thrawn finally says, and my blood runs cold. There's now way he'd know who I am, right? I made sure to make it impossible for any facial recognition scans on me to match up with pictures on the holonet of me before the Empire took over!
"Sir?" the ensign questions in confusion.
"May I see the pouch I had you bring, Vanto?" Thrawn asks him, holding out a hand. the ensign raises an eyebrow but pulls out a pouch, and Thrawn opens it to reveal Ahsoka's Padawan braid, further worrying me. When I was captured, the took away any personal possessions I had on me, including her braid. I always carry it with me, mainly because of habit, so I was upset when they took it, but I could just as easily recover it during my escape. Good thing I didn't bring my lightsabers for this mission, which would honestly have been stupid if being captured was my intention.
"Commodore, do you find this item, recognizable?" Thrawn asks.
The commodore shakes his head in irritation. "What are you talking about Thrawn? This is an interrogation, not show-and-tell!"
I don't comment, keeping silent and hoping that they don't uncover my identity. "I am getting to it commodore, if I may be allowed to continue?" he asks calmly as ever.
The commodore sighs. "Fine, carry on. But this is an absolute waste of time," he grumbles with a glare.
Thrawn strides around the room slowly, gazing at Ahsoka's braid and I struggle not to stare at him in annoyance, wishing I could snatch that off of him right now. "When we first brought our guest, Aven on board I immediately noticed something off about him. His demeanor was too casual and confident, as if he had a plan laid out before hand, while his accent seems off. Good... but practiced."
I watch him walk around the room, growing more and more worried. This guy... he is freakishly intelligent and observing in a way I've never thought possible before.
"Our records of him show that he is simply the average smuggler stealing from the Empire, but a man of Aven's skill would never be able to secure Imperial shield generators so efficiently." Thrawn continues, walking around the table with an arm behind his back. "Even more intriguing, many of his heists never seem to come up on record of the facilities he steals from, as if he was never even there. A reason that can only be explained through the skill of slicing through Imperial firewalls."
Oh no, no no no... this is a dangerous zone. I look down at my hands, keeping quiet as Thrawn continues to talk.
Thrawn then stops his slow pacing around the room and turns around to look back at the commodore. "If I may ask you again sir, do you know what this is?" he says, gesturing to Ahsoka's braid.
"Some, broken necklace?" he guesses, and I almost roll my eyes at the stupid answer.
Apparently Thrawn thinks so too based on the slightly disappointed expression of his face. "These are the silka beads of a Togrutan, Jedi Padawan," he says.
I widen my eyes in disbelief and shock at his answer. How could anyone... nobody outside of the Order knows the level of importance that those silka beads represent, much less that they are even related to the Jedi!
Vanto and the commodore are apparently just as stunned, judging from the looks on their faces.
"An important piece of the Jedi's training for a Togruta inducted into their Order, bearing cultural significance to their species, worthless to those who aren't Jedi, priceless and symbolic, for a Togrutan Padawan." Thrawn says.
"Yes well, how does that relate to this smuggler?" the commodore demands, gesturing to me, and Thrawn turns in my direction, settling his analytical gaze on me. I slowly look up at him with narrowed eyes, beginning to drop my act. I can sense that he knows now, who I really am.
"Yes, how so?" he questions rhetorically, and I stare up at Thrawn with an unflinching gaze of determination, without fear.
"Ahsoka Tano," he says, and I don't react visibly, yet internally screaming on the inside. "That was the name of your best friend wasn't it?" he questions. I don't respond and he continues.
"You were only teenagers when she left the Order, the greatest friend you could ever have. No wonder you keep hold of her memory so much, carrying it around with you wherever you go. You thought about her, every day she was gone. It must have been heartbreaking when she was declared dead after the Siege of Mandalore," he says, and I flinch slightly, otherwise keeping myself intact. Good to know that the Empire doesn't know she's alive still.
"I met her master once, General Skywalker. He was a respectable Jedi, one worthy of recognition. It was sad to hear that he passed, and now you've been left with no one else. Your master, your friend, and the mentor of Ahsoka." Thrawn says, and at the mention of Anakin, I quickly look down, suppressing the emotions of his turn to the dark side before staring back up at Thrawn with a cold glare.
"Thrawn, what the blazes are you talking about?!" the commodore demands furiously, standing up from his chair.
"I may be alone physically Thrawn, but their memory will always live with me, and through the Force," I declare, and Thrawn hums thoughtfully.
"Silence you-!" the commodore starts to say before Thrawn interrupts.
"Sir, please, don't be so rash to the Slicer," he says.
"Wait... the Slicer?" Vanto asks with wide eyes.
"May I introduce, Jarik Shan. Jedi Padawan, Clone War veteran and apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Negotiator." Thrawn says, waving his hand over to me. Vanto and the commodore slowly look over at me in shock, as well as fear, probably having never met a Jedi before, only hearing about the Emperor's propaganda and lies about the Jedi being evil murderers.
My cover blown, I laugh humorlessly. "Well I must admit when getting myself here, I never expected someone so smart to actually exist in the Empire's ranks," I admitted. "However you got something wrong my dear Thrawn."
"Oh? And what was that?" he questions in interest.
I smile at him. "I'm not a Jedi Padawan. I'm a Jedi Knight!"
With those words, I call upon the Force and blast it outwards, releasing me from the cuffs while throwing the three of them harshly against the wall. They let out cries of pain as I leap to my feet, snatching Ahsoka's braid from Thrawn and grabbing the drive from the electrical socket. The commodore gets back up and aims a blaster at me, but I raise an arm to slam him against the wall again with the Force, knocking him unconscious.
I suddenly fall to the ground as Thrawn kicks me in the back and roll over. He attempts to punch me in the face but I lean my head out of the way, bringing my feet up to kick him in the chest. I knock him off me and get up, grabbing his shirt with my prosthetic arm and throwing him across the room, where he slams into the wall with a pained grunt. I may miss my real arm but, man this prosthetic arm is epic with how strong it is!
"You should've gotten Force binders for me!" I say before quickly using the Force to open the door, rushing out and slamming it behind me, locking them inside.
With my belongings secured, I rush down the hallways, searching for the hanger so that I could find a ship to escape in. It only takes half a minute before the ship's alarm comes on, signaling an escaped prisoner. Concentrating, I reached out towards Ahsoka over the bond, who was only a system away. Our connection had grown stronger over the years, so we could speak with each other over longer distances, although the max distance was still less than a sector, over only a few systems at a time.
"Ahsoka! think maybe you could come by and pick me up?" I said quickly.
"Are you in trouble?" she asks in concern.
"Yeah, I got what we needed, but some blue guy named Thrawn figured out who I was!" I replied urgently.
"What?!" she says in alarm. "How?"
"I don't know, just hurry!" I told her.
"Alright, we'll be there soon," she promises, cutting off the connection.
Returning my focus to escape, I swung around a corner to see a patrol of Stormtroopers in front of me. They looked at me in surprise before raising their blasters, however they never got to use them as I blasted them aside with the Force, continuing on my way. Thankfully the structure of a Stay Destroyer is similar to a Venator cruiser, so I made my way to the hanger relatively easy, blowing past a few Stormtrooper patrols.
I reached the doors to the hanger and opened them up, glancing inside to see a bunch of TIE Fighters and a few shuttles nearby, as well as a lot of Imperial pilots, mechanics, and some officers. I rushed inside, staying close to the walls as quickly as I could but got tackled to the ground all of a sudden. The person who tackled me punched me in the face, and I retaliated by grabbing their head with my left arm and throwing them off of me, quickly getting to my feet. I turned around and came face to face with a Deathtrooper, who spoke through the helmet with a few strange noises I couldn't make out.
"Oh dear," I sighed.
The Deathtrooper charged, swinging a fist and I ducked, moving out of the way and delivering an uppercut. He stumbled back before pulling out a blaster pistol, firing at me. I leaped to the side, rolling across the ground to dodge the laser blasts and leaped at the trooper with a kick. However he deflected my strike and grabbed my arms, head butting me. I fell to the ground in surprise and pain, shaking my head as he aimed at me again. Thinking fast, I raised my left arm in front of my face, and the Deathtrooper shot my arm instead, causing it to spark violently, a large smoking hold in the forearm.
"You kriffing jerk!" I exclaimed irritably, rolling backwards and pushing off the ground with my feet, leaping through the air and kicking him in the helmet with my armored foot, knocking him out cold.
With the Deathtrooper unconscious, I rushed towards one of the TIE Fighters locked on the top of the hanger, using the Force to jump all the way up to the catwalk where TIE pilots enter their craft. At this point most of the hanger had noticed me, and some began firing their blasters in my direction. Moving quickly, I used the force to open the cockpit of one TIE Fighter and leaped inside, closing it behind me. I immediately began to power it up, blaster fire hitting the outside of the ship.
"This is not how I thought this day was gonna go," I grumbled in annoyance.
Pressing a button, I released the locking mechanism to free my fighter, and gunned the engines. The ship hovered in the hanger for a moment, the thrusters blasting a few people behind me away, and then I took off, bursting through the Star Destroyer's shields and into space. However now I had a bigger problem: the Star Destroyer. One blast from that ship and this TIE is completely destroyed. No way am I counting on any space flying powers to save me this time.
As soon as I reached open space, the Stay Destroyer opened fire, massive green laser bolts shooting all around me while I did my best to predict and evade them, although I wasn't liking my chances.
"Come on Ahsoka, where are you?" I said to myself.
As if she heard me, the Knight Hawk immediately comes out of hyperspace, and I direct the TIE Fighter straight towards it. Taking notice, the Star Destroyer shifts some of their focus towards the Knight Hawk, however Ahsoka manages to maneuver the ship and avoid the laser fire, showing her skills as a pilot. Once I get close enough, she turns the ship around and I connect to the docking clamp, magnetically sealing the ship together. As soon as I do, Ahsoka turns away from the Star Destroyer and blasts into hyperspace, much to my relief.
"So, tell me how exactly they figured out who you were again?" Ahsoka asks with her arms crossed. We were all sitting at the table in the main common room, and I sighed, leaning back in the chair.
"Some guy named Thrawn figured it out, and he wasn't a human," I told her.
"He wasn't?" Ahsoka asks in surprise. "You mean there was an officer there who was NOT, human?"
"Why would that be an issue?" Mara asks in confusion.
"The Empire discriminates against nonhuman species, putting them down for not being a human," I explained.
"Well that's stupid," Mara says with a frown, and we both nod our heads in agreement.
"Thrawn. How did he figure out your identity?" Ahsoka quesioned, bringing us back to the discussion.
"I still can't even believe it," I admitted. "But it was because of your old silka beads."
Ahsoka blinked in surprise. "My Padawan braid?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah. Whoever he is, he is extremely intelligent, and observant. Somehow he knew exactly what those beads represented, and connected my cover identity to me as 'The Slicer' with how effectively I broke through Imperial firewalls in order to steal their shipments," I informed her. "And he could see through my act, picking up little bits that even I didn't realize."
Ahsoka frowns in worry, while Mara has her eyes wide, surprised and awed at anyone being able to out-think me, since our plans have always been met with success after careful planning and slicing.
"That's... very bad." Ahsoka finally said.
"It is. That means my cover identity as Aven Ikorria is now blown. I can't use that anymore," I told her sadly.
"And considering they now know what you look like presently, we'll have to lay low then," she decides grimly.
"We do? But can't you still do missions like this mom?" Mara asked.
"The Empire believes I'm dead, so we have to keep that secret for as long as possible," she explained, and Mara nodded in understanding.
"Thrawn will know that we'll be laying low now, I'm sure of it. As far as I know, he doesn't realize you two are with me, so that has to be kept on the down low as well." I spoke up.
"I agree. Back to Ahch-To then?" Ahsoka says.
"Yup. Back to Ahch-To for a while now," I replied. "Also, we better tell Bail about Thrawn. Being an Imperial senator he may have heard some things about him, and he should know to be cautious with rebel missions," I advised.
"Already on it." Ahsoka said in agreement.
"So, this sounds bad and I wanted to go on some missions, but does this mean I can do more Jedi training now?" Mara asked eagerly.
"For sure sweetheart!" I said with a wide smile. "Don't expect it to be easy though," I warned her, and she pouted in response.
Ooohh man. Thrawn is one, intelligent, dangerous guy who you do NOT want to be facing against. And now he figured out Jarik's cover identity fairly quick! I hope I wrote him correctly for you guys to enjoy! I've always wanted to write an encounter between him and Jarik before Thrawn's appearance in Rebels.
