Harry was excited to finally be off that repressive Star Destroyer and out of the even duller imperial complex to stand on solid ground on Lothal, which was so very different than her own planet. To be standing on another entirely foreign planet outside of her solar system should be exciting enough. Her old self would barely have been able to contain her excitement, but she was here on behalf of the empire. As part of the occupants. The oppressors. Inside she was bursting with excitement, but it was dulled by the fact that she was here as an imperial.
Almost all the buildings were looking identical, cubical and the locals where shooting her little group consisting of two troupers and Agent Kallus dirty or terrified glances before quickly dashing out of view. Although the streets were somewhat busy, she could only gather some hushed whispers, which stopped entirely whenever they walked passed them. People were afraid to be overheard. The empire's oppression was almost thick palatable in the air. Well, the air did smell differently, and the various scents were not that easily placed.
Or rather she could feel it through the people's thick emotions. Kallus also had an interesting set of feelings, that where entirely different than she had expected. He wasn't as aloof as he seemed to be at first glance. He also seemed aware of the difficulties faced by the populous. Yet his demeanour suggested that he didn't give a lick about them. That was certainly different than the other ISB officer's she had met. They had spent the entire day flying around on the northern hemisphere where the ghost crew had left its markings. But she had refused to use a speeder in Capital City as she preferred solid ground under her feet and she had longed to walk for herself for a while. And walking by foot allowed her to take more information in. To Kallus she had sold it referencing the line of the Naval code which referred to use Imperial resources responsibly. After all she still was curious about the planet itself. The large planes of green and brownish grass certainly looked rather beautiful, but the smog in the atmosphere was heavy and turned the sky into a grey and brownish colour. As hard as she looked, she could not detect any blue in the sky, like there should be. She missed that. Occasionally her ears had focused at hearing some sort of unrefined melody she couldn't place, but when she had enquired about it, Kallus had told her that he couldn't hear anything. Perhaps his helmet was too constricting, or she did have better hearing.
When she had entered the civilian compounds of Capital City, she had reluctantly let go of her mental walls which had almost caused her to slam them back in place to protect herself, but she forced herself to lower them. It hadn't worked. Too much information had been rushing towards her mind and she had slammed them back in place, but not reinforced them. It allowed her to still feel the things around her, but slightly muted. Her mind would remember it anyway. And she had sworn loyalty to Thrawn, not the empire. Her thoughts always seemed to circle back on that stupid oath. Whatever that would mean for her future would be complicated. She had been very careful not to phrase it like a magical vow, but it was weighing heavily on her.
She scanned the retaining wall again for a more detailed holo-picture. The other graffities weren't that detailed. Here the Mandalorian artist from the phoenix squadron had apparently worked several layers, probably over weeks or month whenever she had been close to the area. But the compilation of graffiti layers was beautiful. Harry adored it. A phoenix raising from the flames, a little cute Loth-cat and a storm trooper helmet which might be covered in speckles of blood. It seemed hastily drawn yet detailed enough to read the love the artist had for this planet and for her cause. And she seemed to hate Storm troopers. Something she could relate to. She had also hated them when they had invaded her planet. Well, she could not hate them that strongly anymore as she knew that they were mostly just physically fit simpletons following orders or conscripts from newly discovered, more primitive planets like Longbottom and his friends. And he was no simpleton. Did the Rebels know that they were sometimes fighting brainwashed conscripts that were caught in the middle because they had no other choice? Probably not. If they were to find someone who could get through to them, the empire would have to worry about far more defectors.
Her eyes fell on the stylized phoenix again. She could swear that the red paint even smelled strangely after something normally not found in paint, but this artist wasn't usual. She carefully brushed over the paint and smelled the residue on her glove. Yes, there was something explosive in the mix. Crafty. She was tempted to use her blaster and see if she was right, but then she could also be wrong and destroy the painting. And that was something she didn't want.
Earth didn't have any contact with the galaxy outside prior to the empire's arrival and a little skirmish with forces still unknown before that, yet for some reason there were humans all over the galaxy and they also seemed to share some mythological creatures. How was that possible? Humans had developed on Earth through evolution. It had already been proven. But did the humans in the galaxy develop exactly like on earth? But then why wasn't there more variety among them? Were the stories of people abducted by aliens true, perhaps? Were there other real phoenixes somewhere else in the galaxy? Fawkes had liked her quite a lot, but shown his disdain towards her brother, which had surprised Dumbledore immensely she had never shown any loyalty to the old geezer. The bird had even come to her rescue in the chamber when she had saved her annoying brother, his best friend Ronald and her brother's little groupie Ginny, who was now his fierce wife. It had been the only time when she had seen him speechless. Yet, even then he had not apologized to her.
"You said that one of the Rebels from the Phoenix Squadron was a local citizen. Do you know where he lived?" she curiously asked the tall strawberry-blond ISB Agent standing behind her remembering how hard she had fought not to burst into laughter when she had realized that he had mutton chops. But then his helmet didn't look cosy and naked skin on the bare metal of his helmet could become problematic. Especially, when he broke out into sweat the metal could stick on unshaved skin or during extreme cold, when it could cause frost burns. So, the mutton chops did make some sense for his protection.
"Yes. Bridger's house is in the city." He answered her with his deep voice and rather bored intonation. "Yet the building itself is in a bad state of disrepair."
"I would like to take a look into it if possible." She stated with a growing uneasy feeling of being watched, yet she could not locate the source. A visit to Bridger's house had not been on the schedule, but somehow, she wanted to see it.
"Of course." Agent mutton chops responded, yet Harry could detect some irritation. He didn't particularly like babysitting her. "This way."
She followed him through the narrow streets taking in the foreign buildings with two extremely bored troopers in tow. Harry also had to calm herself at seeing other alien species. It was excited. She had to resist the urge to gawk at them or stop to ask them about themselves. She knew that she could read about them in the databases, but these databases were extremely biased and preferred to talk to them personally.
Once or twice they met a patrolling unit, but they mostly passed other citizens of the city, who quickly ducked out of their way. Suddenly an elderly lady with cranial horns on her head and a large basket containing local round lilac fruits on her back tripped and stumbled over her feet a few meters before them and tried to scramble back to her feet with a terrified look on her feet as they came closer to her. Harry could feel her pain and her terror.
She quickly strode towards the woman and held her hand towards her in invitation and sent her a calming smile. The elderly lady frowned in confusion and hesitantly took the hand as if she was expecting her to retract it but eventually she took it. It was frail, and Harry worried that she might accidently break her bones. Harry gently grabbed the woman's upper arm to support her and pulled her upward until she was standing. She bent down to collect the escaped fruits resisting the strong urge to summon them and ordered the two troopers to do the same, who just looked at each other in confusion, then at Kallus as if waiting for his confirmation. Harry rolled her eyes at them. It seemed that even troopers were chauvinistic. She really wanted to smack them for it.
"Do as she says." Agent mutton chop agreed. Harry placed the fruits back into the basked even though the elderly lady squirmed out of the way. She could sneak a peek at the bottom but could only spot that the woman was smuggling something else which had a specific etiquette marking it as imperial medical supplies. With the empire controlling everything there had to be a black market for vital things like medicine for elderly patients and the empire wasn't forth coming in health care. The woman was ill and had probably acquired this medicine on the black market. She quickly gathered a few more fruits and put it over the medicine before the two troopers could see that something else was inside. Together they had the basket full again even though the woman squirmed uneasily. Harry's feeling that she was being watched intensified, but she could not place the source. And there was that strange melody again. After having collected all the escaped fruit the elderly lady stood motionless keeping her eyes diminutively on the ground as if she was waiting to be released. Harry could still sense her fear and her immense confusion.
She gently put her hand on the lady's shoulder. "Get well soon." She told the woman careful not to imitate the Coruscanti accent, squeezed it gently and gave her an emphatic smile. The Zabrak's jaw dropped, and Harry turned back towards Kallus, who deeply frowned at her with his hands crossed before his chest, but Harry could detect surprise.
"You wanted to show me the building." Harry reminded him as the elderly woman quickly moved away.
"Of course." Kallus answered her not letting the retreating woman out of his sight.
"Well, I believe we were walking in that direction." Harry pointed in the opposite direction. "Unless you want to chase after an elderly woman instead to make your day more exciting."
Kallus head snapped back to her with an angry frown on his front. It seemed that he took issue with her implied statement. Harry just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to go in the direction they had gone before.
A few minutes later they came to an abrupt halt in front of a burnt-out building with quite a number of visible cracks. The foundations were still intact but showed clear indication that it had burnt from the inside. A few old rusty crates were lying outside. Graffiti, both from the empire telling everyone that the building was of limits and from people which had left scribbles outside that they had not forgotten the rebels and a familiar phoenix.
The air around the house felt tight as she activated the recording droid again to record the graffiti. She stepped closer to the door and took everything in. She could see the remnants of a burnt kitchen, table and some knocked over chairs that had burnt. Was there a hole in the floor? She wanted to take a closer look, but Kallus stopped her.
"Going inside is not advisable." He told her blocking the entry with his left arm from her right side. "The building is instable."
"The foundations seem strong enough." She countered stubbornly shoving his hand away and carefully stepping in with the hovering camera droid following her.
"Record the building and then the cellar." She told the droid who peeped times and opened his lenses. Yes, her initial assumption was correct. It seemed that the explosion had started in the hole in the ground and had worked itself outside to the rest of the building.
Harry took a deep breath turning from one side to the other, but it didn't help. It felt as if something was pushing against her mind, washing over her, her knees almost buckled, but she managed to keep standing. She could detect faint, yet almost deafening screams of protest, fear and anger combined with the sound of heavy boots that she immediately mentally connected with Storm Troopers. She shortly closed her eyes to get her control back, but it didn't help. It felt stifling. Oppressive. Her heart constricted. Those weren't her feelings. When she opened them again she could see the burnt room before her eyes, yet also a still intact one faintly overlaying it and a small black-haired boy struggling to climb out of the large hole in the ground. He felt confused, lost, alone. Why could she see this? First Scorpius in real time and now apparently something of the past? Why could she see this? She had never heard, read or experienced anything like that before. Yes, you did. Her traitorous mind told her. Stop lying to yourself.
"Are you alright." She heard a deep faint voice from her side distorted as if she was submersed under water.
"Lieutenant Potter are you alright." She heard Kallus' voice again. More impatiently this time. She shook her head and imagined clearing her head. She blinked once and turned to the side where Kallus was now standing under the entrance arch.
"Yes. Of course." She assured him stepping back out of the house while waiting for the droid to finish recording the house, but he clearly didn't believe her. His eyes remained sceptical. Typical ISB agent.
"Out of curiosity. What happens to minor children when their parents are arrested?" she enquired following him away from that house back towards the imperial complex.
"I'm afraid I do not follow." He told her feeling slightly uncomfortable at her question. Harry could detect a pang of regret. Got you!
"I meant that if family members are arrested, put in jail or …worse, what happens to their children? Are they stuck with their parents, does the empire put them with other family members, a foster family or are there orphanages?" She enquired more forcefully, but somehow, she seemed to know the answer already.
"The children are welcome to serve the empire as imperial cadets." He evaded her.
"Yes, but what about the children that are not yet old enough for that? Are they left to fend for themselves?"
"You are talking about Ezra Bridger." He stated not answering her question.
"Well, obviously. The information we received indicated that his parents were arrested when he was about eight years old, yet there is no information about his whereabouts until his association with the ghost crew. That are approximately seven years where he was left to fend for himself forcing him into committing petty crimes to survive. Had the empire handled this issue differently then it might have a loyal citizen right now."
"Interesting theory." Kallus answered her.
"Not a theory. A fact. And the empire calls my backwater planet primitive." Harry grumbled angrily. "At least we had social services to take care of children in most countries." Kallus shot her a sceptical side glance.
"The empire simply doesn't have the resources of helping every citizen." Kallus countered her, but his voice indicated that he seemed to repeat something without entirely believing it himself. Harry rose her left eyebrow challengingly and growled.
"Yet it has more than enough founding for the imperial war-machine building one heavily flawed Star Destroyer after the other."
Kallus stopped in surprise. The troopers dutifully a few steps behind them. "That sounds almost treasonous." He warned frowning at her.
Harry rolled her eyes. "You seem to mistake well justified criticism for treason, Agent Kallus." Harry continued to walk, and Kallus soon fell in step with her again. "The people in command are just people. People dancing to the whims of politicians who lack real power. Even they are bound to make errors. But if nobody dares to point out their rather sever errors they will amplify until they become a cascade of mistakes. That cascade of mistakes will eventually feed rebellion."
"Might I suggest that, you leave the criticism to people above your paygrade. Outspoken low-level officers normally do not fare that well in the empire." He warned her. "I've seen that often enough."
"Oh. I'm sure you have." Harry remarked drily. "Well, I can't help what I think of." She defended herself as they made their way back. "And I certainly can't detach and leave my brain behind on the Chimera. I mean, where should I put it? Not to mention the bloody mess that extraction would create. Definitely not for the faint-hearted." She shook her head in mock outrage and could see that agent mutton chop's lips were fighting a grin.
Suddenly she heard one of the troopers behind her yell and jump and turned around as her heart jumped as well and her right hand twitched to her brand-new blaster that had come with the uniform. Where they under attack?
Oh. Yes, they were definitely under attack. She took in the scene with growing amusement, but she also became slightly concerned. Hectically jumping troopers and rifles were a dangerous combination.
Two young cheeky Loth cats had apparently decided on a whim to use one of the troopers as a scratching post. One was halfway up his back with her long sharp claws digging in between the gaps of his armour parts, while the other was already on his shoulders sharpening her claws on his armour.
The poor trouper tried to shake them off unsuccessfully whirling around with his rifle. The second trooper seemed to be unable to do anything as he partially shooed the cats and tried to grab them but was unsuccessful as they were evading his hands.
"Troopers outmatched by two cats. Why am I not surprised?" Harry chuckled to herself. "Oh, no. Don't you dare!"
Harry could hear a third meowing and detected a third bigger white Loth Cat sitting far above them on the roof watching them eagerly as if about to join the fun. They looked different than the cats on her planet, yet still distinctively like cats. Apparently, they also displayed a similar character.
The second trooper now spotted her as well and pointed the barrel of his rifle towards the third cat.
Kallus however tensed and seemed to be on guard as he scanned the area with a strict expression as if awaiting an ambush. It was a kitten ambush, but certainly nothing that warranted his concern. Or did the rebels tend to send animals to attack?
"Watch out empire, we are defeating you with … vicious purring cats." Harry fought hard to keep her laughter hidden. Ok. She was crazy, but there was only so much she could expect serving on the restrictive Star Destroyer.
"Hold it." Harry ordered the troopers shaking her head, but she couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice.
"Don't point the barrel at me trooper!" she hissed when the cat infested trooper accidently pointed it at her. "Stay calm and point it towards the floor. Seriously, don't they teach you about safety?" He luckily did what she ordered him. Were they able to think at all? She wondered or were Longbottom and his friends' exceptions to the rule? Ok. No, she wasn't particularly fair. The PTSD Troopers she had worked with had showed some more intelligence than the others she had seen. Perhaps that's why they had been on track to become Death Troopers.
She carefully stepped towards the two cats on the trooper, who was now bent forward. She slipped out of her restrictive leathery gloves and pinned them on her belt. Carefully and very gently outstretched her hand towards the cat perched on his shoulder blades.
"Hallo. Little one." She calmly talked to the cat in a higher pitched purring voice. Both set of ears perked up at her voice and one paw was lifted as if she was about to playfully attack her.
"I'm not going to hurt you, little one." She told the two cats soothingly wiggling her outstretched fingers playfully.
"The itty, pitty little trooper needs to do his job." The trooper groaned apparently taking issue with her words. Cats forcing troopers into submission. She was enjoying this moment way too much. Considering the curious onlookers, she wasn't the only one. Her hand connected with the head between the ears of the first cat and she gently stroked it which caused the little cat to let go of its initial intent to attack her with his paw and purred contently as it edged closer towards her hand. Different planet similar habits. She chuckled. The little fur was soft and felt marvellous in between her fingers. It was too long that she lived without a pet, but as long as she lived on the destroyer a pet was out of the question. Although, a vicious Loth cat would lead certainly to amusing situations.
Putting a cloaking charm on it and the fun could begin. Letting it loose on the bridge or the cantina. Nah. Don't get any ideas Harry.
The second cat now also became curious and tried to push the other one out of the way to get her fair share. Harry also petted the second one and a split second later the first one had vacated her place on the trouper and was now balancing herself on her shoulder while rubbing her face into Harry's.
"Ups." Harry exhaled while relishing in the kitten's attention. It was heavier than it looked. "Hallo."
The second one followed swiftly and landed partially, with her front paws on her shoulders, digging her long claws into Harry's uniform. She winced slightly and supported her up with her left hand. Taking a few steps away from the trooper who straightened up with an audible groan.
Still petting the two kittens, now rather awkwardly she peaked towards the white Loth cat still watching them like a hawk. Did the two little ones belong to her? She had no idea, but then her eyes connected with the blue ones of the white Loth-cat and Harry could have sworn that the cat was more than it seemed to be. An Animagus? Those blue eyes seemed to host knowledge that shouldn't be there. Her protective necklace hiding her imprint from that dark entity tingled slightly. Yes, something was going on. But the Loth-cat didn't seem dark at all. It seemed to smile at her. Could they smile?
Harry shook her head and broke eye contact with it. The white Loth cat meowed which the two little ones answered tensing and hopping towards a wooden pillar which looked to be part of remnants of a former stall and hastily climbing upwards towards the white loth cat.
Her neck hair straightened. In the corner of her eye Harry could see that the troopers where aiming at the cats.
"Hold your fire." She angrily ordered whirling around. "They were just curious, but if you are shooting at them they might become vicious in the future." She paused. "And you do not want to feel the wrath of cats."
Harry realized that the two cats had left her uniform full of tufts of hair. She brushed them off walking with a grin past an unreadable agent Kallus, who projected confusion. Apparently, he had no idea what to make of her. Good. She counted that as a win against the imperials. Some stubborn hairs refused to be brushed off, but Harry decided that she would clean her uniform back on the destroyer.
A few hours later…
Harry was sitting in her quarters working herself through all the reports about their special rebel group on her workstation.
Kallus had provided every report ever filed on them. . . . .them. She had naturally forwarded them to Thrawn with a note that she was working on them. Did Kallus want to drown her in information? It certainly seemed that way. Luckily, every report provided detailed geographic coordinates of their encounters. Right now, she was disregarding the details of the reports and focusing on building a net showing their movements on their planet. They certainly had been busy, but they seemed to have favoured the northern hemisphere. On the other hand, there weren't many settlements on Lothal's southern hemisphere as the ground wasn't as fertile and was mostly covered with kholm-grass. But ecological surveys indicated untapped mineral veins. So, surveillance wasn't all that tight yet. That could indicate that they had also been there, but the empire had no record of it.
Her com blipped, and Harry sighed. She was nowhere finished with her current task. She took it off her belt and activated it. "Lieutenant Potter, here."
"Lieutenant Potter." Thrawn's calm voice answered. "Please report to my office."
"On my way, Sir." She responded automatically and ended the com gathering the datafiles. She stopped shortly in front of her small mirror. The reflection gazing back at her looked bored and tired. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to school her features. She knew how to put her "professional" face on. It had helped her manipulate people to do her bidding just like she had learned from her mentor/sponsor and it usually worked in underestimating her. The "pleasant" professional face had worked on Agent Kallus and several other officers, so she would keep it up for the time being. But she would continue to criticise, and her boss didn't seem to mind if she didn't overstep some boundaries and didn't wear her disdain for the empire openly on her sleeve.
More intense powerplay with Thrawn were waiting for her. Oh joy.
After passing the guard to Thrawn's office she entered his office and saw him sitting at his desk reading something on his data-pad.
She stood attention with her shoulders squared and her hands clasped behind her back balancing her data pad in between her hands while waiting to be acknowledged. He didn't. Instead he continued reading. She gritted her teeth to keep her from saying anything. He had seen that she had entered his office. She was sure of it. So, either whatever he was reading was quite gripping or he was ignoring her for some reason or it was another test of how patient she could be. Minutes ticked by and her annoyance grew with every single one of them. Every minute she was forced to stay attention here was one that she could have used more productively. What was the point of that?
"Your uniform seems to have acquired some turfs of fur." He glacially stated interrupting the silence while never looking up from his data-pad.
Harry mentally cursed with wide eyes. She felt the blood drain from her face. Shit. She had forgotten about the state of her uniform and gotten straight to work upon arrival back on the Chimera. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated and mentally murmured Scourgify directing the magical stream over her uniform to clean it. Thrawn knew that she could to magic. So, there was no point in hiding it. She quickly checked if she had missed a spot and a second later she sheepishly turned her gaze towards Thrawn again, who was now calmly observing her.
"Fascinating." He remarked. "I did wonder how my planetary office on the surface could be so impeccably clean so quickly."
"The maintenance droids are in dire need of a recalibration. There was too much dust laying around even after their cleaning session. So, I stepped in, but I will not run around in circles doing the droid's jobs in the future, Sir." She told him.
The Chiss inclined his head. "Were there complications on the surface?" he enquired gesturing towards Harry's uniform.
Harry unsuccessfully fought a sheepish grin. "Well… You could say that we were ambushed. By two curious feline creatures of the local fauna: Loth-cats. One of the troopers was unable to shake the two persistent kittens off. So, I had to lure them away. Troopers outsmarted by That's how some turfs of their fur landed on my uniform." She explained apologetically hoping to appease him. "I intended to clean it at arrival back at the Chimera but got caught up in the reports. I apologize for that. It won't happen again."
"See to it that it doesn't." he only remarked coolly. "In the meantime. I was informed that you've protested against the transfer of your two patients in the Med Bay this morning."
Oh. So, he didn't summon her to question her on her work on the reports.
"I did, Sir." She responded defiantly remembering that she had almost been banned from entering the Med Bay again. "Both troopers are still suffering from PTSD and are therefore still unable to do their jobs properly. With their transfer I'm afraid that they are either used as troopers, again becoming a threat to their own comrades. Or the other possibility is that the military will let them go without getting them help. In that case they will become a severe danger to civilians and to themselves."
"The High Command assured me that they would look into this issue and get them help." Thrawn told her calmly interrupting her.
"But the structures to help troopers are simply not there at present." She shot back. "There are only trained specialists to access the mental state of individuals, not how help them lead a normal life again. Not to mention the lack of facilities. I've checked. During the clone wars the Jedi were the ones training mental physicians able to help. After the empire took over there was apparently no will to get them help. So, valuable knowledge was lost. I can't help everyone suffering from PTSD in the empire, but I could help those two."
Thrawn seemed unfazed by her rant, yet was thoughtfully listening to her. "Yes, you mentioned this problem in your report to the High Command. But you also suggested that being confined for too long a period might also be counterproductive for their healing process."
"That I did, but the Med Bay was still the best option as the grey within grey of the Star Destroyer and the closeness to weapons and alarms could trigger further flashbacks and render everything they worked on useless."
"You are very protective over them and also over the treatment of Crewman Baila Panaká." Thrawn remarked locking his captivating glowing red eyes with hers.
Harry huffed straightening "I'm NOT protective." Why does everyone keep saying that? " They are my responsibility. You ordered me to continue working with them a few weeks ago and just because I've a new set of orders that came with my new rank, I had no intention of stopping that."
There was that ominous barely visible lopsided grin again.
"An admirable notion." He affirmed. "However, the Apprentice Legislators were tasked to collect ideas and propositions for the establishment of mental health care available for trooper veterans to be presented to the senate. Your two patients will stay at Coruscant as cases studies for the time being getting all the help they can get from mental physicians that were trained during the Clone Wars."
Harry frowned unhappily. They were out of her control and she would not be able to help them in case something happened. She knew their current mental state. Those now working with them didn't.
"But they don't know them." She protested. "I do, and the Apprentice Legislators have no real power to achieve anything. Their purpose is just keeping the public happily ignorant."
"Indeed. You must have patience, Lieutenant Potter. It is one small step. You can keep working with Baila Panaká, but your main focus should lie on the new mission. These rebels will prove particularly stubborn and we will need to study them intently." Thrawn told her gesturing her to sit in front of his desk. His intonation indicated that he considered the discussion to be over."
Harry nodded activating her datapad and sat down. This would be a few long hours. She doubted that she would be able to go to the recreation deck for some training as she had hoped for to "accidently" run into Longbottom or one of his teammembers.
Not as much Thrawn as I had hoped for, but the there will be more than enough Thrawn in the next chapter.
Looking forward to your reviews.