Alien Admiral Fucks First Officer

Chapter Three: Containment

Thanks to the discovery of the holovid, Faro got a delayed start on her work for the day. As a result, she lost track of time and ended up finishing late. A brief chat with the trooper outside Thrawn's door told her he had done the same and didn't want to be disturbed. So much for clearing the air.

Maybe it was for the best. Just because no one had noticed them slipping away together before didn't mean nobody would now. Perhaps the two of them needed to keep their personal distance until the porn incident was behind them. They could deny the holovid's authenticity as many times as they desired. Faro knew not everyone would be convinced until the real creators came forward.

ISB started their investigation in earnest that morning. Yularen had forwarded Faro a preliminary report detailing how his agency would prevent the holovideo from getting more attention. So far, the Empire had not asked Eros' Corner to take the video down for fear the creators would reupload elsewhere. Eros' Corner may not be an obscure site by any means, but it was far from the most popular pornography distributor in the galaxy. They wanted to contain the incident quietly, not draw any more attention to the matter.

Instead, the Empire pressured the site to discreetly take the video off their trending page and remove it from all recommendation lists. Furthermore, the mainstream press received strict orders to quash any stories about the incident for fear of slander, libel, and sedition charges. This hadn't stopped certain anonymous chat rooms from passing links around, but ISB argued their efforts were sufficient at limiting the spread. Since their efforts began, new views on the holovid had slowed dramatically. In a galaxy hosting trillions of sentient beings, ISB argued that Faro ought to be grateful only a million and six hundred thousand had seen a compromising holovid of "her". More than that, the holovid had yet to surface on any other platform, limiting exposure even further. Given that Faro had yet to receive angry communications from distant relatives or former crewmates, Faro felt obligated to agree.

As for the Chimaera, all ensigns involved in the initial discovery were forbidden from speaking about their experiences with anyone else. Lieutenant Carter was added to the ban after he was overheard ranting about his morning at lunch. Both Faro and Thrawn declined to make any statements on the matter as they feared doing so would give the holovideo undue attention. Faro worried some may take their silence as an admission of guilt, but she didn't want to speak on the matter until she had all the facts in her grasp. There was too much she still didn't know at this time.

Unfortunately, just because she didn't want to talk about the holovideo didn't mean other officers felt the same way. When Faro finally did clock out of her shift and snatch some food for dinner, Woldar and Hammerly cornered her before she could escape to her quarters. She nodded to them, trying to get away. "Commanders."

"Commodore. Can we, um, can we talk for a minute?" Woldar avoided her gaze as he spoke.

Hammerly, on the other hand, took a more direct approach. "Rumors about this morning are making rounds on the ship. Insane ones, too."

Faro cocked her head. "Really? I believe the ensigns who were punished this morning received orders not to discuss their experiences with others."

"People heard them talking on the bridge before they were disciplined," Woldar explained, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Just bits and pieces, but that's all rumors need to get started."

Hammerly leaned in, invading Faro's personal space. "Faro… is there really porn of you and Thrawn on the Holonet?"

Faro groaned. "It's not us! The grand admiral and I proved as much to ISB this morning. It's just… a moderately convincing fake that anyone who is a stranger to the grand admiral and I may be deceived into thinking is real."

"Oh." Woldar hesitated. "So you and the grand admiral aren't… entangled."

"No. Is that the rumor going around on the ship?"

Hammerly addressed Woldar first. "I told you there's no way. I'm not convinced Thrawn experiences attraction at all. Forget attraction to humans."

"The grand admiral said something similar during our call with Colonel Yularen. He claimed he would rather die alone than lay with a human woman," Faro repeated, doing her best to hide her emotions. Perhaps Thrawn's lie would serve her well here. Hammerly already believed it.

Her fellow officers noticed her hesitation anyway. Thankfully, they interpreted it as mere embarrassment. "That must have been awkward. I'm sorry for questioning you, Faro. I never thought about Thrawn being interested in anyone before today. If he was into humans, though, I'm sure you'd be his first choice." Faro raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not like Thrawn's particularly close to anyone else on this ship. Not anymore, anyway."

"Unfortunately for you, Faro, a lot of other officers have Woldar's idea. What they aren't as sure of is your side of things. Anyone who knows you understands that you don't sleep your way to the top, but…" Hammerly shrugged. "It's a big ship. Not everyone on board knows you personally."

Like that ensign from this morning. It was beneath her to let that boy's comments continue to bother her, but Faro struggled to move past them. She tried to change the subject, if slightly. "The call was awkward. Not as awkward as the evidence gathering process, though." Faro briefly described how Thrawn had asked her to examine the porn video and search for differences between their appearance and those of the actors. She left out their more intimate observations, but the commanders guessed at them regardless. Faro could see sympathy gathering in their eyes.

"That sounds like torture. Be glad ISB is on the case. You can be sure they're going to find the fools responsible. Especially if the pair are professional porn stars."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if the people in the holovideo have done porn before, ISB can compare their faces and… um, bodies with other holovids in search of a match. I've heard they have software programs capable of that." Hammerly smiled, though it only showed on half her face. "I can imagine a few sentient agents may want to review the matches in person first before getting back to you."

"Oh. You think this might be a popular case to work right now?" Woldar teased, then noticed Faro's expression. "Sorry."

"My point is that your case is in good hands. Try not to think about it if you can avoid it. ISB will figure out who's behind this. Once they do, you and Thrawn can punish them in front of the entire galaxy. Rumors will mostly die down on their own from there."

"You think so?" Faro knew how hard it was for some people to let go of gossip. Gossip about Grand Admiral Thrawn was a particularly voluminous category, full of everything from incorrect biology facts to brutal murder of his former aide. Despite her role as his first officer, Faro had mostly been exempt from the rumor mill's contents. Until now, that is.

Woldar nodded. "Of course. It won't happen right away, but the next big scandal will come out soon. People will jump on that the same way they're jumping on this. "

"You'll be fine, Faro," Hammerly agreed, placing a hand on Faro's shoulder. "Your career is still on track. Here, come to the cantina with us. You can eat your food there and get a drink, too. Take your mind off things."

Faro hesitated. She wouldn't mind relaxing a bit, but she still wanted to talk to Thrawn tonight. Besides, it was already somewhat late. Maybe she should just return to her quarters after all. Call it a night.

"Come on, Faro! You haven't joined us for drinks in weeks. I thought you promised not to let your promotion get between you and a good time." Woldar moved to Faro's other side. Together, the two commanders urged her in the direction of the cantina. "You're going to miss us when you transfer off the ship, you know."

Faro sighed, falling in step with them. She appreciated her coworkers' attempts to cheer her up, even if it didn't help much. "I still haven't heard anything about transferring. What if this is the event that prevents me from taking another command post?"

"No way this is the problem. The holovideo was uploaded today, wasn't it? You've been waiting for news about your transfer for weeks. Whatever the holdup is, it's unrelated to today's drama."

"Unless this was planned," Woldar mused. "Maybe someone else wants to lead that task force. They used some political connection to delay your transfer but needed a reason to refuse you entirely, so they hired a pair of porn actors to create that reason."

"..." Faro had no words.

But Hammerly did. "Woldar, that is the weirdest smear campaign idea I've ever heard."

"Is it? There are some petty people in the Empire. Remember that one Moff Commander Vanto told us about? The one that prevented him from advancing past ensign for years on end? Who knows how he did it."

"Not with fake pornography, that's for sure." Hammerly shook her head as they entered the cantina. She was careful to keep her voice down.

"Well, Faro and Thrawn are significantly higher ranking than an ensign. That makes the two of you more difficult targets. It's even possible your mysterious rival tried to dig real dirt up on you first. This could be their way of admitting they didn't find anything."

Faro hummed noncommittally. She sat down at the bar with Hammerly and Woldar on either side. Her coworkers used their bodies as shields to block the gaze of other patrons. "If you're right, Woldar, this person didn't think their idea through. If the top brass believe I have an inappropriate relationship with the grand admiral, why would they keep me stationed on his flagship? Wouldn't I be transferred regardless?" Or court marshalled?

"Maybe. But by then, you would be more likely to get transferred down the ladder than up. Instead of the task force you were promised, you might get some uneventful sector in Wild Space where your only adversaries are the occasional smuggler. That's hardly the promotion you were promised." Woldar wasn't backing down on his theory. If he kept this up after he got drunk, his ideas were only going to get wilder in nature.

Despite her reservations, Faro couldn't dismiss his explanation entirely out of hand. It did make a certain amount of sense. Sex scandals were common enough among the politicians of Coruscant. So common, in fact, that the public hardly batted an eye. Accusations of someone keeping a mistress or soliciting a prostitute were but a temporary inconvenience to a Senator, Governor, or Moff. She could see how this plot would fit better into a politician's scheme than a military rival's.

Unlike the Empire's political apparatus, the military tended to be stricter regarding sexual matters. Especially if both the involved parties were soldiers, especially if there existed a difference in rank between the two, and especially if the higher ranked individual was part of the lower ranked individual's chain of command. Sex between a commander and subordinate was seen as a less acceptable form of bribery. Such a perception was based on the belief that the subordinate was trading sex for preferential treatment from their commander. Even though Faro had never slept with Thrawn until after her transfer was announced as forthcoming, that wouldn't prevent outsiders from making assumptions about her. Ensign Kydo was proof enough of that. Add the fact that Thrawn was a high ranking alien in the Imperial military, and what would be a minor scandal for any other grand admiral had the potential of delivering severe damage to Thrawn's career. This "sex tape" ensured the pair suffered together.

"You aren't taking Woldar seriously, are you?" Hammerly asked, concerned. She ordered ales for the two of them while Woldar elected for something stronger. Faro was half tempted to follow Woldar's lead, but she knew she had to work in the morning. Woldar's alcohol tolerance had grown legendary among officers of the Chimaera. Faro was no lightweight, but that didn't mean she could match his intake.

"I don't have a better explanation at the moment. Who else would target me in this way? Who would ever think of doing something like this?"

"Rebels?"

"For once, I doubt it. And I don't want to talk about this here." What was the point of asking junior officers to stay silent if her friends were going to air Faro's personal business out for the entire cantina to hear? "I followed you two here so we could relax a bit. Or is that not what you promised me?"

"You're right. We did promise you that. To a good time." Woldar raised his glass once all three had their drinks. From there, the trio of officers launched into a loosely connected stream of tangents ranging from comedic redressing of Vader's reign of terror to plans for future shore leaves. Faro had taken a week off recently, but Hammerly was approaching a year without seeing her family and wanted to know how her brother's children were doing. As it were, Hammerly's oldest niece had been accepted into an Imperial Academy recently. Hammerly had already congratulated her over holo, but it wasn't the same.

Woldar, for his part, was still bitter about his previous shore leave, in which he had attempted to surprise his wife only to witness her sharing the bed with another man. Any upcoming shore leave would be his first one since the divorce. Faro tried to cheer him by pointing out that he could travel anywhere in the galaxy for his vacation now, not just his home planet. He could relax on a beach resort, somewhere entire star systems away from his ungrateful ex. Woldar just nodded and chugged his spirits.

While not always a happy conversation, Faro's time at the cantina succeeded in getting her out of her own head. It was nice to let loose with friends again. Evenings with Thrawn were delightful, but in a different way. They did have one similarity, however: Faro didn't know how many of either she had left.

Faro was about to order her third ale when she decided she'd had enough for the night. No, she was nowhere close to drunk, but she did have to work in the morning. It was late enough as it was. Now that Faro was distracted from her problems, she should get to bed before her thoughts had the chance to creep up on her again.

She announced her intentions to Woldar and Hammerly. "I'm turning in for the night, but thank you. Both of you. I needed this."

"Fine, be responsible," Woldar groaned, a teasing smile on his face. "It's not like you could 'convince' Thrawn to be lenient on you if you reported to shift hungover, right?"

Hammerly laughed. "He'd be confused out of his mind."

"It would never work." Faro did her best to smile along… and back came the thoughts again.

"Faro, come on! We were just teasing." Hammerly stopped grinning and put her hand on top of Faro's. "Goodnight. Try to get some rest."

"I will. Try not to get too drunk without me."

Woldar laughed painfully. "I make no promises."

"Don't listen to him. I'll cut him off soon." Hammerly waved as Faro walked out the door.

Sleep evaded her. Much as Faro tried to push her worries away, they always stayed right there with her. If ISB really were running the actors through a search engine, she hoped they found a match soon.

The next morning, Faro spent less than a minute in her office before Thrawn summoned her to his own. She wasted no time responding to his summons.

"Commodore, I have news. ISB forwarded their report to me sometime during the night. I read it over before my shift began."

Faro did a poor job of hiding her surprise. "ISB is efficient. What did they include in their report, sir?"

"The identities and locations of our insipid imposters. They discovered the Pantoran male first, given that he is one of the only males of his species who has uploaded to the holovideo's hosting site before. It is through him ISB cyber task force pinpointed the human female. At this time, both parties are still located on the planet Corulag, one of the few Core World planets that lacks prohibition on both pornography and interspecial relations." Thrawn let the information sink in before he continued. "I intend to pay our imposters a brief visit. I have informed ISB of my plans already. Originally, I wished to leave you in charge in my absence, but since these pretenders' crimes are an offense against the both of us, it seems appropriate I offer you a choice. You may either accompany me on this mission or remain here."

Faro blinked. "I appreciate your consideration, sir. I would be pleased to accompany you."

Thrawn exhaled. He watched Faro with a discerning eye. "Thank you, Commodore. I… It is my wish that we resolve this incident together. We are both affected by the situation and should focus our energy towards a solution. Nothing I have said in pursuit of that objective was meant to demean you. I apologize if that was the result of my actions. Please allow me to elaborate further once this incident is behind us."

Faro fought a smile off of her face. Now that was how one apologized without breaking rules. "I agree completely, sir. Please allow me to apologize as well. When do we depart the Chimaera for Corulag, sir?"

Thrawn's eyes shone, offering Faro traces of warmth inside. "I have already made the necessary arrangements. We leave within the hour."

A/N's: Nothing like a night of drinking to take your mind off things. I will admit I'm more excited to write the next chapter than I was to write this one, but I did want this as a buffer between chapters four and two. I like the way it offers an outside perspective into both the porn incident as well as Faro and Thrawn's relationship. Plus I just love the Chimaera crew and want to take every chance I can to give them more depth.

That said, expect the next chapter sooner than later. I want to bang out as many fanfic updates as a can before school starts back up again. I already haven't been as productive as I wished. Thank you all again for your support. Until next time!