"You and I, Mitth'raw'nuruodo, will have a chat when you get back." The emperor smiled.
Those words haunted him on his way back to the Chimaera.
He'd proven Savit's treason, saved the empire from the grysks... but he'd also shown his hand working with the Chiss, who he'd sworn were no longer his people, and asked permission for none of it. There were also eyewitness accounts of Eli Vanto being on board, his former protegee and now know treasonous soldier, have switched from the Empire to the Chiss Ascendancy... Thrawn's loyalties and goals were clear.
When he returned. When he returned… His mind racked, sifting through the possibilities. The emperor was no fool, and the game was up… what did he want from Thrawn? He true loyalties were, in fact, clear, so why not kill him? Make an example out of the Chiss. His hands were shaking. Had he really just spared a traitor? Thrawn took a shuddering breath. There was something he wanted, something he wouldn't allow to slip by.
The Chiss.
Thrawn closed his eyes. He would make him prove his loyalty by taking the Empire to the Chiss.
The Chiss Ascendancy was crumbling, they were on the precipice of a civil war. There was no possible way that they could sustain an attack from the Empire now. But Thrawn knew the sith wouldn't take no for an answer. Not after what he'd just done.
Damn.
He swept onto the bridge, giving commands for their jump to Lothal to stop Bridger…
His thought process screeched to a halt, the cold realization flooding over his senses. No, he wouldn't be stopping Bridger. He would be taking Bridger, and the Chimaera, to their fates.
"Faro," He commanded and she turned.
"Yes, sir."
"Lothal. The rebels await us."
"Bridger, Bridger, listen. Please." Thrawn said, and Ezra could feel the fear in the man. The purgil had wrapped themselves intently around the Chimaera, and Thrawn, the hull creaking and folding around them.
He hadn't thought beyond getting Thrawn out of Lothal. Now it was time to think.
The ship shuddered and jolted into hyperspace, launching Ezra back. His leg clipped a chair, spinning him onto his back and against the wall with a thud. With the ship shattered, there was no vacuum pressure in the cabin, sending him each and every way. He closed his eyes and focused on finding his center, even in this mess, and utilized the force. He found his way to the ground. Thrawn was still in the purrgils clutches, His eyes wide. A strangled cry leaving his throat.
"Bridger, the crew, they can find the escape pods, but there's a guest on the ship, she'll perish if I don't go to her."
Ezra stared at him, his eyes widened in fear, and released him from the purrgil's grasp. Thrawn didn't miss a beat, and staggered toward the door. He broke into a run, a crazed, desperate look in his eyes. Ezra followed, and Thrawn dashed down a maze of hallways, yelling for the crew to get to the pods. Light flickered on and off above them, the fixtures hanging by single wires and swinging threateningly from the exposed ceiling. Thrawn leapt over bodies and machinery pulled free from the walls, ducking beneath a pipe that protruded from the ceiling, oxygen spraying from it. A trooper screamed for his help, and he pulled him to his feet, passing him off to another. Ezra saw the bank of escape pods, stormtroopers and officers cramming into them and launching into the unknown. The Purgil had dropped out of hyperspace, but stopped yet, and there was a chance of death before the pod even left the canister, but the ship was destroyed, and precious air was leaking under the crushing weight of the Purgil's grasp. He turned back toward Thrawn, and saw him as he entered the med bay.
"Linnia!"
Thrawn kicked a piece of the ship aside. There were quite a few dead bodies sliding back and forth with the rocking of the ship. Gurneys and medical droids slammed against a glass cabinet and rained glass all around.
"Linnia!"
Ezra was sure there were quite a few people under all of the debris, boots and droids crushed under cabinets and fallen ductwork. He didn't hear an answer, though.
"Linnia!" He pulled at debris, pulling another medical officer from the rubble and helping her up. She staggered toward the door, her face bloodied and her arm shattered, and Ezra helped her get her hold on the doorframe before she disappeared into the nearly empty corridor.
Crunch, clink
The bacta tank released from its hold and shattered on the ground, sending glass and bacta across the floor, and around Ezra's shoes. Thrawn was still digging, calling for this person.
"Thrawn we gotta go!" Ezra called, looking back at the escape pods. The halls were empty, and eerily quiet, the only sound that of the dying alarm and debris sliding and clattering along the polished floor.
"Go, Bridger!" Thrawn barked and a shrill voice called from the other side of the med bay, behind a surgical cart.
"Thrawn! I'm stuck!"
Thrawn ran over, avoiding the fallen bacta tank, and Ezra spotted the woman. A large machine had fallen on her arm, pinning her.
"I have to find leverage," Thrawn called to her and she nodded, her eyes wide and her lips quivering. Ezra felt her horror, her belief that she would die here, alone. Her hair was soaked in bacta, and Thrawn's boots splashed around in it while he looked for something to free her with. Was he really about to save empire trash?
Ezra force pushed the machine and freed her looked back gratefully and pulled her into his arms.
"The pods, Bridger, go."
They ran back toward the bridge, the halls silent now. Clearly the troopers knew the emergency drill, since Ezra couldn't sense any living beings on the ship. There was one escape pod left, the glass cracked and the hull dented.
"It's alright, it'll hold," Thrawn said hurriedly, setting Linnia into the seat and buckling it.
"Thrawn there's only two seats," Ezra protested.
Thrawn ignored him, pushing him down onto the second and pressing the hold.
"Thrawn!" Linnia screeched, trying to get the belt off, but he pressed eject, locking the belt and their fates as they tumbled toward the mysterious planet below.
Ezra opened his eyes. He was soaked, raindrops spattering his vision. All he could see was gray, his head spinning. He wasn't in the pod. How did he get out? He rolled over, blinking, trying to clear his vision, and the sharp grass cut his face, blood dripping down his chin. He sat up, and the pod was in the distance beside a tree and a small brook with purplish water. He rubbed his eyes, climbing to his feet. He didn't see Thrawn or Linnia, and his head pound.
He avoided the brook, unsure of what havoc purple water could reek on his skin, and jogged toward the pod. The glass was shattered, blood on the back and dripped on the seats within, and he looked to the ground. He saw some blood every few feet, smeared and dripped, quickly dissipating with the rain. They had gotten out recently. He broke into a run, trying to feel for any life, but his head was pounding and his fear blocked the force, forcing him to run faster. He was on an unknown planet, with seemingly no inhabitants, and no way to call for help. He hadn't been this afraid for himself in a very, very long time. There always seemed to be a way in other situations, this one, this one seemed fruitless, and the idea of passing that anxiety off to an adult sounded fantastic.
"Thrawn!" he called, and a strange branch fell in front of him, the leaves singing through the air like razors.
"Thrawn!"
"Ezra! Over here!"
He looked in her direction, and Linnia was halfway across the clearing, dragging Thrawn.
He ran over, force lifting Thrawn, and she gratefully took a deep breath.
"I looked for you, I couldn't find you anywhere."
"I was pretty far, I don't know how I made that fall."
"Nor do I but I'm not sure how any of us did." She said, looking at Thrawn. "I was making my way toward that little cave over there," She said, pointing. "It seems to be the only dry spot around."
Ezra nodded, and They walked toward the cave, setting Thrawn down within. It was bigger than it had looked from a distance, with plenty of room for the three of them and potentially a small fire. If there was anything dry on this planet.
"I'll get the pod," Ezra offered and she nodded, "Thank you."
Force movement had become menial and simple for him, but using it to find others, to search the force, it still took a great deal of concentration and energy, and that he didn't have. But moving Thrawn and the pod, he could help that way. He forced the pod from the mud and trudged back to the cave. With every step water squelched from his shoes, and he wiped water from his eyes. He looked to the trees. No birds, no sound, just rain, and a distant rumble that he prayed was thunder. As he walked up to the cave he set the pod down outside, and Linnia climbed into it, digging under the seat for the emergency supplies. Ezra looked at her arm. It was completely broken, the bone poking through near her elbow. Ezra cringed, trying not to gag. He was afraid to look at Thrawn.
He should've been dead. In fact, Ezra was assuming he'd kill them all, a loose body with an impact like that was sure to, uhh, potentially hurt others. He gagged at the thought. He was glad he wasn't killed by Thrawn-shrapnel, and strangely enough, he was glad Thrawn was alive. At least, for now. He hadn't so much as groaned, he was entirely still, his face bloodied, as well as his leg and arm.
"Is he… uhhh-"
"He's alive," she called from the pod, her broken arm hanging uselessly beside her. "I'm not sure yet if he'll stay that way."
Ezra pursed his lips and nodded, turning toward the cave. He wasn't sure what to do.
"How can I help?"
"You can look for firewood? Maybe try to find a dry spot like another cave or thick brush that there may be dry wood? She handed him a rain poncho from the emergency kit.
"I'm a little past that." He laughed, wringing his shirt.
"For the wood."
He blushed, "ahh. Gotcha."
He turned, "Ezra?"
He looked back.
"Stay within shouting distance? I don't want to be alone."
He watched her for a moment, and her fear was genuine."
"Of course. Trust me, neither do I."
Ezra found more wood than he had expected. A tree had fallen on another, shielding a decent amount of it from the elements. When he returned, Thrawn was wrapped in a few emergency blankets, his leg splinted in two pieces of the pod and his arm wrapped in torn cloth from her jacket. His head was elevated on the emergency kit itself, which Ezra imagined wasn't comfortable but the guy had worse problems. The source of the blood had been a very large gash on his head, just within the hairline, that was raised and puckered, blacks and blues traveling from it in all directions including his black eye. It was shiny now with bacta gel on it, a cold pack just above it. He was decorated with a smattering of little cuts and gashes, pock marks from pod shrapnel and glass, and bruises from bumping around. Ezra bit his tongue. Was she sure he was alive?
"What's the verdict?" He asked, setting the wood pile down.
"Well, he's got a pretty severe head injury going on, but I've given him bacta injections and the gel as well as the most anti-inflammatory medication I can without killing him. That's all I can do without any more medications or tools. No signs of internal bleeding, at least not yet, so, we'll see."
She sounded nonchalant, but her eyes never left him, searching his face, as if he'd open his eyes any moment.
Ezra started the fire with the lighter in the emergency kit, and stripped to his underwear, wrapping himself in the scratchy emergency blanket. He laid out his clothes to dry on a rock, and Linnia did the same. She was quiet- grieving and fearful, and Ezra couldn't pretend to feel otherwise. For all they knew, they could spend the rest of their lives here. He lay down. He would look around tomorrow, but for now, he was finally warm and just wanted to sleep.
