Hello Everybody,
We're still here, and it is with great pleasure I can say reports of Star Wars: Ascendancy's death have been greatly exaggerated...
I should probably explain somewhat why this one took a while, you see, Displaced was originally supposed to be much shorter, in fact this was going to be the second to final chapter of displaced, but after reading through it, I wasn't happy with it, it felt very rushed, it felt like an afterthought (which, to be fair, it was). Initially I wasn't sure how to fix this, but after some serious brainstorming Displaced was reworked, rewritten and I think it'll be better for it, the Ascendancy will have to wait, though we will get there, and it will be worth it.
I apologise for this chapter's long wait time, but I hope the length can make up for it, at a whopping 8,700 words this is by far the longest chapter so far. It's a fairly different chapter from what I've done before, and I'm actually interested to see what the reaction is, good or bad, maybe it'll be the best chapter so far, maybe it'll bomb horribly, I don't know, but where's the fun of playing it safe? Better to try and fail than to never try at all in my book.
So without further ado... Displaced: Part 4
Ezra breathed slowly as he sat kneeling on the mat in the middle of his quarters. With all of these events hitting him left and right these past few days he closed his eyes and breathed in.. letting the force flow through him. And he relaxed as he breathed out and felt the cramped quarters slip away as he reached out and cleared his mind. With how busy he'd been on the bridge of the Chimaera for the almost two months since they had arrived in the unknown regions he had been using the force more than he had ever previously. It had been taxing on his rest and now it seemed only the force was the thing that could keep him going. Guiding his actions, helping him relax, even offering come clarity from time to time. Now as he sat he reflected on many things. This technique had been one of the ones Kanan had hoped he could have practiced every day and had nagged him about back when he had first decided to take Ezra as an apprentice. But due to how often they were on the run he had never gotten around to it. Not until now after he had lost his friends and been dragged so far away from his home and his cause had he finally found the time. With Kanan's passing a lot of old Jedi training was coming to mind.. Ezra paused and tried to hold back the flurry of emotions. Slowly breathing in. And out. He repeated this as this was part of the meditation. A meditation of emptiness, he had been told, it would help him purge his negative emotions and center himself. Ezra had always found his emotions to center him but without control he had had no way to distinguish what emotions were necessary for him to act as a Jedi. During the battle on Lothal he had a similar moment where emotion had driven him to a correct decision. (or so it had seemed at the time.) While the drive to help protect his friends more directly after the events on that planet in the Malachor system had clouded his vision for a long time due to his uncontrolled anger and hate. It had lead to so much misunderstanding and separation between him and the Ghost crew. But now, as he was here, he could be content knowing that they survived to fight another day because of him and that's all he had wanted. A future. Ezra felt himself breath in and out letting the thoughts drift from him as he moved past it for now. Listening to the hum of the engines through the back of his mind as he relaxed. For a long while his mind was empty and at peace.
As his Jedi senses reached out he felt that dark presence always surrounding them as they traveled. It had been weeks since his encounter with the Vagaari, but the events still troubled him deeply. The slave shield tactics of the Vagaari were some of the most ruthless he'd ever seen. It reminded him of years ago, his first encounter with Darth Vader, where he had ordered Tarkintown burned to try and draw the Spectres out into the open, it hadn't worked of course. Comparing the two, it was such a cleverly despicable tactic he wondered to himself why the Empire hadn't thought of it themselves yet. The Empire already enslaved Wookies for usage in the spice mines of Kessel, and with the aforementioned burning of Tarkintown, the Empire was not above endangering innocents to further it's goals, and he doubted Hera and the rest of the Spectres would have the stomach to fire on a Star Destroyer covered with those bubbles. It would've been even more effective a defence if the Empire filled them not just with innocent slaves, but captured Rebels too, and Unless Saw Garrera and his tactics had suddenly became the norm Lord Vader commanding a fleet of those could probably wipe out the entire Rebellion within a few weeks…
Ezra practically gagged, the thought sickened him, he wasn't about to start giving the Empire ideas and tried to brush it aside. Fortunately, Thrawn had seemed to have something of a sense of decency. (At least from what he'd seen these past few months) He could only hope the Vagaari never encountered the wider Empire, or else Vader and the Emperor might get much darker ideas on how to suppress them even further.
As he reflected on this the force seemed to allow these thoughts to come quickly and clearly. Was this really the power of meditation? Ezra felt himself starting to stirr out of the pattern so he relaxed. Breathing in deeply and letting the frustration out with his breath as he focused his mind on finding inner peace again. His mind drifted again later as he tried to do so. It felt odd to think of Thrawn as being the one Imperial with a sense of decency, considering just over a month ago he had been preparing himself to bombard Lothal. He was ruthless, yes, absolutely and utterly ruthless, but he wasn't bloodthirsty either. The more Ezra observed the Grand Admiral, the more his motivations and goals became a mystery. Thrawn wasn't even remotely phased by the defeat at Lothal, in fact he seemed genuinely impressed at Ezra's trick with the Purrgil. The Admiral had been civil, almost forgiving with Ezra, and was one of the only Imperials to not display some sort of animosity towards him.
Ezra breathed in then out and opened his eyes. He felt stiff and rolled his neck before slowly getting up from his kneeling position. He had time off from his duties for the next few days and looking at the chrono he had nearly spent all the day in meditation. He definitely felt a lot of the stress had left him. Like a bit of the weight of his mind had been let off his shoulders from being able to quiet his mind, and think on things he hadn't had time to otherwise. Looking around his small quarters he felt the urge to go out and walk. There wasn't much else to do here, so pressing the door release he stepped through and began walking down the hall.
"So, where did we assigned today?" A Stormtrooper said as he fastened on his helmet and punched in his id code, falling in line with the squad walking next to Ezra said to his compatriots. "The main shuttle bay?"
"Just came in." The Stormtrooper touched his helmet as the report flashed across his heads up display. "The Inexorable's crew had a betting pool that was just broken up. Most of the contraband being traded was confiscated and we're being sent over to let them know the Grand Admiral is watching."
"How long you suppose we'll be other there?"
"It's not a transfer if that's what your hoping." The squad leader said from the front of the group. "We'll be over for the day and take the supplies and redistribute it to the ship which is doing the best job of maintaining order."
"So not us then?" The group chuckled before the sergeant put in. "Looks like it will be going to the Death's Head after all. The Admiral must want the fleet to keep some form of cohesion, he probably wants this to be a reward for obedience."
The squad turned left toward the turbolift and Ezra continued to walk the main corridor at a leisurely stroll. Occasionally there were transfers from ship to ship like that for supplies one or the other had. Crew members shifted due to work with the need to complete tasks more quickly, punishment was another as Ezra had learned when he overheard once on the bridge that a new couple had gotten too rowdy on the Nemesis and started a bar fight. The two were separated and for the past week had been working in separate ships mess halls to pay for all the repairs. Turning the corner he passed a few technicians working on a power conduit with some assistance from an Astromech droid. Ever since they arrived in the Unknown Regions Ezra had seen quite the shift in attitude aboard the ship. Everyone went from the sort of leisure standard rounds that he had constantly encountered aboard Star Destroyers in the past to a constant state of busyness. Everyone now had something to do and the alertness of the crew bordered on paranoia from time to time. Everyone seemed to need the work whilst others simply did so out of the common obedience. But even in this state of pursuit people still managed to find the time to cut lose he thought as he spotted a few junior officers talking at their workstation. One of the Chimeras security desks meant for communication, keeping track on personnel movement, and handling sensitive information.. One was against the wall with an occasional glance, presumably keeping watch, whilst his other three compatriots had turned away from their monitors and turned their seats to talk.
"Yea and last I heard Bail Organa was officially retiring from the Imperial Senate. Apparently his daughter is going to take over for him" the junior officer in the center said.
"You mean the Princess? I heard she's a cool beauty with white hair." the one on the left said leaning back with a smile, no doubt imagining what she looked like.
"No I dont think thats what she looks like. I heard she was a brunette." The one on the far right said grimacing his face in contemplation before bringing up a hand from his crossed arms to rest his chin.
"Well whatever, Leia Organa looks like shes got some big shoes to fill for her father. Thirty one years of service in the senate. I mean sure she's sat in a few times but her father has a long track record. She'll probably just sit looking pretty while some adjutant does all the work." the junior in the center said.
Hearing the familiar name Ezra slowed his walk and got a glance from the junior officer against the wall. As Ezra got a cursory glance he simply nodded in return, then slowing from his walk he turned his head slightly to listen in.
"Got something to add to our conversation Master Jedi, Navicomputer?" One of the officers said cocking his head to the side his arms crossed and he cocked an eyebrow at Ezra. It was a common joke he heard now and again from the crew to poke fun at him for a response.
"Yeah actually, I met her once." He shrugged "Stole some cruisers from her on Lothal a few years ago. Right from an Imperial depot guarded by walkers and everything."
"What did she look like then?" The one on the left asked. Clearly interested to know. Ezra paused to think back on it all. "She was about my age, taller than me at the time so who knows now, and she had darkish brown hair. That's what I do know." Ezra finished and the one who had said white hair seemed a little disappointed. "From her attitude I got the impression that she would have been very unhappy with the depot commander for losing all of her ships like that. So she might speak her mind in the senate if there's something she doesn't like."
"Well not against the Empire I hope. Mon Mothma's defection gave the Rebellion someone legitimate to rally behind, it would cause a lot of problems if no one else takes the place of all the good leaders leaving the Imperial Senate. Then again, the Imperial Governors have most of the power now. They've managed to maintain control much better than the Senate ever has."
"That control usually comes at a price" Ezra added, "They're usually more brutal when things don't go their way. The Moffs are just stripping the Galaxy bare for the Imperial War Machine, and for what?"
"Do you know how big the galaxy is?" The officer on the right side asked, "How much space there is and planets there are that were devastated after the Clone Wars? A lot. The imperial fleet and army was built up in order to make sure that when the war ended peace would finally come to the galaxy. Between building the Imperial fleet, rebuilding almost the whole Mid Rim from the Droid General Grievous's attacks, and creating a Galaxy spanning military to enforce order would take years. If Palpatine didn't form the Empire, my parents said that the galaxy would probably have been overrun with more corruption and crime than before the war with no way to stop the pirates and dissidents who would try and overwhelm the establishment in the power vacuum."
"Chaos, absolute Chaos, What could the Republic have done?" The group turns to look to Ezra. "Your rebellion is called the Alliance to Restore the Republic right? Why would you want to do that?" Ezra paused. Never stopping to think about it like this before.
"Well.. I'm not sure." He said truthfully. "At first I didn't even know what I was getting into, I pretty much joined by accident. But after spending time with them I saw what the Empire was doing to the galaxy. They took land by force, used poison gas, stole resources, persecuted the ordinary people of the galaxy and silenced any opinion that didn't conform to their selfish tyranny." Ezra looked him dead in the eyes. "Ye,. I'm a Rebel and I fought for a galaxy where I can do what I like without being arrested, where I can see people looking to the future of their world as opposed to looking down from the weight of an Imperial boot, because a New Republic won't split the galaxy apart like the Empire has done to thousands of people and their lives. You can talk about how great the Empire is all you like. For your peace.. your Empire.. My parents died and my home suffered, that's a world that I can't live in." For a few heartbeats.. the group went silent.
"Well, that's..." They all seemed to shrink down from that. The one on the left looking down at his monitor, the one in the center pursing his lips, and the one on the right getting a little scowl from that. The one standing watch glanced over his shoulder to avoid Ezra's gaze. Feeling as though he made his point, he stepped away and went right down the corridor, his thoughts sardonic as he let them stirr with the hard truth of their lives. The Empire was evil, and one day it would fall, It had to…
"Come on now! Put your servos into it!" Ezra looked up, pulled from his musings, to see a BLX series Labor Droid crawling out of the vent with the posture of a confounded droid and another general labor model as they seemed to be working on something down the hall. As he got closer, he saw that the two were working to get a man unstuck from an access crawlway.
"Ouch! Not so hard! Ooof! Brex! Get me out of here this instant!" The man said. His voice muffled by the walls of the vent and the pile of cables that were stuck at his waist preventing him from being pulled out.
"Hmm" The BLX pondered as the other droid simply was waiting in standby mode as this all played out. "You appear to be quite stuck sir. Perhaps we should get some lubricant."
"No! Brex! Just. Just get someone to help!" The droids head looked up for assistance and its head swiveled to Ezra. "Excuse me. But my operator has gotten himself into a rather unfortunate predicament. Could I have your assistance please?" Ezra smiled at the droids blank face.
"Sure, I can do that," he told the droid, "I'll get you right out of there Sir!" He called down to the man in the vent.
"Oh thank goodness." The man's voice sounded relieved. "I thought I was a goner in his hands.." Ezra crouched down and looked at the vent.
"Looks like the wires are tangled in your belt." He reached down, untangling the wires from the man's belt, once the wires were out Ezra grabbed the man's hand, pulling him up out of the vent, the man quickly crawled out and fell back on the ground, letting out a sigh of relief followed by a nervous laugh.
"Ah aha ha.. Phew… thanks kid." He held out his hand and Ezra pulled him to his feet. Belatedly the droid next to him turned to remark. "Thank you for getting him out, he has impeded our work schedule."
"Oh I 'impeded', did I?" He stood up straight and adjusted the grey officers cap on his head. "I'll have you mind wiped personally Brex because you're the one who couldn't do anything for so long. Wait how long was I stuck?" He looked at the chrono on a work pad next to a work kit. "Your kidding.. Oh they'll have my head for this.."
"So what were you working on?" Ezra asked.
"Oh nothing.. Just rewiring the power controls for the Commodore's executive shower" Ezra's eyes went wide. "Kidding! Nah it's just the secondary power junction box for the tibanna storage system. One wrong move could have fried the system and one circuit cross would have set the whole thing off."
"Are you sure you should be messing around with that?" Ezra said, "Why didn't you let one of the droids handle that?" Looking to the BLX, who returned to him a blank look.
"It's my job to get my hands dirty." The man says pointing to his engineer patch on his uniform. "Why do you think i'm down here? Because he..." Pointing to the BLX, "Couldn't figure out the problem and asked for assistance over the comm. How was I supposed to know he meant another droid?" Ezra looked to the other labor doid just standing there waiting for orders.
"My apologies Chief." The BLX crouched down and examined the diagnostic terminal plugged next to the access shaft. "Your misadventure has not caused any ill effects to my repairs." The droid closed the terminal and the other labor droid went down the hallway. The BLX moved to follow.
"Hold it right there Brex." The droid halted and turned around. "I think i'll have you go inspect the new bridge plasteel viewports. I'm not sure they were securely installed. Your going to go and spacewalk all the way and if necessary reinforce it."
"That would take time, and this delay has already put my other safety inspections behind. Wouldn't you prefer to check it yourself sir? I'm sure It wouldn't cause any more trouble than this could have caused."
"Very funny. You see what I have to put up with?" The man remarked to Ezra. "Ten years of service and even the droids can't take me seriously." He waved the droid off. "Just go on to your next inspection. I'll deal with you later." The droid turned with a nod and went to the turbolift.
"That charmer is Brex. A gift from a friend at Kuat. While they get all the new droids for the shipyards they ship out some spare droids to the rest of the fleet. Been stuck with him for two years and I still haven't found the right way to circumvent his attitude subroutine."
"And you are?" Ezra asked, trying to follow along as best he could.
"Sorry where are my manners." The man smiled and tipped his cap, "The names Ormyn, Chief Engineer of the ISD Chimera. I'm the man who makes sure everything runs smoothly from the main engine turbines down to the caf machines." Ormyn reached down to close the tool kit on the ground and picked it up, Ezra followed him down the hallway.
"Your little Jedi trick has given me quite a lot of work these past few months Mister Bridger. Fortunately the Chimaera was the least damaged of all our ships. I'd hate to imagine us at even half capacity trying to get out of this mess, not to mention that last skirmish." Ezra had gotten that impression a lot from the crew. "I was really hoping we could have found port. We need more supplies sooner rather than later." Ornym looked down at Ezra, "You haven't been out and about from what I've heard. What brings you away from the helm?"
"Time off for good behavior." Ezra chided. "I think the Admiral wants me to get my strength back up before I start moving us again. So how come I've never seen you before? Do you go on the bridge much?"
"My place these days has been in the engine room or elsewhere," Ormyn explained, "Making sure all departments are running smoothly, but I do go the bridge when more important situations demand it. I was monitoring turbolaser output from the port heavy turbolaser control room when the fighting broke out. Tec Darson has been running things from the bridge while i've been out. If I'm there on the bridge I'm in the pit checking the displays and monitoring our onboard systems."
"Doesn't that get tough on a ship this big? How do you handle all the stress?"
"Years of experience and learning how to cope. If you don't pick it up quick you soon realize everyone expects you to know all this. Luckily growing up in a shipyard helps drill all of that into you." They stopped in front of a turbolift, Ezra pressing the call button, "So you're from Lothal right?"
"Yep, and you?" Ezra replied, "Fondor. Heard of it?" Ezra pondered a bit, "Should I have heard of it?" Ornym smiled, "Oh sure, It's always like that. Everyone knows Coruscant because it's the capital. Everybody knows Kuat because it's the name slapped on every, Victory, Venator and Imperial in the Empire. But Fondor, Fondor is both in one, the perfect combination of giant cityscape and orbital spacedocks. 'We do the work and we are proud to do it', that's what my father always used to say. People these days don't seem to know much about the rest of the galaxy, they just tend to forget all the important stuff. Kuat might be the big one, but Fondor gets to make the best ships in the Empire." Ormyn reached into his tool kit and pulled out a workpad, on it was displayed the blueprints for some new type of Star Destroyer Ezra had never seen before. "Beautiful isn't she?" Ormyn said, showing a clear enthusiasm for the schematic, it was clear to Ezra this was a man who had an appreciation for ship design, "My brothers were assigned to this thing a few weeks before we left, and they managed to send me the schematics. They both work at the shipyards, the've been laying keels for ISD and escort ships for the past two years, and this baby was their biggest job yet. They said it'll be ready to launch in a few months though it would have gone faster if it weren't for your friends."
"My friends?" Ezra asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, the Rebel Alliance tried to start an uprising in Fondor city not to long ago. Instigated by some traitor I heard. Apparently Darth Vader himself brought the First Legion in and crushed the uprising."
"No one I knew ever mentioned it. I guess it was pretty bad if he got involved..." A shiver ran up his back, the memories of his encounters with Vader weren't pleasant, "I hope I never see him again.."
Onym's comm buzzed at his waist, "Tech Desa to Chief Ornym." he put down his tool kit and reached to his belt, flicking it on. "Go ahead."
"Sir I've finished up this week's quarterly report and the other sector managers have compiled everything you requested. We have our most needed, most wanted, and could haves all laid out for you to look over."
"Have it sent to my work pad and I'll review it once I get back to my office. Ornym out." The turbolift slowed and the doors opened. "Thanks for your help back there. Let's talk again sometime. Good day Ezra Bridger." He nodded, picking up his tool kit, and headed out the doors. "Any time." Ezra nodded back and the doors seal behind him.
Pellaeon stepped into the Grand Admiral's office, while Pellaeon was officially the Captain of the Judicator, his new role as Fleet Liason meant he spent much time going between ships, and he had come over to the Chimaera personally to deliver a particularly urgent report. The room was much the same as it was when they left Lothal. Two large, reptilian statues standing proud in a display case behind the desk, and in the corner of the room stood a large slab of concrete with a bright orange Phoenix painted onto it. Thrawn was seated at his desk, swiping through a datapad, and Yohan Temmisk, the Death's Head's Weapons Officer, was standing in the middle of the room, arms folded, eyeing Thrawn apprehensively.
"Admiral, the maintenance crews have finished the report you requested." Pellaeon said, eyeing the room cautiously.
"Very good, Captain" Thrawn replied, "I will be with you in a moment, Captain Pellaeon."
Pellaeon stood over to the side, looking at an old clone helmet on a stand as the Grand Admiral continued with the man at his desk, wondering what Thrawn could want with Officer Temmisk. Temmisk nervously scanned the room, his eyes darting over the various pieces of artwork littered around.
"Now, Officer Temmisk..." Thrawn wheeled his chair around, sitting back and clasping his hands together, "Ever since our... departure from Lothal, you have been making quite a name for yourself throughout the fleet. As I understand it, Captain Harbid has reprimanded you multiple times for disruptive behaviour. As a result he has asked me to personally handle you. Do you have something to add to the captains report?"
"I never said anything," Temmisk replied, almost stuttering, "Harbid's lying."
"That is a serious accusation to level at one of my subordinates," Thrawn replied evenly, "Captain Harbid has served as part of the Seventh Fleet for many years, and in all that time he has never struck me as one to slander his Officers, are you now attempting to tell me that I misjudged him?"
Temmisk struggled to answer as Thrawn stood up and paced around the room, his eyes fixating on the phoenix artwork in the corner, "since you are unwilling to explain to me as to exactly why you fail to carry out your duties as an Officer, I will instead make an... educated guess."
Temmisk was silent, face stone cold and unwilling to betray his reaction. Pellaeon passively observed the situation taking note of the tension in the young officer.
"You are a Human, a native of the Core Worlds, born to a wealthy family on Hosnian Prime, Core World Humans are a demographic known for their distaste towards non-humans. Now, Hosnian Prime is significantly less hostile to non-humans than other Core Worlds planets such as, say, Coruscant or Kuat, but your family has significant ties to Coruscant, and there exist records of such behaviours during your time in the Academy. However there exists no records of any problems with any of your superiors after your graduation. In fact, Harbid himself once praised you to me personally as a model officer, so why the sudden change in attitude?"
Temmisk was silent, reactionless.
"Do you study art, Officer Temmisk?"
Temmisk's face finally gave a reaction, the twinge of his face showing visible confusion by the sudden change in topic, "No, Sir, I don't..."
"I do, I take great interest in studying the art of the various cultures and species I encounter, I find that when you understand a planet's art, you understand it's philosophy and it's culture. Hosnians, if their artwork is to be believed, appear to hold others to a high standard. When that high standard is not lived up to they become angered, frustrated. I believe your insubordination is a combination of two factors, latent xenophobia towards my Chiss heritage and disappointment at my defeat at Lothal."
Temmisk was shocked, he would've never admitted it, but the Admiral was spot on, and though his face said nothing, Thrawn's suspicions were confirmed by his thermal vision, as it allowed him to observe Temmisk's rapidly rising body temperature. Thrawn turned away from the artwork, his attention now squarely directed towards Temmisk.
"Officer Temmisk. Your frustration with our current predicament is understandable, and you are entitled to whatever opinions you may hold about me, my non-human origins, and my failure at Lothal," Thrawn's demeanour had thus far been calm, collected and civil, but now he was beginning to glare at him, and his voice went cold.
"But your disruptive behaviour and rousing of those around you is becoming a threat to the Seventh Fleet's survival, and I cannot allow that. So I will instead give you an ultimatum, either you cease your subversive activities... or I demote you down to ensign."
"You... you can't do that!" Temmisk panicked, the Admiral's glowing red eyes glared right at him, and he could feel a calm, focused malice radiating from them, "Would you prefer that you were confined to quarters? Or a worse fate?" Pellaeon stood motionless at the exchange, trying his best to remain inconspicuous at the verbal thrashing.
"Unlike the Lord Vader I see no need to dispose of you so easily for failure. But I am fully capable of doing so should you continue to fail in your duties." Thrawn said, "By the time anybody is aware of your demise you could be nothing more than a frozen carcass floating in the void, and there will be no evidence it was anything other than an airlock malfunction."
"Sir... I..."
"You are fortunate Rukh is no longer with us," Thrawn said casually, "he was very enthusiastic in dealing with insubordination, too enthusiastic even. Had he not met his demise of Lothal he most likely would have already dealt with you by now..."
Thrawn's eyes turned back to Temmisk. The man sighed, beaten, scared and not wanting to incur the Grand Admiral's wrath, he simply nodded, "Understood sir, you won't hear from me again." With that he turned and walked out.
With the exchange over, Pellaeon walked over to Thrawn, apprehensive but impressed. He was beginning to understand why the Chiss had risen through the ranks so quickly despite not being a human. Thrawn had become known for his more open command structure, his willingness. This wasn't the brutish ruthlessness of Lord Vader, Pellaeon was thought. This particular brand of ruthlessness was swift, precise, a calculated move carefully planned and executed to maximise effect, not just on Temmisk, but on the fleet as a whole.
"You certainly scared him straight, Sir," Pellaeon finally said, "you sure he won't cause any more trouble?"
"Temmisk's xenophobia is far from dedicated," Thrawn replied, "It is a more casual form born of his familial background. He was simply scapegoating me, lashing out due to his frustration. Temmisk is first and foremost a career driven officer, his driving motivation is attaining promotions and increasing his rank. He sees this detour into the Unknown Regions as a roadblock, a wall standing in his way that will delay his progression, and at some point he started using me as a scapegoat," Thrawn sighed, almost in disappointment, "a most irrational viewpoint, harbouring resentment in situations such as this can be fatal." He turned to Pellaeon, brushing away his thoughts, "But we will not hear from him again, as mentioned before his primary concern is his career, and he cannot advance through the ranks if he is demoted and constantly insubordinate. Now, I believe you have my report?"
"Yes Sir, it's right here," Pellaeon said, handing him the datapad, "full status reports from every Destroyer in the fleet, compiled by all the Chief Engineers of all ships, down to the last bolt."
"What about the Bellicose?"
Pellaeon grimaced, "I was just about to get to that Sir, the full rundown is in the report, I'll let you read through it, it's not good."
Thrawn took his time reading every detail. Working his way down towards the Bellicose section of the report, taking a quick study of it
Thrawn took a moment to process the information, before turning back to the fleet liaison, "Captain Pellaeon, arrange a fleet meeting with all Captains and key personnel immediately. Tell them that it is urgent."
"Right away, Sir" Pellaeon replied, acknowledging the order.
"No, no, Lieutenant. The munitions are supposed to be stored there." Faro ordered.
Xoxtin was too tired to argue back. Her family were close friends to one the Emperor's best advisors, and few if any personnel had ever wanted to cross somebody with friends in such high places. Out here, in the Unknown Regions, she no longer had her family to protect her. Hell, they probably figured she was dead by now, along with the rest of the Seventh Fleet. Xoxtin herself didn't seem to care much, her mind focused on her own survival.
Faro had often found Xoxtin's pedantic habits and resulting attitude irritating, only compounded by the fact that Xoxtin wasn't used to getting told off. And when they had left Lothal, Faro was at least relieved to be able to reprimand Xoxtin without worrying about the pushback. But right now, she just felt sorry for the poor girl. The Senior Lieutenant that had often clashed with Faro was slumped over, too tired to even argue back at her at this point.
"Yes... I'm sorry, Commodore, I'll go move them right away..." Xoxtin sighed in defeat, returning to her duties.
Following the Chimaera's departure from Lothal and her constant redistribution updates, Faro had noticed Xoxtin's habits slowly intensifying. The Hangar being neatly arranged as it was must give Xoxtin the relieving feeling that she at least had control over something, which was her only source of comfort while stuck in a nightmarishly bad situation completely out of her control.
Lost in uncharted space, hunted constantly by an unknown foe, nobody deserved this, not even the Rebels. Xoxtin was on the verge of snapping, at this point it just wasn't worth arguing with her.
Faro shook her head as she turned away, leaving Xoxtin to her work, arranging the hangar was certainly an oddly specific talent to have, but for what it was worth Xoxtin was good at it. Let her have her hangar, Faro thought, without it she'd probably snap anyways.
Faro walked back across the hangar, scanning her surroundings. Some binary loadlifters zig-zagged back and forth carrying crates to the loading lift for redistribution throughout the ship. Other droids beeped and buzzed while technicians, pilots, and Stormtroopers and other personnel went about their business. If she didn't know any better it would've felt like just another day in the Imperial Navy. She even spotted Captain Fel sitting on a crate rigorously debating with a tec over something. Faro smiled to herself, it was good to see the up and coming pilot's strict sense of discipline hadn't been dampened by the unusual circumstances.
Faro proceeded through the main doors down the corridor and stopped at the nearest turbolift, punching in buttons and waiting for the lift.
The lift opened up, and Faro groaned in annoyance when she realised she'd be sharing a turbolift ride with the Jedi who got them into this mess.
"Commodore" Ezra said politely while maintaining his distance.
"Jedi" Faro replied back, without a trace of enthusiasm in her voice.
It felt bizarre having a former rebel roaming about on the ship, let alone a Jedi. It almost felt like a throwback to the Clone Wars.
"You don't look too good, kid..." Faro said, turning to Ezra, immediately regretting starting up a conversation but deciding it was too late now. Ezra found it amusing that all of a sudden an Imperial was now showing concern for his well-being, "To be honest..." He wasn't sure why he was being honest with an Imperial, but he didn't have anybody else to talk to, "I'm still not entirely over what happened a few days ago, you know, with the Vagaari..." he trailed off.
Faro grimaced, she didn't like thinking about it, nobody did. Even Fel just preferred to not acknowledge what had happened with the Vagaari.
"All those innocent people just dead... how do you even fight something like that?" Ezra asked,
"I don't know, I guess you just have to go ahead with it anyway, I mean, even without the bubbles, those slaves would've still been on the ship."
"It's so ruthless I'm honestly surprised the Empire hasn't thought of it yet..." Ezra murmured under his breath.
Faro laughed in disbelief, "What? You don't actually think we're that ruthless, do you?"
Her smile faded, Ezra didn't say anything, but his face said more than words ever could.
"I don't get it... why do you serve the Empire? Why does anyone serve the Empire?" Ezra asked.
Faro sighed, this was going to be a long lift ride, "I could ask you the same thing about the Rebellion. Tell me, how old are you? Were you alive during the Clone Wars?"
"I was born on the day the Empire was founded actually."
Faro's eyes widened, some twist of fate that was, "The Declaration of the New Order? You were born the same day? That explains a lot actually, you basically just missed the war." Faro said, "Listen, I was alive during the Clone Wars, I was only young, a child even, but I lived through it all right. And I can tell you... nobody should have to live through that." Faro uttered, her eyes glancing downwards as unpleasant memories flooded to the forefront of her mind.
"I wanted peace, I wanted to make sure nobody ever had to go through what I did ever again. I wanted to bring security, stability to the Galaxy, I wanted people to be able to live out there lives never having to worry about armies of Clones and Droids descending from the skies and tearing their homes apart..."
"The way the Empire treats it's people, the way it treated Lothal..." now Ezra was recalling unpleasant memories too, "that's not living, that's not peace, that's just suffering."
"Hey, between you and me..." She glanced from one side of the turbolift to the other, there was nobody around to hear what she had to say, but the Commodore wasn't going to take any chances, "I'm... not the biggest fan of the Empire myself. Personally I think if the Empire had done it's job right, Rebels like you wouldn't exist. If the governors would stop greedily stripping the Outer Rim bare maybe Mon Mothma would still be in the Senate and half the Galaxy wouldn't be rising in open revolt right now."
"Well maybe that's the problem with the Empire," Ezra said, "the fact that the Empire is allowing the Moffs to be as ruthless as they are."
"You're probably right…" she lamented, not having an argument against the Rebel, "look, I've seen the Empire, kid, and truth be told, I understand your frustration. But believe me, it's not
worth starting another Clone War." Faro sighed, nervous to even be making such a potentially treasonous statement.
"I've been in the Imperial Navy a long time, I've been all over the Empire, from the Core to the Outer Rim, and you would not believe the amount of incompetence and corruption and just outright stupidity I've seen. There are far too many people in this Empire that are where they are only because they have the right friends back on Coruscant."
Ezra was confused, he was actually empathising with an Imperial for once, it felt wrong.
"There was this Lieutenant I knew once, a friend of Thrawn's actually, and he joined the Chimaera when Thrawn took command." Faro explained, "he was a prodigy, far smarter than I am, and he was probably second only to the Admiral himself. But he didn't get anywhere, his career hit stumbling block after stumbling block, and do you know why?" Faro sneered, "It was because he was from Wild Space, that was it. He just happened to be born on some far off colony rather than the Core, and the Coruscant Elite didn't want to have to brush shoulders with some Wild Space yokel."
"Where is he now?" Ezra asked, showing a genuine interest in Faro's story.
"No idea," Faro shrugged her shoulders, "he just disappeared one day, nobody has any idea where he went. But I have a theory... I think he went to join the Chiss."
"The Chiss? Thrawn's people?" Ezra asked, curious about this mysterious Lieutenant from Wild Space.
"Yes. You see, the Grand Admiral's been vague about his people, but from what I can tell they seem to have sent him here as some sort of representative or diplomat. Now Thrawn was good friends with this guy, Thrawn trusted him. It would only make sense he'd send somebody back to the Chiss in return, right? And believe me, he would've been the perfect candidate."
"Maybe we might run into him when we get to the Ascendancy." Ezra said, half joking, but also half serious, "How much do you know about these 'Chiss' anyway?"
"Not much, like I said, the Admiral doesn't like to talk about it," Faro replied, "All I know is that they live somewhere here in the Unknown Regions, and Thrawn is one of them."
"Huh, well anyways I know how you feel," Ezra said, switching the subject, "about the incompetent officers I mean, I've certainly met my fair share of them."
Ezra smirked a little bit thinking about it. Konstantine, Lyste, Brom, all great minds of the Empire who had made his life all the more easier.
"You ever meet Konstantine?" Ezra asked,
"Ugh, Konstantine..." Faro said in visible revulsion, "Yeah, I remember the late great Kassius Konstantine all right, arrogant glory hound, thought he was smarter than he actually was..."
"Sounds like him all right."
"The Empire is better off without him," Faro sneered, "I've had to serve under far too many arrogant self-absorbed glory-hounds like him. If it wasn't for that idiot's ego this would've all ended on Atollon!" Faro said, before looking back at Ezra, and subsequently realising Konstantine was probably the only reason he was still alive, "err... no offence."
"None taken," Ezra said politely in response.
"I wanted to help people, you know?" Faro sighed as she leaned back against the wall of the turbolift, crossing her arms and rubbing her hand on her forehead, she hadn't been this honest with anybody in a long time, "I joined the Imperial Navy because I wanted to do good for the Galaxy, but instead it's just been a string of stupidity and incompetence and idiots..." she lamented, her thoughts dwelled on the past, on a bright-eyed, optimistic young girl, entering the Imperial Academy as a Cadet, and the years crushing her slowly under a sea of corruption, nepotism and incompetence as the weight of the world beared down on her shoulders.
"You know... if you really want to help people that badly..." Ezra said slowly, carefully considering his wording, "there is an alternative..."
"If you're going to suggest I defect like Kallus did, no." Faro said calmly but firmly, "I have my issues with the Empire Ezra, but like I said, it's not worth starting another Clone War. And besides, the Rebellion would just bring back the Republic, and if you think the corruption and ineptitude is bad now..." she stared at him with a grave look, "my planet was a crime-ridden hellhole during the days of the Republic, the Senate on Coruscant forgot about us, and then the Republic's stupidity caused the Clone Wars, and all of a sudden a massive droid army was staring down our necks..." Faro trailed off, gritting her teeth, recalling more painful memories.
"And then the Empire came, and they actually cleaned things up, they tracked down all the crime lords. They put an end to it all, ended the Clone Wars, and then they brought peace and law. I was a kid at the time, I still remember the Empire arriving, and I said to myself 'one day, that's going to be me.' I worked for years to get into the Academy on Coruscant, and then I discovered just how rotten the Empire actually was. You're right kid, the Empire is evil, but between it and the Republic, it's the lesser of two evils."
Ezra thought for a moment, letting his mind process Faro's words, he didn't know how to respond to that, he was only born after the Clone Wars, and as far as he knew Lothal had been fairly unscathed by the conflict. Ezra found himself in a position where he honestly didn't know what to say.
"And besides, I can't leave the Seventh Fleet, I have way too many colleagues here, way too many people counting on me, I can't just leave them, and to be honest, serving under Thrawn has actually given me some hope for the Empire."
"You're kidding, right?" Ezra scoffed, "the man who just a month ago tried to blow up Lothal?"
"That was the Emperor's idea, not his." Faro said defensively, "and believe me, he was not happy about it."
Thrawn had indeed shown a certain level of sympathy, Ezra thought, remarking how he hadn't wanted to destroy Lothal, but at the time he thought the Admiral was mocking him, was Faro now trying to convince him he was being genuine?
"What do you mean when you say he's the best hope for the Empire?"
Faro paused, considering her words, "Because he's the first officer I've served under that hasn't been a self-obsessed Kriff, he's actually listened to my suggestions and taken them on board. The man's a genius, honestly he's probably the best military strategist the Galaxy's ever seen, and on every mission we've been on he's made it a point to minimise civilian casualties."
"What about Batonn?" Ezra said, recalling a particularly bad massacre Kallus told him about once.
"I don't know who detonated that bomb, but it wasn't him. I have my suspicions, personally I think it was that snake Pryce..."
"But he still answers to the Emperor," Ezra corrected her.
"Palpatine's an old man," Faro replied, "and one day, he'll be dead, and as a Grand Admiral Thrawn's going to have a fairly big say in who gets to run the Empire next. An Empire led by Thrawn is not an Empire where the Rebellion would be needed, trust me."
A buzz came from the comm at her waist. "This is Faro. Go ahead."
"Commodore, you're needed in the conference room in one hour." Lomar's voice reported. "Urgent fleet meeting, all command staff are required to attend. Most of the other commanders have already arrived. Also Admiral Thrawn requested you come to his quarters immediately."
"I'll be there right away. Faro out." Faro said in response, clicking off the comm. "I have to go see what the Admiral wants, we'll talk again later."
"Alright," Ezra said, waving his hand, "I'll see you later."
"Look, I don't expect you to warm up to Thrawn any time soon," Faro said, "he's ruthless, especially against his opponents, but he's not bloodthirsty, there is a difference."
"Are you sure I can't convince you to defect?" Ezra asked one more time, already knowing the answer.
"I'd rather try and save the ship from sinking then jump to the lifepods." Faro said in response.
"Well, I better go try to relax before I'm needed for more navigation." Ezra said, walking out as the lift opened up.
"Hey kid," Faro said, "For what's it worth, for Rebel Scum, you're not that bad."
The turbolift doors sealed in front of her and she redirected to the admirals quarters. Walking out of he lift and turning right she went down the corridor. With her reports in hand she waited.
Ezra sighed, walking down the sterile corridors of the Chimaera. His thoughts dwelled on the lengthy conversation he'd had with Faro. He was relieved as he approached the door to his quarters. The room felt sterile, lifeless, and he still missed his bunk on the Ghost, but it was the closest thing to a home he had right now, and it was often his only respite from the reality of his situation.
Suddenly his senses tingled and he spun around just as the shadow crossed his vision. Ezra turned to the source, only to see a figure in vibrant crimson light armour down the hallway, his arms were hidden by the red cloak , his face was obscured by a red helmet, not dissimilar from some Mandalorian designs, the only feature on the flat, unmarked face was a single narrow, pitch black visor, that curved upwards slightly at the sides.
Ezra gulped, it was one of the Emperor's guards, he'd almost forgotten they were even on board, he hadn't seen them since their encounter in the Chimaera's storage bay.
Thrawn's crew had reluctantly begun to tolerate the Jedi's presence, mostly out of respect for the Admiral's wishes more than anything else, but the guards weren't part of Thrawn's crew, they were direct servants of the Emperor, and most likely they had a bone to pick with Ezra.
"Hey, how ya doing..." Ezra asked awkwardly, "Good to see you've made a full recovery..." he continued as he took a few steps back.
Ezra turned to the other side of the hallway, putting distance between him and the guard, only to stop as a second guard blocked off his escape.
"Look, whatever you guys want..." Ezra said, putting his hands out in an attempt to keep space between him and the Guards, "you harm me and the Admiral will have you.."
"That's the only reason you're still alive, Jedi," A voice hissed, before another guard stepped out from his room. His senses had completely missed him and his voice spoke with the authority of a commander, Ezra presumed this must be the leader. "If it were up to us, we'd make you die slowly and haul your lifeless body back to the Imperial Palace on a silver platter..." he and his compatriots surrounded Ezra, walling him in and leaving him no room to escape, they were clearly trying to intimidate Ezra. And it was working.
"But unfortunately, the Grand Admiral wants us to play nice... for now." The Guard from behind continued, "I mean personally, I would love to just kill you, Rebel Scum, or throw you out the airlock.
"What do you want?" Ezra gulped, it was at this point he realised that he'd nearly forgotten he was on an enemy ship. Thrawn had convinced his crew to tolerate the Jedi's existence, at least until they reached the Ascendancy anyway, but these three weren't part of Thrawn's crew.
"Simple. We can't kill you. But we can make your stay on the Chimaera unbearable. We've got nothing better to do than kill time until we get back to Coruscant, so I think until then we'll just make your life a living hell. We can either beat you up here now or you can join us later in the training room and have a chance to fight back." They all stepped back and the two flanking the supposed leader glided down the corridor. "It has everything we need, meet us there in an hour.
Ezra struggled to maintain his composure. Three of the Emperor's best fighters were more than a match for him, and he suddenly began to desperately miss his Lightsaber.
"Thrawn's in a meeting right now, so he can't save you. If you don't show.." Ezra's only clue was a blur of motion from the guard as a vibroblade suddenly thrust into the wall beside his head, causing him to let out an audible gasp.
"Don't disappoint us, Jedi. For your sake."
Right... OK, so first off, I feel credit is due, and I'd like to thank the Discord user LBA_E_Ross for helping me rewrite this, I was hanging around in the Mauler Discord one day when I casually mentioned I was writing this, he offered to help out, and he's essentially my co-author at this point, this is by far the chapter he's given the most contribution to (Ormyn was his character, and he wrote the entire conversation between Ezra and the Ensigns) so thanks man, couldn't have done it without you.
To be entirely honest... I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, I tried to make a slower, more character focused chapter, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the end result. There are parts I really like, such as the introduction of Ormyn, but overall I'm a little mixed, I guess I would classify it as... an experiment? Oh well, I'll see how it's received, but if nothing else I'm glad I experimented I guess. Overall I just wanted to try and make the Chimaera crew into actual characters, give us a reason to actually care about them, try and humanise them and maybe explore some of the reasons why people might be compelled to follow a regime as monstrous as the Empire...
The one part I can say with absolute certainty I am 100% happy with is the Faro conversation. Faro was a fairly minor character in the Thrawn novels, and I've been wanting to expand on her for quite a while now. I'm fairly happy with how she turned out, I made her into this crushed idealist, somebody who entered the Imperial Navy wanting to good, genuinely believing the Empire were the good guys... only to get crushed beneath the bureaucracy and nepotism, turning into a bit of a bitter and cynical individual. I pieced all of this together with the few minor hints we got in Thrawn and Thrawn Alliances, and she's fast becoming one of my favourite characters. I also like Ormyn, he'll be a good addition to the Chimaera crew, and I have a few other ideas for personnel, but we'll get to that later...
As stated before, I'm actually fairly interested to see what the reaction to this chapter is, so feel free to leave feedback, I welcome it all, good or bad, I only ask that you try to be constructive in your critique, the whole purpose of Ascendancy was to try and advance my skills as a writer after all.
Merry Christmas everybody (or should I say Happy Life Day?), now we push forward, Chapter 5 will be out whenever, I'll attempt to get it out faster next time, I hope the quality and length of this one was worth the wait time.
And while the trip's going to take a little bit longer, I assure you, the Ascendancy is still waiting...