Yep, we're back. This story ain't dead yet.
There were a few things that caused this chapter's delay. A week long creative rut was one of them, as was the fact that I'm new to this whole "release schedule" thing and I'm still figuring out how it works.
So, the bad news is this chapter is relatively short, it was supposed to have a whole second half but I wasn't able to get it right and the chapter was taking long enough already so I just decided I needed to put something out to let people know this is till going. This whole journey through the Unknown Regions? This was supposed to be the prologue, I still have a whole storyline involving Ezra, Thrawn, the Chiss Ascendancy, the Far Outsiders and the Voidlord planned, and maybe the Grysk will be in depending on how Thrawn Treason goes, and the story will feature a myriad of both returning faces and some new characters. I have a loose timeline of events right up until after ROTJ when Ahsoka and Sabine show up in my head. I want to do the full 5 year time span, no joke, the story I have planned is big, and I've barely even gotten started, maybe I'm insane for doing a project this big, but if I don't do this, nobody else will.
I've written before, but only essays and short stories, this is the first long-form story I've ever tried to tell. It's by far the most ambitious undertaking I've ever done and I only ask that you all bear with me. My main fear is the story losing momentum due to lack of updates, hence why I released this before I would've otherwise liked. Mark my words, no matter how long any potential hiatus or gap is, Ascendancy is not dead until either I say it's dead or I literally die. With how bad SW has gotten now this story is kind of my coping mechanism anyway.
The good news is I do still have that second half, and I'm working on it and some more, so hopefully that should mean I can get it out quicker. All things considered I'd rather this story be done well than be done quick.
Those last few chapters were part of what I'm now calling the "Mnggal-Mnggal Arc", the previous chapter was the start of what I'm now calling the "Narivan Arc", I hope you all enjoy.
Ezra Bridger didn't sleep well.
That much was apparent the moment he tried to open his eyes. After his impromptu chat with Brex and Ormyn, the Jedi had returned to his quarters before engaging in a protracted struggle with himself to fall asleep. The rational part of him had kept repeating Ormyn's advice, that there was nothing he could've done at this moment and that worrying about it was fruitless, but another less rational side to him was unable to let the issue go, the scene playing out over and over in his head as he tried to make sense of it.
And thus Ezra had ended up staying awake and alert for hours on end, his eyes wide open and staring into the pitch black room as these two parts of his mind battled for control. Neither side was victorious, in an ironic twist the internal conflict had sapped his energy, finally allowing him to sleep. Even then, however, his sleep was tumultuous, and shallow at best. He had tossed and turned multiple times, distressed at the mysterious force vision even now.
He rubbed his hands across his face before trying to force his eyes open once more. He wasn't even sure he had the strength to lift himself out of bed, his body was telling him to give up, screaming at him that it wasn't time to awaken and to lie back down and get some more sleep. He'd had a few nights like this before, in particular, early on into his stay aboard the Ghost, before he had adjusted to the loud snoring of a giant Lasat emanating from below him. He sighed, he'd adjusted so well to said snoring that now he still wasn't used to the silence. It reminded him far too much of his pre-Ghost days, being a petty thief trying to live out of a decrepit old comm tower. He'd never liked that tower. It was rare when he didn't worry about it not collapsing beneath him, and the whole reason he'd even started his peculiar habit of collecting helmets was a desperate attempt to try and make it feel like a home. The silence took him back to those days, it convinced part of his mind that he'd wake up on the floor surrounded by rust and dust. It reminded him of a part of his life he'd rather forget.
He'd almost given in to the part of him telling him to go back to sleep when the silence was abruptly broken by a loud blaring noise from outside. The blaring of the klaxon penetrated the thick durasteel walls, and a sudden burst of adrenaline washed away his fatigue in an instant.
"What the..."
Ezra shuffled anxiously as he waited for the turbolift to reach the bridge. He could feel the floor pushing against his feet as it went up and up. He grit his teeth and sighed, drawing on all of the famous Jedi patience he could muster to calm himself.
What was going on up there? His mind raced with possibilities, none of them good. They had been holding position for some time, had the mysterious Far Outsiders finally caught up with them? Had that entity, that monster returned? He had no idea.
When the door finally opened, he walked across the deck at a quickened pace. The crew paid no heed to his rush, too busy at their stations pressing buttons, working with the efficiency of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Standing in the centre of the sea of action, looking over a tactical display at the holo display, was Grand Admiral Thrawn, and standing at his side, as ever, was Commodore Faro.
"Reading five ships, one larger cruiser, four frigates. They've assumed an attack formation and are moving away from the planet towards us. The Stormhawk is standing by on our port side and is ready to engage." Faro reported.
"Have the Stormhawk technicians finished translating their language yet?"
"Yes Admiral, The Stormhawk sent over a package transmission for a protocol droid to load just a few minutes ago. A unit should be on the bridge soon."
"What's going on!?" Ezra asked, moving aside the crew surrounding the projector and trying to draw their attention.
"Ah, Bridger. I see you're awake." Faro acknowledged him dryly.
"I heard the alarm, is it the Far Outsiders?"
"A small fleet left orbit of a nearby planet a few minutes ago, as of right now, they're on approach towards us." Faro explained in a calm and formal manner.
As much as Ezra hated the Empire, he had to admit Thrawn's crew could keep an impressively level head in a combat situation. Before long, his eyes were drawn to the projector. More specifically, he was drawn to the bulky and primitive looking ships on its display. Large conical engines stuck out from the rear of the vessels, and sizeable cannons jutted out at the sides. On closer inspection, Ezra thought he could spot the bridge tucked within the heavy armour and a number of missile launchers.
"Another one of your threats?" Ezra asked Thrawn inquisitively, gesturing to the projector.
"An unknown species, one even I am unfamiliar with."
"Heh, that's a first." Ezra muttered. Faro gave Ezra a look, one of controlled disapproval, he looked away from her condescending gaze. Thrawn seemed to take no offense as he continued.
"The Stormhawk found this system while we were investigating the Celaphid ship. We jumped here while you were asleep and have been attempting to translate their language "
"And why are they coming towards us ?" Ezra asked.
"We're about to find out. They're almost within range." Faro remarked, returning her gaze to the display.
As Faro and Thrawn returned their focus to the dislpay, Ezra waited to see what would happen, and before long he heard a set of mechanical footsteps getting closer. He turned to see an RA-7 protocol droid shuffle past him.
"Admiral, my designation is 5A-6, you have need of my translation services?" It spoke with a mechanical but feminine sounding voice.
"Yes 5A-6, will you please download the aliens' language into your databanks?
5A-6 briefly turned her head to the Jedi, then to Faro, and back to Thrawn. Then interfaced with the main computer for a few moments "Stand by… unpacking… the aliens' language has been loaded to my databanks.
"Which means you will be able to understand what they are saying?" Thrawn asked.
"I believe I am able to broadly understand their language Admiral, though I should warn you such an impromptu translation may not be exact."
"Admiral," Faro called out as the status board flashed. She gestured to the tactical display.
"They've arrived."
Faro was right, the fleet was now directly facing the Chimaera and closing the distance between them. The larger cruiser had its guns s visibly focused on the Star Destroyer, and the frigates flanked it on either side in a V formation. .
"Admiral, we're being hailed by the lead ship! Audio only." Officer Lomar called out from the crew pit.
"Play it."
A set of sharp shrieks and chirps clawed their way out through the audio systems. Ezra grit his teeth and covered his ears, Faro winced and Thrawn betrayed no reaction to the harsh high pitched nature of the language.
"Karabast! What is that!?"
Thrawn paid no heed to Ezra's distress. He turned to the protocol droid with a stern look. "What does it say?"
"The message comes from an 'Admiral Tee Carala'. It says we have violated the space of the 'Narivan Global Federation' and we are to leave immediately or we will be fired upon." 5A-6 replied.
"Narivan?" Ezra asked.
"Officer Lomar, open a channel. 5A-6, prepare to translate."
"Admiral Carala of the Narivan, I am Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Empire. I assure you that our vessels mean no harm. No hostilities were intended when we entered your space. My fleet's discovery of this world was a complete accident, an... 'unrelated incident...'"
Ezra was slightly bemused at Thrawn's attempt to describe the circumstances that led them here, but then again, he probably couldn't have come up with a better explanation himself.
"...caused us to spiral into unknown space, and now we are attempting to navigate home through this uncharted territory. However, my fleet is running into serious issues. We are low on fuel, we have sustained minor hull damage, and our long range communication devices are too damaged to contact our allies. We would like to request access to your repair facilities and your permission to utilize them. I have no desire for hostilities, but I can guarantee you that any form of aggression against us will be met with swift retaliation. How do you respond?"
5A-6 translated the message, vocalizing a series of noises that appeared to be the aliens' language. For what felt like an eternity, they just stood there, and the bridge fell utterly silent as they awaited a response. Thrawn and the droid betrayed no emotion, but Ezra watched with intent, curious as to how this first contact was going to go.
No response from the alien vessels. The bulky cruiser and its screening vessels just floated there, in space, watching intently.
"Do we really need to use those platforms?" Ezra asked.
"The Commodore, Captain Pellaeon and I have talked it over at great length, and we have both agreed that a functioning repair platform, even a primitive one, is too valuable a resource to simply pass up."
Ezra raised an eyebrow, "Really? Oh come on, this ship isn't that bad off."
Faro turned her head at that remark, a slight twitch from her eye as she gave him a sideways glare. "Have you seen how badly the fleet has been holding together?"
Ezra shrugged. "I feel like I've explored almost every inch of the Chimaera by this point, and it doesn't seem that bad. It's still in better condition than most Rebel ships I've been on."
Faro inhaled, "While you were asleep we had a major turbolift failure that completely cut off internal traffic for hours, and almost a quarter of our weapons emplacements were damaged beyond repair when we left Lothal. During our scavenging mission earlier we've had to coordinate continually make sure none of our ships move out of range of each other, because with our damaged communication systems they could lose track and be lost forever, and compared to the other ships the Chimaera practically emerged unscathed. The Bellicose's coolant leakage was the whole reason we sent a team over to the ship in the asteroid field which, by the way, cost us two whole squads of Stormtroopers and two engineering teams, there is serious talk of scuttling the Nemesis due to its failing engines and Captain Pellaeon now has had to worry about the Judicator's life support system switching off unexpectedly. So yes, Ezra Bridger, maybe you haven't noticed, but the fleet really is that bad off."
Faro cleared her throat. Ezra noticing her throwing a quick glance over to Thrawn, as if expecting a reprimanding of some kind, but none came. She never raised her voice, never lost her composure, but Ezra could sense herfrustration. To an extent, he even felt sorry for the Commodore.
He was about to reply when suddenly a warning tone from the threat assessment station made the bridge go alive. A large burst of fire blasted out from one of the cannons on the cruiser, and a projectile shot out and flew over the Chimaera.
"Looks like they've sent their response, Admiral!" Faro exclaimed.
"No form of verbal response, a show of strength..."
He paused for a moment, thinking the situation.
"...but a meaningless one."
Faro cocked an eyebrow, "Admiral?"
"Commodore Faro, are there any asteroids or comets nearby?"
"There's an asteroid field off the starboard side of the ship, Sir."
"Then we shall send them a response in kind." Thrawn said, turning away from the display and walking along the command walkway.
"Starboard turbolaser batteries! Lock onto the asteroids at thirty two mark four, fire on my command!"
"Affirmative." the Chimera's weapons officer acknowledged and began relaying orders to his men seated in the crew pit.
Faro made her way down into the pit to wait for the command. Ezra's face momentarily contorted in confusion as he approached Thrawn.
"An asteroid field? They clearly don't want us staying here, how's shooting up some rocks going to help you?"
"Their commander must have assumed from my mild description of our damage they hoped they could simply scare us off."
"Yeah, they fired a warning shot, that's a pretty clear 'get out of here', don't you think?
"But if they are hostile enough towards outsiders, why not simply kill us?"
Ezra opened his mouth, but in the end he had to simply concede it was a good point.
"I explicitly mentioned within my message that we were lost and cut off from the Empire. If they were to simply destroy us here, there would be no retribution, nobody would ever find out what happened and these 'Narivan' would remain undisturbed in their isolation. If they let us leave, who's to say we won't come back with a full fleet and subjugate them with a force they have no hope of fighting?"
"I'm asking that question myself right now..." Ezra silently thought to himself.
"The answer is simple, they don't have the capability to destroy our fleet. Our scans indicate they don't even possess energy weapons, instead they use physical projectiles and missiles, and the heavy armour suggests their shielding technology is weak. If this is all their fleet consists of then even a single Star Destroyer would be more than a match for them."
Ezra gulped. He didn't like where this was going, not one bit.
"That warning shot was nothing more than an empty bluff, a vain attempt to intimidate us into leaving before we realize how drastically we outmatch them. Even in our damaged state, the Chimaera is still vastly superior to anything within their fleet, they have absolutely no way of causing us significant damage..."
Ezra mulled over Thrawn's explanation, and suddenly, he realized exactly what the Admiral was hoping to accomplish.
"...why, I wouldn't be surprised if they couldn't even destroy an asteroid."
"Oh no..." The Jedi mouthed silently.
"Turbolaser crews reporting ready, Admiral." Faro called out.
"All batteries, open fire."
On the Grand Admiral's orders, the Chimaera's gun crews responded with a withering hail of fire, green energy bolts flew out from the starboard side of the Chimaera as the ship fired full broadside on the field. One by one, the asteroids all flashed and disappeared, vanishing into an explosion of fire and dust.
"We have met their bluff with a showcase of strength." Thrawn
"More like a threat..." Ezra sneered, glaring at the Admiral.
"No, I'm simply meeting their posturing with a display of our strength. The implication of such an act is entirely their own invention."
"How can you be so sure they're going to back down?"
"Why wouldn't they? What are they going to do? Attack us? Drive us out of their system? They don't have the capability to do so."
"Typical Imperial..."
"I am being lenient, Bridger. I could simply call in the rest of the fleet to annihilate these ships, storm the platforms and take what we need by force if necessary. We will utilize their facilities and be on our way. This way none of their people will die, and none of our people will die. We will leave and they can return to their isolation."
Ezra sighed, he was angry, and his clear blue eyes glared at the Admiral, but he didn't have an answer to the Grand Admiral's logic. No coherent argument or rebuttal was able to leave his mouth.
"Admiral, we're receiving another transmission from the lead ship." Lomar called out.
"Open a hailing frequency." Thrawn said, Walking to the front of the bridge to a terminal set against the main viewport.
Another set of chirps, warbles and other vaguely avian sounding noises, but these were different. They sounded quieter, dejected, defeated, and even with the language barrier Ezra could pick out the sombre tone.
"Admiral Carala says that in order to use the orbital platforms, you will have to negotiate directly with the planetary President. Sir, he says he would be willing to take you to them on the planet's surface in one of his ships." 5A-6 translated.
Thrawn nodded, and glanced briefly back to Ezra. It was small, and he could very well have imagined it, but Ezra swore just for a moment he could see the corner of the Admiral's lip twist up into a smirk.
"Tell him I shall be traveling down in my personal shuttle, and that I appreciate the opportunity to meet his superiors."
I'd like to thank Ross again for helping me edit this and for getting the ball rolling on this whole Narivan idea, I came up with the name, their appearance and the planet itself (which you'll see next chapter) but Ross was the one who came up with the idea so thanks man. Another thing that delayed this chapter was that I was helping him with his own fanfic, it's called Star Wars Resistance: Dying Light, and no, it has absolutely nothing to do with that god-awful animated show. It's shaping up to be interesting and we've talked about the possibility of having these in a connected universe somehow. So go check it out I guess.
And before anybody asks, yes, I have seen the Episode IX Trailer, it looks like a cheap cash grab and I'm not looking forward to it. JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson are both talentless hacks who couldn't make a good movie to save their lives. Go read the Thrawn trilogy instead it's basically just the good Sequel Trilogy.
Next time we meet the Narivan proper, and we go down to their planet and learn about them a bit. I'll see you all next time.