Ezra got a good view of the conference room from his quiet corner. From here, he could view the proceedings between the various parties with little attention directed at him.
"And as such, given these revelations, I have reason to believe the Vagaari will soon be making a return to this planet." Thrawn finished his announcement, standing in front of a hologram of the automated probe the Imperials had picked up.
5A-6 translated, and the room was filled with worried squawks and caws. They debated amongst themselves, some panicked, others displayed cold, steely resolve. Ezra waited a while, seeing who the first would be to respond to Thrawn. In the end, it was the old, grey-feathered Admiral that finally spoke up.
Admiral Carala slammed the table in front of him, and stood up, scraping a claw slowly across the wooden surface. He paused for a long moment…
And then he shrieked.
Ezra covered his ears as Carala let out an ear-piercing shriek that drilled straight through his ear canals. He didn't have to speak the Narivan language to know Carala was currently engaged in a lengthy, enraged scolding of the Imperials. More Narivan, including President Reelak, rose up in protest, but Carala shouted them down. Repeatedly, he poked his claw into the wooden varnish, leaving scrapes as he continued his tirade.
5-A6 did her best to translate the rant, but faltered. What escaped from her vocal emitters was a jumbled collection of words and phrases, likely tangled up in a series of local expletives and phrases hard to translate into basic. Thrawn analyzed closely, using his famed skills of deduction to decipher the charged rant.
"The Vagaari were going to come back, inevitably." Thrawn explained, seemingly undaunted by the verbal assault he'd just received.
"And how do you know that!?" Carala shot back.
"Because my people have been fighting the Vagaari for decades!" Thrawn retorted in a louder voice, bordering on shouting, but still composed.
"I have studied them since the beginning of my career, Admiral. I know how they operate, and I know how they harvest less-technologically advanced planets for slave labour. Raids like the one your planet suffered are not a singular occurrence. The Vagaari are brutal slavers, working their populations to exhaustion, and eventually expiration. When their reserves of labour become depleted, do you know what they will do Admiral Carala? They will peruse their archives for previous targets, and attack one that has been left long enough to replenish its population."
"Like it or not, Admiral Carala, Neriva is now a Vagaari hunting ground, and to them you are cattle to be periodically harvested. I will fully admit our presence here may have hastened such a return, but you knew yourself that their return was inevitable."
Ezra expected Carala to shoot back, to snap or squawk or shriek, but he didn't. Instead, he simply sat down, and quietly reclined in his chair. This reaction caught everybody off-guard, even Thrawn raised an eyebrow. And Ezra coudn't shake the significant feeling something was about to go very wrong.
"Narivan of Neriva, we have a common enemy." Thrawn continued, addressing the full council.
"And it is for this reason I am appealing to you to mobilize your battlefleet immediately, and assemble an emergency military council so that we may coordinate a joint military operation."
"Your commitment to defending your world is as admirable as the warfleet you have built in such a short time, but I will not waste your time with flattering delusions. Your fleet, although formidable, is still far behind the technological capabilities of the Vagaari. My fleet, on the other hand, consists of a set of Imperial Class Star Destroyers, the primary warship of the Galactic Empire, and a formidable warship far more powerful than anything in the Vagaari fleet. However, we are few in number, and unlikely to match whatever force the Vagaari inevitably brings."
"Together, as a unified fighting force, I believe we can form a fleet capable of effectively driving back the Vagaari. All I need is your council's authorization."
The vote was unanimous.
"I do believe that went well, don't you think Bridger?"
"You're a better public speaker than I gave you credit for. I'll admit that much." Ezra said, begrudgingly."
"Compliments from one's mortal enemies are usually the most impactful." Thrawn replied, in what was probably the closest thing to sarcasm he'd ever heard from the Admiral.
"I much prefer the battlefield over the realm of politics. However, I have learned to speak to politicians over the years, both in the Ascendancy and the Empire. A commander wants hard numbers, wants to know precisely what they are working with. A politician does want the truth, but re-packaged in a more convenient manner."
"Convenient?"
"Suffice it to say, the situation is far more dire than I let on."
"You don't think we can win?"
"I believe we can win, but I estimate the casualties for the Narivan will be severe, to say the least. Your 'special mission' continues to be our best hope for a clean victory." Thrawn said.
"Yeah and since when did you care about Narivan casualties?" Ezra asked.
"Since I've begun entertaining the possibility of extending our partnership with the Narivan long-term."
Click
A full range of Yellow-Bereted Sentinel Guards, surrounding the Imperial delegation, holding their slugthrowers in a ready stance. Faro reached for her blaster, the Stormtroopers closed rank and assumed defensive formation, moving ahead and around the naval personnel.
Ezra gulped, a violent confrontation
"You have much nerve coming to our planet, telling us what to do." Reelak squawked, with 5A-6 providing translation.
"Are you attempting to make some kind of point, Admiral?" Thrawn asked.
"I'm putting an end to the disrespect you've shown to Neriva ever since you landed!" Carala squawked, trotting forward slowly and tapping his cane.
"I have shown your people all the courtesy required of a diplomatic contact." Thrawn retorted.
"I've seen how you stride around here! I've seen how you walk around our halls, our civilization as if it's some kind of amusement." Carala snapped.
"You view us as little more than a curiosity!"
"You believe we are as big of a threat as the Vagaari?"
"I was there in the conference room the first time! I saw how large and powerful your Empire is! Don't think I don't recognize an intimidation tactic when I see one!"
"Ah, I see what your concern is now. An Imperial occupation of Neriva would be a logistical nightmare. Your system is several hundred lightyears within uncharted space."
"Admiral Carala, this is pointless. Starting hostilities is futile. Break this alliance now and you are potentially dooming your entire planet to Vagaari subjugation." Faro said.
"You expect me to buy that you care about what happens to Neriva?"
"I care about the survival of the personnel under my command. Our fates are mutually linked." Thrawn replied.
"Admiral Carala, I know you hold me and my subordinates in personal contempt. I do not care. What I care about is defeating the Vagaari. I am willing to follow through on whatever course of action may be necessary to do that. Once the Vagaari are defeated, should your people wish for it, we will leave. Should it ease your distress, I will even give you the personal honour of escorting the 7th fleet out of your space. But if you value your planet, if you value the lives of your subordinates and the future of your species, than the best course of action you can take right now is to stand down."
"What do you know about defending one's home!? One's people!?"
Thrawn paused, a look entered his eyes Ezra had never seen before. For once, the stars had aligned, and Thrawn had just shown something resembling an emotional reaction.
"More than you could ever possibly know."
Carala growled. it was clear he would not stand down. Even if Thrawn's words had made some effect on him, he would never be able to trust the Imperials and after this the Imperials would never trust him and be on alert for any further moves from him. They could report the incident to the President and demand his dismissal, and if that failed they could try to assassinate him. If Carala wanted to strike it was now or never. While in other circumstances Ezra might have sided with Carala to take down Thrawn, he knew that the Narivans wouldn't stand a chance against the Vagaari while busy fighting the Empire at the same time. He had to do something.
"Thrawn." Ezra motioned, stepping forward and grabbing the Grand Admiral's attention.
"Let me handle this."
Thrawn raised an eyebrow in response.
"And what makes you think you can diffuse this situation?"
"I can relate to where he's coming from, that's why." Ezra retorted.
Thrawn thought for a moment, and then nodded.
"Admiral Carala, please, if you won't listen to Thrawn, just listen to me for a moment."
Ezra approached slowly, holding out his hands and taking care not to make any sudden movements. He reached out with the force to try and make some guess as to what Carala was thinking.
"You're right not to trust the Imperials. Believe me, I know from experience."
"What kind of experience? Why do you speak of them as if they are an other?"
Ezra sighed, and muttered under his breath, now came the hard part.
"I'm not an Imperial." He clarified.
"I'm not with them at all. Actually, in a manner of speaking, they're kind of my Vagaari.
"That was Thrawn's idea. We thought it would be easier to explain if I just pretended to be his aide, but now I can see that's not going to work anymore." Ezra replied.
"You expect me to believe you aren't one of them?"
"Believe what you want, but I'm no Imperial. In fact… I'm sort of the reason we're here." Ezra explained.
Carala gave him an odd look.
"The Empire took over my world, they killed my parents, I didn't like that. I decided to do something about it. Then I found a bunch of other people who wanted the same thing. We staged an uprising, and during the final battle I made a plan to get the Empire off my world by transporting them as far away as I could possibly get them. Problem is, I was on board at the time. So here I am, lost in unknown space with my mortal enemies."
"If you're an enemy of the Imperials, why haven't they killed you yet?"
"They need me to navigate, I have abilities that let us travel through this area of space. Without me they'd be lost."
"And if you hate this Empire so much, why are you helping this group?"
"Common enemy. Thrawn promised me information, and I need to warn my friends." Ezra said.
"I see." Carala answered, evidently skeptical.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I get where you're coming from." Ezra explained.
"I know what you've been through, Admiral. I know how you feel, but I'm telling you now, as somebody who hates them far more than you do, that starting a fight with the Imperials is a bad idea. For better or for worse, we're all in this together, and we have to stick together to get out of this, at least for now."
"I will admit offworlder, your story is strange. I'm not entirely sure I believe it. And what if I wait, when this is all over, when the Vagaari aren't looming over our heads, what makes you think I can trust them?" Carala squawked.
"No, I'm not talking about trust. I'm talking about what's in their best interests. They aren't here to conquer. Thrawn's here for supplies and then he's gone. If a fight starts that just makes things harder for him. And besides, they still need me, and they're smart enough to know that if they did try to take over your planet, I'd be firmly on your side."
"You're a strange one, No-feather. Travelling around with a group you claim to hate."
"Strange times." Ezra shrugged.
"Also, for what it's worth, as the poor guy who's had to fly these Imps around, I can tell you Thrawn's telling the truth about conquering Neriva being a nightmare."
Carala sighed, letting out a deflating warble that resembled a sigh.
"What a strange group you outsiders are." He remarked. He gestured with a talon, and his guards stood down."
"Impressive work." Thrawn said.
"I couldn't have diffused that situation better myself. You outdid yourself."
Ezra smirked.
"What was that you said about compliments from one's mortal enemies earlier?"
"I am honoured you have deigned to join us, Admiral Carala." Thrawn
"The feeling is not mutual, No-feather." Carala responded.
"I suffer your presence because Neriva needs me. Spare me the pleasantries, we aren't friends."
"Nor do we have to be." Thrawn replied.
"I've studied the scans of the Vagaari warships you provided us with, I also took the liberty of cross-referencing them with intelligence gathered during the last invasion. You were making quite the understatement when you told the council we were technologically outmatched."
"I thought it best they not be informed of just how direly outmatched they actually are."
"Don't apologize, I've put up with enough politicians in the past to know how much they hate being told inconvenient facts. You can be honest about the severity of the situation here. I am fully willing to die for my homeworld, and so is every Narivan under me. We will fight to a featherling if it means stopping the Vagaari."
"I am glad to hear it."
"I will hear your suggestions, but I get final say on any alterations to my own fleet's positioning. I'm ready to accept heavy losses, but I will not have you use us as a convenient shield to protect your own men."
Ezra was no military strategist. His element was guerrilla warfare, large fleet engagements such as this one were something beyond his expertise. As such, much of the back and forth planning between the Imperials and the Narivan flew over his head. Others on both sides interjected periodically, but the lengthy planning was dominated by Thrawn and Carala.
Oddly enough, they seemed to be getting along well now that they were discussing strategy and fleet tactics.
Common ground, he supposed.
Thump
Veltosh watched the blue vortex of hyperspace fade away back into realspace. Outside the viewscreen, white lines faded into blinking, distant dots, and all of a sudden the Vagaari were back in realspace.
"You took us out of hyperspace at too great a range! Now they will see us!" Veltosh snarled.
"It wasn't us Commander! Something dragged us out of hyperspace! We can't " A Vagaari crewman pleaded.
"Perform a scan! Find out what it was! Sublight thrusters to full speed! "
"Sir, we've detected electronics. Sir… they're
"Commander." A bridge crew member spoke up.
"This planet matches a previously known location in our database. Pre-spaceflight level technology, the locals call it 'Neriva'."
Veltosh raised an eyebrow.
"Neriva? Never heard of it."
"Apparently one of our fleets conducted a raid here sometime over ten solar orbits ago."
Veltosh shrugged, deciding it ultimately didn't matter whether or not he knew the place. If their quarry was here, there were more important matters at stake.
"Sensors report eight large, heavily armed warships in the planet's orbit."
"At last." Veltosh breathed.
"We've found the Voidlord's precious curiosity. Battle-formation, prepare to engage. We will encircle the warships and eliminate them swiftly. Let the Voidlord pick through the wreckage."
The mothership's bridge crew set the ship's engines to full speed, and Veltosh prepared himself for a battle.
"The Vagaari have exited hyperspace. The interdiction mines pulled them out right at the edge of the asteroid field." Faro explained.
"Then our gifts from the Grysk have done their work."
"Transmission from Admiral Carala." Comms officer Lomar reported.
"His forces are in position. Gunnery stations have received Narivan targeting data, standing by to coordinate fire."
"Tell him to avoid hitting the asteroids. Otherwise, he may fire when ready." Thrawn acknowledged.
"Vagaari fleet projected to enter range in one standard minute minute." Pyrondi called out.
"Good, synchronize with the Narivan firing patterns. Hit their targets, bring down the shields to ensure their kinetic weapons can do the maximum amount of damage."
"Commander Veltosh, the warships aren't alone! We're detecting a secondary fleet advancing towards us!"
"What? Who else is out there? You said this planet was pre-spaceflight!"
Veltosh turned his attention to a display monitor for the sensor output, he saw eight dots representing the Imperial fleet, then more appeared, and more, dozens if not hundreds of unidentified warships.
"Perform a scan on those new ships." Veltosh growled.
"I want to know what we're up against."
"Vagaari fleet entering firing range in 5…" Faro called out.
Thrawn stiffened his posture and fixated his gaze out the viewport, the bridge held their breath.
"…4… 3… 2… 1."
"Open fire." Thrawn commanded.
An overwhelming display of combined imperial and Narivan firepower blasted forth from the combined fleet. First, the Chimaera, and all its' fellow Star Destroyers,
At the same time, the Narivan matched it with their own display.
A massive barrage of missiles packed with high yield nuclear warheads shot forth from the Narivan fleet, zooming past the Chimaera and into the oncoming Vagaari armada. The combined fury of millions of lost Narivan, and the traumatized, resentful survivors rang out across the void of space in the form of a countless number of electromagnetic mass drivers, and railguns.
Accompanying it came a green and blue flurry of turbolasers and ion cannons.
"All ships! Full power to Ions! Bring those shields down!"
"Vagaari have launched fighters! Closing on us!"
"Deploy all TIEs. Defensive formation, prepare to intercept. I want their squadrons fighting close to us and far away from their own fleet."
Faro commanded orders across the bridge. As she did, she noticed a subtle change in Thrawn's demeanour.
Despite the chaotic nature of everything happening around them, he seemed oddly relieved. In fact, despite the bridge being on high alert, this was the most relaxed Faro had seen him since Lothal.
Grand Admiral Thrawn was in his element. No more flying blind in the dark of uncharted space, no more scavenging parts from ruined ships just to survive. No more wasting time on some backwater Outer Rim world as a political favour to a greedy, self-obsessed Governor. No more bickering with bureaucrats over the importance of the TIE Defender project and no more chasing petty insurgents while the real threat gathered their strength in the shadows.
This was war. Real war against a foe that didn't hide, that didn't strike from secret bases in guerrilla attacks or some unknowable nightmare from beyond known space. War against a foe that could be seen, fought, and beaten.
And while it was certainly dangerous, it was also where he operated best. And Faro had a feeling that if he did happen to die, this was exactly how he wanted to go down.
Faro then observed the Narivan barrage and took a moment to remember her Academy training as faded visions of Anaxean classrooms blinked across her mind. Naval strategists had, millennia ago, decided that physical, kinetic projectile weapons were a dead end in spaceborne warfare. The invention of deflector shields, and their subsequent widespread adoption across the Galaxy, had rendered them effectively obsolete. This was the reason why hyperspace-based weaponry was deemed ineffective. As such, the only physical weaponry used in modern naval combat was explosive in nature, like bombs, missiles or torpedoes.
Nuclear warheads were another weapon widely dismissed by Imperial naval doctrine due to the availability of more powerful munitions. Even the Mandalorians, who historically made liberal usage of nukes, primarily used them as a tool for planetary bombardment. Indeed they were outright banned under the laws of the Old Republic due to the long term damage nuclear radiation could inflict on an ecosystem. Nowadays they were the domain of decrepit, outer-rim territories that didn't have access to more powerful weapons, and the nuclear warheads the Narivan were currently firing at the Vagaari were only a fraction of the yield of an Assault Concussion missile's payload.
Against a vessel of the Imperial Navy, the Narivan wouldn't have stood a chance. However, they had one more advantage on their side.
Thrawn had been kind enough to impart his knowledge of Unknown Regions civilizations on his subordinates before the battle, and one detail he had emphasized was the weakness of their shielding. Most Unknown Regions civilizations were far behind the Empire in their shielding capabilities. The Vagaari were no exception, and it was this advantage Thrawn intended to exploit. So for the Ion cannon batteries of the Imperial starships, calibrated and tuned for the much more powerful shielding in Imperial Space, tearing through the Vagaari shielding was a cakewalk.
And while the Narivans' arsenal of physical munitions were bad at breaking through energy shields, against solid durasteel they were devastatingly effective.
The final layer to the combined Imperial-Narivan defensive effort was the most powerful weaponry in the Narivan arsenal: a network of orbital fortress stations containing the largest, most powerful railguns available. With shields out of the way, these weapons could theoretically smash through the hulls of multiple Vagaari ships at once, one after the other, as they hurtled off at high speeds into the infinite void. Their effectiveness was yet to be tested.
"The battle has begun." Thrawn remarked.
"Now we need only wait for Bridger to play his part."
I watched Ahsoka. I have thoughts, spoilers abound, if you don't care what I have to say feel free to go to the next chapter.
I've made it no secret I tuned out of new canon a while ago. Star Wars is now the Expanded Universe and this story exclusively for me. However, I felt obligated to watch Ahsoka because, well, I needed to see how the official Filoni continuation of the Rebels story faired against my own.
As of writing this I have seen up to Episode 6 of Ahsoka, but I don't think the final two episodes are going to be able to improve my opinion. Suffice it to say, I am not impressed. In fact, my expectations were rock bottom, and they still disappointed. Star Wars: Ahsoka is to Rebels what the Sequel Trilogy was to the Original Trilogy. They burned it all down.
I'm going to skip over the incredibly stupid worldbuilding decisions like Hyperspacing between Galaxies now being a thing, the Nightsisters being from another Galaxy, and the World Between Worlds now being something you can apparently access by falling asleep or something, to instead talk about how they butchered the characters.
Let's start with the titular Togruta herself. Ahsoka Tano is a character I used to like, not so much anymore, but even I'll admit right now that this emotionless brick of a main character is a massive downgrade from the Ahsoka we had in the cartoons. Ashley Eckstein's Ahsoka emoted, she had feelings, she cracked jokes, smiled, got angry and sad. This Ahsoka is a brick. Rosario Dawson can act, I've seen her act, but whatever she's doing here is not acting. Ahsoka is stone-faced and emotionless for the whole series, reacting to nothing. Cartoon Ahsoka emoted more in the fight with Vader alone than live action Ahsoka has emoted in this whole series.
Hera is a joke, her role in the show is to be useless and be told not to do anything by her incompetent bosses. She does literally nothing. The Disney Canon's New Republic is the single most incompetent fictional government I have ever seen. They make the Citadel Council look like Cicero, they make the New California Republic look like an efficient, functional democracy. They aren't just stupid, they're actively suicidal. Two Dark Jedi break a known Imperial Agent out of prison, with visual proof, and their response is to tell Hera to shut up and do nothing. Then Hera takes three X-Wings and the Ghost out to investigate herself and their response is to send an entire fleet to haul her back to Coruscant. Even Borsk Fey'lya, the resident angry jerk of the EU's New Republic, would be screaming at these idiots to go do something. Also Luke just inexplicably doesn't care about any of this for some reason and is never seen or heard from. If this was the EU New Republic Ackbar would be leading an entire fleet to go kick some Imperial ass while Luke and Kyle Katarn go beat up Ray Stevenson and his apprentice with the weird crackhead stare.
Sabine is not a character I ever liked. She was always my least favourite of the Ghost crew, and yet I still feel profoundly insulted by how she's regressed in this series to a needy, childish, overly-emotional brat that has no motivation beyond obsessing over Ezra like some creepy fangirl. She has literally spent 10 years sitting around in Ezra's old home, surrounded by his helmet collection, watching the recording over and over because she literally has no life outside of being sad over Ezra.
Sabine in Rebels was tough, she'd been through a lot, she stuck by her friends and struggled with her guilt over making weapons for the Empire. Now she's become so childish and selfish that she is willing to enable the return of Thrawn, undoing Ezra's entire sacrifice, just because she's lonely and, according to Ray Stevenson, "Ezra is the only family you have left" because screw Hera, Zeb Chopper and Jacen I guess. And not even out of a sense of obligation or feeling she needs to save Ezra, it's a choice entirely motivated by self-interest. Also Gus Fring killed her entire family off-screen even though they didn't live on Mandalore.
I could write an entire book on Sabine alone, but I'd rather this rant not be twice the length of Ascendancy itself. To cut a long story short, the Jedi angle is stupid, and she acts even less like a Mandalorian than she did before, which was already a problem in Rebels but is exasperated here.
And I saved the best for last, the dual protagonists of Ascendancy, the Jedi and the Admiral themselves. Where were they? They were sitting on their asses in the middle of nowhere for ten years. Literally the most boring answer they could've come up with. Ezra was camping with some crabs while Thrawn sat around on the Chimaera while the rest of the 7th Fleet just magically disappeared and Pellaeon somehow made it back to the main Galaxy despite being at Lothal. I kind of laughed when they revealed the heavily damaged Chimaera and the battered stormtroopers with their broken armour only for Thrawn himself to come out and just... be fine. Like he just pleasantly smiles at the Nightsisters and greets Sabine nonchalantly. Both Ezra and Thrawn just feel like they've been in cryostasis for 10 years. They haven't changed at all, I would've thought 10 years of isolation in a hostile Galaxy would've had some effect on either of them but I guess not.
Anyways I've got nothing else to say other than I'm disappointed so see you all next time.