Halfway to Martyrdom
Chapter Twenty-Three
Eli Vanto struggled to keep his head up. Every interaction with another living being tried his patience. It was a never ending battle not to lash out, even at faces as friendly as Vah'nya's.
It had been a few days since Admiral Ar'alani had called him into her office that night. Now, all Eli had wanted was to be alone with his data. Not just with the skywalker data he was studying, but the data he had collected from Imperial outposts as well.
Whenever the Steadfast was close enough to Imperial borders for Eli to get a signal, he used his old officer credentials to eavesdrop on Imperial communications of all kinds; civilian, commercial, criminal, and military. He searched the logs for any information he could find about Thrawn's last outing. So far, the records weren't giving him much. All he'd heard about Lothal was that Imperial sanctions were disrupting regular trade routes. The idea that the Empire was imposing sanctions instead of fighting the rebels there directly spoke volumes as to the rebellion's fighting capabilities.
Ar'alani still hadn't contacted Faro. Eli didn't know what she was waiting for. He trusted her to keep her word and bring him into the conversation when the time came, but he didn't understand why the occasion had not yet arrived. In the meantime, he was expected to act like nothing had happened. That mandate was proving harder to obey with each passing day.
A knock came at the door to Eli's office. He groaned, closing and encrypting his Imperial data folders. Chiss didn't knock on doors before entering, so there was only one person his visitor could be. "What do you need, Ronan?"
Ronan sauntered into Eli's office, white Imperial cape haphazardly affixed to his black Chiss uniform. No matter how many times Eli told Ronan he couldn't wear his Imperial uniform aboard, the cape never left Ronan's person. Ronan's stubbornness meant he was the only one besides Ar'alani wearing white aboard the Steadfast. "I just need another human right now. Even if it is you. Those blueskins are driving me mad!"
Eli covered his sigh with a hand. He deeply regretted teaching Ronan the pejorative term used for Chiss in the Chaos. Now Ronan wouldn't call them anything else. How no one had thrown him out the airlock yet was a mystery Eli could not solve. "What's your problem now?"
"They refuse to give me written orders anymore. Instead, my so-called 'supervisor' drew me a picture of what she wants. Like I'm a child!" Ronan threw his questis in Eli's face. On it was a diagram of the Grysk weapon that Mid-Captain Irizi'altoch'col wanted Ronan to reverse engineer. The real weapon was stored in an Ascendancy lab somewhere. What Ronan had was a three dimensional image that could be taken apart piece by piece with the stroke of a stylus. The mid-captain had even used different colors to indicate different materials, just like Eli had told them the Empire did.
Eli handed the questis back to Ronan. "Well… you refuse to learn Cheunh. What is the point of giving you orders you can't understand? I have my own work. I can't play translator for you all the time."
"Why not? That was your job for over a decade back in the Empire. If Thrawn was good enough for his own aide as a lieutenant, I should more than qualify to receive one."
"I. Have. My. Own. Work," Eli repeated, slowly this time. "And I'm the only other person on this ship who's fluent in Basic. No one is going to learn an entirely new language just for the pleasure of working with you. You need to adapt."
"But they're so backwards!" Ronan whined, leaning back against Eli's desk. His palm slammed on Eli's keyboard, making him wince. "They don't even use droids, Vanto. Forget complex artificial intelligence. They don't have droids to clean or do laundry. We have to do that for ourselves!"
"Why, is it your first time?" That would explain how Ronan had managed to ruin his only Imperial uniform in the wash. Eli just wished the cape had been part of the same load. Then Ronan would be fully in dress code.
Before Ronan could offer a retort, Vah'nya popped her head through the door. She beamed at first upon seeing Eli, then shifted her face back into neutral at the sight of his present company. Vah'nya addressed him in Cheunh. "Lieutenant Commander Ivant! You look exhausted."
"Certain visits never fail to drain my energy." Eli carefully avoided looking at Ronan when talking about him. If Ronan refused to learn Cheunh, he could suffer some of the consequences. "Yours is better than others."
Vah'nya laughed. As she did, Eli noticed dark circles under her own eyes. They were harder to spot on Chiss skin, especially when their red eyes glowed duller. Clearly, Vah'nya was tired as well.
"Did you just finish a nav shift?" Eli asked.
She nodded, then continued on. "I bring you a message from the Admiral. She needs to see you. Something about-"
"Don't ignore me!" Ronan cried out. "I'm tired of all these blueskins looking at me like I'm nothing. They think they're better than us, Vanto. But if they were so smart, they would have figured out how to destroy these Grysk years ago. The Empire could do it easily."
Eli and Vah'nya turned to look at Ronan. Eli should have known better by this point than to entertain Ronan's delusions, but for some stupid reason, he asked anyway, "and how do you think the Empire could do it?"
"Easy. All we would have to do is bring our new weapon to their homeworld. Destroy the planet hosting their most important leaders. These aliens thrive on enslaving, don't they? Kill the masters, and then the slaves won't know what to do. They'll fall into chaos with the rest of these starsforsaken Unknown Regions." Ronan snorted in Vah'nya's direction, making no effort to hide his disdain. "Then we can target these nasty blueskins' homeworlds too. One shot from the Death Star's kyber-powered laser cannon is enough to turn an entire planet to dust. I wish I were still around to see our final tests."
Eli sighed, facepalming. This wasn't the first time Ronan had bragged to him about the capabilities of Project Stardust, nor was it the first time he'd done it in front of a Chiss. On the Steadfast, Ronan didn't bother maintaining confidentiality. He freely shared his secrets with the only man he knew to be capable of understanding them. The man was too desperate for companionship to take future consequences seriously.
The first time Eli had heard the final result of the project he'd once covertly tracked in the Empire, he'd been terrified. Nowadays, Eli lacked capacity for most emotions. "I have a meeting, Ronan. You need to go back to your own workstation."
Ronan stood up in a huff. "I hope we're out of here in time to see the Death Star put an end to any talk of rebellion. It will be glorious, Vanto!"
Once Ronan left the room, Vah'nya turned to Eli. She asked her question in the heavily accented Basic Eli had taught her. "'Death Star'? The last day, he said it was like a moon." She drew a spherical shape with her fingers.
"I didn't name it." Eli responded in Cheunh. "Don't let Lyro hear you doing that. Now what's this about Admiral Ar'alani wanting to see me?"
"Ah, yes." Vah'nya paused for a moment. "She needs to talk to you about 'your secret project.' If you know what that is, good. I do not."
Oh no. Had he been caught eavesdropping on Imperial comms? Had he somehow made Imperial/Ascendancy relations worse by doing so? Now it was Eli who hadn't considered the consequences of his actions. "I will report to her office right away. Thank you, Vah'nya." He laid a hand on her shoulder before departing. "Get some rest."
"I'm too old for a caregiver, Ivant." Vah'nya brushed his hand away. She offered him a small smile nonetheless. "You need to rest as well. You look like you've been staring at ghosts."
Searching for them, more like it.
It was hard to say if Admiral Ar'alani was in better spirits than the last time Eli had seen her. She no longer hunched over in pain, but her pacing strides around the office inspired a different type of unease. Eli stepped forward, hesitating before he spoke. "You wanted to see me, Admiral Ar'alani?"
"I did, Lieutenant Commander." Ar'alani stopped in her tracks, sinking down into her seat. She gestured for him to sit across from her. Eli obeyed the silent order. "Your database aboard the Steadfast is not private. I assumed you knew from the beginning, but it seems that you may not.
"This morning, one of our other researchers noticed your files in Basic. You downloaded them from external sources using codes unfamiliar to the Ascendancy." Ar'alani raised an eyebrow. "I have my suspicions about what your secret project entails. Do you care to confirm them?"
"Yes, Admiral. I'm looking for information about Thrawn's last battle. I don't believe his entire fleet perished fighting planetside rebels, and there's no way rebels in the Empire were able to assemble enough warships to take the Seventh head on. I dealt with some rebels when I was still an Imperial officer. They were nowhere close to achieving such a thing." Eli's voice shook with conviction. "I'm not saying Faro lied to us, but her account was secondhand. If I can find comm traffic explaining what went down on Lothal, we can figure out where to look for survivors."
"Would you be willing to unencrypt your files so that others may confirm your story?" Ar'alani asked. "The Basic you've taught some officers may be rudimentary, but it's enough for Lieutenant Lyro's talk of planet-destroying weapons to make them nervous. Seeing the only other human aboard download Imperial files they cannot read so soon after Lyro's onboarding has them concerned. My words of reassurance would be more effective if I supported them with evidence."
"I can do that, ma'am." Eli bristled at the thought of suspicion falling on him. He thought his year aboard the Steadfast would have gone further in securing people's trust. Ronan's presence truly was a poison. "I'm beginning to suspect Thrawn never thought Lieutenant Lyro would be an asset to us. He refuses to acclimate to his new environment."
"Assets take many forms, Lieutenant Commander. Not all of them are obvious at first sight." Ar'alani paused for a moment. "Have your files given you any reason to believe there were survivors?"
Eli swallowed his pride. "None yet, ma'am."
"I see." Ar'alani's hands folded in front of her face, hiding the lower half of her expression from view. "I will not forbid you from continuing, but I urge you to be careful. The Grysk are not above spreading false rumors to lure their enemies into a trap. We know from our last trip to Lesser Space that they are seeking points of entry into your Empire. It is possible they could pollute communication traffic with their lies."
"I understand that, ma'am. And I promise I won't neglect the research you brought me onboard to do. I've only been working on this side project when I'm off shift."
"If you think you've found evidence of survivors, you must bring it to me for a thorough vetting," Ar'alani warned, her tone uncompromising. "No one is allowed to leave this ship without express authorization."
"Yes, ma'am. I had no plans to attempt anything else." Eli leaned forward, concerned. "Is something else wrong, Admiral? Are the crew members who suspect Lyro and I threatening some kind of action?"
Ar'alani waved his concern away, revealing a deep frown etched into her face. "It's not that. My comm officer received a message from a former ally of the Chiss. They gave up fighting against the Grysk years ago. Now they want us to come back.
"They say the Grysk could be invading their system at any time. In an attempt to persuade us to aid them, they claimed to… have Mitth'raw'nuruodo. They say he's alive."
Eli nearly fell out of his chair. "What?! These people… who are they?"
"I won't tell you their names." Ar'alani spoke through gritted teeth. "They offered no proof of their claim. All the messenger showed me was… a ring that resembled one Mitth'raw'nurodo once owned. This ring had the crest of one of these aliens' families on it. For all I know, there are dozens of rings identical to it among these people."
Eli frowned. Thrawn had never shown him any ring. If he'd managed to hold onto one throughout all his years in the Empire, he'd done so completely under Eli's nose. "That's not much to go on."
"No. Which is why I ordered the comm officer not to respond… over the objection of some in the crew." Ar'alani sighed, then explained her choice. "These aliens withdrew from the war against the Grysk years ago. They signed a treaty officially making them a neutral system. How neutral they truly are remains a matter for debate. Regardless, their decision means the Ascendancy has no obligation to defend them, not even against a potential mutual enemy. Legally, Mitth'raw'nuruodo is an exile of the Ascendancy, not a citizen. The CEDF is not authorized to intervene in the affairs of a non-ally world over the life of a non-citizen. This means that even if everything the message said was true, our battle would be illegal."
"So even if you thought Thrawn was alive, you wouldn't try to help him?" Eli asked, taken aback. Ar'alani's words seemed so callous. "After everything he's done for us?"
"If the proof of Mitth'raw'nurodo's presence were incontrovertible, I would be willing to seek an exception. Given we already received intelligence from a reliable source that the man is dead, I cannot authorize the risk of flying into a trap." Ar'alani sensed Eli's concern. She softened her tone. "I tell you this information so that you know to be careful. The Grysk may know Mitth'raw'nuruodo is missing from the Empire, but there's no way they know we are in contact with Admiral Faro. They are likely to exploit our desire to see him alive. We cannot fall for their tricks."
Eli crossed his arms, but assented. He understood Ar'alani's logic, even if it rankled him. "We can't even send a probe to this system to look for information?"
"We don't have such resources in the area. By the time an acceptably discreet probe arrives, this hypothetical battle is likely to be over." She hesitated. "I will request discreet intelligence be deployed to the system. Even if our agent gets there after the battle ends, we should still be able to assess whether fighting took place or if Mitth'raw'nuruodo participated."
Now Eli was pushing words through gritted teeth. "What do we do if we're wrong? What if the Grysk kill Thrawn tomorrow?"
"Then we will be in the same position we are now. Looking for a way to continue our fight without the aid of an incredible ally." Ar'alani kept her eyes downcast as she spoke. "I take no pleasure in the possibility, but the chance of an ambush and massacre of my own fleet is too high. Leaders must be responsible stewards of their soldiers' lives.
"Mitth'raw'nurodo was a brilliant man. If he is truly still alive, he will think of a way to persevere against these odds with or without our assistance."
Like he did over Lothal? Eli thought to himself. He dared not utter his question aloud.
It was a new experience to think Thrawn could fail in such a way. While Thrawn hadn't been invincible in the Empire, he'd never been brought so low. Living in a galaxy where Thrawn's eventual victory wasn't assured frightened Eli more than the Death Star did.
"Permission to take my leave, Admiral?" Eli asked instead.
"Permission granted." She didn't look at Eli as he stood. When he was almost out the door, Ar'alani stood and resumed her pacing around the office.
Eli returned to his empty workstation. He set about decrypting his Imperial files as Ar'alani had requested, but he wasn't thinking about them. Not anymore. For the first time since learning of Thrawn's alleged death, Eli didn't want to stare at data. If he wasn't on his way to rescue Thrawn from the Grysk, he didn't want to do anything.
He would try to sleep that night. Fixated as he was on Thrawn's failure, Eli doubted he would be successful.
Uingali stepped into the command room where Thrawn and his closest officers had taken residence. All around them, people rushed to move supplies and transfer spare parts from one ship to the next. Imperials and Paccosh alike had been working around the clock in preparation for the inevitable attack.
He spoke without preamble. "It's been too long. Your Admiral Ar'alani isn't coming."
"I see." Thrawn responded. "I didn't suspect she would. Easier as it would make our next steps, I don't qualify as an Ascendancy citizen. Interfering in alien affairs on my behalf alone would not be authorized by the Syndicure."
"Then why call her at all?" Uingali brayed, anger seeping into his voice. "Do you dare to give us false hope?"
Several officers looked up at the sound. They may not have understood Taarja, but Uingali's emotional state was clear enough. Thrawn wasn't about to let Uingali's nerves act as a contagion.
"No hope I offer is ever unfounded," Thrawn replied, his tone assured. "You needed to reach out to her to start a line of communication. Such a thing will benefit us in the battle's aftermath."
"You assume we will reach the aftermath without allies. What tactics do you have for destroying a larger, more equipped enemy?"
"My tactics have not required me to fight with a smaller force for some time," Thrawn admitted, "so I shall borrow a strategy from our enemies. I am certain the Grysk remember Paccian tactics. By now, they are intimately familiar with Chiss tactics in general and mine in particular. When facing a larger foe, one must even the odds with the element of surprise.
"And what greater surprise than the handiwork of their fallen comrades?"
A/N's: Shoutout to hydrophius of Ao3 for acting as a beta on this chapter! I really appreciate her. Also, thank you to everyone who left such encouraging reviews on the last chapter. They really helped motivate me to keep going.
I know my A/N's on the last chapter made it sound like this one would include a battle scene, and I apologize for anyone who feels cheated or deceived here. I promise the battle is coming next chapter. I tried to see if I could cut this chapter out of the outline, but it's too important for later to remove. Also, I love Eli and want to remind people he is ALSO in this story. While I don't love Ronan in the same way as I do Eli (it's more like I love to hate him), I did enjoy writing his scene in the chapter.
Hope y'all still liked this, even if it didn't live up to your expectations! I do intend to start writing the next chapter tomorrow and want to post it next month. If all goes well, I will see you in June with an update. Want to talk to me before then! Hit the review box.