Sabine was pacing. For as long as Hera Syndulla had known the young Mandalorian, she had never paced. Sabine Wren never did anything that she deemed to be "unproductive," which, in all honesty, had broad applications that Hera still didn't fully understand. But pacing? Sabine Wren fixed power cables that weren't connected to anything, she shot empty bottles in the cargo hold, she even argued with Ezra for "team building purposes" for Force's sake! But she never, ever, paced. At least not in front of anyone before.

"Hey, Sabine!" Hera called out, trying to smile broadly without looking strange. Sabine turned, startled, and gaped. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, her breathing hitched unevenly as though she were still going but… no tears? Something didn't add up.

"Oh sweetie, come here!" The green humanoid said, rushing through the hallway to scoop the little armored girl up and into her arms. She would never admit it, but in this found family of theirs, Sabine was very much like a firstborn. Of course, she loved Ezra, but Sabine was her baby first.

The Mandalorian girl didn't resist, but she didn't embrace Hera either. That was alright, even now Hera knew it was progress from where they started. She also knew better than to ask what Sabine was so upset about until she felt a small tug on her jumpsuit.

"Can… can we talk?" Sabine said in a whisper.

"Of course," Hera replied with tears in her eyes.

Sitting in the cockpit as they traveled through hyperspace was ideal. It was private, because Hera could lie and say she needed quiet to do her calculations (Chopper normally did the calculations; they split up their workloads so that they both got to slack off) and it was scenic. That might not seem important, but Hera knew how nice it would be for the little girl in Mando Iron to stare at something other than her while she talked. They sat in quiet for a bit, just watching and waiting for the other to speak. But Hera was determined not to push.

"It's Thrawn," Sabine finally said. There was a pause. Hera remembered that name, it stung a little just to hear. Tears that she couldn't let fall from her eyes filled them as the Twi'lek pilot thought of her kalikori. "I've met him before at the academy."

There was another pause, this one tense not sullen. Hera evaluated Sabine, eyeing her up and down, suspecting her of treachery for a full minute before finally asking, "How?"

Sabine had been called into the new admiral's office. She didn't know what for, and that was unusual. She knew when she deserved to be brought up for disciplinary charges, after all she'd broken a jaw or two in her time so far, but this one time she really hadn't done anything! Had someone framed something on her, or worse yet… made something up?

"Sabine Wren?" Came a soft, smooth voice that was held up by the calm authority of someone who expected to be listened to at any volume.

"Admiral…?" Sabine said, trailing off on purpose from her seat in the sparse office. She'd been called in here so suddenly that she'd barely been briefed. She was only just now finding out how little she knew; she hadn't even known that until now!

"Thrawn," He supplied with a small, seemingly amicable smile as he moved to sit behind his desk. "I want to know about this project you're working on. I've read the reports, but I would like you, as the technician, to explain your work to me."

Sabine took a minute to process the blue humanoid in a black Imperial admiral outfit before deciding not to say anything about it. She also took that moment to calm down before she screamed at an admiral. She had written those reports herself, she had put everything down onto datapads, into archives, and even down on paper for these kriffing morons.

"It's a blaster, a big one for now, but it's charged specifically to disrupt and get around Mandalorian Beskar," Sabine said, blankly.

"Yes, I saw that," Thrawn began. "But I was wondering about some of the specifics for the long-term process."

Sabine was confused now. "How do you mean?"
"Well, you said yourself that it was a big blaster for now. Could it be smaller?"

Sabine grimaced, not because the answer was difficult, but rather it was just complicated. She tried to simplify. "Potentially, but you'd need to advance circuit tech and make unique, tiny lenses. That's also just off the top of my head, right now this whole process is so complex it might fit onto a ship."

"Why?" Thrawn asked in a tone that almost seemed amused. His smile didn't widen, but a dimple appeared at the corner of his lip. A real smile, then?

"Well," Sabine started. "The flow of energy, kept at a specific frequency to effectively target beskar, is complicated."

"How?" Thrawn continued.

"I-" She stopped, suddenly fed up. "You know what, I've written all of this down for you already. Why do you want to know?"

Thrawn exhaled lightly, perhaps laughing or, failing that, exasperated. She figured it was probably at least a bit of both.

"Tell me, Sabine Wren," Thrawn started. "What do you think the utility of the weapon you are making will be?"

That threw Sabine off. She hadn't been expecting an answer, but a lecture was even weirder. Sabine had expected, and was honestly kind of hoping for, a reprimand and then a dismissal. But judging from Thrawn's expectant silence, he wanted her to play along.

"It's a weapon," she said simply. "Weapons kill. That's what you want it for."

"Not quite," Thrawn said, apparently satisfied with himself at having played the teacher for long enough. "Not all weapons are for killing."

Sabine was quiet for a moment. It might be true that not all weapons were designed to kill. Some may be meant to wound or incapacitate, but she had run tests on a simulator for this weapon: it would be lethal, Sabine was sure of that if nothing else.

"Are you saying you'd like me to change my parameters?" Sabine asked, cautiously and still confused.

"To the contrary, I would to know if you understand your parameters, and then I would like to confirm that you are fine with them regardless of your heritage." Thrawn supplied, finally getting to his point. "This new type of blaster fire will be revolutionary, and the doctrines of war which stem from it will be integral to the new government which we all serve."

Sabine was stunned. The weapon she had been making would be a symbol of terror? That was… unexpected. Still, that meant it would be used infrequently. Which was good, it would keep her revenge fairly superficial. Which was, after all, her only hang-up with the work so far.

"Wait," she stopped him, despite his flash of irritation. But as fast as it came, it left his features as well. "If this is a superweapon made to terrify, then why make it smaller? I could get you something for production in a few weeks if you would accept it at its current size."

Thrawn, for all his placidity, could not help but to smile approvingly at her over this. "It seems we are beginning to understand one another, cadet." Sabine began to shuffle a bit, finally uncomfortable in the presence of this admiral. She didn't understand in the slightest, and she worried that Thrawn could tell.

"What do you think it takes to control sentient life, cadet Wren?" Thrawn shifted topics, suddenly interrupting her already uncoordinated thoughts.

"I, um, I have no-" before she could finish, Thrawn was speaking again.

"There are two effective means of doing so. Threats of pain are good, of course, but the promise of pleasure or a general reward is more effective as a general rule." Thrawn expounded. "Now, traditionally, the Mandalorians have been the arbiters of martial affairs in the galaxy. They set trends, invent tactics and technology, and their ability to do this comes from their impervious defense. With the help of their beskar, your people have conquered the bounty hunting industry and, a long time ago, the wider galaxy. Without their beskar, they are as subject as the rest of us to the two means of manipulation which I have mentioned."

Sabine was stunned, speechless. She had to warn her family, didn't she? Except that she hadn't until now, and beyond that, they didn't even want to hear from her. How would they feel about her if they found out about this?

"With this weapon, we will conquer them. We will put it into the hands of our officers first, and through Imperial governance, we will teach them the universal law of fang and club. And then," Thrawn said, at last beginning to wrap up. "We will command them."

Hera looked at the shaking child in front of her, unsure of what to say. Ever since she'd trained with the darksaber, Hera had known about Sabine's history of having made weapons for the Empire. But this, with Thrawn, was new.

"I'm scared, Hera," Sabine concluded. "I've seen more of the evil in the Empire than most, in the weapons that even they won't use. But this… It's more than a weapon, Hera." She had tears in her eyes now, so Hera tried to put her hand on the girl's leg. But she jerked involuntarily, before crying out. "He didn't just want me, Hera, he wanted all of us!" The tears were coming fast now, the little girl (because that's what she was, comparatively at least) heaving and panting from her fear of the phantom officer. Hera was scared now, unsure of what to do.

"He's gonna get us, and it…" Sabine trailed off, so Hera tried to jump in with some quick words of comfort.

"Sabine, listen-"

"It'll be all my fault."