boxofmisfits | Reluctant Allies

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Reluctant Allies

Thrawn thought he was going to die. He was going to die, never to see the people he cared for again, and never bring the Empire's resources back to the Unknown Region to fight the threats facing his people. He had his share of regrets, and all of them flashed through his mind right before the purrgil had dragged them into hyperspace.

To his surprise, he wakes up hours later, no longer in the grip of the creature. By some miracle, he's still alive. Disoriented and sore, but alive.

Opening his eyes, Thrawn props himself up and looks out the broken window. There's sunlight outside, and the ship isn't moving. The purrgil had deposited them somewhere. Where it was they'd landed, has to be determined.

Looking around, he spots the young Jedi. All his plans, carefully laid out, have been torn asunder by this boy. Bridger doesn't understand what he'd done, how could he? The rebellion didn't know that there were larger threats besides Palpatine's Empire, or that Thrawn's always had his own motivations outside of the Emperor's.

There's just the slightest hint of a groan as Thrawn sits up fully, still regarding Bridger.

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There were so many paths before him, and Ezra really hoped he chose the right one. He saw the Lothal he had seen once with his parents, the buildings of Capital City glittering before the sea. No Empire to hurt anyone, no war, none of the pain and destruction the planet had suffered for as long as he'd been alive. As much as he hoped that was the path he chose, he couldn't help having one selfish thought. Maybe it was unbecoming of a Jedi, but then again he'd never been all that traditional.

More than anything, he hoped he could see his family again.

What happened next was a blur. As it turns out, it takes a lot of Force power and energy and stuff to take control of a whole pack of purrgil. His body lies somewhere across from Thrawn's, for now safe from debris and rubble. As he wakes up, he's unfortunately not met with the faces of his family, but with still all too familiar red eyes.

Ezra scrambles backwards, grasping at his hips for his lightsaber, a blaster, anything, before remembering... right. His saber's with Sabine. He doesn't have a blaster. He doesn't have anything. There's an instinct that shouts at him to push Thrawn back with the Force, stop him before he can do anything more, but he quiets that voice.

Instead he just waves, smiling a little awkwardly, "You sleep well?"

Thrawn doesn't give even the slightest huff at Bridger's little quip. He's in no mood to be humorous, for there is nothing humorous about their current situation. Bridger's ruined everything, and stranded them on an unknown planet. No, there's nothing to laugh about at the moment.

"I am in no mood for your antics, Bridger. Do you realize what you have done?" Thrawn's words come out as a hiss, between clenched teeth. He never yells when he's angry, but when he's in such a mood, it's usually pretty clear to those around him. Any change in his normally stoic demeanor is quite obvious.

He's still too weak to do more than sit up, so for now he just regards Bridger with narrowed eyes.

Ezra watches him, making sure still that he's not going to try anything. Hey, even if he's not completely listening to his instincts, they've sorta got a point. It looks like Thrawn's too weak from the... well, everything, but that could be a trap! It could be one of his strategies or something and suddenly he'll pull out a blaster and stun him.

But he shrugs, that smile not leaving his face.

"Yeah, I think I've got a pretty good idea." His tone is confident, while in truth he can't be one hundred percent certain. The Force is strange, he knows that, and you can't trust everything it shows you. But he has to hope, that's all he has, after all.

"I freed Lothal from Imperial control. Maybe for good. And maybe, just maybe there are other planets out there who'll see what we've done. Not that I was aiming for a large-scale rebellion, but it'd be nice, you know?"

"You have also stranded us, my ship is no longer in flying condition, and years of careful planning have been for naught."

Perhaps not entirely for naught, as Thrawn had made sure a dear friend of his got a better chance than he would have had otherwise. But his bigger plans, his real plans for the Empire, are no longer viable. All because Bridger had to be a Jedi.

"Sorry, but I don't care about whatever plans you had."

Because he's an Imperial and they were undoubtedly plans about how to make terrible weapons or control people or something along those lines.

"And as much as I'd like to be stuck with literally anybody else, I'll take you if it means my family's safe."

"You would, if you knew."

If Bridger knew what lay out there, in the Unknown Region, he would be smart to be afraid. At the moment, he doesn't feel like indulging Bridger in what plans he had. It's not important to discuss such things now, and the young Jedi has no right to hear of them right now.

"For now, we are indeed stuck together. That means an alliance is in order, would you agree?"

Thrawn's nothing if not pragmatic and logical. He's also not a vengeful person, prone to egotism or spite.

"Really?" He gives him a look.

Sure, he agrees it's logical, but there's plenty of other stuff that's logical too. Like the whole mortal enemy thing.

"How am I supposed to trust that you won't just stab me in the back the first chance you get?"

Strictly speaking, Ezra's probably got the upper-hand considering he's a Jedi. But Thrawn's... Thrawn.

"What would that gain me? Killing you would serve no purpose, and would in fact hinder our chances of survival."

Bridger was a Jedi, and he had abilities that no other on this ship possessed. Thrawn's knowledge of the Force was limited, but clearly the boy was powerful.

"Yeah, but..."

But what? But he's used to almost everyone he meets trying to kill him?

"Fine. For now. I'll still be watching you, though."

"Then we are in agreement," Thrawn finally stands, a little wobbly on his feet, and pulls out his comm. "Take a look out the window and see what sort of environment we are in. I wish to see how many of my crew survived the jaunt."

The atmosphere is obviously breathable, since they can still breathe even with the transparisteel shattered.

Still keeping an eye on Bridger, Thrawn taps his comm and asks the person on the other end to try and round up as many crew as they can into the mess hall. He repeats this a couple of times, along with orders to give him a head count later.

As he walks to the window, Ezra tilts his head back towards Thrawn, glancing at the comm.

"Can you promise they won't try and kill me?"

It's half a joke, half not.

"Looks like some kind of jungle maybe? There's.." His gaze looks past the ship, past all of it, almost as if he's not even looking at their surroundings at all, but at something else entirely. "There's a lot here. So much life."

Edited 2020-01-02 05:29 (UTC)

"I assure you, Bridger, I intend to order my crew not to kill you." He signs off on his comm after telling the person on the other end that he'll be down shortly to address the survivors.

Turning to Bridger, Thrawn nods, "There may be predators on this world." He approaches the broken window and looks out, confirming that they are indeed on a jungle planet. He can hear the sounds of wildlife in the distance, but so far nothing's being curious enough to approach the downed ship.

"My crew will need to take inventory of our supplies. A Star Destroyer such as this will be well-stocked with rations and water, but we will need to find renewable sources of food and a water source."

"Since we're allies now... do I get to order them around too?"

It's a bit of leap in logic, especially considering he's only a lieutenant commander. But also? Jedi. That's his reasoning at least.

Ezra looks to Thrawn then back outside. "I can go scout it out. Not like you guys are gonna leave without me."

"I think not, Bridger. It is unlikely that my crew would accept orders from you."

Between loyalty to Thrawn, and Ezra being a rebel who put them here in the first place, they wouldn't take orders from the Jedi even if Thrawn told them it was alright.

"Scouting ahead may be useful, however, I would recommend you not go too far. We may need your Jedi skills in the near future."

"They might," he says with a smirk and a wave of his hand. "My Jedi skills can be pretty convincing." Not that a mind trick would work on Thrawn or most of his higher-ups.

"I figure I'll take a look around, you'll check in with everyone and make sure they get the whole Ezra's basically the new grand admiral memo, and then we regroup. How's that sound?"

"Do not test your luck, Bridger." Ezra's lucky Thrawn has infinite patience, and that he stranded himself with the only Imperial without a massive ego. "Try to return within the hour."

Turning away from Ezra, Thrawn makes his way off the bridge. He's limping a little, thanks to injuries sustained from the purrgils and the jaunt. Some of the stormtroopers and Death Troopers are still unconscious, but a few are beginning to awaken. Thrawn orders those awake to not harm Bridger, which confuses them, but they agree to obey.

An officer helps him down to the mess hall, where they wait for the survivors to gather. Sadly, it seems quite a few on board didn't make it, and others are still unconscious. Thrawn gives them a briefing of the situation and that they need the Jedi if they're too survive. Like the Troopers, they trust their Grand Admiral to know what he's doing.

After ordering the supply officers to take inventory, Thrawn orders the injured to the medical bays. He himself is going to need to see a medic as well, to take care of his injuries.

"I'll try," Ezra calls back to him as he thinks over the best approach for getting down. Which he decides is, of course, just jumping down. Yet another one of those Jedi perks. Sometimes he'll think back to his childhood on Lothal and wonder how he never realized something was different about him. Without the Force, all that jumping off rooftops might not have gone so well...

The nearby area's about what he expected. Lots of trees, some animals, and no sign of civilization. As silly as it sounds, part of him had secretly hoped he'd run right into a conveniently placed spaceport. He'd be back at the Rebel base in a few days, catch up with Sabine and laugh about the idea of being stuck with Thrawn for even more than a few hours.

Except here he is, returning to the Star Destroyer and looking for Thrawn. Luckily, it's pretty easy to spot him and when he does, Ezra waves. Also there's a small bird on his shoulder.

"Hey. How'd the briefing go?"

Thankfully, Thrawn wasn't badly injured. His ankle was sprained, he had some bruising, and the medic told him it was lucky his arm hadn't been broken. The ankle had been easy enough to fix up and the medic said it would be healed up in no time. Some of the crew members had to be put in the bacta tanks, and others needed slings or casts.

The supply officers are still taking inventory by the time Thrawn emerges, and some of the crew have wandered outside, while still staying close to the Chimaera.

Thrawn is examining the crash when Ezra approaches him. "I have informed my crew they are not to harm you." A lot of them didn't entirely understand why, but they trusted their Admiral. Red eyes drift to the bird.

He's a silent for a moment as Thrawn looks at the bird. Then it hits him he should probably say something.

"Oh. I made a friend. Thought I could use one around here given..." Ezra gestures to the Imperials and the ship. "... everything."

The bird stares back and chirps, though it doesn't seem as if it's going to go around attacking stormtroopers, as Ezra's animal friends often do.

"Anyways. There aren't any people around here, though you probably knew that. There's animals, and trees, and fruit. Found a pond, water tasted okay." Yes, he just drank it without thinking anything through. "Have you guys fixed the ship yet?"

The bird looks harmless enough, and isn't making any attempts to look threatening. Perhaps this species is naturally docile, or doesn't sense any threat in sapient beings because it has yet to encounter any, if Bridger is correct that there's only animals in their immediate area. Or perhaps Ezra just made a gesture of friendship towards the bird.

At least Ezra found them a clean water source, even if Thrawn would have suggested they test if before he actually drink it. Hopefully the fruit is also safe.

"Do you actually know what it takes to repair a Star Destroyer, Bridger? They are normally take in to Coruscant or another shipyard if they need maintenance or repairs. And your creatures heavily damaged the Chimaera. I'm afraid we may be here for a long time."

He laughs, since apparently no one else was going to. "It was a joke. I know what it takes to repair it, since I planned for it to be beyond repair. You don't think I did all of this for fun, do you?" The bird chirps again, its own form of laughter.

"Obviously I'd love to catch the next transport back to Lothal, but... the longer I'm stuck here, means the longer you and your crew are too. Which was the plan. Just so you know."

"Ah," Even after all these years around humans, learning to read them expertly, sometimes it slips by him when one is making a quip. Or perhaps Thrawn's just not in a mood to be humorous.

"Your plan succeeded, then. The ship may be beyond repair, your Rebel allies will not know where to begin looking, and it is unlikely that the Empire will look for me."

Yep, total success. And he's pretty proud of himself, all things considered. There's stuff he regrets, sure, but also knowing he won and Thrawn didn't is a good enough distraction for now. Wait-

"What? Why wouldn't the Empire look for you? Not that- not that I want them to find you, just... what do you mean?"

"Because, Bridger, the Emperor will not wish to waste the resources tracking down an alien Grand Admiral whom he would have punished for failure regardless."

Palpatine had said he wanted to have a long talk with Thrawn after the Lothal operation. Now it seems they will never get to have such a talk. Thrawn doesn't want to admit he's secretly relieved about that. Even if Thrawn was said to be one of the Emperor's favorites, even he didn't entirely trust the Chiss.

"He will write me off as dead and leave it at that."

"But what about all your plans? And the TIE Defenders?"

Which he and his family ruined, yes, but the Empire never gives up that easily. Except they could probably go forward with some of it without Thrawn there...

"And you are a Grand Admiral, right? One of the top guys? Don't they need you for strategy and battles and stuff? What I mean is... I wanted to deal a big blow to the Empire, but I figured we'd only be delaying certain things. Or in the worst case, only protecting Lothal. So did I... did I take you out for good? Basically?"

That probably sounds rude, but they are technically still kinda enemies and he doesn't know how else to phrase it.

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