boxofmisfits | 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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"Okay, cause I definitely ruined that one too."

If they're keeping track of Imperial projects he's ruined, which he is.

Ezra picks some of the berries to have his creature pal examine before he starts to register exactly what Thrawn's saying.

"... what? Entire planets... that's- why would they do that?!"

Because it's the Empire, but even they've never gone that far. Is something like that even possible? He still has yet to piece together what he saw on Geonosis, assuming the circle Klik-Klak drew was just an egg.

"Because, Palpatine believes that with such a weapon, he may cause the galaxy to cower in fear, and the rebellion to surrender, by the sheer threat of it. A planet will not rise to arms if they believe that they may be wiped out in a single blast."

Thrawn has no doubt in his mind that Palpatine, Vader, Krennic, or Tarkin, won't have it in them to not use it. He can easily see them blowing up an entire world just as a demonstration to the galaxy at large.

"I argued that such a weapon was impractical, as it can only be in one place at a time, and with the money and resources that went into it, the Empire could have build more Star Destroyers." A beat. "More importantly, such a weapon will only inspire fear and resentment. That is not true loyalty."

"Wow, I'm so glad we had people like you in the Empire to point out all the problems with that plan. Since clearly, those are the only ones. And not the whole premise."

It's easier to be sarcastic than deal with his actual feelings on the matter. For now, he has to hope that they'll return in time, or that somehow the Rebels will be able to stop the Empire before it can be used.

"How could you work for them? Knowing all that?"

"Do you think I condoned such a weapon?"

Thrawn's dreading that Palpatine will indeed use the Death Star on a planet just to make an example. Worse still, that he'll point it towards the Unknown Region until it finds Csilla, despite his promise not to. So much loss of life.

"I wanted the Empire to become something better. A true force that would protect the galaxy, once all the xenophobia, corruption and backstabbing was weeded out. I would see this new Empire join forces with my people, so we could combat our enemies. There are threats out there in the Unknown Region, greater than Palpatine, greater than all threats you may have faced."

"You know, it's weird. Sometimes you're even more idealistic than I am."

Which is not something he ever expected from Thrawn. Sure, Ezra's fought for years in the Rebellion and believes in the power of hope and so on, but the stuff Thrawn was aiming for... it's just not possible. Not that it would've been possible for the Republic either, but still.

"What's out there that's got you so afraid? It's hard to imagine something worse than Palpatine being able to rewrite history or reality or whatever he planned to do."

The destruction of an entire planet is... well, it goes without saying, he thinks. At the same time, he doesn't want to think about what would happen if Palpatine had control of the world between worlds. He could eliminate threats before they even existed, including other Force users.

Thrawn pauses, considering if he should tell Ezra. But, he might as well, seeing as they're going to be spending a lot more time around each other.

"Many things. But the most dangerous are the Grysks. They are a race of conquerors, who enslave those they capture. I recently learned that they are quite good at indoctrinating their captives, making them want to serve the Grysks, and then having those slaves bring them more to enslave."

"Doesn't sound that much different from the Empire."

Not that he knows anything about the Grysks, considering this is the first time he's heard of them. But from what he's seen, the Empire's quite good at indoctrination too.

"Then you do not see the bigger picture. The grysks take you, manipulate you, make you believe that they are the right people to follow. You would never know who you can trust. They could take your friends Hera Syndulla or Sabine Wren, both of whom strongly believe in the rebellion, and twist their thoughts until they were loyal servants of the grysks. And to you, they would do far worse."

Because Ezra is a Jedi, and the grysks have learned of the Force.

"They also have the military might to rival a Star Destroyer."

Edited 2020-04-10 14:56 (UTC)

"Because I'm a Jedi," he finishes the sentence even though there's no need.

"But just a Star Destroyer? That doesn't make them sound all that mighty when you guys are building weapons to destroy worlds. Besides, Sith can do stuff like that to your mind too."

Basically, he's trying to get it, but he doesn't.

"They've taken a special interest in Force users as of late, I'm afraid."

He doesn't elaborate further, because he feels that unless he's asked directly, there's no reason to elaborate.

"The Death Star may be destroyed, but an entire fighting force is much harder to destroy completely. The Death Star also cannot travel at light speed. The only reason you have been safe from the grysks so far is because of my people and because they do not have navigational computers."

"What? Really?" Ezra squints at the idea of these grysks having a bunch of starships and yet no navicomputers. He knows that's how things must have been at some point, especially before people learned to travel through hyperspace by watching the purrgil. Still, it's hard to imagine.

"Tell your people thanks, I guess. But I figure you're also going to tell me the grysks' interest in Force users is different than the Empire's."

"Indeed it is, and it has to do with their lack of navigational computers. You see, my people travel through the stars not by using computers to calculate a route, but by assigning Chiss with the Force to be our navigators."

Thrawn had told Ezra that the Chiss had no Jedi. Technically he was telling the truth.

"The grysks have found out about our navigators and want to use them for their own means, so they may conquer more of the galaxy."

"Oh. Huh."

That makes sense, but at the same time...

"I probably wouldn't be a great choice for that. I mean, I've done it before, but not across the galaxy?"

This threat feels so far off that Ezra almost sounds like he's talking about it like it's a job interview.

"Even if you cannot, they would still see you as valuable, but as an enforcer. Assuming they did not decide to just kill you for being stubborn."

A faint splash makes Thrawn look over, seeing a few fish in the stream. He'll have to see about making some sort of trap for those. They're not very big, but they may do in a pinch during these hikes.

"I believe that some Chiss may have even been sided with the grysks, and that is how they learned of our navigators." The thought troubles him.

Reluctant Allies

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