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Admiral Kors Ballenrost was the type of thickset man who had probably been intimidatingly broad and in-shape in his youth. Now the perks of high rank and popularity on Coruscant were taking their toll, though he’d tailored his uniform very cleverly to hide it. He entered Thrawn’s office with brisk, quick steps, took the seat across from Thrawn and settled into it, giving him a smile that seemed insincere and fake, almost sleazy. “Congratulations on your promotion, Admiral,” he said, setting the datapad he was carrying on the desk. “It’s been quite the eventful few years for you, hasn’t it?”
“It has,” Thrawn said, keeping his tone neutral.
“People on Coruscant have been following your rise with interest,” Ballenrost said, raising his eyebrows significantly.
“With you among them, Admiral?”
“Indeed, indeed. Part of my job is to be on the lookout for rising talent, after all.” Ballenrost leant forward and switched the datapad on. “But enough of that. I have something I need looked into, and I hear you have a good record for the successful capture of smugglers, Admiral.”
“That is correct, sir,” Thrawn said. “I had heard smuggling activity was on the rise in the Kinloss sector. Perhaps…?”
Ballenrost was already shaking his head. “This is a rather smaller, less famous sector of space. Not usually something I’d waste the time of an Admiral with, but this is a…personal interest of mine. I would in fact consider it a personal favour if you’d look into it for me.”
There was clearly a significant meaning inherent in the phrase ‘personal favour’, if the way Ballenrost put emphasis on it was any indicator; Thrawn’s immediate assumption was that Ballenrost wanted to show Thrawn he trusted him - which was odd, considering they had interacted only once or twice before today. Or maybe it was a subtle insult?
“I will of course be happy to stamp out any instance of smuggling activity, sir,” he said, then reached for the datapad. “May I?”
“Of course, of course,” Ballenrost said, pushing it toward him. “Now, what you have there is all the pertinent information on a Mid Rim world called Awei. It is part of my family’s traditional holdings, and represents a significant investment of time and money on our part. Now severely threatened by smugglers, as you’ll see.”
Thrawn glanced through the information, seeing with a little burst of surprise that Awei appeared to be much like Csilla in several aspects - a world going through a long ice age, with most of the settlements buried deep under the glaciers, close to the heat of the planet’s core. It was also immediately obvious why Ballenrost and his family would be interested in the world - it was a rich source of Shyl crystals. Beautiful and extremely rare, the crystals were hard to mine in great quantity, so they could fetch an absurdly high price on the galactic market. “The smugglers are stealing the crystals?” he asked.
“Indeed - and in significant numbers, too. We’re starting to wonder if they have an inside man.”
“That indeed might explain their success.” Thrawn held the datapad out to one side, and felt Eli take it out of his hand. If there were any clues to be found in the numbers, he would pick them out. “Of course, we will be happy to help you solve this, Admiral. I presume someone will be expecting us?”
“My family in the capital would of course welcome you,” Ballenrost said, “But as you can see in my report, we believe the smugglers’ base is somewhere on one of three glaciers in the northern region. It’s an inhospitable and uncivilized place, but there is an Imperial listening post out there where you might find shelter. It will be basic, but close to the action.” Ballenrost spread his hands. “The choice is, of course, up to you. I will inform all parties of your imminent arrival.”
Thrawn held up a hand. “No. I think it might be wise if we arrived unannounced; if there is an inside man, we do not want to give him time to go to ground.”
“Ah, yes - most prudent. I will inform only my sister, then. I believe I can say with confidence she is above suspicion in this.”
“Very well, Admiral, thank you. We will leave as soon as everything is in place.” Thrawn stood, and Ballenrost rose a moment later. “We will give this our utmost attention,” Thrawn added.
“I knew I could count on you, Admiral.” Ballenrost smiled slightly, and gave Thrawn a polite nod. “And I would like regular updates on the situation, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Not at all, Admiral, you shall have them.” Thrawn stepped around his desk and gestured to the door. “Perhaps I could escort you back to your shuttle?”
The smile slipped off Ballenrost’s face as his eyes slid to the right. “Actually,” he said, “I wondered if I might have a word with your aide.”
With Eli? Thrawn glanced over at him, only to find he looked just as confused as Thrawn felt. “Very well, Admiral,” he said slowly, his gaze darting back and forth between the two of them, “Then I shall be on the bridge. Good day.”
Neither of them said a word as Thrawn stepped out of the room and the door slid closed behind him. As he started down the corridor he fished a communication device from his pocket; slipping inside the training room, he keyed it on. He had taken the utmost care to ensure no one knew there was a listening device in his office; he didn’t think even Eli knew it was there. Now it was about to prove its worth - because if Ballenrost thought he could blackmail or threaten Eli in any way, Thrawn would know about it.
“-don’t know each other,” Ballenrost was saying, “But since I was already here, I thought it might be prudent to have a little chat.”
“Yes, sir,” Eli said, his voice wary.
“Well, I’ll get right to it. You must be aware of the rumours that have been floating about yourself and Admiral Thrawn.”
“Yes, I am, sir,” Eli said, sounding stiff and wooden, “As I told the Loyalty Officer, there is no truth to them.”
“Yes, well, you might tell him with a little more force next time. The rumour mill still spins wildly, Commander Vanto. Now, I know some have made a career out of, to put it bluntly, fucking their way to the top - we’ve all heard the rumours about Commodore Ichaly, to name just one - but in your position, the matter is a little more serious. By which I mean, people are less likely to turn a blind eye.”
“Sir?”
“Because of who he is, Commander.”
Pro-human bias, Thrawn thought, a moment before Eli said, “Because he’s non-human.”
“Exactly. There are those among the Admiralty who find the idea of fraternization between humans and non-humans…distasteful.”
“As I said, sir,” Eli ground out, “It’s just a rumour. Completely without basis in fact.”
“And you must see that it remains that way, Commander Vanto. You don’t want to become known as - what is the charming way the stormtroopers put it? An ‘alienfucker’.”
“I can assure you, sir, I have no interest in…fraternizing with any non-humans,” Eli said, his voice hard as stone.
Thrawn ignored the little pang in his chest at that. Eli Vanto was a crewmate, a working companion, tentatively a friend, and nothing more. Plus, anything ‘more’ would jeopardize both their careers, and that in turn would threaten Thrawn’s mission here.
“Good,” Ballenrost said, and after a pause he added, “Just remember, Commander, that it may not be prudent to tie oneself so closely with any one officer - especially one as…unique as Admiral Thrawn. Rising stars can also fall, you know.”
“Yes, Admiral. Thank you for the advice.”
“As I said, it’s my job to…take notice, when a young officer is exceeding expectations. And I have taken notice of both the Admiral and you, Commander. If you do ever find yourself in dire straits, please do get in touch.”
There was a significant pause before Eli said, “…Thank you, Admiral,” in a very careful, neutral tone.
“Just keep it in mind, Commander. And good luck with the mission on Awei.”
Eli thanked him, but Thrawn only half heard it; he was darting toward his office suite’s door, knowing it would look suspicious if the two of them found him lurking here. He would need to make his way speedily to the bridge to avoid suspicion.
The real question, he thought as he walked briskly down the Chimaera’s corridors, was why had Ballenrost felt the need to have that conversation with Eli? There was a second meaning to nearly every action and conversation high-level Imperial officers undertook; so what was it with Ballenrost? Blackmail, perhaps?
Whatever it was, he had a feeling it meant it would be prudent to watch their backs twice as carefully while they were on Awei.
/
When Thrawn had casually inquired after the purpose of Ballenrost’s conversation, Eli had muttered something about ‘fishing for information’, his body language clearly indicating that he wanted to drop the subject. Thrawn had allowed him to, and they had made the jump toward Awei. Then Eli had excused himself to go look over the numbers on the datapad, and Thrawn hadn’t seen him for the rest of the thirteen hour trip.
Now, as the Chimaera dropped out of hyperspace and pulled into orbit around the planet, Eli appeared again at his side. “I’d certainly be looking for an inside man, sir,” he said, “Perhaps one of the locals. According to the research I’ve been doing, Awei isn’t very hospitable for humans - unless they have help.”
“So perhaps the reason the smugglers are so successful is because they are being helped by these locals. They are an indigenous species?”
“The Vult, sir.” Eli handed him a datapad. “Kind of like Wookiees on steroids.”
The picture was of a massive, hairy creature, bipedal, slightly shorter but broader and more muscular than the comparatively skinny Wookiee. “They have a double coat, to keep out the cold,” Eli said. Unlike the Wookiees’ shaggy, slightly stringy coat, the Vult had shorter fur that looked thick and lustrous, going from dark grey on their backs to white on their throats, faces and stomachs. Their triangular pointed ears and stubby, flat snouts completed the distinctly canine look.
Thrawn nodded and handed the datapad back to him. “We have a choice to make then, Commander.”
“To go to the capital or to that listening post Ballenrost mentioned,” Eli said. “Well, the data certainly confirms his suspicion that the smugglers are hiding on the northern glaciers. That’s where the entrance to the most profitable mine is, too. If they’re getting help from someone on the inside, logic says it’s either someone in the mining camp, or in that listening post.” He considered for a moment longer, then said, “It has to be the listening post, Admiral. The mining camp is about to close up for the winter; if we waste time with pleasantries in the capital, everyone there might be gone before we make it north.”
“There are winter and summer seasons?”
“Yes, sir. From what I can tell, summer weather means subzero temperatures and blizzards, while winter weather just means colder temperatures and even more blizzards. It’s cold enough that even the Vult retreat underground.”
“And the listening post?”
“No, that’s manned all year round.”
“A cold, thankless position,” Thrawn observed.
“Yes, sir. That’s the kind of position you get as a punishment for something.”
“I see. And who is stationed there at the moment, Commander?”
Eli tapped his datapad. “Captain Jona Sykar and Ensign Alezai Nylen.”
“Only two personnel?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And their records?”
“Give me a moment, sir.” More tapping as Eli navigated through menus and folders.
Thrawn gestured, and Faro stepped up beside him. “Prepare a shuttle for us, Commodore,” he said, “And then put the Chimaera in a stable orbit. I will let you know when more assistance is required.”
“Very good, sir,” Faro said, saluting.
“Here, Admiral,” Eli said, handing the datapad to him. “Looks like Sykar had her own ship at one point, but it got blown up by pirates. She has a number of demerits and black marks for other offenses, as well as a court martial for drunkenness on duty. Nylen was busted down from Lieutenant to Ensign last year on a charge of fraternization.”
Fraternization - exactly what Ballenrost had been warning Eli about earlier. Could that be a coincidence, or something more? “Does it say whom the fraternization was with, Commander?”
A pause, then Eli said, “‘With a superior officer’ is all it says, Admiral.”
Thrawn had a strong feeling that wasn’t a coincidence, but he couldn’t put his finger on the meaning of it. “Either one of those officers could feel they have reason to betray the Empire.”
“Yes - especially for a profit.”
Faro cleared her throat. “You shuttle is ready, Admiral.”
“Very good, Commodore.” He looked at Eli, who nodded back to him. “Then let us see what we can find.”
/
The ride down was bumpy, with wind howling around the shuttle and turbulence so strong both of them had to stay strapped into their seats. When they were finally in range of the listening post, the shuttle’s intercom pinged, and the pilot said, “Admiral, the post’s landing platform is exposed to the elements, and the wind’s only getting stronger. I’m worried if I land there we might sustain damage to the shuttle. Do you want me to drop you, or attempt to land when the weather conditions are better?”
“Drop us there, pilot,” Thrawn said instantly. “We can call if we need a pick up.”
Eli winced internally. There was no other option - if they were close enough to see the listening post’s landing platform, the personnel there would have already hailed the pilot and ascertained their identity. If Eli and Thrawn left now, the two of them would have time to cover their tracks, if either of them was aiding the smugglers. Still, he didn’t relish the idea of being trapped in the isolated listening post by a blizzard - especially if one of the officers was a traitor.
At least this time Thrawn had consented to bring a detachment of stormtroopers along, which meant they wouldn’t be outnumbered. The five of them were strapped in alongside Eli and Thrawn - four troopers and their commanding officer, all kitted out in snowtrooper gear.
The shuttle wobbled down into a landing, and the pilot confirmed he was secure - for now. Eli and Thrawn had wrapped up in cold weather gear before they left the Chimaera, which meant they could open the ramp straight away and get going. Eli pulled his goggles down over his eyes and his thick scarf up over his mouth and nose, and then one of the troopers hit the ramp release.
Wind and snow howled inside the minute the ramp opened even a crack. By the time it was fully open a small snow drift was growing inside the shuttle, and Eli realised he couldn’t even make out the listening post through the blizzard.
“Sir! I’ve got the distance to the entrance on scopes,” the stormtrooper’s sergeant - Ryland, Eli remembered - said to Thrawn. “We can lead you in.”
“Very good, Sergeant.” Thrawn put one gloved hand on Ryland’s shoulder, and the sergeant motioned for one of the troopers to go first.
“I’ll lead you in, Commander,” another one of the troopers said - Eli couldn’t remember his name. He just nodded and took his shoulder, glad that the scarf hid his grimace.
They moved out as a unit, Ryland and Thrawn following the lead trooper, Eli and his trooper following them, and the two leftover troopers bringing up the rear. Eli was hit with a blast of crosswind as soon as they made it out of the shelter of the shuttle, almost strong enough to make him lose his grip on the trooper’s shoulder. That would have been fatal - he could barely see the trooper right in front of him, and Thrawn and Ryland were completely lost in the blizzard.
His trooper yelled something, the words unintelligible over the roar of the storm. He kept moving forward, and Eli shuffled after him, one hand holding his shoulder in a death grip, the other held out for balance. It seemed an endless, swirling white eternity that they crept forward down the landing platform, until a wall of black suddenly loomed up out of the white. His trooper stopped, and held out a hand, placing it on what Eli realised had to be the wall of the listening post; the wall suddenly moved upward, and then there was another stormtrooper, ushering them forward.
Eli only realised when the door closed behind them that they’d made it into the interior of the listening post. Ryland, Thrawn, and the lead stormtrooper were all standing there; as Eli watched, Ryland opened the door again, letting in another blast of cold and the two remaining stormtroopers.
“Are you alright, Commander?” Thrawn’s voice asked, right next to him.
Eli turned to look at him, pulling down his scarf. “Yes, sir,” he said, only realising as he said the words that his teeth were trying very hard to start chattering. He forced his jaw to be still, and pulled his goggles up, hugging himself with his free arm. It didn’t seem much warmer in here than it was outside.
They were in a small, square, featureless grey room. On one side a ramp led upward into the rest of the listening post; on the other was the large door that they had entered through. Two snowspeeders took up one side of the room, but apart from that, it was empty.
“Contact the pilot and tell him to return to the Chimaera,” Thrawn told Ryland, just as Eli heard running feet on the ramp above them.
A figure appeared, skidded to a stop, then resumed approaching at a slower, more dignified speed. Eli could just about see the Ensign rank plaque under his heavy coat, and his faced matched the picture on the personnel file he’d been studying. This was Ensign Alezai Nylen.
He glanced between them, identified Thrawn, and gave him a smart salute. “Welcome, Admiral, Commander, sirs. Ensign Nylen at your service.”
Thrawn inclined his head, but Eli frowned at him. “The commanding officer of this post should be here to greet the Admiral, Ensign.”
Nylen looked awkward. “Um, yes, Commander, but she, er… she told me to come, because she said she’s, um, off duty.”
“Being off duty doesn’t excuse her from greeting a superior officer,” Eli snapped.
“Yes, I’m sorry, Commander, I did tell her, but…”
“A subordinate cannot be blamed for his superior’s failings,” Thrawn said calmly. “Let us go up into the post now, Ensign.”
“Of course, Admiral! This way, please.” Nylen turned on his heel and led them up the ramp.
The first level was clearly storage, with neatly stacked crates rising on all sides. “We’ve just had our pre-winter shipment,” Nylen said, still sounding nervous as he gestured at the piles of crates all around them.
Easy enough to misplace a few crates, with this many all crammed in here, Eli thought, making a mental note to ask to see the manifest. Checking each crate off against it would be boring, time-consuming work, but any missing boxes would be a strong indicator that Nylen or Sykar were in league with the smugglers.
At the back of the room was a turbolift only large enough to fit three at a time; Thrawn looked at Eli, but Eli stepped back behind Ryland. “I’ll be up in the next one, Admiral,” he said. Neither of them were armed with anything more than a sidearm, after all; it didn’t make sense to separate themselves from their firepower.
Thrawn nodded, and he, Ryland and Nylen stepped into the turbolift.
Once they’d disappeared, Eli said, “Sorry, troopers, could you run me through all your names? We didn’t have time on the shuttle.”
“I’m Private Anir, sir,” one of them said instantly; Eli thought it was the same one who’d led him through the storm.
“Private Josu,” said the one standing next to him.
“I’m Private Rhini, Commander.”
“Private Zaian, sir.”
Eli nodded. He thought Zaian and Rhini were female, from their voices, and as far as he could tell, Anir and Josu were male. Josu’s voice was a little lower than Anir’s, and Zaian had a clipped Coruscanti accent; other than that, there was no way to tell them apart. “Thank you.”
The turbolift reappeared, and Eli and two of the stormtroopers got into it - possibly Josu and Zaian, though he wasn’t sure - and the three of them rose up to the next floor.
This was clearly the command centre of the listening post, such as it was. A central terminal was surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped bank of control panels, all flickering with muted lights. Big transparisteel windows were set into the walls; all Eli could see out of them now was white.
“-why it’s so cold in here,” Nylen was saying, “Because the windows don’t hold in heat as well as the walls.”
“A fundamentally flawed design, it seems,” Thrawn said.
“Yes, and I don’t even understand why, because it’s not like you need to- oh, Commander,” Nylen turned and gave him a jumpy salute.
“Is the heating broken in this base, Ensign?” Eli asked. It felt no warmer here than anywhere else, and he had no inclination to take off his cold weather gear.
“We have to be sparing with the fuel, Commander. We’re not alloted much. We use the biggest share of it to heat the living quarters; they’re smaller rooms with no windows, so they don’t take as much fuel to heat.”
“I see.” Eli glanced around, taking in the various sensor displays and monitors. “This is a four-level outpost, isn’t it? The storage area, the command centre, the barracks above…”
“And the top floor houses the mechanisms for the listening apparatus, as well as every other system for the base. It’s an engineering and maintenance room of sorts,” Nylen said. “And you can get out onto the roof to fix the antenna, if necessary.”
“And what are you listening for, Ensign?” Thrawn asked quietly.
For a moment Nylen looked nonplussed. “Um, signals, Admiral. Any messages we can pick up - from smugglers and pirates, or rebels, or any other such…criminals.”
“This set up seems a little excessive for such a task,” Thrawn observed. He was walking slowly around the bank of monitors, inspecting each one.
“It was once a listening post used to track Separatist activity during the Clone Wars, Admiral,” Nylen said, “When the Empire came into possession of it, it was deemed useful enough to keep in service.”
Meaning that the Ballenrost family probably twisted someone’s arm in order to keep it working, Eli thought. An early warning system for pirates and thieves entering the system must be pretty handy. When it worked, at least - which begged the question of how the smugglers were getting past it. If someone had fiddled with the listening equipment, that threw even more suspicion onto Nylen and Sykar. Nylen’s nervous demeanor wasn’t exactly helping his case.
“Ensign, I think we need to see Captain Sykar now,” Eli said.
Nylen blanched. “I- Commander, I’m afraid-”
“I agree. Go and get her, Ensign,” Thrawn said, turning his gaze on Nylen.
“I- well-”
“What? Is she asleep? Wake her up - this is important enough that you both need to hear it,” Eli said.
“Now, Ensign,” Thrawn added, his voice low and with just a hint of menace.
Nylen took a few hesitant steps toward the door. “Admiral- I really-”
“If you don’t think you can handle it, Commander Vanto will go with you,” Thrawn said, nodding to Eli.
Eli stepped forward and caught Nylen’s arm, then marched him over to the turbolift, where the last two stormtroopers were just emerging. “Trooper, with us,” Eli said, pointing at one of them, and then he keyed the turbolift for the next floor up.
The door opened on a long, straight corridor. Eli counted five doors, three on the left, two on the right. “Which one is Sykar’s room?” Eli demanded, pushing Nylen ahead of them out into the corridor.
“This one, Commander,” Nylen said quietly, indicating the first door on the right. “But I really-”
Eli ignored him and triggered the opening mechanism. Instantly he was hit by a smell that made him wrinkle his nose and wince. It took only a second to identify it - liquor.
“Ugh, it smells like a Corellian wine den in there,” the stormtrooper - Rhini, Eli was pretty sure - said, stepping back.
“I guess being court martialed for drunkenness didn’t curb her habit,” Eli said, covering his nose. He reached in and flicked the light on.
Captain Sykar was lying on her bed in the far corner of the room, face-down, snoring. A few empty bottles were lined up on the floor next to the nightstand; she didn’t stir as Eli stepped into the room and picked one up to inspect it. He was surprised to see that it was quality stuff, not cheap moonshine. “How long has she been like this, Ensign?” he asked.
“You mean a drunk? Always, Commander.” Nylen sounded bitter. “Or if you mean just today, her shift ended five hours ago. She was asleep twenty minutes ago when I scanned your shuttle approaching.” He looked down at his hands and said, softer, “I made sure she was sleeping on her front. Just so she doesn’t, y’know…”
“Right.” Eli sighed, unwillingly feeling a thread of sympathy for the young man. He was only twenty four, not that long out of the academy, and had somehow managed to get both demoted and stuck with a drunk for a CO within the space of three years. “You should have just told us, Ensign,” he said, “It’s not your fault your commanding officer has…substance abuse problems.” He frowned. “It is a problem that you haven’t reported her to command, though.”
Nylen looked morose. “The commanding officer in the capital is a friend of hers. Commander Hedda Ballenrost. That’s how she gets that expensive liquor.” He nodded to the bottle in Eli’s hand. “Commander Ballenrost already pulled strings to get Sykar transferred here instead of kicked out of the navy, after the court martial. I was worried that if I said anything, she’d make up something about me, and I’ve already been court martialed once…”
Eli sighed again. Yet more politics and people using their connections to stay in power, and no-name kids like Nylen got crushed under their heels. “The Admiral will handle it, Ensign,” he said. “Now he’s witnessed it, Command will have to step in.”
Nylen sighed. “I knew this would happen eventually,” he said quietly. “I told her she couldn’t keep going - that someday an inspection team would come who weren’t being paid off by Commander Ballenrost, but she never listened…”
Eli leant over and shook Sykar’s shoulder, but the woman didn’t wake up. “We’ll let her sleep it off,” he said. If Sykar was in league with - and heavily indebted to - the Ballenrost family, chances were good she wasn’t the one selling them out to smugglers. Then again, she was stupid enough to keep on with a drinking habit that had already got her into trouble; maybe she was stupid enough to try and make a bit of profit on the side. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to stay here and keep an eye on her, trooper,” he said. “We can’t have her dying on us.”
The politeness in Rhini’s voice was laboured as she said, “Yes, sir.”
“I promise everything else is in order, sir,” Nylen said as he and Eli stepped back out into the corridor. “I make sure to keep the base clean, and the equipment in good shape, and I checked all the supplies that arrived against the manifest, so I know we have everything we should.”
Interesting. “Good work, Ensign,” he said. “Let’s see these other rooms here, for completeness.”
“Of course, Commander.” Nylen triggered the door opposite Sykar’s room, which led into a cramped refresher. “Not much in here - two stalls, two showers, one hand basin.” There was a door halfway down the left wall, which was the one Nylen opened next; this led into a long, thin room with a desk and chair by the door and a small single bed close to the opposite wall. “This is the XO’s room - my room, in this case.”
“You keep it very neat,” Eli observed.
“Thank you, Commander.” Nylen led the way down to the end of the corridor, where two doors faced each other. “These two are the barracks rooms. Unoccupied at the moment, of course, but they can sleep up to eight.”
Eli triggered the mechanism on the left hand door and stepped inside. The room was clean but absolutely freezing; clearly the heating here wasn’t used. “I suppose this is where we’ll have to sleep,” he said, his mouth twisting. “We’ll need the heating turned up, of course.”
“Right away, sir,” Nylen said. “Um, Commander, if I may ask…how long are you planning to be here?”
“As long as it takes to find our smugglers, Ensign.”
Eli looked up to find Nylen blinking at him, confused. “Smugglers, sir?”
“I thought the shuttle pilot told you what we were here for,” Eli said.
“Er, no, sir - I was under the impression this was a routine inspection.”
“Well, lesson one, Nylen; Admirals don’t generally do routine inspections at frozen little listening posts in the ass end of nowhere.” Eli stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. He opened the other room and glanced around; it was a mirror image of the first, and just as cold. He stepped inside, waiting for Nylen to step in behind him before he shut the door. “Before we move on, Ensign, there is one thing.”
“Commander?”
“You mentioned you’d been court martialed. On your file it says you were charged with fraternization.” Eli leant back against the wall, folding his arms. “What’s the story there, Ensign?”
Nylen looked away, wringing his hands. “Um- Commander-”
“You’ve already been court martialed. You’re not going to get in any more trouble by telling me about it,” Eli said, intentionally making his voice softer.
“I-” Nylen stopped and took a deep breath. “It was- it was with my commanding officer. My first assignment out of the Academy. It was just- it was all just stupid, Commander, the stupid delusion of a foolish idiot who’d never been in-” He stopped, breathing heavily, his gaze fixed on the floor. “I thought- I thought he loved me,” Nylen admitted in a whisper. “I was a stupid child and I thought we were in love, but when someone saw us he turned round and blamed me for seducing him-” Nylen’s hand closed into a fist. “He didn’t get away with that excuse. The judge at the court martial told him that if I had tried to seduce him, he should have reported me instead of ‘indulging himself’, as he put it…” He looked up at Eli with panic in his eyes. “I didn’t seduce him, Commander, I mean, I didn’t want to- I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I didn’t set out to do it, I wasn’t trying to- well-”
Eli held up a hand. “I think that’s all I need to know, Ensign. I’m sorry to bring it up.” But it was interesting, Eli thought, that Ballenrost had warned him about fraternization right before sending him to work with someone who’d been demoted because of that very misdemeanor. He stood straight and gestured around the room. “Now, first order of business is to get the heating working in here.”
“I can do that from the control panel upstairs, sir.” Nylen hesitated. “Um, Commander, protocol would be that the Admiral takes the CO’s room, and you take the XO’s, but, I mean, will he want…?”
“He will,” Eli said, “Get Private Rhini to help you carry Sykar out, then turn up the air scrubbers.” He rolled his eyes. “Maybe the cold air in the barracks will bring her back to her senses.”
Back down in the Command Centre, the stormtroopers had one of the panels in the control terminals open, while Ryland and Thrawn looked on. “Captain Sykar, Commander?” Thrawn asked, looking mildly surprised to see Eli returning alone.
“Upstairs in a drunken stupor,” Eli said, walking over. “Nylen’s preparing rooms for us. He’ll turn up the scrubbers, but you may still smell finest Boltiae brandy in your room, Admiral.”
“How…invigorating,” Thrawn said dryly. “Her court-martial did not take, then?”
Eli shook his head, and summarized everything Nylen had told him upstairs. “The part about the manifest interests me, sir,” he said, “If one of these two is helping the smugglers, it would make sense for them to siphon off supplies from that room downstairs. But if Nylen is telling the truth about having everything on the manifest, then Sykar didn’t swipe anything without him knowing.”
“Not yet, anyway,” Thrawn said. “That shipment just arrived; there’s a log on the computer here. Perhaps one of them intended to send supplies to the smugglers after a certain amount of time had passed.”
“That’s true.” Eli nodded at the exposed wiring of the computer terminal. “I suppose you’re trying to see whether anything’s been tampered with?”
Thrawn nodded. “Since these smugglers have been getting past this listening post without being detected, it suggests that either someone here is not reporting them, or the equipment has been sabotaged.”
“Nylen insisted he kept it all shipshape,” Eli said.
“And he was the one who signed off on the supply manifest,” Thrawn said, “Both positions from which he could manipulate things to the smugglers’ benefit.”
“Yes,” Eli sighed. Despite himself, he felt sorry for Nylen; he wished the evidence didn’t point so squarely at him.
Thrawn, of course, noticed. “You wish he wasn’t the prime suspect?” he asked.
“He’s been an idiot, but he’s had some bad luck, too.” Eli sighed. “Of course, if he’s helping smugglers he’s being even more of an idiot.”
“You’re referring to his court martial?”
“Yes. He told me about it while we were upstairs. He was just an idiot kid in love with an ass who threw him under the bus at the first opportunity.”
“So the fraternization was a love affair?”
“So Nylen claims.”
Thrawn looked away, his expression contemplative. “I see.”
Eli watched him, trying not to think about Ballenrost’s warning, and the fraternization rumours about the two of them that he knew were flying around certain parts of the Navy. There were a myriad of different ones, both those that Eli had heard himself and those that had been laid out for him in excruciating detail during his visit from the Loyalty Officer. There were the standard - that Thrawn only kept him around because they were fucking, that Eli only slept with Thrawn so his rising star would keep on dragging him up with it, and for the romantics in the room, several variations on the details of their passionate secret love affair, up to and including a secret marriage. Then there were the weirder ones - that having sex with Chiss was addictive and Eli couldn’t stop even if he wanted to, that Chiss were able to perform mind control and Thrawn had Eli and several members of the Admiralty under his spell, even that Eli had in secret had varying numbers of Thrawn’s weird half-alien children.
At least if I was fucking him I’d get something out of it, Eli thought morosely, watching Thrawn as he watched Ryland digging around in the computer. Instead, he had to deal with the rumours and the looks and the whispers, all while trying not to act on the actual feelings he harboured quietly in his heart. No good would come of admitting to them, as Thrawn certainly didn’t hold any similar feelings in return. Eli would just keep pushing them down and ignoring them, and one day they’d go away.
In the meantime, he would just have to deal with the rumours, and be on the lookout for any more pointed questions. Whatever his personal feelings, he hadn’t fraternized, and he wouldn’t let anyone seriously accuse him of doing so.
Ryland still hadn’t finished by the time Nylen came back to say he’d sorted out the rooms, but the storm outside was beginning to die down. Eli got Nylen to take him and Thrawn up to the engineering room, where he pointed out all of the various machines and how they worked. To Eli’s untrained eye they seemed in working order, and Thrawn appeared to agree with him. By the time they returned to the command centre, the storm was fully blown out, and the circular bank of windows showed a stunning vista of pristine snow and sweeping glaciers. Eli stood by the windows, watching the sunlight glimmering on the ice. It didn’t look like anything should be able to live out there - natives or smugglers.
His thoughts were interrupted by a ping from one of the control consoles. “What is that?” he heard Thrawn ask as he turned.
Nylen was already walking toward the turbolift. “Someone’s at the door.”
“At the door?” Eli questioned.
“Yes. It’s probably Kyre - he brings us supplies.” Glancing between Eli and Thrawn, he said, “I can take you with me, Commander.”
Eli glanced at Thrawn, who nodded to him. Eli motioned to Anir, and the trooper accompanied him and Nylen down to the ground floor.
Eli wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but Nylen seemed quietly excited as he walked briskly through the storage room and input the code to open the bay doors that led out onto the landing platform. Once he did, a snowspeeder hovered inside and pulled up. Its rider was wrapped up in thick layers of fabric - and, when he stood up from the snowspeeder, Eli saw he was much taller and broader than any human. When he pulled back his hood it confirmed what Eli had guessed - he was one of the Vult, the native species of Awei.
“New recruits, Alezai?” he asked, eyeing Eli and Anir.
“Kyre, this is Commander Eli Vanto. He and his commanding officer are performing an inspection of the base,” Nylen said. “Commander, this is Tanimet’Kyre, one of the locals. He delivers fresh supplies to us.”
“Mostly fruit and veg,” Kyre said, unslinging a bag from his shoulders and handing it to Nylen. “And the occasional spare part. Good to meet you, Commander.” He held out a hand to shake.
Eli took it. “And you, Kyre.”
“Have you finally come to punish that drunkard Sykar?” Kyre asked, his expression serious - and a little angry, Eli thought, though he was harder to read than a human.
“That will be part of it,” Eli said carefully, “Though the main reason we’re here is to catch the smugglers who’ve been operating in the area.”
Kyre’s brow furrowed. “Smugglers?”
“They’ve been stealing the Shyl crystals, according to our intelligence.”
Eli didn’t miss the glance that passed between Kyre and Nylen. “Commander,” Kyre said carefully, “I have not heard of any shipments of crystals going missing.”
Well, that was interesting. “You work at the mine?” Eli asked.
Kyre nodded. “Me and all my clan. Smugglers would never get a shipment past us, I tell you now.”
“You can trust him, Commander,” Nylen put in, “Kyre and his clan have never been anything but cooperative with the Empire.”
“Our source told us smugglers had made camp out on the glacier,” Eli said slowly.
“Impossible,” Kyre said, slicing a hand through the hand in a decisive gesture. “My clan and many others scour the glaciers every week. If there was anyone there, we would know.”
Very interesting. “Kyre, would you come upstairs and tell the Admiral all this?” Eli asked.
Kyre nodded. “Of course.”
Thrawn and the stormtroopers were gathered around the computer terminal when they got upstairs. “There’s just nothing there, Admiral,” Ryland was saying. She had her helmet off, and her long braid hung loose down her back. “If someone’s sabotaged this system, they’ve done something well beyond my ability to detect it.”
“Perhaps you could check upstairs, Sergeant,” Thrawn said.
“Of course, Admiral,” Ryland said.
Eli cleared his throat to get their attention. “Admiral, this is Tanimet’Kyre. He delivers supplies to the personnel here. He and his clan work the Shyl mines; I think you’ll be interested in what he has to say.”
Kyre dutifully repeated what he’d told Eli, and confirmed it when Thrawn asked. “If the Empire is worried, we would be happy to go and check, Admiral,” he added.
Thrawn didn’t look happy. “I think that will have to be our course of action,” he said, “Ryland, belay that last order. Get the Chimaera to send us a shuttle.”
“Respectfully, Admiral,” Kyre piped up, “We would be better with two. It is a lot of ground to cover, and the light is fading.”
Thrawn nodded. “Two, then. And let us hope they reveal some answers.”
/
Before they left, Thrawn got the troopers to look through the supply storage to see if they could find anything useful. He took Ryland upstairs with him to rouse and interrogate Sykar; before he left, he laid a hand on Eli’s shoulder and said, “Keep everything in line, Commander.”
Eli nodded, trying to ignore the little flutter he got in his stomach every time Thrawn touched him. It was just a hand on the shoulder - nothing to get worked up about.
The stormtroopers set to tearing through the supplies with gusto, barreling through the organized rows of crates like a whirlwind. This seemed to upset Nylen, who went down the ramp and into the entrance area in a huff.
Or, Eli assumed that’s what he’d done. When he walked down the ramp to check on him, though, he found that he wasn’t alone. At first Eli thought Kyre had Nylen up against the wall by his throat, threatening him, and his hand dropped to his sidearm. After another second he realized what was going on was the exact opposite of a threat.
He snuck a few steps closer, quiet as he could, aware that Kyre’s hearing was probably better than a human’s. Were they really-?
“-going to ask,” Kyre murmured. He was very close to Nylen, one hand cradling the side of his face, the other wrapped around Nylen’s hand. “In another two days, I can ask again. You know I will.”
“You know I can’t say yes,” Nylen whispered.
“But you can, Alezai. You can leave these people. They don’t respect you - don’t deserve you. Anama, come with me. Come with me and be happy.”
“You know I- I do want to. I want to, but…Kyre…”
The Vult leant in and kissed him, slowly but deeply, drawing Nylen into his enveloping embrace. It looked a little awkward to Eli, with Kyre’s stubby snout and Nylen’s human mouth, but Nylen didn’t seem to mind; he kissed back enthusiastically, throwing his arms around the big alien. And what exactly has Alezai Nylen been up to while Captain Sykar has been drinking herself into a stupor, I wonder? Eli thought, stepping forward.
Too late, he noticed the loose engine part on the floor. His foot connected with it and sent it skittering, the clanging echoing around the room.
When Eli looked back up Nylen was staring right at him, his face white and eyes wide with horror. “Oh god- Commander-” he choked out.
The big Vult was looking at him as well, his ears pinned back, and when Eli made eye contact he snarled, low and deep in his chest.
Deciding that discretion might in this case be what saved him from getting mauled by an angry alien, Eli turned and ran in a very un-officer-like fashion back up into the storage room - and almost straight into Thrawn, who was coming the other way. “Sorry-” he managed, fighting down the adrenaline and fear racing through his system.
Thrawn, of course, didn’t miss anything. “What’s wrong, Commander?” he asked, putting a hand out to steady Eli.
“I-” Eli didn’t know whether to admit to what he’d seen or say nothing, not sure whether the truth would help or just distract.
Behind him he heard running footsteps, and he turned to look as Nylen came racing up the ramp, his face still bloodless, his expression terrified. “Please- Commander, I’m sorry, he didn’t mean-”
“What is going on, Commander?” Thrawn said, in that tight, cold voice that meant answer-me-now-or-you’re-going-to-pay-for-it.
“There’s been some-” Eli paused for breath, “Some fraternizing with the locals going on, Admiral.” Nylen’s face crumpled, and he looked mortified, but Eli kept going. “I saw- well- I saw. And I thought- gods, I thought he was going to-”
“He never would have hurt you!” Nylen burst out.
“Yeah, tell that to him,” Eli snapped. Kyre was coming up the ramp now, and he still looked fairly murderous.
Thrawn drew Eli closer by his shoulder, turning them slightly so he was in front of Eli. The stormtroopers also seemed to have realised something was wrong; they were moving slowly into formation behind them, hands on their weapons.
“Are we going to have a problem, Tanimet’Kyre?” Thrawn asked, his voice soft and dangerous.
With one last glare at Eli, Kyre looked at Thrawn. “No. I honour my promises.”
Thrawn nodded. Behind them, Ryland said quietly, “The shuttles have arrived, Admiral.”
“Good,” Thrawn said. “In light of…recent events, I think you and Ensign Nylen will take command of the second shuttle, Commander Vanto.”
/
The mood in the shuttle was tense, to say the least.
Eli, Nylen, Rhini and one of Kyre’s clan members, Tanimet’Yin, were the crew members. Yin had arrived at the same time as the shuttles - apparently Kyre had been waiting for her when Eli had walked in on him and Nylen.
Yin was very curious about the shuttle. Eli watched her poking around for a while, then, having ascertained that she wasn’t going to send them plummeting with a misplaced poke, went back to the cockpit.
“-kissed it?” he heard Rhini saying.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Nylen said woodenly.
“But, I mean- kissed it? With that mouth? Those teeth?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Didn’t it kind of taste like kissing an akk? They sort of look like akk-”
“I don’t want to talk about it!”
“But-”
“Stow it, Private,” Eli said.
Rhini jumped, then saluted to him. “Yes sir. Sorry sir.”
“Go supervise our friend Yin in the back there, will you?”
“Yes, sir.” Rhini jumped up and headed off, leaving the co-pilot’s seat for Eli to slide into.
Nylen kept his eyes fixed on the landscape ahead of them, absolutely silent. Eli had no inclination to break that silence; he was just cursing Thrawn and his insistence on them taking this shuttle together when Nylen said, “I’m not going to leave. That’s what he asked me. But I’m not going to desert Imperial service. Just so you know, Commander.”
“Fine. Good.” Eli didn’t really care whether Nylen left or not - he wouldn’t be much of a loss to the Imperial Navy - but his position obligated him to encourage Nylen to stay, no matter how lacklustre that encouragement was.
They flew on in silence for a while before Nylen said, “If I can ask, Commander - who was it that sent you on this mission? Who told you there were smugglers here?”
Eli looked at him appraisingly. Did he know something? “Admiral Ballenrost.”
“Kors Ballenrost?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“A little. He’s another friend of Captain Sykar’s. He visited the listening post once. Quite recently, actually.”
“And you didn’t like him,” Eli surmised; it was clear enough from Nylen’s tone.
“He was just…frankly, he was creepy. There was something really off about him. Let’s just say, I locked my door that night.”
Eli shivered, remembering his private conversation with Ballenrost. He hadn’t been able to decide if the Admiral was just being overly friendly or subtly implying something, but Nylen’s words made him think it might have been the latter.
Nylen was frowning to himself. “But that’s not why this is strange. Has Ballenrost ever talked to Admiral Thrawn before?”
“Not that I remember.”
“It’s just- he hates non-humans. And I mean, he hates them. So why would he approach a non-human for help?”
“Why indeed,” Eli said, his mind racing. He’d been wondering why Ballenrost would approach Thrawn, a man he’d barely met, ever since the start of this mission. And if these smugglers turned out to be a false trail…
Suddenly Nylen yelped and yanked the steering yoke, spinning the shuttle sideways. Eli, who’d forgotten to strap himself into the seat, almost went flying across the cockpit; luckily he managed to keep hold of the chair’s armrests. “What the hell are you doing?” he yelled.
“The other shuttle just got hit!” Nylen shouted. Their shuttle leveled out, and Eli could see their sister shuttle again. Black smoke was pouring from the portside engine, and as they watched, green laser fire hit the starboard wing, breaking it off. The other shuttle was losing altitude, wobbling, unstable in the air.
“There are smugglers!” Eli said.
“No, those are TIEs!”
“What?”
The other shuttle took another hit, and that was the last straw. As they watched, the shuttle went spiraling down to earth, belching black smoke. Eli had a moment to think Thrawn’s on that shuttle before it hit the edge of a cliff, rebounded off the opposite cliff-face, then went plummeting out of sight down a crevasse.
“Oh, oh god,” Nylen sounded like he was in tears, “Kyre- Kyre-”
“Swap positions,” Eli snapped, trying to ignore the pain spreading like fiery, choking veins up through his chest. “Now, Nylen!”
They swapped over, Eli taking the main controls and swinging them left. He watched the scope, trying to ignore Nylen’s shaky, hiccoughing sobs.
The door to the back compartment opened, and Rhini’s voice said, “What’s going on, Commander?”
“Someone shot down the Ad-” Eli stopped, swallowing around his choked-up throat. “Someone shot down the other shuttle.”
The scope began to beep; whoever had shot down Thrawn’s shuttle was coming in for another pass. Eli jinked left around a cliff-face, painfully aware of how slow and lumbering the shuttle was compared with even the most basic fighter.
But no one shot at them. Eli watched the scope, then looked out the viewport and saw the same thing; three TIE fighters were surrounding them, one on each wing, the third zipping along just in front.
“Someone’s hailing us, Commander,” Nylen said, his voice scratchy.
“Put them through.”
“Commander Vanto, this is TIE Commander Sorens.” The voice was male, the tone brisk and formal, almost as if Sorens was about to ask them for their clearance codes. “Please allow us to accompany you up to the Tempest; Admiral Ballenrost is waiting for you.”
Admiral Ballenrost is waiting for you. Those six words made everything click into place with sickening clarity. There were no smugglers; no crystals had been stolen. Ballenrost hated non-humans, so he’d lured the most successful non-human in the Imperial Navy out into the middle of nowhere and killed him. And with his power and family connections, he probably thought he could get away with it, too. All he needed were the last witnesses - and he would either silence them, or frighten them into joining him.
I’d rather die, Eli thought hysterically. I’d rather kriffing die.
“Why don’t you get Admiral Ballenrost on the line, Commander Sorens?” Eli said, surprised at just how calm his voice sounded.
“Sir?”
“I said get Ballenrost on the line,” Eli snapped. “I’m not going anywhere until I speak to him.”
There was a long pause. Eli pointed the shuttle back in the direction of the listening post, and they began to speed back toward it, the TIEs keeping pace; they were almost all the way back when Ballenrost’s voice finally came out of the shuttle’s speaker. “Now, Commander Vanto, you’ve interrupted a very important meeting-”
“Of course I have, my apologies, Admiral, for my bad timing,” Eli said, acutely aware that he didn’t sound calm any more. Just hearing that voice-
“What is it you wished to talk about, Commander?” Ballenrost said, his voice now much more suspicious. “Is it so urgent that it can’t wait until you’re on my ship?”
“Yes. It’s a message. A simple one, really. Three words.” Eli gripped the steering yoke so tight his knuckles were white. “Go fuck yourself.”
He didn’t hear whatever Ballenrost said in response; he yanked the yoke hard right, and felt the shuttle plow its way through the accompanying TIE, heard the metal screeching and bending. Next to him Nylen was screaming, Rhini and Yin were yelling, but Eli kept steering right, until they’d obliterated the TIE and they were going down, down hard and fast with the white ground coming up to meet them. Nylen launched himself at Eli, grabbing for the steering yoke even as Eli was trying to bring them back up; they both pulled left at the same time, sending the shuttle into a spin. Eli just about had the presence of mind to try spinning it right again, but it was too late; the shuttle bounced once off the ground, then plowed into a thick snowdrift, burying itself and slowing down until it impacted with a hard jolt against a hidden cliff.
Eli’s first thought was, I’m not dead. The second was, That worked. Sort of.
“What the hell were you doing?” Nylen screeched, right in his ear.
Eli swatted at him, and Nylen dodged easily out of the way. “Destroying that TIE fighter,” Eli said.
“By destroying our ship too?”
“We don’t have any weapons on this thing,” Eli snapped. He released his crash harness, disentangling himself from the straps. “And it’s better than being on Ballenrost’s flagship.”
“There are a number of other places we could be that aren’t ‘on Ballenrost’s ship’ and ‘crashed in a snowdrift’, Commander Vanto,” Nylen snapped.
That Eli could admit was correct. “Yeah,” he said, “Sometimes think fast isn’t think clever, I’m afraid.”
Especially when you’ve just watched the man you love go down a crevasse in a burning lump of metal.
Eli pushed the thought away and struggled to stand. The shuttle had crashed mostly level; all he could see outside the viewport was snow. When he turned, he found the crash had triggered the door to the personnel compartment to slam closed - probably as a precaution against decompression. “Rhini?” he called, raising his voice, “Yin?”
There was an answering roar from the personnel compartment. “Can’t get the door open, Commander!” Rhini’s voice came muffled through the metal.
“This is it,” Nylen was muttering. He’d flopped down into the co-pilot’s seat with his head in his hands. “This is the end of my career.”
“Maybe mine too,” Eli muttered. If they didn’t come out with a win here, he’d be going back to Lysatra in disgrace - if they even let you go, once you’d told an Admiral to go fuck himself.
With a screech of metal, the door to the personnel compartment began to move. “Get ready,” he told Nylen.
Yin managed to lever the door open enough to allow Eli and Nylen to slip out before letting it slam closed again. Then they were in the chill air of the personnel compartment, facing down the closed ramp. “Will it even open with that much snow outside?” Rhini asked.
“We’d better pray it does,” Eli muttered.
It did - mostly. It got about halfway open before it ground to a halt, stymied by the snow outside. That was enough to allow them to escape, though - and once they’d fought their way out into it, they saw that there was a long hole in the snowdrift where the shuttle had come crashing through. They were able to follow it right back to the surface, where a quiet, unbroken swathe of snow and ice awaited them.
The sky overhead was clear of ships. “I guess they think we died?” Rhini said.
Eli shook his head. “Too unsafe to land a TIE out here on this snow. They’ll be sending a shuttle and snowtroopers, though, from the Tempest or from the capital. We need to get out of here.”
“Where to?” Rhini asked.
“We could go to the mining camp,” Nylen said. “Yin would take us. We’d be safe there.” He looked at Yin, and she nodded.
Eli shook his head again. “No. We need to get back to the listening post. We can use the long range comm equipment to call the Chimaera.”
“The listening post is only a few miles that way,” Yin said, her voice a low, melodious growl. “I can get you there, but we’ll need to hurry. There’s a storm coming.”
“How can you tell?” Eli asked.
“Experience,” Yin said. “Come. We must be quick.”
“One last thing.” Eli fished out his commlink, which miraculously still seemed to be in working order. He keyed Thrawn’s frequency and listened. To his surprise, he heard a low hum rather than crackling static; that meant Thrawn’s comm was still working. “Hello? Admiral? Can you hear me?”
Nothing. The comm whistled and hummed, but no voice came back. Eli tried a few more times, his hope fading with each beat of silence, until he closed the link and put it back in his pocket.
“He’s really gone,” Rhini whispered.
Nylen put his hand on Eli’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Commander.”
The silence seemed to have filled a hollow, aching, cold place in Eli’s chest. Wordlessly he shook off Nylen’s hand and motioned to Yin; then he began to walk in the direction of the listening post.
/
The listening post was deserted by the time they got to it. They’d approached stealthily, expecting Ballenrost’s people to be inside, but they’d already been and gone. They’d done their work, though; the long range comms had been sabotaged, Captain Sykar was gone, and someone had coldly executed Josu, the stormtrooper they’d left to guard her, with a clean shot through the back of the head.
“At least the heating still works,” Yin had said, “Since you won’t die, humans, it’s time for me to go back to my clan. I must take them news of Kyre’s death.”
That had set Nylen off; he’d rushed away, leaving Eli the only witness as Yin took one of their snowspeeders and whizzed off into the growing storm.
Eli had stopped to watch it for a moment, almost not feeling the bitter cold; then he’d closed and locked down the entrance before going back upstairs.
Now, he was sitting at the command console, not really thinking about anything, when the turbolift opened. Rhini and Nylen stepped into his field of vision, both their eyes red-rimmed. “I’ve put Josu downstairs, Commander,” Rhini said, “The cold will…keep him.”
“Good. That’s good, Private.”
“Commander, I think…I think I can mend the comms,” Nylen said.
That pierced through the veil of Eli’s numbness. “What?”
“They were sabotaged fast, but not thoroughly,” Nylen said. “I may be wrong, but I think I can get them working again. It may take a while, though.”
“This storm should give you the time you need,” Eli said.
Nylen nodded. “Yes. I…I guess I’ll get started right away.”
“The sooner the better, Ensign.”
When Nylen had disappeared into the turbolift, Rhini said, “And what do we do, Commander?”
Eli sighed. “I guess we wait.”
There wasn’t much room to wander in the listening post, so Eli tried to use his time constructively. He tried to pull his case together, to imagine how he would explain things to a court martial, to an Inquiry, to Yularen, to Faro and the bridge crew…
Imagining the pain and sorrow on their faces when they heard the news just made everything worse, so he stopped with that after a while. There was little else constructive to think about, though, and his mind kept snagging on that final image of the shuttle, the last moment replaying again and again in his mind. Again and again he watched it plummet down the crevasse, taking Thrawn down to a fiery death along with it. For a while he just sat with the commlink open to Thrawn’s frequency, listening to the hum that meant it was connected. Desperately he wished that it would make some sound, anything, just to let him know that Thrawn was, somehow, miraculously alive - but it didn’t. It hummed, and stayed resolutely silent.
After a while he went to check on Nylen, and found him sitting surrounded by a spread of comm parts, sniffing and wiping tears from his face. “What’s wrong, Nylen?” Eli asked, his voice sounding hollow even to his own ears.
“I’m sorry, Commander, I- I just keep thinking about him. I keep seeing the shuttle go down, and knowing- knowing-” Nylen let out a sob. “Knowing that I never told him. I loved him- oh, I know it’s stupid, but I did, I loved him, and I never said, and now he’ll never- he’ll never know-”
Eli sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders, letting the younger man bury his face in his shoulder and cry.
“He asked me to marry him,” Nylen sobbed, clutching Eli’s jacket. “Or, the Vult thing- I can’t remember what it’s called. I told him no, but he said he was going to ask again- they can only ask once a year, before the winter… He was going to ask, and I wanted so badly to say yes, to tell him…”
“That’s what you were talking about,” Eli said quietly. “Before we left in the shuttles.”
“Yes,” Nylen whispered. “I should’ve told him- I should’ve said yes-”
“I should’ve told him,” Eli echoed, “Yes, I should have told him.”
Nylen blinked up at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” Eli said, shaking his head. “Cry later, Ensign. Fix the comms now. If we can’t get hold of the Chimaera before the storm ends, our sadness will be the least of our problems.”
Cry later. It was good advice, but Eli found he couldn’t follow it. He sat alone in the dark in the XO’s room, which Nylen had insisted he take, and felt hot, silent tears roll down his face. I’m sorry, he whispered, and then, because it gave him the illusion of speaking to Thrawn even if he was gone, he keyed the commlink to Thrawn’s silent frequency and whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t see in time-” He stopped, trying to stop the sob clawing its way up his throat. “I didn’t see. I didn’t protect you. Now you’re- you’re- you’re gone. And I can’t- I can never tell you-” He stopped, wiping angrily at his tears. “It’s ironic, isn’t it, that I can only get up the courage to say it now you’re dead? That’s just my luck, I guess.” He stopped, listening, but the silence was unchanged. “I love you,” Eli whispered, so quiet he could barely hear himself. “I love you. Which is a surprise, really, because there were points here and there where I hated your guts, but… I love you. I love you, and now there’s a stupid little part of me that wishes all those dumb rumours about our secret love affair and secret marriage were true because that would’ve meant I actually did something about it rather than just…say nothing. Say nothing and lose you.” The sob Eli had been choking down finally came out, rough and raw and painful. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, letting the tears flow. “I should’ve- I don’t know what. Should’ve done better. Should’ve thought harder. Should’ve put the pieces together quicker. I just can’t believe you- you’re gone.” He drew in a harsh breath. The word gone was like a punch to the gut, even to think. “I love you,” Eli said one last time, before he keyed the commlink off and threw it across the room.
/
I love you.
Several miles away, in the sheltering protection of an ice cave, those whispered words lingered in the air, almost echoing.
No one else had heard them. At least, Thrawn thought no one else had - everyone else seemed to be asleep, aside from Ryland, who was on watch several meters away at the cave mouth. There was no way she could have heard.
I love you.
The commlink only worked one way, as he’d discovered when Eli first tried to call him. They’d been clambering quickly out of the crevasse, away from the burning, possibly about to explode wreck of the shuttle, and Thrawn had been overjoyed to hear that Eli was safe - until he realised the commlink was broken in a particularly tortuous way that meant he could only hear, not respond. All of them had tried to fix it, but to no avail.
And now this. Now this quiet, broken confession, that made Thrawn want to wake Kyre and demand that the Vult take him back to the listening post, storm or no storm. He’d never heard Eli sound like that, so small and defeated and lost. He never wanted to hear it again.
But there were several hours of storm and several miles of treacherous terrain left to cross before he could be with Eli again.
He would just have to hope he could survive alone until then.
/
Eli was shaken roughly from sleep only a few hours after he finally managed to nod off. Nylen was standing over him, jumpy with excitement. “I’ve done it, Commander,” he said, “I’ve fixed the comms.”
Eli rolled out of bed, not even bothering to straighten his clothes before following Nylen down to the comms station. For a moment he worried that the signal wouldn’t get through the storm, but apparently the listening post’s comms were enough to combat that; the Chimaera picked up almost instantly. Eli waited a moment to be put through to Faro, who came on the line with, “Thank goodness, Vanto! It’s been so long, we were getting worried.”
For a moment Eli couldn’t bring himself to speak, knowing what he was going to have to tell her. “Faro, we- something- something happened.”
There was a long silence. “Oh no,” Faro whispered, “Vanto- tell me he’s not-”
“Someone shot down his shuttle,” Eli said, hearing the words as if from far away. “It went down a crevasse- I didn’t see but, there was fire…”
“Oh god- Eli I’m so sorry-”
“There’s- is there another ship in orbit? The Tempest?”
“Yes. Admiral Ballenrost’s flagship.”
“The shuttle was shot down by TIE fighters, and I think they came from that ship.”
Faro hissed a curse. “Why would Ballenrost- he killed Admiral Thrawn? Over what?”
“Prejudice, I think. My contact here says he hates non-humans. This was a set-up from the start, Faro.”
“Damn. And you’re the only witnesses.”
“After he shot down the shuttle, he tried to escort us to the Tempest. My guess is once the storm dies down, he’ll come again.”
“Then we need to come get you before the storm ends.”
“None of the shuttles will make it. It’s gale force ten out there.”
“They won’t,” Faro said, her voice like steel, “but the Chimaera might.”
For a moment Eli had to just sit and admire her determination - and appreciate that she believed him without question. Then he said, “You can’t, Faro. There are so many mountains - the Chimaera would have a hard time in clear conditions, let alone this wind. We’ve got to wait out the storm. Just keep an eye on the Tempest, I guess.”
“Fine,” Faro said, “But the moment that storm’s gone, we’re coming down for you. Sit tight til then.”
“Yeah,” Eli said, “And thank you, Faro.”
“Trust me,” she said, “It’s my pleasure.”
/
With Eli’s message still replaying in a loop in his head, Thrawn had managed to convince Kyre to let them start out before the storm was fully over with. He didn’t need as much persuading as Thrawn had thought he would; he seemed almost as eager to return to the listening post as Thrawn, and despite the wind and snow the group of them made pretty good progress over the ice field.
It was a good thing they did. The weather had been clear and sunny for an hour when they heard a low, rumbling roar in the distance. Its source wasn’t immediately obvious - not until a huge shadow fell over the ice field, racing across the snow toward them.
As one they looked up to see the painted underside of the Chimaera floating past above.
“What is that doing down here?” Anir squawked.
“They’ve run out of shuttles,” Zaian said.
“How will they even pick anyone up with that thing, though?” Anir asked.
“If we don’t hurry, we won’t be around to find out,” Ryland said, “Double time, squad! Or our flagship is about to leave us behind!”
The five of them raced across the ice, cresting a final ridge to see the listening post come in sight on its hill across the plain. There was still a wide ice field separating them from it, and the Chimaera was already floating above the listening post. “I would trade a hundred Fleiki diamonds for a working commlink right now,” Ryland muttered as they began to race down the opposite side of the ridge.
They were sprinting across the plain, watching a very odd scenario play out - the Chimaera appeared to be lowering a docking tube down to the listening post’s roof in order to allow the occupants to come aboard - when something fast and loud whizzed past overhead. “TIE fighter!” Anir yelled.
They scattered, but the TIE didn’t seem interested in them; it was making a beeline for the Chimaera. The Star Destroyer opened up with its starboard batteries, shaking the mountains with the thunderclap booms of its artillery.
Kyre was frantically waving and shouting something; it wasn’t until the echoes died away that Thrawn heard him yell, “Avalanche!”
Yes, now Thrawn could see plumes of white forming on the mountainsides all around them, threatening to unleash thousands of tons of snow on the ice field where they were standing. “Go!” he yelled, “Do not stop! Not for anything!”
There will be times when war seems like a farce, a comical play being acted out on a stage. Thrawn heard the voice of his old teacher as the five of them raced across the plain, even above the noise of the Chimaera opening fire again. It is in these moments, Mitth’raw’nuruodo, that you must be most vigilant. For war is no play, and the battlefield no stage; and even in the most desperate, farcical moments, you must keep your head.
“Over here!” he heard Kyre yell, “Yin, Yin! Here!”
At that moment, the seven Vult racing toward them on snowspeeders looked like heavenly salvation. They pulled up next to the group, giving them barely enough time to scramble on before they sped away toward the listening post. “A commlink, give me a commlink!” Thrawn heard Ryland yell.
They raced up the path to the listening post, then in through the entrance. “Go, go!” Kyre called, pushing the four of them into the turbolift; it opened in the engineering room, where Nylen had previously shown Thrawn and Eli how to get onto the roof.
The membranous white tunnel of the docking tube was still hanging there, like a strange floating tapeworm. Thrawn launched himself up it, TIE fighters screaming through the air around them, painfully aware of how thin and fragile it was. The stormtroopers clambered up after him, throwing themselves into this final effort.
He collapsed, winded, at the top, and barely heard as orders were shouted, instructing the crew to abandon the tube and close the hangar. He felt the floor shift as the ship tipped upward, going up to an alarming, inadvisable degree. Distantly he imagined the bridge, and how they were probably squabbling about the angle of ascent right now, and about their escape velocity and how to fight off the TIE fighters and where to jump to once they escaped Awei’s gravity well. They needed him up there…
A face appeared above him, pale and wan. “Admiral,” Eli whispered, “Thrawn. You’re alive.”
“Just barely,” he said, smiling up at him. “Don’t cry, Eli Vanto.”
“Shut up,” Eli said, and leant over to give him an awkward, half lying on him hug.
Thrawn turned his face to breathe in the smell of Eli’s hair, and thanked his lucky stars for aliens riding snowspeeders.
/
The bridge crew took the safe option; once they were free to go to hyperspace, they jumped to Coruscant.
Thrawn had no say in this decision. He and Eli had both been picked off the floor of the hangar and bundled off to the medbay, where they were poked and prodded for a little while before being released. By that point they were already in hyperspace, having left Awei and Admiral Ballenrost far behind them.
Thrawn checked in with the bridge crew, all of whom were very happy to see him alive, and then with Sergeant Ryland, who informed him of one stormtrooper casualty, body not recovered. He told her to schedule a memorial service, and made a note to ask Ensign Nylen if he had a way to contact Kyre and his clan.
Then he made his way to his office, and called on Eli.
Eli looked both confused and a little put out as he entered the room. “I was hoping to sleep, Admiral,” he said, when Thrawn asked him what was wrong.
“As was I - but I found I could not contemplate it until I settled this matter.” Thrawn hesitated only a moment before he set the commlink down on his desk.
Eli looked at it for a long time, before looking back up at Thrawn. “What about it?”
“It’s broken,” Thrawn said, “So that I could only hear messages, and not respond.”
It only took Eli a second to work it out. “Oh, gods,” he gasped, “You heard that, you heard- Admiral, I’m so- I’m sorry, that was, totally wrong, it was totally inappropriate-”
“Maybe,” Thrawn interrupted, “But if so, then so too was my reaction when I heard it.”
Eli paused and stared at him. “Your reaction,” he murmured.
Slowly, Thrawn walked around the desk and stopped in front of him. “I have never heard you sound like that,” he said, “And I never intend to hear you sound like that again. I am going to bring the man who hurt you to justice - whatever it takes.”
“Who hurt me?” Eli shook his head. “He almost killed you.”
“But I am alive - and I did not have to suffer through the pain of thinking you dead.” Thrawn felt his expression darken. “If I had, he would not have left that system alive.”
“Admi-” Eli stopped himself, then addressed him as, “Thrawn. What- what are you saying, exactly?”
“I am saying that I love you, Eli Vanto, though I know admitting it may bring you only pain and problems. I will not act on it, if you wish.”
For a moment Eli didn’t speak; he just looked at him, his mouth hanging slightly open, blinking. Then, very slowly, Eli shook his head. “No. I- maybe it’s wrong, but… It was hard enough thinking you were dead and knowing I could never tell you that…I love you. If you died and we could’ve had this but we never- well. We could both die tomorrow. We could both be kicked out of the Navy by next week. That’s a very real possibility right now.” Eli paused and then continued, softer, “I want…I don’t want to wait.” He reached up and slowly, carefully touched Thrawn’s cheek.
“No,” Thrawn said, “Neither do I.”
The kiss was sudden, passionate, almost unexpected; but neither of them wanted to take it back once they’d started. Wrapped in each other’s arms, the kiss deepened, deepened until they had to break apart, gasping, for air.
“I have no other obligations until the morning,” Thrawn whispered against the soft skin of Eli’s neck, “And I would be honoured if you’d join me.”
Eli laughed. “The honour is all mine.”
/
“We should have a trophy case,” Eli said as he slipped into bed, “One trophy for every court martial your career survives.”
“I think that would be gauche,” Thrawn said, lifting his arm so Eli could slip in under it. “And tempting fate.”
“Maybe,” Eli said, “But at the rate you’re going, you could certainly fill one.”
Despite himself, Thrawn smiled up at the ceiling. He lay on his back, Eli now tucked into his side, head resting on his shoulder. It was, in a word, perfect.
“I was lucky to survive this one,” Thrawn said.
“All the evidence was with you and against Ballenrost.”
“Still, he had his connections, and the Empire has its pro-human bias.”
“Gods, he’s finally learning politics.” Eli turned his head and kissed Thrawn’s shoulder. “Don’t think about it. You survived it, and that’s what matters.”
“True.”
They lay in silence for a while before Eli said, “I received a message from Ensign Nylen today.”
“Oh?”
“Well, he’s no longer Ensign Nylen. He’s resigned his commission and gone to live in Awei’s capital.” Thrawn felt Eli smile. “I’ll give you two guesses who with.”
“I think I would only need one.”
“And you’d be right.” Eli levered himself up on one elbow to meet Thrawn’s eye. “I guess love really does conquer all.”
“That is untrue,” Thrawn said, “But I find myself attracted to the sentiment.”
“You can just say ‘I love you’,” Eli said, rolling his eyes; then he leant in to kiss him.