Chapter Text
This fic originally started as a series of comment-fics and review bonuses under my story Survivor’s Quest, which takes place in the Unknown Regions. As I kept writing (essentially turning the story into two fics in one), a reader suggested it would be best to split them into separate stories.
To new readers:
This fic is part of the Freak Fleet verse, a series of Thrawn-centered fics I started writing in 2017, even before the Thrawn (2017) novel came out. Therefore, it follows the old Imperial ranking system and features my own take on the Chimaera’s duty roster.
Old Imperial ranking system:
Ensign -> Lieutenant -> Lieutenant Commander -> Commander -> Captain -> Vice Admiral -> Admiral -> Fleet Admiral -> Grand Admiral
In the Freak Fleet verse, Gilad Pellaeon is the captain of the Chimaera, and Freja Covell is the general of Thrawn’s ground forces. Moreover, the Chimaera isn’t the only ship that made the jump, other ships of the Seventh Fleet did as well, including the Relentless, a ship that is about to become Ezra Bridger’s new home.
Hopefully, with all these author’s notes, this story will be easily readable even for new readers who haven’t read my other stories yet.
Chapter 1: Even Thrawn’s Patience Has Limits.
Summary: After recovering from the injuries caused by exposure to hyperspace, Ezra Bridger wakes up in the brig completely cut off from the Force, and naturally behaves like a cornered animal.
General Covell rolled his eyes as he watched the young Jedi trying to break the cool, impassive mask of Grand Admiral Thrawn for what must have been the hundredth time by now.
What was the point of trying to provoke the person who literally held his life in his hand into snapping?
Did Ezra Bridger have a death wish?
While other Imperials treated him with open hostility, Grand Admiral Thrawn had never raised his voice, never threatened him with violence. Of course, that didn’t mean that he didn’t have his own, special ways to make the young Jedi pay for what he had done.
He had the boy kept in a cell, surrounded by ysalamiri from the outside, strange creatures native to this galaxy that stripped him of the Force as far as Covell understood it. Bridger, however, never saw them, so he had no idea what was being done to him. He had no idea how in the universe Thrawn had managed to rob him of his supernatural abilities.
And he ordered the walls of the cell to be lined with the names of all the casualties the Seventh Fleet had suffered, casually throwing it right in the Jedi’s face when the unsuspecting victim asked why the walls were covered in names.
Or perhaps the teenager simply couldn’t bear the consequences of his actions.
And so he kept pushing Thrawn’s buttons, coming up with so much Force–related crap and so many snarky comments that Covell eventually stopped paying attention.
Until Bridger managed to say something spectacularly stupid:
“What can an emotionless droid like you possibly know about things like family or love?”
Covell watched as the Chiss’s posture stiffened imperceptibly, the face carved from pale blue marble hardened, and the glowing eyes narrowed into mere slits, blazing with infernal fires.
To Covell, who had sparred with Thrawn on multiple occasions, Thrawn looked just as dangerous as he had been the time he lost his patience with Covell during a practice match in the aftermath of Atollon, telling Covell in a calm, but glacially cold voice: “Coming here today was a mistake, Colonel.”
He had thought that he would die back then, feeling completely powerless against Thrawn’s durasteel grip. And it looked that Bridger would die right here…
Only Pellaeon and Covell knew of Aristocra Reli'set'harana.
And while she was safe, located far, far away, Thrawn must have felt incredibly lonely without her. Or at least Covell thought so, the Chiss had never breathed a word aloud.
His carefully maintained sabbac face cracked only once, when Captain Dorja and Commander Riza of the ISD Relentless turned to each other for comfort, forgetting to take necessary precautions, which resulted in Riza becoming pregnant with Dorja’s child.
The revelation came at the worst possible moment, or so they had all thought, when Riza started feeling nauseous during a senior staff meeting, and when Dorja lost his composure and started freaking out. And Thrawn had immediately put two and two together.
“I knew the limitations of human vision, but I would have assumed that the mother would have known by now.”
The room fell into complete silence, and everyone expected to hear the worst: demotion and separation as per regulations.
Only Grand Admiral Thrawn had done nothing of the kind. He had merely sighed, and said that Commander Riza would be placed on medical leave, given her condition, and that the role of the Relentless’s executive officer would now be carried out by Lt. Commander Nalgol.
And that after all their losses, it was imperative that Riza’s pregnancy didn’t result in yet another loss of life.
Their gloom and sense of despair had been transformed into something else that day. Hope. The unexpected act of kindness that broke all regulations had raised the spirits of the entire battered Seventh Fleet.
And so, even if Covell hadn’t known about Lady Lisetha, after that event even the lowest-ranking ensign would have known that Bridger had managed to say the worst thing he could have possibly said.
“Get him off this ship with the next garbage load,” the Grand Admiral said in a purely clinical tone, as if he were talking about getting rid of a minor nuisance, turned on his heel, and started walking away from the young Jedi.
“Thrawn?”
Covell watched as Bridger’s eyes widened in shock. Oh, the Jedi brat finally realized that he had overdone it.
“Thrawn!”
Bridger called desperately.
“THRAWN!”
As the Grand Admiral walked past him without a word, Covell hurried to catch up with the Chiss’s long strides.
“Ummmm, sir,” he said hesitantly. He knew that it wasn’t wise, but he also knew that the Grand Admiral never took out his frustration on bystanders.
“Forgive my bluntness, Admiral, but you yourself said that the young Jedi is our ticket out of here. That the Jedi devilry is the only thing that can possibly bring us back, no matter how we might personally feel about the whole thing.”
The Chiss continued his brisk walk and only stopped when they left the detention block altogether.
“I know. I don’t plan to space Bridger, I merely let him think that,” Thrawn said evenly. “Though I must admit, the idea is especially tempting.”
The Chiss took a deep breath and slowly released it. Another rare crack in the impeccable facade.
“General Covell, you will personally oversee his transfer to the Relentless. I have tolerated Captain Dorja’s fraternization long enough, it’s time he made himself useful. Bridger will be placed in a similar cell, stripped of the Force until further notice.”
Covell started feeling sorry for Dorja and his ship full of snobs. He had loathed that bunch at first, but certain events had brought them close, and the impossibly annoying Kuati duke Nalgol who kept using the royal we in Covell’s presence turned out to be a surprisingly good drinking buddy. Corulag moons, he never thought he’d get along with a Kuati.
“Yes, sir.”
He’d make all necessary preparations to transfer Bridger and all the ysalamiri they needed to keep him from tapping into the invisible power that could make him move things with his thoughts and corrupt their brains, bending their minds to the Jedi’s will.
He would even include a couple of roots from his Corulag lovestone ivy, which the furry little lizards found as irresistible as lothcatnip. It had nearly given Covell a heart attack at first, when he saw how eagerly they tore into his plant, but only until he realized just how important the ugly, smelly creatures were to their safety.
By now, everyone treated the furry little lizards with the utmost courtesy, caring for their babies as if they were their own. Pellaeon had nearly suffered a heart attack as well; his friend would have never tolerated such mess aboard his ship under normal circumstances.
But these were hardly normal circumstances.
And so both Covell and Pellaeon nursed their own ysalamiri.
THE END