The battle of Jakku marks the end of an era ... the fall of the Galactic Empire. Remnants of the once mighty Imperial Navy scatter to the winds, seizing power for themselves. All the while, a New Republic is established to guide the galaxy into a ne...
The Liberation of Lothal was complete; the 7th fleet had been forced to flee and the Chimaera was now on a path to somewhere unknown. Ezra held up Thrawn with the force as the Purrgil continued to carry them away. The Chiss Grand Admiral looked up to see Ezra still holding before suddenly, they let go and the ship came out of hyperspace above a planet. With the purrgil no longer holding the Chimaera, the blast doors finally sealed as the two passed out from exhaustion. The battle had taken a toll on them and the ship, now no longer under power, began to be pulled into the planet's atmosphere and was now on a collision course for the surface.
With Ezra now unconscious and Thrawn free, he stood up weakly and walked over to him. It was by no means an easy feat as his legs weren't used to standing in a few hours or possibly days, he wasn't sure. He thought a mystery for another time as he carried Ezra off the bridge. With a hard crash, the Chimaera had landed, thankfully on an island on a distant world. Some troopers and officers were killed in the crash and would be laid to rest on this new world. Thrawn sent out scouts to see if they could find civilization.
They would return a few hours afterward and Thrawn could only smile as he recognized the creature. The creature gave a chuckle and a strange whinnying sound. "So, we meet again, Thrawn of the Chiss. It has been quite some time." The creature said as Thrawn bowed to him. "Uingali foar Marocsaa, it is good to see you again after all this time," Thrawn said as he bowed in return. "The Poccian Governance saw your ship crash a few hours ago. We did not know that the Chiss had developed ships of that nature."
Thrawn explained that after the sunrise battle decades ago, the Syndicure was furious at him for his preemptive attacks against the Grysks. The result was his exile and his eventuality of joining the Empire. After explaining that before he was going to return to the Ascendancy, he was carried away by creatures. Uingali informed Thrawn that the Chiss seemed to be fighting among themselves. Not enough to start a civil war but they nearly got to that point. Thrawn thanked him as he explained that he still had the ring of the Marocsaa subclan.
Uingali reminded Thrawn that he gave it to him as a gift. When Ezra finally woke up, he would see Thrawn speaking with a strange creature. He waited for the two to finish speaking before Thrawn turned back to him. "Ah, I see you're finally awake. I trust that you are well?" Thrawn asked as Ezra gave him a strange look at first but nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thrawn, I have a ton of questions to ask." Ezra said as Thrawn listened to him.
Thrawn explained that this world was called Rapacc and that creature was named Uingali Foar Marocsaa. He had met him years ago when he was a senior captain in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet. Ezra was surprised as he hadn't known any of this about Thrawn's early life or that he wasn't always serving the Empire. "What happens now? Is the Poccian government going to give us a ride off-world or are you going to call your people?" Ezra asked as he walked beside Thrawn. "I will send a distress signal to my people and see if they can retrieve us. It should be fairly quick as the Ascendancy has visited this world before." He explained as he pulled out his comn link. Ezra chuckled a bit before Thrawn spoke in a language he hadn't heard before. He had no clue as Thrawn finished his conversation and put his comn link away.
"We'll make camp around the Chimaera while we wait," Thrawn called out to the troopers and officers who were nearby.
When Ezra asked why they couldn't wait inside the ship, an officer explained that the superstructure was unstable and would fall victim to the elements within weeks. He sighed as he went to help them move supplies from the damaged ship to temporary housing provided by the Rapacc government.
It would take a few days before an unknown warship emerged from hyperspace above the planet. Ezra stared at the massive ship; it was unlike anything he had seen before. Thrawn would go and meet with a shuttle that landed to pick up him and those who wanted to leave. The stormtroopers would decide to return to the wider galaxy as their indoctrination under the Empire gave them a poor view of aliens.
Ezra would speak with another Chiss officer, a woman named Admiral Ar'alani, and a human officer named Eli Vanto. He explained that he missed his friends back home. Eli nodded as he understood. From his accent, Ezra could tell he was either from the outer rim or even further out in Wild Space. He said he would speak with Ar'alani to see what he could arrange. A few hours passed as Ezra, Thrawn, Ar'alani, and Eli returned to the Chiss warship called the Steadfast.
Ezra was meditating in his temporary quarters when two Chiss warriors escorted him to what seemed to be an office room. Thrawn and Admiral Ar'alani were speaking with yet another Chiss officer via comn link when Ezra walked in. "I suppose you are wondering why Thrawn and I called you here?" Ar'alani asked in very accented Galactic Basic. From her tone, it was clear she didn't speak the language all that often.
"I assume has something to do with me being here or possibly getting me back home," Ezra suggested as he looked between the two officers. Unlike most humans, he couldn't tell emotions or even their age. Thrawn nodded as he told Ezra that the Chiss could spare a scout ship to take him as far as Batuu but couldn't spare a fully armed warship with the war going on. "Yeah, I suppose with the Empire still out there, it makes sense." He said as Thrawn explained that the Empire would fall eventually as they had ultimately sealed its fate when it chose to make super weapons instead of the tie defenders.
Two months later, Ezra was preparing to leave when Thrawn and Eli walked into the hangar bay. During those two months, Ezra helped out around the ship when he could and started to understand that Thrawn wasn't just a cold Imperial Officer but someone who genuinely cared about the safety of his people. Thrawn handed Ezra a data cylinder. He explained that there was a great evil lurking in the Unknown Regions called the Grysk Hegemony. Ezra's blood ran cold as Thrawn described how cruel and destructive the Grysks were in combat and towards their so-called "Cilent species."
"This contains everything that you need to know about them. Take this information back to Senator Organa and the Rebel High Command. They will no doubt be hesitant to trust my intel and my warning but it is genuine. The Grysks are a serious threat, Ezra Bridger." Ezra nodded, finally shaking himself back from horrible thoughts. He looked back at the two men, "May the force be with you, Thrawn." Ezra said as he started to walk up the ramp. "May warrior's fortune smile on your efforts, Ezra Bridger," Thrawn called before the doors closed and the scout ship took off for Batuu.
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