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The soft hiss and metallic click of the bridge door alerted Grand Admiral Thrawn to the Ensign’s presence before the man spoke.
“Grand Admiral Sir, the Holos as you requested.”
The Chiss turned and accepted the holodisk from the man, giving him a curt nod.
“Very good, dismissed.”
He received a crisp salute, then turned away to review the tapes. He heard the same soft hiss and click, finding himself alone once more. He flipped the holodisk absently between his fingers, staring out at the now decimated surface of Atollon. He should have felt… something. Anything really. Despite failing to capture any of the rebellion leaders, which he imagined Grand Moff Tarkin would not be please about, he had managed to decimate their base in the Lothal system, as well as taking out Commander Jun Sato. That, in of itself, was an achievement he should have relished in. But he wanted perfection, and he should have felt disappointment in his inability to succeed, anger in how his soldiers had failed to prevent the destruction of the second Interdictor, and at himself for granting Konstantine control over such a crucial component of his scheme. (He made a mental note to posthumously demote or dishonorably discharge Konstantine for disobeying orders and ruining his carefully laid plans.) But all he could feel was a strange sense of dread. He couldn’t be certain why, exactly, he often prided himself on not allowing his emotions to override his logical senses, but the words of that… thing, the ‘Bendu’ as he called himself, chilled him.
What did he mean… ‘Like many arms surrounding me in a cold embrace?’
His eyes narrowed subconsciously at the thought, but was quickly broken from his state by the ships intercom announcing to him Governor Pryce has boarded the Chimera. He acknowledged the voice, informing him to send the Governor to him.
He exhaled through his nostrils slowly, looking down at the disk in his hand. He inserted it into the bridge holoterminal, the rapid clicking of the console reading the disk the only sound in the room.
“Computer, dim lights, then play holo.”
The onboard system obeyed, the room darkened, the only light sources being the stars in space and the holoterminal. The holo screen flickered to life, and Thrawn watched with rapt interest at the video. He wanted to know, exactly, how the Bridger boy managed to destroy an Interdictor without use of ships. He watched the video as Mandalorian ships arrived from Hyperspace. His lip curled into a sneer, no doubt the Wren clan had come their aid. He watched as they boarded the ship from a smaller Kom’rk-Class Fighter, attempting to destroy one of the Gravity Well generators. Thrawn’s hand rose to stroke his chin in thought as Imperial Jumptroopers joined the defense, but watched as both his troopers and his TIE fighter escort failed to prevent the Interdictors destruction. He paused the video as the bridge door slid open, the light entering from behind him. He just barely turned his head to look at Governor Pryce, who was standing at attention.
“Grand Admiral.”
He gave a curt nod to the Governor as she entered, and he turned back to the paused video. It had paused at the moment Ezra Bridger was attempting to reach his ship to escape the exploding Interdictor. He examined where he was reaching, or rather, what he was reaching for, and a small smirk appeared on his lips.
“Tell me, Governor Pryce, what do you see here?”
If he had faced her when he spoke, he would have seen her body tense ever so slightly. She had, after all, failed to properly defend the second cruiser AND had lost the traitor Kallus. Having witness the fury of the Inquisitors and some of the other higher ranking Imperials, she was almost certain her head was to be taken. She would not, however, cower in the face of death, and straightened up as she walked forward to see what he as talking about. Of course, it HAD to be when the Interdictor was decimated.
“This… would be when the rebels boarded th-“
He held up a hand for her silence.
“I don’t want you to tell me what happened, I have reviewed the footage, but I want you tell me what you see.”
She paused and swallowed, taking a closer examination of the screen. She growled as she noted who the focus was.
“It’s the Loth-Rat! I hadn’t imagined he would be so bold as to-“
She stopped as Thrawn gave her an exasperated sigh. She held her breath as he spoke once more.
“While I admire the fact you’re more astute than most, you still miss the important factors. First, notice who aids the Bridger child. Mandalorians, and from the look of their armour patterns, I would say they were of Clan Wren, House Visla.”
Pryce’s eyes widened as she looked to see what he meant, noticing the colourful armor of one Sabine Wren. Her fingers clenched at the sight, an almost imperceptible seethe left her lips. Almost imperceptible.
“Relax, Governor. We now know who aids the rebels… Tell me, what is the current situation on Mandalore?”
Pryce pursed her lips in thought. Mandalore was not within her sector, so she wasn’t as up to date on the happenings of the area. She had a vague idea, knowing currently there was a civil war on the planet.
“I’m… not entirely familiar with the sector, but from what I understand there’s currently a civil war raging. A shame we lost Gar Saxon, he might have been usef-“
“He was useful, yes, but a pawn. And a pawn can be… replaced.”
Pryce’s blood froze as he said the word, wondering if it was a threat to her, or just a general statement. He gave her a disturbingly soft smile as he continued.
“But that’s not what I mean for you to notice. Look at what the boy is reaching for.”
Pryce narrowed her eyes at the still.
“The… ship?”
He sighed and shook his head.
“No my dear Governor… He’s reaching for her.”
She took a closer look at what he meant, and she realized the look on boy’s face only confirmed that. She couldn’t see Sabine’s face, the helmet blocking her eyes, but she could imagine how she looked. She turned back to Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was looming over the terminal, hands behind his back, eyes boring into the scene.
“They’re together?”
Thrawn gave a light scoff.
“I don’t know, and neither do I care. All it means is we now have a method to break their group apart. We break her… And the boy will come to us. And where he goes, so to do the crew of the Ghost. While it may not be the rebel high command, removing this… little obstacle in our way will prove fruitful in the future endeavors.”
“And how do you intend to do that?”
And at that, Pryce saw a smile, one that even she found disturbing.
“We find and we destroy clan Wren.”
He turned back to look out at the destroyed planet surface, his eyes narrowing in thought.
I will not let some ancient beast dictate my fate to me. No one will dictate my fate to me.