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"Bring him home.” Were the last words Admiral Ar’alani had spoken to him before they departed. They were fitting words, Samakro thought considering the ship they were currently on. Whether by design, by chance or through a combination of both- the refurbished and all but retired Springhawk had been the ship that had been assigned to their mission- Or rather was the ship the CEDF was willing to spare for their last desperate foray into the Chaos.
It was sheer chance that they had even managed to convince the Syndicure to approve the mission, much less give them a Skywalker, though Un’hee had made it very clear that she would be going out to find Thrawn whether the syndics agreed or not. And with Thalias as her caregiver and Che’ri as their pilot, Samakro had a feeling she would have made good on her threat. However, his hopes to find his ex-commanding officer had been slowly dwindling over the past few months until they had found their last lead on a forgotten planet in what he learned was called Wild Space. Now the Springhawk was flying towards what could only be described as a fleet graveyard. Stretching out in front of him were the broken hulls and components of a great many ships— all of which he could now recognise as Imperial design. Besides him, lieutenant commander Ivant — Eli— looked paler than he had ever seen him. And while he didn’t know much about human skin tones, he knew Eli well enough to know that the ashen tone washed over his normally warm features was bad. Very bad .
Drifting outside the viewports were meteor chunks, ship debris and what he thought looked like bones— Really, really big bones. Whatever happened here, Samakro thanked the stars he hadn’t been a part of it.
An oddly shaped piece of debris caught Samakro’s eye, his mind instantly flagged it as significant— The ship Eli had spent a great amount of time speaking about during their so-called lessons. Two of its wings were still attached to the cockpit, but the third hung loose and swung gently from side to side as they passed it, disturbed by the gentle movement of the Springhawk floating through the debris. Its heavy laser cannons and dual warheads would have made these ships a formidable enemy. And despite the state it was in, Samakro found it even more impressive seeing it up close. Mitth’raw’nuruodo really did know how to completely and utterly destroy an enemy . “A TIE-defender.” He spoke softly, his mouth stumbling awkwardly over the unfamiliar syllables.
“We are in the right place,” Eli whispered beside him. The human’s tone was steady, but Samakro could almost taste the fear and apprehension tainting his voice. This is what they had been searching for, tracing the path of the Chimaera in the hope to find its commander.
As they made their way towards the centre of the debris, the parts became larger and larger. Sections of a hangar bay and crew quarters drifted dead in space, scattered between them parts of white plastoid armour and unfamiliar weapons dotted the air drifting out of the way as the Springhawk advanced through the wreckage.
Eventually, they came up to the centre of the chaos where the debris was caught in a slow orbit around a flickering gravity well.
Whilst the other capital ships had been torn to shreds and were scattered wide, this ship was largely intact. Samakro swore under his breath. Part of him was glad this ship was derelict, nothing in the Ascendancy could compare to the sheer size of it. An Imperial Star Destroyer . It was aptly named, he grimly thought to himself. He couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if Thrawn had been successful in his mission— If the Ascendancy would have acquired these ships and their firepower— The Grysks would have been eliminated a long time ago as would any other threat in their part of the Chaos.
He was equally glad Mitth’raw’nuruodo had kept the Ascendancy out of the Empire’s scope. As much as he prided himself in the CEDF and its competency in warfare, they would not have stood a chance against the fist of the empire; never mind the Sith Eli had told him about. The sheer concept of adults maintaining their Sight and using their abilities to affect the world around them, control minds and kill with nothing but the power of their minds was frankly terrifying.
Yet he gasped when he saw the markings on the underside of the ship they were approaching. It had been years since he had last seen these symbols; a nest of stylised intertwining snakes with two larger ones curving up, reaching for the tip of the ship. Thrawn had kept his word till the very end and ensured the memory of the Paccosh would be preserved through the memories of every enemy and ally he encountered in battle. Next to him, Eli stumbled and his knuckles turned white as he grabbed the edges of the control panel for balance.
“The Chimaera .” The words rolled over his lips almost reverently. A magnificent warship and the last home the man next to him had known before the Ascendancy— The ship they had been looking for. “Full scans please,” Samakro ordered more firmly before turning to his second in command and resting his hand on the human’s shoulder, squeezing lightly.
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“Perhaps, but there is no time for this now.”
Samakro kept his hand on Eli’s shoulder regardless, moving in what he hoped was a soothing motion.
“No lifeforms or electronic signatures detected.” The sensor officer called and he felt Eli choke beside him.
“Full spectrum, full-range scans please. We cannot afford to miss anything.” Samakro ordered firmly, keeping his voice steady as much for his own comfort as Eli’s. At this moment, neither of them could afford to break their carefully maintained illusion of calm and control.
“Yes sir.”
The air on the bridge was thick with tension as they waited for the sensory officers’ findings. Eli’s hand moved up to his shoulder, covering Samakro’s before he squeezed tightly. If anyone noticed the strange gesture, no one mentioned it.
“He’s okay.” Samakro willed as much certainty into his voice as he could muster. “He has to be.”
To this surprise, Eli nodded. “If anyone could have survived this, it would have been him.”
The sensor officer turned around and interrupted them, but Eli didn’t move his hand from where it covered his. “We are receiving a signal from the surface on an unknown frequency-”
“Play it,” Samakro commanded and the officer nodded, turning back to their station and garbled sounds filled the bridge.
Eli’s head snapped up, eyes focussed on the sensor officer’s display, before reaching for his questis. After a long moment where Eli’s fingers flew over the tablet, he stilled and looked up. “Adjust our scanners to the settings I sent you.”
“Yes sir.”
The garbled sounds became clear and morphed into mechanical vowels and consonants, forming syllables and repeating words they all understood.
A beacon.
Repeating a weak message in Cheunh and what Samakro had learned to recognise as Basic. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a single tear rolling down his friend’s cheek as his shoulders trembled under Samakro’s hand.
This is Ezra Bridger of Phoenix Squadron of the Rebel Alliance— And this is Mitth’raw’nuruodo of the Chiss Ascendancy.