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Eli’s journey to the Chiss Ascendancy had been long. First, he had left the Chimaera in an unmarked civilian transport with few possessions. Next, he had made contact with Admiral Ar’alani in the system Thrawn had once been exiled to. Then, she had taken him aboard her vessel, where he was greeted with silence and stares.
As Eli walked down the ramp into the hangar, he eyed the armored warriors standing in formation all around him. Instinct nearly told him to put his hands over his head. Show the ship full of Chiss he bore no weapon against them. Except he was no criminal. This wasn’t like Thrawn’s cuffed entrance into the Empire’s fleet. Eli was reporting to duty, the same way he would on any other ship.
He was just alone this time. Alone and without a single familiar thing around him.
Admiral Ar’alani stood on the far side of the hangar bay. She strode forward to greet him in a pace not quite matching a march. Eli wasn’t sure if he should walk towards her or remain in place. His legs were frozen.
Eventually she stopped a few meters away from him, two black-clad senior officers in tow. The admiral spoke in Sy Bisti, just as she had over comm. “Greetings, Eli Vanto of the Galactic Empire. Welcome to the Steadfast. Mitth’raw’nuruodo spoke highly of your abilities with statistics, logistics, and numerical problems.”
Eli saluted the way the Empire had taught its soldiers too. An officer behind Ar’alani raised an eyebrow at the gesture. Her change in expression was so slight that anyone who hadn't spent years around Thrawn wouldn’t have noticed it at all. “Lieutenant Commander Vanto reporting for duty, Admiral. I look forward to applying my abilities to your ship’s cause.”
It was a similar exchange of words to the one they’d had over comm, he noticed. Except this time, Eli and Ar’alani spoke in front of an entire hangar of people. This wasn’t a conversation, but a performance. Ar’alani was setting the tone for how her crewmembers were to treat their newest addition. At the same time, Eli was making his first impression. Good thing he hadn’t come out with his hands up after all.
“In your time among us, you will learn to speak Cheunh. We will teach you how to use our technology and house you as one of our own. In turn, we expect you to perform to our standards and provide your most dedicated service to our fleet. You may have been a lieutenant commander among the Empire, Eli Vanto, but you must prove yourself to us before we recognize you as one. Instead, I bestow upon you the rank of lieutenant.”
One of the officers behind Ar’alani rushed forward, extending a couple folded uniforms to Eli. On top of the pile of clothes were polished shoes and metal rank pins, far simpler in design than those Ar’alani wore. He accepted the clothing graciously. “Thank you, Admiral ma’am. I will change into appropriate attire at the first convenience.”
“You may change now,” the officer who’d handed him the clothes offered. “We wish to see you accept your place among us.”
Eli flushed red. He cleared his throat, confident he had misunderstood. He directed his question to Ar’alani. “Should I… return to my ship to put these on?”
Ar’alani blinked, seemingly not understanding the question. “It is as your quartermaster says. We wish to see you don the uniform of our people with our own eyes. Remove the clothing of your Empire and put ours on in trade.”
So they did want him to strip in front of everyone. Was it hazing, or just a different culture’s tradition? Either way, Eli didn’t see many options. His admiral had given him an order. He didn’t want his new crewmates to think he was insubordinate.
Swallowing his embarrassment, Eli set the new uniform down by his side. He fumbled with the buttons on his tunic, sliding the garment over his head once it was loose enough around the neck. He didn’t see any reason to be orderly or fancy with the disrobing.
Next, he bent over to untie his shoes. Eli noticed the quartermaster hadn’t given him any underwear, so he elected to keep his socks, boxers, and undershirt on as he slid his pants off. None of the Chiss commented on his choice not to go fully naked, so he must have made the right call. Even if he hadn’t, Eli’s willingness to respect other cultures had limits.
Once he was completely devoid of Imperial clothes, he slid his new black trousers up over his legs. The pants were loose and long on him; he wished the quartermaster had offered him a belt. As he pulled the Chiss tunic over his body, it too had sleeves that hung over his hands. He had to cuff the shirt to tie his shoes and fasten the pins on his collar. Worried the cuffed sleeves looked unprofessional, Eli uncuffed them once he was finished dressing.
As he rose to full height, Eli had the distinct impression he looked like a child playing soldier. It was then that he noticed every warrior in the room was taller than him. Even the female officers stood nearly a head above him. His whole face burned.
Making matters worse was the quartermaster’s decision to comment on the development. “Our apologies, Lieutenant. Mitth’raw’nuruodo did not think to send over your bodily measurements. You have made your point that you will commit to wearing our uniform with your whole chest. Until we have made the necessary alterations, you may change back into your other clothes.”
He had to strip again?! Eli opened his mouth to object. Opened it, then closed it once more. If this greeting were anything like Eli’s previous transfers, the next step would probably be a tour of the ship. It wasn’t practical for Eli to walk the ship in clothes that didn’t fit him. Besides, the whole crowd had already seen his underwear once. What damage would one more peek at his boxers do?
Once Eli was back in his Imperial uniform, he handed the Chiss clothes back to the quartermaster, who vowed to seek him out at the end of the day. Ar’alani turned her back to him before announcing, “I leave you in my senior captain’s care. We shall speak again soon, Lieutenant Eli'van'to.”
As Ar’alani left the hangar, the curtain closed on the scene she’d had Eli perform. Their audience, the Chiss warriors, fell out of formation. Some returned to their duties in other parts of the ship while a few turned to fighters docked nearby. They seemed to be performing maintenance checks, but Eli caught a flew reflections of red light bouncing back in his direction. As Eli suspected, the Chiss would be wary of him for some time yet.
Eli got one last look inside his transport ship before his new tour guide carted him away. “Worry not about your vessel. The admiral will likely choose to keep it. One never knows when a spacecraft from your region could aid a mission.”
His new tour guide grabbed him firmly on the arm, squeezing long fingers over his bicep. Eli flinched from the sudden contact. “I am Senior Captain Kiwu’tro’owmis. When we are not on duty, you may call me Wutroow.”
Eli deduced he was supposed to address Wutroow by her rank while on duty. “Yes ma’am, Senior Captain.”
Wutroow huffed musically as she released her grip on his arm. Was that a laugh? Eli wasn’t sure. He hadn’t heard Thrawn laugh at anything before. An amused hum was the furthest that man usually went. “You think you’re on duty now, Eli’van’to? No one has duty on their first day aboard. You have to get acquainted with the ship first.”
Now that was different from the Empire. On every ship Eli and Thrawn had been assigned to, they’d been expected to report for work on the bridge their first day. “I see. Will you help me get acquainted… Wutroow?”
The huff again. “Naturally. I will show you your sleeping quarters, your working area, the mess hall, the fitness dojos, the medbay, the emergency escape pods… all the important things for a new crewmember. Follow me.”
As he followed Wutroow out of the hangar bay and into the corridors, the first thing he noticed was how open they were. No side supports embedded in the walls at all, though Eli noticed some panels in the wall with hinges that swung outwards. Wutroow caught his eye and explained, “some halls have covershields we can hide behind in case of a hostile boarding. Chiss warriors can use them while firing at the enemy. I’m sure you see the logic in installing some next to the hangar.”
But unless the enemy knew such things were there, they weren’t likely to make use of the cover themselves. “That’s clever. The Empire has support beams in their ship hallways that work for that purpose.” Not that Eli had ever seen stormtroopers hide behind them, now that he thought about it.
The next thing Eli noticed on their way to his quarters were the lack of droids. He had grown so used to the whirring and squeaking of astromechs and MSE droids that the silence of their absence unsettled him. “Does the Chiss Ascendancy use androids, Wutroow?”
Wutroow turned to look at him, head tilted slightly in confusion. “No, we Chiss fight our own battles. We don’t build metal warriors to fight them for us.”
“Droids don’t have to be used for fighting. Where I’m from, we use them to wash clothes and clean the floors.”
“We wash our clothes and clean our floors too. Floor cleaning is a rotational duty among… how do you say,” Wutroow struggled for the word in Sy Bisti. “Warriors who did not go to the academy. Volunteers?”
“Enlisted warriors,” Eli supplied.
“Yes! Thank you. Floor cleaning is a duty that rotates by unit among the enlisted, and everyone is responsible for washing their own clothes.” She blinked at him innocently. “Do I need to teach you how to wash your clothes, Eli’van’to?”
The redness from before was back. Eli felt it from his ears to his neck. “I’ve also washed my own clothes before. I’m sure I can adapt to your ways if it is different.”
“I don’t see why it would be. How many ways can someone make a dirty uniform clean again?” Was that a rhetorical question? Did the Chiss have those? Eli felt like he didn’t know anything anymore. “I will have someone show you after you get your uniform back. Just to make sure you haven’t forgotten.”
Eli didn’t know what to say to that. Did Wutroow think he was an idiot? Would everyone aboard think humans were idiots if they saw him receiving instructions in laundry? He hoped there wasn’t anything complicated about the machines they used in place of droids.
Their first stop was Eli’s new sleeping quarters at the dead end of a hallway. He got his own suite, though “suite” may have been stretching the term. His room looked like they’d stuck a cot inside a storage closet. He had his cot, a trunk beneath it for his clothes, and a small side table crammed into the corner. They couldn’t take two steps in without their shins running into the side of the bedframe. There Eli deposited the few items he’d carried with him off his ship.
“Lieutenants don’t normally sleep alone, but you’re an unconventional addition to our crew. None of the other lieutenants were sure about sleeping with an alien in their room, so you get this space instead.” Wutroow explained. “There are a few other junior officers in this part of the ship, so you do have neighbors on one side. Ship protocol states that all warriors must sleep in their own beds during their sleeping shift. If you are caught in another person’s bed you will face disciplinary action.”
If the other Chiss were too creeped out by humans to share a room, what made Wutroow think one would sleep with him? Eli grimaced, then recovered. “Thank you, Wutroow. This will be plenty of space for me.”
“Did the Empire give you more?”
He shrugged. “A little bit more. But I was a higher ranking officer in the Empire, so this makes sense.” Eli didn’t want to be known for complaining. He didn’t want to call attention to himself in any more ways than being an ‘alien’ already did. Besides, he’d slept in cramped quarters before. His shared room at Royal Imperial hadn’t been much bigger than this, and he’d bunked with Thrawn! Having a space to be alone would probably end up helping Eli in the long run.
Wutroow took his attitude in stride, at least. “Good. Next I will show you your work area.”
This time, Eli focused on memorizing the route from his room to his workspace. As soon as tomorrow, he would probably be expected to navigate the ship by himself. It wouldn’t do his (or humans’) reputation any good if he got lost anywhere.
Again, Eli’s workspace was a small, lonely room. Unlike his sleeping quarters, this room had a large computer-looking device mounted on a desk with a chair attached to it. Eli walked over to the computer, looking for a way to turn it on. Wutroow stopped his hand in its tracks. “Your commander will show you how to begin your work on your first duty shift. We’re only here today so you know where this room is.”
“Do you know the type of work I will be doing, Wutroow?”
She shook her head. “Data analysis of a kind. I heard your commander will test you with datasets before giving you the real work we want you to do, but computing work isn’t my specialty.”
Data analysis, huh? That word meant different things to different people, especially in the mouths of people who didn’t specialize in it. Eli would just have to see what challenge faced him when it arrived. “Will my commander teach me how Chiss devices differ from Imperial ones as well?”
“He will teach you how to operate a Chiss-made computer, yes. I don’t think he knows how your Empire builds theirs.”
“That will be all I need.” Eli turned to the exit. He noticed there weren’t any other chairs or computers in this room. Was Eli deliberately being isolated from the rest of the crew?
Their stop in the mess hall immediately disproved the isolation theory. Eli confirmed he would be eating in the same room as his crewmates, even if he couldn’t force any to sit with him. It amazed him how similar mess halls were on any large ship. By this point, Eli appreciated any sense of familiarity he could find.
Next were the fitness rooms, large and well equipped with sparring mats and training weapons. There appeared to be a unit of warriors conducting a hand to hand combat drill inside, so Eli and Wutroow didn’t linger. Wutroow confirmed that after Eli’s health was examined by the ship’s chief medical officer, his physical fitness would be tested a few days after. Since Eli was not a Chiss, she wasn’t sure if he would be held to the same standards as the other Chiss warriors. As long as he could run and shoot in an emergency, Wutroow wasn’t sure what else the crew could expect from someone “his size.”
That last comment stung. Eli didn’t get the impression Wutroow was insulting him deliberately, but the idea that he was small and therefore weaker than everyone else slapped him across the face. Eli may not have been the fighter Thrawn was, but he’d never scored low on Imperial physical exams. He held his own in combat. He would train every day if it taught the Chiss not to underestimate him.
Eli stewed on this point all the way to the medbay, where Wutroow left Eli alone with an older female Chiss after a brief conversation in Cheunh. Eli guessed the markings on her uniform shoulders meant she was a medic of some kind. Her Sy Bisti was stiff and halting, like she hadn’t used the language in a long time. She ushered him into an examination room, then forced Eli onto a stretcher. “Time for health exam.”
His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Now?! They were going to conduct his physical now? With this strange woman? Eli didn’t even get a male doctor!
For the second time that day, Eli was forced out of his clothes. This doctor took it a step further by peeking underneath his boxers. Eli slapped her hand out of the way, then cursed under his breath. For all his vows not to appear weak, he didn’t want to be known as the “aggressive” alien either. Better to be coddled than seen as a threat to his crew's safety.
The medic made a note on her clipboard, then continued the exam. She poked and prodded him with various devices, even drawing a sample of his blood. As the exam continued, Eli did his best to disassociate from the moment. It was then he remembered how this procedure had gone for Thrawn.
It’d been their second day on Coruscant. The day after the two of them had meant the Emperor and learned they would be transferring to Royal Imperial. When Thrawn had been called to the academy’s medical wing for a physical exam, he’d asked Eli to accompany him. Because Eli had resented Thrawn for upending his life at the time, Eli had refused to come along. At the time, Thrawn had not pressed the issue. When he returned long after nightfall, Eli must have already been asleep.
This was what Thrawn’s life had been like at that moment. The man had been less than a week into his new life in the Empire, and he was alone in an exam room with a doctor just like this one. Months later, Thrawn had said he hadn’t understood everything the doctor said to him because the man only spoke Basic, but he’d learned from him the Empire had no records on Chiss physiology or anatomy. So they’d stripped him naked, taken blood, skin, and hair samples, and prodded every possible corner of his body for biological data.
Thrawn had justified their invasiveness by saying it was important the Empire knew how to treat him should he fall ill or injured, but even back then, their measures had struck Eli as extreme. Thrawn was a sentient being. Not this doctor’s test subject.
Eli should have been a better aide. Eli wished he had someone like Thrawn with him now, if only to explain what was happening to him.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the doctor let him have his clothes back, but it couldn’t have been night shift yet. “Good human.” The medic officer chirped. “I have your medicine data now. Chiss medicine will not make you die.”
“Great.” Eli groaned sarcastically. The medic officer shot him an inscrutable look, then left the room.
Wutroow returned to collect him a few minutes later. It shocked Eli how relieved he was to see her. “Did the exam go well, Eli’van’to? You took longer than Chiss do.”
“I’m healthy,” he promised a bit too quickly. “I’m just human, you know? Your medbay isn’t used to treating aliens, I take it.”
“No, they aren’t. If you get hurt, you’ll be our first alien patient.” Wutroow confirmed, then patted his arm for reassurance. Eli dodged her touch. She noticed his jumpiness, but may not have been sure what to attribute it to. “Don’t worry. I know our medics will do everything they’re capable of to give you the best possible treatment… if they ever had to do that. We want to make sure you’re as welcome and well cared for as any other member of the crew.”
“I believe you,” Eli lied. He’d never thought this much about the ship medbay in his life. Were these the same anxieties that Thrawn had experienced in the Empire? How had he coped with them so well?
The last step on his tour with Wutroow were the emergency escape pods. Necessary as it was to make sure every crew member knew emergency protocols, her vivid descriptions of airlock breaches or shipwide fires did nothing to bring down Eli’s anxiety levels. By the time she was done explaining, Eli could barely speak. The muscles in his neck and shoulders ached from constant tension. He was offered food, but ate little.
When Wutroow let him go back to his quarters, there was one person left between Eli and sleeping at night. The quartermaster had sent a lackey to take Eli’s measurements. That meant more touching. He wanted to scream, but kept it inside.
Eli stayed limp while the ensign measured him. At least this man had the decency to be quick about it. And Eli got to keep his clothes on. Small favors.
It wasn’t like judgment hadn’t existed in the Empire. Everywhere Eli went in the Empire, he had been judged for not just who he was, but where he was from. The Core Worlders at Royal Imperial, for example, had looked down on him for being Wild Space trash. Because of his experience with that, Eli had thought he knew what Thrawn went through as the only Chiss on their side of the galaxy.
He’d been wrong. Being a different species than everyone else was so much worse. Eli could keep other humans from judging him if he kept his accent hidden. He couldn’t hide the color of his skin. He couldn’t hide the fact that his eyes didn’t glow or that he had yet to learn a word of their language. He had a whole different biology than everyone else, and no one seemed to know how to accommodate that. Even if Eli believed every Chiss he’d interacted with had good intentions, he was still an outsider to them who constantly had to prove he belonged. One day in, and he was already exhausted from it.
All Eli wanted to do was hide. Hide in his quarters, hide in his office, and never interact with a crewperson outside of duty. Except he couldn’t even do that because he had to learn their starsforsaken language and culture.
Eli opened Thrawn’s journal again, praying for advice for how to move forward. But Thrawn had never one for direct instruction. His entries were full of lessons in strategy, each one woven together with heavy use of metaphor. And Eli already knew Thrawn’s strategies weren’t reflective of the Ascendancy’s as a whole. Any insight he could offer into Chiss language or culture was inferential at best.
So Eli put the journal away. He curled up on his cot in the fetal position and longed for the temporary release of sleep.
Senior Captain Kiwu’tro’owmis reported to Admiral Ar’alani in her office as soon as the human’s tour was over. “I think Mitth’raw’nuruodo's reports lied about humans enjoying physical contact more than we do. I made as many friendly gestures as I knew, and our new lieutenant rebuffed them.”
“It is his first day among our people. You are a senior officer to him,” Ar’alani mused. “Perhaps he is merely overwhelmed.”
“Are you saying I overwhelmed him?” Wutroow asked, concern creeping into her voice. “I thought you assigned me to his tour because you trusted me to be welcoming.”
“That is why I assigned you, Wutroow. I believe the situation itself was overwhelming for Lieutenant Eli’van’to.” Ar’alani gestured for her second in command to sit across from her. “Is he younger than Mitth’raw’nurodo was at his time of exile?”
Wutroow shrugged. “I don’t know how human aging works. He’s been a soldier for at least a decade, so… maybe a few years younger.”
Somehow the new lieutenant had seemed like a midager to her. Perhaps Ar’alani really was getting old. She never felt her age, just the youth of those around her. “We will have to find ways to make him feel welcome among us.”
The man was willing to don their uniform before dozens of witnesses. He had submitted to medical checks proving he carried no diseases able to harm the crew. If any warrior of the Ascendancy tried to make their newest addition feel lesser, Ar’alani would not tolerate it.
“I’ll keep trying to bond with him,” Wutroow promised. “I’ll see who else I can enlist to approach him at mealtimes as well. It may send the wrong impression for him to have a senior officer sit next to him. We may look like we’re keeping him away from the rest of the ship.”
“...See if Vah’nya would be open to approaching him.” Ar’alani suggested after some hesitation. “Her Second Sight may help her navigate this social situation. I’m afraid none of us know how to read human emotions. They seem so exaggerated, yet they're incomprehensible all the same.”
“I can add her to the list of names.” The corner of Wutroow’s lips tugged upwards. “Was that pun intentional, Admiral? ‘Navigate’ the social situation?”
Now it was Ar’alani’s turn to smile. “It was not. Leave it to you to find humor in everything.” They chatted a bit longer before Ar’alani dismissed her senior captain. It seemed every day she found a reason to be grateful Wutroow had been willing to remain her second in command for so long. Wutroow could have made commodore years ago if she’d wanted it. Ar’alani had offered to recommend her for the post, but Wutroow had declined, pushing Commodore Indaro forward as an alternative.
Ar’alani accepted Lieutenant Eli’van’to as a member of her crew, human and all. It was up to her to ensure the rest of the Steadfast did the same.