DARK FORCES (Thrawn x Reader)

3. Advantages

Your house. Your home. Your temple.

You haven't seen that room in months. It smells as usual, you feel complete here. You don't want to get out of your bed. You fear that by the time you return it will magically transform into the academy one. You didn't remember how soft your bed was compared to that stone you slept on. You hear your mother's voice again. You have to get up because your paradise is collapsing. The two weeks of vacation have flown by in front of you. You don't want to leave. It's like you came home yesterday. You have hardly been able to enjoy it as you would like. The ISB headquarters is too far from here. You sigh, it's the bad thing about the ship factory. They need extensions of many kilometers to be able to build the ships.

You also haven't seen Fer as much as you would like. She has only been able to come one day. She stayed to sleep, you talked a bit about life and when you realized it it was time for her to go. You don't know why, but you didn't tell her about your encounter with Grand Admiral Thrawn and Moff Tarkin. You didn't want to feel that strange feeling of rage that the alien produced in you again. You force yourself to stretch, you fight with the sheets, and you get up. You've been dressed sine an hour ago, but you couldn't help but be tempted to enjoy your bed a little more. The destinations must have already arrived, and with them if you have been given an official apartment. If you had been destined to a ship, you would sleep there, so you wouldn't have to worry about that. At least, thanks to your grades, you know that you will be given the place you selected. But you are always calmer when you see it with your own eyes. You put on your ISB uniform boots. There is no point wasting time changing your clothes several times today when at one-five-oh-five you must be in the center of Coruscant catching a transport. You go down the stairs, two steps at one time. You sit at the dining room table next to your brother. Owen is extremely quiet.

"The results have arrived half an hour ago" your mother warns you with a smile and takes your hand as a sign of support.

Your father is staring at his datapad. You know he hasn't been able to open them yet. He looks at you, asking for permission. He does not need it, you yourself authorized the academy to sent it to him. You nod anyway. He touches somewhere in the lower half of the screen.

"Graduate Assari, agent number 026, Coruscant headquarters destination" your father says trying to hold back tears of pride.

You rise from the chair with a leap of excitement. You hug Owen, who finally smiles. Now you have the destination you wanted and you smile when you finally know your operational number. You are surprised that they gave you the twenty-six, although the numbers are assigned as they become free, starting from the lowest. You hug your parents too.

"You have been assigned an apartment in the northern section of the Senators' Tower" says your father reading below.

You are in a state of shock for a few moments. It is clear that by staying on Coruscant you were going to need an apartment in the center. But they usually grant those around the senators' tower. The majority of those who get these luxury apartments are the great naval officers. As they are almost always on board, they seek to keep them happy when they are on land.

"So much effort has paid off" your mother affirms giving you a kiss on the forehead.

All your dreams seem to be fulfilled today.

"I can't help but find it strange that they gave me the number 026" you say with a frown. You mentally aim to contact Fer to ask her about hers.

"Why do you say that?" Owen asks "Operational numbers are assigned as they become free. Maybe the person who had the twenty-six just died in a mission. Don't do the same"

You hit his arm and he laughs.

"I say it because twenty-six is my lucky number" you remind them with a smile without being able to stop looking at the datapad "The assembly number of the first ship I flew. The day I entered the academy. The number of medals that I have won there. And also I always try that everything that depends of my choice has the number 26. Not because it is my favorite, but because it brings me good luck.

They smile, they know how much you like that number and what it has meant to you. But they don't think they gave it to you for something, but you think it's no coincidence.

"Ask Al when you see him" you say to your brother.

He grabs your cheeks with his hands and pinches you. You take them off with a slap. Big brother annoying stuff.

"Now that you're at the ISB you may see him before me" Owen says with a shrug.

You don't have much time to talk about anything else. Your father brings your food and puts it in front of you. You are nervous and not hungry, but if you do not eat your mother will probably forget what she loves you and will kill you. You know how difficult it was for them when you went back to the academy. And now, you go to work. Although at least they can come to see you more often in your new apartment. Well, you know they don't pay all the cost. You still have to pay rent. You finish eating and your father helps you with your luggage. You know that the first two weeks of adaptation you must sleep in the headquarters. So you take the essentials to stay entertained and hygiene items and not much more.

A ship lands on the paved platform a few meters from the entrance to the house. Your father's new personal ship is still in development, and he prefers to hire a shuttle service in the meantime. He wouldn't leave any of his special ships and as he says "historical" out here. The pilot lowers the ramp. Your father helps you put your luggage inside. He gives you a hug just like your mother and your brother. You whisper "see you soon" and head to the pilot area to take your seat for the trip. When it takes off you are attacked by that feeling of nostalgia that you felt weeks before. In the end, you leave a great stage of your life to start a new one. The pilot is nice and he gives you conversation during the whole trip. He congratulates you on joining the ISB and you thank him. The journey becomes shorter than you would like. You needed time to mentalize what is going to happen. When you enter the facility, there is no going back. The pilot lands in dock thirteen as indicated by the ship communicator. The pilot kindly helps you carry your luggage. A droid receives your luggage and tells you in binary to follow him. You say goodbye to the pilot and wish him good luck in life. Although perhaps that luck will be needed by you soon. The droid is going pretty fast. You wonder if he has the correct configuration required by the protocol. But maybe you are the one who is too nervous to walk faster. You arrive at a kind of reception where several of those who were your companions are also waiting to enter. You have a pleasant and happy chat until they call one of you. The boy who stays talking to you, Greish, seems like jelly from how nervous he is. You try to cheer him up with words of support. He is a good student and he will be a great member of the ISB, he has nothing to worry about. You see that nobody callsl you, and you start to wonder if they have already said your name before you arrived. It is not the first time that it happens to you. You approach the counter with a big smile.

"Number 026" you say wanting to contain the emotion that having your personal code produces you.

The girl kindly looks at the listing.

"Oh yeah, 026, Assari right?" The girl asks looking at a paper. You nod, still being completely excited. "Well, you haven't received the notification yet? With so many new members it usually takes a while to get it into the system ..."

She frowns. You hope she is not trying to say that they were expecting you a day later. You know colleagues who join throughout this week. You almost see yourself calling your father and telling him that your incorporation date has been changed.

"You have been appointed to the Seventh fleet, the flagship Chimera. Grand Moff Tarkin has authorized it in person at oh-eight-oh-five" She says smiling.

For anyone else it would be a great promotion. A golden opportunity. But your world has collapsed. You were so excited. You had tried so hard to get the best grades. You already had your dream place and it has been unfairly taken from you. Tarkin has come here in person just to get what he wanted, for you to serve in one of the Emperor's fleets. But you are sure that that blue alien tried to dissuade him that it was not worth it. You wish he had convinced him.

A woman in a blue uniform, with a four-tile badge, approaches you. She introduces herself, although you make no effort to remember her name. She tells you that you must follow her to catch a shuttle along with other young people who join the Chimaera. The droid keeps following you. You arrive at dock two, one of the most preferred. Some stormtroopers carry your luggage. The woman tells you to follow her inside. From the inside you can see how the ramp rises slowly. You take one last look at the facilities. Your dream has, officially, faded. You shouldn't have played with fire when solving the holtable problem. Or maybe having gone there that day and meeting Tarkin and the Grand Admiral. That way you would still be at ISB headquarters and not flying towards a Star Destroyer. Which seems, from the communications the pilot receives, that it is currently in orbit over Coruscant. Jumping through the atmosphere always gives you a strange feeling. Something that cannot be explained and that goes beyond muscular or psychological discomfort. It lasts only a second. For some of your colleagues it seems to cause rather an upset stomach. You hope they don't vomit. The pilot reports that you are approaching your destination and that you have been granted permission to land. Sure enough, the shuttle lands in the hangar two minutes later. When the door opens, you all hold your breath. You have never been on a destroyer. And even though you don't want to be there, you can't deny the majesty of it. You are greeted by two lieutenants escorted by a few stormtroopers. You notice the anxiety that begins to form among your companions. They are not used to seeing Stormtroopers. You, on the other hand, have seen them many times in your family's factory. All high command must be escorted in public.

"Welcome to your new home" the male officer says.

They all seem to relax a bit and are happier. But you, you are no happy at all, this is absolutely not something to consider home. They tell all of you to leave the shuttle. The droids will take care of carrying your luggage to your respective rooms. You follow the lieutenants into the corridor leading from the dock. They take you through the corridors briefly explaining the essentials. Where the rooms are, where you can find the cafeteria and how you can find the rest of the sites using both visual and sound signals, and the datapads. The new datapad weighs the same as the other one, but is larger. What you expected, you miss the one from the academy and you just got this one. They leave you free to familiarize yourself with the environment. Everyone seems excited. However, with the card in your hand, you leave the group to go find your room. You walk calmly, it is not like you are going to reach some destination. That's a Star Destroyer, it's always in space. You don't mind Stormtroopers, but there are too many of them going in squads around. You don't understand why they need to patrol so much. The worst that can happen is that someone makes a mistake and tries to open someone else's room accidentally.

You are close to yours. The number three-five-one. You turn to the right knowing that your room must be there. You are about to snort in outrage at entering your new room when you see a mat of blonde hair advancing towards you down the hall. You don't have time to react. Your legs have already started running towards the man you've known since you were a child.

"Al" you yell excited.

He squeezes you in a big hug. You have missed him, he has been a great support in your life. You are not afraid of being scolded. Only stormtroopers usually patrol in the lower officer's room sections. And Alexsandr Kallus, he is commander of the ISB, they are not going to tell him anything.

"Can you believe that Tarkin himself made my transfer?" You ask even without believing it yet.

He scratches the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Well..actually... I already knew. Well, he told me this morning when he asked me to accompany him to Coruscant headquarters to make it official" he says with an innocent smile trying to get rid of the possibility of you throwing him into the void "He knows I know your brother. And if this compensates for something...I have asked him to at least grant you the number 026, I know that it is your lucky number and it is one of those that were in reserve. You are just five after mine "

So it was him. Well, you can't blame him for being a participant in your transfer. His job is to follow orders. And even though you're not happy to be there, you're glad he dealt with Tarkin to have you assigned to the 026. Just for the sake that he knew it would make you happy. That leads you to remember a conversation that you would like to have.

"Well, I won't kill you today. Thanks for 026" you say honestly making him smile. "I would like to change the subject anyway" you say getting a little closer to him. You notice how his Adam's apple moves when he swallow. You are not afraid anymore "Do you remember all those jokes we made to each other about what would happen when I finished the academy?

You can't put aside the fact that Alexsandr is fifteen years older than you. And you were a cadet until recently. Although of course they could have been just jokes. One way you both had of making Owen uncomfortable. But something deep inside you has always told you that these were not jokes. But something that both of you wanted to bring to reality and could not. So you wait for the answer from him. He nods.

"And?" You inquire, you need some more information.

He smiles slightly sideways. Looks around a little bit. The shape of his beard frames his face. He takes a step forward as well. He is perhaps too close to stop being a normal conversation. But far enough away that the Stormtroopers don't think something weird is going on.

"That weren't jokes, we both know that" Kallus says firmly.

He is tall, very tall. He is the tallest person you have ever met. He is close to two metres. And right now you hate that his face is so far away from you. Without taking your eyes off him, you walk backwards. He follows you until you stand in front of your bedroom door. You pass the card through the scanner, it is an invitation. You lick your lips. You are ready to tell him to follow you when a voice resounds with joy inside of the room.

"Fer?" both of you ask in unison.

You certainly didn't expect to find your friend lurking in your bedroom. She walks towards you with a smile and she hugs you. You haven't seen her in a week, but you thought it was going to be more time till you see her again.

"I couldn't believe you were here when Esuo told me a few hours ago" your friend says excited to have you close "I thought my life couldn't get any better when I saw that I was destined for the same destroyer as Esuo. And now I see you here and everything is wonderful"

You feel that she is going to cry so you hold her even tighter in your arms. You don't want to ruin the moment. She has had a worse time than you having to say goodbye to her parents. They work all day, she already had difficulty spending time with them, but now even more. You know that you and Esuo are her support. You don't want her to have a bad time. And you are also happy to see her. Being here might not be that bad, with Kallus and Fer.

"I'll leave you alone" The Commander says with a smile "We can meet in the canteen for dinner. I'm always happy to see you both"

You say goodbye to him and he leaves the room. The door closes behind him. You can't help feeling somewhat frustrated. Finally, something you had been waiting for a long time was going to happen. Fer takes a seat on your bed and watches you place your personal items. The droid was pretty quick to get your luggage here. Fer says that your stuff was already there when Esuo opened the door for her to wait here. Esuo is just a lieutenant, so he asked a friend of his from the maintenance bay for a favor. The truth is that the young boy does many things for his girlfriend.

"I have to say it looked like something was going to happen here" She says with a malicious smirk "Between you and thirty-four year (really old)men Alexsandr Kallus, to be exact"

She even tells him that he is old to his face. So that is not a problem. You roll your eyes. You don't want to have this conversation with her. You hoped she hadn't noticed. Unfortunately, she has been present many of those times when you exchanged glances of secret desire.

"Well, don't tell me anything" your friend says giving you some respite "But when it happens. And it will happen. I want to know. And sorry for interrupt"

You nod. Accessing her conditions is the best option for her to leave you alone. You know her very well and she can be very persuasive. She decides to get up to help you put your things in their places. You finish soon. Since you were supposed to join Coruscant headquarters, your parents could bring you more things at any time. But now you are thousands of miles from your planet. In the case they did not make a jump to hyperspace and you are already in another sector. The little holographic communicator on the table turns on.

"I am Commodore Faro, this is a statement for all new members of the ISB" The hologram says with a neutral voice "You must report to the bridge to meet your superiors. Immediately"

The light turns off.

"Thank goodness I was here" Fer says with a grimace "Because I would never carry the communicator with me. It is annoying in my pocket and I wouldn't have seen the message"

You give her a little slap on the arm for complaining. You grab your room card and communicator and slip them into your pocket. You also grab your datapad. Fer didn't bother to take hers. She is a bit of a mess for this kind of things. You leave the room. The door is closed. You walk at a fast pace towards the main corridor to better relocate yourself. Fortunately, the bridge is usually the easiest place to find in a ship. When you get to the next corridor you meet your colleagues. All of you walk the road together since there. You go up a flight of stairs and when you get to the top you take the turbolifts. You arrive at the top and an officer guides you to the doors that lead to the Chimaera bridge. They grant you access. When you enter you see that it is very large. It is divided into two floors. The officers leave their jobs to greet you. They go up some ladder to place themselves on the same level as you. The officers greet you with kindness. Commodore Faro must not be very old despite her rank. She explains things to all of you about how the bridge works. You all listen carefully. You are eight new members of the ISB. Your superiors strive to be extremely nice to you. Not only the Commodore, but some lieutenants and technicians who are at her side.

"So you are the one running the ship?" Eria asks.

She is a little bit older than you. She entered the academy later than usual. She has graduated this year with you. She is red-haired, short, reserved, but very cheerful. You have had many conversations with her at the Academy. Commodore Faro seems ready to respond willingly, but a voice behind you interrupts her.

"Although Commodore Faro has the aptitude for it" the voice is deep, hard, masculine. He is getting closer to her, surrounding to be in front of you. He did not came alone, Kallus accompanies him "I lead the Chimera. I am Grand Admiral Thrawn"

It just can't be read. The alien AGAIN. This must be a joke of destiny, you think. Not only does Tarkin change your destination place at the last minute, but he puts you on the ship of this being that you clearly can't stand. Thrawn speaks a few words to the rest of your companions. When he has finished the brief presentation the officers ask you to retire. Kallus instead asks only you to stay. He guides you to the Grand Admiral.

"Sir, I wanted to introduce you to Inspector Assari" Kallus says kindly "The great Moff Tarkin has been the one who has included her in the Chimaera program"

You swallow so hard it hurts. You hope they don't say that in front of anyone else. You don't want to stand out. You want peace of mind. Since you've been assigned to this damn ship. At least you hope to have a quiet life.

"Thank you Commander, but Inspector Assari and I already know each other" the Grand Admiral says. His voice pretends to sound neutral, but you notice the hint of hidden malice "Tarkin wanted you to join one of the twelve fleets. And I have suggested that he should transfer you to mine. To my ship, specifically"

Now you are really angry. So he is the cause of your misfortunes. You mentally assess how serious it would be to kill a Grand Admiral. Unfortunately it would be very serious.

"Welcome, Agent Assari. You are dismissed" the blue man says with the intention of leaving the conversation.

He is about to turn around when you speak to stop him.

"I'm just an inspector, sir" you say, trying to correct him with all respect.

He raises an eyebrow and places his arms behind his back.

"Since today you are an agent, you were not useful to me with such a low rank. And the last time you already showed that your intellect can be of great help" He says with the look of a predator. With that red eyes, a really dangerous one "Unless your intention was another one Insult me, indirectly, perhaps?"

The question is clear. You had no doubt that someone of his intellect would immediately discover that it was some kind of attack to him. A way to get revenge for how he had insulted you. Both of you know that, but you can't admit it.

"Of course not sir. My sole purpose is to help the Empire" you say in a neutral voice.

He seems satisfied with your answer so he leaves the conversation and heads to his command position. You and Kallus are leaving the bridge. He is as surprised as you are. When you are far enough away he turns to look at you.

"Few times in my life I have seen such a fast promotion" Alexsandr says confused.

He is not angry or upset. And he could, he has earned his position as commander with over fifteen years of work. But no, he is just incredibly surprised. You get into the turbolifts. Neither of you speaks the rest of the way. He walks you to your room. You look up at him and then at the door, but he denies.

"I have two reports to do for Colonel Yularen" he excuses himself in a calm voice. Although he would rather be with you in that room. He has something really clear. If something is going to happen, it will take long "Besides, I suppose he will ask me about you too. I'll bring you your new badge when I find out about anything else"

He says goodbye and hurries down the hall. You sigh as you swipe the card through the door scanner. You enter your room and throw yourself onto your bed while you watch the door close. You miss your bed, your home, and Coruscant. You'd rather be back in the academy. You do not understand anything. You don't understand what you're doing here, you don't understand why you. You don't want to be on this ship. And besides, you just got promoted to agent on your first day on the job. You don't owe any explanations to the rest of your coworkers, but you can't avoid Fer's questions.

You stretch your arms above your head. You should pick up the holo-communicator and call your parents to explain the situation. If you're still in orbit around Coruscant, of course. But you don't have the strength to do it. You don't want to have to explain a promotion that you don't even understand. And also, you don't want to see how happy they are going to be because you are there. You adore them and you want them to be happy. But seeing how they support Tarkin and the Grand Admiral's decision will not help your mood.

"A good cadet must learn to accept leadership and subordination at the same level. Always with his head held high, without questioning anything"

That phrase was repeated almost every day at the Academy. You know they are right. If things are this way now, regretting them makes no sense. You have been given the title of Agent and it is an opportunity that you should take advantage of.

"If Thrawn wants me to work for him, I'll work for him" you say out loud.

A smile escapes from your lips when you pronounce only his name. This is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity. It is an advantage that you know you should use for something good.