Through Imperial Eyes

Chapter 13

"Commander Kimmund cannot be blamed for his actions." the Grand Admiral said. "On the contrary, his actions and those of his stormtroopers were exemplary."

"Which does not change the fact that they ruined the entire plan." Darth Vader countered.

The Dark Lord and Admiral Thrawn were arguing, again. (Y/N) was just about to end her shift in the command center when the news broke that more than a dozen alien prisoners had attempted to escape down in the landing bay. The Grysks had been put into custody in some of the pilots' quarters instead of down in the brig, and apparently Vader and Thrawn had meant the whole thing to happen. Unfortunately, a small group of stormtroopers had gotten in the way and four of them were accidently killed trying to stop them from stealing an imperial ship.

According to Kimmund's report of the whole incident, there would have been even more deaths if that lurking Noghri, Rukh, had not intervened and helped them eliminate the threat. Just like the majority of the crew aboard the Chimaera, (Y/N) felt uneasy around the short grey alien. He had a very annoying habit of snooping around the ship using his personal cloaking device and also seemed to enjoy startling people on purpose. He had even been found multiple times trying to sneak into the Darkhawk, which was the ship Lord Vader used to travel with his First Legion.

Considering his involvement in the recent events, the lieutenant was very surprised to see him appear right in front of her as she was finally making her way back to her cabin to rest.

"Rukh! Would you please stop doing that!" She exclaimed, visibly irritated.

While she regained her composure, he slowly made his way around her, giving her a strange look. She let out an outraged gasp when he suddenly took a long whiff at her.

"What the...! Leave me alone!" she yelped again, moving away from him.

"I was walking around when I caught your scent in the hallway." he said as if it explained anything.

"And why do you care about my scent?" she asked, becoming more and more annoyed.

"You don't smell like the rest of the humans." He answered, making his way back in front of her after taking another inhale in her direction. "I recognize most of it, but it's altered by something else."

(Y/N)'s face reddened when she understood what he meant. She tried to dismiss him, but he ignored her with a crooked smile.

"Does he know?" he simply asked in his usual guttural voice.

"No, he doesn't. And you better not tell him anything!" She quickly threatened him.

"As you wish. I have other matters to attend to." Rukh then said, turning around to walk down the corridor before disappearing behind the corner.

(Y/N) finally made her way back to her cabin and quickly hopped in the shower. Letting the hot water relax her tensed muscles, she let her emotions resurface and began to cry silently. What the Noghri just discovered was nothing new to her. According to her calculations, she was more than three months into her pregnancy by now.

She had not yet found the courage to tell Thrawn about it. The first reason was because she knew he had other important matters to take care of and she didn't want him to worry about her on top of everything. The second was because she wasn't sure he would be happy about it. Spending time together and getting to know each other over the last few months was one thing, but there was a lot more involved since the moment she had realized her condition.

She figured she had some time before being forced to give him the news, but it was really starting to run out. Rukh had literally smelled it, and it wouldn't be long before the Grand Admiral would see it too. She was lucky that her belly had grown very little, but knowing how observant he was, he would probably notice the change soon. Hiding her nausea had been the hardest part, but one of the perks of living in separate quarters and in general of her crewmates being absorbed by their own work was that it made it difficult to keep track of everyone.

After her shower, she felt completely exhausted and collapsed in her bed. She had a hard time falling asleep that night, her thoughts keeping her from finding any peace. When she finally did, her dreams were filled with strange creatures she had never seen.