Thrawn Chimaera : Galactic Civil War

Chapter Twelve

It had been a full two weeks since Thrawn had "disappeared". Ever since the meeting about the Western Reaches, he had stationed the Fleet on Lothal, and left for a special mission: or so Commodore Faro told the bridge crew next day, after the morning meeting.

He had actually met Ziinuuvitas before departing the night before, and during the most inopportune moment:

She had just taken a water-shower because of his comment regarding the smell of scorched metal from blaster fire lingering on her hair.

Not that she cared if he thought she stank of course, but it made her question what else he could smell: like, maybe he could identify specific rebellion fragrances? He did mention her malfunctioning hyperdrive that she had indeed fixed after all...

So Ziinuuvitas washed her hair thoroughly with real, liquid shampoo and real soap for the body. Not the dry stuff for sonic shower. And while at it, she allowed herself to get lost in the sensation of water, even if the products were just the standard fragrance from the imperial military grade stock provided to each room; she couldn't remember last time she had a shower with water, and Thrawn's senses aside, it crossed her mind that maybe that wasn't so wrong of her...

Maybe, like many other little things she was starting to allow herself to indulge in, a water shower here and there wouldn't hurt. It's not like depriving herself from them would help the Rebellion anyway. Yes, no one of her crew and most Rebel Cells, wound have those luxuries and so she felt bad: it was enough to feel like a traitor and those comforts were a guilt-trap for her... but she had asked for the mission to end and they only made it worse for her, the high-ups. So maybe she could, just sometimes...

Allow myself...

She sighed, feeling the water cascading down her hair.

Her hair was very long now, and the extremities very dry from all those sonic-shower's products, so the water felt like paradise. She leaned over and rested her forehead on the tiles of the wall, the damp black hair like a blanket of strings over her back, shoulders, and also framing her face.

They'll not let me withdraw from here until I give them everything... They'll keep saying it's not enough. It can never be enough when it comes to Thrawn, no amount of intelligence provided will ever be enough. Not unless you can read it.

That's why I should be there. They can look at everything I give them for years and still they won't be able to win. But I could. I understand how he works, or at least... I understand him maybe better than most because... we are not that different when stripped off the different colours of the uniform.

She sighed again and decided to wash her body. It had been 7 days from the due date of injecting a stim and it was showing on her body. Whatever it was that Dr Bekk gave her she could never understand, but his treatment worked without fail as long as she took them

Now, her skin was... Horrible would be a kind word. It was as if the colour had lost all the saturation, and the undertone was that of her veins, a pale blue that looked grey with the skin covering it. It was still subtle, but starting to be noticeable. Like her lips, that were darker and darker as if she was hypothermic. Ziinuuvitas could see the veins of her chest like a leafless tree, one that grew from the heart and expanded. The arms were the same, and her back too she could tell from glancing.

It was time to take an injection. She could feel it in her body, the occasional droning sound from within, muting all the rest around as if she could suddenly hear all the blood flowing through the head; she felt light-headed, as if there was too much oxygen flowing in the ship; and she felt the occasional little nausea from the mix of the bright lights and the smells- the cantina was off-limits of course.