Perils of Peridea

Chapter 9 - New Lives

Perils of Peridea
Chapter 9
New Lives

Thrawn sat in the damaged star destroyer. Tattered and barren like a corpse, the air as still and lifeless like in a tomb. It was silent, he thought he would've enjoyed the quiet but the silence felt unnatural and hung in the air, it annoyed him like a loud scream. Perhaps that was why? He was hearing no loud voice from his former roommate. He sat slightly hunched, resting his chin on his furled fingers in thought. He glanced over at the communication system he had worked so hard to repair. He had sent his successful distress call to his home world, with the weakness of the signal and the distance it must've traveled, it took a week in total for it to get there and to receive their reply. And unfortunately for him, their response was rejection. They were not going to send a rescue for him. He was notably upset at first, his rage apparent on the damaged panels, one of which had a chair thrown thru the middle of it on the other side of the room. After considering their reasoning tho it only hurt him more than angered him. He had given up everything and made countless sacrifices for the emperor, and his own kind did not share his view. Even after explaining that he had given up on returning to the empire and now saw to serve against them, they still denied his request, they had enough of their own problems, no thanks to him, not that he had ever bothered to keep up to date or keep in touch with anyone. That was his own mistake at what he thought to prioritize, and now he was paying for it.

Now without Ezra he felt even more alone. He began to ponder alternatives on who to contact. He would have to compile a list, think deeply and analyze the archives of his mind. Who else wanted revenge on the empire that he had not already betrayed himself? The rebels were out, even if he returned with Ezra to vouch for him, he had made mortal enemies of the rebellion and would possibly suffer a fate worse than this exile. He was running out of options. Perhaps he could begin to send his signal out to others who he knew in his previous lives, maybe there was somebody, anyone else out there? He didn't know exact signatures but he had a generalized area of locations. He may even get lucky and run into somebody new he could use? All things considered at this moment, he still could not shake his thoughts from Ezra. He tried to do what little research he could now that he knew what planet they were on. He was still working on fixing the guidance and location and navigation systems. Mechanics was never a strong talent of his, which is why he had hoped to use Ezra, but now it was too late. He had offered Ezra to come gather whatever things he was using to take with him, in a last ditch effort to convince him to stay, but if not, his items were of no use to him, and he could say that he hadn't sent Ezra off to his death, he would have given him some basic supplies. He didn't even bother to consider why he even cared at this point anymore, he was just tired, way too tired.

Meanwhile Ezra was having fun meeting the rest of the Noti, his new traveling companions, already proving to be nicer and way more fun than his previous one. Ezra was laughing while playing with all the young Noti, they climbed on him and ran around him and Ezra would pretend to fly them around in his arms or toss them into the air while they let out thrilled cries of joy. The other Noti all watched their children play with peaceful smiles on their faces, obviously very pleased to have somebody like this be joining their tribe. Suddenly all the children let out a cry and jumped on Ezra, he fell back feigning defeat as they began to tickle attack him.

"Ahh no I give up, you've beaten me hahaha, you beat me!" Ezra laughed as he rolled around, pretending to be dying in pain.

"Alright young ones, that's quite enough." The leader chuckled as he approached the pile. "Back to your parents, let me speak with our new friend."

"Awww...." The kids all shuffled away sadly.

"Don't worry, there's plenty of time to play later." Ezra sat up to face the elder who jumped onto a tree stump to be at his eye level. "I wish I knew what to call you."