HTTYD-Star Wars: ECLIPSE

Part 9

244CORE Part 3

"I have a bad feeling about this." Tris repeated as he watched Navida pull her brown cloak around herself. They had safely docked at 244Core and were busy refueling. Now all that was left were the supplies.

"You have a bad feeling about everything." Navida deadpanned. "I'll just be gone for a little while so relax." She said, patting her side where she had stowed a blaster, and then held out her hand. "Give me the pieces you need. I'll see what I can do." Tris sighed but handed over the small lightsaber pieces that had been damaged.

C1 chirped happily as he got to accompany Navida. The Lothcat, surprisingly, had warmed up to Thrawn and was currently lying on his lap while being petted. Once Navida had left Thrawn spoke up "You know, these creatures caused me various amounts of trouble on Lothal yet they are surprisingly docile." In response the Lothcat let out a very satisfying purr while flicking his ears and showing his teeth during a yawn.

Tris cocked his head slightly as he observed the situation. It was rather funny seeing the severe blue alien simply sit down and pet a fuzzy animal. An animal he suspected was slightly more in tune with the Force than normal. Wild animals, especially those captured by smugglers, were not known to be so docile around new people. "If I may inquire, who exactly are you?" Thrawn suddenly asked, catching Tris off guard. The clone raised a brow but said nothing still. "The woman and you act like simple travelers but you are so much more than that." Thrawn continues unperturbed by the silence. "I know that your friend doesn't trust me. So the only logical reason why you stayed behind was to keep an eye on me."

"Well there is no reason to deny that fact." Tris stated bluntly as he gripped the armrest, ready to counter anything Thrawn might have planned.

"I mean you no harm, rest assured. You saved my life and I do owe you. I was merely making an observation." Thrawn said as he sat opposite to the clone and observed him.

"An observation......." Tris mumbled.

"Yes, wouldn't you find it odd that a man of smaller stature is tasked with keeping an eye on me, someone who is significantly larger, and has undergone hand to hand combat training." At this point Thrawn stopped petting the Lothcat and laced his fingers together. The Lothcat gave a small whine and nudged him slightly with its head. "Returning to my observation, there can only be two choices; one, you did not think it through that I might overpower you or two, you know exactly what I am capable of but you don't see me as much of a threat, which means that there is more to you than meets the eye."

"You forgot that there is a third option." The clone smirked. Thrawn's red eyes focused on him and he raised a brow as if asking to explain. "You don't want to get the pilot of this ship angry and have her dump you on a planetoid."

Thrawn's other eyebrow crept up as well. "Well, that is a valid point." He agreed. "I also do not wish to be left stranded on a planetoid."

Tris was about to add something when he saw the Lothcat get up and stiffen. Its fluffy tail bristling as it growled at the still closed ship door. "Well they certainly didn't waste time." Thrawn mused as he was about to stand up to face their incoming intruders.

"You can sit down." Tris advised him. Thrawn's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the lanky man still sitting in his seat, his back to the airlock.

"Would it not be prudent that we take these bounty hunters by surprise?" Thrawn asked as he hesitantly sat back down.

"Oh, they'll be surprised." Tris gave Thrawn a wicked smirk that made the Chiss slightly apprehensive. "But I don't want Navida to get angry at a damaged door so I'll finish this quickly." he mumbled while flicking his wrist. Tris used the Force to initiate the opening mechanisms of the airlock. Four masked figures were standing dumbly on the other side, one had crouched to deal with the external airlock controls. The bounty hunters weren't in shock for long though. They charged in a few seconds after the doors whooshed open, their blasters trained on Thrawn and Tris who merely gave them a lazy glance.