Last Known Trajectory

Chapter 1

"Bring up every star chart along Ezra's last known trajectory." ~Hera

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Thrawn stared at the blue lights shifting rapidly before him, or at least what he could see through the web of tentacles covering the front of the Chimaera. He turned his head, straining to see the working panels just behind him to his right, their lights blinking a warning about several system failures through the ship.

"Bridger, where are you taking us?" he tried tentatively.

"Far away..." Ezra struggled to answer.

"Away from Lothal?"

"Empire."

"Of course."

After the initial shock from being taken to Hyperspace by purrgils, Thrawn had attempted to reason with the young man into releasing him to no avail. This had actually been the first exchange since they were in such a precarious position. It had been several hours since then and Thrawn figured Ezra was running out of stamina with that blaster wound on his shoulder. He could not see him but he could hear Ezra's breathing becoming strained.

"Bridger, how long will you keep this up?"

"As long... as it takes."

"Is the rest of my crew safe?" He attempted another approach. Bridger was always mindful of others.

"I-... they-..." there was a moment of silence behind him, as if Ezra was making sure to have the right answer. "...escape pods..."

"Good." In such event, the crew would have surely assumed this area would have been destroyed by now and try to save their lives from this forsaken death trap. He could not blame them. It was the most logical course of action. No point on wasting lives.

The structure rumbled under the crushing pressure of the purrgils tentacles...

Something was up, something was changing. The tentacles around Thrawn loosened up slightly and he immediately took the chance to slip down and roll away from them. He reached for the gun he had dropped during the struggle and pointed at Bridger.

Ezra was barely holding himself together, both his hands raised up towards the creatures and sweating profusely... trembling. Clearly, he was feverish from his wound. He hadn't even noticed Thrawn escaping from his binds. His whole focus was on the purrgils. In that moment Thrawn saw how whatever strength Ezra had, finally ran out and the young Jedi fell to his knees panting and gasping. The Chiss sheathed his weapon as he heard the roar of the creatures... he didn't need to be Force Sensitive to identify it as a warning call. He hurried up around the control room -or what was left of it anyway- trying to retrieve relevant information from the consoles, but with the second urgent roar he knew there was no time left. He turned around to see Ezra Bridger slumped in the floor. Thrawn stared at him briefly, narrowing his glowing red eyes as he considered his options. After a few heartbeats, he finally approached the young man and pulled him up from his good shoulder.

Ezra said something unintelligible and didn't offer resistance... at first. When the bridge doors opened, the sound startled Ezra, turning to look at whoever was carrying him.

"NO! n-no...!" he mumbled in alarm and tried in vain to step away from Thrawn.

"Bridger, we are heading to the remaining escape pods. Will I have to leave you here to die?" It was not a threat, it was an honest question and Ezra was awake enough to comprehend this.

"Ok..." he calmed down and started to drift back into unconsciousness. Thrawn hurried to the nearest working escape pod practically dragging Bridger along.