grandadmiralartcritic | Force Awakens AU-verse

There's never enough time to prepare for a war you didn't (quite) know was coming. But given Milliways tends to stop time while a person is in it, Thrawn has taken his datapad full of files, after action reports, and star maps, and made his way into the bar proper.

And given that it is unwise to appear as if one is hiding, he chooses to occupy a table right at the heart of this multiversal cantina.

Caf is welcome, but food is most definitely secondary to absorbing as much information as he can.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

for_everyone

Hera enters the bar through the back door.

She doesn't fail to notice Thrawn, but one could believe she had. She never blinks to him, and briefly, her eyes are wide, and unfocused, as though she were lost in her thoughts. This snaps away the moment she reaches the Bar. Hera looks down to it, and orders caf.

And then she turns, and looks straight to Thrawn.

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

Thrawn cannot fail to notice Hera's arrival. She, along with a few others, is a face he almost expects to see, on days he comes into Milliways.

It's . . . let's say 'safest'.

He feels her gaze on him, once she's finished whatever business she has with Bar. He gives it a minute, then looks up from his datapad, expression shifting only enough for one raised eyebrow.

If she'd prefer he went back to pretending not to notice her, he's willing.

From:

for_everyone

She makes no effort to avoid him any longer. Hera picks up her caf, and approaches his table.

"You've started reading."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

He inclines his head very slightly, moving his own caf out of the way to give Hera more space.

Should she care to use it.

"I have. The civilized galaxy, as ever, seems as if it might be very short on time."

From:

for_everyone

Hera watches him move the cup, and then takes a seat across from him.

"I don't know about 'civilized,'" she says.

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"Perhaps I lack the appropriate Basic term, even after all this time."

He sets down the datapad, at least momentarily.

"Knowingly inhabited? Perhaps that is more accurate, but it's a clumsy phrase."

From:

for_everyone

Hera glances away again.

"The Empire used to use that word to separate itself from the 'primitive' worlds."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"Ah."

That does make sense. Perhaps he ought to have considered that before speaking.

"Does this First Order do much the same?"

So far his documentation does not say, and that -- would be a useful thing to know.

From:

for_everyone

"Their view of non-humans isn't very different."

Despite that the little that was known about the First Order's leader suggested he wasn't human himself.

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"Not entirely unexpected."

Thrawn doesn't even have the grace to sound weary.

"Is there a timeline for our deployment, yet?"

From:

for_everyone

"As soon as possible."

Hera picks up her caf, taking a small sip from it, and then looking back to it. "Or as soon as they figure out how they're comfortable..."

She takes a minute to search for another word, but - "deploying you."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"Mmm."

He picks up his own caf, swallows, then sets it back down.

"I confess myself unsurprised. Is there anything I ought to know at this time, to focus my preparations?"

From:

for_everyone

Hera puts her cup back down, tapping her fingers along it for a few seconds.

"Is there anything you want to know?"

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

He hums again, tapping his fingertip against the rim of his cup.

Then --

"Am I likely to be functioning as a solo operative behind enemy lines? It will require a different set of strategies and supplies than being in command of a troop of any size. Or, I suppose, being integrated into an armed force of one kind or another."

Those are the most likely options he can see, but perhaps the Resistance command intends something else for their captive Chiss.

From:

for_everyone

Hera shakes her head.

"You're not likely to be operating solo at all."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"A duo behind enemy lines, then. Or perhaps a trio, if you're training a replacement for yourself at the same time."

It seems possible.

From:

for_everyone

"I think they're more interested in front line strategy."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"The sacrificial sort?"

It would be short-sighted, but long-delayed vengeance might be like that, he supposes. Though Hera Syndulla seems an unlikely party to that type of thing.

From:

for_everyone

There's as long pause before she answers.

"The sort you were good at before."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

"Ah."

Again his color pales, doubtless because he's pleased at this revelation.

"I will do what I can to better my previous performance, in that case."

From:

for_everyone

Hera doesn't answer.

She looks away, lifting her cup again, and possibly considering how insufferable this is going to be.

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

Thrawn drinks his own caf, turning various issues over in his mind.

"Should I be turning my attention to small squadron tactics, or something more expansive?"

From:

for_everyone

Hera takes a deep breath, lets it out.

"Maybe you should think about how you'll communicate with your commanding officer."

From:

grandadmiralartcritic

In the past, Thrawn has simply done what needed doing, and left the feelings of his commanding officers for them to handle once the work was done.

That . . . worked much better once Governor Pryce was in his corner, and Yularen. Here . . .

He exhales, very quietly.

"Do you have specific instructions? Or preferences, I suppose is the word."

He knows himself well enough not to make promises, even as they would make this working situation a great deal easier. Incarceration did not give him much motivation for working on his political and diplomatic skills.