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For a few seconds, Hera had been sure the shouting and blasterfire they had heard echoing through the base were her crew trying to find her. Reckless, single-minded, fighting their way through these unfamiliar beings. The girls had held close to her, asking what was happening, and Hera hadn't dared answer. But then as the blastefire died down, as the voices grew quieter, she heard something else. Smooth, steady paces, the tap of boots. It was just before the cell door opened that Hera knew what was going to be on the other side of it.

And there was no escape. Three Stormtoopers stepped into the cell at once, moving to surround Hera and the two Chiss girls. The girls didn't keep asking questions, though they followed the Troopers with their eyes, and huddled behind Hera, trying to use her as a shield. The troopers were followed by an officer. Hera kept her eyes on the floor at first, but she looked up in surprise as the officer knelt down, and slowly approached her and the girls.

Hera realized then that the Empire knew what they'd find here. Or at least, they'd known part of it. When the girl closest to the officer flinched back, burying her face in Hera's shoulder, the officer looked at her.

"Who are you?"

She was wearing a rough-woven skirt and tunic, boots and a simple cap. Yet for a few seconds, Hera had forgotten that she might look different. That more likely than not, the Imps weren't going to recognize her. She closed her eyes, and took a moment to be grateful that the officer had spoken first. And then, to come up with a story.

A name. Nyn. A story. Captured by pirates, who traveled out into the far reaches, bordering the Unknown Regions, and sold her to these beings – the Grysk, the Imperials called them – who used her to watch over their stolen children. She used her Ryloth accent, spoke in halting sentences, kept her eyes on the floor, only stealing quick, frightened glances at her questioner. The girls wouldn't leave her, so the Imps had taken them all together, first into a shuttle from which Hera and the girls watched as it flew up into a Star Destroyer, then within that, an empty room that looked like it might be used as low-ranking officers' quarters. That surprised her, as did the fact that they brought water for her and the girls to drink, and even a few protein bars.

But whatever the Empire wants with these girls, she can't imagine it's anything better than the Grysk did. Sooner or later, she'll have to act. Even as she's far from her crew, with two children to take with her, and no hope of fighting an entire Star Destroyer alone.

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When the next round of water and protein bars is due to be provided, Thrawn intercepts the ensign sent to deliver it, giving every impression that he seeks to question the Twi'lek woman found with several of the girls, on the off chance that someone else is planning to try stealing them from the Empire.

It will serve him well, however the rest of this goes.

In other times, he might not have been suspicious at the mere mention of a green Twi'lek woman, but some people he does his best not to underestimate.

This may go some way to explaining why, when he opens the room's locked door and steps inside, he displays absolutely no surprise at who is keeping the two Chiss girls company.

"Ah," he says mildly. "I had thought it might be you, Captain. Though I wonder at your interest in the Chiss's children."

Hera, however, is surprised. She feels foolish for it a moment later - that she'd thought even someone like Thrawn wouldn't steal children from his own people. She doesn't answer, and doesn't move.

But the girls look up, and for the first time, step away from Hera, looking curiously up at Thrawn.

"Are you from home?" one girl asks, in Sy Bisti.

"I am," Thrawn says, in that same language, "Though I have not had cause to return there in some time. You are well?"

He doesn't wait for them to answer before returning to Basic, if only briefly.

"I suppose the same might be asked of you, Captain. If you are well, that is."

She certainly does not appear wounded, and doubtless the troopers would have reported if there were a firefight.

As Thrawn speaks again before they can answer, the girls stay quiet. One of them takes an uncertain step back toward her.

Hera also doesn't speak at first. She still thinks of feigning confusion, and sticking to her story. But even as she knows it's too late for that, what can she say? She's in the heart an Imperial Star Destroyer. That's hardly 'well.'

Eventually, she mutters, "I'm uninjured."

"Fortunate," Thrawn says, his voice very dry.

Both of the girls are still looking at him, though the one closest to Hera takes another step back toward her.

"You need not fear," he says to them in Sy Bisti. "The lady will be taking you out of this place."

And, back in Basic again --

"Tell me you did not come here alone, Captain."

Hera doesn't answer. But the girls' eyes widen, and they both start to speak again -

"She tried to help us get away from the creatures -"

"She speaks Meese Caulf -"

"Does she," Thrawn says, dropping into Meese Caulf himself.

"That is fortunate. It will make certain things a great deal less complicated."

That may be a slight overstatement, and yet --

"I do appreciate you saving the children, Captain."

Hera glances up in surprise - the language switch is abrupt, and only makes her feel more disconcerted.

"Do you?" she asks, also in Meese Caulf.

"Of course," he says mildly, still in that particular trade tongue.

"For all that has passed, they remain my people. Should you wish to continue saving them, the Chiss will undoubtedly be in your debt."

Not enough to change anything, of course. But he does find himself reluctant, now that the time has come, to let all of the Chiss children be indebted to the Empire.

Hera looks down at the girls, glancing between them, and then back up to Thrawn.

Switching to basic, "The Empire's not going to let them leave."

He smiles faintly, inclining his head.

"Indeed," he says, in Basic, "the Empire would prefer to claim credit for their rescue. But as you did the main part for these children, it will not be overly complex to . . . provide an opportunity for you to escape with them. Should you choose."

"Why would you let me do that?"

To trace her movements back to the Rebellion? It's a convoluted plot, but if anyone in the Empire would attempt to pull it off...

"Call it discharging a debt," Thrawn says simply.

"As I said, the Chiss are still my people, and you have put yourself into a terrible position in trying to save a few."

Hera looks to the girls, who look back at her. Questioning, perhaps curious why she's using a language they don't understand.

"The Empire would kill you for this."

Thrawn tilts his head very slightly, considering this possibility.

And yet --

"I remain too useful to them as yet," he merely says, voice gone very dry.

"And we are, I believe, also sending the rest home. Six is still a decent number to count as a favor."

"You know that?"

Her own voice is very low. "You know they're returning the others?"

No one wants Thrawn's loyalty to break quite yet, but it's possible that time is coming.

"It's a way in for the Emperor," Thrawn says, voice gone mild again.

"You are aware, I believe, that he excels at exploiting those."

"I've seen the Empire rip babies from their parents' arms."

That's what she knows.

"Doubtless you will again. So, too, shall I."

That mildness remains, though a faint edge creeps in.

"As will these girls. But not, I think, quite yet."

Again, Hera looks down at the girls.

And she knows, really, that she has no choice. If it is a trap, she could get them out, get them to safety first, and then check herself for any kind of trackers or tracers later. She'd have to try to think ahead of him - because the only other option, it seems, is being revealed as a rebel, and the girls being handed to the Empire.

She closes her eyes, and switches back to Meese Cauf. "What do we have to do?"

Thrawn, too, returns to speaking in Meese Cauf.

He also, for the briefest of moments, smiles when he looks at the two Chiss girls. Then that smile falls away, and --

"We are fortunate, perhaps, that I am well aware of today's patrol schedule. And, as it happens, I was also able to procure a particular piece of technology from an associate of mine."

The girls hesitate, but do smile back briefly in return. Hera does not.

"A blaster?" she asks, in Basic.

"A cloaking device," Thrawn says, in Meese Cauf. "For you or the girls, whichever you think best."

It's not as if he can accompany them the entire way to one of the shuttles. Or an escape pod.

The girls look from him to Hera, half-seeming like they want to ask if they can have the cloaking device. Particularly the younger girl.

Thrawn, meanwhile, raises one eyebrow at Hera, switching back to Basic.

"Are you demanding a blaster?"

"I can't promise I won't need one."

She looks back down to the girls, and with another switch, "What do you think?"

They look at each other, perhaps surprised to be asked, and now not sure what to say.

"I want to go home," says the younger.

Edited 2019-03-28 01:53 (UTC)

"You will most assuredly get there," Thrawn assures the youngest girl, though his gaze is fixed on the older one. For this, at least, he speaks in Sy Bisti.

Then, back to Basic --

"Fair enough. Though I would prefer you not try to shoot me with it. Nor the Lord Vader, not least because if we draw his attention we will have failed in this entire enterprise."

As he speaks he removes his backup blaster from a hidden holster where his belt meets his jacket, holding it out toward Hera. It is roughly the same size and shape as her own usual blaster, which is purely a matter of coincidence.

"If this will do."