Not As Much of a Jerk As You Could Have Been AU

[for_everyone]

Hera left the bridge as they fell out of hyperspace near the edge of the Unknown Regions. It was their first opportunity to make contact with the rest of the Resistance in nearly three weeks, and she had decided to do so in her ready room, fully expecting back and forth with Admiral Ackbar and General Organa concerning her overtures toward the Chiss. It also meant that she took the very rare step of leaving Thrawn alone on her bridge.

It takes longer than expected for her to get a signal through to Leia. And when she finally does, she's quickly glad she chose to have this conversation in private.

It's nearly an hour before she has sent word back to the bridge. Coordinates, closest to the Reviya system, nearly on the edge of Wild Space. These are the only instructions, along with a note to Thrawn to join her as soon as possible.

Without a pause for confirmation, the officers move to their stations to calculate the jump.

Comments

[grandadmiralartcritic]

We, she says. How . . . unexpected.

"If you think that preferable," he replies, inclining his head in a nod of acknowledgement.

"Do you wish for my participation in said announcement?"

[for_everyone]

"I'd rather they know before they see for themselves."

She takes a little longer on the second point. "And at this point I think it would be better if you did."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

He arches one eyebrow again, but it is sound strategy -- Hera is far from wrong.

"To show willing, and that I am in this with them, now?"

Differently than before, at any rate.

"I understand."

[for_everyone]

Raising her eyes to his, "Because we really are all rebels now."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

His smile is thin-lipped but not entirely unamused.

"There is that."

A pause, and he looks at her hands still resting on the back of the chair.

"Shall we, then?"

[for_everyone]

Eventually, they reach the rendezvous point.

Shuttles are sent out to collect survivors from the Corellian freighter waiting for them. General Organa is among those who transfer over. She smiles, gently, at Hera, and Hera has difficulty returning it. After Hera greets the other newcomers, senior crew begin to orient them onto the ship, while Generals Syndulla and Organa leave to talk alone in Hera's office.

It's a while before they come out. But eventually, General Organa exits first. She eyes Thrawn as she passes him, nodding once but not otherwise acknowledging him, before she meets with Commander Dameron at the end of the hall, and they move on, likely toward the mess. There hadn't been much food, or time for rest, on the Falcon.

Hera exits here office a short time later. She doesn't look at Thrawn, but she stops when she reaches him. Her eyes stay on the now empty space farther down the hall, and she tilts her head very slightly, likely she's making a decision.

Then, she asks, "Are you hungry?"

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn met General Organa's eyes as she nodded, but made no move of his own. It seemed . . . presumptuous.

Though when Hera emerges he does shift his gaze to her, hands clasped lightly behind his back.

"I believe it would be wise for me to eat just now, yes."

It's not an answer to the question that the Hera asked, certainly, but perhaps it is close enough.

[for_everyone]

"Then we'll get rations from the mess, and then go somewhere else."

She thinks over it for another moment, and then, "Maybe that lower storage room."

It's unlikely anyone else will be using it now, at least not before they start setting up cots down there.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I'm sure someone will need it eventually," Thrawn allows.

"But I doubt it's been requisitioned as yet."

Which is to say, he accepts this plan. (And even if he didn't, what would it change?)

[for_everyone]

It's quick enough to retrieve ration packets. A few heads turn as they pass, especially among the newcomers - Hera looks over, nodding to a few, but never slows her pace now. No one attempts to stop her, or talk to her, and they're out of the mess soon enough.

The lower storage room is indeed empty, lights blinking on as they enter it. Hera moves toward the far wall, where two crates are lined against it, and she moves to take a seat on one of them, setting aside her ration packet and opening the bottle of water she'd brought along with it.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn, after setting down his own ration packet and drink, takes the other crate to use as a seat. After he opens his paket, but before he breaks off a piece --

"You wished to speak to me privately, General? While there is still some privacy to be had, of course."

[for_everyone]

Hera drinks a little of her water, before setting it aside. She falls silent, looking out across the empty space, and again, her head tilts slightly, her her lekku just barely twitching as she moves.

Then she says, as if out to the empty room, "Luke Skywalker is dead."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Ah."

Thrawn falls silent, unfastening the spout of his own water bottle, but refraining from quenching his thirst just yet.

"Was he truly the last of the Jedi, then?"

[for_everyone]

"In my experience," she says, at last, "it was never that simple."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Now Thrawn does pick up his water, taking the time in which he drinks to search for something appropriate to say.

He finds very little, save --

"Ah. Yes."

[for_everyone]

She waits another moment, to see if he'll say anything else, as she leans over to lift up her ration box and tear it open.

Then, "General Organa hasn't told the others. But most already assume it."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Will it make them lose heart, do you think?"

It's his first and primary concern.

Or at least it should be. Strange that it isn't, quite.

[for_everyone]

"No."

She says that calm, and easy. There's even a strange, soft smile on her face as she looks over the storage room now.

"I don't think it will."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

It's the soft smile that makes Thrawn hesitate, if only for a moment.

"Would you prefer that I ask, General?"

[for_everyone]

"He's a story for them now."

She finally turns, to look back at Thrawn. "Like he was before, only they've seen him for themselves now."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Does that make him a truer story than the one they knew before?"

There's something here that Thrawn is missing. He can tell, and yet --

"Or simply one in which it is easier to believe?"

[for_everyone]

"It makes him their story."

She looks down, though her smile grows ever so slightly. "Not just one from before they were born."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn blinks.

"I fail to see what that accomplishes, if he was in truth the last with . . . his particular set of skills."

[for_everyone]

"There is no 'last,' Thrawn," Hera says, her smile still not faded yet.

"The Empire tried to stamp them out, but they couldn't. The Force finds a way."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I see."

He really doesn't.

"Do any of these . . . ways . . . travel with us now?"