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]

"Is it something so grand as destiny?"

Does anyone truly believe in destiny?

[for_everyone]

"I'm just an observer," she answers, reaching for her water again.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Aren't we all."

There is perhaps more of a question there than Thrawn intended, but . . .

[for_everyone]

Hera goes quiet again, taking a sip of her water, then taking small bites of the protein mix in her ration package.

Then -

"I knew a last Jedi, and then another, and then another."

She pauses another moment,before she adds, "And I know you won't like this, but they don't fit into easily into the plans or tactics of war."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"And yet history has shown that some of them had quite the talent for it."

Though there is always the chance that such records were wrong.

"I do not seek to use her. It is only that -- this hope your Rebellion spoke of, that this Resistance speaks to -- it seems easier for most to find when there are Jedi around."

[for_everyone]

"They do bring that out in others," she answers, softly.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Observation tells me that they are not the only ones."

It's one reason the Rebellion proved so insistently irritating, once.

[for_everyone]

It's probably the first nice thing he's ever said about her that doesn't make her skin crawl.

Hera glances to him, but only answers, "Then there should be hope for us yet."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

He takes a sip of his water, holding it in his mouth a moment to enjoy the sensation of dry tissues being renewed, then swallows.

"I find myself wanting to think so, certainly."

[for_everyone]

"But we can hope all we want?"

She smiles slightly again.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn turns his water container between his hands, gaze momentarily fixed on it.

"I do not know if I shall ever gain the knack."

[for_everyone]

She waits for a few second, taking the time to finish off the protein mix.

"I don't think being a realist is a bad thing. But they're not mutually exclusive."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I can see that to be true for other people," Thrawn admits, after taking a few moments to finish off his own ration pack.

"Bridging that gap for myself is less clear. Observation will only take a person so far, and I am sure you know it pains me to say so."

[for_everyone]

"Kanan was like that."

She's quiet after it. For a moment, it feels like she hadn't really said the words out loud, like it was just something she'd imagined. But there's a relief to it, in saying his name. In even briefly setting down that weight she wore every day.

"He had hope, but he was grounded, and cautious about it. And sometimes he'd like to - play the pessimist to my optimist."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

His eyebrows lift.

"Is that why your crew's strategies were so often so robust?"

Multiple minds working in tandem toward the same goal. How . . . un-Imperial.

[for_everyone]

Another extremely Thrawn response, but Hera decides not to point that out.

"I'm not sure." She's not exactly sure what Thrawn means, really.

"We had a lot of talent, and energy, and different perspectives. I'm sure that helped us."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Different perspectives that worked together, rather than jockeying for position. This Resistance, on the whole, seems to have adopted that spirit, as well. I am . . . doubtful that the First Order does. Not given their antecedents."

Seriously, Empire. So much backstabbing, so distracting from the actual matters of getting things done. Perhaps, in the long run, that was for the best. And yet --

[for_everyone]

"The Empire was always going to be self-defeating."

Hera sets aside her rations. "It only existed for one man. Everyone and everything else was dispensable, and the only way to survive that is to be ambitious, or terrified. Do you know how much we got away with stealing from the Empire because no one would be brave enough to actually report it stolen?"

So many shuttles, Thrawn.

But then, thinking of the Empire as inevitably self-defeating was easier to say, now. After its defeat.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I did have a list, once upon a time," Thrawn says. His mouth twitches at one corner.

"Though you are correct, the reports were very . . . thin, on the whole."

[for_everyone]

Hera shakes her head. "Working together, not against each other, was supposed to be the solution."

But her voice fades out as she speaks. She has long since learned that it's easier to spot problems than solutions.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I daresay it can be part of a solution. But few people are naturally selfless, I have found, which can lead to trouble."

He's just saying.

[for_everyone]

Hera stays quiet for a second, her eyes forward.

"Sometimes I feel like I've only lived at this strange edge of the galaxy, where I've only seen it at its worst, or at its best."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"It is conflict that breeds that," Thrawn says, voice quiet. "This has so often been a galaxy at war, and some have always been on the front lines."

[for_everyone]

"All right."

She can agree with that. Hera turns to look back to him. "But I don't think it's easy for you to see the people behind those conflicts.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn inhales and exhales, reaching out to take his half-empty water between his hands.

"No. And that, I am afraid, is no accident."