AU week: Star Trek!Mirrorverse!AU

[grandadmiralartcritic]

There are occasions when plotting out the optimum strategy requires time, and that can be in short supply when one is fighting the might of the Terran Empire.

So it is that Thrawn makes his way to Milliways in those times, ensconcing himself in a corner booth with a series of reports on his PADD: tricorder data, sensor outputs, and maps, so many maps. And also a chessboard, set aside for later.

Comments

[for_everyone]

At some point after making her way back down from the mountains, Hera reenters the main bar. She first scans the room for Kanan - she finds him still alone at a table, apparently focused on the work she'd left for him. Hera watches him for about a minute, waiting to see if he notices her attention. But if he does, he never looks up.

Then, she blinks across the room again. It doesn't take her very long to find Thrawn, and once she does, she turns her steps to head toward his booth.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn looks up just as Hera reaches his table, allowing a very tiny smile to pass across his face.

"Hera. I do hope you enjoyed your time outside."

[for_everyone]

"I did."

It was cold to swim, but pleasant to climb. She doesn't see much reason to mention it.

"May I sit with you?"

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Of course," Thrawn says, brows arching in a mild sort of surprise, even as he sets his PADD aside.

If he also places the chessboard and pieces on the table, what of it?

[for_everyone]

Hera takes a seat across from him, her eyes flickering as he takes out the chessboard.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your work."

She has become better about that, since she was a child.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"You merely reminded me that a clear mind is a beneficial tool, and perhaps I should rest my own before diving back into mission particulars."

His faint smile remains.

"Would you care for a game? Or perhaps some conversation?"

Or both?

[for_everyone]

"I would."

She doesn't specify which, but reaches to begin setting the black pieces along her side of the board.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn, in turn, begins setting up the white pieces.

"I will say," he says, setting down the first of his pawns, "that this is an interesting place in which to observe Terrans, particularly those outside of the Empire."

[for_everyone]

Hera waits a few seconds before answering, still lining up her pieces.

"I'm not sure how relevant they are to our Terrans," she says, straightening a bishop before looking back up to him. "Some of them must be similar, but they can come from worlds that have or will never see the Empire."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Thrawn inclines his head, setting up another handful of pawns, then placing the first rook.

"It is more, I think, that I seek to see what Terrans could be, were the Empire to be eradicated."

He looks up, then, and catches Hera's eye.

"And several centuries were to pass, at the very least."

[for_everyone]

Hera returns this look.

"What do you think that future would be like?"

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Messy."

His smile is brief and thin-lipped.

"But perhaps less chaotic than the immediate aftermath would be. One hopes, at the very least."

[for_everyone]

She blinks back down to the board.

"I'm not sure how it happens."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"We are too far out for any degree of certainty. But there are variables that can be weighed, and I would . . . prefer, let us say, to steer our ship of rebellion in a direction that may result in a fortunate outcome for at least some on our side. Eventually."

He finishes setting up his pawns, then moves the knights into position.

"Such efforts can make it simpler to choose the tactics for a mission. Of course, they may also do otherwise."

[for_everyone]

"I meant -"

She watches his movements. "How those that have done what the Terrans do, decide to stop."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"You see no signs of how it might be in our newest project?"

He does not look toward where Kanan sits.

"They have their own underclasses, the Terrans. And, of course, there are always the youngest children of a generation."

[for_everyone]

Hera blinks back up to Thrawn, but also doesn't glance to Kanan.

"I don't think of him as Terran."

She knows that's not true. Or at least, it's only partly true. But his Betazoid heritage seemed to matter as much, if not more.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"He thought of himself as one," Thrawn says simply, moving his pawn in a traditional opening gambit.

"Or he tried. It leaves a mark."

[for_everyone]

"All right."

She leaves it at that acceptance, while she considers, and then makes, her own first move.

"Then I don't imagine other Terrans will - work like he does."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Not those who believe they have a right to better, no. Or that this 'better' they dream of achieving under the Empire is coming. But for those without hope within the system -- "

He pauses, responding to Hera's move with one of his own.

" -- perhaps in the initial sally, at least. But I imagine once the dust, as they say, has settled, they will believe themselves the obvious candidates for leadership of what remains. That will likely be our next problem. Or perhaps not ours, but for those who follow us."

[for_everyone]

Hera imagines it will be 'those who follow us.' But she has also long accepted that.

"Even if they revolt against the Terran leaders," she answers, moving in turn. "It doesn't mean they'll think any different of us."

Still, there's a thread of hesitation in her voice - as though in her mind, she's already countering her own words.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"No?"

He tilts his head, regarding Hera steadily out of bright, crimson eyes.

"Perhaps not, but there is much we might do in that time that could . . . change their perspective."

[for_everyone]

"I can't teach all of them."

She says it quietly, her eyes on the board.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"No," Thrawn agrees.

"But you can tell others about what has seemed to work."

[for_everyone]

She nods, but doesn't speak at first, even letting a few more moves pass before she does.

"It might help me to - think it through myself, what I think is working."