Chapter Text
[Samakro] - I have a confession to make.
[Thalias] - I'm sorry?
[Samakro] - I haven't been entirely honest with you. When I still thought you were a spy I told you that Sunrise was a Nikardun assembly point. That was a complete lie.
[Thalias] - Wait what? Really? Why??
[Thalias] - No wait, don't answer that. I can see exactly why you did that.
[Thalias] - Now I feel like an idiot.
[Samakro] - To be fair to you, I did say it came from Thrawn, and you had no reason to distrust him.
[Thalias] - But I didn't actually hear him say it, did I? That'll show me to take someone who I know doesn't like me at their word.
[Samakro] - Probably a good lesson to learn.
[Samakro] - I'd apologise that it came from me, but I'm not actually sorry for my actions.
[Thalias] - And I'd be offended, but I can understand where you were coming from.
[Thalias] - We'll call it even?
[Samakro] - Deal.
[Thalias] - Perfect. Was that all you wanted? I need to get back to work soon.
[Samakro] - Just one more thing.
[Samakro] - Part of the reason I decided to come clean now was that I was just in a meeting where that lie I told you almost came back to bite me.
[Samakro] - Azmordi told Ja'fosk about it, and he and Ba'kif asked me about it during my debrief.
[Samakro] - I thought I was about to get a reprimand for spreading rumours.
[Samakro] - Instead they gave Thrawn and I a compliment on knowing that someone was gathering there, even if we got the species wrong.
[Samakro] - It was bizarre.
[Thalias] - That's so funny! Although part of me almost wishes you had gotten called up on it, just out of pettiness. But it's probably for the best that it gets brushed over since I don't want even more people calling my integrity into question.
[Samakro] - I suppose I deserve that. For the record, I don't believe you're a spy anymore, and if I had been reprimanded over this I would have ensured none of the consequences spilled over to you.
[Thalias] - Thank you.
[Samakro] - Don't mention it.
[Samakro] - Literally, don't. I'll be lucky to just be reprimanded if this ever comes to light.
[Thalias] - I'll keep that in mind!
[Samakro] - Thalias.
[Thalias] - I've got to go, Che'ri's done with her lessons now. Bye!
~~~~
[Thalias] - Che'ri's about to stage a mutiny. Please help me convince her that we can't go find Thrawn.
[Samakro] - Quite honestly, I'm willing to hear her out.
[Thalias] - I have no idea why I thought you'd be helpful.
[Samakro] - I have no idea either.
[Thalias] - You don't even like Thrawn?
[Samakro] - I don't need to like him as a friend to want him back here as a commander.
[Thalias] - That's fair, I suppose.
[Thalias] - I just miss him. Che'ri does too.
[Thalias] - Do you think we'll ever see him again?
[Samakro] - I think he's the kind of person who trouble goes to find. If anyone could escape from an exile planet it'd be him.
[Thalias] - I actually laughed at that. I think that's the most convincing argument I've heard yet.
[Thalias] - Do you mind if I show this to Che'ri?
[Samakro] - Go ahead.
[Samakro] - How upset has she been?
[Thalias] - Very. Even more so that she didn't get to see him one last time like I did.
[Samakro] - No wonder she wants to go find him.
[Thalias] - Yes. She's this close to figuring out how to steal a transport and going to find him. I think she could actually do it too, after those flying lessons Thrawn gave her.
[Samakro] - Give her my frequency and tell her I'll follow if she does it.
[Thalias] - Please don't encourage her.
[Samakro] - If she's going to do it anyway she should have back-up. She's a skywalker, Thalias. She can't get caught, and she won't be prepared to defend herself if she does find trouble.
[Thalias] - …
[Thalias] - I hate it when you're right.
[Thalias] - I'm still going to try to convince her not to. But I will give her your frequency.
[Samakro] - Thank you. I do hope you succeed. I don't actually want her to commit crimes, but just in case, I'd rather be prepared.
[Thalias] - She learnt an awful lot from Thrawn, didn't she?
[Samakro] - Too much, many would say. Hopefully she ends up with a bit more political acumen.
[Thalias] - I think it would be difficult for her to end up with less.
[Samakro] - Too true. I honestly liked that about him though. Politics and the military being so intertwined shouldn't be the norm, and on his ship it actually felt like it wasn't.
[Thalias] - You're going to miss it, hm?
[Samakro] - I am.
[Thalias] - Me too.
[Thalias] - Thank you for talking with me, Samakro. Even if you've been no help convincing Che'ri.
[Samakro] - It was no problem. Go get some rest, Thalias.
~~~~
[Thalias] - SHE'S GONE
[Samakro] - Che'ri is?
[Thalias] - yes
[Thalias] - samakro has she called you?
[Thalias] - please let me know as soon as she does i'm so worried. she stole a ship and almost got shot at by the defense fleet but she escaped into hyperspace and now i don't know where she is
[Samakro] - She almost got shot at?
[Thalias] - Yes
[Thalias] - Has she called you?
[Samakro] - Not yet.
[Samakro] - Wait. Incoming now.
[Thalias] - Samakro?
[Thalias] - Please tell me she's okay
[Thalias] - She's not answering my calls or my messages
[Samakro] - She's fine. I'm in communication with her now and she's sending me her coordinates.
[Thalias] - Are you going with her or bringing her home?
[Samakro] - I had to promise not to bring her back in order to get her coordinates. I'll keep my word.
[Thalias] - Please keep her safe.
[Samakro] - I will. I promise.
~~~~
[Samakro] - We're heading back now. How much trouble am I in?
[Thalias] - Are you both safe? It's been weeks.
[Samakro] - I know. We're safe. Che'ri didn't want to give up, and it took this long to convince her that she could be at this for years and still never come close to guessing his location.
[Samakro] - We failed, by the way. I have no idea where Thrawn is.
[Thalias] - I'm not really surprised. The Chaos is huge, and we don't even know which direction the Council sent him in. For all we know they could have sent him to Lesser Space.
[Samakro] - If it was Lesser Space it'd be easier. They have that area of the galaxy mostly mapped out from my understanding. We wouldn't have to play roulette guessing which planets are inhabited or not.
[Samakro] - Anyway, I notice you haven't answered my question of how much trouble I'm in.
[Thalias] - Not as much as you'd think, though for every day you stayed gone their leniency dried up a little more.
[Samakro] - So they're blaming Che'ri? Are people seriously believing that I only went along to protect her with no ulterior motivations?
[Thalias] - Are you kidding? Have you met a Syndic? I don't think they even go to the toilet without ulterior motivations, and they certainly wouldn't believe you jetted off across the Chaos after Che'ri without one.
[Thalias] - And they're blaming Thrawn, of course, for brainwashing Che'ri into wanting to go after him.
[Thalias] - It's honestly hard to believe that half the Syndics who decided on that have children of their own. Have they ever seen the lengths a teenager will go to get what they want??
[Samakro] - Che'ri is eleven.
[Thalias] - She's an early bloomer.
[Samakro] - I think at this point we can just call it her personality.
[Samakro] - What are they saying about me?
[Thalias] - Some are still arguing that you're just chasing after her and haven't caught up yet. But as I said, the longer you stayed gone the less that argument held water. Mostly now I think they've settled on you having found something while you were out there that kept you.
[Thalias] - So if you're going to lie then something in that vein would be most easily believed.
[Samakro] - It'd hold even less water than the argument about not having caught up as soon as they start questioning my crew though.
[Samakro] - No, I'll have to come clean. At least this way the rest of my crew doesn't come under fire.
[Thalias] - Maybe you can tell them that Che'ri's Third Sight has been impacted by the stress of Thrawn's exile, and you'd hoped to settle her fears a little.
[Thalias] - Like I said, some of the Syndics have kids, and I think they're more likely to be softer on you if they think it was for her sake.
[Samakro] - Is it true?
[Thalias] - That her Third Sight has been impacted? A little. Stress never helps, you know that. But honestly I think most of her stress lately had come from sneaking around to put this plan in motion behind my back.
[Samakro] - I'll make sure to keep that little tidbit from the Council.
[Thalias] - Much appreciated.
[Thalias] - I'll see you soon?
[Samakro] - You will. We're not far out now.
[Thalias] - I'm on Csilla right now. They'll want you there.
[Samakro] - Lovely. I'll see you soon then.
~~~~
[Thalias] - So how's your new posting in the Defense Fleet treating you?
[Samakro] - On the one hand I still can't believe that's the only punishment they gave me. On the other, I can't believe they took me out of the EDF.
[Samakro] - To answer your question, the Defense Fleet is boring.
[Thalias] - At least you're still a captain.
[Samakro] - And the fact that I still am is a miracle, but it doesn't change how much I dislike dealing with the politics and lack of actual action the Defense Fleet deals with.
[Thalias] - It's that bad?
[Samakro] - You only served aboard an EDF ship, and Thrawn's ship at that, so you're probably not familiar with it. But family politics infests the Defense Fleet about as much as they infest every other industry in the Ascendancy. The EDF is honestly pretty amazing for how aloof from all that it is.
[Thalias] - Huh, I didn't realize there was that much of a difference.
[Samakro] - It's because the EDF deals mostly with aliens, while the DF deals mostly with fellow Chiss.
[Thalias] - That makes sense. You've only been there for a week though. Is that really enough time to get a good sense for all that?
[Samakro] - Maybe not, but this isn't actually my first time serving on a DF ship. My first posting out of Naporar was aboard a DF vessel, and I hated it so much I transferred to the EDF after six months.
[Thalias] - Wow. I guess Ba'kif and Ja'fosk knew this?
[Samakro] - I'd bet they did. Bastards.
[Thalias] - Ha! So this actually is a pretty good punishment.
[Samakro] - Thalias, my friend and partner in crime. Are you enjoying this?
[Thalias] - Perhaps just a little bit. Mostly because you were out of contact for four weeks and I had no idea if Che'ri was okay or not.
[Samakro] - How is she, by the way?
[Thalias] - Moping. I don't think she expected them to ground her.
[Samakro] - It's a time honoured punishment for eleven year olds.
[Thalias] - And she's a skywalker. She's never really had to deal with the consequences of military actions before.
[Samakro] - This wasn't exactly military though.
[Thalias] - You had her on the bridge of your ship, Samakro. It was familiar to her.
[Samakro] - I see your point. Hopefully this gives her a good reminder that she can be punished if she disobeys the law too.
[Samakro] - I don't want to see her turn out as reckless as Thrawn, Thalias. Even he didn't get away with it for forever.
[Thalias] - I know. I agreed with their decision, and I intend to enforce it.
[Samakro] - Good.
[Samakro] - I need to get back to work, Thalias. I'll talk to you later.