Admiral's Honor [ThrawnXReader][Arranged Marriage]

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. :P

"What would you like to know?" Thrawn asked smoothly, with a slight incline of his head, though he never broke stride.

"Well..." you thought for a moment. You had worked on and off at the spaceport on Naboo doing odd jobs, many times you actually got to help repair ships. Those were some of your favorite jobs, especially if the Mechanic was nice, then you always learned a lot. "Maybe tell me about the engines. How many do you have? I've helped work on some ships before and have always wondered how bigger ships manage flight."

Thrawn sent you an unreadable expression. "Certainly, Your Highness. The Chimaera, like all I-classes, has seven main engine units. Several of which are Gemon-4 Ion engines, for use in emergencies."

"Gemon-4's?" You asked, "I've actually heard of those before. They are made by Cygnus Spaceworks right?"

"That's right, your Highness." Commander Faro said from behind you.

"How do you know this?" Thrawn asked you, a bit of what you could maybe speculate was interest piqued on his face.

"Cygnus Spaceworks and Theed Engineering worked closely together on Governor Tarkin's ship, the Carrion Spike, when it was under construction. I'm pretty sure that whole deal was supposed to be a secret, but living on the streets tends to give you access to quite a bit of sensitive information." you finished with a shrug, forgetting for a moment that you were supposed to behave with poise.

"Have you lived on the streets your whole life?" Thrawn asked you suddenly, stressing the word 'whole'.

You looked up a bit sharply, surprised by his bluntness. Nobody had talked openly with you since your recent 'promotion'. Thrawn must have mistaken your look, because he immediately tried to withdraw his statement. Though you noticed that he didn't actually sound like he was apologizing. "Forgive me if my question was too forward Your Highness."

You looked down at the floor quickly, your voice lowering a bit "No, you're fine, it's just that nobody has actually talked to me like a normal person since this whole..... thing... I was just surprised is all." you finished with a sigh.

"I see." was all he said.

"Yes I lived on the streets my whole life. I'm not actually sure how widely broadcast that information is going to be, regardless, everyone will know it eventually." you shrugged again.

"I was told what I believe will be the widespread story once it breaks."

"And what is that?" you asked him.

"That Emperor Palpatine rediscovered a long lost relative, the only remaining member of his bloodline, and has called her to Coruscant to be instated as the Heir to the throne."

"Well that's short and sweet, isn't it." you scoffed.

"Is it not the truth?" Thrawn inclined his head again, a tone of actual question coming into his voice for the first time.

"Oh it is. It just leaves out all of the interesting parts that bring to light some possible faults in..." you paused, you were going to say faults in the Emperor, but decided that that was probably not the safest route to head with your statement. "Let's just say it leaves out everything interesting." you finished blandly.

"I see." Thrawn said again.

A few moments of silence passed. "Are you waiting for me to tell you the whole story?" you asked after he didn't fill the silence, "Or are you just not that great with conversation?" you finished lightly, a hint of amusement coming into your voice. There was a choked cough from Commander Faro behind the two of you.

"I generally hold up my end of conversations well. At least when I have an equal opponent with which to converse." He answered coolly.

Your eyebrows flew up in apology. "I wasn't trying to insult you Admiral..."

He stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at you. "I was not insulted." he said just as coolly. "I was simply being honest." he finished, his voice went lower in tone. It gave you the impression of... not pity, but... kindness maybe? You'd have to think about it later because Thrawn straightened to continue walking, and you jumped to catch back up. A few silent moments later the three of you arrived at the bridge of the ISD Chimaera.

You had seen a little bit of space from the Lambda class shuttle that had taken you from the surface of Naboo to the hangar of the Chimaera, but you were in the back of the shuttle, there were a lot of people crowded around you, and you felt like it would be awkward for you to walk up to the front to look out the viewport, so you just sat in the back and didn't really get a very good look out the window.

But your first step onto the bridge took your breath away. And it would have struck you speechless had you been talking. As it was, it stopped you in your tracks. You stared out the viewport across the room in silent shock. Thrawn, who was now a few steps ahead of you, stopped when he noticed that you, and Commander Faro who was behind you, were no longer even with him. He half turned to face you. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice still in that slightly lower tone that he had used earlier, so maybe it was concern? 'Later' you reminded yourself. Whatever the case, his question did serve to snap you out of your trance like fixation with the star filled space beyond the transparisteel.

You shook your head a little, "Yeah, I'm okay." you answered, and moved again to catch up with the admiral as he turned to cross the room, bringing the two of you face to face with the, not completely empty, blackness of space.

You stepped forward again, bringing yourself almost within reach of the transparisteel. "It's amazing." you breathed, not in a trance again, but still very awed by the sight before you.

Thrawn didn't say anything, but you could feel his steely red eyes boring into you from slightly behind you. 

Author's Note: This story is coming along nicely so far, and i do actually have a petty good idea of where i want this story to end up, so hopefully I wont run into any writers block :P