Chapter Text
Pellaeon slowly regained awareness to a sort of gray-skinned alien he’d never seen before standing over him with a handheld scanner.
"Don't move, please,” they said. "We’re trying to determine the extent to which you were harmed.”
"Where am I?" he asked, not at all sure what was going on or if he was even still in the Empire. Yes, they finally had many non-Humans in their ranks, but he was sure he'd have heard about a six-armed medic with an almost comically long trunk.
The medic took his sweet time responding. Pellaeon didn't get an answer until he asked again in their sickbay.
"You're on the Admonitor,” the medic answered with enough patience to make him wonder how many times he’d actually asked. Their voice was deep, but melodious. Pellaeon thought it soothing, despite his splitting headache. “Our name is Major Va’jar Honoi. We are a duality. You may call us Major or Doctor Honoi. You've sustained a head injury, Captain. Do you recall how it happened?"
Did he? He’d not hit his head in ages far as he knew – despite how surreal the situation felt. Was he dreaming? Could he trust reality? “No.”
Doctor Honoi seemed to expect that answer. The tip of their trunk wiggled, and large, black eyes slowly blinked down at him. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Thama clearing the bedroom and bathroom of threats so I could shower while everyone else was occupied." He had, hadn't he?
"Thank you. Your fiancé is on his way to see you. In the meantime, techs will be in to scan your head."
Pellaeon closed his eyes and tried to remember what happened. Ellie and Annade were settling in to read on the couch. Thrawn was at a meeting. He'd shut the bedroom door, and apparently shut off his mind. By the time the techs finished and Thrawn was admitted with a few guards in tow he still didn't remember anything, and he had a pounding headache.
Perhaps his confusion was easily forgivable, then, as to why Thrawn looked so close to tears, yet ready to explode, but Tsomch and Chilay looked so guilty. "What happened?" he asked as his beloved fiancé came straight to his side to take his hand and bring it to his lips for a kiss. “Are the kids okay?"
"Worried for you, but unharmed, ch'acico.” Thrawn bent down to steal a chaste kiss. “Do you remember what happened?"
“No. Where are they?" For some reason not being able to see their family was making him panic.
"They're safe, Gilad," Thrawn soothed. "Agent Chocold is with them, prepping to move to a safe location.”
A safe location? A stray memory clicked – Thrawn's nightmare of Noghri scaling the window – and he felt his heart sink into his stomach. "Was I kidnapped?" he demanded. It made sense: he was on a star destroyer, his guards looked beyond upset, and Thrawn hadn’t looked this much of an emotional mess since Pellaeon accidentally prevented him from being knifed a second time.
His beloved's jaw clenched at the question. Oh, most certainly, the answer was – “Yes,” Thrawn exhaled without looking up at him. "Right from the bathroom, Gilad. They were in the vents.”
Oh. That didn't explain the concussion. It did explain the fear. Pellaeon and vents, historically, did not mix. Thrawn would never let him near one again. "I don't remember any of it," he tried to soothe his future husband.
"I am very tempted to move the wedding date to right now," Thrawn admitted, "and damn the rest of the galaxy.”
Pellaeon squeezed his hand. "Thrawn, I don't know that I can consent right now. Our sons aren't here. My head is killing me and there are two of you. I wouldn't know which of you to marry."
All that did was make Thrawn look more upset.
"What happened, exactly? Was it Noghri?"
Judging from the way Thrawn tensed, it was. "I'm waiting for them to be processed as prisoners here. Once they have been, I'll go speak with them, and when you're released, we'll go to the Chimaera and call off negotiations."
The hand in his trembled, though whether it was from fear or rage, he couldn't say. "And I'll be taking more of a role in your campaign preparations. I want them crushed as soon as possible for this, Gilad. No one, outside of Medical, the kids, or our guards, should ever touch you.”
“They shouldn't, but they did," Pellaeon’s tone was gentle. "Go ahead and issue a statement when you’ve cooled off; don't even contact the Rebellion. When they see the news, they'll understand why we're going to drive them to extinction instead of negotiating."
"As soon as I have confirmation it was a rebel attack, Gilad,” he murmured soothingly. "My focus is on you. We should have left this morning. I'm sorry."
"We didn't know," Tsomch very firmly reminded Thrawn. "The footprints matched nothing known. You promised not to self-blame."
Pellaeon kissed the back of Thrawn's hand. "If you want play blame games you have to convince me you feel worse than Annade, Chilay, Tsomch, and Thama feel.” Behind Thrawn Chilay and Tsomch both flinched. "Where are the other two?” he asked.
"Sulking outside," Tsomch answered. He was happy to retrieve them at Pellaeon’s request.
'Sulking' didn't adequately express how his closest guards felt. They looked miserable; Thama was clearly terrified for him, and Annade had been crying. Pellaeon gestured them closer.
Thrawn sat on his bed so he could still hold Pellaeon’s hand. Pellaeon thought he saw his fiancé make eye contact with Annade, and jerked his head toward him as Pellaeon asked, "What happened?"
Tsomch wrapped an arm around Annade's shoulder's and took his hand with the other. Thama straightened to attention, but hung his head, utterly shamefaced. "I cleared the master suite so you could shower. There was no sign of any intruders throughout the light spectrum. The window was whole. Your suite appeared clear."
"It was too quiet half an hour in," Annade quietly picked up from there. "Usually you're out of the shower and making noise by then. It felt off. I gave Ellie to Chilay for safety so Thama and I could check on you.”
The youngest guard took a very deep breath and let it out in a trembling exhale. “It was clear there was a struggle. A hole was cut in the window: I followed the trail of glass to the bathroom while Thama communicated with Sumate and Zisca, and found a Noghri trying to escape into the vent."
"Thukpa took him prisoner for Zisca and Ilmryn to interrogate, and I pulled up the schematic of the vents," Tsomch answered before Thrawn could ask. "I ordered the captain's team to the roof."
Thama’s fists clenched helplessly at his sides. "We got up there just in time to see them taking off, and continued searching the grounds until the Admonitor verified they had the captain."
Pellaeon was quiet. "You all must have been terrified," he managed. He certainly was: Pellaeon didn't know why he couldn't remember anything.
"To say the least," Thrawn said softly. "Do you remember anything?"
“No. Everything prior to the medic and after shutting the bedroom door is gone.” He looked to his guards. "How long is that?"
"Two to two-point-five hours," Chilay answered.
In other words, enough time to interrogate him with a truth serum. Damn. Thrawn stood, and bent to kiss his forehead. “Annade, Chilay, stay here,” Thrawn ordered. "Tsomch, Thama, with me. Comm me when Doctor Honoi returns with findings.
“I'm going to examine the comms array on that ship.”