The sass is strong with this one

“Don’t look so glum, Commodore,” Ar’alani advised as she strode past Faro on her way to the forward viewport, where Thrawn stood motionless with his hands clasped behind his back. “It’s simple physics. It will work.”

Faro glowered at her back. The physics were hardly simple, but they were straightforward enough.

But like every good magic trick, the crucial part was in the timing.

For his next trick, Grand Admiral Thrawn will make a Grysk base disappear.

[.]

“Excellent work, Commodore,” he added. “Your placement of the explosives was perfect.”

“Thank you, sir,” Faro said. Ar’alani looked at her.

And to Faro’s amazement, the Chiss actually smiled.

Faro smiled back.

How to make a Grysk station disappear.

Hey, presto!

~

"Combat readiness?" Ronan demanded, his voice somewhere between stunned and outraged. "Thrawn—"

"Admiral Thrawn," Faro shot back.

Ronan glared at her. Faro held his glare and sent back one of her own.

~

“Yes, sir.” For a long moment, Faro’s eyes lingered on Ronan’s face, eyes that said clearly and passionately that she wanted him dead, and not only dead but dead in the most lingering and painful way possible.

~

"And one more lost. Probably before it even off-loaded its cargo."

Faro felt her eyes narrow. "Its cargo?" she asked, turning to face Ronan. "Is that all you care about? Its cargo?"

"And its crew, too, of course," Ronan said stiffly, sending her glare straight back at her. "I am not a monster."

"No, of course not," Faro said, pitching her tone to be just shy of insubordination.

~

For a moment the Dark Lord gazed out the forward viewport in silence. Possibly thinking; possibly doing one of those Force things that Faro had never quite believed in and certainly never trusted.

Especially not from here. [.]

Mentally, she shook her head. Vader could talk all he wanted about how the Emperor could sense things all the way back at Coruscant, but Faro wasn’t buying any of it. In her opinion, it was overblown rhetoric masking private information sources or simple deductions.

~

The sass is strong with this one.

I love her SO much.

[Photo: my Faro custom LEGO minifig. Wonderful background by Yalaki, for the "Of Mitths and Legends" fanzine]