In your hands

“Good day, Lieutenant Vanto." []

Eli froze, his own readied greeting freezing in his throat. That was it? *Good day, Lieutenant Vanto?* All the long months since their last meeting, and that was all the greeting he got? []

“Come, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, Admiral,” Eli said, the whole sense of unreality still digging at him. *Good day, Lieutenant Vanto…*

He started as the death troopers silently closed in around them, feeling his growing bewilderment and resentment disappear into understanding. Of course—Thrawn was merely being formal here because of the urgency of the situation and because there were strangers present. Once they got someplace more private, that stiff and proper exterior would surely open up.

~

Eli didn’t know what Thrawn was going to say about him to the stormtroopers, or to Commodore Faro, or to anyone else. Actually, he didn’t know if the grand admiral would say anything at all. [] He didn’t mind for himself. Thrawn had said he might be of use to the Chiss, and Ar’alani seemed satisfied with his work, and for right now that was enough. It was his parents who had to bear the brunt of the stigma, and his former friends in the fleet who had to see his name forever draped with contempt.

Which made Thrawn’s aloofness toward him so puzzling. Didn’t he realize what Eli had gone through? What he’d given up for him?

Maybe before this was over he could get Thrawn alone, even if only for a minute, and find out what his former commander was thinking.

~

“Lieutenant Vanto, another moment of your time, if I may.”

“Of course, sir,” Eli said, a knot forming in his stomach. What could Thrawn possibly want to say to him that he couldn’t say in front of the others?[] The door closed behind them, and Thrawn raised his eyes to Eli. []

“The project you’re working on for Admiral Ar’alani. She hasn’t yet told you its purpose, has she?”

“No, sir,” Eli said. []

“Ask her after the battle,” Thrawn said. “I believe she’ll then be willing to tell you.”

~

The Ascendancy.

The navigators.

Ch'eri.

His beloved sister.

Everything most cherished he had.

Everything he gave up his life for.

Reverently entrusted in the hands of Eli Vanto.

[Photo: keychains by @ooakrafts]