Possible Perspective (RWBY/Star Wars)

Special thanks to jwolfe over on SB for beta-reading this chapter

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Edge of newly discovered nebula, designated “Solum”

Star Destroyer- Grey Wolf

Bridge

No matter how many times he’s experienced it; Voss Parack still couldn’t help but be amazed by how quiet the bridge of a star destroyer could be. Compared to the rest of the 1,600 meter-long ship, at least. Through long years of service, he knew there were only two noise settings on such warships- either marginally quiet, or ridiculously loud. The most active areas were naturally the loudest, such as the hanger bays and engineering deck, while the more remote corridors and maintenance shafts could claim the opposite. However, even the most secluded and rarely used rooms still had some level of noise, the most common being the hum of the ship’s massive engines. The bridge, on the other hand, was designed to permit no distractions for the command staff, and as a result was the most soundproof deck in the entire ship. Indeed, save for occasional beeping from various command consoles and the soft mummers of the crew, there was not a single sound to be heard.

Still, he wasn’t here to admire the peace and quiet. Instead, he marched towards the two men standing in front of the bridge’s viewport. Sliding up behind them, he offered a sharp salute.

“Sir, you requested my presence?”

Hearing his voice, the two men turned to him. The man on the right was Gilad Pellaeon, the most recent addition to their expedition to the unknown regions. Gilad was a fellow captain and one who was, in Parack’s humble opinion, a damn good one. Rumor had it that his ship, the Chimaera, was one of the most disciplined ships in the fleet. And from what Parack could gather on the brief tour he got of the ship when they met, that reputation was not exaggerated.

Despite this, it was not Pellaeon who was the focus of Parack’s attention. No, that honor belonged to the man on the left, who also happened to be the de-facto commander of the expedition.

This man was one Parack had known for several years now, and one he would gladly follow into the deepest pits of the nine Corellian hells.

Calm, cool, focused, and possessing an aura of shear strength, Grand Admiral Thrawn was an enigma to most of the known galaxy. However, known was the key word. Here in the unknown regions, the Csillian-born chiss was nothing short of a legend. After all, not just anyone can unite what is effectively a small empire in one of the most hostile areas in the galaxy, much less with nothing more than a few star destroyers and some softly spoken promises. His tall frame, broad shoulders, and collected voice only added to his already impressive image.

Turning, Thrawn’s eyes raked over him, “At ease captain, I assume your presence indicates preparations are complete?”

Quickly adopting a more relaxed pose, Parack nodded.

“Yes sir, our probes have confirmed the presence of a viable hyperspace route into the nebula.”

The slightest quirk of Thrawn’s eyebrow was his response.

“You sound surprised captain.”

Parack glanced away in slight guilt, “Apologies Admiral, I do not typically trust information gained from such a… dubious source.

Thrawn merely nodded, “Nor do I, however my sources in the Ascendancy assured me of its validity. After all, the Rakatan Empire was known for many things, but deception was not one of them”

He glanced towards the viewport, and the nebula beyond.

“Unfortunately, Rakatten technology is difficult to deal with at the best of times. The computer the Ascendancy was deciphering was in poor shape to begin with, so the fact that they managed to extract any information at all before it’s malfunctioning, and subsequent destruction, is impressive.”

A few moments of silence stretched before them, as they each observed the glistening nebula.

Gazing into that endless icy blue expanse was humbling to Parack. A reminder that they were little more than blips in the eyes of the cosmos. That no matter how far they conquered, or how long they lived, they will never match the majesty, or the power of the universe itself.

After a few more moments of stargazing, Pellaeon cleared his throat,

“Sir, if I may, we still-“

Thrawn’s smooth voice interrupted him, “Fret not, captain. The nebulas’ not going anywhere.”

Pellaeon glanced away in embarrassment.

With the barest hint of a smirk on his face, Thrawn turned to Parack.

“Any time you’re ready captain.”

With a slight nod, Parack reached into his uniform’s pocket, pulling out a comlink.

“Ensign Burma, send package.”

A female voice quickly responded, “Affirmative, transmitting now”.

A second voice called out from the Grey Wolf’s communication station.

“Received! And…,” the man in question quickly tapped his control console, “…implemented! We’re prepared to jump on your command Admiral.”

Thrawn once again turned to the viewport.

“Very well, commence jump.”

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In the inky blackness of space, three dagger-shaped vessels seemingly hovered in place.

Suddenly, the three vessels turned, bearing their prows towards a softly swirling nebula. The massive ship’s engines pulsed, then flared as enough energy to power cities was poured into them. The pulsing grew, until it shone with almost blinding intensity, then, for the briefest of moments, all three ships seemed to stretch beyond physical possibility. A moment more, and all the ships had vanished, the only sign of their passing a brief light in the distance, which in turn flared as well, before it too vanished.

All the while, the stars of various other systems twinkled innocently, their inhabitants ignorant of an event which may have very well of altered the fate of the galaxy.

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Parack felt the engines hum, and sure enough, moments later the view of the beautiful nebula was replaced by the swirling blue of hyperspace.

“Time until our arrival?” Thrawn’s voice echoed throughout the bridge.

The navigator answered swiftly, “Three minutes sir.”

Thrawn nodded, “Very well. Parack, is there anything more we should know about this route?”

Parack glanced at his superior, and reached into his pocket. Retrieving a datapad, he responded, “Yes sir. This is actually the first of two jumps. We’re currently heading to an area just beyond the heart of the nebula. This are apparently served as a sort of “checkpoint” for the Rakatans. From there it’s a straight shot to a system located directly in the heart of the nebula.”

“Excellent. I shall be in my ready room should you require my presence.”

With that, Thrawn turned and headed out of the bridge, leaving Parack and Pellaeon alone.

The two passed the time with small talk, namely their respective progress in securing territory for the Hand and their talks with Ascendency. Eventually, their easy discussion was interrupted by the navigator.

“Attention all hands, hyperspace exit in 10 seconds.”

“Good, once we exit I want immediate scans of-“

Whatever Pellaeon was about to say was interrupted when the ship suddenly lurched forward, the rear of the ship tilting upwards as a dreadful howl filled the air, accompanied by a horrible crack.

The floor below Parack suddenly dropped, leaving him airborne. He only had a moment to realize his situation before he was reacquainted with the floor, and all when black.

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He woke to a painful pounding in his head, and the echoes of voices in the distance.

As he stood up, blurrily looking around, a man sprinted to him. The man was shaking him, yelling something, though any noise he made still sounded like it was miles away. As his vision cleared, Parack looked around. He was inside a room, bathed with a red pulsing light, and filled with people running and shouting at eachother. In the center of the room, just a few meters infront of him was a man in a white uniform. Who was that man? He looked familiar. Wait… no, he was-

All at once his memories came flooding back to him. They were exiting hyperspace, but something apparently happened when they did so.

Quickly shoving away the crewman that had woken him, he stood up. Stumbling a little, he took a moment to get his bearings before heading over to Thrawn.

“Sir! Are you alright?”

Thrawn glanced at him. The chiss mastermind was furious, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his red eyes glowed a little more than usual.

“Captain Parack, it is good that you are awake. I am unharmed, I was lucky enough to be sitting down during the time of the impact.”

“What of Pellaeon?”

Thrawn frowned, “Med-bay, he sustained a concussion. The staff reports that he will recover shortly.”

Taking a moment to run through the implications, Parack spoke again, “Sir, what happened?”

Thrawn grimaced, “The fleet ran into a hyperspace anomaly milliseconds before we were due to exit. Thankfully, we only scraped the edge, so our shields took the brunt of the damage.”

“What of the rest of the fleet?”

“The Chimaera was on our left, and therefore completely missed the anomaly. The Admonitor however…”

He nodded towards the viewport.

Parack turned, and he heart caught in his throat.

There, in the sparkling twilight of space, the Admonitor was drifting. Its armor was blackened and scorched, and hull breaches were scattered throughout its 1,600 meter-long frame. Many of which still had flames spewing out of them.

Parack stared in horror at his pride and joy, unbelieving.

Thrawn spoke up once again, “She’ll live, if that’s what you’re worried about. Unfortunately, that the only good news. She has no shields, over half her weapons are slagged, and her hyperdrive is completely burnt out. She is, for all intents and purposes, useless.”

Parack didn’t take his eye from the scene.

“I… don’t understand. This route is supposed to be safe. The probe made it through fine!”

Thrawn all but sneered, “Yes, the probe. A half-meter wide probe.” He shook his head, “That’s a bit smaller than three near-kilometer wide star destroyers.”

Parack took a deep breath, before calming himself.

“So what now?”

“Now…” Thrawn began, “You are going to go back to the Admonitor to oversee emergency repairs. Then you will-“

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by the one of the bridge crew.

“Sir! We’re not alone! There’s something out there!”

Immediately dropping the previous conversation, Thrawn turned to the viewport.

“On screen!”

The viewport flickered before zooming in on small black dot in the distance. Once magnified, the dot was revealed to be some sort of station. Not just any station however. The spherical center and three angler prongs protruding from said sphere unmistakably marked it as a Rakatan station.

Thrawn’s evidently came to the same conclusion. “Parack, you said the Rakatans used this area as a checkpoint?”

“Yes, sir.”

Thrawn nodded, “Then this must be some sort of defensive platform. Sensors, details?”

“2,114 meters wide, 5,632 meters tall. Minimal power readings. Over 400 possible weapon emplacements, however cannot verify due to the station’s fluctuating power levels.”

There were several moments of silence as Thrawn digested this information.

“Very well. Parack, you have additional directives”

“Sir?”

“While the Admonitor is undergoing repairs, your stormtroopers are to secure the station and download any data it has pertaining to this nebula. The rest of the fleet will continue on to whatever it is the Rakatans were so keen on hiding. Understood?”

“Yes sir!”

“Good, you are dismissed.”

Offering a sharp salute, Parack turned and exited the bridge, now a lot more loud than when he first entered.

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Once more in the inky blackness of space, two gleaming vessels hovered over their wounded comrade. Seconds later a small Lambda-class shuttle exited the middle vessel, headed for the scarred one.

Upon its arrival, the unharmed ships repeated the process they had gone through just over five minutes ago.

Once again, a bright flash signaling their journey deeper into the nebula.

Once again, the stars twinkled innocently, giving no hint of the secrets ahead.

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The blues of hyperspace dissipated into more natural colors as the Grey Wolf and Chimaera exited into real space.

“Sensors, report.”

“System has a G-class star and five planetoids, of which two are in the green zone, though one appears to be a moon. There is a moderately dense asteroid field between the third and fourth planetoids. No signs of artificial structures or ships in orbit of any of the planets.”

Thrawn contemplated the information for a bit. “Hmmm, the planets in the green zone, you said one is a moon. What of the other? Does it support life?”

The sensors officer grimaced, “umm, possibly sir. We’re getting some strange readings from that planet. I won’t be able to tell until we get closer.”

Thrawn nodded in acceptance, “Very well. Helm, plot a course to the far side of the planet’s moon. I want to know exactly what’s going on.”

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With the order given, the two ships massive engines began pushing the gargantuan 40,000,000 ton ships towards their destination, a slowly-turning planet covered in greens, browns, and blues.

A planet orbited by a shattered moon.

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I like the concept. Keep going.