Beyond - Legends Shadow of a Threat--Thrawn is zapped onto Earth (full summary inside)

Disclaimer: I don't own SW and I never will-so there!

Rating: Ummm...PG?

Summary: Ariah Trin is a normal young woman, independant and having just moved out from under her parents' wings. The world was hers-until she met Thrawn, the evil Imperial warlord from Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy.

Note: I've had trouble with Thrawn's character in the past, and I'm really hopeful this turns out all right.

Shadow of a Threat

"Sir, Section 4 has been isolated and cut off from the surrounding area. The Galistons are retreating."

"Good. They will not bother to regroup."

"Admiral-something just came out of hyperspace. Sector 002. Its traveling at eight thousand knots!"

"Shields-!"

KABOOM!

Somewhere in Kentucky...

Ariah Trin looked up at her watch. Ten fifteen. She needed to keep jogging for at least ten more minutes if she wanted to keep herself in top condition. She would start running after ten minutes was up, then she would go for an hour down Sharks Road, and then turn down to Shapp Street, where her cozy house was sitting below a cozy hill corner.

She was twenty-five, just starting to live completely by herself.

Overhead, a bird cawed to her, and she smiled as a hawk circled in the air. Then another one circled. Another one.

Looking closer, she realized they weren't hawks, but vultures circling prey. And they were near her house. Her house which was isolated from everyone else's.

With a gasp, she ran as hard as her agile legs could. She didn't like buzzards. Never had.

At first, as she glanced out into her yard, she could see nothing. Nothing at all. But that was when she saw the badly injured figure on her porch, smoke rising from off charred clothing.

She ran up to him, praying that God would keep him alive.

He was wearing a white uniform reminiscient of Grand Admiral Thrawn's in Star Wars: the Thrawn Trilogy. His skin was painted a dark blue, and his hair was blue-black. But there was something about him that was different from other Star Wars fans who dressed up in costumes. Also, why would a mere fan be here on her porch bleeding and unconscious? Why would someone put a dressed up SW fan here anyway, if he had been carried?

Suddenly his eyes opened, and she saw the dull red glow of them. Her breath chilled within her, and her heart refused to beat.

No. No. It can't be. I'm hallucinating, she thought, panicking on the inside but remaining calm on the outside.

He said something in another language-Aurebresh? Huttese? She couldn't be certain. She had never heard such a language before. Then he slipped into unconsciousness.

An Imperial officer from Timothy Zahn's book is on my porch. If he is the genius of the books, then we're in big trouble. I must never allow him to see my art. Who would want to see my art anyway... she continued babbling to herself, fear creeping up and making her tremble. She hadn't thought Thrawn was scary in the books, and had even thought he was kind of cute, but now she realized what she had on her porch, and it sure wasn't a cuddly puppy.

Since he is just a character, and not real, I can kill him. Besides, I'll be doing the world a favor, she thought. But then she realized what would take place if she did kill Thrawn. Even if she was able to hide the dirty deed from the rest of the world, it would still haunt her, and each time he was assassinated by Rukh in the books, she would realize she was the one who killed him. She had never killed anyone or anything and decided not to allow that to change. And besides, what if all that happened in SW was true and George Lucas was a prophet?

Yeah, right, she thought as she checked Thrawn over. Because he was so "human" it was easy to forget about the threat of him, and she looked at him like a nurse does a patient, though she wasn't a nurse.

She couldn't really tell at first glance how bad he was injured, so she rushed into her house, grabbed the phone in the kitchen, and dialed 911.

 

Chapter Two

The doctors and nurses at Little Rock Hospital refused to believe it could be Thrawn whom they worked on. It was impossible after all for something unreal to become real, and it didn't make sense for the patient to be a Star Wars villain of the EU.

All refusal to see the blue skinned man as Thrawn was refuted when they had to perform x-rays on him. Everything was similar inside him, but very different from the human body. In fact, they were almost afraid to operate on him since he was an alien.

He had a few broken ribs and a small compound fracture on his right forearm, splinters of bone poking out from the skin. He also had two degree burns in some areas from being blasted into the world of humans.

Ariah worked as hard as she could to pay for the tremendous hospital bill. It seemed instead of hiding in a corner because Mister Red Eye was earthbound, the hospital demanded higher price because Thrawn was 1) a Star Wars character and 2) an alien.

She didn't think it was fair. For two weeks she even asked charity for him. The first time had been a mistake when asking who her loved one was. Some people had read the Thrawn trilogy by Tim Zahn, and had either laughed or walked away when she said it was Grand Admiral Thrawn. Later, she ended up saying it was a random person she just wanted to help. It was better not to give details about "Oh, I found this blue alien from Star Wars laying on my porch. Y'know-the Imperial dude from the EU---Grand Admiral Thrawn. I'm asking for donations to pay the hospital bill, 'cause the doctors want to bankrupt me 'cause he's an alien. Yep."

It was slow collecting money, paying the medical insurance (being zapped into another dimension? How does one pay for that disaster?), and keeping record of her own bills which needed payment. Several times she called her mother and father to tell them about her rough situation, making sure not to tell them about Thrawn.

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I

Ariah Trin looked up from the book she was reading. Heir to the Empire. Thrawn had been an egotistical jerk, and heartless. So far she had encountered no warmth to his character in the books. Now she read them countless times, sometimes she stayed up reading the entire trilogy over and over again, trying to grasp his character fully.

Online people compared him to Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Sherlock Holmes. She read debates on Star Wars fansites pertaining to his evil ways, and had been shocked and horrified to learn he had committeed genocide on an alien race, and had slaughtered many more innocent people. EU character Ysanne Isard, an evil director of Imperial intelligence, had called Thrawn a "terror of the Unknown Regions".

Scared at the prospect of this evil man residing in the nearest hospital, she had trouble going to sleep at night, and when she did he was oftentimes questioning her in that snake-voice of his. Or he was lazily pointing a finger at her, Rukh launching himself at her, assassin blade digging into her throat.

I'm scared of Shadows, she told herself for the hundredth time. She knew she was being paranoid, but she couldn't help it. She tried to tell herself that though Grand Admiral Thrawn was a heartless murderer, he wouldn't just kill or manipulate everyone in his way. Would he?

He got exiled from his people by trying to protect them, she told herself. No, the argument came, he was exiled because of his actions against an unkown aggressor. He's vicious!

She felt herself nodding off and fell asleep, dreaming of Thrawn aiming a pistol at her and coolly pulling the trigger...

She awoke in a sweat, grabbing the phone and calling the hospital.

"Everglade Hospital. How may I help you?" the receptionist said.

"May I talk to Dr. Milstan?" she asked, holding a hand over her fluttering heart.

Pause. Her heart felt as though it was doing acrobatic wonders behind her breastbone, doing crazy twists and som

 

Chapter Three

The phone rang early the next morning, and Dr. Milstan told Ariah that Thrawn was doing great. He was healing faster than a human and would be out of the hospital in no time at all. But there was a problem as how to keep his presence secret from the SW fans.

"I think it's inevitable that they would find out," she told him, blinking her eyes sleepily. Again, she had had little sleep and all she had had was nightmares.

"Yes. I suppose you're right. Anyway, I have to go back to my patient. My advice is: Don't worry about Thrawn. He's harmless, weaponless, and as far as I know he's way too intelligent to start killing people off the cuff."

He proceeded to soothe her anxieties by telling her all Thrawn had done had been part of war. War was filled with tragedies, and it effected more than the soldiers fighting it, but the women and children. She wanted to cry out, "But he slaughtered them when there wasn't war!" but she held her peace.

She ran a hand through her hair. She knew what she had to do. She had to meet Thrawn face-to-face and while he was up and about.

"When will he be leaving the hospital?"

"Hopefully soon. The hospital is having trouble keeping him secret. One RN ran home squealing about Everglade Hospital's alien patient," the doctor said, then added, "She was a fangirl of the character."

I liked Thrawn, too-when he wasn't real. Now I have to deal with him in person.

She nodded her head. Sleep. She needed sleep. Her eyelids grew heavy.

"I want to...um, see him sometime. When are the visiting hours?" she asked.

"We haven't allowed anyone to visit him so far, though it's inevitable that his presence would be known soon. Also, I don't believe he wishes for anyone to see him other than me and a few nurses. He likes to be left alone with his own thoughts."

"I see. Yeah. He tends to do that a lot." A chill went down her spine.

"He doesn't say much. Very polite when he does speak. He has a pleasant voice. Deep. Rich. Well cultivated. He speaks proper English-or Basic. Whichever one," he said, and added, "Would you really want to see him? I'll tell him about your request."

"Don't tell him I'm scared witless of him, all right?"

"Of course not. Though he'll figure it out anyway right off the bat. He's like that. One day a nurse came to visit him and he told me later he could tell she was scared witless of him even though she had been known to be a terrific actress. That says a lot about Thrawn. He's almost psychic. It's freaky."

"Yeah. Um, look Doc-I'd better go."

"Take care. Rest and don't worry about him."

Sure, Doc. Easier said than done. She hung up the phone. Sleep. It called to her. Beckoned to her. Sleep. Rest. Wonderful rest.

She closed her eyes and fell into dreamless sleep upon the couch.

She awoke at sunset, the sun casting warm golden rays through the windows of her house. She groaned and looked at the clock on the mantle. Six o'clock. She had slept for only four hours, but it felt much longer.

She had a bad taste in her mouth, as though hundreds of tiny critters had crawled into her mouth and had died there or used it as a commode. Not to mention the fact she had a full bladder.

After relieving herself and brushing the innards of her oral cavity with toothbrush and toothpaste, she headed over to the kitchen to fix something to eat. She was starving.

And that was when she heard her radio alarm-clock go off in her room. She had slept through the entire day and she had to be at work by seven thirty!

Panicking, she threw on some clothes to head over to the grocery store where she worked as a cashier. It was a tiny store in the middle of the downtown area in Paducah with an antique old England sign which said, Food Easy. She had pointed out to the manager that it also read, Easy to fool. The outside of the grocery store looked like a pleasant bakery, but inside

 

Chapter Four

"You're preoccupied by something. Are you still taking charity for that...um...patient you told me about?" Charlotte Delfron asked Ariah over the counter. She was a coworker.

Ariah flushed, knowing she had been staring into space for a good time now, watching the golden heat of the sun striking the pavement. It was nearly time for her to clock out, which, while she knew it was best to talk to him in person she was also very reluctant to do so. She had had a sufficient amount of difficulty focusing, not to mention frequent bouts of diarrhea due to her nerves. All because of one meeting. One meeting she would never forget.

"I'm fine." She faked a smile, though her stomach was twisting into all sorts of knots. "Um, I'm still accepting charity for the patient. Trying to pay the medical insurance is tough. Near impossibility. I have to visit him today at three in the evening.... Um, are there any really redeemable traits in Thrawn? I mean, like he isn't lying, manipulating, or decieving anyone, etc?"

Charlotte let out an exaggerated sigh, much to Ariah's annoyance. She had read Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy herself and was a big fan of the author.

"Ariah, you're jumping to shadows. What makes you think that? There are many redeemable traits in Thrawn. He doesn't needlessly kill his men, he"-

"What about Chris Petierson? What about the fact he was using only a small percentage of the Imperial troops and didn't want to lose them because they were all he had? He didn't care for the clones."

"I think you need to get a grip. Pellaeon said in the later books that Thrawn's government would be one of order, unity, and of common purpose. Thrawn's plans were full of altruism. The whole reason he fought the New Republic was to whip them in fighting shape against the threats of the Unknown Regions. That's all. His goal was a noble one, to unite the galaxy against the 'hundred threats' Parck spoke of in Visions."

Ariah didn't say anything in reply to her friend's words for a moment. But something nagged at her mind until she had to release it verbally.

"What if he was lying? What if he had decieved the Chiss all along and only wanted to bring them under a totalitarian rule? How would one truly discern what is true and what is false?" Ariah asked bleakly as she clocked out.

Charlotte frowned, her expression grim. Ariah felt as though a Shadow had fallen into the store, a ghost of unreality and concept, nothing more, but dwelling between two worlds. She shivered.

"To quote Mara: 'That's a cheery idea.' You'd better go. It's a quarter till three now," Charlotte said.

Ariah hastily gathered herself up and headed with a determination she didn't feel to Everglade Hospital. It felt surreal, as the last three weeks had been. Thrawn was on earth. He was real. Breathing. He used to be just a concept on paper, but something had made him real.

The drive was too short for comfort, though she also wanted to get the meeting out of the way. She had split ideas about Thrawn. One part of her wanted to believe he had been essentially a good guy in the wrong place. But the other part spoke of other things. Things that seemed good, but were, in fact, foul.

As she drove into the parking lot she breathed a quick prayer, hoping to gain some strength from above. She didn't.

She pulled into a slot and, killing the motor, scrambled out stiffly. As she approached the building, she couldn't help but feel as though she was being watched. And the sky was dark with gray stormclouds. Terrific.

Paranoia. That's all it is. Perhaps I need to visit a shrink, she thought, and made her way to the entrance.

To her surprise, she didn't have to tell the desk receptionist what she was doing there.

"He's in Room 303. Third level. Have a nice day."
Ariah realized she hadn't even known which room Thrawn was in until now. In fact, this was the first time she had stepped foot in Everglade Hospital since the day the alien had been hospitalized. The floors were polished, and random fern

 

So what do you think of it so far? I'll be adding more soon. At the moment I'm at work fixing up my artistic skills. But I'll be adding more soon. Hopefully by next week I'll have another chapter up.