#inbound flight

Inbound Flight is so hecking good. I loved Ar'alani walking around in combat gear with Grogu strapped to her in Chapter 6 of Rising Order (well, technically Chapter 4. But I didn't read the thing right snsj) , so I did a messy (sorry :/) sketch!

Not quite sure about the armour, but it doesn't look too bad? I didn't really have much of a reference other than what was described and what Thrawn was wearing on the Alliances cover :/

Anyway, I'm loving the series! Thanks for sharing it :3

Bits and pieces based in and around the Battle of Rentor in Queenie With a Beenie's awesome AU story ‘Inbound Flight: For Home and Song’.

~

Mercenary Guild: Fleet Station 9: The Chaos

Ar'alani has not seen that particular type of ship since she was aboard the ISD Chimaera . The wedge-shaped Kuat/Seinar ships are old, but Ar'alani would wager that looking at the hull alone was the last mistake of many an enemy. The ships were formidable in the hands of a competent captain, and she will wager that is just as true now. The grey vessels sport guild colors on their dorsal and ventral, and she wonders if they've already met the Imperial Remnant. 

"Chiss vessels, this is traffic control. You are approaching a Mercenary Guild fleet station. State your purpose in this space." 

The Minnisiat is impeccable, if unexpected, and Ar'alani replies in kind. "I am Supreme Admiral Ar'alani of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, aboard the vessel Indomitable, with Admiral Tro'owmis aboard the Fool's Errand. We seek to initiate a contract."

"Please remain on the channel and hold position at this beacon." A light appears and flashes, guiding them in. "I require a moment to speak with the Guildmaster.” 

"Remaining on this position with channel open, confirmed."

After an unusually long five minutes, traffic control returns. "Proceed to ring five, dock nine and ten will be lit for you. A representative will meet you there."

Efficient. Ar'alani confirms and discomms. This is hard, but after Rhigar their fleet is decimated, and every blackdock is overloaded. The Mercenary Guild has been rumored for decades to have formed their own fleet, and they are incredibly efficient at putting down threats. So much so that the guild has their own solar system - albeit one without anything larger than a pebble orbiting a complacent yellow star. However, the presence of at least twenty ISDs in the station's space and another ten on a docking ring changed things considerably. 

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy Trilogy - Timothy Zahn, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017), Inbound Flight Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rhiona Lascelles/Chaf'itaeta'osdec | Fitaetao/ Mitth’oola’isacsi | Thoolasia Characters: Rhiona Lascelles (Imperial OC), Mitth’oola’isacsi | Thoolasia (Chiss OC), Chaf'itaeta'osdec | Fitaetao (Chiss OC) Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff, Pre-OT3, OT3, Injury Recovery, Eventual Smut, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Chiss/Human relationship, Inbound Flight shenanigans, Plotting with Queenie needs its own tag Series: Part 5 of Rhiona's Story Summary:

Rhiona is finally free from the Csoen'ehe'ah'otcahi Genome Research Facility. The road to recovery will not be an easy one.

But she has two Chiss by her side to help her along the way.

✨I’m not dead yet ✨

(God hasn’t tried hard enough lately)

Secondly,

I KNOW ITS BEEN OVER A YEAR OKAY BUT IM STILL DRAFTING THE FINALE FOR INBOUND FLIGHT

(Alas I am a corrections officer and that is quite a draining profession that has effectively zapped all of my creativity lately)

I refuse to give an estimate for when I’ll have it up, simply because I’ll just disappoint myself more.

CHAPTER 12 - GOODBYE

But then again, the humans also thought themselves invincible until they tested their luck against the Chiss. A truly incredible amount of the survivors had presented with mental issues almost immediately after they were captured. Istombella Tagge had been among them, of course, but her records indicated an impressive lack of care of the lives of her crew members, recklessness that was well documented prior to the attack at Rhigar. Everything that a Chiss would've been pulled from duty for at the first instance. Not the eighth or ninth, with the final bolt in the bag being her arrest by the Chiss themselves. 

But if Formbi knows anything of both the humans and his own kind, it’s that the higher one ranks, the more of a knife they become in one’s side. Sharp on both sides, and equally a tool and a weapon, easy to change in hand, and very fickle.

“Sir…? I know you’re due to be in Csaplar, but… Sir, you’re being asked to reroute to Sposia.”

He lets the static crackle to fill the empty cloud in the cabin.

The cabin darkens as they enter a tunnel for a brief second before the glow of the lane markers appears.

The red slashes in the cold, blue ice seem like a warning. 

The Stars knew long before Formbi's birth that this is how today would go. 

Formbi doesn’t ask why when he agrees to the change. He already knows.