#the ascendancy

He sighed and plopped down into a chair with a nod to Eli, who looked up from the questis his nose was always buried in. It was no mystery why the admiral was asking about Lily first thing. The Vigilant had returned to Ascendancy space a week earlier, and Kallus and Lily received orders to join them for the next leg of the journey. Except, she has not left her room since boarding five days earlier. Actually, he wasn’t sure either of them have truly seen Lily in almost a month.

Without a doubt, Lily has achieved impressive things in the four months they’ve been in the Ascendancy. But since the syndic hearing, she has become reclusive. He didn’t think she was depressed, rather, it reminded him of the time she wrote the study on Palpatine and his insane religion. Lily had disappeared for three weeks; even Thrawn had seemed concerned.

Ironic, really, how the restless woman could become so focused on something, she ceased being restless altogether.  

“That bad?” Eli asked, still with the appearance of being prepared to look back at his device at any moment.

“On the surface, she’s fine.”

“And in reality?” Kallus wasn’t sure how to put it, but he gave it his best shot.

“Thrawn took care of her, and I think she’s struggling to find a routine because of it.” It was more than that. It was as if the only thing she knew how to do was work—so that’s all she did.

“You mean like, he tucked her in?” Ar’alani asked dryly. He gave her a matching look back. Kallus might be willing to get advice from the woman, but he wasn’t willing to mock Lily behind her back. That, he saved for teasing her to her face.

“He fed her. Anytime she was working with me at least, Thrawn ordered food brought to her. It irritated her at first, but I think it became her routine; she didn’t have to think about it.” Kallus ran a hand through his hair, something he seemed to do a lot lately. “I have a sneaking suspicion he helped manage her schedule as well. She double booked herself twice last week.” She worked like mad, but it was as if outside of work, she was lost.

“She has attention hyperactivity disfunction,” Eli said casually, focused on his questis once more. Kallus looked over at him, shock rolling through him. It would explain so much.

“How do you know?” Kallus had known Lily for almost a year now—how could he not know that? And, how was she so successful if it clearly impacted her? He’d looked up her net worth once when she first came to the Empire—it was multiple times more than Thrawn’s, which was quite high. The man seemed to spend very little money, and has been in an Admiral salary for a decade now, making his worth just over a million credits. Though it appeared Lily donated a huge amount of her money, she clearly worked her ass off. Large quantities of legally made credits were deposited into her account almost weekly—until Thrawn found her. Kallus didn’t understand how someone who needs help eating could achieve all that she had. He must ask her about it. Perhaps he could help.

“Thrawn sent her medical records with the other data.”

“What is that?” Ar’alani asked.

Eli scratched his head. “Ah, I had to look that up for her paperwork. There isn’t a diagnosis for your people. The closest disorder is based on attention; nothing is mentioned for hyperactivity. It’s called attention deficit disorder.”

“Ah, yes. Chiss usually grow out of that.”

“Yeah that’s what I read. It seems Lily was medicated up until she joined the military. My guess is, Thrawn simply tried to ease some of the symptoms. She just needs time to find her groove.”

Kallus’ questions were answered, perhaps. “Why did she stop medicating?”

Eli shook his head. “That wasn’t in her file, I’m afraid. Technically, the Empire doesn’t restrict the drug, though it is a stimulant, and most militaries don’t allow you to take them.” A stimulant? She was energetic enough.

“I suppose I’ll try to pay more attention,” Kallus mumbled, his hand on his chin. Maybe Lily just needed some reminders throughout the day.

“If Thrawn wanted you to take over for him, he would have said so.” Kallus gave the man a small, rueful smile. Thrawn did not exactly communicate well.

“Maybe. But my only purpose for being here is for Lily.”

Ar’alani raised her eyebrows. Yes, she understood why Thrawn had kept them together—and did not think it was so Kallus could be her secretary. “I don’t believe that is correct. Thrawn had a list of suggestions of what you would be good at doing here. His only request was that you two work together.”

The door slid open and Lily rushed in with notebooks filling her arms, her stomach beginning to round. Kallus stood, surprised to see her.

“You’re not going to fucking believe this,” she said in Basic before dropping the notebooks to the table. “I found them.”

“What?” Kallus asked, aware that she was practically buzzing with excitement. So excited she couldn’t be bothered to speak Cheunh.

“I found the Grysks,” she said as she began flipping through notebooks.

“How?” Ar’alani asked, her voice dark.

“I analyzed ancient maps,” she said—as if they haven’t had experts doing that for decades. She glanced up at Ar’alani, sensing her hesitation. “Your databases have been altered in the past. The maps aren’t complete,” she found a page and pushed the notebook to her. “This isn’t completely accurate, but I believe it is close. My father and I came across a map the same place we found the Chiss chains. He sold it, but I had drawn a copy. The copy was lost, but when I was in university, I tried to redraw it from memory. Of course, I transferred it to my master document years later.”

Kallus leaned over and looked at it. “And you cross referenced it,” he said distractedly.

“Yes.” She looked between the three, barely contained excitement on her face. “There is a point in space that has been largely considered empty of life. Asteroid fields, unlivable planets. A dangerous place to go.” Her eyes focused on Ar’alani’s, and she took a breath. “I think it’s a two thousand year old conspiracy.”

She set two notebooks in front of them. “These are from two separate maps. What do you notice?” Eli smiled to himself, feeling like he was with Thrawn again. A more manic, attractive Thrawn.  

“There are similarities. Are they of the same part of space?” Kallus asked before Ar’alani could answer.

“They’re the exact same sector.”

Kallus shook his head. “But they’re too different.” He looked back at her first drawing. Then his eyes widened. Lily grinned and pulled the two notebooks back and ripped the papers out, and held them up to the light, pressed together. Then she added a third paper.

“They’re all incomplete,” Ar’alani said quietly.

“Correct. But if you put them together, they look exactly like the map I found so long ago.”

“No Chiss would have altered our maps.”

“No, I doubt they would. They were altered before they fell into Chiss hands.”

“So we need to get scouts there,” Ar’alani muttered.

“No, I wouldn’t.” The fleet admiral’s eyes flashed up to hers.

“Why?” she challenged.

“If this has been occurring for thousands of years, they probably have plenty of safeguards. All nearby systems will be watched. Even if you used the sky-walkers, you’d probably have to do a twenty hour long jump to avoid any scouts.” Her face went a little distant, blinking fast as she had an idea.

“That isn’t possible,” Ar’alani said. “They would collapse from exhaustion.”

“Yes,” Lily muttered. “We cannot ask that of a child…”

“What are you thinking?” Kallus asked her, beginning to recognize the look. She stared at him for a moment, her face turning dubious.

“A Jedi could do it. They can use the Force to sustain themselves, essentially keeping themselves awake and alive without food or water.”

“Jedi?” Eli asked skeptically. They were gone.

“Yeah…” she said, still mumbling, lost in her mind. Her eyes flicked over to Ar’alani. “How do you contact Thrawn?”

“A communication device.”

“Is he the only contact you have in Lesser Space?”

“For the most part, yes.”

She let out a little huff and rolled it over in her mind. Thrawn likely wouldn’t be working with the Rebels yet, as long as he hadn’t altered their planned timeline too much. That meant he was not the best option to ask this of, but it was apparently her only option. “I need to speak with him.”

The admiral shook her head. “That isn’t how it works. You can send a message, but you will not be able to speak to him. It just isn’t possible.” Lily raised an eyebrow at her. If a message could be sent, so could a call. It was probably time to reveal more of her skillsets to her Chiss allies anyway.

“May I see the technology?”

“You’ll have to go to a communications triad if you plan to work with it, but Naile, we have expert engineers.”

“I understand Admiral, but if I may, I’d like to try.”

Eli raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “You believe you can what, slice it?”

Lily gave him a guarded smile. “Perhaps.”

And, scene!