Fan Fic: The Untitled Big Gay Star War - PROLOGUE

[ishmaelisms]

This is a multi-chapter AU of sorts I've been working on for almost 4 years now, and it's near and dear to my heart! I wanted to play with the idea of Eli Vanto from Timothy Zahn's new canon Thrawn novels defecting to the Rebellion around the same time the Ghost crew are settling in on Yavin IV, i.e. that sweet sweet free real estate between seasons 3 and 4 of Rebels. It's an exploration of Eli's relationship with Thrawn and Kallus's relationship with Zeb. Yes, it's shippy, Yes, there are explicit sex scenes (but nothing wild). I'm going to post chapters here as I finish them and hopefully post the whole thing to AO3 when it's done. I hope it finds an audience here! (And if you saw it posted elsewhere, no you didn't)

PROLOGUE

Eli Vanto sunk down in his chair and poured himself a cup of moss tea from the still-warm pot on his desk. He had spent all of his long meeting with Admiral Ar’alani on edge, worried that she would see through what he was planning. As far as he could tell, though, she just took it as his usual nervousness around her.

He cradled the small ceramic cup, taking a sip and relaxing a bit as the just-the-right-temperature brew slid down his throat. It was night cycle aboard the Steadfast, typically a cherished time for him to decompress and let his subconscious unpack everything he had been too busy to notice during the day. The Admiral knew not to bother him during this time, so he was confident he could carry out his plan undisturbed.

Eli opened a panel on the bulkhead next to his desk, revealing a communications console that he tuned to an Imperial subspace band. Conventional Defense Fleet communications arrays weren’t supposed to reach that far outside Ascendancy space, but it was easy to tweak it for long range listening once he familiarized himself with Chiss technology. This had started as a way to keep tabs on what was happening back home, to find out how the Empire was progressing in its attempt to stop the growing rebellion, and maybe if he was lucky, to catch Thrawn’s voice on an unsecured channel.

But how did the old saying go? Be careful what you wish for.

Thrawn had been promoted to Grand Admiral shortly after Eli departed for the Chiss Ascendancy. What Eli had pieced together from comm chatter over the last two years was that the Grand Admiral had become obsessed with the rebels on an outer rim world called Lothal because one of them, a twi’lek woman named Hera Syndulla, had outsmarted him more than once. It was Nightswan all over again, only this time Thrawn had the power and authority to exact revenge without permission from his superiors.

Every night Eli was able to tune his communications array to Imperial space brought fresh reports of Thrawn’s handiwork, each incident worse than the last. Civilian homes bombed, children terrorized by death trooper squads, an entire rebel base wiped out using tactics that went beyond even the Empire’s loose stance on warcrimes. Thrawn often saw people as game pieces to be moved around a board at his whim, but Eli hadn’t thought him capable of this level of destruction. He felt a pang of guilt, like maybe if he had stayed by Thrawn’s side he could have stopped this.

The shipping company operated by Eli’s family moved goods to Lothal regularly. He knew its space port well, and had fond memories of going into town with his parents for resupply before they went back to Lysatra; his father showing him how to pick out a ripe meiloorun at the farmers market, his mother teaching him how to haggle with vendors for ship parts. It hurt to think of all that in ruins because of Thrawn.

And it wasn’t just Thrawn. Other Admirals and warlords, emboldened by Thrawn’s actions, had begun terrorizing the outer rim and wild space worlds, including his home planet Lysatra. This was not the Empire Eli had signed on to serve all those years ago, and Thrawn was almost unrecognizable from the man he had loved.

He needed to do something. And after weeks of ensuring everything was in place, he was finally ready to.

Eli calibrated the communications console to send a tight beam transmission into Imperial space.

“This is Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto, formerly of the Imperial Navy. I have information that could be vital to the Rebellion. Someone in your ranks should recognize my name and know what that information is. Can’t discuss further on this channel. Rendezvous coordinates attached.”

Using an encryption code of his own design, Eli embedded the coordinates for an old Wild Space shipping lane, one his parents’ shipping company had used, in his message. Then he stood up, removed his Defense Fleet lieutenant’s sash, and started to prepare.