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Yularen drained a glass of Corellian whiskey and began thinking.
The holocard lay on the table in front of him. He had already watched the footage three times. It was stubborn and refused to change. Yularen sighed. It would remain, and he had to fix this.
Mitth’raw’nuruodo was an exemplary officer and one he had great pride in. He was talented, a true genius. His presence and intellect allowed him to rise up Imperial ranks with ease. He was a fine asset. What was truly appealing about him was that the alien was just dim enough to be manipulated. A genius, but an idiot nonetheless. He knew nothing of politics. Yularen guided him through the maze of Coruscanti politics, not without difficulty. With every favour Yularen fixed, Thrawn only owed him more. An Admiral of the Imperial Navy permanently in his debt.
Mitth’raw’nuruodo was one of his and he did not even know it. Yularen had to watch out for him. The alien falls and others fall with him. And this recent development was….troubling.
He poured himself another glass.
Yularen knew Thrawn was fucking his aide. There was no such thing as privacy in the Empire. They first fucked in the vastness of space gods knows where and Yularen knew about it before sundown the next day.
>A holovid, the camera skewed at an odd angle to remain unnoticed. High pitched whines and the creaking of bed springs. The alien had gotten his aide to serve him orally at first, expected. The aide then fucked him, unexpected. The alien’s unusual genital setup should be noted.
The event was predictable. Commanders always fall into bed with aides, and the wild space boy was always drooling after Thrawn. ‘Moon eyes’ as the wild space lot say.
It did not matter. It was a mild insubordination, and one that was rarely punished. The acts all appeared consensual, as numerous clips confirmed.
>The alien’s hands were bound. A blindfold was tied. He was on his knees with the yokel standing. The alien’s trembling was visible on camera. The angle did not allow for visibility, but the debauched sounds were loud as the alien choked on his aide’s cock. Patterns of dominant-subservient relationship in all clips.
The….content of the clips made him uneasy. Thrawn was an Imperial Admiral. He was to be dignified, respected. Poised with power.
>Secondary camera placement. The alien is sitting in the aide’s lap. He engaged in an act of self gratification with the aide watching. The pair then engaged in penetrative sex with the alien pinned face down, bent over his own desk. Notable that the alien appears to wear red lace stockings under Imperial uniform.
>> Private Note W. Y> The alien is a bloody dime a dozen twi’lek whore on Nal Hutta. Consider revising position - speak with Tarkin. Sexual deviance was to be expected, but wanton behaviour demonstrated could be embarrassing.
They had spoken and in the end decided it was of little consequence. There wasn’t a person alive who could slice into ISB files, and neither Yularen nor Tarkin were ever going to share the information. Unless, of course, they needed to. Yularen tried not to childishly snicker as Tarkin stuck his nose up at Thrawn’s proclivities; he had spent the weekend cleaning up Tarkin’s last pet and sending him to the arse end of the galaxy with a sizable stack of credit chips.
The sex was an issue, but it was not what was worrying him today. It was the latest clip Yularen had retrieved that was causing him stress - this one from Thrawn’s bedroom.
They fucked - as usual. Yularen watched as an Admiral of the glorious and bountiful Empire was teased endlessly by his aide. All items that were shipped to men of power in the Empire were approved by Yularen. He was forced to grimace and approve a package of Thrawn’s containing some truly stomach churning items. And today he got to watch those items find a home in Thrawn’s ass.
But that is not what scared him. It was what happened after.
“You alright darling?” The aide said.
“I am fine” Thrawn sounded out of breath and crackly. “Simply overwhelmed”
“I didn’t take it too far?”
“Not at all” Thrawn sounded greedy. “You were beautiful”
“As are you” The aide ran his hands through Thrawn’s hair. “So goddamn beautiful’”
Thrawn kissed his aide. “I love you, Eli”
“Love you too, my darlin’”
Love. Love. These fools were speaking of love! Yularen had thrown a beloved ornament of the Wookie people at the wall when he first watched the clip. Sex was fine. Unusual sex was also fine. Yularen did not care what Thrawn liked in bed. That was no issue, and whatever scandal it could possibly cause could be easily erased. All Imperial higher ups had stained hands. Tarkin had his stormtrooper pets, Pelleaon was fucking every Senator’s wife he could get his hands on, Krennic had ordered his aide to get plastic surgery to look more like him so he could fuck himself, Veers loved twi’lek’s, Piett had a mechno fetish, the list went on.
But love. Love was another thing all together.
It was a weakness, and something the Emperor would not tolerate. He accepted his cohorts needing sexual release; he had not liked it to begin with, but Yularen convinced him that it increased productivity and the numbers soon supported it. But emotional attachments could not happen. Not on Yularen’s watch. Somehow he had watched the alien and his aide fall in love and had not seen it coming.
Scrolling back through the camera feed it was frighteningly obvious. They slept in the same bed, they made meals, bathed and showered together. Yularen cursed himself. He had made this mess, and now it was his job to sort it. Thrawn was too valuable to lose to something as silly as love.
Yularen poured himself another glass of whiskey and reached for his datapad.
“Congratulations, Grand Admiral” Yularen inclined his head politely. He extended his hand. “It is a well deserved promotion”
“Indeed” Thrawn shook his hand. “I look forward to having the opportunity to better improve the Empire”
“Do not say that too loud, don’t want the Emperor thinking his Empire needs great improvement” Yularen jested. Thrawn smiled thinly.
“Of course not. I mean to fine tune the workings of the Navy, and this promotion will allow me to do so” Thrawn said smoothly. “To better prioritise the Navy’s money and efforts”
“I look forward to it” Yularen gritted his teeth. Thrawn’s disdain for the project known as Stardust was well known. He was not looking forward to that headache. Krennic was already doing his head in at the moment; Erso had stopped willingly pleasuring him with his mouth and Krennic was getting all uppity and angry about it. Yularen had threatened him with Vader and it had worked, but Krennic was still sulking.
“Pardon, but I was separated from my aide before the ceremony” Thrawn looked around the crowd of jealous officers. “I do not see him here”
“Ah, he is not here” Yularen said.
Thrawn stared at him with those unsettling red eyes. “Oh? Do you happen to know where he is?”
“I do” Yularen replied.
A crinkle appeared on Thrawn’s brow. “Where is he, exactly?”
“He is not here, Grand Admiral,” Yularen repeated. “He is gone”
Thrawn straightened up. “I am afraid I do not understand Colonel. Where has he gone?” His tone is forceful, but Yularen does not flinch. He anticipated resistance.
He clasped Thrawn’s elbow. “Walk with me, Grand Admiral”
“I do not want to walk with you, I want to find my aide” Thrawn wretched his arm out of Yularen’s grasp.
“I have taken the liberty of finding you a new aide” Yularen said. “She is waiting for you on the ship. She is very efficient, not to your fancy of course, but I think that would be better. No more… incidents”. Yularen makes a face of distaste.
“Incidents?” Thrawn whispered.
Yularen shakes his head sympathetically. “You think I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors?” Thrawn’s head jerked. He sighed. “It is alright, dear boy. Your secret is safe with me. But the Empire cannot afford distractions, no matter how pretty”
“I don’t…I am afraid I don’t quite understand”
“We will not leave you unsupported, do not fear” Yularen reached into his pocket and found the comm, pressing it into Thrawn’s gloved hand. “I have found a replacement, of sorts. His name is Enoch. He is posing as a stormtrooper but that is just part of the facade. Do not fear, I only employ the best. He is meant to be fabulous with his tongue. Your favourite, is it not?”
Thrawn turned purple. “I don’t…excuse me? How do you..how on stars do you know that”
Yularen laughed. He had about thirty odd videos on his private datapad of Thrawn treating his aide’s face like a speeder. “Are you really asking me that, dear boy?I hope you will not so naive in the future”
Thrawn cannot keep eye contact. “And Eli…”
“Eli Vanto is safe, if it makes you feel better” Yularen smiled. It would be a waste to kill him, not when he had such talent. It was a neat clean up overall, Yularen was proud of himself. Two birds with one stone. Thrawn weakened, Krennic placated. “But you will not be seeing him again”
“This is…” Thrawn’s face was stiff. “Unexpected. I did not know that I needed to be reprimanded in such a way. This feels extreme, Colonel”
“You cannot expect to be Grand Admiral without making sacrifices, do you?” Yularen sighed. “It is an exchange, Thrawn. I am afraid it is simply politics”
“If you please… may I send a goodbye message to Vanto” Thrawn closed his eyes. “He was dear to me. I am sure you know this”
Yularen shakes his head in pity. “I am afraid not. Do not worry Thrawn. I will keep an eye out for him”