After action [open]

[grand-admiral.livejournal.com]

Thrawn had gathered and reviewed every scrap of information Stacy had about the disastrous battle with the Ohm--every after-action report, every camera angle. Now, in the Sensorium, he was watching the skirmish unfold in three unsettling dimensions. It was a reconstruction, only as good as the crews' accounts and his own tactical skill. The latter, at least, was formidable.

Parts of the battlefield were empty, grayed-out in a literal "fog of war," where Thrawn had too little information to fill them in. They shifted and flowed as the fight progressed, crewmembers and Ohm disappearing into them and then popping back into existence where the records picked up again.

Gradually, however, the blank spaces were disappearing, as Thrawn ran various scenarios and decided on the most likely. Combat would pause, reverse itself, and then resume with tiny differences, again and again, as bit by bit, with infinite patience, the Grand Admiral recreated the battle to his satisfaction.

If he had any say in the matter, no confrontation with the Ohm would go so poorly again.

Comments

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"I would watch, if such sits well with you," Arha said quietly, letting her voice filter as unobtrusively as possible. "I find your process intriguing."

[grand-admiral.livejournal.com]

"If you like, Flight Officer," he replied, recognizing her voice. The simulation continued uninterrupted, crew and Ohm fighting and dying, then leaping backwards in time to fight and die once more.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Part of me wishes I had been on the planet," Arha said quietly, her eyes flicking as an Ohm arced and was killed. "But I know I was where I was needed most. I have learned a great deal from the aerial combat."

[grand-admiral.livejournal.com]

"Wiser to know where one will be a help, or at least not a hindrance, than to give in to the urge to be doing anything at all, regardless of usefulness," Thrawn said. He replied absently, mind obviously on the battle far more than the conversation.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Such is foolish to help without training," she said in the same absent manner. Arha was watching him and watching the battles on several fronts. He was no stranger to this sort of recreation--perhaps the method was different, but the process was still the same only it was in three dimensions. An Ohm passed her and she studied it, too.

"Have you the information supplied by the pilots and support factored in as well?" she asked after a very long silence.

[grand-admiral.livejournal.com]

Thrawn didn't reply directly, but the scene shifted seamlessly to space, where the battle had already been filled in entirely. "Naval engagements are my specialty," he said, deadpan.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

Arha smiled and stopped just short of clapping her hands together. He had done a seamless job in this--she could see that it was his specialty as she craned and peered and took the battle in. She took pains to track her own movements and shook her head slightly. Arha knew that if she had turned the ship a fraction in another direction, she wouldn't have had to make the landing.

Nor would she hurt so much.

The information was useful.

"So I see," she murmured. "This is beautiful work."