#Feyte Saien

[clevermird]

Title: My New Home

Prompt: Culture Shock @shortfictionweeklychallenge

Rating: Gen

Character(s): Feyte Saien (female Jedi Consular)

Pairing(s): None

Young Feyte Saien has just arrived in the Jedi Temple. She's a long way from home and there's a lot to get used to - but maybe she can find a friend, too?

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Feyte stroked the beads around her neck. Each one was black, shiny, and perfectly synthsilk-smooth, like the pond next to her family’s house on a still night. Sometimes, when she and her sister Sileena had played in it, they would try to make as few ripples as they could, to see if they could move around while keeping the water a mirror of the sky. Her mother had given them to her before she left, to bring her good fortune.

She wondered what Sileena would say about this place. The Jedi Academy was huge. Just the dining room alone was big enough to fit their entire house and the stone walls echoed with kids of all ages laughing and talking. Feyte wished she could join in. But they didn’t notice her, sitting at the end of the bench and staring. So many species! She’d read about Zabraks and Cathar and Twi’leks before, of course, but it was far different seeing them person. Do the Cathar need to brush their fur like I brush my hair? How do the Twi’leks keep their headtails from getting caught in doors?

A bell rang and students all around her jumped up and started taking their trays to the other end of the room. Following their example, Feyte scraped the remains of her meal into a bin and handed her dishes and flatware to a droid. There was a lot left; she’d been too distracted to eat much.

As she walked out into the hall with the rest of the tide of kids, she forgot the shyness of a few moments ago. Her Jedi training was about to start!

The press cleared just outside, the other students running or walking or jogging in a dozen different directions. But where was she supposed to go?

A nearby door stood half-open, but that certainly wasn’t the right class. The beings in there were all much older than her. She stood for a minute, watching a blindfolded human girl with dark hair twist herself into elaborate shapes that Feyte knew she would never be able to match.

The next room didn’t seem right, either. The kids there were hardly any older than her baby brother. Sadness filled her like a stomachache. This place was too quiet, too ordered, too calm. Even one lost Mirialan was like dropping a rock in the water.

Even before she heard the strong footsteps, she knew someone was coming up behind her. That was why she was here, after all. The way she could just know things sometimes, without having to think about them. Her mother had said it was a gift of fate; the Jedi here call it The Force.

She turned around. The man was human and seemingly very tall – she only came to his elbow – with dark hair turning grey and a small beard. “What’s your name?” he said.

“Feyte.”

“Ah, good, I found you. You didn’t come to class, so Master Kita asked me to see if you were lost.”

“I was. Thank you, Master.” The last word was tacked on. She still wasn’t used to the titles that everyone used here and it seemed strange and awkward to not use names.

The man smiled. “I’m not a Jedi Master, young one. It’s just Jedi, Jedi Bakarn. Why don’t we go find your class?”

”Okay.” Feyte followed him down the halls, echoing with the faint sounds of the students on either side, until they reached a closed door.

“Here you are,” said the Jedi with a smile. “And next time, use the schedule we gave you last night.”

Oh. That was probably the paper she had left in her room. In her excitement, she hadn’t bothered to read it last night and had completely forgotten to bring it with her this morning. “I don’t have it.”

“Then ask Master Kita to show you where to go next when you finish here. Hurry, you don’t want to miss too much more of class.”

Nodding, she opened the door and entered, trying not to disturb anyone. The human woman at the front noticed immediately, though, and stood up. “Welcome, young one,” she said in a voice that creaked like an old tree.

“Hello.” Feyte felt her face get hot. There wasn’t this many kids in her entire school back home! She waved, hoping that nobody would notice her blush. The other students stared back at her with wide eyes in a dozen colors. The Force – if that’s what it was – ran around her, seeming almost to play at the edges of her tunic with curiosity.

“Please, sit,” said the woman, who Feyte assumed was Master Kinta. She gestured to a pillow on the floor. “We were just about to begin our meditations.”

Feyte obeyed, trying to copy the cross-legged posture of the Zabrak boy next to her. The cushion was thick and squishy and she shifted back and forth a little bit to feel it under her.

Master Kinta laced her fingers together and closed her eyes. “Now, breathe deeply, padawans. Eyes closed. Keep your mind on the Force, and it will find you.”

She fell silent and after a moment, Feyt peeked through her eyelashes to see what was going on. She gasped. The master was glowing! Golden light like the sun of Tython rolled off her like water as Feyte could only stare. She looked around. None of the other kids were glowing, but they felt calm and smooth, the interest she had felt lost in concentration. Closing her eyes again, she tried to find what they had.

Nothing happened. Her mother had meditated, back home, and she had always made it look so easy. But then again, she had never glowed, either.

Looking up, she saw that no one was watching her. With a frown, she stood up and went over to take a closer look at Master Kinta. What was she doing?

The Jedi opened her eyes as she approached. “What’s wrong?”

Feyte felt herself blushing again as a few of the other students opened their eyes to look at her. “Nothing. I just. . . “ It seemed silly when she tried to say it out loud.

“Then please sit down until the lesson is concluded.”

The eyes followed her as she went back to her pillow and crossed her legs again. She concentrated harder, clenching her jaw and twisting her fingers together. Still nothing.

When she opened her eyes, the Jedi master was standing in front of her. “Calm down, Padawan. Try to relax.”

“I can’t do it.” That’s what she’d been trying to do!

“It doesn’t always happen the first time. The journey is important as well.”

Frowning, Feyte tried to think as the Jedi walked away to help another student. Her mother had focusing rituals she had used at home while praying. How had they worked? She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Over and over until she wasn’t thinking about anything else.

It was like a flash of light raced through her body, so fast that she wasn’t even sure if it was real. She could see everything, like the whole galaxy was connected to her and she was connected to the whole galaxy, moving and spinning all in perfect sync. She squealed.

And then, just as she had realized what had happened, it was gone. Feyte pushed back, trying again to find the thread inside her that would take her back to that wonderful connection, but every time she got close, it skittered away.

The rest of the day is a blur. So many new faces and names, so much to learn. By the time yet another new Jedi Master dismisses the students for the day, Feyte’s sadness has returned. What will she do until dinner time?

A Zabrak ran up behind her, a blonde Human girl beside her. Neither said anything, just looked her up and down with curious expressions on their faces. She shifted back and forth awkwardly, wondering if she should say something or if she could leave yet.

“Wanna go swimming?” the Zabrak blurted out, so quickly it seemed more like one word.

“Where?”

The girl blinked twice. “In the pool, of course.”

Seeing Feyte’s hesitation, the Zabrak chimed in. “The water’s warm, don’t worry.”

“I like to swim.” Feyte smiled as she followed them towards the stairs. Perhaps this place wasn’t quite so strange after all.

[clevermird]

Last chapter is up, featuring the Jedi Knight and my attempt to capture Miraluka Force Sight in text

Title: The Road to Coruscant

Prompt: Allies @shortfictionweeklychallenge

Rating: Teen

Characters: Feyte Saien (female Jedi Consular), Mallena Dayne, (female Republic Trooper), Eyrie Lancaster (female Jedi Knight), Jessasi Silver (female Smuggler), Aric Jorgan, Corso Riggs, T7-01, Qyzen Fess

Pairing(s): None

Four young women find themselves on a ship bound for Courscant. Each brings their own companion, their own mission, and their own past, but when the Sith Empire attacks their ship, they find themselves in an alliance, and their biggest problem isn't what they'll do when they reach their destination, but if they're going to reach it at all!  

This time, Eyrie tries her best to save the galaxy single-handedly and the team attempts to escape the ship

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Hanging over the edge of the tractor beam control platform, Eyrie felt the droid flicker out of existence as the electricity from the console destroyed its circuits. Machines didn’t register in the Force the same way organic beings did, but she could still perceive them as a sort of hum.

Feyte poked her head over the edge of the platform. “Do you need help up? Are you hurt?”

“I have it.” Eyrie swung herself back onto the flat surface and retrieved her lightsabers, hooking them to her belt over either hip. Not that they would stay there for long. Already she could feel more Imperial troops on their way.

The smaller, higher-pitched hum that was T7 approached her. “Jedi=OK?”

“Fine.” To tell the truth, she had probably sprained her wrist catching hold of the edge, but it wasn’t important enough to stop. She could fight, and that was all that mattered. T7 and the others followed her down the ramp on the other side of the now-defunct tractor beam.

A quartet of Imperial troops ran toward them. Pulling her lightsabers off her belt, Eyrie launched herself into the air, aiming for the center of the group. The blades activated with a familiar sound and a slight change in the balance of the hilts. She let her knees absorb the impact of her landing and channeled it outward into a kinetic blast that knocked the nearest two men off their feet.

Straightening, she sprinted toward one of the ones still standing, leaving T7 and the special forces troopers to finish off the incapacitated pair. Blaster bolts flew around her, sharp needles of sensation that filled the air with a stink of ozone. A quick slash with her uninjured hand and the Imperial fell, bisected.

Qyzen Fess had already taken care of the final soldier, so she switched her sabers off, but kept them in her hands. They had to find a way back to the shuttle before the Imperials marshaled themselves enough to attack them in force.

Her wrist throbbed. Think, Eyrie. These people are counting on you. The grand moff would send troops to block off the most obvious path. “T7, do you know of an alternate route back to the hanger?”

“T7=checking ship’s map.”

While he did, she turned her senses outward. Feyte bustled around, tending to the ship captain’s scratched lekku and checking the others over. Despite the pain she was in, the captain and her mercenary companion seemed to be in good spirits. Probably riding their success with the droid. The two troopers were less jovial, though. As Eyrie stepped over to consult with them, T7 beeped.

“What did you find?” she said quietly.

“T7=found a way. Way=difficult+lots of troops. T7+Jedi=can do it.”

“Which way?” Before he could tell her, another ripple came through the Force. More danger.

“Imperials are coming from the west elevator and the hall back to the control room,” said Feyte.

“How many?” Feyte’s force skills were more honed than hers, at least when it came to sensing details outside of the immediate area. Eyrie worked in impressions, quicker when it came to acting and moving, but her masters had been chronically frustrated when it came to her ability to perceive specifics or explain why she acted and despite years of work, she’d never quite been able to remedy the weakness.

“Fifteen or twenty from each direction.”

One of the troopers, the male, swore. “Don’t think we can take on that many.”

“Way to hanger=west elevator.”

“Follow me!” Eyrie shouted. She would get them out of this if she had to cut through the deck plating herself. “T7, start checking for another path.”

They ran across the huge room to the only other exit. Piling into the elevator, they managed to get the door shut just as the first wave of troops burst into view. Someone pressed the button and Eyrie felt the car slide down, like a breeze blowing up onto her face. It shuddered to a halt and she made certain she had as free of an area to maneuver as possible before opening the door. The hallway was deserted.

“Where are we?” the female trooper asked.

Feyte bent down, probably to examine a map T7 displayed. “The detention level.”

“That would explain the dim lights, dark colors, and generally oppressive vibe. Oh, wait, I just described the entire ship. Never mind.”

Eyrie decided to ignore the captain’s inane banter. “How can we get back to the hanger from here?”

“It looks like we can go through the garbage chute, then take another elevator right up to the hanger deck,” the female trooper replied.

“Wait, what? Are you crazy?” the captain said. “Those things are like a hundred feet deep on a ship this big. And who knows what they throw down there.”

“It’s that or turn yourself into the Imperials,” Eyrie said. They were wasting time here.

“Wait,” said Feyte. “What about the prisoners?”

“What about them?”

“What if some of them are Republic citizens? Or even just innocent people? We can’t just leave them behind, we have to save them!”

She was right. It was a Jedi’s duty. “T7, come with me. Feyte, take everyone else to the garbage chute and use the Force to make sure they get down safely. Don’t wait for me.”

Feyte’s hesitation hung around her in clouds, but she didn’t object. As the rest of the group moved off in the direction of the chute, Eyrie led T7 toward the rest of the detention level. Why aren’t there any enemies? Most of the troops on board were probably tied up chasing them, but surely some would be left to guard important resources.

Wait. There was a concentration of life up ahead, behind a door that blocked her path. How many? She stopped and tried to focus. About ten, perhaps. She had never taken on that many sentients herself before, but she would have to try. They seemed calm enough. Maybe if she could take them by surprise. . .

A cold streak of alarm raced through them. Had they seen her? She sprinted lightly toward the door, T7 rolling behind. As she approached, their alarm hardened into a chilled determination and warning tingled in the back of Eyrie’s mind. She checked herself and force her mind to focus on the details of their Force-sense.

Just in time. A rush of sensation overwhelmed her – heat, pressure, sound, every one almost too much for her to stand. When her head cleared, she was lying on the deck and troops rushed out of the now-open door.

Heart pounding, Eyrie pulled herself to her feet and ignited her lightsabers. There were too many enemies to fight in her condition, but at least she could buy the others some time.

No, Eyrie, there’s too many of them. Run! Feyte’s voice in her head. We need your help to get out of here. Please.

Eyrie sent a wave of motion at the troops, knocking them back into each other, and ran. T7 kept up with her, but he buzzed with worry. “T7=not made for jumping. T7>smashed to bits.”

“I’ll cushion your landing.” Fatigue tugged at Eyrie as she raced through the twisting corridors. She needed to start a stricter training regimen when she reached Coruscant; this was unacceptable.

Finally, she felt the hollowness that must be the garbage chute open up in front of her. Without hesitation, she leaped into the space, using the Force to slow her descent.

She landed in a pile of something that smelled of rotting flesh with an impact that dropped her to her knees in a thick, warmish liquid. Above her, T7 rolled clumsily over the side and tumbled end over end as he fell. She caught him and steadied him to a gentle landing in a clear part of the room.

The rest of the group huddled by the man door, trying to stay out of the foul debris. Feyte hurried down the stairs and Eyrie sloshed through the knee-deep refuse to intercept her. “I’m fine. We have to keep going.”

“Are you – “

Before she could finish her question, there was a shout from above and Eyrie felt a prickle of energy as a grenade tumbled down the shaft. She half-dragged Feyte back toward the stairs and it exploded behind them with a deafening noise and a spatter of liquid across their back. Feyte cringed.

“Have you got the door open yet?”

“We were waiting for you. Mallena thought it would set off alarms if we broke it open and I knew we couldn’t wait for you if soldiers were shooting at us.”

“I told you not to.” Eyrie started up the stairs. Feyte was too soft sometimes. A Jedi’s life was sacrifice, and that meant being willing to accept it when others needed to sacrifice themselves, too.

She ignited her lightsaber and plunged it through the door. It popped open with a blare of alarm klaxons and Eyrie beckoned the rest of the group through. They were running out of time.

Fortunately, the elevator was nearby. As it raced upward, Grand Moff Kilrin’s oily voice came over the com. “Very well, you leave me no choice.”

“Yes, I’m very scared now,” muttered the captain and for once, Eyrie agreed with her. Vague threats were hardly going to impress them. Still, they should be on their guard.

The elevator let out within sight of the hanger bay. A few droids stood around the shielded door, but no other guards were in evidence. This is too easy. What was she missing?

The two troopers shot the droids, whose Force presence dimmed without causing so much as a ripple in the general area. Not like living beings. The deaths of flesh and blood were like holes poked in the fabric of Eyrie’s consciousness, bright and raw and impossible to ignore. But what had to be done had to be done.

Disabling the shield over the door proved to be a simple matter. The earthy-feeling mercenary that accompanied the captain flipped a switch on a nearby console and it disappeared with a snap. The Imperials must have put the barrier together quickly when Eyrie and the rest of the group boarded the ship.

The door slid back slowly with a heavy noise. A cold sensation raced up her neck. It was a trap. She didn’t know what was about to happen, but they couldn’t stay here.

Ambassador Asara, Commander Narlok, and a few troopers stepped out from behind the shuttle. “Ready to leave?” called the commander.

Eyrie didn’t get a chance to answer. The ambassador flew across the room with a burst of Force energy and a cold, slimy being strode into the room, followed by several Imperials. He gestured again and Commander Narlok fell. Unconscious or simply stunned, Eyrie didn’t know.

Her lightsabers were in her hands before she knew what was happening. They flicked to life and she leapt toward the Sith. He laughed and she felt him ignite his own blade. Letting her knees take the landing, she spun to the side, trying to catch him off guard. Her heart and the hum of her sabers seemed to merge into a single rhythm and she let it guide her actions, immersing herself in the flow of the Force.

He parried and counterstruck, sending pain up her injured wrist. The Dark Side swirled around him and searing pain arced to Eyrie’s body. She gritted her teeth and kept up the pressure. He was strong in the Force, but his lightsaber technique was weak. She could defeat him if she could just keep him from shocking her again.

A wave of Force energy hit her in the chest and she staggered back. As she closed the gap again, weakness spread throughout her body. Blocking his next blow took much more effort than it should have and she almost didn’t manage at all.

The energy was gathering again. She gathered the Force around her and sent it all to her own body, throwing everything she had into a roundhouse kick. The Sith stumbled backward and the dark energy dissipated.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Eyrie slashed at his body and felt his arm detach from his shoulder. With a roar of rage, the Sith lunged at her, only to be driven back by a hail of blaster bolts from the others, who must have finished with the Imperials.

Still fighting the weakness, Eyrie advanced, lightsabers swirling to block his blows. The energy gathered again, but this time she couldn’t stop it.

The lightning seared her nerves and stabbed at her brain, forcing her to her knees. No, she thought. I can’t give up. I have to save them.

She lifted her head. Brought one leg up. The other leg. Stood. Stepped forward. Forward again. The Sith registered surprise that quickly changed to anger. She caught his next attack on her left saber and stabbed with the right one. A slight resistance told her that it had found its mark and the Sith slumped to the ground as she removed her blade. The weakness left her as his life cut out of existence.

* * * *

They stepped onto the bridge: some limping, some still walking strong. Eyrie thought it was a miracle that all eight of them had made it back, as well as the ambassador and the commander. As they approached First Officer Hakin’s station, she felt the tremor of the ship as it jumped to lightspeed.

“We’re on route to Coruscant now,” announced a navigator.

“Good.” Hakin turned around to face them and his shock rippled through the Force like an explosion.

You didn’t think we would bring her back, did you? thought Eyrie. Coward. He must have kept it off his face, though, as the ambassador didn’t comment. By unspoken agreement among the group, they hadn’t told her about the plan to leave her behind, although Eyrie privately wondered if that was the right choice.

“Is everything going to be alright?” said Feyte.

“Yes. We should reach Coruscant in a few hours. Thank you for all you’ve done. I can’t give medals to those not in my direct chain of command, but you’ve all earned them. The whole crew owes you our freedom, and our lives.”

Eyrie shifted uncomfortably. “We were just doing our duty; you can save your praise.”

“I’ll take it!” the captain piped up and Eyrie smiled inwardly in spite of herself.

In a few hours, they would reach Coruscant. She would meet up with Master Dinn and begin work on whatever tasks he had planned for her. She was a Jedi and she would serve the Republic until her death. But until they arrived, all she wanted to do was sleep.

[clevermird]

Title: The Road to Coruscant

Prompt: Allies @shortfictionweeklychallenge

Rating: Teen

Characters: Feyte Saien (female Jedi Consular), Mallena Dayne, (female Republic Trooper), Eyrie Lancaster (female Jedi Knight), Jessasi Silver (female Smuggler), Aric Jorgan, Corso Riggs, T7-01, Qyzen Fess

Pairing(s): None

Four young women find themselves on a ship bound for Courscant. Each brings their own companion, their own mission, and their own past, but when the Sith Empire attacks their ship, they find themselves in an alliance, and their biggest problem isn't what they'll do when they reach their destination, but if they're going to reach it at all!  

Now that Ironfist is dead, it's time to take the fight directly to the Imperials - and boy howdy, does Jessasi have thoughts about that!

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Jessasi stood up from behind the console she’d been using for cover and shoved her blasters into their holsters. Having a couple of Jedi on your side sure came in handy. Everyone had been so busy shooting at them that they hadn’t even noticed her.

She had to admit, though, Ironfist had been tough. Normally a couple blaster bolts to the chest stopped a guy in his tracks, but it hadn’t seemed to faze him. She wondered what his armor was made of. Maybe she should get herself some of it.

Corso came over to her, hand over one ear. “Those missiles sure are loud, aren’t they, Captain?”

She grinned. “Not hurt, then?”

He shook his head, dreadlocks swinging. “Are you?”

“Not a scratch. Come on, they’re starting without us.” 

The rest of the group had clustered around First Officer Hakin, who was busy thanking them profusely for saving him. The Mirialan Jedi, who Jessasi had come to think of as “the nice one”, smiled. “Don’t mention it.” The other Jedi, the serious one, looked uncomfortable.

Ambassador Asara reappeared, leading Commander Narlok. “We’re not safe yet, though. The Imperials still have us in our tractor beam. We can’t go anywhere until it’s disabled.”

“Short of destroying their ship, the only way to ensure that a tractor beam is disabled is to shut it down from the source,” said Lieutenant Dayne. Jessasi thought she looked a bit young to be an officer, probably early twenties. By human standards, she was probably pretty plain, although not necessarily ugly: about average height, but mostly arms and legs, with washed-out blue eyes and oddly dark eyebrows, one of which was broken by a scar that started at her hairline and ended just below her cheekbone. The only thing that she really had going for her was her hair, which was thick and honey colored and probably real long if she wore it down.

Hakin shook his head. “We can’t destroy their ship. They’d blow us up the moment we started firing. I hate to ask after all you’ve done, but – “

“We’ll do it,” said the serious Jedi.

“Woah, woah, woah, who’s ‘we’?” Jessasi cut in. She was not about to march onto an Imperial ship.

“Myself, T7, and I believe that Feyte and Qyzen will come too. You’re not obligated to join us.”

Jessasi crossed her arms. She certainly hoped not.

Lieutenant Dayne exchanged glances with her Cathar buddy. “We’re going too.”

Corso was looking at her expectantly. Great, now I feel guilty. “It’s not like I’m saying I won’t go! I just didn’t want you volunteering me for something that’ll probably get us all killed. But nope, I’m perfectly fine with coming. Don’t mind me.”

The serious Jedi turned back to Commander Narlok. “How soon can your team be ready?”

“I’ll assemble them right away.”

“Why don’t you take the ambassador with you?” said Hakin. “I’m sure she knows a great deal about the interior of Imperial ships.”

Asara nodded. “I can show you where you need to go.”

“Why don’t you put on a spare uniform, first?” said Narlok. “We don’t want the Imps to recognize you.”

The pair left. Hakin watched them go, then turned back to their group. “Thank you so much for doing this. I don’t know if anyone else on board would have a chance.”

Glancing around, he dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “I heard what Asara tried to make you do back there. Thank you for standing up to her.”

“She panicked,” said the nice Jedi. “I’m sure she didn’t truly want to bring harm to your men.”

“Regardless, I think we all know what has to be done.”

“Then why don’t you just say it?” Jessasi did not like where this conversation was heading.

“Look, the only way to get the Imperials to leave us alone is to give them what they want. So I want you to leave the ambassador behind on the Imperial ship.”

She felt her mouth drop open. “What?!”

“They won’t stop chasing us until they have her and I have to think about everyone else on this ship. We both know she deserves it.”

“Whatever you think about what she did, we still can’t abandon her to the Empire,” said the nice Jedi. “That would be just as great a wrong as sacrificing the engineers.”

“And beyond that, it doesn’t make tactical sense!” burst out Lieutenant Dayne, maybe a bit louder than she should have. “Do you know how many Republic secrets ambassadors like her know? Are you willing to bet the entire war on hoping she can resist an interrogation when she knows her own people sold her out?”

Hakin glared at her. “All I’m asking is for you to think about it.”

“We will,” said Jessasi. “While we’re headed to the airlock to space it.” She’d known there was a reason she hadn’t liked him. Turning on her heel, she walked toward the elevator. Hopefully someone else was going to follow her, because she had no idea where the hanger they were supposed to be going to was and it would look pretty stupid if she had to go back to ask for directions.

Fortunately, the rest of the group was just behind her and the Cathar put in the elevator directions. They raced downward and came out into a hanger bay with a shuttle in the center. A dozen troopers met them and Jessasi and Corso found seats in the front, squeezed in between two of the soldiers.

As the shuttle took off, Commander Narlok started to outline his plan. Jessasi started to tune him out at some point, but she gathered that they were going to split into two groups. One would go to disable the tractor beam, while the other would create a diversion somewhere else on the ship. She was going with the first group and that was all she needed to know.

Leaning back in her seat, she wondered what it would have been like if she had joined the army when she had graduated instead of getting into smuggling. Her parents would probably have reacted a little better, and she wouldn’t have had to deal with that schutta Skavik, either. But it sure wouldn’t have been as much fun.

The shuttle slid into the hanger bay just ahead of the bay doors shutting. Commander Narlok immediately started shouting orders to his men. No, Jessasi decided. Smuggling is definitely more fun.

As they jogged toward the door to the rest of the ship, it burst open and Imperial troops spilled into the hanger. Pulling out her guns, Jessasi fired and three of them fell. She kept running and Narlok’s soldiers took care of the rest of them.

Serious Jedi signaled and Jessasi and Corso peeled of from the main group with the rest of the team headed for the tractor beam. The Imps seemed to be ignoring them, and she didn’t blame them. Narlok’s group was making a huge ruckus, shouting and tossing grenades in addition to mowing down everyone who came their way.

Following Asara’s map, they boarded an elevator, which plunged downward fast enough to overwhelm the inertial compensators and tug at Jessasi’s stomach. It lurched to a stop and spilled them into a dark, gloomy room lined with banks of consoles. Does the Empire not believe in lighting or something?

The room was full of people, but most of them looked like techs and the few who had blasters barely seemed to know how to fire them. It didn’t take long to kill the ones who wouldn’t back down and herd the rest into a corner, where Lieutenant Dayne and the Cathar stood guard over them. Everyone else climbed the ramp to the largest console.

The little astromech droid extended some sort of probe and shoved it into a data port and after a moment, it started making a series of beeps and whirring noises. “What the hell is he saying?” said Jessasi.

Serious Jedi turned in her direction. “He’s shut down as much of the tractor beam as he can from here, but we’ll have to do the rest at the site itself.”

For someone who apparently doesn’t have any eyes, it sure does look like she’s looking directly at you. Something flashed in the corner of Jessasi’s vision and she turned around. “Oh, look, it’s the Imperial guy from before! The ugly one.”

He ignored her. “It’s really rather impressive that you’ve made it this far, but I’m here to tell you that it won’t last. I’m sending my best troops to your location, with orders to spare your lives if you surrender. I recommend you take them up on the offer.”

Serious Jedi looked like she wanted to say something, but Jessasi beat her to it. “Recommend whatever you want, we’re not surrendering!”

“Very well, then. I suppose I’ll have to destroy you. Too bad, really, I was looking forward to talking to you.” The hologram disappeared.

“Oh dear, whatever shall he do?” muttered Jessasi and had the satisfaction of hearing Corso chuckle.

“Let’s go!” shouted Serious Jedi, already halfway down the ramp.

“What about them, m’am?” said the Cathar from the corner.

“Does your gun have a stun setting?”

“Mine does,” the Lieutenant said.

“Use it.” Serious Jedi took off, moving surprisingly quickly for someone of her unimpressive height. Everyone else followed her and Jessasi heard shots behind them. A few minutes later, the two troopers caught up.

Whatever Hakin’s motivations for sending Asara with them, she was certainly useful. Jessasi didn’t think they would have ever found the tractor beam chamber without the map she had given them. Finally, they emerged from a series of hallways and control rooms – does all this stuff even do anything? Jessasi found herself wondering – and saw the tractor beam.

It was pretty impressive: a platform with some sort of glowing beam thing in the center and a console in front of it, all suspended over a giant pit. A stream of guards and droids raced toward them and died in a flurry of blaster bolts and lightsaber beams.  

Jessasi looked up from finishing off a boxy droid that had clumsily tried to take a swing at one of her lekku to see a massive tank-style droid standing in front of the console. “That’s a really big droid,” she muttered.

“And it’s in our way,” the Lieutenant said. “Let’s destroy it.”

“On my signal,” Serious Jedi said softly. “One, two, three.” She leapt to the droid, which tracked her progress with blaster fire. Landing in front of it, she sliced off one of its legs as the rest of the group opened fire or charged into the fight.

Jessasi dove behind a box and started firing. Man, this thing is even tougher than Ironfist. It let out some kind of pulse and the people near it fell backwards. Already near the edge, Serious Jedi lost her balance and toppled off the side of the platform. Nice Jedi shouted in alarm and ran to her.

Ducking behind her cover again, Jessasi took a deep breath and considered. She didn’t want to waste any more time here. More Imps would probably be showing up soon. The droid didn’t even really matter, as long as the console was off. The console. . .

“Corso, come with me!” she shouted, sprinting away from the fight.

“What is it?” he said as he caught up with her.

“Just follow me.”

“We’re not running away, are we, Captain?”

“’course not. We’re winning.”

Like she had suspected, there was another access to the platform on the opposite side of the room. They slipped up it and crawled to the control panel. “Are you sure this is going to work?” said Corso.

Jessasi shushed him. The back of the console was easy enough to pull off, but there she got stuck. What was all this stuff for? And which one had enough juice to get the job done? Well, she’d just have to go with it.

She tugged on a red-insulated wire. When it came loose, she handed it gingerly to Corso. “See if you can short out the droid’s circuits with this,” she said, trying to be heard over the sounds of battle.

He jumped up and dragged the wire over to the droid. It took a few minutes of jerking and dancing to get close enough, but finally, he managed to touch the bare end of the wire to its plating.

Nothing happened.

“Firfek,” Jessasi muttered under her breath. “Try this one!” Maybe the white-insulated wire has more power?

Again, no reaction. “It’s still not working! Captain, are you sure you should – “

“Try this one!” This had to work, it just had to. The droid had noticed her, it was turning, rotating its turrets. In desperation, she flung the latest wire at Corso. The droid paused, then crumpled slightly as blue lightning arced over it, frying its circuits. The light faded from its photoreceptors and it made a sort of weak grinding sound.

Jessasi jumped up, high-fiving Corso. “We did it!” she shouted.

[clevermird]

So, I have a fair number of new followers (ok, like 4 that aren’t porn bots) and haven’t been super active lately, so I figured it was a good time to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while: a sort of intro/meet and greet with all my characters, SWTOR, rpg, and original universe. Nothing huge or earth-shattering, most of a “who the heck are these characters, anyway?” I can’t promise it’ll update on any particular schedule, but here goes!

Top pic is art by the lovely @ethanscribbles and bottom is a screenshot from the game

Name: Feyte Saien

Universe/Story Setting: Star Wars: The Old Republic (Kiarn!verse)

Age: 19 at the start of the game

Species: Mirialan

Story: Feyte was middle child and second daughter of a pair of young Mirialan colonists. Although she attended school in the nearest village, they lived far enough out that her main companion was her older sister, Sileena.

When she was nine, a Jedi Knight passed through the village and noticed that the girl was Force-sensitive. With her parents’ permission, they brought her into the Order to be trained, first at the Academy and then later under the tutelage of Master Yuon Parr.

Feyte is the canonical Jedi Consular for the Kiarn!verse and follows the in-game events with very few deviations.

After the events of the class story, she retains her seat on the Jedi Council for approximately 15 years, after which point she retires from active duty and takes up a job as librarian and academy instructor, a position that allows her to spend more time working on her research into the secrets of the Force and spending time with her husband, Lt. Felix Iresso.

Although biology and the Order prevent them from having biological children, they enjoy mentoring several crops of younglings over the years and she maintains a close relationship with her former padawan Nadia Grell, as well as the two other apprentices she took on during her time on the council. 

Fun Facts:

* Feyte hates wearing shoes and goes barefoot whenever it’s safe and appropriate to do so. For the rest of her clothing, she likes soft, comfortable things in earth tones that she can wrap up in and has a fondness for scarves. She carries a leather satchel wherever she goes.

* Before she left to join the Jedi, her parents gave her a good luck charm, a necklace made up of identical, mirror-smooth black stone beads. She wore it for years, restringing it several times, until it finally broke irreparably on a mission after the main story.

* She wields a yellow single-bladed lightsaber and utilizes Niman form, as she prefers to focus on use of the Force and its simple techniques and the ease of combining it with other abilites facilitate this

* Her younger brother was barely a toddler when she left and while they are friendly, they haven’t really developed a close relationship. Sileena, on the other hand, pops in and out of her life over the years, and while she’s one of the few people who can stir Feyte to a genuine argument (over what, it doesn’t matter, anything from the Jedi’s role in galactic politics to Sileena’s latest boyfriend), the two have remained friends as much as is possible given the years and light years between them

* Of her crew members, she’s closes to Lt. Iresso (of course) and after him, Nadia. She is the least close to Zenith, whose perspective she has difficulty understanding

* She has the most formal education of the 8 heroes of the Kiarn!verse

Behind the Scenes:

To be honest, I didn’t put a lot of thought into Feyte at the beginning. I was making one of every class and I knew I needed an Consular. I already had an Assassin, so Sage it was. And hey, I haven’t played a Mirialan yet, how about one of those. Her backstory was pretty much “good Jedi, no tragic past, nice person”

But as I played, I started to flesh that out a bit. Her niceness is both her greatest strength and her biggest weakness. She’s a sweet, kind person who would do anything to help a friend or even a stranger, but in a way, she doesn’t know when to stop. Sometimes people walk all over her, but more commonly, she interferes with people being able to stand on their own two feet or learn from their mistakes.

Originally I’d planned on having her be a follower of some slightly off-the-wall philosophy of the Force, but that hasn’t really held up. Maybe it’s something I’ll revisit with my next consular.

Honestly, of the 8 heroes, I think she’d be the easiest to hang out with- sure, my personality might match up better with Mallena or Bryyn and Jessasi might be more exciting, but she’s the kind of person who’d just be happy chilling and drinking tea or reading a book or cooking something.

[clevermird]

Summoned by the Republic, Jedi Master Feyte Saien hurries to Makeb to save its population from certain destruction by Hutt-induced groundquakes. After more complications than she would have though possible, she manages to help her friends evacuate the citizens on a massive starship before the planet becomes completely hostile to sentient life.

Additionally, she uses some of her limited downtime hanging out with Tharan Cedrax and Holiday. Although she’s still not completely comfortable with his atitudes to many things- the Force in particular- she does enjoy Holiday’s company and likes talking about obscure things that nobody else on her crew understands, even if their approach to the bizzare and unexplained is vastly different.

[clevermird]

Inspired by @brightephemera, I decided to post some profiles of my SWTOR characters. I’ve been wanting to do some for a while, and realized that a lot of my followers probably have no idea who these people I’ve been blathering on about are. Art by @ethanscribbles

Name: Feyte Saien

Age at the Beginning of the Game: 20

Current Age (Immediately post-Makeb): 25

Titles/Aliases: Bar’senthor, Mender of the Rift- she’s a pretty straightforward person, never needed an alias

Alignment (D&D Style): Neutral Good

Setting: SWTOR, Kiarn!verse

Dark Secret: She’s always known she would end up loving someone romantically someday. It worked out fairly well for her, all things considered, but she would have gone ahead with it, permission from the Jedi Council or not.

Major Appearances: Short Fiction Weekly Challenge on the SWTOR forums. My New Home is the first chronologically.

Origins: Feyte’s parents were high school sweethearts who ended up moving to a rural Mirialan colony world to start a family together. They raised Feyte and her siblings with love and affection, although due to their location, she never had many friends her own age. When she was nine years old, a Jedi who passed through the nearest village on a training exercise with their padawan noticed her Force sensitivity and suggested that she join the order. Although her parents were reluctant, they agreed to allow their daughter to be trained. Feyte then resided at the Jedi Academy on Tython until Master Yuon Parr agreed to take her on as an apprentice at the age of sixteen.

Relationships: Her parents still live on said colony world. Her older sister Sileena is currently 28 and working for a “legitimate shipping company” as a mechanic on a smuggling freighter. Despite their sharp disagreements about many things (Sileena’s choice of profession, the political implications of the Jedi Order, Sileena’s romantic relationships, Feyte’s philosophical stances on virtually everything…), they still love each other and see each other every year or two now that they’re both adults. Her younger brother is 17 and although they’re friendly, there isn’t much of a connection there.

Currently engaged to marry Lt. Felix Iresso of the Republic Army. Jedi Master to Padawan Nadia Grell. Is quite close to Jedi Master Eyrie Lancaster, with whom she defended the Esseles transport from an Imperial attack as newly minted Jedi Knights.

[clevermird]

Guess who got her first 65 today? And it wasn’t a year after the expansion released this time!

[clevermird]

I was tagged by Striges13 to answer 3 questions and then add 3 of my own. So here goes!

This is also my writing excersise for the day, so it got long and is therefore under a cut.

I’m only tagging @striges13 if you want to, cause I know you have a lot of other questions to get to. Also tagging @mirtagevss and @maddinwonderland because you seem like cool people that I don’t know too well yet, and @alaurin101, @rissalf, @lesabear, @ellustration and @frauzet because you guys are awesome. Also, anyone else who hasn’t done this yet and wants too. Feel free to tag me back, and don’t feel pressure to do it if you don’t want to.

Note: All questions are answered from characters’ current game progress, which is Feyte after Section X, Jess after Black Hole, Kiarn just after Ilum, Mallena having just completed the class story, Karanni immediately post Act-II, Eyrie after killing Darth Angrel, and Ketturah still on DK

1. What’s something your character wouldn’t change? Something they know they got right, or at least they’re satisfied with the way it turned out.

Feyte knows becoming a Jedi was the right choice. Enough good has come out of it, she feels, that it was worth anything she might have made worse. More than that, it feels right.

Jessasi doesn’t have many regrets either. However, one particular thing of note is that even though she wishes it had happened a bit more rationally, breaking up with Mal was the right thing to do. She’s far happier with Corso and realizes by this point that her attraction to him didn’t go much deeper than “he’s really hot and the type of person my parents would hate and I’m feeling rebellious”

Kiarn isn’t very sure about anything she’s been involved in or done recently. Has she done the right thing? What other options could she have tried? What if it was wrong? She tells herself that she doesn’t sleep much because she’s not tired, but that’s not entirely true.

Mallena has never regretted letting Elara onto Havoc Squad. She wasn’t too sure about the former Imperial at first, but she’s never been given any reason to doubt her loyalty whatsoever and they’ve become friends over time. It might help that Elara also saved her life by stabilizing her condition after Wraith destroyed her hand.

Karanni regrets very little. While she’s not the type to analyze the past very much in general, her philosophy of life also holds that what’s done is done and you can only keep going forward.

Eyrie knows killing Angrel was the right thing to do. There’s a lot about the situation she would change- convince Master Orgus to wait for her and wait for a different time to confront him about Master Kiwiks, keep Kira from coming, confess her feelings to someone else afterwords rather than bottling them up- but ultimately his death had to happen and she knows that.

Ketturah is glad she accepted the Great Hunt invite from Braden. If she was willing to admit it, she was pretty lonely on her own and probably would have bitten off more than she could chew eventually without the training and help she got as a result of her choice.

2. Pets! What pet would your character love to have? Not limited to in-game pets. Anything in Wookeepedia’s bestiary is fair game.

Feyte loves soft, fuzzy things. She has a taun faun in-game. I have a headcannion that Lt. Iresso is allergic, though, so she’d probably end up with the SW equivalent of a gerbil or something similar that she could keep in one area of the ship

Jess also loves fuzzy things, although I imagine her to have a bit of a Hagrid complex, so it would probably also have sharp teeth and/or claws. Maybe a nexu?

Kiarn doesn’t really like animals, and feels that a pet would just be another potential weakness to exploit if she got close to it and an unwelcome burden if she didn’t.

Mallena always wanted a lobelot as a kid, and will probably get one when she leaves the military. Right now her life is too crazy and she’s gone too often to think about having pets.

Karanni was never allowed to have pets in Erius’ house, and would probably have wound up killing any she did get when she needed to take her rage out on something. She has heard that the ancient Sith sometimes rode rancors, though. She thinks that would be cool.

Eyrie feels that having a pet is an indulgence that a Jedi should not have. It invites attachment.

Ketturah hasn’t thought about it much. A pet would be cool, she guesses, but what would she do with it when she’s out hunting? Maybe an aak dog or something that could help her out on the hunt, but they’re expensive trained and she doesn’t have the time or skills to train one herself.

3. What’s an odd or childlike habit your character indulges in? It can be embarrassing or not, a nervous habit or not. Why did they retain/develop this habit? What need does it serve? (That’s kind of more than three I guess)

Whenever Feyte gets the chance, she goes barefoot. Now, she’s not to Tahiri Vela levels, but she doesn’t really like wearing shoes when she can help it. She didn’t wear them much growing up, either, running around the house and yard barefoot most of the time and only going into town rarely. (it’s worth noting that she didn’t grow up on Mirial itself, which would probably have been too cold for that to happen)

Jess still sleeps with stuffed animals every night. Corso laughed when he found out, but she threatened to kick him back to the crew quarters. By this point she doesn’t talk to them or name them, but she’s never really given up falling asleep with one in her arms. While she never gave up the habit as a child because... she didn’t, by this point it’s also become a bit of a security thing again.

Kiarn sleeps curled up in a tight ball, with the covers pulled over her head. It helps her feel more secure, less vulnerable. She’s done this for at least as long has she can remember, since she was a child trying to hide from her nightmares alone.

Mallena doesn’t really have one, unless you count eating ice cream out of the container when people aren’t around to complain that she’s not sharing.

Karanni would totally watch cartoons if she wasn’t so busy being a Sith. On a more serious note, she still has childish temper tantrums that are the result of Erius’ training. Not only has she never been taught to control her anger beyond the level of a five-year old (her age when he found her), but she’s been actively encouraged to channel it into powerful outbursts.

Eyrie takes far longer showers than she needs too. It gives her a place to think and despite her efforts to be efficient and practical, she does really enjoy it too much to give it up.

Ketturah is only 18 at this point in time, and isn’t really much more than a kid herself, although circumstances forced her to grow up much quicker than she should have. She does fall into the trap of thinking that doing “adult” things- drinking, smoking, getting a tattoo- will maker her an adult faster.

And now my questions! answer any oc or all of them, SWTOR or otherwise, then ask 3 of your own and tag people. (backtagging me is fine if you like)

1. If you could pick someone to play your character in a movie, who would it be?

2. How do they wear their hair? Why? Does it ever change, and why?

3. What did your character study in college/what would they have studied if they’d have gone?

[clevermird]

A few days ago, I got invited by a group member to take down Dreadtooth with her guild. It was a ton of fun, and reminded me that I used to enjoy group content and should get back into it. And I got a title and two achievements out of it, too!

[clevermird]

Girls Night In!

Here’s another short, rather plotless bit from me, pretty lighthearted this time :) A little bit of ‘girl talk’, but not enough to make it NSFW, I don’t think. It features all 4 of my Republic characters and contains no spoilers.

“Really?” giggled Jessasi. “What did he do?”

Mallena’s face took on a mischievous expression. “He was so shocked, he forgot his own name and almost sat down on the end table.”

The assembled women laughed as the major finished telling the story of the day her oldest brother had decided to ask the most popular girl in his class to a dance, only to find that she asked him first.

Feyte stretched luxuriously on the mound of pillows she had thrown on the floor. “Is anyone hungry?”

“Nothing for me,” Eyrie said. She sat cross-legged on the floor, her normal sleepwear of boy shorts and sports bra covered with a dark brown robe.

“Are you sure?” Feyte frowned.

“Yes, I’m still full from dinner.”

“Alright. Anyone else?”

“I’m starving!” responded Jess, fiddling with the strings on her sweatshirt. “I’d love some puffcorn.”

The Mirialan’s face fell. “I don’t have any.”

“No puffcorn? What kind of slumber party is this?”

“Mirialan’s can’t eat most human grains, and since no-one else who live here particularly cares one way or the other, I stopped buying it. I can run out and get some if you want.”

Jess waved her hand dismissively. “It’s fine. I didn’t know you couldn’t eat grain.”

“Most grain. There’s a few I can have, they’re just harder to find.”

“Weird…”

“So it’s kind of like an allergy, then?” said Mallena.

“A bit. The same things happen if we do get some by mistake, I can tell you that much.” She made a face.

“What else don’t I know about Mirialans?” said Mallena.

Feyte returned to her pillows and squirmed back into a comfortable position. “Well, I know there’s a couple vitamins we need in our diet that humans don’t. Usually I just take a supplement to make up for them when I’m eating a human diet. We also see a slightly different spectrum, just a little higher into the ultraviolet and a little less of the infrared.”

“Huh. That’s weird. But kind of cool.”

“What about you?” said Jess. “What’s it like not having lekku?”

“I… guess I never really thought about it. I just don’t have them.”

“But, like how do you communicate? How do you function without the extra brain space?”

“I guess we just… do?” Mallena ran her fingers through her hair. “Maybe we’re really missing out. I’ve never had any, so I wouldn’t know. But I have a question for you: do you really use them for sex?”

“Of course! It’s like having boobs, except cooler. This one guy I knew-” She saw Eyrie make a face. “TMI?”

“A bit, yes.”

“I’ll stop if you let me ask you a question.”

“Alright.”

“What does it look like under your mask? I’ve never seen you without it.”

Eyrie reached up and pulled off the carved plate of bone she used to cover the upper part of her face, setting it on the caf table. The skin under it was smooth apart from the place where the claw-mark scars on the left side crossed that area, a few shades paler than the rest of her face, with slight dents over her empty eye sockets.

“Huh. I figured it would be more mystical-looking. Weird tattooed symbols or something. But you can see just fine?”

“It’s not what you would call seeing. We sense the presence of objects and other beings in the Force and form them into an awareness of the world around us. But for example, the best way I could describe you right now would be an amorphous ball of glowing gold liquid, while Feyte feels like the noise wind chimes make.”

“So we appear as other stuff?” Mallena looked curiously at her.

“Not really… I’m not describing it very well. If you’ve felt the Force, it makes a lot more sense.”

“I was wondering about that, too. What’s it like to be able to do that?”

“It’s like trying to explain music to a creature without ears. It just kind of is.”

Feyte leaned forward. “I guess it is like music, though. Every song has a unique melody, right? But it uses the same notes, chords, keys, that sort of thing? People’s Force-sense is like that. Species, age, gender, they all contribute, sort of like chords. You can see them the same from person to person. But they’re all still different. And the way they feel can change a bit with their mood, but you still recognize it, like changing keys.”

“Wow,” said Mallena. “That makes perfect sense, actually.”

“That’s right, you play, don’t you? I probably misused some of the terms.”

“You got them right, don’t worry.”

The party lapsed into silence for a few minutes, then Jess sat up. “Did you say something about a snack, Feyte?”

“Oh, right. I’ll go grab one. Want to pick out a movie for when I get back?”

[clevermird]

So, I did the Section X storyline a couple days ago, as well as finishing all of Lt. Iresso's convos. Him and Feyte are so. Stinkin'. Cute. I also think this was my first Bioware romance that I've ever completed, so that's a milestone, I guess.

I don't know what was up with me the night I did it, but I must have been tired or something, cause doing the last couple of scenes made me tear up. So did watching Naruto before that (it wasn't even a particularly sad episode, just one of the ones when they go to the Land of Tea and we're finding out why Idate left the Hidden Leaf Village. nobody died or anything. But I digress)

Regarding the dialogue in that second to last picture, I think it should be pretty clear to Iresso what Feyte's plans are at that moment :P

[clevermird]

Distress Call

I managed to take a little time out of studying for finals to write a bit for my Jedi. The following contains spoilers for the Jedi Consular's Act 2, a very minor one for an early conversation with Lt. Iresso, and references and heavy hints to the end of Jedi Knight Act 2.

I'll probably do a follow-up/expansion from Eyrie's perspective when I hit this point in her replay.

Feyte sits listlessly at the table in the conference room. She feels completely drained. Long months on Hoth followed by Eyrie’s disappearance- the Jedi Councel wont’ say what happened, but she can tell they’re worried- and finally the shock of discovering Blasus’ true identity have worn her down and by now she feels like an empty shell that goes through the motions of life without really knowing why.

She’s being over-dramatic, she knows. The feeling will pass in time. But right now it’s hitting her like a turbolaser battery and she just wants to sleep until it goes away.

Something flickers in the Force behind her and she looks up. Lt. Iresso is standing in the doorway, holding his rifle and looking worried. “Are you alright, Jedi?”

Feyte manages to put on a smile. “I’m fine. Just tired. And I’ve told you, you can call me Feyte.”

He nods. “Mind if I sit down? I need some place to clean this rifle, and one of the senators is trying to sleep.”

“Of course. As long as you don’t mind if I stay and chat.”

“Go right ahead.” He looks at her a little nervously, and she feels something stir, not quite in the Force, but not quite in her mind either. It’s almost like she’s feeling something while simultaneously being aware that someone else is feeling the same thing. Could it be…?

The thought makes her blush and she starts talking to cover it. “So, are you happy to be off Hoth, or do you miss it?”

“Little of both, I guess,” he says, detaching the rifle’s handgrips and setting them on the table. “I mean, I miss the guys in my command, but they’re going home like they deserve. Can’t say I’m sorry to leave Hoth, though. That place was colder than anywhere I’ve ever been.”

Feyte smiles. Talking to someone is helping. “I can’t disagree with you there.”

“I like the ship, though, even if it is a little crowded. I-“

He breaks off as the holoterminal in the main room rings. Feyte jumps up and hurries to answer. That could be Master Satale or Master Bakarn. “Excuse me,” she calls over her shoulder. Pressing the answer key, she waits for the caller to appear.

After several minutes, a figure flickers into view. “Eyrie!” Feyte gasps. Her friend’s face is half-obscured by the hood of a robe and her carved mask and she’s crouched down, seeming afraid of discovery.

“Feyte, is that you?” Her voice is dry and husky and lifeless.

“Yes. What is it? Where have you been?” Feyte can feel energy flowing back into her body. Finally, something is going right.

“I don’t have time, they might be tracing this call. You have to come and pick us up. Meet me at the coordinates I’m sending as soon as you can. And have a medic ready.”

The hologram disappears and Feyte lets out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Eyrie is alive, and at least one other person on her crew is as well, or she wouldn’t have said ‘we’.

“Is Kira alright?” says Nadia. Feyte turns around. The Selucami girl is standing in the doorway, along with Tharan and Holiday, Lt. Iresso, and Representative Aluani.

“She didn’t say, but I think so.” The two of them had met briefly several times, and seemed to get along well. It’s a friendship Feyte wants to encourage. It would be good for both of them to spend time with people their own age.

“Are you sure it’s her?” the representative says. “It wasn’t on her frequency, was it?”

Feyte shakes her head. She hasn’t told anyone else on the ship what little she knows, but it was impossible to hide altogether. “No, but I doubt she’d be calling us for help if her ship was functioning.”

“We can trace the call,” offers Tharan. “Holiday?”

“Of course I can.” The hologram disappears and reappears next to the holoterminal. “Let’s see… It looks like the call came from Imperial space. If I’m not mistaken, this is a shuttle frequency from the Imperial navy.”

“See, I told you,” says the representative. “They’re probably just baiting us.”

Feyte feels her stomach sinking. “But we have to try. What if she got captured and just managed to escape. An Imperial code might be all she could find.”

Lt. Iresso shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous for us to go. Call the Jedi council or the Chancellor’s office, and get them to send a couple Spec Ops squads over there.”

“There’s no time for that. She said they were tracking her. We have to go.” Tears spring into her eyes. “Please.”

He shrugs. “You’re the Jedi Master. I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Representative Alluani is frowning harder than usual. “It’s stupid, but I can’t argue with you, I suppose.” Both of them turn to leave, along with Tharan and Holiday. Nadia remains in the doorway.

“Are you sure it’s not a trap, Master?”

“I am, Nadia.” “Alright. Then I think we’ll be OK.”

“Thank you. Will you help me get the ship ready to go? It will be faster with two of us.”

The next day, Feyte walks down the ramp of The Shining Path with nervousness tearing at her. What if she’s wrong? Can she defeat an Imperial ambush? She hopes so. Qyzen has insisted on coming along for her protection, and despite his obvious discomfort with the endeavor, so has Lt. Iresso.

The coordinates have brought them to a disused mining station. A thin layer of dust covers the floor and Feyte can sense a faint, lingering dark presence. A lone shuttle is the only other thing in the docking bay.

As she, Qyzen, and the Lt. slowly walk towards it, its door opens and Feyte feels the other two tense. A lone figure, short and slim and wrapped in a black robe, walks down the ramp. It reaches up and pulls its hood off.

“Eyrie,” Feyte says in relief. “It’s you.” She races toward her friend and wraps her arms around her.

The Miraluka stands there stiffly, body tense. “We have to go. Kira and Doc are wounded, and the Empire is after us. I’m sorry to trouble you, but my ship was unavailable.” She speaks in a near monotone.

Feyte steps back. “Eyrie, what’s wrong? Where were you?” Not only is the other Jedi’s voice different, but up close, she looks terrible. Her face alone has several half-healed wounds and she’s lost weight. If she had eyes, Feyte is sure they would be sunken in dark circles. Her presence is unreadable, masked in the way Eyrie so often does to the point where Feyte isn’t even sure if she’s feeling the emotions at all, or if she’s become so good at masking them that she’s shut down feeling althogether.

She doesn’t answer and turns back into the shuttle. Feyte stares after her, confused. A moment later she reappears, with T7. Sgt. Rusk and Doc are behind her, supporting Kira between them, though it’s obvious that the Sgt. is doing most of the supporting. The redheaded padawan’s head hangs limply, her eyes are closed, and her clothes in tatters, but she doesn’t show many outward signs of injury. Doc is obviously limping and a bruise is rising on his cheek and Rusk looks a little paler than she remembers, but neither seems in immediate danger.

Behind them, another figure emerges from the shuttle and Feyte takes a step back involuntarily. “Don’t worry,” says Eyrie in the same tone. “He’s our ally, for now anyway.”

Feyte takes a deep breath and looks at the pureblood again. He’s tall and bulky, wearing classic Sith battle armor and apparently uninjured. Darkness comes off him in waves and she shivers. “Eyrie-?”

“Please, Feyte. Let’s go.”

Feyte watches as her friends and the Sith board her ship, Qyzen and Lt. Iresso standing close. A cold feeling creeps over her. Something terrible happened, and she’s afraid of finding out what it was.

[clevermird]

What Feyte and Jessasi have been up to lately.

I found out when I went to Illum that Jess has horrible gear (10k health on a lvl 50, which is less than my assassin has at 42) and Corso's is even worse. Although I picked up as much stuff as I could from the Makeb planetary commendations vendor, it's still not doing the trick, so I'll have to hold off until I'm in the mood to farm planet coms enough to upgrade everything. 

I'm still not really sure how this happened in the first place, though...

[clevermird]

My Friend

Not the most apt title of my career, but I wrote it to go with this song.

There's also a little art I did with the same theme, although it's not a representation of this scene. I posted it at the bottom of this story.

Feyte awakens sometime in the middle of the night. Her cabin is dark except for a small glowlight and filled with the sound of breathing. Another sound, the one that woke her up. A woman crying. Instinctually, Feyte glances at Eyrie’s pallet, before remembering that the other Jedi is out on a mission tonight, taking Kira with her. Ambassador Aullani is still asleep in her bed, which only leaves Nadia.

Of course. It wasn’t that long ago that Senator Grell died in her arms. Feyte is surprised that her new apprentice has taken it this well. She slips out of the room and walks softly to the kitchen, her white nightgown swishing around her knees. A light is on.

Nadia sits at the table, elbows resting on it and her head in her hands. Her shoulders shake and Feyte can feel her grief. She sits down across from her padawan. “Are you alright?”

She looks up, face streaming with tears and her face paint smudged. “Master! I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“It’s alright. Did you have another dream about your father?”

She nods.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nadia nods a little, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Alright. I’ll put some tea on.”

Feyte sets some water on to boil and sits back down. “My older master sometimes got a little wrapped up in her work and forgot I was there, but she would always remember to have tea with me after dinner and talk with me.”

“Your master?”

Feyte smiles. “Yes. I wasn’t born fully trained, you know. Her name was Yuon Parr. Someday I’ll take you to meet her. But tell me about your dream. What happened?”

“I saw that Sith trying to kill Father again, but I was too late. And then he laughed at me and I- I got mad. I killed him and everyone else.” She starts to cry again and Feyte puts her hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright, Nadia. You’ve been through a lot. I’d worry if you didn’t have nightmares.”

“But you said that dreams can tell us things. What if this one is saying that I’m going to fall to the Dark Side?”

“Dreams can have meaning, yes, especially for Force users, but they don’t always. This may have been just a dream.”

“Do you think so?”

“I do. And even if it was, the meaning of dreams isn’t always obvious. Perhaps the Force is simply warning to you be careful of the Dark Side. Or telling you there was nothing you could have done. Or any number of other things.” The kettle whistles and Feyte retrieves it from the stove. Pouring the hot water into two mugs, she begins to fill a pair of perforated balls with leaves, flowers, spices, and dried fruit.

Nadia sighs. “I miss Father. It’s been months, and it still doesn’t feel like he’s gone forever.”

“I miss him too. He was a wonderful man.”

“I never got to say goodbye.”

Feyte scoots her chair closer. “There is no death, Nadia. There is only the Force. He’s not gone forever, and when you become one with the Force, I’m sure you’ll see him.”

“You think so?”

“I do.” She pulls the mugs closer to them. “Why don’t you drink some tea? It will help you feel better.”

Nadia takes a sip from hers and nods. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“Nonsense. That’s what Jedi Masters are for.”

The padawan smiles a little and wipes her eyes again. “Thank you.”