#Gav Daragon

[shynmighty]

Falx made it to Act 2 and got her classic outfit back!

In other news, I am finally no longer a billionaire.

[knightotoc]

Sith murdered by Sith/future Sith*/ex-Sith:

Vader

Sidious

Tyranus*

Plagueis

Venamis

Tenebrous

Malak

Selene

Aleema Keto

Satal Keto*

Gav Daragon

Ludo Kressh

Naga Sadow

Tulak Hord

Simus

Sith murdered by Jedi:

Palpatine zombie/clone

Maul

Odion

Sith murdered by non-Force-users:

Ulic Qel-Droma

It's complicated:

Kylo (traded life forces with someone killed by...the Jedi?)

Naat Lare (killed by Jedi as unknowing pawns of a Sith test)

Nihilus + Sion + Traya (Exile can be either a Sith or Jedi or neither)

Jorak Uln + Mekel + Lashowe + Kel Algwinn + Shaardan + Uthar Wynn + Yuthura Ban + Dustil Onasi (Revan can choose to kill them)

Exar Kun (evil Sith ritual + Jedi-wrought forest fire = limbo situation)

Freedon Nadd (dies of old age but his ghost is murdered by a Sith)

Actually lives a long happy life without getting murdered as far as we know:

Daiman

Marka Ragnos

Ajunta Pall

Xesh (technically predates the Sith)

[greyias]

Constellations from the One Word Prompts :D

 If someone's only exposure to the life of a spy came from action-packed, high-octane holodramas, they might have a mistaken impression that it is a life filled with glamour and intrigue, with dangerous liaisons with seductive individuals from the farthest constellations of the galaxy.

These people would be wrong.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Theron grabbed the Wookiee’s hairy foot just before she could clamber into the air vent that he’d been eyeing as part an elaborate fantasy to escape his current hell. “And for the last time, Vrack, you’re not supposed to climb the walls.”

She let out an indignant series of growls in Shyriiwook, but he didn’t care. If he couldn’t leave, the Force be damned if anyone else was. 

He was Theron Shan, intergalactic super spy, founding member of the Alliance, savior of the Republic many times over. And now he’d been reduced to this: incompetent babysitter of what had to be the rowdiest and most ill-behaved group of school children in the entire universe. 

Oh, according to the paperwork, Class 5A-B7 were all star students from Coruscant’s most prestigious primary school who had performed so well on their exams that they’d won a class trip to tour the Gav Daragon, personally helmed by their personal hero, the beautiful, brave, famous Commander of the Eternal Alliance as part of a PR event the Republic was putting on to gin up morale as the war with the Sith Empire ground on. Unfortunately for everyone involved, she had been called away on an urgent mission for the Republic just as the class had been boarding the shuttle for the Gav Daragon. Somehow, in the chaos of the crying children, Theron had been nominated to take her place.

And now chaos reigned.

Theron blamed Jonas Balkar. He didn’t know how exactly, but he was certain his former partner and now the Alliance’s frequent liaison had somehow pulled some nebulous strings to put him in this position.

The teacher, a kindly old Ithorian teacher, had peeled off to take the little Twi’lek boy with a bladder the size of a koja nut to the bathroom. It had to have been the fifth time the kid had to pee, and would have been concerning if Theron didn’t have his hands full trying to keep the remaining dozen children from killing themselves the moment their teacher’s back was turned.

It had started with Klee Khze, the nine-year-old Rodian girl who had apparently stolen a stealth field belt from one of her parents and smuggled it in. She was now using it to pop in and out of sight, sneaking up on her classmates and destealthing in right in their faces in order to make them shriek at the top of their lungs. She would make an excellent SIS agent one day.

At least she was staying with the class. Theron had somehow lost sight of the little Pantoran kid, Dva Shek, and had been trying to not panic as he peeked around the museum’s large exhibits to find where he’d wandered off to, when out of the corner of his eye, the tiny Zabrak child had inconceivably clambered up onto the platform in the center of the room that was three times his tiny size, and was climbing into the cockpit of a shuttle that had been parked on display.

“What are you—” Theron was forced to abandon his hold on Vrack as he raced across the room. “Kerrah, get down from there!”

Like the rest of the pack of brats, Kerrah paid him no heed, and had clambered into the cockpit, her tiny hands nimbly dancing across the controls. Time seemed to move almost in slow motion as the once best operative in the SIS, and now the galaxy’s worst babysitter, leapt high just as the engines from the old shuttle hummed to life and started to slowly rise from the platform. 

Theron heard a different child let out an undignified squeal of fright as he awkwardly half-landed on the still lowered boarding ramp chest-first. Air whooshed out of his lungs as his fingers wrapped around the edge of the boarding ramp and painfully pulled himself the rest of the way onboard. Behind him, another child, it could have been Klee, let out a whoop of delight.

There was no time for him to either catch his breath, nor find any small solace that at least now the children were finding him interesting enough to actually cheer for, as he scrambled to his feet and lurched towards the cockpit. He staggered as the plating beneath his feet shuddered and managed to get into the cockpit just as another panel lit up brightly.

“Kerrah, no!”

The Zabrak shot him a toothy grin, finger hovering over a red button. “Kerrah, yes!”

He tried, he really did, but she was too fast for him, and before he could snatch her hand away from it, she was able to let off a small volley of missiles from the display unit. A small but noticeable explosion echoed throughout the room as the missiles blew a hole in the wall beyond them.

It was a minor miracle that wall just led to the back halls of the museum, and not the vacuum of space.

By the time Theron had got the small shuttle landed and firmly march Kerrah back out to the rest of her classmates, she was still grinning triumphantly. The stunt had apparently impressed Klee, who became visible long enough to give her fellow troublemaker a well-deserved high five, and whatever compliment she was giving Kerrah was being drowned out by the hysterical sobbing of Vell Zud, the timid Bothan boy who was now convinced they were all going to be sucked out into space.

“Mister Theron!” A reedy voice called, somehow pitching their voice higher than Vell’s wails. “Mister Theron, I need some help!”

O what fresh hell is this? Theron thought grimly to himself as he turned to locate the source of the voice, and sadly, was not disappointed with what he saw.

“Ravo,” he yelled as he once again found himself racing back across the expanse of this room of nightmares that was cleverly disguised as a museum, “how the fuck did you get behind that force field?”

Somewhere, a child gasped at the profanity coming from their chaperone.

“I dunno.” The Mikkian shrugged her pink shoulders as she tapped the giant Cormium Crystal next to her. “But the door behind me closed when Kerrah tried to kill us all with that missile.”

“I did not!” The indignant cry came from across the room, barely audible over the terrified keening that hadn’t stopped. “It was an accident!”

Theron pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling a deep breath as he tried to gather the frayed edges of his dwindling patience. “I just need you all to stop doing everything for five seconds so I can think—”

Before he could finish that thought, a loud, whooping cry drowned him out, and as one, the room’s occupants looked up in confusion to see a tiny blue Pantoran dragging a massive dodecahedron glowing metal cube behind him. “Can you believe I just found this datacron in the back halls? It’s super heavy and was really hard to get across that giant chasm — why do they even have giant death pits here? It’s so unsafe! Luckily, I just so happened to have a MGGS and was able to grapple…”

There wasn’t even time to process the absolute insanity of that, before his attention was grabbed by the sound of the lift heralding the arrival of several new figures. From the hulking figure of the museum’s security guard, to the absolutely puzzled expression of the teacher and the student she was escorting, as they took in the rampant destruction that had happened in the fifteen minutes that Theron had been left to watch the kids.

Somewhere behind him, a sharp clang echoed as a piece of twisted metal fell from the wall where it had been hanging precariously after the missile strike. That was the precise moment where he gained an acute understanding of what it must have felt like to be Ngani Zho all of those years ago, having to deal with an equally precocious child.

"Look, there's a good explanation for all of this."

It was late, much later than she had anticipated, when Grey had managed to find a moment to herself to try to hopefully salvage the situation with the class trip. The shattered and crestfallen looks on all the children’s faces when she’d had to leave had been absolutely heart wrenching. But like clockwork, Theron had swooped in to help, agreeing to take her place. Her hero, always and forever.

As exhausted as she was after rescuing Arn and addressing the crisis on Manaan, and still trying to shove down the dread at what she might find once she reached Elom, Grey still summoned a convincing enough smile into place as she dialed the frequency of Miss Chobbets’s holocomm hoping that maybe a few words from her would help ease any lingering hurt feelings. 

The elderly Ithorian's face shimmered into life over the holo, and she held up two silent fingers to her twin mouths, a wry smile creeping across her features. Without a word, she swiveled the camera to show a view of the school's shuttle, and Grey's own strained smile melted into something far more genuine.

Tucked away in the back of the shuttle was Theron, his head drooped in slumber as an entire gaggle of exhausted schoolchildren snuggled up to him. The little Wookiee let out a loud snore, but the rest of the group didn't seem to rouse.

"I take it they had a good time?" she asked quietly.

"Oh, very much so," Miss Chobbet said quietly.

"I am glad," Grey replied. "Do pass on my apologies to the class again. Perhaps once this situation is dealt with, we could reschedule another trip."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Miss Chobbet rumbled. "We're all barred from ever returning to the museum, anyway."

"Wait, what?"

"Don't worry, it's not important," the Ithorian continued. "Although would Mister Theron be available to chaperone future trips? The children seem quite taken with him."

As she watched the wavering image of her slumbering husband and his napping charges, hear heart melted just a little more. When faced with a scene like this, how could she argue? "Of course… just promise to take a holo of this for me."

[coryphefishh]

SWTOR Fashion on Life Day Eve

I made this lookbook as an easy reference for outfits in my personal collection that look especially noteworthy with Dark Green and Deep Red dye.

Why is today Life Day Eve? Because I always celebrate Life Day when my SWTOR overlords tell me to.

Why add green? Cultural context makes it easy visual shorthand for even secular winter holidays like Life Day.

Why is Theron Shan doing all the modeling? Because I said so!

Anyway, that first outfit is drawn from so many different sets that I didn't even use the same one twice. And the second one is the Life Day robes themselves. Look how festive they are! Here's the rest of the collection... Spiffy jackets: Theron, Secret Agent, Carth, Rogue, Calo, Militant

Party: Gav Daragon, Ventilated Scalene

Armor: Forest, Warden, Remnant, Freedon, Eidolon, Snowtrooper

Fancy: Arkan, Emissary, Sensuous, Rist

Force Users: Messenger, Visas Marr, Jedi Knight Revan

The fastest way to find more info on an outfit is to first use my keywords to look up the full name in your SWTOR collections menu and then search the internet for how to get it. I'm happy to help in the comments if you get stuck or can't spare the bandwidth to search.

[star-wars-comics]

Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith #1 (1996)

written by Kevin J. Anderson art by Dario Carrasco, Jr., Mark G. Heike, Bill Black, & David Jacob Beckett

[kerra-holt]

What does it say about the Empress Teta system that these two are poor as dirt and dress like this?

[lyristano]

I love this outfit. Now I really look like a Zakuulan Empress.❤ And it is good also as a wedding dress, for Arcann one day. 😂 Thank you to my friend for this gift.♥

[disaster-bi-shan]

tried soloing the fleet datacrons......... didn’t go well lmao

[a-master-procrastinator]

Outfit meme for Vintu 😍

Angry tomato my beloved

Vintu, as dramatic as he is, has 7 outfit slots (which seems to be a criminally small number for him), but one of slots was replaced with another outfit bc I didn't like it much. 3 outfits are story related, 1 semi story related, and 3 are purely for fun.

This the earliest outfit (story wise) he has. Vintu wears this after chapter 1. Vintu likes to have more armored clothes in a battlefield (basically bc he's a tank in game; but character-wise bc he relies on brute strength and the Force to enhance attacks) and lots of black color. All pieces are from Sith Annihilator set (from adaptive armor vendor), except for belt (this particular belt is called Decorated Bulwark's belt MK-2, but there are many similar belts on gtn or from drops or from story quests).

The next in timeline is this, somewhat close to Sith armor from cinematics. Vintu gets to wear this after chapter 3 of class story. Many armored pieces in black color with bits of red (bc he's a tomato), but without a cape (as much as capes make for a good dramatic effect, they kinda get in the way during combat).

Pretty sure all pieces are from GTN, just bought Fortified Electrum chestguard (with black and deep red dye, colors are unified for all pieces) and then found matching pieces (usually in medium or heavy armor sections of GTN).

Then his Commander outfit. It still has the same idea of having armored pieces for protection (but slightly less) and lots of reds and blacks, just looking a bit more... elegant for lack of better word.

Chestpiece, gloves, boots come from KotFE chapters rewards, pants are Outlander's pants (very cheap on GTN, drop regularly between lvls 60 and 70), belt is Experimental Ossan belt (was a drop), all but gloves dyed in dark red and black.

The semi story related one - I only equipped this set once when Vintu and Moxie roasted to shit out of each other. Literally set each other on fire (shoutout to @vespertine-legacy for going with this idea, though it was ages ago). But! Since this is the exact same clothes Malora wears on Ossus, I've decided that Vintu arrived with this look just to irritate her.

The set is Resilient Warden with black and deep red dye.

Now we get to the fun ones. When I first tried Nightlife event the last year I couldn't decide who'd get the iconic "tits out" clothes, and then it hit me - chaotic dumbass tomato! Not story related, but if there's a celebration, Vintu would have those.

Pieces:

Chest: Nightlife Socialite top

Hands: Gav Daragon's gauntlets (color not unified)

Wrists: Gav Daragon's bracers (color not unified)

Waist: Experimental Ossan belt

Pants: Juhani's leggins (with black and deep blue dye)

Boots: Onderonian Bulwark boots

Christmas Life Day tree but it's Vintu in a dress. I just wanted him to have this dress. Also, this was the beginning of Alliance's Dress Day, where everybody on the base had to wear this dress, no complaints. Many people seem to mysteriously have business on other planets this day, I wonder if there's a connection.

All pieces are from Festival Dress set with deep green and dark blue dye (the secondary color is irrelevant, since it doesn't even show).

And finally, chef Vintu! Head is Feast Preparation hat (from Feast of Prosperity event, can't wait for it to come back), everything else is Arctic Scout set with white and light gray dye module.

P.S. I'm still pissed that Vintu physically can't wear dancer's outfit (have to use imagination, I guess)

[vespertine-legacy]

Tulia for the SWToR outfit designer meme? :D

-The Rotten Avocado has 14 slots unlocked and 12 outfits. I’m gonna talk about 2 of them because she’s attractive and I haven’t shown them off yet.

-Outfit 1: No head piece; Chest, Belt, and Boots are Resort Swimwear; Wrist is Karness Muir; Gloves are Gav Daragon; Pants are Juhani’s leggings; dye is Pale Grey/Pale Brown (almost matches the bronzey color of her skin)

-If I’d had the Resort Swimwear set at that time in her story, this is what she would have worn when Watcher Two told her to “wear something eye-catching” to the Nexu Club. I just wanted her to have something stupid and sexy. She is terrible and evil, but she’s also a giant golden goddess, and in that club scene Samara Mindak simps so hard for the Agent, so my Rotten Avocado deserved to look good, dammit. (And Tulia might have other assignments that an outfit like this would work for, who knows; plus, imagine her wearing it around Zhorrid, who would tease her about looking stupid while trying to hide that she does kind of like it).

-Outfit 2: No head piece; Chest is Calo Nord; Wrist and Gloves are Overwatch Security; Belt is Enigmatic Operative; Pants are Bastila Shan’s leggings; Boots are Juhani’s; dye is primary Black; weapon is WL-29 sniper rifle with a Green Empeth crystal

-This is a nice murderin’ outfit for Tulia. Sleek, simple, refined, protective but not bulky, easy to slip into most crowds when she’s done without looking too out of place.

[cirex101]

SWTOR: The Sith Empire makes no sense

I love The Old Republic.  I love the fact that each class gets their own story, with their own companions and love interests.  I love that the story and animation has only gotten better with each new expansion. However, it’s not a flawless game.  Others have already pointed out its gameplay flaws, so I won’t cover them.  Instead, I’ll just be focusing on the major pet peeve I have about the story, and a certain design choice mad by Bioware.  I’ve got several pet peeves (the Jedi Exile being reduced into a one-note fangirl of Revan, who’s already overrated, the very fact that there’s a Revan cult within the Empire that, logically, really shouldn’t give a damn about him, KOTOR 2′s companions being ignored, the Knights of Zakuul being hyped up as some sort of elite ‘grey’ order when they’re really just the blandest Force-sensitive mooks ever, etc, how the design team went full lazy and just ripped off the aesthetics of the Original trilogy’s rebel Alliance and Galactic empire for the Republic and Sith Empire respectively), but all of them pale compared to this one.

It’s about the Sith Empire, specifically, demographics within the Sith Empire.  To do that, let’s go back in time, to that far off era of the 1990s, to the reason why we even have the KOTOR era in the first place.

The Tales of the Jedi comics, originally published by Dark Horse, takes place thousands of years before the movies, and introduces us to the origins of the eternal conflict between the Jedi and the Sith, as well as really dumb protagonists (looking at you Gav and Jori Daragon, especially Gav).

Time for some backstory for those of you unfamiliar with this era: Thousands of years ago, the Jedi had a schism between Light and Dark, and naturally, Light won.  Rather than executing the last of the Dark Jedi, the Order chose to exile them, putting them on a spaceship and sending them into deep space.  Unfortunately for the galaxy, the Dark Jedi stumbled upon Korriban, home to the red skinned Sith species.

Now, the Dark Jedi would come to rule over the Sith, and through alchemy, managed to find a way to interbreed with them, continuing on their bloodlines for generations to come, with their descendants becoming the ruling Sith Lords.  By the time of the Great Hyperspace War, having more human traits such as five fingers and less pronounced tendrils/spines was considered a mark of having a lot of Dark Jedi blood.  Compare and contrast Naga Sadow and Ludo Kresh (left and right respectively).

TOR players will know what happens next; Naga Sadow, now ruler of the Sith Empire, invades the Republic, and is defeated.  The Republic and Jedi then enter a campaign of genocide against the Sith, wiping out the entire species save for Sadow’s followers, who had already fled, and those who followed Vitiate AKA the Sith Emperor AKA Valkorion, into the Unknown Regions, and Dromund Kaas, and other holdouts.

Vititate’s fleet of exiles will be out focus.  Now, anyone who’s read the Tales of the Jedi comics will know that the Sith Empire is made up entirely of the actual Sith species, which is divided into castes.  Now, by all forms of logic, the entirety of Vitiate’s exiles should look like this:

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m seeing an awful lot of red faces here.  Now, the Sith spent twenty years in space, until eventually rediscovering Dromund Kaas.  Again, logically speaking, they really shouldn’t look all that different from when they first set out...

And yet TOR would have us believe that, somehow, in the twenty years it took for them to make the trip, they now looked like this:

Hmmm... there’s something not right here.  I only see one red Sith, but there sure are a lot of humans (also they’ve ditched their “Sword & Sandals except IN SPACE” fashion for one that’s clearly just shamelessly ripping off the movie Empire, but that’s another story).  

In fact, if you look at the game and all its side material, it shows that humans are the majority species in the Empire, with the Sith Purebloods as a minority, having been bred out by the humans.

So we come to my major pet peeve with TOR, the one that I still haven’t found a satisfactory answer for.

Where.  The Hell.  Did all these damn humans come from?  

They weren’t part of the original Sith Empire, oh no.  Tales of the Jedi showed us page after page of red skinned individuals with spiky faces and tendril mustaches.  They never even saw a human before Gav and Jori Daragon showed up one day and set the plot of Tales in motion.

Now, the Sith could have picked them up along the way, or when they later re-established their Empire, but that doesn’t add up with what TOR presents us.  The only humans interacting with the Empire were from the Republic, and they were the Sith’s enemies.  It’s possible that the Sith ould have captured humans and made them slaves, but then why would the Sith allow these humans to then operate their ships, or serve in the military?  Instead, TOR gives us a pretty blatant retcon, which is that these humans have suddenly always been a part of the Empire.  In the Foundry Flashpoint, where an Imperial strike team assassinates Revan, it’s revealed that around 98% of the Empire has red sith ancestry, despite now being majority human, with the exception of Purebloods, who are biologically human, but possess red skin and other features.

Are we expected to believe that humans somehow outbred and absorbed the red Sith?  Again, that’s ridiculous.  There were only twelve Dark Jedi who introduced human (or humanoid, given some of them looked alien) bloodlines into the Sith genepool, and their descendants made up the ruling class.  Even then, Lords like Naga Sadow, who had the most human features, and therefore the most in common with TOR’s Purebloods, was the exception, not the rule.  Sith like Ludo Kressh were the rule, and they looked pretty damn alien with their four fingered hands, large face spines and tendrils, and pronounced teeth.  That’s not even accounting for the rest of the species in the other castes.  What the hell happened to them?  They should still be around, making up the majority of the Sith Empire.

TLDR: Bioware, in their attempt to evoke the movies by making the Sith Empire resemble the Galactic Empire as much as possible, committed a pretty blatant retcon that made humans the majority species rather than the red Sith, for which they still haven’t given a satisfactory answer.

[lavampira]

3, 5 and 31 for the swtor asks?

thanks ares!!

[swtor questions]

3. answered here!

5. what discipline can you just not play worth a damn?

almost every single healing discipline - I’ve tried them all at this point and only one (bodyguard merc) has stuck. I also can’t vibe with sorc dps because all of the lightning abilities confuse me with how similar they look on the quickbar, so I can’t keep a rotation straight in my head since that’s how I learn them, and the casting drives me up a wall.

31. tell us a random fact/story you haven’t shared before about a swtor experience

I used to spam run maelstrom in story while it was still glitched to gear my characters after onslaught dropped - it was quicker to get tank gear for me if I put them in 306 dps gear and ran through the fp a few times every couple of days - but jumping from the phased instance to my stronghold and back to the fleet sometimes got a glitch where my character would free fall in open space for a minute before dying and respawning in the museum on either the gav daragon or the telos ship.

[greyias]

undefined

I made the mistake of alt-tabbing out while exiting to the fleet, and heard my poor girl’s terrified screen. I came back to find myself... somewhere.

[queen-scribbles]

Curiosity Killed the Reek-Cat

...but satisfaction brought it back. 

Have roughly 3k of Brykar ft. Bry backstory. :)

---

It would come as a surprise to most people, but it was actually possible to get bored on Carrick Station. If you gave it enough time, or had no use for some--most--of the services on offer.

Both of which were currently true for Jonas Balkar. An unconventional extraction had left him stuck there until Trant could arrange acceptable transportation back to Coruscant. Jonas almost asked why he couldn’t just figure something out for himself, but there had already been a few clue this assignment was a bigger deal than it looked on the surface. So he nodded, and agreed to wait for whatever his boss considered “acceptable” transportation.

It was taking long enough he was most definitely starting to get bored. It might’ve helped if he was free to move between the ships--particularly the Gav Daragon; there was a whole museum there(granted, Jonas would likely be more interested in the people visiting the museum than the museum itself)--but Trant had told him to stay on the main station. None of the levels had anything particularly exciting aside from the cantina, and some were even closed off to non-essential personnel. 

Nine hours into waiting, Jonas got bored enough to take that restriction as a challenge. Slicing may not be one of his strengths, but charm was. Between that and his ability to appear unassuming and nondescript(”Not with those cheekbones,” Bry would tease if she were here. Of course, if she were here, he probably wouldn’t be bored in the first place), he found himself on the mission departure deck fairly easily.

Truth be told, he hadn’t really planned what he’d do when (if) he succeeded, so it was almost a relief when he caught a glimpse of a familiar red jacket in one of the ops coordination rooms; it gave him something to investigate. Even if it made him do a double-take. Thought Shan was on Corellia...

Clearly, he’d thought wrong. As he edged closer to the room it was very obvious one of the figures--the pacing one, of course--was Theron. The other, a soldier, from his armor, was bent over the holotable in the center of the room, studying the pale blue clusters of shuttles it projected. Both looked very intent and eager. Whatever they were overseeing, it must’ve been a big deal.

Curious as boredom had made him, Jonas knew better than to be caught snooping on something that had SIS and the military both salivating like a hungry nexu. He’d started to slowly make his way back toward the elevator when the soldier’s voice growled out and he froze in his tracks.

“Alright, Nerai, your turn for insertion, he said gruffly. “Be ready for a fight.”

Jonas’ brow furrowed. Bry’s already on an assignment, how’d they get her-

“Understood, Colonel.” That was not Bry’s voice over the comm in response. It was softer, mellifluous and gentle. “I am ready to defend myself, but hope to avoid undue violence.”

“Nerai, you are in their heart,” the colonel growled back. “All violence is due violence. You do what it takes to achieve the objective.”

Her image flickered on the holo and Jonas barely bit back an audible grunt of surprise as he eavesdropped. Definitely not Bry. Longer hair, different tattoos, but there was something familiar about her eyes and the curve of her jaw.

“I will not shirk from defending myself, Colonel,” she replied, poised in the face of his bristling. “Nor fail to complete what I promised. But neither will I go out of my way to inflict harm. That is not how I do things.”

“This is no time for Jedi morality-” the colonel started to snarl, but Theron held up a hand.

“Darok, she needs to concentrate if we want this to be a success,” he cut the other man off. His gaze drifted toward the doorway before he looked up at the holo. “Good luck, Master Jedi.”

She smiled--”Thank you, Agent Shan”--and her image flickered and faded.

Remembering his intention, Jonas turned and made for the elevator.at what he hoped was an inconspicuous pace. The hand that settled on his shoulder before he was halfway to his goal said it wasn’t. 

“What are you doing here?” Theron hissed even as he tugged Jonas off to the side so they wouldn’t be visible from the ops room.

“Just passing through,” Jonas replied with an innocent shrug. “Waiting for a ride.”

Theron arched a brow skeptically. “What, the shuttles running every hour on the hour not good enough for you?”

“For me, yeah.” Jonas shrugged again. “Not for our boss.”

He saw the three or four potential next sentences come to mind and be discarded in Theron’s eyes before he sighed and reiterated, “But what are you doing here? On this level?”

“Nothing. Wandering to stave off boredom. Even I can only stomach so long in the cantina before I need something else to do. Got curious what was on the other levels of this place.”

“Haven’t you ever heard that saying, goes something like ‘curiosity killed the reek-cat...?”

“But satisfaction brought it back,” Jonas countered, lips twitching in a smirk at the attached memory. He kept talking before Theron had a chance to growl at him again. “What’re you doing here? Aside from meeting pretty Jedi, I mean.” Who bear a startling resemblance to my fiancee.... “What’s the story there?”

If it was anyone else from their entire office, Jonas would’ve sworn Theron’s ears went just a little red at the insinuation. “Nothing you need to worry about,” he shot back, glancing toward the ops room. “She’s helping with our mission, which is classified, so you’re damn lucky I’m the one who spotted you, not Darok. Man’s jumpier than a Kowakian monkey lizard about this op. Might wanna make yourself scarce before he has you arrested for espionage or something.”

“My job, you mean?” Jonas deadpanned, but Theron didn’t so much as roll his eyes. This op must be a really big deal.

“I’m serious, Balkar.” Theron let go of his arm with a small shove toward the elevator. “Get lost before you get caught. And-”

“Keep my mouth shut, I know,” Jonas cut him off. “I know how discretion works, Shan.” A really big deal.

Theron just nodded curtly, no smart remark in return, and headed back to the ops room.  Jonas did as he’d suggested and made his way back up to the main level of the station, now with much more to keep him busy until his ride got here.

                                                          ---

When the shuttle finally showed up, it was an uneventful ride back to Coruscant. Gave him a chance to start figuring out how to begin the conversation he was now very interested in having for Bry. Questions about hidden family members were tricky to broach, even if they were fueled by curiosity rather than hurt. He assumed. He’d never had to do this before.

He wound up with a couple more days to mull it over before Bry got back from her assignment, and no closer to an appropriately delicate opener to that conversation.

You could just leave it alone. If it was important, she’d have brought it up by now, his thoughts pointed out. Or snoop her records, find out without bothering her.

Neither of those sound like me, Jonas retorted. He was pretty close to just leaving it alone through sheer lack of a good way to start, though.

All the internal debate was rendered moot when Bry got back, flopped on his couch with her legs--as always--across his lap, and asked. “So, do anything fun while I was gone?”

Jonas laughed and ran one hand through his hair. “Funny you should ask...” He rubbed her shin as he gave her the sanitized version of how he’d wound up on Carrick Station and what lengths boredom and curiosity had driven him to, then hesitated, hand going still against her leg as he gambled. “Bry...any particular reason you’ve never mentioned having a sister?”

She stiffened ever so slightly. “B’cause there’s about half a frangin’ ton of baggage involved I didn’t wanna drop on you,” she said glibly after a long pause.

“Bry.” So that had been her sister. Not a cousin or some more distant relation.

She looked at him, let out a long sigh, and swung her legs down to sit up and sidle closer to him on the couch. “Alright. First off, it’s not any reason about you that kept me from sayin’ something. It’s not a trust issue or dirty secret or anything. I just... never mention her to anyone.”

It was clear from her expression and the way her gaze stayed fixed on their knees that this was a serious, difficult subject for her. Still he couldn’t help himself. “Why wouldn’t you mention a sister?”

Bry looked him dead in the eye. “Because it never felt like I had one.” His confusion must have shown, because she sighed again and briefly buried her face in her hands. “Okay, starting at the beginning.... You know I don’t really talk to my parents.”

It wasn’t a question, but Jonas still nodded. “Yeah.”He reached for her hand, relieved when she didn’t pull away. 

In fact, she seemed to appreciate the gesture. “Vica’s why. She’s four years older than me, was found to be Force-sensitive and taken in by the Jedi Order when she was three. My- our parents decided that given we never met, it made perfect sense to never tell me about her. Easier to pretend I was an only child than inevitably wind up explaining to a four year old why her big sister didn’t live at home and we couldn’t visit her.”

Jonas winced at the hurt and sarcasm under the words. For once he held his tongue and simply squeezed her hand in support.

“So they didn’t,” Bry continued, shooting him a faintly grateful smile. “Never breathed a word. Told me I was it, and they were happy that way. I was seventeen when I found the one memento they couldn’t bring themselves to give up--isn’t that how it always goes?--the first family holo from when Vica was born.” She gave a sharp laugh. “That’s what tipped me off; I came almost two weeks early. Dad was off-planet for work and missed my arrival. They’d told me the story a dozen times, so I knew that baby couldn’t be me. When I confronted them about it, they told me the truth easily enough. Said they did it to protect me. To keep me from feeling hurt I lost out on the sister I’d always pestered them for because the Jedi took her before I was born.” Bry pulled her hand free, ran both through her hair, and tipped her head back against the couch. “Stars, I need a drink.”

“Coming right up.” Jonas squeezed her knee as he pushed off the couch. It only took a minute to pour two whiskeys and return to sit next to her.

“Thanks. Bry slugged back half of the one he handed her in a single swallow, winced, and wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist.”This is a good one, sure you wanna waste it-”

“If you need a drink, it’s not a waste,” Jonas cut her off. “Especially since you need it ‘cause of me in the first place.”

She snorted, swirled the remaining liquor. “Always knew you’d drive me to drink,” she teased, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “Just didn’t figure it would be like this.” She sighed, ran her hand through her hair again, then leaned forward to brace her elbows against her knees.”Let’s get this over with..... So. Seventeen, just found out my parents had been hiding a Jedi big sister from me my whole damn life. I was pissed. Didn’t talk to them for weeks. Only reason I didn’t just leave is Sayna pleadin’ their case. That was part of why I joined the military soon as I graduated,” she admitted. “The recruiter had already been sweet-talking me an’ a couple other kids pretty hard. I might’ve done it anyway, but getting away from people who’d lied to me for near on two decades was the final nudge that made it too good a deal to pass up.”

“You ever talk to her?” Jonas asked, mimicking her posture.

Bry shook her head and snorted a bitter laugh. “Jedi aren’t allowed attachments like that, remember?”

I feel like I’ve had this conversation before... Jonas thought wryly. Theron was markedly less bitter about it than her--unless he was really drunk--but the general tone was familiar. “Right.”

She raised a brow at the no-frills reply. “You’re being awfully... taciturn. For you,” she commented, draining her glass. 

He shrugged and swapped her empty tumbler with the full one he held. “I don’t know enough to really comment, beyond saying that while I see where they were coming from, I absolutely disagree with how your parents handled things.”

Bry bumped her shoulder against his as thanks for round two and scoffed. “Oh, I see where they were coming from, too. I get it. I may wonder time to time if it was more for themselves--not having to explain or deal with the questions I would have asked, but I get it. Getting it doesn’t make it hurt any less that they lied to me for seventeen years, Jonas. Every time I asked why I didn’t have any siblings, every time I grumbled about being an only child.... They could have told me, and they didn’t, and that stings like hell.”

“I’ll bet,” he nodded.

Bry flashed an apologetic grimace as she sipped the second whiskey. “Sorry for ranting. I warned you it was a lot of baggage.”

“Eh, you’re entitled, I think.” Jonas rubbed her back.

She relaxed slightly and her grimace turned to a relieved, genuine smile. “And you’re sweet.” She raised one hand to curl around the side of his neck, just below his ear, back towards the nape, and pulled him in for a whiskey-flavored kiss.

“I signed up for the whole ride,” he murmured against her lips, “not just the smooth sailing. It not being official yet doesn’t make me mean it any less-”

Bry kissed him again and he chuckled as he obliged, leaning into it.

“You’re sweet,” she reiterated when they parted. She sat back and handed over the whiskey. “We can share.”

“Or I could get another, if I wasn’t being lazy,” he pointed out as he accepted the tumbler and took a sip. Bry chuckled softly, and they sat in comfortable silence for a handful of seconds, shoulders pressed together, before Jonas spoke again. “Not to keep digging at the wound, Bry, but did you ever try...?”

“Getting in touch despite knowing it;s a long shot?” Bry finished with an almost derisive snort. “Yeah. Once. Just before I went to Ord Mantell.” She slouched enough to put her feet up on the low table in front of the couch. “Got some clearly rehearsed apology that the individual I sought was off-planet and unavailable, but they could pass along a message. Didn’t bother; felt wrong for that to be how she learned I exist. After that... I dunno, I was busy. Lost my nerve, I guess. Or convinced myself it wasn’t that important we get to talk. At least enough to kill my curiosity.”

“Speaking of curiosity...” Jonas turned sideways on the couch, one foot still braced against the floor. “I’d like to apologize for mine making you dig up memories that hurt.”

Bry chuckled dryly and reached up to grab a handful of the front of his shirt. “Eh, you’re cute so I’ll forgive you.”

Jonas laughed and didn’t resist when she pulled him down for another kiss.  “One of my favorite sentences,” he teased.

“Dare I ask what the others are?” She arched a brow and maintained a loose grip on his shirt when he straightened.

“Drinks are on me for one. Hey there, handsome...” he grinned at the look on her face. “You asked.”

“Teach me to be curious...”

“There is one more recent addition,” he said with faux-innocence. “I love you.” He wrapped his hand around hers grasping his shirt, rubbed his thumb over the diamond and chevron tattoo on the back of one finger. “But only when exchanged with one very specific gorgeous blue-eyed badass who currently has her feet on my table.”

“What, that’s not why it’s there?” Bry said playfully, tugging on his shirt. “I love you, too. Even if you are a nosy bastard sometimes.”

“Can’t help it,” Jonas smirked, leaning down to kiss her again. “You’re just so fascinating I want to learn everything about you.”

“Charmer,” she laughed just before their lips met.

“Yep,” he replied, stealing another kiss before shifting to sit in a similar position to hers, though he didn’t put his feet on the table. “Thanks for satisfying my curiosity, gorgeous.”

Bry nodded. “Welcome, handsome. I prob’ly would have told you eventually, might as well be now.” She wriggled closer and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Now that that’s done”--she raised an inquiring brow and he nodded--”what should we do to relax?”

“Did you get to do anything fun while you were gone?” Jonas joked, balancing the whiskey on the arm of the couch.

“Freeze my ass off,” she said glibly. “Deal with stuff that got way more complicated than it should’ve.” 

“Doesn’t it always?”

“Heh, point. It’s behind me now, and I’d rather leave it there. Do something else.”

“Fair.” Jonas had a suspicion this most recent mission was not all she meant. “In that case...” He trailed his fingers lightly up the inside of her forearm and grinned when she bit her lip. “I might have a few suggestions...”

“By all means,” Bry matched his grin as her hand drifted toward the inside of his knee. “Satisfy my curiosity.”

-------------------------------------

It’s been my headcanon for a while that in the Nerai Sisters canon Vica’s The Outlander(TM), so she does all the Shadow of Revan etc stuff since she, y’know, romanced Theron and needs to interact with him. BUT since even the Barsen’thor of the Jedi Order can’t do EVERYTHING, while Vica was running the Assault on Korriban/reclaiming the Jedi Temple Bry was doing Ilum. 

Also: since Bry A) is not a jewelry person and B) can’t really wear it with her job, she gets a tattoo on the back of her left ring finger when she and Jonas get engaged, and then adds to i(a LOT; my girl is not subtle at all) when they actually get married. :D

[star-wars-comics]

Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith #1 (1996)

written by Kevin J. Anderson art by Dario Carrasco, Jr., Mark G. Heike, Bill Black, & David Jacob Beckett

[swtorramblings]

The outfit meme, for your favorite SWTOR character currently?

All right, since I’m going to not use any characters that aren’t OC’s, I will go with the smuggler, Z’lia. She’s my second oldest character.

She has all 16 slots used, but most of those look like I was trying out looks rather than having anything finalized. 

I’m afraid I’m rarely all that imaginative on this, I just throw together pieces until something looks all right, so if I like the original set I just keep it. I’ll do a few at different points of her career.

Under the cut for length. I don’t seem to know how to make the pictures smaller in Tumblr. She likes her blaster a lot, so she has it drawn in all shots.

Z’lia Disguised as a Minor Noble

This was her original stable look, way back when. I kept some of the pieces for a long time. She was always a scoundrel, but she used to sneak into the events of the nobility, so she dressed the part a lot of the time. Got a ship, got some jobs behind her, then ran into the Butcher. Hey, they can’t all be gems. Red/dark red dye,  Duststorm Survivor’s bracers, Wicked Huntress head and gloves, Flexiglass Barrage Jacket, RD-07A Spider Leggings, TD-04B Spec Op Boots. The belt lists as “unidentified”, oddly. Light tuning.

Z’lia on Scouting Missions

Dressed for her usual jobs, scouting out installations and enemy forces as a Republic privateer. The eyepiece allows her to see through the little droid. It could also be used for aiming, but she doesn’t trust it for that and leaves that functionality turned off. She’s a good enough shot, anyway. Gav Daragon’s bracers, Red Efficiency scanner, the rest is Canderous Ordo’s stuff.  It seemed to suit her well. Repair Droid tuning.

Z’lia while possessed by Emperor Valkorion

I think the title explains the look. It’s mostly the Wartime Ambassador’s set, the chest is the Raider’s Cove Targeter’s Jacket with the Eradicator’s Belt. The glow is the Dread Seed weapon tuning. Mainly created this look for the Commander Thexan story, but I started using it when going through KotXX to explain some bizarre behavior on her part. It made the whole thing easier, honestly. I still assume some of it did not occur according to canon.

But enough about that.

Z’lia in Retirement

Freed from Valkorion’s influence, she advised the new Alliance for a time, but after seeing the Republic and the Empire still going at it on Iokath, she threw up her hands and walked away. Classic Trailblazer’s set, Rascal’s Toothpick, Riot Control Weapon Tuning. She now lives in her apartments on Nar Shaddaa, though she could buy a small world, and if anyone bothers her looking for a mercenary or a thief or whatever, she’ll most likely tell them to piss off. She’s done.

There are still the occasional slavers who come to a sticky end, though.