#I’m not sure if it was supposed to happen that way or not but arcann and vaylin both ditched the valkorion fight

[doriansbutt]

Jesus crispy I finished kotet last night and wow fuck those last fights w vaylin and valkorion I hate the slog of single-handedly dwindling someone down from A MILLION HP or even TEN MILLION fucking hell that sucked so much

[cursedbeasts]

Bestia's Wrath Chapter 5: The Escape

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Summary:

Lana finds Bestia and gets her out of the city together with Koth.

Bestia continues orbital F-bombardment.

Blinding light. Hissing. Equally blinding pain all over her body. She couldn't move. She couldn't see. Was this how she'd die: like a helpless beast? 

"I have a cure, but it will hurt." A voice stated matter of fact. It sounded like Brontes's voice but Bestia knew it wasn't. Brontes didn't deal in cures. A needle was jammed into Bestia's shoulder. She screamed, falling forward on her hands and knees. The world came into view, blurry. The room was dim, and Bestia felt metal underneath her. A coughing fit overtook her, filling her mouth with a metallic taste. She sat up, squinting at the person before her. Her vision was still extremely blurry, so she could mostly see a golden yellow blob on top of a dark grey blob. Definitely not Brontes. The voice seemed awfully familiar though.

“Weren’t you on Ziost?” Bestia managed to rasp out. 

“Yes. My name is Lana Beniko."

Lana. The Sith who reached out both to the Dread Masters and the Republic during the Ziost crisis. Lana was maybe one of the few Imperials who weren’t openly hostile towards Bestia and the other Dread Masters. But she was also willing to work with a Jedi, so Bestia wasn't exactly surprised. Sharack seemed to like Lana too. Bestia even vaguely remembered the Jedi hitting on the short Sith. 

“Oh yea the new head of Sith Intelligence. I remember you, I think. Hello." 

Bestia got up and made a few clumsy steps towards a bunch of containers behind the carbonate slab, and started rummaging around, looking for something.

“Thought they’d stash my claws here, but I guess not.” 

As she was digging through skytrooper parts, she heard a series of beeps and turned to see a familiar silver and blue astromech with blue flames painted on the sides.

“Isn’t this Sharack’s droid?” Bestia asked, recognizing the flames. Sharack had made a point of showing them off. An awkward silence, then Lana spoke up, looking sullen. 

“Yes. I found him on the surface of Ziost after… After the cataclysm. I understand that you are Sharack’s mother. I am sorry.” 

Bestia sighed, feeling a pang of grief, overshadowed by the physical pain she was in. She walked over and put a hand on Lana’s shoulder. 

“Condolences accepted. But “Sorry” won’t fix things, nor will it stop Vitiate. Let’s go.”

“You still have no weapon.”

“There's nothing here for me to use. I’ll find something on the way. For now, the Force will have to suffice.” 

They jogged along endless corridors and hallways, fighting through skytroopers. 

“I’m not sure if it really happened or if it was the part of the weird dreams I was having in Carbonite…” Bestia muttered, throwing a crate at a skytrooper with enough force to break it in half. “But I saw Sharack. I thought she died, and I suppose in a way she did. She’s… Kind of like my husband now. This Force entity. An Undying, as my husband named it. She was in the throne room with me and Marr, and killed the poor sod the people here called their Emperor. Vitiate was using him as a host.”

“I know. I have crossed paths with Sharack.” 

“Is she alright? She didn't even pay attention to me in the throne room.”

“I cannot say. She has changed a lot and we didn’t talk much.”

They walked down the oddly empty corridor. 

“There’s less resistance than I expected.”

“T7. He generated alerts in other sections of the storage facility.”

“Storage facility?”

“Yes. This is where Arcann stores his prized possessions. Doesn’t it make you feel special.”

“No, it makes me feel… ogled. Like an object. And not even in a sexy way. At least he couldn’t display me on a wall, unless he wanted a wall decoration that literally says “FUCK YOU.””

Lana didn’t respond, but her expression went blank as she recalled the pose she found Bestia’s frozen body in: with middle fingers proudly on display. She decided to not dwell on it. An obstacle in the form of a huge sealed door came before them. A hatch that no doubt could be opened by slicing into a terminal or another, or asking T7 to do so, but they simply didn't have the time. 

“I got the door.” Lana said, stepping up. She raised her arms towards it, fingers crooked into claws as she channeled the Force through them. Bestia watched her struggle, barely managing to pry the halves of the bulkhead open. 

“No. I got the door.” 

Bestia stepped up, palms held together in front of her, pointing at the middle of the door. She let the Force flow, and then opened her arms rapidly as if doing a swimmer stroke. The gate was ripped open with a sickening screech, leaving a hole large enough for the two to run through. Bestia felt the consequences right away as pain flared up in her chest, and she coughed. She stumbled and looked down at her hand. A dark red stain marred her glove. Shit. Lana’s comm beeped, and an unfamiliar man’s voice spoke from it.

"An update would be good. Have you found the outlander yet? I’m starting to feel a little exposed over here."

"Yes. I patched her in." She motioned for Bestia to come over.

"I'm Koth Vortena. And this is the most suicidal rescue mission in history." The man introduced himself. 

"I'm Bestia. Let's do it."

They kept running, but Bestia had trouble keeping up. Overwhelmed by pain, she leaned onto a nearby terminal, waking it up. A series of feeds lit up the screen. One of them showed the woman in black from the throne room walking up to the empty carbonite chamber. She then looked up, raised a hand, and the camera went to static. 

“Huh. I’ve seen her before. I was dreaming in carbonite and at one point, I was in the throne room. She could somehow see me and stabbed me with a lightsaber.” 

“Vaylin. She is powerful. I don’t think we stand a chance against her.”

“I could take her. I have 800 years of experience.”

Bestia started coughing again.

“Okay, maybe not in my current state.”

“The medicine should kick in shortly, but we still must hurry and get to the extraction point.”

Bestia nodded, and two continued their escape. There was blaster fire heard over the comm channel that was never closed. 

"Koth? Is everything alright?" Lana asked.

"Nothing i can’t handle but we need to move the pickup.”

Lana sighed. 

"We don’t have time for this."

"Well if I land now they’ll shoot me to pieces!"

"What's the new location?" Bestia butted in.

"Just duck through another tower and I’ll find you. Back with you shortly."

Bestia sighed, and the two kept  walking until they reached an elevator. 

“No way but forward I guess,” Bestia said.

“I guess.”

Bestia and Lana stepped inside. A few moments of awkward silence passed. 

"What." Bestia erupted, tired of Lana drilling holes in her with her stare.

"I didn't expect to find…"

"A dread master?"

"Well, yes."

"Fair. We have a reputation. Still, I appreciate the save. So, who's Koth?"

"A native of Zakuul who doesn't support Arcann."

"And Arcann is…?" 

"The new emperor of Zakuul."

Bestia now had names for both the half mask brat, and his sister.

"You probably have other questions."

"I doubt you have answers, Lana. Unless you have the locations of the other five Dread Masters."

"Afraid not."

The doors opened and the two stepped into what looked like an office space. It was a sharp contrast to grey dimly lit corridors from before: clean and bright with more of those geometric designs woven into the architecture. It seemed abandoned by any human personnel like the storage facility though. Bestia walled past a cubicle entrance, and saw a woman huddling there, absolutely terrified. The first human she'd seen aside from Lana and Vaylin over the feed. The woman stared up at her in fear. Bestia walked on. 

The two made their way through the offices, dispatching a few more skytroopers on the way, and finally reached an exit. Bestia peered out and let out a long, tired sigh as her gaze landed on the assault walker that guarded the bridge beyond.

"Ah shit here we go again."

She didn't look forward to the fight. She normally liked fighting, but in her current state, and still lacking a weapon, it was a pain. Suddenly, she sensed something. There was a living human being inside the walker, meaning her Dread Master powers were useful for once. She let her power loose, a black and red glow enveloping her, shadow beasts forming inside the blackness and tearing towards the enemy.

"A living being… KNOW FEAR."

Lana was about to engage the droid, when shadows swarmed it. A muffled scream rang out from the inside, and the walker started thrashing, until it stumbled towards the edge of the bridge, tipped over, and fell from view. Lana jogged towards the bent railing, watching the walker fade from view down below. So this was the power of a Dread Master. Bestia walked over, and looked down too. She then bent over the railing in a coughing fit.

“Oof there goes my spleen." She managed.

Lana threw one of Bestia's arms over her shoulders, and helped her walk towards the other tower. As they made their way across the bridge and into the building, they were watched. Vaylin stood on a platform a floor above. 

"Hm. Not the way I'd pick." Her voice gleeful, she turned around, facing towards the nearest sun reactor. The things were all over the city, harnessing the heat and energy of miniature suns to provide power. Vaylin raised her arms, and huge chunks were torn off the reactor's plating, and hurled at the tower Bestia and Lana just entered moments ago. 

“I’m too old for this shit.” Bestia sighed, leaning against the door she and Lana just ducked through. Lana was catching her breath too, when an explosion shook the tower, knocking her to the floor. 

“Oh, COME ON!” Bestia yelled out in exasperation. 

Koth was panicking over the comm.

“What happened?!” 

“Vaylin happened!” Lana cried out.

“And why are you inside a FUCKING droid factory?!” 

“I don’t know. Maybe cause this was the other tower you told us to duck through?” Bestia threw a freshly made skytrooper at its peers with the Force.

Alarms started going off, announcing a reactor failure and instructing everyone to evacuate. The whole building was shaking. The two women made their way through the actual factory, somehow avoiding falling off the glass platforms that had no railings, and destroying more droids along the way. They probably were responsible for a considerable dent in Zakuul’s droid economy at this point. 

They came to a control room of some kind that overlooked the reactor. It seemed to hold a small sun inside, but was damaged too much to contain the sun’s energy, causing it to fluctuate on the edge of collapse, or an explosion. Panicked workers scurried about, screaming. Bestia caught one by the front of the jacket. If their prince was any indication, they should at least know Galactic Basic. 

“How to turn this off?” 

“There’s...There’s an emergency switch in the back. Two of them!” the technician pointed behind him, at two pillars at the back of a series of catwalks that circled the reactor.”It’s too dangerous! It’s going to blow any moment!” 

Bestia ran up to the door leading out. Just as she was about to step out, a bolt of electricity struck the space in front of her, causing her to recoil. And then a hand grabbed her by the back of her jacket. 

“We need to leave! You heard him. It’s going to explode any moment, and we need to GO!” 

Bestia turned around, snarling, unhappy with being handled like a child. 

“The explosion will provide cover!” Lana kept arguing.

“No it won’t. We’ll get caught in the blast. It’s less dangerous if we turn it off.” 

Then Bestia picked Lana up and jumped through the air and over most of the catwalk. Lana yelled and protested the whole time. Bestia put her down and gave her a nudge towards the other control panel.

“Go turn off the other one!” 

“Ugh. Fine, but if we die, I am haunting you.” 

Bestia allowed herself a chuckle as her hands flew over the console. Inexplicably, the screen was in Aurebesh and she could read it. She would wonder about it later. It seemed Lana was successful in turning her half of the switch off, as the red indicator on the screen started lowering to orange, then yellow. The sun was still unstable, though, lashing out with flames and electricity. Bestia then had a hunch about the conduits back in the control room, so she sprinted back, and Lana followed her. She caught up with Bestia as she stood before the conduits.

“That’s it. I’m taking you with me, whether you like it or not.” 

“I don’t like your tone.” Bestia said calmly. 

She reached over and grabbed Lana’s lightsaber off her belt, turned it on, and threw it at the conduits. There was a bright flash, and a knockback wave that sent Bestia onto the floor. She was used to being shocked by inhuman amounts of electricity though. It took her a few moments to get her bearings, and she sat up, watching as protective shields came over the sun reactor, containing it. Lights went out in the city all around. Bestia got up, and headed to the nearest elevator. Anywhere was better than here, and it seemed it would lead to an exit. 

“Damn your stubbornness! How did you even stay alive for almost a thousand years?!” Lana exploded once they were inside the elevator. 

Bestia shrugged. She marveled at her continued existence herself at times. 

“Honestly? I don’t know. As a holonet meme I saw once goes, the risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at maths…” 

Lana growled at her. 

“Okay okay. It was Styrak and the others. We look out for each other. The Sith should really try teamwork some time.” 

Lana seemed to accept that answer. The two women stepped out of the elevator and found themselves on a series of platforms, landing pads, and more catwalks. Clearly some sort of a staff area. With the power cut, the surrounding spires were lit by the setting sun, reflecting bright orange off the glass windows.  

“Koth? What’s your status?” Lana didn't waste any time sightseeing.

“Uhhh, ran into a little maintenance issue…” There was a loud explosion in the background. “Give me about three minutes.” 

Lana sighed. Bestia nodded. There was a whooshing sound and more skytroopers came up from below. 

“Three minutes. Got it.” Bestia grumbled. 

Slightly more than three minutes and far too many decimated droids later, the two make their way onto a landing pad. It’s eerily empty, compared to the endless barrage they had suffered before. It didn’t stay empty, as two Knights in golden armor jumped from a catwalk above, and pointed their lightsaber spears at Bestia. She grunted.

“Outlander! You are guilty of assassinating our immortal Emperor! Surrender and face justice!” 

Bestia rolled her eyes. 

“If he’s so immortal, then how come he’s dead?” 

This seemed to cross some wires inside the knights’ brains. Bestia didn’t wait for them to resolve their internal connection issues, and summoned up a red and black blast of Force Fear. When the knights looked over, they saw a huge beast of shadows and teeth bearing down on them. 

“I AM GUILTY OF NOTHING. NOW, FUCK OFF, OR ELSE.” Bestia bellowed, unleashing torrents of pure dread upon the knights. 

Both of them huddled over in fear, heads turning this way and that as their childhood fears of beasts lurking in the swamps of Zakuul were dredged up and conjured before their very eyes. The shorter knight backed away. 

“Away! Cursed Beast!” He sliced the air with his lightsaber, while his compatriot seemed more keen on fleeing. He jumped back up onto the catwalks. 

“Run, run!” 

And run the short knight would, if he weren’t picked up by the throat, choking. Lana seemed intent on choking the life out of him. Bestia stepped in. 

“Drop him. We don’t have time for this.”

“So they could come back for us again?”

“So I could scare the shit out of them again?” Bestia shrugged. She held two discarded lightspears in her hand. Finally, a weapon. Not her first choice, but she’d adapt. 

They made their way to the landing pad. It was a dead end, and there suddenly was a heavy oppressive presence behind them. They turned around, seeing Vaylin who had finally caught up with them. 

“I know the Outlander here. My dear brother is very intent on making a scapebeast out of her. But you…” She stared at Lana. “You, I don’t know.” 

“You know I didn’t kill your Emperor. You saw what happened. Let us go.” Bestia tried to reason. 

“Nah. Didn’t come out all the way here to leave with no bloodshed. That, and brother’s tantrums are really annoying.”

“Go, I’ll hold her off,” Lana pleaded.

"No. I’m tired of running. If I’m to die, at least I want to go fighting.” Bestia held up both spears, ready to fight to the death. 

There was a deep humming noise coming from below, and the two sun around to see a shuttle rise from below. They saw Koth in the pilot seat. 

“HEADS DOWN EYES CLOSED RUN LIKE HELL!!!” 

And run they did. Lana made the jump to the open ramp, but Bestia had to duck as a piece of the catwalk was torn out and thrown at the shuttle, causing it to veer sideways, its wing on fire. She jumped and barely made it, clinging onto the ramp like the pantran in that one holomovie her son liked so much. At least, she hoped, there wouldn’t be a treacherous sibling to throw her down to her death. Instead a hand came down and grabbed her by the scruff, pulling painfully at her hair. It pulled her up effortlessly, and then deposited her onto the floor of the ship. 

“Thanks” she managed. The ramp closed behind her, and she crawled to sit in a corner. 

The shuttle struggled to fly, barely dodging the shots from nearby gun placements. At least until they suddenly were powered down, and a silver astromech with blue flames on its sides rolled away proudly.

Bestia sat in the corner, her mask off, and completely exhausted. Lana’s cure seemed to have worked, and her organs weren’t trying to kill themselves as actively. Still, she felt off. She could feel the dreadseed she bonded with, stitching her insides fixed, but in the process, claiming more of her body. She needed to find Styrak, or at least a Force healer. She reached out to the other Dread Masters, but could barely sense anything. They didn’t feel dead at least, but it seemed like the Carbonite messed with something. Or maybe the others were hiding. 

“This will be a short ride” Koth said, piloting the ship through a tunnel that led outside the city spire.” Catch our new friend up on the last five years.” 

Bestia froze. 

“Wait. The last WHAT NOW?!” 

End notes:

For maximum effect, play "Roundabout" by Yes so it starts exactly when you read the last line.

[synoxshots]

The Master KOTFE Adventure

My latest project has been playing through KotFE on master mode.

Why ever would you want to do that? you may ask, and I have asked myself the same thing. In short, it was a mix of having a light sided empire toon that I didn't want the autocompletes on, and the fact that he is also the best geared character I've ever had and the discipline I've had most experience playing. And I've run through KotFE quite a few times so, freshening it up I guess? 

So this is how it went. This isn't a guide - more, a record of my experiences as I went through. As ever, some things I found easy others might find hard, and (more likely, lbr) vice versa. 

The gamer:

I play a Rage Jugg, wear Descent of the Fearless set, gear level 306 with a full set of 286 augments. So - very well geared, but not fully optimised stats wise. Experience wise for this - I'd done a few chapters on vet mode before with a Guardian (Focus) and Powertech (Pyrotech) though not always at max gear (probably in the 290s when I first gave it a go), and I like trying to solo group content like vet fps (master for Red Reaper only) because I don't love myself, I guess. A smidge of ops experience. I'm reasonably competent as a player but also prone to stupid, I don't claim to be great by any means.

Chapter I

All went smoothly, died on the last fight against the BD-148 elite skytrooper - but that was just because I forgot about heroic moments existing, given that half the chapter is spent without a companion. Used my enraged defence a few times but never really felt at risk of dying. Apart from the one time when I did, obviously. Marr goes up to 28 influence automatically. Lots of mobs can be skipped as they're already engaged in fights.

Chapter II

Quite a few mobs you can skip around. Valkorion heals you though he's not a companion so no heroic moment. Last monolith did get me close to death sometimes, so there was a bit of running away so I could heal up a bit more, and making good use of defensive abilities. But no deaths on this one!

Chapter III

I died twice on this one, both were easily preventable. The first was against the Ground Assault Walker (massive droid before the bridge) and pretty much because I hadn't raised Lana's influence yet, so I upped it to 20 before starting the fight again and cleared it very quickly. Sidenote: a while back I bought a bunch of Spiced Aric Tongue from the Jawa scrap peddlers as I didn't know what else to do with all that, Lana accepts it so it's a nice quick way to up her level (Koth likes it too, a lot, which is handy). Second death was against like, a handful of skytroopers when I was shutting down the reactor and really it was mostly because I wasn't paying attention properly, though Lana died both times at this point. There's another fight where these prototype skytroopers keep swarming and I was a bit nervous because there were kolto stations there and I couldn't entirely remember how intense it got. The answer was...not intense at all and I definitely didn't need them. The final fight on this one is the two Zakuul knights but they didn't cause me any problems. All in all I'd say the deaths I've had so far have all been my own fault.

Chapter IV

This...did not go as well. And I'm not entirely sure why, just bad play on my part I think mostly, sometimes there are days when I just play like trash *shrug*. Not timing things like enraged defence, heroic moments and so on very well which meant I died a few times to wildlife - twice the larger bosses, twice mobs of normal/strong ones. Yeah... Kept upping my companion influence so all three (Lana, Koth and HK by this point) got up to 27 but I think even higher than that may be needed as they just didn't seem to be healing well. 

Chap V

I was a bit wary heading into this one, as it was one I'd run before on vet mode and remembered having trouble with the skytrooper waves. I was less geared then though, and had less companion influence doing that, having now taken everyone up to about 32. I didn't record any deaths on this though had a near miss - but I had saved my enraged defence/heroic moment and so on and hit them at the right time. Hey, I'm playing smarter! 

Chapter VI

I found this chapter easy when I'd run it on veteran not long before, but that was not the case on master. Died the first time against Oggo, that was my own fault though, although he does have one particular ability that hits very hard. Then came the Scions. Ohhh boy. The first two you face killed me, fair enough I hadn't had a chance to raise Senya's influence yet. The second two, Venat and Berusal, caused me pain. The good thing is that when fighting the pairs and you take one down, if you die the other doesn't respawn. The other good thing is that Venat and Berusal can be pulled separately, the bad news is I found this out after a few attempts. And Berusal still killed me on his own the first time. I was not having a fun time. And then you face Heskal without a companion. It takes a bit of tactics. I tried to damage him whilst he was doing Debris Storm, though still had to avoid the red circles. Turbulence gives a lot of damage, so had to hastily get out the way/interrupt it. He also stuns you which isn't fun. Valky pops up and offers you an out after the first phase, unfortunately I decided to stay true to character and not take it. Bad times were had. I went to lunch. I asked a friend to help. My internet got switched off before that could happen. I found out I was able to summon a companion...I know I'm not supposed to story wise, and I'm not sure if you can normally (there's a lot of times when companion summon buttons are greyed out due to story restrictions) or if this was only because I'd previously logged out...but suddenly the fight became a lot easier. Funny that. Sigh. Moving on...

Chapter VII

Honestly not much to say about this one, nothing that caused me trouble. A lot of it is in the open world so regular difficulty rather than scaled to master. 

Chapter VIII

This one wasn't much trouble either, did die once when stuff was on cooldown, once in the final Arcann fight. Kiting him over and hitting the conduits there is a big help as they stun him, that is probably very obvious but I've literally never bothered with them on story or vet mode. We're halfway there!

Chapter X

This one also gave me a Time. The problem I had was when you come up against Faedral and Zaamsk. My first thought was the difficulty was because I hadn't raised Kaliyo's influence (oops, but you get her on the spot and I didn't have gifts handy...or at least the ones I thought she liked she didn't actually) (this is how I found out that agent!Kaliyo and alliance!Kaliyo have different preferences, apparently this will also apply to other - but not all - returning companions). But I raised her to 28 and still kept dying. It's a bit of a nasty fight honestly, and the guide I looked at said that juggs...aren’t ideal for it. Crowd control and interrupts are very handy. I kept getting really close to getting one of them down and dying just before I could, super annoying because it's another of those where if you take one down and die, you only have to face the other one. I took a break and read the guide more closely, watched some videos, and ultimately just decided to bring someone along to avoid the pain, or maybe share in it. I still died but we got through them. The fight against Tayvor Slen, the boss fight of the chapter, took a couple of tries with two of us - the first time I got stuck in a red circle and pretty much insta-killed. There was a bit of a close call on the second attempt but it was under control really. The achievement then comes through for chapter completion, all you have to do then is get out of the Overwatch, all things rosy right? Oh how wrong they were. A bunch of Zakuul Knights came along and literally just slaughtered us, full on, one-shotting us both - it was hilarious and extremely confusing because why?? how?? Did the bonus mission to get the prisoners to escape (look out for the glowing terminal, it says 'Overwatch Prison Logs' when you hover over it) - they one-shot a few Knights but then disappeared on us too. Who knows. But we got through it.

Chapter XI

A much nicer one though still had a handful of deaths. Where you meet up with Havoc Squad there's ambush of Skytroopers, followed by a couple of walkers - and the walkers beat me. They cast circles that I just couldn't get out of in time to save my health, even with my defensives. I'm not sure if they were the type to follow you or a sort of stamp move (I should have looked at the cast bar, come to think of it) - I suspect though it was the latter and so it wouldn't be an issue on a ranged character. The fight though does continue around you if you die so you don't lose the progress you make, just use the med probe, revive and rejoin. I only took Jorgan to level 7 because that was all the gifts I had, but most of the mobs were just regular trash, typically 3 at a time, which was no worry. When you attack the base the Knights are a bit harder - there's one round the back that does stealth strikes and that's a difficult one to face. I died - the respawn to medbay actually puts you inside the part with the forcefield you're supposed to take down, and then you can't get out of it...I maintain that I did find a way past the forcefield but it doesn't work as a cheesing method. Use your med probe, otherwise it's quick travel out and re-enter your phase. The final battle is a big droid (I forgot the name of it). It spawns a bunch of smaller droids, just ignore those and go for the boss - I didn't the first time and that's why I died - I lost Jorgan, I had two Knights chasing me whilst the droid put up shields, it didn't go well - second time I did it in less than a minute whilst using a heroic moment.

Chapter XII

This one you don't have a companion for, though it's not a big deal - for the most part my main enemy, as tends to be the case on this chapter, was the map. I think the regular mobs are scaled down a bit for playing without a companion. You can pick up an animal to help you as well, which you may as well do as things just die quicker. It runs off in caves. Valkorion does take your health down a fair chunk before he gives you his beat down but it wasn't so bad. Vaylin though took quite a few attempts. You can't interrupt her so you have to be on the ball with your defensives and timing them all, which includes the shield and medpac given in your temporary bar for the chapter. Really the medpac isn't that effective so don't count on it. There's a lot of running around as she casts red circles. Probably easier with a character with more self heals. I got through it after a few efforts, after getting close a few times, though even then I was still low on health by the end.

Chapter XIII

Yeah, this one was no trouble really, and that was with Gault at only level 4 influence. If things get hairy whack a bit more on him, there's no real mechanics to pose problems. As ever, good practice to stay out of circles on the boss fight, you have Vette there as well so a bit of extra damage going and yeah. Nothing to worry about.

Chapter XIV

Another that was nice and simple, I didn't even have any gifts to give Torian so was wandering around with him on level 1. Just a matter of timing defensives and heroic moments in that case. Lots is open world, too. Final boss fight was no problem at all.

Chapter XV

Reading guides for this put the fear of god into me, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it better than expected. The bosses were the toughest parts. The first is the Skytrooper Constructor, that one does spawn adds after a while as well. It killed me a couple of times but really I'm not sure what the best strategy was so I just went for the classic, burn it as fast as I possibly can and making use of heroic moment/defensives as well. The GEMINI droid at the end had me worried. That took 3 attempts (maybe 4, I think it was just 3 though), one of those my heroic moment was still on cooldown and Senya died quickly on it too. It was really just about managing defensives effectively as well, running away when she has the red cone in front of you, using the heroic moment for extra speedy damage. It was a close call in the end but my enraged defence came off cooldown at the perfect moment, thank you Grit Teeth. I wouldn't say this was an easy chapter by any means so quite proud of myself for getting through it on my own! The other thing I would say is watch out for the lasers - they don't do lots of damage on story mode, but on master they one-shot you if you get caught in them! The other various traps I probably got through easier than I have on the lower difficulties which may just be a testament to this being like, my fifth complete kotfe run at this stage haha.

Chapter XVI

The final chapter...and the one I was the most scared of. Took Lana up to lvl 50 in preparation...she duly died early on in the first boss anyway. KJ-931 is the first boss - I say first boss, there's still a high rank enemy immediately before that I died to a few times anyway and needed a heroic moment to beat. First attempt against KJ I actually came really close. Stay out of the aoes - there's a white circle and a yellow cone, as well as a big red laser thing where you have to rush to the corner and if you can - micromanage Lana well enough that she doesn't get caught up in them too. So I learnt that I am not good at micromanaging companions like that. Take the turrets rather than the shields, definitely - apparently the shields also have limited use, the turrets pull aggro as well as giving you damage so they're very handy. Sometimes on this fight I got one-shotted very quickly, others I managed to hold on a bit - but it was the first attempt that was my best run until I actually did it. Honestly I can't say what the trick was to finally getting it right...just a lot of blind panic and luck. Second boss is Dara Nadal - I found it easier to just go for the intense burn on her - put down the turrets, use a heroic moment, set Lana to damage as well and burn. Still took a few attempts on her but each time I was getting very close so I knew I would get there.

And then came Arcann. Ooooh boy. I'd been reading guides and watching videos in preparation but there's still a lot to keep on top of. I decided to use the Marr & Satele Special Saber rather than my usual one - having the benefit of being able to run around quickly was handy, and the other ability reflects damage from his saber attack. This took many attempts - some that went very quickly, some that got him to his final phase. Rather than going into specifics I'm going to link to this video as it probably explains what to do best (it’s handy for all the bosses). You really have to watch for the moment he gets to ~25% and stands in one spot - if you aren't able to do the shield whacky he will kill you straight up. My first time running towards him with the shield in that very last phase I died on the way up. It took me a long time and a lot on repair bills but this is another one I was very proud of for getting through on my own as there were times I didn't think I would.

General stuff:

I would say doing this is not for the light-hearted but it’s certainly possible! Apart from one chapter where I grabbed a friend I got through them all on my own

Some classes fair better in certain chapters than others. I went with my Jugg all the way through, but if you have the characters geared and you know them well enough - and you're doing this for the cheevos rather than going through the storyline - you're likely better off mixing and matching as you go. There were many occasions I wished I had range.

You will die to trash mobs. It is a fact of life. It feels embarrassing in the early chapters, you come to accept this and move on.

Companion influence helps a lot. Koth, Lana, and Senya all like delicacies (especially Koth, that man can eat) - you can grab these from the Jawa vendors in the cartel bazaar on fleet.

Med droids are also a booming industry thanks to the amount I've spent on repairs in the course of this.

There are more mechanics compared to story mode, and some that exist in story mode that you just notice more on master. But apparently the difference between vet and master is just artificial - more health and hitting harder. 

Going Commando is another good resource for their experiences playing through.

[swtorramblings]

Commander Thexan: Downtime

After fleeing Zakuul, the Tirall family gather back on Odessen to grieve for their losses and celebrate the return of their mother.

Links will be modified as I get things organized. Among other things, I never did a chapter page for this story, and that has to be fixed, too.

Unsought Allies entry: Tears

I did not like what had happened. One of our greatest assets in the war against Valkorion was gone. Scourge had shared as much information about his long life as he could, or perhaps as much as he thought we needed to know, but replacing the experience of a three hundred year old Sith was impossible. Still, we had our mother back, and his action had allowed Master Surro and Kira to escape. I could not measure his loss against all of that. I would arrange for services later. They had done the impossible, confronting the Eternal Emperor and escaping. And I am sorry, Lana, but I wish the fall had finished him, even if it also meant the death of your lover. Senya was brought down from the ship in a hoverchair, pushed by one of the Knights. Caz’zandra, according to reports Arcann had sent me. He had described her as utterly devoted to our mother, which didn’t make much sense. They had barely met, they had no bond, and Senya was near comatose. How could she have developed this bond, especially since I felt nothing yet from my own mother? Still, now that I saw her himself, I could feel what my brother meant. I knew how strong an effect Senya could have on people. This was just further evidence of it. As worried as I was for her, seeing this gave me hope that perhaps she would some day be well and able to greet her children. “Come on, Caz, let’s get her to the Enclave!” Caz. Of course my sister would call this Knight that just sacrificed everything to help her Caz. She punched me “lightly” (I know she was trying to be gentle, but it still hurt) in the shoulder as she passed and said, “Caz’zandra is too long.” No, as powerful as she is, Vaylin does not read minds. She just knows me too well. “No it isn’t,” Caz’zandra replied with some mix of exasperation and tolerance, maybe even amusement. “But, suit yourself.” She then followed Vaylin with my mother into the base. I knew I would have to visit soon, but I had to make sure that we were safe. Arcann and Koth came down the ramp together, arms over each other’s shoulders. It was always rare to see either of them happy at all when they were apart. As it was, they were still a bit grim. “Koth. Brother.” Arcann sighed. “I suppose it is time to be debriefed.” Lana finally emerged. “I will go first, if you’d like to take some time.” Koth replied to that before Arcann could, “Lana, take some time. We’ll all still be here.” Master Surro emerged, but made no eye contact, and rapidly fled. I thought I should approach, but then Kira came down the ramp, caught my eye, and shook her head slightly before following her into the base. Lana had been speaking while I was distracted. “I told you, I’m fine. I will do what needs to be done, now and until this threat to all of us is over.” I took a deep breath. “Yes, and what needs to be done right now is rest. And grieving.” “I do not need to grieve.” “Lana, we have all been hurt by my father. My family has just taken something back from him, someone we never thought we’d see again. Let us carry the weight of the galaxy for a time, and let those who have just lost still more rest. Especially yourself.” She pondered for several moments, and finally said, “Very well, Commander. If those are your orders.” “Not an order. A request. Please, Lana.” She turned stiffly and walked into the base. Arcann and Koth had separated. They were ready to deliver their reports. Relaxation would happen later. Well, that was what I was thinking, at least. It did not work out that way. None of us really had the strength, as it turned out, to deny ourselves some happiness. “I’m sorry, Thexan. I took it on myself to turn the ship around and put us all at risk, and still couldn’t save everyone.” I sighed. “You did what you had to do, and you almost all came back. I think Scourge was ready to die, and if you had followed his instructions, he would have taken Surro and Kira with him. Because we’re important.” “Hey, I’m not.” Arcann smiled at the joke, slightly, but then became serious and said, “You were not important to Scourge. You are important to me.” “Well, yeah, but you think I’m charming. I don’t think your father approves.” “Thank you for bringing them back, Koth.” Koth stood up straighter and gave a kind of salute. It was as close as I’d ever seen him get to any kind of military order. “Of course, Commander. I’d like to go check on some things, if that’s all right.” Probably Lana. They’d been friends for a long time. Some people found it strange, with what she was willing to do for her ends and what he was not willing to do for his, but it was genuine. I waved him on ahead. Then it was just the two of us. And I realized that neither of us, in spite of the joyful news, were going to be able to work. I opened up my comlink and said into it, “Theron, could you manage the base for an hour or so?” I could hear him smirking on the other side. “Of course, Commander. Let’s celebrate what we can.” “Thank you.” I turned it off and said, “Let’s not keep our family waiting.”

[reliciron]

Family

Anai Syrr, Sith Sorcerer, unfortunate victim of swtor's terrible Nautolan colors. He's supposed to be black with red spots and eyes, but it's hard to tell at the best of times in the game. Before the DNA splicing, his spots where light blue and his eyes were grey. As an Abyssal Nautolan, he needs a visor to protect his eyes from the light.

Basically Valkorian's words make him decide to re-open old wounds, and he gets way more than he bargained for.

“They told you they were dead, and you believed them?”

Valkorian is gone, but his words still prickle in the back of Anai’s mind.

The truth was that yes, he had believed them. He was a child, he’d had no reason not to, and after a time, it had been easier to think his family was dead rather than consider the other possibilities.

His father and sister had been at the station when it was attacked, so spirits only knew what happened to them, and his mother…

His mother had been taken from the ship along with him.

A shiver passes down his spine and his gut clenches at the memory. Outstretched arms, a shrill inhuman scream, a struggle as the guards fight to restrain the desperate woman.

That had been the last time he’d seen her: fighting literally tooth and claw to get to him as he was carried away.

When he’d gotten older, he’d understood what fate had awaited her. Worked to death in a labor camp if she was lucky, sold as a pleasure slave if she was not. It hadn’t been something he’d liked to dwell on, understandably.

So he’d taken what they’d said at face value, gathered all his hopes of being reunited, his memories of happier times, and stuffed them in a mental box for his own sanity’s sake.

But now…

Now he had the time, resources, and people to actually investigate. To prove if they really were dead.

The very thought had him cringing reflexively, torn between hope and despair.

If he got his hopes up only to discover that his captors had told the truth, it would crush him all over again.

But if even one of them was still alive…

He grits his teeth all the way from his chambers aboard the Fury to the command center where he finds the man he’s looking for.

“Theron? I need you to find someone for me.”

His voice is low when he finally asks. Perhaps if he speaks quietly enough then his ever present bad luck might not take notice.

Theron looks up at him quizzically, before picking up on his tension.

“Uh, sure. Who are we looking for?”

He hesitates, and the longer he tries to work the words out, the more concerned Theron looks.

“He… was a diplomat for Glee Anselm around the time the Treaty of Coruscant was signed. Gisan Syrral.”

Theron turns to the terminal behind him and the screen blinks to life at his approach, already showing line after line of garbled queries as his implants connect it to the appropriate databases.

He’d thought this would take some time, but as he watches Theron work, he realizes that this was happening now.

Spirits, was he really ready to hear this…?

“Are you alright, Commander?”

He jumps and nearly bites a hole in his lip when Senya appears at his side.

She looks concerned, and a quick check shows that his mental shielding has slipped a bit. Of course when he shores it up she only looks more worried.

“I’m fine,” he says. Even manages to keep his voice level too, but it’s clear that she doesn’t believe him. And now Arcann’s joining the party too.

This is too many people, he needs to figure out a way to get them to leave or ask Theron to get back to him later, or-

“Found him. Old timer’s still a diplomat too. Here.”

He hears the holotable hum to life, sees the glow on Senya and Arcann’s faces.

It’s a miracle he isn’t shaking when he finally turns to look.

The holo is of an old man. Medium-length lekku tied back in a simple yet elegant style, and the fine clothes of a statesman. Pale green with blue spots and large black eyes weighted down with wrinkles. One of the spots hangs low over his right eye.

He doesn’t realize he’s walking until his hip bumps into the holotable. It startles him a bit. Has him leaning on the edge to keep from collapsing.

His father was alive.

“What is the status of his family?” His voice sounds strangled to his own ears, but he can’t find it in himself to care.

Theron’s watching him with mild alarm at this point, and in the back of his mind he can feel Senya and Arcann are in much the same state.

“Theron?”

“I… ah… yeah, it says he’s married to someone named Enra. Give me a second.”

Too late to stop it, his father’s image is replaced by an old woman.

The second the picture sinks in, his knees all but give out. Something cracks. Several somethings. There are sparks and shouts and alarm through the Force.

The old woman wears a visor like him. Near-black skin and light green stripes. Tall, with long lekku tied and coiled together into one trailing tail. Two of them hang free, the majority of their length missing. Amputated. Burn scars peak out from underneath her tresses, barely visible on the back of her neck.

Something else breaks.

All at once the image disappears and the holotable goes dark. It takes an embarrassingly long moment before he realizes that it’s because Theron turned it off.

When he finally looks up there’s smoke pouring from two of the smaller consoles and several datapads are shattered and spitting sparks. He can feel the static laying over his skin like a blanket of needles.

The other three wisely refrain from touching him.

“They have three kids, two living and one-”

Theron goes deathly pale.

“Deceased male, son of Gisan and Enra Syrral this…” he looks up at him like he’s seen a ghost.

Or is currently looking at one.

“This is you isn’t it? Anai Syrral.”

He flinches at the name. It’s ridiculous how much of a difference that last syllable makes.

“Yes.”

The whole command center reeks of surprise and worry and sadness, and if someone even considers touching him right now he’ll break their fingers.

“Commander… I...”

“You said there were three children. Not two?”

Theron mouth closes with a click and he spares him one last worried look before checking his datapad.

“… yeah, a son Velen and a daughter Keela.”

A… son?

And-

“Keela’s alright?”

Theron’s staring at the datapad like it’s going to bite him.

“What is it?”

His jaw is clenched when he looked back up.

“Guess the Force runs in the family. Your sister’s a jedi knight,” he says with strained humor, “She’s still alive. Looks like she’s in charge of a small enclave on Glee Anselm, something about recruiting from the seers.”

If he had any breath left to speak of, it would have been punched out of him.

A jedi knight?

The sensitivity wasn’t a surprise, what with Lord Kallig kicking around somewhere in their ancestry. Perhaps it isn’t even a surprise that she was powerful enough to become a fully fledged knight. But somehow he hadn’t anticipated that she would be a jedi.

“I don’t know this Velen. Show me.”

He feels movement to his left. Nearly flinches when Arcann’s voice rumbles softly next to him.

“Are you certain this is a good idea, Commander?”

The worry is rolling off him in waves but somehow it only makes Anai angry.

He’s FINE.

“Please, Theron.”

The holotable blinks back on and the image of a young man hovers above.

Long lekku, dark blue skin with light green spots and black eyes. He’s tall, like Anai, but still carries the lankiness of youth, not quite old enough to have filled out properly.

A… younger brother.

“And Keela.”

The image shrinks down a bit and moves to the side to allow a new one. The holo of a woman.

Medium length lekku, heavier build. Green skin with lighter stripes. A scar on her cheek from their first trip to the surface when she’d fallen and split it open on the rocks. There are more than just the one now. A few visible slices on her lekku and a deep one across her forehead. It makes her look like a battered akla shark.

He leans on the holotable again, uses it to keep himself from falling as the world threatens to spin.

His father and sister survived. His mother was free and back with them. Keela was a jedi knight. And somehow he had a new brother.

Spirits, he needs to sit down.

Senya only falters a little at the ‘cities built on their shells’ part, which was better than most. The brief look on her face makes him chuckle, even if it comes out weak and thready.e holos herself, giving his shoulder a squeeze on the way.

“Where are they now?” she asks.

“On Glee Anselm, best I can tell. On the... Delaan gampasa? Uh...”

“Giant turtles. Migratory. There are cities built on their shells,” he manages to explain around the knot in this throat, before pausing. “The Delaan travels north of the equator, I think it’s where we lived… before.”

Senya only faltersa little at the ‘cities built on their shells’ part, which was better than most. The brief look on her face makes him chuckle, even if it comes out weak and thready.

“So they haven’t moved, then?”

He shakes his head and fights the memories that threaten to surface.

“Space is limited on gampasa, especially older ones. If they still live on Delaan, then they’re in the same home.”

“I don’t want to pry but… is this really the first time you’ve looked them up?” Theron asks.

He’s tired, his head feels like it’s spinning, and there’s a migraine brewing behind his eyes, so he feels he should be forgiven for snapping.

“I was told they were dead and I had neither the opportunity nor the capability to check for myself. And by the time I DID I was a bit too busy to investigate claims from years ago!” he snarls. There’s sparks crawling down his lekku and he shuts his mouth with an audible click.

Don’t get angry with Theron, he’s done nothing wrong.

Deep breaths.

He doesn’t look at Theron when he lifts his head, just focuses on the controls of the holotable in front of him.

“I should go, this is… I need to think on this. Before I decide what should should be done about it.”

When he leaves he can feel their eyes upon his back and it only makes him grit his teeth harder.

This was either horrible or wonderful and he honestly can’t tell which. It’s like his mind has shut down completely and there are no thoughts beyond, ‘LEAVE’ in big Nar Shaddaa neon.

He withdraws back to his ship, to his room that smells like him and the dark that feels like heaven on his eyes when he removes his visor.

There’s a warbling chirp and a familiar weight drops on his shoulder as Kesra finds her perch and nibbles at the base of one of his lekku. Her presence helps set him at ease. If she’s calm, then there’s nothing to be afraid of.

He pets over her bald head and scratches at the wrinkles on her neck. She croons happily and leans into it, nearly overbalancing with a surprised squawk.

When he sits she flutters down onto the bed, tucks her wings, and lays against his hip, almost immediately falling asleep.

She must have been lonely after he left.

He knows the feeling.

[sheyshen]

Fictober Day 18

Prompt: “You don’t see it?” Fandom: Swtor (Star Wars the old Republic) Rating: T Pairing: Smuggler/Arcann/Theron Note: Takes place post Umbara but pre-Nathema so Theron is mentioned but not present.

-

It was already late when Arcann was heading to bed. It had been a long day and he was exhausted and was looking forward to just laying down and getting some sleep. If he was lucky kara would be waiting for him. The thought of the one he cared for laying in bed waiting to see him put a little more pep into his step.

She had been working nonstop since Theron had left, and everyone's been doing all they can to keep her head above the water. But it's been slow going, tracking Theron was a priority, but they still had a lot of difficulty with the uprisings, with choosing to back the Republic in the renewed war, with the gods, and even with those in their own ranks.

While nobody said anything to her about her choices, there were complaints, uncertainties. Former imperials concerned about being forced into the Republic or worse, Republic defectors who had no desire to return to their previous faction. She had made it clear that she wanted to keep the Alliance separate, that they weren’t joining the Republic but just supporting them at the moment, but there was no way she didn't have the same concerns. For all their drive for peace, the Republic didn’t tend to view neutral parties in a good light.

And with Zakuul still requiring aid after his mistakes on top of it all…

He stepped off the lift and into the war room. It was dark, the lights dimmed since it was well past midnight and only the night watch and a handful of people still wandered the halls. The war room itself was mainly lit by the terminals and a handful of datapads. Some appeared to have been used recently.

"Commander?" Arcann called. No reply, but he could sense her there. He walked around the terminal Theron frequented and found her sitting on the floor. He glanced around to make sure no one else was there before he kneeled by her side. "Kara?"

She glanced at him for a moment before turning her attention back to a datapad she was holding. "You're up late." She laughed quietly.

"As are you." He sat next to her, "what are you doing still working?"

She shrugged, "a lot left to go through, I don't know how he managed it on his own."

“He didn’t. He had you helping him.”

“I hardly sorted through all of this, and while Lana helped too, she had her own work she focused on most of the time.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She made a noise of frustration.

“Kara, look at me.” she turned her head, “Theron did so much because of you. Everyone in the alliance did. You being the commander gave them hope, gave them a reason to try harder to be better.”

She scoffed, shaking her head, “I appreciate that you seem to think that. But they only followed me because the Alliance was the only one doing anything, it didn’t matter who led.”

He watched her, brows furrowing, “you don’t see it?”

“See what exactly? That I still screw up no matter what I do, that people I care for turn on me?”

“Kara…” He paused, picking his words carefully, “If I had never met you I would still be a tyrant, would still be destroying everything and everyone who even looked at me the wrong way.”

She shook her head, “Senya would’ve gotten through to you.”

“No.” he admitted, “I was only able to hear her because of you. I hadn’t realized what I had become until you forced me to see it. I am what I am now because of you.”

She let out a heavy breath.

“I know you don’t notice it, but they might have all followed you because you happened to be the Commander, but they stayed because of what you did.” He reached over and pulled her to him, getting her to lean on her, he was unsure if this was something he should be doing at first, their relationship was still new, but he knew he needed to do something. “You are the one who’s inspired us. Inspired me, made me want to atone, to be someone mother, Thexan, and you would be proud of. Let me be someone outside of my father’s control. To…” He wanted to stay more, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to continue that thought.

Kara settled against him, leaning her head on his chest, and rested the datapad she had been holding on her lap. “Thank you.” She said it quietly, “I still don’t know if what I’m doing is right, but…” She paused, “I won’t give up on Theron.”

“Good.” He gripped her shoulder, “I will help as best I can, and I know Lana will as well.”

“She’s still ready to kill him if she sees him.”

“But she won’t because she knows you still care about him.”

Kara hummed, settling in more, and started poking at the datapad on her lap.

Arcann took it from her, shifting his weight so she stopped leaning on him. She cocked an eyebrow at the sudden change. He stood, placing the datapad on the terminal before reaching for her, “you shouldn’t sleep here.” She took his hand and he helped her to her feet. She made a reach for the datapad but he steered her away.

She grumbled, but let him lead her down the hall to their quarters. “I don’t need to sleep.” She muffled a yawn, turning from him to try and cover it up.

“I will help with the remaining data in the morning.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the attempt to hide how tired she was, “But for now, we both need our rest.”

“I suppose a nap wouldn’t hurt.”

He hit the lock on the door and walked into their room. It’d been a long day for both of them, and they deserved the break. He’ll send a message to Lana to ask for her to push Kara’s morning meetings back, he was sure it might cause the sith to ask questions he wasn’t ready to deal with but if it got Kara to take some time to relax it was worth it. Besides the work would still be there in the morning.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR critical: On Quinn and forgiveness

(spoilers for Sith Warrior story, KOTET, Nathema, Iokath and Ossus) I've been thinking about objections to different characters and I've realized something: my big objection to Quinn in SWTOR is not what he does, but how it is handled.

Disclaimer, of course: I don't like Quinn in any way - not his voice, not his looks, not the way he treats others, not his personality. That's my personal opinion and in no way, shape or form has anything to do with how another person sees or SHOULD see Quinn. This will not be a Quinn hatefest post.

Quinn follows a pattern in SWTOR that forgiveness AND befriending/being forced to work closely with past enemies or betrayers are expected as the "light side" options. It's like Arcann. I do not like Arcann and in fact find him very triggery, but do not have an issue with the game giving Arcann a chance to change his ways. I do have a problem that the only way to do that is to take Arcann and his mom into the Alliance and let them replace your trusted advisors and friends in the final chapters of KOTET. Also that Vaylin didn't get the same shot, but that's an argument for another day.

Quinn's betrayal really should not be a surprise. It's set up from Korriban. We learn very early on that Darth Baras has eyes and ears everywhere. He has covert agents all across the galaxy and they've infiltrated a lot of very powerful places. Tremel is supposed to be keeping the Sith Warrior a secret, but when the Beast of Marka Ragnos goes down, Baras not only knows just where to look, but he knows everything you've been up to. As you go through the game you meet lots of other Baras operatives.

Quinn is introduced to you as a Baras operative/contact, in fact. You're told that he owes a debt to the Darth (oh no, that could be a song title. "Debt to the Darth." LOL). He actually excuses himself to speak privately with Baras via holo. There's no reason to believe that he's not still allied with Baras after he begins working for you.

You're also shown, early on, that Baras has no reservations about terminating his agents when they cease to be useful or become too much of a threat. You know this because you're tasked with taking some of those agents and operatives out. It's how it works with Baras: he uses people as long as he can, he gets rid of them when he's done, and he doesn't seem to care much about whether the agent who is sent to dispose of the unwanted person dies along with them.

Nothing you can do in the Sith Warrior story stops Quinn from rising against you. You can get "Quinn approves" points in every conversation from the end of Balmorra to Corellia or romance him, and he'll still try to kill you. There's no great moral outrage on his part. He got an order from Baras and he's doing his job. The author left it very open to interpretation on Quinn's feelings about that job, but he still does it. So it's not a shock. It's the standard cycle we see with Baras's agents. In the Sith Warrior story you can also show regret about killing off an agent you’ve been sent to terminate, but it’s still done. 

What is frustrating is that after the Quinncident, there's only one way for a Sith Warrior to handle it, in the end: you let him return to your crew.  There are a lot of ways to headcanon the Sith Warrior's response. Maybe she truly forgives him. Maybe she is pragmatic and realizes that Quinn's skills and knowledge are useful to her at that time. But it's also reasonable to believe that after Quinn has orchestrated an assassination attempt complete with custom programmed battle droids, the Warrior might not want him back on the ship.

I'm told that in the beta game, there was a kill option after the Quinncident. It was removed because at that time, the companions had static combat roles and Quinn was the Warrior's only healer. I'm not sure why they could not have assigned the healer role to another companion, such as Jaesa, to avoid the conflict.

I'm also not sure why the story could not have accommodated it. We all know that in recent years, kill options for companions have meant that they are functionally dead for everyone. They're usually not seen again in the main story. If they're lucky they get a tiny cut scene every now and then, but not usually. In the class stories, however, the writers did successfully juggle a lot of different branches to the story. The Imperial Agent story has so many possible permutations that I've lost count. LS and DS Jaesa have entirely different conversation and personal story arcs, as well as different approve/disapprove parameters. In the Jedi Knight story, several different things can happen with Lord Praven and Bengel Morr that do affect the story. And after the Quinncident, there's very little of the class story left and Quinn has, I believe, two sentences in one cut scene, so it's especially confusing to me that they didn't accommodate this possibility.

They didn't learn when they brought him back on Iokath, either. There's no way to calmly tell Quinn "I don't want to work with you again." The only way to avoid working with him and welcoming him to your Alliance, provided you have remained Imperial, is to stab him in a totally unnecessary and gruesome scene. It’s one extreme or the other: you either take him back or you kill him.

Maybe Bioware has learned from this. I'd like to hope so. In the traitor arc, you can tell Theron Shan to leave the Alliance without coming across as a monster. The choice to leave him on Nathema is DS, as it should be, but once you are back on Odessen, it's a neutral decision to allow him to stay or not. The same is true with LS Jaesa, Doc and Nadia on Ossus; you can refuse to let them join the Alliance without killing them or being monstrous.

Forgiveness should not be mandatory; refusing to work in close contact with someone who has violated your trust should not be dark sided, and that's what frustrates me about Quinn in the class story.

[chubbyooo]

The Road to Redemption - A Blurred Lines Spinoff Chapter 5: Forgiveness

hey all this was a fun one to write :D

Senya awakes and has a confrontation with Kyradia as Kavaraa does her best to help Arcann and herself

Kyradia’s fist made a resounding crack as it impacted with Saresh’s face how dare she try to take what Kyradia built, she had every intention of killing her but she wanted her to rot in a cell first

Saresh reeled back “I’ll take that as a yes it doesn’t matter the alliance needs a leader like me” Kyradia sneered did she really want to get hit again “I saw an opportunity and I took it I won’t apologize” Kyradia couldn’t help herself smacking her again with the back of her hand

Lana scowled “we are way beyond apologies” she bent down continuing to scowl at the former chancellor

Theron folded his arms “what do we do with her” this whole experience had renewed Kyradia’s faith in him having them both be gunning for Saresh’s demise the entire time

Saresh scowled back “execution I expect, it’s what Vaylin would do it’s what I would do” Kyradia couldn’t help but smile at the simple idea

Kyradia walked up to Saresh “such a simple form of revenge Saresh you know a more drawn out revenge is always more satisfying you’re going to rot in a Alliance prison well before you die” Kyradia bent down and growled at the former chancellor “and I’ll be there every step of the way” she gave Saresh a swift kick to the stomach and let the guards take her away

Lana folded her arms “Empress Acina is waiting for your call in the war room” Kyradia nodded best get to it…

The call had gone fine it seemed as though they had some new allies Lana spoke up “finally we seem to not be alone in this war, Saresh has been transferred to the prison but while there it seemed as if Senya has woken up” Kyradia felt herself twitch as she heard the name, she’d put Arcann and the Basen’thor to the back of her mind to avoid boiling over

Kyradia clenched her fists “good, I think it’s about time I paid her a visit” Kyradia quickly strode towards the prison she wanted to let her know she’d failed

Soon they let her into the room where Senya sat in the corner quietly humming, after a second she looked up “ah is it time for your revenge then?” she was surprisingly calm considering Kyradia had nearly killed her last time

Kyradia seethed “I just came here to tell you that you failed” Senya nodded still calm this wasn’t what Kyradia was expecting at all

She sighed “maybe you’re right only time will tell but I sense a change in him” Kyradia felt her repressed anger boiling up

Kyradia walked up to her “your faith will betray you, you've only created another problem for the alliance I hope you’re proud” Senya frowned at her finally giving a reaction

Senya stood up “of course I’m proud Kyradia I tried to save my son I know it wasn’t the most ‘strategic move’ but I’m not going to apologize for having a heart even if it kills me” Kyradia gritted her teeth she knew she couldn’t kill her yet not while Arcann still lived

Kyradia growled at her “people don’t change Senya! You can’t make some great gesture and suddenly they’re all better even if he believes he’s ‘getting better’ he will fall back down we all do sooner or later and return to his old ways” Senya gave no sign of emotion as she listened to Kyradia

She sighed “are you really so disillusioned with the world Kyradia, I suppose you wouldn’t understand change every choice in your life has been made for you” Kyradia felt her twinge of anger boil over as she pushed Senya up against the wall

She shouted “how dare you! I took control of my destiny a long time ago I’ve earned everything I got and no one can take that away from me” Senya shook her head as she struggled

She sighed “no don’t you see Kyradia it’s all just part of Valkorions plan, I know you went through his sith academy you are who you are because of him” Kyradia had heard the same words from Valkorion for years

She threw Senya across the room “you don’t know a THING about me you don’t know how I’ve suffered or what it’s like to be me and you certainly don’t understand what I’m willing to do to stop him” she bore down on Senya her anger in full force

Senya looked a little more frightened now “I do know that someone hurt you, it was bad and you’ve never gotten over it” Kyradia stopped some of her anger melting away “I knew it from when I first saw you, you have the same look Vaylin has someone took you and twisted you and that part of you is begging to get out behind all the anger” Kyradia felt herself begin to breath heavily how could she know?

She was frozen for a few seconds before she lifted Senya up the anger returning “you want to know the difference between me and Vaylin I didn’t let it rule me” Senya just shook her head causing Kyradia’s anger to spike “and I don’t have any foolish people trying to save what can’t be saved!” Senya’s frown turned angrier 

She shook her head “you would understand if you had children” Kyradia gritted her teeth a headache beginning to brew from that comment

She closed her eyes for a second “then I guess I’ll never understand traitor” she stormed out of the room before Senya could get another word in, how could she have let Senya get to her like that and why did she see through her. Kyradia took a shaky breath before heading back to the war room her anger renewed, she was going to end this war soon…

Kavaraa was watching as Arcann tried to calm a Blerg, it had been a week or so since they arrived at Master Syo’s ranch and things were progressing slowly Arcann was getting easily frustrated but keeping at it. Arcann was trying to get onto the Blerg when it suddenly lost its calm sensibility and bucked him off towards Kavaraa, he landed in the mud next to her and she helped him up.

Kavaraa smiled “hey buddy rough ride?” Arcann was not amused as she helped him up wiping the mud off his face

Arcann sighed “I don’t understand what this has to do with anything!” he was clearly frustrated but still willing to try

Master Syo made his way over “it’s as I said Arcann to calm and animal you yourself must be perfectly calm you musn’t let your grief or regret break that, did it break through?” Kavaraa had actually learnt this lesson from Master Syo when she was training however it was less about grief and more about controlling excitement. Master Yuon and Master Syo had worked together frequently to control Kavaraa’s excitement and rather extreme emotions to teach her to control them but also not lose them.

Arcann reluctantly nodded “yes I did have a moment you’re right but the problem is I’m getting in my own head about it, telling myself not to think about it make me think about it” Master Syo nodded clearly understanding Arcann’s plight

Master Syo smiled “yes once you start thinking that you’ve already lost just try to think of nothing or, something that calms you” he puts a hand on Arcanns shoulder “do you have a moment like that

Arcann nodded “I’m playing with training sticks in the field with… Thexan” he took a long pause

Kavaraa stepped in “Ok maybe not the best example think of something a little less implicating” Arcann nodded trying to think of something else

Master Syo nodded “let’s take a five minute break so you can center yourself” Arcann nodded as Master Syo walked back to the ranch

Kavaraa reassured him “you know this stuff isn’t easy I think you’re doing really well so far” Arcann smiled nodding to himself

Arcann sighed “I know I’m just a little impatient while we’re here Vaylin is out doing the force knows what, I get I need to take the time otherwise the whole process is pointless but it’s just hard at times” Kavaraa nodded she was a little worried too she hadn't heard from Theron in a little bit

Kavaraa smiled “it’s bound to be Arcann but it’s about getting back up when we fall off the Blerg right?” Arcann nodded the metaphor wasn’t perfect but Kavaraa was doing her best

Arcann looked away “thank you Kavaraa I appreciate all you’ve done for me, I’m going to go to the workshop to calm myself” Kavaraa nodded she noticed he’d been spending a lot of time in there

Kavaraa decided to take a walk behind the ranch to the caves, she needed to find her own center, the more time she stayed here the more worried she became about her actions. She had no idea if Nox would ever allow her back into the alliance let alone Arcann and she worried for Senya every day she was incarcerated. But there was really nothing she could do, she was sticking by her code and she could at least be proud of that even if it was getting her into trouble, still it had gotten Theron into trouble. She didn’t know what she’d do if anything happened to Theron she had to tell him how she felt soon before it was too late. 

She made her way into the cave illuminated with black and white crystals giving off all manner of glowing colours but in the center of the cave she noticed a blue figure. 

As she got closer she recognised the form of her first master Yuon Par she gasped “M-master Yuon how are you here I mean I’ve only read about such things in holocrons but to actually see it I mean amazing” Master Yuon looked as surprised as her

She let out a laugh “Hello Vary I wasn’t expecting you to come and see me” wow she had not heard that nickname in years

Kavaraa was bewildered “I uh wasn’t either what are you doing here?” she hadn’t seen Master Yuon since the brothers attacked she shivered realising what this looked like

Master Yuon smiled “Syo finds it hard to be all alone so sometimes I visit him to help him” Kavaraa sat down next to her not exactly sure what to do

Kavaraa had a million things to say but she had to say something first “I’m so sorry Master Yuon, I uh I let you down” Master Yuon frowned at her as Kavaraa didn't make eye contact

She responded “whatever do you mean Vary what do you have to be sorry for?” Kavaraa didn’t even know how to say it and now she was helping one of the brothers who attacked Tython

Kavaraa swallowed “I wasn’t there on Tython when you were… killed I should’ve been there I was too busy on my stupid quest for artefacts and catching Nox” Master Yuon shook her head as Kavaraa shrunk down

She scoffed “and what you think you could’ve saved me from 30ft worth of rubble” Kavaraa remembered when she had uncovered the body she’d cried for a good hour and then again at the funeral

Kavaraa felt her eyes well up “I dunno maybe I could’ve helped I just I should’ve been there I let you down” Master Yuon turned to her a bright smile on her face

She put a hand on Kavaraa’s face although she couldn’t feel it “Now Vary you could never let me down you exceeded my greatest expectations and I’m so proud of you” Kavaraa smiled but she still felt bad “and besides we all had a role to play in that war I’ve played mine so you can play yours and it seems like you have your hands full” Kavaraa felt tears begin to stream down her face why was she so easy to make cry?

She wiped her eyes “I uh yeah I do, you don’t mind I’m helping Arcann then even after the attack?” Master Yuon shook her head

Master Yuon smiled “don’t be silly Vary I don’t hold a grudge how could I, I just want to make sure you’re ok”

Kavaraa tried to keep her cool “I uh I feel like I messed it all up, I feel like I’m betraying everyone by doing this” she tried her best to wipe her eyes again

Master Yuon comforted her “hey hey come on Kavaraa you’re doing it because you know it’s the right thing to do and if I know anything about you it’s that you’re stubborn” Kavaraa chuckled wiping the last of her tears away “do you remember what you said to me on the first trip to the to Tython” Kavaraa shook her head that was so long ago

Master Yuon smiled “you insisted on being my co-pilot in case anything went wrong” Kavaraa laughed had she really done that “you didn’t even know how to fly” Kavaraa smiled that had cheered her up. “Point is I learned a long time ago if you want to do something you’re going to and you usually will be doing it for the right reasons” Kavaraa nodded she guessed that was true

Kavaraa smiled “thanks Master I really needed that” Master Yuon smiled back clearly happy to help

She chuckled “I think the force did this on purpose” Kavaraa laughed she hoped so “hey where's your lightsaber?” Kavaraa was surprised by the question 

Kavaraa stammered “oh well I uh well when I went to save Nox I was captured and Vaylin took it, I kinda don’t have one since i’m not really a Jedi at the moment” Master Yuon frowned at her

She questioned “just because you don’t follow the code to the letter doesn’t mean you’re not a Jedi it just means you’re one of the good ones” Kavaraa laughed Yuon had never been very traditional “either way I think I’d feel safer for you if you had one” Kavaraa nodded 

She frowned “but how can I build one I don’t exact…” she trailed off looking around the room “oh right the crystals” Master Yuon laughed 

She nodded “choose one, I think Syo has some parts in his workshop” Kavaraa nodded looking around the cave, she decided to choose through the force she closed her eyes and reached out. She could feel the difference between them but after a minute or so she found one that resonated with her and used the force to pull it out of the ground, when she opened her eyes she saw a black crystal with a distinct pink glow.

She was surprised by the colour “oh wow I’m not sure this gives the right message” she didn’t know what that message was

Master Yuon shook her head “I think it does it says you’re more level headed but don’t forget about your emotions” Kavaraa guessed that made sense, she held the crystal in her hand yeah maybe this would work

Kavaraa smiled at her master “thanks Master Yuon, for everything” Yuon nodded before her form dissipated leaving Kavaraa feeling newly invigorated and ready to help Arcann...

[revan-escence]

5 years

In which Darth Nox writes to Darth Marr, after being released from carbonite.

[First time writing fic, so feedback appreciated!]

******

From: Darth Nox

Subject: Awaiting Response

 Dark Lord,

 I survived, despite the odds. Is there a chance that you have, also? Arcann kept me in carbonite in his trophy room for all of these years, so I still hold on to the thought that perhaps you have shared my fate. Lana Beniko was the one who orchestrated my rescue- and whilst successful, we are not in any position to return to the city centre and attempt a second rescue for you. In truth, I have not yet entertained the idea to Lana as of yet- we need time to recuperate.

 Either way, we have much to talk about the next time we meet, and I wait.

 Darth Nox

 ***

  From: Darth Nox

Subject: Valkorian

 Dark Lord,

 Everyone seems so determined to believe that you are dead, I feel as if I am the only person who can see.

 When Valkorian struck you down, he struck Arcann after with the same power. As I fell after having cut down the Emperor, I saw Arcann stand, in pain, but stand nonetheless, from where he was downed. Arcann is nothing to you, so of course, you must have survived. After all, I did, and I cannot be alone.

 I wrote that before realising the implications and the truth of it.

 Perhaps it is better that Valkorian chose me as a vessel rather than you. His body may have been destroyed, but his spirit has not, and it torments me with visions and ghosts in the likeness of our citizens, of Thanaton and Zash, that I must cut down lest my mind be destroyed. I will admit that it is not the first time I had experienced such- I have dealt with vengeful spirits in my head before, and I had left the ordeal stronger. Valkorian plagues me with these images, and he torments me with one I had not experienced before: now he delights with spirits done in the likeness of you, and feeds off the pain that it causes when I have to cut my way forward. I feel as if I should apologise for all the times I have had to do this, even though I know they weren’t really you. I’m not sure if it matters, anyway, if you are really in carbonite, then you would not be able to read these until you awake.

 Nevertheless, I will still write.

 Darth Nox

  ***

  From: Darth Nox

Subject: Insomnia

 Dark Lord,

 Valkorian has grown persistent in making me fight your shadows ever since I wrote to you last. I forget that he has access to my thoughts and memories while we share a mind, and I detest him for it. I am determined to stop these, and since I am only targeted when I sleep so far, I have opted to use the Force to provide me with the rest that I need, and to not sleep at all.

 I cannot vouch for what the aftereffects would be, but I never wanted to fight you, or your likeness.

 Darth Nox

  ***

  From: Darth Nox

Subject: Companionship

 Dark Lord,

 Asylum seems to be a merge of Rishi and Belsavis; I cannot quite place my finger as on why on the latter. My chosen companion as of late are always Senya or HK-55- Theron and Lana are constantly hiding and revealing secrets and reservations about the other’s chosen company or choices, and I grow quite tired of their constant bickering. Senya, on one hand, at least knows how to deal with children, and HK-55 offers amusing comments and an unbridled enthusiasm for murder that I can appreciate.

 I only write this so that you know that your temporary retirement from action has led to my constant headache.

 Perhaps you are not frozen in carbonite as I previously thought, and in fact you are isolated on a distant planet, regaining strength or forces, and my messages are a source of amusement as you hear updates on the clashes between my followers. Perhaps you cannot reply because you cannot risk Valkorian knowing. Either way, I can wait. I can be patient when I need to be, and circumstances call for me to be such.

 All you need to do is send the word.

  ***

  From: Darth Nox

Subject: Please

 Darth Marr,

 Send me something so I know that you’re alive, a messenger from your gathered forces, or a dream. I will risk my nightmares even if that means you would have a chance to reach out to me. I need you back.

  ***

 From: Darth Nox

Subject: Apologies.

 Forgive me for my last message and lack of professionalism. It was born from panic after being under attack by Arcann. Do not risk your position because of what I wrote.

 Darth Nox

  ***

 From: Darth Nox

Subject: Fate

 Dark Lord,

 The main reason why I have broken my streak of silence is because even Lana has begun talking about “Fate” and “Destiny” and what my role is in correlation to all of this, and I needed a reason to escape that harangue. I do not believe in such, I believe that my choices determine my future, not what something unseen wills.  

 To submit to the claims of Fate is to insult my past and the efforts and sacrifices I had to make to become a Dark Lord of the Sith. I did not earn my seat alongside yours through puppetry, and I am certain that you would agree with my sentiments.

 People still speak of your death freely, as if it happened an eternity ago- and perhaps that is true, to an extent. If I be honest, I had overwhelming respect for you, and I would have followed you to each and every battle, fought by your side and cut down anyone who considered you an enemy. You were the only person who treated me more than a means to an end, and I have questioned where my respect ended, and what followed after, and how far. Would it be too far to presume that there was love in there, somewhere? Everyone else had five years to mourn your passing, and they forget that I was not given any such luxury. I suppose that I must admit that this is as close of a confession that I miss your company- ever since I was woken up from carbonite, I had not been given any number of days to sit by myself and grieve over the events of that day and what followed and what we have both lost. Perhaps that is why I make mistakes.

 I have made so many mistakes. But it’s fine, because I know you are alive.

 Darth Nox

  ***

  From: Darth Nox

Subject: Empress Acina

 Dark Lord,

 It seems that Darth Acina has promoted herself. I cannot say this bodes well- I recall that you said yourself that you had no desire to take Vitiate’s position when it was first offered, and that we both had work to do while the other Darths squabbled over who took the seat. Perhaps we were the only sensible ones who took our roles seriously.

 As the Darth Lord of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, I do believe that I had done rather excellently, even amassing my own collection of datacrons that were previously considered lost to us. Some of the knowledge may prove itself useful to you, when we are both able, I am willing to offer you the use of my own personal library. Sometimes the ancients hold secrets that prove incredibly useful in modern battles and strategies.

 I can also offer tea, should that sway your decision.

 Darth Nox

***

 From: Darth Nox

Subject: [NO SUBJECT]

 I saw you.

 On Odessan.

 For the first time I was free from Valkorian, I saw you, exactly the same as I’ve remembered you, and I had so much to say. I was ready to spill my guts in front of you, to show you my emotions, my thoughts that I’ve forbidden myself to dwell while I still had the Emperor in my head. I would have, if the Jedi wasn’t there. I bit my tongue and kept silent about the few messages I’ve sent you, and the thousands that I did not, the nights of desperation and wrestling between denial and wilful ignorance. You said nothing about my messages either, and I know you had never read one. How could you? You are one with the Force.

 There will be no more moments between us.

 When I returned to the base, I pretended that nothing was wrong, that I was still as stoic and emotionless that everyone imagined me to be, and continued the plans of assault. I cried alone, for hours, for the first time since I was a slave. Tonight, I will let myself sleep for the first time, and find out if Valkorian has any new nightmares to torment me with.

 I was an idiot for ever thinking there was hope.

  ***

 From: Darth Nox

Subject: It does not matter, you will never be able to read my messages

 Darth Marr,

 Despite my efforts, Fate won.

 I must prevail. I must overthrow Arcann. I must kill Vitiate. And I must take over the Eternal Throne to protect our Empire. Am I not allowed the luxury of a choice? At least an illusion of it? Is it fair that everyone else can revel in hope, in the knowledge that their freedom is secure, whilst I must sacrifice my own to become something that I am not?

 I was a slave, once. Did you know that? I was branded by my masters and sent to work in the mines. What is it that we were taught when we were all acolytes? Peace is a lie, there is only passion? Through passion, I gain strength? Through strength, I gain power? Through power, I gain victory? Through victory, my chains are broken?

The Force shall free me.

 The Force is a liar.

 It seems that all my life, I’ve lived nothing but an illusion. All I wanted, when I broke rocks and starved and was flayed until I bled, was to be free from the torment that I was subject to since I was born. I was given a choice after one punishment, and I took it, and I ended up on the brink of death for my punishment, before being sent to Korriban. Was that the will of the Force? Did the Force also decide that my master only planned on using me to extend her own life? Did the Force choose that Thanaton would try to kill me? I never asked for him to challenge me to a Kaggath, I would have been happy with a master without a mission to kill me, I would have been happy with the title of Lord Kallig. Despite what Ravage believed, I never intended to climb to the position of Darth, or be the head of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge (although I took the position, and took it seriously). All I wanted was to not be a slave, and to do with my freedom how I choose. But Fate has a hand, it seems, so I’ve been told multiple times, and I never truly broke from being a slave, whether to a Hutt or to the Empire, or to the Force, and I will never have my freedom again.

 I will never be me again.

 I will still keep fighting this fight, organising attacks, and follow through on the promises I made to no one. I will take the Throne, become the new Emperor, and be what everyone expects me to be, until I die, to which some progeny of mine would take over. A dull life, but Alderaan nobles have always lived similar lives, so why not me?

 My hate and strength keeps me going, and it warms everyone in my vicinity to prevail alongside, despite the odds. I will not deprive my companions of this, but when my own death comes, the galaxy will know the cold of a pyre extinguished, and maybe then they will take note of my presence. But even then they will just find someone who burnt as brightly as I did, to replace the coals I left behind.

 I don’t want the Throne. I’ve only wanted you back. But it seems Destiny chose otherwise.

 Darth Nox

[inquisitorhotpants]

snippet!

**

Finding clothing options for Arcann that are less distinct and less fraught with unhappy memories than his Zakuulan armor takes longer than Ca’ii expects - Sana-Rae has a surprising number of opinions about fashion - and she turns up in her quarters later than planned. She notes the undoubtedly cold dinner on the table with some dismay as she sets the bundle of assorted garments on the foot of her bed, her attention almost immediately sliding to the man asleep on her couch.

As usual, Arcann looks ready to spring awake at a moment's notice, fingers curled lightly around the hilt of his lightsaber and one foot touching the floor. He sleeps like this anytime he's in Ca'ii's room; she wouldn't be surprised to find out that it's also like that in his own quarters.

He’ll only sleep on the couch, even when she’s offered him the bed on the nights he shows up looking particularly drained; she hasn't asked why, though she's dying to know. Something about the way he demurs always stills the question before it can pass her lips.

She bustles around the room, making no effort to be quiet.

Ca'ii learned early on - the first night he dozed off watching some ridiculous show on the Holonet with her - not to awaken him from too close; at the touch of her hand on his shoulder, he'd startled awake and had her restrained in a headlock before she could gather her wits and before he'd even fully woken up. He'd apologized profusely; she'd laughed it off with a wave of her hand and then, seeing his continued consternation, had promised to be more careful in her endeavors to wake him.

"I shouldn't stay if this happens."

He'd stood, crossing the room with purpose, but Ca'ii had darted past him, blocking the door.

"It's fine." She'd laid a hand on his chest, and she shouldn't have done that, not with how his heart is hammering under her palm, racing like he's just been terrified out of his wits.

Not with how she wonders how this would feel if there wasn't cloth between her skin and his.

"I'm fine." She'd grinned. "I'm hardly a delicate Alderranian flower. I've been put through worse."

"Yes… by me." His eyes, which had remained downcast, conducting an intense study of the myriad scars on his hands and forearms, met hers. "I can't hurt you again. You're too -"

He'd stopped, shutting his mouth on what he wanted to say, and for the first time Ca'ii had really noticed how close they were.

"Please, Arcann," she'd said. "I'd like you to stay."

I'd like you to stay, I'd like you to wrap an arm around my waist, I'd like you to kiss me.

He'd held her gaze, and Ca'ii is still sure she wasn't imagining how the silence grew charged, is still sure that if she'd leaned forward and brushed her lips against his, he wouldn't have pushed her away.

“If you want to, that is,” she’d said.

"I do," he'd finally said, slowly. "Perhaps I shouldn't, but I want to."

"Then stay with me. After all, we're friends." Never did she think she'd hate the word friends but oh how she loathes it now, how it tastes like ash in her mouth, how she wants so much more but with everything he's dealing with she'd feel weird and manipulative pushing for something when he's vulnerable. "Friends can get through misunderstandings, right?"

He'd let her lead him back to the overstuffed, oversize couch, let her pull him back onto it, though he'd sat rigidly until she bumped a shoulder against him.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"No other shoe is gonna drop," she'd said, his look of shock a sure sign she'd correctly guessed why he was being so distant. "I'm serious. It's fine. I didn't know, though I should have been more perceptive." Indeed, knowing how he grew up and how he got where he was then and is now, this should have been easily avoided. "Now I do, and I won't put you in that situation again."

"We're good?"

"On my honor."

That single eyebrow arch that Ca'ii both hates and really likes in equal measure. "Your honor… as a smuggler."

"Which is worth far more than my honor as an upright member of the Republic, thank you very much."

"I suppose," he'd said, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh with her - because with Ca'ii he allows himself all the touch he seems to have been denied across the years - as they'd settled into the overstuffed couch, "that that will have to suffice."

[anchanted-one]

Eternal War. 20. Love in a Time of War

“So… Lord Commander Senya Tiral! You’re ‘Duty’?” Koth looked more than a little intimidated.

“Lieutenant Commander Vortena. Charmed.” Senya responded in a neutral voice.

“Senya here has been working with me since the bombardment of Koru Neimoidia,” Lana informed them. “Where a hundred and seventeen thousand innocents were killed as punishment for a large protest.”

“That was almost the year the war ended! She’s been with you that long?”

“Yes.” Senya answered. “Lana had already been searching for her husband for a year; even with a war going on. On top of everything else, I was seized by how romantic the idea was. Oh, on that subject Lana--”

“Yes I remember our bargain,” Lana said, blushing crimson.

“I get to write a song about your epic search for your lost love.” Senya said, in tones of deepest satisfaction. “You will provide me with the cliff-notes as soon as we reach Asylum.”

The whole room burst out laughing; Koth, the eight Knights of Zakuul and even TeeSeven.

“Indeed that does sound romantic!” Knight Wodar said. “May we see it when you’re done, Commander?”

“What? No!” Lana screamed at the same time Senya toothily grinned, “Oh Yes!” 

In response to Lana’s look of utmost horror, she arched an eyebrow. “What did you think this would turn out? Of course I’m going to sing my most epic love song for the whole galaxy to hear.”

Lana stood with her mouth open for a moment, then composed herself. She shrugged, appearing suddenly carefree. “Oh well, I did get Arro back, so totally worth it. The things I do for love!”

To which everyone laughed again. Everyone except Arro, who looked supremely happy and touched, lips moving wordlessly for a few seconds. 

“Come here, you!” He choked, pulling her into a tight bear hug, to which the Knights cheered.

So good to see everyone so happy!

*

“So you’re Arcann and Vaylin’s mother?”

“Yes. And Thexan’s too, of course.”

Arro looked around to find that he wasn’t the only one who was surprised; Koth and seven of the Zakuul Knights had looks of varying levels of stupefied. Only Lana and the eldest Knight, Comar were unsurprised. He had decided to tell them about Valkorion’s presence in his head. Lana, who had taken a stance of full disclosure among allies since Rishi, had been relieved by his decision. After his story, Senya had fired off a confession of her own.

“So you expect us to believe that you’d fight against your own children?” Koth glowered.

“I can’t deny my responsibility for what Vaylin and Arcann have become. I have to end their bloodshed.”

“But you… You were the Emperor’s consort!” Farya, one of the Knights who seemed to be as old as Lana, said. “Or were you the Lord Commander first?”

“I was Captain of His Honor Guard when He noticed me.” Senya said, eyes staring off into the distance. “I suppose I caught His attention by being unafraid to speak my mind. He was fascinating. Bold. Always completely certain of his next step. What we had wasn’t a child’s notion of romance. But we were happy!” She looked wistful, tears welled up in her eyes.

“Uh-huh.” Koth was looking even less certain. “So when are you going to convince us that you aren’t working for them?”

“Koth-!” Lana admonished.

“I’m serious! You say she was working with you almost from the start? Well she still hounded me and my crew for years! Hunted us like animals!”

“I had my orders,” Senya said smoothly. “I considered resigning earlier, but I had already given Lana my word. When I was told to capture deserters who had abandoned their posts, I had to make it look good.”

“Make it look good?” Koth said, looking less afraid and more angry with each word. “You almost killed several of us, before we managed to shake you off! Dozens of times!”

“Yet I didn’t. And believe me Vortena, if I was trying, most of your crew would have died in those first two encounters. Instead, I made you all realize the importance of keeping your head down.”

“This was before you and I even met,” Lana reminded him. “The two of you were hardly on the same side.”

“Indeed,” Senya affirmed. “The only reason I was so lenient was because I sympathized. What you did… sparing civilians, disobeying a direct order to do so. I admired that. But if it wasn’t me hunting you, it would be someone else. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill every last one of your command. I promise to earn your trust as we work together. May I continue?”

Koth mulled her words over in silence. He nodded.

“When Arcann and his twin Thexan were born, I loved them so deeply! But no matter what I did, they wanted nothing to do with me; and Valkorion wanted nothing to do with them. His mind was somewhere else. He didn’t speak to us for weeks at a time. And then Vaylin was born. She was troubled from the start.”

“She possesses such raw power…” Wodar said. “She must have manifested at quite a young age! Been difficult to manage.”

“Oh you have no idea!” Senya said. “She was powerful, but volatile! She made furniture move when she was still in the womb. Scrapped droids as a toddler. A guard dropped a ball she tossed and she crippled him. I begged Valkorion to help her, and to help his sons; but His solution was to lock her up and train her to obey like some animal.” The memories brought an expression of resurfacing old pain to her lined face.

“Vaylin showed me her scars,” Arro said softly. “What was done to her was monstrous…!”

Senya sniffed. “The rest of us he ignored outright. I couldn’t bear to see what was happening, so I gathered the children and tried to leave. The boys laughed, called me weak! Even as children they were more powerful than I was by far. I couldn’t force them to go! And Vaylin… in the few short days she was being tortured, she changed completely! When I tried to break her out of her prison, she looked at me… it was so cold. So hateful... So hurt. She would rather submit to her father’s minions than go anywhere with me for betraying her. So I left” Tears poured down Senya’s cheeks.

“Lord Commander,” Comar said. His companions looked shaken and Cana was clutching her head. “We didn’t know… did the Emperor really do that to His own blood?”

“Wasn’t His first time,” Arro assured them. Turning back to Senya he said “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you.”

Weeping silently, Senya took a moment to speak again. “It was better than staying there, helpless. I transferred to the Outer fringes of our Empire. Worked my way up on my own. Valkorion never spoke another word to me. Since then, I’ve only seen my children in broadcasts of public events. Like Thexan’s funeral. I doubt they even remember me. But I will always love them. And that is why I have to help now.”

Everyone around the table had expressions of varying horror and sorrow. Even Koth. One by one, they all nodded.

“I’m sorry, Senya,” Lana whispered. “I didn’t know it got that bad. If I did… I’m sorry. I wish I had been there for you, in these last five years.”

“Thank you, Lana,” Senya laughed shakily. “But I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. That changed after what Arro told us about Valkorion. Saying that even today, He still remembers me; still cares. Since I know better than most what he is, I can’t believe how happy that makes me.”

*

Lana was thankful that there were still so few of them on the ship; This meant that they could have their pick of the Officers quarters. She and Arro had of course jumped at the chance for whatever time alone they could get together before they reached Asylum. And she had waited five years to be with him again—their brief romantic date in the Eternal City had been far too fleeting. Soon she and Arro would have to return to saving a Galaxy apparently too helpless to trek on without them. But for now she wanted to spend time alone with her husband and damn the Universe if it tried to get in their way!

“Mmmhhhhh-!” Lana moaned as she shared a desperate kiss with Arro. He purred in her arms, as eager for her lips as she was his. Had it truly been five years? It had felt like an eternity! How many nights had sleep found her yearning for this feel? His fingers gently ran through her hair, traced her ear…

And at the psychic level, their minds had met, joined—almost fused into one single entity. They quite literally shared each others passion. Each kiss sent a wave of intense emotion surging through them both—echoing to and fro across their bond, amplifying until every moment was pure heaven.

Breaking off the kiss, Lana quickly hoisted off her robes as Arro did the same. She led him to their bed and as she lay down, Arro leaned in and kissed the hollow of her neck—where the nasty scar that normally hid behind her scarf was. The sensation of warmth brought another moan through her lips and her arms wrapped tightly across his head for the moments before he worked his way higher and their lips met again.

They made love twice before she collapsed on top of him, fully content for the first time in years. For the next ten minutes they just lay there panting, catching their breath in silence. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. “I love you so much!”

“I wish we could just stay here—forever and ever!” Lana remarked. She suddenly felt a little selfish. Surely, the Galaxy didn’t need them? Accomplished people though they both were, they were by no means unique. Others could rise to take their place in this fight. Hadn’t they given enough? They had both suffered, endured and vanquished powerful threats to the Galaxy. Surely they deserved a quiet retirement?

And it had survived for millennia before they were born, seen plenty of catastrophes and upheavals, and it was still here. And most of the worlds-shattering events that had probably seemed so pressing in their time were barely even remembered today. Why did they have to bother at all?

She firmly pushed aside her momentary frustration. If nothing else, she had given her word to people she valued. People like Theron, Koth, Senya, and Shara. For that reason alone she would give her all for their mad venture, just as she had promised.

“Once the Eternal Empire is overthrown I want to retire somewhere quiet, like we wanted to before Ziost.”

Arro was quiet for a moment. “I’m afraid we don’t have that choice, my Love. I have tried to ignore it before, but I have this feeling… Ours is an unending battle. This is our destiny. I’m sure you have felt it as well.”

Lana recoiled sharply. “Fuck that!” She felt a white-hot rage course through her blood. “We don’t owe anyone that much commitment! The Force is my servant—and yours—not the other way around!” She sat up in the bed, hands trembling and balled into fists.

Arro looked unsurprised by her vehemence. But still terribly desperate and sad. “The Galaxy has been at war for half a century now. People are tired, all worlds ravaged. Once we defeat Arcann, deal with the Eternal Fleet, there will be a power vacuum to fill. And that could escalate. We have to make certain that the Republic and Empire don’t just return to their own conflict.”

He sat up as well, looked her straight in the eye. “In the previous war we were soldiers, We had the luxury of looking only at the short run. But we are the leaders in a war now. Once we seize the throne, it will be our responsibility to fill the void. To foster peace, however brief.”

“No,” Lana implored. “Please! I can’t do this for much longer, Arro! Haven’t I told you? Even during the Revanite incident, when Darth Arkous—whom I deeply trusted—betrayed us… betrayed me… that alone was enough to make me yearn for quiet… And then we had to fight Revan, spent months tracking and thwarting his cult! After what I did to Theron I was on my last legs, and all I wanted was peace; to leave this life behind forever. Yavin was supposed to be the end, but then the Emperor came back, and Ziost happened and our wish kept getting postponed-!” she was on the verge of tears, breathing hard so as to not lose control. 

She looked back at him. “Please Arro… The only thing that has kept me going all this time is the hope that we can have our quiet little life. I can’t bear the thought of doing this forever!”

Arro was silent, and he also seemed deeply upset. Not with her, but with the strings of fate. He took her in his arms. “If that’s what you want, then so be it my Love,” she pulled back in disbelief and stared at him. “I mean it.” He assured her. “You are more important to me than the rest of the Galaxy combined. It can live on without us after all, right? I was ready to leave the Jedi and the Republic behind to be with you before. I will do so again, and won’t regret it one bit. After we lead our coalition to victory, I promise—”

“No!” Lana interrupted him. What had come over her? Was she truly so desperate for peace that she was willing to turn away not just herself but her husband as well from their path? 

Peace? Her? She was Sith! Peace is a Lie! Of course her life was going to revolve around conflict and power. And Arro’s too! Jedi though he was he understood the way of things.

“Forgive me, my husband,” She said, more clearly. “I suppose I was just feeling the weight of these last ten years. It has all been so much—!” She took deep, steadying breaths. “You will face your destiny, and I will always be at your side. After all, it’s not peace that I want—it’s you!”

“Are you sure about this Lana?” Arro looked at her uncertainly.

“Positive.” She affirmed. She meant it with every fiber of her soul. He gave her a smile. Terribly sad, but relieved as well. “Thank you so much, Lana.”

*

If you liked this, you can read the whole story on AO3

[queen-scribbles]

In Our Line of Work

For Valentine’s Day this year, have the Spy Nerds formal wear fic. Set between chapters 9 and 10 of KotFE, so shameless self indulgent established but brand new Jaaide/Theron coming right up :3

-----

Jaaide stared at the slowly rotating holo that hovered a foot or so above her head, as if by sheer persistence she could make it give her a solution. If we can’t figure out a way in, this whole thing is an exercise in futility.

“Anything?” Lana asked as she joined her, tone suggesting she knew the answer.

“No.” Jaaide huffed her bangs out of her eyes in frustration. “Why are gangsters so paranoid?”

Lana chuckled sympathetically and leaned against the holotable for a closer look. “Security’s that good?”

Jaaide nodded. “Better. I’d say this place is like a fortress, but I’ve actually infiltrated fortresses that weren’t this secure. Only way in is to be invited.”

Lana glanced at the scrolling text alongside the house layout. “And I suppose security’s only increased with the party?”

“You would be right,” Jaaide confirmed, resting her chin on her hands and studying the scrawl. “Three times the security, biotuned invitations, sec-chip locks on all the doors... Normally I would be adverse to befriending a crime lord, but in this case, it might help.”

“What if we went in as staff?” Lana suggested, lips pursed.

“No good,” Jaaide shook her head. “They finalized the staff a few days ago, have biometric and picture identification for all of the non-droids, and have strict orders not to hire any more without deep background checks.”

“Damn.” Lana frowned. “What about delivery-”

“All deliveries are to cease two days before the party, with doubled security sweeps for those two days,” Jaaide interrupted. “Already thought of that. Can’t we just wait until after the party and sneak in then?”

“Or we take advantage of the party and waltz right in the front door,” Theron interjected as he joined them, his tone just barely south of smug. “Got a contact who owed me a favor. Not ‘sneak people in’ big, but ‘swipe an invite’ sized.” He held out one hand to display the embossed flimsiplast sheet. “Looks like I even get a plus-one.”

Jaaide raised an eyebrow. “Was that your way of asking me on a date?”

Theron grinned. “Maybe. One problem, though: Zyklend’s got something of a grudge against Imperials, since the Empire cracked down on spice and slave smuggling in the wake of Arcann’s stranglehold on resources.”

“Well, then, I’ll just have to not sound like one, won’t I?” Jaaide retorted, the words clean of her typical Kaasian lilt. She smirked at the flicker of surprise he didn’t quite manage to hide. “Oh, come on, Theron, don’t tell me you never had to fake an accent in our line of work.”

“No, I have,” he muttered. “Doesn’t make it any less weird when you do it.”

“Good weird or bad weird?” she asked, still sounding like a model Republic citizen.

“Good, I think,” Theron said, still looking off-balance. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the invitation. “With that out of the way, on to the next potential snag: this data we’re after can only be downloaded from certain terminals in the house. Otherwise it’ll be complete gibberish that’ll take months to untangle.”

“Do we know which ones?” Jaaide asked, looking at the floor plan holo. “Half the rooms in this house have terminals.”

Theron shot her a narrowed-eye look as she seamlessly switched back to her normal voice mid-sentence. “Showoff. And no, we don’t. We know there’s one on the first floor and two on the second, but not which ones.”

“And we only get one shot,” Lana added, “because the data will be flagged and blocked if a download is attempted from the wrong terminal.”

“Lovely,” Jaaide sighed. “Well, then, if we’re intent on using this party for cover, we have a week to determine which terminals are authorized.” She looked up at Theron. “Any way your contact could help with that?”

He shrugged. “Getting me the invite made us even, so if I ask for more, I’ll be the one owing a favor, but it’s worth it, right?”

“Unless you think this contact will ask you to kill someone, yes, probably.” Jaaide tucked her hair behind her ear. “But it’s up to you.”

Theron rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a long, slow breath. “I’ll get in touch. You two keep planning, and hopefully we’ll get all the pieces in place so this actually works.” He squeezed Jaaide’s shoulder briefly and then headed off to use one of the base’s secure terminals.

“Well, Commander,” Lana said briskly, dragging Jaaide’s attention off the departing SIS agent and back to the holotable, “let’s get to work.”

Jaaide darted one last look toward Theron and then nodded. “Let’s.”

<><><>

The intervening week went better than Jaaide expected, as Lana was able to figure out the guard posting and scheduled rotations, and Theron’s contact got back to him with two days to spare.

Feeling far more prepared than she had in a long time--possibly ever--for this type of infiltration, Jaaide actually hummed to herself as she got dressed.

There was a knock on the door. “You ready?”

“Almost,” she replied, running her fingers through her hair. “You can come in; I could actually use your help.”

“Really?” There was a chuckle in Theron’s voice that cut off into a whistle when the door slid open.

“What?” Jaaide asked innocently, not turning round.

“I thought we were trying to blend in,” he said teasingly as he crossed the room.  “That’ll be hard to do when you’re the most beautiful woman there.”

“Theron...” Jaaide rolled her eyes as she turned to tease him for the line, only to find her train of thought quickly derailed. Oh. “You’re, ah, you’re one to talk.” She swallowed and barely resisted the urge to reach out and brush her fingers down the front of his formal jacket. “You clean up nice.”

“Stole my line,” Theron grinned, clearly enjoying her stunned state. “What did you need help with?”

“Oh, right. I can’t get it to stay fastened.” She turned and tapped the gold neck band of her halter top. “The hooks keep coming undone. Maybe you can manage...?”

“...Sure.” Theron’s voice was noticeably rougher around the lone word, and it was Jaaide’s turn to smirk.

Her eyes fluttered closed at the soft brush of his fingers against her back as he fumbled with the small hooks. Oh, stars. Focus, Jaaide. “Thank you,” she murmured when he finally succeeded, finding mere centimeters between them when she turned around.

He cleared his throat. “No.. no problem. Ready?”

Jaaide examined her reflection in the mirror one more time, tugged the bottom edge of her top so it covered just a sliver more midriff, and nodded. “Ready. Shall we?”

“You don’t have to drop the accent until we get there, you know,” Theron pointed out, resting his hand in the small of her back, as they made their way to the shuttle pad.

“Consider it getting into character,” she returned. “We are still going with plan A, correct?”

“Rheton and Arienna Shaide, yes. Arms dealers. You all brushed up on your black market weaponry, Arie?”

“Sure am, Rhet,” Jaaide said, shooting him an amused look. “Good job on the cover.”

Theron smirked and took the gentle ribbing in stride. “Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit. Lana helped. And that Mirialan slicer from Coruscant’s the one who did all the work planting the ID trail ‘case they check us out.”

“Well, hopefully the groundwork is all solid and things go smoothly so we don’t have to go to plan B,” she remarked as she ducked into the shuttle.

Theron was right behind her, joking, “Aw, but plan B’s fun,” as they strapped in.

“Maybe for you.” Jaaide watched his fingers twitch as the shuttle lifted off and wondered vaguely if it was weird for him to not be in the pilot’s seat. She reached over and slipped her hand in his, giving a gentle squeeze as she linked their fingers. “I’d much prefer everything go according to plan; mingle a little, dance and schmooze a little, steal some data, maybe make out on a balcony if there’s time.” She rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand. “I hear this moon has incredible views, would make a good backdrop.”

Theron grinned. “Sure would. Let’s get through what we’re going for first. Business before pleasure and all.”

Jaaide leaned in. “Agreed. Fortunately for us, Rhet and Arie do happen to be married. Which means things like this” --she kissed his cheek-- “Aren’t out of character.”

“That is lucky for us,” he murmured. “But like I said, business before pleasure.”

The two of them lapsed into silence for the rest of the trip. Both were too busy running over all the details and minutia of this heist and solutions for things that might go wrong.

<><><>

Getting in was the easy part. The invitation was genuine, after all, so there was nothing to raise enough suspicion for the guards to dig.The names matched the IDs of the people presenting it and that was all they cared about.

Now the fun part, Jaaide thought, only half sarcastic, and loosely linked her arm through Theron’s as they strolled toward the clusters of well-dressed criminals scattered through the main room of Zyklend’s villa. Schmoozing might not be her favorite part of this work, but at least she tolerated it better than Theron did.

“Did we put anything in Rhet’s history about him being grumpy and unsociable?” she murmured, practically feeling the reluctance rolling off him in waves.

“Grumpy, no. Unsociable, yes.” He flashed her a hard edged, in-character, smile. “You’re the social butterfly, Arie, dear.”

Fantastic. She’d be doing most of the talking, then. You owe me for this, Shan.  “Well, fine, then,” she said, putting an offended note in her voice as she slipped her arm free of his.  “Go stand in a corner for all I care. I’m going to track down a decent conversation and a drink.”

With a look of silent understanding, they went their separate ways.

<><><>

After about an hour of mingling and recon, Jaaide had to (reluctantly) hand it to Zyklend. The crime lord was even cannier than they’d anticipated.

At first glance, none of the villa’s locked rooms were anything special, even the ones with the high-clearance terminals. They all had sec-chip locks, of course. Zyklend wasn’t an idiot. But there were no visible security measures, no posted, intimidating guards in addition to the locks. What there was, however, were regular guards strolling by on supposedly casual rounds of the entire party. Benign as these loops appeared, they were timed so the rooms she and Theron needed were never unobserved for more than two minutes.

This was a problem; skilled a slicer as he was, Theron’s best time through one of these locks was two minutes and fifteen seconds. And any interruption would mean starting all over. With this... irritating development in mind, Jaaide went slipping through the crowd of financiers, arms dealers, information brokers, and a scattering of assassins. She needed to find Theron, discuss their options in light of this complication.

In keeping with his cover’s unsociable personality, she found him in an almost-empty vestibule, nursing a Johrian whiskey and keeping half an eye on the room’s other occupants.

“Rhet, darling, there you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Jaaide commented as she sidled up to him.

“Well, Arie, you found me,” Theron replied gruffly, more for the benefit of their meager audience than anything. “Any special reason?”

“Not beyond this,” she said coyly, one hand snaking around the back of his neck to pull him down into a kiss--the kind of kiss that made people roll their eyes and leave the room. Which was (mostly) the point. Jaaide broke the kiss only a second or two after they achieved privacy. “Mm, thought that would work.”

“That was just for them, huh?” He’d probably meant it to sound sarcastic, but the whisper came out far too rough for that.

“Well...” she curled her hands around the lapels of his jacket and quirked an eyebrow at him. “not just for them. If I have to save the rest of what this suit makes me want to do for when we get home, I at least need a taste.”

Theron smirked, a You, too, huh? look in his eyes. “Suddenly regretting that I hid so well...”

“You’re not the only one. Why couldn’t we have made you the charmer?” she muttered, borrowing his drink. Her small sip burned more than she remembered, and she wished in passing for a cometduster.

He snorted and brushed a kiss against her temple as he reclaimed the drink.  “Because there’s only so far we can stretch the truth. So why were you really looking for me?”

Jaaide rolled her eyes and almost called him on the blatant hogwash. But they had a job, that came first. She could convince him how charming he was later. For now, she filled him in on their new problems.

“Hmph,” Theron grunted when she finished. “Surprised we didn’t account for that. Wasn’t it with the rest of the info?”

“No,” Jaaide huffed. “I spent so long poring over that I memorized it. External patrols were included, but not internal. Which means it was either separate records or added later, neither of which bodes well.”

Theron raised an eyebrow and set his drink on a nearby end table. “You think Zyklend knows there’s a leak?”

“I dunno about knows,” Jaaide shrugged. “But suspects? Maybe.”

“Great,” he said dryly. “So. Options.... either we go out through a less guarded room, get up or down depending on the level, and come in through the terminal room window-”

“Way too many ways for that to go wrong,” Jaaide shot him down. “I know crazy plans are your thing, but there are sensors on all the windows, and me climbing in this skirt would be tricky, to put it lightly.”

“Well, then,” Theron smirked, “moving on to plan C, you get to distract a guard for twenty seconds or so, so I can slice the lock and get inside without getting caught.”

“You don’t think that will raise suspicion? It’s the oldest trick in the book.” She crossed her arms and shot him a skeptical look.

He grinned. “Just means you’ll have to get extra creative, huh? Surely you’ve done this sort of thing before, in our line of work.”

“Actually, I’m usually the one taking advantage of the distraction, not causing it,” Jaaide retorted.

“Well, then, you get to shake things up a little. Unless you wanna go back to window alarms and you climbing in an ankle length skirt.”

“Those are only the top two objections,” Jaaide clarified, settling her weight on one leg in a not-very-subtle move to exhibit the thigh high slit in said skirt.  “There’s also the exterior lights and patrols and camera drones....”

“I get the picture,” Theron said dryly. “So we’re sticking with you distracting the guards?”

She sighed and played with one of her earrings. “Given that the only other viable choice is getting ourselves hauled to the security office and incapacitating them long enough to use their terminal and get away.... I guess we are. You realize with how paranoid Zyklend is, the guards likely have a trained response for anyone employing typical distraction methods?”

“Yeah.” He leaned in for another passionate kiss as a passing figure paused briefly in the doorway, one hand shooing away their potential company as the other dug into Jaaide’s hair. This room’s taken, thanks. Move along.

Jaaide needed a second to regain her composure when they parted(Theron grinning because he could tell wasn’t helping). She used to be better at this; her time in carbonite had made her rusty. Sure. Blame it on that. Not the lingering whiskey-tinged kiss. Or your incredibly attractive boyfriend in a suit. “And... And if part of that trained response is ‘hosting’ me in the security office while they clear things up?” she finally murmured.

Theron gave a rough chuckle(good; she wasn’t the only one collecting scattered thoughts). “Play your part, Arie, and hope to the stars our Mirialan friend did hers well.”

A rodian and a Shistavanen, both looking cagey, stepped into the room just then, so Jaaide adopted the expression of a woman who just heard something she did not want to hear, shot Theron a subtle apologetic smile, and slapped him across the face before pivoting and storming from the room in a pretended huff, taking his drink with her. The apparently bruised dignity would give him an excuse for a hasty exit, and borrowing the half-drunk whiskey would give her a prop for this distraction. She didn’t slow her pace until she was halfway down the hall, sticking with the affronted wife bit long enough for Theron to head off in the opposite direction. They needed to time this perfectly, so Jaaide didn’t raise suspicion but Theron didn’t get caught.

Contrary to instinct, the terminal on the first floor was their best shot. While it wasn’t as secluded as the upstairs terminals, the door was hardly in plain view, and most of the mingling or dancing guests were preoccupied with their own dealings or enjoyments in other rooms. And since most of said guests were on the first floor, their presence alone wouldn’t raise any red flags. At least, not as quickly. A risk, yes, but one that was common in their line of work. It would pay off. She hoped. They’d been too paranoid about potential security measures to bring any kind of comms, and it had been years since they worked together, so this would be all instinct and blind faith.

Jaaide strolled down the hallway toward a room that would give a good view of the door without being obvious what she was doing. She’d barely settled in to her position when a guard walked by. She flicked an idle glance toward the door, but there was no sign of Theron. He must be getting a feel for their rotation. Smart. But if he delayed too long, she was going to finish the whiskey, lessening its effectiveness as a prop. Unless she wanted to bash the guard over the head, but that was truly a last resort. 

Just as she was starting to get edgy--a social butterfly like Arienna Shaaide wouldn’t just people watch this long--she saw him. They locked eyes briefly as Theron paused by the door before he turned his full attention to his task. Jaaide started a mental countdown. Split. Second. Timing. The next guard would be coming the other way, so she had to leave the room, cover maybe three feet of hallway, and round a corner at just the right moment to almost (but not quite) bump the guard. And then hold them up twenty seconds.

She reached her cue and pushed away from the wall, sloshing the drink over her hand in the process. Brisk but uncoordinated steps carried her toward her goal as Jaaide dug up long disused but still ingrained lessons on acting tipsy.

Her timing was perfect. Jaaide stumbled around the corner, the heel of one shoe catching the hem of her skirt in an unintentional boost to her performance just in time to narrowly avoid running into the tall, muscular woman coming the other way.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she babbled as half the remaining whiskey slopped out of the glass and over the guard’s sleeve. She put the faintest slur on her words as she continued, “I borrowed m’husband’s drink, y’see, but he likes stronger stuff’n I do, an’ I need some air.” She braced one hand against the wall as if to steady herself and gestured down the corridor with the nearly-empty tumbler. “There’za balcony this way, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard said, with the strained patience of one who had dealt with many trying individuals in the span of a few hours. “All the way at the end, short flight of stairs up.”

“Thank you,” Jaaide said, with far more emphasis on the first word than was necessary, pushing away from the wall to give an exaggerated wave as she tottered on toward the double doors.

Behind her, the guard snorted--and probably shook her head--before continuing with her patrol. Jaaide wondered how many other encounters the woman had had over the past few hours. It didn’t really matter, so long as it had inclined her toward dismissiveness rather than suspicion.

Even if she wasn’t actually tipsy, the fresh air on the balcony was a relief after so long surrounded by various perfumes, booze breath, body musks, and cigarra smokers. Jaaide took a deep breath and rocked the tumbler in a slow circle, watching the small remaining portion of whiskey tilt and level with each new angle. Theron had the tricky part, all she could do now was wait. Fortunately, she was very good at that. She looked up at the sky and had to admit the intel had been spot on--the view was spectacular. Thousands of stars sprinkled the sky like spilled glitter and several other nearby moon were visible among them; purplish-blue or red or white... It was breathtaking, and she was suddenly impatient for Theron to join her. The view would be much more enjoyable with his company. Now that they had everything sorted out and crystal-clear between them. 

Jaaide  scanned the sky, idly connecting the constellations she recognized. It started as a halfhearted way to pass the time, but she got so caught up in the game of it she almost--almost--flinched when a familiar lanky figure joined her via climbing over the railing rather than using the door.

“Don’t do that!” she admonished with a sharp huff, scowling at him as she unclenched her free hand from its instinctive fist.

Theron chuckled. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Jaaide rolled her eyes. “Why were you scaling the wall? Did’t we nix plan B for a host of reasons?”

“Yeah, but I hit a snag and lost my time count dealing with it. Didn’t wanna walk out the door just in time to get nabbed by a guard. Especially since you did such a great job covering my entrance.” He grinned. “Thirty whole seconds. You’ll have to be the distraction more often.”

“Heh,” she scoffed. “You already owe me for being the social one, don’t go digging it deeper. Are we green?”

“As an envious rodian,” Theron confirmed. He meaningfully adjusted his sleeves, touch lingering on the glossy cufflink through one. “Everything went fine.”

Jaaide left the drink tumbler on the rail and joined him, slipping under his arm for a hug. “So, now that we’re done working, do we get to play a little, darling?” she teased, the endearment only half to maintain their cover in case anyone was listening.

“Something like that,” Theron shrugged. He rubbed her arm and kissed her forehead. “After all, might raise eyebrows if we leave too early, sweetheart.”

“So a dance or two isn’t out of the question...”

He laughed. “We can if you want. But first, I think someone mentioned the views from here being incredible.”

Jaaide hummed a quiet laugh of agreement, and they spent several minutes enjoying  the sparkling panorama(and, as Jaaide had hoped, making out with it as a backdrop). It wasn’t until several other guests drifted out onto the balcony and ruined their privacy that they headed back inside. Jaaide rescued the tumbler from the railing to carry with them.

“I owe you a drink, by the way,” she commented, holding it up. “This one wound up decorating the sleeve of a rather disgruntled guard.”

Theron wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her toward the ballroom.  “You can buy me one for our next date.”

Jaaide left the tumbler on the drink tray of a passing server droid “Deal.”

“Oh, so you still want a next date after I went and used plan B without you?” Theron teased as they joined the flow of already-dancing couples.

“It happens in our line of work,” she shrugged, twisting slightly so his hand was more centered in the small of her back. She tipped her head back to smirk at him. “Besides, you’re the one who was hoping to use that one. I’m sure I’ll survive not having to scale a wall in this skirt. How long do you think before Lana starts to worry about us?”

“Oh, another hour or so...” he said playfully as the music shifted, tempo slowing. The two of them simultaneously moved closer in response.

“Theron.” Jaaide laughed into his jacket. She didn’t want to waste an evening of having him to herself, especially dressed like that, but they both knew Lana was fully aware of how long this should take.

“She was probably compiling lists of reasons to worry before we even left, knowing her,” Theron said, resting his cheek against her hair. “Like I said, though, we don’t want to leave too early. Might make people think something suspicious is going on.”

“Oh, of course, that’s our only reason,” Jaaide deadpanned, snuggling closer.

“Of course.” He didn’t seem in any hurry for this dance to end. “That’s how it is in our line of work. Definitely not me wanting to, uh, enjoy the view a little longer.”

“Perish the thought,” Jaaide smirked. Nice to know they were on the same frequency there.”View’s not too shabby from where I’m standing, either....”

Theron grinned. “I try.” His thumb rubbed her back below the edge of her top and Jaaide bit her lip as a shiver curled up her spine.

“Mm, well, it’s definitely a successful attempt,” she murmured. “I say we take our sweet time and hope Lana buys the ‘not making people suspicious’ explanation.”

“I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

<><><>

Lana didn’t buy it. But she didn’t complain, either, when Theron handed her the datastick cufflink. Not too much, anyway.

It was just as well; they didn’t stick around to hear it. The rest of the evening was theirs, after all, and you had to take the time you could in their line of work.

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

So, because I couldn’t find a good canon-compliant suit, I just said screw it and Theron’s wearing a good ol’ tailored tux, while Jaaide is in this

(drawn for me by the talented rakiah), just tweaked to a halter top neckline bc the mental image of her needed Theron’s help to fasten it was too good to pass up.

[keldae]

Drastic Measures (Chapter Twenty-Six)

Even with Corellia effectively under siege, the Coronet spaceport was remained busy: The sight of civilians, pilots, and CorSec personnel hurrying about on their business was not uncommon. Since the attack on the Green Jedi Enclave, the comings and goings of the Green Jedi were a slightly more unusual sight, considering how few members of the Order survived. Few left the Enclave now, and even fewer left Corellia, but departure wasn’t unheard of.

It didn’t stop Annya Emrys, twin lightsabers swaying against green-clad hips, from feeling as though she rather stood out as she hurried to a private hangar in the spaceport. Owned by her father, Hamilton, it had served to funnel numerous members of the resistance to and from Corellia. One might never guess that the hangar itself  was technically owned by CorLion, LTD., the Emrys family logistics firm. Two ships currently waited within the hangar — it a tight fit, but hardly the first time they had made efficient use of the space.

She finally emerged from the lift to see Balance of Justice emblazoned on the hull of the Defender-class corvette, all but towering over a small, two-person shuttle. A small gathering of personnel stood between the ships. She made her way toward them as the tallest among them saw her first and raised a hand in greeting. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it.”

“Uncle Connall wanted to talk at me for the last hour and express his displeasure with this entire idea.” Annya rolled her eyes as she finally came to a halt beside Jonas.

“He’s really against you leaving Corellia, is he?” Jonas asked with a slight smirk.

“Half that, and half something about Imperial-spawned bastards not being worth time and effort, even if the other half of them is Corellian.” The redhead sighed and shook her head. “I’m making it back after this, if only to prove that Green Jedi who leave the system don’t always wind up dead or defected like dear cousin Airna.”

“Oh, I don’t count?” Jakar Forseti snorted. “If I didn’t know the old man, I would be offended. Essi isn’t overly enthused about this idea either, but she’s worried about Xaja too. She’d be coming along if the girls didn’t need care.”

“The struggles of half-Tythonian Jedi,” Jonas deadpanned. “You’re the last one we’re waiting for. Cole’s staying to keep a haven open for us and to keep CorSec running. Risha’s had to run back to Dubrillion for some sort of a gong show there. The rest of us are heading to Alderaan.”

“And no word yet about your cousin or Agent Shan, from official channels or otherwise,” Bey’wan Aygo finished. “I can’t get hold of Corso on the comms systems, and according to Balkar, the SIS has no news.”

Annya frowned, turning her focus to the Force. She had trained with Xaja Taerich on Tython, years before the two discovered they were second cousins. She considered herself reasonably familiar with the petite Jedi’s Force-signature, but when she reached out, she felt nothing. Of course, if she was still alive, Xaja was likely in the Dantooine system, far distant from Corellia. “If she’s still alive,” she finally said, “I can’t feel her.”

“Neither can I, and I’ve known her for over a decade,” Jakar murmured. “She’d better still be alive when we find her, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

“As in hunting down the Zaks who may or may not have done them in, or dragging her spirit back to the realm of the living for an ass-kicking?” Jonas asked with a grin.

“Pick one.” Jakar shook his head as he started walking to his ship. “Or both. Are you sure you don’t just want to ride along in my ship, Agent Balkar? I have plenty of space available.”

“Thanks, but I’ll need my shuttle. The Director’s promising to send me all over the damned galaxy in the next few weeks.” Jonas flicked a lazy salute at the Barsen’thor. “My next stop is Alderaan, same as you, so I’ll just follow you there.”

“I’ll send you the rendezvous coordinates when you arrive in the system,” Jakar nodded. “May there be good news waiting for us there.”

“Preferably tangible good news -- like Master Taerich or Agent Shan themselves being there,” Bey’wan muttered as he turned to follow Jakar to the Balance. Annya could hear the engines already powering up as the Jedi and the Admiral walked up the ramp into the ship. Looking up with a squint, she could just see Jakar’s Trandoshan companion in the cockpit of the ship.

Annya started to take a step toward Jakar’s ship before she felt a hand cradle her elbow. “Y’know,” Jonas drawled, a smirk pulling at his lips, “there’s more than enough space on my shuttle if you didn’t want to share breathing space with one of the Council.”

Despite her worry for her cousin, the redhead grinned and slipped an arm around Jonas’ waist as they walked toward his shuttle. His came to rest over her shoulders. “You’re just saying that so you don’t get lonely in transit.”

“Me? Ulterior motives? Never. I’m rather offended, Master Emrys.” The SIS operative couldn’t help the grin that curled across his lips.

The Green Jedi shook her head, her grin a suitable echo of his. “Shut up, Balkar.”

Aside from Thunder’s leadership, the Resistance had learned that mobility was arguably their most valuable asset: sitting down and getting comfortable was never going to be an option for them while the war waged on and Zakuul’s banner flew over the galaxy. Still, Sorand was impressed with how quickly the Tatooine cell had managed to pack up what they could, and wipe or destroy what they couldn’t. He supposed it helped that a solid three-quarters of the cell was comprised of Mandalorians, who were more accustomed to bas’lan shev’la  than others. Add Lana Beniko, former head of Sith Intelligence herself, as the taskmaster overseeing the evacuation, and things happened quickly.

He drew to a halt beside the aforementioned Sith as she looked up from a datapad. “We’re proceeding on schedule,” she informed him. “The first shuttles are departing now, and the last of us should be gone within two hours.”

“Good. The sooner we’re gone, the better.” Sorand looked up at the cave roof, as though he could see the Star Fortress construction and the two freighters flying around it. “Any updates from Corey and Korin?”

“Rudimentary shields are in place — the Star Fortresses rely heavily on the ground bunkers for stronger deflection. The station’s not equipped for life support systems yet, but it seems to be habitable for droids. Weapons systems are online, so they’re attempting to keep the Skytroopers and droids distracted enough so our evacuation can proceed.” Lana frowned down at the datapad. “Tee-Seven transmitted back something about a star in the centre of the fortress as well.”

The dark-haired Sith frowned in confusion. “A star? Inside the fortress? That can’t be right.”

“He’s insistent. And with your brother and Corey too busy trying to keep themselves from getting shot, they can’t exactly clarify what he means.”

“Hmm. We’ll debrief them when we’re all away from here.” Sorand looked back down at Lana, feeling nervous worry clench around his heart. “Any word from Dantooine?”

“Nothing.” The look Lana exchanged with Sorand reflected her own fear of what the end result of that attack had been. “No further word from Riggs, and no reports of survivors from other cells or independent assets.”

“It’s still early,” Sorand murmured, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the mostly-empty cave in front of him. “They could have escaped and still be running.”

“It’s possible.” Lana reached over, placing her hand on his forearm. She offered a comforting squeeze. “There is one glimmer of hope, however: Zakuul has made no statement regarding elimination of a resistance cell, nor capture or demise of either your sister or Theron. Arcann would be gloating to the entire galaxy, had he apprehended them.”

Sorand slowly nodded. Lana did have a point — Arcann was enough of an egomaniac that he wouldn’t have been able to stay quiet about his triumph over the ‘assassin’ and ‘terrorist.’ Unless they’re in transit to Zakuul, or the Empire or the Republic got there first. Wait, the Republic wouldn’t have attacked them like that, not with so many Jedi there… would they? “I still need confirmation, one way or another,” he said.

“You’re not planning on going there yourself, are you?” Lana’s eyes widened. “You’re as valuable a target as they are!”

“I’m aware.” Sorand sighed and uncrossed his arms, running his hand over the scruffy beard he’d let grow in. It would help disguise his identity a little bit, he thought. Besides, the look was rather growing on him, and Shara seemed to like it. “If we’ve heard nothing by the time we’re on Alderaan, I’m sending someone out to investigate. Right now I need all hands to get this cell moved out quickly.”

Lana nodded, then glanced down at her datapad as a small ping came through. “The second set of shuttles is away. We had best get to the Shereshoy and be ready to leave, my lord.”

“Lana…”

“Apologies. Changing four years’ worth of ingrained habit is difficult, Sorand.” Lana shot the taller Sith a small, tight smile. “Come.”

Nar Shaddaa never slept, and neither did the security systems of the Zakuulan bunker. Fully staffed, Knights and Skytroopers took shifts to guard the site and the control panels for the shields of the orbiting Star Fortress. They believed each potential vulnerability had been secured. But, in their arrogance, there was one significant blind spot that they hadn’t thought to guard against.

Reanden grunted as he slowly made his way through the narrow maintenance tunnels snaking through the sector, a blueprint of the area displaying itself through one of his retinal implants. It was an area usually left to rodents, droids, and the occasional vagrant. Needless to say, it had seen better -- and cleaner -- days. He tried not to think too hard about the puddle he planted his elbow into, crawling to the next intersection. “I’m getting too old for this shit,” he grumbled into his comm.

“This was your idea, Legate,” Kothe retorted, voice crackling in the earpiece Reanden carried. “Vette could have gotten in there easier.”

“Vette’s a bright girl, but she doesn’t know how to do my job.” Reanden muttered a curse as his head bumped against a pipe that had no business being in his way like that. Gingerly rubbing the sore spot through his greying hair, he blinked at the blueprint he was following. “I’m under the bunker.”

“Good work. Standby.” The former Jedi went quiet for a moment; Reanden knew the other spy was tracing his position on sector maps. “The comms centre should be about six more metres north, then two metres west. Be careful; that’ll put you right under the shield generator.”

“I’d still like to know how they managed to get their own power station in here to run the damn thing,” Reanden mused as he resumed crawling forward. He scowled as his implants started to quietly hum, picking up the energy of the Zakuulans’ shield generator.

“Heh. You should see some of the intel your son sent back about the Tatooine fortress they got a look at. Miniature suns inside the damned things.”

“Wait, what?” That report was concerning, but Reanden couldn’t spare the time to think about the apparent interior structures of the Star Fortresses. That was something to concern himself with at another time. He had another job to do. “On second thought -- fill me in on that later.”

The old spy reached the corner in the tunnels and turned to the west, grumbling about the stupid things he did for his job and the sake of the galaxy at large. “Remind me again why I didn’t retire, Kothe?” he muttered into the comm.

“You tried once, if Marcus tells the story correctly, and lasted perhaps half a day before getting bored enough to take apart the Shadow’s comms systems and put them back together.”

“That bastard knows far too much,” Reanden groused as he pulled himself forward the last few feet, ignoring Kothe’s snort of laughter. Yes, that was a peculiar pipe running through the middle of the maintenance tunnels, only a few metres from the bottom part of the power generator. “I’m here.” He blinked to take a snapshot of the area; another series of blinks sent the image to Kothe.

“That looks about right. You find an access point?”

“Not yet — oh, there we go, you look promising.” Reanden grunted as he pulled himself around the side of the pipe and started removing an access panel. From how difficult it was to remove, he suspected it hadn’t been touched since the bunker was under construction. With a few more muttered expletives, he managed to pull the panel off, exposing a series of wires and transmitters to his cybernetically-enhanced eyes. “Jackpot.”

He smirked tightly to himself as he reached into his belt pouch and retrieved some small, barely-noticeable parts. With almost forty-odd years of experience behind him, installing his own transmitters into enemy feeds was a task he could practically do in his sleep -- even on the advanced Zakuulan tech. It still operated on the same basic premise as Republic, Empire, and Huttese technology. Thus, slipping a transmitter onto the main conduit remained a simple task. “Test.”

“Standby…” Kothe went quiet for a moment. “Receiving. Force, I’m seeing everything: comms, transmissions records, security logs, personnel records…”

“Excellent. Hang tight while I set up part two.” Installing a systems override without being detected was a fair sight more difficult, and Reanden spent several long minutes sweating in the stifling tunnels as he delicately wired in the tiny device. He swiped at his forehead with the crook of his arm. “Give that a try.”

“Let’s see…” Kothe gave a low whistle. “Looks like that took. I’m not gonna try pulling anything with Zaks awake in the bunker, but I should be able to override their system controls from here.”

“Still got it.” Reanden smirked, then gingerly extricated himself from the tangle of wires, carefully replacing the panel cover. “Can you open the surveillance feed enough for Thunder to observe? Or Marcus?”

“Marcus for sure. We’ll have to wait to get Thunder’s latest encryption key. They’ve got some people hiding them who’re damn good at their jobs.”

Damn straight, Reanden thought. He’d been the one to make Sorand’s ‘Thunder’ signal nigh untraceable, and had taught his son how to maintain the scrambling. “Works for me. I’m heading out before I melt down here.”

“Salt doesn’t melt that quickly,” the spymaster remarked.

The double agent gave a snort of laughter. “That’s another drink you owe me.”

Kothe chuckled. “Then get your sorry shebs back here. You can collect on the way out of the system.” He paused a beat. “In case I didn’t mention it, good work, Legate.”

Trying to find somewhere quiet on a Republic warship was like looking for dry land on Manaan. The small briefing room that Xaja had eventually found still wasn’t what could be called a ‘relaxing environment’, but at least it muffled most of the noises of Commander Malcom’s troops and the Jedi refugees.

“I don’t get it,” Theron quietly murmured to her as they sat on the floor of the briefing room, legs crossed and knees just touching each other's. “I wasn’t imagining it — my mother saw it too. It…”

“After all this time…” Xaja took one of Theron’s hands in both of her own, fingers slowly tracing the calluses earned over the years. “Shouldn’t this have shown up with Master Zho’s training?”

“I dunno.” Theron frowned, twisting his hand in hers to run his thumb over her knuckles. “I’m kinda wondering if it’s not the bond that’s doing this. I mean, I couldn’t feel anything before the Voss ritual.”

“But even then, you could only feel what I was channeling.” Xaja bit on her lower lip in thought. “There isn’t really any records of this ever happening before, with a Force-user bonding to a Force-blind person and making them Force-sensitive.”

“How many records are there of people walking around with Sith ghosts in their heads?”

“You might be surprised. Sorand had some stories.” Xaja shook her head at Theron’s rising eyebrows and turned her focus back to the perplexing question at hand. “You don’t think another Jedi could have pushed your blaster back to you?”

Theron shook his head. “It didn’t feel like that at all. It… I could feel it, Xaja. It was… kriff, how do I explain it…” He sighed. “… It was like I could feel the blaster, and feel something connecting me to it. I could feel it being pulled back to me.”

“And it wouldn’t have been me you sensed,” Xaja murmured. “I was trying to not die.” She hummed in thought, an idea glimmering in her mind. “Do you think you could do it again?”

“Maybe?” Theron shrugged his uninjured shoulder. “I don't know. I guess it’s worth a try?”

Xaja nodded in agreement as she looked around the briefing room. Someone had left a datapad behind on the table; she reached out a hand and, using the Force, drew it toward them, setting it down a couple of metres away. “See if you can pull that over?”

Theron frowned at the datapad, then stretched his arm out. “Kriff, how the hell did I do this last time?” he muttered. Xaja watched his forehead wrinkle as he stared down the length of his arm. She could just feel the Force shifting around him faintly, erratic ripples pressing against her senses. It was like she was watching a new Jedi Youngling trying to touch the Force for the first time— which, she supposed, wasn’t inaccurate. This particular ‘Youngling’ just happened to be thirty-three years old.

The bond prickled. “Youngling?” Theron mumbled, raising one eyebrow incredulously at Xaja.

“Sorry.” Xaja offered him a cheeky grin. “Would ‘Padawan’ feel better?”

Theron broke his focus long enough to very maturely stick his tongue out at Xaja, earning a giggle from the Jedi. “Brat,” he muttered.

“And you keep me around anyway,” Xaja retorted with a smile as she reached to take his other hand.

“Yeah, for some reason. The things I do for cute Jedi girls.” Theron grinned and shook his head before turning his focus back to his task. Xaja watched as his smirk fell away, replaced by a frown. Amber eyes narrowed as the spy honed in on the datapad, a muscle in his jaw twitching. The ripples in the Force grew more pronounced, but not quite strongly enough for any visible motions.

Xaja’s gaze darted between Theron’s frown and the datapad, anxiously watching for any movement. When Theron had told her about the blaster returning to his hand, she almost hadn’t believed it. She desperately wanted to know if it was possible for Theron to touch the Force, even if his odds were astronomically low. And he wanted it just as badly as she wanted it for him, likely even more. For all his offhanded comments about not needing the Force, she knew he was always bitter he hadn’t shared his mother’s aptitude for it.

She squeezed his hand as she turned back to look at him. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead with the effort he was putting into his attempt to move the datapad, every muscle in his neck and jaw rigid. “Breathe, Theron,” she said quietly.

Theron wordlessly nodded, not taking his gaze from the datapad. Xaja felt a burst of growing frustration mingled with desperation along the bond. “Come on…” he whispered. She could feel the strain building within him. The hand not stretched out to the datapad squeezed Xaja’s fingers in his lap tightly.

Maybe thirty seconds later, Theron slumped in frustrated disappointment. “Must’ve been a fluke,” he muttered. “I can’t do it again.”

Xaja sighed and reached up to caress Theron’s uninjured shoulder. “I’m sorry, Theron,” she murmured, reaching out with the Force in an attempt to soothe his frustration. “Maybe the Force answered you in a high-stress situation? We’ll figure something out.”

Theron rested his forehead against Xaja’s, jaw clenching with his disappointment. He had so desperately hoped that he could repeat it, she knew — that he would be able to live up to the Jedi lineage that weighed on him. “Might have been another Jedi flying it back to me in the fight, or my mother might have unconsciously done something. It doesn’t matter.” He sighed heavily and waved his hand in a frustrated motion in the datapad’s direction. “It’s not going to happen for me—”

The datapad didn’t move much, but it did noticeably wiggle in the direction of Theron’s push.

Xaja felt her jaw drop as she felt Theron freeze. Shock flared in the Force, and it was impossible to tell who radiated it more. Slowly, she turned her stare from the datapad up to Theron’s face, as his shock mingled with the strongest sense of joy and relief that she had felt since the moment he’d broken her out of carbonite. “So, what were you saying about that being a fluke?” A grin pulled at her lips.

“That… it actually…” Theron stared down at his hand, then at the datapad in disbelief. “I…” When he looked back at Xaja, his eyes were wide, a smile starting to appear. Elation radiated from him strongly enough that Xaja could almost physically see it. “You saw that, right?!”

“Yes, I saw it!” Xaja beamed as she lifted her hands to caress Theron’s face. “Force, Theron, you—” Her words were lost as Theron abruptly pulled her in to kiss her hard, too much at a loss for words to try to verbalize his joy. She tangled her fingers in his hair as she kissed him back, pulling him closer to her in turn—

They both heard the sounds of the sublight engines kick in as Malcom’s warship dropped out of hyperspace. Xaja reluctantly pulled back from the kiss and looked upward. “Is this another one of the false-trail jumps your father’s doing to keep the Zakuulans off our necks?”

Theron blinked in the odd way that told Xaja he was interacting with his implants. “Yes,” he finally said. “We’re approaching the Rhen Var system, next detour looking like it’s going to be past Onderon.” He sighed as he loosened his grip on her. “Want to go find somewhere more comfortable to crash?”

“Consider my rubber arm twisted,” Xaja said as she got to her feet, Theron a second behind her. She watched as his gaze still went back to the datapad and a smile pulled at his mouth again. “We’ll make a Jedi out of you yet,” she said with a grin.

Theron just shook his head as though disbelieving what had just happened, even if his elation hadn’t subsided much. “I still can’t believe it,” he whispered as he reached down to take Xaja’s hand. “After all this time…”

“The Order just gave up on you too early,” Xaja laughed as they started walking out of the briefing room. “It—”

A stabbing pain lanced through her head, badly enough to make her wince and stop walking. She could sense Theron’s sudden worry, but couldn’t hear him speaking to her as another voice filled her mind, a cold, malevolent whisper. So your pet can now do parlour tricks. So very impressive. Certainly the apex of Revan’s line. Vitiate was still as cruelly sarcastic as Xaja remembered from her carbonite nightmares.

Shut up! Get out of my head! Xaja ground her teeth as she tried to wedge a mental wall between her and Vitiate, even more than what the Voss had done. The Emperor chuckled coldly before the icy, painful pressure lessened on her shields, and the waking world came back into focus.

“--ja? Xaja!” Theron was lightly shaking her shoulders, eyes wide with fear this time. “Look at me, sweetheart, please…” His hand came up to caress her cheek; Xaja could feel moisture on her skin when his thumb traced her cheekbone, and realized she had shed a tear. “The hell was that?”

Xaja had buried her face in Theron’s chest almost before she realized she was moving. Fear raced through her veins, fear of the monster inside her head and what she knew he was capable of, fear mingled with hatred. “It was him,” she whispered, and felt Theron tightly wrap his arms around her, his earlier joy dissolving into mingled anger and dread. “He’s watching, Theron. He’s… he’s trying to get in.”

A cruel laugh echoed in the depths of her mind. .

With a whoosh, ships of the Eternal Fleet dropped out of hyperspace in Tatooine’s orbit. At first glance, all seemed normal and deceptively peaceful... until one of the GEMINIs registered the two light freighters being chased around the Star Fortress skeleton by the station’s rudimentary fire. But those pilots had seen the Fleet’s arrival, and were already diving away from the warships. The Paladin overseeing the battle group scoffed derisively as the ships, likely owned by the miscreant smuggler types that ran rampant in the Core Worlds, fled from the Fleet. He watched as the ships opened fire on the freighters, then raised an eyebrow, begrudgingly impressed, as the pair vanished into hyperspace. The Core Worlds did produce some decent pilots, it seemed.

But two spacers playing chicken with the Star Fortress weren’t his concern. He sharply barked out an order to deploy ground troops to Tatooine’s surface. He would get his answers for the blatant attack on the bunker there.

He turned to march away from the bridge, but glanced back just in time to see another ship leave Tatooine’s orbit and jump to hyperspace before they had quite broken out of the atmosphere.

The bunker was destroyed. As far as the Paladin could tell from the reports of his droids sent in to analyze the ruins, the rebels had managed to overload the generator under the desert’s sandy floor. The scattered remains of demolished Skytroopers still littered the ground around the bunker, but little remained of the human inhabitants. It was likely that the barbaric rebels had left their bodies for Tatooine’s wildlife.

The Paladin snarled in rage at the disrespect of the rebels, stalking back toward his transport. “Tear the planet apart if you have to. I will have their heads!”

Two hours later, he stepped into the hidden cave labyrinth, seeing everything tinged with red. The rebels had been here — they hadn’t vacated the caves fast enough to take everything with them, and there were empty crates, blaster parts, and ration wrappers left laying about. But the few computers still around had been destroyed with a barrage of blaster shots. There were no datapads or scraps of flimsi left behind. And there was no information to be gleaned about the recent inhabitants of the caves.

He stalked through the caves, noting the different alcoves filled with abandoned items from the resistance. Some caves, and even whole open parts of the canyon floor, bore the signs of recently being occupied by starships. When he held his bare hand against the sand, he could still feel lingering warmth, despite the cooler interior of the cave. The last rebels must have fled within the hour, barely a step ahead of the Zakuulans. He glowered at the stone walls of the cave before whirling on one of his subordinates. “Get me every departure log from Anchorhead and Mos Eisley!”

“We’ve been trying, sir,” the corporal stammered. “But this part of Tatooine is considered no-man’s land. Neither the Republic base nor the Imperial has any control over who takes off from here. And if the rebels are this good, they will have been able to dodge any identification attempts —”

“I did not ask for excuses. Get me answers!” The Paladin stormed through the caves, seeking to return to his shuttle. Which resistance leaders had been here? Had Thunder themselves been present to oversee the attack? Either way, he needed answers. Emperor Arcann would accept nothing less.

[synoxshots]

That didn’t stop you before

Fill 15 of fictober and I’ve hit my target! Thank you @fictober-event​ for setting this all up and all the hard work you’ve put into it along the way! 

Prompt number: 4

Fandom: Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR)

Rating: G

Warnings/Tags: Action, canon-typical violence.

Summary: Yalla’ra and Theron take a ‘romantic getaway’, or rather, they join a planetary resistance movement and raid a Star Fortress bunker on their first date.

Most first dates probably weren't the type that involved crouching down behind street barriers, trying to avoid detection by members of Nar Shaddaa's more violent gangs. But then again, most people probably wouldn't even describe that as a date at all.

At least that was the impression Yalla'ra got from the other Alliance leaders, if the confused frowns were anything to go by when she'd started referring to a trip to meet a resistance movement as a 'romantic getaway'. She was only half-joking. Her and Theron had been together for almost a month now, but they still hadn't been on an official 'first date'. It was one reason he was joining her for this particular mission.

But mainly it was because they just worked so well together. A partnership formed way back on Carrick Station, long before any of these romantic feelings were involved. Straight away they'd found a common wavelength, whether it was him running ops whilst she went out in the field, or in the meetings spent sharing intelligence and strategising for missions. They may have had their different methods at times, but a strength was found in a shared perspective, something that clicked between them in a way that never quite had in all her years with the Jedi. The understanding had naturally transferred itself to their work in the Alliance, even in such a short time. There was no better person to join her on the mission, really. And after all, the Star Fortresses were his pet project, it would have been rude not to invite him. Chances were he would have come along anyway even if she'd said no.

And so here they were, in the mire of a territory contested by both the Black Sun and the Nova Guards, that just so happened to also be the home of a Star Fortress shield generator. As if the area didn't have enough problems.

“Take the scan Theron, I'll keep watch.” She pressed the pair of macrobinoculars into his hands and waited, her fingers poised over the cold metal hilt of her lightsaber. It always paid to stay alert, not least with the extra targets on their backs these days. The galaxy was vast, filled with eager eyes always watching from somewhere.

The macrobinoculars bleeped as the scan completed, Theron putting his fingers to his temple as the information processed in full through his implants.

“Right. I've got eyes on the generator, but those cannons are going to pose a problem. I just don't see how we get the air strikes in without too much collateral damage.” He paused, giving a deep exhale. “They knew what they were doing when they picked this place.”

Collateral damage. Arcann wouldn't have hesitated, but the Alliance needed to be different. It wasn't just about wrenching planets out from his oppression. It was about doing it cleanly, helping them find their way again, making sure the galaxy could pull itself back up after being knocked down onto its knees. And if they were good enough, they might even win some allies to help the cause, too.

Yalla'ra gritted her teeth, letting out a long, deep breath. “Looks like we're doing this the hard way then. Any ideas?”

Theron scratched at his head, his expression little more than a frown but concealing swathes of information running through his mind at any one time. That was one of the things with dating a spy. She'd grown used to his smile in the moments shared alone together, unguarded but safe in each other's arms; she had the honour of learning all the subtle changes in his expressions as he worked. In the field it was a mask that barely faltered, a mark of his focus and dedication to the job, almost unreadable as a necessity of his role.

“Okay, I have a plan,” he announced. “I'm just not sure you're going to like it.”

“That didn't stop you before.”

“Fair, but I've learnt it's better to run things past you before I go and do them anyway.”

“At least you're self-aware, I suppose,” she sighed. “What is it?”

Theron grinned, letting the sabacc face he used on the job slip for a moment. “You use that saber of yours to draw their fire, I sneak around and lay some charges, we pull back and light things up.”

“That's barely a plan. And it still means explosions. And throwing me into danger isn't very romantic.”

“Improvisation is a tactical strategy. We won't be blasting through the upper levels as well with this one. And it will be romantic when I heroically come to your aid. Now, just wait for my signal.”

“What signal?”

“You'll see soon enough. Just wait.” He planted the quickest of kisses on her cheek before running off, ducking his body low to avoid any unwanted attention. Yalla'ra crouched down, her weight on the balls of her feet, prepared to spring up when the right moment came.

A sudden bang across the street pulled the focus of the turrets for just a moment, but that was all the signal she needed. She leapt from her feet and glided through the air towards the cannons, drawing on the force with a practised ease to push her further. If so many things had changed about the world she'd woken up to, this was one thing that had stayed the same. When her lightsaber was in her hand she was a force of nature, an ability that had been honed to perfection over years spent fighting on battlefields. Channelled bursts of force energy between slashes and swipes of a blade, crashing against the reinforced metal frames of the turrets, deflecting the bolts from the cannons in a blur of glowing blue.

And the plan was working. Theron had crept into the corner of her vision, staying low as he planted the detonators at their base with precision. The cannons were so focused on her high-energy assault, they hadn't caught onto the spy sneaking about in the background.

Maybe he was right about the virtues of improvisation.

The detonators set, he grabbed her hand as they raced back from the cannons to their shelter behind the barrier, diving out of range of the blast. The charges triggered one by one in a series of bangs and bursts of fire and smoke, tearing the cannons apart along the fault lines created by her blade.

“See? Perfectly to plan.”

“Knew there was a reason I kept you around.” She leaned in, placing a kiss on his cheek and retreating with a smile before pulling herself up to her feet. “Come on, no time for rest, let's get Denz and her crew in and blast this generator next.”

“Now who's the romantic one?”

[greyias]

For the sweet, affectionate moments: 24. Slow Dancing (or 27. Accidentally Sleeping In)

So I was originally going to answer this for 24, but I felt that recent events have set things up somewhat perfectly for 27. Both a follow-up to this prompt, as well as for 5.9/Nathema Conspiracy (and obviously contains spoilers for that). Because apparently my brain wants to jump straight into tooth-rotting fluff, and I’ll probably write a whole novel later about how we get to this point. Because you know, write things in order right?

Sunlight filtered in through the open window, the beam having slowly traveled its way through the room over the course of the morning and had finally reached the point where it was shining directly onto one of the occupants. Her eyes slowly opened, and for the briefest of moments, she felt disoriented in the relative brightness and watched the dust motes dance in the air.

Mornings on Odessen’s underground base always started dark, the air just a little stale due to the constant recirculation that left a chill on her skin. The air here it was fresh and filled with the salty tang of the nearby ocean, the gentle sea breeze wafting in through the open window chasing away the warmth and humidity settling in as the morning crept on. The draft was just cool enough that it would have sent gooseflesh along her skin. However she only let out the briefest of shivers before the warmth of the body behind her shifted, his tall form conforming to the curve of her spine, and one arm curling protectively around her torso.

The action was so close to a normal lazy morning, she might have thought him still asleep if it wasn’t for the feel of his lips pressing against her neck, kisses traveling slowly upwards until he was nuzzling her ear.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Grey murmured quietly.

“You were cold,” Theron’s words were muffled by the constant stream of sleepy kisses, “and I have to take care of my bride.”

He accentuated the statement by pulling her closer to him, nose burying itself into her hair as if he was settling in for another round of sleep. A flush of warmth raced through her at the word, an unfamiliar term, one she’d never pictured herself being, but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. Just unexpected, in the best way possible.

His fingers absently traced the long healed scar over her abdomen that eerily mirrored his latest one. The inflamed pink on hers had long faded into a pale uneven silvery-white pucker that marred the otherwise smooth skin. His matching scar was still fading, the healing patches of skin still a little tender to the touch. Some of the more ragged and raised bumps were trying to harden and required a small daily application of kolto to try and prevent the keloid from setting into something permanent, hard, and painful. When he curled in close like this, skin-to-skin, she could feel his scars pressing up against hers. They nearly lined up perfectly, their exit wounds pressing up against each other as if some strange cosmic twist had brought them together.

Battle scars from near-fatal wounds were not a normal thing for a married couple to share.

She much preferred the matching set of rings, and let her hand drift down to his, hearing the satisfying clink of metal. The lips pressing against her ear curled up into a smirk, and he twined his fingers through hers, absently stroking the delicate carvings that had been painstakingly etched into the small piece of metal. It was beautiful craftsmanship, and she would have to remember to thank Arcann for lending his expertise in Theron’s attempt to make something unique and special. One of the many sweet and well-meaning gestures he’d gone through since his return to the Alliance.

She let out a long sigh and leaned back slightly, as if that could somehow wrap herself further into the warmth of her… husband’s embrace. That was still new, still strange—and yet fitting. Most of the past few months had felt that way, as if they had both been slowly rediscovering who they were, both together and apart, healing the wounds inflicted on them both physical and emotional. The ‘impromptu’ vacation to Rishi, back where they had begun, had seemed like a perfect escape from everything that had happened over the past year. Even if it was probably the first real vacation that either of them had taken in a long time—if ever.

They’d relaxed in the sun during the day, splashed about in the ocean, and wandered along the beach, hand in hand with nothing but the stars above them. Without any impending crisis or doom looming on the horizon, they’d had time to finally exist and just be. It wasn’t even a question that this was the perfect place to start their new beginning.

Stars, she was pretty sure at least half of Odessen was going to have a conniption fit when they got back. Senya had been so supportive, so ecstatic for the upcoming nuptials — all too happy to fill in the maternal void that had long been left in Grey’s life. Hylo had been making some big-to-do about Theron’s bachelor party, Koth likely planning to act as getaway pilot for whatever hijinks the Logistics wing had come up with. Lana had been curiously neutral on the whole subject, but then again elaborate parties and fairy tale weddings weren’t exactly her style. Grey knew the feeling.

“This is perfect,” she said.

“You’re perfect.”

There should have been a flash of annoyance at that, his insistence that she was somehow more elevated or pure than she actually was, but his meaning was carried low in his voice, in the way he pulled her closer, in how just their renewed proximity lit up a different kind of heat low in her belly. She rolled over, and the disgruntled noise he made at the break in contact was quickly silenced as she closed in the distance. Their limbs tangled together as she pulled him in for a slow, gentle kiss, trying to savor the moment — and make this perfect quiet morning stretch out as long as possible.

When they finally broke apart, he took a few moments to stare at her with the full intensity he always focused on everything with. His eyes were soft though, not glinting hard like when he was working through a problem. He was open in a way that he never allowed himself to be with anyone else. This was him at his core, naked honesty laid bare. She had missed so much about him when he had been gone — but this was the part she had missed most. It was hard to do or say anything when he looked at her like that. Like looking into the heart of a star, it was so bright she wanted to look away but somehow couldn’t, and tied her insides up in knots in a way nothing else could.

He never had to say “I love you” aloud, because he practically shouted it from the rooftops whenever he looked at her like that. Words had always seemed to be something he struggled with, at least it was when the emotion behind them was real. She couldn’t say that was exactly a foreign feeling as her own words often got caught in her throat. That depth of feeling too hard to quantify with her meager vocabulary. So instead she laid a hand on his cheek, and hopefully returned his smile with one-tenth of the intensity of his.

He turned, lips gracing across her palm. “Good morning.”

“It is a good one,” she agreed quietly, “although it’s rapidly getting away from us.”

“There are worse things,” he murmured, “than spending time with my wife.”

She flushed at that, the title still strange and awkward to her ears. She wondered how long it would take for it to settle in and feel natural. “You don’t have some pressing business with a pirate somewhere you need to get to?”

“Not unless you remembered to bring that outfit from your Red Hull days.”

“Why would I bring that?”

“Hey, you just really got into the whole pirate thing last time we were here. Wasn’t sure if you had some sort of secret fetish.”

“Theron!” She was not turning red, she wasn’t—but his smug grin said otherwise. “I don’t—I…”

“If you want to wear an ornamental eyepatch for the duration of our honeymoon, I’m not going to stop you.” The stupid jerk was openly grinning, clearly trying to fight down his mirth. “I just want to be supportive.”

“I was just getting into character!”

“Oh, so it’s role playing you’re into then?”

“No, I—it wasn’t—”

He finally lost the fight and let out a sharp bark of laughter, and quickly followed it up by trying to physically kiss away the deep frown that he had just induced. She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head.

“Why do I put up with you?”

“Because you love me?”

She tried to remain irritated, but found it melting away as he flashed her the biggest set of puppy dog eyes that she could never turn away from. It was such a normal moment, lacking all of the gravitas that had leaked into all of their personal interactions over nearly the past year.

“I suppose I do,” she said after a moment, “even if you get far too much enjoyment out of teasing me.”

“Maybe I just want to see how far that blush will go down.”

“I would think you’d have your answer by now.”

“Maybe, but still haven’t gotten tired of seeing it yet.” He leaned in, resting his forehead against hers, still watching her with that same mixture of adoration and boyish glee that was such a rare but cherished sight to see. “Pretty sure I’m not going to at this point.”

She could have continued with the banter, let the conversation meander on naturally as it always did, but instead she decided to just lean into the moment, breath out on his inhale, and breath in on his exhale, until it seemed like they were exchanging one long, continuous breath, and it wasn’t clear where he stopped and she began. Just like it used to be, how it always should have been.

It was her who finally broke the moment, the words out of her mouth before she’d even had time to consider them. “There’s a part of me that wishes we could stay here forever.”

He blinked, quiet for a moment, as he parsed the statement, but then gently reached forward and brushed at the bangs that had fallen into her eyes. “What part of you says that?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly, glancing down to where their fingers were still twined together, “the part that just wants to start every day like this. Just you and me, not weighed down by the rest of the galaxy.”

“You wouldn’t get bored?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head, then looked back at him. “Probably as bored as you would get.”

He shrugged a shoulder lightly, although she couldn’t tell if it was meant to be in agreement or not. “I’m adaptable. Wherever you go, I go, remember? For better or for worse—you’re stuck with me.”

Her smile was bittersweet, remembering the night long ago when she had contemplated running away from it all as the weight of the galaxy pressed in all around her. It was not her proudest moment, she knew what duty dictated of her—knew that there had been too many counting on her to pull off some miracle that she herself had no hope of accomplishing alone. But they had done it together somehow, her, the Alliance—Theron. 

The man willing to give up everything including his life to keep her safe. Had come dangerously close to doing just that. 

There was a stinging behind her eyes that she refused to give into, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat and hoped that he hadn’t noticed. He was so happy right now, she couldn’t ruin it by getting sucked back into could-have-beens.

“I love you,” she said after a long moment, “and I just want more days like this.”

Theron’s expression softened from the carefully composed expression of nonchalance into the man who hid underneath all of the prickly layers he presented to the outside world. “I do too—maybe… we can do that.”

At her frown, he continued.

“I know we’re laying low right now, and that’s not going to last forever… but what if we compromise?”

“How so?”

“We buy a place here, somewhere only you and I know. And when it gets too crazy—we slip away for a while. At least until we catch our breath.”

“That sounds an awful lot like a vacation you’re talking about. More than one in fact. Didn’t think you took those.”

“Look who’s talking,” he tossed back, “but I’m serious. You shouldn’t have to run yourself ragged like you have been. You didn’t ask for anything that was thrown at you—and I just made a vow in front of a somewhat questionable Rishii priest that I’d take care of you no matter what.”

She couldn’t fight down the blush or smile, and tried to redirect the attention elsewhere. “Now that you mention it, I’m not sure anything we did last night is legally binding.”

“Hey, we’re married now, so in my book everything we did was all very much legal.” His wink was a little lurid, and she caught onto his meaning, the warmth rushing back to her cheeks as she remembered in fairly vivid detail what ‘everything’ entailed, including the interlude on the balcony. 

“I was talking about the marriage license.”

“We can double-check the paperwork later. Right now… I’m happy to continue our honeymoon. That is… unless you’re really wanting to go visit the hall of records at this very moment.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” She caught his laugh in a quick kiss. “I suppose it can wait a little bit longer.”

“At least until this afternoon?” He tried.

“Maybe tomorrow — no rush, right?”

“For you, I have all the time in the world.”

[karanan]

SWTOR SPOILER TIME

I naturally jumped right on the new content, ready to get on the Arcann romance train. And boy was that sweet! That awkward trashman has my boy unexpectedly weak at the knees. I took like 3 hrs to play through that one (very gay right off the bat) conversation. Who knew Prince Pissbaby would later turn into a rambly mess, sweating to talk feelings in front of the PC. SO CUTE!

So I get the strong impression that Arcann’s self-image isn’t all there... I mean not just for all the vile shit he’s pulled but also the emotional abuse he lived under from papa Valkorion. The boy’s a mess. And I think for a healthy relationship he needs someone emotionally mature who doesn’t take advantage of his desire for love and affection (that are very clearly there). As someone who fights with garbage self-esteem irl I know how easy it can be to fall into the trap of being with someone just because they pay you attention and you think that’s as good as it’ll get for you regardless of how you feel or how healthy or unhealthy the relationship is for you. I know I’m projecting but I don’t care because I think it’s an important thing to talk about even through fictional relationships. SOooo that’s what my Roscoe will have to look out for. He’ll have to do his best to help build Arcann’s self-image back up to where he feels they’re not “together” out of fear of otherwise being proved he’s not worthy of love. Which will be a challenge what with Roscoe’s polyamory and also the mental illnesses (so it’s essentially going to be a lesson in learning to love urself for both of them). So yeah this is gonna be an interesting thing to explore for sure.

Now, what about Theron? Well first off, quick question:

what the fuck, bioware? I was wondering how they’d technically solve the whole conflicting romances thing since Arcann’s happens outside the plot, while Theron’s romance is (potentially) part of the plot. I was NOT expecting this disjointed retcon-attempt. It’s obvious now that they intended the Arcann romance to be started after KotET/before Iokath, which makes it hilariously awkward if you do it now when Theron’s supposed to be long gone. I feel absolutely ROBBED and DEPRIVED of the juicy drama that would’ve been exchanged in the coming story chapter once Theron finds out you moved on and are banging your old enemy. I’m a simple man, I live for the intrigue. Roscoe’s petty as shit and unbelievably scorned by Theron’s actions. It played out perfectly in my head. Instead, we get this weird ghost of romance past and a short conversation about ending the relationship (which also by the way contradicts my whole headcanon about them having an open relationship). Also sad I won’t get to have Roscoe dump Theron as mercilessly as the game lets me now.

So naturally, I have to do a whole lot of headcanoning around this whole conflict. Disregarding my wish for the game to allow open/multiple simultaneous relationships since Theron doing the whole backstabby thing makes it irrelevant anyway--Roscoe’s not letting him back in after what he pulled. So I guess he’s come to the conclusion that it’s actually over between them for real--probably took a long time to conclude because first he had to reluctantly admit that Theron actually meant a whole lot to him--probably shortly after Copero. He just can’t get over what a personal slight it was (which might seem kind of hilarious and hypocritical compared to how he’s all willing to let Arcann close--but he’s never claimed to be the galaxy’s moral centre). Now my only regret is I won’t get to see how the betrayal arc will resolve for a romanced Theron. Maybe I should’ve waited with the Arcann romance, but done is done. So I’m gonna headcanon the fuck out of it based on what I get from the non-romanced path (and probably from youtube videos of the romanced path). I will have my goddamn drama.

In conclusion: Very sweet content that I enjoyed a lot, but it introduced a bunch of problems courtesy of incredibly lazy writing and poor planning. This is definitely not how you solve conflicts in ur story bioware smh. But I’ll roll with it and see where it goes, I’ll just have to apply a bunch of art/writing to fix the messiest parts.

Also yay Vector’s back! Cute conversation but way too short. Got the whole Agent crew back now. Sort of.