#kaliyo and vector: did he do it to you too

[eorzeashan]

*grabs head* wait. don't tell me eight is the loose cannon that they only pull out in emergencies (and yet all his missions end up going even better than planned because he doesn't listen to his handlers)

man, this is exactly why you got castellan restraints you were like this in the first place

[shynmighty]

From the OC relationship asks: Care, social circle, and meet strange for Vhespasian? :)) (~Dina)

Ooh yay! An ask for Vhespasian!! Thanks so much, Dina!!! 😁

Answers under the cut for extra suspense! And for those interested, I'm still answering asks for these!!!

Care: How does your OC engage in self-care, if at all? If they don't, why not?

Vhespasian is not great at taking care of himself, he's very very work-oriented and is the type who feels he's going crazy if he's not being "productive." "Taking care of himself" (to him) is making sure he's hygienic and well-groomed. If he indulges himself, it would only be very briefly, and probably very expensive. A fancy meal, maybe some new cologne...if he were feeling daring, maybe he'd take some time to read a few sentences in a book. He would then get bored or antsy and quickly go back to whatever clandestine mission he's working on.

(On a side note, someone needs to come along and take proper care of this man!!! 😂)

Social Circle: What's your OC's social circle? Are they obligated to spend time with others in their circle, or are they happy to be there? Has their social standing and social circle ever changed, and if so, how did your OC feel about it?

Vhespasian intentionally doesn't have many friends. He socializes only on a very superficial level, and only for work or to keep up appearances. He enjoys it, and often craves it, but his fear of letting anyone too close often overpowers those feelings. As a result, barely anyone sees the real Vhespasian...and he prefers it that way, for the most part. He often finds himself quite lonely, but he feels safe in his loneliness. Spending time with people professionally is about as deep as it gets with this guy, and he works very hard to keep it that way. A fluid social circle is more conducive to his effectiveness as a spy, or at least that's what Vhespasian argues.

There are a few people whose company he enjoys, and when time permits he allows himself a few brief interactions with them. Vector is one, the two are about as close friends as Vhespasian will permit himself, but he tends to keep conversations centered around Vector rather than himself. Lokin is another, because he finds the doctor challenging and intriguing. But definitely not close friend or confidante material. Temple tries to get close, and while Vhespasian likes and respects her, he cannot bring himself to return her affections. Kaliyo and SCORPIO are tolerated...barely. Vhespasian is polite to them only as far as getting them to do what he needs.

Among my other characters, Vhespasian has the strongest connection to Kalixei, and they have a bit of a will-they-won't-they affair going on...whether he allows himself more remains to be seen! He gets along fairly well with his cousin, Falx, but keeps things very professional with his Jedi cousins, Aeony and Aeseca. He is very wary of Jedi after Ardun Kothe. His relationship with his sisters is pretty sour, but he is polite to them. Honestly, the more polite Vhespasian is, the more he probably dislikes whoever he's talking to.

Meet Strange: What's the most memorable way your OC has ever met a new person? Was it a good experience? Bad experience? Just plain weird? How's their relationship with that person now?

Vhespasian has a long an storied career for meeting strange people. He would say the strangest was probably Watcher X, and that was probably because Watcher X is the closest anyone's ever come to getting under Vhespasian's skin...or in his head, for that matter. One of his greatest fears became ending up like the Watcher.

Hope you enjoyed! 😁

[anchanted-one]

Legend of Lightning Chapter 59. Pen Pal

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43208574/chapters/113843689

Mercei Tanniels gave her body a good stretch after waking up. She shrugged her shoulders around, turned her hips, squatted down, then stood on her tip toes while raising her hands as high up as they went.

She then relaxed, and went for a drink from her canteen.

“Okay then, my little Jedi friend! Let’s see whether you tossed and turned last night!” She accessed her probes’ feeds to see what Vajra’s night had been like. She tutted sympathetically when her expectations were confirmed. “This won’t do at all, will it, little boy? That’s four whole nights you’ve gone without a wink of sleep. And your last real meal was a week ago.” She listened through the audio recorded by a few probes that she had planted close enough to hear him. Lately, all she heard was pleas for forgiveness and a fervent desire for death. “Someone’s on the precipice. Running away didn’t help, did it?” She lay back on her bedroll. He wasn’t going to last much longer. Deprivation was taking its toll on the lad. Not that it was any of her business. Her mission was to observe. That’s what it had been for months now. Far too long. She’d had long jobs before, but this was the first time she’d had to observe someone for this amount of time! Her tracer byte informed her that every one of her mails had been opened, but not once had there been any reply. She wondered if she’d be forgotten out here.

Surely someone was missing her out there? She sighed theatrically. No one did, of course. Not Watchers One or Two; not Keeper, Kaliyo, or Vector… and certainly not one of the greats of the Empire.

She was a whisper. A wraith. The only thing close to attention she’d gotten this past year had been Vajra’s ‘gifts.’ At this point, it had to be pure habit. Or a game that he found hilarious.

It’s almost time to go pick up today’s package soon. Hmm. I wonder what he’ll write this time?

After that first letter several weeks ago, they’d started trading notes everyday. Some jokes, some stories, some banter, and perhaps most surprisingly, some truths. She had confided a few personal secrets in him that she never dreamed she would tell anyone. Like the story of Darth Jadus, and her fear what he might be up to. Or her lingering fear that the Dark Council would punish her eventually for daring to defy a Sith. She had even admitted to liking these exchanges. And he had shared a few things about his people. He’d even given her permission to call him by his name.

Details which she would sink into the depths of her mind once the mission was over, so that she wouldn’t betray them even under the most cutting-edge kinds of mind-control or brainwashing. She owed her mentor a great deal for the gift he’d given her, rendering her the perfect secret-keeper.

His letters, all folded neatly and stashed away in her pack, would remain her treasured possessions for the rest of her life. She wondered if he would also keep her letters.

She penned today’s message to Vajra.

‘Morning, Vajra. I’d ask if you slept well, but I know you didn’t. You’re getting worse. I’d like to meet you face-to-face. You need help, and strange though it might sound, I want to give it to you. I’ve gotten to know you quite well in our time together, and I feel like the Galaxy does need people like you. How about a real meal? My ship’s parked nearby. We can go anywhere you want to in the Galaxy. I’ll buy you a meal, and maybe help you onto the road to recovery. Maybe I can even help you find a quiet corner to live out your days in peace, away from all the Angrals out there. Believe it or not, it’s unreasonable to blame yourself. Or for anyone to blame you. You’re not a god, you’re a teenager. Please think about it? I’m looking forward to meet you in person. Love, Mercy.’

She re-read her letter a few times before G0’s alarm brought her to her feet in a near-panic.

 *

[carinavet]

Okay, I’ve played a bit further and I have Thoughts. Gonna go on a bit of a mostly pointless ramble about my girl. Beware spoilers.

The first thing being I really wish there was an option after the whole brainwashing thing to be like, “Screw y’all, I’m out.” Like, the second Cypher Nine realizes she’s been brainwashed, she knows the Republic didn’t have time to do it so it must have been the Empire, but both of them are ay-okay with taking away her free will so you know what? I’m out. And then she finds out that the brainwashing wasn’t even, like, a backup they do to all their cypher agents, but something that was done specifically to her because she did her job too well? Fuck you. I’ll burn everything down.

But she’s a good enough intelligence agent to know that she cannot let either organization see her coming. So she keeps working her missions for both sides, keeps working on finding out about her brainwashing and how to get out of it, and meanwhile is also working on setting herself up with supplies and safehouses and is figuring out where she can go to get out of the reach of both organizations. (This would also be a great bonding moment between her and Doctor Lokin, as she subtly pries him for information on how he set up his safehouses.)

Actually, that plotline would have worked really well if they’d just tweaked the timeline a little bit and had Hunter start giving out her info before her confrontation with Intelligence, when the former Keeper admits that he knows she knows about the brainwashing. As far as I’m concerned, the second she was free of it she would have gone to ground, and the only thing stopping her would have been not having her contingency plans set up quite yet. But even if they weren’t she probably wouldn’t have risked going back to Intelligence if she didn’t absolutely have to. There definitely wouldn’t have been any of this “one more job for you” crap: she knows she is in danger just by being there and she is OUT.

So let’s say instead that her info gets out just before she frees herself of the brainwashing. That means that she still has to rely on Intelligence’s resources to scrub her information from the galaxy at large, which gives her a reason to keep plugging away at her missions.

Now I’ve just gotten to the point where Intelligence has been dissolved. She’s a good little agent and she knows better than to (openly) defy a Sith. So she plays along. But she is furious.

Let’s be real, she doesn’t like, respect, or trust Kaliyo, and she has no reason to. But Kaliyo is still one of her people. So this Sith shows up, starts throwing his weight around, and takes her crewman into for “interrogation”? Nope. Her general reaction is “I’ll be damned if I let you take one more thing from me,” even if that thing is something she never wanted in the first place. And after how said Sith also treated her favourite Watcher? Nope. She’s about to use all her skills and resources against the very organization that gave them to her.

At least, I hope she is. I don’t know where the plot is going to go from here.

And I might not find out right away. See, I might be having a bit of a problem. I 100% want to romance Vector, but the initial flirt options were just ... way too forward in moments that felt too serious for that, so I skipped them. And now there aren’t any flirt options and I’m afraid I waited too long and locked myself out. So now I’m seriously considering redoing the entire fucking campaign just so I can get my girl boned, because even if she didn’t flirt that soon she definitely would have by now, had she the option. Especially after the brainwashing revelations! She is feeling very vulnerable right now and very much in need of comfort, and Vector is the only person on her ship (and in her life) that she feels like she can trust. She doesn’t know why she trusts him -- she really shouldn’t trust anyone -- but like it or not, his presence is a comfort and it’s one she very much would like to indulge in more than she currently is.

But the thought of restarting entirely comes with extra frustrations because I’m already annoyed at being underleveled for the story. Which, thank god for datacrons, because I’ve just been doing the main story and not planet plots (until I get to the point where I have to level). Also don’t give me a stealth ability and NOT expect me to use it to sneak past every single enemy possible, because fighting your way through crowds just to get from Point A to Point B is BORING.

after playing through Eradication Day: Oooooh, my agent is not doing well.

after meeting Ardun Kothe: Oooooh, my agent is NOT doing well!!!

[darth-bagel]

3, 4, 8, 10, 19? swtor ask c: you can skip if there's accidentally any repeat q's!

hi hello! thanks for shooting me an ask on this ✨

3. Do you prefer to tank, DPS, or heal?

I like tanking a lot, dps is pretty ok, never healed yet, I did try some of the disciplines on that just to have a feel for it, but never healed more than my companion. But then I mostly just play solo, even harder content if it's still doable. But I either tank-immovable object it or sneak dps with a good healing companion nowadays XD

4. What is your favorite player combat ability?

I already did that one, I'm sure it's a bit lower in my blog :3

8. Name your top favorite companions.

I'm so bad at picking favorites-- but practically the entirety of SI crew, love those guys, especially Nikky. Big fan of Vetter and Quinn, Torian, Vector, Kaliyo-- I like Lana and Theron a lot-- as much as Sylvas is not a fan of Theron, I still am pfjskdfjsdf. Lord Scourge is really fun, Kira, T7, Qyzen, Zenith, Aric, Risha, Bowdaar. I tentatively still enjoy Corso on occasion (mostly because Sylvas just makes everyone confused about their own sexuality so everyone is gay for them.)... honestly it's easier to pick who I don't like nowadays XD This is not coherent in the slightest, I'm sorry.

10. Favorite love interest?

ALL OF THEM. I am joking, but considering I do not care who is romanceable and who is not when I plan things... that's accurate. I don't really like Doc and Cedrax, Corso was fun when I was younger but now he's driving me mad on ladies tho (I will have my fun with him on Sylvas tho owo), and I still didn't see a lot of romances on the side of guys (and probably for the best since the padawan/apprentice with their master isssss a thing in this game)-- but for real, Nikky is great, I also like Quinn's romance (could have been bi tho, fite me Bioware, everyone could have more options on that front), Vette is fckn adorable in hers if you take a specific route-- Vector is so sweet. I love Lana's romance so much too. Also the 15 year old in me could not have been happier when Zenith and Scourge became an option later in game, because those are the ones I was sighing fondly after when I made my Jedi ladies back in the day XD

--So practically all of them. ALSO Hunter. And Cytharat. give us Cytharat back pls

Oh, wait. Love Interests-- @swtorcompanionsgoofin Skaia and @tearlessrain Kalarros and Khatte owo

19. Where can other players most commonly find you in game?

Um, I am mostly setting up camp on Star Forge be it on my main Nox'y (SW, Juggernaut) or on one of the many Sylvas-ish alts (so be it Sylvas/Revas/Tivan'n or Silavth. I have 41 one characters there. It's a lot)-- kinda just doing conquest or grinding Red Reaper or whatever random thing seizes my brain. (Am also on Malgus-- mostly Sylvas or Liz, and on Satele Shan and Tulak Hord just doing the Seasons.) I am nearly everywhere owo

--good god i went on a ramble spree, but thanks again for asking, *this is fun as hell* 🥰

[jb-nonsense]

How did Shejek'Ayre'Etth get along with each class companion ?

The first thing to understand about Kayree is she's highly extroverted in a sense she can analyze people and figure out how to get on their good side and get along with them. She doesn't really form strong emotional bonds, due to her training to be a Cipher agent. She's not cool and calculating, though, and has strong emotions and at times, can be a loose cannon. The Empire just aimed her long enough until she got tired of it. Keep her entertain and respect her, then she'll work with you.

As to the companions...

Kaliyo — Hey bioware, why do you queerbait?? Anyway, Kayree found Kaliyo to be very entertaining and attractive, enjoying the just...Craziness she brought to the crew. She enjoyed the unpredictableness of Kaliyo and it kept her from being bored. Definitely the person I'd say she was closest with in the crew. Would have dated her if she could have 100%.

Lokin — She's a big fan of how he turns into a raving monster due to crazy experiments. He's got more secrets and is a puzzle for her to try to decode, but also a tool that she can use to her advantage. When he's not being weird and mysterious, she can find him to be a bit boring and stuffy, though.

Vector — He gave her attention when she jokingly flirted (I had no idea picking one flirt option would lock in a romance it was a mistake why do you do this to me) and she loves attention. The issue was...She didn't have much interest in him. Too polite, too proper, too...Nice. But she did manipulate him for his connection to the killiks and his diplomatic connections. Sorry, Vector, she just doesn't like guys.

Raina — Like that annoying little sister who follows the rules even though I think they're about the same age...Actually, Raina's two years older than her. Funny. But anyway, definitely found her sticklerness for the rules a drag but appreciated her talents and connections, which she could utilize.

Scorpio — A mix of infuriating and amusing. There's some similarities between the pair of them, their desires for freedom and self preservation and improvement. But they're both equally arrogant and both like to use people as pieces on a board. There's some quiet mutual respect in that aspect, although it's small on both their sides.

[shabre-legacy]

39. “I can’t do this on my own." For Izutsa and Vector?😁 (~Dina)

Ok, so this is like super late. But I got it done :)

Izutsa curled up next to the toilet in her private ‘fresher' and leaned against the wall. Tears started welling up again. She’d been crying off and on for hours. At this point, it just hurt. ‘Why was this happening? What had she done to deserve this? She tried, she really tried to be a good person. To do her job better than anyone else and so protect her people. By the karking ice, she’d managed to save millions of lives. Surely that outweighed what she had to do in the course of her duties as a cipher.

It had been humiliating. She’d thought she’d been handling the side effects, and the panic and the hurt that came with Kothe knowing about that damn code, knowing more about her mind then she did. But then the hallucinations, she knew now they were hallucinations, had shown up. It had felt so real, all those people, here on her ship taunting her, making her relive some of the most uncomfortable moments of her career in intelligence. Faces that weren’t supposed to be here sitting around everywhere. She’d felt like she was going crazy, actually losing her mind and the thought had scared her almost as much as the hallucinations. And then Jadus… and she couldn’t, just couldn’t deal with that. The memories, the pain, it had been too much.

She was supposed to be the strong one. The one the rest of her crew could follow, the one they could lean on, could trust to always figure out the solution. She’d collapsed in front of them. Made them carry her to medbay, stand around and stare and worry as she fought her way through her own nightmare. The worry she saw on Vector's face, that was something she never wanted to see again. Even Kaliyo and Fifteen, for all they pretended not to care, seemed concerned. She wasn’t ok with this. She couldn’t do anything about it though. She didn’t know how to undo this. She didn’t know anything. She couldn’t stop crying. She couldn’t stop being sick.

She just wanted all of it to stop, she wanted to belong to herself again. Her thoughts started spiraling again when she finally processed the steady presence at her side. She blinked aside the last of the moment’s tears to clearly see Vector sitting next to her, close but not touching her and watching with a soft, but sad expression. He looked at her and noticing she’d finally recognized him, he lifted his arm slightly.

Izutsa could see the opening, a safe place, a haven for her to hide in and pushed herself quickly into his arms. They’d been becoming closer lately. He might technically be part of a hive mind and no conversation or moment was ever really private, but she’d found that somehow, with Vector that didn’t matter and she was accepting the nest as part of him. He felt stable and steady, warm and wild, he felt like home and she was certain she was falling in love with him.

“We are worried about you, Zut. You are not yourself.” She’d explained how Chiss names worked to him a few days before. The parts that build the core name and how it was made up of parts from the family name, the given name, the third name. He’d called her by her given name later. He asked if it was ok, which was adorable. He only ever did so in private, whispering it like it was something precious. “Please, we wish to help with what burden you are carrying.”

She sighed, oh how she wished she could explain, could tell this sweet, gentle, man what was wrong. “I can’t tell you, Vector. I truly wish I could, but I can’t. I want to, but I can’t”

“We do not understand, but there are many things in your job that are secret. We will not pry.”

He thought she was keeping it a secret because of ‘confidentiality’ or ‘top-secret status’. He’d think she didn’t trust him and she couldn’t do anything about it. She clutched his robes, twisting and hiding her face suddenly scared that he’d leave that, he’d take this safety, the only solace she had and leave. That she’d never again see his smile or hear his tales of life in the nest. “Please don’t leave. I trust you, I promise. I would tell you if I was capable. Please don’t go.”

One of his hands that had been sitting so solidly on her back, a grounding presence, moved to stroke through her hair. “We are not upset with you. We are not leaving you.”

He somehow always knew just what to say. It didn’t fix things, but just the reassurance that he would be here, it soothed her. She hurt just a bit less.

“I can’t do this without you. It’s too much.”

“You could Zut. You are stronger than you believe yourself to be. But we are pleased you want us here.” He held her just a bit tighter and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head as the warmth and finally feeling a little bit safer lulled the exhausted agent into an uneasy sleep.

[rainofaugustsith]

A conversation with a mutual has really made me think more and more about just how off balance the original SWTOR was, in terms of how female companions and PCs were treated. Specifically:   - Most of the women companions are between 20-22 years old. In contrast the male companions have a very wide range age. The oldest romanceable man, Malavai Quinn, is 37 when the story starts. The oldest romanceable woman, Kaliyo, is a full 8 years younger. I suppose this is in line with those statistics that men at any age see women who are 20-22 as the most attractive, but yikes for perpetuating that. - EVERY one of the women companions other than LS Jaesa can be romanced. - There are only 10 (ETA counted wrong!) female companions in total in the original class stories vs. 27 male companions (not counting droids SCORPIO, Fourex and T7). - There are more romance options for male PCs wanting a female companion vs. the other way around. - There are two one-night stand options with companions for female PCs and they're both pretty awkward. You can sleep with Theran Cedrax and then get dumped, or you can sleep with Lt. Pierce and tell him that is going to be part of his duties, which is a little...yeah. - Most of the women are depicted as being in a subordinate, subservient or vulnerable position vs. a PC and vs the male companions. Several refer to the PC as 'master.' - The PC is in a teacher role for several of the women companions. The only male companion who is an apprentice is Xalek. - The women companions who are not depicted as being subordinate are depicted as being untrustworthy or cold. - Of course, there's fucking nothing for wlw or mlm and the game has a lot of heteronormative moments, such as the female JK being told she could have "any man she wants" and the female smuggler being asked if she has a husband (but not a wife).   And then we get to the companions. With most, but not all, of the male companions, you get the feeling that if the PC died tomorrow they'd be fine. They come from jobs in the military or government, like Pierce, Aric Jorgan, Talos, Rusk and Felix, or they have their own things going on, like Theran Cedrax and Lokin. This is borne out in KOTFE and onward. When you meet up with, say, Rusk, Guss, Talos or Blizz again, they might be very happy to see you, but it’s also clear they’re doing just fine. The men that are or were in positions of vulnerability, like Felix Iresso being captured or Vector and the kiliks, are glossed over. When you meet up with the female companions a lot of them talk about feeling lost and possibly needing to flee the faction.

I love most of these companions, for what it's worth. I'm just sorry the writing did them dirty.

Imperial:   Vette: Literally a slave when you meet her. She's a trained assassin and ran with one of the most notorious pirates in the galaxy, but once you're off Korriban she really doesn't get to show off those skills. The PC can take off her slave collar, and in another conversation can confirm that Vette is not a slave anymore. However the PC can also keep the collar on and continue torturing her with no consequences.   Jaesa: If you've chosen DS Jaesa the Sith Warrior can manipulate her in very horrifying ways. If you've chosen LS Jaesa she is trapped as a LS person in the Empire and you could probably turn on her at any moment, and she'd have no recourse.   Ashara: Another former Jedi. The Sith Inquisitor's actions burn her bridges with the Jedi on Taris, she's spent her entire life with the Jedi and really doesn't have anywhere to go.   Kaliyo: The oldest woman companion in the class stories and one of a few that are not depicted as vulnerable or dependent on the PC. She could walk away at any minute and you get the feeling she'd be fine. When you meet up with her again on Zakuul you find out that's exactly how she rolls once the Agent vanishes. But...the writers make a point of depicting her as callous and very untrustworthy, too.   Raina: The Chiss have her back, so she has more clout than some of the others, but she's constantly asking the Agent for advice and instruction. The Agent also has a key piece of information they could potentially use to harm Raina: they know she is Force sensitive and left the Empire as a fugitive. Telling the right person about that would get Raina's head sliced off in about two seconds, so the Agent does have some power over her.   Mako: She's very young, she's an orphan and shortly after you meet her, her father figure and the other adult looking after her are slaughtered. She's in a very vulnerable place and really doesn't have anyone to turn to, except the PC.   Republic:   Kira: She has far more agency than some of the other Jedi. She's knighted fairly early on and she works more like a team with the JK. But the JK also does have the power to turn her in to the Council for her past.   Nadia: She's naive, sheltered and traveling with her father. When her father dies she really doesn't have anyone else to turn to. You're put in charge of caring for her and teaching he the Force, so she depends on the JC for just about everything,   Elara: This is one of the only other women who isn’t really vulnerable. Technically she is a lower rank than the PC, but you can promote her to the second-in-command and it's clear she has a lot of agency and self-sufficiency. She was doing just fine in the Republic military before the trooper and she seems to keep doing fine after. But she is depicted as being very rigid.   Risha: Another woman who could walk away and be fine. She's a literal queen and Nok Drayen's daughter, after all. But again, just like Kaliyo, she is depicted at first as being untrustworthy. In the smuggler story you meet people who say Risha screwed them over to the point where they don't want to see her.

Akaavi: The only woman besides Kaliyo who is older than 25 when the class story begins. She is a Mandalorian and she could destroy you. She talks about getting off the smuggler's ship and leaving. The one place where she's vulnerable is that she's in Republic space and her clan has been destroyed, much like Torian's. But Torian is still around the Mando community and Akaavi is isolated.   I think some of the the later companions are better in this regard - Lana Beniko, Major Anri and Tau Idair clearly take no shit, could kill you on the spot and aren’t reliant on the PC. Playing through the original game, though, you come across these tropes.  

[elaphaemourra]

🖊 + Any of them ~

Hooooo this is a fckn, You Have Given Me Too Much Power. I have So Many Words.

Gonna be real tho, this is gonna be a Big Thing about Mita bc I have a fckn AU where he's the Outlander and I have some FEELINGS ABOUT THIS. Bc he's part of my main continuity as an adjacent player to the IA and BH storylines, sharing agent crew/other random shit with Phaeyla for the IA stuff (he got Vector and Scorpio, Phae got the rest) and serving as Another sidequest generator for Jeni in the BH line (I give Jeni so many nerds to keep track of whoops).

(THIS IS ALREADY LONG, AND I'M ABOUT 8 PARAGRAPHS IN, SO IT'S GETTING A READ MORE WHILE I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT IT)

Uh, TL;DR, Mita is handling being Commander about This Well:

OK SO in NORMAL canon he goes with Lana and Koth to go fetch the Outlander (who I decided is actually one of Zal's apprentices, a Voss named Thera-nal, until Zal fckn goes 'no fuck this. I have ghost experience. Gimme the emperor u don't have to deal with this urself' and steals Valk from her bc Good Inquisidad Takes On The Oof Ghost For His Kid) and then gets fckn Ditched on Zakuul. Like straight up that whole 'get the outlander on the ship, Vaylin is 3 meters away FUCK FUCK FUCK' thing, he pushes Thera-nal on and then the ship takes off. Without him. And he does a dive off the platform bc he's like 'nah' @ Vaylin and knows he can survive a Really Long Fall. It's all very dramatic, very ciffhangery. I'm still writing the next chapter beyond that in Left Behind.

He ends up fckn, roughing it on Zakuul, gets himself a sort-of job posing as an assassination droid in a gladiator ring (bc i'm a NERD for gladiator shit), grows up, gains some confidence. Knife baby gets a grow up and a glow up. It's awesome.

BUT. BUT I HAVE AN AU WHERE HE'S THE OUTLANDER. AND IT'S AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF WHY HE SHOULD NEVER BE IN CHARGE OF ANYTHING EVER.

He and Lana don't like each other. It's a Thing. They can put their differences aside for the sake of Professionalism or when they give each other the 'r u seeing this shit' Look when someone else is being Stupid in both their opinions, but they don't like each other (this is true in the normal canon as well, they're very antagonistic to each other, it's a little silly how petty it is but it's Fun). Despite this, and their tendencies to piss each other off on purpose, Mita thinks she's the most tolerable of the initial Pile of People. The Conflict between Koth and Senya was A Lot for him to handle, and he doesn't do Leadership Positions very well. About an hour after they picked Senya up, he was already out of patience.

The constant arguing got to him SO FAST, it ran him out of patience and Fucks so quickly, he started getting real snippy. By the time they got to asylum he was throwing around threats to people who couldn't keep their Shit to themselves. He TRIED to do good things, to pull together enough patience and good will to be Benevolent in his actions, but as his patience fell apart, so did basically everything else good. Mita getting Tora was a whole Thing where he did the Nice Thing by making her apologize to Vik and when she talked back he turned around and drew a knife on her, told her to keep her mouth shut if she was going to complain because he WOULD kill her, and he DIDN'T need an engineer/mechanic THAT much. That he'd use her corpse as payment for the next batch of cargo, which, MITA. WHAT THE FUCK, MAN.

He started falling into MUCH older patterns of thinking, refusing to take any action that was Any risk to himself. It's a thought process he had before he got shoved full of implants, before he realized that he could be a Better Person and started being a rebellious little shit in Intelligence and taking risks that helped Other People instead of just being single-mindedly focused on his own self-preservation.

He's falling back into it, which is BRUTAL because he's making more and more devastating choices, and where he saved people by shutting down that reactor on the First blip of Zakuul, before he ran out of Patience and Fear, and he did Good Lightsided Things to Help People, he just went off with Kaliyo to blow the absolute shit out of that whole thing, and where he used to be like 'shit, we need to make things Better', now he's started talking about Vengeance. Which uh. Does me a Concern about Knife Baby.

Basically none of the advisors actually LIKE him. At best, Senya and him have a solid enough mutual understanding of Work Vs Free Time between them, but she's also Pissed that he keeps taking the Big Death Options and fucking over her citizens. Theron's basically constantly giving him the Pensive Side-Eye because of how consistently Freaky Mita has become. Their first interaction was Prickly at best, and Mita hasn't gained any more patience.

Ofc, Mita and Lana just Don't get along, but they at least vibe on the level of 'i am So Done with everyone here' and she's pulled him aside more than once to get him to cool off a little. Though mostly she pawned him off on HK, when the droid was still aroujd, so she's at least Done Something for his mental state, and he liked that droid enough for talking with him being Relaxing. Kind of.

He's a volatile Commander who Can and Will pull people who irritate him aside to threaten them with mortal or bodily harm, or yeet a datapad at the wall for that Big Sound, or just punch a wall while he's got gauntlets on, to get everyone to Shut Up and Pay Attention so he can yell at them for not keeping their Interpersonal Shit out of the war room and out of his presence. He's basically single-handedly driving the Alliance into the ground, driving it forwards through pure force of will and by making people scared enough to work together without Complaining, hoping that Arcann will give before he or the Alliance do.

He's refused every offer by Valkorion for Everything, and right now that's his saving grace.

Koth bounced, furious with Mita and Kaliyo's 'let's blow this bitch up' thing, and Mita's little circle of people he Actually Likes has uh, maybe Not the greatest influences among them. His inner circle is Kaliyo, Scorpio, Tora (which surprised me, but they are Remarkably chill with each other for people whose introduction was Humiliation and Death Threats, like, a 'they'd vibe and drink in a dark corner together' sort of deal), and Even More Surprising, Aric Jorgan.

Completely separate from the Alliance Advisory Squad, Jorgan seems to be REALLY good for Mita. He's just kinda, it's Working Out. Mita's doing Nicer Shit when Jorgan's around. I'm not sure if it's just, the lack of Shit-Stirrers, the comfort and familiarity of military company, Jorgan's 'ur not the boss of me' thing back in the swamps on Zakuul, or what. But Mita's doing Good Shit when that rad cat man's around. Hell, it might be that he just doesn't want to disappoint his new friend. But like, they're actually a STELLAR team friendship-wise. Mita's actually Relaxed enough to get shit done efficiently, do LIGHTSIDED SHIT, and he basically ONLY brings Jorgan when he goes raiding star fortresses. Kaliyo and Scorpio are higher up on Mita's 'would send out alone' list, but only because he worked with Kaliyo when he and Phaeyla got assigned to each other, and Scorpio was HIS team member.

Even with that though, Mita's reputation among Alliance personnel isn't a Kind one. He's terrifying, volatile and quick to snap at anyone and everyone who gets on his nerves. People avoid him in the halls unless they Absolutely Need Him, and there's ABSOLUTELY a network of people you can ask as a 'where's the Commander now' if you really need to spend the day Avoiding Him.

He's also leaned Heavily into the aesthetic of Big Scary. Dressed like a Sith all in black and white and grey (and a Republic insignia on his belt just for the added cognitive dissonance that gives him), with a Delightfully Menacing Helmet that makes him nigh unreadable. The voice modulation is something he Knows how to use to make himself more intimidating, and he knows how to hold himself to make Pointed Silence into something that can cause fear. He really leaned into that 'scaring people into working for you' thing, which isn't sustainable, and he KNOWS it isn't, but he's hoping to get shit done fast enough that it won't MATTER how unsustainable that type of leadership is.

He's Stressed and Tired and Angry, and he's going down a deep dark hole. He needs to be fckn, sat down and Confronted about where he's going because he MADE that choice to be better, on BALMORRA. It cost him his free will, his autonomy, and his identity. He was PHYSICALLY unable to say his own name without his upper body motor function locking up, for a long time, because it was part of the programming of his implants. He gave Everything up to be Better, and it took so much to get those things back, and now he's squandering it all by falling back into who he used to be.

He needs some Time to Chill The Fuck Out, an Intervention for what he's doing with himself, and a goddam nap.

Knife Baby is Stressed Out. He's the Team Medic. He was never designed to be In Charge, and it took its toll Very Quickly, and it's devolved into something Brutal and Unsustainable. Which is why this is an AU, and why my Canon Commander for the timeline is Zal.

Zal's a good leader, good under pressure, patient and fair almost to a fault, and a good person.

Mita can't handle the strain, and he KNOWS it. But he's doing it anyways, and will drag the people around him down with him if it means he'll win in the end. And in the mean time, he's frustrated, volatile, and Not Very Fun To Be Around.

[pestopascal]

which class companions are your favorites in swtor? i find it funny you always exclude skadge in fics

skadge? idk him............ skjhdkfh but srsly i rly dont care for him so he doesnt exist for me (save for being the person to muck with doc’s plans basically  i think that was him ).

but uhh to answer ur Q..... my faves are definitely the inquisitor crew like i LOVE that funky bunch but i played si first, the story is so funny to me, like in the grand scheme of things wyd to actually have any impact on literally anything jedi/sith wise....... like i love them. they set such a fun standard for everyone else. idk. it was just a RLY good time i love the story so much i love the crew i just. i did the entire inquisitor storyline again in like 2 days i missed it SO MUCH i feel a lot of inner peace now

also i should say that i have only ever completely done class story thru to like. onslaught now on my inquisitor so like i played a solid 2 weeks in 2017 doing everything and ofc when u get to kotfe/kotet and start recruiting rando companions im like WHO ARE THESE PPL and still dont rly know them so my impressions are absolutely minimal and the inquisitor crew set a standard for me entirely

after inq, i would honestly probably put in the bounty hunter crew bc i love all of them except skadge ❤️ he’s a nasty lil afterthought bc its like they remembered that bh is empire side and they were like OH FUCK GOTTA BE EVIL here have this mass murderer on ur team enjoy. like it was getting too campy clearly. i rly just love the interactions and how funny they were up until belsavis like bioware realising they were running outta planets to give me a new companion its okay i just need the four thanks u can keep skadge.......

and THEN idk like. i still havent finished smuggler, trooper or agent (havent even started the former). so i would probably say my only two faves for the warrior are quinn and vette bc i literally dont think about pierce or feel anything for broonmark. OMG OR JAESA I FORGOT ABOUT HER LOL!!!!!!! i made her LS just bc DS jaesa is TOO edgy for me but i think alfrinn would mess up and turn her DS also just bc it was so funny having the LS dialogue about fixing the empire or whatever and its like girl Shut Up youre not ashara u wish u were.....

i rly didnt mind the consular companions i just didnt rly click so much but im gonna replay the consular anyway soon? bc i wanna try some new things/dont honestly remember The Plot™. i did like zenith and qyzen a lot honestly but yeah like. im gonna replay, figure some shit out, make more in character choices bc i just rolled a togruta and went with it

i dont mind the knight companions obviously but yeah same kind of deal? i think the knight story rly had smth going but kind of lost it and went back to the typical hero storyline so idk i was just like completely amazed they were like YEAH YOU WERE A SITH and ignored that but okey! scourge promising to train my bloodline in the ways of the sith was heartwarming. i didnt rly talk/pay attention to rusk like at all, but yeah i think there was a lot of plot threads kind of spread out that were. ignored. so like kira’s whole thing i just ??????? through, i lov teeseven obviously, and doc. yknow. the proposal was rly cute bye.

i got like halfway thru imperial and i meeeetttt vector? i think? is as far as i rly got/paid attention. i just dont rly like the whole joiner dealio going on at all with him so i DONT know what i think. idk how to feel about kaliyo either? she reads like a straight man’s wet dream about an “empowered bisexual woman who can kick my ass”. like just admit ur into femdom and go............. but like again. havent rly played much, spent more time complaining about being a sniper, ive rerolled and i think just arrived on dromund kaas again so restart! yeah!

[vespertine-legacy]

Imperial Agent Breakdown Part 9

The last installation of my Thoughts on the IA storyline.

Thanks for playing along if you’ve made it this far. Let’s finish up with my thoughts on the Agent’s dumpster fire of a crew.

On the Companions:

In order of pick-up

Kaliyo Djannis - 

I do think that Kaliyo develops genuine feelings for Cipher Nine, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that she is a piece of shit. She uses the Agent’s camaraderie/trust (if that’s what you want to call it; in Raz’s case, I almost do) to manipulate her into trying to literally sell her ex-best-friend. She wants Raz to help her kill her exes. There are a lot of dialogue bits that are cute and that indicate that maybe she does actually care about Raz (despite what her dossier warns about not trusting her attempts at friendliness or seduction) but she’s not mature enough to actually talk about her emotions, and she deflects with violence. And when Intelligence is disbanded and Kaliyo is told that she’s going to be interrogated/put on trial, she immediately threatens everyone in the room, including Cipher Nine, even if Cipher Nine stands up for her (which Raz did, even though Kaliyo was on thin ice with her for all of her recent shenanigans). Suspect #1 if Raz’s throat is ever slit in the middle of the night on the ship.

Overall: Get her off the fucking ship.

Vector Hyllus -

Bugboy is probably the only member of the crew that Raz can actually trust. And can I just say how much I love that she tells Vector she accepts/loves them as them - as a Joiner, as Dawn Herald, as part of the Hive - not as the man Vector was before? Raz never knew just Vector the man. I just wish Raz used they/them pronouns for Vector in conversation with others, since Vector uses us/we, not “he.” Vector’s just so earnest and adorable and I love them a lot, and I never want to let them down. Their romance with Raz was adorable, but ill-timed. I don’t believe that Raz actually had any romantic feelings for Vector, and probably didn’t really realize until it was too late that Vector had romantic feelings for her/that they were flirting. They just make a really good friend pair - they’re so supportive of each other, and genuinely interested in each others’ culture, work, and past. Their banter before Raz’s sham marriage to Phi-ton was adorable. I do think that getting a fade-to-black with Raz and Vector probably almost broke their friendship, with the realization that Mistakes Have Been Made, but in one of my only headcanons for this trash crew that isn’t sad, I think that Raz and Vector are actually able to Talk Like Adults and Work Through Their Shit to realize, hey, one of us has Feelings here and the other one doesn’t have the same kind of feelings, and we need to talk about what that means for us and decide where we’re going to go from here. And they were able to decide that it meant “we probably need to back off from each other for a minute, but once we can’t taste you anymore [hi Vector, don’t make it weird - not like that, you fuckos, the pheromones or whatever] we can try being friends.”

Overall: Keep, they’re basically Raz’s best friend. Don’t let them ever try to do human-looking eyes again, that was a little creepy. (My damn heart when Raz told them “the Vector I love isn’t human,” and to go back to looking like themselves)

Doctor Eckard Lokin -

Yeah, Raz’s relationship with Lokin is antagonistic at best. It is not built on anything resembling trust. He’s cryptic. He feels like he’s manipulating things just under the surface. His smile never quite reaches his eyes in the right way. He makes some veiled comments that seem to be “hey Cipher, you do know you’re depressed as fuck, right?” that like, wow buddy, you are not the person Raz wants to talk about this with. Suspect #2 if Raz’s throat is ever slit in the middle of the night on the ship. (His name moves up the list if her throat is torn out, for obvious reasons).

Overall: Get him off the fucking ship.

Ensign Raina Temple -

This one is a toughie. Raz wants to like Raina. She really does. But she just feels a little too eager. Raina also oddly pushed Raz toward a thing with Aristocra Saganu. And she murdered her own father. Raz has done some cold things, but that was a little bit surprising. Anything for the Empire, I guess. Not sure if Raina can fully be taken off the suspect list if Raz’s throat is ever slit in the middle of the night - she says she’s behind Raz 100%, but that’s the best place to garrotte from. So she’s suspect #2.5

Overall: Get her off the fucking ship.

SCORPIO -

Oh, fuck this bitch. From the second Raz heard her voice she was already tired of her. She tried to make Raz’s little rag-tag group on Belsavis murder each other (and during that little escapade, Kaliyo announced, “Oh, Agent, I’ve been waiting a long time to do this,” before firing at Raz, and when it was done said “I’m not apologizing for any of that.” Cool). She called Raz dumb (which is a little bit true, she acts before she thinks sometimes). She directly tried to kill Raz. After joining the crew (against Raz’s wishes and better judgement), she did little else but antagonize Raz. I made zero effort to gain her approval, because Raz didn’t trust her at all and didn’t want her there at all, and if I’d had the option to dismantle her, I would have. But she admits being in a position of needing Cipher Nine for now, and ends the story saying she expects to be together for a long time, and if that’s not ominous I don’t know what the fuck is. If I run Raz through KotFE/KotET, will there be a “shoot on sight, no questions asked” option in “The Lady of Shadows”? There are at least some choices in KotFE/KotET that Raz will make very differently from the choices that Kestrel and Sija made regarding SCORPIO. Suspect #3 if Raz’s throat is ever slit in the middle of the night on the ship, even with her restraining codes - shit, she was in the ship’s computer for a minute, maybe she used that time to reprogram Twovee to make him do it or something.

Overall: Get her off the fucking ship. Preferably in pieces.

Part 1: General Character Thoughts

Part 2: Watcher Two

Part 3: Programming

Part 4: Watcher X

Part 5: The Sith

Part 6: Double Agent

Part 7: Corellia

Part 8: Hunter

[crqstalite]

pt. 1, crossfire (vector && rubiksi)

this one didn’t go as well as it should because originally i was going to write it as a 10k word chapter for all nine months, but i didn’t happen so i guess we’re gonna wait again for the writing fairy to whack me over the head again.

anyways psa i love mr bug man and you should too.

written: 9.20.19. word count: 2,419.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ character song: crossfire, stephen.

character file: khelan hyllus & vector hyllus.

-

1 month.

rubi-no, khelan now, isn't sure what to think anymore, as she stares out the window of her apartment. all she wants to do is lie down and cry, and she's not sure what's causing it anymore. after all these years, all her tears should be dried up now. they should be, but for some reason it seems like every day a new situation arises, and she isn't emotionally ready to deal with it. picking up the holophoto on her night stand, she tries not to cry as she analyzes the photo taken on their wedding day. the way she'd faked a smile in a white dress and vector in a diplomatic uniform until she could return to the phantom to be alone for a while with her emotions. it should've been a happy day.

but it wasn't. why couldn't she just be happy for once? and stop thinking about marring the skin beneath her sweater sleeves, about finally leaving this world for good? possibly it's because of the pale lines that still dot her wrists, and the fact that the ring on her finger feels heavy with pity everytime she slips it on.

"khelan?" a voice startles her from her thoughts as she places it back gently next to the chrono, where it always sits.

"yes, vector?" she asks, turning from the window as the joiner enters the bedroom. he's dressed down today, and he smells of sweets. the man had taken up baking since they'd moved in together, saying something about finally being able to please her properly with his cooking. it's delectable, as is to be expected. (he spent months learning from two-vee in secret before presenting her with an exquisite cake for her birthday. possibly the hive has been giving him recipes, and though she knows they can't read minds, he always seems to know what she has a taste for) "is there something wrong?"

"you didn't come to eat dinner." he responds, curiously cocking his head, as a child would. his dark hair plays peek-a-boo with his pupiless eyes, and she offers him a smile as he brushes it out of his vision, coming to stand next to her by the floor-length window, the cool sky reflecting onto his pale skin, "we were worried."

"i'm just fine, vector. do not worry yourself with the likes of me." she responds, inhaling his scent as he moves to put his arms around her. there's a significant between the joiner and prior agent, but she feels safe as she buries her head in his chest. safety isn't ever guranteed for her, and she's glad that she took the leap of faith to finally say yes to him. he was never persistent, he gave her the space she needed to recuperate from the life she'd once lived. he leans his head against the top of hers, and she closes her eyes to relax for just a moment. he smells of the rain, but also of the forest and a sharp smell of something spicy she just can not name. she wouldn't trade her husband for the world. "i will come to eat in a bit."

"if you are not hungry, we can put away the food for another time, ru..khelan." he corrects himself as she frowns, pulling her hair back into a low ponytail at the base of her neck. he's not used to her new alias either, and it's as if he can sense it bothers her. her aura must be out of whack again as a questioning look covers his features (she'd never understand how vector saw her, though he'd tried to explain it a few times with little success). "we are sorry if we've troubled you. which do you prefer?"

she considers for a moment before following him out of their bedroom. "i wish i did not have a name at times like these, vector. it makes everything so much more difficult. i don't even have my own identity that wasn't cultivated by intelligence."

he simply listens as she walks into the kitchen, pacing back and forth as the thoughts fly through her mind at breakneck speed. she's never been more grateful for him as she thinks to herself, and he simply continues to prepare dinner alongside her. it isn't until they've sat down across from each other that she responds to his question, "the ensign once told me on my official records, my name is ana'la. would you like to call me that, vector?"

"we would be happy to call you whatever you prefer, ana'la. names are not everything." he says, picking up his own cutlery as he tries to comfort her, "all that matters, is that we love each other."

she seems surprised for just a moment before looking down at her own plate with a certain satisfaction in her eyes. "thank you, vector."

"we are happy to be with you, ana'la." he responds, though instead of indirectly looking at her (as he typically does), he finds that her aura is rather odd. it's color remains the same, an indistinct grey tinged with red and pink, as it typically is when they spend time together, but something is making it white. he won't prod into how she's feeling at the moment, but he is curious. what has his wife feeling such a way?

-

month 3.

khelen didn't tend to ever eat much as it was, but this was getting a bit ridiculous, even for her. the odd way how she couldn't ever hold anything down, even her most favorite delicacies from vector. water was the only thing that would stay down, and she was beginning to have an aversion to even the most pleasant smells.

she was concerned she was going mad. maybe the workaholic lifestyle and done something unspeakable to her, and now she was feeling the after effects? she tried to keep a myriad of other other fragrances about the apartment to keep the feeling of retching out of her mind. it proved difficult, and she eventually threw quite a few away after realizing that vector's enhanced senses were most likely going absolutely bonkers with the strong smells. it seemed the smell of the constant kaasian rain was the only thing that would soothe her, and so that lead to the couple's apartment windows being open a portion of the time.

to say the least, it was still annoying to be so absolutely sick that she didn't want to continue getting out of bed half the time. she was considering holoing lokin at this point, and she rarely if ever contacted her old crew, vector excepted. kaliyo was somewhere in the underbellies of dromound kaas after she dropped out of contact, temple returned to serving the ascendancy and the empire, SCORPIO could be doing something highly illegal, and lokin was always going back and forth between morally questionable medical conferences. she always kept tabs on them, even if it didn't benefit her directly. she still cared about their well-being, even if they didn't.

but being bed-ridden didn't fancy her. at all. the nightmares plagued her, being controlled by watcher x again and again, by the sis. keeping busy, even working on the side for intelligence is what kept her mostly sane. her obvious health issues kept her out of the field for a long while, but once this spell passed, she'd try and begin working in diplomatic services with vector. maybe they wouldn't see each other as much anymore, but it was better than being home alone.

wrapped up in one of vector's jackets, she usually sleeps or reads until he returns home. her current holonovel was just wrapping up, so she'd have to go and buy another soon. with nothing better to do, she might as well train her mind in puzzles and literature while in this state. she'd been slacking lately, and there was no way intelligence would take her back without the required skills.

the door opens just as she's sitting up from her perch on the bed, brushing her hair back as she tries to keep her meager breakfast down. vector must've been back early today. padding out the bedroom, she finds him just taking off his overcoat and hanging it on one of the nobs near the door. she offers him a smile, and he returns it. "you're back early, vector. is something wrong?"

"there is nothing wrong, ana'la." he responds softly, a kiss pressed to her forehead as he puts down his bad. "we were let go early today. we wished to see you again, we were concerned you were ill."

"i'll be fine, vector." she responds, trying to choke back the bile building up in her throat again as she covers her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt. "i've been sick before, and survived worse."

he doesn't respond, but frowns in disbelief. khelan would know this, after knowing him for so long. he often doesn't try to hide his facial features and the emotions tied to them, and she knows good and well he doesn't believe her. "i've been resting lately, if that makes you feel any better." she says, trying to comfort him. speaking isn't helping either, and the feverish feeling she gets before inevitably tossing her last meal is beginning to creep back into her system. "it's most likely just a harmless virus."

"your aura is...different." vector makes note, and she figures he isn't looking directly at her anymore. what does it typically look like? she'd never understood how her husband saw her through his lens, and she wondered if there was some sort of chart she could find somewhere on joiner's and their auras.

"i'm sure it is, doesn't sickness affect it as well?" khelan tilts her head just a bit, and brushes the hair out of her face as he seems to contemplate it, pacing into the kitchen. is he upset? sometimes he bakes when he's feeling upset (she wouldn't exactly complain, they were still very good, but it does concern her when he does). "vector, talk to me. is there something wrong?"

"your aura is, special. we are unsure of why." he says pointedly. "white represents that of purity, and childish natures. we don't believe you radiate much of either."

she decides not to comment here, as he most likely has more to say, "we don't wish to worry you or plant the seeds of doubt in your mind, ana'la."

"do you believe there is something wrong, vector? do you believe that's why i feel ill?" khelan still isn't catching onto what he's saying, or if he's trying to imply something to her. he continues to pace into the living room as she hurries to follow him before he pauses abruptly, "whatever it is, i'm sure we can face it together." she whispers, though she isn't sure this is that's the best answer. what if she's dying? what if her life is ending, and there's nothing they can do to stop it?

he seems unsure of himself before finally turning fully to her, "we've only seen this aura a few times in our life. but, we believe you are with child, ana'la."

something stops functioning properly as she tries to soak in what he's admitting to assuming. child? as in, she'd be a mother in a few, short months should she allow it to continue? how? and when? they had always been careful, and rarely if ever made love to each other as it was. how did this happen? why?

could she be a mother? a functional one at least? visions of the fire blare through her mind, as her adoptive father yanked her older brother away and her older sister tried to protect her the best she could from the dangerous situation. would her child end up in such a situation, khelan unable to protect them from something lethal?

"this is all speculation, ana'la." he breaks her train of thought to tilt her head upwards from where she'd been staring at her hands. "it could be nothing, for all we know. do not panic yourself over the unknown."

it would explain the sudden onset of these horrid symptoms for the last two moments. the vomiting, the unexplainable aversion to her favorite foods. she'd heard about it a few times around the agents she'd met that were now off the field and happy with children, but had never expected it would happen to her. she and vector had never spoken at length about it, ever. it was just a subject that never fascinated her to any end, and so it didn't matter.

or she could be dying. that's a possibility too. one she'd rather not think about at that moment, though it itches at the back of her mind. "possibly you're right, vector."

"do you believe so?" he asks, his face still contorted into that of concern and confusion. "we would believe you would be the first to deny such a thing."

"it makes sense, to say the least." she responds, wringing her hands out as the thunder crashes over her words and thoughts, "this may not be our most ideal situation."

"maybe not." he answers, still seeming uneasy. "at least your child will still grow up here instead of a battleground. they will have a loving mother, and pick up your own admirable traits." she turns an eyebrow up as he continues on, "intelligent, clever, compassionate. beautiful. we have high hopes for your child, ana'la."

"i...yes. thank you vector." he seems satisfied with her answer, and presses a kiss to her forehead to reassure her, her cheeks heated as he makes the observation. still after all these years, he's still able to stun her with his way with words.

she pauses to think for just a moment, before responding with what was on her mind while he spoke, "it seems you forget i've never been with another man though. this is your child, as much as they are mine."

he smiles for once in the entire encounter, and surprises her by picking up around the waist. she holds back a shriek as he smiles, as her own legs latch around his waist to keep from falling. "we do not believe you understand how happy that makes us, ana'la."

"i can make some guesses." she responds, managing a grin for her husband as he kisses her softly in the light of fading day outside.

[holosoftheoldrepublic]

SWTOR Smokers

I need a writing exercise and I like these sorts of things so here we go which of the companions I think would be smokers or not:

Jedi Knight T7- Even if he could, I doubt he would. Kira- She’d probably try it once and regret it. Doc- He definitely is the guy who’d smoke pot (or w/e the star wars equivalent would be) at college parties, but doesn’t anymore. “Smoking is bad for your health.” Rusk- Off-and-on smoker. Quits for a few months, then gets back on it. Scourge- Nope.

Jedi Consular Qyzen- I can see him smoking in the context of a ceremonial thing, but outside of that no. Tharan- He is absolutely the kind of fucker who vapes. You know I’m right. Zenith- Definitely a smoker. Not a heavy smoker, but more than occasionally. Felix- He’s the guy who’d do Republic-sponsored PSAs about how bad smoking is for you; no. Nadia- she finds them gross.

Republic Trooper Aric Jorgan- Doubtful. If Cathar have the heightened senses that their cat-like appearance implies he probably doesn’t like to be anywhere near it. Elara- No. Forex- If he could he’d totally smoke cigars. Vik- Abso-fucking-lutely. Yuun- I feel like his species wouldn’t be able to smoke.

Republic Smuggler Corso- He doesn’t and is probably the kind to be preachy at those who do. Bowdaar- I could see him smoking. Risha-  The occasional smoke, probably something long and thin. Akaavi- As she’s from a culture that epitomizes physical strength, I don’t think she’d want to risk the physical limitations that smoking can impose. Guss- Like Yuun, I feel like his species wouldn’t be able to smoke, or it would be very bad for them. He’s absolutely tried, though.

Sith Warrior Vette- No, and definitely doesn’t like the smell. Quinn- Has the occasional cigarette, for nerves. Jaesa- LS, no; DS, she probably picks up harder stuff, too. Pierce- Smokes when in a social setting, playing cards and the like. On his own, no. Broonmark- I’m gonna say no, looking at how the Talz look; I don’t think they can.

Sith Inquisitor Khem- No, and would probably disapprove if you started. Andronikos- Like Pierce, he’s probably smoke in social settings. Did it a lot more before setting up with the Inquisitor, most likely. Ashara- Definitely finds it gross. Talos- He will politely decline if offered. Xalek- I imagine the Kaleesh have ceremonies where smoking takes place, and he’d do that, but otherwise doesn’t partake.

Imperial Agent Kaliyo- God, what doesn’t she do? Smoking probably seems quaint to her. Vector- No, before and after the Joining. Lokin- Yes, probably goes through a pack every few days. Raina- No. SCORPIO- Even if she could she wouldn’t see the point.

Bounty Hunter Mako- She’d smoke if offered by other bounty hunters to “fit in” or be taken more seriously, until she’s more established. Gault- Definitely a smoker. Torian- Similar to Akaavi, he’d want to stay in prime condition. Blizz- Jawa’s don’t feel like smokers to me. Maybe ceremonial? Skadge- He’s the kind of guy to smoke two packs a day.

KotFE Lana- The occasional smoke to relax. Theron- pretty consistent smoker, keeps trying to quit but his job’s too stressful. Koth- He seems like the kind of guy to enjoy pot every now and again with some friends but otherwise no.

[swtorpadawan]

Could you be that person?

Author’s Notes: I felt the need to get away from my Jedi Knight for a short while and explore one of my other characters. Nasashdia is a (mostly) light-side Chiss Imperial Agent who is experiencing the peaks and valleys of having romanced Theron Shan.

 The Commander of the Eternal Alliance stood reunited with her newly returned senior advisor on the hills of Odessen, overlooking the Alliance base. They had known each other for years, but standing there now they were somewhat awkward together, as if they weren’t sure what exactly they were to each other after these last few trying months.

Betrayals, whether false or true, could have that effect on people.

 “I know I don’t deserve it.” Theron Shan looked down guiltily. “But can you give your idiot spy boyfriend one more chance?” he looked up at her now with those sad, puppy-dog eyes, the ones that never failed to pull at her heart-strings.

 The Alliance Commander, the Chiss woman formerly known as the Outlander while still a fugitive from Zakuul, formerly known as Cipher Nine during her time as Imperial Intelligence, formerly known as Nasashdia – the reduced ‘core name’ version of the name she had worn she had still lived among her own species – regarded this man. This man who had become her closest confidante and lover, who she had quietly whispered so many of her secrets to in private moments. The man who she had given her heart, too.

 Theron inevitably called her ‘Nas’ in private. He was the only person she had ever allowed to do that.

 She didn’t question his sincerity. Not for one moment.

 That wasn’t the problem.

 She looked at him sadly, reaching up and caressing his cheek.

 “Poor Theron.” She said quietly. “I asked far too much of you, didn’t I?”

 “I never asked you to go undercover for me, Theron. I never asked you to spend months on the run for me, feigning service to my enemies. I never asked you to risk everything – including my trust – to be my protector.”

 “You did those things because of who you are, Theron. And part of me will always love you for that.”

 She sighed. “Theron… I didn’t want any of those things from you. Yes, I wanted you to be my advisor. To stand at my side and help me run the Alliance. Even run our intelligence branch with Lana.”

 “But I wanted more from you than that. Yes, I wanted you to be my lover, of course, but also my comfort. When either of us – or both of us – came back from a mission, I wanted us to be the thing that soothed the other. When the door to our quarters closed behind us, I wanted it to close off the rest of the world. No conspiracies. No spy games. No intergalactic politics. Just us. You and I.”

 “You remember my old crew, Theron? How much I missed them? Total truth now… I never trusted any of them as much as I trusted you. I cared about SCORPIO even though somewhere deep down I always knew she would betray me. Lokin… someday, one of his experiments will go too far, and I’ll have to put him down. I loved Temple’s enthusiasm and naivete, but I worry than someday she’ll hate me for teaching her to be something else. I adored Vector. But I’ll never stop worrying that someday, the Killiks will turn him against me.” She looked away a bit. “Kaliyo has been my partner for years. But someday, she’ll get anxious again. It won’t be for the money or even to fulfill her need to cause chaos. She just doesn’t like feeling tied down.”  

 She looked back at the Alliance base.

 “Everybody else… they’re all here for their own reasons. Every day I worry I’ll make a choice that makes people start leaving.”

 Her shoulders fell. “I don’t know where I would go without the Alliance. I can’t go back to the Empire. Not after choosing the Republic on Iokath. I can never go home to the Chiss Ascendancy, either, because of something my mother did decades ago. The Republic can never really trust me. Half of Zakuul still hates me.”

 Nasashdia looked up at him, sadly. “All I really have is you and Lana.”

 “I understand now that… the things I wanted from you would have required you to be someone you’re not to give me. That was wrong of me. I see that, now.”

 Theron started to speak but she quickly pressed a finger to his lips.

 “It was wrong of me to want you to be someone you weren’t. And I’m sorry.”

 She looked away from him, cursing herself. “Dammit all, I wanted a bit of ‘normal’ in my life.” She sighed. “I would have gladly rolled the dice with the Order of Zildrogg for my life and the Alliance a hundred times over if it meant I could have had that with you.”

 She was quiet for a long moment. Then she felt him behind her, his arms gently grasping her arms as his head slid above her shoulder.

 “I can be that for you.” he whispered.

 She looked into the distance, watching the Alliance base as the sun set behind it.

 “Could you be that person for me, Theron? Could you really?”

END

[seabunnii]

(hello ! i finished the agent storyline today and have many Emotions and have captured at least some of them here even if there’s a hundred other thoughts i have knocking around too :’)) but this is something! )

Linalae Vatbai officially ceases to exist 17 years after her father’s death (19 years after her mother’s). In records, quietly, Lili Rencove is born. An unremarkable life, but one that culminates in a transfer to Imperial Intelligence. It perhaps wasn’t a necessary precaution, but her family had military history and had been KIA. Besides, it’s good for an agent to learn early how to put on a mask. What better way to do that than by becoming a new person?

Except Lili Rencove was recruited based on Linalae’s military accomplishments. Those who made the transfer know this, those who erased Linalae know this, and Lili herself knows this. Yet officially, Linalae Vatbai doesn’t exist.

More importantly, Lili Rencove has Linalae’s heart. The drive to do good in spite of everything. A conscience, one that can make leeway for following the Empire, for following commands, but one that takes prisoners, finds resources, gains allies. All in service for the Empire. She isn’t blind to its problems, she herself is more open minded, but she believes in what the Empire can be. What it should be.

And here’s the catch. Lili would never defect to the Republic, she would never work for the people who killed Linalae’s parents.

Thereotically, Lili Rencove’s parents are not Linalae Vatbai’s parents. Technically, Linalae Vatbai’s parents never had any children. Here’s the catch.

Name and history can be erased, what can’t be erased is Linalae’s father’s eyes, Linalae’s mother’s nose, a Vatbai smile, Lili laughs the way Linalae’s mother did, Lili is stubborn like Linalae’s father.

Lili though, Lili is Lili. And she accepts this. She doesn’t care much that her name is different, she knows who she is. She knows giving up her name and past are part of serving empire and so she does it.

It happens again when Lili Rencove becomes Cipher Nine. And there goes another past.

Except Cipher Nine still mentions lilies are her favorite flower. She knows better than to reveal her true identity, and she doesn’t. Cipher Nine is a good Agent, Cipher Nine gets the job done. She tries to do it as peacefully as possibly, but when the order is given to pull the trigger she pulls the trigger.

She still works as peacefully as an assassin can, as a shadow operative can. Cipher Nine is working exactly the way Lili Rencove does, transferred to intelligence because Linalae Vatbai in military service managed to be diplomatic, empathetic, and still never failed to follow an order. She’s creative. It’s a useful skill to have.

(Sometimes Cipher Nine questions how useful that heart is. Moments when she’s left alone to her thoughts, when she can drop the mask, hold herself and wonder, has she done any good? Will she ever do anything good or is it a last cause? Would it be better or worse to have no heart? How many children has she left without parents the same way she was left?)

Cipher Nine is a charming persona she makes friends easily. Her crew are all her friends, even if she doesn’t trust most of them.

She trusts Vector. There is understanding between them when one day while tending to the lilies on ship (how they are kept alive Cipher Nine doesn’t know, despite the name Lili never was good at keeping flowers alive, and Linalae never learned how to grow anything, but Vector is good at minding flowers.) Cipher Nine is twiddling with the petal of one of the lilies, struck by sentiment, when softly she says “Linalae.” Vector looks to her, and she doesn’t need to say more. He understands.

“A lovely song.”

She wonders. But it’s nice to hear.

(And oh that sentimentality she has, it should be a weakness but she’s good at keeping it locked away, stored in a perfect container deep inside. It usually doesn’t show up like that, it only comes to haunt her at night, in dreams, or in her thoughts, only when she’s alone. Otherwise it’s locked up, locked away, locked away with the name Linalae, with her mother’s voice, her father’s smile, locked away with everything she’s ever done and any emotion that would get her killed in the field)

“It was easier to create someone new.”

Linalae, Lili, Cipher Nine wonders. Was it easier? Was any of this easier in the long run?

Cipher Nine hates Hunter, for many reasons. Cipher Nine isn’t sure she knows who is in front of her. Lili could have been friends with this woman, in another life. Linalae has to admit, for the first time, she actually would have returned Hunter’s advances if given now.

“I understand,” she says. And Cipher Nine does understand. She’s not sad when Hunter dies, but Hunter was the perfect enemy (in oh so many ways, not all good).

Finally, Cipher Nine dies. A ghost with no name is born. But not quite. Because Linalae, Lili, Cipher Nine decide they’re not a different person.

She calls Kaliyo, Vector, Doctor Lokin, Raina, and Scorpio for their first crew meeting since becoming free agents for the Empire. It’s an important first matter of business she says.

“Alright everyone,” she starts. “I’ve brought us together for this meeting because I think it’s time…you all start calling me Linalae.” A genuine smile is on her face at this.

(an epilogue of sorts - later Kaliyo drawls at Linalae, “Soo, how is Linalae different from Cipher Nine?” likely hoping Linalae is more fun. Linalae pauses, tilts her head, and smiles. “She isn’t.” )

[keldae]

Drastic Measures (Chapter Twenty-Three)

Lightsabers igniting around him, Corso Riggs ducked into the back of the chamber and scrambled his comm link. Kriffin’ hoped I’d never have to use this, he silently complained as he tapped in a particular sequence. There was a slight tremor to his touch, movements hurried. Designed to alert the network of an attack and request assistance, he had only used the alert code once before -- a test run on Thunder’s orders. Balmorra’s resistance cell managed to scatter and escape the Zakuulans before they needed to sound the alarm. Dantooine was not going to be so lucky.

“Hope someone nearby’s listening,” Corso muttered with a final tap to the comm. Shoving the unit back onto his belt, he pushed to his feet and hefted his blaster rifle. As he held the stock against his shoulder, he listened for the sounds of approaching enemy forces, one eye trained down his scope. “Sounds like we’ve got our work cut out for us, Torchy.”

Across the galaxy, the alert message had its desired effect as the signal rippled through the network. Each knew the day would come when it was needed, but the reality of it seemed surreal, especially coming as it had from Dantooine. No one expected the Enclave to be the first target on the Zakuulan radar. But then, no one expected Master Taerich to be alive, much less hiding there, either.

While the news was startling to Cole Cantarus and the Corellian cell, it was on Nar Shaddaa, Alderaan, and Tatooine that the alert provoked the most response.  

Kaliyo grumbled as she dropped the new scope she was attaching to her modified blaster rifle, scowling as she reached for the offending comm link. Blast, if whoever was contacting her right now didn’t have awful timing!

Her frustration turned to something approaching concern when she read the message. “Shit,” she whispered as she set her weapons to the side and lunged to her feet, running to find the old man. Cipher Nine needed to know this. “Agent!” she yelled, taking a corner at a run and nearly running right into her target. “Dantooine’s getting attacked, Agent.”

She couldn’t remember seeing Reanden Taerich ever going that shade of white before today.

Doc frowned as an alert started coming through on Vector’s computer console. “What’s that?” he asked, leaning over the Joiner’s shoulder to see.

“What is—” Vector frowned as he opened the alert. “It’s the Storm system. It’s an emergency warning code, coming from…” The Joiner paled and started frantically typing into the console. “Oh no. Oh, no.”

“What is it?” The Jedi who’d remained behind, Master Bel Iblis, stopped behind Vector and frowned at the anxiety she could sense. A few dozen metres away, Doc could hear the clicking of disturbed Killiks picking up on Vector’s anxiety. “Ambassador, what—”

“Dantooine’s under attack,” Vector hurriedly answered as he kept typing. “We need to warn Commander Malcom. Get Doctor Lokin and Doctor Oggurobb — we require assistance reaching Havoc’s comms while they're in hyperspace!”

Watching as Bel Iblis rushed off toward the resident scientists, Doc staggered back a step, fear lurching into his throat. Xaja was in danger -- again. Kriff, I hope that cure worked enough for you to fight, Red…

On Tatooine, it was Torian who delivered the news. Sorand -- Thunder, himself -- looked up sharply when he heard the Mandalorian’s shout echoing through the underground caves. He rose to his feet as Torian rushed into the command cavern. Alarm rippled through the Force from the blond-haired man, strongly enough to make Lana hurry in a second later, Corey right behind her. “What’s wrong, burc'ya?” the Sith asked as he started walking down toward the hunter, Korin right behind him.

“Dantooine…” Torian gasped as he shoved the datapad at Sorand. If he noted the Sith’s hands shake ever so slightly, he said nothing. “The Enclave’s under attack.”

All sound ceased in the cave as the resistance members struggled to process the news. Sorand looked down at the datapad, then at a rapidly-paling Korin, then back at Torian, feeling his face drain of colour. In an instant, however, his leadership mask fell into place. “Do your best to stay in contact with Corso; get any intel you can from him.” He whirled, looking to the former head of Sith Intelligence. “Lana, can you get in contact with the other cells and coordinate with their leaders?”

“I’m already on it.” The blonde Sith pulled her datapad out and began typing. Gloved fingers moved briskly across the surface, even as she spoke. “Your sister and Theron aren’t allowed to die before I’ve had a chance to tear them both a new one for sheer idiocy.”

“There ain’t a hope in hell that anyone’s gonna reach ‘em in time, Sith,” Andronikos spoke up. He was unusually sombre as he rested a hand on Sorand’s shoulder. “I know it’s your sister, but the only thing anyone’s gonna be able to do once they get there is scare off the vultures.”

“We have to try,” Sorand whispered, his fingers clutching onto the datapad hard enough to turn his knuckles white beneath his gloves. “We’re either saving them or avenging them.”

It was a hard toss-up, Theron thought, as to what was more terrible: the sounds of an orbital bombardment pummelling the ground overhead, or the sudden eruption of blaster fire and mechanical warcries of Skytroopers as the Zakuulans swarmed into the caves. Drawing his blasters in the same motion as he got to his feet, Theron fired as the hum of igniting lightsabers filled the cavern around him. Two of the blades were immediately extinguished as the Jedi holding them fell to the Skytroopers’ blaster fire.

He glanced over to the side, just seeing Corso fall back to frantically type a code into his comm link — probably a distress call to the Storm system. “Any odds we can get out of these caves and lose them?” he called over.

“Not likely,” Guss called back, guarding Corso with a lightsaber held in shaking hands. “Not unless we can get through the active kinrath tunnels…”

“Those are almost worse than the Zaks are,” interjected a raven-haired Jedi with striking violet makeup.

A particularly loud explosion rippled through the cave -- loud enough to temporarily drown out the sounds of battle. “And I think those were our emergency shuttles,” muttered Ashara, looking in the direction of the explosion.

“Great,” Theron muttered as he shot down another Skytrooper. They must have tracked us from Voss, he mused. The old man must not have been as good a distraction as he thought. If the explosion had been the destruction of the evac shuttles, then the ship they arrived on, the Corellian corvette belonging to his mother, might be their only way off world… provided that hadn’t been found and blasted apart as well. That, however, depended on them getting out of the caves. And right now, that didn’t look likely.

He had to give them credit: the Jedi were putting up an impressive defence. Satele had rallied the Jedi around her to form a wall of spinning blades, guarding the rebels who had already fallen and were out of the fight. How well could — Theron did a quick headcount — fifty-odd assorted Force-users hold off what looked like a full platoon of Skytroopers,  human Zakuulan soldiers, and, to his dismay, the incoming flood of Zakuulan knights?

Then he saw a blur of green and blue as two human women jumped into the fray. The taller Jedi wielded a bright green saberstaff, the shorter bearing two vivid blue twin lightsabers. His heart leapt into his throat when he got a feel of Xaja’s mental state — steely, stubborn determination, and a fierce combative streak that no Jedi training could tame fully. A week ago you could barely function! he silently protested, nanoseconds before he felt the hair on his neck stand on end and dodged to the left, a blaster bolt thudding into the stone wall behind him.

But apparently two years in carbonite and a month of being dangerously ill hadn’t diminished Xaja’s combat abilities. Theron wasn’t sure if it was the effect of fighting beside Kira again for the first time in so long, or if her reconnection to the Force had brought back the muscle memory of ‘saber duelling. Whatever it was, it was like he was watching her fly into battle on Rishi again, or Manaan, or Ziost, or Yavin IV. She handled herself like a dancer, fluid and graceful, yet deadly quick with her blades and too acrobatic with the fast-paced Ataru form to be easily hit by the Zakuulans. The Jedi Battlemaster, Hero of Tython, and Bane of Technically-One-And-A-Half Emperors was back in her element, a perfectly seamless unit beside her former Padawan.

The shouts from the Zakuulans rose in volume as the hated ‘assassin’ was recognized, fire focusing on her. One of the Knights lunged at Xaja, polesaber striking from above; the Jedi nimbly avoided the blow in a maneuver that made Theron’s back ache in sympathy. She then launched into a counter-attacked against the Zakuulan, switching to what Theron was pretty sure was the Juyo form of aggression —

“The terrorist! Take him!”

Shit. Theron dodged backwards as another Knight swooped in for the attack, just barely getting out of the way of the plasma blade. He wasn’t sure if there were orders for him and Xaja to be brought in alive, and he really didn’t want to find out firsthand. He fired a series of rapid shots at the Knight, forcing the Zakuulan on the defensive as a red-haired Miraluka woman darted in to help with the fight. Finding himself back to back with Corso, he unleashed another storm of bolts into the Zakuulans as the Mantellian shot down another Skytrooper with a challenging yell. “Any luck from the system?” he shouted over the sounds of the fight.

“If the signal got out. I’m kriffin’ hopin’ so.” Corso swore, using some expletives that Theron was pretty sure he picked up from Korin. “Be a good time for some gorram grenades right about now!”

“You’re not wrong.” Theron ducked another Skytrooper shot. For an instant, he allowed himself to wonder if his bond with Xaja was letting him leech off her Force-sensitivity, giving him Jedi instincts. “If the signal did get through, how long do you think it’ll take for Thunder to get help out?”

“Unless someone’s already on their way for other reasons?” Corso’s brow creased worriedly. “Dunno if anyone’ll get here in time.”

This time it was Theron who swore out loud. It was unclear as to whether it was from Corso’s grim words; from another Zakuulan Knight charging at him, only intercepted at the last second by his mother; or from Xaja catching an unlucky kick to her leg. He watched as she crumpled with a yelp. Kira dove in to cover her.

A warning prickled against Theron’s awareness, but he didn’t recognize it in time to do more than turn his upper body slightly. The blaster bolt that would have taken him in the chest instead slammed into his shoulder, making him stagger backward with a strangled cry. He heard an alarmed shout of “Theron!” before a slender, yet surprisingly strong hand grabbed his arm and dragged him out of immediate danger -- his mother’s hand.

The former Grand Master adjusted her grip on her saber-staff to provide something of a shield, reaching for Theron’s injured shoulder with her free hand. “It’s not lethal,” she murmured, inspecting the wound. “It looks like it should be easily treatable if —”

The caverns shook with the echoes of another explosion, and Theron looked away from his burning injury to exchange a look with his mother. “I don’t think that’s going to be a concern,” he quietly said. “Not unless you think the Force can work a miracle.”

Satele offered him a small, sad smile as she moved her hand up to gently touch his cheek, with a soft touch that Theron wouldn’t have ever expected to come from her. “Theron, whatever happens down here…” She hesitated, taking a breath to steady herself and blinking in the dim light. “I’m proud of you. I have always been a very proud mother, and I wish I had told you long ago.”

Those were words that Theron had never expected to hear from Satele Shan, not even during the few years under Master Zho’s care when he had actually been an idealistic child before he discovered cynicism. But it was something he would never admit he wanted to hear from her… no matter how desperately he did. “Thanks, Mom,” he whispered, and saw Satele’s eyes soften for possibly the first time that he could remember--

He sharply looked up as a Knight of Zakuul appeared over Satele’s right shoulder, polesaber raised to stab the Grand Master in the back while she was distracted. A sudden spike of protective fear lanced through Theron’s chest. He felt his blaster settle back in his hand and quickly raised his uninjured arm to fire at the Knight. The Zakuulan fell with a blaster bolt in the centre of his helmet, not having suspected the spy to have been able to shoot him down so quickly.

Satele whirled as the blaster discharged, eyes widening as she looked at first the Knight’s body, then back at Theron’s hand. “What was that?” she breathed out, sounding more startled than Theron could ever remember her being before. The spy looked down at the blaster in question, then felt his heart stop for a second. Hadn’t he dropped the weapon when he was shot? Then how had it returned to his hand…?

He looked up to meet his mother’s dumbstruck look, a second before he felt a prickle of warning and ducked another shot that would have grazed his ear. Giving her head a quick shake, Satele spun back to the battle, saber-staff lighting the air around her as she deflected more shots away from her son. Forcing himself to put away the thoughts of how his blaster had returned to his hand, Theron gritted his teeth around the pain from his shoulder and fired around his mother, taking out a Skytrooper with deadly accuracy. Chances were that he wasn’t going to survive long enough to puzzle out what had happened anyway. May as well use the opportunity to take down as many Zakuulans as he could before the resistance cell fell.

Arcann rested his chin on his metallic hand as he studied the intelligence in front of him regarding Taerich and Shan. From Rishi to Dromund Kaas to Voss to— he glanced at the latest update from Overwatch— Dantooine? You have been moving around quickly. From what he understood of the Core Worlds, the idea of a Jedi willingly going to Dromund Kaas was unthinkable, half due to the risks of being murdered by a Sith, and half to the negative impacts of the Dark Side on them. Taerich must truly have been desperate to flee there.

But then, she also had ulterior motivations to go there. Accessing the information on Darth Imperius once again, he compared the profile of the Sith to that of Xaja Taerich. Yes, he could now see the striking resemblance between them. Pulling up an image of Cipher Nine, he could then see the traits both children seemed to inherit from the illustrious spy. So she fled to her family, and brought her lover and her friend with her.

Empress Acina swore she knew nothing of Imperius’ loyalties, and had given orders for her fellow Dark Councillor to be hunted down. The Eternal Emperor was not keen on trusting the Sith’s words. She would need to be investigated.

So Cipher Nine had fathered Taerich and Imperius; risked his own safety to protect his daughter -- after selling her to the Jedi as a child. Arcann frowned, unable to wrap his head around that concept. If he, Thexan, or Vaylin had been in such straits, Valkorion would have simply abandoned them. Their mother, on the other hand, had always been sentimental, attempting to ‘rescue’ them multiple times. Cipher Nine must be weak to be swayed by his daughter. That must be it. Coddling was what mothers did, he thought, not fathers.

Still, rumours circulated wildly through his Imperial contacts of the agent’s prowess in handling even rogue Sith -- despite being Force-blind himself. Forced to protect his children, then, it was clear he had a skill set more than up to the task. Thus, weak though he might have been, the former Imperial spy remained a significant threat.

And while Xaja Taerich’s mother was confirmed to be long dead, she also had another brother, according to the files procured by Sith Intelligence: Korin Taerich, infamous Republic privateer and smuggler, who hadn’t been seen in months. Arcann frowned. Not knowing if the rogue captain was powerful with the Force like his siblings was a factor he wasn’t pleased with. Even if the captain had no connection to the Force -- which Arcann thought unlikely, given his Jedi mother and the power demonstrated by his two siblings -- there was a significant chance he had also inherited his father’s intelligence and ruthless characteristics. If he had half of Cipher Nine’s reputed intellect and vicious streak, he, too, could prove to be dangerous.

He sighed. It seemed the whole damned family, with concentrated effort, could possibly dismantle everything he had built, piece by piece. He couldn’t allow that to happen.   

Frowning, Arcann then accessed another report taken from the Republic’s intelligence services. Theron Shan’s face stared at him in holo form, alongside those of the former Supreme Commander Jace Malcom and former Grand Master Satele Shan. The bastard son of two Republic war heroes, the spy had become something of a hero in his own right. He had earned his own influence to wield, likely with Republic forces or intelligence services. If he was truly Force-blind as the reports claimed, perhaps, the Zakuulan emperor mused, that influence was what Taerich saw in him.

Best to take out both troublesome families now, he decided, before they grew to be problems. Unfortunately, Cipher Nine had vanished somewhere in the chaotic Hutta system, and Imperius had gone rogue, disappearing without a trace. Jace Malcom’s whereabouts were also uncertain… but Satele Shan -- she had been located. Even better, it was suspected that her son and Master Taerich were with her.

A slow grin crept across his features, only half-visible behind the mask. Even if she doesn’t have them, she’ll have information. And perhaps the terrorist will come out of hiding for his mother.

Settling back into the Eternal Throne, Arcann switched on the stream of data provided by  the Overwatch feeds. The Knight-Captain leading the attack force had reported finding a group of hidden Jedi rebels, likely under Master Shan’s leadership. Even if neither of the Shans was on Dantooine, there would be one fewer pocket of resistance in the galaxy by nightfall.

Zakuul’s flaw was pride.

The GEMINI captain looked down at the life sign readings from her ship’s crew. “I am fully assured of the Knight-Captain’s imminent victory, Overseer,” she addressed the holo figure of the Overwatch officer. “The Jedi cannot withstand an assault like this, or escape now that we have destroyed their shuttles.”

“We witness the last gasps of the Jedi resistance,” the overseer agreed, smugness in his tone even over the holo. “This will strike fear into the hearts of the rest of the galaxy’s would-be rebels. The assassin and terrorist will answer for their crimes.”

“I do hope the Republic assets do not believe in ritual suicide in the face of defeat,” GEMINI commented. “It would be a shame to not witness —”

The proximity alerts sounded. GEMINI turned her head to view the new alert coming through on her screens; if she could have frowned in confusion, she would have. “What the—?”

Cannon fire pummelled the side of the distracted ship, and one proud vessel of the Eternal Fleet went up in flames.

The forces of the Eternal Empire were well-trained and well-armed, and outnumbered the Republic or the Empire’s forces by an almost hilarious amount. But no army was completely flawless.

The incoming ship swooped low into Dantooine’s atmosphere, easily tracking the battle at the falling Jedi Enclave. The Knight-Captain leading the attack frowned when she heard the sound of a large ship’s engines bearing down on her location, knowing that she hadn’t given the command for her ship to reinforce her troops. She looked up, pale green eyes widening. She watched in shock as she and the troops still outside the cave entrances were mown down by cannon fire.

Even over the din of battle, the rumble of a ship’s engines descending over the roof of the hidden Enclave was entirely audible. Theron groaned, only partially from the pain in his shoulder, feeling Xaja’s awareness shift toward the sky. She could sense new lifeforms, and through her, Theron felt a sense of their bloodlust and adrenaline. The Zakuulans must have called in reinforcements to ensure the defeat of the resistance cell and the last Jedi rebels.

He shook his head as Xaja’s awareness overpowered his own; she was growing too tired to maintain a shield between herself and Theron, and he swore he could feel everything she did. The Skytroopers radiated no emotions, but the Zakuulan humans more than made up for the droids -- all Theron could feel from them was greedy excitement, pride, and the feeling of an imminent, assured victory. It was a stark contrast to the growing despair of the Jedi, faltering wills, exhaustion, and fear mingling with grim acceptance of what was to come.

Theron turned his head as Xaja suddenly sensed new lifeforms entering the caverns at a hurried run, rage and stubborn determination colouring the Force to red. The spy sighed, shifted to stand back-to-back with Corso as the younger mercenary kept firing at the Zakuulans with a challenging whoop. He raised his blaster with his good arm. “Good knowin’ you, Riggs,” he grunted as his finger tightened on the trigger, the bolt shooting out and slamming into a Zakuulan’s leg. The attacker dropped with a scream.

“You too, Shan.” Corso shifted against Theron’s back, his arm jerking slightly with the recoil of his rifle. “The cap’n’s gonna bring me back to life to kill me again for dyin’ out here like this.”

“Hells, the old man’s gonna do that to me for putting his daughter in danger.” Theron scowled. “I think he’d do it twice, too.” Corso snorted a wordless laugh that wasn’t disagreement with Theron’s grim prediction before shifting again, taking aim as the new lifeforms stormed into the cavern.

A new round of blaster fire joined the chorus of battle, rounds of plasma bolts tearing into the fray. Shouts arose from the chaos -- sounds of confusion and sudden, new uncertainty. When Theron focused along Xaja’s piggybacked senses, he was surprised to realize the new fear was coming from the Zakuulans as they were attacked from behind. “The resistance?” he asked, mostly to himself, as Corso turned to frown in bewilderment.

A deafening battle cry sounded as the newly-arriving soldiers fully moved into Theron’s line of sight. His jaw dropped when he recognized first the large number of decidedly-non-Zakuulan aliens in the newly-arriving force, and then recognized the sigils adorning their armour -- not to mention the unmistakable war droid in the ranks, gleefully firing at the Zakuulans. “Havoc Squad!” he shouted, and wasn’t sure if he was relieved to see his father’s old squad here, or worried at the possibility of Havoc still being loyal to Saresh.

Either way, the mood in the caves changed abruptly. Panic stirred in the Zakuulan ranks as the Jedi found renewed morale and pushed themselves forward for a final stand. Those uninjured joined ranks with Havoc’s front lines, and what looked like an extra squad or two of Republic soldiers; the rest started to fall back to Satele’s rallying point behind the lines, the grievously-injured leaning on their comrades as they prepared to fight or flee the caves.

Theron felt a nudge against his back as Corso turned toward him. “Think that’s our cue to head out?” the smuggler asked over the din.

“Good a time as any,” Theron grunted in agreement as he let Corso start pushing him toward the shelter created by Havoc’s lines. Out of the corner of his eye, he recognized Aric Jorgan’s lean, angular features highlighted by the explosion of a Skytrooper. The battle droid crumbled under the Cathar’s matchless aim. Either Havoc’s newest CO had been on a recruiting spree, or he had called in some favours with other Republic soldiers sympathizing with the resistance.

A large hand closed itself over Theron’s elbow and pulled, disturbing the burned wound in his shoulder. The spy hissed in pain, and the hand loosened its grip slightly. When Theron looked up to see who had grabbed him, he felt his heart leap into his throat at the sight of Jace Malcom staring back at him. The old soldier appeared to want to say something to his wayward son, but couldn’t seem to make the words form. For a second, Theron felt both Corso’s sudden confusion, and a heavy wave of too many emotions to sort or name from his father --

Another Skytrooper exploded from a lightsaber strike, and Jace seemed to snap himself out of his daze. “Move!” he barked out, giving Theron a shove toward the tunnel his forces had just entered through. Theron gratefully let himself be guided toward freedom by Corso’s hand on his other arm, just barely aware of Jace shifting his own position as if to provide the younger men a shield made by his own body.

He lingered long enough to look back, trying to find Xaja’s bright hair in the middle of the battle. For a second, despite the bond connecting them, he felt a spike of fear when he couldn’t immediately see her diminutive frame in the middle of the chaos. Then he saw Satele pulling the redhead out by her elbow and giving her a push toward Theron and the stream of injured Jedi survivors fleeing the Enclave. At this distance, through so much chaos he was unable to hear or lip-read the comments his mother made to the petite Jedi.

Xaja nodded at Satele and finally bolted for the exit to the caves, Kira only a step behind her. Theron felt a probe along their bond as Xaja then reached out to find him. Emerald eyes met amber, and Theron felt her relief at seeing him upright and alive. She nodded to confirm she was all right and right behind him. It was only then that Theron finally turned to flee the cavern with Corso’s aid.

In the middle of the desperate battle, there hadn’t been time nor focus for Satele to consider what she had witnessed. And there certainly hadn’t been time to ask Theron what that was, as she had fought to defend her injured son for as long as she could.

Nor had there been time to ponder what she had seen as Jace’s forces stormed the caverns, much less time to wonder how the blazes the former Supreme Commander knew to come with backup. However he had known, Satele would be eternally grateful he had come when he did.  Then she had been too busy pulling her wounded Jedi back from the fight, barely looking up to make sure Theron and Xaja escaped alive. After that, it was running for Jace’s warship, one eye worriedly looking up at the sky for Zakuulan reinforcements. Jace had caught the first Zakuulan warship off guard, but he wouldn’t have that same advantage should the rest of the Eternal Fleet show up.

It was only after the entirety of survivors and their Republic rescuers had boarded the ship, and were fleeing the ruins of the Enclave that Satele let herself fall into a chair. Her mind raced as she tried to plan the next destinations of the Jedi survivors, or the impact this would have on the resistance. Thunder wouldn’t be pleased that the cell had been compromised, she knew, but at least most of her people had made it out. She closed her eyes in a moment of silence for the fourteen Jedi who had joined the Force. The loss of that many Jedi Knights was painful.

As her mind tumbled over the battle, the memory of what she had seen rushed back, and Satele opened her eyes with a frown. For thirteen years Theron had trained with Ngani Zho, never once experiencing the wonder that was an active connection to the Force. It had been assumed that he was Force-blind like his father. It seemed that, if he was going to become aware of a connection to the Force, he should have felt it years ago. Not even being permanently bonded to a powerful Jedi Master like Xaja Taerich should be enough to allow a Force-blind being to wield it.

Still, there was no other explanation for the way Theron’s blaster, lost when he was shot, found its way back into his hand, allowing him to fire a such a lethal blow so quickly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t convince herself that she had hallucinated it, or that the strange brightness she could feel around him was just something she was only noticing after having not seen him for over a year. What did that Voss ritual do to you?