#moraband

[gffa]

Star Wars planets Source: Nexus of Power, Knights of Fate, Collapse of the Republic, Rise of the Separatists [Fantasy Flight Games]

[starwarsfangirl]

𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙤 𝙖𝙨 𝙆𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙖𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙.

―𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙞𝙩𝙝

[darth-maul-of-dathomir]

A sister brought me a book today. Not a nightsister mind you, one of the other clans. She was uninterested in speaking of it, simply handed me a tome and said 'leave it somewhere when you are done', then disappeared.

I opened the book and it greeted me, words writing themselves as I watched. It introduced itself as Shin, and asked me to write my name. I made charcoal and sharpened it to write 'Jagannath'. This seemed wiser than penning my own name in my own hand, on paper that tingled with the force like the shimmer of sunlight on water.

The tome offered me knowledge in exchange for my own, then the pages all went blank. I wrote... many things. Some stray bits of knowledge, excerpts from sith scripture, idle thoughts in my mind, events from my visions long past and not yet happened, and on. It was oddly enjoyable to scrawl without the need to clarify my thoughts into some semblance of rationality, as I do here.

When at last I felt done, the words began to order themselves. The Qotsisajak cleaned itself up, translated itself into ur-kittât, and became luminous. My thoughts of the future ordered themselves into chronological order, rated themselves on probability, and came together into a section labeled 'The Prophecies of Darth Maul'. It was interesting to watch the book take all that I had given it and organize it like a strange librarian.

Then, the pages cleared again, and knowledge it did indeed share. A fair trade, by my estimate.

I... could not tolerate the thought of leaving it on some stray patch of dirt. I would sooner leave a holocron laying in the mud. Instead, I am walking toward the Singing Mountain. They may have it, our deal is done.

[firealder2005]

AMOW: Winter Wumperland 2022 Day. 12 Forced to Perform~Animal Attack~Forced Transformation

Featuring............COUSIN BONDING TIME!!! 

What cousins, you ask? Why, it’s Luke Skywalker, Ryoo Naberrie, & Pooja Naberrie all on a mission to an old Sith planet to look for a base.

Easy peasy right? WRONG!

This is going to be a multichap since I realized I’m just having way too much fun writing the cousins and I was already 5 pages in before they even stepped foot on plant lol.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43545942/chapters/109486980

Enjoy!

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Ryoo Naberrie, when she was younger, had dreamed of being an artist, or a historian. She had loved creating art and learning about it - and over time, had formed the desire to preserve as much of it as possible.

Maybe back when she was a small child, it wouldn’t have been such a hard job. After all, Naboo was famous for its love of art, beauty, and charm.

However, everything changed with the formation of the Empire, and their accompanying censorships.

It cracked down on any and all information about the Jedi Naboo held. Confiscated parts of their history involving revolts, unfair taxation, and even locked up the majority of information on Ryoo’s own aunt - the kind, beautiful, passionate Padme Amidala.

That had been the final straw for Ryoo Naberrie.

So she called one of her aunt’s old handmaidens, Sabe, and she was able to get her in contact with Leia Organa, Senator of Alderaan - a longtime ally of Naboo.

The two of them had worked out a way to allow Ryoo to get the Rebellion inside information in the Imperial network that they had hidden - and that had required Ryoo learning how to hack, code, and cover her tracks in the holonet.

She had to say, she rather enjoyed the work.

Plus, she got to dig around in the censored part of the holonet. Even if she couldn’t bring all that she had learned into the open (yet), it was still an exhilarating learning experience.

Until she got caught.

Thankfully, Ryoo’s defection hadn’t been detected until after the Imperial Senate had been dissolved, so Pooja, her sister, hadn’t suffered any backlash from the uppity upper class of the Empire.

But unfortunately, Ryoo’s attempted arrest and bounty had put a target on her whole family’s backs, and Pooja had been forced to go on the run with her while their mother, father, and grandparents were all put under house arrest.

It had been just her and Pooja, until Leia, now a wanted Rebel, extended a formal invitation to join the Rebellion - physically.

And, well, they had nothing else going for them at the moment.

Plus, it would be nice to be able to take a shot at the Empire.

And she could provide the Rebellion propaganda team with the many secret Imperial gossip she had found…

And that’s how Ryoo found herself where she was now. On a mission with Pooja, and Luke Skywalker, Death Star pilot, Jedi-in-training, former commander of Rogue (now Red) Squadron.

And son of Uncle Anakin.

When Ryoo had first heard of Luke, she had immediately gotten whiplash. And then anger set in.

The less said about what she did afterwards, the better. Not her finest moment, to say the least.

But Ryoo also knew Luke as the son of her aunt.

Of Padme.

He was her cousin, and he probably didn’t know, but she had no clue on how to break it to him.

It was maddening, really.

“High Command wants us to check out this planet,” Luke said, pointing to the holoprojection of a system. “It’s in the Korriban system, so we’ll have to be careful with our hyperspace jumps, but there should be an easy route right here,” he minimized the system projection and zoomed out further, before motioning between their current position near Bothawui and a planet Ryoo had never heard of - Athiss.

“Athiss is a hard planet to get to,” Luke explained as Ryoo closely studied the star map. “Hyperspace lanes have been unpredictable in the Korriban system for some time, and there’s only one way to get to Athiss.” he brought the hyperspace lanes up onto the star map. “We’ll need to jump to Korriban, then Ziost, and then we’ll have a straight-shot for Athiss.”

“Recalculating along the way, I’m guessing right?” Pooja added. Luke nodded, a light smile on his face.

“Right, after every jump we’ll have to recalculate. High Command doesn’t want to take any risks,”

“Any more than usual,” Ryoo shrugged.

“And recalculating our path after each jump should maximize our chances of not being pulled off-course.”

“Sounds good,” Pooja said, nudging her older sister’s shoulder playfully.

“When do we leave?” Ryoo asked.

Luke turned the holoprojector off, that smile still on his face. “30 minutes.”

LINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAK

A few evasion of Imperial forces and a tight escape from a bounty hunter later found Luke and his companions emerging from hyperspace above the dark red planet of Korriban.

Instantly, Luke tightened his grip on the ship’s controls, shuddering a bit at the dark, malevolent forces coming from the planet. He felt so much anger, hatred, even tendrils of fear…

And whatever was down there could sense him.

Jedi…something hissed in his mind, almost making him jump. 

“You good Luke?” one of his companions, Ryoo, asked. He recalled she was the older sister between her and Pooja, and had come from Naboo after Ryoo herself had been found out as an Rebel spy.

“Yeah,” he called back as Ryoo entered the cockpit. “I’m good. Just got a nasty feeling from that planet.” he nodded towards the red clouds storming across Korriban’s skies.

“Well, good news,” Ryoo grinned. “We will not have to go there.”

Luke snorted. “Don’t jinx it for me.”

Laughing, Ryoo plopped down into the co-pilot's seat as Luke began their recalculations to the planet Ziost.

“You know, I’ve done a little research on our way here,” Ryoo began conversationally.

“Yeah?” Luke replied, fiddling with the hyperspace controls. “I’ve heard you’ve got quite the talent for it.”

“Thank you,” Ryoo spun the chair around to face him, hands on her Rebellion-issued pants. “Good to know my reputation proceeds me!” Luke shot her a smile as the recalculatiosn started.

“Korriban, also known as Morraband, was apparently homeworld to the Sith,” Ryoo explained as their ship powered up its hyperdrive and shot into hyperspace. “Lots of creepy artifacts and - allegedly - some spirits of ancient Sith still reside there.”

Luke grimaced. “That doesn’t make me want to go there.”

Ryoo punched him in the shoulder after he let go of the controls. “Wasn’t trying to convince you,” she said. “I think we’re in a system that used to belong to the Sith,” she explained at Luke’s questioning look. “And Athiss is in it.”

Luke’s mouth opened slightly as he slowly turned his chair around to face her. “So we should be very careful,” he slowly concluded.

Ryoo nodded. “Exactly.”

Luke leaned back in his seat and sighed. “Why are my missions never normal?” he grumbled slightly. Ryoo gave a cheeky grin.

“Maybe because of the Force?”

“If the Force is the problem, then I’d like to file a complaint.” Luke let his own grin form.

“I bet it’ll say to give it to the complaint department,” Ryoo continued, her grin widening as she pointed to the mini trash compactor.

“Ha, ha, ha,” Luke dryly replied. “Very funny.”

That was when Pooja poked her head in. “My “Ryoo is being impertinent” senses were tingling,” she reported, fixing her sister with a look. “What’s going on here?”

Ryoo gave an exaggerated eye roll to Luke, making him smile even more. “Oh, nothing baby sister,” she teased. “Just discussing what the Force would say about Luke’s complaints.”

Pooja shook her head with a sigh, but a smile was on her face. “Well, don’t get too into it, okay?” she said. “You never know if the Force may take it the wrong way!”

“I’ll be sure to put a word in.” Luke offered with a deadpan stare.

“For or against me?” Ryoo asked.

Luke cracked a grin. “Against.”

Ryoo gasped, slapping her hand to her chest. “Treachery!” she dramatically exclaimed. “Betrayal!”

“It’ll serve you right!” Pooja teased, coming to sit down on one of the spare passenger seats. “Think the Force could handle her?” she asked Luke, who shrugged.

“Don’t know, maybe it’ll immediately drop her back on us.” he responded. He laughed as Ryoo shoved his shoulder and did the same to her sister.

“Oh, shut it you two!” the older of the group grinned. “Or I may lock you in a storage closet when we get back!”

“You’ll have to deal with Leia’s wrath then,” Luke innocently said.

“Damn!” Ryoo threw her hands into the air. “There’s no winning with you!”

Luke simply threw his head back and laughed.

LINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE

Pooja couldn’t believe it.

She had actually managed to find her cousin! Luke Skywalker!

And not only that, but she’s on a mission with both him and her sister!

The only thing that would make it better is if…if the rest of their family was with them.

Her heart twisted at the thought of her parents and beloved grandparents on the scrutiny of the Empire. She hoped they were okay, and would do what they needed to in order to survive.

Even if it meant denouncing Pooja and Ryoo.

She would want them to suffer because of their true allegiance.

“So, Luke, what vibes did you get from Ziost?”

“Death. Betrayal. Darkness.”

“Ooookay. Yeah we’re not going there either.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Pooja smiled at the banter Ryoo had easily entered with their cousin. Luke was fun to talk to - funny, kind, and clever.

It reminded her of Uncle Ani.

“You know Luke,” Pooja butted into the conversation, flinging her arms around the headrest of Luke’s seat. “Would you be interested in any help with Jedi artifact finding? Ryoo would be an excellent help.”

Luke looked mildly surprised, like he hadn’t thought about actively finding Jedi artifacts.

Ryoo raised an eyebrow, but looked pleased at the idea.

“Eventually,” Luke said. “I think I would, and if she’s interested…” he raised his own brow in Ryoo’s direction, and she instantly nodded her agreement.

“It’s a plan!” Pooja’s sister announced as they came out of hyperspace.

“Welcome to Athiss,” Luke said as they came to hover over the planet. Looking out the viewport, Pooja saw the brown and blue landscape flecked with parts of dark green. White clouds curled throughout the planet’s sky.

“Vibe check?” Ryoo leaned over and staged-whispered to Luke. Pooja gave her a chiding look. Honestly, it felt like Pooja was the older sister sometimes!

Luke was frowning. “There is life down there all right,” he said as they began their descent into the clouds. “It doesn’t seem to be as darkness-heavy as Korriban or Ziost, but I’m still getting a bad feeling about it.”

“Great,” Pooja sighed. “Who’s ready?”

“Not me.” Ryoo and Luke replied together.

“Neither am I,” Pooja agreed. “But here goes nothing.”

Their ship came in for a landing, Luke being very careful not to clip the sides on any of the vast mountain ranges.

“It’s curious,” Ryoo said as the ship powered down. “This isn’t anything like I had expected from a Sith world. It’s very…habitable. Not creepy.”

They all stared out of the viewport.

“I think that is exactly what makes it so creepy.” Pooja heard Luke murmur to himself.

He was right.

There was something off about Athiss.

Very off.

[bettsfic]

so i finished rebels and i have some Thoughts and Feelings i need to process so they are going here on my blog. (spoilers ahead)

for three seasons i hated ezra bridger. i thought he was such a boring protagonist and poorly written and i was so bummed to find out he was the main character

but THEN

sometime during season 3 my hatred came full circle. i started hating him so much i began to devise interpretations of his character i would not despise.

at first my initial attempt was that he made a great side character and an awful protagonist

i love that everyone loves him and it's completely illogical but the writing seems to be aware of that and how funny it is? kanan, hondo, and maul are all ready to throw down for him immediately

but what really worked was

into the nothingness, apropos nothing, i said aloud, "puppyboy ezra?"

i informed my roommate that i could bear ezra as long as i interpreted him solely as a puppyboy

*sensible chuckle* how ooc, i thought

my roommate was like, uh strange you should say that.......

i thought, haha i bet there's a dog in an episode or something

i proceeded to outline a very long puppyboy ezra fic (which i definitely plan to write; whether or not i post it remains to be seen)

((i ship ezra with a certain character that is so obvious to me but there are only 5 fics on ao3 and i'm devastated. i guess there will just be 5 drabbles and one 60k psychologically fraught modern au in the tag))

and i am simply knocked DEAD to discover that the series ends with GIANT SPACE WOLVES

listen

i love wolves

love them

specifically i love giant

space

wolves

in fact i have purchased every piece of artwork i can find on the internet depicting giant space wolves and they are all hanging on my wall as we speak

and so i felt deeply eerily called out when ezra's conclusion involves being spiritually connected to a wolfpack

i'm mostly shocked that rebels seems to be that bizarre mix of amazing but falls steeply short of its own promise, a la sherlock and early supernatural. the stuff that pings my "gotta fix this gotta fix it gotta add porn" lizard brain and i end up writing 100k

actually if i get out of this fandom under 100k i'll be shocked

hellcheer have one scene together in a show i don't even like and i wrote 100k about it in a few months

i have nearly 4 years of graduate education in creative writing and i Cannot Determine if rebels is good or if i'm just so personally fucked up by giant space wolves that i can no longer see it clearly

also

i wrote 7k of organic chemistry today and i'm hoping to get ahead by a couple chapters so it'll still be a while before i post (wednesday maybe?)

and then i'll focus on office au bdsm rexsoka

and then maybe (?) my post-apocalypse au

and then the puppyboy ezra fic no one will read but that's okay because i am writing it for me

i have more thoughts on rebels and clone wars and i'd love to write some metas but right now i need to face the treacherous mountain climb of fic-writing ahead of me and make peace with it

[aspentreewrites]

and when all the flowers are rotten and all the cannons shot

Chapter 2

Pairings: Codywan

Tags/Warnings: (for current arc) slow burn, fake dating, only one bed, general angst and pining, Obi-Wan is not as mentally stable as he may seem, AO3 rating is E for future chapters

Link to read on AO3 here!

Description:

The truth of the matter burrows deep into Cody’s skin, settling into the home it’s long-since made for itself there, nestled tightly amongst the other secrets he harbours that are too shameful to ever speak aloud.

He digs his fingers into his temples, breathing in heavy lungfuls of the steam-drenched air as if it might reverse the realisation that now weighs upon his heart like lead.

This is no longer just some passing infatuation.

He’s in love with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

(or: an account of the relationship between one Marshal Commander and his General from in the midst of a war.)

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to @whenyourfavouritedies (their AO3 link here) for beta reading.

Fun fact: my WIP document title for this chapter was 'middle aged man yaoi', so do with that what you will. Get ready for much pining and shenanigans - also an exceedingly indulgent dive into my favourite lightsaber headcanons.

Please let me know if you're interested in being added to a taglist!

Wordcount: 9.6k - link to chapter 1 here

✷✷✷✷✷

Cody wakes slowly, a number of objective facts about his surroundings flitting through his awareness as he produces a tactical assessment of the situation he finds himself in.

The first thing he notices is sunlight. Soft, gentle, yet altogether far too much brightness pressing against his eyelids for this time in the morning. A low groan slips its way out of Cody’s mouth as he presses his face into his pillow, trying in vain to chase the peaceful dream he's been rudely woken from. Something to do with a pair of pet tookas…? It’s lost to him now, despite his efforts.

The second thing Cody takes stock of is the solid, steady, yet altogether unfamiliar warmth of something nearby to him. Something, his mind supplies to him lazily, that’s breathing.

This series of truths might, on a usual morning, serve to alarm the Commander in his half-awake state; this morning, however, Cody just finds himself sinking back into the allure of a light doze. 

You’re safe here, his subconscious whispers to him, just let yourself rest.

It’s not the message he’s used to hearing upon waking in an unfamiliar location. He spares a moment to marvel at the rarity of it all, before he gives himself over to it, completely.

It’s only later when a light, warm breeze passes through the room, courtesy of the balcony door he’d left ajar the previous night, that Cody finally opens his eyes.

… And with the action, he finds himself jolted into awareness with all the subtlety of a raging bantha. He remembers where he is. Exactly where he is. A luxurious hotel room, a number of gaudy decoration choices, and a kriffing Jedi asleep in bed beside him.

Cody swallows thickly.

Slowly, carefully, he shifts to sit up so they’re not laying facing one another as they were. He thanks every deity he knows of for the fact that they’d remained relatively on their own sides of the bed last night - if they were any closer, he’s not sure he could have handled it. 

As he watches the steady rise and fall of the sheets with each breath from Obi-Wan, Cody feels a painfully familiar ache in his chest - one he’d long-since promised himself he would forget. 

As much as it would be easier for him to continue to pretend that he has absolutely no idea what’s been causing this uncomfortable reaction from him for the past week or so, he’s beginning to suspect that he knows better.

Damn his traitorous heart to Moraband, and let it rot there.

It’s a stubborn infatuation - an entirely unprofessional (and, he’d thought, temporary) interest that he’d taken in the other man a short ways into his deployment. 

It had, nonetheless, begun to haunt his mind during the quiet moments of those early months.

It’s not that it was an unusual thing to happen - in the early days of the war, the vode were gaining feelings for the Jedi they were serving with left right and centre. They were the first people they’d met outside of the Kaminoans… it was, in many ways, inevitable.

The thing is that most of the men’s feelings ended up dissipating over time. The longer they were deployed, the more frequently they met other non-clones who were fascinating, and kind, and who treated them like people. Crucially, these non-clones also happened to not be part of an order that forbade any form of romantic attachment.

It had taken time, and a considerable amount of discipline, but Cody had come to count himself among these numbers of individuals who had managed to move on.

Had.

The Commander might consider himself an expert in denial, in delaying acknowledging his feelings until they either quell or are forced to spill over, but he’s far from a fool. As unsure as he is about why it’s returned now of all times, he recognises that flutter in his heart when he feels it.

He sighs softly. Not much use in brushing it off now.

In the quiet of the early morning, with only the sunlight and the sound of the birds outside to keep him company, Cody allows himself a singular moment of weakness.

He returns his gaze to the sleeping Jedi beside him, and lets himself take a moment to just… look. 

Stars, Obi-Wan is a beautiful, beautiful man.

Hair fans out across the pillow beneath him, set aglow in the soft light of the dawn and unspooled like golden thread. His freckles are almost countable at this distance, as are the slight indents of wrinkles, faint lines that have become progressively more pronounced over the course of the war. 

Cody finds he looks so much more real when softened with sleep - no longer the perfect Jedi General, a poster-child of the war effort, but a tangible, flawed, flesh-and-blood man.

Over the years, Cody has found himself making note of the several crows feet that have begun to nest at the outer corner of his Jedi’s eyes, the worry lines that have found their home at his forehead. 

The everpresent crease between Obi-Wan's brows is eased in rest, though not nearly enough. Cody has to resist the urge to gently press his thumb there in a bid to encourage the muscles to relax further.

Cody does his best to not let his gaze, as inappropriately indulgent as he’s being, dip below the neckline, or further, to where the sheets pool at the other man’s chest. It’s certainly not helping his situation to discover now of all times that his General apparently sleeps shirtless.

The Jedi lets out a soft murmur as he begins to stir; Cody shakes his head to dispel his wandering thoughts. He takes the movement as a sign that his temporary surrender to the yearning of his heart must come to an end. He's felt it, he's acknowledged it… now comes the time to put it to rest and tell it to leave him be once more.

… He just hopes it’ll listen this time.

Quietly, so as not to disturb the sleeping man beside him, Cody slips out of the bed to grab his clothes and steal away to the ‘fresher for a morning shower.

He’s grateful for the distraction that trying to solve the enigma of the shower provides him, even if it means he has to take nearly ten minutes to navigate getting the damn thing to work. It seems to be an immutable rule of his life that in every hotel or inn that Cody is doomed to stay in, the only shower available exists solely on settings that are inscrutable to the average man. 

Waxer had claimed one day after training, with an entirely misplaced air of wisdom about him, that every sentient has both one mundane superpower, and one boring facet of life they’ll forever have inexplicably bad luck with.

His brothers had teased him endlessly about the idea, upon which he had confessed he had read it in an article linked to by some cheesy pop-psych holonet forum. It hadn’t helped his cause.

Cody had initially scoffed at the idea along with the others, though he quietly suspects that if there is any truth to it, then his divine misfortune must absolutely, unequivocally be the way unfamiliar showers seem to go out of their way to break on him.

On the other hand he had determined –after deciding there was no harm in entertaining Waxer’s superstitions a little– his mundane superpower would probably be his uncanny ability to end up with his General’s lightsaber whenever he loses it in critical moments. 

If only the other man actually kept his eyes open on the battlefield… though Cody would be lying if he told himself he doesn’t privately enjoy the way Obi-Wan’s expression always softens in both gratitude and sheepishness whenever he holds out the recovered weapon to return to him. It would almost be a shame if the Jedi suddenly gained competency in holding onto his precious items now. 

No, his mind is straying back to dangerous territory again. Breathe. 

Cody refocuses, directing his attention to the sensation of his blunt nails running across his scalp, digging in just a little harder to create a point of focus to ground himself with. In the present moment, all he needs to think of is getting ready for the day. No need to reckon with unnecessary, transient, emotions. 

Once his shower is finished and he returns to the room, he’s met with Obi-Wan, awake and sitting cross-legged on the bed in a meditative position. He doesn’t open his eyes as Cody steps through, though his lips quirk upwards just slightly, the hint of a smile hidden behind his beard.

“Ah, good morning, my friend.” 

By the sound of his voice, it would be impossible to tell he was asleep just minutes prior. Always perfectly lucid and alert when he needs to be… Cody has privately wondered if it’s thanks to some supernatural ability from the Force that Obi-Wan is able to bypass the half-awake stupor that everyone else seems to struggle with. It does sound like some osik that Jedi would be able to do…

Being honest with himself though, he imagines it’s probably just an ‘Obi-Wan’ thing. Most of the man’s oddities seem to be.

“Morning,” he returns, sounding considerably more gruff than his companion as he scratches at his stubble. He’s had to forego shaving for the past few days to look right for the part, and it’s starting to get irritating to deal with. 

“Sleep well?”

Cody hums in response to the question, absently heading across the room to open the small fridge in their room in search of something to drink. He spares a horrified glance at the prices on the tiny cans inside, before promptly closing it again.

“Mm,” he returns his attention to the still shirtless man sitting on their shared bed. He tries not to think about the implications the thought provides him. “Surprisingly well, actually.”

Obi-Wan nods, tilting his head slightly in Cody's direction, eyes remaining closed.

“Benefits of the ocean air, do you think?” he suggests. 

Cody is incredibly aware that it wasn’t that at all. He manages to only briefly pause before getting out an answer.

“... Something like that, I'm sure.”

Before the two get ready for the morning, they take a moment to pore over what they need to get done before their mission starts in earnest this evening. The agenda for this first day is a relatively simple one: gather as much information as they possibly can about the resort’s layout, entrance and exit points, and try to get a sense of any particular locations they could make use of for eavesdropping on their targets at the party tonight.

The main man they’re keeping an eye out for is Atashe Barrek - a Rodian that they only have a handful of grainy holos of, but thankfully for them happens to have a distinctive, bright red tattoo of a rifle covering the majority of his left arm.

(Obi-Wan had raised his brow at that, upon an initial glance. Cody snorted at the look of disapproval, throwing him a playfully warning glance. “Careful,” he said, flicking through the projected images, “half of the boys have something as tasteless. Wouldn’t want to go insulting them, would you?”

Obi-Wan wrinkled his nose a little. “Our men tattoo each other. That’s a ritual that means more than how it ends up looking after the fact. This was likely done by a professional.” He looked down at his datapad with a sigh, and made a note on Barrek’s file. He had tutted softly then, and Cody had to disguise his smirk behind his mug of caf. “Really, I’m unsure of what you want me to say, Commander. It’s garish.”)

Alongside the Rodian will be a handful of others there to facilitate the deal - a human woman with short ginger hair, a Togruta man with one broken montral, and a Separatist agent of unknown species and gender.

The party, such that it is, will be attended by a fair few resort-goers in the evening. They have it on good authority that Barrek and company secured their tickets early, making it a near guarantee that they’ll be present tonight. It’ll be taking place at the hotel’s casino and bar area on the lower ground floor - a fairly large space, which could be both a boon and a curse: more room for them to hide and listen in without being spotted, but equally more space where their quarry can slip out of sight.

Cody brings up a small projection of the resort’s floor plan, setting it on the edge of the bed. It’s basic at current, with just the barebones annotations they’d made upon arrival yesterday. He makes a gesture with his hand to enlarge the image, looking over at Obi-Wan.

“I’ll take the ground floor and the immediate outside area. With any luck I’ll also be able to mark down vantage points for when the party spills out to the gardens at a later point.”

He points to a different part of the map, zooming in a little further. “While I’m doing that, you can have a look through the casino and the adjacent dining area. Maybe get talking to one of the bartenders if they’re around, see if they can tell us about the party setup tonight. If we can get a sense of how many tables there’ll be out, we can see how fast we’ll be able to move in an emergency.”

Obi-Wan nods with a thoughtful hum, stroking a hand over his chin.

“That sounds perfectly reasonable. What time is the event starting?”

Cody checks the chrono on the nightstand, currently cheerfully displaying that it is 8:42am on the local rotation. 

“1900 hours. So we’ve got a considerable amount of time before then.”

“Shall we reconvene here at four to combine notes, if we’re not back before then? It would be a good idea to grab some dinner together too, if we are to be consuming alcohol.” 

Cody powers down the holoprojector, shooting Obi-Wan a smirk. “Are you sure any alcohol consumption is a good idea though, sir, being the lightweight that you are?”

The Jedi narrows his eyes at the challenge. “The dinner was a suggestion for you, my dear Commander, lest you forget that I can use the Force to flush my systems of any substances.”

“I’m just saying,” Cody shrugs. “It doesn’t change the fact that you get drunk incredibly quickly when you don’t cheat about it.”

“When I don’t cheat?” Obi-Wan scoffs in mock-offence, placing a dramatic hand over his heart as he stands to head for the refresher. “I’m outraged,” he declares, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Wounded. I’m starting to regret my choice of compatriot on this mission.”

“Uh-huh.” Cody pockets the projector, glancing over his shoulder as Obi-Wan walks away. “Oh, I should mention. You’ll have to pull the shower head away from the wall to get the hot water to work.”

Obi-Wan pauses briefly in the doorway. “Oh. That’s... unique. Thank you.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Being helpful.”

The Jedi quirks a brow, mouth pressed into a thin, unimpressed line. “Oh? And here I thought your talents were limited to passively criticising me every five minutes.”  

Cody huffs out a chuckle, meeting Obi-Wan’s gaze. Despite the other man’s irritation, a soft glint in his eye gives way to the fond nature of his teasing. “No, that’s just one of my better qualities. Only the clones with the most sparkling of personalities get made Commander, you know.”

“Wonderful. I’m so pleased for you,” Obi-Wan returns dryly, before slipping into the bathroom and clicking the door shut behind him.

Cody watches after him for a beat, his expression soft as he feels an all-too-familiar stirring in his chest. Blinking, he shakes his head, as if physically dispelling the emotions plaguing him. Time to focus, Commander. There’s work to be done. 

______________________________

Obi-Wan considers himself a rational man. Not easily swayed by his emotion, and always taking the route of most reason.

It is perplexing, then, that he cannot seem to rid himself of the strange fluttering that’s been happening in his heart for the past few hours. He sits at the edge of his bed, rubbing a hand over his brow as he revisits the events of the day in his mind once again.

It had been a fairly routine skirmish all things considered: pushing back Separatist forces from an occupied village in Republic space. Thick smoke had engulfed the field from the explosives that had been set there, and at the time he had been sprinting through it in low visibility, single-mindedly trying to get through to a group of civilians on the other end. 

And then, emerging from the smoke at his side had been his Commander. 

He’d shouted something his way, though Obi-Wan had been too distracted to take it in. Instead, his attention had been pulled to the way Cody’s arm had been outstretched, a lightsaber in his hand. His lightsaber. 

Obi-Wan hadn’t even realised he’d dropped it. 

Something other than the smog had choked his lungs for a brief moment. 

He, of course, hadn’t had the time to explain just the implications of what Cody had just done. He’d simply taken it, thanked him, and rushed ahead to get the mission done. It doesn’t really matter that it was perhaps something the Commander might be embarrassed by had he known - Obi-Wan had needed the weapon at the time, and ultimately that was what mattered. 

Still, the crystal inside had hummed in his mind, something a little too warm and content given the context, as it was pressed into his palm.

He looks down at the weapon in his hands now, absent-mindendly running his fingers over the cool metal of the hilt.

Anthropomorphising a kyber crystal isn’t exactly the right way to go about things - it doesn’t have feelings in the same way a sentient would, per se. It’s more that it is an emotionally resonant mineral that is heavily in tune with the Force - a fact that allows it to bond itself with the Jedi that chooses it.

Still, in this specific instance, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it felt… happy. A soft buzz in the back of his consciousness that had nothing to do with being returned to him and absolutely everything to do with the man who had been holding it a few moments ago. He’d nearly stumbled in surprise when he first held it in his hand again.

… And then there was the matter of Cody holding it in the first place.

Your lightsaber, Qui-Gon had impressed repeatedly upon Obi-Wan, who in turn had passed on (even more frequently, given the boy’s forgetfulness) to Anakin, is more than a weapon - it is your very life. 

As such, asking another to wield or hold yours is an… intimate thing - almost equivalent to allowing someone to hold a piece of your soul in their palm or clipped to their belt.

It’s not an infrequent request to make from one close member of the Order to another, particularly between Masters and their Padawans, but it is understood each time as a sacred responsibility to undertake. 

To trust a non-Jedi to hold your lightsaber is practically a marriage proposal. 

Cody hadn’t known, of course - how could he have done? In any other circumstance, Obi-Wan would have simply dismissed the motion as something a little awkward but ultimately harmless and silently vowed to keep a closer eye on his weapon in the future.

No, the problem here, the one that has Obi-Wan feeling so out of sorts now, isn’t that it happened, but rather that it didn’t feel nearly as strange as it should have.

It has, admittedly, only been a few months since he first met the man, but the trust shared between the two would position Cody as the next most likely person after Anakin, Bant, or Quinlan (though he’s reluctant to admit to that last one), that he might ask to take care of his ‘saber in a time of need. 

It should be, he thinks to himself, a fact that means nothing other than the proof of the camaraderie that has grown between them.

Unfortunately, Obi-Wan knows himself a little better than that. 

Only one other non-Jedi had ever felt the weight of his lightsaber in their hands, and that was Satine, many lifetimes ago, now. 

Obi-Wan sighs deeply, holstering it back to his belt as he stands, eager to shake such thoughts from his mind. He will meditate on the situation, put the image of the other man emerging from the smoke from his mind, and that will be that.

As the war progresses, days bleeding into weeks bleeding into months, Obi-Wan continues to tell himself that one day he’ll come clean. That he’ll tell Cody exactly what it means for him to hold his lightsaber as easily as he does, and appropriately apologise for not speaking up about it earlier.

That voice in his mind gets progressively quieter as time marches on.

About a year into the war, Obi-Wan knows it’s far too late for him. It’s a quiet, shameful feeling, but one he has come to know intimately.

When his Commander adds a holster to his armour specifically for his lightsaber, Obi-Wan feels as if his own heart may as well be nestled there, too, steadily beating at the side of the man who’s come to mean so much to him as of late.

It is inappropriate in far too many ways, and equally as forbidden, but he is at peace knowing this. He just feels sorry that Cody, while under his command, is subject to his clandestine and thoroughly unprofessional affectations, even if he is unaware of it.

Perhaps, once the war is finally over and Cody has his own space and freedom, he can finally confess to his shame, and ask for his friend’s forgiveness.

… Though he isn’t certain he deserves it.

______________________________

The chrono on the bedside table pips loudly as it hits 7pm.

Cody spares it a brief glance before he returns to his cufflinks, fiddling with them for a moment longer. It would be a stretch to call the suit he’d been provided with by the Council formal, by any means.

The navy jacket is a little oversized, and has been altered to appear worn with a patch of fabric over one of the breasts. His trousers are a mismatched shade of blue to the rest of the suit, the white button-down shirt he’s wearing unironed and crumpled. Cody feels that he wouldn’t look out of place on some neon sign blazed down in the Lower Levels of Coruscant, with the word ‘WANTED’ pasted underneath and a ridiculous sum of credits. 

He’s been given a scuffed silver watch to wear on one wrist, and his loosened curls have been pulled into the closest thing he can get to a bun behind his head, though the frontmost strands at his temples can’t quite reach and instead fall down to frame his face.

After a moment of consideration in the mirror, he turns up his collar. Vidarr is, after all, not a man overly concerned with appearances.

At that moment, Obi-Wan steps out of the ‘fresher, brushing down his clothes. He’s in a suit of his own, a plain, sleek black material with a deep blue pocket square. The Council didn’t deem fit to embarrass him like they have Cody, though he supposes it makes sense. Renne did have a mark on his file claiming he was ‘stylish’, after all.

The Jedi offers a supportive smile as he heads over, hands raising to gently flatten down Cody’s collar. An electric current moves through the Commander at the smoothing motion, his skin tingling at the contact, even through the layers of clothing. “There we go,” Obi-Wan murmurs softly, “now you look the part.”

As soon as his hands have retreated, Cody frowns, turning it up again.

“It was a deliberate choice,” he protests, feeling oddly defensive.

Obi-Wan hums at that, before reaching out once more to fix it.

“It was a poor one, darling.”

Cody is certain the term of endearment is a joke, something done exclusively to poke fun at their given aliases, but he feels his chest tighten nonetheless.

The two manage to keep up their petulant staring match for a few seconds before cracking into smiles. 

“Well,” Obi-Wan says, slipping his hands into his pockets and nodding towards the door, “shall we?”

Together, they head down the hall to the lift, taking it down to the basement level of the resort. Obi-Wan’s posture changes markedly as soon as the elevator doors slide open, facing the line of people waiting to get inside the event. Confidently, he saunters forwards to join the queue, one hand remaining tucked into the pocket of his jacket and the other slung lazily around Cody’s side. 

The Commander tries his best to match him, loosening his posture as much as his body will allow, fighting against the way he instinctively wants to straighten up whenever someone so much as glances their way.

When it’s their turn to enter, Obi-Wan flashes their tickets to the bouncer, who waves them through a large set of double doors.

Cody takes in a steadying breath as he’s near-immediately confronted with an assault to the senses, his eyes scanning across the open space ahead of them. 

To their left is a series of slot machines that are already all occupied with patrons, the loud chimes and whirring of the motors as they spin contributing to an overwhelming level of background noise when combined with the chatter of the eager and already tipsy clientele.

Directly ahead of them lies the bar, where a majority of the partygoers are currently gathered. The rest of the space that isn’t blocked with statues, plants, and other manner of decoration is packed to the brim with tables and various seating arrangements. 

A buffet to the right is boasting freshly-cooked local delicacies, though Cody isn’t certain that a planet that has only ever been owned by corporate investors can really claim to have ‘local roots’ as they seem insistent on doing.

Some tinny, yet upbeat jazzy music plays from speakers throughout the hall. The general chaos of the atmosphere is not Cody’s usual scene, to put it lightly.

A gentle squeeze from the hand at his waist doesn’t serve to calm his nerves.

“Shall we split up?” he murmurs, glancing over at Obi-Wan. “You take the left side, I take the right?”

Obi-Wan’s eyes flicker over Cody’s face, hesitancy in his expression. “That would be wise, but… are you certain? I don’t want to leave you to the wolves if…”

“I’ll be fine,” Cody insists, cutting him off with a slightly forced smile. “Besides, the worst that could go wrong is an awkward interaction, right?”

“Right,” Obi-Wan nods at that, giving him a grateful smile. “Then, yes, divide and conquer would be the best way to start, I think.” He leans in, pressing his lips close to Cody’s ear in a move that, to outside observers, would easily read as normal for two lovers. To Cody, it just serves to make his mind go entirely blank.

“Comms are on. Stay in contact,” he whispers, and Cody forces himself to not shiver at the feeling of his breath ghosting over his skin. Shields, Cody, he reminds himself forcibly, scrambling to throw up a mental wall so that his Jedi isn’t slapped in the face with the incredibly embarrassing intensity of his reaction.

He gives Obi-Wan what he hopes is a not-at-all shaky smile as the two part ways, slipping through the throng of people to get to the buffet table. He can stall a little while here, make use of the vantage point to try and pick out any familiar faces. 

Within seconds, a waiter glides past with a tray in hand, and offers him a well-rehearsed smile. “Drink?” she asks, plucking a flute from the precariously balanced platter and holding it out to him.

“Uh, sure. Thanks,” he says, taking the glass from her. He sips at it idly while looking over the assembled guests. Granted, Cody is not a regular drinker of champagne, but he gets the feeling that it tastes cheaper than it probably should for a hotel such as this. Not that he’ll complain about free alcohol - the prices at the bar, in comparison, are painful to even look directly at.

He watches the partygoers mill around for a little while, eyes dancing over the crowd as he instinctively monitors the changing threat levels of the unfolding situation around him. 

There’s a door nearby to the adjoining restaurant that looks like it would become a choke point in an emergency, that’s a trample risk - there really should be more guards on duty here, given the number of guests. All it would take was one aggressor…

Cody sighs, leaning against the wall as he continues to idly observe the goings-on. Perhaps he’s just overcautious from a life spent embroiled in war, but crowds like this set him on edge.

It’s not all too long before something familiar catches the periphery of his vision, and he turns his head subtly to make note of it without being too obvious. Blue skin and the flash of an aggressively red tattoo… It seems he has eyes on one of his marks - the Rodian. Cody pretends to be preoccupied with tucking his hair behind his ear as he discreetly flicks his comms on and off once, twice to get Obi-Wan’s attention.

He moves to follow as casually as he can, making as if he’s perusing the canapé offerings while sidling closer to the other side of the room. From the corner of his eye, he sees Barrek, two humans, and a Togruta take their seats at a table in the corner, drinks in hand. Jackpot.

He feels an arm slip around his shoulder as Obi-Wan finds him amongst the crowd, drink in hand. Cody manages to shoot him a plastered-on grin.

“Hey, uh, sweetheart,” he says, the words coming out a little stilted. It feels unnatural falling from his lips, but Obi-Wan is gracious enough to not look too amused at his discomfort. “I was thinking we could take that table over there,” he points to a tiny table behind a divider, a few metres away from their quarry. “But there’s only one chair. Perhaps we could ask that group if they can spare one?” 

He punctuates his words by discreetly toying with the proximity listening device in his pocket. Obi-Wan thankfully seems to catch his meaning.

The Jedi turns, drawing the two over to Barrek’s table. “Of course, love. Hey, guys,” he says, a little louder, and Cody internally sighs. He’s entirely certain by now that he absolutely hates the damn voice Obi-Wan is using for this persona, and he’s already looking forward to never hearing it again. “Mind if we take a chair?” 

The group turns, and Barrek gives Obi-Wan a fairly disgruntled look up and down. Obi-Wan, for his part, does a good job of looking like the oblivious tourist, unaware of his intrusions on a clearly private conversation.

“... Why can’t you get a chair from any other table?” he responds gruffly, and Cody takes the opportunity while they’re all looking at Obi-Wan to discreetly attach the small device to the underside of an unused plate sitting near the edge of the table.

One of the human women places a hand on Barrek’s shoulder and shoots him a reproachful look.

“It’s just a chair, Atashe. No need to be such an ass.” She nudges him, and the Rodian scowls, but ultimately backs down, slumping in his chair. The woman gives Obi-Wan a polite smile. “Don’t mind him. It’s all yours.”

“Thank you kindly,” Obi-Wan drawls, taking the chair and pulling it away to the small corner table a little ways from them.

“Let’s hope this works,” Cody mutters, slipping in the earpiece as subtly as he can manage while they take their seats.

Obi-Wan swirls the drink in his glass, and takes a sip. “Let’s hope the cleaning staff don’t take that plate.

“Mm. Now all they have to do is stay close enough, and we should be good to go.”

Cody takes in a breath as he hears voices crackling through the receiver. He leans in, reaching over to take Obi-Wan’s hand so their quiet words look a little more like intimate conversation.

“It’s coming through,” he murmurs, and Obi-Wan smiles. At this distance, the action might be enough to be lethal.

“Good work, Commander.”

The two fall quiet as Cody begins to listen in, the bustling sounds of the party around them fading to background noise.

______________________________

“Oh, Obi-Wan.”

“Do not,” the Jedi Master mutters, scowling into his glass, “take that patronising tone with me.”

To his credit, Anakin doesn’t smirk or make some ill-advised quip as he usually would. Instead, he just takes a seat across the table from him, an unreadable expression on his face. 

A heavy silence permeates the air between them. The ticking of the chrono on Obi-Wan’s desk seems louder than usual, off-kilter from its normal steady rhythm. Or maybe that’s just an illusion courtesy of the alcohol. It’s getting hard to tell.

“I’m just… worried,” the younger man starts, pointedly ignoring the way Obi-Wan grumbles under his breath and ploughing on regardless. “Look, they’re sending Rex to the mind healers because of everything. And neither of you are talking about what happened down there, and–.”

Obi-Wan raises a hand to interrupt him and finally looks up, meeting Anakin’s concerned gaze with unfocused, red-rimmed eyes. “I’ve had worse,” he says gruffly, finishing off his drink and wincing a little as his throat burns. It’s a pleasant type of hurt, especially in comparison to the past week. “Besides, you were there, too,” he points out, and his former apprentice scoffs.

“Yeah, but I was engaged with the Queen. I wasn’t being worked half to death by the kriffing slavers!”

“Language, Anakin,” he warns.

“Deflection, Obi-Wan,” comes the counter.

They glare at each other stubbornly for a few moments, neither wanting to lose this battle, but ultimately the older man is far too exhausted to keep this up. He slumps back in his chair, defeated, and lets his head loll against the backrest as he squints upwards. 

The world is the tiniest bit hazy from the alcohol, and the intensity of the fluorescent lighting overhead creates a throbbing pressure behind his eyes.

Obi-Wan could flush the sensation out, purging his blood back to purity with the slightest bit of concentration in the Force, giving him his senses back and taking away the pain.

He doesn’t.

“You know I’m not going to speak of it,” he says slowly.

Anakin turns his head towards him slightly, digesting his words.“... I know. Not yet, at least,” he murmurs. 

Obi-Wan continues to stare at the ceiling, absently noting the way black spots dance in his vision as he sluggishly blinks.

“So why are you really here?”

Anakin sighs softly and stands, heading over to flick off the overhead lights. Obi-Wan lets out a quiet, pathetic noise of protest as the dull ache disappears. In the low lamplight, the Jedi Knight steps over to his former Master, fixing him with a worried frown.

“Cody asked me to check in on you.”

… Fuck.

Obi-Wan drags a hand over his face, fighting against the way his brain wants to crawl out of his skull, the skin of his back still prickling under the mountain of bacta patches he has strapped to him under his robes.

“He mentioned you flat out ignoring his questions earlier,” the younger man continues, and Obi-Wan closes his eyes.

“Anakin,” he breathes, more of a plea than anything else.

“And he said you were zoning out during the debrief,” Anakin adds, his gaze unwavering.

“Look, I–”

“He’s worried about you. And so is half of the Order, for that matter–”

“I don’t need–”

“For kriff’s sake, just let us help you!” 

Another silence falls between them at the outburst, and Obi-Wan slowly opens his eyes to look up at Anakin. 

Despite it all, a rueful smile makes its way onto his face.

“And just when did you become the reasonable one of the two of us?” he asks.

Anakin rolls his eyes, expression begrudgingly fond as he helps Obi-Wan slowly stand.

“Hopefully never, old man. C’mon, let’s get you to bed. Then I can report back to your Commander that you’re being taken care of.”

Obi-Wan sighs as Anakin helps him over to his bed, falling back on it heavily.

“... I hope I didn’t cause him too much stress,” he finds himself saying. He’s not quite sure why.

Anakin eases him onto his side to get him in a safe position, slipping back to the entryway to turn off the last of the lights.

“... He’ll be fine, I’m sure. Goodnight, Master.” 

Obi-Wan lets his eyelids fall shut, sinking into the mattress beneath him.

“Thank you, Anakin. Tell Cody I’m sorry.”

The other Jedi lingers in the doorway for a long moment, before dipping his head in response, leaving him alone for some much needed rest.

______________________________

It’s been nearly an hour of idle conversation from the group at the table, and Obi-Wan is returning from his second trip to the buffet table to keep up appearances that they’re out on a date night. Cody glances to the plate put in front of him with a raised brow.

“... I’d have preferred the vegetarian option,” he comments dryly.

Obi-Wan looks unimpressed.

“Has anyone ever told you you could have a wonderful career in comedy, my dear?”

Cody smiles. “Shockingly, it hasn’t come up before.”

“Well, you should consider it.”

“Mhm.”

They lapse into silence as Obi-Wan returns to his seat, Cody absentmindedly toying with the wedding ring they’d been provided with for their cover. He almost starts when he hears a voice in his earpiece refer to a ‘deal’, and he snaps to attention, giving the Jedi a surreptitious nod.

The two lean in further across the table as Cody begins to furtively feed back the information he’s hearing. 

“A weapons shipment,” he whispers. 

Obi-Wan nods. “We suspected as much.”

“Pyke involvement.”

“How directly?”

Cody shakes his head. “Unclear, it was a passing comment. Wait–” he holds up a hand, staring down at his plate as he takes in the rapid discussion happening in his ear. Did he just hear that right…?

When he glances up, he sees the concern he feels mirrored in the Jedi’s gaze.

“What is it?” He asks quietly, eyes searching Cody’s. He reaches out to squeeze his hand, and Cody plasters back on a tight smile, remembering that anyone could look over.

“Aruetii. In the GAR command,” he says through gritted teeth, holding the smile as evenly as he can. Obi-Wan blinks slowly, carefully keeping his expression neutral.

“... A mole. I see. We will need a name,” he murmurs calmly, pausing to take a sip of his drink. “... Rather urgently, at that.” 

Cody nods, returning his attention to the earpiece. A Separatist informant amongst their higher ups… it’s not exactly like the Republic is hiring - someone must have been bought off. The only question is who.

After a few minutes, Cody lets out a frustrated grunt. “They’ve moved on,” he mutters quietly, giving a tiny shake of his head. Obi-Wan’s eyes flicker over his Commander’s shoulder to the group behind him, before returning to meet his gaze.

“Of course they have.”

Cody taps the fingers of his free hand against the table, his mind working overtime. “Near the start of the conversation, Barrek mentioned a document in his room. He referred to a– a packet of information, a datastick. It might tell us who we’re looking for.” He shifts a little in his seat, lowering his voice. “... And if it does, our best shot to access it would be during a time we know he’ll be away.” 

Obi-Wan hums quietly, picking up on his meaning. “It would be a little risky to take something that would be so missed, no? Or if we were to rush there now, we might find ourselves out of time. Reading through for one name that might not be there at all would likely be looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“We might not have time to look over it ourselves, but we could upload a copy back home,” he counters. Obi-Wan’s brows pinch together slightly, and he tilts his head a little.

“Where it could be read by the spy?”

Cody presses his mouth into a thin line. True, that wouldn’t exactly be ideal, especially if said spy was closer to them than they realised. He glances back down to their entwined hands for a moment, gears turning in his mind. “... I could accidentally upload a copy to one of ours first,” he suggests. “Slip of the finger.”

“Ah,” Obi-Wan says, a small smirk spreading across his features. “I suppose such a mishap might be… understandable.” He looks over Cody’s shoulder again with a subtle nod as he moves to stand. “But for the moment, it looks like we have a more urgent matter to attend to.”

Turning, Cody sees Barrek in the process of scooping up the empty plate the listening device had been placed on, making his way over to the buffet table. He curses under his breath. If they discover that there was a bug planted on them, their entire cover would be blown before it even truly began. Obi-Wan places a soothing hand on his shoulder, giving him a calm smile.

“Not to worry. Come with me, dear.” 

With that, he sets off at a strong pace directly towards the buffet table, smoothly striding forwards. By the time Cody has gotten up from his chair, there’s an irritated yelp as Obi-Wan apparently barrels directly into the other man.

A heads up would have been nice. 

Cody rushes over as Obi-Wan pretends to steady himself on Barrek’s arm, the Jedi successfully sneaking his hand up to rip the bug from the underside of the plate and slip it into his sleeve while the black market dealer is distracted with berating him. A group of nearby guests share glances, steering clear of the argument.

“You absolute kriffing moron–” he spits, and Cody pulls Obi-Wan back a step with a firm grip on his arm. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, he’s–” Cody tenses slightly as Barrek whips his head around to face him, giving him the best apologetic smile he can manage, before shooting a glare at Obi-Wan. “He’s had a lot to drink. I tried to tell him…” 

At that, the Jedi slumps slightly, adopting a glassy look in his eyes as he easily plays into the cover.

“Yeah,” Barrek sneers, looking disdainfully at Obi-Wan as he brushes himself off. “I can tell.”

“I’m sorry again,” Cody winces. “l’ll get him back to our room so he can damn well sober up,” he adds in a hiss, putting on his best ‘long suffering husband’ look. Barrek scowls, checking Obi-Wan with his shoulder as he moves past.

“You go do that,” he mutters irritably.

As soon as the Rodian slips out of sight, the two get moving. Obi-Wan puts a gentle hand on Cody’s lower back as he surreptitiously steers them towards the exit, keeping his eyes ahead. 

Cody forces some of the tension out of his body, doing everything in his power to hold onto a relaxed, steady stride, even as he feels adrenaline buzz through him. 

That was far too close. If he had discovered the listening device…

His thoughts are interrupted as Obi-Wan glances over at him with a sparkle in his eye.

“Great work. I truly felt scolded there for a moment.”

Cody rolls his eyes, though he can’t help but return the fond smile. “Thanks. You’ve given me plenty of practice over the years.”

They approach the large double doors leading back out to the rest of the resort, and a worker standing by gives them a small bow of his head. “Ah, heading out, sirs?” he asks, opening the door further to allow them to move past.

The Jedi nods, and coolly lifts a hand to wave in front of him, keeping the movement as small as possible. Cody subtly positions himself between Obi-Wan and the crowd of people behind them, just in case.

“You haven’t noticed us leaving. You will forget you saw us exiting the room,” he states, and the worker’s eyes obediently slide into a glassy haze, his mouth falling a little slack.

“I haven’t noticed you leaving. I will forget that I’ve seen you exiting the room,” he repeats monotonously. Cody spares a furtive glance to the rest of the partygoers, but it seems no one is close enough to overhear. 

Obi-Wan smiles placidly, patting the worker on the shoulder as they pass. “Good man.”

The pair slip out into the corridor and break into a faster stride as soon as they confirm they’re alone. Obi-Wan swiftly takes out his comm-link, tapping into a secure frequency.

“I have a key to get into their systems, though hacking has never particularly been my forté,” he mutters, eyes scanning the tiny projected display as they step into the elevator. He passes a hand over his beard, clearly trying to make sense of what he’s seeing. “Anakin has always been considerably more proficient at it, but given that he’s not here…”

Cody presses the button for the top floor, just so the doors close and they can buy some more time alone.

“Respectfully, sir, I’m grateful Skywalker wasn’t assigned with us. I have a feeling he wouldn’t be the most…” he tries to find polite words to describe the whirlwind of impulse that is the General’s former Padawan, “... stable presence on an undercover mission.”

Obi-Wan huffs, glancing up from his work.

“He’s not so bad at it, actually. Still, we have the tendency to be a little… antagonistic towards one another on excursions such as these.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Mm. I’d tell you we’re not that bad, but I think you’d be aware that that would be a lie.” He pauses, letting out a pleased hum. “Ah, there we are. I believe our man’s room is number 842.”

Cody nods. “Good timing, then, we’re coming up on it now,” he murmurs, pushing in the button for the eighth floor. The door slides open with a soft ‘ding’, revealing a long hallway, empty apart from a maid pushing a cleaning cart around a distant corner. 

They find the room they’re looking for in short order, a little ways down a side corridor to their left. Cody leans against the wall, keeping watch for anyone coming by as Obi-Wan closes his eyes, focusing on the mechanisms of the unfamiliar lock through the Force and beginning to carefully prise it open.

“How long do you think we’ll have before Barrek comes back?” he says quietly, glancing back at Obi-Wan as he focuses.

The Jedi considers for a moment. “Barring an unforeseen incident at the party, I’d say an hour at the very least. They were very involved in their discussion, and seemed intent on getting a little drunk before leaving.”

“I got a similar impression.” He falls quiet again, allowing Obi-Wan to return his full attention to the door. After a few minutes, he hears a quiet click, and Obi-Wan opens his eyes, giving him a firm nod.

“There we are. Go ahead, Cody.”

Cody pauses, wrinkling his nose. “And what if it’s trapped?”

Obi-Wan shrugs. “Then I shall briefly mourn you and then finish the mission on my own.”

Cody snorts, pushing into the room. “It’s so nice to know you care.” 

It’s neat inside - evidently having just been cleaned - though a number of personal items are scattered about on various surfaces. A closed, thin suitcase sits upon the bed, and Cody makes a beeline for it, looking at the numbered padlock with a frown. He begins to attempt to brute force combinations as Obi-Wan glances through some papers on the bedside table, before moving on to a datapad on the desk.

Cody spares a glance over to the Jedi as he hears Obi-Wan make a soft tutting sound.

“Rule number one of dealing in illicit activities, Commander,” he starts, expression more than a little smug, “is not to leave your digital devices unlocked for anyone to see. It seems we’re dealing with an amateur.”

He takes a moment to scroll through the information on display, eyes narrowing a little. 

“Try 1114,” he instructs. Cody adjusts the number displays on the lock, and gives it a tug.

“Not it,” he says, shaking his head.

“2793?” the Jedi tries, scanning the document for more combinations that could prove fruitful.

“Not that either.”

“0914.”

… There. Cody feels the lock give way. With a satisfied hum, he slides it off and lifts open the suitcase. Obi-Wan makes his way over, and they both sigh as they take in the contents.

“Well…” he tries, but falls short of any silver lining he seemed to be reaching for.

“... We really should have expected this.”

Inside sits a frankly ridiculous amount of datasticks. They had been hoping for just one so they could upload the information and leave, but it looks like there could be up to thirty here, at an estimate. They’ll be here for much, much longer than they initially thought.

Sharing a glance with Obi-Wan, Cody deflates a little. The Jedi heads to the doorway to take lookout duty as Cody takes out his comm-link, starting the first of the file transfers.

Why can’t anything ever be simple?

______________________________

It takes them close to forty minutes, but eventually the files have been uploaded to Captain Gregor along with a brief explanation of the situation, and Cody clicks the suitcase shut, re-scrambling the code for the lock.

The pair step out into the hallway and close the door behind them, ready to head back to their room.

Cody is just musing on how smoothly that all went, when from by his side Obi-Wan suddenly pauses, eyes widening ever so subtly. It’s a familiar mannerism - one that means he’s sensed something particularly concerning in the Force. In combination with the way Obi-Wan’s jaw ticks near imperceptibly, Cody can tell the man is definitely on edge. 

He doesn’t bother wasting the time to ask what’s happening, his fingers already itching for the concealed blaster at his side.

“Someone’s coming,” Cody states, and Obi-Wan nods, expression clouded.

“Barrek. Must have forgotten something in his room.”

“Great,” Cody responds tersely, his expression stony. His eyes sweep over the corridor. There’s not exactly any place to hide here, unless one of the other rooms happens to be miraculously unlocked and free of any occupants. He curses under his breath. “Fantastic, even. I’ve got my silencer–”

Obi-Wan shoots him the subtlest glare he can manage. “We will not get into a shootout here.”

“But if he sees us, he’ll recognise us. It’s not hard to put together that we were just snooping around–”

He suddenly finds himself pressed up against the wall. 

Alarmed, Cody’s hands instinctively come up to seize the arms that are boxing him in. He’s about to break out of the hold before his brain catches up to who, exactly, is the one accosting him. He may have the reflexes of a battle-hardened warrior, but Obi-Wan is a Jedi, keeping him still with surprising ease.

For a moment, he just stares at Obi-Wan, who is startlingly close, confusion coursing through him. “What are you–”

“Easy, there,” Obi-Wan says, voice low and quiet. His arms continue to cage the Commander against the wall, and Cody feels his mind blank completely.

The Jedi has the decency to not mention the death grip his Commander has on his forearm, instead just giving him an apologetic look.

“This isn’t ideal,” he says, briefly glancing down the hallway to the lift before returning his gaze to the other man. The breath from his words ghosts over Cody’s face, and the Commander does his best to suppress the shiver that works his way down his spine. “But if we look… occupied, it’ll be our best shot at being ignored.” 

Obi-Wan’s eyes flick over Cody’s face, his eyelids dipping briefly as his gaze drops to his lips, then back up. There’s something deeper behind the look of concern in his eyes, but Cody can’t read his General as easily as he normally could, not while he’s reeling like this. 

The Jedi looks guarded, swallowing tightly. His head lowers slightly, drawing closer. “We don’t have long. May I…?”

Cody’s mind spins violently. May he what? What is he…?

 Oh.

… Oh.

They remain close, the two practically sharing breath as Obi-Wan irresponsibly waits for his reply. 

Cody is more than aware that it would be smarter to just act - their cover hinges on this, regardless, and they need to move fast, Cody, give him a damn answer. Despite this, a more illogical part of him is grateful for the opportunity to stall so he can try to collect himself.

It doesn’t work. 

Cody doesn’t quite know what possesses him as he blurts his next words out, but they’ve left his mouth before he can stop himself.

“I don’t know how.”

Obi-Wan stops in his tracks, pulling back slightly. He looks a little bewildered as the words sink in. “You…” he blinks. “Oh.”

It’s not exactly the truth, but it’s not far from it either. It would be more accurate to say that Cody has never kissed anyone while sober. He’s had his fair share of intimacy while drunk - shameful, secret nights going home with men who, through squinted eyes and the haze of alcohol, look a little like the thought of home. Beards neatly groomed but a little too long, eyes still blue but far too deep, red hair that catches the light but lacks that distinct golden glow.

Come morning and the inevitable hangover, he’d convince himself that their similarities to a certain Jedi were just happenstance, though if there’s a limit on the amount of times he can use the excuse of coincidence on this matter, he’s sure he’s exceeded it many times over.

Kissing someone while drunk is easy. It doesn’t require any knowledge, nor skill to do right -  just tongues and teeth and enough desperation to want to feel something that isn’t the press of a blaster in your hand. 

Sober, on the other hand? Cody doesn’t like the idea of walking into anything without a battle plan while sober. 

It’s just not something he’s ever had the time to do, nor the inclination, really. He’s a Marshal Commander in a war, he’s busy, he doesn’t need that type of entanglement with a stranger, for Stars’ sake–!

Still, he has no idea why he felt the need to actually open his mouth and say it. Cody finds himself facing down the sudden desire to put his head through the nearest wall.

A silence falls between the two of them that they don’t really have time for.

“... Cody. Please, trust me.”

Even in this situation, even with nervousness whirling through the Commander like a hurricane, asking him to trust his Jedi is like asking him to blink, to breathe.

Cody barely has time to nod before the lift doors slide open, and Obi-Wan closes the distance between them.

All of the air leaves Cody’s lungs in an instant as his eyes flutter closed, a hand slipping up from the Jedi’s forearm to instinctively hold the back of his head, drawing him closer. The soft sound that he’s rewarded with for his efforts makes his chest burn, his heart threatening to escape his chest with how fast it’s beating against his ribs.

He feels like he’s unmoored, untethered and floating in a blissful haze where all that he seems to be able to get his brain to register is that his General is damn good at this, leading them gently through this dance.

It’s probably – definitely - unprofessional and wildly inappropriate, but he can’t help but sink into him, an almost embarrassing sigh escaping him involuntarily as Obi-Wan’s jaw shifts, tilting downwards to open up more for him.

For him, for him, for him…

Fast-paced, hurried footsteps march past the two of them and eventually disappear down the corridor, until they’re met with silence once more. 

Obi-Wan slowly, slowly pulls back. For a moment, they lock eyes, breath heavy and a little uneven, before reality falls into place and they break apart completely. 

Obi-Wan clears his throat, gesturing to the lift.

“We should…”

“Right.”

Cody’s mind is a mess. He’d worked so hard to put a lid on these feelings, to push them back into a dark recess of his consciousness where it could gather dust and go ignored in his day-to-day… After what’s just happened, he’s not so certain he’ll be able to get it back there again.

The two make it to their room without further incident, and Obi-Wan, a little awkwardly, excuses himself to the refresher to get changed back into his robes. They had succeeded at navigating the changing mission parameters, yes, but neither of them seem able to talk about their next steps just yet.

It’s only after the door closes behind Obi-Wan that Cody is struck like a lightning bolt with the realisation that in all the chaos, he hadn’t had the wherewithal to shield his emotions during the kiss. 

At all. 

… Shit.

[juliaswickcrs]

OC STAR WARS DAYS CHALLENGE :: REVENGE OF THE FIFTH ( the beast is you and you are the beast )

Born to a pair of smugglers on Corellia, Amaia remembers very little of her life before she became a slave. Sold to cover her father's gambling debts, Amaia grew up in the swamps and chemicals of Nal Hutta, a pleasure slave of Marlo the Hutt. It was only when she turned fifteen she saw any relief from her life, as a man dressed in black robes with white hair arrived and said she had the potential to be something more. She was bought, freed, and taken to the harsh red planet of Moraband, where she learned the only true path to freedom was through power and victory. The man with the white hair may have bought her freedom, but it was her time on Moraband that truly taught her how to break her chains. The voices of the valley and those who came before telling her to give into her anger, her passion, her fear. It was they who gave her the name Darth Raign and made her a force to be reckoned with...to be feared. But it was Darth Sidious who sent her into the path of Anakin Skywalker, forcing the galaxy to bear witness to a war of wills, dark vs light, a conflict which would bleed the galaxy dry and leave only one survivor.

tag list: @bisexualterror​ @foxesandmagic @iron-parkr​ @jvstjewels@camiemendess@a-song-of-quill-and-feather @arrthurpendragon @villain-connoisseur​ @starcrossedjedis​ @drbobbimorse​ @noratilney​ @stanshollaand@kingsmakers @astarionbae​ @darth-caillic @mystic-scripture@aliverse @misshiraethsworld @asirensrage @eddiemunscns

[dapurinthos]

am i going to stab myself directly in the pain centre by having sifo's last words to araithana be a little note saying 'you'll know where to find me'?

sifo: i'm gonna end up in a fucking torture cave on moraband sifo: because i KNOW how to crash this ship and survive sifo: aHA but my padawan will know where i am. this i have SEEN. ari: WHY WOULD YOU WRITE THIS ari: WHY WOULD YOU WANT ME TO FIND YOUR CORPSE ON OBA DIAH'S MOON

[sun-spice]

After all the events of the past day: being hijacked, the inexplicable crash, and absolutely everything to do with this 'Ben', Jango was at his wits' end. While the adult jetti was a good actor, his ad was not.

"I know you are hiding something from me." He demanded, breaking the tense silence that had smothered the cockpit. "Where are we? What planet was that?" A wiser man would probably shut up and not shoot the rescue, but Jango was not about to play ignorant to the glaring red flags for potentially a tenday stuck aboard this ship.

(Jango POV on Sithspawn!Obi-Wan drabble with some headcanons below.)

The preteen to Jango's left tensed with a scowl, he opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted by his baji.

"Set. Please go to your bunk." He said with a jett'la mildness.

His ad whirled on him. "Master!" Jango stifled a twitch at that address.

"Please." 'Ben' repeated. Something unspoken passed between them, before 'Set' relented, storming out of the compartment with an angry huff to poorly conceal his nervousness.

Once the door to the cockpit closed, 'Ben' turned and gave Jango a stony look that made his hackles raise further. It was only the presence of the jett'ad--the padawan--outside, and Jango's own precarious transport situation that stayed his blaster.

"Bac aliik, gar haat'mando'ad, ni tion'serim?" The jetti demanded.

Jango startled, narrowing his eyes at the sudden switch from Basic. "Gar jorhaa mando'a." He growled. Where was a jetti that spoke his language and recognised his symbol during his last encounters with the jettise, he thought bitterly.

The jetti ignored his statement and continued in his oddly accented Mando'a. "I have heard that True Mandalorians have honour, so I will be true with you." Kalevala, an uncommon accent nowadays, but with hints of his foreign Coruscanti and... a slight Keldabe twang? "If you tell anyone of the coordinates of that planet, it will not end well for you."

"You're threatening me." Jango laid out bluntly. Ballsy of this jetti.

"I am stating a fact. It won't just be me that follows after you, in the case that happens". He spoke fluently but with the occasional phrasing that sounded off to a native speaker like Jango. He idly wondered how long he had been studying, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

"What was that planet?" He demanded once again.

The jetti pursed his lips and sighed through his nose. He was reluctant, but he already seemed to know that he could not get around this. "We're in the condemned space of the former Sith Empire right now. That planet is called Stewjon, but you might know of it as Halasar."

Jango stilled. Condemned Space was a relatively small region consisting mostly of abandoned Sith planets and their neighbourhoods. While the original no-fly-zones around death-traps like Moraband and Ziost weren't enforced anymore, not for centuries, they were still known to be treacherous. As the seat of the dar'jettise Empire's abominations, the entire area was an old minefield of traps, dark magics, scorged lands, and even bioweapons: pathogens and monsters alike. After the fall of the Empire and the Sith Space Exodus, the hyperspace beacons had been destroyed, and many debris and obstacles had been scattered to order to essentially baracade the region from the rest of known space. Of course that didn't stop the clandestine, the arrogant, and the desperate from attempting to navigate it using old starmaps, but everyone knew that one risked simply disappearing, and becoming yet another cautionary tale.

There was a reason that the dar'jettise were still infamous even a millennium after their extinction, those ancient demagolkase truly scorched everywhere they once walked.

While Condemned Space was a well-documented no-one's-land, Halasar was a myth. An ancient Sith outpost full of old labs and cursed ruins, absolutely infested by sithspawn abominations left to reproduce unchecked. It was clearly a myth, because if it had existed, it would have been glassed long ago.

Jango thought of the grass and the lichen of the mystery planet, the fresh rain, and laughed. He would buy that they were near, or possibly somewhere within Condemned Space, given the large patches of devastation and scarring on the various continents when viewed from orbit. But the jetti trying to sell him that the planet was Halasar? How gullible did he believe Jango to be? He would be offended, if the whole lie wasn't so ridiculous.

The jetti smiled ruefully, called out on his banthashit. "You don't believe me." Jango snorted and gave him an incredulous stare through his visor. 'Ben' must have sensed it through his force, because he had the gall to look ever so slightly amused. "Very well."

And then his form distorted.

Jango was emptying blaster charges on battle-hardened instinct before his rational mind could catch up, but it was useless. Pale pink Human skin hardened into deep crimson-brown chitin. Legs cracked and reformed, and creature's body elongated and sharpened. Spines, tail, teeth, claws. Were those mandables?!

His eyes roamed, cataloguing the threats the creature posed. He needed to get out of this enclosed space to have a fighting chance, and to preserve the ship's controls from damage. But outside the cockpit he potentially had a stubborn jett'ad to manhandle out of harm's way. Osik.

Jango was about to launch at the thing with a vibroblade before the creature held up a long fingered hand and an unseen force froze him in place.

Peace. No harm. Jango reeled. "Stay out of my kriffing head!"

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the creature collapsed in on itself, process reversing until the pale Human jetti stood before him once more. Jango strained against the magics, carefully regulating his breathing. A Clawdite? No, Clawdites weren't capable of such transformation.

His brain already had the answer for him, planted by the jetti's words. The insectoid exoskeleton and mandables, the mammalian teeth and tail, the crown of warped montrals, the long horns, (the jewellery? His brain whispered). The jetti had just mutated into a sithspawn and back again. Me'sik'ven.

The jetti(?) still looked amused. "While there are many wild rumours about my species, our shapeshifting abilities are, ironically, understated." He spoke again, still in Jango's native tongue. "I will let you go and explain if you agree not to stab me. I still wish to be narudar, if you are amenable."

"Fine." He gritted out, and the pressure slowly eased. He didn't sheave his blade, but gestured for Ben to continue.

Ben's face turned grim. "Stewjon is my homeplanet. During the time of Empire, the Sith used it as a base for their organic engineering. Their favourite subjects were the people they enslaved, and when the population became smaller, they stole from further to bolster it. Those people were my ancestors."

He let his words soak in before he continued. "The Sith enslaved both our bodies and our minds. To the point where we are remembered as monsters born from the corpses of sapient people. The perfect predator of ambush to invade and suppress worlds, able to change shape and hide within their prey.

However, the Sith are no longer, and those that the galaxy remember as sithspawn were able to fade into obscurity, to choose again, to heal, to be people again.

I don't wish to harm you, but I cannot let you endanger their security. I need your vow, haat, ijaat, haa'it, that you will not share this information."

Jango shook off the heaviness of his shoulders as the adrenaline come-down started to hit. He wasn't faced with a beast, he realised with some resignation, but a person with something, someone, to protect. Was the ad the same as him?

Fighting now seemed even less of an option. This day was so kriffed. "If my knowing this is so dangerous to your people, why am still alive?"

Ben hummed. "Honestly? The only reason I brought you with us is because the Force whispered so."

Mando'a sentences:

"Bac aliik, gar haat'mando'ad, ni tion'serim?" That symbol, you're a True Mandalorian, am I right?"

"Gar jorhaa mando'a." You speak Mando'a.

Vocabulary:

aliik - symbol (usually of allegiance)

ad - child

baji - teacher

dar'jettise - Sith plu.

demagolkase (plural of demagolka) - someone who commits atrocities, a real-life monster, a war criminal. From the notorious Mandalorian scientist of the Old Republic, Demagol, known for his experiments on children, and a figure of hate and dread in the Mandalorian psyche.

jetti - Jedi sing.

jettise - Jedi plu.

jett'la - Jedi adj. (e.g. "How very Jedi of you.")

jett'ad - Jedi child

haat, ijaat, haa'it - truth, honour, vision. Words said to seal a solemn pact.

me'sik'ven - what the shit

narudar - temporary allies

Hi! Thank you for reading all the way to the end of the post. This wee thing snuck up on me at midnight last night and I shockingly managed to finish it. I'm not a writer so this won't be going anyway, sorry! But if anyone wants to expand on it in any way, you have blanket permission and my eternal love and delight. Also I purposely wrote Obi-Wan less eloquently in this because he's speaking in Mando'a for most of it. If some of the phrasing was weird to you that's on purpose, because it's weird to Jango too. Obi-Wan is very good as Mando'a but not totally fluent/native.

Some worldbuilding rambling:

In this AU in my brain I've based Sithspawn!Stewjoni off of xenomorphs in the sense that that's how the galaxy views them. I do also love the idea of eusocial societies in worldbuilding. I tried to see if anyone had done anything for Geonosian worldbuilding but no dice :( In my headcanon Stewjoni don't actually have parasitic reproduction (if anyone does parasitic!Stewjoni though I would be excited and impressed) like people think they do, but they are eusocial apex predators who could theoretically reproduce quickly enough to be an invasive species. Of course they don't do that, because they collectively have a very long generational trauma around bodily and reproductive autonomy, and would never force a fertile member of the colony to bear children.

Obi-Wan in this was given to the Jedi by his colony (small at around a hundred members, and from a temperate island because I'm Scottish and must have some space-Scotland in this) because he was a strong enough force-sensitive that he was being negatively affected by the lingering darkness of the planet's Force presence, and his shapeshifting was enough that he was able to pass as non-Stewjoni (Human in his case). How does this work? Anything is possible with the Force is my excuse.

The Stewjoni have maintained an amicable relationship with the Jedi after the Order helped them get back on their feet once they were freed, and this is common practice. However, some force-sensitive Stewjoni children are not able to pass and thus are not able to spend extended periods off-planet around other sapients. The Jedi aid them where they can but they often become sickly in some way.

The disabled and elderly are usually well supported by their colonies and Stewjon's medical infrastructure. Some disabilities are widespread due to the Sith fucking up their bodies so much. No one even remembers what their ancestors were like before the Sith. Were they insectoid? Mammalian? Carnivores? Omnivores? A colony of another known species? There are some theories but that information has long been lost.

Stewjoni colonies in this can range from under a hundred to thousands. Megacolonies of hundreds of thousands to millions like the capital tend to be made up of lots of smaller colonies. Stewjoni!Scotland in this is has a few hundred different colonies. There are other regions with different biomes and different cultures as well. Stewjoni Jedi aren't numerous or structured enough to truly be a colony within themselves, but many consider their Jedi temple or Corps to be their colony. They are often also still considered 'outmembers' of their birth colony, and part of their regional culture and of course greater Stewjoni culture, but of course how connected they are varies between the individual person.

Body modifications of various forms are popular. Jewellery and decorations are also more common for everyone than not.

Anakin in my mind is also considered an outmember of Obi-Wan's birth colony as Obi-Wan's apprentice because that sparks joy. There's a generation of the colony around his age (around 10-ish kids) who essentially adopt him when Obi-Wan takes him to visit for the first time. They're absolutely smug and excited to have the cool Human Jedi kid as a sibling/cousin and laud it over everyone else. Obi-Wan's generation (the Wan generation) are less than impressed. Anakin may not have a crèche clan but he does have a bunch of Stewjoni kids who will holocall him on an encrypted line regularly to bug him for news and anecdotes about the rest of the galaxy.

Anyway that's all my rambling for now. I welcome comments and tags if anyone wants to throw stuff at the wall with me :)

[acourtofsnakes]

The Absence Of Sound - Freefall, Chapter 3 || The Bad Batch x Jedi!Reader

Summary: The Batch catch a lead of where you might be, but is it too good to be true? And a certain angsty clone realises he doesn't have a heart of ice after all.

Warnings: nicknamed reader (Ghost), sleazy guy who cant say no, unwanted touch (a hand on the neck), swearing, canon weapons, The Boys being hot, Reader being a badass, arguing, tension of the spicy kind, mention of slight panic

A/N: The chapters in this series are split into sections, Before and After. The before chapters are set during the Clone Wars, before TBB, with a slight AU. Just a little heads up in advance for chapter 4... You have been warned. 🥲

Words: 5.8k+

Tags: @arctrooper69

Series Masterlist | Series Playlist

Now

“Well, I gotta say boys, I’ve seen scum in the depths of prisons look happier than you.” Cid strolled into the parlour, dropping a box of credits on the table, payment for their latest mission. 

None of them answered her, barely even acknowledged her, or the credits. As it had been for the past four months, the table was covered in maps, scraps of information, datapads old and new, bounty pucks, everything. Any hint of information, any part of anything that could be relevant. 

For four months now, in every spare second they had, The Bad Batch were searching. Hunting. 

Seeking out their lost companion, their fallen partner. 

You were more than just a member of their tight-knit, rag-tag collection. 

You were a part of them. 

And they couldn’t leave another behind, not again. 

“There seems to have been a lot of activity across these three systems,” Tech flicked through the information on his data pad, the holo in the middle of the table reflecting the same data, “Activity that would not be explained by our usual kind of enemies. Unexplained attacks at any given point of time, surges of energy that people cannot explain, sightings of someone that no-one can quite remember.” He adjusted his goggles, rolling his shoulders a little.

Echo was poring over a collection of bounty pucks, brow furrowed in concentration, “Would she have been that obvious though? I mean, we know her. We know how she operates, how she thinks… She’s our Ghost, if she’s in hiding, why is she letting herself be seen?” The answer already hung there in his words, but it felt like a curse to bring it to light, to snuff out a possibility before it even had the chance to be real.

“Because she knows we’re looking for her. She’s ready to be found. She’s telling us where she is so we can go and rip apart whoever is keeping her.” Wrecker growled a little, thumping on fist into the plan of the other hand, his grey eye smouldering.

“Hunter? What do you think?” Tech turned his attention to his brother, his sergeant, the one he looked up to. 

Hunter was staring at the scattered research across the table, rubbing his fingertips along his jaw over and over again, those senses of his telling him something, telling him this wasn’t right. He shook his head, “No…” It was a soft murmur, before he realised Tech had spoken to him, “No. Something about this isn’t right.”

Tech looked down at the data, ticking it over, “If we leave now, we will be at Moraband in less than two rotations. I can get us through jump points that limit the amount of time we waste. We can go to the planet and inspect for ourselves, what is going on.” 

Wrecker’s head followed the conversation, turning to each brother in turn before he rose from his seat, rolling his neck, “I say we do it. If she’s there, we find her. If not, we bust some heads until someone tells us where she is.” 

Hunter sighed heavily through his nose, skin prickling again but he nodded once, “Get everything you need, we leave in ten.” He just couldn’t shake the feeling that they were wrong about his.

Before

You had to hand it to yourself - you’d managed to make something out of the mess your life might have handed up being. 

That’s not to say your time in the Jedi Temple was unpleasant or unhappy, it wasn’t. They were some of the happiest memories you ever had, learning how to harness the Force and wield the legendary weapons you’d always dreamed of touching. 

Of course, you did come to the Temple under more devastating circumstances. An attack on your home planet when you were young caused chaos and destruction, turning your once peaceful surroundings into that of fire and blood. 

You vividly remember the moment it all happened, the moment the world turned in on its head and your parents ran with you through the wreckage of the town square, trying to make sure you didn’t look too closely at the scarlet staining the pretty cobblestones like oil.  

Running, running, running. 

Endless running until another explosion rocked the very ground beneath you, throwing you off your feet and ripping you away from your parents. Something pushed into you when you tried to stand, some kind of invisible, weightless energy that kept you down, hidden, seconds before a wave of those awful creatures tore through the plaza, gunning down everything in their path. 

There was so much dust, so much smoke. 

So much screaming and pain. 

When it cleared, the silence was terrifying, like all the life had been sucked out of the world… because it had. 

Your parents had drawn the attention of the monsters so they wouldn’t find you, clutching each other's hands in the growing pool of blood painting the floor. 

Such agony and rage and confusion, all shooting through your body, grief, helplessness - a whirling torment growing wilder and wilder, like the churning sky of a storm before it snapped and that same energy had burst out of you. 

It blew everything away in a ten-foot radius, leaving you in the centre, sobbing and clawing at the ruins of your home world. 

That was how the Jedi had found you when they came to help survivors. Sitting in the centre of a storm, near passed out from exhaustion and grief.

They took you back to the Temple, running a few tests on your Midichlorian count, and to see if you were okay. 

And everything went from there. 

You became part of Anakin Skywalker’s little unit, becoming best friends with his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, and causing just as much mischief for General Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

The four of you were inseparable, working together in a beautiful, coalescent unit, and you even became close with Anakin’s Clone unit, the 501st, led by Captain Rex. 

Ah, how you adored Rex. His easy way of looking at the world, the endless calm that flowed out of him like water whenever you reached out with the Force. 

He commanded his men more like brothers, worked side-by-side with Anakin as though they shared the same blood too. 

Not to mention, he always had a soft spot for you and Ahsoka, and he was one of the first people to notice that you processed the world differently, after Ani mentioned it. 

Perhaps it was this difference that he saw, this unsettled, frantic energy thrumming consistently through your blood that made Rex suggest something. 

That something happened to be by way of a unit of five, Clone Force 99. 

The Bad Batch. 

A group of ‘defective’ clones born and bred for their differences and altered skills, who were efficient and always successful, even if their methods looked like one of Anakin’s mission plans. 

They owned the fact that they didn’t fit it, accepting their differences and turning them into their strengths and pride. 

Rex begged for help on the mission on Anaxes, considering you were the only one who believed his theories about Echo without hesitation.  

And it was there that you slotted in like the sixth puzzle piece. 

The boys were fascinated by you, and you were in turn fascinated by them. 

You weren’t as uptight as other Jedi Commanders they’d met. You felt things and expressed them in ways they’d never seen before. 

You laughed brightly, teasing them with a mouth that could have shocked some of the General’s they’d seen. 

You fought like a whirlwind, your grace and skill honed until you became a blur of light on the battlefield, leaving the Batch staring after you with wide eyes and parted lips. 

They witnessed your anger at the state of Echo, your friend, watched you tear through the enemy with your sabers flashing like bolts of lightning, your fury threatening to rumble the skies. 

Hunter marvelled at your efficiency, something they’d seen only in the brief time they’d known Anakin, but there you were, burning as fiercely as he did yet eyes skipped over you when it mattered. 

A storm, he called you. Always feeling and thinking so intensely, crackling with life yet no one knew when you were going to explode into light next.  

It was after that mission, when you were watching Echo choose to stay with the boys that you realised how right things felt with them, how you didn’t have to mask the fact that you saw the world through an altered lens. You didn’t have to master the emotions that sometimes bubbled over with no warning and dragged you through the undertow. 

Rex must have seen it too, must already have known and spoken to Hunter, because he took you aside and suggested that you stay right where you are, with them. With people who you burn brightly with and not be dimmed. 

And although you missed your friends, missed this family that had held you back from the precipice of oblivion… 

This felt right. 

This felt like home. 

They felt like home. 

The sounds of the cantina were a pleasant hum in the background, dulling your senses and providing a sort of blanket to dissociate into. 

It was another successful mission under your belts, another tally to add to your repertoires. 

The Marauder was being refuelled, so Hunter suggested you all do the same - considering Wrecker had again eaten through everyone’s ration packs… Again.

All the boys were seated at a table, relaxing after the mission but still with that keen alertness. 

It was your round of drinks, and you’d slipped through the crowd to the bar, ordering from the droid and just listening to the hum of everything around you. 

You watched the droid potter around preparing your drinks, toying with your credits on the bartop, flipping them in and out of your fingers absently, just to offset a bit of that lingering energy leftover from escaping possibly another near death experience.

Really, it was like being back with Anakin and the others, there was a remarkable similarity with plans having to be changed right at the almost moment for some reason or another.

The thought brought a faint smile to your lips, how you’d gotten a similar family yet one completely different, one that you fit snugly into and wouldn’t change for the world. 

“Now, there’s a smile I could get used to seeing.” An unfamiliar voice broke your haze, your sensitivity alerting you too late that someone was next to you, bordering on too close. 

Clearly, you’d disassociated harder than you meant to, since you were usually so aware of your surroundings and space, hating it when people you didn’t trust came too close.

Exhaling softly through your nose, you turned your head to the side, examining the male that had bothered you. 

He was human, older by the looks of his greying stubble and the flecks through his hair which was swept back with careless abandon but clearly styled as an attempt to look rumpled. 

He had pale green eyes which lingered on you with too much curiosity, too much weight that didn’t sit well on your skin. 

“Ah, well. Unfortunately for you, this will be the first and only time you get to see it.” You turned to face the droid again, senses now in complete focus but you put off reading his signature yet, not wanting to know what lived in his head before you gave him the chance to walk away. 

The man frowned a little, letting his head fall to one side against his shoulder, elbow resting on the bar with his chest open to you - a cliche sign of dominance if ever you saw it. “Aw, cmon now don’t be like that, I’m just playing.” He ducked his head further, that ridiculous smile on his lips that reminded you of a slimy beast.  

Patience. Calm. That’s what we’re practising right now. 

“I’m only going to say this one more time, and I’ll make it super clear for you.” You didn’t even look at him, instead nodding thanks to the droid as your drinks were placed in front of you, “You will not be leaving this place with me hanging off your arm like another trophy to add to your collection. You’ll be leaving on your own, okay?” 

The man visibly bristled from the corner of your eye, rising up to his full height and he sidled even closer, so close you could smell the alcohol on his breath, the stale sweat clinging to his clothes as they brushed your armour, “Is it because of those boys you’re runnin’ with? Those clones?” He scoffed, looking over at your boys and then back at you, “You realise they’re expendable, right? They’re all the same. You’re never gonna get anythin’ different. Whereas with me,” he actually gestured to himself, “You’ll have somethin’ you’ll never forget.” Then, as if he had bantha dung for brains, he rested his hand on the back of your neck. 

Every muscle in your body wanted to jump and rip his hand off you, to snarl in his face and laugh when he realised what he’d done.

But such anger isn’t the Jedi way, is it, Ghost? We shouldn’t be giving into such feelings of darkness. 

You rolled your eyes internally at yourself and then gazed at your unwanted friend with a stare that Ani and Rex used to say made Hoth look like the sands of Tatooine, “Are you really that dim, or are you just planning on losing a hand tonight?”

Your boys would make a meal out of him. 

Come to think of it, you’d make a meal out of him whilst they watched.

His hand flexed on the back of your neck, making your skin crawl, your stomach roil and you visibly saw the cogs turning over in his mind, trying to work out how to play this at an angle that you supposed would have you falling to your knees for him. 

The feeling of your skin crawling was suddenly soothed, senses pinging and alerting you to a familiar presence. A deadly one. 

The feel of howling winds and low burning fury, the cold crackle of something waiting to be unleashed. 

“I suggest you remove your hand from the Commander’s neck. She isn’t known for her patience.” The cool, liquid rasp of Crosshair emerged from thin air, arm extended and unwavering as he almost delicately pushed the muzzle of his blaster into the cheek of your ‘admirer’.

Despite the position he now found himself in, this guy still seemed determined to stick to his stupidity, “You think I’m afraid of a little girl? What are you, her bodyguard?”

Your body was suddenly washed over by the crackle of fires, of strength as hard as durasteel, the creeping awareness of another type of predator in your midst. And beneath that? A fierce protectiveness and loyalty. 

Hunter prowled over from the table, pausing just a few feet away. He was all broad shoulders and glinting eyes, one hand occupied with the casual flip of his knife, “You’re not all that smart, are you?” He moved between you and the older man, weight settled in one hip.

Said man in question scoffed again, hands held up in surrender as the tangy taste of fear began to spill at the edges of your senses, “Like I said, you think I’m afraid of you? You’re just some kinda jumped experiment, hard to be afraid of something with no life.”

Crosshair laughed softly, the velvet hum of a knife on steel, “I can’t wait to see how this ends.”  

His amber eyes flicked over to you, silently checking you were okay, that no harm had come to you. He probably didn’t even realise he was doing it. 

Hunter had that predator's gaze locked firmly on the man’s, pinning him with that smokey stare, just daring him to move, “Oh, we’re not the ones you should be afraid of.” He jerked his head backward, motioning to where you sat behind him at the bar still, head resting on your fist now, “It’s her you need to watch out for.” 

A smirk crossed your lips as Hunter mimicked exactly what you’d thought earlier, and you merely shrugged at the man with no attempt at disagreeing, sipping your drink as you watched the scene play out in front of you, “He’s not wrong there.” You slipped the edge of your cloak back, revealing just a small percentage of the glittering weapons strapped to your body, not to mention the sabers hanging at your hips. 

The man paled, his cheeks hollowing and skin turning sallow, “You - you’re a Jedi.” He opened his mouth, swallowed. Swallowed again. Then he licked his lips, a bead of sweat tracking down his temple, “I didn’t realise.” 

You were still for a moment, then slowly swivelled your chair round before hopping lightly to the floor, stalking toward him on footsteps that were silent, even though the bar was now quiet, bated, “So, you only would have stopped if you knew I was a Jedi?” You reached Hunter’s shoulder and he moved back a pace, allowing you in front of him without a single hesitation, “You're saying if I weren’t a Jedi, you wouldn’t have cared if I said no?” 

Crosshair hummed, pushing the muzzle of the blazer deeper into the flesh of the man’s cheek, cocking his head, “I’d be careful. You’re digging yourself into a hole you most certainly won’t be climbing out of now.”

He sputtered, opened his mouth, closed it again, trembling head to know now as he met that stormy, ice cold look, “I- I didn’t - I wouldn’t-“ He broke off with a noise, casting a glance around for someone to help him. 

But no one would. The other patrons of the bar had clocked you all as soon as you’d walked in, the painted armour of the boys and yourself, Wrecker’s size, Crosshair’s predatory sweep of the room, the sabers dangling at your hips, as well as every other weapon on your body. 

They wouldn’t help this man, not now. 

You smiled at him, a smile that was all fangs and fury, the silence of the bar allowing that smoky, dark voice to be heard within you, “You, you, what?” You laughed, hand barely twitching and Hunter’s knife slipped free from his vambrace into your waiting fingers. 

Hunter didn’t even flinch, merely rolling his shoulders and allowing a smirk to cross his features when you took his knife. It was a move practised dozens of times now.

The blade glinted in the dim light as you traced the tip along the man’s jaw, “You might be thinking because I’m a Jedi, I’ll be lenient on you.” Your eyes tracked the movement of the blade before flicking to meet his, “If I could be bothered to show you, you’d see the colour blade I carry and why you’d be better off with an actual Jedi.” 

He barely breathed as you nicked the edge of his lip with the blade, probably praying to every single thing he could think of right now. 

You heaved a sigh, a soft pout, “As it stands, I just came from a particularly difficult mission and I don’t really have the energy to waste on bottom-level scum like you.” A careless shrug, “Shame really.” You dropped your hand, still holding eye contact as Hunter extended his arm, allowing you to slip the knife back into the vambrace. 

The man sagged in relief, but only a few centimetres considering Crosshair’s blaster was still jammed into the side of his face. Then he snickered softly under his breath, “Knew it. All show. Just a pretty face tha’ keeps their beds warm.” 

Your foot paused before it hit the ground, body held with perfect poise and stillness, “Cross?” The tone of your voice was so light, you could have been asking for the weather.

There was the barest whistle through the air, a solid thump of knuckles impacting flesh and then a body hitting the floor heavily. 

A soft smile graced your lips now as the three of you walked back to your seats, “I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.” 

Wrecker’s crow of delight filled the space, sparking conversation again as if the previous moment had never happened, and as if one of the patrons wasn’t being dragged outside spitting out teeth.

Now

He became aware of the footsteps trailing him fifteen minutes ago. Whoever it was must have thought they were doing a good job, or they didn’t realise exactly who it was they were following - as if the sleek grey armour wasn’t enough.

Still, he allowed it, if only to feed the curiosity tickling the back of his mind, the thrill that he hadn’t experienced in a while. If he was being trailed by an attacker, he’d have them incapacitated and on the ground before they could even blink… But maybe he would allow them a small chance first, just for entertainment. 

Just to feel something else other than the hounding desolation and anger constantly assaulting his mind.

And that itching, nagging feeling at his skin that had shaken him from his bed, the atmosphere in the room too tight, too charged. It was pressing on his skin, reminding him of not so long ago of the way the air would feel when you were wound up, on the verge of cracking.

Three more blocks, the wall of the fallen soldiers, his brothers, coming up before him and then the uneven thump of those feet was starting to grate on his already shredded nerves, igniting the cold temper he had always been known for. He slowed under the pretence of examining the names carved into the wall, each one clanging hollowly in his skull. 

One breath, then another, then - 

He swung round, blaster aimed, arm unwavering at the hooded figure lingering behind him who raised their hands quickly, “I suggest you think of a reason for following me very quickly. I would hate to have to ruin these floor-stones with the inside of your head.” The tone of voice didn’t even change, if anything he just came across bored. Empty. 

The figure shook their head, the hood shimmering with the movement but still keeping the face in shadow, “Forgive me, sir!! I wasn’t sure when best to approach you, my employer - they said not to give this information to anyone else, but also to approach with caution as-”

He flicked the toothpick from his lips with a near silent agitated grunt, ”Spit it out, my hand is starting to get tired.” A muscle twitched in his jaw, but his grip was unwavering. He had spent hours upon hours with a target in sight, hand curled around his weapon with his finger resting on the trigger, a trigger which needed only the barest touch from him before his enemy was on the ground. Hours spent willing his body into complete stillness, ready to burst into action at a moment’s notice.

A faint whimper, a half step back, “There is a storm coming.”

Everything in him turned to stone, the ice that usually encased his heart now sending splinters through his chest.

He hadn’t heard those words ever. Not once.

He didn’t even speak, simply sheathed his weapon, the memories threatening to break free of their confinement in his head. He turned away from the messenger, not caring who sent him or why.

There was nothing inside him but a raging, snarling, howling beast, clawing at its cage.

Desperate to be free, to hurt, to protect. 

And then, Crosshair ran.

As his feet pounded on the ground, he was battered with another memory, another flash of the past where you had been so alive, so vibrant, burning through the galaxy as you should do.

Every moment, both awake and asleep, he was given memories of you, even now, even when he could feel that your life was at stake, hanging in the balance. 

He wouldn’t know peace until you were okay.

~

Then

“What’s your problem, Crosshair?”, Your voice echoed sharply around the clearing, the sunset bouncing off the hull of the Marauder, the pounding music of 79’s a soft hum in the background. 

What was supposed to be a relaxing evening off after a mission had quickly turned south, leaving you and Crosshair hissing at each other in the club until the barman asked you to take it outside. 

Gladly. 

Crosshair was leaning against it, long legs crossed over each other at the ankles as he cleaned his rifle, “Problem? Oh, I’m not the one with the problem, Shade.” His words were all poison honey, dripping and lethal. He didn’t look at you, gaze focused on his task, a toothpick in the corner of his mouth as usual. 

Shade. That nickname only he called you, ever. 

You scoffed, pausing in front of him and crossing your arms, “No? Then what was that little comment about back there, huh?” Your gaze was all crackling electricity this time, ready to spit and spark, “What was it again? Oh, yes.” You held your fingers up to make air-quotes, “I’ll just run along to the next person that tells me I’m not bad?” 

He barely glanced at you, a careless thing that he knew just riled you up even more, “Is it not true?” 

That damn unruffled drawl, it made you want to shake him. Or strangle him. 

Maybe you would. 

“No. It isn’t true. You know I am very aware of what lives inside me, I don’t need anyone to validate that. No one.” The bones of your knuckles ached with how tightly you gripped your arms, if only to stop yourself from throttling him. 

How dare he? 

Now he finally looked up, spitting out his toothpick, “No? Then why do you go running to Hunter every time you need validation that you’re good?” He spat the word out like it offended him, pushing off from the ship and taking a step forward, towering over you. 

You refused to back down, meeting his glare with one of your own, even as you tipped your head back to look up at him, “You think I need validation that I’m good?” Stars, you were so angry. It pulsed through your body, making your heart rage and your blood heat inexplicably. 

Crosshair smirked, tilting his head, amber eyes fixed on you, reading every little expression on your face that he knew so well. “I know you do, Shade. What did you did today - that is who you are. I watched you tear through those traitors without a second's hesitation, without thought.” That liquid velvet if his voice was oh so tempting, drawing you in, wrapping you in his arms and coaxing you toward the truth. 

An ache was radiating out from your jaw where you clenched it so tightly, feeling that smokey darkness prick its head at Crosshair’s words, “Enough.”

He wasn’t finished. He stepped even closer, fully blotting out your vision, your senses with that velvet voice, “You were unstoppable. Ferocious. That is who you should be. Not bound by the rules of the Jedi you no longer follow. You should be using everything you have, everything you are.” The rise and fall of his chest was the only indication he was just as affected as you, “You have a beast inside you, Shade. Just like me. I’ve seen it. Time and time again. On the battle in Anaxes, when you tore through the people keeping Echo. Every mission after, I see that beast try to come out, but you deny it. Deny who you are.” With every word, his tone got snider, more sullen, more like a bite than a word. 

“I said enough!!” You growled at him, pushing your hands hard against his chest plate with a pulse of the Force, your own breathing heavier now as that beast in question shone through your eyes, seeing the world for what it was before you quelled it, stuffing it back down. “I’m not you, Crosshair.” 

You couldn’t. 

You couldn’t give in and let people get hurt again, no matter how good it felt, no matter how strong you felt. 

“No. You’re not. Because I wouldn’t have lied to myself over and over, I’d have accepted the truth.” Crosshair watched your internal struggle, watched you deny that half of your soul and he scoffed, shaking his head and stalking off to the steps of the Marauder, shoulders tense and agitation rippling off of him, “Typical. Why don’t you run along to Hunter? I’m sure he’ll pat your head and tell you it’s okay.” You’d never heard such viciousness in his tone. He knew where and how to cut you deep. 

Fury choked you for a second, along with something else, something seductive and intense and you chased after him, “The truth?! You talk of the truth, but what about you, Crosshair?!” You were right on his heels, the quiet of the ship enveloping you even as your combined emotions flooded the space. 

The walls, the chairs, everything rattled as a wave of force energy slipped from your control, butting up against him but it didn’t hurt him. As much as you wanted to strangle him right now, you didn’t want to hurt him. 

Crosshair didn’t even look over his shoulder, long legs stalking across the floor towards… anywhere, “What about me, Shade?” He even had the audacity to sound bored, like all of this was beneath him and you were just wasting his time. 

You growled at him, “You know exactly what I’m talking about. I see the looks, the comments, the way you clam up when someone else comes by us.” You grabbed his arm, spinning him round to face you, glaring up at him despite the seductive heat pounding through your veins, the tension thick, heavy, “Why do you hide that you care about me, huh?” 

The muscles in his jaw rippled, his entire body turning rigid and those honey eyes hardened to pure, solid gold. “Hide?” His voice was soft, caressing the word in such a way that you felt you were staring down a Loth-wollf about to bite. 

But you had just as much of that beast inside you, didn’t you? 

And you would never back down. “Yes, Cross. You hide beneath that mask of cold indifference, like everyone is beneath you, like you don’t care.” 

Crosshair cocked his head, hands clenching into fists before he folded his arms across his chest, his forearms brushing your own, “And what makes you think I do care?” His voice was still quiet, but you didn’t need to read his presence in the Force to know he was lying through his teeth, and almost succeeding. 

But you were too similar, the same sides of the coin, the same shock of lightning. 

“Bullshit.” You cut him off again, a laugh in your throat that was anything but humorous, only serving to irritate the pair of you even more, “I can see it. I can feel it through the Force yet you still act like this. You can’t try and convince me this is real. You’re lying to yourself, not just to me.” Your words cut like the edges of blades but you didn’t care.  

There was a beat of silence, a single heartbeat. 

Then he moved, pushing you harshly against the hull of the Marauder, a hand round your throat to pin you there as his other fist banged into the metal loud enough to have it ring in your ears, “I’m not the one lying to myself, Shade. You talk about seeing?” He was breathing heavily, head tilted down to yours, caging you in tightly, your mingled fury charging and choking the air, “Well I see what you so blatantly try to ignore when you look in the mirror. I see that beast inside you that wants to tear into everyone, to make them pay for you losing everything. I see it in the way you tear down fields of enemies without a second hesitation. And that’s what scares you. That I’ve seen is and I’m not afraid. Because I’m like you.”

You shook your head, opening your mouth to speak but then his hand tightening around your throat, thumb pushing into the soft flesh underneath your jaw to keep you there. It might have cut off your air slightly, but you couldn’t hide the faint hum of fiery pleasure, knowing full well it tumbled against his palm but you were both too furious to notice. 

Besides, he wasn’t finished. 

“You could be as… ferocious, as powerful as that all the time, if you just let yourself feel it. But you don’t.” His eyes were livid gold still and he leaned in, his words dancing across your face, hitting straight to the core of you, “You let go and yet still run to Hunter and let him tell you it was okay, it was just a slip of control, you’re still good.” His chest rose and fell sharply, “I would never make you be someone you’re not.” 

Your head spun, his words echoing in your mind, fuelling that confusion, that anger and you snarled at him, lashing out with the force but he held strong, “Why do you care so much, Crosshair? Why do you care what I am, what I do?” You couldn't lean forward so you pinned him with a stare, trying to catch your breath, “Why do you care so much that I go to Hunter instead?” 

Crosshair’s head twitched a little, as if he were going to shake it, “Don’t start down this path, Shade. You aren’t going to like where it leads.” His hand tightened reflexively, making you gasp a little and his eyes dropped to your lips, drinking in that noise hungrily. 

“Backing down from a fight, Cross? That’s not like you.” You narrowed your eyes at him, “You started this. You don’t get to run away just because the tables have turned on you. If you have something to say, say it.” The last two words were a hiss. 

He stared at you, then his face contorted in anger and something else you didn’t recognise, before he moved, his hand drawing into a fist and then he slammed it into the wall beside your head. The ship groaned in protest but he barely flinched, not even when he pulled that hand back and pointed at you, “I have been. But you haven’t been listening.” He held there for a moment longer, looking you up and down before he scoffed and walked away, a flash of something in his eyes… hurt? 

~

Now.

Crosshair didn’t even know where to begin unravelling what he felt around you, but he knew what he felt in this moment. What he would do.

He would tear apart every planet in the galaxy to bring you back from that monster that took you. He wouldn’t stop.

Ever. 

[gffa]

STAR WARS PREQUELS - A TIMELINE

So, what's this about, huh? After recently sitting down with Star Wars Timelines, I was genuinely surprised at just how much they were willing to nail down to a specific year and sequence of events, which admittedly is a reference book and those are pretty low on the canon totem pole so be prepared for future retcons down the road, but it's shockingly useful information to have! Because the more I paged through it, the more I realized just how useful it would be for fic writers, especially for anything that might be referenced by a prequels character. Do you want to know how old the Jedi Order basically is? What the eras were called, if a prequels character wanted to reference them? What year did Dooku leave the Jedi? When did Naboo join the Republic? When was the Republic founded? When was the Jedi Temple built? When was Yaddle born? When did the Togruta ally with the Republic? Was Anakin born on Tatooine? When did Plo discover Ahsoka? When did Anakin get his first kyber crystal? When did Obi-Wan join the Jedi Council? WHEN DOES THE MANDALORIAN CIVIL WAR TAKE PLACE?? Some of this is SO INTERESTING to have nailed down into place--like just how old Huyang is or that the Jedi Temple was constructed on Coruscant BEFORE the Republic existed! Useful for me to know, but also my prequels-era characters to know! This book is willing to tell us A LOT and I collated everything I thought would be useful for a prequels character to know! ERAS:

c.5,000 BBY– 1,032 BBY: Ancient conflicts "The Jedi and Sith wage a series of wars throughout their history so ruinous that at points each is brought to the brink of destruction."

c.500 BBY–330 BBY: "The Age of Exploration" "After centuries of governing in regions near the galactic Core, the Republic sets out to explore the Outer Rim. This era of exploration on the frontier presents many adventures and opportunities for the Republic and the Jedi Order alike, but growth also leads them to uncover new mysteries and dangers. Soon the Jedi Order’s very connection to the Force is put to the test."

c.500 BBY–100 BBY: "The High Republic" The four hundred years that are collectively referred to as the High Republic era.

TIMELINE:

c.25,025 BBY: BIRTH OF THE JEDI

"The Jedi Order is founded. Among the earliest locations, and likely the first, is a temple constructed on the planet of Ahch-To. Later, the temple retains the most treasured Jedi texts and earliest writings on the Order’s faith. For eons, these noble protectors stand united by their ability to harness the power of the Force itself for good."

c.25,020 BBY: Professor Huyang powered up "The architect droid Professor Huyang begins training Jedi younglings in the delicate art of lightsaber construction."

c.20,000 BBY: Dawn of the Republic

"The foundation of the Republic is formed through an alliance including Coruscant, Corellia, and Alderaan, prompted by the dawn of hyperspace travel."

c.5,000 BBY: Creeping darkness

"A dark-side sect splinters from the Jedi, causing the formation of the Sith. This fracture is the genesis of a millennia-long rivalry."

c.5,000 BBY–1,032 BBY: "The Sith battle the Jedi in numerous conflicts for thousands of years before their struggle comes to an end, resulting in the destruction of the Sith Empire."

c.5,000 BBY–1,032 BBY: "The Sith build shrines on planets, including Malachor and Moraband. They covet these locations for their connection to the dark side of the Force."

c.1,050 BBY: A Mandalorian Jedi

"Tarre Vizsla becomes the first of the Mandalorian warriors to be inducted as a member of the Jedi Order. The unique lightsaber he constructs comes to be known as the Darksaber, later stolen to be used as a symbol to unite his planet."

c.1,032 BBY: Coruscant Temple erected

"The main Jedi Temple on Coruscant is constructed at the same location where there was once a Sith shrine."

c.1,032 BBY: "Darth Bane, the last surviving Sith, recognizes that infighting and back-stabbing ultimately led to the downfall of the Sith Empire. He declares the Rule of Two, whereby there can only be a sole master and single apprentice of the Sith. The practice safeguards the inherently selfish Order from self-destruction, thus ensuring the survival of the Sith for centuries to come."

1,000 BBY: Reformation of the Republic

"The first incarnation of the democratic alliance of planets, the Galactic Republic, is reformed."

c.972 BBY: Rules of war

"The Galactic Accord of Systems establishes a set of rules of engagement, in the event another war should break out."

896 BBY: Yoda is born

"The future Jedi Master Yoda is born."

832 BBY: Construction of Theed

"Naboo’s capital city, Theed, is built. The floating city on the banks of the river Solleu becomes the jewel of the metropolis."

867 BBY: Naboo joins the Republic

"The planet of Naboo officially joins the Galactic Republic. The event will be commemorated annually with The Festival of Light."

796 BBY: Students of Yoda

"Master Yoda begins training Jedi. He will maintain this regular practice, teaching the newest members of the Order, for about 800 years."

600 BBY:

Jabba Desilijic Tiure is born.

509 BBY:

Yaddle is born.

c.392 BBY: PATHFINDERS

"The Republic and the Jedi establish Pathfinder teams to explore new hyperspace lanes in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. A team of Pathfinders typically includes two Jedi, a master and their apprentice, who work together with their Republic allies to discover new ways through dangerous and unexplored places. They work with communications teams who lay the groundwork for the infrastructure needed for Republic growth. In return for their efforts, the Jedi Order hopes to gain new understanding of the galaxy, new cultures, and the Force."

c.383 BBY: THE HYPERSPACE RUSH

"Independent explorers also race to discover new paths through hyperspace. These prospectors risk their lives in perilous, uncharted corners of the Outer Rim, hoping to find safer, shorter routes. Families like the Grafs and San Tekkas earn great fame and fortune by selling their knowledge of these new hyperlanes."

382 BB The First High Republic book of Phase II

The High Republic: Path of Deceit kicks off the second phase of books, set 150 years before the previous phase.

382 BBY: Battle of Jedha

"The Path of the Open Hand instigates a battle on the sacred moon of Jedha."

232 BBY The First High Republic book of Phase I:

The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, which kicks off the original era of the High Republic (out of universe, not in universe), starting with the Great Hyperspace Disaster where a ship explodes in hyperspace over the planet Hetzal Prime. This ignites an intergalactic conflict with the Nihil that draws the Jedi and the Republic into a massive connected, long-running series of battles against them.

232 BBY:

"Dignitaries and Jedi gather at the Starlight Beacon for its official dedication ceremony."

The Great Hyperspace Disaster (the Legacy Run explodes in hyperspace) happens and the Jedi rush to help mitigate the disaster and evacuate as many people as they can.

"The brave deeds of the Jedi Order [in the Great Hyperspace Disaster] are cast across the galaxy via holotransmissions, making Kriss and her fellow Jedi heroes."

The Emergences: "Though Hetzal has been saved by the heroics of the Jedi, fragments of the Legacy Run continue to threaten the frontier. Fear grips the Outer Rim as blazing wreckage of the ship appears with little warning from hyperspace. As the Republic seeks answers to these Emergences, a group of Jedi stranded in a forgotten corner of space unknowingly cause a far older and more sinister threat to emerge: the Drengir."

"Wreckage from the Legacy Run scatters through hyperspace, endangering the Outer Rim. The first of the Emergences after the Great Hyperspace disaster occurs at Ab Dalis, killing 20 million beings."

"The Nihil strike on Elphrona, intending to ransom well-connected homesteaders and capture a Jedi for Marchion Ro’s evil machinations."

"The Jedi Council votes to join the Republic against the Nihil."

232 BBY: A BEACON OF HOPE

"With the Great Disaster behind them, the Republic and Jedi refocus on the opening of the Starlight Beacon. This towering space station located in the Outer Rim is one of Chancellor Lina Soh’s Great Works, meant to provide a symbol of hope in a dark corner of the galaxy. This shining example of Republic unity and progress serves as a vital base for the ongoing struggles with the Nihil and Drengir."

"One of Chancellor Lina Soh’s Great Works, the Starlight Beacon, begins operation after a dedication ceremony attended by Republic dignitaries and prominent members of the Jedi Order. The station is to be just one of many beacons, serving to connect, inspire, and serve the Republic’s growth in the Galactic Frontier. The Jedi maintain a permanent presence on the station under the leadership of Marshal Kriss and the watchful eye of the exacting Jedi Master Estala Maru."

"Hunting the Nihil - Though it lacks a formal military, the Republic forms a special task force to hunt the Nihil, with Joss and Pikka Adren among the first volunteers."

"The Jedi broker the Ayelina-Ludmere trade agreement."

232 BBY: GROWTH OF THE DRENGIR

"The carnivorous Drengir take root across wide swaths of the frontier. Their lust for living flesh, which they consider “meats,” leads them to attack hundreds of worlds. Defenseless settlers and the Jedi alike struggle to repel these horrifying plantlike creatures."

231 BBY: THE REPUBLIC FAIR

"Chancellor Lina Soh’s next Great Work is a magnificent fair on Valo. Meant to celebrate the Republic and its many achievements, the event turns into a tragedy. The Nihil mount a merciless raid on the fairgoers, destroy the event, and nearly kill the chancellor. The Jedi defenders mount a valiant defense but are outnumbered."

231 BBY: FIGHT FOR THE FRONTIER

"The Jedi march across the frontier as they seek justice for the attack on the Valo fair. With the Drengir threat seemingly settled, they turn their attention to the scattered Nihil forces. The Jedi believe that they are gaining the upper hand, but are unaware of who leads the raiders and their ultimate goal. The Nihil Tempest Runners bear the brunt of the assault while the Eye of the Nihil, Marchion Ro, prepares a new weapon to fight the Jedi."

"The Republic-Togruta Alliance is formed."

230 BBY: FALL OF STARLIGHT

"The Nameless wreak havoc among the Jedi, who fight valiantly in Starlight’s final moments. Master Estala Maru sacrifices his own life to delay the top half of the station from burning up in Eiram’s atmosphere. Below, Master Stellan Gios stays behind to ensure the lower portion will not strike a populated city on the planet’s surface."

"The Jedi recall their members to safety on Coruscant."

"The Republic readies a Defense Coalition fleet to strike at Nihil space. The Jedi, concerned that they cannot yet combat the Nameless, remain on Coruscant."

c.200 BBY:

"Births: Chewbacca— Wookiee hero and copilot born on Kashyyyk."

102 BBY:

"Serenno foundling Dooku’s family abandons him as an infant after discovering his Force abilities. The Jedi bring him to Coruscant to join the Order." (Dooku is born this year.)

Sifo-Dyas was also born in 102 BBY.

86 BBY:

Dooku becomes Yoda’s Padawan.

Sifo-Dyas becomes Lene Kostana’s Padawan.

84 BBY:

Sheev Palpatine is born on Naboo.

c.80 BBY:

Rael Averross becomes Dooku’s Padawan

72 BBY:

Mace Windu is born. (Take with a grain of salt, it's from a De Agostini booklet and never appeared anywhere else that I can find.)

c.70 BBY:

"Averross is knighted and encourages Dooku to take another Padawan."

68 BBY:

Qui-Gon Jinn becomes Dooku’s Padawan.

c.58 BBY:

"After attaining the rank of Jedi Master, Dooku is offered a seat on the Jedi Council."

Qui-Gon becomes a Jedi Knight.

57 BBY:

Obi-Wan Kenobi is born on Stewjon.

54 BBY:

"Obi-Wan Kenobi begins his Jedi training." (Presumably this means he was 3 years old when he was adopted by the Jedi and began his training then.)

52 BBY:

Palpatine is elected Senator of Naboo.

50 BBY:

"The Nightsisters sell Asajj Ventress to Hal’Sted."

46 BBY:

Padme Naberrie is born on Naboo.

44 BBY:

Obi-Wan Kenobi becomes Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan.

"Stranded on remote Rattatak, the Jedi Knight Ky Narec discovers Asajj Ventress and trains her as his Padawan."

c.44 BBY - "Amid concerns about the corrosive effects of dynasties, the Naboo Reformations limit monarchs to a maximum of two two-year terms."

42 BBY:

Rael Averross introduces Dooku to Palpatine.

Dooku leave the Jedi Order and returns to Serenno to reclaim his title.

c.42 BBY: "Civil war engulfs Mandalore, a planet with a proud honor code and a war-torn history. Its clans form factions, with the conflict evolving to pit tradition-minded clan fighters against New Mandalorians who see the warrior past as a dead end."

c.42 BBY: "Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan protect Duchess Satine Kryze during the Mandalorian Civil War. Obi-Wan and Satine fall in love and he offers to leave the Jedi Order to be with her. They decide that their duties won’t allow them to follow their hearts."

c.42 BBY: "The Mandalorian Civil War ends with Satine’s New Mandalorians ascendant, though traditionalists—including Satine’s sister Bo-Katan—organize to resist her rule."

41 BBY:

Anakin Skywalker is born.

"Distant secret Ancient Jedi lore leads Obi-Wan to the Force-imbued planet Lenahra, where he forges a deeper connection with the living Force." (These are the events of the Padawan novel.)

c.41 BBY: "Holiday interrupted While visiting Kashyyyk, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan foil a Trandoshan raid aimed at taking Wookiee prisoners during Life Day celebrations." (These are the events of Star Wars Adventures 2020, issues 3-4. Unclear if this is before or after the novel Padawan.)

40 BBY:

c.40 BBY - Maul becomes Sidious’ apprentice.

Qui-Gon is offered a seat on the Jedi Council. He does not accept by the end of Master and Apprentice.

"Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan visit strategically located Pijal to oversee the signing of a treaty between its monarchy and the Czerka Corporation." (These are the events of the Master and Apprentice novel.)

39 BBY:

c.39 BBY: Sifo-Dyas joins the Jedi High Council.

38 BBY:

c.38 BBY - "Shmi and Anakin Skywalker are brought to Tatooine. Their enslaver, Gardulla the Hutt, soon loses them to Watto in a bet."

37 BBY:

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan mediate a conflict on Bri’n. (Age of Republic - Qui-Gon Jinn #1)

36 BBY:

Orson Krennic and Galen Erso meet.

Ahsoka Tano is born.

34 BBY:

"Mace Windu helps overthrow the warlord Guattako." (These are the events of Age of Republic - Special #1)

"A skilled mechanic, Anakin begins gathering spare parts to build a protocol droid, C-3PO, to help Shmi with household chores."

"Sidious tests Maul on Malachor."

33 BBY:

"Plo Koon discovers a Force-sensitive Togruta toddler named Ahsoka Tano. He brings 'Little ‘Soka' to Coruscant for training."

"Sifo-Dyas orders a secret clone army to be created on Kamino."

"Eager to test his abilities against the Jedi Order, Darth Maul kills the Twi’lek Padawan Eldra Kaitis on Drazkel’s moon." (These are the events of Darth Maul 2017)

Caleb Dume/Kanan Jarrus is born.

32 BBY: THE PHANTOM MENACE

"The former Padmé Naberrie is just 14 when elected and has barely taken office when the Trade Federation blockades and then invades Naboo."

The events of The Phantom Menace take place, the Trade Federation invades Naboo, Valorum sends Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to help Naboo, Anakin Skywalker is adopted into the Jedi Order, Qui-Gon Jinn dies.

"Count Dooku pledges himself to the ways of the Sith, replacing Maul as Sidious’ apprentice and taking the name Darth Tyranus."

"Palpatine is elected supreme chancellor."

"Obi-Wan takes Anakin as his Padawan."

"The Sith take over Sifo-Dyas’ project to create a clone army, ordering inhibitor chips implanted in the clones to ensure their obedience."

"With Sifo-Dyas dead, Dooku takes over the clone project, altering it to serve the Sith’s purpose. In his guise as Tyranus, Dooku recruits the bounty hunter Jango Fett as the genetic template for the Kaminoans’ clone army. He then instructs the Kaminoans to secretly implant inhibitor chips in the clones’ brains to ensure their obedience. The clones will fight for the Republic, but the Sith will be their true masters."

Han Solo is born.

Boba Fett is born.

Yaddle is killed by Dooku.

31 BBY:

"Kuat Drive Yards receives an order from a secret buyer to create massive numbers of warships and weapons."

30 BBY:

"Sidious’ minions begin constructing a massive Observatory on Jakku, the first of several built as part of the Sith Lord’s decades-spanning Contingency project. As Palpatine, Sidious orders the secret establishment of bases, shipyards, and colonies in the galaxy’s Unknown Regions."

29 BBY:

c.29 BBY: "Anakin seeks out his first kyber crystal on Ilum and creates a lightsaber, an important step in his Padawan training."

"Anakin goes on a mission in Coruscant’s underlevels with a disguised Chancellor Palpatine, whom he comes to see as a mentor."

"Influenced by Palpatine, Anakin tells Obi-Wan he wishes to suspend his Jedi training and surrenders his lightsaber. With Anakin’s path undecided, Yoda sends him and Obi-Wan to Carnelion IV to investigate a distress signal. [Eventually] Anakin decides to remain Obi-Wan’s Padawan." (These are the events of Obi-Wan & Anakin 2016)

Hera Syndulla is born.

28 BBY:

Queen Amidala's final year as Queen of Naboo, where her successor, Queen Réillata, asks her to be Senator for Naboo and Padme agrees, taking office that year.

"Remembering her experience after fleeing Naboo, Padmé sends Sabé on a mission to investigate how to end slavery on Tatooine." (This ultimately doesn't really go anywhere/accomplish much, unfortunately.)

"Padmé becomes friends with two young fellow senators: Rush Clovis of Scipio and Mina Bonteri of Raxus." (These are the events of Queen's Shadow.)

c.28 BBY: "Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to retrieve a Holocron from Dallenor, leading to a confrontation with the Krypder Riders." (These are the events of Age of Republic - Obi-Wan Kenobi #1.)

27 BBY:

c.27 BBY: "Cliegg Lars buys Shmi Skywalker’s freedom from Watto. They marry and live on Cliegg’s moisture farm."

26 BBY:

"While on a mission to Sullust, Dooku kills the Jedi Knight Jak’zin and forces the Kaldana Syndicate to serve Sidious’ interests." (These are the events of Age of the Republic - Count Dooku #1.)

"Obi-Wan and Anakin rescue Yoda from raiders on Glee Anselm, but discover the incident was actually a test engineered by the Jedi Council [to help them get along better]." (These are the events of Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure.)

24 BBY:

c.24 BBY - "Dooku founds the Confederacy of Independent Systems, attracting planets that wish to secede from the Republic and beginning the Separatist Movement."

"The Senate passes the Emergency Powers Act, allowing Palpatine to remain in office for the duration of the Separatist Crisis."

"Palpatine forms the Loyalist Committee to advise him during the Separatist Crisis. Senators belonging to the committee include Bail Organa of Alderaan, Padmé Amidala of Naboo, Ask Aak of Malastare, and Orn Free Taa of Ryloth."

"The Senate begins debating the Military Creation Act, which would allow the Republic to create military forces for its defense."

"Adrift after the death of Ky Narec, a grief-stricken Asajj Ventress embraces the dark side and becomes a warlord on Rattatak."

"Osika Kirske imprisons Ventress on Rattatak, forcing her to fight as a gladiator. Dooku frees her and offers to make her his apprentice in hopes of one day supplanting Sidious. Ventress agrees to serve as the count’s agent and assassin." (These are part of the events of Dooku: Jedi Lost.)

22 BBY–19 BBY: The Clone Wars

"A political crisis propels the Jedi Order into a galaxy-wide war against the Separatists, secretly led by the Sith."

22 BBY: ATTACK OF THE CLONES:

"Obi-Wan and Anakin help defuse a crisis on Ansion." (Mentioned in Attack of the Clones: "He's just returned from a border dispute on Ansion," Mace says of Obi-Wan.)

The events of Attack of the Clones take place, Padme is attacked for her stance against the Military Creation Act in the Senate, Jar Jar introduces a motion to give Palpatine emergency powers as Chancellor, including the discovery of the clone army, Shmi Skywalker dies, Obi-Wan and Anakin and Padme are held captive by the Separatists and rescued by the Jedi, many who die in the arena, as well as Jango Fett dies, and the start of the Clone Wars.

Anakin and Padme are secretly married on Naboo.

Poggle the Lesser gives the Death Star plans to Dooku.

The Clone Wars begin on Geonosis.

22 BBY: THE CLONE WARS:

"Mace Windu leads a Jedi mission to Hissrich. As a member of Windu’s team, Jedi Prosset Dibs accuses the Order of wanting Hissrich for the Republic. He duels Windu and is defeated. Dibs is found guilty of treason and confined to the Jedi Archives in hopes that he’ll find his way back to the light." (These are the events of Jedi of the Republic - Mace Windu.)

"Padmé and Captain Typho help Sticks’ squad of clone troopers free Separatist hostages on the embattled planet Hebekrr Minor." (These are the events of Queen's Hope.)

"Anakin becomes a Jedi Knight."

"Obi-Wan becomes a Jedi Master and is elevated to the Jedi Council."

"Obi-Wan investigates a bombing on Cato Neimoidia and discovers the attack bears the hallmarks of both a Republic and Separatist operation. He brings this disquieting hint that someone is manipulating both sides of the war back to Coruscant. Anakin duels Ventress on Cato Neimoidia." (These are the events of Brotherhood.)

"Captain Rex, formally designated CT-7567, is assigned to Anakin Skywalker, who saves his life during the Battle of Arantara. A mutual respect soon blossoms between the brash, bold young Jedi general and the sturdy, by-the-book clone officer."

"Anakin’s troops run afoul of hostile wildlife while searching for Separatist forces on Benglor." (These are the events of Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales #1.)

"The Techno Union’s Wat Tambor destroys the Nexus trading post on Quarmendy to keep Plo Koon’s troops from reclaiming it." (These are the events of Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales #2.)

"Yoda assigns Ahsoka Tano to Anakin as his Padawan, hoping to teach Skywalker how to let go of his emotional attachments."

"The Separatist battlecruiser Malevolence terrorizes the galaxy’s inner systems before it is tracked and destroyed at the Dead Moon of Antar."

21 BBY: THE CLONE WARS:

"The Republic invades Geonosis for a second time to destroy a dangerous new droid foundry constructed by Poggle the Lesser."

"Padmé and Jar Jar discover a bioweapons lab in Naboo’s swamps and must stop Nuvo Vindi from releasing the Blue Shadow Virus."

"General Grievous and Asajj Ventress lead a Separatist invasion on Kamino, with the Republic’s clones fiercely defending their birthworld."

"Sabine Wren is born on Mandalore but raised on neighboring Krownest."

20 BBY: THE CLONE WARS:

"Anakin experiences a disturbing vision of his future in the Force realm known as Mortis and must make a wrenching decision."

"The Republic defends Mon Cala during a Separatist-engineered civil war between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren."

"Republic forces suffer heavy casualties while storming Umbara, a strategically located world with advanced technology that has become a Separatist stronghold."

"Maul returns from exile, bent on obtaining revenge against the long list of those he believes have wronged him."

19 BBY: THE CLONE WARS:

"Maul forms the Shadow Collective, forging several of the galaxy’s crime syndicates into a single underworld organization under his leadership."

"Mandalore’s Duchess Satine Kryze is overthrown by Death Watch’s Pre Vizsla, whose own rule is quickly ended by Maul. Maul has manipulated events to bring Obi-Wan to Mandalore, and now has the hated Jedi at his mercy. He strikes Satine down in the throne room."

"Responding to a disturbance in the Force, Darth Sidious arrives on Mandalore. Maul swears fealty to his old master, but Sidious rejects him. He kills Savage, blasts Maul with lightning, and takes his former apprentice prisoner."

"Anakin and Ahsoka return from Cato Neimoidia to investigate a bombing at the Jedi Temple amid rumors that a Jedi was involved."

"Ahsoka is expelled from the Jedi Order, which believes her guilty of the Temple bombing. She is then arrested by the Republic and prosecuted by Admiral Tarkin before a military tribunal, with Palpatine presiding and Padmé representing the defense. [She] leaves the Jedi Order."

"During the Battle of Ringo Vinda, the clone trooper Tup turns his blaster on Jedi General Tiplar, forcing a Republic retreat. Fives and AZI-3 discover a tumor in Tup’s brain. He dies after its extraction. Palpatine and Nala Se insist the tumor be sent to a Republic medical facility, but Shaak Ti decides it must go to the Jedi Temple first. Kix helps Fives arrange a meeting with Anakin and Rex. Fives tells them about the inhibitor chips and the plot against the Jedi, but his story sounds like a paranoid conspiracy and he becomes agitated. Commander Fox and clone troopers arrive, sent by Palpatine, and try to arrest Fives. When Fives resists, Fox shoots him dead. Tup’s action is blamed on a parasitic infection, and the inhibitor chips are delivered to Dooku."

"Padmé travels to Scipio to expedite a Banking Clan loan for the Republic and discovers Rush Clovis is serving as their representative. The Banking Clan is dissolved and Palpatine takes over its holdings."

"Plo Koon discovers the crash site of Sifo-Dyas’ ship, prompting the Council to investigate the Jedi’s long-ago disappearance."

"On Oba Diah, spice kingpin Lom Pyke tells Anakin and Obi-Wan that the Pykes were paid by Tyranus to kill Sifo-Dyas. Dooku arrives and is identified as Tyranus. He kills the Pyke leader and duels with Anakin, but escapes."

"The Jedi are disturbed to learn Dooku was responsible for the creation of the clone army, but decide to keep this revelation secret."

"Yoda obeys Qui-Gon’s voice and travels to Dagobah, where Qui-Gon’s spirit tells him to learn how to retain his identity after death."

"Anakin teams up with a mysterious Chiss military officer, Thrawn, to locate Padmé and destroy a cortosis mine." [Thrawn: Alliances]

"Yoda helps Kashyyyk’s Wookiees defend their planet against Separatist raiders, earning the honor 'Defender of the Home Tree.'"

"Mandalorian commandos free Maul from Stygeon Prime. Sidious and Dooku allow him to escape in hopes of drawing out Mother Talzin. Maul lures Grievous and Dooku into a confrontation on Ord Mantell and takes them both prisoner—a dangerous gambit of Talzin’s aimed at luring her old enemy Sidious into the fight. Grievous and Sidious come to Dooku’s aid on Dathomir. Grievous kills Mother Talzin and the Mandalorians drag Maul away to safety."

- "Ventress asks the Jedi to help abduct Vos from Dooku’s service in hopes of saving him. Vos returns to the Jedi, claiming his turn to the dark side was a ruse. But his true loyalties are unclear. Vos defeats Dooku on Christophsis, but agrees to join him to defeat Sidious. His secret hope is to kill both Sith Lords. Ventress confronts Vos and Dooku, saving Quinlan before Dooku attacks her with a devastating blast of lightning. The count escapes. Vos and Obi-Wan return Ventress to the waters of Dathomir. [Ventress dies.]"

"Having left the Jedi Order, Ahsoka befriends Trace Martez, a mechanic in the Coruscant underlevels, and her sister Rafa. Ahsoka discovers the Pykes are working for Maul, who is on Mandalore. She uses the Force to escape with the Martez sisters, and the Pykes conclude they were targeted by the Jedi. Ahsoka returns to Coruscant, where Bo-Katan Kryze recruits her to fight Maul."

"Separatists commanded by Admiral Trench invade the Republic stronghold of Anaxes and repeatedly defeat clone counterattacks. Rex is disturbed that the Separatists seem to be adapting rapidly to his strategies and suspects Trench is using some new combat algorithm. He proposes raiding the Separatists’ cyber center to discover their secret. The mission succeeds with assistance from an unorthodox unit of genetically altered clones known as the Bad Batch."

"Anakin joins Rex’s clones and the Bad Batch to raid the Techno Union’s facility on Skako Minor, fighting their way through Wat Tambor’s droid legions. They discover Echo confined in a stasis chamber and hooked up to Separatist computers. Anakin confronts Trench to obtain the rest of the sequence to disarm the bomb, saving Anaxes. He then kills the admiral. Echo joins the Bad Batch."

"Grievous launches a Separatist counteroffensive. The Republic sends Aayla Secura to Felucia and Plo Koon to Cato Neimoidia to hold the line."

"Obi-Wan and Anakin rout Separatist forces on Yerbana. ["Old Friends Not Forgotten"] Ahsoka and Bo-Katan approach the Jedi to propose a joint mission to capture Maul and free Mandalore from his crime syndicate. The Jedi agree and split the 501st in two, with Rex leading troops under Ahsoka’s command."

"A Separatist armada launches a sneak attack on Coruscant, hammering the Republic warships of the Coruscant Home Defense Fleet. Grievous ambushes Palpatine in the Federal District, killing Roron Corobb and knocking Shaak Ti unconscious, then kidnapping the chancellor. The Open Circle Fleet arrives from Yerbana."

19 BBY: REVENGE OF THE SITH:

"Anakin and Obi-Wan fly through the titanic space battle, dodging salvos of laser fire exchanged by Republic and Separatist capital ships in an effort to reach the Invisible Hand, where Palpatine is being held. With the Separatists cut off from their jump point, the battle degenerates into a brutal slugging match, with ships burning up in orbit and debris raining down upon the Coruscant cityscape below. Anakin and Obi-Wan rescue Palpatine above Coruscant. Anakin kills Dooku and Sidious plots to make the Jedi his new apprentice."

"Grievous retreats to Utapau, where the Separatist Council is in hiding. Sidious orders him to relocate the Separatist leaders to Mustafar."

"On Mandalore, Republic forces take the docks of the capital, Sundari. Prime Minister Almec orders Gar Saxon to retreat into the undercity. Bo-Katan’s commandos capture Almec. Ahsoka confronts Maul in the undercity. He is disappointed to see her, having hoped to lure Obi-Wan into his trap."

"Anakin dreams of Padmé’s death in childbirth. Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his personal representative, to the alarm of Yoda and Mace Windu."

"Bail Organa meets secretly with Padmé, Mon Mothma, and other senators determined to resist Palpatine if he doesn’t surrender his wartime powers."

"Yoda heads to Kashyyyk to bolster its defense."

"On Maul’s command, Saxon shoots Almec before Ahsoka can finish questioning him, then makes his getaway."

"At Coruscant’s Galaxies Opera House, Palpatine plays on Anakin’s anger and doubt about the Jedi’s integrity, guessing that they asked him to be their spy. He tells Anakin the story of Darth Plagueis, a Sith Lord who could save people from dying. Anakin, fearful his nightmares are a premonition of Padmé’s fate, is intrigued—particularly when Palpatine tells him it is not a power that can be learned from the Jedi."

"Obi-Wan travels to Utapau to hunt for Grievous."

"Clone troopers, Bo-Katan’s commandos, and Saxon’s warriors battle in the streets of Sundari, with the Republic’s forces winning the day."

"Ahsoka confronts Maul again, who tells her Sidious is behind everything and Anakin is the key to destroying the Sith. Maul reveals that he had hoped to lure Obi-Wan and Anakin to Mandalore in order to kill Anakin, so Sidious could not take the Jedi as his new apprentice. Ahsoka and Maul duel. Maul is captured by Rex’s clones, with Saxon apprehended as well."

"On Utapau, Obi-Wan confronts Grievous. He duels the Separatist warlord and then chases him through the city’s winding tunnels and warrens."

"Palpatine reveals his true identity to Anakin and begs him to use his knowledge to save Padmé. Anakin vows to turn him over to the Jedi."

"Obi-Wan corners Grievous in a hangar on Utapau and kills the mechanical monster with a shot from a blaster."

"Imprisoned in a device that prevents him from using the Force, Maul is brought aboard a Jedi Cruiser destined for Coruscant, escorted by Ahsoka."

"Told of Palpatine’s identity, Windu orders Anakin to wait at the Jedi Temple while he arrests Sidious with Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin. Sidious kills Tiin, Fisto, and Kolar and duels Windu. He attacks Mace using lightning, which the Jedi Master deflects back at Sidious. Anakin arrives and pleads that Sidious be allowed to stand trial, but Windu says he’s too dangerous to be spared. Anakin makes a fateful decision, stopping Windu’s attack by severing his hand. Sidious blasts Windu with lightning, sending him through the broken window. Anakin pledges allegiance to Sidious, who grants him the name Darth Vader. He tells Anakin to go to the Jedi Temple and kill everyone there—that will make him strong enough with the dark side to save Padmé."

"Ahsoka and Maul sense a strong disturbance in the Force."

19 BBY: ORDER 66

"Sidious issues Order 66. Clone troopers across the galaxy obey their inhibitor chips and attack the Jedi, decimating the Order."

"Commander Cody targets Obi-Wan Kenobi on Utapau. The Jedi survives the attack, escapes offworld, and is rescued by Senator Organa. Aboard the Jedi Cruiser Tribunal, Rex manages to tell Ahsoka to “find Fives” before trying to kill her. She evades Rex’s fire and flees from his troopers. Commander Grey and his clone battalion execute Depa Billaba on Kaller. oda avoids death by killing Commander Gree and Captain Jek, and then escapes Kashyyyk with help from Chewbacca and Tarfful. On a Jedi Cruiser above Bracca, Jaro Tapal is cut down by clones from the 13th battalion, sabotaging the warship before he dies. Captain Jag downs Plo Koon’s starfighter during a patrol flight on contested Cato Neimoidia. Ki-Adi-Mundi is cut down by Commander Bacara’s Galactic Marines during infantry maneuvers on Mygeeto. Luminara Unduli is captured on Kashyyyk. After her execution, the Inquisitors spread rumors of her survival to ensnare other fugitive Jedi. Stass Allie is blasted by Commander Neyo while flying BARC speeders in a mop-up operation on Saleucami. Commander Bly gives the order to shoot Aayla Secura amid Felucia’s colorful fungi."

"Ahsoka prevents other clones from killing the imprisoned Maul. She releases him to create a diversion. While Maul wreaks havoc aboard the Tribunal, Ahsoka activates a trio of astromechs to help her evade Rex’s troops. Ahsoka locates Fives’ records, learning what happened to him and that Rex suspected the clones’ inhibitor chips have some ulterior purpose. Ahsoka subdues Rex and removes his inhibitor chip. Maul destroys the Tribunal’s hyperdrive, sending the doomed Jedi Cruiser careening toward the surface of a remote moon."

"Bail Organa arrives at the Jedi Temple to investigate the uprising and is confronted by clone troopers. He retreats under fire."

"Anakin, now known as Darth Vader and backed by the 501st Legion, marches on the Jedi Temple and slaughters its defenders. He shows no mercy, believing that the dark side is the only pathway to the unnatural powers he must command to save Padmé. As his rage and lust for power swell, not even younglings hiding in the Jedi Council chambers are safe from his lightsaber. Elsewhere, young Grogu survives a clone trooper attack but is haunted by his memories of the event."

"Anakin obeys Sidious’ command and kills the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, shutting down their droid armies and ending the Clone Wars."

"The Senate holds a special session, during which Palpatine—now scarred after his battle with Mace—details the Jedi plot to kill him and take control of the Senate. He proclaims the Republic is to be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire."

"Obi-Wan and Yoda fight their way into the Jedi Temple and recalibrate a signal to warn any surviving Jedi away."

"Padmé arrives on Mustafar, unknowingly bringing along Obi-Wan as a stowaway. Anakin uses the Force to choke her. As C-3PO and R2-D2 tend to Padmé, Anakin and Obi-Wan fight a running duel through the lava flows of Mustafar’s mining complex."

"On Coruscant, Yoda confronts Sidious and the two duel in the Senate Chamber, with Sidious hurling Senate pods at his Jedi enemy. Ascendant with dark-side power, Sidious proves too tough a foe for Yoda, who flees their duel, evading clone troopers sent to hunt him, and is whisked away by Bail Organa in an airspeeder. Sidious senses his new apprentice is in danger and hurries to Mustafar."

"Anakin is left maimed and burned after dueling Obi-Wan on Mustafar. Obi-Wan takes Anakin’s lightsaber and leaves him to die. Anakin survives and is encased in life-preserving black armor. As Darth Vader, he becomes the subject of rumors as the Emperor’s servant and enforcer"

Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia, then she dies. Bail Organa takes Leia to Alderaan and Obi-Wan takes Luke to the Lars' farm on Tatooine, going into exile there, while Yoda is on Dagobah.

"Ahsoka and Rex bury the clones at the Tribunal’s crash site. She leaves her lightsaber behind to find a new path."

19 BBY: GALAXY IN DARKNESS

"Tarkin tells Lama Su that the Kaminoans’ contracts are void and the need for future clones is being questioned."

"Padmé, appearing to still be pregnant, is laid to rest after a solemn funeral procession on Naboo."

"Mas Amedda presides at an Imperial rally held before Coruscant’s Jedi Temple to celebrate the defeat of the Order."

"Sidious abandons Vader on the desert planet Gattering with orders to seize a Jedi’s lightsaber and make it his own. Vader travels to a dark-side locus on Mustafar and bends Infil’a’s kyber crystal to his will, making it bleed red. By compelling the Force to serve his purposes, Vader takes an essential step in his journey as a Sith."

"Sidious puts Vader in charge of the Inquisitors, Force users who once served the light but were seduced or brutalized into following the dark side and are now responsible for hunting down and killing the galaxy’s fugitive Jedi. Vader proves a ruthless taskmaster, brutalizing his new underlings in combat training sessions and eliminating those who fail to live up to the standards demanded by him and the Emperor."

"Sidious orders Vader to lure the Jedi Order’s fugitive archivist Jocasta Nu to Coruscant’s Jedi Temple and capture her. An enraged Vader kills Commander Fox after clone troopers under his command fire on the Sith Lord at the Jedi Temple. Nu explains to Vader what he’s failed to realize: Sidious wants the memory crystal and its list so he can find a potential replacement for his apprentice. Vader kills Nu, tells Sidious she died trying to escape, and crushes the crystal."

"The Empire builds up its forces and begins enlisting and training conscript stormtroopers to replace the Republic’s clone soldiers."

"The Empire bombards Kamino’s cities, destroying all traces of the cloning program that played a critical role in the Clone Wars."

SOURCES & NOTES:

Star Wars Timelines by Kristin Baver, Jason Fry, Cole Horton, Amy Richau, and Clayton Sandell is the primary source for much of this, anything in quotation marks is sourced from here unless otherwise noted. This timeline is only quoting a small minority of what's available in the book, so it's recommended that you check it out for yourselves!

I have done my best to put everything in order even within the specific years, noting where I'm not 100% sure of the sequence of events.

If a "c.[YEAR]" is included, the spot is estimated, not hard fact, but in general it's a pretty trustworthy placement! Except for birthdays--they're not placed directly on the timeline, so I just kind of threw them in at the end most times.

Observation: Holy crap, the Clone Wars was NUTS.

[lightsiided]

you can't do this alone.

* refusing care prompts | accepting

     "yeah." rey sighs heavily, lips pressing together in a MISERABLE frown. "i know."

she thinks about it in pieces: the long trip to the outer rim to find moraband, the desolate mountains that await them upon arrival. the valley of the dark lords, which they will need to cross through on their way to the temple. the temple itself, that once housed jedi prisoners, if the legends hold a whisper of truth. the spirits awaiting them within it, alongside all the traps and tricks. the many, many opportunities there will be for grievous injury or DEATH -- and she's just supposed to drag someone she loves off with her to join the nightmare.

but it's too DANGEROUS to go alone, even if the idea had both originally occurred to her and seemed incredibly appealing, at first, while she paged through luke's old notes. rey traced her finger along the hand-drawn map he'd left behind and the fragmented sentences beneath it, where a few words had stuck out to her starkly enough to elicit a shiver: master yoda encountered visions created by sidious with the intent to corrupt.

there is a sort of irony to it, she thinks, that it would have to be someone she LOVED with her, in case that were still true. the only way to ensure her own safety is to drag the love of her life into trouble with her. how poetic it is -- the life of a jedi.

she wonders if he already knows the thing she feels too guilty to admit aloud: that while the idea of bringing thor into danger beside her is almost physically repulsive, she nearly equally dreads having to trudge through the sprawling sith cemetery alone, plagued by dark visions, at war with her own mind.

hands scrub over her face, fingers raking through her hair. "i wish neither of us had to do this, actually." the war is won. it's supposed to be over. don't they deserve to have their peace, now -- to be happy?

rey twists her face up, scrunching her nose and puffing her cheeks. her exhale is slow, this time. RESIGNED, she squints up at thor. "you really want to come?"

she knows the answer even before the question is posed. the second she first received the information and unearthed luke's journal for research, rey knew there was no chance she'd be able to sneak out ALONE to complete the task. and though everything within her rebels against the idea of putting the person she loves most in harm's way, especially for her...

...part of her is so very pleased, that it doesn't seem to have even occurred to thor that it would be an OPTION for rey to go alone.

it isn't that he doesn't think she could do it, either. his words hold the edge of desperation that only someone who loves a self-sacrificing hero could possess. rey's recognized the precise tone in her own voice many times before. defensively, she rolls her eyes. "i wasn't thinking about going alone alone," rey feels obligated to argue, "i would have at least brought bb-8."

though she knows it'll hardly be a handful of minutes into the trip before she's glad it's him, who's with her. inevitably, she'll be glad she's chosen to be with someone who clings to her like static even when things are perilous. someone unafraid to argue with her when she most needs to be argued WITH. someone who insists.

@othunderous

[galaxyvoices]

@gloomfaithed

Vos had finally got to the point where the Jedi trusted him to go out on missions alone again, without supervision. Yet, out of all the places they could send him to search for an artifact, Moraband. He knew he had to toss the discomfort aside. Although he was familiar with the planet due to his past, he truly would have liked to have accompaniment. To not be alone. But here he was. Other than the little droid that had accompanied him. He had a holo of what the artifact looked like, thankful to have that. The Jedi were not exactly sure of what the artifact held, he just knew that he had to bring it back. Keep it out of the wrong hands.

Once he landed, there he was. Droid following alongside him. He took a deep breath as he stepped outside of his transport. Back to the barren, abandoned landscape of Moraband. "Let's get this and get out," he said to himself. The sun was high in the sky, merciless with its heat. As he walked, the dirt crunched beneath his shoes. The air was heavy with decay and dust. It took him a bit of walking and searching to find it. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he found the entrance. It was an old tomb, one he was not necessarily familiar with. He thought it would be the same as the others he had visited. He made it to a particular room, one with a door that he could not get past. There was a pattern he had to figure out, surely it would be simple. He began studying the nearby markings on the tomb walls. The droid began to scan as well.

[vaderwcn]

Chapter One of the sun's coming out (but I'm feeling colder) is here.

Just days before the Galactic Hockey League's Entry Level Draft, the Moraband Sith made a blockbuster trade that sent former Rookie of the Year winner Anakin Skywalker to the Coruscant Jedi.

Anakin Skywalker is the best player of his generation. Maybe of any generation. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a defenseman without peer in the GHL.

And neither of them is thrilled about the trade that clashes their two worlds into one.

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Satine Kryze, Ahsoka Tano, Mace Windu, Yoda (Star Wars) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Hockey, Slow Burn, Rivals to Lovers, Mixed Media, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The M rating will be earned

[iconac]

some notes on the jedi order in old sith wars era and differences between that and what we see in the jedi in the late golden age.

→ the age cutoff for bringing in and training children to become jedi was higher, leading many jedi to have knowledge of or even be still connected to their biological families: shad jelavan on taris used his stipend as a padawan to support his siblings, as they were all orphans; zayne carrick and bastila shan recognized their respective parents on sight and still had some kind of familial relationship, even a strained one in bastila's case. some jedi were even brought in for training near adulthood, though those situations were infrequent.

→ while jedi were discouraged from getting married and/or having children, it was not forbidden/strictly enforced: jedi master lucien draay was a child born of two married jedi, though his father died in the great sith war and his mother left the order soon after the war's conclusion; jolee bindo also got married in defiance of the council and remained part of the order for some time afterwards.

→ force ghosts were more common knowledge. sith ghosts (which, in my interpretation, are not true 'force ghosts' but the result of using sith techniques to defy natural order and persist beyond death) were a known menace to the order, and could corrupt or even possess jedi; exar kun's fall was in part due to his encounter with the spirit of freedon nadd, and the tombs in korriban's valley of the sith were known to contain the spirits of the sith that lie within. (in my interpretation, this is with sith ghosts can be killed/vanquished, while true force ghosts, literal parts of the force, cannot) known sith worlds like korriban (moraband) were not forbidden to jedi, but were considered dangerous and to be approached with caution. in fact, it was relatively common for groups of jedi to be sent out to dark centers of the galaxy to search for threats to the republic and the order.

→ jedi masters often took on multiple padawans at the same time. the number was mostly left to the discretion of the masters themselves: legendary jedi master arca jeth trained as many as twenty students at a single given time. following the end of the great sith war, many in the order began to push for jedi to take on single apprentices.

the jedi order could be described as being far less homogeneous and much more numerous than what we see in later eras, as well as being more heavily influenced by the reoccurring clashes with various sith lords and sith-affiliated combatants. after the great sith war and the devastation in left in its wake, there were many in the order who began to call for more cohesion in the order and its teachings, as they believed that it would lead to less jedi falling to the dark side and waging war on the galaxy.

[mayxthexforce]

Headcanon - Rajeev Vratam

Rajeev hates when people call Korriban "Moraband". Logically, he knows that it's just a name change that nobody alive even knows the reason for. But he hates it. Korriban means "land of spears, land of mischief", but Moraband comes from Moribund, aka "in a dying state, near death" and he doesn't take kindly to his homeworld, his people —who have endured so much—, being called Moribund.