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inquisitor-apologist · 2 years ago

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Ok. Ahsoka Show trailer thoughts:

“War is inevitable. We must destroy in order to create.” Very interesting quote—I assume the thing Thrawn and the rest of the Chiss are trying to ‘create’ is a unified galaxy, which is a much more active approach than they’ve ever taken before. They were fine with waiting out the Galactic Republic’s fall, and they pursued an alliance with the Empire very slowly and carefully, so something big has changed. They’re getting desperate. And yeah, Thrawn is clearly working with the Chiss, the bridge we see him on is very obviously not Imperial.

Ok it seems like these new Sith(?) guys are attacking a New Republic transport of some kind. It looks quite a bit like the prison transport from Mando S1, and given that the Amnesty Program seems to be in charge of it (assuming the scene on the bridge with Elia is the same ship) I think it’s likely that they’re breaking someone out from a top-security transport. Seeing as the ‘We are no Jedi’ scene makes it seem like the Sith(?) got onto the ship by pretending to be Jedi, I’m guessing this is where our mystery Inquisitor comes from

Based on Elia Kane’s reaction to the Sith(?) girl, I don’t think Ahsoka’s group of bad guys are working with the Shadow Council. I think the raid on the prison transport is where the two factions become aware of each other for the first time. However, this throws the Mandalorian’s timeline out of whack—Season 3, where Elia starts working her way up in the Amnesty program, is believed to take place in 11 ABY, but it’s believed that the Ahsoka series takes place in 9 ABY, assumedly right after the end of Mando S2, and I find it very hard to believe that the New Republic gives her command of a prison transport right out of the amnesty program. I’m guessing that this means the Ahsoka Show takes place later than we thought, sometime post Mando S3.

I think that the Sith(?) breakout scene is probably from the very beginning of the show—this is the war Hera is trying to prevent, the Sith(?) returning to fight the New Republic. I think Thrawn doesn’t come in until later. He’s only a rumor so far, and I think the Republic would take him seriously. Plus, I think Hera knows Thrawn well enough to realize that they can’t prevent a war with him if he wants one.

I think that Ahsoka gets dragged into this as one of the only real Light Side users left. The Republic wants to get her help fighting the Sith(?) and, at this point, I think she’s the only one who makes the connection to Thrawn. I think she’s talking to Hera when she says “I started hearing rumors of Thrawn’s return as heir to the Empire”, trying to convince Hera that the Sith(?) are working for/helping Thrawn

Because of this, I’m guessing that Ahsoka brings Sabine back in to help fight the Sith(?) because she’s one of the only other people in the galaxy that has experience with them and that Ahsoka trusts to help her. I think the hints at her being Force-Sensitive are an obvious fakeout—I think it’s likely that, some time post-Endor, Ahsoka was training Sabine with a lightsaber as preparation for going out into the unknown regions, and that’s why she called her ‘master’. The younger Sith(?) explicitly says that ‘Sabine has no power’ after she tries to use the Force, likely out of desperation, so I doubt she’s actually going to be Force-Sensitive. It’s clear that something happened that drove them apart afterwards, which is why Sabine stayed on Lothal so long.

It also seems likely that the return of the Sith(?) leads Ahsoka to realize just how necessary the Jedi are, and to finally reclaim her place as a Jedi, hence the “Warrior. Outcast. Rebel. Jedi.” bit from the first trailer. The inclusion of Huyang makes me think that she’s actively involving herself with Luke’s efforts to rebuild the Order now, and that his thousand plus year-old memory holds some vital information to finding Thrawn, likely involving the ruins from the first trailer and the carving from this one.

Speaking of the carving, it seems I might’ve actually been onto something with this old crack theory. The carving is pretty similar in style to the old Zeffo stuff in Fallen Order, though less well-preserved, but it clearly doesn’t show a Zeffonian. The thing on its chest, however, looks a HELL of a lot like the inner sphere of a Zeffo Astrium, so I still think it’s Zeffo. I’m guessing the figure is a Chiss, and that the Zeffo had some contact with the ancient Chiss, which is how it connects to Thrawn. Based on the old Zeffo message in the Vault that says the last of the Zeffo went ‘into the great unknown’, which has to be the Unknown Regions, I’m guessing that the ruins we see Ahsoka exploring are Zeffo, and that they contain some kind of map to the Unknown Regions that’ll be able to find Thrawn.

Interestingly enough, it doesn’t seem like the Magistrate and Sith(?) are actually working for Thrawn yet—the younger Sith(?) asks what will happen when they find Thrawn, which means that they don’t actually know where he is yet. They’re trying to find him for some kind of nebulous ‘power’ he possesses, but just like Ahsoka, they haven’t found him yet. However, Ahsoka refers to Thrawn as Elsbeth’s master in Mando S2, so it’s likely that she is working directly for him, and I think it’s probable that Thrawn wanted her to recruit the Sith(?) and gave her the location of the ruins as a way to find him afterwards. I’m guessing the Sith are going to fill a similar role to Joruus C’boath from the EU, but since I never finished Heir to the Empire, I can’t say exactly what that is.

The older Sith(?) says that Anakin spoke highly of Ahsoka, and his apprentice has a Padawan braid, which, I’m guessing, means that he was a Jedi who either left or Fell during the Clone Wars, which was why he survived Order 66. Ahsoka also seems to know about him and his connection to Anakin, because she’s not surprised at all that Balan knew him, she just doesn’t want to talk about him. Based on all this, I think Balan is going to try to convince Ahsoka to join him, since she left the Order too. I’m guessing that confronting Balan is what makes her realize that she has to come back to the Jedi Order and stop running from her past.

We see a new message from Ezra, different than the one from the finale, so I guess it was something he recorded earlier. From the subject matter: “when you’re a Jedi, sometimes you have to make the choice that no one else can” and the symbolic hair-cutting right after, he probably recorded it about Kanan’s death—there’s no way he had time to record a whole different message for Sabine. The bit afterwards, “I’m counting on you to see this through” is probably about liberating Lothal, which helps explain why it took so long for Sabine to realize that Ezra wanted her to find him, too. If she found another message telling her that he was counting on her to save Lothal only, then she would have been a lot less likely to consider other implications. Weirdly, this is the only time in the trailer Ezra even comes up, despite the fact that in the Rebels epilogue, Sabine and Ahsoka’s primary objective was to find Ezra, not Thrawn

We see Sabine and Ahsoka flying towards/through a giant statue thing that rises out of an ocean at one point in the trailer, which is probably some kind of piece of Chiss technology, since it doesn’t look like anything we’ve ever seen before. In this scene, Ahsoka’s wearing what looks like a New Republic pilot’s uniform, which is really interesting. We know she’s a pretty good pilot in Clone Wars, but I can’t see her actually going into the New Republic military, which brings up some implications—did she steal it for some reason? Did the New Republic refuse to support them, so they’re working against it too?

Lastly, and absolutely most importantly—this season, at least, takes place before the Rebels Epilogue. There are a couple scenes that very clearly parallel the epilogue, probably to make us think it’s a remake of that scene, but there are a few key differences: when Sabine’s in the comm tower in the end of Rebels, she sees what we can assume to be Ahsoka’s fighter and two x-wings. In Ahsoka, there’s only the fighter. Plus, when she looks up at them in the epilogue, her hair is already short and she’s wearing her armor, while Sabine still has long hair and civilian clothes in the trailer. When Sabine’s on her speeder in Ahsoka, she’s got long hair, her civilian clothes, and is wearing a helmet. In the epilogue, she’s wearing her armor, has hair short, and has no helmet. Also, even after her haircut, Sabine’s hair in Ahsoka is different to the endcard—it doesn’t have shaved sides, is choppy in the back, and is more magenta in color. In Rebels, the hair is more blue-purple, the sides are shaved, and the back is neat, with a hint of the season three lavender near the neck. Sabine also touches the painting of Ezra differently—in the epilogue she taps it twice, closer to the eye, before stroking the cheek, while in the trailer she only strokes the cheek. Lastly, and most importantly, Ahsoka is wearing a gray cloak in the trailer, but in Rebels she has a white one. Dave Filoni directly compared Ahsoka in the Rebels epilogue to Gandalf, and Gandalf wears grey before he wears white. Ahsoka is wearing grey before she can wear white. The Ahsoka Trailer takes place before the Rebels epilogue. I’m guessing that the season will end with an actual remake of the endcard, with Sabine in her proper armor and hair, and Ahsoka having returned to the Jedi, now able to wear white rather than gray. Since Ahsoka S2 isn’t confirmed, this might mean we could get a proper, animated Rebels Sequel following Ahsoka and the epilogue, but, unfortunately, I doubt it, it’ll probably just be Season 2.

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ciphernull · 2 years ago

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CHARACTER DIRECTORY

A master list of my current cast of SWTOR characters, organized for… organizational purposes. Liable to change and expand over time, as I am a fiend for alts and AUs.

(Detailed individual character pages will be set up and linked to in the future, brain permitting.)

IMPERIAL

DRAL'ES'KOVOS / ALESKO // Chiss - Imperial Agent - Sniper // [tag] The former Cipher Nine, now a ghost agent under the alias ‘Null’. Aloof, enigmatic, professional. Working through the trauma of his militant upbringing, one sarcastic quip at a time.

RUL SERA'ATH // Twi'lek - Sith Inquisitor - Sorcerer // [tag] Darth Nox. Least qualified Dark Council member, and determined to make that everyone’s problem. Vengeful, arrogant, and obnoxiously resistant to learning from his own mistakes.

VEX KORVA // Human (Cyborg) - Bounty Hunter - Scoundrel // [tag] Product of cybernetic experimentation. Ex-military--unclear as to which side. Mostly looks out for himself and his crew. Surprisingly easygoing, unless he decides you’re a threat.

DRUSIR // Sith Pureblood - Sith Warrior - Marauder // [tag] (WIP) Backstory eludes me yet. Stoic, steadfast, and impressively rational for a Sith, but loses all composure in the heat of battle.

RHOEN VARR // Cathar - Bounty Hunter - Gunslinger // [tag] Cartel enforcer turned freelance mercenary, carving a path of blazing gunfire through the galaxy’s underworld. Cocky, crass, and lays looking for a thrill. Fond of dangerous beasts.

REPUBLIC

ANSU'NHA'SETE / SUNHASE // Chiss - Trooper - Powertech // [tag] War orphan, rescued and informally adopted by Havoc Squad. Raised to be a first class soldier, and proud of it. Confident, loyal, fearless, and heartbreakingly optimistic.

HESKAN VOH // Mirialan - Jedi Knight - Guardian // [tag] Golden boy of the Jedi Order, struggling to live up to his newfound expectations. Soft-spoken, kind-hearted, and dutiful to a fault. Secretly yearns for freedom.

RK-6 // Droid - Smuggler - Mercenary // [tag] Woke up in a derelict ship with no crew and no memory. Searching the galaxy for answers. Friendly, but blunt. Any obstacles in his way tend to explode spectacularly.

K'JET // Cathar - Jedi Consular - Shadow // [tag] (WIP) Currently following his sister around, trying desperately to keep her out of trouble. Sharp-tongued and cynical, but thoughtful and sentimental beneath his prickly exterior.

#oc directory

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shabre-legacy · 2 years ago

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If you think this boy looks familiar, you’d be right. He’s from the big group shot of Zash’s apprentices at the end of chapter one of the inquisitor’s story. I couldn’t find a name or any info on the apprentices beyond the main two introduced, so I created it myself.

Kensco is the first Sith in his family and really wants to prove himself. He works with Elazari’s other apprentices that she took from Zash to help her defeat Thanaton, but when they are able to escape offworld, he and a few others are trapped on DK. He’s being hunted by Thanaton’s assassins and hiding in the Jungle regretting his life choices when Elazari shows up and saves him. He then joins the rest of her apprentices on her ship where he very quickly advances in skill. He is one of the apprentices that Zari often has go train with Shaialis to advance their lightsaber skills beyond what she can teach as Zari relies so heavily on Force combat. Eventually, he becomes a very lethal warrior with a strict code and intense loyalty that’s a bit worrying to some of the dark council members who think Zari is getting too powerful too quick.

#backgroundcharacters #Kensco #swtor #backstory #elazari kallig

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valleyofthemachinegods · 2 years ago

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Hello. My name is Lee, a genderfluid (they/them) mess of an individual, and this is my SWTOR blog, made lest this cursed game invade my thoughts eternal. I'm a jobless ecologist (have degree, but have disability too which makes work difficult) that likes writing, Star Wars, and reptiles.

Elisai Legacy if you happen to catch me in game.

Here is my OC page!

YO RP BLOGS THAT GET FOLLOWED BY ME: here is my side blog dedicated to rping my idiots -- @valleyofgolg

My quick and very incomplete SWTOR Character list:

*note: Nearly everyone is located on Star Forge and available for RP either in game, via discord, or via tumblr!

Leika'le Kela'an (Leika'le in game)

Self-exiled gray Jedi / Perpetually conflicted / Tainted with darkness / Trying to do the right thing

Class: Jedi Knight

Species: Kiffar

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth: Telos IV

Orientation: Lesbian

Ships: @oolathurman's Azukni (Lana Beniko and major Anri in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Former padawan of Saufa, bff of Rhin, enemy of Va'rika

Jarrok Kosokhan

Darth Honos / Former Emperor's Wrath / Commander of the Alliance / My *true* Outlander

Class: Sith Warrior

Species: Zabrak

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth: Agamar

Orientation: Straight

Ships: @oolathurman 's Xyraan (Vette and Major Anri in game)

Spotify playlist / Ship playlist ft. Xyraan / Ship playlist ft. Vette and Hildr

Notes: Ex husband of Hildr, Nemesis of Saufa, Ally/friend of Sek'nos and Siree

Sek'nos Atithim (Seknos in game)

Overseer of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge / Darth Imperius / Darth Gnosis / Bad father / A huge nerd / The devil is a gentleman

Class: Sith Inquisitor

Species: Sith Pureblood

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth: Dromand Kaas

Orientation: Pansexual

Ships: n/a (Theron Shan in game)

Spotify playlist (ft. ship songs)

Notes: Father of Aurine, weird friend of Leika'le, ally/enemy of Saufa, Ally/friend of Jarrok

Saufa Veki (Saufa in game)

Barsen'thor / Tormented by everything he's seen / Failed Jedi Master the first time around / Better but still whoops Jedi Master the second time around

Class: Jedi Consular

Species: Miraluka

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth: Alpheridies

Orientation: Gay

Ships: n/a (Theron Shan in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: (Former) master of Leika'le, Current master of Dhalu, Nemesis of Jarrok, Ally/enemy of Sek'nos, friend/ally of Rhin, older brother of Kaeve

Rhin Elisai (R'hin in game)

Battlemaster of the Jedi Order / Righteous good guy / Always clueless / Tragic victim of unrequited love

Class: Jedi Knight

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth: Corellia

Orientation: Straight

Ships: n/a (Kira Carsen in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Bff of Leika'le, friend/ally of Saufa, friend/ally of Dhalu, ally of Khi, enemy of Va'rika, enemy of Kaduul, arch nemesis of Skaeln

Va'rika Al'dira (Vaa'rika in game)

Darth Nox / Lord Hauntis / Dark Council Member / A true sadist / Hears the voices of her dead siblings / Why have morals when you can have power

Class: Sith Inquisitor

Species: Twi'lek

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth: Ryloth

Orientation: Pansexual

Ships: n/a (Andronikos Revel and Khem Val in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Arch nemesis/tormentor of Leika'le, enemy of Rhin, “pal “of Kaduul, ally of Skaeln and Mokon

Brask'ael'nuruodo (Skaeln/Ael) (Skaeln in game)

Cipher 12 / A bad bean / Addicted to spice

Class: Imperial Agent

Species: Chiss

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth:

Orientation: Questioning

Ships: @oolathurman's Athenyia (casual with Kaliyo in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Former fling/current coworker of Kaeve, coworker of Siree, ally of Va'rika, arch-nemesis of Rhin, underling of Jarrok

Liora Saris (Liurah in game)

Republic Trooper / Devoted mother / Cracks in her armor

Class: Republic Trooper

Species: Zabrak

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth:

Orientation: Questioning

Ships: n/a (Aric Jorgan in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Ally of Saufa, Rhin, and Dhalu, enemy-to-friend of Siree

Kaeve Veki (Kaeve in game)

Cipher 22 / Walls up / Always escaping Korriban by the skin of her teeth / The use of Force suppressors is unhealthy / No name means no baggage right

Class: Imperial Agent

Species: Miraluka with cyborg fittings

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth:

Orientation: Questioning

Ships: n/a (Vector in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Younger sister of Saufa, Confidant of Darth Agonia, Former fling/current coworker of Skaeln, Familial relationship with Siree, bff of Aurine

Xiig

Absolute idiot wow what the heck

Class: Smuggler

Species: Human/Cyborg

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth:

Orientation: Questioning

Ships: n/a (Akaavi in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Both enemy and friend of everyone tbh

Aurine Atithim (Au'rine in game)

Empress' Wrath to Acina / Darth Portentis / Daddy and mommy issues with a smokin' side of abandonment issues / Honor-bound

Class: Sith Warrior

Species: Sith/Kiffar

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth:

Orientation: Questioning

Ships: n/a (Malavai Quinn and Arcann)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Bff of Kaeve, daughter of Sek'nos, casual lover/fwb of Darth Agonia

Mokon Zokanv (Mokon in game)

Champion of the Great Hunt / Asshole as an occupation

Class: Bounty Hunter

Species: Rattataki

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth:

Orientation: Straight

Ships: n/a (Mako in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Ally of Va'rika, Coworker/associate of Khi, Coworker/associate/unrequited desirer of Ahkira

Kaja Kallig

Zeison Sha Warrior / Chaotic neutral / my theyby

Class: Sith Inquisitor

Species: Chiss

Gender: Genderfluid

Planet of Birth: Yanibar

Orientation: Pansexual

Ships: n/a (Lana Beniko in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Zeison Sha warrior, ex-Sith, guardian of the spacelanes

Hildr Fahn

Darth Occlus / Darth Agonia / Overseer of the Sphere of Mysteries / Mentee of Darth Marr / Child of a literal wound in the Force / Machine-hearted / A healthy fear of chains

Class: Sith Inquisitor

Species: Sephi/Wound-in-the-Force

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth: n/a – born on a ship in Wild Space

Orientation: Pansexual

Ships: Jarrok and Vette (formerly), Aurine Atithim (casual), Theron Shan (casual) (Arcann in game and in my black heart)

Spotify playlist / Ship playlist ft. Vette and Jarrok

Notes: Mentee of Darth Marr, Child of a literal wound in the Force, machine-hearted, has a healthy fear of chains (and commitment), uses the word “darling” way too much

Khi Vreetoas

Mandalorian / Ex-slave / It's entirely possible to be a bounty hunter with a heart of gold

Class: Bounty Hunter

Species: Nautolan

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth: Glee Anselm

Orientation: Questioning

Ships: n/a (Torian Cadera in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Ex-slave, Heart of gold, Mandalorian of Clan Skirata

Dhalu

Knight of the Old Republic / Dark-hearted / Beliefs are polarizing

Class: Jedi Consular

Species: Togruta

Gender: Questioning, she/her

Planet of Birth: Shili

Orientation: Demisexual

Ships: n/a (Tau Idair and Sahar in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Dark-hearted, Beliefs are polarizing

Siree Fahn

Watcher 6 / Mother on a mission / Local hater of the Sith / Undercover to find her daughter / Now knows not to have relations with wounds in the Force masquerading as pretty men

Class: Imperial Agent

Species: Sephi

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth: Thustra

Orientation: Uncertain

Ships: n/a (Vector Hyllus, Nico Okarr in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes: Mother on a mission, Local hater of the Sith, Undercover to find her daughter, Now knows not to have relations with wounds in the Force masquerading as pretty men

Qirzah Kela'an (Quirzah in game)

Not a smuggler / Has a kid out there somewhere

Class: Smuggler

Species: Kiffar

Gender: Female

Planet of Birth: Kiffex

Orientation: Uncertain

Ships: n/a (Nico Okarr and Risha in game)

Spotify playlist

Notes:

Kaduul

Lord Desolatis / Practitioner of Sith Alchemy

Class: Sith Inquisitor

Species: Miraluka

Gender: Agender (they/them)

Planet of Birth: Ch'hodos

Orientation: Asexual/Aromantic

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes: Mentee of Darth Agonia, Enemy of Rhin, Arch nemesis of Dhalu, ex-friend/ex-ally/ex-obsessee of Va'rika

Chit-to

Desc. here.

Class: Jedi Knight

Species: Mirialan

Gender: Nonbinary, she/her/they/them

Planet of Birth: Mirial

Orientation: Lesbian

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes: Ally of Akhira, ally/friend of Leika'le

Sibahl Singh

Desc. here.

Class:

Species: Wound-in-the-Force/Human ig

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth:

Orientation:

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes:

Akhira Rudak

Desc. here

Class: Bounty Hunter

Species: Cathar

Gender: Trans/Female

Planet of Birth: Cathar

Orientation: Lesbian

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes: Ally of Chit-to, friend of Khi, friend of Leika'le, associate of Mokon

NPCs!

Mel'tari

Good at his illicit job / Accidental dad

Class: Smuggler

Species: Twi'lek

Gender: Male

Planet of Birth: Coruscant

Orientation: Straight

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes: Father figure/protector of Akhira, father figure/protector of Leika'le

Laalw Kol

SIS Agent / Conflicted in perpetuity

Class: Smuggler

Species: Togruta

Gender: Demigirl

Planet of Birth: Shili

Orientation: Sapphic

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes: Sister of Dotaash, enemy of Xiig

Dotaash Kol

Mechanic with interesting morals

Class: Bounty Hunter

Species: Togruta

Gender: Genderqueer, He/She/They

Planet of Birth: Shili

Orientation: Pansexual

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes: Sibling of Laalw

Sindra Johdi

Troubled doctor

Class: Smuggler

Species: Echani

Gender: ??? -- they/them

Planet of Birth: Eshan

Orientation: Unsure

Ships: n/a

Spotify playlist

Notes:

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arkhavens · 2 years ago

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Hi. I stumbled upon your oc ask reblog. I wanted to ask the 26 and 28 for all four of your ocs and also 27 for Orion. Pretty please?

:D (from this ask game)

26. What about their ship is different to the one they're given in-game?

pretty much everyone's ship is a bit bigger and actually has proper crew quarters. Like, the sith ships may have bunks, but the jedi ones are actually terrible in terms of "where the hell do people sleep?" And they all also have bathrooms with showers, small but functional kitchens, etc. Quality of life improvements for every ship.

Orion(DS Sith Inquisitor). The cargo hold(where talos usually stands) is way less empty, full of all the random artifacts Orion's either stumbled across or taken out of the Imperial Archives for study. The meeting room got repurposed as an on-the-go lab type place, the giant table is mostly gone/pushed against the wall and the chairs are pretty much entirely gone. Bunch of various upgrades for luxury and/or comfort bc whats the point of being one of the most important sith in the galaxy if you cant be comfy while doing so?

Athan(N/LS Sith Warrior). His meeting room was also repurposed, but into a sort of weapons maintenance area? Like combination extra lounge space(and/or sparring ring? idk, this is just off the top of my head) and gear upkeep area, the table being entirely gone, with the modification station being extended into a full set up. With Price, Quinn, Jaesa, and him all on one ship, a dedicated gear upkeep area was just...necessary to keep everyone sane.

Tsali(DS Jedi Consular). The biggest visual difference with Tsali's ship is the lighting. It's way less yellow in there, way closer to a neutral/cool toned white than the really warm yellow-orange. More books/datapads are scattered around the library/holotable area, and he keeps a few plants around(mostly contained to the meeting room, and a singular flower in his bedroom). Theres scattered tech upgrades around from Tharan tinkering, but thats about it.

Zalos(N/DS Jedi Knight). His ship gets a repaint(the red is shifted over to a blue-gray). He also keeps plants on his ship, just a shitload more than Tsali, and instead of stuff that looks nice, its random seeds he found on the different planets. Doc is probably growing spweed(space weed) somewhere on the ship, but Zalos ignores that for the most part. Theres a proper sparring area set up in what used to be the meeting room

27. They need to choose two of their companions to work together on a mission. Who & with what reasoning?

Orion. If I'm interpreting this question correctly, this is asking If he had to send two companions off to work together on something without supervision, who and why? I'd say Xalek and Ashara. With both of them doing anything, he could ask them to overthrow the emperor and they'd find a way. Ashara's tenacity and Xalek's everything would make a very good, if volatile, team. And he wants his kids apprentices to get along, and what better way to bond than killing things together?

28. What kind of ambient sound would appear around them?

Orion wouldn't exactly have a sound appear around him, instead everything goes quiet around him. All you'd hear is the occasional staticy rasp of him taking a breath.

Athan would give off like, forest at dusk kind of stuff. Quietly rustling leaves, wind, maybe a few bugs. The diurnal creatures are settling down, and the nocturnal creatures have yet to wake. Beyond the bugs and the wind and the leaves, you're alone.

Tsali would have building ambiance. Like, the sounds that you hear inside a building. the faint buzzing of electricity, hum of air conditioning, that stuff. Commonplace, but a little bit off putting sounds.

Zalos would have rain. Not thunderstorms, but rain.

#swtor #star wars #answered #long post #this got so long #i actually had to think a lot for most of these! i hadnt considered em before now #sooo ty:)#swtor ocs

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patiusarchivist · 2 years ago

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A Lash at a Time

Yall know me over the years with my off-and-on SWTOR writings for my Sith Inquisitor. I really feel like the storyline and its companions deserve better, but I suppose you can only do expect so much for a MMO. The amount of time in the Cold War and after, they need development. And Ashara always been a mild annoyance to me and the decision of having last minute companions in Act 3 is stupid when they don’t get much dialogue or interaction before your character becoming ‘Protagonist #60001 in the Galaxy and their quiet gallery of meatshields’. You don’t really be ‘master-and-apprentice’ with her to me, moreso a new person that you gotta debate with about the big differences in ideologies and no real say in her corruption. She is just stuck by circumstances and we gotta keep her. The Sith Warrior is more of a Inquisitor storywise in their differences! But anyway - have some Ashara venting on the fact she keep having to fight other Jedi and anger to her ‘Master’. I say this happened after the Foundry and on their way to Hoth.

“How could you?”

Despite himself, Kallig grinned as he looked at the Togruta with that distinct quirk of eyebrow. “Do what exactly?” He asks with a cruel little purr and Ashara squinted back with the seething expected since they first crossed blades with the Jedi on the Republic capital ship. “Why do you drag me on these missions, Si-”

The word hissed as she caught herself in the sudden glow in the Inquisitor’s eyes, nevermind the subtle gathering of power in the room. The quiet warning was half-caught when her skin instinctively tensed as if already ready to receive the punishment. That heartbeat of tension was reflected immediately, Ashara hid her face behind the meditative triangle of her fingers. Breath in. Breath out. “My Lord.”

The Second Kallig loved to hear it from the former Jedi’s lips. She can deny it all she wanted but at the end of the day, she was his.

“Why do you bring me to fight with my own?” She asked with forced calm. Her eyes begged for mercy on the matter, but her master wasn’t going to allow it. “You killed a storied legend of the Jedi, don’t you realize that!? You killed him and I...helped.” “Because they are no longer yours, my apprentice,” Kallig answered with a keen tone. “Because you need to learn that you are no longer a Jedi, not of the Order that you yearn for. That fate was no longer yours to have.”

“I didn’t want this!” Ashara exclaimed with bared teeth. Her frustration lashed out, she tried to keep it together but her emotions were tearing at her already beaten walls and seeped. “You forced it! You made me choose, to die or be your apprentice! I had no choice!”

Lord Kallig combed a glint of morbid amusement. “You did. You could have kept to your convictions and died with your honor intact or submit and become something beyond a mere Jedi.”

“What is that!?” The former Padawan choked, her fingers twitched, and started to fidget. “That is not a choice! I-I…”

“You what? You didn’t want to die?” The inquisitor challenged with his composure, feeding on her frustration. The raw fury seething under her skin. Do it, girl. Lash out. “Do you know how many whine that to me my whole life? Do you know how little life is for us? Do you know how many died around me like gnats before I even achieved what I have now!? You want to taste the true difference between a Jedi and Sith. Come and test me again, if you have even the conviction that Jedi love to spew.”

Ashara squared her shoulders and her power surged, the feral hate in her eyes pushed and she screamed with a lunge! Her blue saber flashed in its eye-sore colour, missing its mark by a mere motion of fingers. “Don’t patronize me!” She screamed, carrying herself in the redirected momentum with her twin-blade stabbing back for his stomach. A step back to avoid being skewered, Jaden opened his arms in a challenge. “Then prove you’re worth my best.”

Despite killing Jedi, from Knights and their padawans, even her own Master - this Sith dares to say that. He was nothing more than a rogue Sith Lord and not even a prominent one among the thousands across the galaxy. Ashara screamed out her hate and frustration. If she wasn’t apart of the Order, she doesn’t need to hide her anger in this fate!

Ashara’s sabers were crisscrossing and slashing with little restraint. Her foundations of Jar’Kai and Djem So pushed to crush this Sith to the floor and more but he always seemed one step away, forcing her to overextend just enough by sweeps of the Force and never making personal contact. “You. Coward! You sack of dung! You loathing, hateful thing!” The Torguta screamed, throwing herself to plunge her blades into his chest. The Sith Lord fell back, rolling on the floor, and kicked his apprentice over with her back slamming harshly on the ship’s wall!

Her lungs punched out of her lips and her vision shook in a flash of concussive white. Ashara almost didn’t feel the pain that was aching through her mind and bones, her outburst made her weary, and when she regained a sense of herself, the young woman recoiled at the sudden crimson blade reaching her face. Head thumped on the wall and Ashara found herself pinned under her tormenter’s lightsaber. Her hands gripped…at nothing! Panicked eyes traced the blade to the maskless man in his armour, holding her lightsabers in his fist.

“No. I am just smarter.” Kallig said, “You are with me now, Ashara. You are, by all eyes of the galaxy, Sith at best or failed padawan-turned-dark. Whether you like it or not. And you will learn under me and anyone else who thinks they can teach the best lightsaber duelist in their dead master’s class. Your Jedi training will not save you, but it will help.”

“You are not much older than me, what can you-’ Ashara managed to snipe before the blade came out so close. The lethal heat sizzling at her chin, aimed to end her at his leisure. ‘You can do this my way or would you prefer the traditional way?”

In the query, his eyes glow threatening in their violet glare.

Ashara felt the fear coiling her spite and lessened frustration, she already suffered that in their first meeting. Her muscles were burning and something else itching that she didn’t expect nor like. Eyes staring into his before glancing a little. “...Your way.”

Kallig rose his brow again.

“Master.” she sighed in defeat, even if with a little pout. It was enough. Jadus Kelzen, Inheritor of Sith Lords and Devourer of the Dead, didn’t enjoy having this stubborn Jedi as his ‘apprentice’ but she will do. They were in this together and he grinned as he tossed her lightsabers over.

“Good girl. Now...again.”

#swtor #swtor fanfic #lord kallig ii #jadus kazen #ashara zavros #sith #sith inquisitor

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vibrantbirdy · 2 years ago

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Pursuit: A Ben Solo Star Wars Story - Chapter 4

Title: Pursuit Fandom: Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Genres: Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Romance Setting: Post The Rise of Skywalker (Ben Solo lives!) Chapter: 4/? Main Character: Ben Solo (Kylo Ren) Warnings: Canon-typical violence; adventure peril; minor angst, mild sexuality/mutual sexual feelings - slow burn be slow burning; any further warnings will be specified by chapter Main Pairings: Ben Solo/OC Other Pairings throughout: Poe/Finn; Mentions of Ben Solo (Kylo Ren)/Rey Author's Note: My postings have finally caught up with my writing so I'm breaking new ground now, but I still hope to get a chapter out once a week. I'm also playing Jedi: Survivor at the moment, so there are other distractions...

Pinned Post: Please find all completed chapters of Pursuit here.

Read: Chapter 1 ; Chapter 2; Chapter 3

Summary: Three years after surviving events on the planet Exegol, Ben Solo is carving out a solitary life for himself in the New Republic against the backdrop of reconstruction. His pursuance of quiet redemption is interrupted when a new threat to the Galaxy emerges from an old and terrifying enemy. With the help of new friends and unlikely allies, Ben must set out into Wild Space to defeat the darkness rising and put his own demons to rest once and for all.

Chapter 4 (Word Count: 6330)

Grand Inquisitor, Endo Seris, stood on the bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer he had rechristened Seeker. A bit on the nose perhaps, but why beat around the bush? He'd never had the patience for subtlety.

The old relic was one of many Imperial ships he'd salvaged over the years from various places across Wild Space - junk yards, pirate strongholds, abandoned Imperial and First Order outposts. His fleet was growing day by day, although only one of his ten Destroyers, this one, was in good enough condition to fly as far as needed for this mission.

Second Sister and Third Brother flanked him on either side. Both had proven themselves worthy apprentices over the past three years. Second Sister, an adept Force wielder, had showed particular promise.

After bearing witness to the demise of the Emperor on Exegol at the hands of the traitor Ren and the Jedi girl, Seris had fled with remnants of the Sith Eternal into the very depths of Wild Space.

There, Seris had found them. His new kin. There had been slim pickings in terms of prey out on the very edge of the Galaxy to hone his students' skills but he had managed. Now, both young warriors were adept hunters of the Force sensitive.

“Officer Denkins,” Seris turned to the Officer at the helm. “Have we been detected by the New Republic?” “No Sir,” the Officer answered with a hint of pride.

Seris reached out through the Force and detected the pulse of ambition coursing through the young helmsman's veins. That was acceptable. Like all of Seris' skeleton crew, this young man was the result of generations of families with Imperial loyalties. Like his ships, Seris offered those faithful to the ideals and legacy of the Galactic Empire a new purpose.

Officer Denkins was wearing an Imperial uniform which Seris suspected had belonged to his father's father. It was worn and faded with age, but young man obviously took pride in it. There was not a crease, nor speck of dust to be seen.

Seris turned his attention back to the small freighter on their flank. The Force works in mysterious ways. How convenient that Kylo Ren and this Force sensitive youngling had found their way to each other. Seris had already been briefed on his chief engineer's conclusion that the old Destroyer's capability to lock on to their target was not yet operational. A shame today would not be the day he made Ren pay for his treachery, but it was no real matter. There was no rush. That day would come in time.

“They are getting away,” Third Brother growled in frustration, as they watched the small freighter carrying Ren and the girl from Bakura power up its engines to make the jump to light speed.

Third Brother, able warrior and skilled hunter though he was, had a tendency to look at what was right in front of him and miss the bigger picture. Second Sister had no such weakness. She was gifted with almost unnatural patience and she was sage with it too.

“Second Sister,” Seris asked, “What do you think Ren is going to do now that he understands we are not a mere manifestation of his pitiable, damaged psyche?”

“I feel the conflict raging within him, Grand Inquisitor,” Second Sister answered, eyes closed, a hungry smile spreading across her face.

“Ren has a pathetic desire to prove himself useful to the New Republic, to be worthy of their forgiveness. He is weak and he will not be able to resist the pull to the Light. He,” she paused as her wolfish grin widened, “will come to us.” “Precisely,” Seris said, pleased with her intelligent evaluation. “And when he does, he will lead us to the very heart of the new Jedi Order.”

He clenched his fist thinking of the sweetness of the victory to come. He watched Ren's ship stretch then disappear in a flash of light as it made the jump to hyper space.

Then he turned on his heel, giving Officer Denkins the order set a course back to Wild Space as he strode off the Seeker's bridge. He was satisfied, if not pleased, with the day's events.

********************************************************************

Poe Dameron found himself questioning his own reality as he stood in the middle of a large forest clearing on some backwater planet in the Mid Rim face to face with Kylo Ren.

Ren's ship sat at the opposite side of the clearing from Poe and Finn's borrowed HWK-290 light freighter. It was an old ship, but boy was she still fast, and they'd needed to take something quick and light to make the rendezvous on time. Poe had taken immense pleasure in flying it at the very limit of its speed threshold, much to Finn's chagrin.

Ren's face was different. More open, almost placid. Certainly much less like he was walking around with the world's worst tension headache. It made him look younger somehow despite the short beard he now wore. This man looked like your everyday variety cargo pilot.

Still, the intensity of his eyes, though less feral, had not faded.

“What do you want, Ren?” asked Poe, determining that this time, he definitely would talk first.

Poe could have sworn that the former Supreme Leader of the First Order had flinched at the mention of his old name. Poe revelled in it, although he knew he shouldn't.

He felt Finn, ever his conscience, move slightly at his shoulder, and Poe knew well enough that that was a subtle message for him to behave.

Solo from now on then, though Poe hardly thought he deserved to use the name.

“I need your help,” Ren - Solo – said, having regained his composure annoyingly quickly, “What do you know about the Inquisitorius?”

Silence.

“Nothing,” Poe admitted after a beat.

He spread his hands theatrically, gesturing to Solo that he should continue if he really had to.

“Please. Why don't you enlighten us.”

Solo explained that in the time of the Empire, an Order of Inquisitors, ruthless Force sensitive warriors, some former Jedi who had been turned to the Dark Side, had specialised in hunting down and slaughtering any Jedi who had survived Palpatine's purge. These Inquisitors would often capture Force sensitive children, brainwashing them and turning them into killing machines for the Empire.

Poe had thought he'd known everything there was to know about the depraved depths the Empire had sunk to in its domination of the Galaxy - how had he never heard of this? He had a sudden and unexpected rush of – what? Sympathy for Solo?

Maybe not quite. Perhaps he could best define it as a new perspective on the deplorable path that Solo's life had taken as Kylo Ren. From what he'd heard, Solo had been little more than an impressionable, lost kid himself when Snoke had corrupted him and turned him to the Dark Side.

“They're back,” Solo said, “They are searching for me and...”

“Ah, now we're getting to it,” Poe scoffed, so incensed he was physically unable to let Solo finish his sentence, “What are you asking? You want us to waste Republic time and resources because you're finally going to get your comeuppance from these guys for being a turn coat? C'mon!”

“That's not it.” Solo's tone was irritatingly level.

“OK, well,” Poe threw up his hands, “Whatever it is, this sounds more like Jedi business, so isn't it time you and Rey just...”

“No,” Solo and Finn said simultaneously.

They shared a strange look of knowing agreement which Poe found to be infuriating. The first time Finn had opened his mouth since they'd got there and he'd used it to agree with Kylo kriffing Ren.

“No,” Ben repeated still looking with a sort of mild curiosity at Finn.

“If they capture me and I know where Rey's Temple is...”

He trailed off before redirecting his piercing gaze towards Poe.

“Do you understand what I'm saying?”

Poe nodded grimly, clenching his teeth and trying to keep his anger at bay. He did understand, boy did he understand. Memories of his own desperate attempts to resist Ren's excruciating probing of his mind for information; his futile efforts to protect his friends; the abject failure that followed.

He felt Finn's hand come to rest on the small of his back, a small gesture of comfort, but one which allowed him to refocus.

“It's not just about me, Dameron. They will hunt down and eliminate any Jedi that they find in whatever manner they see fit.”

Solo's words were quiet but steady as he continued in that deep monotone of his.

“They're building their numbers and amassing a fleet.”

“A fleet?” Finn asked incredulously. “From what? Scraps?”

“Yes.”

The answer was so simple, neither Poe nor Finn it seemed had any comeback prepared.

“I've seen it,” Solo continued. “They tracked me on an Imperial Star Destroyer from Wild Space to the edge of the Mid Rim.”

Poe rolled his eyes and he thought he even heard Finn let out an exasperated sigh. He was glad to know they were finally on the same page about this.

What a load of Bantha crap.

“Old Imperial ships don't have that tech...” Finn started, but Solo cut across him.

“No, I mean the Inquisitor tracked me. Not the ship.”

“They can do that?” Finn asked tentatively, “Using the Force?”

Solo nodded.

“They specialise in it.”

Then,

“If they go unchecked, they won't stop until they raze the New Republic to the ground.”

Solo's ominous words left a wake of empty, sober silence. The three men stood looking at one another for a moment. Poe sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He turned to Finn who shrugged. Poe heard his affable voice in his head. Let's hear him out.

“Okay, what are you suggesting, Solo?” Poe asked, finally.

“I play them at their own game. I track them through Wild Space, I find their stronghold, take stock of their forces and I report back to you.”

Solo's face broke into a crooked grin which was so unexpectedly charming it was almost shocking. Poe had never seen the man smile before.

“And then the New Republic blow them all to hell.”

At this, Poe couldn't keep a reluctant smirk of his own from lifting the corners of his mouth.

“Well,” he said, turning to Finn who grinned back, “I gotta admit, I kinda like the sound of that.”

“There's something else...”

“Oh perfect,” Poe quipped under his breath as he exchanged a nervous glance with Finn.

Solo took out a transponder and spoke into it.

“You can come out now,” he said.

*********************************************************************

Ada listened intently as Ben and the two strangers explained to her about a woman called Rey who was master of a new Jedi Temple. The Temple was safely hidden on a planet deep within the heart of the New Republic. Even Ben didn't know where it was. Poe Dameron and Finn – just Finn apparently – would take Tallah there and this Rey would help her hone her abilities.

Tallah stood between her and Ben, one little warm hand in hers, the other enveloped in Ben's.

“Tallah,” Ada said softly, moving between the girl and Ben and dropping to one knee so that she was level with her niece.

She tucked a stray blonde lock behind the girl's ear.

“I think you should go with them. Their friend can help you with your gift. But I won't make you. It's your choice”

Tallah nodded. “I want to go, I want to learn.”

She leaned in conspiratorially with a furtive glance at Finn and Poe and whispered, “I think they're nice.”

Overhearing this, Poe shrugged in an exasperated but not unkind sort of a way. He was clearly slightly bewildered at the whole situation. From the way they reacted to one another, it was obvious he, Finn and Ben had some history. Finn just smiled reassuringly.

They did seem “nice.” Or at least good enough to take on the responsibility of transporting a child in danger somewhere safe. And they certainly seemed capable of it. Ben had filled her in on the way – these guys were apparently Resistance war heroes.

It was a strange thing for Ada to even be considering letting her niece go with these two men she'd never met before. She'd spent the past few months hardly daring to even let her out of her sight. But she'd learned to trust Tallah's assessment of character and her ability to read people's intentions implicitly. It had kept them alive up until now. And besides, she found herself trusting Ben's judgement too.

Tallah looked over the top of Ada's head.

“Ben, will I get a laser sword?”

Ben let out a short burst of laughter, a pleasing wrinkle appearing on the bridge of his nose. Dameron and Finn were staring at him with a sort of disbelieving fascination. It was as if he'd just grown another head. Ben must have noticed it too because he quickly dialled back his mirth.

“Maybe kid,” he patted Tallah on her golden head.

“Ada's going with you,” she said to him simply and a little sadly, although Ada hadn't discussed it with her and it broke her heart to know that Tallah had worked it out on her own.

She could feel Ben's eyes burning into the back of her head and just knew he was looking at her with that that appraising gaze of his.

Great, she thought, standing up and dusting the forest floor off her knees in preparation for an disagreement. She spun round to face him. Infuriatingly, she realised she only came up to his chin.

“You know damn well you'll be more efficient with a navigator, someone who knows the terrain,” she said defiantly, refusing to let Ben get the first word, “I grew up in Wild Space.”

“I thought it was just space to you,” Ben shot back, but there was a lightness to his tone and Ada realised with some embarrassment that he'd not been intending argue with her at all.

“Are you sure, Ada?” was all he asked.

“Tallah will be safe with this woman, Rey?”

She answered his question with her own. The only one that mattered.

“Yes,” all three men spoke the word at once.

Ada was almost as amused as she was reassured by their uniform certainty.

“Tallah?”

Ada fixed her niece with a meaningful look. Tallah gave her a brave smile and a determined nod.

That kid. So much like her mother, Brenna. Ada's heart gave a little leap of pride that was mixed with melancholy and grief.

“Then yes, I'm sure,” she confirmed, “I can't just sit around and wait and do nothing, not when I can help. I have to do this.”

Ben considered her keenly. Ada wondered if he were using the Force to read her and whether it would even bother her if he was.

Tendrils of wild black hair drifted across his face in the breeze. She wanted to reach up and brush them out of his golden eyes so that she could see them better.

He nodded.

**********************************************************************

Ben glanced over at Ada who had fallen asleep in the Swift's copilot's chair. She would have looked wholly content if it weren't for the droplets of water still clinging to her long lashes, despite her slumber.

Ben knew that the choice had been a difficult and traumatic one. When she'd said farewell to Tallah, she'd embraced her neice so tightly and for so long, that at one point Ben thought he might have to intervene before the girl turned blue.

He allowed himself a small smile, remembering how Tallah had sprinted at him to say goodbye. He'd picked her up and she'd buried her face into his hair, whispering in his ear to look after her aunt. The Swift was quiet without her and he was surprised at how much he felt her absence.

He was both grateful and surprised that Ada had decided to accompany him. A co-pilot familiar with the territory of Wild Space would be invaluable, especially as they'd need to avoid the busier, well-travelled navigation routes.

Ben might be a skilled navigator and an excellent pilot, both talents heightened through his strong connection with the Force, but he'd spent very little time deep in Wild Space. The times he had ventured out that far, he'd really rather forget...

The meeting with Dameron and the ex-Stormtrooper, had gone better than Ben had expected. Still, as they'd all turned to depart, Dameron had caught his arm roughly and taken him to one side away from the others.

Ada had raised her eyebrows at Ben but she hadn't stopped, instead making her way back to the Swift alone. Ben was relieved. Ada had clearly sensed that it was important that he and Dameron hash out whatever unfinished business this was in private.

Ben had watched her retreat, her arms crossed and shoulders hunched slightly. Although it wasn't cold, he saw her pull the fawn shawl that was draped across her shoulders tighter around her. Ben could feel the worry and guilt coursing through her at the thought of leaving Tallah. Still, as ever, he sensed that steady and constant determination burning bright at the very core of her being.

Meanwhile, heading in the opposite direction and with only a passing quizzical glance at Dameron, Finn made his way back to their ship with Tallah in tow. He and the girl were chatting animatedly to each other and Ben felt a rush of gratitude towards the ex-Stormtrooper.

Ben had never forgotten his first encounter with FN-2187 in the village on Jakku. Even then, Kylo Ren had sensed that the Force was strong within him although untrained and undisciplined, perhaps even unnoticed by the Trooper. He suspected that FN-2187 had been relying on his heightened instincts for years - like a sixth sense – not realising that this was something more than feelings.

What had really alerted Ren to the Stormtrooper's presence that night his First Order Division had descended upon the tiny village to intercept Resistance intel and capture Dameron, had been FN-2187's refusal to follow the order to open fire on the villagers. This, despite knowing the possible consequences he could bring upon himself. Even Ren, his head swirling with ambition and fury had the insight to recognise that this was not an act of cowardice. It was an act of courage.

Finn was clearly a man strong of heart and generous of spirit. Ben understood now why Rey had valued his friendship so deeply.

“Look, I really want to believe that you've turned some corner,” Dameron had said when he was sure the others were out of earshot, “but if you're playing us, or her,” his eyes flicked to Ada's retreating back, “in any way, I will come for you.”

Dameron's tone was low and dangerous, and Ben could feel the sharp, hot edges of his temper rising. With effort, he pushed it back down. While Dameron's suspicion riled him, he knew he couldn't blame the pilot for his caution. In fact, it was one of the reasons he trusted the man so much.

They might not like each other, but Ben knew more than most about Poe Dameron.

After capturing Dameron that night three years ago on Jakku, Ren had tortured him for information, using the Force to break his way violently into the pilot's mind.

The more he delved into Dameron's head, the more infuriated Ren had become. Dameron was so sure of who he was. A man so able to accept the life he'd made for himself; the person he was. A man who celebrated his successes, mourned his failures and learned from these experiences, from his loves, his losses. All of it.

Even after getting the information he needed, Ren could not stop himself from probing Dameron's consciousness with a twisted sort of fascination. It brought into sharp, painful focus the limitless failings Ren knew resided within himself.

Ren's inability to face his own fears paralysed him. His hopeless fury at his own inadequacies left him unable to learn from them. And the Dark Side, ever present, compounding his potent desire for power had left him unable to change any of it.

Ren had looked into Poe Dameron's very soul and had found an individual of great conviction, loyalty and bravery. It was how Ben now knew there was no safer place in the Galaxy for Tallah.

Except maybe with Rey.

“I understand,” he had replied, simply.

Dameron had given Ben a strange, hard look before speaking next as if he were weighing up whether or not to tell him something.

“Go to Theod first – it's just another backwater moon right on the edge of the Outer Rim. I'll patch coordinates through to your ship. We have a listening outpost there looking out for any remnant First Order activity. They might have heard something.”

Dameron paused and cleared his throat.

“Chewbacca's there.”

Ben felt all the air leave his body, as if he'd been punched in the gut. His calm expression must have slipped because when he refocused on Dameron's face, he was surprised to see a glint of reluctant sympathy in the man's eyes.

“Look, he knows what you did on Exegol. And he knows you saved Rey... I just... I can't promise he'll be happy to see you,” Dameron offered awkwardly.

Ben nodded, hoping he'd regained some of his external composure.

“Thank you.”

As a parting gesture, Dameron slapped Ben on the shoulder, probably just a little harder than was strictly necessary. Then, he'd stalked off to his ship, leaving Ben alone, cutting a tall, solitary figure in the still forest clearing.

Now, as he sat in the pilot's chair on the Swift, he inhaled deeply, trying to remember and recapture the scent of pine and damp earth from that afternoon in hopes it would quiet his roiling thoughts. He desperately needed to recentre himself, to ground himself in the Force. His mind was in turmoil at the very thought of seeing Chewbacca.

The last time Ben had seen the Wookie had been the day he'd killed his own father. When he thought of Han Solo's death, he did not try to escape culpability by separating the actions of Kylo Ren from his own. Ben Solo had been agonisingly present on that metal gangway too, suspended high up above the mechanical insides of the First Order's Starkiller Base.

More than anything, Ben had wanted to take his father's proffered hand that day, to escape the hell of the First Order and of Snoke's iron rule and to go home to his family. His greatest shame, his greatest regret was that the moment the chance to turn back to the Light had presented itself he was just too weak to take it. Too weak to resist the seduction of Dark Side.

All the nightmares of his father's death were accompanied by the echo of Chewbacca's anguished roar as Kylo Ren finally ignited his crackling, red saber and sent the blade straight through Han Solo's body.

That howl from Chewbacca as he was forced to witness his best friend fall into the mechanical abyss below was seared into Ben's mind like the white hot pain from the crossbow bolt fired into his left flank soon after from the Wookie's weapon.

Ben had grown up knowing the Wookie as part of his family. “Uncle Chewie” had even taught him some Wookie fighting methods before Leia had sent the boy away to her brother to train as a Jedi. In fact, that was one of the reasons behind Ben's forward leaning fighting stance.

Wookies used their size and strength to their advantage in combat, and Ben had integrated that principle into his technique with a lightsaber. Luke had recognised this immediately and had always found this amusing. He'd never corrected Ben's form. It worked.

All of Ben's fond memories of the Wookie were sullied by his own reprehensible actions. He couldn't imagine a universe in which Chewbacca could forgive him, and he certainly could never forgive himself. To see the Wookie again would force him to relive the worst day of his life. He had no idea if he was strong enough to do so.

Still, Ben knew that if he wanted to track the Inquisitorius, he hadn't much of a choice. If there was even a slight possibility that Chewbacca held intel....

Not only had the sudden and brazen appearance of the Imperial Destroyer in the Mid Rim convinced Ben that the threat was even greater than he could have possibly even imagined, worse still, when the colossal vessel had dropped out of hyper space, his link with the Force had abruptly alerted him to the presence of not one Inquisitor, but three.

For a few seconds, Ben closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands, pushing his fingers through his hair and trying to clear his mind. He sat up and conducted a check on the Swift's flight and navigation settings. They were on course to make Theod in five hours at light speed. Hyperdrive looked fine, surprisingly.

It was no use sitting staring out at the stars whizzing by and ruminating, Ben decided. He would run some lightsaber drills instead in the hopes that physical exertion might quiet his racing mind.

Ada was still sleeping peacefully in the chair beside him and Ben didn't see the need to wake her. She could probably do with the rest. He noticed that her beige shawl had slipped off one shoulder and her pale skin beneath was starting to rise into little goosebumps.

Ben stood as quietly as he could, reaching over to Ada and pulling the wayward material back up over her shoulder. He crept through to the Swift's living area, returning a moment later with a woollen blanket which he draped gently over the sleeping woman. He allowed his eyes to linger on her face for a moment.

Force, she was beautiful.

He shook himself, not wanting her to wake up and find him standing over her like some idiot. He left her slumbering in her chair and padded silently out of the Swift's cockpit, through the living area, and down the arterial passageway to the storage room he used for training.

************************************************************************

Ada was pleasantly cosy. She was cocooned in a blanket and nestled in a surprisingly comfy high backed chair. As she slowly came to, she realised that must have fallen asleep in the cockpit of the Swift. Ben must have covered her with the blanket to keep her from getting cold.

The soft hum from Swift's engines was so soothing, it was almost impossible for Ada to even contemplate moving. But there was another noise, something above the gentle roar of the ship. A strange, low buzzing sound in the distance.

The Swift's copilot chair squeaked as Ada sat up with a jolt. Her thoughts were muddied with the confusion of sleep. She'd heard that sound before. That night on Bakura. The night the Inquisitor had come. A lightsaber. He couldn't be here. Could he? No.

Ben? It must be Ben.

Throwing the blanket around her shoulders, Ada tiptoed out of the cockpit and through the ship, following the oscillations until she came to the storage room on the main passage.

She pressed her ear against the cold metal, imagining Ben's movements within, blade in hand twirling, rising and falling to that steady, electric thrum and swish. She couldn't say why, but Ada thought it an entirely different sound to that which had emanated from the Inquisitor's weapon. Less abrasive. More melodic.

She pressed the green door chime button and it rang out with a pleasant trilling sound.

“It's open,” came Ben's slightly muffled voice from the other side.

Ada passed her hand over the entry controls and the door hissed open. Ben was standing in the middle of the room, lightsaber in hand, his breathing heightened slightly with exertion. He was wearing a loose long-sleeved black t-shirt. The v at his neck hung low and slightly squint, allowing Ada sight of that strange white scar that trailed down the right side of his face and past his collar bone. It was so faint it was almost non-existent. She wanted to trace her finger tips down it to make sure it was really there.

Around the edges of the room, durasteel crates and containers of different sizes sat at varying heights and angles against the walls, clearly put together as some kind of makeshift obstacle course.

“Are you coming in?” Ben asked, a spark of amusement in his eyes.

He thumbed a switch on the weapon's hilt and the blue blade retracted as Ada entered and the doors swished closed behind her.

“I don't want to interrupt, I was just …. curious.”

“I was just finishing up anyway.”

“Oh,” Ada tried to hide her disappointment.

It felt childish, but Ada had wanted to see. As a kid, she'd loved listening to her grandfather's stories of Jedi Knights, their daring exploits and their skill with their legendary blades. He'd been a boy during the very last days of the Republic. Before the scourge of the Empire. His mother had once taken him on a visit to see family on the vast city planet of Coruscant. He'd begged her to take him to see the Jedi Temple, and Ada remembered how reverently her Grandpa used to speak of his memories of standing outside the sacred, gargantuan building watching the mighty Jedi sweep past in their robes on important business, lightsabers clinking at their hips.

But apart from the Inquisitor's dual bladed nightmare, Ada had never seen a lightsaber. Not one carried by a Jedi at least. Then again, Ben had insisted that he wasn't a Jedi...

Ben secured his lightsabre to his belt, then went over to a small trunk in the far corner of the room. He took out two wooden training sabers and tossed one to Ada. She caught it easily and grinned at Ben, throwing her cloak of a blanket off and into a corner of the room with a dramatic flourish.

Ada's grandfather had fought in the Rebel Alliance against the Empire at the very height of its dominion. Inspired by his boyhood obsession with the Jedi, Grandpa had substituted a vibroblade for lack of a lightsaber in ground combat, rather than use a blaster. Whenever he visited, Ada begged him to give her lessons although she was only little and he was very old.

She tried to remember the basic stance Grandpa had taught her. Left foot forward, right foot back, weight distributed evenly. She held the grip with both hands, right above the left, and raised the hilt of the weapon to shoulder height.

“Perfect, just widen your grip a little.” Ben placed his own weapon on the floor and moved close behind Ada.

She bit her lip to suppress a gasp as his breath tickled her right ear. He readjusted the position of her hands beneath his own on the hilt of the weapon. In this way, Ben manoeuvred the weapon in Ada's hands so that she got a feeling for a high block, a low block and then a strike. They repeated these movements a few times until Ada had the flow and positioning right.

“Good,” Ben's voice was so low it was almost a whisper.

The single word reverberated through Ada, making her flush as she felt the stirrings of desire deep in the pit of her stomach. There was something intoxicating about his closeness to her. That heady scent of Endor pine wood again, pleasantly mixed with the heat of physical exertion. Their proximity, his chest pressed against her back and his large hands on hers meant that she could feel Ben's heartbeat pulsing through his whole body. It was beating a steady rhythm, but Ada was certain it was slightly elevated. She wondered if he could feel her own heart which was beating so wildly in her chest, she thought it might burst.

Ben disengaged from her, moving away to pick up his weapon and face her. Ada felt a flash of satisfaction to see that he did indeed look a little flustered. He disguised it with a crooked smirk, raising his weapon to strike the first blow.

He moved slowly and deliberately, allowing Ada to parry, parry, then strike. Then Ada moved towards him - strike, strike, parry – the same pattern in reverse.

They repeated this back and fore over and over again. Ada found she was able to pick it up with ease, her training as a child not so forgotten after all. She and Ben gained speed and momentum until they were going so fast and their movements were so ostentatious, so deliberately ridiculous that Ada couldn't help but burst out laughing. Ben joined her, folding at the waist.

He was more animated than Ada had ever seen him. It was the first time she'd seen him really and freely enjoying himself. Ever since they'd met, he'd been a mystery. A reserved but capable man with a mysterious, perhaps dangerous past. The way he'd showed no fear when the pirates had boarded the Swift or in the face of the violence and threats that followed. The way Tallah had described his ferociousness in combat with the Inquisitor. But the obvious truth Ada had learned about Ben was that he was clearly burdened with an overbearing and inescapable sadness.

It lifted Ada's heart to see this side of him. His amber eyes crinkled with mirth, cheeks dimpling as a grin stretched across his face, his long nose crumpling as he laughed.

“Ok, time to improvise,” Ben said, once they finally managed to get a grip of themselves.

Ben raised his training saber and Ada followed suit as they circled one another. Ben's strikes became more unpredictable as he started forcing Ada to block at odd angles. He began to land strikes on Ada's body.

She could tell he was being easy on her, going gentle. Still, she had to admit that he cut an imposing figure even with a training weapon and she was glad she didn't have to fight him for real.

Finally, determined to get back at him for the several stinging blows he'd inflicted on her, Ada used her smaller stature to her advantage. She deftly blocked an overhead attack from her opponent, quickly ducking and twirling under his arms and... Yes! She landed a strike on Ben with a satisfying thwack across his bottom and down the back of his right thigh.

He yelped and then laughed in delight at her success. Ada was almost certain he'd allowed her to land the blow, but she revelled her in her victory none the less, beaming from ear to ear.

“You've done this before,” he chucked, theatrically holding his backside and walking a little circle.

“A little,” she admitted, smirking, “My grandfather taught me some moves. It was a long time ago.”

Ada dropped down to the floor, cross-legged, pleasantly exhausted and satisfied with her little win. Ben sat down opposite her and they relaxed in comfortable silence while they caught their breath.

“So. Theod?” Ada asked, breaking the quiet as she suddenly remembered the brief conversation they'd had in the cockpit before she'd fallen asleep.

Ben nodded, “We're going to see a Wookie.”

“A Wookie?!” Ada exclaimed in delight.

“Yeah, well, this one's not going to be pleased to see me...”

“What? Why?”

Ben fixed her with a look that said she didn't want to know. Ada really, really did want to know, but she saw in Ben's eyes the encroaching shadow of that sadness and turmoil which seemed to simmer, always, within him. She suddenly found she had no desire to press him further. Not right now.

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cactuswaterscactusfields · 2 years ago

Text

Never About Us - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Offerings from a Beroya

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 4.7k

For anyone who has trouble imagining a sith din, here’s a link to a Tumblr post with something I made on mandocreator.

Chapter Warnings: Angst, a hint of fluff for you goblins, violence, descriptions of injuries and blood. Arguing, Greef Karga (is he a trigger?), fluff, mando being an overprotective socially inept brick wall, I’m making things up about armor and metal. Should I tag this as slow burn? Idk anymore. Hinted at S/A (unsuccessful), fennec shand is cool. Forced drugging, more passing out. Please let me know if I missed any, I know this was a pretty heavy chapter. I love you all, and thank you for staying with me.

Translation guide: Beroya (mando’a): “Bounty Hunter”

I have no excuses for why this took so long. Love you all! Thank you to geo for betareading!

“I thought you said you knew how to fly this damn thing!” You scream out, as the ship around you rocks, screams, rumbles, and twists through the atmosphere as the flames lick at the plasteel viewing panel. Of course, he should have known how to fly, he’s Mandalorian.

“I…may be a little rusty.” He is clearly struggling, his teeth gritting as he fights to correct the ship’s course so that you two don’t end up as two little bug splatters on the blazing surface of Nevarro. You’re thrown into the ship's wall, as he yanks the controls, dodging around a mercantile ship as you arc through the clouds.

“Learn to drive, Mando!” You shriek, as he spirals down towards the landing docks. He yanks back on the controls, sending you into the back wall of the cockpit, and the ship gently slows to a stop with a thud as it lands on the ashy sand.

He turns back to look at you from his seat and tilts his head.

“Are we going?”

You glare up at him, before standing up and dusting yourself off.

“Once you learn not to kill me. One of us doesn’t exactly have a full suit of beskar.”

He watches you, and you can imagine under there he might be smiling if he even smiles. You’re still not even sure he’s human under there. Who knows? Is he just some really well-designed AI, some killer robot masquerading as a Mandalorian waiting until you have a weak moment and then leaping in for the kill? What if he–

“Keep moving.” He bumps into you as you’re caught in your thoughts, gently pushing your shoulder toward the exit of the Crest. You blush, and hurry toward the exit, not wanting to irritate him by getting in his way, lest he leave you there on Nevarro without a ship. You walk by his side, the painting of his armor as an inquisitor parting the crowd around you like the sea in some religious story you were told as a youngling. You smirk a little to yourself, feeling like he’s protecting you from the normally unsafe and crushing crowds of Nevarro’s city. In the distance, you can see the sun beginning to set, a dull blob of light against the ash of Nevarro’s atmosphere.

You finally arrive at the entrance to the guild, and you enter first, your Mandalorian bodyguard an ominous shadow behind you. You sit down in front of Karga, sliding him the completed puck of the bounty you took. He doesn’t need to know you completed it only with the help of a very dangerous inquisitor.

“Ah, my favorite little crash-lander. How are you?” He flashes his signature grin at you, his eyes flicking up to the beskar-clad warrior currently trying to squeeze into the booth next to you.

“I want to add him as a bounty hunter. We’re a pair now.” You cut to the chase, hoping he won’t make you drink more of his sand-flavored spotchka. Mando watches him, his fist resting on the table between you, and he nods slowly.

“You picked up…an inquisitor, and you want him to join you. Become part of your…little..team. I...I suppose that can be arranged, but I do need to know his name.” He begins to tap away on a holopad, and you look up at Mando, hoping he behaves himself and doesn’t kill the good guild leader for asking for his name. Mando’s shoulders tense, and he looks at Greef, his hand beginning to tighten.

“Can’t you just put it as Mando Lorian?” You cut in, hoping to prevent a murder.

“I can make that work.” He taps it into the pad and slides it over.

“Sign there. He’s your responsibility now. As for the bounties, here is the payment, and new pucks. I have one I think you’d like.” He chuckles nervously, and you quickly sign with your finger.

“Figured this one would be good to get you on the good side of the empire. It’s all under the table, not even an official bounty.” He slides over a puck and a tracker.

“The one on the left is a normal Tattoine bounty. You’re capturing an assassin named Fennec Shand, she’s evaded Republic capture for a long time. The one on the right will lead you to the offerer of the private bounty, who will provide you with the tracker to the bounty itself. And get this, paid in beskar.” He smiles at Mando, whose shoulders stiffen further when he hears that it’s being paid in beskar. Your eyes widen at the sound of your payment, fist clenching on the table. You’re being paid in stolen beskar that should have been yours.

“Hey, let’s not get too aggressive, now. Why don’t you two head to Tattooine and see if you can’t capture Ms. Shand? If you’re successful, I’ll give you the private bounty.”

You slowly reach your hand out to the puck, but Mando snatches it off the table and slips it into a pouch on his belt. He slides out of the booth, and you look at Karga again.

“Thank you for the puck–” Your arm is grabbed by a thick leather glove, and Mando drags you out of the bar without any more discussion.

“He’ll take advantage of you.” Mando releases your arm, and you have to jog to keep up with his strides.

“Advantage? I’m perfectly fine. I’ve survived this long, I’m not scared of some slightly–”

“You don’t understand.” He spits your name, quickly grasping your wrist again and dragging you into an alley. He crowds you against the sandy brick, and you have to crane your neck to look up at him. His arm presses at the brick next to your head, and he studies you through his visor. You can feel his eyes searching your face, and he tilts his head again.

“Oh? Is that so? What do I not understand, Mando? Don’t treat me like one of your stormtroopers. I’m not your servant.” You glare up at him, your snarky mouth running before you can stop it. Of course, you’ve been trained to stay independent, to push people away, it keeps you alive. Your secrecy is your survival, after all. With each word, you can see his hand clenching into a fist, and he takes an audible breath.

“He will hurt you. Badly. He will take and take until There. Is. Nothing. Left. It was never about us. It’s about keeping you safe.” His helmet glints in the last light of the sun, leaving you in almost total darkness, save the artificial lights of the night market.

“I don’t need your protection.” You slide out from under his arm, and begin to walk back toward the direction of, you hope, the ship. He follows you with his helmet, and you push into the crowd. You weave and bob through people, half-hoping that he stays following you and half-hoping to lose him.

Of course, he follows you. You keep bobbing and weaving, hoping and praying to the maker that you know where you are going, even as the sun sets and you’re cast into the artificial yellow and white of fluorescent night market string lights. And then you see it. Like a beacon from the darkness, your ship, glimmering with the barely-visible stars and the blinding lights of night, laying there in the docks. You speed up in your steps, almost running, and you finally clamber up the too-steep ramp and practically jump up the ladder into the cockpit.

You hear his heavy footsteps thud up the ramp, and you begin to press buttons almost haphazardly, trying to get off this makerforsaken planet, as if leaving Nevarro will leave Mando there. Who does he think he is, commanding you? You’ve survived your whole life alone, doing nothing but rejecting those around you so that you stay safe. After all, attachments could lead to your heart or bones being broken. But..why does a part of you feel raw for wanting to leave him? He saved your life, hunted you down and kept you alive from that awful Trandoshan, but..he wants to hold you like you’re some pristine artifact, any scratch capable of shattering and ruining you.

So why do you feel this way?

All too quickly, your thoughts are once again interrupted as his hand lands on your chair’s back. He looks down at you, tilting his helmet toward the copilot’s seat expectantly. Right. He likes to drive. You sigh, get up, and move back to the copilot’s seat, not without shoving past him.

He sits down as if your pass at him hadn’t felt like more than being brushed by a Kowakian monkey-lizard’s feather, and begins to plug in the coordinates for Tattooine, and you’re both pushed back by the jump from reality into hyperspace.

“Hey, mando.” You finally break the silence, and he turns to look at you.

“We should..probably repaint your armor. Inquisitors aren’t exactly popular, and that suit of armor puts a target on your back..”

He looks down at himself, as if having just realized the implications of walking around in a suit of metal propaganda, and he nods. He gets up, and looks at you, as if waiting for you to follow. You quickly get up, and follow him down the ladder, grabbing a box of basic ship repairing equipment as you move past the storage closet.

Mando sheds his armor quickly and without grace, revealing that..the armor wasn’t exactly lying about how muscular he is. His arms, covered by that sinfully tight flight suit, flex as he pulls his chestplate off, dropping it onto the floor with a thud that sends shockwaves through your system and right to your core.

He hands you one of his bracers, and a piece of sandpaper, before he plops down and begins to sand his chestplate. And you sand. And sand. And sand. And sand. And sand. How much sanding can one piece of beskar require? Your father wasn’t kidding when he said that beskar is some of the strongest material in the galaxy.

After what feels like millenia, you finally finish sanding, and you put the armor piece down, finally stripped of its paint. He looks at you, having finished about three in the time it took you to finish one bracer, and he gestures to the paints you pulled.

“How about just raw beskar? We can smooth the surface and coat it with a gloss..” Your mouth begins to run off mechanic terminology, and he nods slowly.

“Will you be sanding your helmet?” That touched a nerve. His hands tighten on the gloss tube, and it splurts some of the expensive, albeit shiny gel.

“I don’t take my helmet off.” He growls in your general direction, and you raise your hands defensively.

“Sorry. You’re…one of those mandalorians, huh.”

“One of those?” He squirts more of the gel onto the floor, and you glare at him.

“Could you put that down? That shit is practically worth more than bacta.”

He sets down the tube, and you scoop up the gel and begin to smear it onto a piece of equipment that he’s finished sanding and shining.

“Yes, one of those. There’s a cul–a group of people that have elected to never remove their helmets because that is how the ancient mandalorian culture used to be, and they’ve lived their lives entirely behind a mask. I’m assuming you were..brought up by them before the empire took you?”

He nods slowly, scooping up the rest of the floor gel, and spreading it onto his armor.

“Got it. So no helmet removing. Do you sleep with it on?” You try to lighten the mood, and he begins to wipe the excess gel away with a cloth.

“Yes.”

“Have you taken it off at all?”

“If you’re asking whether or not I shower with it, no. I don’t shower with it on.” He casts away the cloth, sending it into a box of other mechanical equipment, and he examines his now finished armor. He nods, and you smile softly.

“Does it come off in bed?” You wink at him, and he pauses for a moment. You can almost see his ears flushing red, his lip quivering as he tries to come up with what to respond to that. He clears his throat, before beginning to pull his armor back on.

“...Depends on what you mean.”

“During s–” You’re cut off by the ship beeping loudly, signaling its imminent departure from hyperspace, and you both quickly clean up before heading to the cockpit and getting strapped in.

You’re jolted as you’re pulled into interplanetary space, and the great yellow and dusty planet lies before you. Haven’t you had enough sand for one life?

As you enter the atmosphere, you’re strangely reminded of Geonosis, even though that had been sterilized artificially. Can people really live on this hellish planet? There’s no water, hardly any shade, and the stories you heard as a child of Krayt dragons terrified you to no end. Then again, they likely ask the same thing about Geonosis. Irradiated, hellish, with zombie parasites and abandoned pre-empire factories filled with the skeletons of droids that could have been, now condemned to live in perpetual imperfection, with cults and slavery and shadowy figures that could snatch a small child from their mother’s arms and burn them into a worshiper of death and darkness.

“You have that look again.” You’re jolted out of your fears by his voice, baritone and honey, and you sigh.

“Sorry. Was thinking about Geonosis and Tattooine. I just don’t understand how people have grown to live and settle on these apocalyptic planets..” You trail off, embarrassed to bother him.

“They make do. We live and we learn.” His words are jarringly wise, almost strangely so. For a moment, his somber tone makes you wonder what hell he has been through. Has he seen the burning flames as you have? Did he see death like you had? What has the emperor put him through, to become a mandalorian inquisitor, hunter of jedi and now hunter of bounties?

“I do not think you want the answer to that question, little mandalorian. And you’re not bothering me.” He places his hand on your shoulder.

“You carry the galaxy on your shoulders. I am here to help you carry that burden.”

He tightens his grip, and it’s..strangely comforting, like you’re two beings against a galaxy of hate. Perhaps this isn’t so bad after all, you have to learn what makes the other tick, but at the end of the world, it’s you two, and you wouldn’t trade him for the world. As if he can smell it on you, he pulls his hand away, and the comfort is gone.

At least you have the memory of his warmth.

Blood. So much blood. Charred flesh, hatred, glowing red blade strikes and bruised throats are all you can see before everything goes dark. The crunch of a shattering femur focuses your senses, and you’re brought out of shock. Hot. Arid. Burning sand sprays across your face, and are you..are you on Geonosis? You blink quickly, trying to clear the sand from your eyes, and you narrowly avoid a flying limb, which, upon further inspection, appears to be inhuman in form. You look toward the loud sounds of blade cutting through flesh and bone, and you see him, like a silver wraith in the shadows.

He’s standing over a crying man, hunched over and spitting green blood. He raises his hand toward Mando, who tilts his head silently as he clenches his fist, crushing the man’s windpipe into oblivion. You quickly stand up, unsure of how long you had been unconscious, and begin to survey the scene around you.

Lots of blood spattered across sandstone alley walls, three or four mangled bodies, some missing a limb or two, glowing with molten cuts, and so, so, so much sand. Mando turns toward you, stepping over body and limb alike, and he reaches out to touch your face. He gently reaches down, lifting you to your unsure feet.

You remember now.

“Hey, sweet thing, why don’t you leave droid boy there and come have a good time?” One of them had slurred at you, clearly drunk out of his mind. You’ve been catcalled before, it’s nothing you’re not used to, and you let the insult slide off your shoulders as you attempt to continue your journey across Mos Espa, but that hadn’t been enough for them.

You can sense them beginning to surround you, wall you in, and you begin to calculate escape routes as they slowly corner you and Mando into an alley.

“Surely you mustn’t have heard my friend here. Leave droid boy and come with us, it’s been so long since–”

There is a glowing red blade right through his throat, and as he reaches up, eyes widening to feel the new..air hole in his trachea, Mando slices to the left, cutting the man’s head off. He then twists, and as he twists, you feel a small prick in your neck, a disgusting arm wrapping around your torso as it presses the plunger of the small syringe in your neck. You’ve heard of drugs like these before, used on drunk or unsuspecting patrons at bars and clubs, used to take them home for…for…

You can’t remember. Your train of thought begins to fade, as the world around you feels silent, gray…it’d be so easy to sleep right now, so easy to just…

“How many fingers am I holding up?” He gently touches your face with one hand, keeping your dizzy eyes focused on his hand, and you pause for a moment to clear your head.

“F-four. Four fingers.” You shake your head.

“Why did you do that? You have a target on your back, Mando..” You look around worriedly, concerned of the implications of him revealing himself.

He just tilts his head at you, as if he’s confused.

“We need to leave, surely word has spread by now..” You grab his hand, and pull at it, stumbling as your legs relearn how to take your weight.

“Why are you worried? This is Tattooine, little mandalorian.” He follows you, holding onto you to make sure you don’t collapse again.

“Couldn’t you have just knocked them out?” You hiss, and he pauses mid step.

“And let them walk the earth unpunished for what they did to you?”

“They didn’t do anything until you got involved. They wouldn’t have drugged me, I could have just…jedi mind tricked them..I could have figured it out…that was completely unnecessary, Mando!” You finally regain your confidence, and he pulls you into another alley.

“I was doing it to protect you.”

“I don’t kriffing need your protection, Mando! I’ve been surviving on my own this long, I do not need some overgrown sith warrior in indestructible armor following me like a lost puppy, and I especially do not need one to protect me! First, Nevarro, now here! When will you learn? I escaped from you, I can escape from the empire. I do not need you painting an even larger target on my back than the one that is already there because you cannot control your temper!” Your voice is shaking as it increases in volume, and you feel saltwater tears streak down your dirty face, dripping onto the parched sand below. You step back, and glare at him, wiping your tears furiously. You take a few deep breaths, trying to calm your heart rate, trying to lower your blood pressure, and look back up at where you hope his eyes are.

“I don’t need your protection.” You finally reiterate, before turning and leaving the alley. His visor never leaves your back.

“Fennec Shand. Assassin and sniper.” You quietly murmur to no one in particular, not that the man in metal next to you is even listening. Since you finally broke and screamed at him in that alley, he’s been silent, even more so than usual, not even responding when you try to communicate with him or get his attention, not even when you try to make the jokes that always would have gotten at least a quiet chuckle from him.

You peer back into the binoculars pressed against your face, scanning the horizon in the distance for any sign of life, any sign of the legendary ranger that is worth so much she could pay your fuel costs for three months, not that you’re even being paid in credits.

“There. Next to that outcropping!” You notice the bright red glint of a sniper’s red laser, and you quickly duck your head down as a red blaster bolt flies through where your forehead just was. His head jerks toward you, before he starts to stand, and you grab his arm and yank as hard as you can.

“She’s using heat tracing. We have to wait either till morning when the sun blinds her or until we can come up with a new idea to stop her. We’re sitting ducks anywhere but here.”

He nods slowly, before he turns to look down at his toolbelt, and you can almost see the idea lightbulb above his head blink on.

“Grenades.”

“What?”

“She’s using heat tracing. Flash bangs will blind and defean her temporarily, which lets us get close enough that I can freeze her.” He finally speaks after a moment, having figured out how to explain his absolutely batshit idea to you.

Except..it’s not batshit, It’s genius. He does think like a mandalorian, like a bounty hunter, coming up with ways to weaken his opponent until he can immobilize or kill them. He hands you three of the little handheld suns, and looks toward the speeders that brought you all the way out here into the Dune Sea.

“On three, I’m going to throw the first one. Get on your speeder, and wait for my signal. We will alternate, until we’re close enough to get cover at the base of her cliff.” He commands you, and it reminds you strangely of times that have never happened, of lives long past. What if you had been a soldier, or captured and became an inquisitor? Would you and he be close? Would you–

“Three!” He throws the grenade, and it explodes, a red blaster bolt shooting off a ways away, Fennec’s shot having been thrown off its course. You jolt up, your feet propelling you to your speeder, and you leap onto it, revving it and speeding off into the dune stretch between you and your target.

“GO!” He shouts, his voice straining to be heard over the wind rushing past your ears, and you press the button on top of the grenade before tossing it, and it explodes, sending another shot careening into the sky.

He tosses his, and your speeders weave back and forth on the dunes like dna, intersecting and then arcing away from eachother. You continue this deadly dance, this dance of evasion and light and blaster shots, until the once tiny cliff on the horizon becomes a monolith in front of you, all you can see, and you slow to a stop at its base.

“How do you plan to get up?” You pin your back against the rock, in case there is any way Shand could shoot you if you’re too far out.

He tilts his head, before he crouches and flies up into the air like a rocket. That’s right. You could just force jump.

You crouch as he did, hoping to replicate your success on Geonosis, but all you do is a nice little hop. In the distance, though, you see a ramp, and you sigh before climbing aboard your speeder and taking the naturally formed ramp up the side of the cliff. What feels like hours later, you ride up expecting to see his blade out or a dead body, but instead you see a bound Shand and a mandalorian inquisitor shining his bracer.

“I was wondering where you were.” He looks up at you, and you blush before slowing to a stop and climbing off the speeder.

“Not all of us were trained in the force from birth, Mando.” You pick Shand up by her wrists, gently laying her onto the back of your speeder.

“I suppose I’ll meet you at the bottom–?” You look up, and he’s already falling toward the sand below.

Of course he is.

“So now that she’s in carbonite, what’s our next bounty, oh keeper of the pucks?” You twist the towel around your sopping wet hair, patting it dry and casting the damp towel into a hamper. You stretch, feet padding against the metal floor of the ship, and you look at the interior of your ship. The bruise on your neck from the injection site still aches, but the pills Mando made you take before you showered must have been some kind of reversal agent, since you feel almost back to 100% much quicker than you should have been in any other situation involving those drugs.

After you retrieved Fennec, it was a fairly simple matter getting through the streets of Mos Espa and getting her frozen in the on-board carbonite freezer. You’ve never seen one work up close, and it took you at least twenty minutes to stop shivering from the gas. You finally decided to take a shower, cleaning yourself of the dust and sand, and the warmth helped your still slightly frazzled mind clear. You’re glad for midichlorians and the force, for it allowing you to heal quicker than the average person, the dull ache in your ankle from what feels like years ago nothing but that–a dull ache. He looks up toward you, his visor tilting up and down, and he leans back against a wall. His visor locks onto the small bruise on your neck for a moment, before he looks back down at the tablet he was swiping through.

“You look comfortable.”

“Been a while since I’ve had clean clothes, Mando. Thank you for washing them for me. While I was unconscious.”

He looks away, and you blush at the memory, not having meant to be so passive-aggressive to him. After all, he didn’t exactly knock you out, but he didn’t keep you awake on Hoth. It was probably for the best, you would have screamed and bit the whole way back if you had been awake.

“Our next bounty is a long jump away, and it’s another desert planet.” Was that..humor? From mando? You let out a small giggle, never having thought you’d see the day where a mandalorian inquisitor cracks even the worst of a joke.

“What is it? Tell me it’s not Geonosis.” You shiver, the radiation coming back to you like burning flames and licking hell against your skin, ripping apart your machinations like nothing but wet paper. You don’t ever want to have to venture out into the irradiated deserts again, the one time Gakrux made you having left you crying and screaming as you could imagine your flesh melting and burning away. You were just a teenager then, your life barely having started, and already you had been scared of it ending. The radiation isn’t too terrible now, nor was it when you ventured, but the trauma and idea was enough to tell you the most radiation you ever want to experience again is a star’s light from the comfort of a spaceship.

“No. It’s called..Arvala-5.”

I am so sorry this took so long. My life kind of got kicked in the shins and I had a massive burst of writer's block, rewrote the chapter, and today I had the biggest burst of inspo while listening to music. I'm so sorry this took so long, again, but thank you so much for writing. I'll try to have the next one out in a timely manner :)

Cactus

#mando x f!reader #mandalorian x you #mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #mando x you #mando x reader #mando and reader #fanfiction #fanfic #din djarin x f!reader #din djarin x you #din djarin x reader #din djarin #star wars

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