#snubfighter pilots

[gingersnappish]

The 2024 Fandom Trumps Hate Charity Auction is LIVE!!!

Bidding runs 5th March 8am EST to 9th March 8 pm EST!

@fandomtrumpshate is an online multi-fandom auction that benefits a lot of progressive non-profit organizations! Fans 'bid' to donate directly to a listed charity and the winning bidder receives a thank you gift for their donation in the form of the personalized fan work- You can read about exactly how it works HERE and see the FULL LIST OF NON-PROFITS!

Star Wars Fandom has a lot of really lovely works being offered this year - 34 creators are offering their time and talents as a big thank you to the winning bidders for their donations! Please, check them out!

And then...

Help out some wonderful progressive charities (and get a lovely custom fanwork as a thank you gift !

The following are brief summaries and not comprehensive. Please read the full offerings before bidding! The full Star Wars TAG contains all the following listings in their entirety!

Written Fanworks

@shadow-spires is offering a <5K piece for Prequel Trilogy or The Clone Wars! Loves working with Cody, clone culture, and fix-its, AUs, angst with happy endings, and more!

@marroniere is offering 20-50K for Andor, Thrawn Trilogy (new canon), Thrawn Ascendancy, or Ahsoka! Especially interested in anything Thrawn and Chiss, as well as Mon and Cassian from Andor! Versatile in genre and focussed on how characters relate to one another and heal!

finkpishnets is offering 5-10K for Prequel Trilogy or Clone Wars! Happy to work with Obi-Wan/Anakin or Obi-Wan/Cody in canon, diveregent, or AU settings! (also comfortably familiar with the Kenobi series canon)

@dirtbag-linecook-kyloren is offereing 5K per $10 donated! Sequel Trilogy Kylux author specializing in Modern AUs!

@captainlilja is offering 5-10K for Sequel Trilogy or Rebels! Especially interested in Finn/Poe, Finn/Poe/Rey, Zeb/Kallus, Hera/Kanan and happy to work with AroAce characters, AUs, fluff, and kinky-fluff where everybody is in love!

blackat_t7t is offering 5-10K for Book of Boba Fett, Clone Wars, or Mandalorian! Interested in M/M or Genfic, Angst, canon-divergent AUs, anything with a Clones focus or BobaDinn! Also appreciates rairpairs and characters!

Tathrin is offering 5-10K for any of the Trilogies and/or Legends/Extended Universe! Enthusiastic about world-building and plot and queering canon! Classic Legends stuff is a favorite, with a love for snubfighter pilots, YJKs, Leia, nb-Revan, and original flavor Boba Fett!

hoebiwan is offering 5-10K for Original and Prequel Trilogies or Legends/Extended Universe! Interested in crack, grief, recovery, anxiety, trans and queer themes!

@geekymoviemom is offering 5-10K for Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, Rebels, or Rogue One! Happy to write Anakin/Padme, Cassian/Jyn, Obi-wan & Anakin, Kanan & Ezra, and family stuff for Clone Wars and Rebels Fam! Canon-divergent or in-universe AUs please!

@treescape is offering <5K for any Star Wars! Familiar with all eras and happy to work with most characters or pairs!

@xenomorphic-warrior is offering 10-20K for Original or Prequel Trilogy, Andor, Clone Wars, Mandolorian, Kenobi, and Rogue One! Especially interested in Cody/Obi-wan, Bariss/Ahsoka, Din/Cobb, Lando/Han, Lando/Leia/Han, Cassian/Jyn, Cassian/Jyn/Bohdi, Cassian/Kino and are fond of speculative AUs like horror and sci-fi, mythology, and canon-divergence!

van1lla_v1lla1n is offering <5K for the Sequel Trilogy! Enthusiastic about Rey/Kylo (one or both of them queer) and will write in canonverse or modern AUs! Likes to work with erotic and heavier themes, ambiguous endings!

solas_oiche is offering 10-20K for any Star Wars! Enthusiastic about anything Ahsoka-centric and open to themes and tropes you may want to see!

Kartaylir is offering &lt;5K for Legends/Extended Universe and the Old Republic! Especially interested F/F, darker themes, world-building, and weird lore details! Familiar with Thrawn Trilogy, Shadows of the Empire, and Tales of the Jedi comics, KOTOR, and have written lots for SWTOR!

Ninja is offering 5-10K for Original or Prequel Trilogies, or Mandolorian! Especially interested in working with Fluff, H/C, happy endings, magic, plot twists, crack, and humor! Loves zany hijinks! Good at taking an initial prompt and running with it!

@s-c-g-s-c-g is offering <5K for Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, and Legends/Extended Universe! Especially interested in Jedi characters, pre-quel era fic, gen, bonding, H/C, canon-adjacent AUs, and found family! Primarily experienced writing Gen but open to some rairpairs!

Ternary is offering <5K for Prequel Trilogy and Clone Wars! Likes queer themes, ace&aro themes, and exploring disability themes, as well as trauma-recovery, and emotional H/C! Interested in Obi-Wan’s Legends padawanship, Obi-Wan/Quinlan, Obi-Wan/Cody, Quinlan/Fox!

geniecat2 is offering 5-10K words for the Prequel Trilogy, Book of Boba Fett, or Clone Wars! Especially interested in the AceAre spectrum, found family, platonic and romantic CodyWan, Jangobi, and lineage exploration, as well as Clone and Jedi appreciation, JediCorps too!

@musetotheworld is offering 5-10K for the Original and Prequel Trilogies, and Legends/Extended Universe! Loves Legends-inspired plots and has read most of the Legends books! Experience with writing F/F ships, M/F is fine too, also cool with AUs!

Stens_McHenry is offering 5-10K for All Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Mandolorian, and Kenobi! Prefers to write M/M ships and happy to work with AUs and canon-adjacent/divergent works!

MaudeZbornak is offering scaled-by-donation wordcount ($5 = minimum 5K) for All Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Mandolorian, and Kenobi! Happy to work with any pairing for Star Wars and welcomes detailed prompts!

thebeespatella is offering scaled-by-donation wordcount ($10 = 1K) for Andor, Clone Wars, and Rogue One! Especially interested in F/F, trans/gender and exploring corporate surveillance, identity and conformity, colonialism/diaspora, radicalization, trauma, moral injury, and interfacing with technology (cybogs)! Likes Clone troopers, clone culture and clone ships, Imperial/Rebellion era, and spy/thriller AUs! Experienced writer of Cody/Rex!

MayQueen517CactusDragon517 is offering <5K words for the Original and Sequel Trilogies, Rogue One, or Solo! Open to many ideas, smut included! Likes exploring alternative identities like a trans or non-binary or ace/aro interpretation of a character! Likes to communicate lots with their winning bidder, building ideas and sharing snippets!

@elthadriel is offering scaled-by-donation wordcount ($10 = 1K up to 10K) for Clone Wars! Especially interested in Clone troopers and their culture and ships, Imperial/rebellion era, missing war scenes, PWP, Cowboy AUs, bittersweet vibes, Cody/Rex, Echo/Fives/Fox, Thorn/Fox, Rex/Fives/Echo/Cody, Cody/Fox, Ahsoka/Bariss, Bly/Aayla, Cody/Maul!

@cabezadeperro is offering <5K for Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe! Interested in open endings, Imperial era, missing war scenes, cloneships, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan, canon divergence, complicated relationships, codex, Fives/Echo/Fox, Cody/Fox, rewalker, qi’rahsoka!

darktenshi17 is offering two auctions for 5-10K fics for the Sequel Trilogy as well as the Original Trilogy! Open to most ideas (with the exception of Kylo/Rey) and interested in working with F/F, polyships, genderswap, trans or nonbinary characters, unhappy or ambiguous endings!

commanderdameron is offering 10-20K for the Prequel or Sequel Trilogies or Kenobi! Loves character and relationship studies! Interested in exploring canon in more plot-centric ways and excited about world-building from a character-driven mindset! Obi-Wan, Poe, Leia, and Rey are favs, so things that focus on their relationships are welcome!

Visual Fanworks

c_art is offering a comic page (per $50 donation) for the Original and Prequel Trilogies! Enthusiastic about Gen and Femslash as well as rarepairs and unusual ideas! Fluff, angst, slice of life, and action all welcome! Black and white pages - will ask the winning bidder for a script or fic to adapt, higher donations = gets more pages!

@temporoyales is offering a drawing/painting for any Star Wars! Any pairings, genders, sexualities are welcome! Likes working with everyday interactions, environmental storytelling, symbolism, genderbending, and costume design! Starting bid gets a black and white portrait and larger bids increase up to fullbody/color!

@gingersnappish is offering a full color book cover/illustration/drawing/comic page/etc for any Star Wars! Specializes in Kylux but open to almost all characters, pairs, ideas! Happy to work with scifi-fantasy design, animals, detailed backgrounds and tech! Will make 2-4 small sketches for the recipient to choose from and then show a refined sketch before finishing the piece!

@nattyjae is offering a comic/drawing/painting/etc for any Star Wars! Scaled donations $5 = black and white, $15 black and white comic, $20 full color illustration, on up to a full color comic page! Loves Clone Wars, Rebels, and Bad Batch but will be happy drawing any Star Wars! Happy to design characters, redraw scenes or visualize AUs!

Beta Reading

@shadow-spires is offering to beta 10-20K for any of the Trilogies, Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One!

birbleafs is offering to beta for <5K for any of the Trilogies, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe!

geniecat2 is offering to beta for 5-10K for the Original and Prequel Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe, Mandolorian, and Kenobi!

Podfic Recording

@shadow-spires is offering to record a <5K podfic for any of the Trilogies, Clone Wars, Rebels, or Rogue One: clones centric and Jedi-positive stuff always welcome, as well as OCs!

flowerparrish is offering to record <5K for any of the Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe, Mandalorian, Kenobi, Rebels, Rogue One! They are especially interested in canon-divergent AUs, fix-its, Poly ships, F/F, trans or nonbinary characters, rarepairs and crackships!

kbirb is offering to record fic with wordcount being contribution-based (Donations: First $10 = 2K, +$10 = Additional 1K)! Open to all three Trilogies, Andor, Clone Wars, Mandolorian, Rebels, Rogue One! Especially interested in found family, soulmate AUs, polyamory, trans clone troopers, neopronouns, Jon Antilles rarepairs, Hevy/Fives/Echo, Cody/Obi-Wan, and period pieces (Regency!) Loves recording for an author who wants to hear their fic aloud!

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The Boys are Back in Town

Most of the X-Wing series focused on either Wraith or Rogue squadron in their full capacities and on standard missions. That is NOT this book. This book focuses on Wedge Antillies, Wes Janson, Tycho Celchu, and Derek "Hobbie" Klivian as they slide inexorably from a diplomatic mission to something that Padme Amidala would unquestionably describe as "aggressive negotiations." Let's talk Starfighters of Adumar.

When you have a planet that has evolved outside of either imperial or republic influence that reveres pilots to an arguably unhealthy degree and you can't drag Luke Skywalker out of whatever he is currently doing, you get Wedge "I blew up two Death Stars, you don't scare me" Antilles. Wedge then puts together a crack team of his three best pilot buddies to hammer out a treaty between Adumar and the New Republic (I'd be LYING if I told you I was picturing anything other than Adam Sandler casting his best friends and taking them on epic vacations and incidentally making a movie for this bit).

As per usual, things go pear-shaped basically before they even get boots down on Adumar, because among its other problems, Adumar loves the HELL out of dueling. To the death. Usually with starfighters. Some asshole decides to try to increase his personal clout by shooting Wedge down as they fly in. This doesn't work, but hot damn does it set the tone...

The toxic dueling culture is not limited to snubfighters, however. Cheriss ke Hanadi (the undisputed queen of duels with blastswords) guides Red Squadron through the twists and turns of Adumari culture. That does not stop Wes from getting in a duel at the diplomatic reception, though. This duel is incredible because it's Wes giving an object lesson in how to humiliate the living hell out of an overly cocky opponent with a blastsword while functionally unarmed. This fight is glorious, and it's a beautiful follow-up to the "getting ready for the ball" scene our boys get to have where Wes lights up like a kid at Christmas when he discovers that blastswords are basically "blaster[s] that you have to hit people with."

Cheriss gets done a wee bit dirty by this book, because she basically develops a crush on Wedge, and when she finds out that he and Iella have gotten together, she sets herself up to get murdered by fighting a stupid number of duels in a row. The rest of Red Squardon steps in though, and as an added bonus, the New Republic medics give her a medication for her chronic vertigo to allow Cheriss to become a pilot. This series literally is not here for anyone who isn't a New Republic pilot, so I don't love Cheriss's arc, but honestly it could have been a lot worse, so I'm not complaining too hard.

The draw for this book though, is unquestionably the character work in our four protagonist pilots. The plot of the novel is pretty simple, all things considered, so Allston takes the opportunity to really dig into character for our boys, and getting to follow them on a somewhat nontraditional mission and using their skills as best they can is just FUN. As a friend says, this book is delicious candy fluff, and the characters are the candies.

Even when the mission goes directly to hell and Red Squadron has to run the gauntlet for their lives, the choices and twists and turns are largely character-driven. That makes what could have been a run-of-the-mill climactic escape into a really tense, well-constructed series of choices and consequences that are just FUN because of the characters who have been dropped into the situation.

There's objectively not too much substance to this book, but it ties Wraith Squadron as my favorite X-Wing book because of the character work and focus on the top four New Republic pilots. Plus, it's a little adorable that this is where Wedge and Iella really get together, and I am HERE for legends continuity legacy families.

[dindjarindiaries]

Security - Chapter 61: The Siege

summary: Clan Djarin fights for their home alongside the covert in the siege of Nevarro.

warnings: canon-typical violence, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff

rating: T

word count: 5.88k

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chapter 61: the siege

Astra steadies herself with a calculated breath as she views the holoplans in front of her.

“Pirate King Gorian Shard is captaining a Cumulus Class Corsair carrying a complement of snubfighters,” Bo-Katan informs the group through the intercom, though Astra stands alongside Paz and the Armorer inside the Gauntlet’s cockpit. She watches the model of the ship appear in the blue light. “It has aerial bombardment capabilities.”

Astra grimaces at that. It gives the pirates an advantage she and Din haven’t seen in any of the villages they’ve helped thus far. She crosses her arms over her armored chest.

“The N-1 will distract the Corsair and her snubfighters as we drop in to liberate the planet below,” Bo goes on. Astra’s been well aware of this plan, but the mention of her family’s starfighter still makes her stomach tighten with fierce nerves. “Nevarro is an independent planet and no longer under remnant Imperial or New Republic protection. But it’s that very independence that makes it appealing for you to settle.”

Astra smiles at the memory of what she and Din discussed the night before. A place of their own, perhaps a cabin style, fully furnished with a warmth that can’t quite be put to words. It could be just in reach.

“You lived there once, hiding in the sewers,” Bo reminds them. Astra recalls the haunting twists and turns of the tunnels they explored during their escape from Nevarro so long ago. “But now, you can be heroes.”

Bo-Katan looks around the group and nods. Paz turns to Astra and gestures with his helmet towards the drop seats they’d come from. “Let’s return to our post.”

Astra nods to agree and starts to follow Paz. She stops for a moment and turns towards Bo, the corners of her lips lifting in a small smile. “Keep an eye on the crazy pilot of that starfighter, will you?”

Bo chuckles with amusement. “You’ve got it, sister.”

Astra beams at the endearment and continues to follow Paz. They return to their seats alongside the other members of the covert, bringing a rush of adrenaline through Astra’s veins. It’s been many months since their last battle at Mos Espa, aside from the quick fight she participated in against the cyborg on Mandalore. But just as Din had reminded her before, she’s been training for this, and now she has armor and additional weapons that will help her.

It’s not the battle she’s nervous for, though. It’s the fact that most of her heart remains in the sky above the village, preparing to take the heat of the attack to allow for her and the others to move in. Astra would never doubt Din, and she won’t start now, but love doesn’t allow for rationality and logic. Her heart won’t beat in its same steady rhythm until all three of them are back in her arms, safe and sound.

The drop out of hyperspace is loud from where Astra sits. She tightens her gloved hands into fists on top of her armored thighs. She wishes she could have a helmet to hide the way her lips twist in worry at the thought of Din starting the plan. Instead, she looks down, comforting herself the best she can with memories of Din’s cleverness and strength in times such as this.

“You’re a protective pair,” Paz observes, drawing Astra from her thoughts as she looks up at him. His helmet’s tilted at her.

“The galaxy hasn’t always been kind to us,” Astra informs him. The scar that stretches across her face tells the stories she doesn’t wish to relive.

“I understand.” Paz’s modulated voice is low. His armored shoulders rise and fall in a deep breath. “But it seems that with each challenge you’ve faced, you’ve become stronger.” He gestures to the armor Astra now wears. “This time won’t be any different.”

Astra’s jaw relaxes and makes way for a small smile. “Thank you, Paz.”

Paz nods, letting their attention return to the task at hand. Astra can sense the Gauntlet’s gentle cruise through Nevarro’s atmosphere as they wait for Din’s signal. She taps her gloved fingers upon her cuisses in anxious repetition. Astra can only hope that Bo relays his comm to them.

Her wish is granted. After many moments of anticipation, Astra’s comforted by the sound of Din’s voice through the intercom. “The Corsair’s on me,” he informs them. Astra tries not to react to the idea of the massive ship pursuing her family. “Coast is clear.”

The Gauntlet starts to swoop down. Astra takes a breath of preparation. “Approaching drop point,” Bo announces. “First team, prepare to drop.”

Astra looks down at the floor beneath them as it opens up. She braces herself and remembers each word of warning Din offered her during her training. Her heartbeat quickens even as the Gauntlet slows down and approaches their landing zone.

As soon as the ship stops, the Mandalorians go.

Astra’s not afraid of the freefall they take before they activate their jetpacks. She follows their guidance, easing down to the surface with a vengeance. The pirates become visible even from a high altitude and each one of them becomes a potential target. Astra thinks back to their pursuit of her family in the N-1 and that’s all it takes for her to become just as fierce and focused as she needs to be.

She pities the first pirate she finds. The momentum from her fall takes him down easily when her legs kick out at him. Astra lands with ease as she draws her blast and fires a single lethal bolt. She uses her fibercord whip to capture the ankles of another pirate while a member of the covert fires their own round to finish them off. Astra and the Mandalorian share a nod before she keeps her blaster lifted and engaged, looking around the area for any stragglers.

“Area clear,” one of the Mandalorians announces, using the comm device within his helmet. “Team two, you with us?”

They wait a beat for a response. While Astra doesn’t have a helmet of her own for her comms, she can hear what’s being said through her vambrace, thanks to Din’s help with wiring and her old comm bracelet. “Team two, moving toward courtyard,” another Mandalorian responds.

The Mandalorian from before signals to the group, his gloved fingers tapping his helmet and then pointing towards the courtyard. “Move out,” he instructs, leading the way with his hefty blaster lifted. “Stay alert.”

Astra obeys, bringing up the rear as she moves at their careful pace. She keeps both hands on her blaster and pivots with each step she takes, never leaving even a single angle left unchecked. The Mandalorians around her do the same, checking every inch of wreckage for an adversary. Astra tries not to let her heart break at the sight of the pirates’ destruction.

They’re close to the courtyard when a squeaky voice alerts them from above. Astra lifts her gaze and sees a monkey lizard hanging inside the very same tree Din had once leaned against. It points towards the courtyard and attempts to communicate with them, though none of them have to understand to realize what the creature’s trying to convey. The Mandalorian at the front looks back and speaks with severity. “Possible ambush,” he alerts them. “Take cover.”

All it takes is the Mandalorians rushing to cover for the pirates’ rounds of fire to begin. Astra hides behind a stack of crates and steadies herself with a deep breath of preparation. She stands taller and lifts her blaster over the crates, aiming and firing at whoever she can get. The lack of a scope on her small blaster isn’t helpful, but her years spent training with what she already has pays off. She takes down at least three from this distance and starts looking around to see if there’s a closer place to take cover.

The whizzing of a blaster bolt just past her head distracts her from her search. Astra whips around to see a group of pirates advancing from behind them. “Behind us!” Astra calls out, turning and kneeling behind whatever cover she can manage to fire at them. Her Mandalorian brothers and sisters help in her effort, though the balance between those ahead of them and those behind them gets harder and harder to maintain. The flame of panic starts to burn within Astra’s armored chest.

“We’re boxed in!” one of them exclaims. Astra looks towards him when she hears his voice just to watch as a different Mandalorian gets knocked down by a hard bolt to his pauldron. Astra lowers her blaster and rushes to his side, using all her strength to help him get back behind cover. She investigates the armor that’s started to steam from the blast.

“You okay?” Astra asks, glancing away only to fire at one of the hiding pirates. Her bolt finds its target with ease.

“I’m fine,” the Mandalorian responds, his modulated voice thick with gratitude. “Thank you, sister.”

Astra nods at him. “This is the Way.”

She starts to observe their surroundings again, and for the first time since they’d dropped from the Gauntlet, Astra realizes that Paz is nowhere to be found. She furrows her brow, though before she can give it any more thought, her curiosities come into fruition.

Paz flies in from above and releases his heavy-duty blaster onto all the surrounding pirates. Their mediocre cover is no match for Paz, especially as the rest of the second team flies in and makes the assist. Astra stands and joins them, exchanging her blaster for her vibroblade as she engages her whip towards one of the pirates. It wraps around them and makes it easy for her to tug them towards herself. She catches them on their vibroblade and draws it from them before they collapse.

Astra flips the blade back into her boot and retrieves her blaster to advance with the rest of the Mandalorians, charging towards the courtyard with no mercy. Paz leads the effort as he clears their path with his heavy blaster, giving the rest of them the freedom to fire and aim with accuracy. Astra’s still careful with her advance, taking time to investigate their full surroundings. She recalls the balcony she and Din once stood on before and her heart falls into her stomach when she sees a weapon not unlike the E-Web Moff Gideon once unleashed in this very same town.

Before Astra can warn anyone, the pirates fire it. The first target is another one of her Mandalorian brethren, but unlike the other, he doesn’t recover. Astra tries to race to his side, but another blast from the balcony cuts her off. She’s forced to take cover and watch as more Mandalorians become victims of the pirate’s aim from above. Most of them start to take cover just like herself, but one stands tall and vulnerable, and Astra won’t let another one of her brethren fall.

Remember to use your armor, the memory of Din’s voice reminds her.

Astra activates her jetpack to fly in front of Paz, using the momentum to knock him aside before she takes part of the hit that was meant for him. The impact hits her on the right side of her cuirass, spreading a heat like wildfire through the area and taking her breath away. It knocks her back hard enough to send her into the wall of the building just behind her. She hits it and falls onto the ground unceremoniously, rolling over a few times before she stops and lays where she is. Nothing’s audible aside from the heavy beating of her heart and the distant ringing of the battle that surrounds her. Astra focuses on regaining her breath, her gaze locked on the blurry view of Nevarro’s sky above her. The sight inspires her to think of her family who soars somewhere within it. She fights to stay awake for them.

Astra’s aware that she’s being dragged behind cover, but she can’t make herself focus on who’s responsible for the action just yet. It’s the gloved hand shaking her armored shoulder that gains her full attention and awareness. Astra’s gaze meets Paz’s visor and the few blinks she takes is what gets him to heave a breath of relief.

“Thank the Ancestors,” Paz mumbles. “Stay here, Djarin.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Astra jokes, her words uttered amongst heavy breaths. One of her gloved hands covers the beskar that had been struck. She presses down and releases a tight groan at the instant soreness she earns. It’ll be just a bruise there if she’s lucky. Astra can only hope it’s nothing worse, more so for Din’s sake than her own. The stinging on her face already promises a haunting sight of bloody cuts from the rubble she’d tumbled over.

Paz stands from where he’s been kneeling behind cover and looks up. “All clear,” he announces to the group that’s left standing. “Advance!” Astra grunts with effort as she tries to sit up on her own. Paz kneels down beside her again. “Not you.” He calls over another member of the covert, each of them throwing one of Astra’s arms around their shoulders to lift her from the ground and support her. Paz uses one hand to keep Astra’s arm secured in place and the other to shoot at the retreating pirates. He speaks over the sound of his blaster fire. “Your riduur’s going to kill me, you know.”

Astra huffs with amusement. “That makes two of us.”

While she’s unable to help them shoot at their adversaries, Astra tries her best to keep her boots from dragging on the ground to maintain the same pace as Paz and the other Mandalorian at her side. When she observes him more closely, she realizes it’s the same Mandalorian she’d helped before, a thought that makes her smile despite the ache that’s already started to radiate throughout her body.

The pirates have since started to retreat to the entrance of the town. The Mandalorians remain in pursuit of them, with Paz, Astra, and the other member of the covert bringing up the rear. Astra’s surprised to see the remaining pirates halt just under the broken archway. When they get closer, she realizes it’s the Nevarro townspeople who have stopped them, led by Greef Karga himself. Astra smiles at the sight, especially as the Mandalorians close in behind the pirates and force them to drop their weapons once and for all.

“What’s their status in the air?” Astra asks, her voice still winded. Now that her end of the fight is over, her worries can rest with her husband and children.

Paz is about to respond when the sound of a large explosion from above stops him. He looks up and Astra’s gaze follows his own. They watch as the Corsair explodes in flames and begins to fall towards the mountains behind the town. Astra doesn’t miss the sight of the N-1 soaring far away from it, something that makes her close her eyes and take a deep breath of relief. She swallows back a whimper at the soreness the action produces.

“I can probably stand on my own,” Astra informs Paz through the noises of celebration around them.

The Mandalorian shakes his helmet. “No need. We’ll wait until you can rest somewhere.” Paz nods at her and speaks with a low, genuine tone. “Thank you for what you did.”

Astra smiles at him. “This is the Way.”

Paz tilts his helmet at her. “This is the Way.”

Meanwhile, Din begins his descent in the N-1, his helmet glancing back at the seat behind him where his children’s pod floats. “How are you two doing back there?” Din asks them.

Grogu opens the pod and lifts his ears in a reassuring coo. Zora claps her hands together a few times in delight. “Goo’ Papa!” she cheers through the intercom.

“Very good,” Din responds, his lips pulled tight in a smile. “You’ve both been very brave.” His chest relaxes before it pulls tight again at the thought of his wife. “We’re going to see Mama now. Okay?”

Zora cheers once more at that. “Mama, Mama!” Din locates the group of Mandalorians and townspeople just outside the entrance to the town and lowers the starfighter. Zora speaks to him as he finishes landing it. “Mama ‘kay?”

Din opens his canopy and starts to look around the gathered crowd. He searches for the familiar shine of her silver armor. “I’m sure she’s…”

His thought vanishes the moment he finds her. Din sees Astra hung between Paz and another member of the covert, her arms thrown over their shoulders and her face cut up enough for Din to notice even at this distance. His heart drops so fast he’s half-convinced it’s actually fallen out of his body.

Din jumps out of the starfighter and slides the children’s canopy open so hard that it nearly cracks the transparisteel. He urges the pod to lift up and out of the ship and closes it, leaving the sight concealed from their children for now. Din’s pace never slows as he closes the distance to Astra, weaving through whoever stands in his way.

“Hey,” Din greets, his voice breathless as he steps forward and holds Astra’s face between his hands. He grimaces at the blood and grime he observes on her. “What happened?”

“I’m fine,” Astra insists. She has the audacity to smile at him, a ray of beauty that shines through the terror the rest of her circumstances brings him. “I’m glad that you are, too.”

Din tilts his helmet at her in warning. “Astra…”

“Heavy-repeating blaster,” Paz speaks up. Din’s visor meets his brother’s. “She pushed me out of the way and it clipped her.”

Din inhales a sharp breath at the mere thought of it. He glances at Astra again and the lack of breathing he does speaks for him.

“It looks worse than it is,” Astra assures him. “I told them I could stand on my own.” Despite her words, Astra’s tone is laced with fondness.

“Vizsla wasn’t the only one she helped,” the other Mandalorian at her side adds. “She pulled me out of the line of fire when I got hit, too.”

Din’s hit with a confusing mixture of pride, love, and strong worry as he reaches to take Astra’s arm from Paz’s shoulders. He supports her on his own, his visor observing her more closely once she’s standing at his side. Din frowns at the smear of black blaster grime on the right side of her cuirass. “Protecting everyone except yourself,” Din remarks. He can’t help smiling just a bit to himself. “I wish I could say I’m surprised.” Astra lets a smile of her own shine at him, her eyes falling closed as her weary head rests against his helmet. Din forces himself to take a deep breath as he looks between the two Mandalorians in front of him. “Thank you for your help.”

They both nod at him before Paz responds. “This is the Way.”

Din leads Astra back towards the N-1, the pod remaining at his free side. Astra lifts her head to look at him. “How are the kids?”

“They’re fine.” Din hesitates before he goes on. “I just…”

“Didn’t want them to see me like this.” Astra finishes the thought as if she’d pulled it right from his mind. “I understand.”

Din waits to speak more until they’re back at the starfighter. He urges her to lean against the wing while he reaches for the medpac that sits inside the ship. “What you did is very honorable, and it makes me more proud than I can say.” Din takes a solution-soaked cloth and tends to the cuts on her face first. “But it was also very dangerous.”

“Well, you told me to use my armor,” Astra defends, her words lighthearted as her gloved fingers loop around Din’s belt for stability.

Din stops what he’s doing and tilts his helmet at her. “Rid’ika, that’s not funny.”

Astra sighs and raises her brow at him. “Now you know how it’s felt for me all these years.” She gestures with her head to Din’s own cuirass. “The bruise from Fennec’s rifle, your heroic stunt on Trask, the rancor in Mos Espa, that damn dragon…”

Din’s visor swings away from her. “Okay, okay, I get it.” His visor meets her gaze again and he releases a soft breath. He should’ve known better than to assume his wife wouldn’t throw herself in harm’s way for others. She’s right; He would’ve, and has, done the same. “I’m sorry I scared you all those times. I understand what that feels like, now.”

Astra lifts a hand to cup his beskar cheek. “Better late than never.” She urges his helmet to meet her forehead. “But I’m okay, really. There’ll probably be a bruise, but I’ve definitely had worse.” Astra’s eyes close as a smile of content grows on her lips. “The battle’s done.”

Din leans into her touch. “Our home’s in reach.” He lifts his helmet from her head and continues his work on her face. “And the first thing you’ll be doing within it is resting.”

Astra laughs and reopens her eyes. “Only if you rest with me.”

Din smiles and hopes that she can sense it. “Deal.”

Astra lets Din take care of what he can on the surface. He enjoys the sound of her voice as she continues to speak. “At least your training paid off.”

Din hums at that. “Did it?”

“Yeah. I got at least two of them with the whip, and I used the jetpack to knock Paz out of the way.”

Din gives her cheek a gentle tap of his hand. “Very good, cyar’ika. I never would’ve expected anything less.” He tightens his jaw for a moment as he switches the cloth for a tube of bacta. “I’m sorry I missed it.”

“Don’t be. They needed you in the air.” Astra’s gaze glitters with her own pride for him. “I saw the Corsair go down.”

Din shrugs and rubs the bacta over Astra’s scratches in gentle motions. “It was just as much Bo-Katan’s effort as it was my own.”

“Then it was a job well done by both of you.”

Din’s face warms underneath his helmet, but before he can muster up a retort, the pod opens at his side. Both he and Astra glance over to see Grogu’s ears lowered in worry and Zora’s lip wobbling as she points at Astra. “Mama ‘kay?” she repeats the same question she had asked earlier.

Din watches Astra melt as she reaches towards their daughter. She picks up Zora and sets her on her uninjured side. “Mama’s just fine, Zo.” Astra kisses Zora’s head and rocks her a few times. “Everyone’s okay.”

Grogu coos, earning Din’s attention once again as the little one points at the scratches on Astra’s face. Din pats Grogu’s head for comfort. “I was worried about those, too.” Din nods at him. “But she’s okay, buddy.”

Before either one of them can continue to comfort their children, applause breaks out from around them. Din turns and stands at Astra’s side to see the crowd’s migrated closer to them and the Gauntlet, which had landed facing the entrance to the town. Greef stands by the open boarding ramp while he waits for their cheers to stop.

“Thank you, thank you,” Greef says to the gathered group of townspeople and Mandalorians. He raises his voice over the sound of the applause. “Thank you to all of you, and especially to our fine Mandalorian liberators, to whom this planet is forever indebted.”

The townspeople start to applaud again at Greef’s words. Din and Astra share a look as she rests her head upon his arm. He lifts his arm over her shoulders and keeps her pulled tight against him.

“Mandalorians,” Greef addresses them with severity, “I know that we have been on opposite sides in the past, but that is behind us.” He nods at Din and Astra in particular. Din returns the gesture. “From this day forward, I, Magistrate Greef Karga—.”

“High Magistrate, sir,” Greef’s protocol droid interrupts.

The crowd chuckles with Greef at the interjection. “High Magistrate Greef Karga,” he goes on, “hereby cede all land from the western lava flats to Bulloch Canyon to the fine people of Mandalore. You may no longer have a home planet, but you do now have a home. Welcome.”

Greef starts to applaud them, but the noise is drowned out the moment Din’s visor meets his wife’s gaze again. Despite her current injuries and all the hardships they’ve faced along the way, her eyes sparkle like never before at the promise of a home. All paths have brought them back to the very place from which they came that night they first met. The Djarins have a place in this galaxy to call home.

Din won’t let anything or anyone take that away from them.

“Welcome, welcome!” Greef continues to say as the townspeople applaud. “And thank you.”

The Mandalorians cross their right arms over their cuirasses. Din keeps his arm around Astra as the other copies their movement, with Astra doing the same alongside him. They bow their heads at the High Magistrate. He looks at Din for further approval, and he offers it with a firm nod of his helmet.

The crowd starts to disperse, causing Din to lift his arm and face Astra once again. “How are you feeling?” he asks her.

Astra beams at him. “Much better.”

Din lifts a gloved hand to her cheek. “Are you telling the truth?”

Astra wraps her hand around his wrist. “I am.” She pushes herself off the ship and stands on her own. “See?” Astra gestures with her head towards the crowd. “Now, we should go brief with Bo about the battle.”

Din keeps his worried sigh to himself and nods at her. “You’re right.” He leads the way towards the Mandalorians, resisting the urge to steady Astra with a hand on her back. Din scans the group for Bo-Katan’s blue-and-white helmet, but it’s nowhere to be found. He wrinkles his brow beneath the helmet and glances at Astra. “Do you see her?”

Astra shakes her head. “No.” She looks at Din with a mixture of confusion and concern. “Where could she have gone?”

Din looks around the group again, but before he’s able to answer, Paz approaches them. “Kryze is with the Armorer,” he explains. “I’m not sure when they’ll be back.”

Din nods to acknowledge his words before he turns to Astra. “Can we take a look at your wound inside the Gauntlet, then?” he asks her. He doesn’t bother leaving the desperation out of his voice. “Please?”

Astra’s gaze softens at him as she nods. “Sure, riduur.” She takes his hand with the one not holding Zora and lets him lead the way. Din retreats to the N-1 first to grab the medpac before he takes her aboard the Gauntlet. They remain in the cockpit and Din encourages Astra to sit in one of the co-pilot’s chairs. Astra sets Zora back in the pod alongside Grogu, both of them looking on curiously as Din helps Astra to set the necessary pieces of her armor aside and lower her flight suit.

Din exhales at what he sees. The place where Astra was hit has already earned a nasty bruise, the colors spreading out in a frightening array. He reaches into the medpac and forces himself to speak. “Your ability to act as if this isn’t hurting you is a huge testament to your strength, cyar’ika.”

“I learned from the best,” Astra insists, smiling even as Din removes his gloved hand and starts to administer the bacta onto her skin. Her chest inflates under Din’s touch with a hiss she refuses to release to the open air. “This is a lot like that shot you took from Fennec.”

Din tries not to smile at that. “You mentioned that earlier, too.”

“It was the first time you really let me help you with a wound.” Astra’s since taken Din’s empty glove and has started to squeeze it between her own hands. “It was also when you…” She trails off, lifting one of her gloved hands to wrap around Din’s wrist and move his touch to the other side of her chest. Her heart beats right beneath his palm and Din’s face flushes not just at the way it races, but also at the memory she’s alluding to.

“You were still the first one to say it.” Din shakes his helmet and goes back to the work he’s completing on her wound.

Astra lets her hand fall to his empty glove yet again. “Don’t remind me of that clumsy speech.” She laughs and closes her eyes. “I felt so awkward after what I’d said. If you hadn’t responded, I probably would’ve just jumped out of the airlock.”

Din chuckles with her. “It wasn’t awkward, rid’ika.” He offers a fond tilt of his helmet. “It was perfect.”

Astra gives her eyes a playful roll. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Well, considering we’re now married with two children… I think it’s safe to say that your speech worked out perfectly.”

Astra remains silent after that. Din keeps his focus on his work as he fills every inch of her bruised skin with bacta and any other treatments he can find. He only stops when her quietness starts to worry him. Din’s visor meets her gaze and his heart twists inside his armored chest when he sees the tears she holds within them.

“Hey.” Din’s voice is as soft as he can make it. He sets everything aside and holds her face between his hands. “What is it?” He chest flames with concern. “Was I hurting you?”

“No, Din, not at all.” Astra chuckles and takes a deep breath to steady herself. She meets his gaze with a look Din wishes he could memorize and keep in his mind forever. “I’m just remembering how I felt back then. I spent so many years on my own and I wanted another home to call my own so badly. And now…” she pauses, giving her head a shake of amazement as her trembling lips spread in a wide smile, “I have a person and a place I can call home.”

Din runs his gloved thumbs over her cheeks and smiles with her. He wishes he could remove his helmet for her, but with the uncertainty of someone else boarding the ship, it’s a risk he can’t take. Instead, he urges her forehead to rest against his helmet and continues to hold her tight. “Those were all things I never realized I wanted so badly. I thought I was just fine on my own.” He runs his knuckles along the side of her face. “Then you came into my life.” Din lifts himself high enough to pull her into an embrace, his glove hand securing her head against him. “Thank you for being my home and for trusting me enough to be yours.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “And thank you for waiting so long to find a place we can call home together.”

“I would’ve waited a lifetime.”

Din rests his helmet against her head. “I know. But you should never have to.”

Din’s chest floods with an overpowering sensation of warmth that could only come from their children. Both he and Astra lift their heads to see Grogu and Zora hugging inside the pod, both of them smiling as they emulate their parents. Din and Astra laugh together at the sweetness of the moment as Din pats his children’s heads. They look at him with radiant joy, though Din still forces himself to look away from them and release a soft exhale.

“We should head back out there,” Din says, helping Astra to fix her flight suit and put all of her armor back on. “Bo-Katan should be back soon.”

Astra helps Din with her armor in silent agreement. Once they’ve finished, he takes the medpac along with some of the storage Bo had let them use on the Gauntlet and unloads it just outside the ship. Din opens the crate of rations for the covert and Astra helps him sort through it. It’s not long before Grogu coos to alert both of them, and when Din looks up, his breathing stalls with panic for a long moment.

Bo-Katan approaches with the Armorer at her side, though the Nite Owl has since removed her helmet. Din shares a nervous look with Astra and keeps her close as Bo and the Armorer stop just in front of the Gauntlet. Bo’s brow is furrowed in uncertainty as she glances at the Djarins.

“Bo-Katan Kryze is going off to bring other Mandalorians in exile to us,” the Armorer announces to the group of gathered Mandalorians, “so that we may join together once again.”

Paz has since stepped in front of the Gauntlet’s boarding ramp, as if he’s blocking Bo from going inside the ship. “But she shows her face,” he argues. His words cause chatter to rise amongst the group. Din and Astra remain silent, instead sharing another look.

“Bo-Katan walks both worlds,” the Armorer insists. “And she can bring all tribes together.”

Bo gives Paz a hopeful look. Paz’s helmet turns and Din’s surprised to find that his Mandalorian brother seems to be seeking approval from him. Din offers a firm nod and that’s all it takes for Paz to relax and start stepping aside for Bo.

The Armorer lifts her helmet in decision. “It is time to retake Mandalore.”

The crowd of Mandalorians starts to call out in fierce agreement. Before Din can even turn to Astra, Bo approaches the two of them, her gaze looking between them with the ghost of a smile spread on her lips. “I would be honored to have the two of you by my side for this effort,” Bo-Katan says, her voice low and hopeful.

Din looks over at his wife, anticipating the weariness of having to leave a home they’ve just gained. Instead, her gaze shines with determination as she raises an eyebrow at him. “One more adventure wouldn’t hurt,” Astra agrees.

Din sets his hand over her back and nods before he looks at Bo-Katan once again. “Count us in.”

Bo lets her full smile spread as she returns his nod. Din takes a quick glance around the covert with the view of Nevarro’s town sitting in the background. Their fellow Mandalorians had helped Din and Astra save the place that will become their home. It’s the least they can do to return the favor.

One more adventure, Din tells himself, though all he can do is wish upon every single star in the galaxy that this one keeps his entire family safe and brings them back to their home as quickly as possible.

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[swan-of-sunrise]

Taking Care of Business (Chapter Thirty-Seven)

Summary: The Mandalorians, led by Bo-Katan and (Y/N), come to the aid of Nevarro and take on Pirate King Gorian Shard’s forces.

Pairing: Din Djarin X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: I honestly love writing sky battles, and I’m always game for writing more Bad-Ass Alor’ad scenes lol thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Seven The Pirates (Previous Chapter)

Tugging her fingerless gloves on and double-checking that R5-D4 was secured into the droid port, (Y/N) glanced over at Grogu seated beside her on the edge of the starfighter’s cockpit and arched an unsurprised brow. “I take it your dad wasn’t able to convince you to stay behind, huh?”

Grogu cooed and continued eating his breakfast of bantha jerky while the Mandalorian fighters gathered in front of the Gauntlet; a moment later, Din and Bo-Katan emerged from the cave and Din crossed behind the group to lean against the starfighter while Bo-Katan stood beside the extended gangplank. “This is a Kom’rk Class fighter transport. I’ll use this to drop you in and you will operate as a tight military unit; Captain (Y/L/N) and myself will reinforce from above. If everyone acts as they should, we can use the element of surprise and defeat an enemy that outnumbers us.” The Nite Owl surveyed the group assembled before her. “If everyone’s ready, then we’ll leave for Nevarro at once.”

The Mandalorians that were joining their mission said their goodbyes to the covert members staying behind and filtered onto the Gauntlet, and Clan Mudhorn climbed into the starfighter and charted their course to Nevarro. “Are you guys sure you don’t wanna sit this one out?” (Y/N) asked as she hovered her hand over the edge of the windshield. “It’s gonna get a little dicey up there.”

“And we’ll be right with you when it does, alor’ad.” Din reached up and slid the windshield closed before guiding her hands onto the controls and placing his hands on her waist. “This is the Way.”

(Y/N) smiled to herself as she switched the engines on and piloted the starfighter up into the clear blue sky, spotting the Gauntlet following after them and switching the communication radio on. “Okay, Bo, I’ve sent over the coordinates.”

“Copy that, Captain. I’ll see you in hyperspace.” The ships flew through the planet’s upper atmosphere and entered hyperspace the moment they reached the darkness of space; while the bright blue lights swirled around both ships, a hologram of the battle plan was beamed into their cockpit from the Gauntlet. “Pirate King Gorian Shard is captaining a Cumulus Class Corsair carrying a complement of snubfighters. It has aerial bombardment capabilities. The N-1 will distract the Corsair and her snubfighters as we drop in to liberate the planet below.” Bo-Katan’s voice was clear and assured as she briefed their fighters, and (Y/N) could easily imagine her leading Mandalore in its prime. “Nevarro is an independent planet and no longer under remnant Imperial or New Republic protection, but it’s that very independence that makes it appealing for you to settle. You lived there once, hiding in the sewers. But now, you can be heroes.”

Taking a deep breath, (Y/N) squared her shoulders and guided the starfighter out of hyperspace, piloting down through the upper atmosphere of Nevarro as the corner of her curved upwards into a self-assured smirk. “This is where the fun begins.” She pushed down on the controls and the starfighter shot forward, speeding through the sky as she steered them towards Gorian Shard’s Corsair hovering above the bombed-out city; she fired on the starship and spun the starfighter around for another pass. “If that didn’t scug ‘em off, then this definitely will.” She navigated the starfighter under the Corsair and fired on the starship’s gunwales; several of the gunwales were destroyed in a fiery explosion and as she moved in for another pass, three snubfighters launched into the air after her. “That seemed to do it!”

“Bold of you to return, Captain (Y/L/N).”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes at Vane’s threatening tone. “What can I say? I’m a bold woman.” She jammed the communication radio’s signal to the pirates’ snubfighters and swerved out of the way of their blaster fire. “You two might wanna hold on tight from here on out.”

Grogu giggled in delight when she flipped the starfighter over to dodge another round of blaster fire while Din’s gloved hands tightened on her waist. “Maybe we can convince Peli to install a seismic charge launcher on the N-1 the next time we’re in Mos Eisley. That is, if an ex-smuggler can handle a bounty hunter’s weapon.”

“Oh, you’ll find that ex-smugglers can handle anything that’s thrown their way,” (Y/N) replied with a growing smirk at their usual teasing. “Unlike hot-head bounty hunters with something to prove.”

Before Din could respond, their friend’s familiar voice came through the starfighter’s communication radio. “Thanks for your help, you two.”

“We decided to take you up on your offer for a tract of land.”

“Be careful, my friends. They’ve got you outnumbered ten to one.”

(Y/N) increased their speed and at the very last second, she swerved to the side and triumphantly smiled when the snubfighter chasing them and the snubfighter charging towards them flew into one another and exploded in a fiery crash. “I like those odds.”

Greef chuckled at that. “I bet you do.”

Dodging the blaster fire coming from the Corsair, (Y/N) breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the starship flying away from the city. “The Corsair’s on me, Bo. Coast is clear.”

While the starfighter distracted the Corsair and its multitude of snubfighters, the Gauntlet hovered over the city and dropped their squadron of Mandalorian fighters before flying away. “Their launch was successful,” Din announced as he looked out the windshield. “Time to really scug these pirates off.”

“My pleasure.” (Y/N) wrenched the controls to the side and steered the starfighter into a tight corkscrew spin, deftly avoiding the snubfighter’s blaster fire and maneuvering out of the spin to fly over the Corsair and shoot down an oncoming snubfighter. Her grip tightened on the starfighter’s controls as she led their enemies over Nevarro’s lava flats and away from the city, smiling to herself when each and every snubfighter joined the pursuit. “That seemed to do the trick.”

“Captain, what’s your position?”

“We’re over the flats with snubfighters in pursuit,” (Y/N) replied and flew the starfighter through the rocky outcroppings with ease. “You’re clear to start your run.”

“You should ease up on the accelerator, make ‘em think that they actually have a shot at taking us down.”

She gave Din a playful look over her shoulder as she sharply turned a corner. “Are you back-seat flying, Din Djarin? Because I have a zero-tolerance policy that forbids back-seat flying from Mandalorians who have a history of crash-landing onto several planets.”

“Mir’sheb.” Her husband’s chuckles were interrupted by Grogu’s urgent squeal and he swore under his breath. “They’re peeling off. They know we’re the diversion.”

Biting her lip, (Y/N) wrenched the controls upwards and shot out of the canyon as she called into the communication radio, “Bo, you’re about to have five snubfighters on your tail. I’m on my way to back you up.”

“Copy that, Captain.”

The starfighter raced through the sky towards the Corsair and when she saw the five snubfighters pursuing the Gauntlet, she steered them into a nosedive and checked to make sure that the child was being held by Din before flying straight up; she shot down a snubfighter and sped straight through their formation, scattering the remaining four ships and shooting down a second and a third on her descent. As the ship’s remains crashed into the Corsair and destroyed one of its engines, Grogu giggled in delight and Din murmured more words of affirmation while the Gauntlet shot down another snubfighter, leaving Vane’s ship as the last one standing; (Y/N) broke out into a triumphant smile when the pirate’s ship suddenly turned and flew away from the fight, but her triumph was short-lived when she saw the Corsair being steered above the city and its gunwales began firing on the buildings below.

“He’s targeting the townspeople!”

“We’ve gotta take him down,” (Y/N) replied, looping the starfighter around and racing towards the attacking Corsair. “Focus fire on their last engine!”

With (Y/N) approaching from the bow of the Corsair and Bo-Katan approaching from the stern, they both fired on the starship’s last operational engine and sped away as it burst into flames and slowly crashed onto the planet’s surface in an impressive explosion. Exhausted, (Y/N) flopped back against Din’s chest and switched the controls over to R5 before closing her eyes, smiling tiredly when she heard Grogu’s enthusiastic babbling and felt the brief but loving caress of her husband’s lips on her temple. I don’t remember flying being this tiring during the Rebellion, she thought to herself as the starfighter began its descent, but it’s nice to know I’ve still got it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Greef Karga exclaimed over the cheers of the townspeople. The citizens of Nevarro and their Mandalorian saviors were gathered by the city’s ruined archway near the docked Gauntlet, while the members of Clan Mudhorn stayed towards the back with the starfighter; (Y/N) stood on the starfighter’s side panel while Din stood on the ground, one of his gloved hands resting on her calf while the other shaded Grogu’s face from the bright sun, and all three of them listened as the High Magistrate addressed the celebrating crowd. “To all of you, and especially to our fine Mandalorian liberators, to whom this planet is forever indebted.” Greef turned to look at the gathered Mandalorians and offered them a welcoming smile. “Mandalorians, I know that we have been on opposite sides in the past, but that is behind us. From this day forward, I, Magistrate Greef Karga-”

“High Magistrate, sir.”

The crowd laughed at the protocol droid’s correction and Greef chuckled good-naturedly. “High Magistrate Greef Karga, hereby cede all land from the western lava flats to Bulloch Canyon to the fine people of Mandalore. You may no longer have a home planet, but you do now have a home. Welcome!”

The citizens of Nevarro burst into applause and the assembled Mandalorians crossed their right arms over their chests, bowing their helmeted heads in a show of respect. “Well, I guess we should start unloading the Gauntlet’s cargo hold…”

When (Y/N) attempted to hop down from the starfighter’s side panel, her stiff legs gave way but thanks to Din’s quick reflexes, she landed neatly in her husband’s strong arms. “The rest of us will handle the cargo hold, alor’ad; you’ve more than earned your rest.”

“It’s hard to argue with that,” She chuckled, giving the beskar covering his cheek a kiss as he cautiously set her on her feet and gathering Grogu into her arms before allowing him to lead her over to the Gauntlet’s extended ramp.

Seated on a cargo box, (Y/N) scrolled through Greef Karga’s official holo-pad while the Mandalorians and the citizens of Nevarro began working to build a camp on the outskirts of the bombed-out city; she’d hoped that the High Magistrate’s resources would help her find any information on Kelleran Beq and his possible ties to Naboo, but her search proved to be fruitless and she was still reluctant to ask the child any more questions about his past, fearing that they’d only serve to re-traumatize him.

“No luck?”

(Y/N) sighed and set the holo-pad aside before looking over at Din, who was busy sorting through boxes of blaster cartridges beside her. “I don’t know why I’m expecting anything different. The Jedi were forced into hiding nearly thirty years ago, so it’s not as though they’d make themselves easy to find.”

Before Din could reply, Grogu’s curious coos drew their attention towards two Mandalorians making their way through the makeshift camp: the Armorer and – to (Y/N)’s stunned surprise – a helmetless Bo-Katan Kryze. The Nite Owl looked uncomfortable under the heavy stares of her fellow Mandalorians, clutching her helmet to her side and doing her best to ignore the murmurs that followed them as they made their way towards (Y/N) and Din. Both Mandalorians stopped before them, and the Armorer loudly announced, “Bo-Katan Kryze is going off to bring other Mandalorians in exile to us, so that we may join together once again.”

“But she shows her face,” Paz pointed out, and the surrounding Mandalorians nodded in agreement and continued to talk amongst themselves.

The Armorer was unaffected by her covert’s reactions. “Bo-Katan walks both worlds, and she can bring all tribes together.” Shifting his weight, Paz looked over at Din and relaxed his shoulders when he gave him a single nod. “It is time to retake Mandalore.”

Din looked down at (Y/N) and once she gave him a subtle nod, he turned his attention back to the Mandalorians standing before them. “(Y/N) and I will accompany you on your quest to locate the exiled Mandalorians.” Despite the shocking turn of events and the mixture of emotions he was undoubtedly experiencing, Din’s modulated voice was clear and steady as he continued. “This is the Way.”

Bo-Katan offered them a thankful smile. “This is the Way.”

Grogu let out a series of babbles and coos, and (Y/N) found herself nodding in agreement. “You’re right, little guy: it’s certainly been one helluva day…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mando’a Translations:

Alor’ad-Captain Mir’sheb-Smart-ass

A/N: I’m hoping that the next chapter will be ready by next week but we’re having some work done in the house, so I’m not sure how much writing I’ll be able to do but I’ll keep you posted! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! Oh, and I’ve created a Spotify playlist of all my favorite music from the world of Star Wars, so if you’re interested in checking it out the link is down below!

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2KuSKJhVOPPvxdJ9YHeo4M?si=2977ff31bf0c4bdd

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Taking Care of Business Masterlist

Tagging: @remmysbounty​​​​​ @sinon36​​​​​ @seninjakitey​​​​​ @thatonedindjarinfan​​​​​ @ginger-swag-rapunzel​​​​​ @mostclevermiss​​​​​ @momc95​​​​​ @welcometothepedroverse​​​​​ @sarahjkl82-blog​​​​​ @elinedjarin​​​​​ @itsnottilly​​​​​ @crowleysqueenofhell​​​​​  @goldielocks2004 @wondergal2001​​​​​ @groovy-lady​​​​​ @impala1967666​​​​​ @fluffy-canada-pancakes​​​​​ @icee228​​​​​​ @siimiasoi​​​

[red-flight]

"Rebels" - Wedge and Hobbie

As much as I love "Rebels", I am canon-divergent as far as Wedge and Hobbie and how they join the Ghost crew.

------

Wedge: After the destruction of the Gus Treta refueling station, he took his inheritenace and the insurance credits and bought his own freighter. When hauling legitimate cargo meant only breaking even, it was tempting to get into smuggling. Wedge wanted to stay legitimate and above-board and refused to take any smuggling contracts. He also didn't care one way or another about the Empire, until arriving at the end of a haul to find an entire town destroyed just to get two suspected Rebels.

After that, Wedge began running guns and other supplies for the Rebellion. As a one-man job, and being barely 18 standard years old, he was in quite a bit over his head. It was during one such job gone bad that he would encounter the Ghost crew, and after getting closer in with the Rebellion, start putting his skills as a pilot to better use than just hauling cargo.

Hobbie: During his defection from the Empire with most of his squadron and the crew of the Rand Ecliptic, the 'Ecliptic Evaders' soon realized ... they didn't actually know how to find the Rebellion. Some of the individual cells aboard the ship had brief contact, just messages passed along, a direction to start looking .... a holonet address to send a message to.

When the Ecliptic sent out a message that defectors were looking to find Rebels, that was transferred through all sorts of satellites and other false addresses, Hobbie wasn't sure that it would even reach anyone in the Rebellion. Once it did, and he was flight ready, Hobbie was eager to get back into a snubfighter.

[sundanceofapache]

“This isn’t you” (Elsie to Hobbie?

"Oh sure!" The slender blonde pilot wasn't quite able to keep the disinterested and almost toneless level to his voice that he was known for, nor were his blue eyes properly focused on the girl in front of him.

"When I'm predicting that we're all just staving off our inevitable deaths, everyone's fine with it." Both his good hand, and the stump of Hobbie's missing arm, were gesturing broadly, "But go and tell a few jokes, start laughing, and they want to declare me 'unfit to fly' and drag me off to medbay!"

It was more than a few chuckles and jokes that was bringing attention to him though. By all rights Hobbie shouldn't be out of the medical wing at all, let alone anywhere near a snubfighter.

[swan2swan]

...and furthermore, having the bulk of your interceptor/snubfighter force built around hyperspace-capable craft is, in fact, an immense DISadvantage. Every one of those ships is going to cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of credits. Then they’ll require more expensive hyperfuels, especially if you want the high-grade stuff that gives you longer range and faster travel. But even with enough coaxium to power a hundred ships for a whole year, there’s still the same problem:

Travel time.

A dozen X-wings can drop out of hyperspace without warning, strike a space station with two volleys of proton torpedoes and ravage the area with laser cannons, and then jump back out to their base. An hour later, they’ll drop out of hyperspace at a hidden base (generously), land, refuel, reload, and give the pilots a few minutes to stretch their legs after their two-plus-hour sortie.

The Empire’s TIEs have been sitting in a hangar traveling through hyperspace. As soon as they hit the battlefield, they’re flying out. One of them runs out of fuel, drains its power cells, unloads its missile bank, takes a little damage, it flits right back around and docks with the Star Destroyer. Within an hour, the fighter is ready for action and back in the field--possibly with a fresh pilot as the shift changes. The new man is rested and ready, his arms flexed and his legs cramp-free. AAnd if the ship blows up, the Empire is set back twenty thousand credits.

Now think of this over a distance with a four hour jumptime. The rebel fighters may have unlimited range, but a single strike is still going to cost them eight-plus hours in the cockpit--that’s a full day’s shift. The Empire? Thanks to their mile-long airbase parked above the planet, they’re changing shifts after five or six strikes and sending in a pilot who is wide awake.

Short-range fighters are precisely what you want to invest in if you’re a galaxy-spanning empire with undisputed control of the spacelanes, or at least, if you’ve got enough materiel to maintain some level of control.

[taikaida]

Kriff my plotbunnies. Working in the stables and had this little thing just pop into my head. I have to finish other stories for heavens sake!

Mud had to be his least favorite thing, mud combined with a jungle planet with the associated sticky warmth made this a hell of the galaxy. Captain Firmus Piett had crashed on a hell-hole of a planet, and there where creatures actively hunting him and the other five survivors of his shuttle, three had succumbed to their injuries. As for now they were headed to the other crash site, his army sergeant, Dresk, agile as a lizard had seen it after climbing the trees. A plume of dark smoke about two kilometers from their own crash. They were close enough now for him to catch the acrid scent of burning engines and the captain signaled his men to fan out, they had no idea of the identity of the other downed ship. He had a scavanged riffle in hand as they entered the artificial clearing and he saw the snubfighter, x-wing, foils distorted by both foliage and crash but the canopy was absent, pilot must have ejected, the droid-compartment was empty as well. Dresk approached the ship and searched it, careful about the hot fuselage.

“Sergeant?” Piett asked in a low voice, hazel eyes scanning the area for danger.

“Human or humanoid pilot, controls for someone about 160-180 cm, there’s some blood specks, I think it was an automatic ejection or the astromech ejected. No active homing beacon. Collecting what data is still in the computer to see if we can activate the signal from the pilot.”

“See if you can identify them as well,” the captain said. The rebels were good at concealing their identities but there might be one of those times they had slipped.

“Captain! Eyes on the pilot!” One of the stormtroopers was pointing up into the canopy, Piett followed his gesture and grimaced when he saw the dangling pilot, the orange jumpsuit clearly visible against the greenery, but they dangled over 15 meters above the ground.

“Check for life,” he ordered and another trooper started chucking his armor to ease the climb, he saw Dresk exit the wreckage and do the same.

“Sir, how should we proceed if they are alive?”

“Get them down sergeant Dresk. Trooper, let us see if we can get an energy source from this ship.”

[mando-of-esverr]

"No, you're not hearing me." The agent leaned back again and shook his head. "Starfighter Command is only one possible way." He smiled, "Like I said, those pilots have the survivability of the roaches they are. Scum has a way of sticking around. This isn't about them." His clasped hands opened then closed again like a shrug, apologizing for being tight-lipped.

"If you were, hypothetically, to take this contract. It would be requiring you to secure for us certain assets - directly in your realm of expertise. These assets are strategically selected to kneecap the rebellion and bring a swift end to the war. And it certainly doesn't involve sending you into a pitched battle with their snubfighters. No sense in promising you a Barony if you don't succeed, or live, to claim it."

Darius canted his head, resisting the urge to tuck his chin at the agent's reprove. He listened intently, trying to take a step back in his own mind so his scope wasn't so... narrow. Granted, it had been the agent to mention the starfighters first, but it had been the his own mistake to take it as the direction the agent was going.

No, he had to remember that Imperials were more than just the soldiers they sent to the front. The fellow in front of him was proof of it.

"Heh, the Rogues alone would be worth a barony," he said, resting his forearm against the table. "But... if what you've got planned is enough to kneecap the rebellion, an Esverran duchy might be a light price for it."

A light fib. Esverran nobility could be earned but titles abound viscount were often reserved for royal blood, making the offer of a duchy a very rich one indeed. Not that he had any doubt the Empire could furnish it's promised prices, but if this was valuable a job as this agent was letting on... then either he was specifically the man for the job or they were investigating him for rebel ties. Rebel leanings were dangerous and the Imps were looking to either use him for them or give their officers a reason to make him disappear.

Another reason for the Mandalorian coverts.

Darius considered his options. “I’ll need to consult my handler,” he said at last, lifting his gaze to the Imperial. “A job this well paying in my field of work isn’t something he’d brush off. Add to it no need getting sent out and chewed up by Rebel fighters? It’s a hard deal to resist.”

[gingersnappish]

Fandom Trumps Hate 2024: Star Wars!

It’s the final browsing day for Fandom Trumps Hates!

Bidding runs 5th March 8am EST to 9th March 8 pm EST!

@fandomtrumpshate is an online multi-fandom auction of fanworks that benefits a lot of progressive non-profit organizations! You can read about how it works HERE and see the FULL LIST OF NON-PROFITS!

Star Wars Fandom has a lot of really lovely works being offered this year - 34 creators are offering their time and talents! Please, check them out!

And then…

…it’s almost time to bid!

Get yourself some custom fanwork and help raise a bunch money for progressive charites!

The following are brief summaries and not comprehensive. Please read the full offerings before bidding! The full Star Wars TAG contains all the following listings in their entirety!

Written Fanworks

@shadow-spires is offering a <5K piece for Prequel Trilogy or The Clone Wars! Loves working with Cody, clone culture, and fix-its, AUs, angst with happy endings, and more!

@marroniere is offering 20-50K for Andor, Thrawn Trilogy (new canon), Thrawn Ascendancy, or Ahsoka! Especially interested in anything Thrawn and Chiss, as well as Mon and Cassian from Andor! Versatile in genre and focussed on how characters relate to one another and heal!

finkpishnets is offering 5-10K for Prequel Trilogy or Clone Wars! Happy to work with Obi-Wan/Anakin or Obi-Wan/Cody in canon, diveregent, or AU settings! (also comfortably familiar with the Kenobi series canon)

@dirtbag-linecook-kyloren is offereing 5K per $10 donated! Sequel Trilogy Kylux author specializing in Modern AUs!

@captainlilja is offering 5-10K for Sequel Trilogy or Rebels! Especially interested in Finn/Poe, Finn/Poe/Rey, Zeb/Kallus, Hera/Kanan and happy to work with AroAce characters, AUs, fluff, and kinky-fluff where everybody is in love!

blackat_t7t is offering 5-10K for Book of Boba Fett, Clone Wars, or Mandalorian! Interested in M/M or Genfic, Angst, canon-divergent AUs, anything with a Clones focus or BobaDinn! Also appreciates rairpairs and characters!

Tathrin is offering 5-10K for any of the Trilogies and/or Legends/Extended Universe! Enthusiastic about world-building and plot and queering canon! Classic Legends stuff is a favorite, with a love for snubfighter pilots, YJKs, Leia, nb-Revan, and original flavor Boba Fett!

hoebiwan is offering 5-10K for Original and Prequel Trilogies or Legends/Extended Universe! Interested in crack, grief, recovery, anxiety, trans and queer themes!

@geekymoviemom is offering 5-10K for Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, Rebels, or Rogue One! Happy to write Anakin/Padme, Cassian/Jyn, Obi-wan & Anakin, Kanan & Ezra, and family stuff for Clone Wars and Rebels Fam! Canon-divergent or in-universe AUs please!

@treescape is offering <5K for any Star Wars! Familiar with all eras and happy to work with most characters or pairs!

@xenomorphic-warrior is offering 10-20K for Original or Prequel Trilogy, Andor, Clone Wars, Mandolorian, Kenobi, and Rogue One! Especially interested in Cody/Obi-wan, Bariss/Ahsoka, Din/Cobb, Lando/Han, Lando/Leia/Han, Cassian/Jyn, Cassian/Jyn/Bohdi, Cassian/Kino and are fond of speculative AUs like horror and sci-fi, mythology, and canon-divergence!

van1lla_v1lla1n is offering <5K for the Sequel Trilogy! Enthusiastic about Rey/Kylo (one or both of them queer) and will write in canonverse or modern AUs! Likes to work with erotic and heavier themes, ambiguous endings!

solas_oiche is offering 10-20K for any Star Wars! Enthusiastic about anything Ahsoka-centric and open to themes and tropes you may want to see!

Kartaylir is offering <5K for Legends/Extended Universe and the Old Republic! Especially interested F/F, darker themes, world-building, and weird lore details! Familiar with Thrawn Trilogy, Shadows of the Empire, and Tales of the Jedi comics, KOTOR, and have written lots for SWTOR!

Ninja is offering 5-10K for Original or Prequel Trilogies, or Mandolorian! Especially interested in working with Fluff, H/C, happy endings, magic, plot twists, crack, and humor! Loves zany hijinks! Good at taking an initial prompt and running with it!

@s-c-g-s-c-g is offering <5K for Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, and Legends/Extended Universe! Especially interested in Jedi characters, pre-quel era fic, gen, bonding, H/C, canon-adjacent AUs, and found family! Primarily experienced writing Gen but open to some rairpairs!

Ternary is offering <5K for Prequel Trilogy and Clone Wars! Likes queer themes, ace&aro themes, and exploring disability themes, as well as trauma-recovery, and emotional H/C! Interested in Obi-Wan’s Legends padawanship, Obi-Wan/Quinlan, Obi-Wan/Cody, Quinlan/Fox!

geniecat2 is offering 5-10K words for the Prequel Trilogy, Book of Boba Fett, or Clone Wars! Especially interested in the AceAre spectrum, found family, platonic and romantic CodyWan, Jangobi, and lineage exploration, as well as Clone and Jedi appreciation, JediCorps too!

@musetotheworld is offering 5-10K for the Original and Prequel Trilogies, and Legends/Extended Universe! Loves Legends-inspired plots and has read most of the Legends books! Experience with writing F/F ships, M/F is fine too, also cool with AUs!

Stens_McHenry is offering 5-10K for All Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Mandolorian, and Kenobi! Prefers to write M/M ships and happy to work with AUs and canon-adjacent/divergent works!

MaudeZbornak is offering scaled-by-donation wordcount ($5 = minimum 5K) for All Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Mandolorian, and Kenobi! Happy to work with any pairing for Star Wars and welcomes detailed prompts!

thebeespatella is offering scaled-by-donation wordcount ($10 = 1K) for Andor, Clone Wars, and Rogue One! Especially interested in F/F, trans/gender and exploring corporate surveillance, identity and conformity, colonialism/diaspora, radicalization, trauma, moral injury, and interfacing with technology (cybogs)! Likes Clone troopers, clone culture and clone ships, Imperial/Rebellion era, and spy/thriller AUs! Experienced writer of Cody/Rex!

MayQueen517CactusDragon517 is offering <5K words for the Original and Sequel Trilogies, Rogue One, or Solo! Open to many ideas, smut included! Likes exploring alternative identities like a trans or non-binary or ace/aro interpretation of a character! Likes to communicate lots with their winning bidder, building ideas and sharing snippets!

@elthadriel is offering scaled-by-donation wordcount ($10 = 1K up to 10K) for Clone Wars! Especially interested in Clone troopers and their culture and ships, Imperial/rebellion era, missing war scenes, PWP, Cowboy AUs, bittersweet vibes, Cody/Rex, Echo/Fives/Fox, Thorn/Fox, Rex/Fives/Echo/Cody, Cody/Fox, Ahsoka/Bariss, Bly/Aayla, Cody/Maul!

@cabezadeperro is offering <5K for Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe! Interested in open endings, Imperial era, missing war scenes, cloneships, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan, canon divergence, complicated relationships, codex, Fives/Echo/Fox, Cody/Fox, rewalker, qi’rahsoka!

darktenshi17 is offering two auctions for 5-10K fics for the Sequel Trilogy as well as the Original Trilogy! Open to most ideas (with the exception of Kylo/Rey) and interested in working with F/F, polyships, genderswap, trans or nonbinary characters, unhappy or ambiguous endings!

commanderdameron is offering 10-20K for the Prequel or Sequel Trilogies or Kenobi! Loves character and relationship studies! Interested in exploring canon in more plot-centric ways and excited about world-building from a character-driven mindset! Obi-Wan, Poe, Leia, and Rey are favs, so things that focus on their relationships are welcome!

Visual Fanworks

c_art is offering a comic page (per $50) for the Original and Prequel Trilogies! Enthusiastic about Gen and Femslash as well as rarepairs and unusual ideas! Fluff, angst, slice of life, and action all welcome! Black and white pages - will ask the winning bidder for a script or fic to adapt, higher donations = gets more pages!

@temporoyales is offering a drawing/painting for any Star Wars! Any pairings, genders, sexualities are welcome! Likes working with everyday interactions, environmental storytelling, symbolism, genderbending, and costume design! Starting bid gets a black and white portrait and larger bids increase up to fullbody/color!

@gingersnappish is offering a full color book cover/illustration/drawing/comic page/etc for any Star Wars! Specializes in Kylux but open to almost all characters, pairs, ideas! Happy to work with scifi-fantasy design, animals, detailed backgrounds and tech! Will make 2-4 small sketches for the recipient to choose from and then show a refined sketch before finishing the piece!

@nattyjae is offering a comic/drawing/painting/etc for any Star Wars! Scaled pricing $5 = black and white, $15 black and white comic, $20 full color illustration, on up to a full color comic page! Loves Clone Wars, Rebels, and Bad Batch but will be happy drawing any Star Wars! Happy to design characters, redraw scenes or visualize AUs!

Beta Reading

@shadow-spires is offering to beta 10-20K for any of the Trilogies, Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One!

birbleafs is offering to beta for <5K for any of the Trilogies, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe!

geniecat2 is offering to beta for 5-10K for the Original and Prequel Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe, Mandolorian, and Kenobi!

Podfic Recording

@shadow-spires is offering to record a <5K podfic for any of the Trilogies, Clone Wars, Rebels, or Rogue One: clones centric and Jedi-positive stuff always welcome, as well as OCs!

flowerparrish is offering to record <5K for any of the Trilogies, Book of Boba Fett, Clone Wars, Legends/Extended Universe, Mandalorian, Kenobi, Rebels, Rogue One! They are especially interested in canon-divergent AUs, fix-its, Poly ships, F/F, trans or nonbinary characters, rarepairs and crackships!

kbirb is offering to record fic with wordcount being contribution-based (First $10 = 2K, +$10 = Additional 1K)! Open to all three Trilogies, Andor, Clone Wars, Mandolorian, Rebels, Rogue One! Especially interested in found family, soulmate AUs, polyamory, trans clone troopers, neopronouns, Jon Antilles rarepairs, Hevy/Fives/Echo, Cody/Obi-Wan, and period pieces (Regency!) Loves recording for an author who wants to hear their fic aloud!

[yunharlaquin]

@maraelia​     ╱     ( MARA JADE SKYWALKER ) :

❝  that was never in question.  ❞   she thinks to herself often,  when it is only the two of them,  when even the whole of the galaxy is quiet to allow them the rare moment of peace,  that jaina has grown beyond dreams  &  expectation alike in the way that only jaina ever could.  mara tries not to dwell,  knowing the image of a small  &  young pilot with childish glee still clinging to her cheeks is hardly what the sword of the jedi herself would want imposed on her,  but sometimes,  she can’t help it.  shaking the thought,  mara’s fingers come to lightly grip her lightsaber,  still hooked on her belt,  &  nudges jaina with her shoulder.

❝  why don’t you let me handle the guys at the front this time, yeah ?  spare some excitement for your poor old aunt.  ❞  

                    where once juvenile delight gleamed in dark eyes, now shone all but resigned determination.  the girl had become a woman in the midst of the most harrowing conflict in galactic memory and the pall of it hung over her as obviously as that of the empire did over her parents, over uncle luke… and even mara.   jaina could feel it there, that lens through which they each viewed their lives, the sacrifices upon sacrifices each had made.   now, that legacy had come for her.

                   a little of that childish spark returned at the friendly jostle, jaina returning her aunt’s touch with a little more vigor than was given.     ❝  you know, you can’t claim i see you as old already when you keep saying things like that, right?  ❞     as if the vibrant woman beside her was anything close to the title of ‘old’…   the younger woman’s focus returned to the soon to be battlefield, some fire already sputtering at a flank.     ❝  you want point?   i’ll be your wingman, simple as that.  ❞

                    you could take the girl out of the snubfighter, but you couldn’t take the pilot out of the girl.

[red-flight]

Who do they consider their friends? Enemies? Frenemies? Acquaintances? Do they trust any of them? / Hobbie

Hobbie builds trust extremely slowly. He didn't come from a culture that cultivated close social bonds, and then at the academy they were encouraged to constantly be in competition with each other. Hobbie trusted the wrong people at the Prefsbelt Academy and it blew up in his face with several cadets "vanishing" in the middle of their academy time and left himself and others all distrustful of each other.

The lifespan of a snubfighter pilot is also measured more in missions and months than years, so he doesn't get close to people either. He is closest with Wes, they're a wingpair and have been for most of their careers. They bunk together and are pretty much a 2 for 1 deal unless forcibly separated.

Hobbie trusts Wes explicitly and for a long time, exclusively. Wes can be trusted with anything that's important to Hobbie. He doesn't trust Wes to run a simple errand without turning it into a game - usually at Hobbie's expense, but he trusts him with everything else. It was not for a couple of years that he extended that trust to Wedge and Tycho.

Other squadmates are mostly acquaintances until they've survived a year or more. Add to that his natural bristly nature, wanting to keep people at arm's length where he can observe them and not have to socialize much, he doesn't trust them to get close.

For the most part, any friends he makes are really Wes' friends and he gets carried along in the wake. He'll deal hands of sabaac and talk where it's appropriate, but he doesn't have any serious relationships. He's had a few flings, keeps someone's number to hook up again later perhaps, but he doesn't like real relationships because he doesn't trust that he's anything more than an asset to most people. Therefore, most people are simply assets to him. It takes him a long time to learn how to be an individual and he's still working on the whole "friend" thing.

[forcesung]

Luke roared in toward Mara’s X-wing, which closed toward him, their combined speed causing the numbers on the snubfighter’s range meter to scroll too fast to read.

As they reached the point where Luke could almost see his wife’s face, a point at which most pilots would be unable to react in time to save themselves, Mara dived, flashing mere meters beneath Luke’s X-wing…and revealing the attack fighter tailing her.

The attack fighter’s pilot tried to vector out of Luke’s way. He succeeded. He didn’t succeed in dodging Luke’s lasers. Red flashes converged on the cockpit, and suddenly the fighter was a cloud of smoke and shrapnel. Luke flew through it, pieces of attack fighter fuselage bouncing off his deflectors and scraping off his hull. He emerged into blue sky on the other side.

The maneuver was called the Corellian Slip. Fighter pilot legend had it that the maneuver had been developed here, by the madmen and madwomen who flew for this system. Luke shook his head, a little saddened by the irony.

On his sensor board, he saw Mara looping around to return to his wingmate position. The latest detachment of attack fighters was down to two viable starfighters—and now, realizing the depletion of their numbers, they suddenly veered off, leaving the dogfight. Nine Jedi X-wings, increasingly battered but all still in fighting condition, remained.

—Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, Aaron Allston

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Star Wars Alien Species - Pau'an

Utapau was an arid sinkhole world in the Utapau system of the Tarabba sector in the Outer Rim Territories. Utapau was the homeworld of the Pau'ans and the Utai, more commonly referred to collectively as Utapauns. These species lived in the many giant sinkholes that dotted the planet's scrub-covered surface.

51,000 light years from the core, Utapau orbited a single sun and was itself orbited by nine moons. It was composed of a small molten metallic core, with a rocky mantle and rocky, calcareous crust. Surface water made up only 0.9% of the planet, although most significantly, a vast subterranean ocean encircled the planet below the crust. Although extensive surface oceans once covered the planet, they leaked away to the subterranean ocean through the readily eroded crust through vast caverns that were once giant magma chambers. In turn, the erosive sea has contributed to the giant sinkholes throughout its windswept and grassy habitable areas. The resulting vast mineral deposits below the ocean are a great source of wealth for the planet.

Sinkholes on Utapau were a common geological feature that appeared in areas where the rock below the surface of the land is made from substances like salt beds, limestone, carbonate rock (which is referred to as a karst landscape) that can be dissolved by ground water flowing through them. This rock can also be weakened by acidic rain. When these rocks dissolve, large spaces develop underneath until it gets too big and the land above the gap collapses. Naturally-occurring sinkholes are also created by long periods of drought, or when caves with underground streams naturally give way.

Because of the lack of timber on the planet, Utapaun architecture was primarily constructed out of the bones of deceased animals. The bones of nearly all of the planet's fauna were used in construction, which later developed into a unique form of architecture known as ossic architecture. The skeletons of the huge animals that roamed the lower sinkholes and ocean had huge enough bones to be used as beams; other fossil bones were mined in caves.

From before the Clone Wars, Utapau was one of the worlds restricted by a Trade Federation arms embargo on remote galactic regions. Because of this, the local defense fleet was based around downscaled warships only, many of which were designed and built on Utapau itself, including a variant of the Rendili StarDrive Dreadnaught. It was capable of offering some protection against marauding pirates, but as a battleship, it was outclassed by those put out by rich, industrialized sectors. For example, each vessel was only about one-fifth the size of a Lucrehulk-class battleship and they were all destroyed by the invading Separatist forces.

On the other hand, Utapau's primary starfighter, the Porax-38, was a tough, long-range snubfighter, designed for Utai pilots and capable of extended interstellar patrols of up to twenty days. They saw good use when the scattered Utapau Skyforce mustered to oust the Separatists alongside Republic forces at the Battle of Utapau. In addition to mechanical vessels, the Skyforce also made use of native dactillions; giant, flying reptiles that could carry a rider into battle.

The Pau'ans fulfilled most of the governmental and administrative duties on Utapau, as the Utai did not desire such work, serving as laborers instead. Most Pau'ans served as leaders early in their lives, often managing teams of Utai laborers. This gave them experience that would be used later in their life. Pau'ans were kind leaders, and sympathetic to their subordinates. Each city on Utapau was controlled by a Master of Port Administration, a hereditary title reserved for Pau'ans. These administrators were assisted by advisory councils for making important decisions about their city, turning to the Utapauan Security Force when necessary. Each Administrator served on the Utapauan Committee and oversaw planetary governance. However, the committee rarely made crucial decisions, as the cities were able to function on their own most of the time

Despite the many differences between the Pau'ans and the Utai, the two species were able to co-exist peacefully, although inhabitants of the different Utapaun cities often had conflicts due to philosophical differences. Still, these conflicts rarely developed into bloodshed, and it was more common for the cities to ignore each other. Each city had its own culture, and competition was fierce between the groups. However, they were able to cooperate when the situation necessitated it, such as during the Confederate invasion of the planet in 19 BBY.

Pau'an society was a blend of a variety of styles and cultures, borne from the ancient merger with the Utai. Built into the sinkhole walls, Pau'an settlements such as the Pau City spaceport were divided into different areas, each a mix of architectural styles and other-worldly design. They liked art, and enjoyed studying sculptures and finding ways to incorporate different artistic styles into their architecture. Pau'ans developed an industrial society, despite their seemingly primitive and natural image, though the Utai were the ones who actually did the hard work. The Utai did not mind, however, and collectively much preferred labor to positions of leadership. They were able to power their city by wind, harnessing it through massive windmills. Over ninety-nine percent of the planet's power came from these windmills. Most Pau'ans rode living beasts like varactyls and dactillions instead of speeders. Pau'ans, as well as Utai, were known for their love for Podracing.

Pau'ans represented 30%—or approximately 28.5 million—of Utapau's total population of 90 million inhabitants.

Pau'an civilization began around 57,000 BBY. It was believed that settlers traveled to Utapau hoping to find a hospitable world to colonize after the destruction of their homeworld. Some created homes in the sinkholes, while others lived on the surface. Over time, the species changed genetically, becoming the Pau'ans and the Utai, two species with many differences but some similarities. Researchers from the University of Sanbra discovered evidence supporting the theory that the two species were related, although exact specifications were not certain. Eventually, a climate change, causing severe winds, forced the Pau'ans underground, into the sinkholes. The Utai welcomed the Pau'ans, and over time, the two societies merged together to live in a mutually beneficial civilization. Timon Medon was the Pau'an responsible for this, and he was held in high esteem by Pau'ans for his actions. Following the merging of the two cultures, they split into several different groups, forming sinkhole cities scattered across Utapau. Tion Medon, Port Administrator in 19 BBY, was named for Timon Medon. Pau'ans represented only about thirty percent of the population on Utapau, though as the administrators and bureaucrats of the sinkhole cities, their influence made up for their lack of numbers.

Due to trade restrictions placed on them by the Trade Federation, Pau'ans were unable to import many goods such as weapons or starships, and were forced to create their own technology. As Utapau was located in the distant Outer Rim Territories, few independent traders ventured to their planet; although many ventured there around 49 BBY after hearing rumors that the waters on the planet had miraculous healing properties. There were even claims that Utapau was the original home of the Jedi, although these reports were not new; they had originated millennia before. Though the Pau'ans did not want to draw attention to themselves for fear of meeting more powerful cultures who might try to conquer them, they eagerly welcomed visitors who wished to experience the healing for themselves. However, once the water was proven to be nothing more than ordinary water, most people forgot about Utapau, once again leaving it alone.

The Pau'an culture was disturbed during the Clone Wars by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Though the neutral Utapauns attempted to fight back with several Rendili Star Dreadnaughts, the CIS succeeded in conquering the planet as a stronghold. Administrator Tion Medon and his aide Lampay Fay were forced to host General Grievous and his allies on Utapau, turning the planet into a Separatist safehouse. The Pau'ans hid their starfighters, Porax-38 fighters, so they would not be used by the Separatist war machine or destroyed.

With the arrival of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, many Pau'ans and Utai fought back against the droid forces, with the Utai flying their starfighters in an effort to help liberate their planet, though Utapau was subjugated once more with the formation of the Galactic Empire. The Empire used the planet's resources with no thought to the native cultures that were affected, and Pau'an captives were shipped as slaves for several Imperial projects, including the colonization of Byss. Some Pau'ans and Utai created resistance movements, and the different cities were able to unify once more in the face of a great threat.

Following the liberation of their planet by the New Republic, they joined the new galactic government, hoping to avoid further enslavement and poor treatment at the hands of the leaders of the galaxy. Following the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Utapauan Committee elected to join the Galactic Alliance, holding democracy as vital to the preservation of the galaxy. When the Sith Lord Darth Krayt took control of the Galactic Empire, Utapau sheltered Admiral Gar Stazi of the Galactic Alliance Remnant late in the war after having providing the GA fleet shelter throughout the conflict.

Condemning the genocide wrought by the Sith on Dac, Port Administrator Telan Medon of Pau City agreed to harbor Stazi and his wounded men deep in the labyrinthine caves that pocketed the capital. Unbeknownst to the Pau'ans, Sith scientist Vul Isen had established a laboratory on the planet, conducting illegal experiments on the natives. Located within plain sight in one of Pau City's main precincts, the lab's function was to provide Isen a space to concoct a deadly virus that would wipe all life from Utapau indefinitely. Before Isen could unleash the deadly plague, Jedi Knight Cade Skywalker infiltrated the lab and cut Isen down, securing the toxin and saving the Pau'an race from extinction.

Pau'ans were rarely found on a world other than Utapau, owing mainly to the remoteness of their planet. However, one individual who did achieve notoriety was the Pau'an Darth Desolous, who served as a Jedi prior to his fall to the dark side, when he became a Sith. Born in approximately 3522 BBY, Desolous joined the Jedi Order before being expelled due to his violent tendencies. He turned to the dark side, returned to Utapau, and trained a number of Pau'ans in melee combat. Desolous and his army killed a number of Jedi before he was defeated and killed by the Jedi High Council at Yaga Minor. In another instance, Lar Le'Ung attained the rank of Master within the rebuilt Jedi Order by 25 ABY, only to die at the beginning of the bloody Yuuzhan Vong War.

Pau'ans that left Utapau could be found as aides to nobles and senators. Having Pau'an aides was seen as a status symbol, much like having Caamasi advisors. As the Pau'ans were skilled leaders, some were recruited by the Corporate Sector Authority to work as managers of corporations. At one point, so many Pau'ans were recruited by companies that the CSA had to intervene and force businesses to take only a limited number of Pau'ans to be managers. However, following the rise of the Empire, Pau'ans were mistreated, and the assistants who had formerly enjoyed pleasant, successful lives were mocked and used as slaves.

At least one Pau'an joined the Galactic Empire, serving as an interrogator. This particular Pau'an enjoyed torturing suspects, and would use torture to force them to divulge information. Around 0 ABY, he interrogated Princess Leia Organa, a member of the Rebel Alliance, in an effort to determine the identity of the pilot who had destroyed the Empire's Death Star superweapon. This individual was killed by the assassin X-7 before he could force any information from Organa.

They were bald and their head was striped with furrowed gray skin. Pau'ans weighed seventy kilograms on average. Pau'ans had large, sunken black eyes in red eye sockets and jagged, fang-like teeth used for tearing into raw meat, as they were carnivores. The species had pale, wrinkled skin, due to the fact that they lived in the sinkholes of Utapau, giving them limited access to light. These traits caused some to view them as frightening. However, Pau'ans as a society were generally friendly, and were happy to welcome guests to their often overlooked world. Pau'ans had long lifespans, living up to 700 years, much longer than the Utai, the other species native to Utapau. This earned them the nickname of "Ancients". Members of the species were able to see well in darkness. Pau'ans had five fingers and toes, but were more mobile than they appeared. They often wore elaborate clothes intended to heighten their impressive stature.

The average member of the sentient near-Human Pau'an, or Utapaun, as they were sometime called, species stood taller than a Human, at approximately 1.9 meters or 6.2 feet.

Pau'an age at the following stages:

1 - 16 Child

17 - 30 Young Adult

31 - 400 Adult

401 - 500 Middle Age

501 - 669 Old

Examples of Names: Timon Medon, Tion Medon, Lampay Fay.

Languages: Utapese was the language of the Pau'ans on the planet Utapau. Most Pau'ans spoke and were literate in both Utapese and Basic. The language once had several different dialects.

[dgcatanisiri]

*sigh* Looks like it’s just A DAY for being prompted to litigate old drama... Since I’ve done this one a dozen times over, I’ll put it behind a cut.

The Last Jedi is a HOPELESS movie. Our heroes do the (ostensibly) wrong thing, they get betrayed, their resources are destroyed, no one comes to their aid, and by the end, they’re packed into the space-fantasy equivalent of a beat up weed van and that’s THE WHOLE of their resources, against an enemy who APPARENTLY rules the galaxy.

Like let me hammer this point: NO ONE COMES TO THEIR AID. Like for all the other issues I have with Rise of Skywalker, that scene, where ships show up was great, because it refuted this idea.

And that idea was one of THE most hopeless elements of TLJ. That, in a moment of crisis, no one else stands up. This is a FRANCHISE where that’s been one of the biggest things - the Empire spanned the galaxy, but we centered on the Rebels who stood up and fought back. Luke looked at DARTH VADER, a symbol of all the Empire’s evil and dark deeds, and said “I feel the good in you, Father.” The ragtag Rebels and the primitive Ewoks took on the might of the Empire and defeated it. The child queen took on and defeated the massive corporate conquerors and made peace with a native culture who saw hers as invaders with an act of deep humility. Even as Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith gave us what we knew to be the rise of the Empire, a growing darkness of civilizations, in the former, we had a moment of peace as Anakin and Padme marry, and then the latter ends on that scene of a new hope being protected - an ending that feels hopeful because this is a prequel and we know what comes next, we know that this hope saves the galaxy.

That was the hope of the prior movies. How can you look at the finale of TLJ and see it as hopeful? The Resistance sacrificed all their resources just in the name of getting to that planet of salt, with the plan being “let’s let all our ships get blown up, and hope that our mad dash to the nearest world is covered by the destruction of our last ship!” and the ONLY way they made it out alive was because of Rey’s abrupt return with the Falcon. That wasn’t planned.

Holdo is an absolute failure of a leader - she’s a “last chain in the link” commander who knows this, walking around in a cocktail dress like she’s going to be chatting up senators during an existential crisis, making no effort to show the people who know she’s last in the chain - because all the other leaders of the Resistance were killed, except for Leia, who is in a coma - and, in the midst of that crisis, not just does she make no effort to calm down Poe or ease his concerns - or, if you want to argue that “the admiral isn’t required to explain herself to a pilot who just got demoted,” first, let me point out that the demotion thing? If you want to take it by military standards, it wouldn’t count, since Leia “demoting” him comes after she slaps him, which would be grounds for HER getting court-martialed, and, second, as I’ve gone over well before, Poe made a SOUND TACTICAL DECISION at the start of the film. 

At least, when judging him in context with the rest of the established Star Wars universe. The problem is that TLJ tosses all of that aside.

Snubfighters like the X-Wings have always been shown to have independent hyperdrives. Leia had no need to keep the Resistance fleet close - the X-Wings could be a distraction to allow them to jump out of system, and then make the jump themselves, rather than have to be collected by any command ship or something.

Likewise, if those bombers couldn’t survive hitting a slow moving and massive target like that dreadnought, then those fighters should have gotten scrapped for parts ages ago, even on the basis of the Resistance taking the resources that it could get. Like the way they talk about those bombers, you’d think they were a pre-Clone War relic, considering all we’ve seen about Y-Wings in the course of the Original Trilogy AND TCW as a series.

And the dreadnought itself? That should have been a MASSIVE blow to the First Order, considering that this is pretty clearly just DAYS after TFA at most and, as TLJ wants to forget, this means that the Resistance just took out a First Order weapon the literal size of a planet, since Starkiller was built into a planet. That means the First Order lost ALL the men and material resources that offered, as well as the symbol of fear they inspired. And then, Poe adds the destruction of a dreadnought with more than 200000 troops on board to their losses.

The comparison I’ve used before is that this is a neo-natsee organization, getting their hands on a nuclear weapons facility, using the first nuke immediately off the production line on DC, and then having their plant blown up, then also having the surplus tank that they were using destroyed as well. This should be a MASSIVE blow to their war machine, the First Order should be shaken and in shambles with these kinds of losses - it’s even the kind of losses that would JUSTIFY Snoke appearing, because his flagship is a resource they can’t keep in hiding.

But legit, TLJ wants to forget this part of TFA - no one even MENTIONS Starkiller, not even as a “the galaxy doesn’t know about its destruction, they’re afraid of it being used on them, they won’t come” argument. Or the fact that Poe himself was the pilot who flew that mission - that makes him someone you’d think WOULD be need to know on a mission involving a desperate flight and escape, or even a justifiable reason for taking him off the active duty list, by way of the torture and trauma he went through in the prior movie. Nope, it’s just Holdo taking him off duty to teach him a lesson about the chain of command and how he should have trusted her blindly, even as she refuses to make any effort to set him at ease about the situation, and very clearly on the basis of not liking HIM, personally.

And, in fact, the movie treats the First Order, built as the remnants of the Empire after Endor, shoved out to the margins of the galaxy, assembling in secret, as the Empire during the Original Trilogy, as a galaxy spanning organization with an iron fist over everything. EXCEPT that’s not the case in TFA, again! Because the New Republic inherited the major resources of the Empire, and, even in funneling resources from the New Republic to the First Order, they would have had to do it in amounts that the New Republic would not become suspicious too soon. The sides of this conflict flipped in TFA, but TLJ snaps everything, and particularly resources, back to the way it was during the Original Trilogy.

*sigh* I could go further, expanding on the problems of how the film treated and demoted Finn in its plot, how Rey got made into a sexy lamp for the sake of Kylo’s development, how pointless Canto Bight is as a C-plot, how much Yoda didn’t deserve that moment with Luke to preach about a lesson he never learned himself... But I’ve ranted enough at this point, I’m tried of doing it, and just... Honestly, at this point, I wish people just stopped TALKING about this movie.

Because that’s what I keep getting hung up on. Not the movie itself - I don’t mind, really I don’t, if people respond differently to a film. The problem I have, the reason I keep ranting about this, is that people keep bringing up this movie as perfect and flawless and just in general... as GOOD, when... *motions to the page and a half of ranting, plus the respective tag* No. No it is not.

I’ve said it before, some of this bothered me sitting in the theater, it’s not fridge logic, it’s active plot holes. But people who I respect, people who make film analysis a career, see it as good and perfect, when... I saw these issues IN THE GODDAMN THEATER. My very initial reaction to the movie, in the immediate aftermath of watching it, called it “high C/low B.” But no, the response EVERYWHERE became a matter of extreme polarization - you loved it, you hailed it as a breath of fresh air into the franchise... or you hated it because you’re a sexist pig who can’t stand women at the forefront of the story.

But the thing on THAT count is that... Again, I see Holdo in the wrong, not because she’s a woman, but because she makes BAD. DECISIONS. and the narrative frames her as right all along, meanwhile Rey is reduced to a sexy lamp reward Kylo will get if he comes back to the light, a door he slammed shut in the prior movie when he killed Han Solo, his father. This movie just comes across as an edgelord dudebro wrote what he assumed would resonate with the audience he derides as being “hyper-woke.”

Or, to put it another way, a way that might be more charitable, this may have been an effort at deconstruction of the Star Wars mythos in general, but, since the writer knew he wasn’t going to be back for the conclusion, it ends up being demolition, with no regard for the effort at RECONSTRUCTION, of putting the pieces back together, because he wasn’t hired for that job.

[thedarkreborn]

AN EPISODE VII FANFICTION: THE DARK REBORN

The Galactic Empire has fallen. After forty years fighting a lingering but inevitable defeat following the Battle of Endor, the Empire has agreed to surrender. In a show of good faith, the New Republic has pulled all but ceremonial remnants of their fleet away from Coruscant, their galactic capital, for the treaty signing. Now dignitaries from the two governments meet to usher in a new era of peace and freedom for the galaxy, unaware of the dark threat approaching from the unknown regions…

CHAPTER FIVE: THE SKIES ABOVE CORUSCANT, 40 YEARS ABE:

In the upper atmosphere above Coruscant, a fierce battle was taking place between Rogue Squadron and a group of Imperial TIE interceptors—once twelve in number in counterpart to the Rogues, but already now reduced to eight thanks both to the superior shooting and flying of the Rogues, and to the X-Wings’ greater suitability to atmospheric engagements.

The TIEs, with their squat wings and wider profile, suffered more drag from air resistance, particularly when turning, and while the pointed interceptor was less hampered than an ordinary TIE, their broad solar panels had nothing on an X-Wing’s sleeker s-foils—not in atmosphere, anyway. In the frictionless void of space a TIE, particularly an interceptor, was both faster and more maneuverable than an X-Wing and ordinarily a canny snubfighter commander like Poe Dameron would have held his pilots to atmospheric maneuvering as long as the enemy fighters were willing to oblige by flying under such a handicap—but their mission today wasn’t to vape the enemy, or even to win.

It was to run.

READ MORE.