#the Orgus Maneuver

[dorokora]

Done with the side quests for now. Back to the story.

The final arc of this chapter is Fafnir’s arc and his daddy issues

Fafnir is gathering all the dragons of the world for a special conference meeting. But only Nidhogg and Jormungandr, Fafnir and his dad showed up for it. Fafnir purposed that the dragons help the human due to the numbers of demon lord that have been resurrected. Nidhogg and Jormungandr agree with Fafnir’s plan. Hreidmar, Fafnir’s father, rejects the idea of helping humans saying that they should just burn the humans and be done with it. Fafnir and his dad are about to fight in their dragon forms and Nidhogg tells them to take their father and son spat outside. They have their father-son quarrel offscreen where Fafnir lost.

Sometime later, Bacchus finally reunites with Nidhogg while he was bathing. Yuuji and Fafnir bump into each other. Everyone gathers at the villa.

Yuuji explains what’s been going on lately. Nidhogg and Bacchus have their long awaited talk. And then they fcked that night.

The next morning the group discuss their dragon plan and the history of dragons. Life all started with a white meteor and ragnarok came when the black meteor arrived creating the giants. Odin was chosen as the Hero and his companions Thor, Freyr, and Loki by his side. Ymir was created from thousands of human corpses, Tiamat was born from the corpses of two dragons. Tiamat's body was split in two. Filling the sky and the earth, and that’s how present world was created. End of Ragnorok, friendly fire broke out, and many of Odin comrades-in-arms fell by his hands. According to one theory, it is a sect of "gods" who planned it. It is said that it was a secret maneuver by Loki. At the end of Ragnorok, Odin sealed all of the Giants so that they could never be revived and then disappeared himself. So all giants were sealed away and all the gods have died off. It will seem that history is currently repeating itself. Will the humans perish? Will the Demon Kings perish? Or will they both perish? We then head to the mansion to confront Fafnir’s dad. Meteo shows up to cause more problems. He summons black meteors to rain down from the sky. He also activates the curse on Hreidmar’s ring. Turns out that ring was Andvari’s ring, the one he put a curse on before Loki took it and his gold from him. Everyone tries to run but Yuuji is frozen in fear. Yuuji remembers that it was a black meteor that crashed down in Tokyo and killed his parents. Hreidmar tells Fafnir he’ll stay behind and gives his dragon necklace to his son. Hreidmar turns into his dragon form to stop the meteor shower.

Nighogg tells Fafnir to take Bacchus and Yuuji far away. He gives Fafnir his grimoire. He’s going to hold them off as long as he can. Nighogg tells Bacchus to live a long life and that he loves him. He turns into a dragon files to the meteor shower. With both his dad and Nighogg powers, Fafnir gets a power upgrade along with a new weapon, armor, a golden dragon form. He is now the new dragon king. Up in the sky, Hreidmar’s and Nighogg’s dead bodies have fused together to resurrect Tiamat. Metro’s plan is a success as all five demon lords have been revived. Yuuji is still frozen in fear. The area below started to get covered in darkness due to the black meteors and the people down there have been turned to stone. At this rate, the whole world will be covered in darkness. Bacchus tells Fafnir that they need to go to where Orgus is.

And that’s where it ends

To be Continued

[keldae]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @starknstarwars -- thank you! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

50

also sorry if that shows up gigantic, Tumblr formatting is not working with me tonight

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

399,475

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars: The Old Republic primarily, although I've got a couple Jedi Apprentice fics from my high school days and a Star Wars/LOTR crossover in the works.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Drastic Measures, the Fictober 2021 compilation, Outtakes from Odessen (one-shot collection), The Orgus Maneuver, Fall From Grace

5. Do you respond to comments?

Sometimes!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Breaking The News

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

The Orgus Maneuver?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, fortunately! I used to get hate on FFN for some of my LOTR fics though.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have written smut, and posted it on Tumblr a few years back! I haven't written much in recent months/years though. Most of what I like to write is the frenzied we-need-to-fuck-right-now PWP smut, although there's some slower, more romantic moments in there! One of these days I'll start posting the better smut to AO3...

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have a Lord of the Rings/Star Wars (pre-TPM era) crossover in the works that I started in university! Strangers From Distant Lands

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, and ohhhhh, I was (and still am) mad as fuck about it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to the best of my knowledge.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yep! I've written quite a few with @andveryginger =D

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Faramir/Eowyn from LOTR is my very first OTP.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

My original novel(s), or Drastic Measures.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm good at characterization, and at describing emotions!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

FIGHT SCENES.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have stumbled through Sindarin Elvish for a couple of sentences/words, and Mando'a. But a real-world language? NOPE.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lord of the Rings

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Oh man, too many! Drastic Measures has a fond place in my heart, despite the fact that I doubt it will ever be finished. I also enjoyed writing (and illustrating!) Jailbreak, and Common Interests was another fun one to write. And Ghost was such a fun little angstfest. ^.^

Tagging whoever would like to be tagged, who hasn't been so tagged already!

[sunderedazem]

47 for my favorite OT3 plz

47. Does either/any of them have a secret that could potentially ruin their relationship? - Pairing: Lana/Theron/Corrain

Oh. Oh boy, you just HAD to ask. This one's gonna hurt, and it involves War Crimes, so...buckle up, I guess XD

Yes. Yes, one of them does. And no - it's not Lana, with the Rishi Maneuver, or Theron, with the Zildrog Fakeout. It's Corrain.

So, you remember how Corrain - a la Jedi Knight Story - gets captured by the Emperor, and then in the Moonrise legacy is not only broken, put under Castellan mind control, and left there to suffer for over a year and a half? Well, that's not quite everything that happened to him. See, Vitiate couldn't resist having such a powerful Jedi without playing with him a little bit. So...he trained Corrain (an unwilling participant, of course) as a weapon of destruction, and then specifically reserved him for mass casualty events or other high-profile war crimes.

See, while Scourge was the Emperor's Wrath and his personal executioner, that was an honor reserved for Sith, occasional high-ranking Imperials, and personal enemies of Vitiate's. Corrain, however, became known as Lord Lune, the Emperor's Blade - and his role was, essentially, to commit Vitiate's war crimes for him. Vitiate and Chaskar, Corrain's handler, took a particular delight in ordering their New Toy to massacre contentious civilian populations, or publicly execute captured Republic POWs and Jedi, or worse. It got to the point that within a year of Corrain's Fall and enslavement by the Emperor, most of the Dark Council and Imperial military knew and feared rumors of Lord Lune's involvement anywhere within Imperial Territory, and even most of the Republic's high-ranking officials knew of the Blade's existence. Corrain does eventually build up enough of a resistance to reject direct commands - and is promptly subverted again, with an implanted shock collar that's wired into his nervous system. It's a losing battle for him until Orgus appears and tells him to trust Scourge.

This sort of horror severely fucked with Corrain's head and massively contributed to his instability upon escaping from Vitiate's grasp, and it absolutely shatters his ability to trust anyone. Therefore he never, EVER mentions the Castellan restraints conditioning, and he even MORE never mentions that once upon a time he was the Emperor's most brutal, callous tool.

This, understandably, is something that not only would shock both Theron and Lana upon discovering it, but also absolutely nauseate them - both for the fact that Corrain literally has about a hundred War Crimes that he's committed, and that he was physically incapable of stopping each atrocity as it was ordered. Like, how the hell would you sleep, knowing that someone you love was one secret keyword command away from murdering everyone you knew and sobbing through the whole thing because he wouldn't be able to stop himself? How the hell could you forgive them for keeping something this huge - and this potentially compromising - a secret from you?

They do eventually find out, however, and it is in the worst possible scenario. Darth Malgus uses Corrain's keyword against him and then, when Corrain tries to fight it, presses on that conditioning track hard enough that Corrain has a massively life-threatening seizure, and then kidnaps him. Lana and Theron do get their boy back, but they're forced to fight and subdue him to make it happen, and Corrain doesn't recover from the physical and psychological toll for a long time afterward. They end up coming to terms with it separately while he's recovering - for Lana it's a little easier than for Theron - and with Elennye's guidance, finally help him to undo the conditioning.

It's only after that that Corrain finally comes completely clean with them, and it's only by virtue of their emotional attachment to him and the clear toll that the entire thing had taken on him over the years that prevents them from splitting. As it is, it takes them months to forgive him.

If this revelation had happened at literally any other time (this is post KOTXX and at the tail end of my canon-divergent arc, for context) Theron likely would have divorced them both and gone back to the Republic on permanent holiday, and Lana quite probably would have simply taken it upon herself to end Corrain's misery - and the threat he posed to the wider galaxy - as gently as she could.

And for his part, Corrain wouldn't have stopped either of them.

[anchanted-one]

Book of Storms: Legend of Vajra

Chapter 7: Poison

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43208574/chapters/108953793

Vajra raced for Kalikori, begging for every bit of speed that he could out of his speeder. It wasn’t very often that the Council gave you orders after less than a minute of talking.

They’d received a frantic call from the Twi’leks, saying that they’d spotted seven mighty Rancors headed their way. They were afraid that their weapons would only enrage the great beasts, and had begged the Jedi for aid.

The timing was horrible. Almost everyone was off-world, even Masters Satele and Orgus! The Jedi had been stretched utterly thin in their desperate search for the ‘growing darkness’, and Vajra was one of a few Jedi who could be spared. The only remaining Master, Gnost Dural, was needed in case the Temple itself came under attack.

The village was his responsibility anyway.

The villagers were right to be afraid. Rancors were infamous for their thick, blaster resistant hides, their tempers, and their power. He only hoped there were no more of the beasts held in reserve.

Despite having made all possible haste, he arrived just in time to see the Rancors tear down a section of the wall. They were huge, over thirty-five feet tall; and slow, but powerful. And definitely invulnerable to anything the villagers had to throw at them.

Militia with blaster cannons tried to bring them down, but their weapons could only hurt the Rancors, not slay them. With no time to waste, Vajra leapt off the speeder, letting it crash into the side of a bull Rancor’s shin. The beast roared, its leg crumpling underneath it. Vajra landed right on top of its head, thrusting his Lightsaber into the creature’s forehead. It took the full strength afforded him by the Force to push his blade through its scales.

The other Rancors noticed the first one’s fall and roared in anger. Vajra shrank back from the sheer noise, which was like a sonic boom. He drew upon the Force and fashioned himself a Shield which the jedi commonly used against threats like sonic grenades, and also steadied his trembling limbs.

He attacked his second Rancor before their roar had ended, dashing across the distance and leaving a deep gash on its ankle. The giant collapsed, and Vajra used its confusion to jump onto its back and slice its neck.

That threw the other Rancors into a frenzy. Screeching their displeasure, they attacked Vajra, who got ready for evasive maneuvers.

He scowled, Sensing something else approaching. He jumped over the first Rancor’s attack and backflipped away from the second, allowing the turn to give him a look behind. Khrayii entered the holes in the wall; not a great many, but the devices they carried made Vajra uneasy.

“MORINT!” he roared. “WHERE’S MORINT? DEAL WITH THE KHRAYII!”

He had no more focus to spare for them, however, as the Rancors had closed in. Vajra leapt left and right to evade their powerful blows, and Sensed a moment approaching, a Fracture. It came in the form of one Rancor crashing into two of the others in its eagerness to attack him. Three great beasts fell over in confusion, and Vajra capitalized on their mishap. With a rapid charge, he got under their chins and cut two sets of jugulars. The third started to rise, only to fall again when Vajra stabbed it in the chest. The power of his Force-enhanced rush actually tossed the beast backwards and crumpled its collarbone.

That left only two Rancors. Vajra closed in and cut another one’s legs out from under it, then leapt up again to attack the other. His trajectory barely carried him out of the way of its eager claws, which crashed down on the spot he’d just vacated. Vajra only managed to cut its eye. The beast screamed its pain and reared up to its full height in an effort to protect its head from its enemy.

But nothing was out of reach for a good Force Leap. Vajra landed on its head and stabbed its skull, just as he had the first one. Finally, he turned his attention to the Rancor he had crippled. It whined pitifully, and Vajra sighed. It thrashed around when it noticed him, desperate to avoid the fate of its brood, but Vajra found another Fracture in the Force. He waited until its arms were wide apart, then charged in, stabbing it in the heart.

The last of the great beasts groaned and died.

Panting slightly from the exertion, Vajra turned around to see if the Khrayii had been thwarted. What he saw horrified him.

The Twi’leks had failed to rally, and allowed the natives to achieve their apparent objectives. Ten Khrayii lay on the fields, dying from apparent suicide runs. They had set up and activated the equipment they had carried, from which thick, dark-green smoke now emanated.

Poisonous smoke, going by the dying Khrayii.

One of the Twi’leks tried to get close enough to deactivate one, but she fell at around three meters, retching and choking.

Vajra keyed his comm. “Vajra calling Temple, this is an emergency!”

“Temple control here, Vajra. State your emergency please.”

“The Rancors were a distraction. The Khrayii slipped in and placed something on the Kalikori farms. Something belching out poisonous clouds.”

“Affirmative. We’re sending bomb disposal units as well as medical teams. But it will take time.”

“How much time?”

“Twenty minutes. I’m sorry.”

Vajra cursed. Twi’elks gathered around him.

“Master Jedi, Master Jedi!” “What can we do?” “Can you help us?” “Please, save our food!” “We’ll starve if too much of our produce dies!”

“I’ll do what I can,” Vajra said. He had not yet learned how to use the Force to filter out toxins, and he had left his rebreather behind in his haste. There was no helping it. The only thing he could try was using Force Speed. If he moved fast enough, perhaps he could avoid breathing in the poisonous clouds. With luck, these things would be easy to disarm. They were built for use by Khrayii after all.

He stood outside the perimeter, raising his scarf over his face to protect from the cloud. He squinted his eyes, and even used the Force to empower his vision. He noticed a particularly large button, one of only a few on the device. He reasoned that this was the on/off switch, as it was the only one big enough for the Khrayii’s big fingers to use. The other controls were smaller buttons and dials they had no hope of using.

Vajra took in a deep breath and rushed in. He used the Force to push outwards, dispersing at least some of the poison, but of course the dispersal system pumped out more. The moment he entered the cloud, he felt his eyes and skin burn. He gasped as the most stinging pain he’d ever felt spread across his body. He closed his eyes in an effort to protect them, trusting his instinct to guide his hand.

His finger hit a switch, and he heard the hissing stop. With that thought, he leapt out of the cloud and back into the crowd of Twi’leks. He’d done it, he’d stopped one of the devices. Nine remained.

Nine! Just one had been enough to almost immobilize him! Even as he thought that, he rubbed at his skin and eyes, the burning sensation unbearable. He gasped, choked, and almost cried.

“Well, that didn’t work!” Morint hissed. “Any other bright ideas?”

“Shut up, Morint!” one of the others said angrily. “Can’t you see he was just trying to help?”

“Well, he’s going to get himself killed if he—wait, what the frick are you doing!?”

Vajra had taken a few seconds to recuperate, then rushed back in. There were nine more poison bombs to defuse, and he had to do it before too many of the crops were killed. Even if it killed him.

*

The poison situation was bad enough that Master Gnost Dural had asked for all volunteers with medical training. Naturally, Jasme had stepped. Not only because her friend was the one out there, but she genuinely wanted to help the Twi’leks. They were innocents caught up in all this.

Hers was among the first shuttle to touch down, and one of the larger medics ran ahead, shouting “Make way, make way!”

Jasme followed closely on his heels, dressed in a hazmat suit like the rest of them. They ran through a huge crowd of Twi’leks, who were all staring in the direction of, presumably, the farms. Several weak plumes of smoke rose from its direction. Probably the poison dispersal units.

“Where’s Vajra?” she screamed. “Where’s Vajra!”

But everywhere she turned, she saw only dismayed, teary faces.

“There,” one of them, a tall male with blue skin said. She thought this might be Morint, the Scout Chief Vajra had worked so closely with.

“Say that again?”

“I said he’s over there, somewhere.” The man pointed into the thin clouds. “He… he charged right in. Tried to deactivate those things by hand.”

“He did deactivate them,” another Twi’lek sobbed. “He deactivated all ten of those things! But he didn’t come back after the last one!”

Oh no… Jasme fought the weakness that descended upon her knees and ran for the area the man had pointed towards. “VAJRA!” she screamed. “VAJRA! PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!”

She waved her hands like some demented, flightless bird trying in vain to take off. But of course, that wasn’t enough to disperse the cloud. Instead, she relied on the Force. As she had told Vajra, she was very weak in it… but she could use it.

Straining with all her might, she Pushed out the cloud, again and again and again. Finally, it dissipated enough for her to notice a pair of prone figures on the ground. One was a Flesh Raider. The other was “VAJRA!”

“Jasme?” His voice was extremely weak, but her heart leapt when she heard it.

“Vajra!” she cried in relief. As she got closer, she saw the raw pain in his burned face. Tears streamed out of his tightly shut eyes, and a lot of his skin seemed scorched and melted. There were angry, purple boils all over his body, several of which had blood oozing out of them after bursting. How was he still alive? “Hang tight. Big sis is here for you.”

“Jasme,” his voice was even weaker then. “I knew… I knew you’d come here for me. I think I have a story for you this time.” He descended into a severe coughing fit, and blood oozed out of his nose and mouth.

“Oh no…” she turned around to see the Em Dees approaching with a medical capsule. “Great timing. I don’t know if he has much time!”

“Affirmative. We’ve analyzed this toxin. It’s a version of the Ziroxin-12. It spells quick death to most organics. It’s a miracle he’s not dead already.”

“What?! You can save him, can’t you?”

“I make no promises. We shall have to see.”

The Medical droids quickly loaded him into their capsule and evacuated him. Jasme tried to go with them, but the horror of the situation finally struck her like a thick branch, knocking the breath out from her lungs. She slid onto the ground, and started to feel the same fear she had felt when they had brought Tom back from the training grounds. Chills ran through her extremities.

“Jasme! Jasme!” Sergeant Coulter came up to her. “Get up. Now’s not the time to fall apart.”

“Vajra—”

“The shuttle’s already departed. We have some work to do here. Vajra was able to stop the smokers before the clouds reached the villagers, but we have to inoculate them, just in case. Bomb units will see to it that all traces of toxin are neutralized.”

“Were there… were there any casualties? Aside from the Khrayii?”

“One Twi’lek. She was the first to try what Vajra did. She was dead in minutes.”

“How did Vajra survive?”

“Well, a betting man would either go for the Force, or innate resistance. Do Raudra—”

“I don’t know. I think it’s the second. Breath control is… a little advanced. And he’s still a Padawan."

"Well, with luck his resistance will see him through this.”

“I’m ready to get to work. We have a lot of villagers to inoculate, right?”

“If we each do a hundred and fifty, we should be done in an hour and a bit. It’s lucky the drug is so easy to synthesize.”

Jasme worked in silence. The Twi’leks had learned discipline from their drills and lined up for their shots. It was repetitive work, the sort you could switch off your brain to perform, but she focused completely so as to avoid thinking about Vajra.

Would he make it? Would it leave a mark on him? She really didn’t want to think about it yet.

Most Twi’leks asked after him, but she simply shook her head mutely.

“He saved us,” many said. “He saved us.” Through her fright, Jasme felt a stab of pride. The boy had really stepped up this time!

Eventually, she found herself face to face with her final patient; the Twi’lek she’ spoken to.

“You’re Morint, right? Vajra talks about you sometimes.”

“Never good things, I’m sure. I’m not the nicest of guys.”

“But reliable. Vajra was always glad you were around. Said you were a good leader.”

“Listen, I need to tell you what happened. Your Jedi need to know.”

“Go on.”

“The Rancors tore through our palisades like they were toothpicks. Even our heavy cannons couldn’t do much against them. They got so angry, and for a second it looked like they’d start dropping us like flies. That’s when Vajra appeared. Drove his speeder right into the biggest and loudest Rancor. Didn’t even hesitate. At first, I thought he was an idiot, but those Lightsabers are clearly deadlier than I thought.”

Jasme chuckled.

“Anyway, somewhere in the middle, I hear him shout about incoming Flesh Raiders. Not his words, obviously.”

She chuckled again. “Yeah!”

“Those bastards were fucking quick. I didn’t even have time to fire off a single shot. It was like they’d been doing drills of their own. They just ran up to the fields, spread out and lay down their contraptions. The next thing we knew, there were clouds pouring out of them. Whatever it was, it was bad enough to even drop the Raiders. Suma tried to get close, but…” he helplessly turned to look at a body which had been laid out in the square.

“That was brave.”

“It was desperate. Vajra finished off the last of the Rancors in record time, but poison clouds aren’t opponents you can kill.”

“You can say that again!”

“He called in support, as you know, but the others started asking him to save us.” His fists clenched so hard his hands trembled. “What did they think he could do? He’s a good kid, but still just a kid! He took one look at them and decided the only way forward was to disarm the units one by one.”

“He wasn’t wrong,” Corporal Ritts of the Bomb squad said. “If he’d left it alone for twenty minutes, the entire crop would have been destroyed. And the soil would have gotten contaminated too. There’s a good chance it would have killed more of you.”

“He’s a hero, there’s no doubt there. But so damn foolish! Why did he save us? Why not just order us to evacuate? The first device alone was enough to leave him screaming in pain. And he went for all of them! He had to crawl to the last one! And all I could do was stare like some stupid Schutta!”

“It’s not like you could have done anything.”

“Wrong! I should have kept watch for something like this! I should have shot down at least one of those damn brutes! Maybe three! I should have pulled the kid away if I had to knock him out to do it! What business is it of his to protect us? We’re total strangers to him!”

“You were total strangers. But he’s been working with you for months now, hasn’t he?”

“Well…”

“Besides, he’s a Jedi. That’s what they do.”

“You’re not a Jedi? I saw you dispersing those clouds.”

“I’m far too weak to be a Jedi. I’m just support staff.”

“Are you now? And yet, you charged right in there too.”

“I’m wearing a hazmat suit, you know. Besides, Vajra is my best friend.”

“You’re a good friend to have, then. Take care of the kid. Tell him our safety isn’t his cause to die for.”

“I’ll pass on the message.”

“Good. Stay safe… Jedi. I heard what you said, but I think you’re cut from the same cloth as Vajra. You’re just as Jedi as he is.” He saluted and left.

“Excuse me,” came a weak voice. A girl’s voice. “My name is Ranna Tao’Ven.”

“Oh, so you’re Ranna? Vajra talks about you too.”

The girl blushed. She leaned in close. “I… I’m in love with him,” she confessed.

Jasme didn’t know how to react. She knew Vajra was interested in her too, but it was not her place to say it. “I…”

“Please. As of this moment, I don’t care about his feelings for me. I just want to know if he’ll be alright.”

“I… I really don’t know,” Jasme said, worry entering her face again. “I’m afraid.”

“Please… let me know…”

“I will,” Jasme promised.

“Alright, that’s the last of them!” Sergeant Coulter called. “Pack it up, people!”

“Air’s clear!” Corporal Ritts announced. “You can all take off your suits.

Jasme took off her helmet and sniffed experimentally. The air smelled as it should, typical village atmosphere. Wet vegetation and soil and manure. Some smoke emerged from houses though, probably burned meals. There were other scents mixed in, but only a trace of something she thought was poisonous. She looked at the wall, which had taken the villagers weeks to raise. The damage would take much time to repair, she thought.

“Your defences have been breached. If I were the one leading the Khrayii, I’d attack again soon, before you could repair them. And the Jedi Temple is all but empty. We don’t have anyone to spare, to make up for Vajra’s absence.”

There were cries of dismay. “Are you going to abandon us?” someone cried.

“Not my decision to make. What I’m telling you is that there are only one Master and seven Knights left in the Temple. We barely have enough people to defend should they attack us.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Leave this world. You’d have to be monitored, since you know where Tython is. But we can relocate you to a safe world. One without threats like the Khrayii, where you can practice your beliefs in peace.”

“But Tython is our home!” someone protested. “We can’t leave!”

“Can’t we?” Ranna asked. “We have an interesting idea of what we can and can’t do, don’t we?”

“Ranna…”

“Vajra might be dying. Dying! And we’re the ones responsible for it. What in the stars possessed us, to demand that Vajra risk his life to save us? Again? Hadn’t he given us enough, already? But no! We had to force him to take action against something he clearly wasn’t ready for! And now he’s dying! Compared to that unreasonable request, what’s one more exodus? We’ve abandoned one planet already, haven’t we? Didn’t we leave Ryloth? Why must we hold on to such a deadly world?”

“Because Ryloth wasn’t our home,” said a strong woman’s voice. “We weren’t wanted there. Tython is the first place we could put our roots down and just be.”

“Kolovish,” Morint hissed. “Come down from your high tower at last?”

“This recent commotion concerned me.”

“Not enough, clearly,” Ranna said. She pointed at the fields. “You’re hours late! The Flesh Raiders just tried to poison our food supply. How much worse do we need before we admit that we’re not wanted here? No one on Ryloth attacked us. They simply refused to help us for free. How much more, before you think we need to leave?”

“We swore we would never run again,” the woman called Kolovish said firmly.

“Really? I must have been asleep when we made that vow,” Ranna scoffed. “Most of us must have, since we’ve never talked about it.”

For a second, it looked like a nasty expression had plastered itself on Kolovish’s face, but then it vanished. “The decision is mine, so long as I’m Grand Matriarch. Remember, Morint. Remember our way. The way of our ancestors, who lived long, healthy lives without reliance on modern technology.”

“Technology such as blasters, perhaps?” Morint held up his rifle. “Face it, Kolovish. Our attempt at a pre-industrial utopia will fail if we remain here. We really need a world where we—”

“No,” Kolovish replied firmly. “I understand your confusion, but the beasts are a test we must endure. A test of faith, and strength. I have every confidence that you will protect us, Scout Chief. Once the danger has passed, we will be the stronger for it. Never forget! We are the Chosen. We are the true Twi’leks. These beasts will not uproot us!”

Many of the Twi’leks knelt down in reverence, and repeated her words as she said them. “We are the Chosen. Ours is the strength to endure, even without the false comforts of modern ‘technology.’”

Jasme sighed. So this was the nutcase who led the Kalikori to Tython.

“Ranna, it appears you are close to the boy who aided us.”

“Is that the best you can say about someone who almost died for us?” Ranna sighed. “Yes, I’m his friend. Many of us are. He spent days helping us dig the trenches, and cutting down the lumber for our walls. He—”

“I understand, child.” The woman’s veneer had slipped again, and a tendril of icy chill crept out of her voice before she regained control. “When next he appears, let him know that I have granted him an audience. I will thank him personally for his bravery.”

“Yes, Grand Matriarch.” Ranna had clearly been cowed by the woman’s shift.

“I’m ready to leave,” Jasme informed Sergeant Coulter.

“Good. I think we’re all ready.”

“Then let’s just go,” Corporal Ritts said softly. “Before Grand Matriarch over there decides to shower us with speeches too.”

Jasme snorted. It appeared none of the outsiders were impressed with what passed for the Grand Matriarch’s charisma.

*

[keldae]

Fictober 2021 -- Day 30

Alternately titled “The Orgus Maneuver: Epilogue”. You may want to read that one first for some context. ;) Thanks for letting me borrow Jakar again, @corey-067! 

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

The Meridian Complex was a war zone, with Imperial and Corellian bodies alike littering the corridors, and the acrid scent of smoke in the air. Ahead, Xaja could hear the sounds of combat, including the familiar humming and clashes of lightsabers. "Hurry!" she barked out to Tau and Arn, both only a step behind her as they raced to the conflict, ready to back up the defenders from the invading Imperial force.

Then a flicker in the Force made Xaja stumble, shock making her lose focus for a moment. She could sense a presence ahead, one that she'd never expected to sense again in this lifetime. "Impossible," she breathed out, reaching with the Force for that presence. No, it was him -- that was a presence she would have known anywhere.

Confusion shifted to hope, then joy, then pure fury. "I'm gonna kill him!" she hissed as she started running again, toward the presence of someone she'd once considered her best friend.

"Comm-- Xaja?" Tau sounded confused, and Arn looked even more perplexed than his master. "Who are you going to kill, Malgus?"

"Not Mal-- well, yes, Malgus," Xaja corrected herself. "But first, that asshole who calls himself the Barsen’thor."

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

The arrival of the three Jedi was timely for the Corellians who had rallied here to hold back the Imperials. Xaja hadn't waited for Tau to leap into the fray before throwing her sabers in a precise, controlled arc, taking out two of the Imps from behind. The sabers came back to her hands as she jumped, landing on a third invader while madly deflecting blaster fire.

In the Force, she could sense a multitude of emotions -- confusion and fury from the Imps, relief from the Green Jedi, and shock from the familiar Force presence she'd sensed. A silvery-blue saber-staff swept down to take down a Sith who'd turned to face the newly arrived Jedi, and in moments, silence had fallen over the group of Republic defenders and reinforcements.

Xaja straightened up and turned, facing Jakar Forseti for the first time in over seven years. "You asshole!" she cried out by way of greeting.

Drawing himself up to his full height, Jakar rested his hands on his hips and stared down at Xaja. "Sorry, which one of us is the asshole? I thought you were dead for the last seven years!"

"You died! Before everything went to shit with Zakuul! I saw the report myself!"

"If you thought a pack of Sith could legitimately do me in, Midget…"

"The SIS verified it! I fucking grieved for you!"

"And then got your ass killed by a fleet of unstoppable warships!"

Xaja paused for a second. "... So we've confirmed that I'm both better at playing dead and more of a badass than you?"

Jakar rolled his eyes. "Always overdoing it while copying me. You haven't changed since we were kids."

"You know damn well that I half-ass nothing, Forseti!"

"Including getting your ass stuck in a galactic war? I assume that's why you're here, anyway."

"Yep. Me and my own fleet."

"Yeah, you're definitely a master of overkill."

"I am gonna glitter bomb your ship again…"

"Don't even think about it! I think I still have glitter on my ship from the last time you did that!"

"Awww, you left some of my glitter around?" Xaja cheerfully wrapped an arm around Jakar’s waist in a hug. "I missed you too… even if you're still a jerk."

Jakar muttered something incoherent as he hugged Xaja back, fondly ruffling her hair and smirking as she swatted at his hand. "Yeah, fine, it definitely wasn't the same without you here. I needed my cohort in crime around to--"

"I hate to break this up," Tau interjected, "but in case you two didn't notice, there's more Imps coming in." Indeed, the lift doors had opened, and a squad of Imperial soldiers were running out, blasters at the ready, already aiming at the group of Jedi. "And Malgus is still here."

Jakar turned to look at the approaching Imperials, then paused; when Xaja looked up, she saw a purely evil grin on her friend's face and quickly started backing up. "No, no, I know that look, do not ruin this reunion with the damned Orgus Maneuver--"

"Too laaaaaaate!" The Force surged, catching Xaja in an inescapable grip as she was lifted and bodily thrown at the group of Imperials, who all seemed to freeze, stunned at the sight of a furiously screeching redhead Jedi being sent flying directly at them, lightsabers activating at the last second.

Jakar burst into merry laughter as he watched Xaja land hard on the Imps, ignoring Arn's scandalized look and Tau's mischievous, contemplative gaze. "Ahh, yes. All is well with the galaxy again."

[keldae]

The Orgus Maneuver

Featuring @d6790‘s Corellian Jedi brainspawn Jakar, and beta’d by the lovely @andveryginger!

Orgus Din had been a great Jedi Master. While he’d lived, he’d been a venerable, respected veteran of the Jedi Order; a voice of reason (and the odd verbal smack upside the head) on the High Council; and one of the best teachers Xaja had ever had. He’d been something of a surrogate father to the feisty young Padawan he’d taken on, and she had mourned when he’d been killed over Alderaan, even if his work hadn’t been finished yet -- it had both startled her and given her joy to see his spirit again while he shielded her mind in her captivity on Vitiate’s station.

But not even Master Orgus was a perfect master. And Xaja still helda sizeable grudge against him for the one bad idea he’d had…

“There’s almost a dozen of them.” Xaja frowned as she squirmed to the side of the boulder outcropping, letting Master Orgus crouch beside her. “We’ll never get by them without being seen.”

“Then it’s a fight.” Orgus’s eyes narrowed as he studied the pack of Flesh Raiders between the two Jedi and their escape route back to the safety of the Temple. “Blast it.” He glanced over at his young student and gave her a scowl. “This is entirely your fault, kid.”

“In my defense, using a fallen tree as a bridge over the ravine was a good idea.”

“Until you picked a tree that was half rotten and noisily falling apart, yes.”

“Is this supposed to be a metaphor for something deep and introspective, Master?”

“Brat.” Orgus lightly swatted his Padawan upside the head and earned a scowl for his trouble, then looked back at the Flesh Raiders. “There’s no way to set up a trap to take them down.”

“And I don’t know about you, but Force Stealth isn’t my forte.” Xaja scowled at the aliens. “So, Master, what’s your next idea?”

“I could throw you at them.”

“Was that a short joke?”

“Would I make a short joke like that?”

“Yes, you would.” Xaja paused and gave Orgus a sidelong look. “Why am I suddenly very, very afraid?”

“You know what? Throwing you at them might actually work.” Orgus raised a hand as Xaja opened her mouth to give him an indignant retort. “You’re small enough that you’re easy to throw, and it would take the Flesh Raiders off guard…”

“Master! Throwing me at them is not a valid strategy!”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“Can’t we throw Tee-Seven at them instead?” Xaja tried to ignore the astromech’s angry beeping from behind them at that suggestion.

“Tee-Seven probably outweighs you, Padawan. And he’s got too many fragile components that would break.”

“And I don’t?!”

“Oh, you’re young, you’ll bounce back.” Orgus grinned. “Unless you’ve got a better option…?”

“... No.” Xaja scowled darkly at her master, then at the Flesh Raiders. “I’m gonna ask Master Shan to adopt me as a Padawan instead when we get back to the Temple.”

Orgus chuckled. “Good luck with that, kid. Try not to land on your head.”

“Oh, that’s not nerve-wracking at ALLLLLLL!!” Xaja shrieked as she was suddenly picked up with a wave of the Force and thrown (hard) at the Flesh Raiders. She just barely had enough wits about her to activate her blades and take note of the looks of perplexed fear in the aliens’ eyes before she landed hard on one’s chest and had to spin into the Ataru form to take down more. She hated to admit it, but her master was right about the maneuver taking the Flesh Raiders off guard, and the added momentum from the throw did seem to help. And it could have been worse: she’d only lost her pride and her dignity, and gained new bruises and scrapes. She couldn’t hear the sound of a lightsaber anywhere near her though-- why wouldn’t Orgus have been right behind her?

She took down the last Flesh Raider and turned to glare as the wise, venerable Jedi Master Orgus Din doubled over laughing, literally holding onto Tee-Seven to not fall over entirely. “Thanks so much for the help, Master,” she grouchily called over as she returned her blades to her back. “Really appreciated the support.”

“That… I’m sorry, Padawan. That was the funniest thing I’ve seen since before the Sacking.” Orgus finally stood upright, wiping a tear from his eye. The smug bastard of a Jedi was still grinning. “I’m calling this the Orgus Maneuver now.”

“And I’m calling it proof that you’re secretly on the Dark Side.” Xaja scowled and resumed marching in the general direction of the Jedi Temple. “I’m pretty sure there’s something in the Jedi Code about using one’s Padawans as projectile weapons, Master!”

“Oh, quite possibly. Are you actually going to sit down long enough to read all the fine point details on it?”

“I’ll just... ask Master Shan. She’ll know!”

Unfortunately, not only did Master Shan not know of any reference in the rules of the Jedi concerning the uses of Padawans as weapons, but she didn’t believe Xaja’s insistence that she’d just been used as a projectile, even with Orgus grinning as he walked by.

Needless to say, Xaja did not get adopted by the Grand Master as a Padawan.

“There’s too many. Even with my stealth generator, I can’t get past that.” Kira crouched behind a barricade and frowned at the gang members who’d reportedly kidnapped Doctor Tarnus. They’d picked the location for this standoff well; the hangar was difficult to sneak into with the bottlenecking of traffic right into the line of fire, currently being held by a large group of the thugs.

“I can cause a distraction. It might work for you to slip by.” Xaja craned her neck around to survey the area. “What do you think-- run in lightsabers blazing like a proper Jedi, or run in screaming like a madwoman and try to scare them?”

Kira snickered. “Oh, I’d pay good credits to see that.”

//Both = good options. T7 = thinks Master Xaja should do both.//

“What, run in screaming and waving lightsabers around? That really won’t do much for the Jedi’s reputation here, Tee-Seven…”

//Jedi = use Orgus Maneuver?//

“That is not a valid option!” Xaja hissed at the astromech.

“The Orgus Maneuver?” Kira gave Tee-Seven a puzzled look. “What exactly is--”

“Nothing!” Xaja quickly said. “Absolutely nothing beyond a myth that--”

//Orgus Maneuver = Master Orgus’ favourite strategy = Force-throwing Master Xaja at enemies.//

“This is a real thing?!” Kira turned to stare at Xaja. “Master Kiwiiks and I thought he was joking when he told us about it!”

“That bastard,” Xaja growled, her glare only deepening when Kira burst into snickers. She twisted around to glare at her droid. “Traitor.” Tee-Seven just beeped gleefully.

“Well, for lack of any better ideas…” Kira gave Xaja what could be best described as an evil grin. “Get thrown in, lightsabers blazing and screaming like a madwoman?”

“For kriff’s sake, Carsen…”

“I take that as a ‘yes.’”

“That was not--!” And a second later, Xaja shrieked as she flew through the air, directly at the mob. She swore afterward that the terror she saw in their eyes as she’d descended upon them had been from the glow of two blue lightsabers and not from a screaming Jedi flying at them.

Kira insisted otherwise around her cackles at the memory, despite the murderous glares she always got.

“Son of a bitch!” Xaja wiped a thin stream of blood from her forehead as she cut her way through the swarm of Imperial soldiers attacking their little group. “We get Kilran, we’re handing him his own ass.”

“If we can reach him. Kriffer keeps slipping away too damn fast.” The Barsen’thor, Jakar Forseti, spun his saber-staff in his hands, his scowl distorting the scars on his face. “You got a visual on him?”

“No.” Xaja’s glare darkened as she spun between two more guards, her twin blades taking out both soldiers before they could cause her harm. “Have any more ideas to take that asshole down and get our mysterious Jedi prisoner out of here?”

//Orgus Maneuver?//

“That is still not a valid strategy, Tee-Seven!” Xaja spared a moment to give her astromech a glare, then looked at Jakar as he blinked. “Don’t ask.”

“The Orgus Maneuver? Is that the one where you get thrown at someone--?”

“No!”

//Affirmative!//

“Oh, shut up.” Xaja looked back at Jakar. “How the hell…?”

“Master Orgus laughed about it in a Council meeting that Master Yuon told Qyzen and I about later.” Jakar grinned. “It’s actually a real thing? Did he actually throw you at a mob of Flesh Raiders?” The venerable Barsen’thor burst out laughing when Xaja’s only answer was a wordless scowl. “Force, Master Yuon thought Master Orgus was joking! I mean, you’re short enough that it’s plausible…”

“Jerk.” Xaja glared at the taller Jedi Shadow, then up at his chuckling Trandoshan friend -- at least, she assumed that was a chuckle coming from the large alien. “Master Orgus has been dead for almost a year and I’m still bitter about that entire stupid idea of his.”

“Well, clearly it’s not a stupid idea if it worked.” Jakar nodded in that annoying wisely-Jedi way of his, then suddenly blinked. “He’s out of stealth! I see him!”

“Where?” Xaja whirled, seeking any glimpse of Kilran’s stupid scarred face with that perpetually smug expression. It was unfortunate that Jakar had over a standard foot of height on the tiny sentinel and could see better over the railings and obstacles in the way.

“He’s right over -- actually, new idea, and you’re not gonna like this.”

Xaja saw the evil grin on Jakar’s face, had just enough time to yell “For kriff’s sake, you asshole-!” and then scream a long list of expletives as the Corellian Jedi picked her up with the Force and threw her at Grand Moff Kilran. It was almost worth it to see the perplexed terror in the Butcher of Coruscant’s eyes when he registered the midget Jedi flying at him, lightsabers blazing and fury in her eyes. He didn’t have enough wits about him to put up any defenses before she landed hard on him, one lightsaber taking him through the chest as she rolled with the excess momentum.

It didn’t stop her from raising one solitary finger at Jakar as he approached to help her back up, all but literally dying of laughter. “I hate you,” she growled up at her one-time best friend.

“That was worth it.” Jakar hauled Xaja back up to her feet and continued strolling down the corridor to the stasis chamber holding the Jedi prisoner, still laughing. “Come along, or do I have to do all the work in this rescue?”

Xaja snarled something decidedly uncomplimentary about Corellian asshole Jedi as she followed him, planning her revenge in the form of paint-bomb-rigging his entire ship later.

Belsavis couldn’t make up its mind as to whether it was pleasantly warm and tropical, or if it was frozen and miserable. Right now, partway up one of the mountains, it was just a bit too warm for the robe Xaja was wearing, but too cool for her to discard it. And there was a pack of rioting serial killer prisoners blocking her path to her destination. And Scourge beside her had done virtually nothing but grumble the entire time. “You know, if you want to wait on the Serenity, I’m sure Tee-Seven will be able to work with me just fine…”

“No. You need assistance in disrupting the Emperor’s plans. And your astromech does not have the knowledge or skill to do so.”

“Don’t disparage my droid,” Xaja growled. She glared down at the prisoners below them. “So, Oh Mighty Former Wrath, how does your specific skillset work into taking those assholes down so we can keep stopping the apocalypse?”

Scourge was quiet for a moment. “Your droid mentioned something called the Orgus Maneuver --”

“I’m going to wipe his memory,” the Jedi muttered. “Would you believe me if I said that was all a load of bantha shit?”

“Tee-Seven’s programming does not permit him to knowingly give misinformation. Besides, you’re blushing.”

“Am not.” Xaja scowled at Scourge’s raised brow-ridge. “It’s the cold.”

“Of course.” Scourge looked back down at the rioters. “Do you have any better ideas?”

Xaja groaned and dropped her forehead into her hands. “No… GIVE ME SOME DAMN WARNING!” she screamed back at Scourge as she was abruptly thrown at the prisoners, sabers flashing in the cold air as she reacted on instinct to take down the large group of thugs. Fortunately, while they were armed, none of them had been mentally prepared for a flying Jedi coming right at them from on-high.

The short redhead came back up to her feet as the last rioter fell and turned to glare as Scourge meandered up beside her. “Get that smirk off your face, you giant red asshole,” she growled as she stormed up the path. “It’s still not a valid strategy.”

“Of course not, Master Taerich.” The bastard had no right to be so patronizing-sounding. And he was still smirking at the next Republic checkpoint two kilometres later.

The Revanites had not been expecting company. Xaja whirled behind a boulder with Sorand as the siblings tried to avoid getting shot. “On the list of bad ideas we’re never doing again…”

“Listening to any of Korin’s plans, yes.” Sorand poked his head around the boulder, then quickly jerked it back as blaster fire peppered the air where he’d been visible. “So, Master Jedi, any new ideas to get inside and get that intel on Theron without dying?”

“I was kinda hoping you had something, Your Darthliness.” Ignoring Sorand’s glare, Xaja frowned up at the palm tree branches waving overhead. “Aren’t those former Imperials back there who might shut up and smarten up at Darth-kriffing-Imperius?”

“I hope Dad and Korin are having as much of a hard time on the Republic side.” Sorand irritably Force-threw a boulder back at the pursuing Revanite patrol. “I think we’ve got two options here. Number one, we double back and try to lose them.”

“That’s going to take forever. And we don’t exactly have an excess amount of time in which to find Theron.” Xaja frowned, trying to mask her worry for the missing spy. “What’s option two?”

Sorand looked over, and Xaja saw a grin on his face. “So, I gotta know: is the Orgus Maneuver actually a real thing? Because Tee-Seven and Lord Scourge both swear it’s --”

“They’re full of shit,” Xaja quickly answered, already feeling her face drain pale.

“Liar.” Sorand’s grin widened. “So, what were you saying about doubling-back taking too long?”

“You know, patience is a virtue --”

“And just think about what the Revanites are doing to Theron. I imagine they’re torturing him for information, and there’s enough defector Sith here that --”

“Okay! Fine!” Xaja gave her brother what could be best described as a murderous glare. “You tell anyone about this and I’ll… I’ll ask Dad for embarrassing baby stories about you and put them on the HoloNet.”

“You’re no fun.” Sorand scowled, but nodded his agreement. “Fine, I won’t tell anyone. And there probably won’t be any Revanite witnesses left alive.”

“That’s something,” Xaja grudgingly muttered as she grabbed her lightsaber hilts. “Let’s get this over with.”

“You’ve really got a thing for that spy if you’re doing the Orgus Maneuver for his well-being.”

Xaja whirled to give Sorand another glare at his smirk. “Listen, you, the Jedi Code states that- YOU ASSHOLE!!” She went flying at the Revanites before she could finish correcting Sorand in the error of his thinking (and try to deny, to herself and him, that she had any sort of feelings for Theron bloody Shan), much to the bewildered horror of the approaching patrol. Perhaps fortunately for the Revanites, they didn’t have too long to dwell on their shock.

The Jedi-turned-human-projectile was less fortunate. She whirled out of the last Ataru form as the final former-Imperial soldier dropped and felt her scowl deepen when she heard howls of laughter. “It was not that funny, Sora--” she started to snap as she turned around, and promptly groaned. Sorand was in fact doubled over and laughing into his fist, but Korin was literally on the jungle floor, laughing so hard he was wheezing. At least their father didn’t seem to be taking great amounts of amusement from this entire embarrassing fiasco: Reanden was staring in mute shock, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Xaja hid her face in her palm as she stormed back over to her family. “We never speak of this again… Asshole,” she grouchily added at Sorand.

Sorand finally straightened up and wiped a tear of laughter from his cheek. “Totally worth it.” He glanced over at Reanden, who still hadn’t moved. “Did we break Dad…?”

“I don’t blame him! You nearly broke me with that throw!” Xaja snapped.

“Oh, come on, you were fine. You landed right on one of them!”

“And armour hurts to land on like that!”

“Are all the Jedi such wimps as you?”

And that was when Xaja shoved Sorand (with perhaps a bit more force than was strictly necessary) into the jungle creek.

Nobody was quite sure just how the Revanites had found the coalition’s base camp, or how they’d managed to sneak up on the supposedly-fortified position. Xaja suspected that someone might have managed to dodge being identified on the list of traitors Theron had found. But now wasn’t the time to determine how they’d been compromised, not while she was duelling two ‘sabre wielding duellists. One staggered as he got a size-six boot to the midsection, and Xaja could turn her attention to the other. She dodged, bending far backward to avoid a bright yellow blade slicing through where her neck had been, and cut the Revanite’s legs out from under him.

She whirled to face her other opponent as the first fell and did not move again. The other man seemed to have recovered from the kick he’d gotten, and raised his lightsaber overhead as he prepared to charge at the Jedi -- then suddenly fell as blaster fire rang out nearby. When Xaja glanced over, she saw Theron lowering one of his pistols and looking back at her. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” Xaja hurried back over to the spy behind his cover of a camp table; a moment later, Sorand joined them, his mask pulled over his face to obscure his identity to everyone who hadn’t been on Rishi. “How many of these kriffers are there?”

“Revan sent a decent-sized group,” Sorand grunted. Irritation rolled off him through the Force, although Xaja suspected most of it might stem from how stifling his ancient mask was. Yavin’s humidity wasn’t helping anyone. “I think we’ve gotten the worst of it. Marr was taking out a group near the speeder platforms, and the Grand Master’s running triage on our wounded.”

Theron nodded. “I’m trying to pick up their comm chatter, but they’ve got decent scramblers. It’s hard to get a bead on--” He suddenly tensed, battle-ready. “There’s another group coming. A solid half-dozen.” He gestured with his head; Xaja and Sorand both turned to see the stealthily approaching Revanites.

Xaja scowled. “Lovely. Sorand, you got that?”

“You know they’re right beside our power converters, right? Force Lightning and power converters are a bad combination. Theron, what’s your charge on the blasters?”

“One’s depleted, the other’s half out.” Theron shrugged when Sorand turned his masked face back to him. “I had to hot-wire a comms interception rig. It took an entire charge pack!”

“But did it work?” Sorand asked, tilting his head.

“Yes… Until it blew up.”

Xaja facepalmed, then gave Sorand a look as he suddenly turned his head toward her. She could feel a worrisome sense of excited glee from him. “Oh, hell no,” she growled at the Sith.

“I don’t hear you coming up with any better ideas.”

“I hate you,” Xaja snapped, ignoring Theron’s perplexed look.

“I know.” Sorand sounded like he was trying to not laugh. “Orgus Maneuver in three…”

“Wait, that can’t actually be a real thing,” Theron quickly interjected, eyes widening. Xaja promptly decided she needed to find out how the hell the SIS knew of Master Orgus’ worst idea.

“Two... one!” Sorand laughed as he threw Xaja at the pack of Revanites. The Jedi activated one lightsaber as she flew through the air, and had just long enough to raise her free hand back at the Sith and make a particularly rude gesture before she was in combat with the shocked Revanites. At least Theron wasn’t laughing, the Jedi reasoned to herself when she finally finished the fight and turned back to see the spy staring mutely, hand over his mouth in bewilderment and-- oh, that wasn’t amusement she felt from him, was it…?

She turned back and promptly swore when she saw Darth Marr standing a few paces away. His mask hid even more than Sorand’s, but she suspected that she’d achieved the impossible and stricken the leader of the Dark Council to stunned silence. She just caught a glimpse of blonde hair and a dark cloak and frowned as Lana disappeared behind a tree, presumably to try to regain her composure, although the Jedi could still hear poorly-stifled laughter. The redhead scowled and looked back at Marr. “I suppose there’s no way to convince you that you just hallucinated all of that?”

“No, Master Taerich, there is not,” Marr finally answered. “You might have better luck convincing your Grand Master of that.”

Xaja swore again as she whirled around to see Master Satele, looking perhaps more shocked than she’d ever seen the older Jedi before, even more so than when she’d marched into the Jedi Council chambers after being MIA for months with none other than the Emperor’s Wrath in tow. “This was all Master Orgus’ fault,” she growled.

“It actually… The Orgus Maneuver…” Master Satele’s eyes bulged even further in her white face. “I thought he was joking!”

“I told you he used me as a human projectile! And that’s why I asked if you could adopt me!” Xaja glared at her mentor.

Satele dropped her face into her hands and groaned, for a brief moment forfeiting her Jedi stoicism. “I’m adding an amendment to the Code about using Padawans as ranged weapons,” she muttered.

Xaja had fought legends of the Sith before, up to and including Vitiate. She’d sparred against some of the most skillful masters of the Force and of the blades on the Jedi Temple training grounds. This did not mean that she was immune to getting her ass kicked by a three-hundred-year-old maniac.

The petite redhead swore as she was thrown hard by a wave of the Force and landed on the other side of the temple courtyard from Revan as he leaped at Korin; the spacer just managed to roll away in time to not get impaled by red or purple blades. Xaja groaned as she got back up to her knees, then ducked as Darth Marr crashed on the cobblestones just to her left. The Sith grunted as he regained his footing. “He is strong with the Force,” he snarled; Xaja could practically feel his glare, directed at Revan though it was.

“Why must psychopaths always be unreasonably strong?” Xaja complained in agreement. She reached out a hand; the lightsaber that she’d dropped when she fell back flew back to her grasp. “If he was this strong before getting locked up, no wonder Vitiate feared him.”

“Vitiate cannot feel fear,” Marr growled. He scowled in Revan’s direction as the lunatic somehow caught the burst of Force Lightning that Sorand had shot at at him and pushed it back, hard enough to knock the younger Sith’s hood off and mask away. Marr seemed to start for a moment when he saw Sorand’s face, then looked at Xaja contemplatively… then back at Revan, then at Xaja again. “The Orgus Maneuver will work on a single enemy and not a group of foes…”

Xaja groaned. “Oh, come on!”

“I didn’t take the Jedi to be cowards,” Marr retorted. The bastard knew exactly what to say to get under Xaja’s skin.

The Jedi scowled at Marr, then sighed and braced herself. “Fine, let’s get this over with,” she muttered-- a second later, she was in the air and flying. Marr had a remarkably good throwing ability.

It was totally worth it to see Revan wheel around from where he’d been choking Shae Vizla with the Force and watch his eyes widen in horror before the redhead landed on him, his weapons falling from his hands as a hundred pounds of grumpy thrown Jedi hit him square in the chest.

Five and a half years later…

“Useful ideas only, please.” Xaja frowned as she paced around the war room’s holotable, eyeing the image of the Star Fortress facility on Alderaan. This one seemed to be particularly well-defended with a battalion of Knights stationed within at all times. “There’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to bomb it from a ship without the fortress itself shooting at us. Sorry, Koth -- it was a good idea, but not feasible.”

“Damn.” Koth frowned and tilted his chair back as he studied the holo. “Can we sneak in and plant explosives all over the place?”

“There’s too great a risk of the facility’s destruction preventing us from getting in to find the controls for the protective field around the fortress,” Theron said as he frowned at his datapad and took a sip of the caf he held in his other hand. Being a caffeine-addicted workaholic had taught him how to multitask well. “We need to be able to get inside.”

“Without being killed by the Knights or Skytroopers,” Reanden added. “Or those kriffing turrets outside the bunker.”

Everyone winced at a mention of the turrets. “Let's never talk about those again,” Korin mumbled. He was still sporting some impressive bruises from his last scouting run near the turrets. The machines had only hit the boulder beside him, but the impact of exploding stones still had hurt.

Lana tapped at her lips in thought, glancing at the holotable, then at Xaja, then at Theron (perhaps a little bit warily), then back at the holotable. “We could always throw the Commander at them,” she mildly suggested, and ignored Theron when he choked on his sip of caf.

Xaja turned and gave the Sith Lord a menacing glare. “Like I said: useful ideas only, please.” She looked back to the holotable and tried to ignore Koth and Senya staring in confusion. “Is there any way to remotely slice into the turret controls--?”

“Throwing the Commander?” Senya looked back and forth between Xaja and Lana. “This can’t actually be a strategy from the Core Wo--”

“It’s not,” Xaja quickly said as Lana opened her mouth, and gave the Sith another glare, which she transferred to Theron when he appeared to be trying to hide a smirk behind his caf mug. “Next real suggestion?”

“The Orgus Maneuver?” Sorand grinned and bumped his knuckles against Korin’s, both brothers far too amused.

“We never, ever speak of the Orgus Maneuver again,” Xaja growled, then saw Koth open his mouth to ask a question. “It’s an urban legend. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to prove. It could never really happen. Maybe we can do a really fast flyby over the turrets and hit them before the fortress can track the ship?...”

She didn’t see Lana angling her upper body behind her and mouthing ‘It’s a real thing’ at the Zakuulans. Neither Koth nor Senya seemed to fully believe it; but for the next year, every major problem that the Alliance faced had “throw the Commander at it” offered as a suggested plan. And every time it was suggested, Xaja shot it down with what she insisted was executive veto power.

Vaylin was in the base itself. Xaja could feel the rage-filled darkness that was the mad Empress, worryingly near to Vette’s Force-signature. Sorand was nearby as well, but he felt wounded. The Commander tore around the corner, Arcann and Senya right behind her. She could see where she needed to be, see Vaylin’s back turned to her as she paced menacingly in front of the subdued Vette… Just out of easy leaping range.

She glared at the distance between her and Vaylin, her expression darkening further when she recognized what few options she had. It would take far too long to run around for an easier access point, especially when Xaja suspected that Vaylin’s patience would give out before then, and with Vette’s life in the balance. She couldn’t call for a fighter flyby either, for the same reason. And dignity be damned… This really was the only option. “Arcann?”

“Yes, Commander?”

I can’t believe I’m doing this. “Are you familiar with the Orgus Maneuver?”

“We’ve heard rumours,” Arcann admitted as Senya nodded. “Tee-Seven said it came from your old Jedi teacher throwing you at an enemy, which couldn’t possibly have happened.”

“Long story short… It’s true. All of it. My old master did in fact throw me at a pack of Flesh Raiders when I was still a student, and was so pleased with himself that he named the maneuver after himself. It started as a short joke.” Xaja turned and gave the former Emperor a flat, warning glare. “If you ever so much as breathe a word about me giving you permission to use the Orgus Maneuver, I will put you on sanitation duty for the rest of your natural life.”

Arcann’s eyes widened. “It… Yes, Commander. I’ll be right behind you.”

“That puts you a step ahead of everyone else who’s used the Maneuver on me,” Xaja muttered as she braced herself for the throw. “When you’re ready.” Arcann nodded his understanding and raised his hand; Xaja felt the Force grasp her a second before she was thrown hard through the night air, her white-bladed lightsabers igniting at the last possible second.

Vaylin turned just in time to not get stealth-killed, but the shocked (and not a little bit fearful) expression in her eyes was almost worth it.

“Do these bloody droids never end?” Sorand loudly complained as a stream of purple lightning shot from his fingertips. Apparently the Republic base camp on Iokath wasn’t quite as secure as one might have hoped. “Did we not kill enough of them the last time we were here?”

“Apparently not,” Xaja grumbled. Her lightsabers flashed in the air as she deflected a bolt from another droid. “Are we sure this super weapon is worth dealing with this shit?”

“Do you want the Empire getting their hands on it? Or the Republic without adult supervision?” Korin retorted.

“I heard that!” Theron snapped at the Sith, then looked at Xaja. “But she’s right.”

“I’m trying really hard to not be offended, Beniko,” Jorgan growled from his sniper’s position.

“Considering the Republic’s last leader tried to have the Commander assassinated, I’m reasonably sure logic left the Senate entirely years ago,” Lana snarled back, her eyes blazing amber.

“How did the Republic get the reputation of being the so-called honourable ones?” Arcann asked as he threw his lightsaber and took out another droid at a distance.

Xaja rolled her eyes at the argument, then saw the colossal droid striding up and felt herself pale. This one looked to be at least as big as the one that she and Vette had taken down on the last visit to Iokath. “Guys…”

“Really, Xaja could just give the super weapon to the Republic,” Korin interjected into the argument. “If their security’s as bad as it was ten years ago, the Empire will have it too in probably a week.”

“Hey!” Theron glared at his friend. “I mean, you’re probably right now that I’m not working for them anymore, but…”

“So humble, Shan,” Sorand dryly commented.

“Listen, Your Darthliness--”

“What did I say about calling me Your Darthliness?!”

“GUYS!” Xaja’s sharp shout cut into the argument. “Bigger problems!”

“Bigger problems like -- holy shit!” Theron finally turned and saw the approaching droid. “Get under cover!”

Unfortunately, the building that the Alliance team hid behind proved to be little protection from the droid’s laser weapons. Xaja pressed herself against the wall and coughed as she did a headcount through the dust, using the Force to help. Everyone was alive and conscious, miraculously. “Sound off!” She shouted.

“All present and accounted for,” Theron called over. “I’m sending a distress signal back to my father. We should have backup soon.”

“Assuming Commander Malcom’s anywhere near his comm,” Lana grumbled. “We need to find an escape route.”

“If we split up….” Korin mused as he frowned at the dust obscuring his view of the sky. “It can’t kill all of us at once, right?”

“Have you seen its range? It would have no problems shooting all of us.” Arcann scowled. “If we take it out at the legs--”

“Then we get stepped on and smushed into unrecognizable splatters,” Theron grumbled. ”We need a fighter flyby now!”

“Not likely to happen,” Xaja muttered as she looked upward. … It’s worth a shot. “Arcann, Lana, Sorand: who’s got the longest throwing range?”

The three aforementioned Force users looked at each other. “Probably me,” Arcann finally said. “But if we can synchronize it, we might be able to throw something further than one of us can alone.”

“Good.” Xaja sighed in resignation. “We’re enacting the Orgus Maneuver, unless someone has a better idea in the next ten seconds--”

“I don’t think we even have ten seconds!” Jorgan shouted. “Incoming!”

Everything happened in the blur of a second as the colossus droid’s foot started to descend. Xaja just saw her Force-users look at each other before she was lifted up, saw the blood drain out of Theron’s face, saw Jorgan suddenly blink as he caught up to what exactly the Orgus Maneuver was… and then she was flying upward, fast enough to make tears stream from her eyes. Her impact with the droid wasn’t enough to knock it down, but she did seem to throw it off-balance, enough for her to continue scrambling up the chassis to attack the droid’s head and control centre.

Minutes later, the droid finally fell to its knees, then started falling entirely down, all inner systems having been rendered non-functional. Xaja jumped from the droid’s shoulder, landed on an elevated platform, and rolled with her momentum until she came to a stop. For several long seconds she stayed still, focusing on breathing and the realization that she wasn’t dead from that stunt. Shit, where’s Theron? I need to find him and make sure he’s all right --

Footsteps came to a halt beside her. Xaja cracked an eye open to see Jace Malcom’s dropped jaw and bulging eyes. “... Welcome to the party,” she said, wearily waving at the grizzled veteran. “You missed it.”

“No, we got here in time to see everything.” Malcom shook his head. “Everything. I thought the Orgus Maneuver was a myth --”

“For kriff’s sake, how many people know about that?!” Xaja groaned in frustration. “I’m never going to live this down.”

“Nope.” Malcom sighed, then turned his head and waved. “She’s all right, Theron!” he called out, and seconds later Xaja was being lifted off the ground and tightly hugged by a still-pale Theron.

“We’re not making this mistake again,” Xaja growled as she and Sorand ran through the ancient Chiss temple, Raina in tow. “We see Theron, we're doing the Maneuver.”

“Good,” Sorand muttered. “I still can’t believe you and Lana didn’t do it on Umbara.”

“Mostly because we were trying to get to Korin and make sure Theron hadn’t killed him.” Xaja glanced behind her as the trio continued to run. “I don’t know what my father’s told you about me, Lieutenant Temple, but you’re sworn to secrecy for what you’re about to see.”

Raina’s eyes widened. “Yes, Commander Taerich,” she said. “What am I going to be seeing?”

“The Orgus Maneuver, which absolutely does not exist, and is not the reason why I’m probably going to punch my old Jedi Master when I see him after I pass into the Force.” Xaja came around the corner and saw the shuttle preparing to take off, with him on board, with that (admittedly sexy-looking) jacket and that awful haircut (dear Force, what had he been thinking?!), and perhaps half a dozen of his Chiss friends. “End of the line, Theron!” she shouted at her wayward husband, seeing him whirl when he heard her voice. His hazel eyes widened enough for Xaja to see it, even at this distance. “Sorand!”

“The Maneuver is a go!” Sorand stretched out his hand, and Xaja felt herself flying in a too-familiar motion, on a direct course for Theron. She recognized the alarm and disbelief in his eyes as he started moving out of her path --

-- then there was a blur of blue and grey, Theron shouted “No, wait, don’t!”, and Xaja was knocked completely off her trajectory by a larger Chiss body slamming into hers and knocking her to the ground. Valss, the notorious Force-wielding Chiss, landed in front of her and spun his yellow lightsaber menacingly.

It failed? Xaja rolled back to her feet as Sorand came running up to her side, and watched in mute, stunned disbelief as the shuttle door slid closed and Theron escaped her. “The Orgus Maneuver failed?” she whispered, feeling her shoulders slump despondently. “How the hell did it fail…?”

“Bigger problems right now!” Sorand shouted as he Force-threw Valss back from Xaja before the Chiss could seize the opportunity to attack the Commander. “Fight, dammit!”

… I was so close. Anger made Xaja’s jaw tighten as she drew her lightsabers, white blades with Sorand’s green weapon facing off against the Chiss and his yellow blade. Valss never stood a chance. But it was still a depressed Jedi-turned-Commander and a stunned Dark Lord of the Sith who made it onto Lana’s evacuation shuttle after the battle. How did the Orgus Maneuver fail?

For her part, Raina just looked back and forth between the Commander and the Sith Lord, then back in the direction of the traitor’s shuttle, then back at the Jedi. “Ktah,” she muttered under her breath, wondering once again what exactly she’d just signed up for. She could only hope that the day would never come when she would be considered a projectile weapon.

[keldae]

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction? 39. What is you greatest strength as a writer? 28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of? 20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

ALL the questions!! :D

50. The year is somewhere around 2001-ish. The Return of the King is in theatres. 12-year-old Kel and her bestie have taken a running leap into Middle-earth and are completely in love with Legolas Thranduilion. They’ve been left unsupervised on a computer and are scouring the Internet for anything and everything connected to the Lord of the Rings, and find a site (... I want to say Moon Books? Green Books? Something like that?) with a bunch of stories on it that weren’t written by JRR Tolkien/Peter Jackson/anyone else official. The stories are enthralling to two impressionable young would-be-elves (and both of us were shipping Faramir/Eowyn to the MAX. Jawa’s very first OTP!).

Fast forward to late 2008/early 2009. Kel is in Grade 12 (senior year of high school), and having established her reputation as the class introvert, takes to spending her lunch periods in the library on the computers. With Facebook being blocked by the school servers, she idly starts looking for those same LOTR stories. It is then that she learns of the term “fan fiction”, and winds up tripping and falling into FFN’s LOTR archives, and the rest, as they say, is history. (My very first fic wound up being a *le confessional sigh* dread Girl-Falls-Into-Middle-Earth Tenth Walker story. But I think, despite the hardcore Legolas crush, the character started gravitating toward Boromir?)

39. Oooooh. Hmmm. I’ve been told by professors/other grown-up readers that I have a very strong voice, and my writing style tends to be pretty consistent (and one of my sociology profs always got a kick out of reading the dry wit and snark I’d throw into my papers. Like at uni grad she was eager to meet my mum and see just where I had learned to write like that. XD). As far as fic goes, I’ve been told I’m an emotive writer and seem to be good at conveying emotions and feelings and making readers cry! I’m working on the descriptive skills and writing out combat. :D

28. I would probably say Drastic Measures, since that’s my biggest project that’s eating my soul right now. There’s some one-shots that could inspire an artistic mind though -- The Orgus Maneuver and Memento Mori are the ones that come to mind. (It’s not published yet, but @andveryginger and I, with @corey-067‘s help, have been writing out Reanden and Mairen’s wedding, and that’s another one I could see art for!) As for what the art might be -- for Drastic Measures, I’m not sure! I’ve had a WIP on the backburner for aaaages of Theron and Xaja escaping the Spire, but there could be scenes from them fleeing Rishi with Doc, or on Dromund Kaas, or Voss, or something. (Not gonna lie, I would loooooove to see art of Jace punching a hole through Saresh’s desk. >.>)

20. Ooooooh, good question! I gotta think about this for a minute. >.>

Believe it or not, I was not expecting the Theron romance in Shadow of Revan to hit me out of left field like it did. Initially I had played Xaja through that story like “it’s an NPC like the ones on Makeb where you’ll never see them again so meh”, and that lasted until... Manaan? So yeah now Theron/Jedi Knight is my biggest current OTP. XD 

I’ve come to the realization that Jedi Consular/Zenith is a fantastic ship (BIOWARE, LET US ROMANCE ZENITH) and I dig it. :D I also like unconventional pairings -- @kunoichi-ume‘s Jedi Knight/Torian is a delightful ship that I would never have imagined, but I dig (and may have inspired Korin/Kira over in Taerich’verse!). 

Outside of SWTOR... hmmm. Thorin/Bilbo in the Hobbit was not a ship I had ever even got a whiff of in the book, but the movie version had me shipping it hard. And when I started casually watching Fairy Tail, I wound up shipping Lucy/Leo. And I’m rather digging a Poe/Rey ship in the SW Sequel Trilogy!

[keldae]

SWTOR Fan Day

Happy Star Wars day, my lovely nerds! <3

So, as most of you likely know if you’re following my blog, I’ve been sucked headfirst into Theron Shan/Jedi Knight romance, featuring my short-tempered midget of a Jedi, Xaja Taerich. The Fractured Alliances arc in particular has done Things(tm) to me and my feelings, so let’s jump in and see what I’m most proud of having made this year.

#1. Drastic Measures, an AU retelling of KOTFE. In which, Theron’s impulse control and poor coping mechanisms mean the Outlander gets busted out of carbonite three years earlier than scheduled, and the galaxy’s currently imploding on itself trying to deal with the consequences. Standby to see just how much of a shit-show this becomes. ;)

#2. Darth Imperius. This is the first fanart I’ve made of my Sith Inquisitor OC, Sorand Taerich, that I don’t hate (and the kid’s been around for like five years!).

#3. Lana Beniko. I cosplay IRL, and my current project is our favourite Sith lady, Lana. She’s still a work in progress, but that’s the most recent status update picture I have of her! never minding that I may or may not have thrown her armour across my apartment about thirty seconds after this selfie was taken. Industrial strength velcro is a LIE.

#4. Cipher Nine. Reanden Taerich, the patriarch of Clan Piranha, and the crankiest old bastard of a spy that the SIS has ever had working for them. ;)

#5. Full Circle. One-shot. After the Umbara crisis, Xaja hid her and Theron’s son safely away from Odessen where he wouldn’t be targeted or caught in crossfire. And who better to hide a baby with than Grandma Satele? ;)

#6. The Orgus Maneuver. Necessity is the mother of invention, and Master Orgus was apparently a fan of MCU. Xaja’s still carrying a grudge.

And, bonus... #7. A quick doodle while chatting in Discord with the rest of Clan Piranha, discussing how daddy!Theron would be the cutest thing EVER and dads with sleeping newborns on their chests is heartstoppingly ADORABLE and you see where I’m going with this? ;)

[keldae]

Do I have actual projects I need to be working on for other people? Yes. So what does Xaja do? Informs me that I can put the commissions to the side to colour a quick little piece featuring her and her bestie.

That “quick little piece” took me all day, but voila. I present to you Xaja and her Corellian best friend, Jedi Shadow Jakar Forseti, aka @d6790‘s brainspawn. They pick on each other regularly (and by that I mean Jakar does most of the picking-on and Xaja gets riled up WAY too easily xD), but they’ve got each other’s backs when they’re not tripping each other up or when Jakar’s not using the Orgus Maneuver.

(Used their IRL faceclaims instead of their in-game faces for a base. Jakar’s faceclaim is Keanu Reeves, Xaja’s is Julie McNiven.)