#then i can sort them by group or galaxy or even system

[psijay]

i'm throwing together an organized lore doc for the universe i write about the most, and it's getting ridiculous. we're talking about trying to consolidate almost 10 years of lore. i'm digging through drafts and citing them in the lore doc. i'm figuring out where everything's located. i'm considering creating a conlang TO MAKE NAMING SHIT EASIER. what is wrong with me.

[bleedingichorhearts]

Ok so in it reader just wants to go home and sleep because what went down on 4546b had left them all around exhausted not to mention jumpy which results in them not realizing how long it's truly been ending up in front of the emperor's castle which leaves reader confused but also amazed because 1 place is pretty and 2 they don't know if their navigation system is fucked where they ended up somewhere else or it's been so long someone ended up buying the area then made the castle.

"Alright, let me see what my brain can cook with this cross over. Somethings are shifted to make more sense. I also used Subnautica's time era." - Ichor

Summary - "You eventually make it off of planet 4546B with the Primarch: Vulkan in tow. Only to figure out that so much time has passed and evolved without you."

"@kit-williams, @egrets-not-regrets, @bispecsual, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @sleepyfan-blog.”

“+@c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @marcela2000.” - Tagged

TW // Light Angst, Hint Of Roboute Guilliman.

|°𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕃𝕚𝕤𝕥°| {𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈}

Your brain is absolutely frazzled.

You haven’t expected humanity to have evolved so much from when you were stuck on planet 4546B. The time on the planet was definitely different from the galaxies time, and to see yourself in a practical, different time? It was bamboozling you. Your brain just barely hanging around in your own skull with this highly praised Primarch: Vulkan by your side, leading you to new adventures.

Honestly, you didn't really believe that he was some sort of leader, but you were proven quickly wrong with how his followers, his sons embrace him once the both of you were pinpointed down by their systems. Their own heights towering, just like him. It was... it was rather amazing. It almost reminded you of the Sea Emperor...

Looking over to your ship for a moment, you remanence on it. Thinking of all the hard ships you have gone through just to get... here on what they call terra, and by the gods what it impressive and massive. Though, you preferer the architect from planet 4546B. You have lived on it for so long that you considered it home... You accepted that you would be lonely on that planet and wouldn't meet another person, especially with that Quarantine Enforcement Platform that shot down the Sunbeam with ease.

You accepted that you would die alone on that planet.

"Little one, are you alright?" The deep voice of Vulkan spooks you from your thoughts. Your form jumping in your spot as he placed his hand on your shoulder that nearly engulfs the side of you, but you have grown used to the size difference over time. Your eyes glancing back up to him.

"Fine." You simply say, looking around you once more. His... sons that gathered around, looking down at you in what seems to be curiosity. Did they have the same kindness their... father has? "Everything seems... new? Evolved?"

"New? Evolved?" One of his curious sons questions you, stepping forward a bit. The many eyes of the sons making you shift in your spot, underneath Vulkans' hand. "Just what time era did you come from?"

"...Uh, 22nd century?"

"22nd century?" A mutter goes through the group as some look at each other in confusion. They have never heard of such a time era, and well... you didn't know theirs to give a proper answer. You could only give them of what you remembered with honesty.

"What did your time look like?" They press, still looking curious. Your gaze flickering up the Vulkan in worry and suspicion. Were they going to try and pry what you barely even know anymore? It's been so long...

"Answers will come in time, my sons." He addresses them and dismisses them at the same time. His hand lifting for your shoulder while he looks out to his sons, or what you remember calling them "his Salamander's." "Let it be known this one is under my arms."

"Yes, Lord Vulkan." They all nod in sync, giving one more questioning look your way before departing to do their tasks that had been set for them. Their armors giving soft thuds on the ground on the ground as they walk away.

"22nd century?" Vulkan then starts to question you himself once the stressful situation of having a group well... questioning you all together. His eyes looking back down at you and giving you one of his charming smiles. "There is still more I don't know about you, little one."

You shrug your shoulders in response, unsure how to really answer that. Your eyes' glancing around you once more, taking in the... blue version of the salamanders, and gold? Were they different ones? They did have a different logo on their pauldrons... Was that a good sign or bad?

"Brother, you have returned-" You don't really pay attention to the newcomer. Your eyes roaming the area around you curiously, and maybe a bit of longing. Not for the... evolution of the place, but for remembering how "old" you have become. How the world always went off without you. This... new stuff almost scares you, almost. You have felt the same when you first crash landed upon 4546B and you were forced to adapt despite your cries of desperation. To not feel that abandonment. That loneliness. The Sea Emperor was your only true friend, but even then...

"This little one helped me, brother." You can hear Vulkan address you. Gesturing over to your form that seems in lost in thought again. A pang of worry coursing through him. You seem very different now from when you were on that water planet. Were you... homesick? Even when it wasn't a home, but your survival. Just how long were you on that planet that you started to believe that it was your home? Do you even remember what your... past life was like? Before the crash?

"Is that so?" His brother: Roboute Guilliman questions him with a risen brow. No doubt thinking of how a little baseline was helping him out within this water planet he was telling him of. His blue gauntlets resting on his gorget.

"Yes, brother." He nods with confirmation. Shifting his weight as his tone switches to more protective. "You have no idea what horrors laid on that planet: good and evil, and they have braved it through. From little hypnotizing fish to the biggest leviathan."

"Leviathan? Hypnotizing fish?" Roboute sounds like he was in a bit of disbelief, but he trusts that one of his most resilient brothers was not telling a lie. "If I didn't know you any better, brother. I would have assigned you an Apothecary."

Vulkan simply laughs at his words. His head throwing back, amused with his words but also grateful of them. It was nice to know that his brother trusts him. "No, I am perfectly fine brother. Just telling you have the new planet the little one called: 4546B. They were the only survivor on it."

"Only survivor?" His bother once again questions him again. His eyes sparking with a bit of interest until he shifts to look down at you approaching him and it seems to surprise him. Never was one bold to come close and touch his armor curiously. (You were to most likely to get back handed.) "My, you are a bold one."

"You are smaller than your... brother." You comment, slowly trying to comprehend everything around you. Your words exiting another laugh from Vulkan. "Look quite different too. Were you born from different mothers?"

"Ah, no." The big blue answers you with a bit of casualness. His eyes flickering over to Vulkan in more questioning. Just what kind of baseline did his brother pick up? "More like... we were created."

"Created?" You perk up at his words, more innocently curiously and it sways big blues hearts a bit. Maybe that is why Vulkan took and sheltered this baseline? For their innocence of the world? "So... what exactly are you then? You look human, but it's clear you are more then, well, a human."

"Thats a curiosity that can be answered at a different time, little one." Vulkan buts in, saving his brother from possibly saying something wrong to you. He knows you would distance yourself if one were to say something, a hint of dislike towards you. He figured that out on one of the days he was on that water planet with you. You have taken that "Cyclops" down into the deep without him knowing, and it stressed him out to no end. He had to give you credit for own resilience on being able to go out on your own, and you were lucky that day however, that you didn't return injured.

"Alright, doesn't hurt to ask." You nod, stepping back from the blue Primarch. Your eyes looking him over. "You remind me if the calm of the sea."

Roboute shifts at your innocent comments and... complements. A Primarch known to have some sort of praise from generals and nobles as it was known they could absolutely destroy them, but yours was different. Yours for some reason felt... pure. "I- may I ask what that means, for you?"

"I'm just saying you remind me of the calm, that you are calm, but it doesn't mean that a storm is hidden beneath." You shrug your shoulders as if what you're saying won't affect anything. "Your brother reminds me of a chirping forest. I haven't seen one of those in a long time..."

"Are they a poet?" Guilliman asks his brother his eyes watching you as you seem to look out in the distance again. His mind trying to figure out what you are, who you are. You are certainly an interesting baseline.

Vulkan shrug his own shoulders in response. Smiling at the smooth introduction that happened between the two of you. Glad that his brother was being reasonable. "The unknown is still precenting themselves. Even for them."

"Even for them?" Roboute repeats his words before deciding to test you on something. Shifting his weight as he gives you his attention. Saying something about a difference in the world, and his words seems to change your face while you cringe at them, seemingly not liking them. You honestly looked like you were in a crisis, or when Roboute himself begins his paperwork.

He figures though, that you were certainly not from their time. You were definitely older than them.

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS A GALAXY??

Blog#505

Welcome back,

Wednesday, May 14th, 2025,

The word itself comes from galaktikós kyklos, or “milky circle,” the ancient Greek term for the Milky Way, our home galaxy.

In modern times, though, we use “galaxy” more generically to refer to any large system of stars, gas, dust and dark matter, all held together by their mutual gravity. That’s actually not a bad definition, except for the small fact that not every galaxy has all these features.

There are galaxies without any detectable gas and dust, and some that seem to have little or no dark matter. I suppose the common thread is that they do all have stars, but even then we run into trouble because not all gravitationally bound systems of stars rate as galaxies.

Very generally speaking, galaxies are tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of light-years across and have millions to several trillions of stars. Our Milky Way, for example, is about 120,000 light-years wide and contains somewhere between approximately 100 billion to 400 billion stars.

It’s hard to get even a rough number because faint red dwarfs are the most common kind of stars, but they’re so dim they fade to invisibility even relatively close to our solar system.

Still, we do know the overall shape of our galaxy, which is a gigantic flattened disk with a central bulge of older, redder stars that is about 20,000 light-years wide. The structure of the disk is dominated by four major spiral arms and several smaller ones. These arms are dotted by huge clouds of gas and dust from which stars are born. Many of these stars are massive, luminous and blue, giving the spiral arms their characteristic azure hue. Because we’re inside the galaxy, mapping it is difficult, so many details of its structure remain to be determined.

Spirals are only one of four major classifications for galaxies; the others are elliptical, irregular and peculiar.

Elliptical galaxies would be better called spheroidal; they can be spherical but are more commonly elongated, a bit like a cotton ball. Some of the largest galaxies we know are elliptical, like the mighty M87 galaxy, which has several trillion stars. M87 sits in the center of the Virgo Cluster—a large group of galaxies bound together by gravity that boasts about 2,000 members. In fact, such giant ellipticals are common in the centers of galaxy clusters. These galaxies grow by eating other ones, both large and small, that venture too close to the cluster core, so the elliptical shape itself may be caused in part by this cannibalism process.

Not all ellipticals are huge, though: many are quite small. These are called “dwarf elliptical galaxies” and are satellites of larger galaxies. The Andromeda galaxy, for example, has many dwarf ellipticals orbiting it.

Ellipticals don’t have much gas in them, if any. They appear to have exhausted essentially all their gas by making stars long ago. Massive blue stars don’t live long; they explode as supernovae within millions of years of their birth, so a few billion years after its gas is depleted, an elliptical galaxy will look very red, dominated by ruddier lower-mass stars.

Peculiar galaxies are rare. They have all sorts of shapes but tend to be, well, odd. They are usually the result of galactic collisions, train wrecks on a cosmic scale. The mutual gravity of two interacting galaxies stretches and distorts their otherwise regular shapes, creating long, curving tails of flung-away stars. Sometimes, if a smaller galaxy plows right through the center of a larger one, the collision creates a ring galaxy, in which the stars and gas are splashed away from the larger galaxy’s center like ripples on a pond after a rock is dropped in.

Originally published on https://www.scientificamerican.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, May 17th, 2025)

"WHY IS SPACE BLACK??"

[veryripebanana]

It has been a few thousand years since the humans have joined the federation. We have already collected every possible information we can about them. From their excessive need for "thrill", a cure for "boredom", and even their very fast scientific advancements/evolution. Since the time they had joined the federation, they have not only achieved the theorized speed capacity in our universe that is 10¹⁴⁷x the speed of light, ahead 10³⁴ times from the Dos'hk's fastest spacecraft, but they also have the largest and most advanced data storage system that powers their "internet" across the whole universe and stores everything to keep record of everything they know and will know. The data storage is named "Data point", it occupies a whole galaxy due to the extremely large population of humans at this point, but not only that, they have claimed to have a back up galaxy sized storage system that THEY HID, it is surprising that noone can find a galaxy sized data storage but then again, humans.

There are plenty more that i can talk to you about the humans but then, it will never end.

All i can say is with everything that the humans are, they are the reason that the federation remade the sorting/ranking system in their files 300 years ago. Back then the humans already were the highest with level 20 deathworld origin, level 20 technological advancements, and more. But thenthe federation made a decision to put humans in the only class "unknown" in every recorded species in the federation.

End note, the universe at this point is still deemed as "infinite" even by humans. Maybe that's why they have hidden their back up data storage from everyone. But also, maybe somewhere out there, in the farthest point, possibly 10^1983^18890^1000 light years away there's a completely diffrent universal group from the federation, and maybe, they too have a species they rank "unknown", and just maybe, make the humans seem like mortals.

[midnight--sadness]

Here's another random idea I had the other night..

AU where Ilnam decides he wants to keep Gihun and doesn't wanna risk him dying in the games, so during the marbles game he has him discretely "eliminated" (and then later gets himself off the game too by faking a heart attack or something cause he wasn't gonna do the fifth game lmao) and basically just has Gihun taken back to his place as a sort of guest/pet...

Maybe he gets the idea of introducing him to Inho and trying to set them up in a fucked up way to cheer them up

Maybe after the fifth game they've been having some chats and Ilnam and Gihun play a game/make a bet where if Ilnam wins Gihun has to watch the rest of the game and next years too, if Gihun wins they make a special change to the rules so it's like the system in S2 where even if they vote to leave they can still have the money. Gihun wins and that's how he gets to save both Sangwoo and Saebyeok (let's also imagine the glass injury didn't happen because that was pure bullshit)

Anyway just some vague thoughts that make no sense haha I think obviously Ilnam wanted to watch how Gihun would do for the rest of the games but I just thought hmm what if lol

And then Inho is like "oh.. I get it" and wants to keep him too and tries to win him over

-- sparks

I'M IN LOVE WITH THIS 💖💖😩😩😩

my god what a galaxy brained idea!!!

ilnam just looking at gihun and being like, "you're going home with me" and has him "killed" in marbles before faking a heart attack during the night and being eliminated too.

literally a matchmaker from hell jvikdknvhjfhgf he tells inho that he brought gihun back because they'll be good for each other 🥰 and inho is staring at the man ilnam brought with him, absentmindedly thinking that he's pretty but not understanding the appeal.

but then gihun has that bet with ilnam and he wins and inho's third eye is cranked wide open 😌 suddenly he understands ilnam a LOT. in fact, he's already planning their wedding, and not just because gihun is staring at player 218 like heart eyes. no ma'am 😤

sangwoo and saebyeok survive and form a mlm/wlw hostility group where they meet up once a month and talk abt gihun

[innbetween]

Question more so for Hannah than Tessa but who knows, maybe podcasts exist in the dnd world.

wanted to know if you had any queer fantasy and/or sci-fi audio drama recommendations. I’ve listened to and loved Welcome To NightVale, Jar Of Rebuke, Absolutely No Adventures, Zoo, The Bright Sessions, and of course, Inn Between. Thanks regardless :]

DO I

Yeah I definitely do. I'm actually one of those cishets myself, so just to be absolutely clear, i'm going to include only shows with at least one main character who's not like. You know. One of me. I'm also looking at your selections and noting a sort of steady pacing, respect for exploration, and character focus, so I'll be leaning toward those.

FANTASY

Dragon's Rest is a sitcom in the vein of ANA and Inn Between--a fantasy inn, a grumpy owner, her hapless hero hopeful busboy, the local lush, a bard who, and I cannot stress this enough, is too dumb to read. It's delightful, honestly.

Eeler's Choice is a strange and beautiful oceanic adventure about magic, siblings, and giant eels. The music slaps also.

Electromancy: imagine if Harry Potter was a) not written by a freakin transphobe, and b) actually asked hard questions about imperialism. Like hey, should we be doing imperialism?

The Kingmaker Histories is hard to describe. I can say "steampunk," and "magic" and "magical politics" and "Collette's got a jewel stuck in her head that explodes people sometimes" but that's not even the half of it.

Sidequesting is like, best friends with ANA. Rion, a brave hero, is given a magic sword for an epic quest...and promptly goes and does literally everything else. It's so nice.

Starfall hey what's up Starfall I love you Starfall, Starfall's about a magic theater troupe and definitely not also about how imperialism is bad, actually. Fel and Leona own my whole heart. Friends.

Sci-Fi

Ask Your Father is one of those shows that hits you in the teeth. When an accident sends an astronaut and his AI bestie way off course, he finds himself lost in space, answering questions from his kids and husband that will absolutely break your heart. I cried. A lot.

Gastronaut is near-future sci-fi about a bougie foodie who goes on a journey to discover the food of the Asian diaspora throughout the solar system. And things go...very bad. This show loves food so much and it loves the characters even more.

Midnight Burger is...everything. How do you even describe it. It's hard sci-fi dressed up in a found family package and served with fries. Or maybe beans and rice, if Gloria's cooking. It is a deeply cynical show that nevertheless insists that the universe is worth fighting for, with everything you've got.

The Pasithea Powder is explicitly written for people who like a gritty, uncomfortable, messy romance. Like, did you like Stucky fanfic? So do the writers and it's amazing. The tagline is that a retired fighter pilot/war hero and a disgraced scientist/war criminal used to be best friends. They still might be, if the other one will pick up the phone.

Second Star to the Left is about colonization and xenobiology and the kinds of connections you can make light years away from each other. It's about rules and when it's okay to break them. It's beautiful.

Startripper!! is also very ANA and Inn Between--an accountant decides to ditch his day job, buy the far-future equivalent of a Millennium Falcon replica, and travel the universe for the rest of his life. It's so fun.

The Strange Case of the Starship Iris is like, if Firefly had real Asians in it. It's about a group of space smugglers turned galaxy heroes, and it's absolutely incredible.

Travelling Light is another travelogue, but this one features a person doing archival work for their community and meeting amazing people and hearing amazing stories while they do it. It's so gentle and wonderful.

World Gone Wrong is a chat podcast between two separated roommates who are trying to make sense of the end of the world. Like what do you do with that extra hour in the day now? Is my community going to lose its mind because some of the trees look like women? How can I throw a poetry jam that's inclusive for my werewolf friends? It's so well crafted and well acted. I think about it every day.

Wow this ended up long. There's a few to get you started!

[squidsinashirt]

Everyone is asking about the hardest parts of your accident and healing, but there must be some parts that you see as somewhat positive?

Y’know, being alive and a fully functional human being is a pretty positive win, right?

I get what you mean though, and yeah, of course there are.

First time I walked from my room to the vending machine for a soda by myself seemed enormous. And obviously, first time back in the pool and the sea and coming home…

But… I think the biggest one is probably getting to be with my brothers again. To hug them. Properly.

Y’know, when you’re a pretty fragile squid in a ton of metalwork and wires, and it really hurts to move, it’s not advisable to try it all that much. People visiting would hold my hand sometimes, or pat my shoulder like they were worried I might crack. It was all very… careful. Clinical. Every touch came with a checklist. “Can I borrow your arm for a set of obs?” “Let’s change this dressing.” “Mind if I just check this drain site?” It wasn’t affection, it was access.

And I get it. I really do. I looked fragile. I was fragile. Nobody wanted to be the one who made things worse. But for a family like ours - where hugs are basically a second language, and piling on the same sofa like a bunch of cats is just a normal Tuesday night - it was weird. Really weird.

Especially when you’re me. When you put us on a scale from “lives for hugs” to “might spontaneously combust if touched without warning,” I am the Gordon end. John, bless him, is the other. Hugging John is like trying to coax physical affection from a feral cat - possible, with much suspicion, but it takes planning and probably a cosmic event.

They all knew it bothered me, frustrated me to tears, and it must have bothered them too. Because once I was stable enough, out of ICU and in my own room on the rehab ward - tubes out, breathing on my own, still pretty fragile but better - someone hatched a plan.

I don’t know who exactly it was - probably a Tracy Group effort. It felt like a classic Alan-and-Scott operation, with maybe a little Virgil logistics and John planning. But one night, after the dinner trays had been cleared and the nurses had done their rounds, the door creaked open… and in came John and Virg, wheeling a whole spare hospital bed. No explanation. Just rolled it up alongside mine, clicked the brakes into place, and started rearranging the room like it was movie night on Tracy Island.

Alan had this enormous bucket of popcorn he was elbow-deep in, and a bag full of snacks that absolutely violated the hospital’s dietary rules. Scott brought all these pillows and a blanket from home, and then he turned the lights down, pulled the curtains shut. John sorted the holoscreen (probably hacked into the hospital's entertainment system actually, because it definitely wasn’t showing standard programming anymore).

And for the first time in weeks, it didn’t feel like I was in a hospital anymore. It felt like home. And the Pile of Tracys was (carefully) resurrected.

I think we watched Guardians of the Galaxy. I think I fell asleep about half an hour in. The pain meds were still hitting hard, physio was ruthless, and there’s only so long you can stay awake when you’re comfortably jammed between your brothers and listening to Star-Lord make bad choices at medium volume. Scott was fussing about protecting my back, but I was wedged between him and Virgil, and t was the most comfortable I had been since it all happened.

And yeah… getting that bit of normal back, getting to be close to my brothers again, even in something as simple as a movie night?

😌 That was everything.

[bucketfullofstrawberries]

Today I shall be explaining how Edgar (Narrator), Mae (Curator) AND Inferos (TK) came to be.

Everyone buckled in? All ready? Alright! Here we GO—

The Creation Process / History.

Many millennia ago, The Universe was simply a mish mash of chemical compounds. Molecules weren't even established to be, they just simply.. Existed! It's unknown where the existence of everything had originated from. Now, there are many theories that hold up ideas of the origins of everything. Most Famously discussed being, of course, The Big Bang, estimated to have occurred 13.8 Billion years ago.

The Universe allegedly began as a tiny, high-density fireball, which spontaneously combusted and thus expanded as space. The Universe cooled in time, and with cooler conditions The First, simple elements began to form; Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium. Hydrogen being the main factor of the three. Gradually, gravity drew matter together which supposedly formed The First Stars & Galaxies. From here, Galaxies collected into into a mixture of Groups, Clusters & Superclusters, whereas some stars started to die within Supernova Explosions; their chemical remnants begun seeding new generations of stars, bringing their legacies to be long lasting but ALSO enabling the formation of New, rocky Planets. And one of those Planets, of course, just so happened to be Earth.

Now, somewhere, in-between all the kerfuffle, situated within the plentiful explosions and deaths of Stars and such alike , Larger Stars had begun to Collapse at the end of their Life Cycles. This brought into existence the first Black Hole. Now, A Black Hole, By Google Definition; A region of spacetime where gravity is so strong & nothing, including light & other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it.

The Theory of General Relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole. At the time, obviously, these were a Rare Phenomena in the passing time of Space, and so contact with them involving an involuntary object had a slim chance of creating some Huge Reaction, seeing as Black Holes quite literally "Eat", in layman's terms, anything in its path. Nothing in existence, at that time, had ever had such a Strong Energy Scale to Escape, let alone Combat the likes of a Black hole. So nothing was capable of stopping them on their Daunting Path of Destruction. That is, until the introduction of an unfamiliar, foreign object in spacetime.

┈┈・୨ ✦ ୧・┈┈

Lucidae Ignis in Aeternum, L.I.A.

[ ❝ Lucidae ❞,The term given the Brightest Star of a Constellation, Latin origins; the feminine singular of ❝ Lūcidus ❞, meaning ❝ Bright, Shining ❞ , ❝ Ignis in Aeternum. ❞, Latin origins; Meaning ❝ Fire Forever ❞, or rather ❝ Eternal Fire ❞ ]

This star-like-Giant of the Galaxian Empire was the largest existing ball of burning plasma known currently to Particular Knowledge of some, beating the Current Largest Known Star, UY Scuti, a Red Hypergiant standing at 1.188 Billion Kilometres, and somehow forming to be 156 Trillion Kilometres in size. That, in itself, is large enough to fit Five of our Solar System's within, and then some. It seems impossible, but at the same time. Existence as a whole is nothing far from what one would consider impossible. Yet here we are. Within Galaxies and Galaxies, Universes and Universes filled with who knows what.

Perhaps Stars even Bigger than LIA lie out there. Somewhere. LIA, as been theorised, has been said to of formed from Two Red Dying Hypergiants drawing close enough to one another at similar Low Levels of Combustion & existing at a Semi-Molten state to Weld Together, when Gravitational Forces between the two were strong enough to drawn one another in. This process of welding them to one another causes a sort of Infinitely Regenerative Source of Plasma Energy to power both stars and eventually merge them into one massive Hypergiant reaching lengths beyond general comprehension.

..............................................................................................................................

It just so happens that both LIA, and The Black Hole, which was later on dubbed Nexis, a relatively small black hole compared to ones that may exist today, co-exist in the same region of space, which would inevitably cause their paths to collide, one way or another. Time goes by, space goes on. And it's not long before Nexis's strengthening pull manages to catch LIA in its undefeated fury.

But, being such a large supply of energy, The Strength of Nexis must be pushed to its extremes to be able to reel in this Goliath for its own personal gain. And so, the two fought for their individual, eternal reign. Like warriors. Until both succumbed. They collapsed onto one another. And something new was born.

..............................................................................................................................

In some Stories, Folk Law & Myths carried across galaxies, it's been told through generations that these two Beasts of the Dark may have not been just... heartless monoliths, doing what they did simply because that's how things worked. Without any true, meaningful purpose other than just. To be.

As a matter of fact, It's strongly believed, by the few that tell the tales of the Universe, that these Giants had souls. Souls that had driving motives. Souls that felt for one another. And some found that tale to be as beautiful as it sounds.

And, if those tales were to be found true.. then it surely was. Tales etched into stone, written in old Greek, are the best source we currently have that depicts such a story. After thorough translation, this is what story was once told to be, and laughed at by the faces of many other highly religious figures;

❝ In the Times of Dark and Treacherous, the Lights of the Night were Dark & the Skies were Scary, Humanity was yet to be shaped out of the mud, and everything was Unorganized and Frail. Before our figures of Hierarchy came to be and ruled over our land, Two only dwelled in the Blank Canvas of The Dark. Brave Warriors. Who fought to keep Balance.

Elpída, Guardian of Distant Hope and Eternal Life, she fought for honour, to keep Light burning so the Dark would be luminous.

Maraíno, Executioner of Decay and Damnation, she fought for Power and took Life to Reign.

The Two Warriors Danced a Deadly Dance to Glorify their Ambitions in an Infinite Ballroom. It was a Fierce Battle. It was a Valiant Battle. And it kept Peace.

Their Battle could have been Eternal, everlasting, but at a point they both grew weak. Energy was forced to be used sparingly. Both that once wielded power and thrived off of it had turned that power into a channel for spite, a fuel for meaningless rage, and thus was no longer fruitful.

And once she had become frail, The Light of Elpída was dim. And the Hope she sought out to keep alive felt dismissed.

Maraíno cried out to their rival as they both came to a halt;

' The Light I once seeked from you to take has dimmed. And so it holds no value to me. So tell me, Darling Light, Why do I still seek you? '.

The Guardian answered with but another question;

' The Destruction you brought onto the existence of life has long since stopped as you have grown weaker. And you concentrate your time on my defeat. Yet, Why do I still fight you? '.

The Executioner had no answer to offer. And pondered upon this riddling response. And The Guardian spoke once more.

' Perhaps we fought for our ambitions once long ago, but I don't believe that to be the truth as we speak. ' she said, drawing closer to The Dark. Yet The Executioner did not try to defend itself. She allowed the touch of The Light to meet its faltering visage.

' Perhaps we fight now because we do not wish to be alone. I am the Light that illuminates you. Your soul encapsulates me. I have fought against it.. but now I fight to stay beside it. '. Once again, The Executioner could not reply. But it seemed as true to the two of them, whether they were to come to an agreement on the matter or not.

The battle had ended as suddenly as it had sprouted. The two held a gentle embrace around one another and uttered . And with the last of what they had, a spark in the Universe lit. And The True Empress that breathed life into our bodies had been born d from their dying light. It was born from two set souls, souls that had found their true purpose. To make life flourish. And to leave the Universe with company. With Life. With Hope. ❞

..............................................................................................................................

This tale has long since been forgotten, and remembering it at any point should be taken with a grain of salt. Believe it as simply a mystery of space, or as a story of great ambition. Either way, what remains true is that both entities collided. And with that collision birthed an unusual form of life, something that was capable of capturing, creating, controlling. It was a mighty force.

It's believed, but not confirmed, by some that the fusion of both Hypergiant's actually caused the LIA’s core to become a type of White Hole, or at the very least something similar, as it did not collapse onto itself but instead rebirthed as something entirely new, and phenomenal at that. But the interruption of Plasma from LIA’s outer surface prevented any sort of Wormhole from forming.

It, instead, forced remaining light nuclei to merge with one another simultaneously, forming dozens of heavier nuclei that released enough energy to be able to bond with early specimens of hard light collected together in a nearby nebula ; ultimately creating an infinite, solidified source of energy that had someone managed to become its own organism.

This Theory stands as The Theory of Everlasting Creation, and believes in the existence of an all-powerful, essentially living, thinking organism that holds the ability to create existing, and even non-existing, elements, substances, materials, mixtures and compounds at will, with no finite limitations on how much it may create or be capable of creating, as well as also being able to deconstruct and destroy the prior at the same time.

..............................................................................................................................

With all of this established, we may now bring our focus on this ‘hypothetical’ organism, or some may even refer to it as a Deity of sorts.

In Theory, this natural phenomena has created a God. It cannot die. And it can exist for eternity. With its purpose being to keep balance, and create. If it so chose to take that path.Thus, making it the perfect candidate for a Godly Figure. And in the future, it might just have been considered one by a select few. Early Astronomers who sought out the mysteries of space, perhaps. Who’s to say?

This being would be referred to as “The Creator” when humanity caught onto its presence, which was certainly fitting, considering the circumstances. However, long before humanity even had a name, the being itself had already come to find an alias of its own. It called itself “Mae”. Which would later be established as a word that correlates to “God/Goddess”, or “Beautiful”, in Gaelic/Celtic meanings. Or “Mother” in Portuguese; also oddly fitting. For more reasons than one. Which brings us to our next point:

What she created.

..............................................................................................................................

Now, obviously, there came a point in time where living organisms had begun their own evolutionary pipeline. This was not brought upon the universe by the likes of she. As a matter of fact, this evolutionary advancement is something that fascinated her. Despite being an overpowering organism of creation, these life forms had formed themselves all on their own. She had no involvement with it whatsoever. And that alone caught her attention. In no time, she’d become fixated on this Planet and its independent growth. Even during the early stages of life, she kept a watchful eye on every little detail.

Single-celled organisms were fruitful and multiplied into multicellular life. From here, these organisms branched off into a vast variety of Chordata, which were primarily based in bodies of water and adapted to such in terms of diet and anatomical structure. Her attachment to these organisms grew further as she saw their development now leading into much more complex territory; Tetrapoda now becoming part of the equation as four-limbed vertebrate, which had not only become amniotes as they started to roam the land, but had also began to become more adapted to both aquatic and land based worlds in order to branch of FURTHER than what was initial expected.

The introduction to land brought upon more evolutionary expansion. The planet was now given Mammalia and Primates. They were full-on land dwellers at this point, roaming the Earth freely and seeking out new places to thrive and evolve further than they already had. And from there, amidst the rest of the world’s wonders, we were given the beginning of the Human Race… and they turned out to be a species the god had become quiet.. QUITE.. infatuated with..

She admired them.. From the way they came to be to the fact that they, too, were capable of creating things if they really set their minds to it..

They were interesting little things. She felt linked to them in ways that were difficult to describe.

And through keen observation, taking note of their strengths and their flaws, and discovering what exactly brought them such differentiating characteristics and experiences, she had an idea beginning to spark.

She wanted to create something like them.

She wanted to create an ideal model.. The PERFECT humane specimen..

Something that was so similar to their kind yet so completely different at the same time. Something that had their traits but something she could teach to achieve things like she could.

..............................................................................................................................

So, with that brewing idea in mind, she began to experiment.

Surprisingly, despite Mae being perceived as something to be high and mighty and capable of pretty much anything, there were a lot of failed attempts & mistakes in the process. Obscure looking body shapes, a multitude of mish-mashed limbs, misplaced facial features that made her creations look uncanny.

But the main problem was that despite the effort she put into each individual attempt – none of them were capable of living freely. Which was the beautiful thing about humanity; they had their own desires, thoughts, ambitions and feelings. They did what they wished to do of their own accord. Nothing held them back.

And it had nothing to do with having a functioning mind. Or a beating heart. If anything, things like that were a primary human set-back. She knew this.

But the question was what exactly CRAFTED them into their own, distinct person if it wasn’t the thoughts of the mind or the life pumped into their hearts.

Eventually, though, she discovered that indescribable something simply by digging deeper. Thinking outside of the box, so to speak.

Each life on Earth appeared to have their own respective source of internal light. It was an incomprehensible thing to most, undiscovered by man and embedded deep within the heart & mind. But somehow, Mae was able to wrap her head around its existence.

A soul.

A magical thing. Founded upon clusters of stardust cumulated together in the central core of billions upon trillions spread out across universes.

Every soul was unique to its bodily host. Not a single soul was the same. Each feeling and experiencing things differently to one another.

A soul was something ever changing, that may link with another soul if bonds were grown enough to pull them together. Once a soul had linked with another, it was almost impossible to separate them. Only if the negative forces of attraction between souls grew too fierce would a soul be forced to separate.

Mae had discovered this phenomenon to be Soulmating. And it came in a multitude of different forms. Alongside hundreds and hundreds of differentiating characteristics that made up what a soul was.

These souls were intricate. And beautiful. And it was something Mae came to find precious.

And thus, she set herself the task to try and replicate such a thing. Create that unique essence of life, thriving off of its own undying light.

And eventually, with perseverance, self-encouragement and a hefty amount of elbow grease (despite very much not having elbows),

She did it. She crafted a soul. A perfect soul. A soul full of brilliance and undiscovered mystery. And a body, to keep that soul alive, to give it a face and name. To let it grow as a person. A person. Her own, darling creation. Which she looked upon with pride. And held her hopes high for to achieve the perfection she had perceived. And so, she gave it a name. Amor Aeternus. Which was a mishmash or words curated by the Romans of Earth. Two words, in Latin; Meaning

“Eternal Love”.

That was what it was called. Eternal Love. She had no reasoning as to why she named it this way. But she felt compelled to do so nonetheless.

But oh,

How fitting that name would be… ♡

However that name would one day develop into the man we know now as Edgar Vincent Marlowe... not just a Narrator, but a storyteller...~

..............................................................................................................................

Now, Highlighting THIS aspect;

Amongst all those failed attempts there was merely one out of thousands that was seemingly quite different. To say the least...

One that, miraculously, had a grown consciousness. The ability to live despite, by technicality, being categorized as the unliving. A small soul that formed on its own accord that would never of been noticed because of how fragile and simple it was. Attached to this unflattering malgamation of a body that was just BARELY keeping onto a humanoid figure.

...and yet, despite its perseverance to live; it never was noticed.

In fact, it was completely disregarded... and forgotton.

But this soul saw everything it could of had. And this soul never forgot. Never forgot how its chance at life was taken from hands of boiling flesh and instead given to another. Something more appealing. More successful. More putridly perfect.

And in itself it grew to hate. It grew to be full of jealousy. To be scornful, and full to the brim with resentment towards the being that he could of been. With a want to tear down everything that this Prince of The Stars had acquired and someday take his place. Show the universe that he WAS worthy of that status. He was special & capable enough to experience what this Brother of sorts of his had already experienced.

And so, he gave himself a name. To express his scorching, eternal flame of envious greed in bold. To overdramatize himself and show his self-proclaimed "upper status".

Stella Natum Inferos. (or "Inferos" for short.)

Meaning Star-born Hell Beast.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is our Keeper of Time. The one who keeps the Wheel Turning and the one who could stop that Wheel at any given moment.

This is the Story of two Brothers, not bonded by blood but the eagerness & naivety of a joint Creator. One, Blissfully unaware and Blessed; Attune to the gift of Giving and a Heart of Gold, a Soul pure and true. The other, Scornfull & Painfully Aware; hateful and seething deep down only wishing for approval, and to be adored.

"The stars made you their own; you are adored and shine bright. I was cast out, sentenced to to be forgotten; denied acknowledgement and stripped of my life. You will always try to find a way to love. I dance with the tangled webs of resentment. You do not know me. I wish I did not live aside you."

And perhaps... this burning hatred held by one shall finally cut through the thin veil that keeps the two apart.

Their story is still being told, after all.....and a Story needs an Ending~

...and ending that may come sooner than possibly anticipated. You'll just have to wait and see.. ♡

☆ ⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂✦ ⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂☆

[where-dreamers-go]

"Sparks Of Rebels" Ezra Bridger x Reader — Part One

(A/N: This takes place during season four in this soulmate au; after episode four. For the sake of storytelling, I made up two planets and some Imperial officers. Warnings: minor angst, canon violence, and use of (Y/F/N) for your first name, (Y/L/N) for your last name, and (Y/N) for your name. Word Count: 7,870 words)

~~~

The galaxy was wide and spacious with systems varying from livable ecosystems to the most uninhabitable. Even in some cities it seemed a difficult place to live lately.

You did your part to help those who needed it. A load of food portions in one town, a crate of medicine for another, and so on. Such was living in the Galactic Empire.

Each trip to a system managed to be calm enough. No suspicious glances your way. No raised alarms.

Your luck turned sour on a Mid Rim planet. Apparently Imperial forces were thorough and extremely present.

Just a simple questioning, you thought as you clenched your hands together in front of you. We’re not even in an office or anything. Places to run and hide. Troopers everywhere though.

You watched as a pair of stormtroopers shoved a civilian away. Free to go it seemed.

“Next.” A stoic Imperial officer announced without glancing up from his datapad.

You stepped forward.

I’m guessing I shouldn’t say ‘hello’.

“ID.”

Reaching into a secure pocket, you managed to slip out your ID card without fumbling.

Another officer, a woman with dark eyes, snatched the card from you. “Commandant, sir.”

A few seconds passed and you knew they were seeing every public file on you. Not just a little never-wracking.

I didn’t do anything wrong.

“You’re a long way from home,” the Commandant said. “Found business out here?”

“The culinary HoloNet has too many recommendations for me to pass by…sir.” You said in as light a tone as you could.

Being calm wouldn’t be good enough, it only made you suspicious.

“There’s this dessert pie that more than a dozen people showed just this week. It has an added layer of dark ch—”

He rose his hand, “That’s enough.”

You nodded.

Eager to please makes some uncomfortable. That’s safe.

“We’ve been having trouble with insurgents entering systems and causing unprovoked chaos in our Imperial cities. We must catch any insurgents before they hurt any citizens.”

Sure, you thought.

He met your gaze. “I will not let any pass into my city.”

“More systems should add these security measures.” You said politely without gagging. An added smile for good measure framed your face.

“Indeed.” The Commandant straightened his back and after a moment made a gesture to the lower ranking officer.

She took back your ID and headed to you once more.

“Then,” continued the man, “you will approve of our new precautions.”

A shiver of cold warning went through your veins.

New precautions?

Gingerly, you retrieved your ID card, but in the same moment the woman grabbed your left wrist in a vice grip. You took a step back.

“Hey. What are you doing?”

She pulled back your jacket’s sleeve.

“It’s all for the good of our beloved Empire,” promised the Commandant. “Let’s see if you can be of service.” He walked over to the pair of you.

Reaching to her hip, the woman pulled out a large sensor you hated to see in the hands of an Imperial. She scanned over a group of unique symbols on your forearm. Unreadable to some.

Kriff. Why would they need to know my soulmate’s name? You thought as anxiety built in your stomach. They can’t read it.

By the surprised expressions on their faces that quickly morphed into sickening grins, you knew it was only good news for them.

Ezra Bridger, what have you done?

. . .

Sitting in the Phantom II, Ezra gazed into the blue sky of Yavin IV in need of peace.

Sure, he was in a growing rebellion, but he required time to sort out his thoughts. His feelings lately that didn’t match his surroundings.

“You want to talk about it?” Kanan asked from behind him as he entered the small ship.

“It doesn’t add up,” Ezra sighed. “Everyone’s safe. No one is even on a mission and I feel like — like something’s wrong.” He turned to Kanan, the man appeared contemplative even while wearing an eye shield mask.

“True, from your perspective. If the Force is trying to tell you something, you need to be more open to listen.”

“More listening,” Ezra scratched his left forearm lightly. “All right.”

“You have to be willing to listen…even if it might not make sense at the time,” Kanan added.

Right. Willing to listen, Ezra thought as he closed his eyes.

Breath evening and deepening, the Jedi opened his mind. All thoughts quieted just as the ship he sat in.

Sitting with his padawan, Kanan joined in the meditation.

In moments of uncertainty, Ezra was grateful to have the members of the Ghost crew. His family. People he cared for who cared for him in return. A closeness that reminded Ezra that he wasn’t alone.

An image flashed through Ezra’s mind and hit him with anxiety.

He gasped.

“What did you see?” Kanan asked.

“Something unexpected. Someone I don’t—no—I know who they are,” Ezra turned to Kanan. “They’re in trouble. I didn’t see their face, but they’re scared. Maybe trapped.”

“Someone from Lothal?”

“No.”

This could be worse, he thought.

Before either Jedi could discuss further, Zeb rushed in through the hatch.

“Hey kid, there’s, uh,” Zeb rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “There’s some intel you should probably know. Hera just got it in.” He pointed behind him.

“Lead the way,” said Kanan as he stood up. “I have a feeling we’ll need to hear this.”

“Right.” Zeb offered Ezra a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Maybe the news won’t be too bad. If it’s about them.

The three rebels fast-walked, practically trotted, to a briefing room within the ancient building. When they walked in, only Hera, Sabine, and Chopper were present.

What kind of intel is it? Ezra wondered as he noted the lack of people normally occupying the space.

“Ezra,” Hera said softly.

His stomach twisted and Ezra asked, “What happened?”

She exhaled slowly as the crew gathered around the holotable.

No one looked him in the eye and it only made him worry to think of the image he saw. A movement of someone’s arm with ancient symbols, soulmate language. Difficult to read if it wasn’t your own name or of your soulmate.

Is my soulmate in trouble? He almost asked out loud.

“The Empire has been mentioning your name increasingly, Ezra,” Hera announced as she stood near him, “but not because of your last mission.”

He swallowed.

“The Empire has your soulmate, Ezra.”

“Karabast.” Zeb groaned.

Heart sinking, Ezra asked quietly, “How would they even know?”

“The Empire has its ways.” Kanan crossed his arms over his chest. “This is new, even for them.”

“Unfortunately,” Sabine stepped in, “they’ve also acquired some expensive tech.” She pressed a button and a hologram of a bulky datapad-looking device with a scanner displayed itself. “It scans, translates, and inputs soulmate symbols. They could be storing the information for blackmail.”

“When did they get shipments in?” Kanan asked.

“That’s the thing. The Empire doesn’t have any record of purchasing or designing the scanners. No plans. No prototypes. Nothing.”

“Do we know where they have (Y/F/N)?” Ezra inquired, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in his stomach as he spoke your name in front of everyone.

“Marvis Three. Mid Rim system,” Hera answered. “Comandant Irfon Dawes has been holding (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N) for nearly a week.”

“A week?”

“Probably this Commandant is looking for a promotion.” Zeb growled. “A dirty way to try to catch us.”

“It’s clever, I’ll give him that.” Hera said before glancing to Ezra. “I’m sorry, Ezra.”

“Me too,” the young Jedi murmured.

Placing a hand on Ezra’s shoulder, Kanan asked an important question. “When are we heading out?”

. . .

Kicking your feet in the air above the terrible excuse for a bed, you spent your time away. The dimly lit cell reminded you more and more of how hallow the Empire was. No warmth. No emotion. Lacking creativity.

No entertainment or actual respect for someone being used as bait!

Such was your eighth day locked up in an Imperial building. Not even a prison.

How many Imperial facilities and whatnot have cells? You thought from your odd position on the floor. That’s really messed up. They could throw stormtroopers in on slow days or for messing up on patrols. They’re rotten like that.

Each day, each hour, had you mainly by yourself. Except for specific times of they day when you were given food or escorted to use the refresher. They wanted you alive. Comfort wasn’t in the Empire’s vocabulary or manual. Not for anyone of a lower rank.

Bait remains hidden, you thought, a tease for the true prey. Disgusting. You rolled over and sat up. Would it be so awful if my soulmate came to the rescue? Commandant Dawes would be thrilled. To capture Ezra and the other rebels. You threw your head back. He shouldn’t have to. I’m just one person. What are the odds of me escaping on my own?

How many hours had you stared at the same gray walls imagining great escapes and exciting introductions?

You had nothing better to do.

The worst of those thoughts were ones where your soulmate never showed or the greedy Commandant got exactly what he wanted. Either way, you were sunk. Using your personal guarantee to know who your soulmate was for their own gains sent a fire through you.

Down with the Empire.

. . .

Ezra Bridger was many things and being someone’s soulmate was one he rarely allowed himself to identify with. Years of being alone on Lothal, he didn’t want to give himself false hopes of meeting someone who was lightyears away. It was easier then to ignore his soulmate’s name on his forearm.

Being a Jedi in a rebellion against the Galactic Empire gave Ezra more moments to hope. To dream. To imagine a better future for others as well as himself. Together, much more was possible.

He still wanted to return to Lothal to help. Ezra couldn’t just leave his home in trouble, especially when the danger was the Empire. They’d find a way, he knew that. Their own way not Saw Gerrera’s way of rebelling.

Ezra had to be patient. At least his soulmate didn’t have to be. Every second counted.

Saving you from the hands of Imperials in the middle of what was obviously a trap could be possible. They had more difficult missions in the past.

At least there shouldn’t be an Inquisitors where we’re going, Ezra thought in mild relief. Unless this Dawes guy has been blabbing to show off his plan.

The Ghost was still in hyperspace as Ezra sat on the floor of his shared room. The mission was not merely personal. Marvis Three held large transmitter and data logs for Imperial movement in that sector. Plus any saved soulmate names. A double mission.

Ezra feared there wouldn’t had been an agreement to use resources on a rescue mission for someone unknown in regards to fighting against the Empire.

(Y/F/N) isn’t no one and if the Empire wants them, Ezra thought of his words he used on Yavin Four, we need to save them.

They would save you. Ezra knew that and would hold onto that until you were safely aboard the Ghost. Then the Empire would hopefully take a hint.

And stopping any more Imperials from trying to bait people with their soulmates wouldn’t be bad either.

He exhaled slowly.

Who knew being a rebel meant a lot of waiting?

The door in front of him slid open to reveal Kanan.

“How are you holding up?” The Jedi asked as he stepped into the room. “People usually find their soulmate on their own.”

“We’re talking about soulmates now?”

“If you want.” Kanan shrugged.

Blue eyes peered down to the flooring.

It’s a lot.

“I figured if I ever met my soulmate,” Ezra explained, “it would be a surprise.”

“Too bad the Empire ruined the surprise, huh?”

“Yeah!” Ezra gestured widely. “What if (Y/F/N) ends up hating me because of all this?”

“Hey,” he said reassuringly, “this isn’t your fault. I’m sure they’ll understand. Not to forget, we don’t even know what your soulmate was doing when the Empire grabbed them. Maybe they’ve been rebelling in their own way.”

Ezra’s shoulders lowered. “I haven’t thought of that. The fighting against the Empire part.”

They could be doing anything.

“Do you… Do you think my soulmate would support the rebellion? Everything we’re doing?”

“Only one way to find out.” Kanan said confidently. “And make sure to make a good first impression.”

Squinting up at the Jedi, Ezra said, “I’ll be breaking them out of a cell. That’s kind of a big first impression.”

“No,” he put a hand on his hip, “I meant introduction. Like, what are you going to say when you first meet them?”

“My name…”

Confused by Kanan’s words on what Ezra considered the easy part, the young Jedi stood up.

“Were you trying to give me soulmate advice?” Ezra asked.

“You’ll be fine,” he turned to leave.

“Wait. Did you embarrass yourself when you first met Hera?”

“Forget it.”

Laughing, Ezra followed after Kanan with every intention of questioning Hera later.

But entertaining stories had to wait. Daydreams of introducing you to the whole Ghost crew had to be set aside.

All spirits had to focus.

“Arriving at Marvis Three,” called Hera over the ship’s comm system.

. . .

Not good. Not good. You mentally repeated as two stormtroopers lead you down another hall on a completely different level than the cell you had been bunking in. What else are they planning?

Despite having walked a good distance and a cramped ride on an elevator, you had not seen one view outside. Not even a resemblance of an exit. Even so, the binders on your wrists hindered comfortable walking.

Being moved out of a cell can’t be good. You thought as you continued to follow one trooper as the second walked behind you, both armed with a standard blaster. It’s not like I know anything useful for them.

At the end of the hall two stormtroopers stood guard by a door. Once the three of you reached it, nods were exchanged. If they talked inside of their helmets you didn’t hear.

I’m still bait, right?

The door slid open and you almost groaned.

“Ah. There you are, said the Commandant Dawes clapping his hands together once. “Bring them in. You’re my guest of honor.”

Your two stormtrooper escorts urged you forward into what must be Dawes’ office.

“Should I expect appetizers or a sho?” You questioned rather dryly.

He picked up a tall glass and took a sip before replying, “The show’s just beginning.” With a flick of a finger he deactivated the shade of a long viewport behind his desk.

Outside, backdropped by a blue sky, a small group of ships bobbed and weaved between TIE Fighters. Firing was exchanged as much as they grew closer to the building you stood in.

You took a step closer to the desk.

“Your rebels have come for you. They are mot predictable. Always wanting to try outsmarting the Empire.” Dawes grinned. “They haven’t met me yet.”

They did come, you thought as you couldn’t ear your gaze from the sight in the skies. They are rebels. My soulmate stands against the Empire.

Over the course of the week, Dawes had filled random evenings with cautionary tales about your soulmate and his associates. He found them dull and childish given their lack of loyalty to his beloved Empire.

At the time of Dawes’ little talks, you weren’t sure what information to believe. You were starting to have many rapid realizations as you saw a light freighter going after TIE Fighters.

“Eventually they’ll have to land as per our instructions,” the Commandant took another sip of his drink, “after all this frivolous business is over with. Then I’ll be making the call to Lord Vader. Like to see a grand admiral do that.”

A cold, sickening feeling filled your stomach and sunk to your legs.

“I have over thirty stormtroopers ready by Landing Pad Two. If they want to land here, they must cooperate.”

“What will you do with them?”

“Capture them,” he assured you with a smile. “Announced and deliver the rebels to Lord Vader—or the Emperor himself. After heavy interrogation of course. Can’t leave other criminals out there.”

Your gaze hardened on the man.

Loyal to the Empire all right.

“What’s in it for you?” You questioned, voice stronger.

“Full of questions today, aren’t you? Just watch the fun. I’ll let you see your soulmate eventually. Maybe during interrogation. You can tell Ezra Bridger all about those culinary holos. How’s that sound?” Dawes taunted.

“Fantastic,” you answered sarcastically.

“Let’s make this more exciting, shall we?”

. . .

“Let’s make it fast,” Kanan ordered into his comms, “they’re giving Phoenix Squadron a warm welcome.”

“Roger that, Spectre-One,” came Sabine’s voice.

“You got it?”

“Almost,” Ezra announced before successfully slicing open a door.

Both Jedi ducked inside the Imperial building fully alert.

On the opposite side fo the large building, Zeb and Sabine left the Phantom Two with Chopper under the ledge of a lower part of the multi-sided building. They were to download and erase data from Dawes’ operation. Too personal for his rank.

Ezra and Kanan on the other hand were making their way down to the lower cell block. For all the sides the building had, its layout was pretty straight forward. Like a stack of grids or how the Empire usually stores crates. Nothing exciting.

With more attention being held by Hera and the few volunteers from Phoenix Squadron, the Jedi hoped to slip in before security realized their breach.

“This is totally a trap, right?” Ezra asked in a near whisper.

“Yeah.” Kanan answered as they came to a stop at an interior door. “Probably heavily armored.”

“A dozen or more bucketheads.”

They opened the door and were instantly met with an intersection. No stormtroopers in sight. Yet.

“Yeah. This is definitely a trap,” Kanan muttered.

Closing his eyes, Ezra reached out into the Force. Most of the cells were empty, but only one had multiple being stationed there.

“Right hall. Plenty of bucketheads.”

“Got it.”

Taking point, Kanan passed the threshold and turned where Ezra indicated.

Both Jedi grabbed their individual lightsaber as the next door they approached slid open.

No less than eight Imperial stormtroopers.

Huh, Ezra thought, I thought they’d have more down here to stop us.

“Jedi?” One stormtrooper shouted from the back of the group as they took offensive positions.

Surprise!

“It will be a lot easier on you guys if you just s—”

PEW PEW PEW

Blaster fire lit up the dull hallway and the Jedi all ready had their lightsabers moving. Block, redirecting, and deflecting each bolt that came too close. Blurs of red, green, and blue. All movements and a scene similar to other moments of fighting back against the Empire.

This was different. Personal on a level Ezra had never known. Members of the Ghost crew had been captive and prisoners before, most in the hands of Imperials. This time the Empire was playing dirty. They had Ezra’s soulmate.

Ezra hadn’t even met you yet and some Imperial had the nerve to use you to lure them in? The Imperial’s motive were clear. Why else ‘leak’ information such as a name and location of Ezra Bridger’s soulmate?

The rebels needed to save you and destroy any saved data on citizens’ soulmates. Annoying an Imperial officer in the process would be a bonus.

“Ahh!”

Using the Force, Ezra had pushed three stormtroopers against the wall as well as one another.

A flourish of blue light and a red blaster bolt had a stormtrooper dropping a blaster. Kanan pushed that trooper further down the hall.

Four more to go, Ezra thought a millisecond before he leapt up to the wall and pushed off towards the closest white armored being. In a blink of an eye and a breath, that stormtrooper cushioned Ezra’s landing.

Offensive position compromised and barely hanging on, one would think the Imperials might surrender. These few didn’t. Their next minute of trying to overpower the two Jedi was commendable, but ended with possible concussions.

“All right,” Kanan said. “Deep breath.”

No time, Ezra thought as he busied himself unlocking the cell door. I can be nervous about what to say to (Y/N) later.

A hiss of the door sounded and Ezra about tripped into the cell trying to get inside fast enough. Luckily his lightsaber was clipped to his belt.

Karabast, he thought as he caught himself and looked to the person sitting on the flat cot with crossed arms.

The person wore an orange Imperial prisoner jumpsuit, black shoes, and an impatient expression on their face.

“Hey, we came to get you out of here.” Ezra announced. “I’m Ezra and,” he gestured behind him, “that’s Kanan.”

“(Y/N).” They said plainly as they stood up. “You took care of the Imperial stormtroopers?”

“Yeah and there will probably be more. Let’s go.” Kanan urged.

“Right.” Ezra shook his thoughts clear. There was a mission still to finish and he couldn’t keep looking at his possibly tired soulmate. He couldn’t blame them with the situation they were in.

Before Ezra could add any commentary, (Y/N) had walked passed him.

The warmth and excited sparks of meeting his soulmate dropped as they didn’t so much as glance at him.

We need to leave. It’s fine, he told himself. Not everyone smiles during a rescue. With those thoughts in mind, he followed after them.

Leading the way with determined steps, (Y/N) left the prisoner area and started towards an elevator.

At least they know where they’re going.

“If we hurry we can get out of here before they bring out surprises.” Kanan said before the lift door opened.

Without a word, (Y/N) walked in and turned to the control panel. Their fingers hit for level six.

“Actually,” Ezra announced politely, “we need to go to level three for a pick-up.”

“Level six is better,” they insisted in a curtly tone. Their body blocked the controls.

“Why would it be better?” Asked Kanan. Clearly he was just as confused as Ezra in that moment.

They just really want to leave, I guess.

“I have heard Imperials talk about it. Low security this time of day.”

How would they know what time it is?

“You heard them while in your cell?” Kanan crossed his arms.

“They were loud in that echoing hallway.”

“Okay…” Ezra sensed something was off as he finally said something. He glanced down to the light reflecting off of their black boots.

“But we’re still going to level three,” Kanan stated firmly. “We have a plan.”

“No. This is the way out,” they countered with tension in their jaw. “I’ve been here long enough to know that, Jedi.”

Kanan stepped forward and hit a button. The elevator stopped smoothly.

“How would you know the way out if you’ve been in a cell this whole time?” Ezra asked uncomfortably. Fear of deception crept up on him.

Something was wrong. The disconnect he felt between himself and (Y/N). Their tidiness and aloofness despite being a prisoner.

Ezra rolled up his left sleeve forcefully and displayed his arm to the stranger. “Does this mean anything to you?”

They only glanced at the soulmate mark before a frown appeared on their face.

“So,” said Kanan, “is the real trap on level six?”

. . .

Viewing spaceships battling from one of the top floors of the building gave almost too good of height advantage. No other structure near by blocked the sights.

Indoors the view wasn’t much better. Not wen it was Imperial.

“Are all troopers in position?” Commandant Dawes inquired over a comm. His other hand picked from a cheese board that had been brought in to his office earlier. “Excellent. I’m sure those pesky rebels are on their way. Keep me updated.”

Why are people like this? You wondered in confused disgust. And he’s enjoying it like a special event.

The Commandant leaned back in his chair behind his desk. It wouldn’t surprise you if he rested his feet up either. Overly confident imperials were good at making themselves comfortable it seemed. An annoying trait.

At least me refusing to sit in a chair annoys him. You shifted from one foot to the other. Who can sit while watching all of this? Who could smile when you don’t know the outcome of this mess? Your shoulders dropped. None of this would’ve happened if I stayed home or went somewhere else.

You peered up to the half-eaten cheeses and frowned.

“What did you mean by the rebels being on their way? Their ships are right there.” You gestured to the window.

He chuckled.

Please stop.

“My dear (Y/N).”

You grimaced and fought the urge to gag.

“You don’t know much about these rebels, do you? They’re traitors for one. You should know that much.” He paused for your response, but you only blinked. “Now, these radically dangerous rebels are capable of much destruction. These in particular,” he pointed towards the light freighter, “of the Ghost are highly sought after.”

“They’re a prize to you?” You fumed and took a step closer to the desk. “They’re people.”

“They are traitors of the Galactic Empire,” he chided. “You would do well not to join them.”

“It’s hard to do anything inside of a cell against my will.”

Sitting up straighter, Dawes gave you a hard look. One that reminded you that two stormtroopers stood guard just about twenty feet behind you at the door. A reminder that you were the only one wearing the binders as prisoner. Authority in an office for overseeing the city. A threat to everything you knew.

I’m not walking out of here if he wins.

If you had lost your appetite walking into the office, you sure didn’t have one with those thoughts.

Renewed with his smugness, Commandant Dawes relaxed with another bite of cheese. He activated his comms again.

“Did you capture the rebels in the data storage?”

Silence.

He sat up and repeated himself.

Data? Are they stealing intel?

Dawes fiddled with his comm and asked in a strained voice, “Have you detained the rebels on level six?”

Nothing on that channel came in response.

Panic lit in his beady eyes.

Behind him, you had a glimpse of the spaceships. More specifically, the sheer lack of TIE fighters.

Hope blossomed in your chest.

Whoa. Rebels mean business, you thought with a smirk. No wonder the Empire takes them seriously.

“Oh, wipe that smile off your face. If your soulmate is somewhere in here, Ezra Bridger will be t—”

Muffled blaster fire made both of you jump.

You turned and the sounds only continued as the stormtroopers by the door had their blasters aimed at the closed door.

“So…,” you started to ask, “was having stormtroopers stationed outside your office meant to prevent rebels from finding it?”

“No!” Dawes growled.

Breathe, you reminded yourself as your heartbeat sped up its rhythm. Cautious as a civilian, you moved to stand a couple of steps away from the side of Dawes’ desk. Please be the rebels. You can do it! Come on.

Blaster fire ceased beyond the door.

The amount of adrenaline pumping through you left you trembling slightly. Anticipation of anything in the next few moments.

Please.

Again, you jumped, startled as blaster fire started. You didn’t even see anyone in the doorway when the door opened.

As terrifying as loyal stormtroopers could be, were they more dangerous when angry or desperate?

Your chest rose and fell as you watched on.

Red blaster fire hitting the wall in the hallway. Dawes yelled for the pair of stormtroopers to switch to stun, but they weren’t listening. Driven by anger and fear.

“Use stun, you idiots!” Barked the Commandant.

When they obeyed, a silence followed. A precious pause from violence. An opportunity.

In a second, a young man appeared at the threshold and extended both hands in front of him. The pair of stormtroopers flew backward through the air and into the empty chairs. Nothing had touched them.

You hardly registered Commandant Dawes’ shouting, incoherent as it was. Your gaze and wonder had fixated on the dark-haired and blue-eyed young man walking into the room. If his burnt orange jacket didn’t grab your attention first, it was the knowledge that he must had moved those troopers.

“You must be Commandant Dawes,” said a taller man as he entered wearing an eye shield of a sort you weren’t familiar. He held a metal cylinder in his right hand.

Are they both…?

“Stay where you are.” Dawes raised a blaster pistol in your direction.

“Whoa.” You rose your linked hands up. Is this guy serious?

“Hey, they don’t need to be involved in this,” urged the youth in orange as he took a step closer to you. He too had his hands raised defensively.

“They all ready are, Bridger,” sneered Dawes.

“Ezra?” You gasped quietly, gaze back on the young man. Apologetic blue eyes regarded you sympathetically.

“Give yourselves up and I won’t dispose of (Y/N).”

WHAT? Your heartbeat thudded in your ears.

“That sounds like a good deal…for you,” said the man with the eye shield. Wearing earth tones in the middle of the room made him stand out almost as much as Ezra.

“A great deal for the Empire,” added Commandant Dawes peering over to the man, “and once you tell your crew to surrender the ISB will take you in. It’s all arranged.”

Slowly as Dawes had been speaking, Ezra took three steps towards you. His blue eyes were set on the only standing Imperial.

“How about I add in a bonus?”

“How generous,” sassed the rebel man.

“The kids can have one conversation. They’re soulmates and (Y/N) led you all here.” Dawes regarded you coldly. “Think of it as a reward.”

“I think we’ll take option three.” Ezra announced a second before he was blocking all your view.

WHAM

“Ahhgh.”

“Nice try,” said the rebel man, “but we have better offers.”

“What happened?” You whispered.

“Oh,” Ezra stepped aside and turned to you.” Kanan pushed him against the window.”

You glanced between the transparasteel and Kanan.

“Uh…there’s a desk there. How did he reach?”

“He used the Force,” he smiled. “Like how I knocked out those bucketheads.” Ezra went to the desk and searched it.

“Force.” You felt your breathing slow. Your vision narrowed to a random area on his orange jacket. “You’re Jedi.”

“Yeah.” Ezra walked back to you and removed the binders from your wrists.

“You’re Jedi.”

“I think your soulmate’s in shock,” Kanan warned.

Shock, you thought in a near daze. Jedi. My soulmate is a Jedi and a rebel.

“A Jedi.”

“Hey,” Ezra placed a gloved hand on your shoulder. “We’re the good guys.”

You nodded.

“Scum.” Commandant Irfon Dawes spat.

You frowned.

How dare that man insult the people who were saving you? He, the one who had threatened you and used you as leverage again. They hadn’t said one rude word to him.

“We’ve been called worse.” Said Kanan, grabbing his commlink.

“Traitors. All of you!”

“You’re the traitor,” you spat at the man. “You betray the well being of everyone in the galaxy by only searching for ways to benefit yourself.”

“You’re young. You’ll learn that you can only trust yourself.” Dawes held his head in pain.

Stepping up to the desk, you nabbed your few belongings and placed them in their respectable pockets.

“You’re old enough,” Ezra replied, “maybe you’ll learn that’s where the Empire fails. You only think of yourselves.”

Dawes glared at the pair of you.

Serves him right. Trying to blackmail soulmates.

“Let’s go.” Kanan ordered.

The three of you rushed out of the office. Stormtroopers littered the flooring.

“Spectre Two, we got the package. On our way out.”

“Spectre?” You inquired.

“Yeah,” Ezra answered as he evened his pace with yours. “Our ship’s the Ghost.”

“Oh,” you laughed. The sound almost surprised you.

Time locked up by the Empire was too much.

“I’m Ezra by the way.” He smiled.

“Hi. I’m (Y/N). It’s great to meet you.”

“I bet.” Ezra’s eyes widened. “Because you needed help. Not because I’m…me.”

“I’m glad either way.”

Free to leave from the greedy grasp of Commandant Dawes and be with your soulmate. How could it not make you utterly ecstatic?

“This way,” Kanan turned down an unfamiliar hall.

Those two knew where they were going. All you had to worry about was keeping up.

In a couple of minutes, all of you came upon an exterior door and you had your first glimpse of the outside world since being locked up. Outside air and even the rush as you continued forward refreshed you.

From above a small vessel came close to the platform the three of you found yourselves on. It didn’t land. The back opened with a short boarding ramp.

“Come on!” A gruff voice shouted from within.

Quick, long strides and the three of you were on board the shuttle craft. Quite spacious for a compact vessel.

“Let’s get back to the Ghost before reinforcements arrive.” Kanan stood behind the pilot’s seat as the ship took off toward the sky.

The pilot wore wonderfully colored armor. “I may have left them a few surprises.”

“Heh. They deserve it,” said a tall purple being by the hatch, “you should’ve seen the amount of soulmate profiles they stashed, Kanan. It’s despicable.”

Beside you, Ezra swung down two seats for the both of you.

That Dawes guy wanted to do this to others? Was I even the first? You thought as you sat down.

Buildings gave way to the sky then to the dark vastness of space. The curved viewport offered you a view of distant stars and four ships. Three of the four were fighters. Largest of the bunch and in direct sight of the vessel was a light freighter.

“Is that the Ghost?” You asked quietly into Ezra’s shoulder.

Your soulmate offered you a smile. “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry,” said the purple guy.

Your eyes shifted and realized his words were directed to you.

“We’ll lose those Imperials before they can —”

beep beep

“TIE fighters.” Indicated the pilot.

“What?” Ezra almost jumped out of his seat.

“Phantom Two get moving.” A commanding voice came over the comm.

Your hands gripped either side of the seat as the shuttle craft really accelerated.

Complaining beeps and other binary language gave colorful input over the comm.

“Not now, Chopper,” Kanan chided.

Okay, just breathe. They have everything under control. You thought as the pilot started docking the vessel to the Ghost. You were perhaps thankful not to see where the TIEs actually were. Your heart could only handle so much between threats, sound of blaster fire, and running away.

Locking mechanisms could be heard as it vibrated from underneath the shuttle.

“We’re in,” announced the pilot sounding a touch relieved.

“We’re jumping. Hang on,” said the commanding voice.

Outside the viewport, the stars lengthened into bright lines until the ship jumped. Swirls of a hyperspace lane filled the outside view.

Muscles relaxing, you finally felt the light fatigue from the stress settling in.

You exhaled.

“Told yah we’d lose ‘em,” the tall being smirked.

“It could had been a Star Destroyer,” said Kanan. “We’re lucky that guy was wanting to hand us over as a surprise and didn’t brag.”

“He wanted to deliver you to some Lord Vader,” you said softly.

All eyes turned to you in alarm.

“Karabast. He really wanted a promotion.”

“But we all go out fine, Zeb. We did a good thing destroying people’s private data.”

Zeb is the tall purple guy. Got it. Kanan, mask. Zeb, purple.

“Come on, we can do debrief and introductions all together,” Kanan ushered everyone towards the hatch on the floor.

One by one, you all went down the ladder into the larger ship. Ezra followed after you. Your personal guide through the freighter.

Inside of a spacious area with some seating made a noticeable change in the crew. Tensions weren’t high and you caught half a handful of smirks passed around. Amused or playful in nature, you weren’t sure.

Okay. You breathed more calmly as you stood by Ezra by the couch. Now what?

Subtle sounds of motors perked your attention. An orange and off-white astromech droid rolled into the room heading straight towards you.

Whirls and beeps followed.

I think that was a question?

“Hi,” you greeted. Better to start off simply.

A more chipper set of binary came from the droid.

“This is Chopper.” Ezra chuckled. “Chop, this is (Y/N).”

Lower whoops from Chopper had Ezra rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah.”

You suppressed a smile when you heard Chopper’s laugh.

Poor Ezra, you thought.

It was then the final crew member entered the room from the cockpit. A green twi’lek in an orange jumpsuit.

“Did I miss anything?” She asked.

“Nah. Chopper got a head start embarrassing Ezra,” Kanan replied with a growing smile.

“It’s good to see everyone all right.” Her light eyes, colors of a warm sea, landed on you with a curious warmth. “I’m Hera.”

“Hi, I’m (Y/N).” You fiddled with your fingers, “I…um. Thank you.”

Hera smiled.

“Hey, we’re glad we found you before that Commandant Dawes had any more ideas.” Kanan said. “I’m Kanan by the way.”

Before you could say something clever, the tall being spoke up.

“And I’m Zeb.”

Zeb. Right. Got it. You thought a bit more confidently. So many names.

“Sabine.” The young woman in armor introduced herself briefly.

“Hi.” Your neck warmed with all the attention. “I’m glad to meet all of you. Thankful. Truly.”

“What Dawes was trying to do was low. Even for the Empire.” Hera said with a level of distaste that only came form someone who was forced to deal with aspects of the Empire not every citizen faced.

“Hera,” Sabine said warily, “their system had over a hundred profiles of soulmates saved form just this week alone. We weren’t able to find where they keep the scanners.”

“It might be better to find the manufacturer,” Kanan advised. “Stop them at the source.”

“And we will,” Hera promised, “but there are others that we must help first. The cause is important. We have to take priorities first.”

The Rebellion was more than a group of individuals annoying Imperials. They stood up for those who could not defend themselves against the atrocities of the Empire. Rebels sought freedom for everyone. They cared for individuals, even people they would never meet in person.

That knowledge hit you like a wall. Obvious and solid.

How many other people—cities—have they helped?

“We’re on our way to our base. We take a few precautionary detours first, but I need to ask: Is there anyone waiting for you at home or back on Marvis Three?”

Beside you, Ezra didn’t move. No one so much as murmured.

“I was on my own on Marvis Three. I didn’t plan on being there more than a few hours.” You answered timidly. “But there are people at home, but…won’t the Empire have eyes on them now?” You asked worriedly.

“With how much they put into trying to catch us, I honestly wouldn’t doubt it.” Hera explained.

“It would be safer for me to not go home to Triea Two?”

“I’m sorry. The Empire doesn’t make it easy for anybody.”

Your shoulders fell. That wasn’t exactly what you hoped to hear.

“Hey,” said Zeb, “think of it this way: The Commandant’s plan backfired.”

“Literally,” added Sabine with a satisfied smirk.

Your eyebrows rose, “Did you blow something up?”

“I did and it was beautiful.”

Oh!

“She really likes painting,” Ezra murmured to you.

“It’s art. The Empire has the perfect canvas.”

“Commandant Dawes’ office was boring enough,” you mentioned. “Before being rescued. The most colorful thing in there was the snacks he had ordered.”

“Whoa. Wait a minute.” Ezra turned to you more. “Was he eating while waiting for us?”

“His office had a good view of all the ships…” You said slowly and awkwardly.

The guy was a confident jerk. You didn’t want to relive and admit it.

“Wow and on that note,” Ezra cleared his throat. “I’m going to grab something to drink. Do you want anything?” Blue eyes studied you for a moment.

You nodded. Being kept in a cell and then Dawes’ office didn’t leave you time for a late afternoon snack. Plus all that running left you thirsty.

“Cool.”

“All right,” Hera said giving Ezra a look you didn’t understand. “We have time before we come out of hyperspace.”

“Got it.”

Following Ezra into the Ghost’s pantry was a short and quiet event. No one else entered.

Once the door shut, you let out a shaky breath.

You were somewhere new and a little nervous. One trip was a stumble into your soulmate’s life and the rebellion. That was a lot.

Ezra filled two cups as you sat on the nearest bench on your right.

“This happened really fast.” Ezra said as he handed you a drink of water and sat on the opposite bench.

“Yeah.”

Drinking water hit the spot. It also saved you by filling in the silence.

“So… What were you doing when the Empire grabbed you?”

“Nothing illegal.” You offered a small smile.

“Oh?”

“I was supposed to meet someone.”

“Oh.” His shoulders dropped.

“A contact for information,” you clarified quickly. “I needed to know if there were people on Marvis Three who really needed food.”

“You donate food?”

“I work near a factory that produces food pouches. They can’t sell any scratched or damaged goods. Even if the food inside is completely fine. One of the workers there gives me what they normally throw out.” You explained with a humble shrug. “The Empire shouldn’t miss their trash.”

Ezra’s grin made your heart leap.

It’s not much, but it helps others.

“I guess you’re a rebel after all,” he leaned his arms on the table between you both. “And they grabbed you for, what, just showing up?”

“Yes. I took a public transport.”

His face scrunched up in bewilderment.

“New security measures. He wanted to catch rebels before anything happened. And scan people’s soulmate’s names. It translates pretty fast and…they definitely recognized your name. Dawes broke into a creepy grin and everything.”

“The Commandant was there?”

“He’s very invested,” you grimaced. “And annoying.”

“And crazy. He went to blast you.”

“And you popped up in front of me. You could’ve gotten hurt.” You chided.

“I would’ve been fine. Trust me.” He tilted his head with striking blue eyes emanating some secret knowledge.

He moved those stormtroopers. He was blocking me from Dawes faster than I blinked.

“With the Force?” You asked timidly.

Ezra nodded with a friendly smile.

“So,” you rolled back your sleeve and freely showed your soulmate’s name, “the Empire knows you’re a Jedi?”

“Pretty much.”

“If I would have looked up your name on the HoloNet…?” You pointed to your arm.

He breathed out a laugh. “Uh, you would’ve probably read some angry Imperial propaganda or seen my wanted poster.”

“Didn’t know my soulmate was so popular,” you teased.

Ducking his head, Ezra almost knocked over his cup when trying to grab it.

You said nothing in commentary. In turn, it gave you an opportunity to take in more of his appearance and the reality of the situation.

Dark hair slicked back, two scars were visible along his left cheekbone. A sign of past adventures or danger in Ezra’s life.

Did that mean Ezra had seen worse things in the Empire? Scary things? People, creatures, or even technology?

Coming up from his minor embarrassment, Ezra rested his chin on his hand.

You tilted your head, a curious and silent invitation for more conversation.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “This is still a little crazy for me to actually be talking with you.”

“Same here.”

“I’ve lived on Lothal most of my life until I ran into those guys.” Ezra gestured towards the door. “I was on my own—living for just me.” His shoulders seemed to lower as he spoke through memories. “I tried not to think about how low the possibilities were of meeting you. If you were on Lothal I would’ve known. So I didn’t.”

“Save yourself from disappointment.”

He nodded.

“A little better now though?” You offered with a half shrug.

“Much better. Oh. And,” he gestured with both hands, “Dawes had put some random Imperial in your cell to pretend to be you.”

You blinked. “He what now?”

“Someone dressed in an Imperial prison jumpsuit and polished boots tried leading me and Kanan into a trap.”

“How’d you figure it wasn’t me? Did they refuse to show their mark?”

“A few things. Let’s just say Imperials don’t make great actors. And they had no interest in seeing your name.”

Tapping your fingers against the cup, you internally debated. Only shortly.

“May I… Is it okay if I see it?”

Blue eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Then like routine, Ezra removed the armguard that held his commlink and pushed up his orange sleeve.

“How’s that?” He angled his forearm closer to you for easier viewing.

A grin spread across your face saying more than you knew how. Looking at Ezra’s arm, it was difficult to see the markings, the soulmate language, as anything other than your name.

It’s so weird finally seeing it, you thought. He’s real and everything.

You chuckled lightly as you peered into his blue eyes, “This is going to take me a while to get used to.” “You could stay with us,” Ezra offered softly. “You could join the rebellion if that’s something you want to do?”

You exhaled. That would be a huge step. Can’t go home.

“Do I get to help more people?”

“Yeah. That’s what we do. All of us. Together.”

“And we could hang out too? If we can? Between rebel duties.”

His eyes lit up. “We can. You could watch me train, if you want to.” Ezra grinned, leaning closer. “I could show you some cool stuff I’ve learned.”

“That’d be cool. And… I could show you what I’ve learned.”

“Like what?”

You smiled. “I technically have a job back home, Ezra, and I may have learned a few things not directly related to selling chocolate.”

“Are you sure we can’t visit your home planet?” Ezra laughed.

Sudden, new, and surprising could be the main general takeaways from finally meeting your soulmate. Knowing that given the times you both lived in, Ezra and yourself were in for quite an introduction to living with your soulmate.

But it should be fun too, right?

~~~

(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful. coffee

Best wishes and happy reading.)

~~~

DreamerDragon Tags: @cubedtriangle

Star Wars Tags: @sweetheartliz07 @darkwolfie @

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[blueikeproductions]

Oh I'm so glad to see someone else who thinks that Hashtag should have had cassettes! For a new transformers race, I feel like the first ones should be different from each other, a group of unique individuals. They're kids for now, but one day they'll be known as the first Terrans, they should all be memorable.

Like if we threw in medic servos being a thing, we could have the first Terran medic. Actually we don't even need that, we just need any one of the Terran kids wanting to heal instead of fight. It would still be relatable to a lot of children since not everyone wants to get in on the action.

The only thing I can think of right now are Twitch and Thrash being the first two, then JB being the first dinobot and Nightshade having an animal for an altmode. (Ignoring the fact that he scanned a statue and not an actual organic. Actually, I guess he could be the first scientist)

Hashtag having cassettes would be the thing that makes her stand out from her siblings, especially if the quintessons invade and she becomes similar to Soundwave, hacking into their databases and spying on them. (Probably not the best comparison, she'd need some sort of character arc before I can actually see that happening. Which could be what the cassettes are for: learning the responsibility that comes with adopting pets. And just imagine the cute companions she could get! Or little sibling figures, if they're like Rumble.)

EarthSpark is a frustrating experience with interesting ideas but lack of interest to make them work as you’d think they should.

A medic seems like an obvious choice to better explain Terranit biology and how it differs from Cybertronian born Transformer biology. You could transplant Medix into a Terran, with his RBA personality but his G1/RB body type.

It would also be a better use of Ratchet, as he could bond with Medix and together with their applied knowledge better understand the Terrans and Cyber Sleeves.

In fairness to Nightshade, Scanning an object related to an animal or vehicle is something older stuff did before. Galaxy Force in particular shows Transformers can Scan pictures of cars or animal statues to gain the data necessary to Transform. Beast Wars era Transformers can Scan fossils and recreate the animal to Transform into it like Megatron, Terrorsaur, and Dinobot. Jawbreaker doing that is likely a reference to this.

Still this goes back to the medic idea, where Medix realizes Terrans might have a more advanced Scanning system that allows them to better adapt than regular Transformers.

Also I feel like Blaster and/or Jazz would be a much better fit as mentor to Hashtag. Both are already enamored by Earth culture and Jazz mentored Sideswipe in RiD15, so it’s not unheard of.

I don’t trust the old writers to make Decepticons into mentors because as we’ve seen they don’t seem interested in picking Decepticons better suited for that, vs forcing the popular ones in the role. It’d be much more fitting to have a well meaning Decepticon that isn’t Starscream or Soundwave give bad advice that the Terrans have to struggle to figure out with the Maltos and Bee. Like say IDW Flatline was another medic that Medix mentored under, but his advice and skills are considered ghoulish by Ratchet, but Medix is able to hybridize Flatline and Ratchet’s skills into something that helps the Terrans and Autobots.

The pet analogy fits pretty well as the cassettes I had in mind would be based on CatDog and Reptar.

[seaglass-and-string]

pre-jegulus jegulus | muggle au | 717 words

james was pointing at something. a quince tree growing just outside the classroom window, slightly forlorn looking next to the concrete car park, although not entirely out of place. regulus turned his attention away from the conversation around him to look out the window, bumping against james’ shoulder in the attempt to turn around in the small space they had squished themselves into, sprawled in between two rows of desks.

in the background he could feel pandora and marlene starting to butt heads over some trivial matter, and really he should try to calm them down, but right now his only priority was the small point of connection between his shoulder and james’ arm as they attempted to stand side by side. they could sort it out themselves.

but still the voices were ever raising in volume, getting less passive and more aggressive, and he began to tense up. he wasn’t in the mood to hear the conflict, but could probably keep a straight face if he tried. until he felt the lightest tug on his shirt sleeve.

looking up, he found himself staring into the warm brown gaze which could only belong to james, perfectly framed by the gold which mirrored the highlights found creating galaxies in those eyes. and suddenly all regulus could think was how that must be how james saw the world. seeing it through the stars, everything at its most beautiful, everything with a silver lining.

another tug on his sleeve and he was brought back down to earth, left only with the hope of one day being more than a guest amongst the solar system that orbited james potter, the centre of it all, the sun.

they snuck out of the classroom, giggling as conversation erupted now that they were free from the situation starting to unfold behind them. it would resolve itself quickly, no need to get involved. 

‘we should conduct an experiment,’ declared james as a look of mischief crossed his smile, ‘i need to see what that brain of yours can really do.’

regulus’ mind raced. he wanted to do something with him? and only him? something he cared about? but what? it had to be something james would like.

‘let’s investigate how absorbent sand is of gladiator blood.’ what. the. fuck. what on earth made him say that? that wasn’t what james meant! that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, or what anyone wanted to hear for that matter. somewhere in his mind ritualistic chanting struck up so that all he could hear was ‘we fucked up we fucked up we fucked up we fucked u-‘

‘i’m not sure we could get a hold of gladiator blood, would pigs' blood do?’ 

the chanting stopped.

‘what?’ regulus stopped. and they were both laughing. thank the lord.

they were heading to the quince tree, of course they were, but still he smiled to himself at the choice. because only james would take him to just stand and look up at a tree, just like he knew regulus would love to.

‘you know how a quince fell on darwin’s head when he discovered gravity-‘ began james, without taking his eyes off the tree,

‘what?’ regulus cut him off

‘you say ‘what’ a lot’

‘you confuse me a lot, and anyway, that’s the biggest problem here. not anything else about your statement.’

‘fuck.’

‘indeed.’

‘i- fuck. no one needs to hear i said that. i have a reputation to uphold. i was gonna say something profound and interesting too.’

regulus just stared at him. how is this the one that made his heart join an amateur acrobatics group. and so they laughed, harder and louder than normal because they could. for the first time they felt so purely comfortable, that they could just laugh. 

that’s why he’s the one that made his heart join an amateur acrobatics group.

and as they began to make their way back, james wheezed out a final plea for regulus not to mention it. not that anything much had even happened, but in those moments where james was leaning on him, unable to keep himself up from laughter, glasses dangerously close to falling off as his head rolled forward, he couldn’t help but agree. and he kept that promise. no matter what happened, he always did. 

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

OKAY so rangers apprentice is this book series set in medieval europe-adjacent, like it has countries clearly inspired by european regions and the names are usually related to the real world name, so that combined with the locations is not hard to figure out which countries are which

the main character is this 15 year old kid named Will who grows up throughout the series (11 books), and he’s the ranger’s apprentice in question. the Rangers are this ultra-secret group of spy archers who work for the king and a lot of ppl think they’re dark wizards but they’re actually just good at camouflage, so Will is apprenticed to one of the rangers and he ends up saving the country a couple times.

there’s not much of an overarching plot through the whole series but there are smaller arcs that go through a couple books, like books 1-4 are mostly together and then 5-6 could have been one long book, book 7 is a weird outlier that takes place between 4 and 5, and so on.

what’s interesting about the setting tho is that there’s not explicitly magic systems/users, but it’s heavily implied that there’s more to the world than meets the eye (i think there’s demons in a spin-off series? idk haven’t read that one yet) it’s sooooo fun

and the characters are super engaging too!!! there’s Will, the protagnist; Halt, his mentor; Horace, his best friend; Alyss the love interest; and lots more side characters that are interesting too and even tho i described them as how they relate to Will, they all get super interesting development and backstory. this got so long i’m sorry but rangers apprentice is one of the best book series i’ve ever read and i highly recommend it :33

Finally archers getting the attention and spotlight they deserve! (can you tell I’m partial??)

It’s really interesting (in a good way) that there’s a “lack” of over-arching plot. a lot of longer “media” i’ve “consumed” (at least lately) has suffered from a sort of burn-out where the stakes feel wonky and over done, yet underwhelming after going on for so long; it’s often affected other stuff like continuity and character development and consistency (hello supernatural, how goes the Winchester self sacrifice reset?). I’m actually really excited to see how smaller chunks over longer time will feel after so long.

I also love the idea of a magic system not being explicitly stated wether it’s it a star wars-y “long time ago in a galaxy far far away” type thing were it’s implied that you’re reading an in universe recollection where you’re already supposed to “know” or it’s a narrative tool for the author to frame perspective/plot twists etc

I’m gonna go now and start looking for epubs and shit even though my kindles broke :,( (fuck you ryaniar) and i’m looking for a new one

[marvelstars]

Anakin Skywalker & Darth Vader politics

One of the first things that got my attention when I started seeing star wars for the first time, was the way the story flowed so easily between action, politics and warfare and just like every other story of its kind, no hero or group of heros get to shine if their villain isnt something of a challenge for them, physical, moral or political and this is where Vader proves to be such a good antagonist.

Vader is someone who isn´t just strong in the force, he´s physicaly strong, he´s terrifiyng, he´s someone who in a New Hope is a highter up of the Empire and in ESB and ROTJ he´s clearly the second in comand of the Empire, Rogue One shows other Grand Moffs, with the exception of Tarkin, wanting to get his approval to get close to the Emperor and in that way obtain greater political power.

We get a glimpse of Vader´s politics in a New Hope, along with his martial role in the Empire as part of the Order of the Sith/former Jedi and his role as enforcer of the Empire, being one of the few highter ups if not the only one, to engage in open warfare with the rebel alliance.

But it´s on ESB when we get to hear his appeal to Luke towards his main motives, we get a sort of "motives of the wolf" Vader´s pov is to rule the galaxy with his Son to put "Order in the Galaxy" and "Stop the destructive conflict between the rebel alliance and the Empire" this is an actually compelling argument, because since a New Hope we could see Vader didn´t cosider the DS necccesary for the Empire, he defended it because it was part of his role within the Empire and didn´t have the power to overrule the Emperor or Takin on it´s use and creation but it isn´t something Vader himself approves personally and actually looks at it as source for greater trouble within the Empire. He after all called it " A Tecnological terror" this coming from Vader who is himself a cyborg used for bloodshed is a very definitive description. Vader hates the Death Star because he thinks it´s a real abomination, to the galaxy in general and to the force in particular.

So we get a character who´s definitely a villain but whose pov comes from a place of wanting to bring stability to the galaxy, this isn´t a character only interested in power for power sake like Tarkin or The Emperor or who wants more personal power for himself for it´s own sake, he suggests to Luke to take on the Emperor once it became clear the Emperor would not allow Luke to live if he didn´t fell to the darkside and this compliments quite nicely the story when it´s revealed Vader used to be a "good guy" the father of Luke and Leia, a Jedi who believed in peace and justice for the galaxy but whose vision was twisted by the darkside and the Emperor, we know how this story ends, with Vader chosing Luke, his family and justice once again at the cost of his own life and the defeat of the Empire an institution in which Vader/Anakin actually believed so it can´t be said Vader didn´t sacrifice everything he had to save the life of his Son and give the galaxy a chance without the Empire ruling it.

The prequel trilogy presents a very interesting reason to the source of Vader´s political ideology, his history was already interesting if he was just a character interested in politics, who became dissapointed in the Jedi Order, Like Count Dooku but what we find the the PT is even more visceral than that, say what you want about Anakin´s political ideology but as a former slave in a lawless world, ignored by a corrupt republic whose check and balances where only there to keep the status quo in which the interest of the banking clan and the corporations were more important than everybody else and not address the different challenges of the wider galaxy, I could see a young Jedi like Anakin thinking

1.- The System doesn´t work

2.- This system is actively hurting for the people of the republic and for my people in particular.

3.- The republic doesn´t care for the slavery being run on it´s very own underworld, it´s happy to ignore it.

4.- The Jedi Order are the guardians or peace and justice but they are not interested in changing the status quo, they are there to keep it.

Those ideas didn´t came just from Obi-Wan´s discourse over his dislike of politicians or Palpatine´s grooming tactics, those ideas come from the person, the kid who once dreamed to "free all of the slaves" and who grew quickly dissapointed when he learned of the reality far away from his homeworld, just like Padme grew dissapointed in the Republic ignoring the plight of her world but unlike her, Anakin had even less tools to bring to the political debate. As a Jedi he could talk and discuss his beliefs with Padme or Palpatine or even Bail Ordana but he knew neither had any oblitation to give much thought about his ideas, especially when they thought it came from a naive boy unfamiliar with politics, he may have been so but he was certainly familiar with the failures of the republic and it´s consequences.

I can easily see a character like this developing the idea the galaxy needed a stronger force to help put order in the galaxy and while he´s made fun of for thinking this way, I don´t think his idea was Palpatine´s Empire or the "Benevolent Dictatorship" like Vader believed in, Anakin´s idea about someone making people agree most probably came from the way he saw the Jedi Order Operate, with Yoda at it´s head, obviously in the Council they all took votes but Yoda´s influence there when there wasn´t an agreetment was clear and I could see this as Anakin´s vision for the republic, which even has some reflections in the real world, on institutions whose main function is to help open debate when the congress is blocked given it´s disagrements.

Anakin´s tragedy, when it comes to his original political beliefs, comes from the fact that he felt the need to forget his own ideals of freeing slaves, to fit himself into the chosen one the Jedi said they needed, even if they weren´t sure about that prophecy and sometimes put it in doubt and Anakin himself often thought it was just a myth, he broke himself up into different pieces to try to appeal to the people important to him or had expectations on him, he tried to be the Jedi the Order needed in times of war, the teacher Ahsoka needed, he tried to be the friend Palpatine expected, believing he genuinely cared for him, he tried to be a representative of the republic by caring for the well being of people around the galaxy and he did all of this no matter the damage to his mind. He tried to be the husband Padme needed him to become once she became pregnant and their marriage was no longer something that could be hidden so he decided to abandon his Jedi identity to be true to his responsibilities as Padme´s husband and father of their children or at least that was his idea before he had the dream of Padme dying.

So when he has his final breakdown, falls to the darkside and his very vision is twisted by the darkside, Padme no longer recognizes her husband because he effectively isn´t thinking like her husband did, Anakin agreed the Republic needed reform and order but not at the cost of an iron fist like Vader believed. So when he told her he wanted to name her Empress and do everything they always wanted to do, she knew those were not the words of her beloved husband but of a broken man led to madness by all the forces around him and by Palpatine in particular, she saw the signs but didn´t expect it to end like this. I believe this is the reason why Padme and not Obi-Wan understood better what happened to Anakin and hence why she insisted he could be brought back, he just was closer to him, knew him in his home on Tatootine and his closenes with Palpatine.

Padme was right, because while Vader´s mind was certainly twisted by madness and the supernatural influence of the darkside and Palpatine´s grooming, his vision of a galaxy in order came from Anakin´s original innocent/idealistic idea of justice and freedom, of a galaxy that could be more fair than it was before. Vader never truly turned to the darkside despite Palpatine´s best efforts, because there was a part of the person Anakin was that stubornly refused to die and his past and identity were a big part of that. This identity is what Luke calls to life on ROTJ, the identity of the person who believed in compassion as unlimited love, who believed in helping each other to lead to a more fair galaxy.

I enjoy a lot all of Anakin´s and Vader´s relationships, I believe all of them have their charm and bring something to the characters involved but I believe his identity or the importance of his political beliefs in both his fall from grace and his redemption are sorely ignored or worse reduced to a meme or a joke and is such a shame because I don´t think Anakin/Vader´s character and story can be fully understood without bringing this part of the him to the discussion.

[wolfsbaneandthistle]

Can we ship Gary and Cereza?

I generally don’t mind the idea of shipping my characters- all the crew of the Little Bird are unrelated adults. Several of them are made explicitly to play around with ideas of romance in an uncertain and alien world.

Gary and Cereza in particular I can see- the tldr is that I don’t write them quite as romantic, but it’s a weird gray area for them. But it does have me yapping about my silly guys for several paragraphs :)

Gary and Cereza are best friends and long-time coworkers! Out of everyone on the Little Bird, they’re by far the closest. They’re also… business-married?

Pair bonds are legally sort of like marriage, and a lot of human groups do use them as a way to do marriage things easier, but they’re also more so a way for people to work together long-term. Enith, where the standard comes from, considers it illegal for two companies or guilds to work together without establishing at least one pair-bond to work together. Atistke, which isn’t technically where Gary is from but is what his baseline is established by, considers it a standard for people who have to work closely together- especially in a dangerous environment.

Horizon is kind of in between the human and Enithian standards. Cereza, if they had stayed on the colony, wouldn’t have expected to ever go into a pair bond. Their family just doesn’t do human-style marriages anymore, instead leaning towards a more generalized (?) kind of monogamy. They actually lean towards the Enithian standard- with your mother raising you and your father only existing in the context of what job you’re supposed to go into. Since Cereza was born into a local family under a guild that pretty much had a monopoly on the area, they weren’t ever going to do business with another guild.

And then Cereza went into spacecraft mechanics instead, and suddenly started working all over the place. Gary and Cereza met on some space station, worked together for a long time, and then decided they wanted to keep working together.

It is, in context, a business decision. Gary does structural and electrical engineering, Cereza balances him out with mechanical engineering and repair specialization, and vise versa. Being paired bonded is what allows them to legally travel together, and it means they have more wiggle room with the guys who Gary is contracted out by.

It is also, to Gary and Cereza, a way to stay close to the guy they like. The other end of pair bonds is that they’re supposed to be to get to know each other better than anyone, ostensibly to work together better, but- half the reason it gets used as a actual marriage is because Enith is pretty strict on who you can have close relationships with.

Sex, romance, and even friendship are tied up in the caste system. Enith hates it when people have kids with someone outside of the ‘mother’ caste. Guilds hate it when people get too friendly with people from other guilds.

And they did become close friends while working together, without a pair bond. They were both disenfranchised with their work, depressed with the system they live in. They both found a lot of comfort in being friends with one another, despite the dubious legality of their relationship.

If one of them was reassigned without them being pair bonded, they likely wouldn’t have ever seen each other again. They’re two complete weirdos for being the ones to propose and arrange the bond, instead of a guild or Gary’s bosses, but they’re just barely skating in what’s legal in the Enithian galaxy.

I don’t write either of them as being particularly romantic. They’re both more focused on other parts of their lives. Gary’s trying to get a life outside of work, Cereza’s trying to reconnect with their cultural identity, and that’s how I try to write them.

They’re more queer-platonic to me- if romance was an in-universe question that another human had asked them, they’d probably say they hadn’t considered it.

However- romance is definitely a way to read their relationship. They love each other, through and through. Pair bonds are a weird gray zone where they mean a lot of things to a lot of different characters!

[jetiisyandereclones]

Hey! First of all, absolutely love your writing and art, it never fails to make me smile when you post.

I don’t know how to type this without sounding awkward, but I had a random platonic yandere/reader idea inspired by your yandere clone family au that I just wanted to get out of my system and figured you might enjoy.

I started thinking about Arla Fett (Jango’s older sister) in this universe. 

In case you aren’t familiar with her character here’s a quick summary: After the murder of her’s and Jango’s parents she was enslaved by the Death Watch and eventually developed an extremely damaging case Stockholm syndrome. She would act as an assassin for the death watch before being arrested. Later on a Jedi general-turned mandolorian by the name of Bardin Jussik would try to help Arla heal from her trauma but after she begged him to help her forget about it entirely, Bardin simply wiped her memory using the force. The two then fell in love and would have settled down (had order 66 not occurred).

So, then I got to thinking: what if these events happened a few years sooner so that Arla and Bardin were already settled down during the war. And how would the yandere clones react to not only having a blood related sister, but a Jedi brother-in-law, and their likely force sensitive teenager aka reader.

Let’s say the war ends and the various clone battalions are rounding up their respective Jedi but the group formerly run by Bardin Jussik wind up having trouble tracking down their long lost general who left abruptly during the war due to his issues with the Jedi council’s leadership and the republic’s approach to the war. 

They get to the point that TBB get called in to help find him.

Even after some time passes, Jussik doesn’t seem to be anywhere and most assume he’s dead as there is literally no trace of him anywhere. TBB eventually refocus their efforts on to other troublesome Jedi (Such as Kanan, Ezra, Vera Sai, and Nazra) who have at least been seen alive and well in the past decade.

Their efforts to track down the Ghost crew lead them back to Lothal since it’s a planet the Ghost returns to regularly. 

The rest of the batch spreads out to search for clues while Hunter brings the Marauder to a refuel station bc the busy marketplace gives him a headache and he just needs a little rest from constantly tracking. 

He gets there and he’s met with reader working the station who’s about three or four years older than Omega. As Hunter asks them to just refuel the ship he can’t help but notice the teen is sort of staring him down.

Expecting some kind of anti-clone sentiment or getting called sub-human he simply asks

“What never seen a clone before?”

Reader looks at him confused and Hunter suddenly remembers that Lothal never had any part in the war and most people on the planet couldn’t care less who he or his brothers were, especially now that the war was over.

Suddenly, almost like they can read his thoughts, reader starts looking embarrassed and apologetic.

“I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean but…yeah I guess I have been pretty rude just staring huh?” Reader holds up a hand in front of Hunter’s face and closes one of their eyes so that they can only see the non-tattooed side of his face. “It’s just- my buir used to show me holos of my ba’vodu and I swear you look just like him. I’m probably just imagining it.”

Hunter is taken aback by the comment and is suddenly very interested in learning more about this barely paid refueling station attendant’s family. He figures the kid’s dad and uncle are deserters like Cut Laquane. Reader’s additions of some mando’a into their sentences only seems to cement his theory.

The two have a friendly conversation and Hunter finds himself amused by reader’s wide-eyed curiosity about the world outside of Lothal as it’s very reminiscent of when he first met Omega. 

Meanwhile reader is just thrilled that this starship captain is willing to answer all of their questions about his adventures across the galaxy ( Hunter leaves out the whole capturing and lovingly imprisoning all of the Jedi of course). 

Reader grew up on a farm with barely any contact with anybody aside from their parents (the other kids on Lothal find reader creepy for some reason) so speaking with Hunter is a breath of fresh air.

Reader rambles on about how boring life on the farm is and how they were lucky their parents even let them get a job in town since they’re so overprotective.

Reader winds up feeling guilty for making Hunter uncomfortable at first due to them staring at him and then info dumping on him. Eventually reader offers to pay for the Marauder’s fuel as an apology for wasting the man’s time.  

Hunter and reader wind up talking for so long that the rest of the batch come looking for their leader, only to find him lightly bickering with a kid about how it’s not necessary for them to pay for his fuel for simply looking at him a little too long.

Hunter suddenly remembers he has a duty and mission to complete and goes into leader mode, discussing with the others on where they should land the ship for the night so they have a place to stay.

Reader casually offers the empty field on their family’s farm since they wouldn’t have to pay for it like the ship docking spots in town. Reader also mentions harvest season just passed and their father has a tendency to cook an excess of food. 

Wrecker is sold on the idea immediately upon the offer of free food and begs his brothers to take up the offer.

Hunter, Tech, Echo, and Crosshair are made suspicious by the generosity and Crosshair is the one to ask what the catch is.

Reader simply made the offer in hopes of learning more about these strange off-worlders and decides to (naively) strike a deal.

“No catches, no fees. All is ask is each of you give me your best stories from your travels across the galaxy. Deal?”

The batch takes them up on their offer and soon find themselves following the kid home. As they travel, the batch all start noticing things. All of them had been around force sensitive children for some time now and had learned about the small habits that  most force sensitives had. Maybe reader answers any questions they have before the batch can even ask them. Almost like they read the batch’s minds. The batch quickly notice that reader’s reflexes are just a little too fast for a normal person. None of them really need the confirmation but Tech discretely uses a scanner to check reader’s medicloroan count and it’s a higher amount than most.

By the time the Marauder is nearing reader’s farm the entire batch knows they’re taking this kindhearted and naive little force sensitive back with them to Kamino. Now they just need to decide if they need to “take care of” reader’s family before they go.

They land and reader runs up to the house where their very confused mother is waiting in the front yard. Every member of the batch is stunned when they get a good look at reader’s mother. The woman quite literally looks exactly like an adult version of Omega. It’s almost frightening.

Reader’s mother doesn’t entirely know how to feel about the strangers (given she got her memories about the clone war wiped it’s likely she doesn’t realize they’re clones. Let alone clones of her brother)

Reader’s mother introduces herself as Arla Jussik-Fett. At the same time, Bardin steps out of the house and upon seeing the clones, freezes. 

Now, Lothal is an isolated planet, far from the republic. (Exactly the reason he chose to live there)

So Bardin had only heard whispers and warped rumors about what the clones had been doing. As far as he knew, Jedi and force sensitives found by clones were never seen again. Of course Bardin is going to assume they came to kill him and his family.

He never stopped carrying his lightsaber out of cautiousness and already has his hand on it out of instinct.

Reader notices their dad standing close-by and waved him over. 

“Buir! You’ll agree with me! Mom doesn’t agree but don’t you think these guys look like ba’vodu Jango?”  

All hell breaks loose after that.

 Clone force 99 is #shook and Bardin runs to stand between his family and the clones.

“Cyar’ika, ad’ika, go inside and lock the door.” He order, activating his lightsaber. 

Reader is VERY scared by the sudden tenseness that’s taken over. Bardin and Arla share a look and Arla quickly takes reader inside.

Bardin and the Bad Batch take a long few minutes to size one another up. After some time Bardin finally speaks.

“We will give you all one chance to turn around and walk away.”

Crosshair pops a toothpick in his mouth and takes a moment to scan the area.

“We?”

“We.” Bardin nods.

Just then the shot of a sniper rifle rings out. The end of the toothpick in Crosshair’s mouth splinters and is left charred as a blaster bolt just grazes the tip of it. The bolt doesn’t hurt a hair on the clone’s head, but is definitely WAY too close for comfort.

The batch quickly trace the origin of the shot to the front-facing window in the second story of the house where Arla is standing with a rifle pointed down at them.

Arla, despite having lived a fairly quiet and domestic life the past few years, is still a dead on shot. She was a very successful assassin for the Death Watch after all. 

Hitting the toothpick was a warning shot. Crosshair would have dropped had it not been.

“My riduur is right.” Arla shouts down from the open window. “He’s not really the one you need to be worried about.” 

Both Bardin and Arla lived difficult lives and as a result were very particular about security and protecting their home. They wanted to make it so their ad’ika could maintain their innocence. Unfortunately this resulted in reader being extremely sheltered and completely banned from learning how to use their force powers.

After a lot of struggle, Bardin and Arla manage to escape with reader by the skin of their teeth. 

So, TBB return to Kamino to share their strange news. 

They bring the name Arla Fett up to the Alpha clones and they’re vaguely aware of the name as Jango had mentioned her fondly once or twice.

The news quietly spreads around Kamino as a rumor. Some clones are absolutely enthralled by the concept of a new addition to the family. Others are cautious upon finding out Arla was once part of the Death Watch and are against the idea of bringing someone like her near their Jedi.

Some shinnies make the joke that the Fett genetics must give them a type since Arla herself married a Jedi just like so many of her brother’s clones. 

A few of the clones wonder if Arla shares their yandere tendencies. Some clones are already referring to her as Ori’vod Arla and joking about how they wonder if Bardin Jussik is good enough for their big sis. And then some clones just don’t care.

Meanwhile the squad once run by Bardin Jussik is ecstatic to find out their precious general was alive after all. WITH A WIFE NO LESS! Suffice to say they are stoked.

The news about Bardin and Arla’s force sensitive kid is far less widespread or just gets overshadowed.

Since Bardin is off the grid the clones have no idea where he would go. They ask around the Jedi on Kamino but Bardin was never very friendly with any of them. So they instead decide to see what they can find about Arla. Thanks to Emperor Vader the clones are given access to Arla’s arrest records and the subsequent psychiatric treatments she received while in prison. 

When it’s revealed that Arla was essentially enslavement by the Death Watch and used as a soldier it’s like a switch is flipped. Every last clone on Kamino suddenly realizes that the Death Watch did to Arla exactly what the Republic did to them. She really is their sister. A kindred spirit.

Cue the most quietly chaotic custody battle in history with various clone groups and individuals trying to figure out who gets to bring their dear sister and her Jedi husband home to Kamino.

It doesn’t really matter who does it bc the second she’s there she won’t be leaving. With the combined power of the entirety of Kamino it doesn’t take long to find the Jussik-Fett family.

And when they find out about reader? Their ori’vod’s precious ad’ika who’s force sensitive?!

Every single clone is obsessed and wants to be the best uncle.

Every. Single. Clone. 

(I have no idea how that would work out but I feel like the clones would find a way to organize it without completely overwhelming their ori’vod’s dear ad’ika)

Reader’s little family of three suddenly gets much MUCH bigger.

I can see Bardin Jussik being absolutely miserable after being wrangled onto Kamino. (He is absolutely not going without one hell of a fight. He is dragged in kicking and screaming)

The guy left the Jedi order in favor of a mandalorian lifestyle bc he hated the rigidity and hypocrisy of the Jedi. He hated how he couldn’t use his abilities to help more people just because the republic said he wasn’t allowed. Being constantly surrounded by the various Jedi artifacts spread around Kamino would most likely make him feel even more trapped than the bars of the cell that he was kept in before he finally calmed down and stopped biting any clone who would come near.

But he wouldn’t exactly have a chance to escape, especially not with his wife and child! The man would rather die than leave his family alone with the obsessed clones.

I can see him assisting in escapes, but not going with whoever gets loose. He always makes sure he won’t be tied back to the jailbreak so he and his family don’t get in trouble or separated as a punishment. 

(The clones quickly figure out the best way to keep him from trying anything is threatening to take his wife and reader away)

Arla would probably be conflicted about the situation. While she knows being imprisoned on Kamino is supposed to be terrible, she’s happy to be given a second chance at being a sister to Jango. Even if she knows the clones aren’t exactly him (mentally and emotionally that is). She has been in an abusive hostage situation before (Death Watch) but for some reason to her, this time it’s different…? The clones don’t burn a brand into her back like the Death Watch did. They don’t give her scars, don’t chain her up. They never hurt her. They are soft and loving, looking UP to her for guidance and making sure SHE is comfortable being called ori’vod and acting as an older sister to all of them. Many clones go to her for parenting advice and sometimes just to excitedly talk about their day or ask about hers. 

Arla’s mental health has been cracked from a young age. The clones somewhat use this to their advantage. Arla knows that what the clones are doing to the Jedi is wrong, but she also doesn’t entirely see the harm in it?

So many of the families living on Kamino are happy and healthy and everyone cares about one another. And Arla knows that as long as she stays, she’ll be surrounded by family and friends and love. She wouldn’t have to worry about armored soldiers bursting through the door and gunning down her family in front of her. Not again.

She knows Bardin is dissatisfied, and restless and she feels terrible for wanting to stay, but as long as she stays on Kamino, she knows her family is safe.

Reader starts off ecstatic. FINALLY having friends and family who understand them, and mentors willing to help them use the force properly. But before long they start feeling trapped again. Reader realizes they may have traded one prison for another. Lothal for Kamino. They still find themselves wanting to explore the stars. Reader eventually approaches ba’vodu Hunter and asks him if they can come along on the batch’s next expedition.

Hunter flat out says no. The Alphas are strictly against it. Reader asks around and literally every clone on Kamino says no to letting reader come along off world. It’s too dangerous out there for a naive little one like reader! They’re too sweet! Too innocent! (They are also literally getting close to being 18 and very much not a child anymore)

And reader finally realizes the mess they accidentally brought upon themself. 

one day they defeatedly walk up to Hunter, take a seat next to him, tiredly leaning their head on his shoulder.

“Remember that deal we made when we first met? And you promised to give me your best story about one of your adventures? I’m ready to hear it now…”

I’d love to know your thoughts on this! I’d love to know what you think would go differently. This wound up being a lot longer than I thought it would but I figured you might find it interesting! 

Your work is amazing, I think it’s SUPER creative. Please don’t forget to take care of yourself and have an amazing day!

I actually love this.

I dont have a whole lot.more to add except jango fett is still alive in my au. So that would make things extra interesting for aarla.

Also, Bardin and Vera would vibe. She orchestrates a majority of the successful escapes from kamino, and is glad to have his help.

[anghraine]

I know Space Middle-earth has been done, but thinking Gondor/Númenor thoughts while also vicariously playing Mass Effect with my best friend suddenly got me thinking about LOTR/the Silm in space. More space fantasy than sci-fi, but still.

I've got a lot of ideas, but wrt Númenor specifically, I think it was another planet, part way between Earth and Space Valinor (I think Tol Eressëa is an asteroid or moon or something). Not particularly close as the starship flies. Humans who had fought in their psionic alien pals' epic interstellar war against Space Morgoth were (if willing) brought from Earth to Númenor, a beautiful garden world.

I don't think humans had the technology for FTL travel at the time or access to whatever they'd call hyperspace lanes in this AU. But they did end up developing FTL space travel later and all sorts of wondrous devices that blurred the line between technology and Space Elf magic.

This goes on over a much longer time than in canon, I think, and they functionally become aliens themselves. Some literally are descendants of Space Elves, but regardless of that, they're becoming increasingly like them, esp in regard to physiology and various psionic abilities.

But where Space Elves are immortal, Númenóreans are not, even if they live much longer than their ancestors did, and in their later years, there's a ton of dubious but well-funded immortality research.

They eventually develop their own interstellar empire. They even rediscover Earth in their travels, and although they don't initially realize what it is and Terrans take them for true aliens at first, both soon recognize their kinship. Unfortunately, the end result is that the Númenóreans fold significant portions of Earth into their empire (also as a consequence, Terran humans spread beyond Earth, though it remains their acknowledged homeworld).

The Space Elves have some ancient holdings on Earth as well, I think, and Space Sauron is expanding his empire to all corners, with various bloody clashes until the Númenóreans apparently conquer Sauron's forces and take him as a prisoner back to Númenor. This goes about as well as in canon, and the end result is that Númenor is transformed into a total water world—I'm thinking rather like the one in Interstellar. (Still deciding if the "lanes" to it are destroyed or if you can go to the planet, but will find nothing except watery death.)

The death of the Númenórean high king, his armada, and destruction of the entire capital planet, its infrastructure, and many of its people nearly destroys the power of the surviving Númenóreans and certainly succeeds in breaking it into multiple states, many of which ultimately fall apart. I think there's some further disaster as Elendil's starship fleet escapes Númenor and it gets split up, with Elendil crash-landing on a Númenórean colony and Isildur and Anárion's part of the fleet ending up near Earth.

All three share incredible diplomatic acumen and are able to unite various factions and peoples behind them into two sprawling "quadrants," the Arnor and Gondor quadrants. The Arnor quadrant is the more remote from the Sol system, though a number of Terran groups have long-since settled there, and it does eventually shatter as a Númenórean quadrant under various pressures (the remaining Númenóreans there become helpful spacefarers, essentially).

The Gondor quadrant has a number of struggles—a disastrous civil war in their capital of Osgiliath that leads to relocating the capital to the Sol system, incursions that lead to relinquishing a major system, the loss of Elendil's dynasty. But they're fundamentally holding together at the time that Sauron's old empire reforms. Now they're struggling to survive and to keep Sauron's empire from total conquest of the known galaxy.