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inyri · 2 years

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Equivalent Exchange (a SWTOR story): Chapter 40: Swords of Damocles

Equivalent Exchange by inyri

Fandom: Star Wars: The Old Republic Characters: Female Imperial Agent (Cipher Nine)/Theron Shan Rating: E (this chapter: M. Trigger warning: graphic violence.) Summary: If one wishes to gain something, one must offer something of equal value. In spycraft, it’s easy. Applying it to a relationship is another matter entirely. F!Agent/Theron Shan. (Spoilers for Shadow of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire/Knights of the Eternal Throne.)

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(Two moves- India and now the Middle East, COVID, work, COVID at work, toddler parenthood and a partridge in a pear tree. I forgot how to word for a while, I think.

And then, one day, they came back.)

Chapter Forty: Swords of Damocles

Void, she’s tired.

Only tired, she tells herself as she lowers herself to the floor to sit beside the now-snoring ‘Pub. Only tired. She’ll be fine. It isn’t that much blood, really. She’s had worse.

The door slides open and SCORPIO stands silhouetted in the dim light from the corridor, eyes glowing yellow and a sturdy black canvas bag dangling from one metallic hand. “Commander. As requested.”

“You’re certain this is the only attacker, SCORPIO?” Lana’s still half-hidden behind the doorframe. “I know you’re still monitoring but-” she peers around the droid and must be able to see her now, the way her eyebrow just disappeared somewhere between her hairline and the stratosphere- “oh, for fuck’s sake, Nine-”

“Blame him.” Head tilted toward her assailant as they surround her, Lana at her right hand and Doctor Lokin at her left, she makes a face at Lana even as they’re all pulling supplies out of Lokin’s bag. “He started it.”

(She’s hoarser than she’d thought, or perhaps she can hear better as the echo of the flashbang fades from her ears.

She’s had worse.)

Lana crouches down beside her, easing her down to lie flat on the debris-studded ground. “And you finished it, I see. I’m surprised he’s still breathing. Do we know who he is?”

“Best guess? Trying to call in the death mark. And of course he’s still breathing- he can’t answer questions if he’s dead. Now stop fussing over me and get those restraints on him. I don’t know-” she clears her throat, hissing as Lokin shifts position and something sharp pricks the side of her neck- “I don’t know how long the sedatives will hold him. If he gets loose again he’ll go straight for the target and he clearly doesn’t care about collateral damage. He could-”

SCORPIO drops the duffel bag and draws out a set of stun cuffs. “You may wish to see to this, Doctor, or he may not survive long enough to question.” The droid prods at the wound in the man’s thigh even as she snaps one cuff closed around his wrist, pulls his other arm roughly behind his back and fastens the other cuff; he groans, head lolling to one side. “That would be a shame. I do so enjoy interrogations.”

Lana wrinkles her nose when she thinks no one is looking, quickly shifting back into neutrality when Nine glances in her direction. “With all of this, you don’t think you were his target?”

“SCORPIO didn’t brief you?”

“Too many ears in the corridor,” the droid murmurs, “including Agent Shan. Brevity was required.”

She tries and fails to sit upright, one of Lokin’s hands on her forehead holding her down against the floor. “I told you to keep him occupied. If there’s a second agent-”

SCORPIO’s eyes flicker briefly; if she didn’t know better she’d swear that was an approximation of an eyeroll. “He is with Doctor Oggurobb now-” another flicker, this time almost certainly hooking into the surveillance mainframe. She’s lost track of the number of times she’s told her not to do that but it does have its uses- “discussing requisitions requests. He is well-guarded.”

“Theron clearly wasn’t the only target.” Lana frowns, tracing the curve of her neck with one careful fingertip. “Any other wounds we should know about?”

“Not for lack of trying. He’s armored-”

“I meant on you, you- Nine.” Lana catches herself just in time. “Or is all that blood from him?”

Bacta gel now, cool and viscous and sharp-smelling as Lokin clicks his tongue and readies another injector. “Nearly all hers, I think. Quite unlike you to end up on the wrong side of a knife, Commander.”

“He got the drop on me,” she murmurs, closing her eyes, “and it was a garotte. ‘s different.”

Only silence for a moment, punctuated by another, sharper groan from her assailant- she smiles a bit at that despite herself; she’s never had any particular illusion that SCORPIO saw her as anything other than an ally of convenience, but that might be the closest the droid will ever come to sentiment- before Lana clears her throat. “Yes. Of course.” Another pause, and then- “Where are we going to put him? We aren’t equipped to maintain prisoners.”

“I don’t plan on keeping him here long-term. As soon as he’s fit to talk, he talks and we get rid of him.”

“In a technical sense, or a literal sense?”

She shrugs. “That depends on him. And his employer. SCORPIO, search him and get access to any communications devices he has. If he’s anywhere near as sloppy as his counterpart I may not need him to talk at all.”

“I’ll allow the use of my laboratory, in the short term,” Lokin murmurs. “He does require some degree of medical care, and the room itself is quite secure. And well soundproofed.” For a moment she thinks of Alderaan and she can feel the memory of his growl in her bones, imagines the sharp tips of claws like so many needles in her wire-bitten skin. “Not precisely the eventuality it was planned for, but it would serve as a temporary prison.”

“Fine.” Lana’s hand rests against her forehead. “We can move the Commander to-”

“I can move myself, thank you very much. My legs are perfectly functional-” she wiggles her feet by way of proof- “no assistance required. Just point me toward a ‘fresher to rinse this mess off and I’ll meet you in the lab.”

Lokin chuckles as he starts to shift away from her. “I think not. Run program six on your shipboard tank for two hours and I’ll be by to check on you. That should be sufficient to-”

Oh, she is so tired of that Force-damned tank.

“Absolutely not.” Forcing herself to sit up (the room spins as her eyes open, but only for a moment; she can work with that for now), she shakes her head irritably. “There’s already far too much to do before we leave for Voss without this idiot added to the mix. I don’t have two hours to spare.”

This time the claws are decidedly unimaginary, a clenched hand holding her still. “That wasn’t a suggestion, Commander. You requested my skills-” for him, she protests half-heartedly until he grips hard enough to pierce flesh- “and that is my assessment. More to the point, you’re going to have some significant explaining to do unless you plan to conduct the remainder of your meetings today from stealth.”

All right. Perhaps he has a point.

She scowls. “One hour.”

“Ninety minutes.” He relaxes his hold. “Lord Beniko, please see that she reaches her ship without incident. I will need SCORPIO to transport our guest.”

Lana nods.

A thud, next, followed by a very loud grunt, a second thud and the sound of a zipper being fastened: when she turns to look SCORPIO’s already standing with an overladen and faintly snoring duffel bag held over one shoulder. “Cargo secured. After you.”

When they are alone Lana sits down heavily beside her, legs bent and elbows resting on knees and head in hands. “You could have waited for me, you know. No one’s asking you to do everything on your own, and if he’d managed to-”

“No,” she sighs. “I couldn’t. Any longer and he’d have assumed Theron wasn’t taking the bait and either gone to ground or done something particularly reckless-” her shirt’s going sticky now, clinging and uncomfortable and too warm and she pulls at the collar of her armor peevishly- “and it very likely would have been the latter. And now it’s handled.”

“Why are you so certain he wasn’t after you? You’re still alive, but not for apparent lack of trying on his part. Or did Valk-”

The words come out unbidden, hissed through gritted teeth. “Don’t say it, he’ll hear you.” Lana winces and covers her mouth as Nine braces herself, waits for him to push his way forward again but it’s quiet; if Valkorion heard his name spoken, for once he doesn’t seem to care. “No, nothing like that this time. SCORPIO was ignoring orders and intercepted a message in mid-transmission that-”

“I thought we’d agreed she isn’t supposed to have that level of network access.”

“She isn’t, but you know she does as she pleases. I’ll see to it. In any case,” she continues, “it was good luck that she did. It was exactly the sort of thing that would have had Theron running right down here to investigate, and I don’t know if-” she swallows. She doesn’t want to think about that and-

(-and there it is, image after image after image like flashbulbs going off inside her head of Theron on the floor of the storeroom, still and silent, throat laid open and the bright spark gone from his eyes.

She knows how it would have gone. She knows. But there is knowing and there is seeing it.)

When she comes back to herself Lana’s a little nearer, one hand just next to hers on a clean patch on the floor and the angle of her head a silent question.

She nods, and shudders. “I don’t know if he’d have walked back out. Trant trains his people well.”

“Not well enough.” Lana’s lips pull back from her teeth. “You’re certain he’s Republic?”

“It’s not as though they wear insignias. So no, I can’t be absolutely certain. But he called me Cipher, and he- frankly, I can’t think of anyone else Theron would have pissed off badly enough to risk infiltrating our base to kill him, can you?”

“He made enemies on Zakuul, but no more than any of the rest of us did, and I’ve yet to see Arcann send a Force-blind assassin. He relies almost entirely on his skytroopers and his Knights, and they’ve all the subtlety of a boulder to the face.” With a sigh, she shifts her weight to one hip. “Come on, Nine. Let’s get you into kolto and I’ll fetch you a change of clothes.”

She briefly considers, as Lana rises once more and extends a hand to help her to her feet, simply refusing to move. She’s probably too heavy for her to carry unless she-

“You aren’t,” Lana murmurs. “Ask Koth. Now turn your generator on.”

***

When she opens her eyes and spits out a mouthful of kolto the medbay’s empty.

That isn’t a surprise. The folded pile of clothing on the examination table means Lana’s gone and returned and probably gone again to take over the meeting that she’s missing- not one that included Theron, thank fuck, there’d have been no way to talk around that. The one after’s meant for all of them, though, and she’ll need to be on time.

Or better early- she can intercept him that way. If their intel failed this badly once it very well might have failed a second time: they might have another mole and-

Her mind races as she exits the tank, gathers up the clothes and makes her way to the ‘fresher. Even beneath the kolto she can still smell blood on her skin and when she looks down at her chest it’s smeared dark red along one collarbone and the strap line from her undershirt. Out of the corner of her eye she catches a sliver of her reflection in the cabinet mirror, skin chalk-white and hair tangled, face smeared with the remnants of makeup and ribs bruised and neck and chest like an abattoir floor.

Stars, what a fucking mess.

Deliberately she lets the water heat up until the mirror’s completely fogged over and, cleaning-cloth in hand, steps into the shower cubicle. Better not to look too closely now. Better to get clean first. It only looks worse than it is, doesn’t it, with all the blood?

(And what was it you said about vanity, my dear?

She sticks her head under the water until the roar drowns out his voice.)

The blood smears are gone and her skin’s scrubbed pink by the time he’s stopped his prattling and when she calls out to the ship for a time check another ten minutes have passed and- oh, damn it all, her commpad’s chiming from where she left it in the infirmary. Grabbing garments from the pile in both hands, she pulls on underclothes and trousers (definitely hers, from the drawer in the captain’s quarters) and a high-necked sweater (definitely not hers and snug in the bust- probably one of Lana’s own if she had to hazard a guess). It was a good thought on Lana’s part but she doubts she needs it, really; an hour and a half in kolto should have been more than enough to fade the wire line around her neck. She pulls at the fabric, exposing her throat as she turns to the cabinet, checking her reflection more carefully in its mirrored door.

That-

That’s definitely a problem.

There’s a tube of bacta gel in here, or ought to be; her hand closes around it, behind her hairbrush and pushed to the back of the middle shelf, and she slathers a generous coat onto the faint but still clearly-visible gouge before she tugs the neck of the sweater up beneath her chin. A few more hours in kolto would fade it into nothing but she doesn’t have a few more hours to waste, not with a mission to finish planning and an erstwhile assassin to break and bag (metaphorically speaking. Probably. She makes a mental note to see if Renzi and Xessa are still hanging around the Core. They were always good for deliveries on ‘special cargo.’) She’ll have to hope the bacta works more quickly and figure out a way to keep Theron distracted until it’s properly gone. If she wears her jacket too, maybe he won’t notice- but then she needs to clean it now and still have to find a way to sneak into the tank while they’re in transit. Her wrist is a viable excuse, of course, but-

The brush catches on a knot in her hair. She pulls harder, peevish, until it tears free and a dozen strands of hair pull away with it and she almost misses the soft chime of the external door alert beneath a half-stifled hiss of pain. But no, there it is again.

“Lana?” She calls out softly as her fingers brush over the panel behind the sink, searching for the edge and prying it loose with one fingernail. “Lana, is that you?”

It oughtn’t be Lana. Lana ought to be in a meeting now, and no one else but Eckard and SCORPIO should know to find her here. The panel comes open; her hand closes around the little knife in the hidden compartment.

“Hello?” She steps out of the ‘fresher, blade raised at throat height, edge out. Not a mistake she’ll make twice. Not a mistake she’d survive twice.

Her quarters are empty, the door between room and corridor still closed. With back to the wall and knife hand leading she moves toward the corridor, a pause after each step but the only sound the soft brush of her own bare footfalls on the cool durasteel floor. Closer to the opening- closer- closer- the door slides open and she looks right-left-up-down and then left again, a flicker at the furthest edge of her peripheral vision but it’s only the little cleaning droid sweeping a few fragments of leaves near the conference room door.

Ah. Another messy one, then. Tsk, tsk.

The war terminal was locked down properly when she’d left it last. That might not hold for too long against an SIS slicer, though, and the last thing she needs with the timeline on Voss already tight is a compromised agenda or worse, more of Trant’s hounds on their scent.

(They used to joke, back in the days where it was easy to joke about the people that would likely as not be the ones who’d kill you someday when the alternative was actually considering your own mortality, and call them puppies : half-blind, toothless, barely trained little things that couldn’t hunt worth a damn, held back by their master by the scruff of their necks until given a scent to follow-

But this last pup had fangs.)

Nine crosses the common room swiftly, muting the noise of her movement in the whirr of the droid’s spinning brush. Most likely the intruder’s still at the terminal, back to the door and at an angle that should hide her behind the table if she comes in low. Should. If she’s wrong, she’ll have perhaps a second to land a hit or two.

Long enough.

Crouched at the door, she touches the panel and the moment the door’s open to shoulder width she’s in, a diving roll putting her behind the long table as she readies her knife for one good punch to the kidney, maybe, or if he turns- he, yes, a man’s boots and frame in her peripheral vision, not at the terminal but at the near side of the table- fuck, wrong way wrong way wrong WAY and the only option’s to launch herself up and over the top of the table, blade out and-

She pulls her strike short by a finger’s breadth as Theron blinks and tips his head, convor-like, to one side.

“I know I said I needed some combat practice,” he says slowly, leaning backward from the blade ever-so-slightly with a faintly amused smile, “but if I don’t make this call before we leave I’m pretty sure Hylo’s going to confiscate our entire next shipment of caf and whiskey so, um-”

All her coiled-spring tension releases in a single breath and she falls out of stance, sitting down heavy on the tabletop with what feels like a datapad under her right thigh. “You-” turning the little knife in her hand, she tucks it away behind her back- “Theron, what are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be-”

“The secure holo in the War Room’s down for repairs, so I thought I’d-” he starts to reach for the datapad and then his head tilts, ever so slowly, in the opposite direction. “I know you don’t like anyone poking around the ‘shrike, but you gave me the external security codes last week, remember?”

“That’s not what I meant. SCORPIO promised you’d be safe in-” Fuck. Too much.

“I didn’t realize she cared.”

He looks at her then, really properly looks at her, at her too-pale scrubbed-clean face and still-damp hair and borrowed sweater and the smell of bacta heavy in the air; she doesn’t move, doesn’t blink but she sees it in his face at the exact moment he figures it halfway out, eyes narrowed and smile gone and the subtle shift of his jaw as his back teeth clench.

“Zakuul?”

“No.” A noise at the door- just the cleaning droid again, but- “Theron, did you reset the locks behind you when you came in?”

He shakes his head. “I wasn’t planning to stay more than a few minutes, so I didn’t-”

She misses the last part of the sentence, off the table and out the door again and back down the corridor to the security panel. It only takes a few seconds to lock the ship down again and oh, she could strangle Theron except that’d be counterproductive- he’d promised to follow protocol when she gave him the codes but they’ve all become a little sloppy on Odessen, the one place where they thought they were safe. She ought to have known better than that, of course. They were never truly safe anywhere, not with the Republic and Empire still with their teeth in each other’s throats and Arcann always hunting, a step closer each day, and now this-

Her commpad chimes again.

“That isn’t me,” he says from somewhere behind her. “Should I grab it for you, or-” oh, no- “oh, for fuck’s sake, Nine, what-”

(Oh, Cipher. Valkorion clicks his tongue and for a moment his voice, malice wrapped in mirth, sounds just like Hunter’s and she sees herself back in the safehouse on Nar Shaddaa, black and blue and bleeding and down on hands and knees, scrub brush scraping the floor. You really must learn to clean up your messes.)

Theron had probably meant to follow her. But now when she comes back around the corner he’s standing halfway inside the medbay and she follows his sightline: the kolto tank due for cycling, her knife- Lana must have found it in the storeroom during cleanup- next to her belt on the exam table, her armor in a bloody pile on the floor.

“Tell me that’s someone else’s blood.”

She inhales, considering her next words cautiously, but he doesn’t bother to wait for her to lie. Instead he reaches out quicker than she dodges and hooks two fingers into the high collar of her sweater, pulling it down abruptly before she can twist away out of reach.

There’s no point in moving now. She keeps still instead as his fingertips trace the wire’s path from one side to the other and for a moment she can’t tell if the subtle tremor in the movement is his hand shaking or her pulse gone haywire or maybe it’s both, she thinks-

“Tell me,” he says again, quieter, “that’s someone else’s blood, Nine. Tell me whose.”

“Some of it, yes. But I don’t know-“ at that he opens his mouth in disbelief as she makes a face to silence him- “I don’t know his name , I mean. He didn’t exactly introduce himself. He-“

Better to just say it.

“I got in his way. I put myself in his way deliberately and yes, I know I should have been more careful and yes, I fully admit I fucked it up. I don’t know who he is. But I think,” she swallows hard, her voice turned hoarse again, “that maybe you might.”

That’s definitely his hand shaking now. His fingers curl into a fist, tight enough she hears his knuckles crack, and he turns away from her abruptly to walk further into the medbay. Opening one of the upper cabinets, he pulls out a bottle of sanitizing spray and a packet of cleaning-cloths and before she can stop him he bends down, lifting her jacket by its collar onto the examination table and tearing open the packet.

“Don’t worry about that now. I’ll clean it later,” she says, crossing the room toward him even as he starts to scrub and the first cloth turns pink. “It needs to-“

He pulls out a second cloth.

“Theron, stop.” She reaches out, locks her fingers around his wrist to hold him still.

“No.”

He twists his hand abruptly and pulls away, breaking her grip as she staggers off-balance. She reaches out for him with her other hand, then, trying to brace herself and rein him back all at once. “Yes.”

“No,” he says again. “No. I asked you- I told you not to do this, Nine. I told you not to go and fight my battles for me and then literally the next thing you do-“ he’s facing her again now and oh, Void, he’s furious, his mouth a pale thin line - “is almost get yourself killed?” He drops the cleaning-cloth and grabs her by both shoulders. “What if you’d died?”

“But I didn’t. I’m fine.”

He glances down at the armor again, at the smears on the floor where it had lain, at the pink-stained kolto in the tank. “You’re not fine, and you’re avoiding the question. What if you’d died?”

She squirms a little in his grip; he’s holding her tighter than she thinks he means to. “I didn’t-“

“Would you just listen to me?“ Theron’s voice wavers and then breaks, his breath ragged. “If he’d killed you, I don’t know what I- I asked you not to do this.” Another break, the word caught in his throat. “And you did it anyway.”

Nine lifts her chin, baring a strip of skin above the top edge of her collar. “I told you I’d do what I had to, Theron, and I meant it. I sprang a trap meant for you and got this-“ another half-centimeter higher, for emphasis- “for my trouble. If I had died, which I didn’t, he’d have come after you next. Most likely we’d both be dead.”

“That’s not what I-“ he sighs. “And I can handle myself! Do you really think I couldn’t have-“

“Don’t be absurd. I know perfectly well what you’re capable of, and I’m telling you that this time-“

His teeth sink into his lip as he cuts her off, hand pressed over her mouth (how dare he, she’s got a half a mind to bite him)- “Do you? I don’t even know what happened - were you even going to tell me? Or were you just going to scrub this place clean, throw the body in a canyon somewhere and pretend everything’s fine?”

That-

-is a good question.

“I don’t know,” she mutters against his fingers after a moment. “I hadn’t quite gotten that far, to be honest. And there isn’t a body.”

Theron closes his eyes and lowers his hand. “But you’re sure I was the target. And he got away. Force-”

“He didn’t get away. You know me better than that.”

“Then where-”

Her commpad sounds a third time, its message still unread, and she reaches across the table for it. “Unconscious in a sack, last I saw him, but-” what do you mean, in a sack, Theron says as she scans the screen- “oh. Good. That solves that problem.”

“I’m not following.”

“SCORPIO sliced his holo- everything but the retinal scan. Between Eckard, Lana and I we’d probably have gotten him talking eventually, but all I need now is his eyeball and-”

He blanches. “You’re not seriously suggesting we just-” two fingers moving in the air, open and shut, open and shut. “I know he tried to kill you- us- but that’s- I feel like that’s crossing a line.”

Nine sighs. “You have entirely too many scruples. But no, for Void’s sake, I'm not going to cut his eye out. I’m not a sadist.” She shoves the commpad into her pocket. “What I am going to do is find out whether this idiot ignored the call to stand down or if Marcus Trant’s a fucking liar.” Her voice gives out on the last word and she snarls and even that is silent, nearly slamming her fists down on the tabletop before she thinks better of it and pulls back short; the last thing she needs is to hurt that wrist again. Instead she exhales and lets her spine curl, lets her head fall forward until her cheek rests against its surface.

“Or maybe I’ve just got more enemies than we thought? It’s been a long few wars.” He means it as a joke, she thinks, but there’s no humor in his voice. “Here. Sit down before you fall over, okay?” His hands rest on her hips, guiding her back toward the chair that’s suddenly behind her.

“I need to deal with this first.” She pushes the chair away with her foot. “And quickly. If we’re late getting to Voss, the whole damned plan falls apart.”

The seat edge hits the back of her knee as Theron slides it back again. “So what if it does? The last Exarch almost killed you-” ( a broken wrist, she mutters as he lifts her off her feet entirely and sets her in the chair, and a little concussion, hardly almost killed)- “ and you weren’t running on half your blood volume then. You need to rest, Nine. You can’t keep doing this. We’ll get another chance at it.”

“No, we won’t. The Gormak’s visions-”

“What a coincidence,” Theron snaps, “that they suddenly need you right away when the news about Nar Shaddaa hits the ‘net. Maybe Lana and I can handle an Exarch or two on our own, but Arcann? Vaylin? How do they think this war ever ends if you die?”

( An interesting question. Valkorion smiles over steepled fingers. Rhetorically speaking.)

“You say that as if I stand a chance against Arcann.”

He blinks. “Of course you-”

“Do I?” She grabs the edge of the table once more, pulling herself upright. “All of you got me out of carbonite and made me commander in a war I have no hope of winning without far more allies than we currently have, against a maniac who’d have killed me at least twice already except for the delightful coincidence of having his immortal father burrowed into my brain like some sort of metaphysical fucking tapeworm. But if I die- assuming I can die- he will burn everyone and everything I’ve ever touched to the ground from here to the Core and back.” Chin up. Shoulders back. Don’t let them see you bleed. “So I fight. What other choice do I have?”

“So you just- what? Push through it and try not to die? Nine, please. I’m serious.”

She shrugs, twisting her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck, jamming a stray pen through to hold it in place. “It worked for you on Rishi, didn’t it?”

“No. You saved me on Rishi, but you know that.” Theron adjusts her collar, very carefully not touching the marks beneath. Out of sight, out of mind. “And here, again, but you know that too.”

“Only halfway.” Belt on next and then- damn it, where are her boots? She can’t walk across the base with bare feet, and they aren’t- ah, there, next to the kolto tank. Slipping out of his grasp again even as he huffs in frustration, trying and failing to keep her still, she retrieves them and stoops to pull them on. “Stay here until I can send someone for you. He might not have been the only one after you, and-”

“Absolutely not. If you’re going anywhere,” he says sharply, “I’m going with you.”

She closes the top buckle of her boot shut so hard it nearly snaps in two. “No. You’re staying here where it’s safe. That’s an order.”

“Noted.” Theron closes the gap between them in two swift steps, unclips her backup stealth generator and hooks it next to his holster before she can swat his hand away. “Write me up for insubordination when we’re done, then, Commander -” a dare if she ever heard one because of course he knows she never would, damn him to all the hells and back- “because I think I deserve to hear what happens next with my own ears. I deserve to know if I can ever breathe again without worrying where the next shot’s coming from. Don’t I?”

She sighs.

He isn’t wrong.

One finger over the generator’s switch, he waits.

“I will only ask this once, Theron Shan.” She has to look up to meet his eyes; he tilts his head a fraction of a degree. Whatever he expected her to say, it clearly wasn’t that. “If Trant truly is behind this, you are not going to like what I am about to do. Are you going to try to stop me?”

(On Manaan he would have said yes, she thinks. On Rishi and on Yavin IV and probably even a month ago he would have said yes because she saw the way he looked at his father at that last meeting on Coruscant, a lost little boy so desperate for approval he would have done anything- no, almost anything, anything but that- for the smallest scraps of praise-

-and Marcus Trant might have been more of a father to him than Jace ever was.

But that was before, and there are few things that cut deeper than watching your heroes fall.)

“No,” he says.

“Do you promise?”

“Yes.”

She thumbs the switch of her own generator. “Then follow me. Three, two, one-”

#equivalent exchange #swtor fanfiction #cipher nine #theron shan #imperial agent/theron shan #inyri writes #i had to rewrite the last part a dozen times #because they kept trying to fuck their way out of the argument #and we need to use our words this time

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certified-anakinfucker · 1 year

Note

20. Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person?

11. If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

56. If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

for darrash! <3

HIIIII HELLO HI HI HI

my blorbo. my boy. my guy. my little gender mongrel.

(from the weirdly specific asks)

20: Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person? (a) Hunter. He always agreed with Hunter's sentiments, and had verbally told him so before. He would have even helped him under the table had Hunter not decided to go the route of killing thousands just to prove a point. That's what he was trying to explain on the Tenebrous, before Hunter decided that mercy wasn't an option.

(b) Oh boy. Probably any given Moff. He respects being in charge of So Much, but he hates that power goes to peoples' heads and they start acting unwise. But it does make a nice Moff Hunting Season™ so hey, you win some you lose some you win some again.

11: If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference? Silly rabbit, you can't impersonate Darrash! Even when the Old Man gave up his beautiful plan to study Darrash on Tatooine through Mia, Darrash wasn't really acting like himself because he fucking hated Tatooine and was being a grump the whole time. If the Old Man went back to Intelligence and impersonated Darrash based on that, he wouldn't even make it to Dromund Kaas' orbital spaceport.

But if you really want to.. well, you'd just have to know him from day one. Darrash is a very unique blend of street rat and Imperial elite; he gets as far as he does because he knows how to blend in naturally - not like he's SUPPOSED to be there (an Imperial seeking to blend in) but like he's always been there (someone who legitimately grew up in these environments). His peers could easily tell he wasn't himself if he didn't offer a snarky retort at the orders given, or if he actually tried really hard on his assignments as opposed to just knowing how to not get himself fucked up in the process.

56: If they're scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear? Darrash would absolutely be seeking comfort from his loved ones.

Firstly, there is Vector. Vector would be his closest friend and confidant. His safe space, his lover, his most trusted companion outside of his own mind. This is his husband. His better conscious, his shining light.

Dr. Eckard Lokin and the Minister of Intelligence (formerly known as Colonel Tylado Bentismo, Watcher Seventeen, or Keeper) come afterwards as Darrash's adoptive fathers once he entered the realm of Intelligence. Tylado brought him in as a sort of pet project or guarantee for his promotion to Keeper, should he prove that he can create a top-notch operative for Intelligence and keep them alive with his remote guidance. He didn't count on accidentally gaining a reluctant son, nor actually seeing himself as a father. Darrash does fully trust him, not just implicitly, but genuinely. He loves him. He knows Tylado didn't have much of a choice once operations spun out of his hands, and Tylado is amazed that he is still .. well, alive.

Likewise, Eckard understands Darrash better than the Agent wants to admit. He's known him since his first day in Intelligence, having to conduct medical examinations and quickly learning that he needs to be heavily sedated beforehand. He doesn't like treating Darrash like an animal, as other officers have suggested, he sees Darrash as a genuine son. And Darrash, albeit feigning a grudge, sees him like a father alongside Tylado. (The two of them had been married for twenty years by the time Darrash came into the picture, and they both had their turns trying to raise and look after him without showing extraneous bias..)

Raina comes next, as Darrash's protégé and adoptive little sister. She's a tad rigid and rough around the edges but she means very well and is always ready to learn when she's made or experienced an error in her ways. She learns to trust herself first, and follow her gut in the field.

#oc tag | [darrash aron nealev]#i love how i add designations to my other agents when they have them #but darrash is just not getting his cipher nine tag #i am too lazy. but then again #i have been updating tags today #maybe he will #new darrash tag ->#oc tag | [darrash aron nealev / cipher nine]#and legate too :(#oc tag | [darrash aron nealev / legate]#FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES anywayyyy #oc tag | [darrash aron nealev / cipher nine / legate]#oc tag | [jasama menkie / raina temple]#oc tag | [colonel tylado bentismo / watcher seventeen / keeper / minister of intelligence / terminis]#oc tag | [doctor eckard lokin / fixer fifteen]#cheeri inquires #cheeri ocs #i need a swtor tag

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swtorpadawan · 2 years

Note

Congratulations on the journal! How about #s 11, 56 and 145?

‘Bad Ideas’ - My Writing Journal - Is Dead Thanks for the asks, @commander-krios !

Let me tell you… you hit the jackpot with Page 11 ! I can't share it yet, but its the first page of notes I wrote covering Kira & Corellan's wedding!!! 🥳

I hope I actually make good on that one someday!

Page 56… Sure, I'll post it. "New Job" was title of this cancelled piece. It basically highlights Kira adapting to life in the Eternal Alliance, and Corellan putting her in charge of a mission to Tatooine to deal with a Rakghoul outbreak. I ultimately used much of the material for a story called "Acclimation", which takes place after the mission. (That chapter includes a lot of Kira / Corellan fluff.) It was going to feature a lot of Lokin being the brilliant but slighty-creepy "uncle", and Lana deciding how much she should trust Kira. Also - the members of the Alliance find out that Corellan once let a Rakghoul scatch him to that a scientist could make a vaccine. (Which is exactly the sort of thing that freaks Lana out.)

I could still do something with it, but it feels a little redundant.

Page 145 … can't show this one, but there are TWO WIPs on it. One is titled "Practically a Machine", and it briefly touches on Corellan during his time on the Fortress under the Emperor's control. Something I rarely get into. The second is titled "There Is No Death", and its… well, its very dark, but let me just say it involves the destruction of Uphrades. I hope to write both of these someday!

Thanks again for the asks !

#swtorpadawan asks #swtorpadawan writes #‘Bad Ideas’ - My Writing Journal - Is Dead #commander krios #you are cordially invited #new job #practically a machine #there is no death #ianna cell #mola haxtor #eckard lokin #doctor lokin #oc: corellan halcyon

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my-chaos-radio · 27 days

Text

youtube

Release: July 27, 1998

Lyrics:

You don′t have to worry, to find somebody new

Just take a good look and you'll find the thuth (right)

I′m telling you the secret, the one that you should know

Just live your life to the max, and work it slow

Stay

Oh Yeah

Aha, aha

Who you wanna see?

2-4 Family

Stay, don't runaway, please lord just one more day

Stay, don't be walking away

Jay Dogg:

C′mon!

Remember way back in the days, when you was lokin′ with the playas′

Connecting mad chips, colobarating about the capers

No love for the haters and the players of the game

Suspicious inpotane so you can't maintain

No balance of reality from sane to insanity

The traffic jigo size, is what took insanity

But you made a simple boat down to Cally

Lugin′ in the ripps, smoke chips like hally

Anyhting you want, all you have to do is ask

Gets the final person to us, to a situation statice, but

You're not sencere, what could be your future?

Live you life eveal from the highest evil

X 2

Don't be walking away

I don′t wanna leave, but still I can't stay, The same old problems day after day

Face to face, place to place, 2-4 Family

Looking find somebody calling my phone

If ain't my home, don′t wanna talk, leave me alone (aha, aha)

Should I live, should I stay? So many questions got me confused

Lord I′m confessin', I′m stressin', the physics of love are gone

To a happy home, they got me throwing shots on the dome

It′s on, but them about my mind, yo, a treasure

My family left so now I'm stuck with drastic measures

You say you love me but the feeling′s gone away

This relationchip's a lie, can't stay

X 2

Face to face, place to place, one more day, all you gotta do is stay

Songwriter: Jackson

Why you actin like you run outta time, goind down now that′s a lie

Talking bout you gotta fly, everythime I come around, Brotha how you sound

Take a chewes down, frontin like you new of this, nowin that you trigga with

I rafuse to get my heart tore, playin like a hard core, now you wanna go to war

But before, you was lovin it, talking that love shit, won′t play the dum shit, forget it

Essie: (available only in the "perfect tools remix")

And if it split it, that's indeed "m gonna miss it, but pressure by a dollar-push up

I won′t kiss it, won't you spit on me, only lies on your lips, from the lies that you keep

Bigger fish in a dish, you won′t be missed

Lil'Bit: (available only in the? special radio version?)

Deep lo, that′s how this chic rolls, try to blew my out to smoke, brother what you fontin for? (Can you find me?)

You wanna go, ain't go beg you to stay

Got no time for the games you brothas play, you can se a smile up on your face

Now there's only empty space, what I call a happy home, is not a bigger place

Can you rase the past, I repaid the last we used to have

Once I′s camin′ first, now I'm coming last

All we need to do is stay, All we need to do is pray, oh yeah

Just Stay And Pray!

Stay, all we need to do is stay, all we need to do is pray, oh yeah

C′mon

Stay, don't runaway, please lord just one more day

Stay, don′t be walking away (don't be walkin away)

Stay, don′t runaway, please lord just one more day

Stay, don't be walking away (but still I can't stay)

Stay, don′t runaway, please lord just one more day

Stay, don′t be walking away, Stay!

SongFacts:

“Stay” is the debut single from hip hop group 2-4 Family. It is her only song to feature former band member Jo O'Meara singing, as she soon left the band and joined S Club in 1999. Jo O'Meara takes lead vocals and sings dramatically. It charted at number 8 on the Viva Top 100. The video was added to YouTube on November 5, 2006. As of June 17, 2009, it had 81,707 views. It is 2-4 Family's most successful song ever released.

After the single, a Christmas version of Stay was also released.

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thelesbianlegacy-swtor · 3 years

Text

OC list of the MMO LESBIAN

SarapAlexandria Duvel <3 Vette

Sith Warrior

Human, brown short hair, 1,78, D cups, she likes dressin on armor that is bulkier than a tank or in a tank top and leggings. Dark eyes and light skin

Lesbian. LOVES toys in bed

Headcannons

Has a personal Dreagnough that she uses as a colliseum. She has taken into training new sith in combat. More than her apprentices they are more of gladiators for her to fight.

Kinda crazy. Likes to bounce around and do Tons of damage. She is feroucios about defending the Empire and believes that the republic is doomed. Has archived the impossible more than a dozen times so no plan is to crazy or stupid for her. Gratefully, her wife knows what is too stupid or too crazy and so she fixes those plans so her big sith girl can go fight monsters and other people.

Married Vette. Only she can make her laught so much that she forgets she is angry. The tiny girl is so adorable and so cute and jsut so horny for Alexandria that the two of them spend 3 months on a horny induced honeymoon. Even now after the war with zakuul they keep having more honeymoons whenever they get the chance.

She wasnt all that hurt by Quinns betratal. Like, hey man fatman told you to kill me so no biggie- But from now on you are my bitch and i will bully you over all this k?

Jaesa kinda bugs her. She is Dark side but not SO crazy but still she is kinda...tiny. Alexandria likes to challenge her to crazy stuff and she always gets on trouble with her, but Jaesa is so young and sometimes weak that

Pierce is her best freind. A total madman when it comes to battle, a blootthirsty man that will not doubt in choosing violence but also super trusthworthy and she knows he will stop her from getting killed in stupid ways

For her Broonmark is her fluffy monster! Just point release and watch blood by spilled. She makes him shower after every bottle and use proucts on his hair cause she likes how soft he gets.

She remains a free agent causing chaos everywhere. She is not quick to kill always tho. If she got a good fight with someone she will usually let them live so they can fight again.

She is the most sexually proactive girl around. She will get every pair of cute or hot tiddies on a bed along side Vette. She is a bit dom and doesnt like playing sub, but she will play passive.

Master of Shien and Juyo, she likes to go crazy with a lightsaber and destroying the place but doesnt really like dual wielding

Seraphine <3 Temple

Sith Agent. New code name: Specter

Cyborg, mostly internal components on her eye, brain and bones. 1,96M, Long hair, usually red but she likes dying it. C cups, She wishses to get more tits but she has to be stealthy. She likes using loose clothes with lots of cleavege. She isnt a fan of bras.

Lesbian Switch. Likes bondage and public stuff. She can and will play any part on roleplay. From the scared virgin to the cruel dominatrix

Headcannons

A master of hidding on plain sight. Seraphine is the kind of woman who blends everywhere. She likes attention from the spotlight just to let it go 5 minutes later. She has the talent of being so likeable that any girl that gets close to her on bed, never gets mad with her for leaving or just going for another girl. She also has a perfect memory and will remember how you like to be touch, how much you moan or what kind of cnadies you like when you are on your days. She is as soft as she is Ruthless. She has never regret killing anyone for more than an hour. Unless she kils someone she has slept with she will pull the triger no matter what. This includes civilians, wounded and allies. After Chapter 3 she left the identity of Cypher 9 and became a shadow agent for the Empire. Her new code name: Specter.

After the War with Zakuul she was left on charge ofthe Alliance by Darth Nox. Both the Ex Imperial Wrath and the Supreme Huntress stayed behind with her.

She doesnt like Kaliyo. No. She is no fun. She likes to hurt and doesnt look after girls. She was particulary angry at her at the start because she would try to get on the way of her time with other girls. So Seraphine got Kaliyo a cute chasity belt and allowed her to focus on chaos outside the bedroom. That way they both can get what they want. Chaos and attention.

Vector is her special little guy. Confident. Trusthworthy. But really fun to mess up with. Seraphine tells him to do weird stuff just to get a laught at weird situation. She also helps him send money for Killik Joiners. She likes that he is simple

Lokin is a weird guy for Seraphine.He could do a lot of stuff with the ragkghoul virus but she likes that he is quiet and calm. She likes trying tea with him

Ensign Temple is the only girl that has kept Seraphine attention span for more than 1 night. She likes her a lot because she cant read her as well as other people and so she makes her angry just to learn more about her. She forgot how it felt to get to know someone through time and so she likes to keep her around. She also likes Temple is super organized and loyal

Seraphine can never choose fast between either a big rifle or a tiny blade under her dress. She likes how chaos erupts after a person gets shots down but she also likes to be close when her target takes their last breath

FUCK SCORPIO UwU

Arthemys Delos <3 Mako

Huntress

Built like a tank, She likes lifting Mako to train her big guns. She is a cyborg with lots of internal components and a cybernetic leg (left) She isnt the tallest girl, she is 169 (nice) but she has the biggest tiddies. She carries two E cups that she loves to put on Mako’s face. She has black short hair

Lesbian

Total top but wont say no to being topped every know and then

Headcannons

Money,gambling, explosions and pretty girls, Arthemis cares for little more than that. As long as she can fire guns, gamble money and have a bed with a pretty girl on it she will do an job. She loves hunting animals and will almost never reject a bounty. What she wont do, is just say yes to any quest or mission. She can get money as easy as she can waste it and so throwin credits at her doesnt work. Only if the work isnt something she dislikes or too easy or boring she will do it. She has a few internal implants after playing with grenades when she was young.

Mako is hers. Hers alone. She wont let her go beyon her sight and will actually get restless for being away from her too long. Arthemis is possesive which Mako kinda likes.

The two of them likes being on top of eachother as much as possible but a extra pair of hands or tiddies make them both pretty happy. Most of the time, is actually Mako who gets the girl.

Gault is jsut too fun not to keep around. Arthemis wouldnt call him his best friend becuase she suspects the guys can be bought but he is fun either way. She like getting a lot of money with him and then wasting it all or just not taking the pay,just to mess up with him.

Torian is fun. Sometimes. He is a mandalorian and she likes fighting strong people. But Torian is a bit more serious that she would like. She doesnt like people dying because then she cant fight them again and so she doesnt like some decisions of the mandalorian. But at the end of the day the trust that the two share is one of a brotherhood.

Blizz. God Damm Blizz. When Arthemis got Mako on her bed and then into her family she thought she coulnt be happier. She was wrong. The little jawa makes everything better. As chaotic as her and even weirder than Gault, Arthemis just cant stop keeping the jawa around

YOU READ MY COMMENT ABOUT SCORPIO? WELL THAT X2

Selendis likes using two big guns to shot down her enemies. She doesnt really enjoy going around in huge armor so she keeps herself kinda light. But her armor is still a bit big. Why you ask? Cause she loves the feeling of having not only a flamethrower but also grenades, missiles, hooks and electric weapons all stuffed in her body.

Selendis <3 Lana and Senya

Sith Inquisitor

Sith girl with piercing orange eus and long amazing black hair. She is 182 and as sith that focus on range combat, she took the luxury of enhancing her breasts to a nice DD cups. She doesnt like jewelry but she has a few tattoos.

Sorcerer

Lesbian. The one to dom them all.

No amount of girls is too much when it comes to Selendys

A proud, stylish and master manipulator Selendis believes that the empire can be improved but even in its current state is better than the republic. She is patient and ruthless and wont stop until the galaxy is back on order. She left the alliance and took overthe sith empire after letting Acina step down. Seriously, no killing her just “Try and stop me from getting the throne”

Khem Val is her personal monster. A warrior of another time which she swears wont ever be forgotten. She has taken into redacting whatever information the dashade gives her. She has task him ith protecting everyone she deems worthy of her interest

Andronikos is a fun and interesting man. He is a pirate with experience and a code. Hard things to find. Selendis enjoys him being slipery and smartass. She also enjoys the acces to the underworld the man provides. Over all she likes that the betrayed man has once more put his trust on someone. She wont abuse it but she prides herself of it

Ashara. The little puppy. She has learn about the dark side and the sith and yet she keeps herself on a reaching point from the jedi order. Still she has a point of view that is useful and welcome. She has teached her everything useful that she could learnt.

Talos. Oh Talos. A men of science and interest. Selendis has swear to protect the smart man just so he can see for once history being made instead of being discovered. Most of the time she has free, she will spent researching stuff with Talos and discussing history

Xalek. Selendis attack dog. A simple desire of the young Kaleesh allowed Selendis to craft a magnificent Student. Xalek belived that she was a god. And so Selendis tasked Xalek to forget about being a kaleesh god, and instead become a sith god. Strength, power, and victory.

Lana Beniko. From the first time Selendis met Lana she was intrigue. A sith that kept her rage and hate deep withing her, so she could serve the empire better. Selendis wasted no time in seducing the sith and keeping her under her control. But soon Selendis lost control and ended up loving her. Lana became her source of power. She would burn the galaxy for her. She also fancid her cute ass and the way she lost control.

Senya Tirall. Selendis doesnt do well with betrayal. And so after defeating Arcann, she was left quite angry when Senya saved him. So, after the war with Zakuul, Selendis threw Senya into a prison and slowly made her crumble. Telling her that both Arcann and Vaylin were death, Offering herself as the only ally, and then leaving her alone. Selendis broke Senya and put her back together in a way that she would enjoy. Despite being more of a pet than a lover, Selendis does love her in her wn special way, and wont let her be hurt.

REPUBLIC OCS

Cassandra (Cassie) Jedi Knight <3 kIRA She tiny! She is 165, amber eyes,C cups she likes to hide on a sport bra and to fight, she has a few scars over her back and shoulder (horny origin) She specialies on Djem So but likes using two lightsbaers instead of one Lesbian Total Bottom girl. Tsundere (will be all agressive but you pet her once and she will melt on your arms)

T7-01 The crimemaster, Teseven will always be there to push Cassie towards any female individual just so Cassie can stop winning about not having a girlfriend. Each time it works, but Cassie ends up lossing the contact or getting pulled out from plannet by the council

Kira. Or like Cassie likes to call her, babe! Cassie was sweap of her feat by how chaotic her padawan was an how incredible persistent she was on taking baths together, giving eachother massages and just being close. Cassie lasted 2.6 seconds the first time she gave her a kiss and fron that day on, she is either fighting or on her girlfriend’s arms. Kira likes to tease Cassie and on nights she makes sure to give her all of her love

Doc. The best partner. Doc is always there for Cassie, wherever she is doing good or bad. Or doing ilegal or legal stuff. He knows Cassie will jump towards danger and he will be there to help her make the galaxy a better place Rusk. There are few things that Rusk hates more than the empire and one of them is how Cassie jumps on top of his back because she is to tiny to get food by herself. Even then, he will die for his little sister becuase he knows she will defeat the empire some day

Scourge. The big old sith might have forgotten what means love, pain or feelings, but he respects Cassie. He knows that despite her size the little jedi is more than capable of busting whatever walls appear on her way, even if it means tapping on the dark side.

Bella Jedi consular <3 NADIA

She is a curvy girl. D cps on a tallish girl, 178, with a dump track ass. She is thick and she is SHY about it. She likes baggy clothes so her body doesnt show too much. She feels that healing people with her skills is the best call for her but she also agrees that sometimes throwin a massive bould to minnies is good

Qyzen. Qyzen and Bella are good frends. Mostly, because Qyzen will gladly shoot anyone who calls Bella on her fat ass, and Bella will drop a boulder on anyone who calls him green skin or lizard. The two of them are the type of people who fixate on stuff and they enjoy their hobbies

Tharan. To be honest. Bella didnt think it thorugh when she got Tharan to come with. She was doing it mosly out of pity and because she needed some help. But mostly she just liked Holiday and would be more interested on keeping her rather than him.

Zenith. Oh dear Zenith. Bella enjoys Zenith attiude. There is little more than that. She isnt as extremist as he is, but she knows that he will do everything on his power to defeat the empire and protect the inocent

Iresso. Oh Ireso is fun. Bella likes to bully him in little wyas. Sometimes she will just pick something ilegal to do to get on his nerves. Thats alls. Well he is all good and good for fights but Bella likes how correct he is and that she can make him mad

Nadia: Her love. Her mistress. Her everything. Everyone has thirsted for her body, and so Bella usually isnt ready to believe most words of love and affection, but Nadia persisted for months, being almost addicted to her body. And so one day Bella let her padawan into her bedroom and cried over her love. Nadia is the type of girl who will devote her heart and soul to her love. She CANT keep her hands off Bella’s body tho, which makes it hard for her to keep clean underwear around

NEW OCS FROM THE NOT PC OCS GAME.

PRESENTING. THE ARTIST

Sarah Novadust

The lead singer and dancer of the Imperial Idol group “Royal Novas”

A tallish girl (175cm) a bit petite looking but upclose you notice she has a good pair of thighs and some nice ass. She has GOLDEN hair. Not blonde. Golden. She keeps it on a long ponytail that reaches all the way back to her ass. She is a human girl of 22 years old with Purple eyes due to some alien grandparents

She leads the Royal Nova an Idol Group originated on the Empire. The group is formed by her, 3 back up singers, 5 back up dancers, 2 guitars, piano, drums, violin, and 1 trumpet. The 15 girls are all REAL close to Sarah.. More on that later

Sarah was born on Sarapin. She worked on being an artist since she was young, but when she was around 15 she was blacklisted from most musical firms on the republic over a incident with a manager that wanted to taste her body. Sarah left to spent some times with friends back on Balmorra when the empire attacked. FOr a couple of years she layed low working on some cantinas singing to earn a living. It was there when some sith lady saw her and brought her to Kaas City. Sarah would keep singing for more and more excentic public until she had the favour of enough people that she could stay safe and solo. Then after saving up for some time, she went and convinved a few sith lords and sith officers to put some credits on for a full on idol group. She invited friends and scouted for talent all over the galaxy

As an artist, Sarah likes mixing her young excitement with imperial overconfidense. She knows that playing it safe wont work and so she makes every song and perfomance into a way to improve herself more and more. With a big group of girls to help her she has managed to perform or even Dark council members and Senators from the republic.

As a young woman, Sarah attracts a lot of people. She isnt the most strong willed person, nor she is particulary aggresive. That is excaclty the reason why each and every member of the Royal Novas is madly in love with her. Each girl looks over their leader as a little kitten to be protected. Of course, Sarah doesnt mind the attention and as long everyone plays nice, she will open her heart to the entire group. With 22 years old, a massive fallowing, more credits that she can count and a polyamourous relationship with 14 girls, Sarah's life is just the best

#swtor #swtor oc #star wars oc #starwars oc #Star Wars The Old Republic #star wars: the old republic

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2lim3rz · 3 years

Note

Hiiii 23!! It is so nice to see a x reader account for WH40K… they are so rare even on here >_< hmm, if you are comfortable with it, can you please do a tarik X reader (one shot or just headcannon lists), for a reader who is originally his remembrancer and later becomes his s/o? xx

Hiii!!! And haha, thanks. I was surprised and upset that such a big popular fandom has such a lack of reader inserts. LIKE C'MON!!

Ask and y'all shall receive!

TARIK TORGADDON X REMEMBRANCER!READER HEADCANONS

Honestly, when you asked Tarik if you could be his remembrancer, part of him would be pretty surprised. Sure, he was historical in his own right as a member of the Mournival, but he was Tarik. The jokester. Someone like Abaddon or Little Horus would have made sense.

Oh well, he'd still smile and accept. Not expecting what it is he signed up for even after hearing Lokin talk about meeting with Mersadie.

First off, it was different to talk about his exploits and history with you than it was to boast and joke about it with his brothers. Most of it being how he had to explain more of how things worked.

Or maybe that was because, as time passed, he enjoyed how you'd listen as if his word was Horus's or the Emperor's. He was no skilled orator, but he could do pretty alright if he said so himself

Of course, most of these visits turned less of him talking of his history and you recording it into you both just.. talking. Tarik feeling human instead of Astartes. He would begin to look forward to when he had some time in-between everything to sit down and relax.

Tarik would deny his feelings for you at first though, and by deny I mean he wouldn't even realize it. He'd even give you little gifts, find himself going to the remembrancer's part of the ship to tell you [and your friends but mostly you] a joke

You both would get inside jokes, and Emperor help anyone if you're with Tarik when he's around the other Space Marines. Both of you basically talking in code and laughing the entire time

#tarik torgaddon #tarik torgaddon x reader #reader insert #x reader #2lim3rz chats to 1787537593 #2lim3rz writes #headcanons

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sandwyrm · 3 years

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Tell me how you feel about the bugsband

What I love about them: Them 🥺🥺 Ok but seriously, you know me, I have a weak point for diplomatic characters, how could I NOT love the bugsband? Plus he (they?) can kick ass when needed and is (are????) just so warm. You just know he - FUCK this grammar thing - you just know Vector would be over there giving the agent a pat pat and a warm cup of tea whenever shit hits the fan. Of course, after disposing of said shit if possible. What I hate about them: Sorry I'm hard pressed to find anything to hate about the bugsband. Favorite Moment/Quote: Honestly he's one of those characters that has me all hyped up when he's onscreen. I can't pick a favorite. I'll always love that scene where he's like "We've always been a diplomat. Whatever happens, we don't want to forget that as easily" or whatever. He and Kaliyo's jabs at each other are always funny because they've got that sibling energy going on more often than not. And I guess the Onslaught+ reunion was definitely super gay and I do mean gay ("Your insight matters to me. Truly." "And you matter to us. Truly.") What I would like to see more focus on: Vector. C'mon writers, he's an awesome character. Could've easily been one of the major story ones instead of being an agent only alliance alert that's gonna be cast to the side forevermore. What I would like to see less focus on: Nothing when it comes to him, I don't think they overdid anything so that I could say "ew" Favorite pairing with: I'm not creative so yeah I think he works with the agent and I will not invest more energy in this question before I come up with some crackship on the spot Favorite friendship: Listen. I love. Vector and Lokin having tea together, chilling, talking about philosophy or politics or whatever and I am absolutely sure him and Raina would also get along well talking about the Empire's politics and inner works. And having tea most likely but. Listen. Him and Kaliyo. They've been with the agent the longest, they constantly funny-jab at each other, and there's that letter or dialogue (I forget) where Vector is all ah yes we are accomodating to your crew, Kaliyo even stopped spitting in our tea, and listen. I am WEak for "antisocial gremlin stops being entirely antisocial towards someone" that means affection in gremlin language. NOTP: pass Favorite headcanon: listen I cannot actively headcanon about him because my brother's name is Victor and they kinda look similar and that's where my 2 brain cells stop whenever I think too much of Vector.

#full disclosure before i asked you what's the bugsband i actually right click googled it and yeah #then realized your clever word play but still doubted it enough to ask you #although i guess if anyone would start a bug band in swtor it'd be Vector so

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rainofaugustsith · 4 years

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A conversation with a mutual has really made me think more and more about just how off balance the original SWTOR was, in terms of how female companions and PCs were treated. Specifically: - Most of the women companions are between 20-22 years old. In contrast the male companions have a very wide range age. The oldest romanceable man, Malavai Quinn, is 37 when the story starts. The oldest romanceable woman, Kaliyo, is a full 8 years younger. I suppose this is in line with those statistics that men at any age see women who are 20-22 as the most attractive, but yikes for perpetuating that. - EVERY one of the women companions other than LS Jaesa can be romanced. - There are only 10 (ETA counted wrong!) female companions in total in the original class stories vs. 27 male companions (not counting droids SCORPIO, Fourex and T7). - There are more romance options for male PCs wanting a female companion vs. the other way around. - There are two one-night stand options with companions for female PCs and they're both pretty awkward. You can sleep with Theran Cedrax and then get dumped, or you can sleep with Lt. Pierce and tell him that is going to be part of his duties, which is a little...yeah. - Most of the women are depicted as being in a subordinate, subservient or vulnerable position vs. a PC and vs the male companions. Several refer to the PC as 'master.' - The PC is in a teacher role for several of the women companions. The only male companion who is an apprentice is Xalek. - The women companions who are not depicted as being subordinate are depicted as being untrustworthy or cold. - Of course, there's fucking nothing for wlw or mlm and the game has a lot of heteronormative moments, such as the female JK being told she could have "any man she wants" and the female smuggler being asked if she has a husband (but not a wife). And then we get to the companions. With most, but not all, of the male companions, you get the feeling that if the PC died tomorrow they'd be fine. They come from jobs in the military or government, like Pierce, Aric Jorgan, Talos, Rusk and Felix, or they have their own things going on, like Theran Cedrax and Lokin. This is borne out in KOTFE and onward. When you meet up with, say, Rusk, Guss, Talos or Blizz again, they might be very happy to see you, but it’s also clear they’re doing just fine. The men that are or were in positions of vulnerability, like Felix Iresso being captured or Vector and the kiliks, are glossed over. When you meet up with the female companions a lot of them talk about feeling lost and possibly needing to flee the faction.

I love most of these companions, for what it's worth. I'm just sorry the writing did them dirty.

Imperial: Vette: Literally a slave when you meet her. She's a trained assassin and ran with one of the most notorious pirates in the galaxy, but once you're off Korriban she really doesn't get to show off those skills. The PC can take off her slave collar, and in another conversation can confirm that Vette is not a slave anymore. However the PC can also keep the collar on and continue torturing her with no consequences. Jaesa: If you've chosen DS Jaesa the Sith Warrior can manipulate her in very horrifying ways. If you've chosen LS Jaesa she is trapped as a LS person in the Empire and you could probably turn on her at any moment, and she'd have no recourse. Ashara: Another former Jedi. The Sith Inquisitor's actions burn her bridges with the Jedi on Taris, she's spent her entire life with the Jedi and really doesn't have anywhere to go. Kaliyo: The oldest woman companion in the class stories and one of a few that are not depicted as vulnerable or dependent on the PC. She could walk away at any minute and you get the feeling she'd be fine. When you meet up with her again on Zakuul you find out that's exactly how she rolls once the Agent vanishes. But...the writers make a point of depicting her as callous and very untrustworthy, too. Raina: The Chiss have her back, so she has more clout than some of the others, but she's constantly asking the Agent for advice and instruction. The Agent also has a key piece of information they could potentially use to harm Raina: they know she is Force sensitive and left the Empire as a fugitive. Telling the right person about that would get Raina's head sliced off in about two seconds, so the Agent does have some power over her. Mako: She's very young, she's an orphan and shortly after you meet her, her father figure and the other adult looking after her are slaughtered. She's in a very vulnerable place and really doesn't have anyone to turn to, except the PC. Republic: Kira: She has far more agency than some of the other Jedi. She's knighted fairly early on and she works more like a team with the JK. But the JK also does have the power to turn her in to the Council for her past. Nadia: She's naive, sheltered and traveling with her father. When her father dies she really doesn't have anyone else to turn to. You're put in charge of caring for her and teaching he the Force, so she depends on the JC for just about everything, Elara: This is one of the only other women who isn’t really vulnerable. Technically she is a lower rank than the PC, but you can promote her to the second-in-command and it's clear she has a lot of agency and self-sufficiency. She was doing just fine in the Republic military before the trooper and she seems to keep doing fine after. But she is depicted as being very rigid. Risha: Another woman who could walk away and be fine. She's a literal queen and Nok Drayen's daughter, after all. But again, just like Kaliyo, she is depicted at first as being untrustworthy. In the smuggler story you meet people who say Risha screwed them over to the point where they don't want to see her.

Akaavi: The only woman besides Kaliyo who is older than 25 when the class story begins. She is a Mandalorian and she could destroy you. She talks about getting off the smuggler's ship and leaving. The one place where she's vulnerable is that she's in Republic space and her clan has been destroyed, much like Torian's. But Torian is still around the Mando community and Akaavi is isolated. I think some of the the later companions are better in this regard - Lana Beniko, Major Anri and Tau Idair clearly take no shit, could kill you on the spot and aren’t reliant on the PC. Playing through the original game, though, you come across these tropes.

#swtor #swtor critical #rain talks swtor

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legacyofabsolutewalnuts · 3 years

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Wanted to write a soft interlude between the much heavier moments that make up Belville and Theron’s canon storyline. Most of it’s under the cut if I formatted it right, but I thought it made a pretty good introduction to my agent and who he is anyhow. Realistically I’m just out here writing this shit for me and me alone lmfao. Anyway, carry on

It was odd, having someone to fall into bed with. Even if they didn’t spend nearly as much time together as Bel craved. He’d long since worked the need for physical contact out of his system, and then Theron had shown up, and thoroughly ruined that. His team, aside from Lokin and Scorpio, had all been casually physical, and he had enjoyed the little of that he got. But it was always left at that, and it had been a long time since Bel had had someone who wanted his touch the way he wanted theirs.

It was stranger still to have someone who would still give him his space without needing to be asked. Before Intelligence, he had been used to that, from well meaning family. But Theron did, and Bel only knew because he felt the bed shift as Theron sat, stripping down from the day. Gertrude shifted, nosing at Theron and he greeted her quietly. He didn’t roll over, just listened for a moment as Theron stood back up and went to the fresher, not bothering to turn the lights on and keeping the sink on low. There was enough shuffling to indicate he hadn't quite learned the layout of the Phantom yet, but Bel had been doing his best to try and spend his downtime inside the base and hadn’t expected him to. They couldn’t risk the Alliance thinking he wasn’t invested in the cause, or that he was ready to leave at any given moment. But the Phantom was...safer. Familiar. In a way Odessen wasn’t yet. Someday, maybe.

Theron joined him after a moment, but kept his back to Bel, and left space between them even in the small cot. He waited a moment longer until Theron had settled, and then rolled over, still leaving space between them. “You didn’t have to come out here.”

“I know.” Theron rolled onto his back, the blankets shifting with his movements. “Do you want me to go?”

“No.” He reached out and caught Theron around the waist, pulling him closer. There was hesitation, stiffness, and then Bel curled around him, head on Theron’s chest and one leg tossed over his waist. Theron’s arms went around him, shuffling them over a little until they were in a safer position on the bed. Gertrude grumbled at them, standing and circling again and pushing their legs closer together as she chose to take up as much space as possible and push them back towards the edge of the bed.

“Talk or sleep?”

“You need to sleep. It’s three in the morning, Theron. You were up at six yesterday.”

“You’re deflecting. I’ve gone a lot longer without sleep than that.”

He nodded a little and murmured a reassurance into Theron’s skin. “I’m aware.”

Theron left it at that, quiet, one hand rubbing up and down Bel’s spine gently. Bel followed his breath, matching Theron’s inhales and exhales with careful purpose. It was strangely soothing, with Theron between him and the door, his embrace protective and soft. “Go to sleep. I’m alright.”

Theron grumbled something into his hair that Bel couldn’t make out, but his breathing slowed, and he matched it until he fell into almost a meditative state and then to sleep.

He woke up to Theron shifting awkwardly, and hauled him in tighter. His internal clock caught up after a moment. “‘S only been four hours.”

“Ya. Have a meeting with Lana in a bit.”

“Tell her to reschedule.” He yanked a little, pulling Theron in close enough that he could roll on top of him and press his face into Theron’s neck. Theron made half a noise as he did, grunting at him but let him have his way. “She’ll do it if you tell her I asked.”

“That’s because you have her wrapped around your finger, Bel.” Theron relaxed beneath him, and Bel grinned, kissing at his neck gently. It only took a few moments before Theron was nearly melting under him and Bel nipped at a tender spot gently, searching with his mouth. Theron grabbed at him almost immediately, growling and Bel grinned, shifting upward to kiss him gently.

“What?”

“I am not going to meet Lana with hickies. I’ll never hear the end of it”

“Is that really your biggest concern? Somehow I don’t think she’ll be surprised...” He sat up slowly, stretching, and Theron joined him, sneaking in for another kiss as they rose. His optics were pressed into his hands gently and he engaged them, but flicked them up to rest in his hair. “Thank you.”

“Mhm. Still don’t mind if I use your stuff?”

“If I minded I would have said so by now. My clothes should fit you, don’t put on that pair you wore yesterday again, for goodness sake, Shan.”

Theron was uncharacteristically silent, and if Belville had counted his steps right, he was only in the doorway of the fresher. “Theron…”

“You...want me to wear your clothes?”

“I want you not to smell during our briefings. I have to stand next to you.”

He still hadn’t moved, and Belville moved him aside bodily so he could squeeze past. “About...that…”

“What?”

“I’ve already...put some clothes away in here. In case of emergencies.” Theron moved into the room slowly, joining Belville at the sink. It would have been nice to take a shower and revel in each other's company for a little while longer, but Bel hadn’t yet gotten out of the habit of quick, efficient routines, routines he could do away with at a moment's notice during emergencies. It seemed Theron had kept the same habits.

“Did you? When?”

“I- well actually I never took them out.”

“Never took them- explain.”

He could almost hear Theron flushing, and flipped his optics down so he could see it, grinning when Theron cleared his throat loudly and turned away. “After I got a hold of your ship it was...convenient. To use it for a base of operations.”

“You took over my ship.”

“I left everything where I found it!”

“That much was obvious.” He ran a comb through his hair quickly, sliding wax through the strands until it wasn’t going to get tangled in his implants. “I would have known. I didn’t notice that you left your clothes in my closet though, which was sloppy.”

“They’re...not in your closet. I put all my things in the crew quarters. I...never actually slept in here?”

“You- oh.” He caught Theron about the waist, reeled him in, and kissed him gently. “You can move your things in here now, if you want.”

“That sounds a lot like a promise that you won’t exfil without me.”

He paused for a moment, reaching up to play with Theron’s hair for a few long moments, fingers in the curls, memorizing the texture and twist. “I suppose it is. Although I feel I would have gotten a few angry messages if I ex-filed with your things without knowing it.”

“Probably a few.” Theron relaxed against him for a few moments, nuzzling up under Belville’s chin. “Sorry, should have told you sooner, but I guess I hoped if you planned to leave you’d give me a heads up.”

“I would have asked you to come with me. But I have no plans to leave. And I think Lana would drag me back by the scruff of the neck if I did.” He pressed a kiss down into Theron’s hair. “Did you think I would?”

“It crossed my mind. I wouldn’t blame you. If anyone deserves to disappear and retire, it’s you.” Theron pulled back a little, moving to take over the mirror again and brush his teeth.

Bel paused for a long moment, fists balling at his side. “I...won’t. I...apologize, for making you think that.”

“No, I-” Theron spit into the sink quickly and shook his head. “I’d be more concerned if you didn’t have contingencies in place if things went sideways. Nice to be included in them, though.”

“I shouldn’t be making you think I’m going to leave at all. Not after everything you’ve done to get us to this point, to get me out.” The flush had returned to Theron’s cheeks and Bel steeled himself a little, forcing himself to swallow the instinct to put up barriers between them. A part of him remembered what it had been like to be honest with people, when he’d been young, and he grabbed at it again, for the reminder. “You deserve my commitment to this.”

“After Revan...after all of this...I know you well enough to know you won’t leave when you’re needed.”

“You thought I was ready to leave, that’s why you came here last night.”

“You’re reading into that a bit much.” Theron was quiet for a moment, before moving to get his clothes from the crew quarters, trusting Bel to follow, and he did, leaning in the doorway as he watched Theron change, saving a brief moment for appreciation. “I know the instinct as well as you do. And it’s...comforting to know you haven’t lost it either. But I wanted to see if there was anything you needed from me. I don’t imagine any of this has been easy, and you’ve been putting on a pretty steady face about it all.”

“Would it surprise you to know that’s just how I deal with things?”

“Suppose not.” They both finished gearing up quickly, weapons and armor taking up a comforting, predictable weight. Gertrude stretched on the bed, yawning as Bel gave her the attention she deserved. She jumped down and stepped up to his side after thoroughly messing up the blankets, as comforting of a weight and presence as anything else. He would always depend on her more than anything or anyone else. “Speaking of last night…?”

“Security.”

“Got it. Do you want to go over the base specs and shifts?”

“No. Just needed a night somewhere familiar.” Theron offered his arm as they reached the ramp, the action almost natural as Bel threaded his hand into Theron’s elbow. “Thank you, though, for coming to find me. It was...nice, to have someone else there.”

“Anytime you need me. Come on, I’m three minutes late now, Lana’s going to have our heads.”

#swtor #swtor oc #kotfe #Imperial Agent #Cipher Nine #Theron Shan #my writing #M!agent/Theron Shan #Just a soft interlude I've been writing to go in the midst of their much emotionally heavier canon #I thought it was a pretty soft look into my agent and his relationship with Theron anyhow #This would take place...idk mid Kotfe somewhere? havent decided yet

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transcendencism · 3 years

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finished up taris on sennash so here’s those game notes! edited to be a bit more comprehensible but some of these notes are just left as is skjdflsf

The Endar Spire quest is disappointing because it could be any other ship and the quest would hardly be any different. I don’t even understand why they’re going into the Endar Spire for footage of the Sith warships when the Endar Spire went down BEFORE the bombardment that destroyed Taris. The only thing that connects this quest to the Endar Spire is the music that plays after you’ve gotten the data & the trooper tells you to go deliver it to the base. The whole thing just doesn’t really make any sense.

The rakghoul serum quest where you have the option of stealing the serum from infected pirates or getting the extra from Dynamet General gave me a bunch of thoughts about Sennash’s career as a combat medic. I think she started out on Taris helping out with the resettlement initiative and ... man, what a way to start your military career, that’s for damn sure. In this same quest, you go and get some rakghouls to bite the shit out of you and infect you and I love the idea of Sennash being fully down for that. like “FUCK YEAH SCIENCE!” also she’s got a “I’m unkillable” complex so .. yeah, that’s fitting.

AND GOD the conclusion of that quest where the doctor, Ianna Cel, asks you to sign some secrecy documents so the Republic can make money off the vaccine; if you tell her it isn’t right, she just makes a complete 180% without much more pushing which is ... okay? cool? Space capitalism sucks though, I hate it.

For the Trooper arc, when you go to rescue the convoy or whatever that got captured by Imperials, Sennash was Immediately like “don’t make fun of my girl >:(” when Ensign Tane started talking shit about Elara. Then the reveal that Elara is a former Imperial shook up Sennash a little because she hates the Empire, but got glossed over pretty quickly. She’s still a little upset about it but ... ya know.

OH MAN this planetary arc quest with Commander Gardit at Draay outpost. Man’s been buying BANTHA STEAKS and has a PERSONAL VEHICLE. Just .. we coulda had so many conversations about military corruption and shit but noooOOOOO we needed a WAR STORY. And the corruption in the military is always treated as a “few bad apples” bUT THAT’S NOT HOW THAT SHIT WORKS.

[Elara: Thorus is a mass murderer. A war criminal.] Everyone here is a war criminal honey he ain’t special.

Needles wants to turn the rakghouls into a weapon, huh? 🤔 kinda like Doctor Lokin…

Listen I love Elara and I think that killing Thorus is justified but … it’s not like I know 100% he did it. Elara could be making that shit up. And I’m pretty sure executing a war criminal without trial is a war crime in of itself, and Elara’s sneaky “ohhh there’s some interference so under this protocol I’m gonna stop the call” so she doesn’t have liability is so … ICK. Why couldn’t I take him prisoner??????? Knock him out, take his gun, and bring him in??? Hello????

One of the other planetary arc quests sends you to find a missing supply convoy, but turns out they decided to defect. Sennash chose to give them money for a ride off the planet, then when she got to the next base she told them the convoy died like they requested her to do (and so they wouldn’t try to track down deserters). Sennash is pretty fiercely loyal to the Republic & believes in her duty and all that ... but that’s a personal standard she has for herself, if it’s too much for other people, she doesn’t blame them. She doesn’t think anyone should be forced into doing this job, especially not on a hellhole like Taris. I really liked the defected trooper’s response to Sennash saying “you have a duty to the Republic”, which was “but what about it’s duty to me?” like ... damn. yeah.

Finished Taris, did the companion conversations I wanted to catch up on:

Aric: Oh boy … this is where Canon Jorgan and Headcanon Jorgan really start to diverge. I imagine Aric took the position on Ord Mantell again because he felt bad about being away from his family for so long, and wanted to be nearby to look after his moms. BUT WOW his line about wanting to prove his people have a place in the Republic … yeah, I imagine that fits in. Growing up seeing how Ord Mantell treated the Cathar … yeeeeeah. And I think Hyroh thought similarly, which is why he wanted to join the Jedi so bad, but he got pretty disillusioned with it while Aric thought he was still doing the right thing.

Elara: The contrast between Elara and Sennash is so funny and good. Like, they’re pretty similar but when it comes to how they do their jobs, it’s just interesting. Elara is very particular about how she does things, knows the regulations and codes and all that, and likes routine! Sennash is very much just .. go with the flow, figure it out, kinda just a little bit all over the place. And oh man … the conversation with Kalor. Sennash is still a bit squicked out by Elara’s former Imperial allegiance, but Elara’s proven herself that she IS loyal to the Republic which … helps, but the moment when Elara used a loophole in those regulations to not have any liability when Sennash executed Thorus was very … hm, for her. Because yeah Sen would’ve executed him anyway, but it made her feel … strange that Elara was willing to do that. Still, she’s a proud member of the Elara Dorne Defense Squad.

final notes: as i’ve said before, i’ve kind of thrown canon out of the window so while a lot of these events aren’t “canon” for Sennash, they provide a lot of insight into her character. really thinkin’ she started out on Taris, hopped around to some other planets, then eventually got transferred back to Taris again and met Elara. The two hit it off but Elara didn’t want to bring up her Imperial background so it was kinda secret for awhile. Sennash got mad that Elara didn’t tell her, but then she realized pretty quickly that if Elara had come right out of the gate with “I’m a former Imperial!” they never would’ve gotten to know each other because Sennash wouldn’t have given her a chance. Also--

#game notes #notes: sennash #oc: sennash

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eorzeashan · 8 months

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Feel free to ignore: What are the differences between ex8, 8, & 9 game play vs OC Lore regarding their relationships/feelings with the companions and main NPC? Base game? Whole game-timeline up to you. How do their views differ towards main companion like Kaliyo and NPC like D.Jadus, Watcher X, est.? Like ex8 would have a different relationship with D.Jadus (if any) compare to 8 & 9, and does she have “different” companions? (Unless I’m wrong to assume "first C9", and she’s just a “filler” OC).

OOh, a big and juicy ask! Sorry if this came a little late, I had to ruminate for a while. Buckle up, this might get long (and incoherent since I'm trying to answer this while feeling ill).

ex8 (Nosta):

Nosta's main difference lies in the fact that she's older than Orradiz and counts as a previous generation Cipher that has a closer working relationship to Keeper as a compatriot rather than a junior; this also makes her act more experienced and less open to the base story's companions as opposed to Eight, who doesn't have the luxury of being a superior officer. Though my headcanons for Keeper/Minister vary, something I noticed in the gameplay was that her and Keeper flirted right off the bat in Hutta, and the seductive side of the Female IA suits her quite well.

Compared to the "canon" F!Agent, she is far more hardline and cold, and it could be said that the personality of a DS F!Agent is more her facade--the stereotype of a beautiful Chiss that the Empire favors when the real woman behind that experiences a huge disdain for the cliche that many outsiders project onto the Chiss. Which is that of an always elegant, perfect, dignified and classy individual, hyperfeminine and hypersexual-- an image she has no fondness for, but finds use in because her real rougher nature is frightening and cruel to many who know her true self. Not even in a femme fatale way; there are no limits to the methods she knows, and she is known for using anything to her disposal. No life is off limits. No weapon out of her reach. She is very much like a cartel enforcer/hitman rather than a typical agent, and that is the knowledge she passed down to her student. She's also rather crass.

As a result, she probably overpowered Kaliyo with that "gangster" side in being more rough and older than her, as compared to the polite diplomacy the agent can afford. Vector is someone I considered having Nosta flirt with just to experience his romance, but given her status, she'd find him more of a method to get her rocks off than anything else. Her "canon" backstory implies she has a long romantic history with Aristocra Saganu, but that storyline didn't necessarily need to be told since the son she has with him is my friend's OC from the Nine timeline, so I often retcon it in Eight's timeline.

Nosta, compared to the gameplay, is supposed to not have met any of the base game comps and further on as I see the IA crew as purely attached to the new Nine's story, so I never gave much thought to her relationships with them-- she would have kept them at an exceptional distance and Doctor Lokin carries a similar view on both Eights at all times, and that is extreme wariness of the role they play as that Cipher designation, but TLDR the main difference lies in her closer ties to being an "oldie" of Intelligence with the history to back it up.

Her only companion has always been a young Orradiz; this remains true in both the Nine and Eight timelines, and a huge reason for why she has a complicated relationship with him where she denied herself the right to treat him like her own child, despite the fact that he kept her from succumbing to the loneliness of decades of isolation. She had him as a companion ever since he was a child to young adulthood.

As for her view on Watcher X and Jadus, I actually haven't finished her playthrough (oops) but she absolutely does not hold the same view on Jadus as her apprentice. She did, however, tell Orradiz that as agents they needed to see the bigger picture at all times and that their duty was to play the game right and win, so she had a huge part in laying the foundation for Eight's curiosity and acceptance of Jadus' status as an element outside of the system, since she taught him specifically to look for outliers and unknown elements that could influence the political stage of the galaxy in unexpected ways.

As a Chiss, she holds the same mild bias towards Force-users their society does, but she never lets emotions like that cloud her work and so would view Jadus as the kind of "prize" she would hunt as part of her oath to protect the Ascendancy from outside forces.

Watcher X....he is younger than her but befell a similar fate to Nosta when it was time to retire, so I imagine he monitored her career before and knew her in passing, though Nosta would find him to be a strange and fickle man as well as one that she would never associate with willingly (lol). I'm sure they had the kind of relationship where they scratched each other's backs for information through blackmail.

Eight (Orradiz)

Eight for the most part doesn't differ too much from the gameplay save for being far quieter and nonverbal (as well as toned down in boldness/confidence) in KOTXX, but in the class story he is very much the type of agent who takes risks, is unpredictable, and appears both savvy and dangerous on the surface to everyone around him. You could say Nosta's cruelty rubbed off on him, and this time is when he acts the most like her but with his own laidback charm. The agent replay tag tends to cover how he is during the story. Other major differences between the gameplay and his own lore is whether or not he actually experiences the Agent story for the same reasons as Nosta, as he is not Cipher Nine here. His overall vibe can be summed up to working class assassin, who treats killing both as his sacred duty and just another day at the office. As for the "duty" part, I'll have to get into that another time since we'd be here for hours and it deserves its own post.

His relationships with the class comps are also, fickle at best, but he is arguably close to them in his own way. His relationship with Vector becomes strained when he chooses to become Darth Jadus' Hand, though he holds no ill will towards Vector for having such a vehement reaction to his betrayal; they already had opposing opinions on his life of violence, and Vector often found himself unable to understand Eight's perspective of living in such a way as purely a weapon designed to kill and betray. Yet, contrary to Eight's belief that Vector no longer cared for him after the incident, Vector merely felt pity that Eight had resigned to isolating himself further and hopes that they can meet in the middle someday.

His relationship with Kaliyo is touch and go. Eight thinks that she's a test of whether an agent can handle and work with unsavory types such as her in preparation for becoming the next Keeper, but he is also used to working with people who don't like him/are abrasive, so his feelings on her are neutral. Kaliyo thinks he's weird and too quiet, but she knows just how deadly and dirtied he is, so it both earns her admiration and distance. They leave one another be. She's also unable to get a rise out of him, so she finds that part "boring".

Eight treats Raina like a younger sister, given her relationship to Saganu and the Chiss Ascendancy, both of which he owes. He's also just kind to younger and fresh recruits, which Raina is painfully so. Most of her hero worship wears off once she experiences for herself how eccentric and unorthodox Eight is, but that unintentionally brings them closer since she doesn't put him on a pedestal; the only time they experience strife in their relationship is the incident with her father, Cipher Three. Given Eight's role as the chief executioner for the majority of Ciphers and his view on what it means to kill one of them, they butted heads on her decision to kill her father, with Eight saying that pulling a trigger out of fear and the desire for vengeance was a shameful act that would dishonor her more than any past sin of her father. Of course, the game didn't let him say such a thing, but it did put a wrench in their relationship for a while, and as usual, Eight went back to being a loner while Raina didn't speak to him.

SCORPIO is an odd case. She and Eight found unexpected common ground in wishing to change and evolve into better, stronger versions of themselves to understand the world around them while feeling othered by it, and while Eight cared little for keeping her onboard against her will and experienced annoyance at her initial rudeness, they became close over time because of their shared loneliness and desire to be a person in their own definitions. The biggest deviation from canon came from KOTXX, half of what would've been skipped because of SCORPIO's closeness and understanding of his situation; it's my headcanon that Eight took her to Iokath early by himself and set her free. "Goodbye, SCORPIO." 'Goodbye, agent. I hope...you find the answer you seek, as I have.' were her last words to him before she went to sleep. Eight vehemently prevented anyone else from stepping foot on Iokath afterwards, having told SCORPIO to fill it with poison gas so no one could use her ever again. The Alliance was not happy with his decision to go completely rogue, as expected.

Lokin's relationship with him becomes begrudgingly fatherly, even though he experiences a hint of fear knowing this is not just any agent, but the one of whom killed many of your old comrades-- yet his initial wariness soon wears down to fond bewilderment because Eight is a curious soul who turns out not to be as scary as his reputation on his good days. Yet their shared parallel history puts them on more equal ground as twin survivors of a history painted with the blood of countless agents, so Lokin takes on less of a mentor role and more of a tired old grandpa who needs him to stop being so wild on every mission. It's a refreshing situation for him.

Nine (Orradiz)

Orradiz here is the most canon-compliant comparing the gameplay to the lore, with the only major difference between him and the game's mold for Cipher Nine being that he is kind of....a tsundere ice prince. Most of his Echani heritage is forgotten, and he relies on tech far more than his Eight self, as well as being infinitely more charming and well-spoken and much better with people, to the point of being friends with nearly everyone. (My friends often joked he was a Chiss in everything but appearance). As a result, he acts and is much weaker compared to Eight and is far more submissive to Sith, given his mindset that they cannot be defied and it's better to suffer under them than resist and die for nothing. Nosta is still Cipher Eight in his history here and plays the same role as his mentor, with the key difference being that Orradiz does not inherit her designation and becomes Nine instead even after her alleged retirement.

Vector is very close to him this time, with Nine having jumped into his arms on their reunion post-KOTXX and Vector having swung him around in joy. Like most agents, Nine was able to bond with him due to his caring nature amidst a lineup of other companions who appear to not.

Kaliyo, strangely enough, was who he relied on the most through his playthrough because he is the type who understands those who work for selfish means more than altruistic means, so he felt reassured having her at his back since he could predict her base nature easily and know what she wanted. In other words, he often traded sexual favors in return for her service, which in his eyes was more trustworthy than simply relying on someone without payment. They got along like a house on fire because he secretly enjoyed causing mayhem with her, though she was often trouble and gave him a headache more times than he could count.

He did not like SCORPIO at all and wanted to scrap her.

Lokin he had a fun relationship with because he liked the back and forth game of insinuating the ways they were going to betray or kill each other, since as previously stated, he lives in a world where there is no one with ulterior motives, so this was just another day for him. They grew quite close, with Nine calling him an old friend.

Raina......he feels awkward with since he initially treated her like his student, but for some reason she fell in love with him and tried to ask him out, to which he told her "I think you should talk about this with someone else". Ouch. Not sure how that happened on my end, since it didn't with Eight. They're not too far apart in age, but because Nine sees her as too young and impressionable, he had zero interest in dating her and found it alarming.

Nine's relationship with Theron and Lana is also irrevocably different, as this was my first and only Theronmancer; Nine fell in love with him during SoR, and it is Theron who manages to crack his cold persona and bring him home with him to the Republic. Infinitely different from Theron and Eight's platonic relationship of.....whatever they have going on. Nine is still Lana's underling in this timeline, but they're far more amicable to each other since he's used to her type of Sith and follows orders well. It should be noted that he was neither Outlander nor Commander in this timeline, and worked alongside Theron as heads of the Alliance's Intelligence division, with the Jedi Knight being the Commander.

His relationship with Jadus is nonexistent; like the typical neutral agent, he shares the same fear of Sith and force-users that abused officers have and practically hates him.

As for Watcher X, Nine chose to set him free in exchange for Intelligence secrets; the offer was too good to pass up and he was not taught to be a naive fool who trusted Intelligence to treat him kindly once his use was up. As always, his every step was a measure working towards his ultimate goal of winning the game of espionage.

#swtor #oc: orradiz #Imperial agent #oc: nosta #ask meme: answered #sorry if I didn't cover everything you asked or if it didn't make a lot of sense!! I tried to be in-depth as possible #long post #throwback to my cipher nine run lololol #his nine self would do anything to win. even sell himself out #sorry for bad pics im tired

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vaingloriosa · 5 years

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oh, how they shine for you

Loki Laufeyson x Reader

Words: 1,009

Summary: You miss how the stars shine at night.

Requested by: @susiephalange

Author’s note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM HIDDLESTON! didn’t know it was his birthday and i happened to be writing this. pushed myself to finish it so we could celebrate my mans!! miss. susie wanted some loki fluff and i HOPE i delivered or else i gotta retire or sumn. haven’t written for my man in so long so please forgive the off character-ness

Sometimes during restless nights, you wish you could kiss the stars.

The world above always seems at peace with stars glimmering across the jet black sky, the moon rising high to say hello and goodnight at the same time, and the universe stands still for just one second. You remember nights with your mother as you stood outside and pointed out as many constellations you could see; a luxury you never thought you would miss. Moving to New York City was not a regret but you oftentimes yearned to explore the sky during times like these.

You toss to the other side then let out a frustrated sigh. Fishing for your phone on the nightstand, you raise the screen up with the time mocking you.

2:03 AM.

“What is it, little dove?”

A warm arm snakes around your waist as your back presses gently against your boyfriend’s chest. You hum in content however the tender embrace still doesn’t cure your insomnia.

“M’sorry for waking you, love. It’s nothing. Just...go back to sleep,” you try to tell Loki but you realize it’s futile. He never liked seeing you in distress and would do anything in his power to help you no matter what. Loki peppers soft kisses along your bare shoulder, his warm breath causing goose flesh to form across your skin. You want to enjoy the moment if it were any other time other than you being awake at such an odd hour.

“Waking up during the middle of the night is not ‘nothing’. Besides, we both know I don’t need sleep.” Loki runs his hand over your upper arm with his fingers playfully messing with the seam of your night shirt’s sleeve. You close your eyes, giving into his touch and listening ear. You adjust your position on the bed with your body now facing your boyfriend. Despite the near darkness of the bedroom, you can still make out some of his facial features but he still appears to be a shadow. Your hand finds a home on his chest, feeling the soft cotton of his own night shirt.

You smile at the domesticity.

Tapping your fingers nervously, you shake your head. “When I moved to the city, I forgot what the stars looked like at night. They always provided some sort of comfort to me ever since I was a child. With the lights and heavy pollution, New York City isn’t too friendly to the universe.”

Loki shifts slightly, nestling his head into the crook of his elbow as his hand softly caresses your hair. “Do you wish to see them?”

“I would like to. It just sucks that you have to drive three hours into the countryside to even catch a glimpse of them.” Your tone sounds defeated as if you were a valiant hero who has met their match. Even though you two have been dating for awhile, Loki still finds little things he’s never known and continues to learn more about you. He can tell how this eats away at who you are, how much this meant to you but only for the experience to be taken away from your grasp. While Loki’s thoughts stir above his head, he feels you nuzzle your head deeper into his chest and let out an exasperated sigh.

Defeat.

What was once a dark room suddenly becomes illuminated in a shade of green. Loki raises his hand above the two of you then closes his eyes, you watching his every single move. Opening his eyes, you move your gaze to where his eyes are trained at. Before you know it, the roof of the apartment disappears and is replaced by something much darker. You squint your eyes to try to make out what is happening then you see them, the memories you never thought you would be able to recreate again.

Stars shining above, shining just for you.

You let out a small laugh of disbelief, turning to Loki to search for answers. Loki knows that he could’ve easily taken you to another realm, another universe, bend all of space just for you to watch the stars. The Northern Lights, the Atacama Desert, even the volcanoes of Hawaii here on Midgard to show you the universe however you wouldn’t be able to sleep. Hanging the night sky over your head in the apartment you two share was the sweet compromise Loki came to. Watching your eyes glimmer in awe at how captivating and magnificent the magical illusion was, the look in itself made it seem that you hung up the moon and the stars yourself and you were merely fascinated by your own work of art.

“Loki,” your voice is barely a whisper, “thank you.”

Loki places a soft kiss on your head and brings you closer to his chest. You hang your arm around his waist to anchor yourself before you float away. The illusion slowly changes to display the Milky Way’s entire glory. You gasp, haven’t witnessed such a phenomena with your own eyes before. It all seems so real, almost as if you could stretch your arms out and be able to touch the fabric of time. With a god as your boyfriend, you wouldn’t doubt you could potentially be able to. The warmth of Loki’s chest, the rise and fall of his chest, the scent of your lavender lotion, all gently rocks you into a sense of security.

“Do you want to hear another story?”

You hum in affirmation, knowing that you absolutely adore Loki’s storytelling. Every time he opens himself up, exposing that vulnerability for you...you treasure each story. Loki can tell you already have one foot outside the door into your dreamworld but for you, the sound of his voice will seal the deal. You’ve told him many times before how much his honey voice can lull you to sleep.

“My mother used to tell Thor and I stories about how the stars got their names...”

You smile at the sentiment right before you slip into the pleasant embrace of slumber.

Tagging some loki sluts: @kwaiky (honorary loki slota), @cura-posterior, @connorshero, @the-darklings, @black-widow-fangirl, @attentionseekingprincess, @sethrine-writes, @deviantramblings, @bbyicicle and @moonbeamgogh (HERE’S TO US LOKI FUCKERS!), @drmsqnc (i SEE you), @rebelfinn (ya dig??), @michverse (i know you’re a thorhead at heart pero i know u got some lokinator in your heart, too...somewhere deep down)

#angel writes #loki x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki #loki laufeyson #loki imagine #loki laufeyson imagine #marvel #marvel imagine #loki imagines #loki odinson #marvel x reader #tom hiddleston #lovey dovey on main like i am LOVE FERAL #oh how they shine for you

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vespertine-legacy · 4 years

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Toovee knew that Raz2.0 and Kaliyo had a Straight Up Not Good Time on Hutta (I’m sure he heard the argument that Raz, Kaliyo, and Lokin had before they actually went to Hutta and was just like 😬😬😬😬😬 as best a protocol droid can), and when they came back on the ship, his greeting to Raz was the “Do you require anything, Master? A hot meal, perhaps? Conversation? Foot massage? Just say the word.”

And I imagine that Raz would have been in quite the huff coming back onto the ship and probably wouldn’t have really wanted to talk to anyone, but Toovee picking up immediately on how sour she was and just gently offering to tend to her needs without asking her to talk about it the way one of her human (or human-ish) companions might would just be so touching. Like, “You know what, Toovee, yes. Don’t touch me, and don’t say anything else to me for a little while, but if you could just bring me some hot tea and a blanket and tell the others not to disturb me until we land at our next destination, that would be lovely. And Toovee? Thank you.”

#swtor #november plays swtor #swtor oc raz #imperial agent two suffering boogaloo #toovee is a Good Boy #my poor murderbaby

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inyri · 5 years

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Equivalent Exchange (a SWTOR story): Chapter 37- The Game

Equivalent Exchange by inyri Fandom: Star Wars: The Old Republic Characters: Female Imperial Agent (Cipher Nine)/Theron Shan Rating: E (this chapter: M)

Summary: If one wishes to gain something, one must offer something of equal value. In spycraft, it’s easy. Applying it to a relationship is another matter entirely. F!Agent/Theron Shan. (Spoilers for Shadow of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire/Knights of the Eternal Throne.)

Comments are always appreciated! Visit me at:

Archive of Our Own

Fanfiction Dot Net

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Game

Nine opens her eyes.

The drawback of Odessen’s relative security, the base built as it was into the solid stone of the cliffs, was the lack of natural light. Her quarters here- or is it their quarters, now? Theron’s stirring awake too, his breath warm on the back of her neck and one arm draped lazily over her waist, curling, pulling her closer out of reflex- are windowless; it reminds her too much of the endless black monotony of spaceship travel, never quite knowing if it was day or night. Say what one liked about the endless rain on Dromund Kaas, in her own apartment she still woke to the sun on her face.

(Or the ghost of sun, at least, peeking through the clouds, but never mind that: her point stands. She misses very little of Kaas City, but she really had been fond of that apartment even if it did remind her too much of-

Never mind that, either.)

“‘s that me or you?” Theron mumbles over the steady chime of a datapad alarm from somewhere in the lower part of the room.

She blinks, stifling a yawn. “Probably me. What time is it?”

“Just turned five,” he says after a moment, lifting his hand up along her body, fingertips brushing gently at her throat in response to her still-hoarse voice. He always had the time down to the millisecond, one of the many side benefits of his implant and one of the few she truly envied. It didn’t matter when they were properly geared for missions and she was hooked into comms, but it would have been useful more than once on undercover ops. “I didn’t think I had anything before eight, but-”

“You don’t. I, on the other hand-” she pushes the blanket back reluctantly with her still-splinted wrist, just far enough that she can slip free and leave Theron covered and warm. But he doesn’t move to let her go and she doesn’t really want to get up, not when these minutes stolen one by one from their overscheduled days are all they get- “am due in the infirmary. I’ve got a hot date with a kolto tank.”

He shifts, one foot overlapping hers; he props himself up on his elbow behind her. “I’m jealous. Guess I should get up too, eh?”

“Why? Go back to sleep. Stars know you need it.”

“But if I walk out of here later without you-” Theron pauses.

In trying to turn over to face him she only tangles herself up, her leg half-trapped beneath his so she has to roll into him instead of away. With her weight against him he tips back, settling onto the pillow again as her head rests on his chest, her body atop his. “My answer hasn’t changed since last night. Let them talk,” she says. “I don’t care.”

He exhales, goes still and quiet for long enough that she starts to wonder if he’s thought better of all of this- but then he works his fingers through her hair, a comfortably possessive sort of gesture, and when she glances up at him he smiles.

“In any case,” she continues, “you know my access code. Just lock up when you go, and we’ll reprogram the security protocols after today’s meetings. Hylo told me last night the biometrics finally arrived.”

“You’re putting in biometrics? Don’t you think that’s overkill?”

“No such thing as too much security.” She yawns again, the steady rise and fall of his chest and the warmth of skin on skin lulling her back into sleep. With so much time spent away from the base in this last month they’ve shared a bed more often than not but not here, not on Odessen with the whole Alliance walking unaware past her quarters; she can still count those nights on one hand.

A bed is a bed is a bed. It oughtn’t make a difference. But sprawled together like this- I like this blanket, Theron mutters against the top of her head, adjusting her body atop his. Nice and warm - there’s a kind of permanence to it that makes her pulse stutter. If they could stay like this forever she would be content, she thinks, and that sets a warning voice nagging in the back of her mind in the place where all of her training lives.

Too close. Too trusting. Not safe.

Stupid voice.

She ignores it.

It might have had a point once, of course. In the years when her only loyalty was to a mission objective (mission first, Empire second, team third and everyone else got whatever scraps remained) and Void take the consequences she might have used him for what she could get out of him and then cast him aside. Or he might have done the same to her, if-

No. She’d certainly have deserved it if he had- when it came to their shared trade turnabout was fair play, especially a trick she’d used so often as that one- but she tries to imagine it and can’t, the image of it so ridiculous that she laughs softly despite herself.

“Something funny?” Theron’s nearly asleep again.

(And this? When it came to sharing space they’d talked about it last night, only a little and leaving out the details, but so far as they both could tell they’re equally useless at it in mostly opposite ways.

The Academy bred creativity but sharing rooms was strictly against the rules, and even in advanced studies she’d only ever gone so far as one drawer in a sort-of-girlfriend’s apartment two floors above hers in cadet housing; they’d fought a few weeks later and all her clothes ended up tossed from the complex roof in the middle of a summer storm and that had been the end of that. They’d trained her against it, too, with a hundred horror stories: look at this, her teachers said, pointing to each empty bed, each empty desk. Talked too much. Too soft. Couldn’t finish the job. Washout. Failure. Dead.

At the end of the day it was easier not to bother.

The Major hadn’t counted. She had her own quarters, for one thing, and that year was training, not-

It didn’t count. And Kaliyo certainly hadn’t counted. She’d never even unpacked before Nine had kicked her back to the crew quarters and she’d taken it in stride, settling into her role on the ship like nothing had ever happened between them.

For Theron it was different, she thinks. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to bother. Maybe he never quite knew how, not after the lessons learned from his mother and his old master and his father, now, back and back to all the countless people who’d looked at a little boy alone in space and saw a target to be taken advantage of- he didn’t talk about those years except for the occasional swoop racing story and the vaguest outline of how he ended up in the SIS, rather unsurprisingly involving something mostly illegal going very wrong and a great deal of smartassery on his part, but she knows him well enough by now to hear the things he isn’t saying; given the choice between the civilized brutality of the Academy and the chaos of Theron’s childhood she’d go back to the dormitories any day of the week. If the galaxy taught him anything it taught him that people keep you around only so long as you’re useful to them, that the easiest way to dodge being tossed aside was to always keep moving, never settling down anywhere for long enough that it hurt to leave it or that you’d be missed-)

“No,” she says gently and presses a kiss to his chest, just over his heart. “Go back to sleep. I’ll come and find you when I’m out.”

He doesn’t answer, only grumbles softly when she unwinds herself, rising, and drapes the blanket back over him; it’s a poor substitute for body warmth but she’s got to get up so it’ll have to do.

By the time she dresses Theron’s curled up tight, eyes closed and breaths even, calm and still and peaceful. She slips out quietly into the hall, careful not to wake him again.

After all, there’s nowhere else he needs to be.

***

Doctor Lokin looks up from his caf cup as she walks into the treatment room, then unhooks the coupling connecting the intravenous line to the port in his chest.

“Excellent timing, Ciph-” he catches himself. She’s not the only one still slaved to old habits. “Commander. I was just finishing my own treatment- the first round of the day, at least.” Gesturing with one hand toward two nearly empty infusion bags clothespinned to a ceiling-mounted pole, he attaches a small syringe to the port with the other and presses down on the plunger. “We can begin whenever you’re ready.”

Nine pauses halfway across the room, focused on the hanging bags. She knew in the back of her mind he still wasn’t well- would never be well even after the cure they’d brewed on Alderaan, maybe- but the brilliant yellow liquid still beaded in the detached tubing’s a slap in the face, a reminder with every drip.

(It wasn’t like her to forget. She spent years with her crew, so many years all crowded together on the ship, and they all had their jobs to do but it was her responsibility to make sure they held together, her job to see when the machinery was starting to fray at the edges. But stars, there are so many of them now, so many faces to keep track of and so many things they need it’s like juggling a thousand knives at once, all spinning and whirling until the moment she drops one and-

That’s no excuse. She’s the Commander. She needs to act like one.)

“If you need privacy,” she says carefully, “I can come back in a few minutes.”

Eckard shakes his head and fastens up the flap on his jacket. If he hears the rasp in her voice, he doesn’t comment on it. “No, no. I’ll have plenty of time to tidy up while your cycle runs. You have my full attention.”

Reaching the back table beside the kolto tank, she sets the wrapped-up bundle with her change of clothing down and slips out of her shoes. “How are you-” (too personal, he hates to talk about himself- try again ) “How is the treatment going?”

“As well as can be expected. If the current projection holds I should have several years before the cancer kills me.”

“But I thought-”

Four syringes rest in a rack on the countertop; he reaches for the first, gesturing for her to sit. “When you found me on Alderaan,” he says, “I was counting my time in days. You’ve managed an impressive research division here, but you know perfectly well that what I have is incurable.”

“But-”

“It’s far more than I could have managed alone. I am-” Eckard pauses, glances down at the syringe still in his hand. ”Please don’t mistake me, Cipher. I am grateful. And with your permission, I will continue to serve for as long as I am able.”

She looks down at it, too, even as she starts to roll up her shirtsleeve. “Why didn’t you return to the Empire, then? There must have been someone in Research Division who would have been able to help you.”

His mouth twists, bitter and angry for a moment, before he shakes his head. “RD no longer exists, not in any meaningful sense. I might have found a position in Acina’s laboratory, but far more likely I’d have found myself one of her research subjects. Rumor had it she-”

“I remember her,” she murmurs, “from that business with those awful artifacts. I suppose that sort of mad science goes with the territory- Sphere of Technology and all that.”

“Oh, child-” (he hasn’t called her that in a very, very long time; it was a slip of the tongue back then, when they scarcely knew each other and she was shattering into a million sharp-edged little pieces under the yoke of the Castellan restraints, and as much as she’d bristled at it it was true. She was so, so young then and she thought she knew everything but Void, was she ever wrong)- “you haven’t the slightest idea.”

“I suppose I don’t.”

Eckard chuckles softly, but there’s no mirth in it. “With any luck you’ll never find out. Just keep that in mind when she comes asking for favors, hm?”

“Why would she do that?” She raises an eyebrow. “I know we’re all trying to keep a brave face, but we’re not exactly flush with resources here. What could we possibly have that the Sith Empire would find useful?”

“A spine, for one.”

“And that and a billion credits might buy us half a chance at Arcann. Why do I have the feeling you know something I don’t?”

The needle cover clicks into place with a sharp snap. “I know a great many things that you don’t, although not on that particular front. Merely… gut instinct, let’s say.”

“Your gut instinct-” finger-marks around the words- “used to need three rounds of controlled trials before you’d so much as hedge a bet. Don’t tell me you’re going soft on me, old man.”

Were his teeth always so sharp when he smiled? She can’t remember. “Hardly.” One hand around her wrist, he pushes her sleeve up past her elbow with the syringe held between two fingers. “Just a few injections today and then I’ve got the tank all ready for you.”

She looks down at the needle one more time, its tip poised just above her vein.

(Just a few injections, the technician says, before we start the procedure.

She tries to turn her head but the straps hold her tight against the chair, buckled down against her wrists and ankles, chest and hips and forehead. That never bodes well. Exhaling, she pushes the anxiety away with her breath; they mustn’t see her nervousness. Making Cipher this quickly out of training is already almost unprecedented and if Keeper- no, no, the Minister now, they’re all getting promotions these days- knows she’s afraid he might just kick her back down to grunt work, commendation or not-

One shot, then another and another. Just like any other infirmary visit. Nothing to worry about. She relaxes into the seat as it starts to recline.

Nearly finished. One more and then your sedative.

She shakes her head slightly against the restraint. I don’t need a sedative. I’m ready to begin.

I don’t think that’s allow-

The overhead speaker crackles, the Minister’s voice echoing strangely in her ears like she’s a dozen meters underwater- a side effect of the earlier shots, she supposes, whatever they were. We’ll be keeping to the protocol today, Agent. Technician Six, please continue.

Yes, Minister, she says. As you say.

She remembers the needles. She remembers them, one in each arm, as her eyelids go heavy and the light fades and then oh stars that feels like-

It feels like-

NO-)

Her temples throb and she flinches away from him before she can stop herself. With his hand still on hers she doesn’t get far, just enough to put some distance between the sharp point of the syringe and her skin. She’s sweating, too, the back of her neck prickling and her heart pounding in her ears even as she wipes at her face with her free hand.

(She oughtn’t to be able to remember that. That is a problem.)

“What are-” she swallows, starts again as Doctor Lokin looks at her and then the syringe and then back to her. “Before you do that, I want to know what’s in it.”

The needle cover snaps back down.

For a moment the room’s nearly silent save the ever-constant low roar of machinery and muted voices in the larger laboratory beyond the door, the soft bubbling kolto and the click-click-click of Scritchy’s nails on the duracrete floor as he brushes up against her legs; she reaches down to rub behind his ears out of reflex. Then Eckard sighs, picks up a square of clean gauze from the little metal tray beside the rack and presses it just beneath her nose.

“I suppose I deserve that,” he murmurs. “Though you were never particularly interested in the particulars before.”

“I never thought I needed to be.”

He pinches the bridge of her nose; she can taste the blood in the back of her throat now. “Then you’re learning. I’ll transfer the component sheets for your review as soon as we’ve got this tidied up.”

***

At least she’s cleared for training now.

When she goes back to quarters to drop off her dirty clothes Theron isn’t there, long gone to his first meeting, and she’s got nothing scheduled for nearly an hour. Plenty of time for a cup of caf and a few rounds with a combat dummy.

In the post-breakfast hour the training room’s buzzing with activity, training drones and lightsabers sparking through the air at one end and the firing range nearly full to capacity at the other. She tries to ignore all the eyes on her as she lands a first few hesitant strikes, dodging and weaving around the dummy and lashing out with her fists to test both her reaction time and the strength of the nearly-healed bone. So far it seems to be holding; she lands a solid hook that would have left a real opponent doubled over and the impact reverberates up her arm with only the faintest hint of pain.

That might also have been her unwrapped knuckles, of course. She probably ought to do something about that.

She jogs across the room to the supply cabinet, tearing two lengths of tape off the wide roll- getting low again and they’ll have to order more; supplying their ever-growing crew’s an expensive proposition- and then crosses back, sits down beside the dummy and starts on her left hand.

Kaliyo peeks around the dummy, already pulling off her own padded gloves. “Hey. You want some help with that?” Her first instinct is to wave her off, but it would go faster with help- she holds up her hand and ‘liyo crouches down beside her, wrapping the tape around and around her knuckles. “How’s it holding up?”

“Well enough. I’ve had worse.”

“Not by that much, and I still remember Corellia.” Securing the end, Kaliyo taps her other hand and she holds it up obligingly. “I can’t say I was too mad I got turfed off to the shuttle. Watching Lana and your boy wear holes in the floor would probably have gotten old.”

She snorts and unfolds one leg, kicking Kaliyo’s feet out from beneath her. “And here I thought you cared.”

“Fuck you,” ‘liyo says cheerfully as she catches herself on the dummy’s support post. “I care plenty. I just don’t like having to watch-” Instead of finishing the sentence she clicks her tongue and just keeps working, quick and tidy, until her right hand’s wrapped up too. “There. Good to go. Should we test ‘em out?”

“Don’t you already have a sparring partner?” An impatient one, judging by the crossed arms and rolling eyes when she glances over.

Kaliyo waves the trooper off with a flick of her wrist and then stands, reaching out to offer her a hand up. “He hits like a bitch and he only knows ‘pub military hand-to-hand, straight out of the textbook. You know how to show a girl some variety.”

“Famous last words, Djannis. Famous last words.”

Her first strike lands almost before she can stand up fully. “No such thing. You and me?” Nine’s return jab catches her in the side and she winces, then grins . “We’re immortal.”

***

“You’re really sure about this?”

She’s spent the last hour after the logistics meeting wrangling Nightshrike’s war room into something approaching professional: carefully unrevealing datascreens behind her (all the better if Trant get distracted by what he thinks she’s giving away- the answer is nothing at all, of course, but let him waste the effort trying to figure it out), the closet doors covered over with Alliance banners, her best scrounged-together dress uniform buttoned up neatly and her hair pulled back and pinned up. The holoterminal’s set up at the end of the table, angled just so. It looks like a proper office.

Mostly. Better than anything she can put together on the base that isn’t in her own quarters or runs the risk of someone knocking on the door halfway through the call.

It’ll do.

When she doesn’t reply Theron changes tack. “You look nice,” he says, gesturing vaguely in her direction. “The uniform, I mean- it’s been a long time since I saw you in a uniform. Very… um, commanderly.”

“At least I look the part, even if I don’t feel it. When did you ever see me in Imperial uniform, though?” She looks back over her shoulder toward him quizzically. Away from Dromund Kaas she can only think of a handful of times she would have worn full dress and she’s pretty sure the Republic hadn’t been invited to any of those particular events.

“That first official group meeting on Yavin. Remember? We were all sweating our faces off and one of Marr’s honor guard almost passed out behind the war table?”

Oh. She does remember that, but- “Weren’t you just wearing your same jacket?”

“SIS.” He grins. “They never gave us dress uniforms.”

She throws a spare length of cable at him; he catches it easily, winding it around his wrist like a bracelet. “Of course they didn’t- that would require proper organizational hierarchy. And to answer your original question, no. Not particularly.” Dragging a high-backed chair around the far side of the table, she lets its feet hit the floor with a thump. No rolling chairs for this call. It wouldn’t do to be skating around the room like an idle child. “But unless you’ve got some brilliant alternative you’ve so far failed to mention, I’m making the call as soon as I set up the projector.”

Theron shakes his head. “No, but-”

“You don’t like it.”

“More that I’m worried about potential backlash.” Leaning against the doorframe, he runs one hand through his hair. “I mean, I’m also not thrilled about the whole blackmail thing, but that’s probably down to being raised by a Jedi.”

Oh, Void. She knows perfectly well what he’s capable of; she knows so many things he’s done over the years- hells, she’s watched him kill and more- but he still manages to surprise her with his stubborn insistence on being teeth-achingly good. “You-” crossing the room to where he stands in three quick steps, she stands up on tiptoes and presses a quick kiss to the point of his chin- “are a precious and delicate flower, too good for this world. Now get out. I’ve got an SIS director to threaten.”

“I can’t even eavesdrop?”

She (very generously, as far as she’s concerned) resists the urge to bite him. “Do you absolutely promise to sit completely still and not move or open your mouth regardless of anything he or I might say?”

Theron wrinkles his nose. “Um.”

“I thought so.” It’s better if he doesn’t hear. He knows what she’s capable of, too, but-

(He thinks he does, at least. But if he flinches at a little well-deserved blackmail, she can only imagine what he’d think of that thing with the senator. Or the ‘dinner party’ on Balmorra. Or any of her old runs on Nar Shaddaa, really.

They don’t talk about those days. Not yet. Maybe not ever. That might be better, too.)

“I know,” he says, and kisses her forehead. “I know. I’m going to go tweak the flight plan for Voss. I’ll be on the bridge when you’re done, okay?”

“Okay.”

When he goes she locks the door behind him, turns on the scrambling field and settles into the chair. Even with the signal bouncing through relays it’s a risk, but it’s naive at this point to assume Trant doesn’t know where they are; she’d bet good credits the Republic has at least one agent embedded with them even now. It’s certainly what she’d have done in his shoes. The worst-case scenario is that he’s devious enough- and petty enough- to share coordinates with the Zakuulans, but that strikes her as unlikely.

Then again, she’d have thought it unlikely that he’d put a hit out on Theron except for the source. Jonas might very well have lied to her. She’d expect that, and frankly she’d deserve it. But much as she’s tried she can’t think of a single reason why he’d lie to Theron about something like this.

Well. Only one way to find out.

Masking activated. Enter caller identification. > THERON SHAN Enter destination address. >sis.mainhq.director.mtrantoffice.main.bypass Passcode required. Enter passcode. (She glances down at her datapad, typing carefully. Fuck this up and she’ll have to deal with his secretary, meaning odds to evens she’ll get hung up on before she can get a word in edgewise.) >0z1ax74hk5

She holds her breath.

CONNECTING.

One ring. Two. (For stars’ sake, it’s half six in the evening, Coruscant Standard Time. There’s no possible way the man’s not still in his office-)

By the time the connection stabilizes and they can see each other, Marcus Trant’s already scowling. He must have been handsome when he was young, dark-skinned and dark-eyed and close-cropped hair shading to grey- that’s new since his last dossier photo, but the war’s worn all of them down- but the curl of his lip and the wrinkles across his forehead set the tone immediately. He’s not even going to pretend civility, apparently.

Good. That only makes it easier to twist the knife.

“How did you get this num- no, don’t answer that. You have ten seconds to explain yourself before I clear the line.” His hand moves subtly out of frame, no doubt activating a trace. As if she hadn’t considered that. How insulting. “Starting now, Cipher Nine.”

“Now really, Marcus. You’re hurting my feelings. What if I’d just called to say hello?” Her own hands folded on the tabletop, she settles back comfortably into her chair. “I know the Minister used to so look forward to your little chats.”

“A peacetime courtesy extended to equals. Five seconds.”

She clicks her tongue. “You have a point. I suppose I do outrank you now, don’t I- and it’s Commander, by the way. Cipher’s an Imperial rank.”

Oh, that look. Delightful.

“But enough idle chitchat. You put a death mark on Theron Shan. Why?”

Trant glances sideways at a harsh beep from one of his desktop monitors. “That’s quite an accusation. Someone’s been feeding you tall tales, I think.”

It would have been too easy for him to simply admit to it. He’s cannier than that; one doesn’t last as long as he has in their world by telling the truth at first prompting. But one also learns to prepare for all eventualities, and she’s not about to implicate Jonas, not with the risk he took. ”You lost a hunting-hound on Alderaan recently, I hear. A very stupid hound who needed to learn how to encrypt his datapad properly.” She lifts her datapad and clears her throat. “Ahem. Target sighted at Pallista Spaceport, bound northeast. Scout images attached. Please confirm white auth still active. Shall I read your reply? Or any of the other messages he saved?”

“A simple request,” he says. “Detain and interrogate, appropriate to charges.”

“Liar.” The smile doesn’t leave her face. “I know perfectly well what a white auth is- Ardun Kothe was awfully fond of them, particularly for a Jedi. More to the point, you have no authority over my people. Call it off. Now.”

He doesn’t flinch, but his knuckles blanch as one fist clenches and unclenches. “You’re harboring a deserter and a traitor to the Republic in your so-called Alliance. Give yourself all the titles you want and keep playing at rebellion, but I will deal with my own ‘people’”-his tone a mockery, fingers arcing in the air; she’s almost got him- “as I see fit. Including Theron Shan. Did he put you up to this?”

Like beads of water, the lies roll off her tongue. “He doesn’t know. I haven’t told him yet, and if we can settle this reasonably I won’t have to. He still respects you, Director-” (that’s only a little bit of a lie)- “and I’ve no quarrel with the Republic. Don’t give me a reason to change that.”

Back straight in her chair, she sits back slowly, watching his face. For the briefest moment she wonders if it really is going to be that simple, if after all the rulebreaking Theron must have gotten away with over the years there’s still some little scrap of affection left that might make the man see reason-

-and then he smiles, teeth flashing white and eyes hard. “I’ll give you credit, Cipher-” ( Commander , she says)- “you’ve got balls. You run roughshod over my whole organization for years and then, to add insult to injury, you pull my best agent from under my Void-damned nose. Middle of a war and-” he snaps. “Gone. Flipped by an Imp whore. I’d ask you how you did it, but I can probably guess. I never thought Shan was the type.”

“Honestly. Name-calling? Somehow I expected better of you.” Oh, there’s no point in arguing this. “And Theron isn’t a deserter- or a traitor. Did you hear that from Jace Malcom?”

That does make him flinch.

“Call it off. I won’t ask again.”

“With all due respect, Commander-” why is it that whenever someone says with all due respect what they really mean is kiss my ass?- “I’ll have to decline. Now if that’s all-”

Well, then.

Fuck him.

She rests her elbows on the table. “How’s your ex-wife, Marcus? Rumor has it General Garza’s working with the SIS these days. I’m surprised you’d allow it after what she did.”

“Rumor says a lot of things, and I’m not in the mood for small talk. Disconnecting in three-” He starts to reach for the transmitter, pushing back from his desk.

“I know about Eclipse Squad.” Stay calm stay calm don’t lose your temper- “And unless you’d like every newsroom shy of Wild Space to know, too, I’d suggest you sit the fuck down and we continue this conversation.”

He stops. “Bantha shit. You’re bluffing.”

“You know,” she says, “I had a feeling you’d say that.” She presses play.

***

Author's Note: so... tired.... must... keep... writing... (This chapter brought to you by first trimester fatigue.)

#equivalent exchange #inyri writes #swtor fanfiction #imperial agent/theron shan #nine/theron #cipher nine #about goddamn time i got this thing wrangled #oy i need a nap again

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