#my silly little oc npc thoughts vs the corresponding mental gymnastics of keeping all that shit straight that i'd tweak to make this real

[tiredassmage]

loyalties & betrayals

Aka that thing I said I’d play with about Iokath. Or at least it’s first rendition. An ambitious first rendition, because apparently I decided “let’s tackle (a) Tyr’s feelings about Acina saying that, (b) my desire to see Malavai Quinn and Tyr in the same room, and (c) that bastard new agent on the block who’s absolutely an ass for causing problems and let’s do it all in the same little fic.” Or at least introduce it.

So, while I stew over whether or not that is WAY too damn ambitious for me, lmao, I will merely release it here and it can maybe get added to the ao3 collection once I decide whether or not I want to keep all three of those pieces in the story. Bc right now it’s just my three latest and hottest ideas all squashed into one little fic and internal me is still trying to figure out whether or not that’s a little insane.

Anyway, the only warnings for this one are some minor spoilers for the premise of the War on Iokath, no content warnings apply, etc, etc. Featuring primarily Tyr and Theron (bc ofc) and potentially introducing Wraith as an Actual Problem for them and also potentially introducing Malavai Quinn as a new variable for Tyr and Theron, oopsie.

TLDR? Acina tells Tyr what she really thinks of his Intelligence career, Theron and Tyr try to wrangle with how a former successful Cipher-turned-Alliance Commander siding with the Galactic Republic totally burns more than a few bridges, and I unleash Wraith upon them all to potentially (definitely, if I let him) cause many, many problems relating to this whole incident for them much, much later.

---

“Intelligence should have retired you when they had the chance!”

The stinging barb had barely registered with him in the moment it flew from Empress Acina’s lips; the immediate attack of Imperial forces on the Republic position had left him no time to lick the reopened and salted wound.

Tyr closed his eyes. He’d dreaded a day like this coming. As the Alliance’s efforts shifted to recovery in the aftermath of Vaylin’s defeat on Odessen, the inevitability of being made to choose sides once more crept back in slowly, lacing subtly through his veins as a slow-acting poison would.

Backed by the Eternal Fleet and a remaining standing army, he’d always known - or at least suspected - that the Empire and Republic would not long tolerate their presence.

He’d still desperately hoped that Valkorian’s defeat would finally leave him free of his last ties to the Empire. Foolish.

“... Commander..?”

Tyr blinked. He’d not heard anyone approach him; luckily for him, it was only Theron’s voice that finally cut through his troubled thoughts.

“Yes..?” He looked over his shoulder, confirming it was, indeed, his lover that had joined him.

“I thought you might want to know that a team caught up with Major Quinn,” Theron reported as he joined Tyr in overlooking the Republic base. “He’s being brought into custody as we speak.”

A slight frown pulled at Tyr’s lips. “Any sign of the other one, the sniper?”

Theron shook his head in the negative. “The troops reported a minor firefight, but couldn’t confirm his presence and they found no sign of him when they apprehended the Major. For now, the Major has claimed ignorance about his associate’s orders. Not sure how much of it I believe.”

The Commander’s frown set more deeply into his features. “Then we can probably assume he went scurrying back to Acina,” he said, a faint, anxious growl tainting his words subtly. “That bodes ill for all of us.”

Theron folded his arms across his chest with a concerned frown, watching his lover carefully. He’d barely met his gaze once. This wasn’t like him. “Tyr..?” His name barely caught his attention. “Hey…” He butted an elbow into Tyr’s arm, unwilling to accept ‘no’ for an answer. “What’s up with you? You’ve been off-balance ever since the fighting stopped.”

And why wouldn’t he be? Theron realized. He couldn’t lie; he’d been relieved he wouldn’t be fighting the Republic today, no matter how awkward the family reunion would be. (Little could have made it worse short of choosing his former-Imperial Cipher boyfriend over the Republic, so he was grateful he wasn’t going to have to explain that one any time soon).

But Tyr would. If they hadn’t started shooting first, he supposed. That he’d chosen the Republic, Theron’s advice, over a standing arrangement with the Empress, his own home, he…

Well, he’d been trying to avoid ever thinking about what that might be like. And yet he’d all but begged Tyr to do exactly that.

“What?” Tyr asked, finally half-dragging his gaze from the soldiers filing back into the Republic base below them. The glaze over his eyes seemed to finally start dissipating.

Theron frowned worriedly. “Tyr… Are you alright..?”

Where to even begin..? Tyr shook his head slightly, but turned away from him to drag a hand over his face.

Cipher. Outlander. Commander. Traitor. It was all catching up to him and he wasn’t any better prepared to face it, even with an entire Alliance behind him, than he had been on Marr’s ship, or Ziost, or, hell, the frontlines of the battle for Corellia. It was hard to make contingency plans for shit like this when he’d expected his… “stunts” to catch up with him much earlier than this.

“I’m… It’s been a long day, Theron.” And there’s so much I haven’t told you. And now was not the time to begin. Not with Acina doubtlessly seething and plotting their demise - and in the middle of a Republic military base.

Some sick irony this was, wasn’t it? This was not how the double agent had ever quite imagined revealing his cards.

And they still didn’t have the Eternal Fleet back online. Some alliance they offered, huh?

“I admire the line you walk between ingenuity and obedience… Just ensure it does not leave you without recourse.”

Doctor Lokin would have been disappointed, he thought. He’d quite thoroughly burned his bridges today between scorning Acina’s partnership and putting military support behind the Republic forces here with no real guarantees. If that superweapon was half as powerful as Lana’s predictions, he didn’t like the idea of anybody having it, even the Alliance alone.

“I… I can’t imagine what I’ve put you through…”

Pain laced through his chest. He looked sharply back at his boyfriend and shook his head, certainly this time. “Theron, don’t,” he pleaded softly, “I made the call. I knew what the consequences might look like.”

It was sickening and… almost funny, in a twisted way… A part of him had longed for the day he’d be able to say those words, and yet, now that it was here…

Well… A part of him had dared to hope for better circumstances than these, no matter how naive it’d been in the first place.

“No, I… I asked you to do something I… I’m not sure I’d be able to do… Or handle half as well, at the very least,” Theron said, his hands settling on his hips as his gaze fell to the ground. “It… took a lot to stand up to Acina like that, I’m sure. And… I’d be lying if I said it… wasn’t what I wanted you to say…”

A weak half-smile crossed the Commander’s lips. “Theron, if I didn’t value your input, I wouldn’t have asked for it,” he said. “And… need I remind you that I love you..?”

Theron smiled faintly in return. “Yeah… I just… If I pressured you today…”

Tyr shook his head. “No,” he said. “Acina broke our standing agreement. She knew that when she brought her forces here. We didn’t win a war against Zakuul just to submit to demands closer to home.”

That’s… what he’d maintain, at least. It was the answer for the Alliance.

“Besides, I… have my history with Acina… I… I should have suspected something like this sooner rather than later.” Darth Acina, formerly. He should have known better than to be taken in by their alliance on Dromund Kaas after it had been the Council that-

“Tyr?” Theron’s brow had knitted in concern again. “Is there…?”

The Commander’s head dropped and turned away from his lover once more, lest he reveal the weakness that threatened to break him.

“Not here,” he said. “It… It was a long time ago. We have a war to worry about.”

A ring on Theron’s holo saved him from scrambling for any further covers. It rang again as Theron hesitated, watching him in his worried way.

Tyr cleared his throat and shook his head, slipping back into the collected facade of Commander. “That’s probably your team,” he said. “Put them through. I’d like to speak to the Major upon their return.”

“Tyr-”

“Not now,” Tyr clipped, though it hurt to cut off the one person he knew he could have spoken to. “Later, I promise…”

“Alright,” Theron sighed. “But I’m here for you if you need it, alright?”

“I know.”

“Alright... Then let’s see what they’ve got,” Theron said as he pulled out his holo.

“Commander!” A soldier flickered into view and snapped off a salute. “Glad to see you, sir! We have the Major in custody, as requested.”

“Very good,” Tyr replied, “If it’s alright with Commander Malcolm, I’d like to speak to him. Alone, preferably.”

“I’m sure it can be arranged, sir. I will inform him at once. He can meet you at the center of base, sir.”

“Very well. We’ll be there soon.”

The soldier offered a final salute in closing and Theron stashed the holo again. “Wanna let me in on your plan for this one?” he asked.

“Major Malavai Quinn,” Tyr said, “Lana’s told me a bit about his service our people managed to dig up. I want to see if I can convince him of some reason.”

Theron cocked his head curiously. “‘Reason?’ You want to turn him on Acina?”

“He isn’t the first one the Empire has used and left behind,” Tyr said with a mildly grim frown, “If I can get through to him, the information he has on her operations could be invaluable. And we need information on that agent she sent with him. Codename ‘Wraith.’ If that’s the same Wraith I know about, it can’t be anything good.”

“Well, that sounds delightful. Do I wanna know why?”

“Former Sith Intelligence agent, and a young hotshot Cipher operative promoted when the Treaty of Coruscant went up in flames, back before the Council gutted Imperial Intelligence,” Tyr explained. “Brutal. Reckless, even, some said. But overall efficiency kept him on the payroll - not to mention the influence of a few Sith Lords.” The Commander frowned, rolling his jaw in consideration. “I want a strict do not engage order out to our forces if they find him. He’s dangerous, Theron. And we don’t know nearly enough about what he’s doing at Acina’s side to risk tangling with him yet.”

“Understood. I’ll get the word out while you have a chat with our Major. Shall we?”

“Yes,” he agreed. “The sooner we find an advantage over Acina, the better.”

#swtor #dot plays the star war #ch: tyr #swtor fanfiction #will i follow up on this? a mystery #i feel slightly better having brought it into some sort of messy existence though #i think my hesitance with enacting this entirely is 'damn how complicated AM i going to make this poor boy's life for real?' #my silly little oc npc thoughts vs the corresponding mental gymnastics of keeping all that shit straight that i'd tweak to make this real #anyway its midnight what's the worst that could happen!!!