[The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!]

Replies and Comments

 

@JennyFlynn: Glad you liked it all! The interactions between Jaks and Daal were something I mostly wrote to fill up page space, but they turned out really well and made me want to write a prequel story for my Smuggler. Thrakkis is involved in something else I have planned, but this may be the last use out of him I get for a while. As for Rikynn, I could have stood to make something more clear: Jace Malcom was there too; he was the big guy with the cannon who shot the Sith, while Tavus was the lieutenant who escorted them out of Sobrik. That was Havoc Squad, of which (as far as I can tell from Wookieepedia) both Malcom and Tavus were members towards the end of the Great Galactic War.

 

@MishaCantu: Thanks! I was so happy with myself when I came up with that twist.

 

@Lord_Thorne: That was a fantastic look at how being recruited into the Jedi looks from the youngling’s perspective. The name-change strikes me as more of a Sith tradition, though. Is there a reason for that?

 

As a sidenote, the logic behind Photin’s name reminds me of how Pholux’s name was chosen (out-of-universe, in this case) on sort of the same logic. I was trying to convert my characters from being more personal avatars to being separate characters (the biggest remaining artifact of that is the fact that most of them are male – my secondary legacy is an even split and even on the primary one there are actually sixteen characters to satisfy my obsessive need for symmetry), and I scrambled to find a more fitting name for my Agent than Bond’jamesbond (yes, really). First I was thinking “Spy, therefore shadow, which is Umbra in Latin, so I’ll call him Umbrandis.” The name didn’t suit him at all, so, since he was lightside, I went the opposite direction and called him Pholux, which basically means “light-light.” Not exactly my most clever naming job, but I refuse to change it again. Most of my characters’ names have similarly embarrassing backstories (except Rikynn – there I just got lucky with the random generator).

 

@bright_ephemera: I’m glad I managed to make Thrakkis scary. I did slightly rip off Darth Malgus with how he keeps getting more and more injured and coming back just as mean. I wanted to bring out a certain slasher movie villain kind of quality, but also show that he’s more human than he lets on with his more personal relationship to Thralinn and Pholux. As for the drabbles, I like them, though it’s a little hard to tell who’s talking on some of them.

 

 

Now, I’ve been doing a lot of action-packed stories, so I think this one will be a little calmer. It’s a bit of Family, in a sense, and a bit of Keep On Keeping On.

 

For Sale

 

Iziz, Onderon

 

With a splash, Jor Ductavin plopped the heavy wooden box down into the mud as his friends crowded around.

 

<What did you get, Ducky?> said Deeno, the Rodian looking curiously over Jor’s shoulder.

 

“And can we sell it?” added Te’la, sitting up from her perch behind the disabled power droid and brushing her lekku behind her shoulders..

 

“I don’t know…” said Jor, “But it looked interesting.”

 

He pulled one of the cracked stone tablets out of the box, looking at it for a moment before Durik snatched it out of his hands.

 

“It looks like it’s got some old writing on it!” said the Zabrak excitedly, “Maybe it’s in Sith or Mando’a or something.”

 

“You can’t even read Basic” Te’la joked.

 

Jor placed a hand on the tablet.

 

“Could I have it back?”

 

After a moment, Durik let go of it.

 

“You’re not wrong,” Jor said, “I think it is Sith. I saw a lot like these down there.”

 

<Down where?> Deeno asked, <Were you messing around with those old Naddist ruins again?>

 

“And what does it say?” Durik pressed.

 

“Don’t worry,” Jor said to Deeno, “That place is completely safe, as long as you stay out of the Terentatek chamber.”

 

<The what now?> Deeno said.

 

Jor decided to focus on answering Durik’s question. He focused on the tablet, trying to remember the translation scrolls he’d found the previous year. They were still hidden underneath a dumpster three alleys down, but he was getting better at translating things without looking at them.

 

“It says… ‘Peace is a lie-’”

 

“Wait, so what does that mean?” Te’la interrupted, “We’re all secretly beating each other up when we think we aren’t?”

 

“I haven’t even finished the first sentence!” Jor complained.

 

<You shouldn’t read that out loud,> Deeno said, <It might be some kind of Sith spell.>

 

“That’s not how the Force works,” Jor said, “Now can I please just read it?”

 

When no one said anything, he continued.

 

“‘There is only passion. Through passion-’”

 

“Are you sure this is a Naddist artifact and not somebody’s private stash of-” Te’la interjected again.

 

“If it is, then definitely keep reading,” said Durik.

 

Jor bit his lip while they were talking before continuing to read.

 

“‘… I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power-’”

 

“Maybe it’s some kind of Naddist workout routine!” said Durik.

 

“‘Through power, I gain victory.’”

 

“Well, duh,” said Te’la, “That’s kind of the point of power, right?”

 

“I don’t know,” said Jor, “There’s more to being powerful than winning fights.”

 

“If I had lots of powers I’d kill a bunch of drexl and ruping and I’d eat dinner every day,” Durik added.

 

“‘Through victory, my chains are broken,’” Jor continued over the discussion

 

<Maybe it’s like a self-help holo?> Deeno offered.

 

“‘The Force will free me,’” Jor finished.

 

“Oh,” said Durik, “It’s self-help for Jedi.”

 

“Written in Sith?” Te’la said.

 

<I’ve seen weirder things,> said Deeno, <Like this one Huttese manual on->

 

“Yeah, you showed me that one,” she interrupted him.

 

“Why’d you bring these back, anyway?” asked Durik, “I don’t think they’ll sell for much.”

 

“I just thought they were interesting,” said Jor.

 

“Yeah, your interest probably just cost us our next meal if we can’t get somebody to buy these,” said Te’la.

 

“I have a thought about that,” said Jor.

 

Within minutes, the four had moved from the grimy alleyway onto a busy thoroughfare, with their small collection of boxes arranged into an impromptu stall. As the masses of people bustled past, Jor cried out to them.

 

“Authentic Onderon artifacts! Rare ancient tablets! Three credits apiece.”

 

Fifteen minutes later, no one had approached the stall.

 

“This is not looking good,” Te’la said exasperatedly.

 

“Give me just a little more time,” Jor said, going back to his pitch.

 

This time, someone paid attention. The cloaked figure deftly made his way through the crowd, appearing in front of the stall and dropping his brown hood to reveal wizened features, with a simple bandage wrapped over his eyes.

 

“Hello there, little ones,” said the Jedi, “What have we here?”

-

 

 

Notes

 

Jor is my Consular, by the way. He’s actually named Duct-tape in-game, because while I’ve gone lore-friendly on most of my character names, having “Duct-tape, Mender of the Rift” is just too perfect to lose.

 

Oh, and all these characters are around twelve years old or so.

 

[KOTFE and KOTET (What I Hope Will Never Happen Again!)]

Not sure if you're aware of this or not, but any companion you had at Influence level 10 or higher, you can skip those requirements and go immediately to the recruitment, allowing people to always regain their old companions they used pre-FEET.

 

If Bowdaar as one of your highest influence companions is over 10, then you should have the option to just tell him you want him to join re-join you, without you doing the Eternal Championship, and he will reluctantly agree due to his obligations to you.

 

Same thing works with M1-4X and Lt. Pierce, if you are already Influence 10, you do not have to do the PvP.

 

And if you weren't quite Influence 10, you can even go to Oddessan, reclaim him through the terminal (which doesn't count for the story), then gift him that way or send him on crew skill missions until he gets to Influence 10, and then return to the cantina and recruit him back to your crew.

 

Nobody ever has to miss out on their original companions, except for Troopers, who will never get to have Tanno Vik rejoin them because his voice actor unfortunately passed away.

 

I could've sworn I'd already gotten him to 10, but maybe he was 8 or 9. Still, maybe a little warning or explanation about those mechanics ahead of time would've been nice.

[KOTFE and KOTET (What I Hope Will Never Happen Again!)]

1. Cutscenes... Okay I love a good cutscene as much as the next person, but why so many and so long? I walk down a hall---- cutscene, I pick up a thing----- cutscene etc... Really all that time and money should have been spent on you know.... ACTUAL PLAYING! With ten minutes play time and 30 minutes of cutscenes these chapters go by ridiculously fast.

 

Eh, I'm either way on this. If the gameplay were more than just "See unskippable Skytroopers, deploy AoE, win," I'd like to see more of it, and if the story were more than "The Eternal Empire is the super duper awesome overlords that broke all your toys and they win everything forever unless you use their stuff and basically become them," I'd like to see more cutscenes. The story of KotFE and KotET seems to have felt the need to trample the (vastly better written) core game's story at every possible opportunity, just so that you remember how much better of a story you could be playing through. Like, I love cutscenes and story, but only when they aren't miserably frustrating to watch.

 

2. Star Fortresses and Eternal Championship.... UGH. If you're going to make stuff like this included in the actual story, give it a proper story mode. It should not take a casual story player 2 hours to kill one boss. Not to mention my fingers ache. If this stuff is in 6.0 don't make it mandatory to get the full story experiences.

 

Yeah, my main is a Smuggler whose gear was kinda really not-good when he ran KotFE (and I readily acknowledge that I pretty much needed to git gud), but I basically had to grind the first boss over and over to recruit Bowdaar, which I really wanted to do because I was a Smuggler. Like, having that content there is fine, and I might try to finish it at some point, but don't lock one of my highest-influence companions behind it.

 

3. No more companions you must keep! I'm Looking at you Lana You can rid yourself of every comp except Lana UNEXCEPTABLE.

 

I'd rather actually have people who aren't in Schrodinger Land to talk to. I'd prefer if they were my companions instead of the standard-issue batch of generic "main characters," but heck, I guess I do really like Lana and Theron. Theron more so, which is why it sucks that he's killable now. Yeah, they say he'll still be plot-relevant, but they're almost certainly lying. That said, the opportunity to kill Broonmark was both appreciated and thoroughly enjoyable. I hate that furball even more than Quinn or Skadge, but hey, we can kill them too, so there's something for everybody on that front.

 

4. What happened to exploratory missions? WHY DID YOU KILL THEM? They better come back in 6.0.

 

Absolutely. I want two faction-specific quest chains and a bunch of sidequests around them, just like all the planets whose writing isn't awful (except for Rishi and Yavin - those were the beginning of some annoying trends, but they were still before the writing took a turn for the lazy). I'd love separate class stories, but I know that much will never happen.

 

Also, for the love of all things holy, bring back the companion conversation missions. For all the time we've spent with them, even Lana and Theron have received fairly minimal development because every private conversation with them is extremely short and just exists to move the plot along. I mean, maybe it's different if you romance them, but not everyone does that.

 

5. Finally I want to work for my next phase. It takes a long time to do a complete planet in the Vanilla game, on Zakuul you hardly snap your fingers and chapter done. It's irritating as all heck.

 

Yeah. I'd rather Zakuul never existed, but if we have to put up with its stupidity, I'd at least like to actually learn something about them. That pretentious windbag Valkorion prattled on about the pageantry and superstition of Zakuulan culture, which we basically never saw, beyond the Scions being stuck-up jerks about knowing the future and a few random references to a pantheon of deities exemplified primarily by a crazy fringe cult.

[The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!]

Started conceiving this one as Family and it ended up as more of a First Impressions. I took another shot at introducing my Smuggler, so my Trooper’s going to get the same treatment.

 

I Want One

 

Bin Prime, Balmorra

 

The building across the street shattered under the force of Imperial artillery. Dax Rikynn recoiled further into his hiding place, clutching his father as tightly as he could. The elder Rikynn placed a reassuring hand on the young Cathar’s shoulder, and the two looked across to a wall that had crumbled in half, forming a tent-like structure. There was only space for the two of them, so Dax’s mother had found another hiding spot, beneath that wall.

 

The roar of the battle outside was disrupted by dissonant cackling. Dax peered out to see a skinny Sith Pureblood prancing through the rubble-street, followed by a few confused-looking Imperial troopers.

 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” the Sith exclaimed at the top of his lungs.

 

The troopers nodded quickly and mumbled their agreement, clearly not entirely certain what the Sith was talking about. Seeming to pick up on their lack of comprehension, the Sith turned to addres them.

 

“How often do you get to see a city on fire?” he said with a laugh, “Now, I want to kill something. Find me a victim if you don’t want it to be you!”

 

The troopers looked around in panic and began to fan out. Most of them ran off towards some of the more intact sections of the city, but two began to approach the building where Dax and his family were hidden.

 

One trooper put her hand on the other’s shoulder.

 

“They shelled that one just an hour ago,” she said, “No one could’ve survived.”

 

The other shook his head.

 

“No, but they might’ve gone in there since. We’ll look stupid there is somebody in there.”

 

The first shrugged.

 

“Alright, but let’s make it quick.”

 

The two began to approach the collapsed wall where Dax’s mother was hidden. He felt his father’s grip tighten. If they didn’t do something, they’d find her. Dax’s father must’ve noticed him stirring and clasped his hand over Dax’s mouth.

 

Dax, however, was determined. He shook his head free and coughed noisily. He heard his father’s sharp intake of breath.

 

“Did you hear that?”

 

“It came from that closet!”

 

In an instant, the Sith was next to the troopers.

 

“Oh, you found someone already!” he cried happily, “Excellent!”

 

As the Sith approached the hiding spot, Dax shut his eyes as tight as he could and hoped for a way out.

 

The Sith’s footsteps echoed as they came closer.

 

Suddenly, the doors were thrown open by some invisible Force.

 

Dax’s father lunged at the Sith. The man raised a hand, and an arc of crackling electricity flew out, catching Dax’s father and forcing him to his knees.

 

“And a kiddie, too!” said the Sith, “My master will be quite pleased.”

 

The explosions from the artillery thundered, audible even from miles away.

 

The next explosion was smaller, but much closer.

 

The Sith was hurled across the room and tumbled into the wall.

 

The new arrivals were led by a huge, muscular man in white and red armor, who was carrying what could only be described as a cannon in his hands. Several more in the same equipment followed him, gunning down the two troopers.

 

“Your master will have to be disappointed,” said the large man in a deep, booming voice.

 

The Sith struggled to his feet and ignited his lightsaber.

 

“You can discuss it when we send him to meet you,” the man finished, unleashing a rapid-fire burst from his cannon.

 

The Sith was too slow to deflect the shots and was cut down. Dax tugged at his father’s shirt and gestured to the cannon.

 

“Papa, I want one.”

 

The man turned to face Dax, who noted the circled arrowhead insignia on his armor.

 

“I think it might be a little heavy for you, son,” the man said, “but maybe someday. Lieutenant, get them out of here.”

 

Dax’s father looked into where the man’s eyes must’ve been under his helmet and spoke.

 

“Thank you,” he said in his rusty Basic (Dax’s mother was the native speaker).

 

“Just doing my duty, sir,” said the big soldier before he and most of the troopers ran off back into the fray.

 

The last, presumably the lieutenant the other man had addressed, knelt down in front of Dax.

 

“We’re going to have to move fast,” he said, “Can you do that for me, little one?”

 

Dax nodded.

 

“Good. I’ll need you to be strong for me.”

 

“My wife is over there,” said Dax’s father.

 

The three looked over to the crumbled wall, where Dax’s mother was emerging, looking somewhat shaky.

 

“Are they gone?” she asked.

 

“They won’t be for long,” said the Lieutenant, “I can get you to a landing pad outside the city, but we’ve got to run. Are any of you injured?”

 

“I’m fine,” said Dax’s mother, “Genn, Dax, can you make it?”

 

Dax’s father nodded.

 

The mad dash through the city seemed to happen in an instant. Explosions erupted around them like fireworks as they ducked through the showers of rubble. As they approached the gate of the city, the Lieutenant halted in his tracks and waved the family into cover. Ahead there were six Imperial troopers clustered around a heavy assault droid.

 

The Lieutenant pulled a grenade from his belt and hurled it. The troopers scattered for cover, but the droid was not so lucky, one of its three legs blasted out from under it. As the droid was about to adjust its aim, the Lieutenant shot it through the optical receptors. The troopers began to regroup but the Lieutenant had closed the distance, clubbing one of them in the face with his rifle. He pulled a knife from his belt and jammed it into another’s throat before jumping back into cover as the troopers returned fire.

 

Popping up from cover, the Lieutenant launched a cable from his gun which grabbed hold of another trooper and pulled him back towards the Lieutenant. The man started to get up, but the Lieutenant shot him through the head. The remaining three troopers, realizing how outmatched they were, started to fall back to the city gate, but the Lieutenant shot another one down, sending the last two into a full retreat.

 

The Lieutenant ran back to the Rikynns.

 

“I can’t take you any further than this. About a kilo to the east you’ll find a shuttle to the evac zone. The Imperial troops haven’t moved into that area yet, so if you move fast, you should be able to make it.”

 

“Where are you going, Lieutenant?” asked Dax’s mother.

 

“My squad needs me,” he said, “Besides, we were supposed to ship off this planet a month ago. We’re spread thin doing what we can while we’re here.”

 

As they parted ways, Dax overheard the leader of the squad speaking the Lieutenant over the holo.

 

“The Imps are landing more troops by the spaceport, and they’re dug in deep. We’re going to have pull out soon. Get over here, Lieutenant Tavus.”

-

 

 

Notes

 

Yeah, this was going to mirror Pholux’s backstory more closely (essentially, Rikynn and Pholux were in about the same situation at about the same time, but Rikynn and his family got away while Pholux wasn't so lucky), but then I thought of having it be Jace Malcom and Havoc Squad specifically who save them, and then I thought of that twist at the end, and I couldn’t resist.

 

[The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!]

Comments:

 

@drug_cartel: I’m not sure who I feel sorrier for, Pansey or Guss. I’d add Quinn to the running, but honestly, he kind of had that coming.

 

@frauzet: I believe that Quinn will join up with a Republic-aligned Warrior, but Dorne will not join an Empire-aligned Trooper. I don’t know this from experience, though (have only completed Iokath on one character since I’m usually too busy running more alts through the class stories to be doing the exact same high-level stuff over and over again).

 

@Lord_Thorne: On the point about Thrakkis, well, funny you should ask…

 

 

Alright, so I had a Turning Point half-written for my Smuggler when the new prompts went up, so I’ll just finish this and post it. I wrote this up since I wasn’t really happy with the first one I had for him and Rikynn, so I wanted to show his personality and backstory in more detail.

 

The H-Word

 

Belth Allusis Memorial Hospital, Coruscant

 

“Well, I guess I joined up the day I turned eighteen. I mean, it’s not like anybody was throwing a birthday party for a Coruscanti street kid with no family. I figured I might as well do something productive for a change. You know, go fight the Empire and defend democracy in the galaxy, stuff like that. Of course, on my first deployment we get the Imperial 8th Fleet bearing down on the planet. This was on Duro, too. I mean, talk about an easy post, right?”

 

<Yeah, easy. Nobody would hit that close the Core, right?> mumbled the Duros trooper in the bed across from Jaks’ in Huttese.

 

“Look, LT,” Jaks said, half-joking, “If you wanna tell the story, be my guest.”

 

<Nah,> said Lieutenant Daal, <It’s funnier when you tell it, sergeant. I like how when you finally get to the point, there’s an extra Sith every time you tell it.>

 

“I don’t know how many there were. Maybe there were three. Maybe there were five. They’re wily that way.”

 

The doctor looked between the two, somewhat confused, before returning to whatever calculations he was making on his datapad.

 

<Whatever you say, Kenn.>

 

“Right, so as I was saying,” Jaks continued, “We get attacked by something like half the Empire. There’s this Jedi there, a Corellian – did I mention that Corellians invented the hyperdrive?”

 

Lieutenant Daal responded with a rude gesture.

 

<It was the Duros and you know it, Sergeant.>

 

“Anyway, she says she’s gonna go buy us some time to get the civilians out of dodge. Well, that obviously doesn’t work, because next thing I know there are something like seven Sith-”

 

<One.>

 

“We’ll compromise and call it six. As I was saying, they get dropped in by shuttle and start tearing things up. So they’re going right for this kid-”

 

<All six of them, huh?>

 

“I mean, really. You can tell it. Be my guest.”

 

<No, no, I want to hear about the six Sith. What’d they all do together, Jaks?>

 

“Well, they’re all going for this kid, and everybody else is busy fighting, so-”

 

For the first time since Jaks had started talking, the doctor looked up.

 

“Weren’t all the Sith attacking the kid?” the sour-looking Nautolan asked.

 

“Yeah, but the rest of the guys were fighting the droids.”

 

<Oh, this version has droids!>

 

“You’re blasted right it does,” said Jaks, “So I step out in front of the Sith and say ‘You’re gonna have to go through me.’”

 

<And so they did.>

 

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to start trouble. Anyway, I was the champion quickdraw artist of the entire regiment. This Sith-”

 

<Which one?>

 

“The leader, obviously. Big guy, got some horns and tattoos going on, kinda scary-looking. This guy’s barely even reached his ugly red glowstick by the time I zap him in the throat. Boom! He goes down.”

 

<And what happened to the other five?>

 

“They obviously scattered in fear when their leader was gunned down.”

 

<Oh, how could I forget?>

 

“And alright, so maybe the lead Sith didn’t actually fall over, and I mostly just made him angry. But you know what? It gave the LT here time to get that little Duros kid out of the thick of the fighting and onto the shuttle.”

 

<And that part’s true,> Daal said with a nod, <The sergeant here may be an idiot, but he’s a hero too.>

 

“Uh…” Jaks said, narrative grinding to a stop, “Look. I did what had to be done. Let’s not start throwing around the h-word.”

 

The hospital room fell silent for a moment, disturbed only by the beeping of one of the medical devices.

 

The doctor looked up again.

 

“Weren’t you going to talk about what happened to your eye?” he asked.

 

“I mean, it’s nothing you wouldn’t expect. The guy cut me, and somehow I lived. Dumb luck, I guess. Speaking of which… what’s the prognosis?”

 

“Your eye will heal,” the Nautolan said, “If that was a lightsaber wound, it must have just barely grazed you.”

 

“Remind me to send a thank-you letter to the helmet manufacturer,” Jaks interjected.

 

The doctor just grimaced.

 

“It will leave a scar, however. There’s not much we can do about that.”

 

“Ah, that’s fine,” Jaks said, folding his arms behind his head and settling into the cheap flat pillow, “It’ll enhance my rugged charm.”

 

<You couldn’t charm the wings off a mynock, Sergeant.>

 

“Please, I could charm the horns off a kr-”

 

He paused as he heard a loud crash in the distance.

 

“What was that?” he said quickly.

 

The doctor shot to his feet and ran to the hospital room’s large window.

 

“Looks like something’s going on at the Jedi Temple,” he said, “Maybe a speeder crash?”

 

“‘Whoops, I didn’t notice the giant temple in my way. It’s only been the biggest building on the planet for twenty thousand years,’” Jaks joked as he stumbled out of the bed to join the doctor at the window.

 

That’s when he saw them. At first, it was one of the fighters that caught his eye, but he looked up into the sky to see massive Imperial starships dropping out of hyperspace.

 

“It’s the Empire,” he breathed, “They’re here.”

 

The doctor looked to the two troopers with a panicked expression.

 

“This is a military hospital,” he said, “If they know where it is, they’ll kill everyone here.”

 

The three spent a moment processing what was happening before Lieutenant Daal spoke.

 

<Sergeant, do you know how to fly a starship?>

 

“Never touched anything more than a Skyhopper, LT. Why?”

 

<Now would be an excellent time to learn,> said Daal, <Listen, there’s a beautiful XS Freighter at the spaceport. We’re going to go for it.>

 

“Not a chance,” Jaks said, “We’ll never get everyone in the hospital all the way to the spaceport; we’ll get gunned down by the Empire.”

 

<Everyone in the hospital?> Daal interjected, <What are you talking about?>

 

“Look, you’ll move faster if you go for the freighter alone. Doctor Krehn, I need you to gather the patients and staff and get them to the landing pad on the roof. I’ll make sure the Imp ground troops don’t come knocking.”

 

Daal sighed.

 

<There you go with the heroics again, Jaks.>

 

“Stop using the H-word!” Jaks yelled as he was charging out the door.

 

He ran through the dull metal hallways, automatic doors hissing open and shut as he passed them. He didn’t even stop to check that Daal and Krehn had gotten moving until he was waiting for the elevator.

 

Really, he thought, Can’t they put a staircase in here?

 

When he finally burst out of the hospital’s entrance, his worst fears were confirmed. Three Imperial troopers approached him, drawing their rifles.

 

“Don’t shoot!” he cried in his best Imperial accent, “I’m one of yours!”

 

“What? One of ours?” the lead trooper asked, confused.

 

“It’s a prison in there!” Jaks said, “I broke loose while the guards were distracted by your ships! We can get all of our people out, but I need a weapon.”

 

The lead trooper somewhat hesitantly started to hand him a pistol and then stopped.

 

“What’s your name and identification number?” he asked.

 

“It’s, uh, Corporal Nnek, my number is… THX-1138,” Jaks mumbled.

 

“That’s not a valid-”

 

Jaks snatched the pistol out of the man’s hand and shot him with it.

 

The other two troopers jumped back in surprise and Jaks blasted another one through the helmet as he dived behind a crate that had been left out on the speeder pad. As he did, he felt the searing hot sensation of a blaster bolt clipping his shoulder.

 

He stood up from behind the crate and shot the last trooper. Looking around to make sure there weren’t any more, Jaks limped over and picked up another pistol.

 

“Stupid Imperial pistols only fire once every other hour,” Jaks muttered to himself, “Need two of the blasted things to get anything done.”

 

Something crashed noisily into the façade of the hospital behind him before landing on the ground. Jaks looked over to see an armored Republic trooper, battered and missing an arm. She briefly tried to hoist herself up with a pained grunt before collapsing, dead.

 

Jaks swallowed dryly and slowly turned to face away from the hospital. There he was. There was not a doubt in Jaks’ mind about it: it was the Sith from Duro. Jaks noted, with just a twinge of pride, the cybernetics around the massive Zabrak’s neck.

 

Bet he won’t recognize me without my helmet. I can still salvage this, he thought.

 

“My lord!” Jaks said out loud, “Some Republic scum ambushed us from this building and killed three of my men! They went that way! If we hurry, we can catch-”

 

Feeling his windpipe close off was a strange sensation. No matter how hard he tried to breathe, the air wouldn’t flow. As he was lifted off the ground, he began to feel a tingling numbness in his fingers and toes.

 

“I am Lo- Darth Thrakkis, Conqueror of Telos and Scourge of Duro,” the Zabrak growled, “And I will suffer no liars.”

 

Jaks carefully placed his finger on the trigger of one of his pistols, still gasping for breath. In an instant, the weapon was ripped from his hand.

 

“I recognize you, worm,” said Thrakkis, “You cannot disguise yourself from the Force.”

 

As his vision started to go blurry, Jaks heard a faint sound in the distance. Was that… music?

 

So this is what it feels like to die, he thought.

 

As the music became louder, Thrakkis’ grip loosened. Evidently, he heard it too. Jaks recognized, perhaps quicker than Thrakkis did, the Republic anthem, All Stars Burn as One.

 

Then he saw them: three targeting lights, closing in right on Thrakkis’ head. As the XS Freighter whose speakers were playing the music roared overhead, Jaks wanted to laugh. When the entire area around Thrakkis erupted in flame and the Sith’s Force grip halted, he did.

 

The freighter stopped to hover in front of Jaks and the boarding ramp slid down to reveal Lieutenant Daal.

 

<You actually did it, Sergeant!> he yelled over the scream of the engines, <They’re all on the roof! Let’s go before any more Sith show up!>

 

Jaks glanced at Thrakkis’ corpse only to see that the Sith, while charred and twisted, was still moving.

 

“Does this guy ever die?!” Jaks complained.

 

<Don’t worry about him; get on the blasted ship!> Daal snapped, dragging Jaks onto the boarding ramp.

 

“Alright, let’s get going,” Jaks said as the ramp closed, “Looks like we’ve got a galaxy to save.”

 

<You’re a hero, Jaks,> said the lieutenant, <You saved all of our hides buying us time out there.>

 

“There’s the H-word again,” Jaks said, “Now you’re just doing that to annoy me.”

-

 

[Lana is nice and all, but... More girls to romance, please?]

 

I agree with this. There are things I hate about KOTFE and KOTET but overall I enjoyed them.

 

I think that even Lana, Theron and Koth need those companion conversations. We see them a lot in the context of the missions, and Theron has extra media outside of the game, but we never have a chance to really sit down with them and just talk about something that has NO relation to the Alliance or the missions.

 

With the class companions and love interests those conversations meant that you really knew a lot about them by the end of chapter 3. You might have been on some fun quests with them. They need that same chance for Lana, Theron and Koth and they need new convos for the older class love interests.

 

if they did an expac that was nothing but companion stories or you could buy extra LI or companion quests, I'd happily pay for it.

 

I don't want this to turn into an off-topic argument about KotFE KotET, especially since that's all water under the bridge at this point, so I'll just concede the point.

 

In terms of the conversations, though, you're exactly right. I'll use Lana as an example.

 

What's her homeworld? Who trained her? Why'd she leave Sith Intelligence? Is Darth Zhorrid still in charge of the Sphere of Intelligence? Why's she so quick to work with Republic agents like Theron or pub-aligned player character when the average Sith probably wouldn't be caught dead doing so? I mean, even Darth Marr took a lot of convincing, and he's one of the more reasonable Sith you can meet. Why doesn't her dark side corruption show up the way it does on most people (I guess by gameplay terms maybe she's just Dark I and only has the eyes)? And most importantly, what product does she use to make her hair stay all fluffed out like that?

 

These are all things that we don't know because they couldn't be worked into the main narrative, but could easily be explored in separate conversations.

[Strawpoll: Solo or Group?]

My schedule is kind of unpredictable, so I don't like to mess around with group content when I might have to drop out in the middle. I'd still mostly do solo regardless, but I'd probably be doing more flashpoints and stuff if I had a good hour or two when I knew I wouldn't have to drop everything.

 

Plus, I'm just not all that great at the game, so I don't want to screw things up for the rest of the group. For example, I only just got around to trying to put augments on all my gear, I spent years thinking alacrity was only for healers, and I've only just started to learn my specialization's stat combos and rotation. I guess I'm in the process of gitting gud (I am getting the augments, I have learned the optimal stat combos for my spec, and I do mostly have the rotation down at this point), but if I were to log on right this minute and try to do high-level mutliplayer content, I'd be a liability to the group.

[Top 5 Armour Sets]

The gear pieces I use the most are Nico Okarr's duster (since every one of my characters gets it for free in the mail and it looks reasonably cool, I might as well use it for stuff) and the Imperial Battle Ace Pilot set (again, free and good for an armored-up Imperial Officer look - all of my Agents wear at least the gloves, pants, boots, belt, and bracers).

 

I love the Humble Hero set on my Knight. He flips between that and a white-and-red-dyed Alliance Pummeler set, sans helmet.

 

My Smuggler main uses a real mishmash of stuff, but he's got the classic wide-brimmed hat (no face covering), recently switched his chest piece from one of the model TOR Fashion classifies as SCJL06 – 1604 (don't remember the specific item, but I'm pretty sure I picked both it and the hat up from missions on Voss) to the Tier 1 Galactic Command coat (because that one has shinies and a less comically oversized collar), and the rest of his gear is mostly from Sogan Sur's armor set. It's dyed black and light grey.

 

He has an alternate outfit using Saul Karath's chest piece and the RD-07A Viper eyepatch/scanner thing, now dyed dark blue and red to look a bit more Republic-y.

 

I also get some mileage out of the Battleborn set for Jedi characters, since it seems to be the standard robes for TOR-era Jedi.

 

Oh, and I love Kallig's Countenance and Lord Kallig's lightsaber for Inquisitors, because they're sensible picks in terms of lore. My main Imperial character is an Inquisitor and he hasn't removed either item since he got them. I just wish the mask didn't hide hoods (or lekku, for my other two Inquisitors).

[Lana is nice and all, but... More girls to romance, please?]

I never understood why we couldn't have more separate conversation missions like the ones from launch. Yeah, I get that they're trying to have the companions affect the main story a little more, but my Smuggler is married and it's been years (in-universe and out, even discounting the carbonite deep-freeze) since he's so much as had a private conversation with his wife. The old companion conversations helped us genuinely get to know the companions, and they weren't intrusive on the main plot. Non-sucky plot (KotFE in particular has some of the most truly atrocious storytelling in the Star Wars universe and KotET felt like pure damage control, while Iokath handled Imp vs. Pub - which I usually support - in exactly the wrong way) is the first priority, but I'd happily take an entire update of nothing but one or two new conversations for each companion.

 

I'm getting really sidetracked here, but my main point is that if we do get a new romance option or two, I'd like to be able to actually talk to them. Lana and Theron managed to survive without the conversation missions, but only because they were constantly shoved in our faces as critical to the main plot. I like them, but I'd appreciate being allowed to actually pick which companion I bring with me every now and then.

 

You know, like in literally all the story before KotFE.

[Dear Charles: Please don't inject stupid moral greyness into the faction war xpack.]

I'd rather know i'm going to likely be facing my destiny when I come head to head with a Sith, then be told i'm not going to die by a Jedi, as he or she contemplates not briefly falling to the dark side of the Force and wages a random internalized struggle based on narrow beliefs; in which feelings might be the victor.

 

If you're not a criminal or a military target, the vast majority of Jedi probably won't do anything bad to you. Yeah, I guess they might steal your children, and I won't try to argue that that isn't bad, but the Sith will quite happily do the same, and possibly kill you for fun while they're at it.

 

Otherwise? Ask a Jedi for help, and maybe they won't, but if they don't, that's the end of it. Ask a Sith for help, and you run the risk of getting Force-choked for being weak.

 

Fight a Jedi, and you can probably surrender. A DS player character Jedi can get away with things that no other Dark Jedi would because you're the player - they can't strip away your Force powers and throw you out of the Order because that would kill the story, and not letting you make your DS choices would kill your choices. That's why I just play LS on most of my Republic characters.

 

Fight a Sith, and you'd better hope they kill you, because being tortured to death for information or condemned to a life of slavery is not a very good outcome.

 

Name any bad thing the Republic's done, and I'll counter it with something worse from the Empire. Kept children of inmates prisoner to preserve the secrecy of a prison's location? The Empire subjugated the entire planet of Balmorra, including people who weren't even related to their enemies. I also have no idea why or how so many inmates were even having kids, so really that can almost be chalked up to incompetent administration.

 

Didn't fight the Eternal Empire, which was trying to conquer the galaxy? The Empire had already been trying to conquer the galaxy for themselves, and only stopped when they became the EE's vassal state.

 

Wanted to wipe out the Sith (I'm referring to the Sith Order, not Revan's scheme with the Foundry)? At least the Sith are an organization of actively hostile combatants who were the aggressors in the war. The entire population of Uphrades? Not so much.

 

Saresh puppeteering the Republic as her own personal dictatorship? Nothing compared to Vitiate's crimes, and he was the founder of the SWTOR-era Sith Order and Empire. Darth Marr was happy to leave Makeb to rip itself apart as long as he got his hands on some shiny new droid fuel. Darth Acina bowed down to the Eternal Empire in return for a figurehead position and betrayed them as soon as it looked like they might lose. And even addressing Saresh directly, the only reason she's such a frustrating antagonist is that the Republic isn't used to having such bloodthirsty, incompetent leadership. With the Empire, it's par for the course.

 

The Foundry doesn't count, because all evidence points to Revan being rogue and the Republic not having fully understood the extent of his plans.

 

Finally, I just want to address the idea of Jedi "intolerance." Think about what the Dark Side does to people. It's very clearly psychoactive to some extent. Darksiders simply don't act in a manner consistent with normal human behavior, and there's usually a distinct tipping point where they "fall." After this point, they become violent and dangerous. The Jedi, as an organization, have witnessed firsthand the destruction darksiders can cause, and have often borne the brunt of it. The Jedi think that their way of doing things is a good way of not falling to the Dark Side, and considering that the vast majority of Jedi don't fall, I'd say they're right about that. Where they go wrong, perhaps, is saying that their way of doing things is the only way of not falling, or that someone who does things their way can't fall. Those last two statements are obviously not true. That said, the Sith are an organization that embraces the Dark Side. The goal of Sith training is to make you fall, whether you want to or not. It doesn't always work, but Sith philosophy encapsulates more than what's directly stated in their Code, and part of that is their embracing of the Dark Side. It's not unreasonable for the Jedi to consider the Sith's existence a threat to Galactic stability. Do they go overboard with their paranoia? Probably. Is it a reasonable reaction given the in-universe context? I'd say so, but that's down to opinion at that poitn.

[Dear Charles: Please don't inject stupid moral greyness into the faction war xpack.]

Star Wars has always been morally grey as far as I'm concerned. The Jedi are no better than the Sith in many ways, and always have been, preaching their philosophy is the best way and any other way is wrong (emotions are bad, ok?) Meanwhile their precious Jedi are involved in wars, slaughtering Sith left and right etc. all in the name of the 'better good'. But yeah, they're peaceful and all that. Right. It's no wonder so many of them fall to the Dark Side. It's why you have to love characters like Revan who actually walked both sides and loved neither.

 

Jedi: Self-righteous, have highly questionable recruitment tactics, and fight their enemies (who are usually the aggressors anyway). The worst of the Jedi tend to either commit their crimes under the radar (e.g. Jun Seros) or are disavowed by the Order (e.g. Mandalorian Wars-era Revanchists, who I bring up primarily in relation to Malachor V). There's a general understanding that if you fall to the Dark Side, you are by definition not a Jedi anymore (at least if they catch you).

 

Sith: Actively perpetrate slavery, racism, and genocide on an unprecedented scale, make a habit of torturing prisoners and executing subordinates, and believe in the absoluteness of personal power above and at the expense of all else. Even "reasonable" or "light side" Sith like Lana Beniko don't seem to have much of an issue with these kinds of behaviors, or else they wouldn't associate themselves with an organization that practices them so extensively.

 

Now, it is a plot point in the movies that the Jedi are not nearly as infallible as they'd like to believe, but it's a massive stretch to say that they're "no better" than the Sith.

[Lana is nice and all, but... More girls to romance, please?]

I'll just add that all vanilla romances are functionally nonexistent as of KotFE. You're lucky to get one conversation with your LI. That leaves us with four fleshed-out romance paths that are still "active," and the only female one is Lana, who a lot of my characters avoid for one reason or another. I'd be happy with just getting new vanilla-style conversation missions with old companions, but I doubt even that'll happen, and it still doesn't solve the general lack of F/F options.

[The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!]

Comments

 

@Lord_Thorne: That is pretty dark, but really good. I particularly love the framing device.

 

@frauzet and Iheaca: I was a history major, and while classical and medieval stuff wasn’t my main interest, that was basically all the history classes my undergrad university offered, so I know far more about this than I ever wanted to. As such, I can confirm that the Romans were fairly lax in terms of religion and traditions in conquered territories as long as nobody rebelled and the tribute money kept flowing in. They would even try to justify other cultures’ religions as fitting within the broader Roman pantheon. Sometimes they would have things like Mars and Ares, where the two weren’t really all that similar but the Romans decided they were the same dude just to keep everyone happy. Other times, you got instances like (I think) Apollo, where they would add another culture’s gods to their pantheon wholesale. This was one of their main methods of controlling people, so they ran into a lot of issues with monotheism. The Jews were kind of grandfathered in since they were such an old culture (though even then, Judea rebelled against Rome something like five times) but that was why the Roman establishment came down on the Christians so hard. Ironically, Christianity may have become so widespread precisely because of Roman persecution, but that’s another long story.

 

Circling back around to the main point, I can absolutely see the Empire allowing a coming-of-age ritual to continue among a sufficiently large population rather than poke the hornet’s nest and cause another Colossus Revolt.

 

 

OK, let’s call this one Turning Point.

 

Ripple

 

Green Jedi Enclave – Corellia

 

Alright, so 4 AM wasn’t the best time for a cup of caf. Master Viena Drenn didn’t especially care. She was up, and blast it, she was going to get some work done. That or stare blearily out the window while waiting for the caffeine to take effect.

 

Really, it was probably the second one. That would probably explain why she’d wandered over to the Temple’s training facility without really realizing that was where she was going. She was unsurprised to hear the clash of training sabers as she approached the door; the Green Jedi counted a number of Selonians and Drall in their ranks, and members of those nocturnal species usually preferred to train at night.

 

Before she went in, Drenn tried to take a sip of her caf, burning her tongue on the hot, bitter liquid. She wasn’t sure exactly who’d broken the machine, but ever since they’d done it, the infernal thing seemed insistent on heating the caf just shy of its boiling point. She’d hoped it would’ve cooled down by now.

 

The door slid open, giving her a view of the cavernous training room. It didn’t compare to some of the facilities on Coruscant or Tython, but it was impressive nonetheless. Dim lights embedded in a two-story-high ceiling cast their dim glow across the room’s beige-painted metal floor. As expected, the usual assortment of aliens and training droids sparred quietly, spaced out around the room. A few of them stopped to wave to Master Drenn, and she politely returned the gesture.

 

In the far corner of the room, a young human man with short wavy hair was dueling three training droids, with two more lying in a heap nearby. His cloak and tunic were draped over one of the weapons racks against the wall and he fought with two training sabers. Master Drenn guessed by the droids’ stances that they were on their hardest difficulty setting.

 

As Master Drenn approached, she noted with some pride the young man’s flawless elimination of one of droids: a feint with the main hand saber, a strike to the sensor cluster with the off hand, and a Force push into the wall while it was blinded. As she reached the fight, the young man still didn’t seem to have noticed her, instead concentrating on incapacitating another of his mechanical opponents.

 

She quietly set down her coffee cup and, with a sly smile, picked up one of the droids’ training sabers. While the young man was defeating the final droid, she swung at him. Without missing a beat, he blocked the strike and rounded on Master Drenn. She stepped backwards, quickly swatting away each of his carefully-placed strikes.

 

Finally, she spotted her opening. He’d overcommitted to a swing. She parried the attack and while he was recovering, she moved in for another strike, only to notice his other saber right in front of her throat.

 

“Bam. You’re dead,” her padawan said with a grin.

 

“You’re up early,” she said, stepping back and dropping her saber.

 

“Couldn’t sleep.”

 

“Something bothering you?”

 

“Ah, the shipyards are noisy. You know how it is.”

 

She studied her apprentice’s eyes.

 

“You’re not that good of a liar, Ja-mags.”

 

He sighed, turning to face the Corellian skyline out the nearest window.

 

“Haven’t you felt it?” he asked.

 

“Felt what?” she questioned.

 

“Something in the Force,” he explained, “Not quite a disturbance, not like you get when someone dies. Maybe more of a ripple.”

 

Master Drenn thought about that for a moment. Why was she up at 4 AM?

 

“I guess now that you mention it, maybe I have,” she said slowly.

 

“Something big’s going to happen,” Ja-mags said, “You know it, I know it, and someone’s got to do something about it.”

 

“And what is something?” Master Drenn asked.

 

“It’s not what the Green Jedi are doing,” Ja-mags replied bluntly, “We’re Corellians. We’re supposed to take the lead; make things happen. Instead we’ve stuck our heads in the sand and we’re waiting for some Sith to come along and ram a lightsaber straight up-”

 

“Alright,” Master Drenn interrupted, “I get the picture. That still doesn’t tell me what you’re going to do.”

 

He turned back to her, and she saw in his eyes a sadness she’d never quite noticed there before.

 

“I’m going to Tython,” he said, “I’ll complete my trials there and get out on the front lines to meet whatever this is head-on.”

 

His tone was calm and measured, like he was used to the idea, or perhaps resigned to it. He’d been thinking about this for some time, and Master Drenn doubted anything she could say could dissuade him.

 

“Just do one thing for me before you leave,” she said.

 

“Name it,” Ja-mags replied.

 

“For Pete’s sake, put your shirt on.”

 

Ja-mags laughed as he strolled over to the wayward garment.

 

“Hey,” he said, “It’s a distraction tactic.”

 

“Don’t flatter yourself, young one,” Master Drenn joked, “I sincerely hope you aren’t trying to impress all the Sith girls.”

 

“A Jedi’s limits must always be put to the test,” deadpanned Ja-mags, pulling his tunic on.

 

Master Drenn was going to crack another joke, but as he began to walk towards the door, it occurred to her that if she didn’t say what she really wanted to, she may never get the chance.

 

“Ja-mags?”

 

He paused and looked over his shoulder at her.

 

“Don’t get killed out there,” she said, choking up slightly, “I can’t lose another padawan.”

 

Ja-mags nodded.

 

“I won’t let you down, Master.”

-

 

 

Notes

 

According to Wookieepedia, the Selonians have excellent night vision. Additionally, they’re musteline, and the member of Sub-Family Mustilinae that I found that bore the most physical resemblance to Selonians (the Black-Footed Ferret) is also nocturnal. Wookieepedia also says that the Selonians are descended from otter-like creatures, but Wikipedia says that otters are the only mustelids that are not mustilines (associated instead with Sub-Family Lutrinae). As far as otters go, the two that I found that look the most like Selonians are the North American River Otter (partially nocturnal) and the Neotropical Otter (diurnal). I figured it was reasonable to assume the Selonians were probably nocturnal.

 

For the Drall, they’re cave-dwellers based on various burrowing species, so I assume they favor the dark as well.

 

The name “Jamags,” or in this case, “Ja-mags” is sort of an in-joke with me. It’s kinda found its way into most of my online usernames and I tend to give it to lots of my characters. The original-ish Jamags was a character I created for Clone Wars-era stories, and so I tried to recreate that character in SWTOR. After a few failed attempts to reconcile them as being the same person (and needing to recreate the character due to an unrelated incident – hence the hyphen) I decided that SWTOR Ja-mags is just a distant ancestor of Clone Wars-era Jamags. That created its own set of problems, but one thing at a time, right?

 

Also, I was going for sort of a mother-son/aunt-nephew kind of relationship for Master Drenn and Ja-mags, and I’m worried it might’ve come out as a romantic subtext. Any thoughts on that?

 

[The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!]

@Iheaca: In regards to the Mandalorians, I'll put it this way - one of my favorite moments in KotOR is the conversation between Carth and Canderous about the difference between soldiers and warriors. I find Carth's low opinion of what he calls warriors in general and Mandalorians in particular to be fairly reasonable, especially compared to a more Karen Traviss-esque view of the Mandos. Hence, the portrayal as boorish, violent henchmen in my story.

 

@frauzet: Without going into too much detail on where his character arc eventually goes, I can tell you that Pholux would most definitely say he was not lucky.

[Best way to farm credit? (heroics? weekly? daily? operations?)]

I've been farming gathering mats on Iokath. For about a half an hour's work, I can make one or two million per day. Not sure if I've got the best farming spot or anything like that, but it's been working out for me. I should warn you about Slicing though: opening all those credit cases is fun, but it's considerably less profitable than my other two skills (archaeology and bioanalysis).

[The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!]

Comments

 

 

@Iheaca: Nice! I like the simplicity of it. Out of curiosity... is Nyx a Nox? Because that would amuse me way more than is entirely warranted.

 

@bright_ephemera: Well, that's an interesting pairing. What made you think of that? Because it works surprisingly well.

 

 

Alright, I’ll start with one for Camouflage. I've got an idea or two for Turning Point that I might post later.

 

Pholux

 

The scream of the artillery nearly drowned out those of the citizens of Thani City. The trill of blasterfire echoed piercingly through the streets, mingling with the crackling of the fires. Imperial tanks rumbled down the streets, looking for all the galaxy like moving mountain’s to the young boy’s dark eyes.

 

Telos IV burned once more.

 

The boy felt a firm but gentle grip on his shoulder and shifted to face his mother.

 

“Don’t look, baby. Don’t make a sound. It’ll be over soon.”

 

The building had once housed a hundred people. Now it was a pile of rubble, with corpses stacked on corpses. Really, it was the most logical hiding place. If the Imperials stopped to search every corpse pile for survivors, they’d be here for years. Still, though, the boy hated it. The worst were Thea’s eyes. The cold, lifeless eyes of a little girl no older than he was had been staring at him for hours. He thought it might help to give her a name. He didn’t know why he chose “Thea,” but it seemed to suit her.

 

Naturally, this only made it worse.

 

A yell pierced through the cacophony.

 

“Help me!”

 

A middle-aged Twi’lek man in a security uniform rounded the corner, tearing down the street as fast as his clearly out-of-shape legs could carry him.

 

“Someone help! They’ve killed everyone! They’re coming this way!” screamed the Twi’lek.

 

The boy started to get up. He was going to wave the man over to their hiding place. He felt his mother’s hand push him back to the ground. He was about to protest when the blaster shot whizzed down the street, striking the Twi’lek in the back of the leg.

 

Twenty warriors in bulky sky blue armor rounded the street corner from which the man had come, plasteel boots clacking noisily against the pavement.

 

As they approached the writhing Twi’lek, one of the men spoke.

 

“Alor! This aruetii scum thought he could get away from us!”

 

One of them, a tall man in silver armor, let out a low, guttural laugh.

 

“Di’kut,” he said, drawing a blaster pistol, “You are a coward and a disgrace.”

 

He raised the pistol, tensing – likely preparing for the weapon’s recoil – but the flash of blue light that followed did not come from any blaster.

 

The Mandalorian leader dropped to his knees as his severed hand tumbled to the ground. The lightsaber halted in mid-air and flew back to the hands of its owner, already in mid-leap.

 

The Jedi landed between the Twi’lek and the Mandalorians, his landing punctuated by a thunderous boom as the warriors were thrown back. The grim determination on the Mirialan’s features painted a picture of age and experience, but the boy’s keen eyes spotted the Padawan braid hanging above his shoulder. The Mandalorian leader yelled in pain.

 

“Jetii shabuir!” he spat, “I’ll kill you for that!”

 

He raised his left gauntlet, but the Jedi was faster, beheading the man with a swift stroke of his lightsaber. The other Mandalorians aimed their weapons, and the Jedi stepped back into a defensive stance.

 

“Enough!” boomed a deep, rasping voice from the end of the street.

 

The Mandalorian leader may have been large, but this new arrival was massive. The hulking, red-skinned brute wore simple black durasteel armor, adorned only with a cape draped over one shoulder. The Zabrak snarled as he stomped towards the young Jedi, who remained stoic in his expression.

 

“You stand in the presence of Lord Thrakkis, Jedi. What have you to say for yourself?”

 

After a second, the Jedi spoke.

 

“Only that you’ll not harm this man while I breathe, monster.”

 

The boy caught the slightest hint of a smirk on Thrakkis’ face before the Sith’s prior expression of cold fury reasserted itself.

 

“Then…” he began, pausing for a moment, “Stop. Breathing.”

 

The Jedi’s determined expression suddenly shifted to one of shock. The lightsaber dropped from his hand, which instead flew to his throat as he lifted a few inches off the ground. He dangled there, squirming but unable to escape, for almost a minute before falling limp. Thrakkis waved his hand to the side dismissively and the Jedi’s corpse flew into a distant wall.

 

The Twi’lek crawled backwards, staring at the Sith Lord in terror.

 

“Worm,” Thrakkis snapped as he plunged his lightsaber into the poor man’s eye.

 

“That’s six Jedi today, my Lord!” said one of the Mandalorians excitedly, “They’ll make you a Darth for sure!”

 

“That’s not how it works, minion. Deliver your report,” Thrakkis ordered before adding, “In Basic this time.”

 

The Mandalorian nodded while a few of his fellows muttered something that sounded like “Mir’osik dar’jetii shabuir.”

 

Whatever it meant, the look Thrakkis shot them told the boy it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

 

“This sector’s clear, my Lord! No survivors as far as we can tell!” the Mandalorian Thrakkis had been talking to interjected hastily.

 

“No survivors?” rumbled Thrakkis, turning to scan the buildings of the street, “Fool, there are two right here.”

 

Before the boy could register what the Sith had said, Thea’s body was ripped away in a gust of wind and energy that blasted the dust off of the boy and his mother. It happened so suddenly he couldn’t help but scream. His mother rose to her knees.

 

“Please, my Lord!” she cried, “We mean you no harm. Take my life, if you must, but don’t hurt my son.”

 

Thrakkis looked over his shoulder at the Mandalorians.

 

“Finish your job,” he said to them, “And I’ll consider letting you live.”

 

The Mandalorians raised their blaster rifles. The boy had to do something. He scooped up a rock in his hand and hurled it at the nearest Mandalorian. It struck the man in the throat and he doubled over, clutching at where the jagged stone had hit.

 

Thrakkis held up a hand and the Mandalorians’ rifles jerked upwards as they opened fire, the blaster bolts flying harmlessly into the air. A strange sensation came over the boy, unlike anything he’d felt before. He was hoisted off his feet and dragged through the air, coming to a stop mere inches from Thrakkis’ tattooed face.

 

“You have spirit, boy,” Thrakkis said, “and good aim.”

 

“No!” yelled the boy’s mother, “Leave him alone!”

 

“Finish her,” Thrakkis said to the warriors, “but I’d like to speak with this one.”

 

Thrakkis floated the boy into a side alley, and the child swallowed dryly as he heard blasterfire and his mother’s cries fell silent.

 

“Perhaps you’re wondering why this is happening,” said Thrakkis.

 

“I don’t care,” the boy snapped, shaking his head vigorously, “I want Mommy.”

 

“Your mother was weak, boy,” Thrakkis said, “And that’s why we’re here. The Sith. We cull the weak from the strong.”

 

“She wasn’t weak!” the boy protested, beginning to sob.

 

“You, though,” Thrakkis continued, not seeming to care, “You are strong. I don’t sense the gift of the Force in you, but you may be of use anyway. Tell me, what’s your name?”

 

The boy thought of his father. He’d been working at the shipyards when the Empire attacked. Maybe he’d gotten on a ship and escaped. Maybe he was somewhere out in the galaxy, trying to find his son. Maybe if the boy told Thrakkis his name, the Empire would find his father, and kill him too. He had to lie. His eyes scanned his surroundings for inspiration, and there it was, lying where it had been discarded only minutes earlier. There was a word engraved on the Jedi’s lightsaber. He didn’t know if it was a name, or a parts manufacturer, or had some secret meaning he’d never be privy to. It was good enough.

 

“Pholux.”

 

 

A/N

 

A few points on this one.

 

First, yes, I have seen Avengers: Infinity War recently. Why do you ask?

 

Second, I may have let my issues with Mandalorians bleed into that just a little.

 

Third, Thrakkis is a quasi-minor character in the broader story of my legacy (I haven’t even created him as a character in-game), but a few of my characters’ backstories require a somewhat older Sith who was active during the Great Galactic War, so I decided to give them that common thread. That means I also get to explore a few sides of Thrakkis’ backstory that didn’t really come up in the story with Thralinn and Octavios.

 

Fourth, I tried to imply it with a few moments in the narrative (references to his aim, observational skills, and ability to lie convincingly, even at age, like, five or whatever), but in case it didn’t come across, Pholux is my Imperial Agent.

 

[Am I the only one about Vaylin? *Spoilers*]

*sigh* I get it, I do, people are going to interpret these things differently. Ultimately, whatever interpretations people have of Vaylin herself, it doesn't really change my position: They wrote a story where a mentally ill character was tortured into total madness. Maybe she would have been, anyway. Maybe not. But she was tortured, then they made us torture her more at the behest of her abuser and put words into our characters' mouth that he may as well have said himself. The abuser nonsense was thick in her story and they made our characters part of it. That was unacceptable and always will be regardless of the "monster within" crap that they also tried to push on us. Whatever power fantasy they felt they were catering to by having us drive her to her knees before her abuser is not a good one.

 

OK, this I do agree with. The story is poorly written in many ways, especially how it forced us to participate in the abuse which was perpetrated against Vaylin.

 

It's the people who claim Vaylin wasn't that bad of a person or should've been redeemable that make me want to draw a line. Whether or not, on a moral and philosophical level, Vaylin's actions are fully "her fault," she was beyond help. I'd rather have been able to kill her without Valkorion's "help." Same with Arcann. Ultimately, Vaylin's a bad person who had worse things done to her. Did she deserve it? No. Does it make her an innocent victim? No again. As I said in a previous post, an explanation is not the same thing as an excuse. I'd give the story credit for introducing these moral complexities, but I really don't think the writers thought all of this through.

[Charles Boyd Interview (Emperor's Body, Returning Characters, Vowrawn, Lore)]

You've misinterpreted a lot of my points. In situations like this, I usually try to assume it's my fault for not communicating properly, so I'll try to explain.

 

Basically the Republic's credo seems to be to help people if there's something in it for them, which isn't different than how the Empire works.

 

Nope. If you have something the Empire wants? They'll kill you and take it. If you don't? Better hope you're not in their way, or they'll kill you then, and take whatever you do have. If they have to work with you to get what they want? They'll stab you in the back as soon as you're done. Why? Because that's the Sith way. Trust no one, and seize power by any means necessary.

 

As to Ord Mantell, why are there Separatists at all? They do not WANT to be in the Republic, and the Republic is trying to shut that down and take over anyway. If they stopped trying to take over a planet that doesn't want to be in their government, they wouldn't have the issue. It's no different from the Empire trying to take over planets.

 

Keep in mind that most of the Republic-aligned soldiers and civilians on Ord Mantell are also Mantellians. The simple fact that there are Separatists doesn't mean that the entire planet has unilaterally agreed to secede from the Republic.

 

Wiping out a religious order because one disagrees with their code - no, it actually is not reasonable to wipe out the Sith Order because the Jedi disagree with them philosophically. The Foundry also wants to wipe out 98% of the Imperial population, anyone with Sith (as in the alien race) blood. That's genocide, any way one wants to spin it, and genocide is not reasonable. The Republic doesn't have the right to wipe out religious or ethnic groups on any grounds.

 

Either you're conflating two different points or I am. The Sith Order is an organization with decidedly evil ideals - the accumulation of personal power at the expense of all else. The Foundry is not targeting just the Sith Order, it's targeting people of Sith blood, which is a much larger category. I was not condoning the Foundry.

 

Nope. I completely disagree. Both the Empire and the Republic have both bad and good people working for them. Neither is great. Painting the Empire as evil with nothing else is simplistic. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I completely disagree.

 

Yes, plenty of good people come from the Empire, like Elara Dorne or Lord Praven. In all seriousness, most of the citizens are decent people, and many of the Force-blind Imperials are just doing their jobs, but the Sith run everything, and they are evil. Some Sith are lucid enough to be reasonable and deal with common threats, but they operate a fundamentally oppressive regime.

 

Darth Jadus was mentioned, but he was one Sith, working independently of the Dark Council, and even Imperial Intelligence was against him when they found him out. Grathan was considered an aberration that the Dark Council simply didn't know how to stop, and they had troops watching his compound. One early BH quest is given by an Imperial officer, to rescue or kill his daughter in Grathan's compound. Baras was opposed by at least one person on the Dark Council and nobody objected when he was taken down.

 

I was referring to the idea that the Republic is more corrupt than the Empire. Would you not characterize all of that as corruption on an extreme level?

 

As to the Republic's stance with the Eternal Empire, they're NOT neutral. The letter that is intercepted in KOTET says that the Republic is taking a policy of appeasement and cooperation with Zakuul in the hopes that the Alliance and Empire will lose.

 

And they have... how much choice in this course of action? They have no reason to believe they won't get crushed by Zakuul's stupid unstoppable fleet.

 

That's pretty silly. No matter which faction your Outlander comes from, you certainly can have them try to make things better and help as many people as they can. You can opt to use the entire Fleet for humanitarian purposes. For one thing the Alliance doesn't have the dogmatic, blind intolerance for other Force users that the Jedi have.

 

That's true in the class stories, too - no matter what side you are playing.

 

You work with Sith and Imperials and thus tacitly condone countless prior Sith atrocities. You exploit the loyalty of the Knights of Zakuul, whose ideology is based on blind obedience to an all-powerful dictator. Saresh very nearly co-opted the entire organization, and only your personal intervention halted that. A "light side" Outlander happily works with Arcann, who is personally responsible for most of the Eternal Empire's atrocities. Hell, I received no option to object to Lana's little wisecrack about "interrogation techniques" which pretty blatantly refers to torture. And, of course, since both the Republic and Empire are so bad post-timeskip, the Alliance is guilty of siding with one of the two. Or both, if you switch after Nathema.

[Charles Boyd Interview (Emperor's Body, Returning Characters, Vowrawn, Lore)]

I actually prefer the way the writers have portrayed the Empire and Republic, with widespread corruption in both factions and people trying to do the right thing on both sides. Painting one side as villains only and one side as 'the good guys' is tiresome and unrealistic.

 

I mean, in the Jedi stories, there's a village that is left to rot on Tython until the Jedi need something, because they are there illegally. On Ord Mantell you have Republic soldiers stealing and menacing people, and you have a camp of refugees right outside the Republic base that can't get medicine for sick children, so they're stealing it. On Coruscant half the planet seems to be a gangland and you have security shrugging about people being taken and sold into slavery by the Justicars. The Jedi are intolerant of any other Force users besides themselves.

 

The Jedi are protecting the Foundry, which is planning genocide (killing anyone with Sith heritage, which is 98% of the Imperial population). Characters repeatedly talk about killing all Sith (Ashara says this, and it comes up in the Jedi Knight story too). Saresh is as corrupt as they come, and some of the first side quests in the game on Coruscant are about taking down (or not) corrupt senators. On Taris there are Republic officials who are siphoning off enough money that their troops are starved and worked to death (the guy who says he's been there for five years on a one year tour; the ship that crashes because the officer took the money for repairs). On Belsavis they're experimenting on prisoners and also holding people in jail for life because *their parents* did something. The Power Guard program on Nar Shaddaa that is so monstrous started out as a REPUBLIC program, and there's the general you meet early on who is invested heavily in weaponry that can wipe out planets. On Quesh the Republic is colluding with the Hutts to manufacture drugs.

 

And during the Eternal Empire, the Republic sided with Zakuul, which committed genocide, took slaves and subjugated the galaxy. That alone is enough to make even my Republic characters side Empire on Iokath.

 

The point being, I don't think either side can be painted as pure, and both sides do have a lot of abhorrent activities. I much prefer when we don't have good and bad sides, but a mixture of grey on both, and it makes it a lot more fun to play, for me at least.

 

OK, you raise some fair points, but I'd still like to point some things out.

 

1: The Republic's certainly not purely good, sure, but treating the Empire and its enforcers as anything less than evil is absurd, which is my main point. Plus, while (the following statement is bolded for emphasis) I won't try to argue that the Republic is strictly good, I don't think they're as bad as you've made them out to be.

2: Why would anyone want to settle in an extremely remote Flesh Raider-infested wilderness where the galactic power with jurisdiction has made it clear that you aren't welcome? It's been a while since I've done that bit of Tython, but I recall wondering just what the Twi'leks were doing there of all places.

3: On Ord Mantell, the dilemma is that the Republic has to choose between supporting the war effort and aiding civilians. Keep in mind that if the Republic loses, the Separatists are not going to treat those refugees much better. They didn't make the more moral choice, but what they were doing isn't the kind of pointless cruelty the Empire embraces. Don't really recall the Republic soldiers stealing and threatening people, though, DS Trooper notwithstanding.

4: Coruscant shows that the Republic is weak and inefficient. Compared to massacring slave rebels on Dromund Kaas, Coruscant looks like a paradise.

5: Pre-Zakuul, the only other large-scale Force-using organization in the galaxy is the Sith. See also: megalomaniacal backstabbers. The Jedi's more totalitarian tendencies, while morally questionable, stem from legitimate concerns about what happens to Force-users who aren't trained to keep themselves under control.

6: I've never run the Foundry story arc, so I can't comment on it all that well, but I thought that that was Revan's rogue pet project and the Republic didn't know how far gone he was?

7: See also: megalomaniacal power-mad slave-taking backstabbers who live to subjugate others. Wiping out the Sith Order is entirely reasonable.

8: Darth Jadus wanted to massacre his own side's civilians because he thought spreading fear was cool. Darth Baras attempted to lie and cheat his way into a hostile takeover of the Empire. Lord Grathan declared open rebellion against the Empire as a way of advancing his career, and NPCs on Dromund Kaas treat this as nothing out of the ordinary. Vitiate was possibly plotting to wipe out all life in the galaxy (or at least conquer it), and had been siphoning funds from one of his Empires to the other for centuries. Darth Acina bowed down to Arcann in return for a figurehead position in charge of the Empire, Philippe Pétain-style. Saresh is extremely corrupt, but can you really say she's as corrupt as they come next to all of that?

9: Taris is a mess. I'll grant you that point.

10: Belsavis is another point in your favor. No argument here.

11: Correction: The Power Guards were a cancelled Republic program. Obviously, the process works, so why would the Republic stop the program when the Empire was perfectly happy to use it? Again, I'm not saying the Republic's wholely good, just better.

12: They're manufacturing combat adrenals, which are portrayed as common and fairly standard military equipment. Working with the Hutts looks pretty bad, though, so I'll give you that.

13: My entire argument was that the Republic's portrayal has shifted post-timeskip. And keep in mind that the Republic only remained neutral, and the Empire only sided with you when it started to look like you were winning.

 

Honestly, a lot of the Republic's problems stem from the Prequels. Within the saga of the movies, the Rebellion are the real heroes, so the Republic had to be sympathetic but just bad enough to deserve what happened to them. That's all well and good for that story, but 3,000 years earlier when the Republic is the only heroic faction we have to work with (other than a nonsensical alliance made up of people with nothing in common but mutual hatred), it wears kind of thin.

 

So, in conclusion (these points lettered instead of numbered to distinguish from the earlier list):

A: The Empire is bad, and is never going to not be bad.

B: The Republic was at one point portrayed as being at least not as bad.

C: The Republic is now being portrayed as equivalent to the Empire.

D: The Eternal Empire is bad too.

E: The Alliance is just a nonsensical mishmash of Imperial, Republic, and Zakuulan personnel held together with nothing but mutual dislike of the EE, and it really seems to have inherited most of the faults of all three factions.

F: Therefore, currently everyone is evil and dislikable and I have no reason to support any side on moral grounds.

[Am I the only one about Vaylin? *Spoilers*]

I also just don't think that there is enough of a difference to let light through between Vaylin and Syo Bakarn. They explicitly showed us the ritual that ended with her eyes going orange. They may as well have had magical symbols on the floor and shown a demonic form possessing her. No, choice was never really in the offing.

 

But, yes, I'd love to see what a professional would say even if I were willing to ignore the overt magic mind control involved. I understand it was done at one point for Anakin.

 

My point was that Master Syo and the Emperor's First Son come across as two entirely separate personalities - one cannot be held responsible for the actions of the other since he didn't even know the First Son existed, much less be able to actually control the First Son.

 

Vaylin, on the other hand? If she was brainwashed into being evil, we have no reason to believe there's anything left of the person she was before. Valkorion certainly had a hand in what she became, but a spooky ritual and glowy orange eyes is not conclusive proof that she's under any kind of mind control. For the sake of clarity, let's break this into what seem to be the three options.

 

1 - Mind Control: Vaylin is under Valkorion's direct control, and would act differently were that control removed. This strikes me as unlikely - why would he need a trigger phrase to force her to obey if she's already doing exactly what he wants?

 

2 - Brainwashing: Vaylin's upbringing irreparably affected her behavior. She may not have turned out this way without Valkorion's intervention, but there's nothing that can be done for her. This is most likely what the writers intended.

 

3 - Free Will: Vaylin's behavior is no one's fault but her own. Valkorion sought to unlock her power, bring out her darker urges, and force her into obedience. Her psychopathy, however, derives entirely from her own personality. This interpretation admittedly has a twinge of victim-blaming. Consider this, though: Does an abusive upbringing automatically make someone an evil psychopath? I think that's an even worse message to send. As such, I prefer to think that Vaylin could have stopped and simply chose not to.

[Charles Boyd Interview (Emperor's Body, Returning Characters, Vowrawn, Lore)]

All eight class stories happen in the same continuity, but after that, there's only one story for each side, and then only one story overall. Thus, there's only one person who takes down Malgus, only one hero of SoR and only one Outlander, and that is whatever character you are playing at that time. (etc.)

 

Ah, OK. I got all that. My concern was that the post I was quoting specifically said "KIA," not "disappeared under ambiguous circumstances."

 

As for the topic of going back to Republic vs. Empire, I have mixed feelings. I overall prefer the Republic, but what's entertaining about the Empire is that they make interesting villains. When I start an Imperial class story, it's because I want to play the bad guy for a little while, even if it's a particularly nice bad guy. Post timeskip, the writers seem to be trying to sell the two factions as morally equivalent rivals fighting over petty political differences. If my Republic characters are going to go back to fighting the Empire, I want to be the hero and I want the Empire to be the villain. If my Imperial characters are going to go back to trying to conquer the Republic, I want to be evil and I want my enemies to be suitably honorable.

 

I mean, the Empire is the private playground of a cult of megalomaniacal backstabbers. They happily take slaves, commit genocide, and enforce multiple different flavors of caste system, all on a scale that the Republic at its worst has never replicated. There is no moral equivalency to be had here, and even if there is, it just means that both factions average out to be equally dislikable, which is exactly what we got on Iokath.

 

So do I want to go back to Republic vs. Empire? Yes... but not like this.

[Charles Boyd Interview (Emperor's Body, Returning Characters, Vowrawn, Lore)]

Darth Nox/Imperius/Oculus - Outlander or KIA during the assault on Darth Marr's ships

 

Where was this established? One of the things I love about SWTOR is the idea that all my characters are running around at the same time and their existences are not mutually exclusive, so I think I may have just picked up another reason to despise KotFE and KotET. Like, at that point, what's the point of the legacy system if all of your characters are necessarily experiencing separate continuities?

[Am I the only one about Vaylin? *Spoilers*]

This is it exactly. Arcann over and over again consciously makes dark side choices, ordering half his subordinates to kill the other half and doing Taris times five were only two of them. There's no brainwashing to control his choices like we see with Vaylin.

 

Arcann choose to be a despot. Vaylin had no choice.

 

Eh, I don't think I'd go that far. At no point (trigger phrase notwithstanding) are we lead to believe that Vaylin is not in control of her own actions. Her reasons don't really matter; she's taking out her rage on innocent people. There's an explanation for why she does it, but an explanation is not the same thing as an excuse. There's a world of difference between Vaylin and, say, Syo Bakarn.

[Can you Restart a Planetary Story if you Abandon it?]

I stopped in the middle of Rise of the Hutt Cartel to go do Shadow of Revan when that came out, and haven't even thought about finishing RotHC until now. I don't really remember what was happening too well, so if I hit the "abandon" button, will I be able to start from the beginning? I'm guessing not, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

[Am I the only one about Vaylin? *Spoilers*]

no worse than your average Sith punishing a subordinate for failure,

 

You do realize that the Sith are supposed to be evil, right? Sure, some Sith are more rational than others, and a few have even been redeemed, but those are all explicitly noted as odd cases for acting in a decidedly un-Sithy manner (e.g. Lord Praven from the Jedi Knight story). "Your average Sith" is a very bad person precisely because they do things like killing subordinates for failing.

 

Frankly, I found even Arcann's redemption to be kind of distasteful. No degree of repentance excuses what that man did, and by all accounts Vaylin is worse. While she's got a sad backstory, she's quite clearly way too far gone to be helped by anyone. Note that outside of flashbacks, she's only ever characterized as a generic one-note psychopath.