The Short Fic Weekly Challenge Thread!

[YoshiRaphElan]

Yeah...I've seen three different 'looks' on the inside of the one mission I'm familiar with (Subject 13): first, it was all white and it was nearly impossible to see anything for the brightness. Then, they tried to tone it down by making the floor darker, but it ended up nearly black and was no longer "the white room", and it was still hard to see. Now, I think they got it right...all white, but not as dazzling, and the colors are altered to make you realize you're not in space-Kansas anymore. I like the current setup.

 

I like the current setup, too. I missed the near-black one, but I did see the super-bright white one quite a while ago, back in October or November when I was leveling my BH. I know I was normal-colored then, but I didn't remember it being terribly bright–but then my graphics are set on 'very low.'

[Lesaberisa]

Hope your daughter is doing better alaurin , leg injuries aren't fun at any age

 

30 posts to catch up on!

 

Replies

@alaurin

Amurri and Jorgan.....that is going to be interesting to watch play out!

 

My tentative plan is to have their relationship last from [whenever it gets started] until at least post-Makeb, although I'm not quite sure how I'll make it work yet.

 

@Yoshi

Okay, so I didn't read this earlier and I just did...and I realized that somehow, through some odd time-warp or deja vu, or something, I have read the last few paragraphs of this story before

 

It's the feeling anyone would get after seeing the unforgettable and undeniable passion between my fic universes two least talkative people meeting for the first time.

 

@marissalf I forgot to reply last time - to answer your (old) question, Amitia cutting off and nailing Doc's moustache to the wall like a trophy is indeed just the first phase of Operation Malpractice, and more is to come.

 

@sthrift

Oh and remind me to tell you about fishing with a field phone some time.

 

Aw, don't leave me hanging like that

 

 

 

Comments

 

@marissalf - "Beauty and the Wookie" made me laugh, although think of the missed opportunity to tell Melodai about the hive mind! From your second story, the thought of "Aunt" Kaliyo makes me alternate between smiling and worrying for Melodai's mental health. Although overall I'm really happy to see Kinka happy. *COUGH*

 

@DarthSillyMonkey - marissalf stole my comment about your Mako, like usual - I like seeing how people write companions/characters reacting to difficult situations. On a side note, I also like the Mando notes at the start, it's helpful for me

 

@Yoshi- Blizz and Treek...not sure whether to smile or find bleach. Your "meeting Treek" story idea inspired me though As for Jasin's story - I really liked that quest on Belsavis, I actually think it's my favorite one on the entire planet. I wish it wasn't part of the bonus series, though, because I generally despise Belsavis.

 

@OneShotTC- I think I'm going to put your fourth wall breaking shenanigans on the same list as Adwynyth for "be careful about reading awhile at work when supervisors are around ). It's a bit hypocritical, since I've started doing the same, but I enjoy being an employed hypocrite.

 

@Adwynyth- speak of the devil! I like your Treek introduction, and encourage the Ewok to continue to act as violently as possible towards Skadge.

 

@Kabe

"I can do better than five minutes," he said between bruising kisses.

Looking forward to Isen getting what's coming to him though!

 

@sthrift - Aww...like Bright said, not every reunion can be a happy one, but you still hope. Especially when there's obviously a lot of pent-up/repressed pain and emotion there.

 

@alaurin - Definitely fuzzies (and definitely understand/second the feeling of liking to write happy stuff)! And for the record, I really like alternative perspectives, I think it worked wonderfully here

 

@Caernos Welcome! And I have noticed your comments and they're always appreciated I really like your angle on the story with the Revanites (I, too, was disappointed when the reveal happened and there was no follow-up), and hopefully we'll see more (?). Hint: That means you better write more

 

 

Character: Malicineve (SW)

Prompt: First Impressions

Notes: Treek + Malicineve. Loyal Malicineve readers probably know where this is going.

 

 

I walked alongside the furry creature, marveling at how absurd it looked as it waddled along the corridors of the ship. Vette had squandered a million credits to purchase its "contract", something she would have to answer for soon enough. I turned to the beast.

 

"I hope you enjoy this tour, it must be a marvel for one such as you."

 

It nodded its grotesque head at me, and continued waddling in silence as we neared the exit ramp. I carefully flicked a switch on my armor to magnetize my boots, and drew upon the Force to create a bubble around my head. When I was sure the creature could not hope to escape, I activated the door's control panel with the Force and simultaneously gave the Ewok a tremendous kick that sent it flying out of the ship.

 

I watched "Treek" fly into space, cartwheeling its way to a painful death.

 

I laughed, and closed the door.

 

 

Character: Amurri (BH)

Prompt: Bad Timing

Notes: No game spoilers. Follows the previous story

 

 

"I can't believe we missed the contract on Grand Moff Cloru because an Ewok corpse hit our ship and destroyed a hyperdrive modulator."

 

Mako nodded, distractedly. I followed her gaze and was unsurprised to see her attention was focused on Torian, as he exercised bare-chested in the cargo hold.

 

"Worst of all, Skadge wants to keep it."

 

"The hyperdrive modulator?" Mako sounded confused, but her attention was still elsewhere.

 

"No, the Ewok corpse."

 

 

Character: Amitia (JK)

Prompt: Well, That's Awkward

Notes: No game spoilers, set...say around Hoth

 

 

"Hey Kira, have you been using the Holonet much recently?" She turned, confused, and shook her head. "I ask because our usage as a crew has gone up a lot since we got off Balmorra."

 

"Probably your not-so-secret admirer, boss." Kira wrinkled her nose and made a gagging motion. I wasn't quite sure what had happened between the two, but to say they'd gotten off on the wrong foot would be an insult to wrong feet.

 

I hit a few more commands and the log for our activity came up. Kira was right after all - Doc had been spending a lot of time at a fan fiction site. I frowned, not sure I wanted to know more. "Why do you think Doc would go to a fanfiction site, Kira?"

 

Her gagging motion looked a lot more genuine this time. "Not sure I want to know, Ami."

 

She was probably right, but I needed answers, so I dug deeper. I moved from a story about Doc seducing me after saving me from a colicoid to one of Doc rescuing me from a Hutt's harem, which had spawned a sequel where the rescue led to me being the queen of Doc's harem. I felt slightly nauseous, even more so after I got to the story where I discovered Doc's writing while analyzing our holonet usage and was so overwhelmed by his passion that I fell madly in love with him.

 

I pushed myself away from the console, feeling about as bad as I had the day that I'd been told that Jedi didn't have a clothing budget because we wore only our robes.

 

Kira was standing over the console with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow. "Knights of Passion - Ameesha and Kyra's Forbidden Love."

 

Edited August 9, 2013 by Lesaberisa

[YoshiRaphElan]

@Lesaberisa....AGH! You killed Treek!

[Striges]

We got one! Welcome, Caernos. Congratulations on stepping out of your comfort zone in a number of ways.

 

I just started the Revanite quest chain again, and I love your take on it and what it means. I think Dzoun came off just fine; if he conflicted with the canon version (who had what, three lines?) then he read better. I liked the interplay between him and his master. I only wish the real thing worked out the way you wrote it.

 

Longer reply list incoming as soon as I get my act together.

 

On that note:

 

Prompt: Veteran Writer (wow, is that really me?)

 

Why De-Lurking is Scary, but Ultimately a Good Thing

 

I lurked on several gaming boards for a very long time: MMO Champ, LotRO, WoW among others. (Hi, my forum name is Striges and I used to play WoW) When I finally worked up the nerve to contribute I derailed a thread because I posted on my main and not a level 1 alt (*gasp*) and furthermore, my main was a race/class/faction combo that, I was soon to learn, was not cool. No replies to what I actually wrote, which wasn’t fanfic. More at “my god, you play that?”

 

Back to lurking.

 

WoW context for those who haven’t played:

To post in WoW forums, you selected any of the characters on your account as both name and avatar, and could change your name/avatar for different posts. Not a single forum username/avatar like we do here. The policy led to a lot of trolls posting on level 1 alts to hide who their mains were, and other people arguing with themselves and trolling both sides on different avatars just to keep threads going. WoW may have since changed their forum management and the way they allow players to post.

 

 

I got a chance to play SWTOR during one of the late beta weekends. Since it was beta, and the developers said they wanted feedback on the game-in-progress, I braved the savage jungle of MMO forums again.

 

I was pleasantly surprised. Discussions, for the most part, remained civil in the beta forums. Remained discussions. They stayed that way when the game went live. Obviously some of the sub-forums are worse than others, and some became a lot worse as time went on, but this particular one (fan fiction) has to be one of the most pleasant places on this site to hang out. Possibly on the entire internet.

 

I never posted anything like fanfic before finding the old headcanon thread in the Story and Lore forum, nestled in among the “Darth Maul vs Darth Malgus, who would win?” discussion threads. I had ideas for my characters’ stories, some of it even written down. I already made brief character summaries for them in the style of the in-game codex entries. So I posted them. And people liked them. Imagine that.

 

When Elliotcat spun off the Short Fic Challenge thread over in this forum, I went with it. Never looked back. Posters here are very supportive of each other, and very creative. I’ve written things, fanfic or otherwise, for my own enjoyment. I’m so pleased to find out others enjoy them too. Many, many thanks to everyone here, for kind words and much support.

 

tldr version: Trolls and rude posters ruin a lot of discussions and squash creativity; thank goodness we don't have many of them here. Very glad to have finally de-lurked.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Striges

[Adwynyth]

EEP! More replies/comments already. I'll catch up tomorrow.

 

But for now...

 

Prompt: Food

Characters: Swaindrix (Merc) and crew, including Treek

TImeline: shortly after my last post

Spoilers: None I can think of

 

 

"I want a nerfburger."

 

"You always want a nerfburger. At least look at the menu."

 

Swaindrix opened the menu and pretended to feign interest for about three seconds. "Okay, the menu is open. I Still want a nerfburger."

 

"Why don't you try something different for a change? Here, look at the salads." Mako grabbed Swaindrix's menu and turned a few pages.

 

The rest of the crew smirked, laughed quietly, or just sighed, having seen this same routine every time they all went out to eat.

 

"Did anything on this page used to walk, fly, swim, or glare at whoever shot it?"

 

"No, but..."

 

"Then I'm not interested. This is nerf food. Nerfs are Swaindrix food. I eat nerfs, usually in burger form."

 

"You're hopeless. You know that?"

 

"Yeah. But you love me."

 

"Sometimes I wonder why." She leaned over and gave him a kiss, which replaced the usual scowl with a smile for a few seconds. "What are you getting, Torian?" she asked.

 

"You know what I want, ner vod."

 

"Tiingilar. You always get that."

 

"Not my fault nobody but Mando'ade have taste."

 

That got a laugh, as it usually did. "How about you, Gault?"

 

"I'm going to pick something at random..." He was eyeing the most expensive part of the menu.

 

"And then claim it has parasites in it and get it for free as usual?"

 

"Why not? A proven winner."

 

A waiter attempted to slip by and Skadge grabbed him roughly. "Hey, runt...you got anything on this menu that was tortured before it was killed?"

 

Mako started to protest, but just then Treek, who was sitting next to him, reached up and did something very brief to the folds of skin on his neck. The Houk yelped and let go of the waiter. "Ow! I'm sorry...never mind."

 

Nobody had ever heard Skadge yelp before, but that wasn't the source of their shock. He'd just used the "s" word...something he had an almost religious fervor against doing. Mako was the first to recover. "Did...did you just apologize for something?"

 

"Yeah yeah, don't make a big deal out of it."

 

Treek just sat quietly and looked at her menu, seemingly oblivious to being the center of attention. Gault, who was sitting on the other side of her from Skadge, leaned over and asked in a stage-whisper, "What exactly did you do? You have got to teach me that."

 

The Ewok just smiled sweetly, and still distracted by her menu, said conversationally, "I'm sorry, Mr. Gault, but that's something we do on Endor to punish our--" She cut off the word, closed her eyes, and looked embarrassed about something she'd almost said. Skadge whirled his head around and glared at her, starting to blush an interesting shade of chestnut. Treek cleared her throat unconvincingly. "--malcontents. Yes, our wayward ones."

 

Fortunately, nobody at the table was paying enough attention to notice the near-slip. "I believe I will have one of these 'salads'. They look much like stylized versions of what I would eat at home. What are you having, Mako?"

 

"Probably a salad, too. Do you recognize the veggies and fruits in any of them, Treek?"

 

"I do not."

 

"Tell ya what. I like both of these. Let's each get one, and if you don't like yours, we can switch. Deal?"

 

"Gladly. Thank you, Lady Mako!"

 

The slicer beamed. She loved how the adorable and deadly creature peppered her conversation with different titles for people. She was surprised when Swaindrix spoke up. "I think I'm gonna try something different after all."

 

"Great, honey! What are you gonna have, then?"

 

"Nerfburger with cheese."

 

The whole table was laughing at the dirty look she gave her husband.

 

[sthrift]

Well, since I hate to keep folks hanging and Lesaberisa asked, I give yall Vacation Pt2. No spoilers, trooper.

 

 

Voslic and Elara lay in a pair of lounges on the upper deck of the lodge they were occupying during their vacation enjoying a mid-morning breeze. They had slept in, at least for them, until 0710 local. A light breakfast followed by a quick swim and some alone time had taken them up to the present.

 

Yunn and M1 had traipsed off early that morning to bird watch. Aric hadn’t been heard from since dinner. Tanno was the only squad member still around. Voslic heard him fiddling with something on a table down below. Voslic almost let it go, but an unsupervised Tanno was a dangerous thing.

 

Voslic got up and walked to the edge of the porch and leaned on the railing. “Mornin Tanno. What are you up to?”

 

Tanno looked up from his work. He was attaching a piece of communication wire to a boxy little contraption with what looked like a hand crank on one side. Tanno had split the wire at one end stripped an inch of plas and insolation from each piece of wire at one. “Just thinking about what you and the X.O. said about fishing and relaxing Skipper.”

 

Voslic frowned while trying to piece together what his demo expert was doing. “Just what is that you’re messing with?”

 

Tanno grinned from ear to ear. “I found it in a gear locker. Old style field phone. Hook up the comm wire here,” He pointed to two leads in a recessed box shape on the side of the phone, “then hook the other end of the comm wire to another phone.”

 

“Oh, ok, I guess. What are you going to do, talk the fish out of the water?” Voslic shook his head. “Never mind Tanno. Just be careful with whatever you’re planning?”

 

“You know me Skipper, careful is my middle name.” And with that he turned toward the river walked off whistling happily.

 

Voslic watched him disappear from view then shook his head again and lay back down on the lounge next to Elara. “What was that about?”

 

“Tanno is going fishing.” He sat up after a minute. “I should probably go stop him before he kills someone.”

 

Elara stretched and put her hand on his thigh. “Or you could let him have his fun. He’ll get bored after a while.” She ran her hand up his thigh. “Besides, there’s no one around and I was thinking…”

 

Elara was cut off by a high pitched keening scream from down near the swimming/dock area they had discovered on their first day there. Both Marines sat bolt upright and stared down in that direction. “What in bloody hell was that?” Elara whispered.

 

“Sounded like some kind of wild animal being spitted.” Voslic replied in an equally low voice. “Whatever it was, Tanno is down there somewhere.”

 

They both jumped up and rushed inside. They both armed themselves and headed downstairs and out onto the lower porch. They bounded down the stairs and headed toward a trail that led toward the dock area. Elara was following close behind Voslic. “Do you ever remember hearing anything like that when we were here before?”

 

Voslic shook his head. “Never. Course there was a lot of fighting going on but most of the wildlife we encountered didn’t sound anything like that.”

 

They were approaching the area where the trail led into the brush when they glanced Aric stumbling up the trail. He was wet head to toe. His eyes were wide as saucers. One hand held his groin while the other groped for something to steady himself with. His fur stood on end.

 

Voslic slung the blast rifle over one shoulder and rushed over to Aric and got the other shoulder under Aric to help stabilize him. “Damn Aric.” Voslic gasped. “What the hell happened?”

 

Aric’s breathing was labored. “I was swimming down by the dock. River is dangerous. Something in it attacked me using an electrical charge. Nearly fried me before I got out.” He gasped out.

 

Elara grabbed Aric’s other arm. “Help me sit him down.” They gently lowered the Cathar down and helped him sit with his back against a tree. Elara started checking vitals.

 

Tanno came bounding up the trail. “It worked Skipper!” He yelled holding up two fairly large fish. “What’s wrong with Jorgen? Hey did yall hear that scream?”

 

Voslic turned so that Aric would not see him trying to control his laughing. Aric looked up at Tanno, suspicion growing on his face. “What worked?” He asked menacingly.

 

“My new fishing technique. Field phone and comm wire. Throw the comm wire in the water and crank the hell out of the phone.” He replied excitedly.

 

Elara looked at Tanno. “Oh stars, Tanno. It creates an electrical charge.”

 

“Well, yeah.”

 

Aric struggled to his feet and headed up the trail toward the house. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to get my blaster and kill him.”

 

Tanno watched in confusion as the Cathar left. “What is he so sore about? I was only trying to relax.”

 

 

 

Replies

 

I'm just going to cover everybody who replied so far to my last story as one. My feel for the story lines in the game point toward our past in a way. At one point, brother fought brother in one of the costliest wars fought on US soil. Voslic and Dolstine find themselves on the opposite sides of the conflict. Maybe not by much of a choice, at least as far as Dolstine is concerned, but bad feelings would be present regardless. And with one sister running off and joining the Empire, well Voslic would not much care for the sister responsible for that. Will it end badly? Maybe. Depends on how far I want to take that story arch in my mind. Got some ideas, but I don't know if I want to go there.

 

[alaurin]

Finally found the time for some comments....really hope I didn't miss anyone, and they are not in order.....I kinda started working backwards, then forwards....I actually confused myself at one point.... Anyways, here we go....

 

@sthrift: Thank you for that second vacation piece! After the morning I just had, I really needed a good laugh and that was fantastic. I'm beginning to wonder if Aric and Tanno are both going to survive this vacation! Also, yikes....what a tense family reunion!

 

 

@alaurin, Glad to hear your daughter’s doing better! And I love this Alternative Perspective on the kiss. Love. When I started playing my trooper, I hated Jorgan and his “I know way more than you” attitude. But every time I read one of your stories about him and Mallay, I wind up thinking he’s pretty dreamy after all.

Thanks, she got her permanent cast on this morning, pink of course, and is starting to get a bit pissy about not getting to play, but luckily we have a tablet and she can watch all of her favorite movies.....I think I'm starting to get sick of Tinkerbell though! I'm glad my Alternative Perspectives pieces weren't too repetitive, but I just really needed the warm fuzzies! And yeah, his attitude at the start made me want to kick him in the junk....repeatedly. In fact, I'm pretty sure Mallay thought that in one of my postings. I'm glad he is redeeming himself though!

 

As for your Melodai/Kinka installment....I can't imagine what having to grow up with Kaliyo as a guardian would be like and I can understand her anger at her mother. I also understand Kinka's POV, and you really did a great job on that. I really hope Melodai can get her mother out of there so they can maybe mend their relationship a little.

 

 

@Caernos: Welcome!!! I enjoyed your take on that quest line. Like Adwynyth mentioned, I also felt that I wasted my time on such an involved quest line that really just faded to nothing. I hope to see more from you!

 

 

@alaurin - Definitely fuzzies (and definitely understand/second the feeling of liking to write happy stuff)! And for the record, I really like alternative perspectives, I think it worked wonderfully here

YAY!! I'm glad I spread the warm fuzzies!

 

Hope your daughter is doing better alaurin , leg injuries aren't fun at any age

Thanks! She got the permenant cast on this morning (not a pleasant experience) and is resting with our tablet watching Tinkerbell!

 

Ok, is it terrible that I giggled a little at your Treek stories....if so, I'm sorry, but it was nicely done! Oh, and Doc writing romance fanfic.....you know, I can totally see that, but I can also see him getting into a bit of trouble for it!

 

 

(Hi, my forum name is Striges and I used to play WoW) When I finally worked up the nerve to contribute I derailed a thread because I posted on my main and not a level 1 alt (*gasp*) and furthermore, my main was a race/class/faction combo that, I was soon to learn, was not cool. No replies to what I actually wrote, which wasn’t fanfic. More at “my god, you play that?”

 

Back to lurking.

Hi, my forum name is Alaurin and I also used to play WOW.....hehe, welcome to THAT club, Stirges! Yes, the WOW forums were awful. I was a recruiter for my WOW guild so I had to be on them a lot! I'm so very glad those days are over for me (no offence to any WOW players out there). I'm really glad that you went for it and started posting here, your stories have given me many laughs and a few teary moments as well.

 

 

@Adwynyth: hehe, Swaindrix knows what he likes! My brother in law is the same way....no matter what restaurant we go to, he always gets a cheeseburger! Also, your Treek piece....hilarious....I had to wipe my diet coke off the moniter!

 

 

Dha looked down at Blizz, and for a split second he was sure the little guy's yellow eyes flashed pink.

 

Uh-oh, he thought. Just found Blizz a mate.

Ok, diet coke on the monitor again.....and I really love Scourge and Jasin!

 

 

Ack. I didn't see your post about this. I'm glad she's feeling better.

Thanks, she is doing better each day, but starting to get frustrated a little at not being able to go outside and play.

 

mmm warm fuzzies I can never have too many.

Me either!

 

Also....*sigh* more Remi and Scourge......warm fuzzies!!

 

 

„Yes - now quit stalling and get back to the fight or I’ll change your hulking body type three to four and color everything, including your lightsaber, in pink! Though I might do it anyway - when I think about the terror from beyond seeing you and that other fat pink twilek tank together - he might actually die of laughter.“

oh, I giggled a lot at this!

[Adwynyth]

@Adwynyth- speak of the devil! I like your Treek introduction, and encourage the Ewok to continue to act as violently as possible towards Skadge.

Thankee! So it shall be written.

 

"I can't believe we missed the contract on Grand Moff Cloru because an Ewok corpse hit our ship and destroyed a hyperdrive modulator."

Bahahahahhaha!

 

Oh my God! You killed Treek!

You bastards!

(Yes I love South Park.)

 

I’ve written things, fanfic or otherwise, for my own enjoyment. I’m so pleased to find out others enjoy them too.

Very much so! So glad you de-lurked, and so glad you did to, Caernos!

 

Aric struggled to his feet and headed up the trail toward the house. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to get my blaster and kill him.”

Ahahahahahhahha! Tanno = Beavis, except with intelligence?

 

@Adwynyth: hehe, Swaindrix knows what he likes! My brother in law is the same way....no matter what restaurant we go to, he always gets a cheeseburger! Also, your Treek piece....hilarious....I had to wipe my diet coke off the moniter!

Adwynyth: besmircher of monitors and spiller of Diet Coke since 2012.

[bright_ephemera]

@alaurin,

“Your scars are part of you and all of you is beautiful.”

is the best.

 

@marissalf, great Family piece. It can't be easy bridging the gap between the Joiner sense of unity/wellbeing and all the wild chaotic concerns of the outside world and individuals in it.

 

@Caernos, welcome to the (vocal side of the) thread! I like the elaboration you placed on what seems, in game, to be a bit of a throwaway questline. We don't see enough of Dzoun in game for there to be a lot to contradict - I like what you did with him. Thank you for taking the plunge and sharing!

 

@Lesaberisa, wonderful awful shorts. I love Doc's terrible pastime.

 

@Adwynyth,

"I'm going to pick something at random..." He was eyeing the most expensive part of the menu.

 

"And then claim it has parasites in it and get it for free as usual?"

 

"Why not? A proven winner."

I was merely grinning broadly at Swaindrix and co. 'til this little exchange came up; I then lost it. Delightful piece through and through.

 

@sthrift,

“Tanno is going fishing.” He sat up after a minute. “I should probably go stop him before he kills someone.”

[frauzet]

Comments

 

@kabeone: kisses are very good arguments!

 

@sthrift: ohoh, I'll have to read some of your previous stories on those two

+

Tanno and Jorgan are great, especially a wet Jorgan

 

@alaurin: Maybe I should play a female trooper, seems I haven't payed enough attention to Jorgan

 

@marissalf: That would be a very appropriate use of a

body double

, not like the first one we were forced to use

 

@Caernos: Welcome. I like your story and hope you will write more

 

@Lesaberisa: Problem Treek solved

 

@Adwynyth: Problem Skadge solved?

 

 

 

So here is my (First) Impressions on Treek

Class - Bounty Hunter (Thorns) and SW (Ciner)

Words - About 1400

Spoilers - possible spoilers for companions

Set after Makeb and Patch 2.3

 

 

He had hired a mercenary. Thorns didn’t know what had possessed him to buy the contract for this furry little gnome. Maybe it was because Mako had been laughing so hard at her approach. The furball making her way from the elevator to where they stood, knocking over most of the crowd in her way, oblivious to the fact that the ‘obstacles’ were at least twice if not triple her size, had been hilarious. Suppressing his own laughter had been no mean feat.

 

Her name was Treek. And Treek was supposed to be a good fighter. He didn’t doubt that, but the crew wasn’t really in need of another member. So why had he hired her?

 

Maybe it was her cute look, the thought that Mako would like her? He knew it wasn’t easy for Mako to live on the ship with only male inmates. On the other hand he couldn’t picture Mako talking to Treek about some girly stuff.

 

When they were back on the ship, he had talked to Treek himself. He supposed they would get on well together. She had been trained by Mandalorians on Nar Shadaa. That was good, notwithstanding his mixed feelings regarding Clan Ordo. And she seemed to have no problems with following his orders.

 

Mako seemed to like her well enough, although she mumbled something about beard stubble in the refresher probably not being the worst problem anymore.

 

He had Torian spar with Treek, and the Ewok had done quite well, as Torian admitted after a few bruises, which she had treated right away with some very interesting methods. They would have to compare notes not only on the treatment of bruises.

 

Treek didn’t get off to a good start with Blizz, when she set out to examine the engines, tapping one with a wrench. After a somewhat heated discussion, she managed to appease him by promising to never again touch the engines and to bring him ‘things’ to repair from her trips. She affirmed that there where usually a lot of things in need of repair, once she was done fighting.

 

HK was taken with her vigor to eliminate any undesirables.

 

Gault was ostensibly rather indifferent to his new crew mate. Thorns wondered whether this was a good or a bad sign. Gault’s ‘whatever’ wasn’t always easy to interpret.

 

And Skadge? Skadge was Skadge, mumbling something unintelligible but supposedly rude before retreating up to his preferred place in the upper cargo area.

 

Thorns had managed to keep them from killing each other so far. He supposed it couldn’t get much worse with another crew member. All they needed was some time to get acquainted.

 

He was jolted out of his thoughts by an incoming holo transmission.

 

“Thorns, I think you should get this one yourself. It’s Ciner.” Mako called from the bridge where she was on her tour of the ship with Treek.

 

He hurried upstairs to the holo terminal. The caller id was Ciner’s. He took the call.

 

“Hunter.” The Darth granted him a nod.

 

“My lord.” He started to bow, when Ciner interrupted him.

 

“Yes. Cut the formalities, the connection is secure.” He made a dismissive gesture. “You will meet me on Hoth as soon as possible.”

 

“Oh. Will I? I’m a very busy man. Got a contract from the Empire.”

 

“I know, CZ-198.” Another dismissive gesture. “I told them to expect us in two weeks. We will be going to Hoth first.”

 

“I’ll tell Mako, you’re handling my schedule book now.” It was unwise to be irritated with a Sith, even if you called him a friend.

 

“Vette is doing her best, but my sense of humor is still lacking. So don’t waste any jokes on me. Apropos, Vette tells me to invite Mako over.” He said the latter with a slightly raised voice.

 

And Mako had heard of course. “Tell him we’re coming!”

 

“You see, I leave nothing to chance.” Ciner grinned. “Ready your cold weather equipment. We will go hunting.” Ciner cut the connection.

 

“Got clearance for take-off. Course already set.” Mako informed him with a smile as he entered the bridge.

 

“I didn’t know you were so desperate to get away from me.” He teased her. He knew she liked her irregular meetings with Vette very much.

 

“Some conversations are more interesting if your colloquist adds more than an occasional mutter, especially if it’s about fashion or the latest holonet show.” She fluttered a kiss on his cheek as she left the bridge, to help Treek to settle in.

 

When they reached Hoth, everything was ready. Torian would accompany him, Mako would visit with Vette , and the rest of the crew had a day off, too. Even though he had to admit, that Hoth wasn’t the best place to enjoy a day off.

 

They met Ciner on the surface. He was accompanied by Broonmark, his Talz follower.

Ciner told them about the true purpose of their visit to Hoth. They were going to acquire Tauntaun mounts. He had assumed it was better, if the girls didn’t know. What the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve over.

A very wise assessment in Thorns’ book, given his conversation with Mako about the Lhosan Stinger not so long ago.

 

They were required to search for Tauntaun nests in the frozen vastness of Hoth. This proved to be very tedious, but they frequently encountered Ice Cats and Wampas, which helped to keep Torian and Broonmark happy.

Finally they both were proud owners of a Tauntaun mount. They called the rest of their crews down to the surface to celebrate in the cantina. With mulled wine even a party on Hoth would be all right.

 

Mako eyed the Tauntaun with an icy look that melted away when the animal nudged her and wanted to be scratched between the ears.

 

Blizz was more interested in the saddle and bridle than in the Tauntaun itself, and began taking notes on how to improve them.

 

“Oh, another furry crew member.” Gault exclaimed. “I hope you do not plan to billet this one on me.”

 

This brought an alarmed look to Thorns’ face. “Where is Treek? And where is Skadge?” Thorns asked Gault. “You didn’t leave those two alone on the ship, did you?”

 

“No. I didn’t leave them alone on the ship. They both left the ship not long after you left. Together.”

 

“You let them leave the ship together?” Obviously Thorns didn’t like the answer.

 

“Hey, don’t look at me that way. I did nothing to encourage them.”

 

“You should have stopped them.”

 

“You said we had a day off!”

 

“Mako please call the orbital station. Let’s hope it is still in orbit.”

 

Mako tried to establish a connection, when Skadge and Treek came strolling up the path from the speeder pad.

 

“Haven’t had so much fun in years!” Skadge shouted as he saw them. Treek beamed at the Houk.

 

Thorns noticed that both of them bore signs of recent fighting.

“What have you two been doing?” he asked with arms akimbo.

 

“We enjoyed our day off.” Skadge grinned.

A grinning Skadge was not for the faint hearted, even if he was not covered in blood and whatnot.

“We found a few pirates, and…” Skadge paused to laugh out loud. “You should have seen her. You pick a group of runts and then you throw her smack in the middle of them. Well, maybe not you, you probably wouldn’t be able to throw her far enough. So, I throw her in the middle. Tell you she’s better than any grenade I’ve ever seen. The pirates had no idea what hit them. And she’s fairly good at patching you up after the fight, too. Right, Treek, we are a great team?”

 

“Better a black sun than none!” Treek yelled in Ewokese.

 

Thorns was speechless. Those two getting along too well, was a problem he hadn’t foreseen. He needed an immediate solution before it was too late to prevent a disaster.

 

He went over to Ciner and motioned him to follow him a few steps, so they both could talk without being overheard.

 

“Do you see the Ewok over there? I hired her, and it just occurred to me, that she would be perfect for your crew. You mentioned once or twice you wanted to replace Quinn on the battlefield.”

 

The eyes of the Sith started to glow.

 

 

[marissalf]

And a little blurb for Veteran Writers... doing something with a current prompt - yay!

 

Howdy, Lurkers! I often forget that there’s plenty of people who read this thread and don’t post (even though I did a whole lot of that myself not too long ago). Before I worked up the nerve to finally share a story, I spent weeks just reading. The stories were so good, and I was more than a little intimidated by all the talented writers here. On top of that, I have always been too shy to let anyone read things I’ve written.

 

But I had a story. I was in Act III with my agent, and I kept thinking about how she would react to all these things that were happening to her. And it kept nagging at me until I finally wrote something. From there, I kept thinking of more things for her to do. After a couple weeks of almost posting and then talking myself out of it, I finally took the plunge. And you know what? It was fun, and everybody was so nice and encouraging. (And a big thanks to everyone for that!) I felt silly for waiting so long to jump in.

 

So if you’re sitting behind the computer reading (or playing) and get the urge to write, do it! Post it for us to read! You can’t ask for a better group of people to share with, and I promise you won’t regret it.

 

Other assorted comments!

@Caernos, Welcome! And glad you decided to de-lurkify!

I really like your take on the Revanites quest chain. When I first played through it, I thought for sure it’d come up again somehow, too. Your reasoning about the true leader is great.

 

@Lesaberisa, OMG Treek! But...but...she was a million credits. D: And Doc writing fanfic is a frightening idea. (Bring on Operation Malpractice, phase 2!)

 

@Adwynyth,

The Ewok just smiled sweetly, and still distracted by her menu, said conversationally, "I'm sorry, Mr. Gault, but that's something we do on Endor to punish our--" She cut off the word, closed her eyes, and looked embarrassed about something she'd almost said. Skadge whirled his head around and glared at her, starting to blush an interesting shade of chestnut. Treek cleared her throat unconvincingly. "--malcontents. Yes, our wayward ones."

This has my interest...

 

@sthirft, Clever Tanno! Somehow I get the feeling that vacation’s enjoyable for everybody except Aric

 

@alaurin, Thanks! I’m torn between a couple different options for Mel and Kinka. On the bright side, I can always Alt-thread whichever one I don’t go with!

 

Edit to add:

@frauzet,

“Do you see the Ewok over there? I hired her, and it just occurred to me, that she would be perfect for your crew. You mentioned once or twice you wanted to replace Quinn on the battlefield.”

 

The eyes of the Sith started to glow.

muhahaha! That's a good solution

Edited August 9, 2013 by marissalf

[YoshiRaphElan]

I'm going on a cruise!

 

Tomorrow I'm leaving, and I'll be without a computer for a week. So, I have not forgotten about you guys even though I won't be in here for a whole week–and I'm bringing a pen and paper, so rest assured I should have at least something when I come back! Expect something under the Vacation prompt.

 

Keep writing!

[bright_ephemera]

@frauzet, the Treek/Skadge double act sounds terrifying. A fitting combo.

@YoshiRaphElan, enjoy your trip!

 

An idea came up for another contrast pair (my brain likes those). This is Wynston and his serious relationships with two companions, the first about a year after the class line ends, so just a few months after Wynston's nonalcoholic adventure, and the second, eighteen-ish years after the class line ends, so well into the Don't Call Them Ruth-less timeline when Wynston and his associate run their own spy agency. Ruth-less, but a nonstandard tone for that storyline.

 

Anyway, Allies/Brotherhood. No game spoilers. 1300 words each.

 

 

 

If Vector had ever known Wynston, he only knew a little at a time: only what Wynston found it convenient to show. He had concealed the nature of the Republic mission. He had concealed the extent of his drinking. He concealed a great deal about his past; in two years Vector had learned the name of Wynston's homeworld, probably, and selected anecdotes from the planets they had visited together. He spoke much, but he spoke around things. The proof of his character was in the field, where his passion for the mission took precedence over everything. Where any spare energy was dedicated to the people he met. And from where he left, filed his report, and never looked back. Vector wondered at times whether he would do the same to Imperial Intelligence someday.

 

But however cautious Wynston was about himself he was warm and affable to others. More than that, when Vector felt caught between worlds he could trust that Wynston would take him as he wanted to be. He had stood with him against all challengers, not just as a director but as a friend.

 

"Vector. Vector? Can you hear me? Vector?"

 

Vector didn't feel pain until hands started moving him. Then there was pain. His leg and side screamed at the forced movement, and didn't let up when he was allowed to rest.

 

"Bloody hell, Vector. Talk to me." Wynston's voice. Hands checked his chest, his nose, a quick run over and around his hair–

 

Vector made a strangled noise and curled when Wynston's fingers reached his wet scalp. Wynston swore quietly. "Lie back," he said, "we'll get this. Do you understand?"

 

"Yes," Vector creaked. He remembered the explosion. White hot. Streak of dissonance.

 

"Stars...yes. Stay with me. All right? I'm going to put a kolto pack on your head and then apply a shot that should reduce the swelling. Understand?"

 

"Yes." Vector slitted his eyes open and was greeted with a delirious mess of aura images, electrons and distorted blurs flying everywhere. Even the thought of reaching for the hive just then made his stomach turn. The loneliness of it was like being blinded. Wynston's presence eased it a little.

 

"Vector. Vector?"

 

"We are listening." He took a sharp breath when the cool kolto met his skin, but he stayed still.

 

"Good. This next step will have to go in your neck. Right–" he tapped – "here. It'll hurt a little. Take a deep breath, let it out, now just stay still, one, two, three."

 

The noise forced from his throat was only another strangled sound.

 

"There, that's your only needle today. You should find your head clearing soon. I'm going to patch up your leg next, all right? We'll have to move before long but I'll see that you're ready for it first. I need to move your knee up–" his hands guided Vector's bleeding leg up – "and just relax, this one's a simple cut. All right?"

 

"All right."

 

"Good." As Vector blinked and his vision cleared a little he saw Wynston unwinding a bandage to tie. Things were in fact hurting a little less.

 

"All right, now your side looks like a burn or abrasion, you must've been close to whatever it was when it went off. I'll just–" he cut off and tilted his head; while his hands worked he was clearly listening to something else. "Bloody sons of..." He finished opening a pack and raised a hand to his ear. "Acknowledged. Objective not reached, Vector's wounded, I'm cleaning, we'll be out as soon as possible, estimated return time six minutes. I won't let that patrol be an issue." Then, while his aura raged in an electric waterfall, he returned to work. "Vector, we're going to have to move as soon as I have this wrapped up. Do you think you can stand?"

 

"If we must, we will."

 

"That's the spirit." Wynston finished smoothing some fabric over the salve on Vector's side. "I won't pretend this part's easy, but–" he stood and stooped to take Vector's arm – "you only have to do it once." The force of his pull overcame the pain of Vector's movement, and then Vector was on his feet, gasping and looking around the ruined chamber.

 

Wynston scanned it, too. He had traded his med supplies for a blaster. "Let's move. If you don't think you can shoot straight don't try, just take cover. There's a patrol coming in the north hallway in another two minutes. Let's see if we can avoid meeting them."

 

Vector took a step, then another. His leg hurt but supported him. His head swam, but that probably wasn't the top priority. He tried a jog. "Easy," hissed Wynston, but the two of them did have to get out.

 

"Lead on," said Vector, "we are a little dizzy. But we can run."

 

"With me, then."

 

Wynston kept half a step ahead, doing his level best to look in every direction at once, blaster raised to follow his eyes. When Vector stumbled he was there in an instant, both supporting and pushing, letting him go only when his gait had evened out.

 

And they ran through the halls of the target's complex.

 

They passed down the patrol route's hallway unmolested. The side door whose security measures they had sliced was waiting for them. While alarms wailed all around, the door gave them a polite chime and let them out into the night.

 

The trash-disposal shuttle touched down on the tiny lawn between skyscrapers. The side door slid open and Agent Temple craned her head back from the pilot's seat, beckoning. Wynston and Vector climbed aboard.

 

"Vector! Are you all right?" Temple worked while she spoke, taking the shuttle back to the air.

 

"We will live," Vector said. "We will, however, go lie down for a while."

 

"Take us up," said Wynston. "I'll make sure he's in one piece." He shut the cockpit door and turned to Vector. "Do lie down." He pointed to one of the bench seats. "I'll get you some water."

 

"Yes, Doctor."

 

Wynston snorted at that and went on to the supply drawers. Vector got settled in place. He was starting to hear the Song again; it was gradually replacing the pain in his head. Meanwhile Wynston produced, not only a water bottle, but a blanket.

 

"Thank you," said Vector, tucking the blanket around himself.

 

"Any time. It should be just rest and anti-inflammatories from here, easy stuff."

 

"The mission. Whatever it was exploded before we could reach the main terminal..."

 

Wynston waved a hand. "We'll work around it. The important thing is that you got out."

 

"We do not like to leave a job unfinished."

 

"Sod the job." The ferocity in Wynston's voice surprised Vector as much as the words did. "We'll work around it after you've recovered."

 

"Wynston, you are…out of tune."

 

"And you're wounded on my watch. The two are most likely related." The shuttle whined and hummed, ever upward. Wynston sat opposite Vector and rested his forearms on his knees, slumping a little. "Vector..." Sparks burst around him, golden and urgent, though his voice was calm. "I have a worse history than you know with partners. I should probably have warned you of that two years ago, but I didn't think..." He started staring at the floor between them. "I didn't think you would last. So here we are." His folded hands were white-knuckled. "I've never had a brother. But if the paperwork for blood family ever came up again you know it's your identistamp I'd want to forge next to mine."

 

He meant it. Alone as he kept himself, he meant it. There was only one answer, and Vector was glad to give it. "You wouldn't have to forge it, Wynston. We would be there."

 

Wynston's answering smile was either self-deprecating or melancholy. "Thank you," he said. "Now…I'll be up with Temple if you need anything. Get some rest. You'll be all right."

 

 

 

 

Quinn didn't know Wynston well, nor did he care to. If the dissolute annoyance hadn't teamed up with him – against both their better judgments, allied only because of Ruth – for the small matter of saving the galaxy, Quinn would be long gone. As it was, few other career options compared to galaxy-saving. Besides, someone responsible should maintain some discipline in the idiot's venture.

 

However annoying the alien agent was, he was effective at his job, so long as his job didn't require sincerity or long-term reliability. That was the best that could be said of him.

 

"What the buggering hell is wrong with you, could you not maintain your famously flexible self-preservation tactics for two seconds while my back is turned..."

 

Pain pulsed through Quinn's body, rising to sharp bursts when someone took his shoulders to shift him on the ground. Below the howling agony of his chest there was a quiet pained report from his foot.

 

"Are you awake? You'd bloody better be. Can you hear me?" Hands checked his throat, his nose, a couple of ginger prods at his hair–

 

Quinn gasped and tensed, determined not to cry out when Wynston's fingers reached his bleeding hairline. "Hm," said Wynston. "Lie back. Are you even listening to me?"

 

Quinn gritted his teeth. "Yes."

 

"Bloody…finally. Hold still and whatever you do, don't scream."

 

Wynston wrapped something over Quinn's aching scalp, then withdrew his hands. Seconds later Wynston seized his neck and injected some enormous shot. Quinn gasped again; he refused to cry out. His head was too clouded to think of any good terms to describe his tormentor. "Who gave you your medical license, you ape?" he snapped.

 

"If you must know, I forged it, you snob. Relax your leg."

 

Quinn did so. He opened his eyes in a series of uneasy blinks; the Chiss was kneeling beside him, finishing with his foot, turning his attention to the searing chest wound.

 

"So what," said Wynston, breaking open a kolto pack, "did you decide it was tactically advisable to hug an ion grenade? Was that supposed to be your contribution to mission planning? I–" he cut off and tilted his head, listening. His face turned a paler shade of blue under the scars. "Something's moving out there. Be ready to walk."

 

Quinn struggled for a deeper breath. "I am ready."

 

"Right then." Wynston smoothed down the bandaging, then sprang to his feet, offered a hand, and glared. Quinn wouldn't give him the satisfaction of showing weakness; he sat up, the motion of his arms sending more pain roaring through his chest, and stood, stiffly, on his own.

 

He took a step on his good foot. Tapped on the other, to blinding pain. Took a good step. Decided it was enough to go on. He was a soldier. He'd had worse. Running would be a problem, but if it was a problem that could be suppressed, Quinn would keep going. The mission was lost but the retreat might yet be accomplished.

 

Wynston paced at his side, blaster ready, looking in every direction at once or trying. Quinn suspected that any sudden movement on his own part would set him off. But they made progress through the sterile corridors. Quinn tried to speed it up and instead stumbled and crashed to one knee. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself back up into a limping walk.

 

Wynston fell in beside him. "Lean on me." Quinn ignored him and limped on. "Lean on me, or so help me I will kick your foot out from under you and leave you here."

 

There wasn't time to object. He slung an arm over Wynston's shoulders and let the little Chiss take his weight for half a step. Wynston started forward so fast it almost threw Quinn off balance. Thus, at a lurching but gradually accelerating rate, they made their way to the sliced side door.

 

They had nearly reached it when a blaster barked down the cross hallway. Quinn staggered backward with Wynston and readied his blaster.

 

"Stay back," hissed Wynston.

 

"Not likely," returned Quinn. The Chiss was not his commander, nor would he ever be. While Wynston crouched at the hallway corner Quinn leaned over him. Together the two edged around to place shots. Quinn fired right, knowing Wynston would fire left. That pair of shots was all it took to disable the two guards pounding down the hallway.

 

Outside their speeder was waiting. Wynston hopped aboard and let Quinn climb on behind him. "Hold on," he said. "Never mind the mess, you won't be the first person to bleed on this jacket."

 

"Yet another mark against your medical skills," grumbled Quinn, sitting well clear of him in spite of the discomfort of holding himself upright.

 

"If you don't like my medical skills you're going to like my driving skills even less."

 

"Yes, I remember," he said, but his voice was drowned out by the shriek of Wynston overdriving the starter. The speeder sprang into motion before catching a smoother acceleration, and they were on their way.

 

Once in the safe house some klicks away Wynston broke out a bottle of water and some proper med supplies. Quinn accepted the water, then hobbled into the bedroom and sat back against the bed's headboard, picking at his tattered jacket. The pain was down, slightly. The situation was still far from ideal.

 

"That was a bloody mess," said Wynston when he walked in moments later. "What happened?"

 

"I don't know. I encountered a security patrol and succeeded in neutralizing them, or so I thought. Then something detonated, laid me out flat. That's all I know." He tugged gingerly at the edges of the bandages. "You caught some of my shirt under the chest pack," he informed the Chiss.

 

"I was in a hurry." Wynston tossed him the kolto gel.

 

"Careless work."

 

"I could've just left you, you know. Gone off, sliced that station we needed myself, and been out while security was still exclaiming over your bleeding-out carcass."

 

"Even you wouldn't waste a resource like that."

 

"Some resource. I've lost better partners than you and survived."

 

Quinn finished picking at his bandages and turned his glare on Wynston. "Likewise."

 

"Ah. Right. Maybe your terrible history balances my terrible history." That seemed to impress him in spite of himself; he looked away, his focus blurring. "Maybe..." he said softly. Quinn wondered what was going through his warped brain. But Wynston caught himself, took a sharp breath, and raised his head. "No, I'm still better. Rest up, we're leaving town before nightfall." He executed an about-face.

 

"I would have thought you would go find the slicing target instead of rescuing me," Quinn called after him.

 

"Would you rather I had?" said Wynston, without turning around.

 

"I believe the setback is not irreparable. In light of that, no, I wouldn't have favored dying."

 

"There it is, then."

 

"What I favor has historically had little or polar negative bearing on what you do. Besides which the mission was in the balance. It's not like you to ignore that."

 

Wynston angled his head, just enough for Quinn to catch the light of one red eye. "Don't make me say it, Quinn."

 

Quinn's gut curled into something unpleasant. Only the head wound could explain his curiosity outpacing his better judgment here, and yet he did wonder about the answer behind Wynston's cooperation. "Say what, exactly, agent?"

 

Wynston folded his hands behind his back and kept his head angled so Quinn could only see a corner of one eye. "You know that for a long time the only thing standing between you and the nearest airlock was the fact that if you died on my watch she would never forgive me. But since then…with what you and I have faced…you've earned a little consideration in your own right." He turned his head away again. "So rest up, recover. I'd hate to have wasted all this adrenaline. It's inefficient, and I think you of all people may dislike that as much as I do."

 

 

Edited August 9, 2013 by bright_ephemera

[bright_ephemera]

Sudden idea, had to dash it off. Oh, Well, That's Awkward: In Which Nalenne Has A Little Bit In Common With Her Sister.. No spoilers. 240 words.

 

 

 

Niselle stopped short when she saw Nalenne in the halls of Korriban Academy. "What is that?" she demanded.

 

Nalenne bobbed one hand. "A donut. Or were you referring to something else?"

 

Niselle pointed. "That."

 

"Oh, that!" Nalenne smiled. "This is Treek. I've contracted her for mayhem."

 

"Impossible." Niselle stepped aside to reveal her short fuzzy entourage. "This is Treek. I bought up her contract just yesterday."

 

Nalenne arched a brow. "That's…a bit disturbing, actually."

 

"Twins I'll buy," said Niselle, "but with the same name?"

 

"Twins? Never seen her before in my life," said the Ewok at Nalenne's side. "And I'm not Treek."

 

Nalenne did a double take. "Like hell you're not. Didn't you put that name on all the paperwork yesterday?"

 

"No. Treek."

 

"I'm not Treek," the other Ewok said indignantly.

 

"I'm Treek," said Nalenne's Ewok. "Slight difference in how you pronounce."

 

"But you answer to Treek!" yelled Nalenne.

 

"Humans mispronounce all the time," said Nalenne's Treek. Niselle's Treek nodded resigned agreement.

 

"My, my," drawled Niselle. "You can't even pronounce your underling's name."

 

"Neither can you," muttered Niselle's Treek.

 

"What was that?"

 

"I said can we go kill your enemies sometime soon? Are this hairless one and her overcompensation of a friend your enemies?"

 

Niselle sighed impatiently. "Yes. Technically. We try to keep the duels to after work hours. We do have a Council meeting to get to."

 

"Let's just do that." Nalenne crossed her arms. "And never speak of this again."

 

"Yes, let's."

 

 

[kabeone]

Replies

 

 

@all I take it we all don't like Isen? Eeeeexcellent.

 

A quick note that while it seems like it would be easy for Remi and Scourge to compare messages, they actually have no reason to. The content of the messages they received were altered in meaning (by removing words and context) but not a single word was added. Their assumptions are that the other is just misinterpreting their meaning but they'll never quote a message and have the other say "I never said that." They'll just say "that's not what I meant" which is different.

 

 

 

 

Comments

 

 

 

@sthrift I felt sorry for both Voslic and Dolstine, but I still giggled at Jorgan calling Voslic skipper (Also, about the fishing, poor Jorgan!)

 

@marissalf *shudder* raised by Kaliyo. That's... terrifying. I'm surprised Melodai turned out as well as she did.

“Oh Gault, I could kiss you!”

 

“So they have sucked out your brain then.”

haha Gault is perfect comic relief.

 

@Lesaberisa *giggles hysterically* Treek! Noooo. *giggles more* Knights of Passion *giggles*

 

If we ever do a crack fic prompt I suggest "The Fanfic The Companions Would Write About Our OCs Or Each Other"

 

@Caernos Yay! Thanks for unlurking and providing an awesome story/perspective. I too was a bit disappointed in how disconnected the Revanite chain was from the rest of the overall story line. Especially since Revan pops up everywhere (flashpoints, nar shaddaa, taris), you'd think his fan club would be more prominent. I like your solution with Marr, of all the Darths he the one most likely to have a long term plan.

 

@Striges Another WoW player here though I never participated in the forums.

 

@Adwynyth Treek/Food story... *VERY STERN FACE* No. *secretly dies laughing*

 

@frauzet My husband had the same response as Ciner regarding Treek for his SW. Though the Treek and Skadge combo do sound hilarious.

 

@bright It's not Treek... it's Treek. Treek.

 

Vector/Wynston + Wynston/Quinn Awesome parallels. Wynston's little admission at the end about Quinn was just.. d'aww.

"I've never had a brother. But if the paperwork for blood family ever came up again you know it's your identistamp I'd want to forge next to mine."

 

He meant it. Alone as he kept himself, he meant it. There was only one answer, and Vector was glad to give it. "You wouldn't have to forge it, Wynston. We would be there."

*sniffle* Yes, that's my formerly human now killik brother... yes I am chiss, what of it? We have the same Keeper.

 

"Ah. Right. Maybe your terrible history balances my terrible history." That seemed to impress him in spite of himself; he looked away, his focus blurring. "Maybe..." he said softly. Quinn wondered what was going through his warped brain. But Wynston caught himself, took a sharp breath, and raised his head. "No, I'm still better. Rest up, we're leaving town before nightfall." He executed an about-face.

An interesting thought that they both lose their partners and they cancel each other out. Wynston is still better. But he is chiss, so there's that. Unless they die together, proving their true love once and for all

 

 

 

 

De-Lurking Prompt kind of

Before this thread I never wrote fanfic (or anything besides technical manuals) and I never drew anything. I posted a few comments in the Story and Lore forum (about companion romances!) and followed the head-canon drabble thread here. I only intended to read things but I posted my first fic to try to parse out some reasoning behind the decisions made during the SW!Chapter 3 stuff. If you go back to the beginning of the thread you'll find a lot of people started here because of that.

 

Besides providing hours of entertainment, everyone here has been very positive, encouraging, and inspirational. (I think I've drawn more fanart of other people's OCs than I have of my own). Everyone brings a unique perspective about the game, the story, and its characters. No matter how many people write about them, everyone is different and it's wonderful to see. I'm very glad I de-lurked and if you're wondering if you should, the answer is YES.

[Adwynyth]

@Adwynyth, I was merely grinning broadly at Swaindrix and co. 'til this little exchange came up; I then lost it. Delightful piece through and through.

My work here is done.

 

@Adwynyth: Problem Skadge solved?

I wish. That's a problem that just keeps on giving.

 

“We found a few pirates, and…” Skadge paused to laugh out loud. “You should have seen her. You pick a group of runts and then you throw her smack in the middle of them. Well, maybe not you, you probably wouldn’t be able to throw her far enough. So, I throw her in the middle. Tell you she’s better than any grenade I’ve ever seen. The pirates had no idea what hit them. And she’s fairly good at patching you up after the fight, too. Right, Treek, we are a great team?”

 

“Better a black sun than none!” Treek yelled in Ewokese.

AAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAAH! Ewok-tossing!

 

“Do you see the Ewok over there? I hired her, and it just occurred to me, that she would be perfect for your crew. You mentioned once or twice you wanted to replace Quinn on the battlefield.”

YES! Anything to replace Quinn! I've even been tempted to use 2V to replace him!

 

@Adwynyth, This has my interest...

I thought it might.

 

I'm going on a cruise!

So, who's good with video? We need to make the SWTOR version of "I'm on a boat!"

 

Anyway, Allies/Brotherhood. No game spoilers. 1300 words each.

The first sounds cathartic. The second sounds....Quinnsgusting.

 

(Okay, maybe that word was a stretch, but I'm sure you know what I mean.)

 

"Oh, that!" Nalenne smiled. "This is Treek. I've contracted her for mayhem."

[...]

"Humans mispronounce all the time," said Nalenne's Treek. Niselle's Treek nodded resigned agreement.

 

"My, my," drawled Niselle. "You can't even pronounce your underling's name."

 

"Neither can you," muttered Niselle's Treek.

 

"What was that?"

 

"I said can we go kill your enemies sometime soon? Are this hairless one and her overcompensation of a friend your enemies?"

Bahahahahaha!

 

Anything that brings more Nalenne is a good thing.

 

@all I take it we all don't like Isen? Eeeeexcellent.

Let the hate flow through you...</Palpatine>

 

@Adwynyth Treek/Food story... *VERY STERN FACE* No. *secretly dies laughing*

Oh yes. A thousand times yes. And it shall get worse.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Adwynyth

[Adwynyth]

Something a little more serious. In several parts, to go with several different prompts.

 

Characters: Swaindrix (merc), Mako, Gault, and Torian

Timeline: Sometime between end of Taris and end of Belsavis

Location: Nar Shaddaa

Spoilers: Chapter 1 resolution

 

Prompt: Deadly Sins (pride/hubris)

 

Swaindrix was outnumbered, outgunned, and out-armored. He knew it, and Mako had warned him that he would be, but he had chosen to ignore her advice. At this point, the only thing he could do was keep fighting. He regretted putting Torian in this situation now, since it would probably get him killed right along with Swaindrix. The young Mandalorian had also warned Swaindrix about the idiotic odds they were facing, but Swaindrix was Grand Champion of the Great Hunt! There was no way he’d lose...was there?

 

It certainly looked a lot less rosy for the pair now, especially without Mako there to heal the worst of the wounds and provide some cover fire. She had opted out of combat for the first time in ages, and Swaindrix had dared question her commitment for having done so. Gault was gone on a mission to Dantooine, trying to line up some more ammo for them at a cut rate, so without Mako, it was just Swaindrix and Torian. Neither one of them had a shield generator, and they both were taking a lot of damage.

 

It wouldn’t have been so bad, except the Exchange base was designed in such a way to give any invading force no respite. There were no breaks between rooms or quiet hallways to rest in for a few moments and slap kolto on wounds. It was one long battle from the front door all the way to the office of the local boss, and they were nowhere near the end of their fight yet.

 

Torian went down after a particularly nasty barrage from the group of six heavy gunners in front of them, and for the first time ever, Swaindrix’s immediate burst of temper and adrenaline didn’t allow him to simply finish off the problem. Five minutes later, he was still standing...barely. Torian had managed to get a few kolto patches onto the worst of the wounds, but he was still very weak and fading.

 

Swaindrix’s wounds were not starting to pile up, and blood loss was taking its toll on him as well. Torian didn’t dare peek out from behind the pillar he was using for cover, or he’d be instantly cut down and do neither of them any good. So he’d had to stay behind it and literally try to throw kolto patches and packs at Swaindrix’s wounds. Less than one in five found its target.

 

To make matters worse, neither one of them carried kolto bombs or kolto missiles, since Mako was always around to heal them. Except this time.

 

Both of them were losing consciousness, not knowing whether they’d be alive for more than a few seconds. Swaindrix watched Torian’s eyes close just before his own shut down...

 

 

 

Prompt: Worst Day Ever

 

Swaindrix woke up, his eyes turning themselves back on in response to his returning consciousness. After a brief flash, his vision came back to show him...Mako’s face directly over his. She didn’t look happy.

 

“Well?” said an unfamiliar voice from behind her. “Your pretty boy is alive, and so is the cyborg. You get them when we get the money.”

 

“Yeah yeah, I know. One million for both, right here.”

 

“Two million.”

 

“What?!”

 

“One million each. They did a lot of damage to my operation here, girly. And I don’t much like your attitude, either. Careful before I decide that they did more damage.”

 

Mako’s face was frozen, caught between wanting to cuss this man out and put a blaster in is face, and wanting to cry and scream until she had no voice left. They didn’t have two million credits, unless...unless she borrowed against the ship. And this being Nar Shaddaa, that would be from the Hutts, whose language didn’t contain separate words for “business” and “extortion”. They’d likely never be able to pay such a loan back, and would lose the ship...or their lives.

 

Swaindrix knew their finances as well as she did, even as much as she accused him of not paying attention, and saw all of this cross her face as clearly as if she’d been narrating it. Without even waiting for her to ask for a second to talk to him, he looked up at her and nodded. They’d borrow against the ship.

 

Unless they got extremely lucky with a bounty in the next few weeks, they’d likely be making smuggling runs and “disavowed” bounty hits for years to come.

 

Mako arranged the whole thing, apparently over her Holonet implant, and handed the local Exchange boss...the one they’d been sent to kill...a credstick. He plugged it into two separate readers and double-checked the amount twice. “Okay. You just bought yourself two cut-rate stooges.” He gestured to his men to release the two men, and pulled back inside his base. Swaindrix only now noticed that they were out in front, outside the outermost doors.

 

Mako continued healing their wounds for a few minutes, until they both looked like they were walking kolto patches, but at least they could walk.

 

The trip back to the ship was awkward at best, hostile at worst. Mako wouldn’t say a word to either one of them, but reserved active hostility for Swaindrix. He couldn’t blame her. Not only did he not collect the bounty, he had cost them all the credits they had, plus put the ship in hock.

 

Swaindrix thought the biggest indignity was Mako having to sweet-talk the taxi driver into giving them a break on the fare. But then she asked him to hold up a second.

 

“Mako?” Swaindrix’s voice was still weak, but he was clearly confused.

 

“Have fun on the ship. I need time to think.” Her voice was flat, unemotional. “There’s enough food for a week in the galley, and plenty of supplies in the medbay." She began to walk back to the taxi and got on, not looking back.

 

Swaindrix limped after her as fast as he could, while Torian leaned on the ship’s hull, barely able to stand upright now that the stims were wearing off. “When will you be back?” Her expression didn’t move. “You will be back...right?”

 

Mako reached out and put her hand on his cheek. “Drix, you are the best bounty hunter I’ve ever met. You know your weapons, you know how to prepare, and you know how to judge the situation. Most important of all, you listen. I’d go with you anywhere.”

 

Swaindrix started to smile a little bit at that, but was dashed at her next words. She withdrew her hand and sat back in the taxi.

 

“But I don’t know who this new Grand Champion is, and I can’t follow him. He doesn’t know when he’s overmatched, and he doesn’t listen. He’s gonna get somebody killed, and I refuse to be there to watch.”

 

Mako tapped the driver on the shoulder and the speeder rose up gracefully from the platform and took off into Nar Shaddaa’s perpetual night. Swaindrix wasn’t physically capable of producing tears, and his spirit wouldn’t let him sob openly anyway.

 

But he easily imagined his heart laying on the taxi platform, cut in two. He just stood, stunned, until Torian worked up the energy to come lead him back into the ship.

 

 

 

Prompt: Turning Point or Family

 

Gault bounced up the ramp of the ship two days later. Everything was pretty much a mess, and med supplies and empty bottles of liquor were scattered all over, except for the crew bunk area that he shared with with young Mandalorian.

 

Torian was laying in his bunk when the Devaronian came up the short run of steps. It’s the first time he could ever recall him in the bunk other than sleeping. He looked like hell, and had kolto strapped to him in a few places. He should be in the medbay, but clearly wasn’t on the way there. Gault put two and two together and came up with five. “Hey.”

 

“Ner vod.” One wouldn’t expect a Mando to call him “brother”, and the two were the most unlikely of friends: their moral compasses pretty much point opposite directions. Torian was all about honor and battle and glory. Gault was about money and avoiding battle and getting something for nothing, then slinking back into the shadows before anyone was the wiser. But they both liked Swaindrix and Mako, and both appreciated the feeling of a contract finished and a job well done. They’d bonded over that, and as odd as it sounded, knew they could trust each other.

 

“Where’s Mako?”

 

“Left.”

 

Not “shopping” or “on a job” or “out”, but “left”. Not good. Gault knew he had to find Swaindrix and straighten things out, or the sweet niche he’d carved out for himself here would be gone and he’d be on the run again. Oh yeah, and others might care too. “What happened?”

 

Torian paused before he responded, not wanting to speak ill of his boss...the patriarch of this new little clan he’d become a part of. “Ego.”

 

He sighed. “Kark. I knew it’d happen eventually.” Gault put his equipment down on his bunk and hurried out of the small room.

 

He found Swaindrix in the cockpit, with the seat kicked back into a semi-reclining position, holding a bottle of Mantellian scotch. There were empty bottles of the same scattered all over the deck around him. He finally noticed his horned sniper in the doorway. “Gault, come have a drink with me.” He patted the co-pilot’s seat next to him and offered the almost-empty bottle. He was only wearing his boxers, and smelled like he hadn’t bathed in days.

 

“Sure, buddy.” He took the proffered bottle, found the cap and screwed it on -- egad, the cheap stuff; twist tops? -- and sat it far out of his boss’ reach. “Sorry about this.”

 

Swaindrix started to sit up, getting belligerent as he usually did when he was way too drunk. “Whaddaya doin’?” Gault could barely understand him.

 

First, he punched Swaindrix in the face as hard as he could, knocking him semiconscious. Then he fished out a hypo he always had with him, just in case, and jammed it into the hunter’s arm. Torian appeared at the door in a heartbeat. “What happened?”

 

“Emergency sober-up stim and a shot to the chops. Help me get him to the ‘fresher. This stink is making my horns curl up tighter.”

 

. . .

 

Three showers later, Swaindrix emerged looking miserable, but completely sober and no longer smelling like a distillery or a slaughterhouse, both of which came to mind before. “So what’s the point? Mako’s gone.”

 

“Force, you’re stupid.”

 

Torian froze, knowing how Swaindrix would usually react to something like that, and this time was no exception. His scowl deepened, and his hands balled into fists.

 

“Seriously? Did you think you could just jump into anything with no backup and come up smelling like roses? Everything we’ve done so far has worked because of careful planning, strategic savvy, tactical brilliance, and a lot of quality medical care.”

 

No fists so far. That’s a good sign, Torian thought to himself, bracing to restrain the smaller man in case things got ugly. He’s listening.

 

“Obviously, I can add something to the team, or you wouldn’t have brought me onboard instead of just shooting me and turning my real body in. And Torian is a machine; you just can’t get him to quit. He’s a Mandalorian, for space sake...of course he’s got a lot of value in our line of work. But neither of us is the reason why we succeed. And as good as you are, as mean as you are, and as good as your instincts are, there’s one reason why this team gets the job done time after time after time, and she’s been with you the longest.”

 

Swaindrix was calming down, getting miserable again, but thinking more than simply feeling. “Mako.” He’d already realized he couldn’t do without her, but hadn’t realized exactly for how many reasons that was true. And he had ignored her advice, insulted her abilities, and worst of all, laughed at her caution and wisdom. She was absolutely right. He had become a different person since winning the Great Hunt.

 

“I need to get dressed. I’ve got a holocall to make.”

 

Both men could tell that the old Swaindrix was back. Maybe everything would be okay after all. They left Swaindrix to go back to his quarters and get ready for the hardest conversation he would likely have.

 

The clank of glass bottles, a thud, and a string of Rodian curses from the fore part of the ship told them that wasn’t all. “And a kriffing mess to clean up.”

 

“Huh. I didn’t even know he spoke Rodian,” Gault deadpanned.

 

 

And I'm a bastard because I'm gonna make you wait for the last part of this one.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Adwynyth

[Caernos]

No new stories, just some replies. Thank you for the warm welcome everyone and to those who said I should write more, I will, if I can just pry myself away from the game long enough. All of my alt characters need attention.

 

I'll come back and do comments later, I promise.

 

 

 

@Adwynth. Lols at banishing thoughts. Can you summon up some brainstorming too? Asides from continuing to work on my OC stories, I have no idea what I'm going to do next.

 

@Lesaberisa. Thank you and hint noted.

 

@Striges. Thank you for the congrats.

 

@Alaurin. Thank you for the welcome, and I'm really glad to see that your daughter is doing much better.

 

@Bright. I suppose I should double thank you as your Lurker bit is what made me step out of my shell. So thank you for the prompt, and thank you for the comments.

 

@Frauzet. Thank you

 

@Marissalf. Thank you and I'm glad I "de-lurkified" as well.

 

@ Kabeone. Thank you for the welcome.

 

 

 

[irishfino]

Replies!

 

I hope I got everyone who left a comment for me. I had to travel through the pages a bit to find everything.

 

I sense this going many dark places (well, dark for Geltie anyway).

It has potential. I won't say much more than that.

 

@Irishfino,

 

Woo! Azasha shenanigans! This whole thing, I like it.[/Quote]

Azasha is quite fun. I ran the idea past a few friends and they just about died from laughter.

 

@Irish - speaking of something that is both intriguing and disturbing...Khem laughing:rak_02: Also

“Learn to stay in your own body.”

 

“I want you in my body.”

 

“No, you wanted to be in my body.”

 

How does Khem laugh, anyway? I always imagine his language is comprised of "Om nom nom" "Tulak Hord" and "Yn and Chabosh." Maybe I'm just weird. >.>

 

As for Gelt and Azasha, they have plenty more shenanigans to come. Once my brain lets me write them. <.<

 

@fino, your Inquisitor lineup is sick yet creative.

It's the best type of creative to be. Unless you're hurting people. Then it's not that great. But writing wise, it's awesome! [looks around; slinks off]

 

Replies

@irishfino: Azasha, the name is great!

Thank you! It was a bit of a whim decision, lol.

 

@Irish:

HAH!!

I loved it. Both you and Eupho managed to nail Zash down, and I hate to admit it, but I did like her as an NPC. The fact that she's in Ashara's body now is even better, and trying to put the moves on her former apprentice? Priceless.

I really like Zash personally, but Gelt saw her as a mother figure. Then she pulled her stunt and now lives in the body of a Togruta, lol. A Togruta Gelt didn't want on his ship to begin with, one he tried re-purpose for the Empire, and one who was really, really stubbornly annoying. Now Zash is in there hitting on him. He's going to go spare.

 

@Irishfino: Oo.....Azasha shenanigans!!!!!

I love shenanigans and hope to have more Azasha shenanigans in the future. Her existence amuses me.

 

 

Thanks for reading everyone!

Edited August 9, 2013 by irishfino

[Lesaberisa]

Replies

 

 

@Yoshi

@Lesaberisa....AGH! You killed Treek!

 

Your intro to Treek inspired me! If it makes you feel any better, my in-game Treek is alive and well and currently serving Malicineve as a throw rug.

 

@alaurin

Thanks! She got the permenant cast on this morning (not a pleasant experience) and is resting with our tablet watching Tinkerbell!

 

Yay! I had some leg/knee injuries when I was younger from sports so I definitely sympathize.

 

Ok, is it terrible that I giggled a little at your Treek stories....

 

Well they were meant to be darkly humorous. Who doesn't like a dead Ewok, am I right?

 

@Kabe

If we ever do a crack fic prompt I suggest "The Fanfic The Companions Would Write About Our OCs Or Each Other"

 

I'm particularly proud of 'Knights of Passion', it seemed so very Doc and yet on-point. As for a prompt...the possibilities are endless. Jorgan could write an Ayrs biography - "Pain in the Ayrse", Skadge could...well maybe it's best not to go there.

 

 

 

 

Comments

 

 

@Adwynyth

"I'm going to pick something at random..." He was eyeing the most expensive part of the menu.

 

"And then claim it has parasites in it and get it for free as usual?"

 

I really wish I didn't know someone who's pulled this (or tried to) a couple of times Swaindrix has good taste in food though, nerfburgers are Ayrs-approved. As for the more serious ones - they offer a great look/amount of insight into Swaindrix and his crew and how he actually does what he does.

 

@sthrift: I really liked that story, and I enjoy the interplay between Tanno and Aric. I'm changing Tanno a bit from in-game (once I get to him in my trooper story, I guess), but I think he could be a lot of fun.

 

@Frauzet: I liked your rundown of Treek meeting the crew, especially Gault and Skadge. The last couple of lines too...

 

@Bright: I enjoyed the contrasting feeling between Wynston/Vector and Wynston/Quinn - the warmth and camraderie of the former versus the...uh...Quinn-ness of the latter.

 

Oh, that!" Nalenne smiled. "This is Treek. I've contracted her for mayhem."

That's the motto I live my life by (when i'm not also mispronouncing things, of course).

 

 

One small story

 

Character(s): Amitia (JK), featuring Olympia (JC)

Prompt: Deadly Sins: Wrath

Notes: Operation Malpractice, Phase 2 begins (just for you marissalf!)

 

 

Things had settled somewhat after Pia had admitted her guilt and replaced the chocolate eggs she had stolen from me; I was happy about that, because it would have been fairly unpleasant to end our friendship, otherwise. Now, we could move forward into a better future filled with Game of Sith marathons with Scourge, no matter how creepy

Pia found him.

 

There was a loud splash from down the hall, as everyone's favorite egotistical medic lowered himself into his specially prepared bath.

 

Pia and I glanced towards the hall in unison as we heard his voice. "Hey, this water smells funny. Did someone mess with the fresher?" Doc's voice was nervous, but not completely unhinged. It was time to change that, so I leaned my chair back into the hallway to respond.

 

"Oh, I laced it with Nair before you got in, It must have slipped my mind."

 

 

And since i'm mostly posting for Veteran Writers (it's been three months since I started)

 

I'm another WoW transplant, although it seems like I was more active there than the others. I raided for threeish years on my paladin (Lesaberisa) and shaman (Veresia), and a bit on my priest (Minalissa)...you can probably guess where my TOR names come from . I also posted a lot on the Tanking forums about raiding and some theorycrafting, nothing storywise though.

 

TORwise, I started playing, stopped, restarted and...started to really love some of the characters, so I checked out the forum and eventually found my way here. Magadalane's consular stuff caught my eye (I always liked the consular story more than most so it was encouraging to see it represented), I saw Striges' more gritty take on the universe, which I liked and (of course) Bright's Vierce/Elara stories made me gush. A lot.

 

So I got started...with a couple of Ayrs stories that mostly make me cringe now, but people were supportive and I kept at it. Like a bunch of the other people have said, the environment is very friendly and accepting (even of my psychopathic, Ewok-murdering Sith Warrior), so it's fun...especially as a distraction from work (both writing and reading). It's still a learning process - how to give each character their own voice, trying to include quirks, keeping continuity in order, but I'm enjoying it a lot.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Lesaberisa

[kabeone]

Comments

 

 

@Adwynyth

And I'm a bastard because I'm gonna make you wait for the last part of this one.

 

Yeah you are. That was awesome though and a nice changeup that Swaindrix would be ransomed back for more than he could afford. Can't wait to see what happens next!

 

@Lesaberisa OUCH. I wonder if any of the nair got on his perfectly groomed mustache. Then again Nair baths might explain why all the companion dudes are perfectly man-scaped.

 

 

 

 

Story

Prompt: Turning Point

More Remi and Scourge ~1.2k words

 

 

Scourge cradled Remi in his arms. Like this, he could pretend that everything was right, but he knew it was an illusion. "How was your mission?" he ventured.

 

It took a while for her to answer. "Tedious mostly, they didn't know me and I'm not officially with the Jedi or the Republic anymore. I'm just some woman with a ship, hired by the Senate to render aid." She made a face. "At first I think they sent me on useless errands. Maybe they wanted me to see how terrible it was so I would run back to my bosses and get them real help. I won them over eventually but they wasted a lot of my time."

 

"Those fools have no idea what they were wasting." The thought of anyone mistreating her made him furious, but she sensed it and tensed in response. He berated himself internally for his lack of control and forced the emotions away. He traced the curve of her hip focusing on how good she felt in his arms. "Sometimes I think I am a fool too."

 

She tilted her head back. "Only sometimes?" He bared his teeth in response and she relaxed again. "When do you need to get back to work?"

 

"Not yet and not soon."

 

"You sure?"

 

"Yes," he said, “Unless you would like me to leave now that you have had your way with me.”

 

"Well," she said with mock reluctance, but wrapped her arm around his waist possessively. "You did approve those orders really quickly, you might have missed something important."

 

"Mundane supply requests for the front lines.” He would have a few choice words with Isen on what constituted a time sensitive order. “But now that you mention it, I might have approved another invasion of Coruscant."

 

She glanced up quickly to make sure he was not serious then smiled. "Make sure they get the lower levels this time, they need to just wipe out that place and start over." They both laughed a little then lapsed into silence.

 

"Why does it seem so different when we're apart?" She asked quietly.

 

He frowned, he did not think he was different when she was away, but the threads of miscommunication that hung between them were too messy to untangle and he did not want to start that argument again. "I wondered the same." He changed the subject, "When is your next mission?"

 

"Tomorrow." She said after a moment of hesitation, "More diplomacy stuff, no fighting, in theory."

 

He was shocked that she would leave so soon. "You only just arrived. You never took this many assignments before." It was impossible to keep the accusation out of his voice.

 

"I had Koa before, but now he's gone." She swallowed thickly, pausing to compose herself, when she spoke again her voice was devoid of emotion, "You have your work. I have to do what I can."

 

She pulled away then and slid out of the bed. He sat up, watching as she turned her back on him to get dressed. It never occurred to him that he could lose her this way. Not on the battlefield, or as the result of an argument, but slowly drifting apart until there was too much space between them for any kind of connection. A dozen thoughts flit through his head. Reminders of their promises, demands on behalf of their son, he cast them aside until all that remained was the question he had been too afraid to ask.

 

"If I asked you not to go, would you stay?" The question jolted her. She finished dressing and sat wearily on the edge of the bed. He had not noticed the shadows under her eyes or the lines of fatigue that creased her mouth. Her last mission had taken a toll on her and she had not cared for herself as she should. He moved next to her and took her hand. "Not just this time. Always."

 

Her shoulders sagged and she pulled away again, "Scourge, I can't-"

 

"I know what you are thinking and I know what you are trying to do." He said, refusing to let go. "You fear what the dark side will do to our son. You fear what he must become to rule an empire at war. You are unable to abandon your honor, yet you refuse to use your power for a decisive end. So you work to stop the fighting, as a neutral party, one mission at a time." He allowed the thought to sink in, "If anyone could be successful in that endeavor it would be you, but I believe your task is impossible."

 

Her face flushed, her mouth moved, but no words emerged. He pressed onward, “If it were merely you and I against all the galaxy, I would follow you wherever your heart would guide us. If that meant destroying the Empire and ending the Sith once and for all, I would. I would do anything to remain at your side.”

 

He cupped her face in his hands. “But it is not. We have a son and the mark of the ritual will follow him for the rest of his days. He must be prepared. He must have the resources to face whatever comes.” He brushed her cheek lightly with his thumb. “You are mortal, you cannot guard him forever. So we must give him the means and the training. Not only to fight, but to understand the methods of those who would seek to take what is his. If we do not, if I do not,” he choked as he forced himself to give voice to his worst fears, “then I will spend eternity knowing that I failed, I failed our son and I failed you, because I did not protect him.”

 

He searched for the words that would convince her to stay, but those words did not exist, so he begged instead. “You are right to worry about the man he might become, which is why I need you at my side. You gave up the Jedi for him, you gave up the Republic for me, but I must ask still more of you. Please, Remi, stay with me.”

 

For a moment her raw emotions washed over him and there was nothing but pain, fear, and despair. They faded as she struggled for control and his hope faded with them. He caressed her cheek a final time and kissed her forehead. He dressed quietly, determined not to be angry with her and turned to leave. He was almost at the door when he heard her voice.

 

"Scourge?" He turned back, she sat at the edge of the bed her eyes bright with tears. He waited. "Do I have to be a Sith?"

 

He crossed the room slowly and knelt at her feet. "Not if you do not wish to."

 

Tears slipped down her cheeks but she tried to smile, "Can I be a Darth?"

 

He drew her face to his and kissed away her tears, "Anything."

 

"Would I outrank you?"

 

He tackled her to the mattress and tried to growl but a laugh bubbled from his lips instead, "You already do."

 

 

Edited August 11, 2013 by kabeone

[bright_ephemera]

If we ever do a crack fic prompt I suggest "The Fanfic The Companions Would Write About Our OCs Or Each Other"

 

Added to the list.

 

@Adwynyth, loving the Swaindrix pieces. Every now and then the player character gets it wrong. Really wrong.

 

@Lesaberisa Yesss, Operation: Malpractice!

 

@kabeone Walking along with Scourge's reasoning is wrenching. Which just makes the resolution that much better.

 

Nice to hear about other writers' backgrounds, by the way. I played WoW for years, never roleplayed there except for a handful of RP character introductions I wrote to share with friends, plus a longish story to explain my retiring from the guild. At the time it didn't occur to me to call it fanfiction.

 

...Come to think of it, my original weakness probably came from tabletop roleplaying games in college and after. That's where the notion of going into a game with an honest-to-goodness character concept came from, and the habit of embellishing all in-game events with some in-character flair. I transferred those habits to WoW a little and to TOR a lot.

[bright_ephemera]

Week of 8/9/2013

Wishes - Wherever our characters go, whatever they do, it's likely they have an eye on something more. Some people keep their fondest wishes a secret; others announce it to the world. Some wish on a star, a falling leaf, a found coin, or other totems. Some find a way to make it happen, and some haven't quite reached it yet. Write about your character's wish. (Prompt courtesy of Eversteam.)

 

And, as ever,

Night of the Living Prompt: Keep on using any prompt you like! Check out the list at http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=5223753&postcount=1675.

This week's featured NotLP:

Mix It Up - For this challenge you can write anything you like. The catch? Someone else's character has to be in it along with yours. It can be your friend's or someone else in the thread as long as you have gotten their permission and as long as your story involves your character and another player character that you don't play - NPCs, companions, etc don't count. Get creative with this one and see what cool stuff you can come up with. We have some really talented minds in here and I'm sure people will come up with some awesome stories.

[DarthSillyMonkey]

First off, thanks for the support on Mako's characterization in the last story. I was worried I had screwed it up, but apparently, I worry too much!

 

Second. Wow. I tried to count all the stories I'd missed so far, and wound up breaking my calculator. Comments will be incoming sometimes this weekend. I've got a looooot of catching up to do.

 

And the Third part of the Drokk/Reaper story! (see what I did there? I lined it up so that... hey, wait! Come back!)

 

Prompt: Mirror, Mirror/Life and Death (sort of)/As Time Goes By

Title: Waking the Sleeping Reaper Pt.3 - When You Stare Into the Abyss..

Class: Bounty Hunter (Drokk) and some Agent (Fennrys)

Words: 4850'ish... I told you, I'm not well!

Timeframe: In between BH Ch.3 Corellia and End of BH Ch.3, and after this, and this

Spoilers: Some BH Ch.1 quests.

 

ALERTS: Some graphic violence, a wee bit of language, and some attempted crotch kicks (Stunt crotches were used. No actual crotches were kicked in the writing of this story)

 

Mando'a: Hut'uun = Coward, one of the worst Mandolorian insults

 

 

"It's.. It's not like you can just kill me!"

 

"Actually, it's a lot like that." Drokk punched his retractable gauntlet blade through the left side of the Republic Officer's neck. His blood sprayed outward like a blocked faucet. Drokk then turned to the right and pulled the blade through, decapitating him.

 

The head spun off a few feet to the side covering the wall in a spatter pattern.

 

That's the last of them. Feels good doesn't it? To cut lose like this again? Bringing sweet justice to those people who wronged you?

 

"No. This isn't me," Drokk said aloud, "but the Republic needs to get the message. They need to understand, there are consequences for involving my family. They need to fear the fallout of that. When that's done, the Reaper is done. I'm not that person anymore."

 

For that to happen, the Republic needed to remember what he was capable of. They needed a reason to fear again. To remember that when the Reaper comes calling, everyone leaves in a bodybag, there are no exceptions.

 

Those were the rules Drokk laid down for himself fifteen years ago, when he was the Reaper of Balmorra. To save his crew, his family, he would bind himself to those rules again.

 

This was the sixth safe house. There was only one more. He had hacked the list from the third safe house's computer.

 

Drokk was exhausted. It had been seven days since he handed his ring to Torian, and he had been going nonstop. He restocked at each safe house. Ammo, weapons, medpacks, adrenals, stims... definitely stims. Drokk was working off ten hours of sleep in the last six days.

 

Tomorrow he would finish this. Then he could go home. He could put the Reaper back in the cage...

 

If you want to, but you enjoy this. You fight hard to deny it, but this is who you are.

 

... if he didn't cross the threshold . Drokk was battling himself to maintain control.

And one can't deny who they are forever.

 

It was a battle he was afraid he might be losing.

 

*************************************************************************************************

 

Drokk held his blaster under the chin of the Republic officer. Highly decorated judging by the brass on his shoulder.

 

“Please… Please, I have a wife, a child in—“

 

“Don’t they all.” He pulled the trigger, the bolt charred a hole through his skull from his chin to his crown. The heat from the beam caused the officer’s eyeballs to explode in Drokk’s face.

 

Drokk ripped the man’s undershirt and used it to wipe his face. “Ugh. They never show that on the holos.” He said nonchalantly.

 

He put out his stealth probes just to make sure no one in the safe house was hiding. Everyone had to die. The message had to be sent.

 

He heard the ping from his comm unit. Someone was hidden behind the wall. Two someones. Hidden room. Clever.

 

Drokk blew a hole in the wall with a missile, rolled inside and up to one knee, blaster at the ready. As he took in the room, he noticed the overturned desk through the dust and heard someone whimpering.

 

He rose and walked over to the desk, moved it with one hand, his blaster in the other, ready to end whatever life someone was hoping to hang onto. His finger froze on the trigger.

 

The desk had hidden a woman. She was huddling with a child of… what, seven? Maybe eight? She had his head pulled into her chest and was trying not to cry.

 

Do it.

 

“Please… let my son go. Let him live, please.” The woman's voice shook.

 

No. they’ve seen you. You’ll have to kill them.

 

Drokk shook his head. Too many stims, too little sleep.

 

“Please, I’m begging you… Please…” The woman, now crying. He could smell the fear in her sweat.

 

When the Reaper comes calling, everyone leaves in bodybags. That’s the rule. You said so yourself.

 

“No... I don’t—“ Drokk said aloud.

 

You do. The Reaper of Balmorra kills women and children. No one is spared!

 

“I’m… I’m not the—“

 

Yes you are. You’ve done this before. Fifty children, Dor’zen village in the Balmorran plains. Took you less than five minutes.

 

“NO! That wasn’t… I didn’t…”

 

You DID! You’re called the Reaper of Balmorra for a reason! GUT THEM AND WATCH THEM BLEED ALREADY!

 

“RRRAAAAAHHHRRRGG!!” Drok screamed and punched himself in the face.

 

“Mooaaaaaammmm! I’m sca-*sniff*sca-*sniff*scared!” The boy sobbed into the woman’s chest.

 

“Oh Lords, please, I’m begging you, Please!! My boy…” tears streaked her face.

 

“SHUT UP!” Drokk roared. He popped his gauntlet blade and reached towards the crying woman.

 

She flinched and hugged her boy tight, which caused him to start crying even harder.

 

Drokk grabbed her dress and lifted it.

 

“NO! PLEASE!! Not in front of—“ She turned her head away, sobbing.

 

Drokk pushed the blade through the bottom of the dress roughly two inches from the end. He then cut a long strip of the cloth off, and retracted his blade.

 

Lady,” he said soft but sternly, “You need to get out of here before I change my mind.”

 

The woman turned her head slowly, in shock. The realization that she and her child had been spared whatever awful fate she had imagined slowly dawned on her face.

 

“What’s the kid’s name?” Drokk asked holding the strip of cloth up.

 

“uhm.. it’s.. it’s Brayden.”

 

“Brayden, huh?” Drokk exhaled hard as the memory hit him. “That’s a good name, kid. A brave name. Brayden, you need to look at me.”

 

Brayden shook his head. “Brayden, honey, l-look at the nice man. C’mon you can do it.”

 

Brayden slowly turned his head until he looked at Drokk with one eye, the other still buried in mother’s chest.

 

Drokk held up the strip of cloth. “Brayden, I need you to stick your head out for a minute. This is a magic cloth I got from a wise old Jawa on Tatooine. It will protect you and your mother, but I have to put it on and tie it for you.” Drokk’s voice was still stern, but not threatening.

 

Brayden nodded his head and stuck it out. Drokk tied the strip around Brayden’s eyes making a blindfold, and tied it tight.

 

“I… can’t suh-*sniff*-see sir…” Brayden said, still scared and confused.

 

“Brayden, did you know there are certain Jedi who can’t see either? They still use the force and protect people. This is one of their masks. If you peek or take it off, it won’t work. You have to keep it on until your mom takes it off, ok? Time to show your bravery, kid.”

 

Brayden shook his head, and slowly stood up, grabbing his mother’s hand.

 

Drokk, held out his hand and helped the bewildered lady to her feet. Then he leaned in and whispered into her ear...

 

“He doesn’t remove that blindfold until you’re far away from here, you hear me? You’ll understand as you walk him out. You never saw me, this never happened. You escaped on your own after I left. If I found out you told anyone -- and trust me, I’ll know-- I’m coming for you.”

 

“Now get out!” he hissed.

 

The woman picked up her son and quickly left.

 

Drokk rubbed his face. He turned to leave and noticed the mirrored surface of the wall. He was totally covered in blood and dirt, all streaked with sweat. His armor was dinged and scored. He looked every bit the part of a Reaper of Death.

 

You. Are. WEAK! Letting people live makes your message impotent! Your crew is doomed. The Republic knows you're weak, and they’ll never relent! Find her! Cut them down! The Reaper leaves no one alive!

 

Drokk looked into the mirror, into the eyes of the man staring back at him in disgust.

 

"I'M NOT THAT PERSON ANYMORE!!"

 

He fired a dart into the mirror, shattering it, and then looked around at the carnage he'd caused.

 

"... I'm not that person..."

 

*****************************************************************************************

 

The woman was almost clear of the safe house grounds when the Rattataki lady stepped out in front of her, knocking her to the ground.

 

"Here let me help you up." She held out her hand.

 

"Th--thank you..." The woman's motherly instincts were screaming at her, 'this person is NOT safe', but she had her son to think about. She reached up and took the white lady's hand.

 

The Rattataki smiled and then jerked the woman up with such force, she had to step past her . As she did so, the Rattataki lady stepped in, separating the woman from her son.

 

"Mom? MOMMY?!" The boy flung his hands out, reaching, searching... and found the Rattataki's inner thigh.

 

"Well, hello there little boy." The white lady looked down at the child and knelt. "Y'know, walking around with a blindfold, touching women in strange places will get you killed, even at your age. Let's take that off you."

 

"NO!" Brayden grabbed his blindfold. "I... I have to keep it on! It protects my mom! It won't work unless she takes it off when she's supposed to!"

 

"Well kid, I hate to break it to you, but that blindfold ain't protecting squat." The Rattataki grabbed the blindfold and ripped it off Brayden's head, knocking him down.

 

"Nooooo!" Brayden started crying, " My blindfold!"

 

Brayden's mother quickly came over and picked him up off the ground and held him close. "What do you want from us?!"

 

The Rattataki looked at the cloth and saw at the lady's dress. "Shaddup! Did you do this? Spin that stupid fairy tale so he wouldn't see the bodies?"

 

The lady's face betrayed a look of horror before she gained control, staring defiantly at the white, tattooed woman, face covered in piercings.

 

"Yeah, didn't think so." The Rattataki said smugly. "Hey Agent. It's Kaliyo. Yeah, I think our Reaper has a soft spot we can use..." She said staring at the blindfold.

 

************************************************************************************************

 

Drokk finished laying the charges. Once again, every wall would crumble except one. The one with the message.

 

As he walked out to the foyer of the building, he shook his head and squinted his eyes. He was looking at the entrance, where four wide doors used to be, before he blew them out as he stormed the place.

 

He was sure he'd seen movement. Could very well be the stims, but better to play it safe. He raised his gauntlet launcher as a rocket loaded.

 

*Clap*. * Clap*. * Clap*. A figure materialized, leaning on the door frame.

 

"You are as good as the files say, Reaper."

 

A female Chiss in an Imperial outfit, her black hair pulled back into a ponytail with bangs drap*ng down the right side of her face, stood up and started walking towards him slowly. From either side of the entrance behind her, a Rattataki female in patchwork heavy armor and a man dressed in what looked like Sith robes came into the room. The man's eyes were...

 

A joiner? Based on her outfit, she's got to be Intelligence. What's a Joiner doing with her?

 

The Rattataki looked Drokk up and down like she was scoping out a man at a bar. "Oooh, he's kind of hot in that 'I just killed and mutilated 12 people' kind of way, Agent. Should've said so before. This is my kind of--"

 

The Chiss spoke. "Enough Kaliyo. You can work your wiles on him later, that is if the Reaper here agrees to come with us?" She cocked and eyebrow to accentuate the question.

 

"I'm not him, and I don't work for Imperial Intelligence. Last time I did, I almost got killed and stiffed."

 

The agent looked amused, "You mean Capt. Medle on Dromand Kaas?" She inspected her fingernails. "Yes, well, the former Captain has been -- permanently demoted, let's call it -- for that little breach of etiquette. You wouldn't have to worry about that with me."

 

"The answer is still no. I'm not the Reaper. Now if you don't mind--"

 

"So, you didn't kill all these men, in what looks like extreme--"

 

"--and fun, Agent. Don't forget fun." Kaliyo chimed in.

 

The Agent shot the Rattataki a look. "Extreme and horrible ways? You didn't set the building to explode, all except for one wall that has 'Tell the truth, lying Jedi hut'uun and No family! ' scrawled in the blood of one of these poor Republic officers?"

 

Drokk gritted his teeth.

 

The Agent rubbed her chin as she paced. "Hmm, I was certain that that was the exact same MO of the Reaper of Balmorra. Are you sure that's not you? You aren't Percival Mayhew of the Imperially affiliated Balmorran village, Doernkirk? "

 

The Joiner stepped up. "Agent, provoking him may not be the most optimal way to bring him to your side. We believe you should let us try to speak with him."

 

Drokk's hand slowly moved towards his sidearm.

 

"No, Vector, I believe we've reached the point where we're through playing games." The agent said, a sinister smile spreading across her lips.

 

"Drokk'it, I want you to come work for me. One job, timeframe is as long as it takes... but I don't need the Grand Champion of the Great Hunt. I want the Reaper. The one that leaves no living thing standing, not the one that has a soft spot for children."

 

Drokk's eyes opened in surprise, and then narrowed in fury.

 

"You really should have killed them, you know." The Chiss woman raised her hands and shrugged. "A reputation is only good as long as a person stays consistent, after all.. and one simply must protect one's reputation in our line of work."

 

Drokk's hand slowly pulled out his pistol. He saw the Ratataki, Kaliyo, look at him and lick her lips, an excited gleam in her eye.

 

"Leave. Them. Out of this." He said through gritted teeth.

 

"No, I don't think so." The Chiss woman snapped. "You seem to lack the wit to play the game properly. Right now, you should be offering to work for me if I spare them, but seeing as you're inept, I believe a lesson is in order."

 

The Agent lifted her hand to her ear. "SCORPIO, terminate your targets with extreme prejudice, please."

 

Drokk's face contorted in rage as his blaster came up and fired. "YOU B*TCH! I'M GOING TO FRAGGING GUT YOU!!" He snarled.

 

The bolt dispersed on the Agent's personal ballistic field, as Kaliyo unholstered her weapon and jumped into the fray . "About damn time! DIBS ON THE HEAD!"

 

*************************************************************************************

 

Kaliyo and the bounty hunter were going at it like two wild Akk dogs fighting over a piece of meat.

 

"Agent," Vector asked, his eyes still on the fight, "I thought you left SCORPIO with Ensign Temple to prep the ship for a quick launch?"

 

"I did, Vector."

 

"Then why the subterfuge? We have something this Drokk'it person desires. We could have offered it to him before provoking him like this."

 

"Vector, you didn't read his file, did you?"

 

"No, Agent, we're afraid that we were detained by Dr. Lokin, who wanted to inquire about using the joining as a way to control rakghouls. We tried to decline, but he was quite insistent."

 

"If you had, you would know that Drokk'it despises Imperial Intelligence and refuses to work with us. Only when there is no other choice, and even then, on his terms."

 

The Agent sidestepped to dodge Kaliyo's flying body. "I need to show him he has no other choice. Now, go assist Kaliyo. We're on a timetable."

 

Vector sighed."Yes, Agent. We understand."

 

**************************************************************************************************

 

Drokk and Kaliyo had traded punches, blaster fire, an attempted kick to his crotch, before Drokk hit her with an explosive dart that tossed her across the room. This gave him enough time to jam an adrenal into his system.

 

Drokk noticed the Joiner the Chiss had called Vector, advancing towards him wielding an electrostaff.

 

Looks like that training with Torian is about to pay off. Drokk popped his retractable blade and hit Vector with his short range grapple, and pulled him in.

 

Vector quickly regained balance and blocked the blade going for his abdomen. He then raised his electrostaff using a horse rider grip, and clipped Drokk's chin with the middle of the staff.

 

Moving on instinct, Drokk fired a missile point blank into Vector's chest and sent him flying. The clip to the jaw stung more than it should have, and Drokk took a split second to regain his bearings.

 

Gotta be careful. That joining crap raised his body's combat potential. He's firing on all cylinders now.

 

He quickly jumped out of the way as Kaliyo jumped back into the melee, and swung a roundhouse at Drokk. He ducked under, came up spinning, smashing his elbow square in her face.

 

He then turned to find Vector... and was jumped from behind. Hands were clubbing him in the head, and scratching at his eyes.

 

Drokk gained control of one hand and turned to see Kaliyo, blood pouring from her smashed nose, teeth missing, and foaming at the mouth. Her eyes were wide with a mania Drokk had only seen in people hopped up on Deathshade spice.

 

Fragging b*itch! She's a freaking berserker! She's loving this!

 

Drokk used the arm he had control of to leverage Kaliyo over his shoulder. She rolled like a seasoned fighter and was up on her feet, laughing.

 

The end of an electrostaff caught him right in the gut. Drokk fell backwards and rolled onto his feet as Vector drove the staff down again. Drokk parried it and slashed at Vector's neck with his gauntlet blade.

 

Vector evaded being decapitated, but Drokk had managed to slice his chest and blood came out of the wound, covering his armored robes.

 

Drokk's shield generator fired up as Kaliyo charged in with a knife, another shot to his crotch , and an attempt to bite him. Drokk fired a concentrated flame burst at her and she backed off, but only to pull her blaster to light him up.

 

Drokk's shield went down and his armor absorbed some of the blaster damage, but before he could do anything, an electrostaff to the leg dropped him to his knee. Drokk now had an injured Vector on one side and a psychotic Rattataki on the other.

 

He fended off an attack from the joiner, but had to fall onto his back to avoid Kaliyo's blade. She fell on top of him, his hand blocking her blade, her hand blocking his.

 

Drokk took a chance and tried to locate Vector, and looked back at Kaliyo just in time to see her head dart towards his and kiss him, deeply. Drokk's mouth tasted her blood and saliva, as she pulled back and bit his lip hard.

 

He got his feet underneath her and launched her off of him, scrambling to his feet and spitting, wiping the blood from his lip, and spitting again. He saw Kaliyo get up as well. She started stalking him.

 

"I was right," Kaliyo said, "you really are my type of guy, Drokky-poo! I am SO turned on right now!" Her eyes were wild, her face covered in blood and an insane grin.

 

Drokk grabbed his last adrenal, injected it, and heard the tell tale sign of a stealth generator shutting off behind him.

 

"I think you've had enough fun. Time to put the giant down!" It was the Agent's voice

 

Drokk felt the blade slide into his side, expertly placed in between the plates in his armor, and felt his muscles seize as the electricity coursed through his body.

 

NO! I can't go down! Not now!

 

"GRRRRAAAA...." spittle was shooting out of his mouth as his body convulsed.

 

I.WON'T. GO. DO---

 

"GRAAAAAAAARGHHHHHH!!"

 

******************************************************************************

 

The Agent flew into the wall behind Drokk as he slammed into her with his arm. His strength had multiplied and he was flailing wildly now as the charge in the knife sputtered and died.

 

"K-K-KILL YOOOU AALLLL!!!" It was almost incoherent, this declaration of violence.

 

"Vector! He's going into a state of excited delirium! We have to incapacitate him! A tranq dart isn't safe at this point!"

 

"We have no choice! You have to risk it!" Vector dodged a fist as Drokk clumsily strode forward, swinging wildly.

 

Suddenly, a large, torso sized chunk of debris crashed into the side of Drokk, knocking him over. Kaliyo flew in behind it and dropped her knee into the back of Drokk's head.

 

"Kaliyo!! STAND DOWN!" The Agent screamed.

 

"What?! He's a tough boy! He can take it! Can't you Drokky-poo?! EH?!" Kaliyo was kicking Drokk in the head.

 

The Agent shot her with a tranq dart. Kaliyo looked over with a satisfied grin, and fell over Drokk's now inert body.

 

"Vector, call Temple. Tell her to meet us outside. The area in front of the building should be enough to land the Phantom. I need to try and stabilize Drokk'it. Chances are he's already in cardiac arrest and we'll need to get him into the med bay, quickly."

 

"Right away, Agent. Ensign Temple, did you copy that, over?.."

 

************************************************************************************

 

Drokk looked into the mirror as he leaned on the sink. The face that looked back was his, but it wasn't. Something about the eyes... the image spoke.

 

That was fun. We should go out and do it again. There's an entire order of Jedi we can make pay for what they did to us.

 

"No. I'm not that person anymore." Drokk spoke to the image.

 

Aren't you? What was your body count this week? 50? 60? We could've had two more if you hadn't let the woman and child go!

 

"I don't kill children! I've never killed children!"

 

Oh, but you have. Dor'zen village, remember?

 

"SHUT UP! YOU SHUT YOUR ROTTEN FRAGGIN MOUTH!"

 

Truth hurt? Admit it, the Reaper is who you are. It's why you became a Hunter.

 

"No! I became a hunter to--"

 

What? Atone? No, I think you did it so you could kill... and die. You have nothing to live for. The guilt eats at you daily. As the Reaper, you don't have to worry about either one.

 

"Being the Reaper caused all that! I had to let it go! Find a way out!"

 

A way out... HA! You almost went back to being the Reaper on Hutta. Poor Mrs. Yalt. You delivered her husband's head to her, in a bag.

 

"I had to! The contract called for--"

 

Uh huh. So what about Huttsbane? And who was that smuggler you busted out? Didn't you cut through his head to get that chip rather than bother with all those other prisoners?

 

"No.. it wasn't... it wasn't like that..." Drok hung his head. He felt sick.

 

If the little girl hadn't come along, you would've become the Reaper again. She held you back. Kept you from--

 

"NO! Mako saved me! Showed me a better way to--"

 

Atone? For the atrocities you've committed?! Not possible, you know that! You can't balance those scales, boy.

 

"I know. I KNOW THAT, DAMMIT!... I know that..."

 

Then why bother trying? Ditch the girl and the stooges! Go be what you were born to be! A thousand war torn worlds await!

 

"Just because I'll never balance, it doesn't mean I need to keep adding to it!" Drokk looked up at the image in the mirror in defiance. "Mako showed me I don't have to be something I hate."

What you hate is what you've beco--

 

"WRONG! Mako helped me become a better man than I was! I'll never be forgiven for what I've done, I know that, but I can make the best of what time I have left, help some people before--"

 

Before the Reaper comes calling. And I will always come calling, boy. I'm inside you and you rely on me too much to give me up completely.

 

"Maybe so, but I have someone to anchor me now. Keep me grounded and keep you locked up. I have a choice, and for her, I choose not to be held down by who I was. I choose not to be you."

 

The image turned and walked towards a door that had appeared behind it in the mirror. As it backed into to the doorway, it grinned an evil grin at Drokk.

 

You do for now, anyway. Be seeing you, boy. The image winked as the door closed, and chains snaked across it. A large padlock clicked.

 

"Not if I can help it, you won't."

 

****************************************************************************************************************

 

"I believe the subject is coming to, Agent. Should we not just terminate him and dump his flesh with the weekly waste? He will die eventually, and we waste resources on reviving him."

 

"No SCORPIO. We need him for this Op. Go and assist Ensign Temple, please. I need a moment alone with our Reaper."

 

Drokk's voice cracked. Damn, he was parched! "Don't... call me.. that. I'm not the Reaper... not anymore."

 

After his eyes adjusted to the light, he could see he was in a sterile room. He was strapped to a bed... and naked. The Chiss Agent sat on the side of the bed.

 

"Where *cough* are--"

 

"You? You're in the med bay of my ship. You were pumped so full of stims and adrenals, that when my stun blade went off, it caused a psychotic episode known as excited delirium. The resulting effect caused you to go into cardiac arrest."

 

A smug smile crossed the Chiss' face. "You owe me, Drokk'it. I saved your life."

 

Drokk closed his eyes. "Actually I was going to ask where my clothes were. The answer's still no."

 

"Oh, that was Kaliyo's doing. She seems quite taken with you. Normally, I would've let you die but I have need of your unique brand of... carnage."

 

"Lady, it's only two letters. What part of no do you not *cough* get?"

 

The Agent looked at Drokk in thought for a second. "If I remove your restraints, I trust we can agree that you're on a ship in the middle of space, with a hostile force that you can't hope to win against, and no weapons to fight with?"

 

"Sounds reasonable to me. Can I get a glass of water, Lady?"

 

"You may call me Fenn'rys, and yes, you can." She pushed a button on the bedside and the restraints unlocked.

 

"Thanks... still not working for Intelligence though." Drokk slowly got up. His joints and muscles were stiff. "How long was I out?"

 

"Two days." Fenn'rys handed him a water bottle.

 

"Ugh, feel like I was run over by a herd of Bantha." Drokk sipped the water.

 

"Well, you were clinically dead for about 30 seconds after all." Fennrys smiled. "Drokk'it, what if I told you that I could offer you something you've been looking for? Something important?"

 

"You got nothing I need, Agent."

 

"Probably not." Fenn'rys sighed. "Erasing all trace of you and your crew's involvement in your recent exploits and expunging any negative records in both the Empire and Republic was the best I could offer anyway."

 

Drokk's hand shot out to grab her and he almost passed out from the effort. "Are you...you serious? You can do that?"

 

Fenn'rys had nimbly danced out of his reach. "Drokk'it, you insult me. I'm an Imperial Intelligence Cipher Agent, sir. I can do any damn thing I want. "

 

"... Consider me hired. Tell me about the job."

 

"I don't want you, I want the Reaper of Balmorra."

 

"You can't have him, he don't exist anymore. I can do the job, as long as it doesn't involve civilians or kids. Those are my terms. Take it, or shoot me out the airlock."

 

She studied him for a few seconds. "You are every bit as stubborn as your file indicates. Very well, but the job is done exactly to my specifications, or you forfeit your payment. Those are my terms."

 

Drokk smiled, "Then we have ourselves a contract. What's the job? Oh, and can I get my gol damned clothes?!"

 

*******************************************************************************************************

 

THREE WEEKS LATER....

 

The large man walked through Rhu Caenus spaceport on Alderaan. He wore a smile on a face that sported a gunslinger style beard and tattoos covering his chin and parts of his head. His long black hair rested on the shoulders of his jacket, partially covered by the duffel bag he'd slung over his shoulder.

 

As he walked to the launch pad where his ship was, the man wasn't smiling because he was happy. Actually, he was very, very nervous. To be honest, he'd rather face every competitor of the Great Hunt, past and present, at once versus what was about to come.

 

He'd been away a lot longer than he had planned, and he hadn't left in the best of ways. There were going to be some very upset people he would have to answer to.

 

Especially his wife...

 

 

Notes:

 

Once again, thanks to my friend Shipwreck for being my editor on this!

 

Ok, the opening line is horribly plagiarized from a famous movie, but I had to use it.

 

Excited Delirium is an actual medical diagnosis (questionable, but real), and I decided to use it because it tends to happen when a person is exhibiting symptoms (anxiety, hallucinations, excessive drug use [usually stimulants]) and gets tased. It can be fatal as the subject usually goes into cardiac arrest. I fudged a bit because it usually happens to men who are consistent drug users, but it seemed cool to toss in since Drokk was exhibiting those symptoms.

 

Also, the "job" Drokk took from Agent Fenn'rys will be dealt with in another story later on... if you're good and eat all your vegetables.

 

Edited September 5, 2013 by DarthSillyMonkey

[DarthSillyMonkey]

I felt a tremor in the force.. as if a thousand stories had been written and I had yet to comment on them.

 

 

 

@Yoshi:

Dha sneered under his helmet. "So, a tame Skadge?" He looked at Torian again. "Do we need a tame Skadge?"

 

"Better than an un-tame Skadge," Torian said lightly.

And let the defiling of the monitor with fresh beverage commence! Nice intro for the teddy bear!

 

The banter back and forth between Scourge and Jasin is good! I like their dynamic.

 

@OneShot:

Oh and in regard to your low health … heck, you are a tank and should by now be accustomed to living on the 10% HP edge of life. Now suck it up and get back into the fight!

HAHAHAH! I have played mainly Tank/Tankish type chars all the way back to SWG/EQ2. The truth of this statement caused me to laugh for a full minute.

 

@Adwynyth:

"Nah. Skadge is too stupid too do any real damage, and she's holding back so she doesn't really hurt him. I think she's just trying to make him look stupid and teach him a lesson." Treek landed a shot to the crotch and then stood back while Skadge recovered, which just infuriated him even more. Swaindrix cringed. "Oooh, that had to hurt."

I am intrigued by your message and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Soooooo much Skadge hate. Always good when he gets the short end in my book.

 

"Then I'm not interested. This is nerf food. Nerfs are Swaindrix food. I eat nerfs, usually in burger form."

I knew I liked this Swaindrix guy!

 

And then he goes and gets a big head! I loved that it was Gault of all people who brings him out of the funk (literally as well, it seems) and gets him to own up. Nice!

 

@Kabeone:

"My wife has given me ten minutes, Isen. You have eight."

Nice! Always like to see the dirty rats get their plans interrupted. They're working so hard to make it work, but are getting sabotaged from the outside. Nice to see that things might be coming together for them now

 

@Sthrift: First off, your BH piece. Very nicely done. You never set out to have an adversarial relationship with your kin, but the consequences of action override familial bonds sometimes. Nicely captured in this piece.

 

“Tanno is going fishing.” He sat up after a minute. “I should probably go stop him before he kills someone.”

Ok, seriously, you people are going to owe me a new monitor if I keep spitting on it like this.

 

@Alaurin: Awww, who knew that under all that complaining and fur, Jorgen was a romantic at heart? And This:

Tanno promised to annoy Jorgan if it made her smile.

Cracked me up.

 

@Marissalf: BAM! And there it is. Man I feel for Melodai! I get the feeling that things won't end the way she's hoping. More spot on Gault action too! Love it!

 

@Caernos: Wow, for a first story, what a hell of a take! It actually makes a lot of sense (as others have commented) because you get built up on the importance of this movement... and then never hear from them again, even if you save them. I believe an idea has been born! Good job and keep 'em coming!

 

@Lesaberisa:

I watched "Treek" fly into space, cartwheeling its way to a painful death.

AH HAHAHAHAHA- *breathes* -HAHAHAHAHAH! Poor Vette. A million credits out the airlock.

 

And then the tie in! laughed loud at that!

 

And even louder at:

Kira was standing over the console with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow. "Knights of Passion - Ameesha and Kyra's Forbidden Love."

Lol, poor Doc! Creepy guy can't ever catch a break! (even if he does bring it on himself most of the time)

 

@Frauzet:

Thorns was speechless. Those two getting along too well, was a problem he hadn’t foreseen. He needed an immediate solution before it was too late to prevent a disaster.

HAHAHAH! Skadge getting along with ANYONE is a recipe for disaster! Loved it!

 

@Bright: As always, love the Wynston pieces. The Wynston/Quinn was my favorite out of this one though. Quinn can be such an aloof humorless *** sometimes. Nice to see that he has someone else in his corner... even if he doesn't like him.

 

And the Sister piece was priceless. Sooooo many Treeks running around now.