Sith Business

Blog dedicated to my SWTOR Sith Inquisitor OC, Kairn Kallig… and the occasional shitpost. Ao3: Stargazer_Sith

[stargazersith]

Menace on the streets and menace in the sheets.

[stargazersith]

Chapter 9 - The Sith and the Spy

Small excerpt from new chapter of my fic 'The Sith and the Spy'

A few bright snaps of lightning cracked above the chasm, its light leaking through the stone. With each clap of light the creature hissed. Theron only caught flashes of its black hulking body, unable to get a proper grasp of its size, but he was quickly learning one of its weaknesses - it hated light. Running for the lever he pulled it the other way and the grates underneath him closed up. The monster didn’t shift, but the ceiling above him groaned, dust billowing down as stones started to rumble. Quickly he pulled the lever back before the ceiling collapsed on him.  

Damn it! He needed a light source. 

“Are you trying to kill me?!”

That was Nox, shouting from above, her voice rough from her agonised screaming. She must’ve heard (and felt) the commotion. 

He yelled as loudly as he could, “Help!”

“Help yourself.”

Great, she was just about as helpful as he’d expected. 

“I can make your floors cave in again, just as easily.”

“You’re not in a position to threaten me, boy.”

She was right, caving in the ceiling had as much chance of killing him as it did anything else. But he was beyond the point of caring. 

“Try me!”

Silence. The creature roared. He ran into a corner so as not to get slapped.

Eventually she answered, “What do you need?”

“A light source. Anything.”

For a few long minutes nothing happened. He was convinced she’d ran off and left him for dead without so much as a thought. He wouldn’t blame her, even if he did curse her for it. 

But then he saw something flicker in the darkness. A light, a fire, a streak of orange and red. She'd dropped something from a gap up top. It fell through the pitch black of the chasm like a fallen star. It was almost too painful to look at, but he ran for it until his lungs burned. It was strange the way the flames flickered but never went out as it fell. The creature continued to screech, louder and louder as the light got closer. Theron caught it and hissed as it burned his hand before he reorientated what he quickly realised was a wooden torch. The handle was drenched in blood. His stomach dropped. Everything about this was unnerving. 

[stargazersith]

Theron and Nox argue over Sith temples

Excerpt from 'The Sith and the Spy' - Chapter 8: Into the Maw

Nox noticed his hesitation, “The darkness doesn’t bite. Oh wait, this is a Sith temple. It very well might.”

“You’re not funny Sith.”

She rolled onto her feet and stood by his side, “I’m hilarious, but that’s besides the point. I’m also an expert on Sith temples and tombs. I can help you navigate this.”

“You can?”

Maybe without the cuffs, but with them on, she and by extension he, was hindered. Too bad they were also the only thing keeping him alive. 

She remained determined however, “I can help sense things out. I know the sorts of traps they have in these structures. When you’ve seen a few, you’ve seen them all.”

“That’s not entirely comforting.”

“Comfort is not my problem. Take off your shoes.”

He side-eyed her, “What?”

How could that possibly help anything?

“We are walking into darkness, we’ll not have sight to guide us. That means we use every other sense available. Touch is very powerful in these circumstances. You can feel through your hands…and through your feet.”

“Is this what they teach you in Sith school?”

Her voice was distant, “Not quite.”

He remembered the helmet she wore on the Doombringer, that solid sheet of metal wrapped around her head with no visibility. Was that what she meant when she talked about using your other senses?

“I don’t know, surely there’s some gnarly stuff I can step on in there. Poisonous snakes, toxic arachnids, venomous bats…”

She didn’t seem frightened by any of that. In one swift movement she kicked off her own boots and waited for him to do the same. Fine. If she was going to go bootless, so would he. He took off his own boots, and not wanting to leave them behind, he tucked them into his belt.

When she was satisfied she nodded into the darkness, “After you.”

“You’re the expert, why don’t you go in first?”

She frowned, “You’ve tied my hands behind my back, I’ll only be fodder.” 

“And that’s a problem because…?”

He only had a second to register her deadpan stare before she kicked him into the darkness, “Get in there, stay ahead and listen to everything I say.”

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[stargazersith]

The Sith and the Spy - Chapter 7 (short excerpt)

Nox forced her way through the undergrowth, following the spy as he marched on ahead. Every now and then he’d look back at her, making sure she was just behind him. They’d been out there for almost an hour and they hadn’t heard a thing since they’d left camp. Visibility was poor through the thick fog blanketing them. Every few minutes the spy would call out the Jedi’s names and her headache would reach new skull splitting heights. She desperately wanted to shut him up forever. 

After the twentieth time hearing him call out their names Nox scowled, “Perhaps they’re both dead.”

Oh, she sure hoped they were. It would certainly explain why they weren’t responding to his incessant calling.

He sighed, “And how would you know?”

“My desires whisper to me.”

He rolled his eyes, “My fault for asking.”

___

Want to know what the hell is going on? Read more here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73954831/chapters/192915106

[stargazersith]

Unfortunately for Major Anri, my SI shares the same mental illness as Talos Drellik which is to meddle with ancient shit that really shouldn’t be meddled with just to sate their curiosity (responsibility of a commander be damned), and she really harshed their vibe when she shot that droid.

[pentacass]

it amuses me so much that, in the final showdown, thanaton's last ditch attack against the SI is a lightning storm. lightning. against someone who's been shocked, zapped, electrocuted allll the way from korriban to corellia. they can't take a handful of steps without getting shockt in some way. they're a sentient lightning rod. of course thanaton's attack doesn't work. it's like using thunder against a pikachu. ghosts notwithstanding

[stargazersith]

Theron Shan hanging out in Coruscant's seedy underbelly

Theron Shan cursed his luck. Hanging out in the seedy underbelly of Coruscant wasn’t new to him, but the tightening security measures for what could only be described as a hole in the wall dump was. They’d taken his new audio kit, belt, bracers, blasters and they likely would’ve tried to take his cybernetic implants too if that had been possible without surgery. He’d bought a drink with the spare credits he’d stuffed into his back pockets and tried to look like he was mingling with some of the interesting characters at the bar before he slunk away into a back corridor. Two female twi’lek dancers were pawing at each other, making out sloppily, tongues down each other's throats and far too lust-stricken to notice him slip by. He held his breath and turned a corner as he reached the door at the end of the corridor. He heard talking behind the door, but couldn’t make out any particulars. Damn it! This is why he’d wanted to try out his new audio kit. He’d just have to improvise. He scanned his surroundings - luckily nobody else was around. He tossed the rest of his drink over his shoulder and pressed the empty glass tumbler to the door. It was primitive but effective. He could hear the murmur of actual words now. 

He heard Huttese spoken by a man of indeterminate age and species. Whoever they were they certainly weren’t a Hutt, they lacked their distinctive rumble. They spoke of the weather and another quieter voice replied, one that Theron couldn’t make out completely. He sighed, the glass could only do so much but it was as good as he was going to get. The conversation continued, just boring small talk that circled around nothing in particular for a good 7 minutes. Eventually Theron started to wonder if he was even in the right place. He eyed the chrono on his wrist. The longer he stayed back there, the more likely it was he’d get caught. He was about to cut his losses and leave when he heard something promising - a date and time. He closed his eyes and pushed his ear further into the glass as if that would somehow help him hear better. He caught the end of another sentence. “-meet at the Justicar Sector.” The voices became indistinguishable for a moment as they seemed to whisper something amongst themselves and then he heard, “- we expect cash on the day. No credit transfers.” The scraping of chairs on the floor broke him out of his position near the door. He needed to get out of there quickly. 

Just as he stood up straight, one of the dancers who'd been engaged in the make out session from earlier spotted him. She coughed loudly, “What are you doing here?”

It was time to put on his best act. He wobbled on his feet and drooped forward like he could barely walk, “I waaas looking for the ref-,” he hiccuped, “refresher.”

She frowned at him silently, clearly still suspicious of him. She sniffed disapprovingly, “Well you shouldn’t be back here. It’s off limits to customers.”

He smiled wide, all teeth and cheesy grin, “I thouuught it was down-,” another hiccup, “-here.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled him by the collar of his jacket back down the corridor and out into the main bar. “Stay out! If I see your ugly mug again it’ll be security giving you the boot out of here.”

He gave her a lopsided salute, “Yes ma’am.”

She tutted and marched down into the back corridors, and Theron finally let his act down. He’d gotten what he’d come here for- mostly. He just needed to find the stuff they’d confiscated from him and get out of here. He didn’t want to smell the lingering stench of death sticks and spice for a moment longer than he needed to. 

----

A short excerpt from my new fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73954831/chapters/192915106

[stargazersith]

So like fun fact for anyone who’s not read Theron’s extended materials but he has a Dark Council Lord kill count of two. First was Darth Mekhis when he blew up her superweapon generating sun station. She’s the mastermind behind a bunch of superweapons including the Gauntlet and Silencer that show up in game. She also creates the Ascendant Spear, a ship another Dark Council Lord, Darth Karrid, can interface with and wield like a weapon. Theron blows that up too, along with her.

So that’s two Dark Council Lords, both women, both heads of the sphere of technology, dead by his hands.

And guess what the inquisitor has…a superweapon… designed by Darth Mekhis…that the SI develops with the help of Moff Pyron… before they ascend to the Dark Council.

In an alternate swtor canon I think Theron might’ve attempted kill count number three on the SI, especially with the isotope 5 powered Silencers coming into play.

Which is exactly the plot of my fic, would you look at that. Check it out here on Ao3 if you’re interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73954831/chapters/192915106

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 2 will be out very soon, closely followed by chapter 3. In the meantime there’s 15k words already published :)

[herssian]

obsessed with the difference in lana and theron's romances being that lana's is very 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞, 𝐎𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐈𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐔𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐎𝐝𝐝𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐔𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, and theron's is "if we both annoy the shit out of each other in the right frequency, it will hopefully nullify our respective mental illnesses"

[stargazersith]

Non canon dialogue between my Nox and Theron during the Nathema conspiracy:

Her eyes flashed, her voice pointed towards him like a knife, “You’re a liar.”

He knew his words were the worst thing he could say in the moment before he even said them. That hadn’t stopped him from throwing it back however, “You lie too.”

She shook her head, taking several steps back from him. With each step and word he could feel the distance between them expanding, “No, no, no, I am openly cruel.”

When she looked at him he saw her eyes break through her anger into something so much worse, “You’re cruel in secret. You terrify me…and what are you? Just a man with no power. I am power. I am the wind and the charge in the air. Who are you to terrify me?”

He didn’t know. He didn’t know what to say. Was he not a professional liar? Had he not lied point blank to her face? Repeatedly?

She spit her words out like poison, her finger pointed at him, “You are nothing.”

Yes, yes he was.

And then she turned away, her voice a shadow of itself, “And you are everything.”

Heartbreak. That’s what her tone had been. Heartbreak.

And he’d been the cause.

[stargazersith]

Me trying to work out where all SIS buildings on Coruscant are located in relation to each other and where everyone's office is.

[systemic-dreams]

Star Wars Swearing and Expletives

Look what I found at Thought Co

Can we all just appreciate how many swear words Timothy Zahn gave Star Wars? That man is a kriffin’ legend.

F-WORD SUBSTITUTES IN STAR WARS

In general, words that start with a “K” or hard “C” sound take the place of the F-word and similar sounding euphemisms in English.

Crink/crinking was a common swear for pirates in the Outer Rim. It first appears in “Allegiance” by Timothy Zahn.

Farkled is an adjectival F-word euphemism, used in such contexts as “the engine’s farkled” or “we got farkled in that deal.”

Kark/karking, a Huttese expletive, appears frequently in “Star Wars: Legacy.”

Kriff/kriffing has a similar meaning, although from context it does not appear to be quite as strong a curse. It first appears in Timothy Zahn’s “Hand of Thrawn” duology, and probably comes from a simple rearrangement of the letters in “fricking,” a euphemism for the F-word.

Krong is another swear from the Outer Rim pirates. It doesn’t appear to have an adjectival form, but the verb is used in such sentences as “don’t krong things up.”

Skrog/skrogging appears in “Star Wars: Legacy” and appears to be of human origin.

Snark/snarking was used by bounty hunters in the Legacy era.

It has no relation to the English word “snarky,” meaning “snide” or “sarcastic.”

S-WORD SUBSTITUTES

Druk is an alien word for excrement and seems roughly equivalent to the S-word. It appears in phrases such as “a drukload of problems.”

Dwang is a euphemism for excrement used by Clone Troopers during the Clone Wars. It appears in “Republic Commando: Triple Zero” by Karen Traviss.

Holy Sith! is used humorously as a euphemism for its English anagram. (It also appears in a “Futurama” episode.)

Shab is a Mandalorian word for excrement which appears in “Republic Commando: Order 66” by Karen Traviss. Shabuir is an insult derived from the word “shab.”

Shavit originates on the planet Pakrik Minor and first appears in “Vision of the Future” by Timothy Zahn. While its exact definition is not stated, we can infer from the similarity to the S-word that it has a similar meaning.

INSULTS IN THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE

Bantha poodoo, a Huttese phrase meaning “Bantha fodder,” first appears in “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” as an insult spoken by Jabba the Hutt. While the word “poodoo” sounds like it should translate to a similar-sounding word in English, the EU clarifies the phrase’s meaning: Bantha fodder (i.e., food for Banthas) looks and smells disgusting.

E chu ta is another Huttese expletive. It first appears in “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back;” although its meaning is not defined, C-3PO exclaims, “How rude!” upon hearing it. It appears to be a particularly insulting and vulgar expression and is commonly used in “Star Wars: Legacy.”

Hutt-spawn is an insulting phrase for everyone except Hutts, of course. It appears in “Knights of the Old Republic.”

Laserbrain suggests that someone is stupid, crazy, or delusional, as in “I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser brain” (Princess Leia to Han Solo in “The Empire Strikes Back”). Blaster-brained has a similar meaning.

Lurdo is a childish Ewokese insult, roughly equivalent to “dummy.” It appears in the “Ewoks” animated series.

Nerf herder is an insult because shepherds who raised nerfs - buffalo-like animals native to Alderaan and raised for their meat - were generally scruffy-looking and smelled bad.

Leia throws this insult at Han in “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Schutta is a Twi'lek insult referring to women, roughly equivalent to “slut.” Its name derives from a weasel-like creature native to Ryloth, the Twi'lek home planet.

Sculag is a Chiss term referring to someone who is weak-minded. It appears in “Legacy of the Force: Inferno” by Troy Denning.

Sleemo is a Huttese insult which sounds like its English equivalent, “slimeball.” It appears several times in “Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”

Son of a blaster is a rather silly-sounding Star Wars substitute for “son of a gun,” which is itself a euphemism for a more explicit insult.

Stoopa (sometimes spelled stupa) is a Huttese noun for a foolish or stupid person.

Vong is a grave insult among the Yuuzhan Vong, implying that someone has lost the favor of Yun-Yuuzhan, the creator god.

GENERAL EXPLETIVES

Chuba (sometimes spelled chubba) is the Huttese word for “you” or “your.” When used as an expletive, however, it can express surprise (“What the chubba is that?”) or imply that someone is untrustworthy.

Frizz/frizzled was a common swear among smugglers in the Old Republic. It first appears in “Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader” by James Luceno.

Shebs is a Mandalorian swear meaning “buttocks.” It appears in “Republic Commando: Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss.

Sithspit is a common curse in all eras of the Star Wars universe, used to express surprise, anger, or other strong emotions. A related curse, sithspawn, refers to creatures genetically engineered by the Sith. Both swears originated on Corellia.

Vape/vaping is a mild expletive originating from Alderaan, roughly equivalent to “damn.” Varp is probably a related expletive, used in phrases such as “What the varp!”

[stargazersith]

Darth Nox vs the Dark Council

Darth Ravage noticed Nox’s disdain and zeroed in on her, “I see you’ve finally joined us in the present Nox. What’s the matter, distracted by your new friend last night?”

She smiled tightly. In theory Ravage taunting her about the assassin would incriminate him but news of last night’s escapade had quickly spread within the council. She had been out in public in only her sleepwear after all. 

Darth Mortis stirred from his shadowy corner of the hall, his tone his usual mock politeness laced with condescension, “Yes Nox, you should really reinforce your security, we wouldn’t want to see you murdered in cold blood. I have some men you can borrow for the job if you’d like?”

“I believe my own people can handle it but thank you for the offer.”

Ravage chuckled beside her, “Are you sure it wasn’t your own people that set you up? I hear you've recently installed an upgrade. Didn’t work out for you, did it?”

They were speaking to her like she was a child. She was the only young woman on the council currently- and the only one to have lasted more than a few months. They’d never let her forget that, or her supposed inferiority, her dirty blood, tainted by generations of slavery. 

Her voice was firm, as it had to be when her authority was being questioned, “All avenues are being explored as we speak. We will find the mastermind behind this attempt and I will deal with them as I see fit. You know I’m not one to leave any stone unturned.”

Darth Marr’s voice rumbled from his mask as he sat at the head of the hall. He may have officially refused to become emperor but that hadn’t stopped him from becoming the de facto leader of the Council and Empire - he was after all the only Sith who commanded enough authority to keep the Empire, and more crucially, the Council together.

“I’m sure Nox has a handle on her affairs. The far greater issue remains of this bout of revolt from our colonies. We cannot allow this to continue for much longer.”

Ravage sighed like the answer was obvious, “Pick a planet and torch it to the ground. That’ll teach the rest of them to be quiet.”

Nox wasn’t surprised. Ravage had all the subtlety and wit of a foul smelling nerf in a perfumery. He would have the whole Empire burn just to feel its heat. 

“Ah, extraordinary idea Ravage. Let’s burn our own supply chains and waste fuel on a ‘lesson’ that would only fan the flames for further dissent.”

She knew from experience, hate had no bounds. The more her old master had tightened her leash, the more she’d plotted his demise. Now it was her who sat on the Dark Council whilst he lay dead and cold in the ground. If they weren’t careful the Empire would share the same fate.

“And what would your plan be? Make merry with the aliens? Give them our women and our children? You’d have them destroy us.”

“I’d have them reinforce our strength.”

Darth Vowrawn, who usually quietly observed from his corner and only interjected to inflame situations he found funny, interrupted their argument, “Are those our only two options? Destroy them or make them our equals?”

____

Excerpt from the first chapter of my fic. Read more here - https://archiveofourown.org/works/73954831/chapters/192915106

[mia-n-ceetee]

Changing the relationship status to "Stalemate"

[mia-n-ceetee]

Changing the relationship status to "Uneasy truce"

[mia-n-ceetee]

Changing the relationship status to "Mutually assured destruction"

[jjoelswatch]

reading star wars: the old republic - the lost suns, and i'm being reminded at every turn why theron shan is the ideal "canon" romance partner for like, half of my OCs, but why i'm most fond of pairing him off with my darth nox.

[stargazersith]

Theron Shan vs Darth Nox

I'm writing a post-makeb alternate storyline where Theron and Darth Nox meet when he's infiltrating and messing up her new isotope-5 powered Silencer, and they HAAAATE each other and its great because she has all the powers he'd wanted as a child, but even with all these powers she was a miserable child slave who's making it everyone's problem now, and lets just say they have a lot to learn from each other.

[stargazersith]

Theron under cover on Ziost

This is a segment of a future chapter for my long form fic on Ao3. Read the beginning of it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73954831/chapters/192915106

3 days before Operation Silence - Ziost - New Adasta 

The handy thing about Imperials was that you could always trust them to be bigoted. Well… some of them at least. Theron scratched at his collar as he pulled out a lit smokestick from between his lips and blew smoke out the corner of his mouth. He took a long look at the cards in front of him and sighed deeply. He threw them face up onto the table, “I fold.”

The Imperial officer at the other end of their dinky, little table laughed. It was a deep throated ugly sound, like a goat getting murdered.

“I knew you’d fold. You had that look in your eyes.”

Theron only shrugged as he took another drag of his smokestick.

The officer eyed him, his flabby round cheeks red from his excessive good humour, in stark contrast to his pale, blue eyes that held nothing but contempt for everything and everyone. He was a hateful little man that only took joy in smoking, drinking and gambling away all his credits and who filled whatever was left of his sad, little life with a burning hatred for the Republic and its tolerance of so-called ‘lesser beings’. In other words he was the very thing Theron despised most. Luckily they didn’t need to be friends for this to work.

The officer, a Lieutenant Brauker as he was called, started shuffling Theron’s credit stacks towards his half of the table. He mumbled his words out through the edge of his mouth that wasn’t filled with cigarettes, “Why do you even want this gig anyways?”

Theron rolled his shoulders back lazily and pretended to think about it, “I’m bored I guess. Heard Nox was testing something out. I wanted to see it for myself.”

“Heh. I wouldn’t get my hopes up. That’s just a rumour. Couldn’t care less about that sort of junk anyway, not when she’s got all those aliens infecting the ship.”

Theron didn’t bother replying to that.

“Well, if you want my post I ain’t gonna stop ya. There’s better things to do with my life than canoodle with Nox’s little freaks. Especially now that I’ve got these new shinies.”

He started rubbing his hands together and counting up his stacks. Theron watched him carefully, waiting to see if there was any hesitation or doubt in the middle aged, blonde man. Brauker only grinned as he pocketed the credits. Smoke from their cigarettes was starting to blanket them in a heavy smog, as dulled music from the cantina beyond the back room started to play. It was a bass heavy song that made the table rattle to its rhythm. Brauker pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and slid it over the desk.

“Here. The official form stating that you, Lieutenant Pyke, will be taking over my post. It’s a little messy but it’s the real deal. Got my signature and everything.”

Theron was careful not to get any stray ash on the form as he picked it up and assessed it. It had caf stains at the bottom left corners and it smelt strongly of grease and smoke, but it seemed legitimate. It also had a plastoid seal at the top corner, an Imperial artifact that was much harder to forge than it looked. There was no way someone like Brauker would bother going through all that effort; it had to be real. He nodded and slipped the sheet into his breast pocket. He needed to get this to an Imperial personnel and resources office as soon as possible if he wanted to board the Doombringer before it took off for Dantooine. Luckily, here on Ziost, there were quite a few of these offices around. 

He took one final drag of the cigarette, a bitter thing he’d only accepted from Brauker so as not to raise any suspicions, before crushing it into the ashtray at the centre of the table. “A pleasure doing business with you.” He dashed out the back of the bar into Ziost’s frigid night air before he could hear Brauker’s reply.