Hey, could you link that short story about Sa'har again? The one that helps give context for Tau's worry about her. I was trying to find it, but I can't seem to. >.< (I think you're the person who originally mentioned it...if not, ignore me.)
I have! Actually, there's a few short stories I've read but they're hard to find, so I found this reddit post and thought about making a list on tumblr for easier access!
Short Stories
The Search for Oricon - Log written by Jonas Balkar, takes place prior to Oricon missions
Lana Beniko's Journal: Darth Arkous - Written by Lana, takes place just prior to Depths of Manaan FP
Surface Details - Written by a Selkath on Manaan with appearances from Theron and Lana, takes place just prior to Depths of Manaan FP
Wanted: Dead and Dismantled - About Jakarro and C2-D4
Remnants - About a smuggler on Rakata Prime
Bedtime on Concordia - About Mandalorians telling stories of Shae Vizla
The Price of Power - About Darth Marr and Darth Lachris, just prior to when Lachris took over Balmorra
One Night in the Dealer's Den - About Theron Shan and Jonas Balkar after the events of Yavin 4
The Final Trial - About Lana Beniko during her time as an acolyte on Korriban
Regrets - About Theron Shan and Jace Malcom after the events of Yavin 4
The Sixth Line: Part One - About the Sixth Line prior to Ziost
The Sixth Line: Part Two
Vacation - About Nico Okarr
Brothers - About Arcann and Thexan during their invasion of the Core Worlds
A Mother's Hope - About Senya and Vaylin between KOTFE and KOTET
Trading Scars - About Umbarans, takes place just prior to Crisis on Umbara FP
Chasing Copero - About Theron Shan just prior to A Traitor among the Chiss FP
Seeing Red - About Rass Ordo
Quite A Story To Tell - About Aryn Leneer
All That’s Left - About Sa'har Kateen
Bottled Fury - About Shae Vizla, prior to Ruhnuk (part 1)
Snare - About Shae Vizla, prior to Ruhnuk (part 2)
Last Road to Khar Shian - About Shae Vizla prior to Khar Shian
please tell me i'm not the only one who loves this dynamic. like it's so funny how my trooper has barely had any opportunities to flirt with aric so far and yet her constantly flirting with jonas is driving him up the wall
"—anyway, we should probably run it by the old man before we make any decisions," Tau remarked as she, Aja and Arn strode through the corridors towards the hangar turbolifts.
"I'm sure Gnost-Dural won't have a problem with it," Aja said. "What do you think, Arn?" She glanced behind her, noticing that the Padawan had stopped about a meter behind them, staring at the wall. "Arn? What's up?"
"Uh... you, apparently?" Arn said, sounding surprised. Aja and Tau exchanged confused glances and doubled back to see what he was staring at, only to be greeted by—
"Oh, kark, no," Aja swore, horrified.
Carrick Station had put up a series of recruitment posters for Task Force Nova.
With her emblazoned on them.
Tau let out a laugh that was almost well-disguised as a cough. "Well. That's... new."
Aja felt her eye twitch in response.
The posters were bright, with bombastic text urging citizens to unite in the face of fear (the quote pullecd from something she'd said in the interview with Alec Ranin a little while back, she irritably noted) and to help Task Force Nova's efforts in relocating and rebuilding the Jedi Order. The image of Aja looked almost familiar, like it had been taken at the last lightsaber combat demonstration she'd participated in as a favor to Gnost-Dural and Sana-Rae a few weeks back, part educational lesson and part icebreaker experience for the Enclave students and the younger Ossus Jedi trying to learn to coexist on Odessen. Saying it had been touched up, though, was an understatement—they'd taken a brief moment of her repositioning her footing and hands and turned it into a heroic pose, lightsaber aloft as she looked at something off-cam in the distance, her hair and robes billowing in a majestic wind and a tiny confident smirk turning up one corner of her mouth.
She breathed in and out through her nose, reciting there is no emotion, there is peace about fifty times in her head. It didn't help.
"Hey, it's... not bad, right?" Arn said brightly. He was clearly trying to be helpful, but Aja could hear the slight laugh in his voice all the same. Whether it was directed at the situation or her anger, she couldn't tell. "You look very... dynamic?"
"Stop talking," Aja said wearily. She yanked her holocomm off her belt and dialed the number of the one person she knew had to have had something to do with this—this travesty.
Tau shifted her weight from one foot to the other and rested a hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised. "Look, they've been picking out famous or impressive-looking Jedi for these for ages. Even I ended up on one a few months ago. It's not that big of a deal."
"It is to me!"
The holo pinged and a tiny figure sprange to life in her palm. "Ah, Commander Verdona! How can I help you today?" Jonas Balkar asked cheerfully.
"You can answer a few questions I have, starting with this," Aja said angrily, holding the holocomm up to the poster. "I'm on Carrick Station—we were heading to a meeting when Padawan Peralun spotted it. Jonas, what the kriff is the meaning of this?!"
"Oh, wow, up already? That was fast."
Aja fought an urge to strangle something and massaged her temple with her free hand. "Why am I on a recruitment poster, Balkar?"
"You know how your big interview with Alec Ranin was such a hit? Since it got everyone and their mom talking about you and the Alliance, they chose you for the next batch of recruitment posters—strike while the iron's hot." Tiny holo-Jonas grinned. "Before you ask, I was not involved with this, but I gotta say, they did do a beautiful job with them. The image Beniko gave them was perfect already, but the art department really outdid themselves. Helps that you're so photogenic to begin with."
She ignored the subtle flirt, eye still twitching as a scream wanted to build in her throat. "What do you mean Lana was behind this?" she hissed.
"I mean, technically the task force and the Chancellor's PR office is behind it, but they needed a point of contact with the Alliance and I pointed them her direction. She seemed weirdly... excited? Kind of? It's hard to tell with the whole... Sith thing."
Aja could sense Tau and Arn exchanging a glance as she finally heard them give into the urge to laugh. She seethed. "Next time, make sure I'm consulted so I can say no," she said through gritted teeth. "You're more familiar with who's behind this than I am, tell them I want these gone, Jonas."
Holo-Jonas stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and shrugged. "No can do right now, Commander. The posters are rotated out on a monthly basis and the current recruitment initiative is already in motion, there's too many moving parts to call it off now." He chuckled at her anger, shaking his head. "Aw, come on, you can survive being a literal poster child for a month. Aw, varp, that's Director Trant calling me. I gotta go. Until next time, Commander!"
The hologram clicked off, and Aja had to fight an urge to chuck it at the nearest waste receptacle. She glanced at the still-chuckling Tau and Arn with an irritated look. "What's so funny?" she snapped, spinning on her heel to storm off towards the turbolift. There wasn't really any heat behind it—she felt too frustrated and defeated over the posters to actually be angry at them.
The pair fell into step behind her and Tau shook her head, eyebrows raised. "Just the fact that you've faced down two versions of the Emperor, his devil spawn children, and basically every kind of enemy soldier in the known galaxy, and the thing making you the angriest I've seen you so far is a poster."
"It's not the karking poster, it's the fact that they're using my face as—as a propaganda piece!" Aja exclaimed, pointing to another one as they passed in disgust. "I don't want to be seen like that! Treated like some holovid star or something! I'm not that kind of person anymore, I haven't been for years! And come on, do I actually look like that?!"
"Yes," Arn said automatically. She shot him a cross look over her shoulder and he turned a bit red. "I—I mean, come on, you're the Hero of Tython, the Throne-breaker, all that stuff. You've got a certain... air about you like that. Anyone who's done all that would, right?"
Aja's jaw clenched, trying not to get more frustrated. Tau raised her hands like a peace offering. "I think what Arn's trying to say here is that you've been at the forefront of nearly every galaxy-saving moment for so long now that people can't help but see you as that," she said, giving an increasingly awkward Arn (who had apparently decided the deck plating was now the most fascinating thing in the galaxy and was staring down at it like his life depended on it) a sympathetic glance. She shrugged at Aja. "It doesn't really matter to the people how you see yourself. People look at you and see hope for this war to finally end." Tau laughed slightly, shaking her head again. "And, I mean, honestly? After seeing you in action, I don't completely blame them for that, either. Arn's not wrong about the 'air' thing."
She jerked her head, and they all started back towards the lift. Aja fell back a step and hugged her arms to herself, glancing up at the posters as they passed. That familiar weight of expectations and the accompanying loneliness squirmed again in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it away, too tired to dwell.
They'll rotate back out for someone else eventually. I'll just have to deal with it until then.
She scowled to herself as they all filed into the turbolift. "I'm still gonna have a talk with Lana about giving them those images. She knows I hate being propagandized."
"Eh, I'd be angrier at whoever took them in the first place," Tau remarked.
Arn coughed, awkward, and stared at the floor of the lift like his life depended on it. The instant silence was absolutely deafening.
"You didn't," Tau said incredulously.
"Gnost-Dural wanted me to record the lightsaber combat demonstration for the archives—some holocrons on traditional lightsaber techniques got destroyed when Tython was invaded. Commander Verdona's considered an expert on them as a former Battlemaster of the Order, so I prioritized recording her Ataru demonstrations." He swallowed. "I swear, I didn't know what Beniko was up to when she offered to deliver them to him, my hands were so full that day I was just glad for the help."
Aja blinked several times, staring at Arn with irritation as the lift arrived with a ding, then filed out it with a shake of her head. "You're fired."
A/N: So this is another repurposed old side drabble-y thing I never did anything with. I was originally going to set out exploring the flip side of the whole perception of "the Commander is constantly at the center of all of this, and is DESTINED by the FORCE to be important and everyone loves them" thing, especially for a light side Knight Commander who's already been on a pedestal as "galaxy's greatest hero" for killing Vitiate that first time for a while. It's a big theme I've been exploring with Legacy of the Sith-era Aja (I swear I'll get past Tython in Throne-breaker and won't have to awkwardly explain myself in the notes some day. 😭) and I wanted to at least hint at it for the prompt. But, the idea in my head versus putting it into words didn't want to play nice together, so instead I fell back on this piece I wrote to be a mostly funny beat to use somewhere ages ago, and cleaned it up to fit the prompt better. The previous prompt with Chrysali had heavy enough stuff in it that I wanted to have a funny breather, anyway, so it works out.
I think poor Arn saw his life flash before his eyes for a second there at the end, sorry buddy. 🤣 And Tau's being modest, put her on ALL the recruitment posters, she's so cool.
Introducing my Trooper. Here she is in a cameo as part of Seren's Nar Shaddaa Jedi Knight story-arc.
On Nar Shaddaa, Havoc Squad CO Ninme Heusos and her SIS contact Jonas Balkar are having some fun when they get caught up in the Powerguard Crisis and cross paths with a certain Jedi Knight.
Ninme pulled on her boots and checked her spare energy packs were still hooked securely to her tactical belt. Jonas leant down to kiss her cheek, and she let him, smiling. They both knew that this was casual; that the sexual attraction between them would never develop into anything deeper, but she appreciated his politely affectionate gallantry anyway. Gestures like that meant neither of them felt used, even if they were both using the other to let off steam, to relax, even if only for a few hours.
She ran her fingers through her practical bob, ensuring it was tidy, then picked up her assault cannon, ready to secure it into its holster on her back. Without warning, there was a terrible grinding, screeching noise at the front door of the allegedly secure SIS apartment, and almost before Ninme had time to ready her weapon, the door was gone, wrenched out of the wall by the huge barely human looking cyborgs standing there, their assault rifles pointed straight at her and Jonas.
This was what Ninme was trained for, and she didn’t even need a moment to think before she’d thrown a grenade at the intruders then begun laying down what should have been a crippling round of boltstorm. Her eyes widened as the cyborgs kept coming, barely seeming damaged by her most powerful attack. Jonas was getting shots off too, of course, but she wouldn’t even expect his simple blaster rounds to do all that much against these behemoths.
As Ninme tried a demolition round, another man, she assumed a fellow SIS Agent of Jonas’, emerged from the apartment’s other bedroom, and started to fire at the cyborgs with his twin blasters. Ninme tried not to notice that he was stark naked, and he certainly wasn’t letting it affect him; his shots on what should have been the cyborgs’ vitals unusually accurate, possibly due to the man’s own cranial implants.
As Ninme frantically replenished her weapon with energy, another woman now emerged from the naked Agent’s room. She had long loose hair, perfectly painted nails and face, and voluptuous curves in contrast to her slim waist and dainty hands and feet. She was barely dressed herself in a skimpy and very sheer negligee. Absolutely not suited in any way shape or form for an active combat zone. Was she some rich Senator’s daughter slumming it with a junior SIS Agent, or, given the Agent in question’s apparent lack of concern for the danger she was in, was she some kind of high-class escort?
“Ma’am, get back inside the bedroom and take cover!” Ninme yelled.
To her relief, the woman turned away, as if she was heading back into the relative safety of the bedroom. Instead of doing so however, she held out her hands, and to Ninme’s utter shock, twin lightsabres slammed into them from across the room. The woman leapt backwards without missing a beat, igniting her green-bladed lightsabres as she soared over their heads, and executed a perfect mid-air turn, allowing her to land exactly in the centre of the group of cyborgs, knocking them backwards.
What followed was almost too fast for Ninme to follow, but she saw the woman sweep her lightsabres through the tangle of limbs and weapons making up the cyborgs’ formation, then make a series of pinpoint accurate cuts on their necks and groins, deftly avoiding the resulting sprays of arterial blood and sparking components, until all four cyborgs lay dead, or deactivated rather, on the floor of the apartment.
The woman, the Jedi, if that’s what she was, sheathed her lightsabres and tried to clip them to the belt she wasn’t wearing. She looked down and clearly realised how she was dressed, but instead of being embarrassed by her state of near nudity, she just shrugged, transferred both sabres into her left hand, and advanced on Ninme, her right hand stretched out in greeting.
“Seren Astierred,” she said, “thanks for the help.”
Ninme shook her hand, automatically replying, “Captain Ninme Heusos,” while thinking Seren Astierred? The Hero of Tython? What the hells is she doing here? Dressed like that? Doing… whatever she’d been doing with that other Agent?
“Oh! The Havoc Squad CO? Very pleased to meet you. Like I said, thanks for the help, I was, um, busy, when the attack started, and your covering fire was invaluable.”
Ninme frowned at her. “Covering fire? That was supposed to be a devastating attack, and it usually is. What the hells are those things, anyway?”
The Jedi, Seren, smiled at her. “Don’t feel bad, they’re a new form of cyborg, powerguards, originally a Republic project believe it or not, but we were betrayed from within, and yeah,” Seren gestured to the pile of smoking bodies on the ground behind them, “this is the result.” She shrugged. “I’ve been fighting them for a few weeks now and I’ve learnt, learned, their weak spots.”
Ninme nodded. “Their necks and groins, right? Good to know.”
Seren smiled at her again. “Exactly, you’ll know next time. I’m trying to shut them down at the source, don’t worry, but it’s good to be prepared. Feel free to brief the rest of your squad given you’re special ops anyway, but General Var Suthra is pretty insistent that this whole thing stays highly classified.” She sighed. “Hopefully not to minimise his involvement in it, but… yeah.”
Ninme finally gave her a half-smile in return. “Generals, huh?” she said.
Seren laughed. “Exactly!” She turned back to the Agent from whose room she’d emerged. “Come on, Theron, we’d better get dressed.”
He put his arm around her waist as she reached the door to his room and smirked at her suggestively. “I’m pretty sure we were in the middle of something, weren’t we?” he said.
Ninme saw Jonas roll his eyes. “Dude, we have to be at work in fifteen minutes!” he reminded the other Agent.
Theron shrugged. “No problem, I only need five,” he said.
At Seren’s giggle and Jonas’ disparaging snort, Theron’s face flushed and he opened his mouth to say something else, but then he just shrugged again and pulled Seren back into his room, shutting the door firmly behind them.
Ninme turned and stared at Jonas in silence.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Thoughts?” he prompted Ninme.
Ninme considered for a moment before she said with circumspect understatement, “Seren is a very… unusual Jedi, isn’t she?”
Jonas snorted again. “Yeah, you could say that. That’s if she’s any kind of Jedi at all.”
Ninme frowned. “You saw what she can do with those lightsabres, what else would she be?” She paused and considered. “You can’t mean… don’t be ridiculous! She saved Tython from the Sith!”
“Playing the long game maybe?” Jonas suggested, then sighed. “Yeah, doesn’t make much sense, I know.”
“Have you spoken to Theron about it?” Ninme asked him, “I mean, are you close, or just roommates?”
“Theron doesn’t do close, but we’re friends I guess. And yeah, I’ve tried, and he even seems receptive when they’re apart. He’s not stupid, when he’s thinking with his actual brain he knows there’s something off about her. But when they’re together…” Jonas gestured at the bedroom door. “And it’s not just sex. He’s… dazzled by her. Can’t see straight. Not that I blame him. I mean, did you see her?”
“Are you dazzled by her too, then?” Ninme asked him, slightly piqued.
Jonas laughed and said, “hey, I might think that a vorn-tiger is beautiful, but I have no desire to pet one!” He stepped forward and went to put his arm around Ninme’s shoulders.
She stepped out of his reach. “Uh huh. And what am I, if she’s a vorn-tiger?”
Jonas looked nervous. “I don’t know!” He ran his hand through his hair. “A… loth-cat maybe?”
Wow. A loth-cat. Delightful. Ninme rolled her eyes and strapped her assault-cannon onto her back. “I’ll leave you to clean up this mess.” She gestured at the dead cyborgs. “See you around, Jonas.”
Later, on board The Thunderclap, Ninme and Jorgan were cleaning and checking their weapons in companionable silence. Ninme looked sideways at him. “Aric,” she started, “if you were going to compare me to a cat, what kind would you pick?”
“A cat? Are you serious, Sir? Just because I’m a Cathar? Do humans really think that we categorise people in terms of cats?!”
“It’s nothing to do with that! I hadn't even thought of it that way! It’s just a thing! Somebody else compared me to a certain type of cat, and I’m just curious to see if you agree?”
Jorgan huffed, but then said, “fine. Go on then. What type of cat? I’ll tell you if I agree.”
Ninme shook her head. “I want you to think about it yourself and give me your answer.”
“Is that an order?” Jorgan asked sarcastically, but looked at her consideringly anyway. After a while his face flushed, visible even through his short fur, and he looked away from her and resumed cleaning his sniper-rifle.
“Vorn-tiger,” he mumbled into his laser-sight.
“I’m sorry?” Ninme asked.
“Vorn. Tiger.” Jorgan said loudly, sounding irritated. Or embarrassed. It was hard to tell with him.
Ninme suppressed her amusement. “And, um, would you pet one?”
“WHAT?” Jorgan asked her, shocked.
“I didn’t mean me,” Ninme reassured him hastily, horrified at herself. “I meant, y’know, an actual vorn-tiger! Obviously!”
“Oh!” Jorgan said, “well, good. Obviously good.”
He was blushing even more furiously now. “Er, sure, if it was tame, or I guess bonded to me somehow.”
