weapons do not weep.

[versios]

JANINA GAVANKAR  //  have you met IDEN VERSIO yet?  SHE is now THIRTY years old CIS WOMAN HUMAN, originally from VARDOS but typically reside on THE CORVUS. after everything she’s gone through, she shows loyalty to THE REBELLION.  she is best known for being an INFERNO SQUAD COMMANDER, & i hear she’s grown pretty INGENIOUS yet also RECKLESS at times; i hope she survives the galactic war. (APRIL)

L O A D I N G : // …  8ABY : MONTH TWO … //

having been focused on hunting down imperials since the battle of jakku, iden began looking into the whereabouts of thrawn on the behalf of alexsandr kallus.

she and del meeko returned to jakku to explore what remains of the emperor’s observatory there, and after finding off the droids protecting it, found a partial map of the unknown regions, returning it to the new republic.

after receiving a tip from armitage hux an unknown source trying to hurt sloane’s faction of the imperial remnants, she and zeb orrelios followed it. the tip ended up being only a partial truth, resulting in them being in over their heads, but they managed to come out fairly unscathed.

she attended the new republic fundraiser and fortunately remained sober, barely managing to deal with a flirty, high luke skywalker and attempting some damage control with leia organa.

her paths crossed with both jango fett and korkie kryze, resulting in some significant mix-matches due to the timing they were pulled through.

at the hapes event, iden suffered some moderate burns on her arm and back while saving chancellor mon mothma. she came to the staggering realization that gideon hask was alive and fixated on trying, and failing, to eliminate him.

while receiving medical care, iden found out that she was pregnant.

revealing her pregnancy resulted in a small fight with del meeko. she attempted to get some guidance from hera syndulla on the matter, though has continued working to hide it from everyone around her.

fixating on work to drown her feelings, she has begun working with alexsandr kallus and jyn erso to figure out who her mysterious imperial contact is.

original intro. timeskip.

[versios]

galaxywon​   //   eli vanto.

“   if   i   had   put   up   a   fuss,   i’m   sure   it   woulda   surprised   my   commander.   “   eli   countered.   it   was   never   how   he   thought   about   it,   leaving   the   empire   forcefully.   it   had   felt   right.   maybe   not   in   the   beginning,   as   he   thought   he   was   being   wasted   in   some   basement   office   on   a   chiss   ship.   but   when   he   realized   his   purpose,   worked   hard   to   earn   his   place   with   a   people   that   did   not   trust   outsiders.   “   he   knew   me   enough   to   know   that   i’d   do   that   job   the   way   it   needed   to   be   done.   not   sure   if   my   emotions   ‘bout   it   were   in   his   thoughts   at   all.   he   wasn’t   like   that.   but,   my   ideals   were   more   aligned   with   my   people   now.   i   had….   problems   with   the   empire’s   methods.   he   knew   that.   “   he   could   remember   it   vividly,   questioning   the   use   of   slaves   in   the   empire,   looking   up   at   thrawn   with   a   naivety   he   couldn’t   believe   he   had.   of   course   the   empire   would   do   that,   they   were   evil.   “   it’s   not   a   force   that   we’ve   ever   come   against,   no.   doesn’t   seem   like   your   jedi   have   either.   “   he   pointed   out,   taking   a   sip   from   his   own   water   glass.   “   chancellor   mothma   would   never’ve   let   that   go   if   they   had.   gives   people   hope,   to   know   that   things   aren’t   completely   out   of   our   hands.   “  

.

was that a matter of loyalty ( blind or not ) and compliance or some vague notion of support? it was a question that she wouldn’t bother to ask out loud, not an answer that she would have trusted coming directly from him, yet it still lingered on the edges of her mind nonetheless. kallus clearly hadn’t thought that this was a bad idea or she wouldn’t have been there in the first place, and she did trust his judgment. still, there were the lingering thoughts of doubt and paranoia. that was just a part of who she was, not something that could be turned off or go away because of the word of someone that she trusted. it was unfortunate, but it was the truth. “sure. a lot of people did.” she had been blind to most of it for... embarrassingly long, but even she had seen the truth at the end of it. they were all lucky there had been people who picked up on it faster than she had. “no, no one in these parts of the galaxy seems to have any kind of familiarity with it. it doesn’t matter where their loyalties like.” freaky, all things considered. but that didn’t mean that there was nothing that they could do about it. they’d figured it out. they had no other choice. “sure. but hope isn’t the only thing that people need right now.”

[versios]

onecassian​   //   cassian andor.

There's a small laugh that leaves their lips at the other's words. He moves, blaster in hand and takes shelter behind a crumbling wall. There's a breath upon their tongue and their gaze shifts to look to Iden. The battle had felt as if it had waged on for years, but it had probably only been a matter of hours. Instead, he releases the breath he's held, nodding more so to themselves than Iden. "I never believed in Gods." Cassian states, leaning out from behind the wall, taking a few shots before covering again. "But I do believe in escape plans." The small laugh returns again and they're looking over to Iden. "We've got the ships at our backs and the quicker we can get to them, the faster we'll be out of this nightmare and in a cantina."

religion had never played much of a roll in iden’s life –– growing up, certainly, the only thing that either one of her parents had ever come close to worshipping was the empire, and that was nothing that they were going to cling to now. a small smirk just barely quirked the corner of her lips at their next words, squatted down uncomfortably beside him. she didn’t consider herself slowed down in the slightest by this pregnancy, even if it was no longer something that she could hide, and she certainly wasn’t about to let it effect her now. “there’s no cover between here and the ships,” she reminded him, leaning away from their current makeshift cover to fire a few blaster shots off. “we’re going to have to be fast if this is going to work.”

[versios]

galaxywon​   //   poe dameron.

Leia,  up  until  her  final  moments,  wanted  Poe  to  learn  the  lesson  that  jumping  in  his  ship  and  blowing  something  up  was  not  the  answer  to  every  situation.  He  knew  that  now,  learned  how  to  practice  diplomacy.  Even  if  he  despised  it,  he  could  work  with  politicians  now.  But,  this  fire  that  was  in  his  veins,  it  didn’t  cool.  He  just  learned  how  to  make  it  simmer  instead  of  boil.  But  Versio’s  words  are  exactly  what  he’s  thinking,  as  he’s  drumming  his  fingers  against  the  nearest  flat  surface.  “  I  don’t  think  Amidala  or  Mothma  would  like  that.  “  shook  his  head,  looking  back  at  her,  “  This  has  got  to  do  with  someone  we  talked  to,  someone  that  was  there.  Things  like  this….  They  just  don’t  happen  randomly.  “  Though,  if  he  was  being  honest  with  himself,  this  was  like  nothing  he  had  ever  faced  before.  

no, they wouldn’t. iden was well aware that politicians like the two of them wouldn’t have cared for such a thing, but those kind of people also lived on a pedestal –– they didn’t understand what war was really like, what it really took. she had never been fond of people like that, it didn’t matter what side of the war she might have been on at any given moment. “of course it’s not random,” she agreed without even a beat of hesitation. she was far too cynical to ever believe such a thing, refusing to let the fact that hask was inside of her head again deter her focus from this. hands curled into tight fists for a moment, though her rage is far from soothed by it. “the empire is just as caught off guard as anyone else by this. i hate to give them credit for anything, but... at least this is burning them down, too.”

[versios]

@gcdlys​   //   ursa wren, from here.

Mandalorian families can be complicated - especially when you're raised to be the next leader of your clan. They're the keystone of Mandalorian traditions, and hers, at least, had been loving, but. Things were complicated, and their people were in a civil war. She grew up quickly. She can understand the feeling, although she is sure Iden's childhood must have had its own unique sharp edges.

"I know what that's like," she says quietly. "No one should have to." It's true, but stiff. She has never been one to talk about this kind of thing.

iden didn’t know ursa well. she’d had the chance to know sabine along with most of their crew, primarily through kallus. they were an admirable person, clearly raised well ( better than she had ever been ). most of her life had spent avoiding any kind of reflection on her own parents or childhood. better to repress it. easier to, at least. she didn’t have much of a choice in that now, not if she wanted to be any better.

“if the galaxy gets thrown back into another war, it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be much choice in the matter.” she’d always been a soldier, she’d never thought that was something that she would be scared of.

[gamingladies]

Iden Versio for @masoncarr2244 (¼)

[versios]

“I cannot hold back the tide of your bad decisions.“

( from hask )

the words set off a mixture of rage and sadness. it’s a sadness that she wasn’t used to feeling around him, and as much as she wanted to blame it on those goddamn hormones, she did not think that it was that simple. it was a simple, painful truth: iden did not want to care for gideon hask and she did. “no, you can’t.” no emotion behind those words, that was reserved solely for her eyes. “it’s a shame you weren’t there when the admiral died, hask. his last sentiment might have shaken even you.”

[versios]

han says ... “Your secrets are safe with my indifference.“

a slight snort managed to escape from her, drawing one leg toward her chest. no, it wasn’t like han, or most of the other people that she had chosen to surround herself with would really make a fuss about anything. but even subtle concern was enough to get under her skin. it’s not good for her, or the relationships with those around her, but she was still resistant to change. “thanks.” it’s quiet, softer than her usual sharp edges. “to be fair, i can’t exactly keep it secret any more.”

[versios]

“Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sort of good at something.”

“i don’t suck at this.” iden huffed out, slightly out of breath and entirely unwilling to admit it. mechanics and engineering had always been del’s specialty – she was proficient, but not excellent. rolling out from where she’d been working on the ship’s comm systems, she grimaced slightly, pulling at how her shirt hung at her frame uselessly. “you want to give it a hand?”

[versios]

allegiantson​   //   gideon hask.

he almost laughs at the suggestion, instead shaking his head slowly in response at her words, smile creeping onto his face. “i’m not asking you to leave del, iden. he was a decorated soldier, one of our most talented engineers. if he gets over that little empathy problem, we’d more than welcome the both of you back into our ranks.” he’d had a bigger soft spot for iden, but it had still existed for del, the two men bonding quickly and strongly throughout the course of their first meetings ( pretending to be brothers turning into that true feeling ). 

at her second words, he refuses to rise to the bait, to her words of betrayal. come now, iden. she knew him better than that - both to think it would be true, and to think he’d fall for that rather obvious trick. certainly, he tended to let his emotional guard down around her - a mistake he tried actively to fix and failed, well, nearly every time - but this … this was just far too clear an attempt to rile him up. “i thought you knew me better than that.” he responds, leaning back in his chair. “i don’t break oaths, iden. especially not this one.”

that little empathy problem. iden hated that she knew precisely what gideon meant, because she saw it herself: del was the one with the big, bleeding heart. he was the one who had insisted they tell the rebellion about this. she’d come along not because of some big picture, but because of him, individually. it was still a problem –– she didn’t see herself as kind or compassionate as the others around her. “not much rank left over there to have, is there?” she remarked with a nauseous knot twisted in her stomach. “to think, you didn’t even have to kill me for your shiny new one.” she wondered if he regretted that.

gideon was loyal to a fault. she had been too, once. she wasn’t sure that there was anything in the galaxy that would make him defect like they had done, that he would die loyal to the empire more than likely. why bother? she knew why. “that’s not entirely true.” her voice was uncharacteristically soft, thinking of that day everything changed. fine. she’d make it even more personal. it’d hurt her just as much as him, but as long as it hurt him... “i’m sure you remember some of the things we promised each other when we were kids.”

[versios]

xkyberheart​   //   jyn erso.

       before life day jyn had decided she was done with this life, she was ready to leave the rebellion, the republic —were they not the same? had that not been the goal? saw might not agree, and perhaps that’s one reason jyn had wanted to walk away. but then monsters descended on them, and innocent people died around her, and in the middle of it all jyn found purpose again. she had helped guide people to safety, load them onto ships, pray the ships could escape the blockade, and feel her heart fill with joy then the spacecrafts managed to jump to hyperspace. there were dark times ahead, and jyn had decided to stay.

         jyn had been surprised when she was summoned to commander versio’s office, her last mission had not exactly been successful, but if the alliance republic still thought she could be of help, jyn was happy to answer the call. holopad on hand jyn mader her way to iden’s office, poking her into the room jyn said, ❝you wanted to see me commander?❞

everything around her felt like it was very actively falling apart but iden was pouring everything out of her to try and pretend that it did not. that she had a vague grip on what was going on and did not actively feel like she was drowning in a shit of sea. as much of it as possible needed to be pieced back together in the next few months before... before she could no longer ignore that everything was changing. hopefully jyn would be able to help with wrapping up this end. nothing that came out of this could have made things worse, at least.

“major erso,” she greeted with a nod of her head, standing up when jyn entered the rarely used office and quickly adjusting how her stomach hung around her abdomen. “it’s good to see you again.” her words were genuine, even if they sounded more tired than pleasant. “yes, i’ve got a lead that i’ve been investigating since before all the shit went down with hapes. i’m trying to get it all tied up.”

[versios]

mvchinery​   //   leia organa.

leia wasn’t one to indulge. she didn’t smoke, not really — but every once in awhile, the smell of one of her father’s old cigarras would settle her nerves like nothing else could. the alderaanian brands were rare, these days, but she had some carefully tucked away, scrupulously saved. the smoke filled the air, & her breathing slowed, calming.

“you caught me,” she said dryly, waving the smoke away from their faces as iden approached. “don’t tell han, he’ll be insufferable.” but she wasn’t truly suited to hiding her feelings behind humor, no matter how wry, & she quickly sobered as she snuffed the cigarra out, near smile disappearing. “it’s good to see you, iden.”

the smell made her more nauseous than what she was willing to own up to, but she was grateful that leia put it out before she had to say anything about it. one corner of her lips barely twitched upward into a smirk at her words, though the expression is hardly longer than a beat. she was tired. fuck. they were all tired.

“you’re the one who married him,” iden quipped back with a shrug of her shoulders. “there was a point where i would’ve asked you to share,” she added. it doesn’t quite soften her words, but it was at least a half-assed attempt. better than asking if she wanted to talk about it, for both of them. “you too. i think we’re shit friends, though. we only see each other when everything’s falling apart.”

[versios]

delferno​   //   del meeko.

There’s something about the way she mentions one of them always in trouble that causes him to laugh a little. He knows she’s right. He can’t deny that. After all, once they had deflected, it was as if trouble had seemed to search for them, hunting them down and making it difficult for the two of them to get anything done without bullets flying past them. “I can’t argue with that.” He shakes his head, a small chuckle leaving from slightly parted lips but the softness on his features never changes. The way he’s looking at her never changes. He wants nothing more than to hold her in his arms. To tell her that everything was going to be okay, that no matter what the future would hold for them, it would always be them against the galaxy. She was going to be an amazing mother, far better than any other woman he could think of, except Leia, but that was simply because the general had a good head on her shoulders as well and Leia reminded him of Iden, hands down. “The only thing I want from you, Iden, is to just hold you tonight as we sleep.” Was it the *only* thing he wanted? No but that talk would come later. He didn’t want to force it on her. Not now. He’d rather it either be brought up organically or she starts, but he wouldn’t dance around it either.

getting themselves into trouble for the good of everyone else had always kind of been their thing. it’d been inferno squad’s thing, really, until... she still didn’t like to think about what exactly had happened on vardos, although she knew it was for the good of everyone. it was a personal loss among everything else, one that had become to ache now that she knew gideon was alive, out there somewhere in the galaxy. it had been much easier to think that he was dead. she tried to push the thoughts away, placing her hand on top of del’s and lacing their fingers together. she was never affectionate with him in public – had yet to be able to break herself of that particular habit – but she did rather enjoy it in private. it felt like something that she had been missing out on for your entire life. “you’re a terrible liar,” she teased him gently, though she didn’t know if she really wanted to push it further than that. she was the one avoiding the conversation, not him, but she didn’t do it without guilt. she sighed, squeezing his hand a moment. “i know i need to stop avoiding it. it’s not like i’ve got much choice with that, i’m starting to show. but there’s just... so much shit happening right now.”

[versios]

galaxywon​   //   alexsandr kallus.

Iden  was  right,  of  course.  Sloane  was  effective,  had  a  dominating  presence.  People  listened  to  her.  If  anyone  was  going  to  get  The  Empire  to  rise  from  the  ashes,  it  would  be  her.  “  How  many  people  do  you  think  personally  know  Admiral  Sloane  ?  “  The  number  would  be  quite  low,  he  suspected.  She  didn’t  seem  like  the  type  to  have  friends,  just  allies  and  enemies.  People  only  rose  to  the  upper  levels  of  The  Empire  because  they  were  willing  to  throw  any  enemies  out  the  airlock.  “  Someone  this  willing  to  dismantle  her  might  be  someone  that  we  could  work  with.  The  enemy  of  my  enemy  is  indeed  my  friend.  “  

a good question. something that her father might have known the answer to, as much as she didn’t enjoy that particular line of thinking. but he was dead. that didn’t matter. “only the upper echelon,” iden voiced, though she was sure he was already thinking the other thing. “there’s not many of them left. or maybe there is,” her lips pressed together in a thin line, slouching forward. “hask is alive.” there was no way that he was responsible for all of this – she would have known this voice in a heartbeat – but it made her doubt the validity of their intelligence, of her own. “friend or enemy, we need to figure out who it is.” if they needed to be eliminated. “have you had any recent contacts with anyone on that side?”

[versios]

delferno​   //   del meeko.

After a breath, he kneels down in front of her, giving her a mile instead of just a little. He wants her to feel comfortable. Wants her to know she’s loved by him in more ways than he can ever describe. That she is everything to him and that they’ll make it through this together. Another breath and he keeps his hand upon her cheek, thumb carefully stroking it gently. His gaze never leaving her. “Now why would either of us be in trouble?” He speaks, a hint of humor upon Del’s tongue. She was beautiful, even when she was vulnerable. He glances to the datapad for a moment before glancing back to her. “Find anything interesting? Perhaps another lead for another trip around the galaxy?” He wants to avoid the subject of pregnancy for now. He doesn’t want her to feel pressured but he also knows they need to have this conversation. They need to discuss the future together.

as easy as it was to be wound up about everything that was going on in her life, it was difficult even for her to keep up those defenses when del looked at her so softly. her head tilted slightly, leaning her head into his hand as he reached up to her. “one of us is always in trouble,” iden pointed out, the corner of her lips just twisting up in a slight smile. granted, it was usually her. it was far too often that she threw herself headfirst into trouble, but it was just a part of who she was. he’d known that long before they had been anything romantic. “well, maybe once the comms get up and running. i don’t think it’s wise even for us to stray too far right now, unless it’s supply hunting.” maybe. she wasn’t sure that she was quite committed to the train of thought just yet. “you look like you want something.”

[versios]

galaxywon​   //   eli vanto.

Eli  nodded  simply,  putting  in  the  order  for  two  waters  to  the  bartender,  who  simply  rolled  both  sets  of  eyes  at  him.  Fair  enough.  He’d  be  worried  about  not  making  money  in  his  establishment  too.  “  It  was  just  the  rebellion  back  then,  “  he  started  off,  shrugging  his  shoulders.  But  she  wasn’t  wrong  and  he  didn’t  try  to  lie  to  her.  The  Rebellion  had  started  off  small.  It  had  gotten  bigger,  but  he  had  a  feeling  that  defectors  tended  to  stick  together.  At  least  Kallus  and  Iden  had.  “  No,  I  didn’t.  It  was  decided  that  my….  skills  could  be  used  somewhere  else,  helpin’  to  save  people.  I  went  into  Deep  Space.  “  he  nodded  at  the  bartender  as  they  deposited  two  waters  in  front  of  them.  Eli  took  a  sip  from  his  own,  “  I’m  tryin’  to  keep  my  people  safe.  They’re  very  worried  about  the  attack  on  the  Hapes  Consortium.  “  

there’s not much room for iden to blame him on his choice, given that she’d been somewhat dragged along into it with her own refusal to leave del behind, but... she was also pretty certain that he did not know that about herself. still, it’s a fair question to ask. why now? the timing was either suspicious or helpful. too often, the line between those two concepts was too blurry to distinguish. or perhaps that was her own tightly wound paranoia. “not decided by you, then,” she inferred for his words with a skeptical raise of her brow. a hand wrapped around the glass of water, but she didn’t immediately drink from it. deep space, however, could be helpful for filling in that map that she and del had found months ago. “everyone is. but i take it that means those attackers aren’t from deep space, is this is a new threat for you all.”

[versios]

rebelworn​   //   evaan verlaine.

“ well , shit. ”  the  commander  comments ,  frown  furrowing  her  brow. “ has  there  been  talk  to  corellia’s  shipyards  yet  ?  maybe  some  engineer  there  knows a  temporary  solution  to  our  little  lava  problem  that  doesn’t  involve  just  avoiding  their  blasts  entirely. ” she  looks  back  down  at  the  schematics  &  sightings  laid  out  before  them ,  eyes  flickering  back  and  forth  between  pages &  intel ,  rumors , even . they  had  a  name  ,  but  barely  anything  beyond , just  shaky  &  half-reliable  firsthand  accounts  ,  many  unreliable  for  stress &  fear  warping   memory.  evaan  was  glad  iden  had  been  in  attendance  at  hapes ,  though  -  not  that  she  had  risked  her  life ,  but  that  the  inferno  squad  commander  would  surely  have  analyzed  all  she  could  of  them  while  facing  the  danger. 

ships were prepared to deal with a variety of damage taken for obvious reasons. still, lava was not something that typically went floating around space. technology was out there, few and far between. “there’s stuff out there that can withstand it, i’m sure, but expensive and not manufactured at the scale that we would need.” she’d seen vader’s castle on mustafar with her own two eyes, years ago. what kind of security was there now? the thought was tempting, but didn’t make it past her lips just yet. it might be best said to another former imperial. “the only stuff that’s come close, though, i haven’t exactly seen from people who are fans of the new republic.” that was close enough.