The weaving Force: Chapter 88 (Patreon)

Chapter 88:

Vicky:

She missed her wife.

She hadn’t even been gone that long. Barely even a full 24 hours.

Still didn’t change the fact that she missed her. 

Part of it she knew was just anxiety, worry for what might happen on Kashyyyk. What the Council’s final decision might look like. What it might mean. It was always her and Tay against anything that might happen, but that was difficult to uphold when you were literally on two different ends of the galaxy.

Still… sulking in bed was hardly going to make the trip go faster. 

So, a little before her alarm was set to go off, Vicky pulled herself free of the bed and its darkened interior, deciding to go and take a shower. They’d be arriving on Nar Shaddaa in about thirteen more hours.

“Good morning, Master.”

Iskt’s greeting was calm and pleasant. Vicky turned nodding in his direction only to pause when she saw what was happening. 

He was sitting across from Ventress.

More to the point, he was sitting across from Ventress with an orb hovering between the two of them, trembling in mid-air.

She stretched out her senses, finding the tendrils of their powers grasping at the orb. Iskt’s Force presence coiled around the orb like an iron shell, Ventress trying to break through.

It was… a simple training exercise, but she’d never seen it before.

Maybe Ventress’ Master had taught her using it?

Actually, she’d never really gotten much of Ventress’ story out of her.

She didn’t have most of her story now, actually!

Like, why’d she hook up with Dennis? Anti-slavery crusade? Sense of adventure and freedom living on a ship? She wanted Dennis as her squeeze? All of the above!?

Questions and gossip for after her shower!

With a new pep in her step, Vicky hummed happily as she made her way to the bathroom. The Stalker was smaller than the Vista was, but it was a much more modern ship and used its available space much, much more efficiently. So overall, it still felt comfortable, even if a crew of five was about the limit of what it could house before it started getting crowded.

And props to Dennis again, he still hadn’t skimped on water based showers!

The water was steaming hot, just as she liked it. She could have spent hours in there, but she was well aware the ship had a limited supply; she wouldn’t be greedy with it.

So, soon enough she was marching out of the bathroom, hair freshly washed and smelling of strawberries and flowers.

Making her way back towards the lounge/living room, she offered a more proper greeting to her Padawan and Ventress, slipping past them towards the refrigerator to get a nice, healthy, balanced breakfast.

In the form of cookies.

Making her way back over, packet of cookies in hand, she plopped herself down on the couch. “So, what’s going on here?”

“Can’t you tell Jedi Master?” Ventress answered waspishly. 

Vicky would have raised an eyebrow, but time with Tay had taught her the value of keeping a good poker face, and her own experience had given her a well of patience she wouldn’t have had in her youth, so she let the biting tone and pointed comment wash off her like water off a duck. 

“It’s more polite to ask.” She said brightly. “But if you insist.” She spread her senses towards the small sphere. 

“It’s a training exercise Master.” Iskt supplied. 

“I gathered.” She nodded. Ventress didn’t seem like the type to play games and it could only be either a game or a way to train force usage in some way.

Reaching out, it became clear what was happening.

It was a sphere within a sphere, so to speak. 

Iskt’s presence surrounded the thing, a whirlpool of currents and invisible energies, churning and whorling around the innocuous orb, batting aside Ventress’ precise, lancing thrusts. Finely honed telekenetic edges trying to lance through to reach the prize in the center.

It was something that promoted control in the attacker, and fast reflexes, (or precog) in the defender. “Interesting.” She muttered sincerely. Leaning forward to watch more closely. “The sphere in the center is pretty hard though why not-”

“Replace it with an egg?” Ventress finished for her. “My master could do it, Iskt is more than likely going to break it and I’d rather not have to listen to Dennis howling at the bloody moon about a mess on Alexandria’s ship!” The last two words were howled down the adjoining hallway. 

“I FUCKIN HEARD THAT!”  Dennis hollered back. Vicky caught the smirk on Ventress’ expression and couldn’t help the impish smile that started tugging on the corners of her own lips. 

Her inner gossipy teenager had missed this!

She sighed contentedly, popping another cookie in her mouth, thinking about how to proceed. Maybe tease them? Needle them? Make suggestive comments?

The sound she made seemed to distract her Padawan, who turned his attention away from the contest with Ventress; much to the woman’s glee as she got through the boy’s defenses, the sphere wobbling suddenly in the air, nearly falling to the ground before Iskt reasserted his hold with a very literal hiss.

Still, Vicky’s thoughts were only half on the contest infront of her.

She had her priorities straight!

At the absolute least she was definitely gonna poke some fun at Dennis’ tastes of scary women to surround himself with.

Vicky herself, Miss M. Alexandria, Tay and now Ventress.

Oh yes their resident ginger had a ty-

…

Wait… had he been oogling Vicky’s girlfriend this whole time?!

Her eyes narrowed… dangerously!

(X)(X)(X)

Yoshiro Vizla:

He was an old man.

Would that he were younger.

That his bones didn’t ache, that his hands didn’t shake. That he could hold his hunting blade firmly in a fist, rather than with fingers that felt too brittle.

Would that he had died a younger man.

Heh-

He’d been too damn good to kill. 

Maybe the unlucky ones weren’t so unlucky afterall.

None of them had lived to see their sons dead. 

He supposed he did not hate the Jedi; not like his young ad.

War was war. His sons had died.

He’d killed many sons in his day, many daughters too. 

But hate or not; he would kill her for it.

Blood demands blood.

That oath brought him here; playing the role of… scientist. Of researcher. 

Some of the men called him Forgemaster- likely to assuage his pride.

But there was no denying what he was reduced to.

His days were filled with compiling data, watching pict feeds, scrounging together scrap heaps for usable intelligence.

All to kill two Jedi.

He had to admit; they were remarkable.

Oh what he would give to have faced them when he was a younger man. 

Maybe then he could have died properly.

‘Ba’buir.’

“Al’verde” He corrected the child firmly; she needed to learn. 

She nodded, and the helmet that was too large on her yet unworthy head bobbled awkwardly. “Al’verde-” She corrected herself; then reached behind her and presented her knife. 

He looked at the thing, its handle wrapped with care, a small, curved claw as its pommel, decorative and potentially effective as well, a single long curved fang serving as the blade’s foundation, inlaid with an edge of beskar so it would not shatter. 

A fine piece of work for one so young-

Still-

“It is like mine.” He noted. It was lighter of course, smaller but it was still like his.

The overhead lights glowed and his shadow loomed large over her form. She looked up, the helmet hiding her face, but her voice betrayed the truth of her feeling; suddenly unsure, worried she’d done something wrong. “Yours is good.” She defended.

Heh. A good answer.

He shook his head. “That does not matter.”

He forced himself to kneel, grunting as his braced knee protested the movement; pain lancing up his leg and side-

She noticed; of course, he saw her hands move as though to try and help before she stopped herself, limbs jerking back to her side in hopes that he hadn’t seen the momentary pity. 

Finally, after a painful eternity his knee struck the metal floors and, leaning on his cane he could look at her at eye level. 

He held the blade out for her, hilt first. 

“This is your weapon. Meant only for your hand. To be used only when you say it will be used.” He answered. “It must be yours.”

His words disappointed herl he could tell. But they were the truth. His father had told him the same, His buir had told him the same. And his Buir’s Buir had told him.

Would that he were not here, taking the place of another.

He handed her the weapon, and she took it after a second. 

“Make it again.” He demanded; forcing himself to his feet again, the cane creaking and shaking precariously as he leaned so very much of his weight on it. “Something only yours. You will know when it’s ready.” 

She nodded, still disappointed but she would obey. 

He looked at his chrono. “You are due in the training halls are you not?” He asked.

Another thing to regret. That he had to leave her teaching to other, younger men who could still move properly.

His fingers tightened over his cane, hidden from her view as he turned away.

“Yes Ba- Al’verde.” She hastily corrected herself.

He nodded. “Good. Tell Tazen I wish you to practice close quarters fighting. Your marksmanship is good enough.”

She straightened, surprised, and her voice again betrayed what the helmet would not show. The surprise and delight that he deemed at least one aspect of her skill ‘good enough.’ “Y-yes! Of course! Thank you.”

Marksmanship was important, but Jedi- and Sith, fought their wars close. ‘Good enough’ in that field would not cut it.

She needed to be better than just “Good enough” if she was going to kill them. 

—

Vicky:

“This is Lancer Class IRX7-2280: designation ‘Stalker’ Nar Shadda control please copy, requesting permission to dock with tag-along. Kom’kr class- designation Iron Will. Party of two need a hangar for two, please confirm.”

Vicky stood behind Rugess in the cockpit, Ventress hovering behind him, Rugess in the co-pilot seat and Iskt at her side.

Nar-Shadaa dominated the view ahead of them. The seedy underbelly of the galaxy gleamed like an orb of obsidian and starlight; much like she remembered it.

It didn’t have any right to be so gorgeous.

She could see the traffic lanes, little twinkling lights of ships, cargo haulers, freighters, passenger ships, trade ships, private and pirate ships all coming and going by the billions every hour.

She imagined she and Dennis and the Mandos behind them must look much the same from their perspective. 

The radio crackled to life a droid answering them. She imagined it would be near impossible for an organic workforce to manage this much minute to minute traffic. 

“This is Nar-Shaddaa control, we read you ‘Stalker’ Query; would you be seeking premium services or economy services?”

Translation; did you have enough to bribe the hutts to make sure you got a private hangar where things wouldn’t wind up missing and you might actually get refueled and restocked. 

Dennis, fortunately had come prepared… probably courtesy of Alexandria, or at the very least the Duchess. 

“Tell your masters we can afford their best services.” He answered, giving the credit chit number and clicking the ‘send’ button on the screen with what might have been smug satisfaction.

The droid took a moment to process.

“I understand- Please, follow these coordinates to one of our VIP hangars where you will be treated to the greatest ship services in the Galaxy courtesy of Jgba the Hutt”

The screen lit up, green access codes given and Dennis mumbled as he punched in the code; “Sometimes it pays to work in government-” He quipped. 

No one laughed at the joke but it did bring a smirk to Vicky’s face.

As the ship lurched forward, bypassing the crush of intergalactic traffic that constantly surrounded the city-moon, Nar-Shaddaa itself came closer and closer, the details becoming clearer.

It was still beautiful, even from here, a dazzle of lights; neon sighs, glitz and glamour. 

It reminded her… almost of home really. Brockton Bay. The boardwalk, Arcadia, Med-Hall. A thin thin veneer of beauty, or normalcy papered over the drudge and rot just beneath it. 

They swooped past the Promenade, that… beacon on the hill. The biggest and safest place on Nar-Shaddaa, the only real safe place where the Hutts lived like intergalactic kings and no one dared upset the status quo because it was ‘bad for business. 

That was just like home too.

Finally, they reached the hangar, and it was just at a glance much MUCH better than the place where they’d bunkered the Vista during their previous visit when they rescued Siri. 

The walls gleamed, the equipment looked almost brand new, cleaning droids even now moved to and fro preparing for their arrival, maintenance droids waiting in the wings to begin working on their ships immediately. 

It was true what they said. Once you paid the Hutts, they tried to make sure you paid them again. 

They entered the hangar on gentle bobs and lurches, the ship handling so smoothly it was almost completely incomparable to the Vista which had been much more rough and rugged than the Stalker.

She wondered how Missy might feel about that if she knew?

Probably a few bitter comments and maybe some kicked shins.

The thought made Vicky smile. 

“Alright.” Dennis sighed. “Lets get this over with before the hutts discover who’s actually here.” He said, emphasizing the point by clasping a breathing mask over his mouth, nose and chin to hide his identity as he threw a hooded jacket over his usual attire. It wasn’t perfect; not by a long shot, but hopefully it would work for a day or two.

And hopefully a day or two is all they’d need.

The now masked ginger tossed a look towards Ventress, who gave a single firm nod, a conversation happening quietly between the two of them before the pale woman turned and marched out. 

The time based hero smile, his eyes and cheeks giving away the expression, much like Militia used to do with her bandana. “Okay then. Lets go meet the rest of our teammates yeah?”

Standing up with a spring in his step that Vicky didn’t need the force to sense was less real than advertised, he hummed happily as he marched out of the cockpit and headed towards the exit ramp behind Ventress. 

She gave the equivalent of a mental shrug. Dennis was a big boy- he could handle himself.

Following after him, Iskt behind her and Rugess behind Iskt, they opened the entry ramp and walked out as the Mandalorian ship began to touch down.

A few minutes later, they were joined in the hangar bay floor by the six Mandalorian royal guards, as promised and to her surprise- two Jedi Knights.

“Didn’t I mention that?” Dennis asked. “Yeah, Militia got the Mandalorian enclave to agree to send two Knights with us to help.”

“No you didn’t-” She answered and she was a little surprised and… maybe disturbed that she hadn’t sensed them as they approached Nar-Shaddaa. Was a planet that teemed with this much life really so disorienting on Force senses that it could let people that weren’t even really trying to hide their force presences do so?

Hell- was Coruscant the same?

Why had the Jedi set up camp there if it was?

Still, questions for later, right now she should introduce herself.

“Well, either way, hi there.” She said, smiling at the new arrivals. “I’m Master Dallon, and its a pleasure to meet you both.” She extended her hand, a Jedi Master who’s species she was pretty sure was a Trogodile took it, lowering his reptilian head to greet her back with a semi bow.

Troglodiles much like Trandoshans were reptilians. But they were much much smaller and thinner by comparison. A, not to sound insulting, but a lizard next to the hulking Dinosaur that Iskt would grow up to be that could go toe to toe against Wookies. 

“I am Master Anjr.” The reptile hissed, gesturing to the human at his side. “This is Knight Lisen.”

The human, now that she looked at him, was young- barely out of his teens probably- and must’ve only just gotten his spurs as a knight.

He was also staring right at her with wide wide eyes and mouth hanging open. 

Vicky smirked. “What? Something on my face.” She wiped ‘it away.

The knight snapped out of his stupor. Blinking and shaking his head before his cheeks turned scarlet. “I- yes I’m so sorry I just- You’re her. The Master Dallon.”

“I didn’t know I had a fanbase.” She laughed, slightly off her footing. Hero worship wasn’t anything new.

Hero worship from a Jedi, was.

Then she spied it, just under the robes.

“Oh- You’re a Corellian Jedi.”

The young man brought up his arm, where the forest green vambrace of the green Jedi stood out amidst the light brown robes and cloak. 

“Yes.” He nodded his expression turning somber. . “The Green Council decided it would be best to send out one Knight or Master to our cousin enclaves, including Coruscant… just incase there’s another attack, our teachings and ways will not go extinct if the Corellian enclave falls.”

That… was a good plan.

She brought her hand up, placing it on the young man’s shoulder… fuck. She was getting old if she was calling a twenty year old “young man”

“Don’t worry-” She said, smiling. We’ll win this war soon enough.”

She hoped that was true.

Turning her attention to the Mandalorians, she did indeed find six of them and was only… mildly racist maybe, when she expected to see clones there.

She’d gotten used to her friends, sue her.

“Hello-” She greeted, holding out her hand.

The mandalorian dressed in armor hidden by the royal blue colors of Clan Kryze nodded, grasping her hand firmly. “Master Jedi. I’m Captain Holm. By orders of the Vizier we’re to join you on this mission but we are only authorized to engage if death watch is confirmed to be operating here.”

“Is your duchess still pretending to be a pacifist.” Ventress needled, smirking with venom.

Captain Holm glared at the pale woman. “Watch your tone.”

“Play nice girls.” Dennis cut in; “we’re not in friendly territory and we have a job to do.”

The… not Jedi snorted. “Whatever. I’m heading out to go scout. Nikto red sector is where they’re supposedly hiding right?”

Dennis just nodded. “Don’t let em see you.”

Ventress’ response was one of being genuinely insulted “Please.” She made a sound of disgust, as though the very notion was beyond belief. 

Then she turned and began to leave.

Vicky let her, she didn’t know Ventress’ skills, or abilities. But she trusted Dennis, if he wasn’t putting up a fuss she’d trust his judgement.

The Mandalorian captain looked ready to argue, but the muscles of his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth and kept his opinions to himself.

Vicky decided to break the tension. 

“Well now-” She smiled, clapping her hands twice. “I believe we can all contribute here so lets make a game plan.

Taylor made it sound as though corralling creche kids was hard. Maybe her girl should try a more… eclectic mix.

(X)(X)(X)

I apologize for the slight delay and... relatively "meh" quality of this chapter. Its a bridge chapter so those aren't really all that exciting but honestly last week I had to take care of a sick elderly family member and it was very draining. I kinda had to force myself to sit down and put words to paper and I rarely have to do that especially when so much needs to be setup and so many exciting things are going to be happening very very shortly.

But I really just didn't have the energy for it properly this week :(

I do however, have a bit of a road map for what's gonna be happening in the next few chapters :3

1) Next chapter is another "bridge" chapter on Taylor's side as she heads out of Coruscant with the Masters towards Kashyyyk and of course we kick off the buddy cop film EVERYONE needed in their life with Alexandria and Palpatine xD

The chapter after that we'll be back to Vicky and the happenings on Nar-Shadaa

And the following one, will be Taylor on Kashyyyk with the Jedi masters, finally comuning with QA...

But I'm sure no one's looking forward to that xD

And then we come back to Vicky and Dennis here on Nar-Shaddaa and what everyone's asking of are Dennis and Ventress a couple might finally (not) get an answer :3