Optional Sidestory Interlude: 1 (Patreon)

Optional Dual Sidestory Interlude: 1

Dennis:

Dennis hadn't cried in years.

But he was crying now.

She was too.

"You  absolute ass!" Missy sobbed, her comparatively tiny fist punching at  Dennis' shoulder again, her face buried in the other one as she sniffed  and bawled. "Why'd you change your name!? I would have found you years ago!"

"I'm sorry." Dennis' voice was choked even as he laughed. "What better opportunity to rebrand, ya know?"

She  punched him again "Consistency of character, you jerk! You can't just  go from class clown to greek mythology! Do you have any idea how fucking  furious I am with you right now?!" Juxtaposing the statement was the  fact that she clutched at him even tighter.

When  they pulled away both of them had tears in their eyes- But Dennis's  smile was impossible to remove from his face as he looked at her.

"You got taller." He laughed.

She winked. "I'm not just a little girl anymore."

The door hissed open.

He turned at the sound of it. "Sorry." He said half meaning it. "I couldn't wait."

Hannah strode into the room-

"Who's this?" Missy asked and Hannah only then seemed to remember she was wearing her helmet.

The Mandalorian helm hissed as she yanked it off- her eyes wide with emotion as wooden legs carried her forward.

Missy gasped, and the hug she gave Dennis was repeated immediately as she rushed forward.

She'd  grown… but she was still small enough that Hannah could place her chin  over the young woman's head, hugging her tightly and rocking her like  Missy was one of her own kids.

"Miss M?" The former Ward's voice was warbling with feeling and Hannah's eyes started to glimmer as she took deep, slow breaths.

"You didn't know I was here?" Hannah asked.

"No. I'm gonna punch Ventress when I see her again! All she said was that I had an important contact to meet, the bitch."

"Language."  Hannah chided, her voice almost immediately carrying him back years onto the Wards common room.

Missy must've noticed too because her laugh was startled and delighted. "I'm legally allowed to curse now," she answered.

"Only on some planets," came the deft counter, Hannah's fingers threading through Missy's blonde locks as she held her close.

"Who  else is here?" Missy asked. "I heard about some flying jedi on the  news, was that Glory Girl?--Wait, you probably don't know--oh god, I  have to introduce you all to the crew and show you the Shaker 9-" She  started to cry again. "I'm so happy you're here!"

"The  others are on their way," Dennis said, releasing a huff of air as he  visibly gathered himself, though the smile didn't slip. "I think Vicky  was as excited as I was."

"So it was her then?" Vista questioned. "How many from Brockton bay showed up? Was it just us?"

"From Brockton Bay- no." Hannah said. "But we believe we were all in Brockton Bay at the time." She paused pulling away to look at the  smaller young woman and gently wiping down her cheeks.. "How much do you  remember?"

Vista breathed,  wiping at her own cheeks now too. "Bakuda," she breathed out slowly. "I  think... the Undersiders took her down... It's been years, sorry. I  know it was something like two weeks before I turned thirteen. Don't you  remember?"

Dennis tried to  not show the relief on his face, he liked to think he was able to  obfuscate said relief with the memory in question. "Yeah. I remember  Missy."

The girl nodded, and the door opened again.

Vista boggled. "Director Costa-Brown!?" She squawked, mouth agape. She almost felt ready to snap a salute in pure reflex.

The woman was different, dressed in what Vista knew to be an expensive dress, black and dark purple, elegant and classy, rather than the pants  suit and almost military rigidity of her attire as the director, but  that face was unmistakable.

Hell she barely looked like she aged a single day.

"Ward Vista." She nodded cooly. "Or, perhaps Heroine is more fitting now."

"I'm  more a space adventurer now," Vista chuckled uneasily. "I mean, I guess  I'm a hero, sometimes, but, you know, I'm not sure if I legally  qualify..."

"Some of us never did at all, eh Lexi?" Dennis' grin was all teeth.

Vista blinked. "You call her Lexi?"

"He  means-" The woman rolled her eyes. "Alexandria." She pulled out a  hollow facsimile of Alexandria's helmet placing it over her eyes and  nose and the resemblance was striking even to Vista's distant memories.  She pulled the mask off with a careless shrug.

…

"...Well  I guess that explains how the Protectorate and the PRT managed to come  together so smoothly," Vista managed after a moment. "So... I... can't  actually think of anything to say, actually, I mean we never actually  met and I-I-I guess asking for your autograph would be a little  awkward--"

A rare smile  tugged on Alexandria's lips. She stepped forward, plucking the blaster  from Vista's hip and quickly signing the barrel before replacing it.

"--or you could just do that," Vista squeaked.

"Indulge my curiosity," the older woman said once she was done. "Where did you… arrive?"

"Ryloth," Missy answered immediately. "What about you guys?"

"Tattoine," Dennis said.

"And Dallon and Hebert on Kashyyyk." Alexandria hummed in thought. "All outer Rim worlds."

"Dallon and who?"

"You think it's a pattern?" Hannah asked.

"Still  too early to say." Alexandria shrugged. "We just don't have enough of a  sample size, or a way to definitively discard the mid or core worlds."

Dennis grumbled. "So you think there are others."

"It's  a big galaxy. A little over half as big as the Milky Way, with a little  under twice as many stars." She nodded. "The odds of us finding each  other are, no pun intended, astronomically small."

"Especially if we change names, Kronos," Vista added with a pointed glare.

Dennis  held up his hands with a sheepish smile before his look turned  contemplative. "Still," he said, "if we were all, hypothetically,  blasted shotgun style at this galaxy-"

"-then  we've got to figure out which planets were in the way to catch us and  which would be blocked by other planets," Vista continued the train of  thought. Then sighed through her nostrils. "That would mean getting a  starchart for ten years ago and doing a bunch of calculations. We all  did arrive ten years ago, right?"

"As  far as we're aware, with the people we've met- yes," Hannah answered.  "The only difference so far seems to be the planets and… well… how much  we remember."

That made Missy blink. "Huh- wait. You guys don't remember Bakuda?"

"Look-"  Dennis suddenly cut in. "I'm starving and Vicky and Tay won't be  showing up for another couple of hours so let's show Missy some Mando  cuisine. You ever eaten Mando food?"

Vista  gave him a long look, before shrugging. "Alright, I'll pretend I didn't  notice that deflection. No actually. At least I don't think so. Some of  the crew tends to find some weird recipes on the holo-net."

"I'll  pretend you didn't notice too." Dennis' voice was… unnervingly cold-  before his mood did an entire shift, smiling. "Why don't you invite your  crew? We get to meet the wonderful influences you've surrounded  yourself with."

Missy  tossed Militia a look, but the woman, if she had anything to say on the  subject of Dennis' odd mood swings, didn't offer it up.

"Yeah  sure." She decided to answer. "Lemme just call 'em up." In spite of  the… rather jarring nature of that clearly sore subject she did find a  smile pulling at her lip, happy that her friends would meet… well… her  friends. "Fair warning, I may have… kinda… sorta… maybe adopted a kid."

"Think Tay's got ya beat. She's on like fifty by Vicky's count."

"I'm  sure she has, and that she's a wonderful woman, and I still don't know  who the hell she is. Is she your girlfriend or something?"

"Hah.  No. God no. Vicky can have her. All of her. Please don't suggest  something like that if you care for this mortal coil of mine at all."

"Wait, Vicky's gay?!"

"Is that what you took away from that? Really!?

"I'm missing ten years of context here, Clock!"

"...and that is how I tamed an endbringer," Vista finished.

"The Zillo beast is not an endbringer," deadpanned the purple twi'lek she'd introduced as the captain of the Shaker 9.

"Come on, Hyanori, it totally is!"

"It absolutely isn't."

"Well,  let's leave it to the panel of judges." Vista turned to the other  parahumans. "Does the giant bipedal three-armed creature that attacked a  city qualify as an endbringer?"

Hannah, and Alexandria shared a look; Dennis, she noted, chewed his food, not looking at any of them.

"It didn't behave like an Endbringer at all," Hannah mused.

"And Endbringers don't have normal anatomy," Alexandria added.

"Really?" Vista asked. "I don't remember hearing that."

"Trust me," Alexandria answered with a careful sip of her drink.

"Is this something I apparently don't remember that you guys do?" she asked.

Alexandria nodded. "Leviathan attacked Brockton Bay. The thinker, Tattletale, was able to figure some things out."

"...Oh." Vista's voice was a little distant. "That's... bad."

The green twi'lek--Dennis had been shocked to learn her name was Susan, of all things--glanced at Vista for a moment, her lekku twitching. She  lowered her fork thoughtfully. "So is it true that these Endbringer  things couldn't be killed?"

Both women hesitated before looking to Dennis.

The time pausing cape sighed. "It takes a lot to take them out," he admitted. "But... well... they can die. We did eventually off Behemoth."

Vista's eyes rose. "Holy shit! Really?"

"Yeah, Taylor and some other capes worked together, it was this whole thing."

"... I'm seriously looking forward to meeting this girl."

"Then  more endbringers came out of the woodwork to replace him and fucked us  just as hard." Dennis' smile was all bitterness and anger his fork was  practically stabbing the cut of meat as he brought it up to his mouth.

"...  Okay," Vista rubbed her temples, "Dennis? Legit question. On a scale of  ouch that smarts to everybody out of the universe, exactly how fucked  up did Earth Bet get?"

He looked at her leaning back in his seat. "Can we not talk about this? Like- honestly."

"Just tell me that at least," she pleaded.

He gestured around them. "Kind of self evident how 'out of the universe' we are I think. Should give you an answer."

The room was quiet for a moment. The full, uncomfortable implications were just beginning to sink in--

"Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,"  drawled the orange twi'lek, "anybody want to hear the story of Vista's  first and last encounter with alcohol?"

Vista groaned, shaking her head. "Klarna, come on--"

"First and last?" Hannah asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Hyanori  banned her from touching a drop after everything went down," Klarna  explained. "Even got Mersha to check the galley regularly."

"It's  true," the final, blue twi'lek confirmed with an amused smile. "To her  credit, I haven't had to lecture Vista about sneaking booze on board a  single time."

"Thanks," Vista said dryly.

"I've had to talk with her about many, many other things, yes, but never illicit alcohol."

"Okay," Dennis leaned forward, "this I have to hear."

Klarna grinned. "Well, it was Vista's twenty first birthday, so she decided to take the plunge and ordered--what was it, again?"

"A Mon Calamari seaweed mash," Hyanori replied, the corner of her lips quirking when Vista slumped back in her seat.

"Right,  that. And she liked it so much she got another. And then another. And  by her fifth drink, she was flirting with the waitress, who was a  theelin."

Alexandria quirked a brow. "A theelin... and this was about two and a half years ago?"

"Oh, so you've heard about this!" Klarna chirped cheerfully.

"There  was an intelligence report that somebody destroyed Ingoda the Hutt's  palace and liberated all the slaves," she clarified, folding her hands  and leaning forward with interest. "I would very much appreciate a more  detailed after action report." She very carefully did not smile at  Vista's embarrassed groan.

"Okay,  so, eventually the theelin mentions she's one of Ingoda's former  slaves, because he has a thing for theelin specifically, and at this  point Vista's on her sixth drink and she is absolutely enraged by what  this poor girl has gone through. And across the street from the bar,  there's a podracer track...."

Rugess whistled as he took in the large square brick that was the Shaker 9.

And  it was a brick, an almost perfectly square hunk of metal with a hollow  at its center. A single chamber, suspended by three metal bars, occupied  the central void, overshadowed by the cockpit that jutted from the  rough pyramid on top of the rear. Two pairs of rockets had been attached  to the sides of the pyramid, bolted down with plates and tubes, almost  as if the designers had realized only at the last moment they were  building a spaceship.

He turned to the droid standing next to him, babbling a question in his native bith tongue.

"Well,  it started life as an HT-2200," the droid admitted, "but Vista  suggested modifications." She gestured at the front of the ship. "That  entire front-central room is devoted to the weapons system, for  instance. And the two airlocks on the front lead to the two cargo bays."

Rugess tilted his head, querying that statement. The shorter red and silver droid warbled something in reply, almost amused.

"Yes,  the other two bays have been converted to a gym and a garage," the  other droid agreed. "Corellian engineering is quite flexible."

The shorter droid chirped mischievously.

"I... don't see what Vista's flexibility has to do with anything, Assault."

That  got a whine as the shorter droid gestured at the taller one with a  manipulator, turning his optic plaintively to Rugess. The bith chuckled,  warbling an explanation to the taller droid.

"How is it," the taller droid asked, "that an A-LT droid has such an... organic sense of humor?"

Assault  whistled proudly, manipulators on his tracks, and Rugess couldn't help  but laugh. His teasing reply caused the taller droid to sigh.

"Yes,  I'm well aware of the pun," she said dryly, "but I had the nickname  Battery long before I met this utility droid. Or before I was on Vista's  crew, for that matter. Klarna actually found the both of us in junk  shops--and KD-1 too, he's an RJ unit. Though that was years before Vista  got the Shaker 9."

Rugess tilted his head, a query passing through his lips.

"My understanding is that she conned the ship off a pirate."

The  bith straightened up in shock, repeating the statement incredulously.  Assault gleefully confirmed the story, miming a pair of blasters with  the appropriate sound effects.

"I  wasn't present for it myself," Battery admitted, "but it was the reason  Klarna went looking for droids in the first place. You know she and  Vista actually asked if I wanted to be part of the crew after repairing and reactivating me?"

That was not nearly as surprising as Rugess would have thought, and he expressed that opinion with excellent diction.

"Yes,  well, Klarna is actually a major advocate for droid rights," Battery  admitted. "In fact, I think I've seen her talking with Alexandria about  it--she's been trying to get in contact with the Coalition's leadership  for years now, and once she realized this Alexandria was the same one as  the one in the senate, she got that gleam in her eye. The one where  she's inventing a solution to a problem in her mind, and working out the  kinks."

Rugess sighed,  shaking his head as he muttered something in good humor. Assault  cheerfully warbled his own observation, making Rugess throw up his  hands.

"...so," Battery asked eventually, "how did you meet Kronos and his companions, if I may ask?"

Rugess huffed, beginning his own tale...

"Eeeeeeeeeeeee~~!"

Victoria's squeal of happiness when the blonde finally caught sight of her made a smile bloom across Missy's face. She remembered her constant irritation with  Victoria because of her crush on Dean- but that seemed so very distant  now when she saw how genuinely happy the older girl looked at finally  finding each other again. "Hey there, big V!"

"Little V!" Missy spread her arms, trusting that Vicky would check her strength as she practically plowed into her  in a literal flying hug, scooping Missy off her feet as they spun and  twirled in the air, Missy's legs dangling off the ground.

"Should I be jealous?" a dark haired woman questioned with a wry smirk as Vicky hugged Missy like an oversized plush toy.

"Absolutely, Missy is my new favorite hug-plush."

The  aforementioned girl rolled her eyes, tapping Vicky on the shoulder.  "Hah-hah, very funny." she said. "Seriously though it's a bit hard on  the ribs dangling here V."

Obligingly, Vicky descended back to solid ground as the others made their way closer.

Clock nodded. "Hebert."

"Dennis."

Their greetings weren't exactly cold but they were a little distant, she noted, a marked difference to how  Hebert addressed Hannah. "Militia-" She nodded. "How's the family?"

Missy stopped; jerking sideways to look over Vicky's shoulder. "Wait, Family!?" she shouted, mouth agape.

Militia had the decency to at least look sheepish. "I didn't want to overwhelm you," she said. "But yes. I'm  married." She held up her hand, two fingers uncoiling upwards. "Two kids  too. Jen and Daryan."

"I wanna see!" Missy did not squeak. She was far too dignified for such things.

She  may have folded the distance between her and Militia so she could grab  at the older woman's hands, clutching them tightly. But that was simply  an exercise in fine control over her power that's all.

"You  sound like you're pleading to go look at a zoo exhibit," Dennis  chuckled. "Ow!" Her boot to his shin was familiar and comforting. For  her at least.

"Shush!"

"We can go." Hannah nodded. "I'd love for you to meet them too."

There was a subdued chuckle and Missy realized she hadn't quite finished introductions yet.

"Oh!  Sorry!" She said, letting go of Militia's hands to face Hebert.  Extending one hand she smiled politely. "Missy Biron. Though I mostly go  by Vista these days. And you must be Taylor Hebert right? I heard a lot  about you."

"From Dennis?"  She questioned raising an eyebrow as she extended her hand to grasp at  Missy's, shaking it firmly. "Should I be worried?"

"What  I got outa him was that you scare him, and you supposedly helped kill  Behemoth," she answered bluntly, smiling as she watched the dark haired  woman's face for her reactions.

She  must've been damn good at poker though, because all she got was a tiny  raise of an eyebrow before she turned to Dennis. "That's it huh?" she  asked. "I guess he just wanted to enjoy seeing your reaction."

"To what?" Missy asked. "You killing Behemoth? What are your powers by the way to have helped manage that?"

Taylor sighed. "No. Not that. He wanted to see your reaction to the 'surprise' that we've met before."

"I  plead the fifth," Dennis said with a very obvious smirk tugging at his  lip. Missy had the urge to smack him upside the head again.

She was about to demand some straight answers when Taylor sighed with a roll of her eyes.

Then, she pulled out a mask.

A very familiar mask.

Missy  stiffened, her hand suddenly feeling like it was caught in a rather  strong pincer claw rather than a hand as Skitter's mask settled over  Taylor's face.

"Nice to meet again, Vista."

Missy's mouth fell open. Staring at the… well… villain, and then to the snickering Dennis, and the clearly amused Hannah.

She rounded on Vicky.

"You went sapphic for a villain!?"

Dennis  guffawed and the one that smacked him in the back of the head this time  was an Alexandria lite. So it was likely considerably more painful.

"...damn  it. A decade out of contact, and when I finally find you again you've  become a lesbian cyclops war hero paladin that seduced a criminal into  being a den mother." Vista threw up her hands. "Are there any other  surprises I should know about?"

Taylor raised her hand. "I can light people on fire with my mind."

"…Of course you can," Missy sighed. "Next you'll tell me Jack Slash saved the world."

Hebert shook her head. "No, he kickstarted the apocalypse. Bonesaw, on the other hand, helped save the world--"

"You  know what?" Missy held up her hands. "New rule. There are two  questions: Do I want to know, and Do I need to know. And if the answer  to both is no, we don't need to talk about it."

"How  about the fact that parahuman powers come from giant crystal space  whales in another dimension?" Vicky asked. "Is that in the need-to-know  column?"

The blonde gave the other blonde a long, flat look. "...you're enjoying this, aren't you."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Would you like to meet my family now, or-"

Missy  grabbed hold of Hannah's arm. "Let's go! Oh, how old are your kids?  Maybe we can set up play-dates with Han and the... uh..." She trailed  off awkwardly, glancing at Vicky. "So... I've got some droids--"

"Who doesn't?" Vicky blinked curiously.

"--on my crew. There's an RJ called KD-1, an LE repair droid who answers to Battery,  the A-LT named Assault..." Missy rubbed the back of her head. "And the  four DUM droids. Kinda kids in their own right. Their names are, uh,  Eric, Crystal, Amy, and... Vicky."

Her friends + Villain raised some rather high eyebrows at the confession.

"If it makes you feel slightly less awkward-" Dennis ventured hesitantly. "I named my ship after you."

"Really? Where is it?"

"It blew up… Not my fault."

Missy blinked. "Oh. Uh. Wow." She put her hand on Dennis's shoulder. "I am so sorry for your loss. I know the Shaker 9's become... like a home to me, I can't imagine--"

"I'm shooting the asshole that blew it up when we find him next. From orbit. With a big ass gun."

He seemed… dead serious honestly…

"...You'll want me with you then," Vista said. "Just to make sure you don't miss."

---

"Who's she?"

The  little boy, Daryan, pointed at her with a paint covered finger, smudges  of color across his hands and cheeks from what had apparently been a  very enthusiastic bout of finger painting.

"This-"  Hannah leaned down, giving her son a kiss on the top of his head. "-is  Missy, Daryan, you remember my stories right? Of the little hero Vista."

"I think my name is Missy Biron," the woman quipped. "Hold up, you told stories about us!?"

Hannah shrugged a smile tugging at her lips. "You'd be surprised by how many misadventures make for good bedtime stories."

Still, Daryan was staring at her with wide unblinking eyes. "Can you really make things that are far away come closer?"

Vista  leaned down, reaching behind Daryan's ear and pulling out a coin. "Old  trick, right? Well..." She did it again, this time producing a fruit  from the next room over. "New spin."

His eyes boggled- then he smiled megawatt bright. "COOL!" He squealed.

She realized she may have miscalculated when he started chattering her ear off with a deluge  of… well… nearly incomprehensible babble going too fast to catch. She  managed to get snips of questions about how her power worked, how  Armsmaster was the Coolest Hero who could make the best Beskar  armor, and something about how if she could show him the trick she used  to fold Hookwolf into biting his own tail.

She tossed Militia a suspicious look at that last one.

The older woman averted her eyes. "I may have… embellished. Just a smidge."

"Uh-huh."  She smiled good naturedly, feeling Daryan's hand grasping hers to tug  her behind him towards his room to show her some of his toys.

"Boy."

The voice was like a rolling thunderstorm and she actually straightened just a bit before turning her head to look.

Her first thought was 'Big'

Her second thought was 'He looks like he could put Lung on his ass.'

Her third thought, on seeing his expression, was 'Holy shit somebody put Armsmaster and Dauntless in a blender.'

The walking wall marched out of the hallway, his expression seemingly cast from granite into a perpetual frown. "They are guests. We do not pull them. We ask."

"Yes  father." For all his father's rumbling reprimand, the smile didn't slip  from the little boy's face as he let go of her hand and bowed towards  her. "Can you come with me please miss Vista?"

She got the impression that his enthusiasm usually got the better of him.

"Sure,"  Vista said with a small smile. "Just gimme a sec alright? We probably  want to make sure Han and your sister haven't declared war on each other  anyway."

Hyanori, leaning against the wall, smiled at the 'conversation.' "Children are always so eager, huh?"

Another  woman wandered in, carrying a tray of hot tea, the kettle still  releasing faint trails of steam, the cups arrayed perfectly around the  tray.

"Oh Hi." Hyanori  waved, blinking before looking at Shmi and Hannah and Aras. "Are you  Grandma Mando?" She winced. "Sorry- think I just bit my lekku there--"

Shmi's smile was gentle. "No, I'm afraid I'm not related to the family."

"You're still family, Shmi." Hannah declared quietly, sighing as she sat down on the living room couch."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Oh-" Klarna's lekku twitched. "So what's your story then?"

"Klarna-" Mersha hissed a bit, wincing at her partner's blunt nature.

"Huh- Oh Wait. Was that rude around here or something?"

"I  am a rescued slave from Tattoine." Shmi answered, as she began to  arrange the tea cups for everyone. "I believe I was one of the first  Kronos rescued, he brought me here- Hannah and Aras took me in."

"I… think it was more Aras." Hannah admitted. "I… didn't exactly own property at the time. We weren't even married at the time."

Aras  grunted, turning and walking away. Missy had the absurd thought that  the ridiculously huge man was embarrassed by the praise. "Hebert," he  called. "Would you join me?"

The dark haired former villain offered a shrug, nodding as she walked after the large Mando,  receiving a quick peck on the cheek from Vicky as the Alexandria package  turned to her conversation with Dennis and Rugess.

"What's up with that?" Klarna questioned.

"Neither  of them like to hold back much in spars," Hannah explained. "They find  it frustrating. So when Taylor comes around Aras likes to get a bout or  two against her."

Missy winced. "Against a Supervillain?" she asked, remembering the… rather uncomfortable feeling of bugs… everywhere.

"Former villain," Vicky chirped.

"Wait-" Daryan, who was still patiently waiting by Missy's side, had eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Auntie Taylor was a Villain! Like Hookwolf!?"

Militia gave her a somewhat irritated glare- Missy winced.

"My ba-"

"That is SO AWESOME!" the boy gushed seemingly ready to go chasing after his latest distraction.

"Ahh  well-" Missy tried to work on some level of damage control. It was the  least she could do after apparently letting the cat out of the bag.  "Nah, she's not like that; Hookwolf was EVIL for the sake of EVIL. Loved  to fight and put others down. Taylor.... Actually, I don't know. Hey  Dennis how evil for the sake of evil was Taylor? Scale of snatching  pencils to drowning puppies."

"Given that I'm standing in front of her wife, and fear for the longevity of my skeleton, I plead the fifth."

"Stop exaggerating you ass." Vicky rolled her eyes.

"About what? Taylor's evul or you breaking my bones?"

"Yes."

Hesitantly,  Klarna raised a single hand. "...would it be appropriate for me to ask  her why she was a villain in the first place, or is that... ya know...?"

"Inappropriate"

Missy  couldn't really blame Klarna for the squeak that escaped her as the  walls hissed out the word.… or that may have been Missy herself. She was  unsure.

"Tay be nice!" Vicky reprimanded.

Missy  got the distinct impression that somewhere, someone was laughing. Then  she saw Susan, who was actually laughing. That was almost as disturbing  as the walls speaking with the voice of legion.

Hyanori, seemingly deciding to bring the conversation back to some degree of normal leaned closer to Shmi. "Well, not to compare notes or anything but Vista actually rescued us as well."

"Oh?"

Hyanori  sighed. "We were a bunch of girls who had lost their parents to the  mines. Fourteen of us, basically living together in a hovel, and then  one night a bunch of slavers rounded almost all of us up. I only escaped  because I wasn't there at the time." She gestured toward the playing  kids--and also Jan. "Vista ran into me, used her powers to track the  girls down, then terrified the slavers into submission with her  spacewarping and... actually," she turned to Hannah, "do you know what a  jabberwock is? I know it's some Earth thing, but she was never  clear..."

Mersha, meanwhile, awkwardly sidled up to Vicky. "So... I'd heard that Jedi were supposed to be, ah, celibate...?"

"We're  supposed to not have attachment," Vicky corrected. "Because improperly  processed grief leads to the dark side. I'm not going to lie, the jedi  are mostly good people but their… kinda stupid when it comes to normal  parts of life, ya know."

"Ah. That would explain why Alexandria is keeping her relationship with the local jedi secret."

Vicky snorted in shock. "What, Alexandria and Fay?! How do you--?"

"Apparently  Klarna interrupted one of their lunch dates. I thought she was  misinterpreting things, but..." Mersha shrugged. "It takes all kinds, I  suppose."

"...Alexandria  and Fay..." Vicky tapped her chin thoughtfully. "...now that I think  about it... I'll have to keep a close eye on them. What about you, any  romance in your life?"

"Me  personally, no. Hyanori and Vista..." Mersha smiled wryly. "They're  keeping their relationship unlabeled for political reasons."

"What?"

"Vista was the only human on a ship crewed with twi'leks for a long time. She, ah... didn't want to feed the stereotype."

"Aaaaah."

"Well,"  Susan said as she finally managed to stop laughing, "I guess with the  war on it'll be up to us to find any other Earth Bet natives out there."

Dennis hummed. "How do you figure?"

"Vicky  and Taylor are jedi war heroes, they'll be too busy doing things there  to even look into it. Alexandria is doing politics, and Militia is doing  motherhood--both things that can't be left unattended. And as much as  I'd like to think you could help us, Kronos is probably too big a name  by now to just have vanish off the board."

"Well,  when you put it like that, I suppose that makes sense," Dennis  admitted. "I'll admit, the idea of some parahumans being out there on  their own for a decade worries me. Lung showing up on some backwater- he  could rule it like some Dragon God King without anyone knowing shit."

"Hell  that's not even the worst of it," Vicky nodded, "can you picture some  of the small time guys winding up here? Like- what if Leet had shown up  on Kashyyyk shadowlands? No Tinker-tech no nothing. Probably dead before  he realized he wasn't even on earth anymore."

"Yeah  some of the planets on record can practically be called Death Worlds  for how much they hate… everything." Dennis shrugged. "Could you imagine  Parian surviving in this galaxy?"

"Parian?" Mersha asked.

"She  was a rogue--not a hero or a villain, just a cape that makes their own  business," Vicky answered. "If I'm remembering things right I'm pretty  sure she was some sort of cloth or thread-based telekinetic, famous for  her puppet shows and her tailor skills."

Susan winced. "Yeah, I can't see how someone like that could survive on one of the bad planets. Dead in an hour tops…"

Meanwhile, On Onderon:

"Hoooooney, I'm hooooooome!"

Sabah rolled her eyes with a fond smile. "Really, Lily, every time?"

(X)(X)(X)

So now its official, Vista of the Stars sidestory is canon.

As  labeled this is OPTIONAL. It will not be affecting the main narrative,  I'm being very careful and working hand in hand with  [USER=287782]Masterweaver[/USER] to make sure we don't step on  eachother's toes. The Galaxy far far away is big enough that many  narratives can exist simultaneously.

Anywho  with all that out of the way I hope you all enjoyed this little  interlude and that it lived up to the expectations of those who knew it  was coming

Now a bit of a personal update:

My  "break"/vacation honestly came "Just in time" because just a few days  after I stepped away I got sick, and have been sick since around the  28th.

I'm better now, but  yeah, twas not fun and was glad I could just "relax" and not worry about  anything given that I wasn't writing or working because of christmas  break.

I don't recommend anyone getting Bronchitis. 0/10 Skip the experience.

I  should be able to start writing/dabbling more readilly now that I'm  finally on the mend, so I wouldn't say that there will be any delays, we  should still be good to go to start updating again by early to mid Feb

Anywho Read, review and all that fun stuff.