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Chapter Text

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

The Galactic Senate watches anxiously as a figure calling himself Grand Highblood recruits hundreds of solar systems into his fight to secede from the Republic by any means necessary.
Jedi Knights dispersed across the galaxy struggle to maintain peace over the separatist movement.
Senator Leijon, former Queen of Naboo, hastily returns to the planet Coruscant so that she may cast her vote on the controversial issue of creating an army to assist the limited number of Jedi….

Senator Leijon was dead. Chancellor Peixes had said it right there in front of the entire Galactic Senate. She was assassinated upon her arrival to Coruscant. On the little display screen senators from many different sects of the galaxy were screaming and shouting trying to get their opinions heard. Whoever was in charge of the cameras focused on whichever politician spoke the loudest.  The assassination solidified many individuals’ resignation: it was time to go to war.

Signless set the monitor down beside him. Still the voices of the Republic raged on but he wasn’t really listening. Instead he walked over to the large window taking up the entire wall in front of him. From this side of the Temple he couldn’t see the Senate building.

He closed his eyes and listened. The Senators still argued behind him. Peixes lamented over Leijon. Someone rudely cut her off, asking why the Jedi weren’t able to stop the attack. As much as Chancellor Peixes tried to soothe their worries the panic was mounting.

Signless tried to tune it out and listen to other things. There was silence inside him. No screaming or pain. He was peaceful. At this, he frowned. Senator Leijon, Disciple herself, had died. Yet there were no waves off loss carried to him at all. Was she really that insignificant to him? Or was the Force just being lazy?

Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. The Senate’s vote on whether or not to create on army against Highblood mattered. Like Psiioniic had told him time and time again, loss is just a part of this-

“Is war really what this Senate wants?”

Signless whipped around, practically falling into the seat where the monitor lay.

“I agree with Chancellor Peixes wholeheartedly when I say this-“

Signless gaped at the monitor.

“-war is not the course of action to take.”

Chancellor Peixes smiled over the Senate as she spoke, “My colleges! In a joyful turn of events, the chair recognizes Senator Leijon, from the planet of Naboo.”

Signless heaved a sigh as he picked up the monitor and slumped into the chair. She was alive. Okay. She was alive.

“Well that was dignified."

“Hello Master Psiioniic…” he said slowly, turning to face the figure leaning against the door frame.

Psiioniic smiled an annoyingly smug smile. “Glad to see you’re taking an interest in politics this evening.

Signless muttered something intelligible and turned back to the screen. He saw Psiioniic take a seat beside him out of the corner of his eye but didn’t dare look up, not when he could feel the red flush on his face.

“Senators!” Disciple was saying, “Please, I beg you listen. There was an assassination attempt on my life today. Many of my bodyguards were senselessly murdered this evening by a party that demands secession from this Republic. I have been against forming an army. I still am.”

The crowd erupted into outrage. Still Disciple remained impassive. Her regal face stood out, painted in the proud tradition of her planet. Signless knew this was the real Disciple, not some decoy. Not only did she always attend Senate meeting herself, but he just knew her face. Well, her Senate face. He hadn’t really seen her smile with his own eyes in a very long time.

After Peixes had calmed the crowd, she began again. “I have fought wars before and I will do so gladly again should the need be, but trust me, Senators. War should never be a first option, or even a second. It should be the last thing any of us should want.

“Please listen! If not to me, then to history! When violence is offered by one party, retaliation can only offer the same. Peace is not won, it never is. The party still standing decides who fought for good and who fought for bad. Do not start this war. The galaxy will suffer.”

There was more yelling but before people could start accusing her of rooting for the enemy Chancellor Peixes adjourned the meeting.

Signless turned to his master. “I thought you hated politics.”

Psiioniic smiled, “Oh I loathe them, but I do happen to care somewhat when the fate of a war I’ll have to fight is the matter being discussed. Also, Senator Leijon has my respect. That’s not an easy task to accomplish.”

“You sound like her, you know,” Signless said.

Psiioniic frowned, “I sound like Disciple?”

Signless wondered if it was weird, living without a visor. Shortly after Psiioniic had taken on Signless as his Padawan he decided it was time to deal with his power and ditch the wall separating him from everyone else. Some people couldn’t look at him to long. Two solid eyes, one red and one blue, could be unnerving. But Signless was used to it.

“No, you sound like Dolorosa,” he clarified.

At this, Psiioniic’s eyelids twitched. Most people wouldn’t have noticed it but Signless knew he was rolling his eyes.

Psiioniic changed the subject. “Did you know Highblood used to be a Jedi?”

Signless looked out into the nighttime glow of Coruscant. “I know, Master. But everything I’ve read about him says he was a great man. There is something about this conflict that doesn’t add up.”

“I agree with you there. Never take anything at face value. Dolorosa told that to me once and I want you to take it to heart as well. I never knew Highblood. I know the story though. He led a troll resistant on some planet ages ago. They called him Highblood out of respect, not out of fear. He kept the title. But as to why he would want Disciple dead this badly… I have no idea.”

“I just hope she’s is safe,” Signless admitted.

“Well then, you’re in luck!” Psiioniic said, clapping his hands and standing up.

Signless frowned. Happy Psiioniic was the worst Psiioniic. “…and why is that?”

“Despite her noble efforts to assure us that even after an assassination attempt on her life she is still perfectly safe, we have been assigned to guard her until the vote on an army for the Republic has reached a conclusion,” Psiioniic said, smiling.

Signless smiled as well. He hadn’t seen Disciple in over ten years. She never left him, though. Dreams were their meeting place, even if the meetings were one sided.

Before they left though, Psiioniic stopped.

“Signless,” he said, “Redglare and the other Jedi have felt a stirring in the Force.”

Signless couldn’t help but glance at Psiioniic’s hands. Psiioniic saw, and held them up in front of him, like he was holding an invisible ball. He closed his eyes and focused. The index fingers lit up, along with varying degrees of energy from the others.

“The dark side is growing and we don’t know why,” he said. Signless nodded. “Whatever the Senate votes on, promise me you’ll look at everything subjectively from now on. Nothing at face value.”

“Nothing at face value,” Signless repeated.

Chapter Text

Sometimes Signless would dream of Tatooine. He didn’t like those dreams. They were too hot. In his sleep he’d be wondering over the sand in the middle of the day. It would be impossibly bright yet the twin suns would never blind him. And in his sleep he didn’t know if it was better being blind or having to look out into the vast, sandy nothingness and know for sure there was nothing for him out there, no salvation. At least if he were blind he could hope but sight took that hope away. His throat would crack in the heat and his skin would bleed until there were dark scabs around his lips and knuckles, until the blisters on his bare feet left a small bloody trail in his wake mixing with the blood running from his nose down onto his shirt and occasionally the burning sand.

He’d always wake up, of course. For a moment in the midst of the heavy breathing and sweat he’d snap his fingers in a delusional attempt to summon the Crab to tell him it was going to be okay. Then he’d chastise himself for being stupid. He wasn’t a kid anymore. He was a Jedi. He was not Vantas. He was Signless. He would breath deeply and go back to sleep.

Standing in the elevator next to Psiioniic going to see Disciple brought those dreams back. As excited as he was to see her, she reminded him of his childhood. She reminded him of when he was small and weak.

The elevator’s doors parted silently as they reached their floor. A massive wall of muscle in an ambassador’s robe stood waiting for them.

“Psiioniic,” Darkleer said with a polite smile as he shook his hand with a grip that probably challenged the integrity of Psiioniic’s fingers. He turned to Signless and frowned. “Vantas?”

“It’s actually ‘Signless’ now,” Signless said shaking the ambassador’s hand. Yup, bone crushing. Darkleer’s face lit up behind his dark shades.

“What a pleasant surprise to see your training has gone so well,” the troll noted.

They talked more as Darkleer lead them down a corridor. Signless always liked Darkleer back when he was a kid but time, it seemed, had built some kind of wall between them. Darkleer appeared welcoming but it just made Signless feel cold in the pit of his stomach. He hoped Disciple wasn’t the same.

One set of sleek bronze doors later and the three of them joined a small party in a lavish suite. A few politicians and guards Signless recognized lounged about in the comfortable chairs and couches. Two maidens clad in green entered from a hall. Behind them walked Disciple, face unpainted, clothes casual.

“Psiioniic!” she exclaimed when she laid eyes on them. Her smile lit up the room as she crossed it to embrace his master. Signless kept a smile even though she hadn’t recognized him first. She finally turned to him. “Vantas?”

She was beautiful. Same sturdy, muscular figure. Her hair was longer; it tumbled free down her back. Her face was a little more angular and her eyes a little wiser but other than that she was still the same girl who had sat down with him in a dusty back room to talk about the universe a decade ago.

“Hello, Disciple.”

He, on the other hand, had become a completely different person. Trolls traditionally reached puberty pretty fast and the end product of a few awkward years stayed until the end of their lives. A troll that was twenty rotations might look the same in forty, whereas a nine year old troll looks unrecognizable at fifteen. When Disciple had met Signless, he was embarrassingly small for his age. It was no wonder she hadn’t recognized him now.

“You seem to be doing well,” she said politely.

“I have,” he replied.

Before he could say anything stupid Psiioniic brought up the matter at hand.

“I assume you know why we’re here, your highness?” Psiioniic asked.

Disciple gave him a grave smile accompanied by a reluctant nod. “I do…” she admitted slowly, “But I think I have a better way for two Jedi to spend their time instead of babysitting me.” She turned to the people in the room and announced, “Thank you all for coming today. It was lovely speaking with you but I must attend other business now.”

Signless and Psiioniic waited until Disciple had cleared the room by wishing senators well and ushering them out the door. Soon it was just the guards, the maidens, Darkleer, and the Jedi to hear her words.

“We were assigned to protect you,” Psiioniic started.

Disciple pawed the air in an act to swat that notion out of the room. “I know, I know. But I don’t need another babysitter. I need to know who killed my maiden a few hours ago. I need to know who’s trying to kill me. “

“What do you know already?” Signless asked. Psiioniic gave him a warning look.

“Nothing, really,” Disciple answered. “Hundreds of senators were flying in today. There is no reason I, specifically, should have been a target.”

“As interesting and as important and life threatening as this is,” Psiioniic interrupted, holding up a hand, “we were assigned to protect you, not play detectives.”

“But we’re Jedi,” Signless argued.

“Not bodyguards,” Disciple added.

“We’re peacekeepers. Why just guard the Queen from a threat when we could stop it?” Signless pointed out.

“The safety of others could rely on this investigation,” Disciple continued.

“It would be wrong of us not to extend our order for the greater good,” Signless confirmed.

“Exactly. This is the only logical option,” Disciple stated.

The pair eyed Psiioniic, who had gone from crossed arms to a double face palm. All of Signless’s willpower was being diverted into keeping a straight face. He respected Psiioniic, he really did, but sometimes it was just too easy to annoy him.

“Whose idea was it to put you two in a room together?” Psiioniic asked no one.

“Is that a yes?” Disciple asked.

“No,” Psiioniic said.

Disciple frowned at him, and then at Signless, who sighed at his Master.

“We were assigned to protect you. Sorry Disciple, but it was a direct order. As you can see, Signless has much-“Psiioniic glared at this point, “to learn. If we see anything we can immediately affect we will, but we will not deliberately break orders.”

“Nor can I ask you to,” she relented with a smile. “But do please keep an eye out?”

“Of course,” he smiled.

Signless tilted his head. She wasn’t going to fight for an investigation? She wasn’t going to demand they help her, use her authority?

“No if you’ll excuse me, I’m exhausted.”

Psiioniic and Signless bid her goodnight and she retired.

Of course Psiioniic had given him a lecture, but Psiioniic gave lots of lectures. Darkleer and the guards walked them through all the security on the floor. Signless wasn’t sure if Disciple and Darkleer were friends anymore. Obviously they were colleagues of Naboo but they both seemed distanced by something as well. He wondered what it was.

After getting a rundown on everything and everybody on the building floor Signless felt a bit better. Psiioniic assured him no one would be crazy enough to try and assassinate Disciple with all the security but Signless wasn’t so sure. Psiioniic left him while he went to check the ground floor.

He paced in front of the large window, tapping a rhythm onto the hilt of his lightsaber as he walked. He hadn’t even realized Psiioniic had fallen into step behind him until his Master whispered, “What are we brooding about now?”

Signless stifled a yelp and drew his lightsaber but didn’t activate it.

“I’m not brooding,” Signless snapped. Then he grimaced. Brooding people snapped.

Psiioniic raised an eyebrow.

“Shewantsustocatchtheassassin…”

“What was that?”

“She wants us… tocatchtheassassin…”

Psiioniic raised the other eyebrow as well.

“She wants us to catch the assassin… so she cut the wires on her cameras… to make it look like security… had slipped…”

Psiioniic reeled back, “Is she insane?”

“I told her not to.” He really had. “But she is very convincing.” She had said please. “Besides, the security installed is programmed to detect any foreign objects in the room.”

“Foreign objects can slip under radar,” Psiioniic pointed out.

Signless took a breath to refute, but let it out as a sigh because he had nothing.

“I can still tell what’s going on in there!” Signless blurted.

“Oh can you?” Signless scoffed.

Signless looked at the floor intently. “She’s sleeping on her left side. Her breathing is even but she hasn’t entered REM. There’s a pillow scrunched under her arm.”

There was a brief silence.

“You made that up.”

“Okay! I made it up! But if not me than at least you would sense if something-“Signless stopped. His hands drew his saber from his belt again.

“Signless, you’re tired…” Psiioniic was saying but Signless didn’t hear him. He ran down the short hall and slammed the button to open Disciple’s door. Not wanting to waste a moment, he wrenched the doors open and leapt into the dark room.

Disciple shot up. “Van?”

Signless slashed at the floor, halving a scuttling little creature on the ground. Disciple screamed, but Signless had already jumped onto the bed to kill the other creature darting towards her.

Signless let out a sigh of relief.

Glass crashed behind him. He caught a glimpse of Psiioniic’s boot rushing out the broken window. He muttered something to Disciple and barged out the door, knocking over two guards in the process.

It felt like ages going down the elevator to a parking garage ten floors lower while Psiioniic was out and about clinging to who knows what far above the city somewhere.

He burst out of the elevator and into an open floor filled with hovering transport crafts. One nice looking red one was just pulling up.

“Excuse me!” Signless yelled. The valet pulled up in front of him. Signless grabbed the alien’s collar and threw him out. “Sorry!” he shouted hopping in. “Jedi business!” he yelled as he flew out of the garage.

Coruscant opened up before him. The bright neon lights of the undercity hurt his eyes as he yanked back the yoke and went vertical. A tugging in his gut directed him left. Speeders and transports honked. Drivers cursed and threw up universal gestures of animosity. Signless zigged and zagged easily between them all, banking around buildings and running red lights. Oh, if only he could pilot like this all the time.

He drifted dangerously close around the side of a building and stopped. Psiioniic should be somewhere around-

Yup, that was his Master yelling as he plummeted below him.

Once again vertical, Signless sped down past his falling Master then pulled back on the speed. The vehicle slowed, still almost vertical, to a little slower than Psiioniic. The ground level buildings rushed up to him, but if he slowed anymore Psiioniic would break something on impact.

The bright neon lights of underside bars and clubs grew brighter as Psiioniic grabbed onto the side of the speeder. Signless pulled up just as Psiioniic positioned himself in the seat beside him. They zoomed back topside, almost scarping a lightning rod in the process.

“Nice of you to-“

“Finish that sentence,” Psiioniic spat, “and you’ll wish I hit the ground because I will kill you.”

“Alright…” Signless knew he wasn’t going to get a thank you. He zipped in and out of traffic back towards where Psiioniic had fallen. “What did you do, Master?”

“Disciple told us to keep an eye out. I wasn’t going to let that probing droid escape. So I followed it, in a manner of speaking,” Psiioniic explained over the wind.

“In a manner of speaking…” Signless echoed.

A red blast sparked off the side of the speeder. Signless swerved to avoid the next laser.

“Ah, I see you’ve met our trigger happy assassin,” Psiioniic noted cheerfully.

Signless saw out of the corner of his eye Psiioniic throwing up his hands as Signless gallantly turned and flew directly towards the laser fire. The assassin, a figure in a dark speeder, took off through the city. Signless raced after them. Psiioniic would offer traffic advice here and there. Take that air way, they’ll come out on this end. Go down, there’s a parking garage we can cut through. Every time they zipped out of some odd shortcut they were a little closer to their quarry.

At this point the assassin was firing again. Signless swerved and suddenly they were side by side. The assassin was humanoid. Wore a mask. They pulled out a pistol and fired. Signless and Psiioniic ducked. Signless pulled the speeder down below the assassin’s.

“Stab it!” Signless yelled.

Psiioniic lit one of his lightsabers and jabbed up into the machinery above them. There was a flash as the saber jabbed into some kind of fuel hold. Signless fell down lower, almost hitting a building, to avoid the heat from the blast.

When he looked up, the other speeder was gone.

“’Stab it’?” Psiioniic shouted.

“Hey you’re the only who actually did it!” Signless shouted back, driving their speeder up to a spot in between traffic. They hovered.

Psiioniic pointed down. “There.”

A wispy trail of smoke lead down in between two buildings far below them. Signless shoved the yoke forward and sped down into the crack between the buildings, down to the grim and grit of street level Coruscant. Neon lights and smoke from food stands and drug circles wafted up to the speeder. Signless thought he saw Psiioniic smile, but he wasn’t sure.

“Take control!” Signless shouted. Psiioniic grumbled but obeyed as Signless jumped out of the speeder, rolling to a crouch on the grimy ground and up into a sprint.

The street was unfamiliar but he saw where the assassin’s speeder had landed. He ran past vendors and people and winning bets into a damp alleyway. The speeder lay crashed and smoking but the pilot was nowhere to be found.

He ran out the other side of the ally just in time to see Psiioniic wave a hand by a security guard standing in front of a club door across the street. A valet was taking the valet-jacked speeder to some other garage, where it’d probably be stolen again.

Signless races across the street. Psiioniic was waiting for him at the door of the club.

“Fashionably late, as always…” Psiioniic noted as they strode into the club.

“They went in here?” Signless coughed over the smoke.

“No, I wanted a drink. Of course they went in here!” Psiioniic shouted over the music.

“Any idea what we’re looking for?” Signless asked, ignoring the remark.

“I have no idea, they were wearing a mask. Look out for anything,” Psiioniic started walking to the bar. Signless went to check out the tables in the back. There were so many people he could hardly get through. The smoke made it even worse. And the music? Why did anyone even come to clubs?

He sensed movement behind him. He turned and saw a figure’s back as they shoved their way up to the bar, right up to Psiioniic, who was in the act of throwing back some blue liquid. The figure went for something at their hip. Before Signless could shout, Psiioniic whipped around. He threw the glass down with one hand and lit a saber with the other, effectively taking the assassin’s arm off.

Signless ran in and caught the figure as they fell.

“Here’s for the drink,” Psiioniic was saying as he dropped some chips onto the bar. Then he added a few more, “and the glass.” He nodded to the band on a stage in the back. They started playing again. He helped Signless drag the moaning assassin outside and Signless swore he saw Psiioniic wink to one of the dancers.

As soon as they were on the street, Signless dropped them. They bit back a groan. Psiioniic shook his head at his Padawan and began to tend to the assassin’s shoulder.

“Who sent you?” Psiioniic asked as he tied a cloth around the stump. When they didn’t answer, he tied a little tighter.

“Some bounty hunter!” they wined through the mask. Their voice was muffled so Signless pulled it off. A decrepit gray face looked up at them.

“Do you know who it was you tried to kill?” Signless asked.

They offered a one shouldered shrug. “Just some pretty little senator.”

Signless went to say something about that statement but Psiioniic cut him off.

“Give us the name of who sent you.”

“No,” they spat.

“That wasn’t a question,” Psiioniic said.

“I’ll die if I tell-“

There was a whiz. A little black dart sprouted from their neck. They hitched for a moment, and then went limp.

Psiioniic bent down further. For an insane moment Signless thought he was going to start trying to revive the assassin. Psiioniic closed one eye and looked at the trajectory of the dart. He pointed at a nondescript building far away.

They both knew the shooter would be long gone before they reached them.

Chapter Text

Signless just about took Psiioniic’s head off. He had been dreaming again. Through the heat and the sand and the awful, awful cries in the distance, a burnt black hand had reached up out of the ground and snatched Signless’s throat. He lunged away and grabbed something hard on the ground to beat it back. When he blinked he was in the room he’d fallen asleep in with his lightsaber lit and smack in the middle of the x Psiioniic’s dual blades made in front of his Master’s face.

“…and open your eyes, Signless. You’re okay. No one is trying to hurt you,” Psiioniic was saying calmly.

Signless switched off his saber and tossed it on the bed behind him. “Good morning… Master,” he choked between breaths, “Sorry about… that…”

He half sat half fell onto the mattress and the sweaty sheets. By his feet lay a dropped glass of water. When he looked up, Psiioniic was already walking back into the room with a new one. He handed the glass to Signless then pulled up a chair to sit opposite of him.

“Are the dreams getting worse?” Psiioniic asked quietly.

Signless gulped down the water before answering. “It used to just be Tatooine and the sun. But now there’s noise. Something… or things… are crying. It’s…” he waved his hand by his ear, as if that would conjure up the sound more clearly. “It’s like a wine. Shrill and pained. It splints my ears and tears at my heart. I don’t know what’s making it. I never see anything.”

Psiioniic frowned through his silence. Signless wondered if he was going to ask why he had attacked him. He wondered if he was going to demand an explanation.

But he didn’t. “You know, dreams can speak to us in ways we rarely understand.”

Signless sighed and sat up stretching. “I know. Redglare had told me something like that a long time ago.”

“Would you like to talk to her?”

“No, dreams pass.”

And like that the discussion was over. Signless had always respected how Psiioniic didn’t push conversations. He assumed he had gotten that from Dolorosa. Even though Signless only knew the Master for a few days Psiioniic talked about her so much he practically grew up with the woman. During his training Psiioniic had become calmer, more thoughtful and less talkative.

“Take a shower and meet me in Disciple’s room,” Psiioniic said standing up. “We’ve made a decision to move her back to Naboo after the events of last night. And well, you know how she is. Hiding and secrecy are two different things, and out of the two she despises being tucked away ‘like something fragile’.”

Signless nodded as Psiioniic left the room.

It always felt good take a cold shower after a nightmare. Cold, rushing water in a clean, sleek bathroom was perfection. In the Temple wash rooms weren’t nearly as fancy as Senate apartments. Signless slid the automated temperature gauge all the way to blue and stepped in.

Once within the wide glass box, he looked at his arms. They had the expected run of cuts and bruises from last night and scars from his podracing days but nothing major. Not like Psiioniic, who had Signless’s old name, Vantas, carved into his forearm by his dying Master. Nothing like that.

Still, he couldn’t help but imagine his flesh black and burning. The icy water’s sting wasn’t so comforting anymore. He clicked the shower off and stepped out.

Five minutes later and Signless was making his way down a hall to Disciple’s room. He passed Darkleer in the corridor. His robes made the appearance for a politician but his efficient march would always be that of a soldier. The same went for the permanent grimace on his face. When he saw Signless though, the grimace momentarily faded.

“She’s not happy…” he said, slowing his march to a stop.

Signless peaked around the enormous troll. Already waves of indignation emanated from the room a few yards away.

“I can tell,” Signless sighed.

Darkleer gave him a shrug and continued his march away to some boring business he had to attend while Disciple was to be on leave. Signless took a moment to steady his breathing before entering the room.

Disciple was jabbing a finger at Psiioniic. Almost a foot shorter than him, the effort looked to be in vain. Psiioniic didn’t patronize her by smirking or cocking his head or any of his usual quirks. He did look tired though.

“Psiioniic!” she was insisting, “You and I know war! You and I know what it’s like. I’ve been fighting the proposal for an army as soon as the word was thought in Senate. I have to be there when the final decision is made.”

Psiioniic gently took her firm hand in his own. “I know. We’ll do everything in our power to make sure you are here in person on the day it’s voted on. But I’d rather have you alive to vote than have you die before making a difference.”

Disciple deflated but offered a grudging nod. Signless pondered this. Just like him, Psiioniic hadn’t seen Disciple in a decade. They couldn’t have developed a moirallegiance in two days. No, he was just being irrational. Why was he being irrational?

“I promise I will do everything in my power to find the one responsible for hurting you. In the meantime,” Psiioniic tilted his head to the doorframe where Signless stood without breaking Disciple’s eye contact, “Signless will do everything in his power to protect you for as long as he needs to.”

Disciple turned and gave a sad ghost of a smile. She squeezed Psiioniic’s hand before letting go.

“Hello Signless.”

“Hello Disciple.”

Psiioniic made his way over to Signless. “Signless, are you ready to accompany Disciple on her journey back to Naboo?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Will you keep her safe at all costs?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Are you going to follow orders?”

Signless smirked, earning an astonishing eye roll for someone without pupils. After that glorious display of facial expressions, he finally finished, “Yes, Master.”

“Good,” Psiioniic smiled. “May the Force be with you.”

Signless gave a small bow to his master. “May the Force be with you.”

And then he was gone.

Disciple had already slipped back into the inner rooms of the penthouse. It was a good thing Signless could sense where she was, otherwise her silent movements would make her impossible to keep track of.

He found her in the bedroom picking simple dresses, leggings, tunics, and boots out of an enormous closet.

“Why don’t you have your maidens help you?”

She turned around and scoffed.  But when she saw that he hadn’t meant it to be offensive, her face softened. “I don’t have them do everything for me, Signless. I value their input as civilians more than as servants.”

“Do you see them as servants?” he asked, taking a seat on the bed.

Disciple went on packing. “No. I just see them as colleagues. My maidens are my closest friends, and my most trusted body guards. I wouldn’t lower them to pack my own bag.”

Her words remained soft but he could see the lines of worry deepening the more the little brown suitcase filled. They would have to travel discreetly so as not to draw attention. Of course he wouldn’t mind. He traveled in secrecy all the time, but she was a former queen.

“Disciple?”

She sighed as he zipped up the case. “Yes?”

“How did you do it? How did you rule a planet at eighteen?”

This earned a laugh. Her laugh was very short and almost nasally but lovey all the same. “It was a challenge, I tell you. But I had been raised by a political family. I went to school for it ever since I was a girl. But mainly, I just love people. I just want people on Naboo to be happy, and safe.”

She sat down next to Signless. They still had a little while to kill before the transport came to pick them up. Signless felt fourteen again. He felt small and fascinated by a beautiful stranger who had wandered onto his dusty little planet by an unfortunate series of events. Because that’s all they were now, essentially strangers. Sure she’d plagued his dreams from time to time but what are half remembered figments compared to flesh and blood? Who was she now?

“You didn’t know Dolorosa too long, did you?” Disciple asked out of the blue.

“No,” Signless admitted, “only a few days… at the most. Why?”

She shrugged. “I knew her a little bit. She came to my coronation. I knew she monitored Naboo regularly, what with the old way sects in the meadows and all, but I really met her that day. And she was always kind and patient. The first day of the Federation occupation was the day I met her Padawan. And then, oh wow, Psiioniic was a bomb waiting to go off.”

She fell silent for a moment. Signless felt obligated to say something. “Yeah, when I met him I think he hated me.”

She snorted. “Ah, I know. I was there. But he reminds me of her, now. Dolorosa. Of course he’s still Psiioniic, but he makes me feel calm. Dolorosa was a blessing before she died. I believe things will turn out okay, but I don’t like waiting.”

Signless nodded and spoke without thinking. “When I was a kid I wanted to be Jedi so bad. I thought it’d all be adventuring and saving people and magic.”

“Is it not?”

“Oh, it has its fair share of adventuring. But it’s not about saving people, not in the way you think. It’s about teaching people to save themselves.”

Disciple tilted her head to the side. “I don’t understand.”

Signless started to bounce his leg as he thought. Again, he just spoke. “Being a Jedi is more like being a… an observer, I guess. We watch the galaxy and listen to the Force. If we see suffering we change it but there’s more than that. We try not to just save a place when it gets bad. There’s agricultural corps and education and…”

Disciple laid a hand on his. Then did he notice the ferocity that his leg twitched with. “Signless, that sounds like a beautiful practice. Why do you seem so frustrated?”

“The Jedi are amazing. I mean it. But we teach others to save themselves. But not us. We’re meant to not hold attachments and not be biased and not… and not… I don’t know. How can you help poor families living off of scraps if you don’t know what it’s like to be there?”

Disciple didn’t have an answer.

“Psiioniic says it’s good to use my past to empathize with people but I feel like not living is holding me back. Knowing the Force, Disciple, hearing it… it’s amazing.”

He took her hand in his and leaned towards her. She leaned in too, eyes wide and lips parted. He whispered to her. “The Force connects everything. And I can hear it. All across this universe hearts are being broken and lives are changing and babies are taking their first breath and tears are falling and stars are expanding and it never ends. And I can hear all of it. Why does the Order constrict us to having not one attachment to this beautiful, crazy existence? I try to tell Psiioniic but he can’t see it.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for the longest time. Signless counted three distinct shades of green in her irises. She wanted to hear it. He felt her longing, but he couldn’t help her. The Force revealed itself to you when It was ready. For now it was all he could do to meet her gaze. Her felt her hand lift off his and fall back down gently. He reached a hand for her wrist and did the same.

He pulled back and stood up. She opened her mouth to ask why but then she heard footsteps in the hallway. A guard walked into the room.

“Ma’am,” the guard said. “Your transport will arrive shortly. We should be getting to the hanger.”

Disciple nodded to the woman and followed her out.

Signless heisted for a moment. What had just happened? He looked at his hand. A strange warmth rose to his cheeks as he realized that, for the first time in his life, he had been papped.

Chapter Text

The sendoff was a quiet affair, naturally. They had met in a shabby star bus transport dock. Guards shadowed Disciple’s steps but didn’t engage or look too interested. Psiioniic waited next to Disciple’s handmaiden. He turned around to see the young senator and the young Jedi walking towards them in plain clothes.

“Master,” Signless said politely but softly as he approached them.

“Signless, Disciple,” he replied, “Are you two ready for your journey?”

Psiioniic couldn’t help but grin a little as the two of them shrugged. The handmaiden next to him couldn’t contain herself either and rushed into a hug with Disciple. Disciple smiled and told her loyal friend, “Thank you for doing this.”

The maiden shrugged the compliment off. “Playing your stand in while you are away is always my pleasure, but I worry for you, ma’am. If whoever is behind these attacks find out where you are…”

Disciple squared her shoulders. The maiden was older than Disciple but with the face paint later it would be hard to tell. She was obviously a green blood but a few hues darker than her master. Psiioniic wondered if Disciple ever found that similarity unnerving.

“We will succeed. I will do everything in power to make sure of it,” Disciple assured her definitely. The maiden smiled and nodded.

Psiioniic faced the two young travelers. An odd feeling of anxiety rose in his chest. The two of them together, alone, traveling through space? Already his pinkies were starting to twitch. By no means was Psiioniic a sentimental person, but he’d practically watched Signless grow up. Disciple’s calculated personality complimented Signless’s firecracker decision making to a point. The two of them was a disaster waiting to happen.

“Well,” Psiioniic announced calmly. “It is with the upmost sincerity that I ask one thing in particular from you both.”

The pair waited silently.

Psiioniic took a breath, “Don’t screw up.”

And with a nod he was already walking away. No doubt Disciple was smiling to herself while Signless rolled his eyes. Psiioniic knew his bluntness annoyed Signless, but sometimes Signless was just too easy to annoy.

Psiioniic left the handmaiden to a guard and hailed a taxi.

“The Jedi Temple, please.”

Millions of glass windows shimmered in the late afternoon light as the taxi flew over the planet wide city. Millions of shadows were cast in the buildings’ wakes. Millions of places for assassins to hide, and that was just on one planet alone. In between star systems and political agendas there were millions of reasons to want a senator dead.

Before she had left, Disciple told him everything she knew. It still hadn’t helped.

Politicians always held Psiioniic’s lowest regard but Disciple proved time and time again to be a crowning exception to that standard. She wasn’t afraid of dying; she feared her people suffering should a war break out. Signless could learn a thing or two from her during his mission. Disciple could see a bigger picture where others usually couldn’t. Even with all of Signless’s talent with the Force he missed the big picture far too often. It was going to hurt him one day.

A gentle decrease in the speed of the taxi informed Psiioniic that the Temple was nearing. Before they landed he stole a glance at his hands. Across his digits vibrant lines of energy streamed. His thoughts wondered though and couldn’t keep intent in mind so he abandoned the attempt and paid the driver as they landed.

The Jedi Temple’s entrance loomed before him. As a youngling and Padawan, the building would always bring back memories of a torrid childhood and long afternoons meditating. A shudder would make its way down his back.

He was older now, of course, and time had taught him many things. One of these things, for example, was the ability to shudder internally as opposed to externally at waves of pubescent memories that pounded him from an elegant yet simplistic building he had to work in whenever he couldn’t escape from investigations.

Everything in the Temple was minimal, but in a pleasing way. He nodded to other Jedi and staff as he made his way into the inner sections. As a kid the silence and monotony of the place never ceased to send him into anxious fits. Where was the noise? The lights? The lone laser blast in dark mornings? A trio of friendly voices singing for money in the street? Nothing. Just silence and polite whispers.

Psiioniic rounded a corner and entered an enormous room organized into rows by monolithic shelves lined with glowing data books. In time, he’d come to appreciate the Temple.

“It is meant to represent life, Psiioniic. Underneath all the noise and lights, souls are silent. One day you’ll find beauty in silence.”

More and more of Dolorosa’s words echoed through his memories as he slipped into a small white corridor near the back of the library. It led to a number of closed off analysis rooms. He chose the one closest to the end and left all nostalgia at the door.

Once inside, he pulled a plastic bag from his robes. He dumped its contents into a little tray and let a droid do its work. It buzzed and hummed as it scanned and analyzed the dart from their mystery assassin.

There was a loud ping!

Psiioniic waited for the screen in front of him to spill forth data, easily leading him to a clue that would turn into a hypothesis resulting in the victorious capture of Disciple’s assailant. He wasn’t mad at the droid for confirming, “I have found no data,” just disappointed.

“What do you mean ‘no data’? How can you just… not have data?”

“I have no data.”

Psiioniic’s skin tingled. “Okay, what specifically has prevented you from gaining no data?”

“I am unaware. I have no data.”

“Fine,” he spat.

The next droid was as useless as the last, and the next one after that. The most thorough collection of information in the galaxy and not one droid could tell him where the damn thing came from. He’d never seen anything like it, but that didn’t mean there had never been anything like it. As amazing as he was, he simply did not possess this small bit of knowledge as to where anything on the dart came from or meant in significance to his current situation. Great.

If droids couldn’t help him there was one place left to turn.

By the time he got there it was well past midnight, but patrons and drunks still stumbled through a tattered neighborhood halfway between the upper-class buildings of above and the filthy slums below. He found her wedged between a caffeine shop and a tattoo parlor.

Psiioniic sat cross-legged in front of the mummified shell of a woman. No one ever noticed her if they weren’t looking. Her peeling, dusty skin was covered in the same grim as the walls. Hairless and naked from head to toe, slumped in an alcove of gritty wall, she could be a decaying hunk of rubble. But Psiioniic knew better.

“Excuse me, but do you know if fists fly left or right for the winter?” he asked casually.

The wrinkled impression of a face stirred. A dusty semi sphere cracked open in the middle of where that face should be. The eye was milky. A lone reddish brown pupil floated around unfocused.

“Right to the nose, and words left unsaid,” he heard softly next to his ears. A pretty creature sat down next to him, dazed.

Dolorosa only used the mystery informant once in front of him. A difficult mission a long time ago led them to no other option than to talk to her. Psiioniic remembered Dolorosa asking it the question, and he remembered a passing alien stiffen and lazily speak the response to both him and his master. Telekinetic control was a horrifying thing to behold but the speakers never seemed to remember the experience.

“I need to know what this is,” Psiioniic told it rather than the woman it possessed. He laid the dart on the ground before her. The eye focused a little right of the dart.

“Kamino dart,” the woman said lazily. “You will further your knowledge with the clones.”

Psiioniic waited a moment. Everything the wall woman said was to be taken literally. He had to go to Kamino and find some clones. Shouldn’t be too hard.

“Now, fly your mouth and bite your fists elsewhere.”

Psiioniic stood up. Dolorosa never explained the alien, only that you never give it a name, never go to it unless absolutely necessary, and never ask another question after she spoke her final words.

“Thank you for the advice on provocative birds,” he said, as was the fashion.

The possessed woman blinked and stared at him for a moment.

“Would you like me to walk you home?” he asked.

The woman gave him a dirty gesture and stomped off. He didn’t mind. He just wanted to make sure she was okay.

When he looked back at the wall, the creature had already closed itself off from the rest of the outside world.

The sun had begun to rise and yet still there was no trace of a planet called Kamino. Psiioniic slumped in his chair in the archive section of the library and resisted the urge to stomp his feet and bang his fists on the desk. He’d done that once when he was twelve in protest of a geography assignment. The Jedi were not happy. Particularly the snake of a librarian.

“Some things never change.”

Speak of the devil. Psiioniic cleared his throat and turned to face the tall, monstrous Jedi standing behind him. She even had boney horns that possessed none of the multicolored elegance of troll horns.

“Do you know where Kamino is?”

She lifted a scaly eyebrow. “I am unaffiliated with the name. Is it not in the system?”

Psiioniic did not ask, “If it was in the system would I be asking you?” but he did say, “I can’t seem to find it. Freighters and merchants I’ve spoken to all agree it should be right here.” He turned and pointed to an empty spot in the star map hologram lit up on the table before him. “But I can’t find it anywhere on record.”

“Are you absolutely sure this planet is real?”

Psiioniic clenched a tired, tired fist under the tabled. “I’m positive.”

“And I’m assuming this missing planet is all part if some very important business, no?”

“Yes, lives are at stake,” he clarified, squinting his aching eyes.

She nodded at the star map with an ichthyoid smile. “Well, I guess you’re just going to have to go find it,” she said with a shrug.

Psiioniic tilted his head at an odd angle. “Just like that?”

“Just like that. You’re a big boy, Psiioniic. I’m sure you can handle yourself.”

Psiioniic nodded, then nodded faster and stood up. The world stayed behind as the blood rushed up to his head so he sat back down.

“You know,” the librarian said softly, “I was a Jedi Knight once too, long ago. I’ve had my fair share of long nights. Sometimes you just have to leave the books and find the truth yourself.”

Psiioniic stood up again, slower this time. “Thank you, Master Thoroon.”

“Go get some rest. I’ll arrange some transport for you.”

Psiioniic didn’t argue.

Chapter Text

Less than three hours into their flight Signless had already realized he was complaining more than Disciple. The freighter they were in felt like a flying city. A poor flying city. Deep in the passenger quarters of the ship there were no windows and the only indication that they were in space was the constant cold seeping through the metal walls. Still, seasoned travelers told them they were lucky to be this far away from the engine, where the sweltering heat from the heart of the ship could induce heat stroke in some species in under ten minutes.

Disciple had talked to many of the ragged travelers when they first boarded the pile of starship consisting of questionable structural integrity. Rust lines painted the inner walls and mysterious stains dotted grimy floors. Signless hated it. Disciple must of thought that was cute early on, but soon she found better conversation with an elderly man and his three sons. After that she was listened carefully to the life story of a prostitute from the inner city hoping to find their way home on a planet a few systems from Naboo.

Now he watched her as she curled up into a few blankets in a small corner of the open passenger bay. Her eyes wondered over the decks of weary travelers and tired eyes. Her green clad arm wriggled itself free from her nest and wrangled a little black journal from her bag.

She wrote for nigh on an hour. Signless didn’t disturb her, watching her thoughtful green eyes was entertainment enough. His legs were getting tired of standing for so long though, so he relented to take a seat on the filthy floor. She didn’t look up from her pen.

Disciple didn’t look his way for a long while after closing the book. When she finally did look over at him and smile, he took it as an invitation to move closer.

“Here,” she scooted closer to him and offered a blanket.

“Thank you.”

They watched the people quietly. Signless thought back to their moment hours ago in her room. Foreign feelings previously unknown danced around the inside of his mind. The pit of his stomach was warm. He wasn’t sure if it made him feel queasy or relaxed.

He wanted to speak with her again. He wanted to say something to light up her eyes and quicken her breath but there was nothing. He wondered if she wanted him to say something, if the silence was only unbearable on his end or if she was perfectly content to watch the people wordlessly.

More time passed. He got some drinks and a few morsels of food for them and came back to their makeshift den of thin blankets and scarves. Disciple had packed them knowingly. She must have traveled undercover before.

“What were you writing about?”

Disciple looked away, not in embarrassment, only thought. “I like stories…” she said slowly. “I like figuring out what the words mean and how the pieces fit. I like people.”

“Are you devoted to your people?”

She frowned. Of course, the face said. Then the frown melted into pursed lips and lowered eye brows.

“I am. I worship the happiness of my planet. I am its Disciple.”

Signless nodded and chewed his tasteless sandwich thoughtfully. “How are you so smart, Disciple?”

She laughed off the compliment but he meant it. He asked again, “I mean, I choose my name at fourteen on a whim. Sometimes it seems everything I do is just based on how I feel in that moment. But you… you get it. You get consequence and action. You know who you are. How…?”

Disciple bit her lip, pondering the question. “Funny, I was wondering the same about you.”

He frowned at his dinner.

“You are so sure minded,” she continued. “You trust your instinct and your former knowledge. You live by the Force and walk a line of trust in the universe. I may know myself, but you converse with the cosmos.”

It was Signless’s turn to laugh. “Thank you Disciple but I do hope you know the majority of my shenanigans get me into piles of trouble and a lot of lessons learned through bruises.”

“Well then Signless I implore you to understand even the most strategic plans have led to major screw ups and lessons learned through internalized cursing and embarrassed blushing hid by five layers of face paint.”

Signless let out a breathy laugh. Disciple giggled herself into a fit. In a matter of moments the pair earned gawks and dirty glares from everyone in the vicinity. They stifled the laughter the best they could.

“So…” Signless breathed, rubbing some red tears from his eyes, “what is so bad five layers of face paint is needed.”

Disciple shrunk away, covering her face in both hands. “I was fifteen…” she muffled out, “I didn’t know the drinks they served at the banquet were narcotic.”

Signless nearly choked on the water he was drinking. “No!”

“Yes,” she whispered, still behind her hands.

“Don’t feel bad. I was sixteen when I broke into a princess’s apartment because I thought she was being strangled to death.”

Disciple peaked up from behind her pointed nails. “Was she?”

Signless sucked in a breath and eyed the ceiling. “Yeah, she was being choked, but she seemed pretty into it.”

“Oh my-“

And they were at it again, laughing until a rude traveler threated to cut their tongues out. After that they settled down, curling into each other and whispering embarrassing stories of their youth while the ship settled down for artificial night.

They talked for hours over the chorus of snores, sleep talkers, and other alien slumber sounds. Not one or the other decided when to stop. Signless wouldn’t remember who told the last story. The tales and misadventures slowed to an end with Signless seated against the wall and Disciple’s head in his lap.

“But really…” she whispered with closed eyes, “did you really choose your name on a whim?”

Signless stroked her hair. It was strange how quickly they fell back into each other’s patterns. “I had been in the Jedi Temple once, the day before. Everything had a symbol. Even Jedi that weren’t trolls had some kind of trait. Me, I was no one. And I never expected to be someone. Dolorosa came to me without warning. She changed everything. And I didn’t expect it. She was… Signless. I named myself after her.”

Disciple muttered something he didn’t hear. His mind had already grasped onto the solid reality of dreams.

Sharp claws dug into Signless’s arm. He reared back from the attack, rolling to his feet and pulling back a fist ready to find a target. No one was there to hit. Someone stirred at his feet.

Disciple rubbed her eyes. When her gaze met Signless’s in the shallow light, her green eyes widened.

“Are you okay?” she whispered. The bay hadn’t yet woken up.

Signless lowered his fists and looked at his arm. Five holes steadily dripped with red. He uncurled his fists and sat down next to her. Blood still rushed in his ears. He was so focused on slowing his breathing back to normal, Disciple words were completely lost on him.

“Signless?” she said again.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and finally looked at her. Drops of green were welling in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She took a deep breath. “I think you started gasping in your sleep. I think I got startled and just grabbed your arm. I didn’t mean to-“

“No it’s fine,” he cut her off. “I was having a nightmare.” He pulled his sleeve down to cover the growing jewels of red on his forearm. When he settled back down, Disciple wedged herself under his arm. He didn’t mind holding her close.

“What were you dreaming about?”

“Tatooine. Disciple something bad is happening there. Every few nights the dreams get worse. I’m crossing the desert and it feels like I’m on fire. I can’t breathe. I’m hearing this screaming. Sometimes it’s squealing. Sometimes it’s just sad, small chirps. An injured animal. Limbs tear at me from the ground. I think they’re mine but I can’t tell.

“Tonight they finally dragged me under the sand and the screaming was so loud and the darkness was so hot and- and my…”

Disciple gently stroked his arm. She raised her hand and forcefully brought it down on his skin, then repeated the motion.

“And I don’t know what it is.”

A warm feeling flowed over him from where she stroked his arm. His breathing calmed. She shooshed him softly over the noise of people waking on this ship. Signless’s pulse was now calm.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. It was all so one sided, the conversation. He should be listening to.

“I’m worried about the war. I’m scared for my people. I’m worried about you,” she admitted.

He brought a hand to her cheek, caressed it, raised his palm, and then brought it down softly. He whispered a coveted shoosh, the first to pass his lips. She smiled and held onto his free hand. They stayed like that until the people had begun to move around, and their affections weren’t as private anymore.

The day began. Disciple and Signless talked passingly to keep the mood light. They ate a measly lunch and by midday the ship had already pulled out of light speed in its approach to the planet Naboo.

Signless helped Disciple fold the blankets they had slept on.

“You know,” Disciple purred out of nowhere, “as far as piles go, this one wasn’t half bad.”

Signless laughed and consequently blushed; only making Disciple laugh too. Did this mean they were moirails? Signless didn’t know. He didn’t want to ask in the fear that he would shatter this beautiful… something.

Disciple lifted her suitcase as soon as it was packed and dragged Signless to the upper levels of the ship. Her excitement transformed into a smoldering glow as she gingerly walked up to a large window to view the shining green planet before them. She sighed at the sight of home.

Chapter Text

Signless frowned at his master’s image on the hologram table.

“You mean someone erased an entire planet from the archive? How is that even possible?”

Psiioniic’s tiny blue figure shrugged. “I have no idea, but I have a bad feeling about this, Signless. There is something very bad going on here.”

Signless nodded.

“Did you make it to Naboo okay?” Psiioniic asked.

Signless smiled, “Yes, the trip was fine.”

“I don’t like that smile. Stop it.”

Signless tried but he really couldn’t. He ended up faking a coughing fit so he could leave the camera’s reach for a moment and grin openly. When he returned he had wrangled in is facial muscles again.

Psiioniic squinted. “Signless… is there something you’re not telling me?”

“No, Master,” Signless lied. “Honestly, I’m very happy to be back on Naboo. It’s not often that I get to see planets I like twice.”

“We always end up returning to the cold ones, don’t we?”

“Or maybe Redglare just has it out for us.”

“That is entirely a possibility as well.”

Signless nodded. Psiioniic let the conversation hang, allowing Signless to say anything else, anything at all that might be important to the fate of the galaxy, perhaps. Signless didn’t know why that thought suddenly popped into his head but he dismissed when Psiioniic started his farewell.

“I’m supposed to be on my way to the planet already but my transport got stuck on Hanoon and can’t seem to find a ship out. I have a feeling a false identity may come in handy sometime soon,” Psiioniic sighed at something off screen.

“Is there any way I can help, Master?”

Psiioniic smiled. “No, my Padawan. Just keep keeping Disciple safe. Where is she anyway?”

“She’s napping in the other room. We have to get going to a meeting in about an hour or so.”

“I’ll leave you to it then. May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you.”

Psiioniic’s image flickered off the table.

Signless sat back in an ornate chair and gazed lazily at the room around him. During his Jedi training he’d gained access to some of the grandest palaces in the galaxy, but the Naboo palace in Theed was by far his favorite. The whole planet had a calming peace to it. The wind over the rolling hills carried a tranquility nowhere else had.

Back when negotiations with the troll colony on Naboo had been tense, Psiioniic made frequent trips here to aid Darkleer and Disciple in the talks. Things got quickly sorted, though, so there had been no need for him to stay.

Signless got up to wonder the room as he thought. The palace was filled with furniture and halls wrought in golden and silver metals that caught the hazy sunlight at all hours of the day. Even in this Queen suite they were in had crème colored marble flooring where the carpet, soft as feathers, ended. He stepped out onto a balcony that overlooked the city. He wouldn’t call a place like this bustling, not with its bubbling markets and slow rowing river boats. Citizens of this city didn’t have a care in this world.

Still, everything had to have its secrets. He wondered if there were drug dealers waiting in dark corners. Were there prostitutes in Theed? There seemed to be prostitutes in most cities. What was the murder rate here? A quick search on his communication device showed what he expected, one per every 100,000 people. He laughed a little. What a ridiculously wonderful place to live.

A slight tingling set off in the back of his neck. Disciple would be waking soon. She reminded him of this planet. She practically embodied it. Both of them had an arcane feeling to them. They were both wild and calm. They were both beautiful.

A soft noise drifted across from the other room. He heard Disciple yawn again, and then her feet gently touch the ground. Signless walked away from the balcony and the sounds of waterfalls back into the room. Disciple was typing something into a panel on the wall.

“I’m ordering tea, would you like some?” she asked, her voice still sore from her nap.

“Yes, thank you.”

In a matter of minutes a server entered the room carrying a tray of tea. They took it outside in the slanting afternoon sunlight. Disciple took a deep breath of steam from her cup and groaned.

“I hate meetings.”

Signless laughed, spilling some of his tea. “You’re a politician.”

“I know I’m a politician, doesn’t mean I can’t dislike meetings. Do you like meditating?”

Signless tilted his head, “Actually, it’s quite calming if you-“

“Okay, bad comparison. I still don’t like meetings. I like negotiating and finding common ground. I don’t like meeting with people and talking and not getting anywhere.”

Signless set down his tea. “How did you deal with that as a kid? Wait, when did you first hold office?”

“Walk with me.” Disciple got up and Signless followed her to a wash basin where she started washing her face.

“I’ve been going to various schools for leadership since I was eight. Not gonna lie, I totally had visions of grandeur as a little girl and wanted to be Queen. But when I was twelve I joined a refugee relief project in the Enarc system. I really got into history and stories then. I really realized that I could make a difference if I tired. Hold this,” she handed him a few pins while she brushed her unruly hair. As she talked, she plucked pin after pin until the raven mane had been tamed into something resembling a pony tail.

“I worked and worked,” she continued, “I did well in school. I learned how to speak formally. You have to realize I had an advantage. I’d grown up in a representative family. Most of the rules were second nature.” She walked over to an enormous wardrobe and frowned or smiled at various ensembles.

“I became a sector representative at fifteen, not unusual for a planet like ours. I wanted to become Queen by sixteen but that didn’t happen. My coronation was the day of my eighteenth. What do you think of this one?” She pulled on the sleeve of an olive green dress. From where it was tucked between a dozen other green dresses, Signless really couldn’t see the difference, but he nodded along anyway.

“I like it too. Anyways, I’m glad I got elected later. Even as the youngest Queen of Naboo, there were a lot of difficulties. A lot of decisions I think could have been made better by wiser people.” She walked over to the panel on the wall and typed something in.

“And that’s that, really. I do love helping people, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy the hoops of politics.”

Her eyes tilted towards the ground in a peculiar way. Signless sat down next to her.

“Do you ever regret it? All the years you’ve spent serving others…?” he asked.

She smiled tightly, “No. And that’s the thing, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. I love my planet. I love my people. I just hope that sooner, rather than later, I get the opportunity to find love on a smaller scale.”

Signless was opening his mouth, but the words he had been planning to say left his mind as a zooming little black and white droid crashed into the room.

“WV!” he cried. A taller droid walked in stiffly. “AR!”

The droid nodded to him coldly, just like he remembered. About five women walked in after them.

“Signless?” he heard.

He looked up from where he had been listening to WV’s stories about the past years in rabid chirps and whirls.

“Yeah?”

She giggled. “Take the droids with you, catch up. I’ll meet you in the throne room after I’m, you know, not wearing a robe?”

Signless stammered, “Oh, yeah. Good idea,” and promptly left over the sound of her and her servants’ giggling.

WV could talk like a madman. All the way through the palace it was some adventure or another on some planet or the next. AR got testy every once in a while, claiming falsehood in the story or ranting about the legal systems on said planets. What an aimless renegade.

Signless laughed as they walked down the shining halls.

“How do you like that, AR? You’re the Aimless Renegade?” he asked.

“There is nothing aimless about justice.”

Signless slowed as they reached the corridor leading to the throne room. “What would that make you, WV? The Aimless Renegade and the…?”

The little robot chirped.

Signless laughed again. “Wayward Vagabond? Wow, pretentious. But I like it.” He nodded to himself. Good names for good droids.

WV and AR slowed to a stop before reaching the open door to the throne room. WV whistled. He was right, it would be improper to enter the room before Queen Allellah arrived.

Signless leaned on the wall and waited. That quickly got boring so he paced. Waiting. Manners. Psiioniic would be appalled. Signless felt inclined to slide down into an undignified slouch against the wall. That’s what his master would do. Wow. Politics. This was the boring part of the mission.

The sound of a pair of feet echoed down the hall. Ah, the exciting part. Disciple looked like she belonged in a painting. Delicate green lines adorned her face that matched the flowing green dress trailing behind her. The whole outfit, toned down, actually might have made good camouflage in the forests around here.

She swept up beside him, giving a brief nod. The entered a grand room, the back wall a series of enormous windows overlooking the waterfalls. Disciple took a seat. Signless sat next to her.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, “This will be quick and interesting.”

“Are you lying?”

She tilted her head. “Of course.”

Along with Queen Allellah, a reserved young human, and her maidens, a handful of other important figures from the planet had shown up. The governor and a few of his advisors were present, as was the javelin toting, loud mouthed fuchsia blood Keeper. It was an interesting party.

Disciple had lied about lying. Watching the men and woman talk and share ideas fascinated him. There were times when the meeting turned tense. Over two hundred systems had already joined Highblood’s group of separatists. Keeper acquired many stares at this point in the conversation.

“If you wanna say somethin’ say it,” she demanded. Like most sea dwellers, she stood taller than most people in the room. She radiated malice, from the tip of her horns to her hot pink boots.

It was Disciple who stepped forward. “Are you partial to Highblood?” she asked.

Keeper tightened her grip on her javelin. Signless didn’t know who let her bring it in here. The troll took a raspy breath, “I would never bow to anyone, especially not a purple blood.” She made a point of not facing the Queen. Allellah was well aware of the gesture but didn’t let on how it made her feel.

More talk of war. The possibility of civil war. Keeper wanted to fight the separatists.

 “Why wait for them to gain numbers? Why not strike while we have the upper hand?”

Allellah agreed with Disciple.

“There hasn’t been a galactic war of this scale since the Republic’s founders. Hopefully there never will be again.”

Disciple summarized the events of the Senate.

“They want to use the Trade Federation’s standing army, but the logic has holes. Despite everything, despite the trials of Dualscar and the entire Trade Federation, they’re still out there. And they have an army at their disposal and the Republic wants to use it.”

More talk. A little shouting but mostly hollow tones and obvious statements. Keeper kept things heated and it made Signless sad. War was not the option. Almost everyone in this room saw that, yet try as they might, they couldn’t convince Keeper there was another way. It made Signless sad because there were always going to be people like Keeper all across the galaxy. There would always be stubborn people who just couldn’t look at things in a different light.

At least he could see her perspective. He could see that war was her principle. Protect your own. He could see why she wanted to fight. But she’d never consider looking at his prospective, or anyone’s in this room. It probably pained every fiber of her being to sit below a human.

The conversation wound down. Silences became longer. Eyes looked heavier. The course of action to take was still to have Disciple volley for other senators to vote no. Keeper wasn’t happy. The sun began to set.

Signless reached out to tap Disciple’s shoulder. When she turned, so did the rest of the party.

“Uh…”

Queen Allellah spoke. “Do you have something to say, Jedi? We value the Order’s impute greatly.”

It took him a moment to respond. They all knew he’d been listening the entire time. He felt a little sick. “It’s just that…” he wrung his hands. Disciple gave him a tired smile and a little nod.

“It’s just that something doesn’t add up. See, the Jedi aren’t allowed to investigate the Trade Federation. Off limits. Chancellor Peixes always speaks up for us, but nothing ever happens. Everyone knows that the Federation’s armies were ordered to be reduced, but no one enforced it. That doesn’t make sense. And neither does Highblood’s loss of loyalty. And neither does that assassination attempts on Senator Leijon’s life. Something doesn’t add up.”

For a long pause no one spoke. Signless looked at his hands. He tried to feel the read of the room but his nerves got the best of him. They probably thought he was insane.

“You know what muty?”

Signless resisted the urge to glare at Keeper. It was okay. Disciple did it for him.

“I think you’re on to somethin’,” she continued. “There’s somethin’ going on in the internal affairs of the Republic.” She raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

Queen Allellah rose, prompting everyone else to stand as well.

“Whether or not Signless is correct, and let us hope he is not, there is nothing to be done about it today. Senator Leijon will keep doing her work and we will keep doing ours. Agreed?”

A unanimous nod.

“Wonderful. Meeting adjourned.”

The governor and the advisors dribbled out as the room, as did a few of Keeper’s followers and some other officials. Keeper passed by Disciple as she walked towards the exit.

“That candy blood you got there is pretty smart.”

Disciple stiffened.

“Might try lookin’ for one myself. You know, as a pet.”

Disciple’s jaw clenched. Signless laid a hand on her shoulder.

Keeper laughed. “Oh, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you’re the cat that needs a leash.” She cackled as she strutted away.

Disciple turned to face him. “I- I can’t believe she said that. I don’t know how-“

“It’s alright.”

“No it’s not!”

Someone cleared their throat. Signless and Disciple turned to realize they were left alone with the Queen. Allellah was a small person but that didn’t matter in the palace. Her dark skin contrasted with the light color scheme of the building and her white clothes as if it were all tailor made just to accentuate her very existence. Allellah had the air of a stern deity and an ancient past. Signless was quite relived when she finally smiled.

“Disciple,” the Queen sighed. “I am so glad you’re safe.”

Disciple embraced the Queen. “Thank you, Lle. It’s good to be home, even under such circumstances.”

Allellah tightened her lips and nodded. “What are your plans while you stay here?”

Disciple shrugged. “I was thinking the woods out by the West Mountains, where my parents are. It’s remote. It’s known to me. I should be okay.”

Signless had read about that part of the planet. It was pretty safe, but he’d have to go over their plans later to make sure the area was entirely secure.

“I hope to see you again soon,” said the Queen.

“It’s always a pleasure, Allellah.”

Allellah nodded to Disciple and Signless as they bowed before walking out.

The corridors were lit up by soft lamps and chandeliers. Disciple and Signless strolled about, taking an impromptu long route back to the suite. They discussed the wooded area and Mountain Country. Signless thought Lake Country would be safer, but after a few maps they confirmed the areas were pretty much equal. They didn’t talk about the impending war. It was too peaceful a night.

Eventually they did reach the suite. Disciple stood in the doorframe of her room and eyed Signless in a curious way that he didn’t quite understand. There was an adjoining guest room he could sleep in but it’d be safer for Disciple if he slept on the couch in the living space outside her room. He couldn’t complain. It was comfier than the Temple cots.

He felt nervous with her looking at him.

“It wasn’t boring,” he said to break the silence.

She tilted her head.

“The meeting. It wasn’t boring, not really, not to me.”

She nodded. And then, “You know everything Keeper says is garbage? You know that right?” Signless nodded. Disciple smiled and shut the door.

Signless frowned at the little bubble of disappointment rising in his chest. He had almost hoped she’d invite him to sleep in her room.

Chapter Text

He heard the unmistakable yet generic clank of a stranger setting down a drink too hard. He had his feet propped up on the table, his head back with his hood over his eyes and absolutely no intention of meeting the stranger’s gaze. The stranger cleared their throat. He adjusted his sitting position and sighed.

“You the guy that wants transport to Kamino?” the stranger asked.

Psiioniic shrugged his shoulders in the chair, eyes still obscured by the hood. “Depends…” he muttered gruffly, “Who’s asking?”

“Someone who can get you there.”

Psiioniic slowly took his boots off the table and sat up straight. The hood still took up most of his vision, but that really wasn’t too much of a price to pay for dramatic effect. What he could see of the stranger was promising. Someone humanoid. Someone experienced judging by the cuts and scars on their hands. That or someone very clumsy. He went with the romantic speculation and called it experience.

Psiioniic drew lines on the table with his fingertips. He didn’t know why this unnerved people, but it always did the trick. Dolorosa would be proud he’d picked up the little habit. “What do you want in exchange for transport? I almost got shot out of the sky coming into Bothan space without a shipping code. No one has even mentioned Kamino for the two days I’ve been here…” He paused for more dramatic effect, milking the moment for it’s worth.

He finally peaked out from under the hood, starring the worn and wise stranger down with his solid red and blue eyes. To Psiioniic’s great disappointment all he got was an anxious gulp. How anticlimactic. Still…

Psiioniic finished his moment off with a classic line. “What makes you think you can get me there?”

The stranger coughed a little before leaning forward across the table.

“Pal, I don’t know if you get how this works. You don’t go looking for Kamino. Kamino is an invite only kinda place. You’ve been invited.”

The stranger sat back. Psiioniic didn’t want to let his surprise show but he had to play along. He lifted an eyebrow and gave an impressed shrug. That wasn’t hard to do. Who the hell were these Kamino people?

The stranger sat up. “You’re ship leaves on the main dock in two days. Private ownership, white cruiser. They’ll be expecting you, Jedi.”

Psiioniic nodded to the stranger but cursed inside. That was a great last line. How did they know he was a Jedi? Why did he have to wait two days? He’ll have to wait to find out because the other guy was gone. That was his last line. And it was a great last line. He could’ve used a mind trick but that always felt like cheating in these kinds of situations.

With the stranger out of the low lit bar Psiioniic signaled one of the roaming waiters and ordered something nonnarcotic. The kid looked at him like he was crazy but shrugged and brought him his drink. Psiioniic wondered how old the kid was, and how they ended up here already.

He downed his drink left some money under the glass before walking out. He left a little extra for the kid. Two days ago he’d departed Coruscant on his way to where Kamino should be. Obviously he’d be going through a few rough patches of space to get there but that was expected. He’d been through worse. But a dog fight? Three A-wings against his cruiser? Not even Signless would have been able to win against those odds.

Psiioniic continued down the frosty streets, hugging his robes close. He rounded a corner and trudged through the junkyard where his cruiser had been placed after the fighter’s damaged him to the point of no return. He’d had to make an emergency landing on the first planet within distance, Hanoon, an asteroid terraformed into a laughable excuse for a planet for mining purposes. Now the rock was covered in snow, black mining dust, and tired old shipping pilots looking for a drink while their freighters refueled.

After the crash he’d asked around, of course. It took a lot of mind tricks before anyone even came close to admitting that he’d been shot down because he was on a collision course for Kamino, you know, that planet that every pilot in the Doldur sector knew to avoid. Yeah, that planet. The planet that had a system wide security net.

He typed a password into the panel by the door and entered the cruiser. Even with its busted engines it was better than anywhere to stay on this dump. Psiioniic had never been to Hanoon. He didn’t want to come back.

He went through the routine of making some tasteless food and meditating before settling down by the cockpit to stare at the falling snow. There was a quiet kind of peace in junkyards. Every skeletal remain of what once had been a ship had a story belonging to someone who could be dead or gone or passed out in the bar down the road. It was a strange kind of peace, but peace nonetheless.

He found himself consulting his hands. His thumbs hadn’t been too active these days. He thought about Signless and focused until his middle digits lit up to crackling. He sighed and let down his hands. In between index and ring fingers, in between the dark side and the light, was fate. He hated the cliché of it all. Always had. But there was no way around how he was born.

Signless worried him. He was too distracted by Disciple. He was too enamored with the trivial things in life. He didn’t understand the importance of what he was trying to teach him.

“You wonder why he’s like this, but you trained him…” Redglare had said one day a few years ago.

“I know. I know. But you’ve seen how he is with the Force. I’d thought he’d learn by now how important it is to let go of the bitterness inside him, he needs to-“Psiioniic had stopped when Redglare held up a finger.

“He has red blood. I know this, Psiioniic. And yes I have seen how unbelievably well he manipulates the Force. I know you want to believe he’s the chosen one because of Dolorosa-“ Psiioniic recalled instinctively rubbing his scared forearm arm at those words. “-but I can also see your doubt. He harbors bitterness, and fear. That’s dangerous,” she had said coolly.

Psiioniic had come to her for help, but this wasn’t help.

“Redglare, what do I do?”

“Everything you can.”

“But what if that’s not enough? What if I let him fall? What if he finds solace in the Dark side?”

“Well then if Signless turns the galaxy into one infernal mess, I’m blaming you.”

Psiioniic had scoffed, and Redglare had taken a softer tone.

“Really though, I know you. You are doing what you can. The Force has a way of balancing itself out in the end. You know this. Train Signless. Show him everything you know. Be the Master that Dolorosa was to you and however Signless turns out will be on his own shoulders.”

And that was it. Psiioniic watched the snow fall, hoping Signless was alright. He glanced at a clock on the dashboard. Forty-eight hours until some progress. He’d ask around some more tomorrow but for now the least he could do was sleep.

Chapter Text

Disciple had moments when she refused to speak. It wasn’t a rude or bitter kind of silence, and Signless never took offense to her quieter moments because he knew what the good kind of silence felt like. He was glad he could share it with her.

Signless flew them over to Mountain Country with ease in a little royal cruiser. Some of the people down by the hanger slapped him on the back when he landed. They had wanted him to stay for a while, talk ships. Signless politely declined. He didn’t want to be so close to where Dolorosa had died.

The flight over was smooth. Disciple filled him in on all the little details of the West Mountains. He’d flown over the plains surrounding Theed and the meadows dotting the equator of the planet, but he’d never gone far enough north to hit the mountains. He really wouldn’t call the hills there mountains though, not when he’d seen the colossal formations of rock and ice on planets systems far away.

Still, the wooded countryside and occasional little town were all very alluring just the same. Disciple pointed out places as they flew. The lake she learned to swim in. The grove where her secret cave fort was hidden. A little clearing where she had shot her first deer.

“You… hunt?”

Disciple tilted her head at him, leaning over in the copilot’s seat. “Yeah, everyone does around here. My dad gave me a bow when I was twelve. Does that bother you?”

Signless shrugged in behind the yoke. “No. I’ve just never thought about hunting recreationally. I mean there’s nothing wrong with it. I’ve had to hunt to eat before on some missions, but I hate it. I really hate killing things. I’d much rather just buy meat, you know?”

Disciple laughed at him.

“What?”

She shook her head. “I just don’t know a lot about you. It’s interesting. You’re interesting.”

Signless smiled and let the comfortable silence return.

They landed in a small lot and parked in a hanger. Disciple got a few bows and handshakes, but mainly she received hugs and affectionate smiles. One elderly woman actually ruffled her hair and called her ‘Little Leijon’.  Disciple had blushed.

“It’s a small town,” she explained as they walked out of the landing port.

It was a small town, a small mountain town. Disciple led Signless down the main street, past a school and a lot of little shops and a library. A lot of people came up to her. A lot gave respectful nods. Some didn’t even notice. Signless felt odd in such a town, like he was intruding on a very special place that he was not a part of.

The roads got narrower and longer until Disciple turned off onto a long pathway that she tried to convince him was actually the path to her parent’s hive. They could have flown to her hive, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to walk.

Here she was silent. She looked up at the looming, needle adorned trees as she walked. The air up here was colder. It was as fragrant as the air in Theed but in a very different way. The air in Theed was laden with pollen and its breezes would carry the aroma of fresh baked goods right into your face. If you breathed in the air in Theed to long it would put you to sleep. The air up here tickled your nose. It was deep and earthy and almost spicy. Something pulled under the other scents that made a little light in Signless’s brain switch on. He took a deep breath tried to identify the smell. If cold had a smell, that’s what it would smell like.

“I think it’s going to rain,” he said.

Disciple tore her eyes away from a pretty bird atop a tree and looked up at the gray sky. “I think you’re right,” she agreed, but didn’t change her meandering pace.

“Disciple?”

“Yes, Signless?”

“What was it like having parents?”

She walked on a little longer before answering.

“I don’t know how to describe what it’s like to have parents because I’ve never… not had them.”

A little more silence, then Signless asked, “How did you even… get… parents?”

“They picked me. Like a lot of young troll couples in an interspecies community, they wanted a family like everyone else. They hopped a ship to Beforus- you know how it is on Alternia, they don’t like grubs to be ‘adopted’- and picked me. They had to get registered as custodians and whatnot. All standard procedure. And I grew up happy with a mom and dad and whole little town to raise me.”

Signless thought about that. What it would have been like to have parents. How strange, to have people just look after you, and you not look after them.

“What are you thinking?”

Signless chewed on his lip a while before answering her. “If this is rude, tell me. But, do you feel like you missed out?”

She frowned. “How do you mean?”

Signless shrugged, shifting the weight of the bag on his back. “My lusus taught me how to survive. I mean, I guess in a really basic instinct kind of way your father and mother did to, but it’s a whole different relationship with a lusus.  You watch out for each other. You provide for each other and when it’s time to say goodbye you say goodbye. I guess that sounds a little harsh, but it made me who I am today.”

“I don’t find your question rude,” Disciple said, “but I do take a little offense in pitting one upbringing against the other.”

“How do you mean?”

Disciple laughed a little. “Did I miss out? No, I don’t think so. I think that there are pros and cons to both forms of raising young but I also think there are pros and cons to everything. We were raised differently. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Signless nodded. She was right, of course. There was nothing wrong with her. Maybe there were a few things wrong with him but plenty of trolls raised by lusii turned out just fine.

A drop hit the back of Signless’s neck. He shivered as it inched down his back. Little splats of rain dotted the path before them. Disciple had the biggest grin on her face as the rain began to come down in hissing grey sheets.

By the time they reached the front door of the enormous hive they were soaked. A lavish looking woman opened up the huge door before they could even knock.

“Young lady, what are you doing home at this hour?”

Disciple opened her mouth.

“Soaking wet! With a strange boy! I should ground you. You’ll never become a queen with mud on your boots.”

The woman crossed her arms and scowled.

Disciple scoffed. The two glared at each other. The woman broke first and hugged her soaking wet daughter.

“Hi, Mom,” Disciple said into the woman’s shoulder.

“But really, darling you two are soaking yet. What are you, sea dwellers?”

Disciple’s mother, who called herself Mercey, was a very kind woman. She hovered over Disciple and asked Signless loads of questions and gave them hot drinks. Disciple’s father, a tall troll with hooked horns called Renene, arrived while they were starting a fire in the living room. Signless didn’t know why this room of all the rooms in the house counted as the living room, but he didn’t question it. So was the way in rich homes.

Mercey and Renene cooked dinner for them and everything.

“So Disciple,” Renene said after the conversation died down and the comfort of the meal set in, “are there really people trying to kill you?”

Disciple didn’t look him at him when she nodded. “Yes, so far there have been two attempts on my life, but we’re working on it. Signless here can protect me as adequately as can I. We’ll have this situation under control.”

Signless sat up a little straighter, but he kept his eyes on his food. The whole evening he’d just been a friend of Disciple’s but it was true. He was her body guard, and this was a mission.

“You know we worry about you,” Mercey said.

“I know, Mom. I’ll be fine, really.”

“We just want you to have a life. We just want you to be happy,” Renene added.

“I know, Dad.”

At that moment Signless realized something. Children had to look after their parents too. Obviously Disciple wasn’t safe and obviously she wasn’t happy with the Senate but if that lie was what it took to soothe her parents, she would tell it in a heartbeat. What a crazy way to live. Signless let go of all of that when he fought the Crab for those damned sickles all those years ago.

With that bit of awkward conversation over, Renene brought them all desert and then Mercey showed them to their rooms. Of course Disciple knew where her room was. It was her room. Signless took a guest bedroom a few doors down. He’d just sat down on the floor to meditate when he heard hushed voices outside his door.

“…wish you’d visit us without a death threat over your head.”

“I know Dad. I love you.”

“I know, I love you too.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

A door closed.

Signless went back to meditating but he felt negative inside. He felt sad, but it was a strange kind of sad. He felt concerned for things beyond his control. He frowned. He was thinking of Disciple.

Signless paced the room a few times, wondering if he should knock on her door, if that’d be okay. She obviously wasn’t asleep but-

“Signless?”

He stopped mid-pace and whispered back, “Yes?”

“Could you open up the door please?” came Disciple’s whispered response.

“Oh yeah sure,” he whispered through the door as he turned the handle.

Disciple stood in his doorframe in her simple pajamas and braided hair. He stepped back and she let herself in.

“Are you okay?”

She shrugged. “Wanna make a pile?”

Signless opened his mouth. He could feel the blood rushing to his ears. “Like, here?”

“No, out in the rain. Of course in here.” She closed the door behind her and walked into the simple room. She squinted her eyes and then began speaking in fluttery, almost panicked whispers.

“I mean, unless you don’t want to. I would understand. I guess I just assumed you would because of the trip over but that was wrong of me. If you’re uncomfortable-“

Signless tossed a pillow on the ground. Disciple looked up at him. He removed the other pillows from his bed and then grabbed the comforter. Disciple sighed in relief and pulled some extra blankets out from a drawer at the bottom of the one dresser.

“You ever sleep in a recuperacoon?” Signless asked in a hushed whisper as they settled down into the pile they had made.

“Never, you?”

Signless shrugged as Disciple wiggled into a comfortable position besides him. “Only once. Best sleep I ever had in my life but I almost died getting out of the stupor slime.”

“That difficult to get out of?” she laughed quietly.

“No there was a guy waiting to kill me and I was all slimy and couldn’t get to my lightsaber.”

“Oh. What happened?”

“Psiioniic cut the guy’s arms off.”

Once they were settled in and cozy an unfamiliar and very uncomfortable silence overtook them. It was not the kind of silence in the forest. It was heavy and strange.

“So, uh, what’s up?” Signless cringed at himself. What’s up?

Disciple snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes. “You’re not very used to this are you?”

Signless laughed nervously. “Jedi. Relations. Doesn’t happen often.”

She turned to face him seriously. “Are you breaking the rules for me, Signless?”

Signless kissed her forehead without thinking. “I don’t mind breaking rules that don’t make sense.”

Disciple’s big eyes bored into him. “I don’t want to get you into trouble. I don’t want to hurt you if-“

He shooshed her. She relaxed and papped him.

“Don’t worry about me, Disciple. Just tell me what’s on your mind.”

She curled up into him and closed her eyes. In hushed tones told she told him what she feared and what she wanted. He held her and listened. Eventually the sky outside blushed into the lightest shades of steely gray and Signless gently stroked Disciple’s face until she woke up. Without a word she uncurled herself and walked to the door.

She nodded to him and he nodded back and in those damp hours of early morning Signless realized he’d do anything he had to in order to keep Disciple safe.

Chapter Text

The two days had passed and still Psiioniic found out nothing applicable about the mystery planet. Some said they grew monsters there, others still the whole planet was one big, rich cult worshiping an ancient deity. With all the wonders and terrors Psiioniic had witnessed in this galaxy neither one would have surprised him.

Psiioniic had nothing to pack so saying goodbye to the temporary home that had been his cruiser was unceremoniously short. At least he made a few credits selling the broken ship to the owner of the junk yard.

He made his way down the snowy streets for what he hoped was the last time and eventually reached the docks. The ‘docks’ were nothing more than a gigantic field of concrete many miles across with landing pads sporadically dotting its surface. Any ship could park here. How the hell was he supposed to find-

“Master Psiioniic?”

Psiioniic turned to face a young alien pulling up in a speeder.

“Are you Master Psiioniic?” the creature asked again.

He nodded.

“I’m here to take you to your ship.”

The creature was well adapted to the cold and didn’t need to wear any kind of jacket. That adaptation also seemed to mean that they didn’t realize how much colder frigid air is when blasting onto your face on the back of a speeder zooming through falling snow. Psiioniic nodded a bitter thanks to his smiling valet as they dropped him off in front of an expensive, looming white cruiser.

“Master Psiioniic?”

“Yes?” he snapped.

The woman on the open ramp reeled back at the hostility.

“Uh, we’re here to transport you to Kamino…” After a moment she added, “It’s a lot warmer inside the ship… sir.”

Psiioniic nodded, shivering, and boarded the ship.

The cruiser was obviously a luxury model. Everything inside was lined with exotic stained wood and shiny metals. He sat in an extremely squishy couch in the main bay and sighed. The woman offered him a warm drink. He just nodded.

After the cruiser had left Hanoon’s icy atmosphere, Psiioniic looked to the woman’s direction. The crew of the entire spacious cruiser only amounted to her and the pilot, a silent troll donned in blue. From where she sat in the pilot’s seat all Psiioniic could see was her insane amount of hair and her tall horns, one hooked and one topped with a crescent.  

“So, is either one of you going to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

The pilot’s head turned ever so slightly in his direction. The woman, a fidgety twi'Lek armed with a clipboard and a pen, walked over to him hesitantly.

“Oh my…” she started. “See, Master Jedi, my employers were beginning to think that the Council forgot about them. They’ve always been the best and brightest in the business, so security is a must. We didn’t mean to shoot you down. It was just standard precaution. You see?”

Psiioniic nodded like he understood. He added an “Ah…” for good measure.

The woman smiled and nodded back, the twin tentacles on the back of her head bobbing. “Wonderful! I’m so pleased that you understand. This whole situation has been very embarrassing for my employers, but you never informed us that you would be checking up- not that this is your fault! It’s completely understandable that you would want this affair to remain private, I just-“

The pilot cleared her throat. “Meei?”

Psiioniic held back a shiver. The pilot’s voice was deep and haunting, like a bad idea waiting to happen.

Meei squeaked.

“Meei, please stop patronizing our guest. He has been through a dreadful couple of days.”

Meei just nodded, even though the pilot’s back was still turned to her. She smiled nervously at Psiioniic and for the rest of the flight poured over a little device in her hand, occasionally making notes on the clipboard.

Kamino was a dreary planet. The whole of the surface was covered by ocean miles deep and constantly being battered by a torrent of pounding rain. The pilot neared a beacon of light that grew into that looked like a city on stilts. When Psiioniic asked Meei about it, she confirmed that that was exactly what it was.

They parked on a landing platform attached to the outer reaches of the city. Meei opened the ramp and waved a hand at the door thirty feet away from them.

“Well,” she said cheerily over the rain, “this is where I leave you. I apologize for any inconvenience the company had caused you.” She smiled big and professionally.

“Thank you, Meei. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me today,” Psiioniic told her. He added a little wave of his hand, just a shadow of a mind trick so she knew he really meant it. The smile she gave in return was soft and genuine. She just nodded shyly as he turned and ran through the rain to the rectangle of light before him.

A towering alien with an elongated neck greeted him at the door. “Hello, Master Psiioniic. Welcome to our city. Here, let me…”

The creature took Psiioniic’s cloak and folded it over his arm. He started walking down the long, horrendously bright white corridor and Psiioniic strolled alongside him. Psiioniic thanked him for the hospitality and the creature waved it off.

“There is no need for thanks. As I’m sure Meei explained to you, we are deeply appalled by our security shooting you down. Indeed, it was an awful misunderstanding. We should have known, especially when we’ve been expecting you for all these years.”

Psiioniic merely nodded along, his face indifferent. His guide lead him down a long corridor into another bright room where another one of the same kind of alien sat behind a desk that seemed to be made out of lighted panels.

“May I present to you our Prime Minister, Lama Su.” The guide nodded to the man, then left.

“Please,” Lama Su said, motioning to a chair.

“Excuse me Prime Minister,” Psiioniic said as he sat down, “I hate to be a bother, but these lights are killing my eyes. My species isn’t quite made for brightness, you see.”

The creature’s big teardrop shaped eyes scrunched up as he nodded in understanding.

“I apologize,” he said, reaching into is desk, “I had no idea the Council would send a troll.” He handed a set of darkened glasses to Psiioniic, who gratefully put them on.

“Of course, a troll is expected with the nature of the product. I assume you’d like to see how the units are coming along?” The Prime Minister stood.

Psiioniic did want to see the units, whatever the hell they were and followed him out into the now dim corridors. A churning wave of anxiety grew in the center of Psiioniic’s chest as he walked with Lama Su deeper into the facility. What had the creature in the wall said? “You will further your knowledge with the clones.” He looked up at Lama Su. “Of course, a troll is expected with the nature of the product.”

The realization hit him like a punch to the throat as Lama Su lead him through a sliding glass door and onto a catwalk over looking an enormous room.

“Well Master Psiioniic, what do you think?”

He thought he was going to faint. Thousands of identical trolls in identical jumpsuits marched to and fro in rows maybe a hundred across. They were all female. They all had close cropped black hair. And they all had one hooked horn and one horn topped with a crescent.

Psiioniic had to say something so he just did. “Incredible.” Because they were. “How did you manage to clone so many successfully?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the marching lines. “Troll young don’t develop in a womb. How is this possible?”

Lama Su chuckled to himself. “You aren’t very familiar in this field, are you? Cloning creatures in eggs is actually far simpler than cloning say, a human, for example. The benefits of cloning trolls are extraordinary. Of course, we could only clone one blood caste. We would have preferred something green but blue turned out to be just as favorable.”

“Why not lower blood castes? They’re more abundant and they have physiological advantages.” The question wasn’t asked out of any kind of bias. It was simply curiosity.

“We did think about that, Master Psiioniic. But they ended up hurting each other while they were still adolescent. Without lusii of the same caliber, anything below jade could not be controlled. It was a major setback in our research. Cost us billions. Of course, by the time Master Glunnah contacted us we had all those bugs worked out.”

Psiioniic tore his eyes away from the army. “Master Glunnah?”

Lama Su nodded, too absorbed in his creations. “Yes, she’s still on the Jedi Council, is she not?”

“Of course, probably will be for another fifty years,” Psiioniic lied.

“You can tell her that two-hundred thousand are mature and trained, another million are on the way. All before the deadline. Come, let us talk over some dinner, I’m sure you’re starving.”

Psiioniic really wasn’t considering it was probably just barely afternoon on Hanoon and midnight on Coruscant, but he nodded and followed Lama Su to a neat dining area.

Over a strange but delightful meal of something blue and pasty that tasted like it cost Psiioniic’s entire net worth, Lama Su explained all the little features about the clone army.

“There are certain aspects we had to modify, of course. Unlike the original host, they have one eye modified to adapt to daylight. The pupils were curious little things to grow. You’ll know that I mean when you see them. Eight pupils all together in one eye.”

“And who was the original host?”          

“I believe you met her on your journey here, an extremely talented space pirate who calls herself Marquise Spinneret Mindfang. We had to modify a few things, obviously. Our clones are more obedient. We couldn’t have an army of Mindfangs, could we? They also lack her ability to control minds. That one was easy. You see, us Kaminoans cannot be manipulated by anything psychic, so it was a simple matter of adding a hormone from our species to block psychic transmitters.”

“Does that mean they can’t be manipulated by mind control either?”

Lama Su shrugged. “Well, that should be the case but unfortunately what makes them more obedient counteracts the incoming psychic transmitters. Simply put, commands can enter the frontal lobe but they cannot leave.”

“Why didn’t you pick a green blood like you wanted to? It would have avoided a lot of problems.”

“That is very true. In fact, we originally wanted someone Force sensitive to be the host, but Master Glunnah handpicked Mindfang herself. And we are all about working to fit our costumers’ needs.”

“Why is Mindfang, a pirate, still on Kamino?”

“Oh believe me she still pirating around the galaxy as she pleases, but we have her come back every once in a while to get new genetic material. It keeps the clones consistent. Funny thing is, aside from all the money we’ve paid her, the one thing she really wanted was a copy of herself.”

“Excuse me?”

“Surprising, isn’t it? Yes, one unaltered grub for her to raise. No accelerated aging. Still has mind control. Oh, but she did the request the eye with the advance vision remain. Of course it was no trouble for us to comply.”

“Growth acceleration?”

“Of course. How else would we keep up with demands? The trolls you saw today were fully mature, even thought they had been alive ten years.”

“Fascinating.”

“I’m glad you think so. Here on Kamino we are doing everything we can to help the Republic.”

Psiioniic gently set down his glass. He chose his next words carefully. “We appreciate everything you’re doing. Tell me, did Master Glunnah tell you specifically where this army was going when she ordered it?”

Lama Su tilted his head. “Well no, but I suppose they’ll go wherever they need to. That’s what an army does after all. We’re very against Highblood and his movement. We’re lucky we’ve completed so many already, and just in time it seems!”

Suddenly the blue paste before him didn’t seem so appetizing.

“And now the Republic has an army for the war,” Psiioniic said slowly.

“Precisely!” Lama Su agreed. “And now the Republic has an army for the war!”

After the meal Lama Su showed Psiioniic to his room. It was a quaint little place, minimalist but very comfortable. It reminded Psiioniic of the Temple. As Lama Su bid him goodnight, Psiioniic asked to meet with Mindfang in the morning, if it was at all possible. Lama Su told him it shouldn’t be a problem.

Psiioniic looked over the room, checking for listening devices and cameras but he found none. With that he sat on the bed and held his head in his hands. The Republic had an army. Why? Who would create an army years in advance for this precise situation? Someone who knew it was going to happen. Who would have that much money? Who would have that much power? Dozens of politician’s names flitted through his head but it was no use. Not now, not when he has such little information. And what did this have to do with Disciple? Was Mindfang trying to kill her? Did she want a war? Someone defiantly did.

With a resolved sigh he took out the transmitter on his belt and began whispering into it all the secrets he’d uncovered that day.

Chapter Text

Signless sat out in the rain. There was a little stream that wound around the back of the hive. He chose a large flat rock that rested in the middle of the water. His boots lay on the bank five feet away from him. The freezing current curled around his bare feet.

He was only dimly aware of the bumps on his skin and the light rain soaking through his clothes. If he would have bothered to look, he would find that his feet were turning an unsightly shade of ash, but he didn’t bother to look. His eyes were closed and his mind was elsewhere.

Around him echoed voices from Jedi long past and before him lay every star in the galaxy. There’d be no way to describe it or even coherently remember it when he came out of his daze but he didn’t care. In this space he had no body. In this void he was free to exist. A gentle wave of something washed into his existence. It solidified his body into a half state. The something separated him from the stars. The Force nudged him and he felt sad.

I love her.

The pressure he felt on his chest lifted and was replaced by something heavier, and yet he returned to the stars. It was a strange feeling. He was aware of the solidity at the center of his being. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Still he floated through this space but something kept him from becoming completely lost in it, and he couldn’t tell if that was a bad thing or not.

Disciple.

The word drifted from his thoughts and out into the universe. A warm feeling rose in his chest. A kind a power. He’d do anything for her. And it was possible. The Force around and inside him felt thick like syrup. This was a side of it he’d never felt before.

Dimly, in the back of his mind there was a cry. Countless Jedi before him all yelling out something. Some part of his mind recognized it as a unanimous no! but the rest of him didn’t care. He gave into the power growing inside that anchored him and breathed, coming back to the rock and the rain and the stream.

“Signless?”

He turned to see Disciple standing on the bank. She was barefoot on the lawn in a simple dress. He watched her as she bunched up the dress around her thighs and waded into the stream.

“Oh my goodness, Signless, its freezing!” she laughed. “What are you doing out here?” She seated herself on the rock next to him and took his hand. He shifted and put his other arm around her shoulders.

“Meditating.”

“Does meditation make you impervious to the cold?” she asked, burying her face in his chest. Her nose was cold through his wet shirt.

He shrugged. “It kind of makes me impervious to everything, I guess. I don’t know where I go when I meditate, but it’s nice there, like there’s nothing between me and the Force.”

She just nodded into him, trying to steal some of his warmth.

“Also I like the water.”

At that she looked up. “I do too,” she said. “This stream leads out to a lake. As a kid I’d spend summers drifting along until I floated into its blue waters. It’s a lovely place.”

Signless was silent. After a moment Disciple asked him, “Did you come out here because you were dreaming about Tatooine again?”

Signless nodded. “I thought I was on fire.”

“You were burning up,” Disciple told him. “I thought you had a fever or something.”

They’d been sleeping in the same bed for the past three nights now, always leaving each other’s company when the sun rose. Like all trolls, the night suited them better but it was hard being nocturnal in a diurnal galaxy. Adjustments were inevitable.

Signless nodded. “The hands dragged me below the sand and the screaming. I don’t know if it can be called screaming but it hurts. It’s bad. And these dreams have only been going for a few months. I don’t know where they’re going. I don’t know to what end. But the arms pulled me under and I swear… it was as if someone had dropped me in magma.”

Disciple hugged him tighter. Signless was starting to lose feeling in his toes so he shifted himself until he was sitting on his feet like Disciple.

“Hey, it’ll be okay…”

He buried his face in her hair. It smelled like pine needles.

“Disciple what are we going to do when we get back?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I can pretend this didn’t happen.”

“No. I couldn’t do that either.”

She ran her fingers through his messy hair. “I mean… how can we hide? It’d destroy us both if people knew. It’d…”

He nodded. “I know. Disciple, I don’t ever want to lose you.”

She pulled away and looked into his eyes. The rain made strands of her long black hair stick to her cheeks. Signless brushed them away with his thumb and held her face, just looking at her. Disciple leaned in close to him. He could feel her breath on his lips. Tossing every damned quadrant out the window he leaned in and kissed her.

She leaned into him a long time before pulling away, her eyes still closed.

“Signless,” she whispered even though there was no one around to hear, “what are we going to do?”

“I have no idea.”

They spent the afternoon like they had all throughout the previous week, meandering through the forest, watching birds, climbing trees. Disciple had a remarkable ability to climb; the only way Signless could actually keep up was with an added Force kick here and there. Out in the forest they didn’t have to watch out for Disciple’s parents or worry about politics. Out there even the notion of a war seemed impossible, not when Signless was using the Force to pluck flowers out of the tallest trees and put them in Disciple’s hair.

This afternoon differed from their other excursions as it encouraged stolen kisses under the branches of tall trees and the gray sky. Disciple told him about her life on Naboo and he told her about his Jedi shenanigans. Signless found it strange that they felt like they knew everything about each other yet were both well aware they were virtually strangers.

“…it just makes me angry that people aren’t free to love who they want. Did you know on some planets interspecies marriage is still illegal?”

Disciple nodded gravely. “I know. Sometimes I feel like the Senate doesn’t get anything done. This whole war against the separatists… we’ve been talking about it for months and we’ve agreed on no course of action.”

“There’s something going on in the Republic…”

“I know…”

They sat in a worn down dock house by the lake Disciple had described. It had been a long hike out but neither of them minded. Out on the lake the rain was beginning to pick up again. The entire surface quickly turned into a field of miniature explosions as the barrage of rain increased. It was a miracle they managed to reach the shack when they did.

It was on the water held up by thick wooden poles. A ramp lead down to a bobbing dock with three covered boats tied to it. Signless could just barely hear the lap of water below them over the storm. Disciple lay curled into the Signless side. He stroked her damp hair and already her eyes were half lidded and fluttering.

“Wake me up when the rain stops…”

He kissed her forehead gently. “I will.”

“Signless!”

Signless tried to open his eyes but they were already open. Disciple’s claws dug into his throat. He looked down to see her pinned below him, his knee on her windpipe, one hand grabbing her hair and the other gripping her wrists at his neck.

“Signless! It’s me!” she choked out.

She had a deepening green bruise on her left cheek and his red blood was dripping into her face.

“Signless please!”

He let go. He scuttled backwards away from her gasping form until his back hit the wall. The bang! of his back making contact sounded like cannon fire in the silence. He watched in terror as Disciple shuddered and sucked air down her lungs and wiped his blood off her face. She lay on her back panting.

“You gotta stop waking up like that!”

“Disciple…” he croaked. He couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He had hit her. He had hurt her.

She crawled towards him until she was sitting right beside to him. She tried to grab his arm but he scooted away.

“No, don’t touch me.”

“Signless…” she sighed, almost exasperated. “You think this is the first time I’ve been clocked in the face? Get over yourself and come here.”

He tentatively returned to her side. “What… happened?”

She stroked his hair. Her cheek was swelling. When she smiled he saw some green on her teeth, like she’d bit her tongue.

“You started screaming. Of course it woke me up, and when I went to wake you up you started swinging. I pinned you but you flipped it around and grabbed my hair. That’s when I started choking you, and you… well you’re face stopped looking at me like I was trying to kill you.”

Signless felt punctures on his neck, ten in total but none of them deep enough to hit anything important. Eight on the back of his neck and two by his windpipe, all staying clear of his jugulars.

“Now,” she said, “are you gonna tell me what you dreamed about?”

“I have to go to Tatooine.”

“Okay.”

He blinked at her. “What?”

“Okay, you have to go to Tatooine. Why?”

“They have grubs, Disciple. I don’t know who, sand people maybe but definitely slave traders, but they have grubs. They’re dying! That’s the screaming I’ve been hearing. They’re screaming. And no one can hear it because there’s no one to help them on Tatooine. Disciple, usually trolls are taken out of the brooding caverns, you know this. If people start taking grubs, if people start taking eggs for slaves… who knows how many could die.”

Disciple looked back into Signless’s eyes. He must have looked frantic but she was calm as ever. “Okay,” she said. “So we go to Tatooine.”

“No,” Signless said, standing up, “No I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Signless I’m coming with you.” Disciple didn’t even let him speak. “I know you think it’ll be dangerous and it probably will be but the fact of the matter is I am in your charge and I will not let you get in trouble without me. Okay?”

Signless looked at the greenish purple bruise growing on her cheek and the defiant light in her eyes.

“We’re in this together for now on, right?” she asked. There was a fear behind her voice, as if he might actually say no.

He took her hands.

“Right.”

Chapter Text

Psiioniic hesitated in front of the door. He looked back down the long white hall to watch the Kiminoan guide walk away. He turned his attention back to the door. With a deep breath he knocked.

It was opened almost immediately. Marquise Spinneret Mindfang leaned casually onto the doorframe wearing nothing but a blue silk robe open to scandalous measures. The hand highest on the doorframe revealed itself to be made of metal entirely. He could see it from her hand to her exposed shoulder. Psiioniic kept his eyes locked with hers.

“Hello, Jedi,” she crooned.

“Ms. Mindfang, a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said, bowing.

She curtsied herself, making sure the action opened the robe just a little bit farther. Her full mane of tumbling black hair fell around her face. “Do please come in,” she said when she stood again to full height. Not leaning on the door and not attempting to display her cleavage, she was almost a head taller than Psiioniic, even excluding her enormous horns. One hooked. One horn topped with a crescent

He followed her into the apartment. It was obviously a temporary affair but well lived in nonetheless. Psiioniic noted the lacey garments strewn over chairs and on the floor. There was an open bottle of alcohol on the counter.

Mindfang took a seat on the couch and crossed her long legs. She nodded to a chair across from her. Psiioniic took it.

“So…” she began, flashing that fanged smile of hers, “I heard you saw my clones and become instantly enamored with me.”

Psiioniic laughed, “Well Mindfang, aren’t you coy?”

“Don’t flirt,” she sighed, “It’s not fun with Jedi. They always want something.”

“You’re familiar with Jedi?” Psiioniic questioned.

She smirked a little while she pulled her hair back into a loose pony tail. It accentuated the curve of her cheek bones. “I’ve had more than my fair share of run ins with your precious Master Neophyte Redglare and that delightful piece of work Summoner. Oh, and once upon a time I even was acquainted with the very illusive Master Dolorosa, rest her soul.”

Psiioniic bit back a billion questions about his former Master, particularly what the curl of Mindfang’s lip meant when she said her name. He grudgingly put that all aside and instead asked, “What about Master Glunnah?”

Mindfang pursed her lips, “Who?”

Psiioniic leaned forward. “The Jedi that requested you for this project?”

Mindfang shrugged. “Never heard of them. It was a very dramatic affair you see, I commandeered a ship and it was empty. All that was inside the cockpit was a note saying to come to Kamino and five –hundred thousand galactic credits. How could I refuse?”

Psiioniic opened his mouth to question her some more but was interrupted as a very small child in a ridiculously large pirate hat ran into the room with a toy blaster.

“Bang!” the little troll yelled, running up to Psiioniic. He laughed. The feather in the hat was almost as big as she was.

Mindfang tsked. “Vriska… no shooting Mommy’s guests.” She reached over and plucked the hat from the little girl’s head. The young troll looked up at her custodian in awe. She was a mini Mindfang, unruly black hair, eyes flecked with blue, and the horns to match. The only difference was the one eye with eight pupils.

“Sorry, Mom,” Vriska said quickly. It was difficult to tell how old she was. Trolls. Psiioniic put her anywhere from five to eleven.

Mindfang put on the hat herself and pulled Vriska into her lap.

“Psiioniic, I’d like you to meet little Miss Vriska Serket. Vriska, say hello.”

Vriska waved at Psiioniic. “Hello!”

“Hello, Vriska. I’m very pleased to meet you,” Psiioniic told her.

“You’re eyes are funny! That’s so cool! I have a funny eye too!” Vriska exclaimed. Her little pointer finger jabbed excitedly in his direction.

Psiioniic thanked her, and then she asked Mindfang if she could go play with her dice and Mindfang said yes. Once they were alone again, Mindfang still in the ridiculous hat, Psiioniic continued his questions.

“So you’ve been all around this galaxy, I suppose.”

“You bet I have.”

“Been to Coruscant anytime in the recent past?”

“A few times.”

“Why?”

Mindfang shrugged, draping herself over the couch. “Work. There are rich people on Coruscant. People to exploit…”

“People to kill?”

Mindfang laughed but it was mirthless. “Are you accusing me of something… Jedi?”

“Innocent curiosity.”

Mindfang stood up, towering over him where he sat. She touched his face and when he turned away she dug her nails into his chin.

“Oh this has been fun, Jedi, but I feel I have to warn you: do not make me your enemy.”

And that’s all she said. In a flash she was all pointy smiles and exposed skin once again.

“Now if you’ll excuse me-“ she dropped the top of the robe off the top of her shoulders, impossibly exposing more of her breasts and a dangerous amount of lower back as she walked away, “-I seem to be in the need for some clothing. I’m sure you can find your way out.”

The Prime Minister showed Psiioniic back to the landing platform he had arrived on.

“And will Ms. Mindfang be piloting again?” Psiioniic asked his host.

Lama Su shook his head. “No, I’m afraid she’s become preoccupied with matters elsewhere at the moment. We can request a pilot if you like but we assumed you’d want to fly yourself. Take the ship, we have plenty.”

Psiioniic waved a hand. “Oh please no, you’ve been to kind already. I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Well then Master Psiioniic, your arrival has been a pleasure. Please do tell the Council their soldiers are ready at their command.”

Psiioniic bowed, and walked into the rain.

After he heard the door close behind him he stalked back to the doorway. A tiny camera glared above him, but it was pointed to his ship. Psiioniic placed a hand to the door and breathed. When he was positive there was no one in the corridor he jabbed a panel on the side and stole back into the cloning facility.

He knew it was only a matter of time before the Kiminoans realized he was still in the building. He darted silently down the identical corridors, now once again blinding without the tinted glasses. It was times like these when he missed his visor.

Finally he reached Mindfang’s door. He could feel no one inside but that could mean nothing with mind control of her caliber. He focused his finger on the panel at the door and zapped it with a stream of red. The door swung open.

If it was possible for the apartment to be even more of a mess than before, it was. The strewn about garments had all been taken in such haste that there were even a few chairs knocked over. Vriska’s little toy blaster stuck out haphazardly from under the couch. Psiioniic cursed and did a quick once over of the apartment. Nothing helpful, just bottles of liquor and some lacy underwear forgotten in one of the drawers.

A computer was mounted on one of the walls in Mindfang’s bedroom. A light blinked on the monitor. All Psiioniic had to do was wake up the screen and there, displayed before him in crackling security camera footage, was Mindfang and Vriska loading a small fighter on a landing pad number four.

Psiioniic barreled through the corridors until bursting out onto the landing platform. Vriska called something. Mindfang turned away from the ship.

She wore a curious armor that Psiioniic would only come to admire later. All blue and black plates that moved perfectly with her body, and an unsettling full cover helmet that allowed her horns to poke through the top to finish it off. A utility belt clung to her hips. Strapped to her back was an enormous sword.

She flew at him, literally propelled by boosters attached to her red boots, unsheathing the sword and firing her blaster at the same time. Psiioniic lit up his lightsabers and charged. She blasted him left and right but he easily deflected them. It’ll take more than that to bring him down.

She tilted her head in midair whilst swinging the stupidly long sword with one arm. It was propelled by something, as when its curved edge struck, a trailing line of blue light came after it. Psiioniic rolled to the left but she was already pointing something else at him.

Darts flew out of her wrist and hounded him from above. He deflected and deflected but it was becoming too hard. They were all being aimed at his neck. Kamino kyber darts. Mindfang hovered above him, weaving through the air and striking from all sides. Psiioniic flipped backwards to face her as she dived behind him. She got a boot to the helmet for her troubles.

Mindfang reeled back and Psiioniic struck, slicing at her armor. She dodged to the side and Psiioniic’s blue saber shaved off a good chunk some kind of tech attached to her wrist. He pushed her back towards the edge of the platform. Enormous waves from below sprayed over the side. The water drowned out the noise of the heavy rain when it crashed against the structure. She drew back to strike Psiioniic with the sword but that was her mistake.

Psiioniic lunged forward and barreled into her chest. The pirate flew over the side, and as she did Psiioniic swiped at her boot, cleaving off her left booster.

Psiioniic looked over the edge but she was gone. He jumped back just half a second to late as she exploded into his line of sight from the other side of the platform. Her flight pattern was erratic and uncontrolled but it did the trick. She smacked into him, his nose smashing into her forearm. He whacked into the hard platform with her on top, his lightsabers flying.

Mindfang whipped plated elbows into his face, abandoning the sword that had slid across the platform. Yellow blood was washed away by the rain as quickly as it splattered on her helmet. Psiioniic shoved at hand at her throat. A voice in the back of his head yelled at him to stop but he didn’t. He jammed his fingers into the crack in between her helmet and her chest plate. The voice was screaming now. It was small and scared. Vriska from the fighter. Psiioniic put that aside as he released all his pain and rage at Mindfang into one big electrical pulse from his fingertips.

Vriska screamed as Mindfang’s body jerked backwards, screeching over the surface of the platform and throwing up sparks as it slowed to a shaky stop at the edge. Psiioniic panted as he got up. His nose had to be broken. An awful pounding had situated itself in the front of his skull. Dimly, he still had the mind to hope it wasn’t a concussion.

He Force grabbed one of his lightsabers on the far end of the platform. He looked over the edge and saw his other one balanced precariously on a little platform below, some kind of support beam. He grabbed that one too.

The rain battered him as he slowly made his way to the edge of the platform where Mindfang’s still body lay. He inched closer, daring to nudge her with his foot. She remained still. He was tempted to just kick her over. Would save him a lot of trouble. But he couldn’t do that, not when Disciple was depending on him to-

The gray sky filled his vision, then the bubbling sea, and then the sky. He was falling, spiraling downward. On the next turn up he could see Mindfang’s triumphant silhouette on the edge of the platform. His mind went into slow motion. A tug in his gut and he used the Force to stabilize his fall until he was facing her. The wind drove him into the huge stilt that held up the landing platform. As soon as Mindfang’s form was obscured by the outcrop of the platform, Psiioniic twisted, lighting his sabers and stabbing them into the stilt. His shoulders jerked and popped as the fall abruptly stopped. Before the melting metal lost integrity, he swung himself up and to a support beam above him.

Panting, he held on as the crests of waves swept over him. Far through the gloom of the rain he watched the lights of the fighter disappeared into the clouds.

“Damn.”

Chapter Text

Their departure was quick and quiet. Disciple packed both of their things and Signless flew back to Theed to secure a ship and pick up WV and AR. By the time he got back it was dusk and Disciple was ready to go.

“What did you tell your parents?” Signless asked as she climbed aboard the ship.

“I told my father that we had to go to Tatooine. Senate business.” She didn’t say anything else.

The flight to Tatooine was silent. The filtered air felt thick and heavy. It didn’t take too long with a royal starship. In less than six hours they had arrived to that sandy planet Signless had tried so hard to forget for so many years. It loomed before them all beige sand and occasional storms circling around the equator. Signless gulped as he steered the ship into the atmosphere. WV gently brushed up against his leg. He patted the little droid’s head.

They landed outside the biggest spaceport on planet; the one Signless had grown up in. The starship jostled a bit upon landing. Not his greatest park job.

Disciple placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Signless… are you okay?”

He shivered. “It’s just all the nightmares. I think they’ve been dying. I think that’s why it took so long for me to hear them. I’m the only Jedi in the Order that’s from Tatooine. Who else would even be on its wavelength? Usually, if something this bad is going on and local authorities didn’t put an end to it, a few Jedi would be dispatched and it’d be taken care of. But no one cares about Tatooine…”

She brushed her hand across his face and he leaned into her touch.

“We’ll find them, Signless.”

He nodded and opened the bay ramps. WV and AR chirped and bickered behind them as they geared up for the harsh Tatooine suns. Once in sunglasses and scarves, they made their way into the spaceport.

“This place hasn’t changed at all,” Signless noted. Disciple nodded alongside him as they made their way down the central road. Signless thought about telling Disciple about his childhood like she had on Naboo. He decided against it when he saw the alley he was first mugged in, or the shop where a lady had refused to serve him because of his blood, or the house where an angry man had dragged him to the roof and tore off his sunglasses. He’d had to walk home with his eyes closed.

He saw an old woman sitting in between vendors surrounded by her homemade clay pots and jewelry. The old woman was almost blind. Kids stole things from her every day. Signless bought a simple green beaded necklace for Disciple. The lady smiled a toothless smile at them as they left.

“She gave me bread one day,” Signless explained. “I’ve never forgotten what it felt like to be helped by a stranger.” She squeezed his hand just a little bit tighter.

Finally they approached the junk shop where his owner had lived for so long. It was the only place Signless could think to start.

The open door was a welcome relief to the heat outside. Inside the ramshackle shop the same scene met his eyes as it had for fourteen years of his life. Scattered ship and robot parts lined the walls. Webs from sand spiders clung to corners, collecting dust. He turned to Disciple.

He hadn’t noticed her when she walked into the shop that day. His focus was stolen by the colossal structure of Dolorosa, and then by the troll even taller than her, Darkleer. He’d noticed Disciple’s strong, silent form after the talking had gotten underway.

“Where are you from?” he’d asked her.

“I’m from a planet called Naboo,” she’d replied.

“Is it beautiful there?”

“Yes. It is. Why?”

Signless, then Vantas, had shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just assume beautiful people come from beautiful places.”

And they’d talked about hope and the universe. He wondered if she was remembering it too.

His memory was broken by a scraping on the floor. Scrape. Pound. Scrape. Pound. The deformed old figure of his old owner Pinch dragged itself into the shop. The old thing paused.

“Well I’ll be darned if that ain’t little Vantas.”

“Signless, actually. I’ve taken a name.”

Pinch nodded. The shell encasing creature looked older. His remaining mandible had chipped off to a stub. Most of his joints had fused shut. His carapace flaked and molted in many places and his gruff voice had somehow grown coarser. Other than that, Pinch was the same.

“So what can I do for you, Signless not Vantas?” the thing coughed out. “Broken another hyperdrive? Here to gamble back your old Crab?”

Pinch let out a screeching laugh. Signless resisted the urge to smack the creature in the face. The Crab was working in the yard out back. In every fiber of his being he was sure of that. The audacity of Pinch hadn’t lessened with age, that was for sure.

“I need to know who the premier slave provider is on planet.”

Pinch’s laughter subsided. “Why, Van? You gonna shut down the biggest business on Tatooine? What’s next, ending smuggling? Peace in the galaxy?”

Signless didn’t respond. He kept his eyes on Pinch’s only visible, beady black eye.

Pinch rasped a horse sigh.

“Ah well, you’ll probably jab me with that fancy lightsaber at your hip if I don’t tell ya. Tusken raiders, out over south of the sand pits. You know the place. Behind the canyon that’s in the podrace course.” Pinch nodded to his left. “They usually bring their slaves out to the markets, but their camps are out thataway. Happy, kid?”

Signless gave the creature a single nod then left. In his chest was an ache to see his custodian once again, but he didn’t have the money or time to go see the Crab. Galactic credits weren’t worth a damn thing out here. Still, if only it were possible to… no. Signless wasn’t even going to entertain the thought of freeing the Crab. It’d be a waste of time.

Signless and Disciple sped across the desert. The speeder was easy enough to apprehend. A wave of Signless’s hand and the man at the shop gave it to them for free. He’d be sure to return it though. This speeder could cost the poor man a month’s worth of food.

Disciple clung to his back as the speeder jerked over sand dunes. It felt good to be on a machine like this. The speeder was old but very well built. It glided across the dunes with ease. Signless easily handled the change from loose sand to hard desert rock with a shift in gears as the dune sea ended and the long plateau began. Way out in the distance red mountains were lit up by the first rays of the setting sun.

On a whim Signless shifted course and started heading towards a domed structure in the distance. They pulled up to the abandoned place just as the second sun touched the horizon.

Disciple removed the cloth from her face and pulled the goggles off her eyes. Signless did the same as he walked over to the building.

“Hello?” he called. The door was busted in.

“Signless, look at this,” Disciple whispered.

He walked over to where she was standing. Before them was a huge pit, although Signless wasn’t sure if ‘pit’ was the correct word. The hole was cylindrical in shape, with maybe a fifty foot diameter. At the bottom were a few broken chairs and plots of wild desert plants.

“Oh…” Signless breathed. “This is an old moisture farm.”

“What’s that?” Disciple asked as he walked to the broken door. They entered the building. There were a few tables and chairs but nothing personal, no pictures or clothes. Whoever lived here did not leave in a hurry.

“A moisture farm is where people harvest moister from the air using moisture vaporators, those big antennae looking things outside.”

Signless lead her through the little house to a stairwell that lead them into the cylinder where all the plants were growing. “They’d sell the water to others or use it for crops like these. I wonder why these people left.”

He knelt down to touch a budding purple flower at the edge of the plot. Disciple walked around the circumference. There were little hallways leading to little places but the main house was upstairs.

“It’s a quaint little place,” she said. “Could use some fixing up, but hey, not too shabby.”

Signless just looked at her. In the half-light of the space she almost blended into the shadows, like maybe she was just a ghost of a thought. Maybe she was just a sweet apparition haunting his brain.

“I love you.”

She stiffened, her back to him from where she was kneeling by a flower. “Signless…”

He waited for her to finish the sentence.

She played with the flower in her hands. “We’re dangerous together, you know that right?”

“Why?”

“Because I love you too.”

He walked until he was behind her and sat down, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her hair.

“Disciple, are we insane?” he asked, muffled through her hair.

“What because we’ve only really known each other for about a week?” she chuckled. He felt her shoulders shake and nodded into her back. She reached a hand behind her to play with his hair. “Maybe we are, but I’m glad for it, especially when the whole galaxy is going to hell before our feet.”

He nodded into her again, breathing in her scent. With a final squeeze he stood up.

“I’m going to find the grubs.”

“I take it with that tone you don’t want me coming with you?”

Signless shook his head. “I don’t feel okay, Disciple. They’re something very wrong with this situation and I don’t know what it is. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She stood up to face him. His eye’s flicked down to the bruise on her cheek.

Disciple kissed him. He leaned into her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her to her toes as he kissed her back. They broke apart and just held each other, foreheads touching.

“Be safe while I’m gone.”

“I will be if you are.”

He held her tighter.

Night fell over the desert like a black curtain dropping over a stage. Signless sped under the stars and the moon up to the foot of the mountains. There were tracks there, banthas and raiders alike all in a neat line. He forced the speeder to follow the narrow mountain trail until it could go no further. There was a little clearing where a herd of half a dozen banthas dozed peacefully under the full moon.

Signless crept past them until he reached the cliff of rock behind them. A kind of carved ladder was embedded in its steep surface. He scaled it with ease.

Atop the ridge he could see a camp set up in the basin. There were tents and fires everywhere. He laid himself flat on the ridge and pulled a pair of binoculars from his belt. As expected, the place was crawling with sand people. Some ate by fires. Some cleaned weaponry. Most were probably asleep in their tents, of which only one was guarded.

Signless stole through the night and through the camp with a deadly grace. He clung to the shadows and dodged shafts of dancing firelight with practiced motions. Finally he found his way to a medium sized tent at the far end of the camp. He held his breath. Something was rotting inside.

Not so much the movement to his left but at the sense in on the back of his neck that screamed strike! Signless spun, lighting up his lightsaber and stabbing the raider behind him in one motion. Its flesh smoked a bit where he had stabbed him in the torso. Signless switched off his weapon and caught the body before it hit the ground.

Signless leaned over to the tent, listening for movement. There was none. He softly heaved a stake out of the bottom of the tent and crawled inside, hauling the body along behind him.

The stench hit him first. It was defiantly rotting flesh, sour and painful in his nose and lungs. A soft thrum of buzzing bugs attested to that. It was the color next. Rust, yellow, teal, indigo… all the colors of the rainbow had collected in little pools on the ground of the tent. Lying in some pools were stiff grub carcasses. Signless had never seen a grub in real life. He knelt down next to a little green one and ever so softly ran a knuckle over its little tuft of hair. The entire little thing must have been smaller than his hand.

Translucent eggshells were piled in a corner. Eggs didn’t shatter when they hatched, he knew that much. He bit back a heave as he realized the raiders had actually cracked the eggs prematurely. He flattened himself against the hide wall of the tent. There were swatches of fabric and makeshift nests scattered about the corners. He bit the insides of his cheeks.

It was so, so wrong. Hundreds of grubs died in the brooding caverns every day, sure. That was natural. That was the trials to weed out the strong until the young got chosen by a lusii, but this? This wasn’t even a fight. These poor grubs never got the chance to fight back.

There was a howling cry outside the tent. More and more followed after it. Signless didn’t hear. He’d knelt down on the damp floor and poked the claw of a little teal blood. He closed the eyes of a fuchsia, their little crustacean tail tucked underneath them. There were probably ten on the floor. Nestled in some of the fabrics were new eggs but they were long dead. Nothing could survive without the mothergrub for that long.

A shriek and the tent flap was ripped open. Signless stood to face the three raiders at the opening. They charged. He lit his saber to meet them, ramming the first one through the chest, spinning to slice the second one’s abdomen, and mercilessly decapitating the last.

If only he’d gotten there sooner.

A cry had taken up in the entire camp. Something was beating a drum even. Signless wanted to fall to his knees but rationality didn’t allow that. If these people tired trading grubs than anyone else could too. The least he could do was making sure enough of them never saw the suns rise to send a message to anyone else looking to try it.

He saw a whole group of raiders charge at him from across the way. He raised his lightsaber like it was something heavy. A though crossed his mind. If he died here he’d never see Disciple again.

I won’t die here, he thought as the raiders got close enough to clearly see. I won’t die here.

And then it was like time itself froze. A piercing sound broke the air. A high-pitched guttural noise. Something undoubtedly primal and instinctive. A cry for help. There was a grub that was alive.

They won’t die here.

Four words were all it took for Signless to loose himself. He jabbed left and right at everything and everyone that dared come close to whatever small spark of life still remained inside that tent. Signless slit throats and skewered organs and hacked down each and every sand person with no discrimination. Children ran at him. He didn’t care.

The fight spiraled into a bloodbath. They didn’t know why this stranger was killing them, but hell if they were going to sit by and let it happen. And so more sand people came and so more sand people fell. Signless could have stopped them. He could have yelled, said something even if they didn’t understand. They didn’t seem to comprehend the notion of a retreat so why would they get surrender? After the bodies started piling up they got the idea to start shooting at him from above. Signless quickly solved that problem by grabbing the nearest rifle and taking out all the shooters. He didn’t even know he could aim a gun, but the tugging at the base of his chest told him what to do and he gladly obliged.

Looking back, he had no idea how he did it, how he managed to kill so many of them without even one reaching the tent. By day break someone had gotten the notion to just give up, and the remaining thirty or so raiders approached him with their palms down, clicking softly. Signless pointed to the tent, and then back at them. He grabbed the nearest raider by its shoulder and held his lightsaber to its neck. He motioned to the tent, and then down to the lightsaber. The rest of the sand people howled violently but didn’t take a step closer. Signless shoved the person back and entered the tent.

He wanted to collapse so badly. Every muscle in his body ached. His head was pounding out of his skull. He fell to his knees. The tent was silent.

A lump grew in the back of his throat to the point he wasn’t sure if he could swallow it down. He heaved and fell forward into the blood, exhausted. Nothing left.

Just as he closed his eyes… a chirp. A little bubbling. And a whine.

Signless lifted his head and scrambled to the direction of the noise. His hands hovered above the furthest blanket in the back of the tent. He nudged the bundle. A hiss. No. Hisses.

He gently unfolded the fabric. Clinging to the folds were two little grubs. The larger one was jade with big emerald eyes. The smaller was bright, bright red with a messy tuft of hair, just like Signless. He choked back a cry and gently lifted them up. They hissed when he tried to separate their tiny bodied so he just held them to his chest.

Their hissing subsided as he rocked their little squishy forms to his chest. He shooshed them until they closed their eyes and wrapped them in several blankets until he was sure the sunlight wouldn’t hurt them. Heat would be an issue though. They already looked deathly discolored. He tied together a makeshift sling to carry them to his chest.

Signless stepped out of the tent. The sand people still stared, like he was some angry demon who came to punish them for their ways. In a way he was.

By the time Signless got to the speeder the suns had already rose and the temperature was rising too. He fretted the whole way back to the little moisture farm, afraid it was so hot or the speeder was too loud, or that they had died.

Disciple burst through the broken door as soon as he parked. She went to embrace him but noticed the bundle on his chest. She said something but he didn’t hear it. He only dragged himself into the first room of the house, a kitchen maybe, and gently untied the bundle, setting it on the table.

Disciple gasped at the little jade and red grubs. They lay clinging to each other making soft sleeping noises. Signless watched as Disciple reached out a hand to stroke their sleeping faces. As soon as her skin made contact he knew that she would take care of them, that they’d be safe.

The world faded into blackness before he hit the floor.

Chapter Text

Geonosis was a red planet surrounded by asteroids. Psiioniic scowled at it as he approached. Tracking Mindfang hadn’t been that hard, really. After he hauled himself back to the landing platform and got to his ship, it was a simple matter of finding her frequency and tracking it. In the hours he followed her, he sent a detailed message to Redglare about her. He still hadn’t retrieved a response.

Mindfang’s fighter slowed out of hyperspace before the big red planet. Psiioniic tapped the screen of the computer in the cockpit. Geonosis? He quickly pulled up a file. The planet had sided with the separatists.

Mindfang must be in alliance with them. That’s who sent her to be cloned and who sent her to kill Disciple because Disciple didn’t want the war to start. If the war didn’t start the clone army wasn’t used and the whole purpose of the war would be thrown out the window. But what was the purpose of the war? To disrupt the galaxy, surely, but why? Who would benefit from an upheaval like… that?

A slow realization dawned on Psiioniic. He suddenly found himself punching the throttle of the ship and shooting everything he had at Mindfang’s fighter. Her ship swerved out of the way, barely clipped by the last shot. She spun the craft and fired back. Her tactics were frantic but it made them all the more deadly.

Psiioniic dodged and weaved through her blasts, listening to the feelings at his fingertips. Fire left. Veer down. Barrel over.

The dogfight picked up speed into a rapid fire exchange. Psiioniic wasn’t the best pilot, not like Mindfang was or Signless, but he was a yellow blood. Electricity sparked through his fingertips into the ship and back. He could feel the hypervaules in the engine expand. He could feel the pistons moving and sparks igniting. When Mindfang maneuvered into the asteroid field to try and loose him he smiled.

He chased her around the hurtling pieces of rock and fired everything he had. That’s when she started to bring out something he didn’t have tucked away in his arsenal. Little white specks with a vapor trail. Missiles.

Psiioniic swerved the ship to the side just as two missiles flew past the cockpit. He zipped around the field but couldn’t shake them no matter how hard he tried. As he got further away from Mindfang he realized he was out gunned.

The missiles gained on him. He flew straight towards a huge asteroid and cursed enough to make Dolorosa turn in her grave as he pulled up as the last moment. The missile contacted the rock and his entire vision was lit up blue and orange from the chemical reactions in the bombs. Enormous hunks of the asteroid broke off in the resulting force. Psiioniic dived under a spiraling piece until he reached the remaining surface of the asteroid. He set out the landing gear and attached himself to the rock.

No surprise missiles and no wayward lasers found his little hiding place. He shut down all nonessential systems just to be safe, running the ship silent. On his computer screen Mindfang’s ship hovered in one area. He held his breath. The ship then turned and made its way into the atmosphere.

Psiioniic punched the yoke a few times. Somewhere down on that planet was someone who would benefit from usurping the galaxy. Somewhere down there was a Sith.

There was not so much sand on Geonosis as dust. Billowing red clouds of the stuff surrounded Psiioniic’s ship as he landed under a little overhang of rock near where Mindfang had landed. He tied some cloth around his mouth before leaving the ship.

The whole planet was eerie. Red rock rose up over its surface in peculiar formations. There were spires and mesas. At a distance it looked like some ancient city worn away by the winds of time. Psiioniic didn’t like it at all. He especially didn’t like how many Trade Federation ships he saw tucked away in the asteroid belt on his way in.

He scaled the cliff face up until he found a little rocky ledge he could follow if he flattened himself to the side of the cliff. Eventually the ledge opened up to an actual trail. Psiioniic followed it cautiously. Dusk settled quickly over the planet. The sun’s angled rays filtered strangely through the red dust, casting leering shadows on the rock around him. Whenever the wind picked up a low whistling echoed through the rocks. He drew his lightsabers but didn’t light them. A kind of howl echoed far above him. He kept moving.

Psiioniic dodged left as a massive reptilian creature jumped at him from around the corner. He ignited the sabers and stabbed the lizard. A hiss sounded behind him and he flipped backwards, ramming the lightsaber into the second lizard’s back. It twitched, and then died.

Psiioniic hopped off the thing and kept moving carefully along the path. It opened up to a ridge overlooking a rocky plain. He flattened himself to the rock and drew his binoculars.

A faint gasp escaped his lips. There on the plain were hundreds of Trader Federation ships loading thousands of droid soldiers. Lines of battle droids marched out of underground openings and caves. Psiioniic had read that Geonosis was a smelting planet with factories buried in its surface. There was no way to gauge how many battalions they had stuffed down there.

“Damn.”

He made his way back to the ship. It took a while to find his communication device after it had been flung about in the battle with Mindfang, but he did and he set up a hologram link to Chancellor Peixes.

Peixes’s image, along with Master Redglare, Master Summoner, Senator Maryam, Senator Darkleer, and a few other officials he didn’t recognize all appeared as tiny glowing figures before him.

“Master Psiioniic,” Peixes greeted him, “What have you learned?”

He told them everything about the planet and about Mindfang. Summoner coughed at her name. Psiioniic decided to ask about that later.

Senator Maryam shook her head. “This is completely outrageous. We have strictly forbidden the Trade Federation from constructing an army. Surely they’ve already sided with Highblood. It’s only a matter of time now before they deploy their troops.”

Psiioniic nodded. “The droid factories seem to be on overhaul. I have no idea how many they’ve managed to build already, but I’m going to investigate.” Before Summoner could interrupt, he waved a hand. “I know I’m coming dangerously close to stepping out of protocol but this is imminent. If I can bring Mindfang in for investigation we may be able to clear some of this up. And I really want to learn more about this ‘Master Glunnah’.”

“You think it’s the Sith that tracked down Dolorosa?” Redglare asked.

Psiioniic nodded.

“It makes sense,” Summoner said. “But that would mean that that Sith would have to have the power to not only build the clone army, but this droid army as well.”

“Throw the galaxy into chaos…” Redglare nodded. “We’re dealing with someone very powerful.”

Everyone on the hologram nodded.

Peixes clapped her hands. “We’ll call the Federation’s representatives and hopefully resolve something on a corporate level. Psiioniic, keep investigating on Geonosis. We don’t know for sure where the Federation has sided and now is not the time to make a rash mistake. We can’t make any actions until you’re positive. Make sure of what you find. Do please be careful though. I’ve only heard awful things about that planet.”

Psiioniic nodded to them.

“May the Force be with you,” Redglare said.

“May the Force be with you,” Psiioniic answered. The hologram switched off.

Before the sun rose Psiioniic had found what he needed to know. It wasn’t taxing. He’d made his way to a Federation camp and waved his hands a few times. The workers were low profile so they didn’t have any insane secrets to offer but they had enough. The Trade Federation was defiantly in league with Highblood. Rumor had it that Dualscar had actually met with the ex-Jedi to negotiate terms and to agree on the attempts on Disciple’s life. To Dualscar war was the only path to independence. Highblood may even still be on planet.

Despite all his attempts he couldn’t catch a glimpse of Mindfang. There were more than ample stories about her escapades through the galaxy, though. Half of them couldn’t have been true, although he defiantly believe Redglare was the one who sliced her arm off. His respect for the old Jedi increased a little bit after that.

As the first strokes of red light filtered in through the dirty sky, Psiioniic began his long walk back to his ship. He didn’t want to be at the camp when day broke.

He took out his communicator and began recording a message as he walked. Even that was tiring. His body ached from the fight. His head had been throbbing constantly and there was no doubt his nose was broken. Again. Every step encouraged his muscles to scream louder. Hopefully he could get some sleep in his ship before someone attacked him. Hopefully.

“Hello, Signless. I don’t know why you aren’t answering but if the reason is anything not directly concerning Disciple’s safety I will be… well not surprised but very exasperated.

“Well, while I have you on I need you to retransmit this message to Coruscant, but you should know too: the Trade Federation is behind the assassination attempts. They’ve sided with Highblood…”

Something whizzed overhead. He froze on the rocky path and looked over the edge. Winged creatures were tearing apart his ship.

“Signless, listen to me. My ship is being damaged-“As he spoke he slid down the cliff face. He cried out as one of the things crashed into him. They tumbled down the rock. Psiioniic desperately avoided the things claws and snapping mouth. In his hand he shifted the communicator to press send then released it to get a grip on one of his lightsabers.

He never got the chance. As they tumbled down the cliff, the Geonosian lifted its head and shrieked. Psiioniic kicked it off, saw it open its wings as it flew, and turned to see what had got it so excited.

And that’s when he smacked his head into the boulder.

Chapter Text

Signless opened his eyes. He was lying in a decrepit bed in the dusty house. Slowly, he removed the sheets. He was only wearing his underwear.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Disciple sang as she swept into the room. She carried some mismatched bowls of what looked like desert cactus fruit.

“Where are my clothes?” he asked slowly, sitting up as she sat next to him.

“Here, you should eat something,” she smiled at him and handed him a bowl. He set it down.

“Disciple, how did I get here?”

“There’s a lot more fruit down in the courtyard so if-“

“Disciple,” he whispered. She bit her lip. Green tears welled in the corner of her eyes.

“You were covered in blood, Signless.” She smiled but it wasn’t happy. “You were covered in blood. I washed your face but I think there’s still some in your hair. What did you do?”

“I…” He what? He did what he had to? He didn’t have to do anything. “I made sure they’d never exploit grubs again.”

She nodded like that was all she needed to know. She took his hand and kissed it.

“Were they the only ones to survive?” she asked.

Signless nodded. Memories of the last night came back to him suddenly but he wished they hadn’t. “They seem a little more developed than the d- other ones. I think they were probably hatched in the caverns and then taken. Not like the other ones…”

She tilted her head at him.

“I think they tried to crack the eggs to hatch them faster.”

Her hand covered her mouth. She muttered something that he didn’t hear.

“How are they doing?”

Disciple left the room and came back with a bundle. She sat next to him and moved the folds until the two little grubs’ faces were visible.

“They’ve been sleeping all day.” She smiled and caressed the red one’s cheek. It yawned, revealing its little pointed teeth. Signless wrapped an arm around her and they watched the little things stir softly.

Scarce words were spoken that day. Signless spent a long while working on the moisture vaporators with some tools he found in a little garage. It was nice to be able to fix something. He got them working again. Disciple busied herself shoving the furniture in the house to nicer positions and messing around with the plumbing until it hooked up to the water tank correctly. A generator in the underground courtyard started up and they even had lights.

Signless and Disciple sat in the courtyard once the moon rose. They held each other while the two little grubs played in the flower bed. After some water and some bugs to eat, the pair was looking a lot better.

“Don’t you just wish we could stay here forever?” Disciple whispered after the longest time.

“If only…” Signless sighed. “What are we going to do with them?”

“I was thinking something with K.”

Signless turned to face her. “Excuse me?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just like K names. Katray. Krinha. I’m kind of leaning towards Karkat for the red one.”

He sighed. “Do you really think we can raise them? We’d never be able to do it in public. They’d have to stay hidden until they grew up. It’s ludicrous.”

She wiggled out of his arms until they sat facing each other. “Signless, I know you didn’t sign up for raising two grubs. I understand, and I don’t want to do this without you but if you can’t do this, we’ll bring them back to Alternia.”

Signless looked between her and the little grubs. “We can’t bring them back to Alternia, or anywhere else. They should have adopted lusii by now. They’d die. We’d have to put them up for parent custodians.”

Disciple nodded. She picked up the little jade one. It nibbled at her thumb. She stroked its hair in between its minute horns. One had a tiny little hook, like Dolorosa’s. Signless picked up the other one and examined the tiny form. It squirmed in his hand, the little wriggler. For a moment he thought it didn’t have horns, but after some poking around he found two little nubs, just like he had. The wriggler hissed. Disciple laughed.

“He’s just like you,” she teased.

Signless smiled. Yeah, a little mutant just like him. The other one whined in the red one’s direction. Disciple placed her in Signless’s other hand so the two could be together. The jade one scurried over to the red one, nestling up against him.

Signless’s heart ached. All Disciple ever wanted was something like this. “To find love on a smaller scale.” He hugged them to his chest. He’d never thought about raising anything. Grubs and lusii or grubs and parents were fine as long as he wasn’t part of it, but after today… he wouldn’t mind a family with Disciple. He wouldn’t mind at all.

“They’ll still be grubs for another four years or so…” he said slowly.

Disciple met his eyes. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if we-“

Beep beep.

Signless heaved a sigh and handed the grubs to Disciple before pulling his communicator from his belt. It was a message from Psiioniic. It could wait.

“I’m saying-“

“Answer Psiioniic,” Disciple told him. “I want to know if he’s made any progress.”

Signless snorted but obliged, throwing the hologram up between them.

Psiioniic’s little blue figure bumped along. He probably recorded it while walking. Signless hated when he did that.

“Hello, Signless. I don’t know why you aren’t answering but if the reason is anything not directly concerning Disciple’s safety I will be… well not surprised but very exasperated.”

Disciple giggled and Signless sighed loudly.

“Well, while I have you on I need you to retransmit this message to Coruscant, but you should know too: the Trade Federation is behind the assassination attempts. They’ve sided with Highblood…” Psiioniic’s figure froze, looking around. Signless and Disciple leaned in towards the blue. Psiioniic started sprinting, or sliding, or something.

“Signless, listen to me. My ship is being damaged-“

The whole hologram went insane. It spun like something had bashed into him and they were rolling. Psiioniic made grunted noises. Something was screeching. The hologram cut out. Even the grubs were quiet.

Signless stood up, his mind racing.

“We have to go to… no. We have to get back to the ship and track the signal.”

Disciple nodded. “We have to retransmit the message. But what if he’s nowhere near Coruscant?”

Signless spoke while he gathered their scattered supplies. The peace had broken so suddenly it felt like there had never been quiet a moment before. “Then we’ll have to get him ourselves.”

“What about them? We can’t take care of them off planet.”

Signless didn’t bring his eyes off the bag he was stuffing with gear. “I’ll take care of it. You stay here. I’ll be back in an hour, two tops.”

“Where are you going?” she followed him up the stairs to the speeder outside. The two grubs were still nestled in her arms.

“I’m just going to go find an old friend.”

She didn’t look satisfied with that answer.

“Be careful,” she said.

“I always am.”

As he sped away under the blanket of desert stars he could practically hear her shaking her head.

If Signless had been even a little less competent with machines he would have flooded the engine a dozen times before speeding into the quiet night of the spaceport. As it were, the bike’s engine was almost fried by the time he sped up to the junk shop.

Pinch was passed out in a dirty cot in the back room like it did every night. Signless’s lightsaber was at its neck before it even woke. It stirred and the saber hissed off its carapace. Pinch froze, and glared at Signless with its one eye.

“Deactivate the detonation sequence in the Crab’s shell.”

“Why the hell would I-“

Signless swiped off what remained of the mandible. Pinch howled.

“Because I could just kill you and find out how to do it myself but this is faster.”

The Crab ran alongside Signless’s speeder all the way to the ship. Its scurrying legs easy kept pace with the machine. When they boarded Signless explained everything. The Crab nodded and clicked, only asking the appropriate questions about the grubs. Signless had WV retransmit the message and track it while they spoke.

“I’m asking you to take care of two grubs as long as we need. Can you do this?”

The Crab pinched once. Yes.

Signless hesitated. “Will you do this?”

The Crab pinched once again, loudly enough to send WV scurrying away. Of course he’d do it. Signless had asked him to.

“Thank you.”

Disciple looked at the Crab curiously. “You want him to take care of them?” Her voice dripped with trepidation.

Signless held out his arms for the grubs but Disciple wouldn’t budge. “Look, I know what you’re thinking,” he said.

“I really don’t think you do…”

“How can a crab raise grubs?”

“Okay maybe you do.”

The Crab clicked impatiently. Signless could see why. This was all very unnatural. Three custodians and two grubs? Insane. He knew it. The Crab knew it. He wasn’t sure if Disciple grasped the insanity of the situation.

“Disciple-“

Beep beep.

Signless groaned. He reached into his belt and felt the color drain from his face when he saw the letters across the screen.

“It’s Summoner,” he whispered, like he could hear him.

Disciple gasped. The Crab clicked something obviously annoyed.

“Everyone be quite!” Signless said, like they were planning on something else. He turned the hologram camera away from them and pressed answer.

Summoner’s horns were just barely within the confines of the hologram.

“Signless, we received your message.”

Signless nodded.

“We have reason to believe Highblood is the one holding Psiioniic. We’re sending help. What we need you to do right now is keep Senator Leijon safe. They want her dead now more than ever. Stay where you are. Understood?”

Signless nodded.

“May the Force be with you.”

Signless nodded, then hastily added, “May the Force be with you! Master.”

Summoner moved out of the screen and the hologram clicked off.

“See?” Disciple said. “They’re sending help. Psiioniic will be okay.”

Signless ran his hands over his face. “We don’t have time for this!” he shouted. One of the grubs started hissing. He lowered his tone. “Psiioniic’s signal came from Geonosis.”

Disciple closed her eyes. The one grub was still hissing. She opened her eyes and walked over to the Crab, who had been patiently watching the whole ordeal. She looked down at the grubs in her arms.

“They’ll never make it to Geonosis in time,” she whispered as she handed the grubs to the Crab. He held them gently for a moment. Then he swung them upside-down by this pinchers. Disciple screamed.

The grubs started burbling happily, their little mouths turned out into little insectoid smiles.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Signless said, wrapping his arms around her.

She laughed shakily and leaned into him. “Okay, let’s go get Psiioniic.”

He stroked her face where the bruise had deepened. “You don’t have to come,” he said. “They have orders to kill you there.”

She nodded. “If I don’t come you might do something stupid and die.”

He opened his mouth to argue but she placed a hand over it.

“And you’ll be kicked out of the Order if you leave me. But if you’re forced to follow me on my noble quest to save my friend in need, Psiioniic, we might be able to keep you a Jedi a little longer.”

Signless held her.

The Crab snapped so loudly Disciple’s claws dug into Signless’s skin.

“We’re going! We’re going!”

Chapter Text

From one dusty old planet to the next. Signless didn’t like all the rocky surfaces he’d been on recently. He’d much rather be back on Naboo. Still, Disciple hadn’t complained so neither could he.

They landed somewhere ambiguous. It was close enough to all the activity but under the cover of the rusty rock cliffs. Signless didn’t like it. The pit of his stomach felt hollow and cold. He parked the ship and went over navigation readings with WV and AR.

Disciple walked up behind him. “Do we know where we’re going?”

Signless frowned at the maps. There was an opening to the factory tunnels nearby but…

“I don’t want you to come with me.”

She actually groaned. “Signless, I am coming with you. You think I’m weak or something-“

“I don’t think you’re weak!”

“Then why are you trying to hold me back?”

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“I don’t need your protection!”

“I am literally assigned by law to protect you, Senator!”

She glared. He never called her that anymore. “Fine, then just come with me. Better yet, let’s work together. Like a normal team.”

Signless clenched his fists at his sides. “Disciple it’s not just this assignment. I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt. I’d do something… crazy.”

She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. “I’m not yours to protect, Signless. I don’t mean in the legal sense. I mean it in the ‘us’ sense. I want to be with you, but I can’t if you’re going to treat me like something scared. And I know what you mean.” She opened her eyes. “I know what you mean about getting hurt. You think I wasn’t worried out of my mind when you sped off, both times? Signless I thought you dropped dead after you set those grubs down. And you have the audacity to tell me I need protecting?”

He looked at her. He really looked at her, and not just the bruise on her cheek. He looked at all of her. Disciple stood tall and proud and smart and the fire in her eyes said that she was ready for anything that Signless could face to.

He nodded and took her hand.

The floors of the tunnels were metal gates. As much as Signless and Disciple tried to stay quiet, every footstep echoed out and down the corridors. It was silent in the dimly lit underground, but as they got deeper in a chittering occasionally sounded from behind them. Every time they flinched in the direction of the noise only the gaping blackness of the tunnel would meet them.

A rustle. At the end of the long tunnel stood an electronic metal door. More rustling. They took a few more steps. Chittering.

Disciple’s grip tightened on Signless’s hand. He pulled her close to him and whispered through her hair, “Run when I do the thing.” She didn’t get the chance to ask what he meant. She didn’t need to.

When he lit his lightsaber and all hell broke loose she ran. Winged creatures detached themselves from the walls in drones. Signless hacked down alien after alien, going into a kind of haze through all the buzzing and chittering and snapping jaws.

Disciple yelled to him. He turned and ran to the open door. Disciple caught his wrist as he barreled out of the other side, stopping him from falling off the small platform. The door slammed shut and the buzzing muted. He didn’t even get a chance to glance at the lava soaked factory.

“Are you o-“

The platform lurched backwards towards the wall. Disciple screamed as she fell onto a conveyor belt below. Signless jumped after her but instead smacked into one of the flying things. Geonosians. It screamed at him. He put the lightsaber to its skull and lit it. The thing jerked as it died and dropped both of them onto a belt that shook with the force of gigantic hammering devices shaping cooling droid parts.

Disciple’s scream sounded from off in the distance, barely discernable through the noise of the factory. Signless jumped up off the platform just as the hammer connected the Geonosian’s body. There was a crunch over the machinery. Signless forced himself from moving conveyor belt to moving conveyor belt up until he was almost in the rafters of the sweltering factory.

Curiously, way up high is where all the flying things liked to hang out. Go figure. Signless turned and jumped down a few levels with dozens of Geonosians on his tail. They buzzed after him and as he looked for the next surface to jump to he saw something green.

“Disciple!”

She was scrambling inside a huge cup shaped container hooked to a moving line. Far ahead, glowing streams of molten metal flowed into waiting containers of the same kind.

Flashes of the burned hands and the nightmare ripped through his brain. Signless screamed as he cut down Geonosian after Geonosian. He could see three or four of the flying bastards hovering above her, just watching. Signless slashed backwards, taking out two trailing assailants and jumped from four levels above to Disciples direction, killing Geonosians as he fell and releasing his lightsaber at the last second.

He plummeted downward towards the direction of the cup. The Geonosians around her didn’t see him, too preoccupied with her struggling. Signless smacked into two of them as he fell, getting a death grip on one ankle each.

“Here take this!” he shouted to Disciple as the three of them crash landed into the iron cup.

She didn’t hesitate to grab hold to the dazed Geonosian’s ankle. All four of them looked up as a huge rusty metal pipe end above them squeaked open, revealing the glowing orange liquid within. The Geonosians squealed and flew, yanking Disciple and Signless along with them. When their rides realized what was dragging them down they screeched, trying to kick them off.

Signless got a plated foot to the face. He kicked Disciple with his foot as he let go, landing onto a grated platform below them. He landed hard. A second later Disciple smacked down alongside him.

He rolled over onto his back to face the barrel of a droideka’s gun. He turned to Disciple. She gave him a strained smile.

The droidika, along with all the other droids and Geonosians that had gathered, parted to a noise coming down the walkway. Signless turned his heads towards the noise. Click. Click. Click. His eyes met an obnoxiously red pair of boots attached to a full suit of blue and black plated armor.

The red boots didn’t stop until one of them was planted firmly on Signless’s chest.

The person beneath the mask clicked their tongue. “Oh my, you are the second Jedi I’ve run into today. You people are like pests.” The woman in the suit poked his chin with the tip of her boot. She sighed, the expression weirdly filtered through the helmet. “I’d love to stick around and play with you, but it seems Grand Highblood had requested the pretty one speaks with him, and sorry doll but that’s not you.”

She finally took her boot out of his face. Signless and Disciple stood up. The woman pointed a blaster at them. “Come on, kids. Time to meet the boss.”

Signless thought Dolorosa was tall. Signless thought Peixes had horns. Signless thought Disciple had hair. Signless thought Darkleer was muscular. Signless thought none of this anymore as he laid eyes on the goliath figure that was the Grand Highblood.

The troll was huge. The chair he sat in was half the size of the conference table. His face was scared or tattooed into a vaguely skull shaped design. His robes were deep, deep purple and black.

Disciple sat opposite of the troll without even a hint of fear. Signless hoped he looked the same standing behind her. Twenty or so Geonosians stood guard around them.

“Hello, Senator Leijon,” Highblood said softly. It was no surprise how deep his voice was, but Signless hadn’t expected it to be so quiet and resonate.

“Highblood.”

The troll leaned forward over the table and smiled kindly at her. “Senator, I can see you plan on being indignant at the moment so I’ll make this brief.”

Disciple cocked her head. “Good, then I can say no to whatever demented scheme you’re looking to sign me up for faster.” She smiled a very humorless smile.

Highblood sighed deeply. His enormous chest heaved. “Why must you plan on being this way, Leijon? We’re both professionals. Why’d don’t we act like it?”

Disciple’s smile hadn’t left her face. “Professionals? Okay. Highblood, on the behalf of the Galactic Republic I formally request that you turn the Jedi Knight Psiioniic over to my custody immediately.”

When Highblood shook his head the entire mountain of hair on top bounced along with it. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Your Jedi has been convicted with deliberate espionage against a public party and by laws of this planet has been sentenced to death. I believe he should be executed within the hour.”

Disciple took a deep breath. “What public party?”

“The Trade Federation.”

She bristled in her chair, almost jumping up. “The Trade Federation had sided with the separatists: you. That makes them a danger to the Republic and thus an enemy. The espionage was justified.”

Highblood blinked his deep purple eyes. “Oh, Senator. Even you know how convoluted that string of words was. The Trade Federation, along with my separatist party, would only be an enemy to the Republic state if it were declared, and to declare that would be declaring war. You didn’t want that though.”

She didn’t break his glare, but also didn’t bother to reply.

Highblood continued. “You can’t deny we have a movement here. Even if Psiioniic’s spying were justified it wouldn’t be recognized here. We don’t recognize the Republic. But, if you were to convince the Queen to vote Naboo into the Alliance, we might be able to work out a plea for clemency for your dear Jedi friend.”

“Because if I don’t join, you will kill Psiioniic and this Jedi beside me and myself. Is that it? Your definition of a working government?” Disciple asked.

Highblood’s shoulders sagged. He looked genuinely distraught.

“Senator Leijon, please. Think about your people. Think about the good it would do to get them away from the corrupt government of the Republic. You’ve seen it firsthand how they get nothing done, how they talk in circles while money disappears. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Every government is flawed. I am not going to deny that the Republic is definitely on shaky ground but its morals are still alive. Highblood if you wanted to change things so badly, why do it like this? Why not actually change the government instead of overthrowing it. You had sway with the Council. This impending war doesn’t need to happen.”

Highblood scoffed softly. “Who would change the Republic, Peixes? She’s kindhearted but she can’t take the greed out of the powerful. That would take a god’s work. She can’t save this galaxy. No one person can, but together we can reform it. Leijon think about it, please. See the vison I am trying to show you! A newer, better style of governing.”

Disciple barked out a laugh. “Better? Then why haven’t you made connections with the Jedi? With the Galactic Peace Corps or the hundreds of poor planets in this arm of the galaxy alone. Huh? Why have you made a deal with the Trade Federation and the Commence Guilds? Because this isn’t a government! This is a business ploy! You’re asking me to sell out my life’s work for money!”

Signless wanted to clap or cheer but he kept a straight face as Highblood stood.

“Well I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve not only forsaken your Jedi friends but also yourself.”

He rapped a huge fist on the table. “The Geonosians want you dead. I cannot stop this. I’ve offered you all I could.”

Chapter Text

A short excuse of a trial. Being charged with espionage. Disciple throwing out political threats he knew she wasn’t bluffing about. Shackles heavy on their wrists. Being lead down a corridor. Dust in their throats and eyes. Signless stayed very quiet during all of this. As soon as they left Highblood he shoved his mind very far away. The rest of the events blurred by as they were directed through the inner city of Geonosis. Signless finally caught onto a little restless spark in the back of his mind, a strange part of the Force that would get him through whatever they were about to be shoved into. He shook his head to clear his mind and turned to Disciple.

“Hey,” she whispered. The Geonosian guard glared at her. “Hey Signless are you with me?”

He nodded. “I was meditating.”

She sighed in relief. “Good. I thought I’d lost you.”

The guard yanked on their chains. They were tugged into a tunnel. At the far end a malicious crowds’ cheer echoed. Disciple and Signless were chained into a kind of chariot, side by side. The guard clamored up into a seat in front of them.

Signless turned to Disciple. She didn’t look scared. Between the noise of the outside of the chatter of guards beind them it was quite. What a strange calm, Signless observed, always seems to worm itself into the moments before supposed death.

“Kanaya,” he said.

She smiled sadly at him, “What?”

“You like Karkat. I think we should name the other one Kanaya, and if we get out of here alive I’m willing to spend the rest of my life with you and those grubs. No matter how much secrecy or how much trouble; I’ll be there for you.”

She stained against her chains and kissed him. He leaned as much as he could, like he’d never be able to kiss her again, and he knew that that just might be the case.

The cart started to rumble forward over the rocky ground.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” he whispered back.

The arena light burned bright. Even with all the rusty colored cloud cover the sunlight still hurt his eyes. Nothing too bad, though. This wasn’t Tatooine.

The Geonosian guard brought them to three sandstone pillars. Psiioniic already had his hands chained above his head to the far one. His face looked terrible.

Psiioniic smiled over at him. “So glad you could join me, Signless! And you’ve brought a guest, the esteemed Senator Leijon. How wonderful.”

“Hello Master,” Signless said with equal fraudulent cheer as he was forcefully chained up next to him. “What a wonderful job you’ve done getting yourself captured! Honestly, you know it looked so fun I just had to try it for myself. Always walking in your footsteps it seems…”

Psiioniic scoffed. “I know! But it seems that I actually completed my mission and found out who was trying to kill Disciple. You’ve made marvelous work delivering her to them gift wrapped!”

“Do I have to auspistice you two!” Disciple yelled from Signless’s left.

Signless and Psiioniic shut up.

“Citizens!” a disembodied voice shouted over the speakers. “Before you are three felons convicted with…”

“I retransmitted the message,” Signless said to Psiioniic. “They’re sending help.”

The voice boomed over them, continuing about their crimes and whatnot.

“Good. Signless, you’re going to need to be your best for this, okay? Geonosian executions are not fun,” Psiioniic told him.

The crowd hushed. Signless looked up in time to see an ugly Geonosian that had been at the trail raise his hand. He cleared his throat.

“Let the executions… begin!”

A gate directly in front of them screeched open. Signless heard other gates being opened but couldn’t see where. In front of them a towering, clicking monster scuttled into the arena. Geonosians prodded its six legs on the ground, causing it to snap at them with its two sharp front legs. It looked shelled but he couldn’t be sure. Its small head was half mouth, a dripping maw of razor teeth and half beady black eyes. Perched upon the top was a kind of plate, sickly green like the rest of it. The thing was made of sharp edges. Kind of reminded him of the Crab.

“You can handle that,” Psiioniic said.

Signless laughed. “Thanks, and what will you be ‘handling’?”

Psiioniic craned his neck around. “That.”

Signless caught sight of the stalking, huge, stripped feline creature. Its flattened head opened like a sideways book, but instead of pages there were only row after row of curved teeth. Its doubled tail whipped up behind its raised hackles.

“Have fun,” Signless said. The thing in front of him started screeching.

He turned to Disciple but she wasn’t there. His eyes darted up the pole to see her haul herself up to the top and began fiddling with the chains. An angry, bulky thing with horns on the sides of its face and its head stared to charge at Disciple’s pole. The scuttling one scuttled fast in his direction. The monster cat pounced.

Signless jumped as the stabbing forelegs of the monster struck. He landed a kick to the thing’s face but merely angered it. It cried out and started stabbing even more. Its exoskeleton was hard enough to chip the stone from the pole. Signless jumped again, this time right in front of the ring his chains were attached to.  It struck again. Signless kicked backwards off the pole and to the side as the extended pincher broke the chain from the rock.

Out of the corner of his eye were blue and red flashes. He risked a glance and saw that Psiioniic had gotten free and wrapped his chains around the cat. By the looks of it, he was sending electricity through the poor animal and frying its brains out.

Another strike from the lusus from hell and Signless lost the train of thought about his master’s moral compass. Signless ducked and ran under the thing, ten feet of chains trailing behind him. It screeched as Signless left its line of sight. The crowd cheered, as bloodthirsty as the animal.

Signless barreled to the gate where the animal had come from. Half a dozen guards scattered. The thing screeched behind him. Before the last Geonosian could get away, Signless tackled him. The Geonosian threw him off and flew. Signless grabbed the spear it had dropped in the process. When the thing charged him, he brandished the electric spear. It screeched and jabbed, but more hesitantly.

Through the thing’s legs Signless could see Disciple. The bulky thing had toppled her pole. She was whipping it with the chains in her hands. It would rear up and charge past her. She jumped away at the last second.

Jabby screeched, jabbing. Signless jumped to his left, onto the rock wall. He propelled himself forward, aiming the spear. It went right into the creatures screaming mouth, past teeth and into the back of its throat. It bit down, snapping the spear. Dirty red blood dripped from its mouth. The pointed half of the spear still stuck out from the back of its neck. It jabbed. Signless tried to dodge but it was just angry enough to be precise. It grazed his arm. He rolled, cried out, and kept running.

The thing chased him all the way back to the pole. Signless froze at the base. Just like he’d anticipated, it struck harder that before. The pole toppled. Signless ran around to the falling side. The creature scuttled after him. With a little help from gravity and momentum, Signless used to Force to tug the falling pole over him. It crashed into the creature’s face. The thing shuddered to the ground, whining.

He sprinted towards Disciple. He could taste her failing energy in the air. She was getting tired. The beast got closer and closer and even more enraged with every swipe. It charged her and the look in her eyes said she wouldn’t make it out of the way again.

Signless thrust a hand forward and she went flying just as one solid horn was about to impale her chest. Signless ran up to the animal and kept his hands forward. He poured thoughts of submission into its head. It bucked away from him and Signless leapt onto its back, whipping his chains around into its mouth like a bit. It bucked and struggled but Signless turned the Force on it harder and it stopped.

He rode over to Disciple. Sweat poured down her face, carving grey lines onto her dust covered cheeks. She nodded thanks as he pulled her up in front of him. She winched where he’d grabbed her. He turned to look back. Her arm was bent. She held it tightly but he could see bone through her fingers.

Signless steered the beast around to where Psiioniic sat pulling at his chains, still wrapped around the dead, smoking monster cat.

“On the ground!” Signless yelled.

Psiioniic took a step back and laid his drag of chains on the arena ground. Signless charged the beast over the spot. He heard the crack of the chains snapping under its feet.

The crowd booed and shouted as Psiioniic pulled himself up behind Signless. Geonosians buzzed angrily. Signless wondered if they were going to storm the arena. It looked like it. The woman with the boots, that were apparently rocket propelled, rose from a special spectator box.

“I thought you were done throwing energy around,” Signless said glancing back. Psiioniic’s wrists were charred and caked with drying yellow blood where the shackles had conducted the most electricity.

“I’ve had a bad day,” Psiioniic told him.

At that moment flashes of light broke out all over the arena. Miss Boots froze. Signless wheeled the creature to a stop. All the Geonosians stopped buzzing. Psiioniic pointed. Over at the biggest, most prominent spectator box loomed a huge set of horizontal horns.

Disciple let out a breath of relief. Signless didn’t. He turned to Psiioniic.

“I feel it to,” his master said. “Something isn’t…”

There was a pounding sound so sudden that it took Signless a moment to actually recognize it as marching. All around them from hundreds of shadowy doorways marched out thousands of droids.

“…right,” Signless finished. “This is bad.”

Signless saw Red Boots fire her blaster at Summoner and on that unspoken command the battle sprang to life. Jedi and Geonosians jumped into action against each other. Red droid lasers streaked across the arena and the stadium above. Suddenly a familiar Jedi was next to them, slicing off their shackles with her saber. She tossed Psiioniic and Signless lightsabers and got back to clearing down droids.

They hopped off the beast just as someone shot it in between the eyes and ducked down beside its body for brief cover. Psiioniic held the one lightsaber clumsily in one hand, and then the other. He shrugged and cut down a droid approaching them.

“I don’t like it,” he noted as he continued. Signless shoved Disciple behind him and faced his back to Psiioniic, sandwiching her between the Jedi. He saw her bend down and pick up a fallen blaster and start shooting.

They moved in a unit through the battlefield. Disciple didn’t slow them down at all. When one Jedi had to jump away to defend someone or take something out, she would flip around so that she was back to back with whoever had stayed and shoot any enemy in her sights.

As the air filled with kicked up dust and laser fire more and more bodies dropped. Jedi, droid, and Geonosian alike. The moving group turned just in time for Signless to see Summoner whack Boots’s head clean off. The helmet went flying. A horn broke clear in half when it hit the dirt. Summoner descended towards them.

“We got to stop these droids!” Psiioniic yelled as Summoner flew over. Signless had no idea how his wings weren’t riddled with blast holes by now.

“Raiding party!” Summoner shouted. “Should hit the kill switch any minute now. Just hold on!”

They did hold on but nothing happened. Later Signless would find out that the raiding party did hit the kill switch, but the droids were the new and improved and could run independent of an operating system.

Of course he wasn’t thinking of that while he, along with every other Jedi, was being herded into a tight group by the circle of droids. The Jedi kept hacking them down but they kept shooting. When it looked like the end, the droids froze.

“Summoner!” Highblood’s voice rang out. It obviously hadn’t been amplified. Highblood could just be that loud.

Summoner looked up towards the box. Highblood was grinning and clapping. The traitor actually barked out a laugh.

“It’s always such a pleasure to see Jedi fight!” he boomed. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Highblood kept laughing. “Ah, I take it you’ll never surrender, correct?” Highblood asked.

Summoner didn’t dignify an answer.

“Just as I thought. Fine, die by your own stupidity. See if I care.”

Signless saw Disciple drop the blaster and seek out his hand with her good arm. He clasped her fingers tightly.

Summoner whipped around his lightsaber and shrugged. “Stupidity, biding my time. Same thing.”

Highblood didn’t get to respond. Disciple gasped as half a dozen gunships flew over the arena. Hanging dangerously off the side of the nearest one was Master Redglare. The droids fired at the ships but their shields deflected it. Hundreds of soldiers clad in white armor aimed their blasters, taking out droids easily.

“Come on!” Redglare called over the resuming battle. Signless tugged Disciple along into the ship. As soon as they were all in the ship began to rise, shaking with the blasts from heavy artillery bolted to its side.

Psiioniic gaped at Redglare.

“What have you done?” he hissed.

Signless held onto to Disciple so she didn’t fall and watched his master curiously.

Redglare spoke evenly. “You were going to die. We utilized our last option, Psiioniic. Kamino is a hop away from Geonosis. What else do you want to know?”

Psiioniic’s clenched fists relaxed slowly, like he was letting go of something. “This is the first battle of the war, isn’t it?”

Redglare nodded curtly. “It will be.” She had to yell over the wind. “Darkleer motioned for Peixes to be granted emergency power. They vote later this week.”

Disciple cursed. Signless held her tighter as the ship lurched. From the open bay doors he could see they were flying over the Federation camps. Thousands of the white soldiers, who all curiously had the same horns as Red Boots, scurried about fighting droids. People around him were calling them Stormtroopers.

Redglare turned away from Psiioniic and began issuing orders to Stormtroopers left and right.

“Move a battalion left!” “Divide the droids flank!” “Corner them under that cliff!”

The artillery exploded so loudly she had to yell in between bursts of fire. Explosions rocked the outside of the ship, shaking it violently. Disciple bit back a scream as her arm crunched into Signless. He looked down at her. Her eyes were welling with green but she was breathing evenly.

Psiioniic stared out at the battle below.

“Here,” Signless told Disciple. He helped her into a sitting position a little ways away from the door. She just nodded watched him unhook some straps from the floor, probably for cargo, and securely tied her down with a makeshift seatbelt.

Psiioniic was shouting something and the ship lurched. Signless stroked Disciple’s face as the ship shuddered. It dipped low and increased speed.

Orange and red engulfs Signless’s vision without warning. Instinctively he shut his eyes at the heat of the blast that rocked the ship. He was flung forward, biting his tongue as his chin hit the ground. When he opened his eyes he saw Disciple’s eyes half lidded with just the yellow showing and her body on the floor.

“Disciple!”

Her eyes fluttered. She opened them and looked right through him.

The gunship pitched to the side and slammed into the sand. Signless got his arms around Disciple’s head just before impact. The entire ship shuddered and groaned.

“Signless!” Psiioniic yelled at the bay doors. “Come on! Highblood is getting away!”

“She’s hurt!” he cried, but to his great dismay Psiioniic just waved the words away, like Disciple’s life meant nothing.

“She’s concussed! She’ll be fine! Let’s go!”

Signless looked from his best friend to the love of his life. He swallowed hard, gently put Disciple’s head down and ran out into the sand after Psiioniic.

Chapter Text

Psiioniic sighed internally when he heard Signless’s footsteps echo behind him over the rocky desert. For a real moment he thought his Padawan was going to stay with Disciple. He wasn’t telling him something.

They ran up to an enormous red rock spire. At the foot of the monolith was an opening. It led to a carved stairway. Psiioniic sprinted, Signless right behind him. The sound of their pounding boots fled up the way before them. They both burst out into a hanger. Highblood stopped giving orders mid-sentence to a droid standing by a ship.

“You two?” Highblood laughed. Psiioniic lit his lightsaber. Highblood’s negotiating voice was soothing and calm. His real voice was gruff and coarse like sand. Highblood started laughing hysterically. The vibrations echoed around the cavernous hanger. He waved the droids down and stepped forward.

“Really, I don’t have time for this but I’d much rather kill you myself than just have a droid shoot you.” Highblood’s words were teetering right on the edge of insane, just barely. He smiled at everything, a horrible thing on his painted face, like every word was some inside joke only he understood.

Without warning Signless bolted. Psiioniic used a phrase he never had in his entire life.

“Signless, what the fuck?”

Dolorosa wouldn’t have spoken to him for a week.

As it were, Signless sprinted towards Highblood with no inhibitions at all, lightsaber raised. For a sliver of a moment Psiioniic thought his Padawan was actually going to be successful. Maybe, just maybe Signless was more than he thought. Maybe Signless really was the superior Jedi in their relationship.

Then, as it were, Highblood flicked his wrist and Psiioniic’s Padawan went flying into the wall, unconscious before he hit the ground. Psiioniic didn’t hesitate to use the Force to yank his lightsaber off the ground where it had landed.

He lit the second saber readily and settled into a good stance. There, two sabers and all better again.

“Lovely Padawan, Psiioniic,” Highblood said as he ignited a purple saber.

Psiioniic didn’t answer, just started walking the circumference of the room, looking for advantages.

Highblood dove into Psiioniic. Psiioniic jumped back, already losing ground at the first strike. Highblood, almost lazily, thrusted his lightsaber into openings in Psiioniic’s defense. He was just toying with him.

“Dark Side, Psiioniic. Come on.” He thrust the sword for real and Psiioniic had to roll to avoid the attack, stupidly throwing a strike where he could at Highblood’s leg. Highblood swatted the strike aside with a laugh. “I’m a Grand Master! Psiioniic, you were dead the moment you lit those little sabers. You have no reason to keep fighting. Just let me kill you.”

Psiioniic pushed forward, moving the lightsabers in turn. They weren’t balanced correctly and it hurt his efficiency. If some of the strikes had been just centimeters closer he would have made contact. Still, Highblood wasn’t even breathing hard.

Psiioniic flipped over him and struck down as he did. Highblood sidestepped the strike easily. Psiioniic spun and dodged and parried until a long dormant energy started to spark around his horns. He kept fighting but it was hard. If he wanted to he could char this asshole to dust.

But then again the last time he tried that with a Sith they killed Dolorosa.

With that small lapse in focus Highblood swung at Psiioniic’s head. The only way Psiioniic could get out of it was by falling. Highblood cut where Psiioniic fell, but Psiioniic rolled. Stab, roll. Stab, roll. As this went on Highblood was speaking evenly.

“And Redglare thinks so highly of you. What a glorious let down. Is this all they taught you at the temple? Dodging? Just let me put you down.”

At that Highblood stopped playing and stamped a behemoth foot onto Psiioniic’s chest. Ribs cracked. Psiioniic gasped for breath, going to stab Highblood’s leg but the seasoned master simply knocked the sabers out of his hands.

“Goodbye, Psiioniic,” the Sith said. Psiioniic tried to shock him, burn him, blow him up! Anything! But the pressure on him was more than on his chest. A heavy force had wound itself into him, tearing apart his ability to fight back. He struggled and squirmed and gasped as Highblood raised his lightsaber-

And strained to bring it down but couldn’t. Something was holding him back. Highblood pushed harder, until sweat poured down his face. The harder he pushed the more pressure there was on Psiioniic’s chest and soon he couldn’t breathe at all. Barely noticeable over the pain a wet iron taste saturated his tongue and lips.

Finally Highblood roared and charged at Signless. Psiioniic raised his head just enough to see Signless’s crumpled form holding out an arm, using the Force to hold Highblood back. Highblood rushed up to him and in a fluid motion sliced Signless’s hand clean off. Signless screamed in agony. Highblood raised his saber to kill Signless but a rock, of all things, struck him in the head. Highblood turned like an animal ready to strike. His pure rage electrified the air. All was still.

Psiioniic turned to, as much as he could, to look at the poor soul who threw it.

There, dramatically haloed by red light from outside the hanger, stood the petite form of none other than the Grand Master Neophyte Redglare herself. She lowered her glasses to wink at Psiioniic.

The droids moved into to shoot but she twirled her hand and they all went flying into the walls. Highblood huffed at her, ending it in an amused laugh. “Don’t do this, Redglare.”

“Funny,” she countered “I was about to say the same to you.”

He twirled his lightsaber, allowing the whirring noise to fill the hanger. She stood with her hands behind her back.

“Is there no hope for you seeing reason?” she asked quietly.

Highblood charged in response. Redglare didn’t move. A mere millisecond before his lightsaber struck her she ducked. He swung again. She stepped back, her hands remaining fixed behind her back.

“You know I don’t like to draw my lightsaber,” she said. “That’s when the dragon comes out of me.”

Highblood roared and advanced. The more Redglare dodged the angrier Highblood became. Psiioniic strained to keep his head up and watch the fight. He’d heard the stories about Redglare but seeing it happen before his very eyes was nothing like he could have expected. She was perfect. As she practically walked around the room, Psiioniic realized she was leading Highblood away from them. Highblood realized it to.

The massive troll raised a hand over his head. A huge chunk of rock shook in the ceiling.

Psiioniic didn’t even see Redglare draw her dragon headed lightsaber and yet there it was, its red light hacking away at Highblood. She moved so fast Highblood could barely parry her attacks. Little nicks of purple blood started to appear like magic all over the troll’s body. Highblood got slower. Redglare knocked the saber out of Highblood’s hands and sheathed hers just as quickly.

Then she did something absolutely barbaric. She rammed her head into his gut. Her sharp horns punctured Highblood with a sickening wet noise. Highblood gasped as he fell. He lay there on the ground, too stunned to even speak. Redglare stood over him, triumphant.

With the battle over Psiioniic let his head rest and faced the ceiling. It may have been the lack of oxygen, but it looked like it was moving.

It was moving.

“Redglare!” he choked out. She turned just as the chunk of rock began to fall. She cried out as she bent down on one knee to catch the rock with the Force. Her horns dripped purple and her face strained with the weight of the rock. Psiioniic saw out of the corner of his eyes droids carrying Highblood into the ship. It sped away as Redglare threw herself sideways, taking the rock with her and throwing it across the room. She straightened up, breathing hard.

Without even pausing to get her breath she knelt next to Psiioniic and started prodding him. He winced and clenched his jaw. She nodded and moved to Signless. No doubt he’d passed out from the blood loss by now.

Psiioniic stared at the red ceiling and tried not to breathe until the Stormtroopers arrived.

Chapter Text

The events after that day had been politically swift. Peixes sadly accepted emergency power, much to Disciple’s dismay. Signless felt bad for Chancellor Peixes. She had made it clear that she didn’t like being in charge of other people’s choices, but they had voted for her. Disciple was livid with Darkleer but what was done was done.

Psiioniic explained everything to both Disciple and Signless in the hospital on Coruscant. All pieces fell into place and the Great Clone Wars began. Signless had held Disciple when she cried that night. He never told Psiioniic why he had charged at Highblood. He let his anger get the best of him and it had almost gotten him killed.

There were a few days of planet hopping. From the politics of Coruscant Signless followed Disciple to the politics of Naboo. As in all times of war Keeper was suddenly a strategic machine. After a few days of preparations and protocol negotiations they finally left for Tatooine.

Signless made an anonymous donation to the man he’d stolen the speeder from and stayed away from the junk shop. He and Disciple brought seeds and spare parts to the homestead out in the middle of nowhere.

Had the Crab not already been a patron lusus he would have fought tooth and claw to keep taking care of those grubs but as it were he handed Kanaya and Karkat over and scuttled around the property.

Signless and Disciple made the decision not to take the grubs off Tatooine until the war was over. Tatooine was on the outer reaches. It didn’t have the option of joining the separatists because it had no recognized leader, and even though it was technically under control of the Republic it really had no place in anything. The outer reaches would virtually be untouched by the fighting. At least, they hoped.

It was to be their home, the little moisture farm. All Disciple and Signless could spare with the war getting started was a few days in their little paradise but they made the most of it. By the last day the place was perfect, all finished furniture and sealed leaks.

They sat out under the stars watching Kanaya and Karkat wriggle around in the sand. The desert air was cool and the sky shone like someone had scattered a billion of the brightest gemstones across the blackness just for them. The Crab’s clacking from inside the house filled their surrounding with soft noises of home.

“We’ll always have this to come back to,” Signless whispered.

Disciple nodded and let the quiet sounds of the desert night cover them.