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Chapter Text

"My Lord, are you sure this will work?"

"It will work.  Lord Grima's blood flows strongly in her, and when she awakens she will devour and destroy the accursed Jedi from the inside out!"

A time of peace is at hand.  The JEDI EXILE'S NEW JEDI ORDER, led by the knights MICAL and BRIANNA, help the REPUBLIC spread peace through the war-torn galaxy.  Helped by a valorous Republic commando, CHROM, he and his forces have been on the forefront of major battlegrounds across the middle and outer rim.  However, not all is well.  Remnants of the SITH EMPIRE, led by a mysterious DARTH VALIDAR, pull the galaxy by threads, hoping to tip the SCALES OF WAR...

Robin groaned and sat up, nearly banging her head on the bunk above her.  By the stars, whatever she drank last night she'd never drink again, ever.  Her mind and body fumbled, one for her purpose and the other for her clothes as the alarm blared through the ship.  Finally, she latched onto a solid memory, receiving her "orders", if they could be called that.  More like, "got caught by a Sith and forced to work for them or die, painfully".  So here she was, a drifter of the stars versed better in machines than people, now a simple technician and communications worker.  Luckily she didn't need to wear any uniform so she slipped on her jacket and didn't bother hitting the 'fresher, might as well get to work.  Didn't want to test any Sith's patience.

As she left the room, she stopped and stared ahead.  Why did everything feel fuzzy?  Like...dammit.  Lost it again.  She dashed towards her work station, quickly booting up her terminal to assess the situation.  And of course, it was that daring Republic solider again, Chrom.  From a distance he looked...handsome?  Familiar?  Well, he was an enemy that was now firing on her ship.  Maybe if the Republic ships cut through them directly instead of circling around, they could disable the ship's command room directly, instead of this cat and mouse.  Wait...

Where did that come from?  She shook her head and got to work, catching brief snippets of communication and sending them to the command port so that they could do something.  Would be a great way to die, she thought.  Well, spacers live and breathe and die out there, so she wasn't missing much.

Was she?

Suddenly, there was an explosion, and everything went dark.

"..rom, we have to do something."

"Well, what do you propose we do?"  Robin opened her eyes to see a human male and female standing above her, the male armored and the female with some bacta and kolto.

"Hey there."

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know.  Give me your hand."  Robin felt herself get pulled up and immediately slapped into a pair of handcuffs.  The man's blue eyes furrowed behind and over her head, glaring at whomever handcuffed her.  

"Frederick, that's unnecessary.  We don't even know if she's hostile or not."

"Sir, she's onboard a Sith ship and the ship is falling apart.  I'd recommend to bring her aboard the Falchion and interrogate her at once." The voice from behind rumbled and Robin fumbled with the cuffs, to no avail.

"Frederick, she's wounded!  She's suffering minor head trauma, a broken rib, and moderate internal bleeding!" The woman said, pigtails shaking vigorously.

"Now, now.  Our fighters have theirs neutralized and this place is gonna blow.  We don't have time to argue, so heal her and let's go!"  The man said and departed without a second trace.  Before Robin could pass out again, she recognized who exactly she was talking to. 

It was Chrom.  

Damnable republicans.

Images of deserts and sandy winds blew by Robin's eyes as she stared through the bacta tank aboard the Falchion, Chrom's ship.  During his off hours he would come in to the infirmary and talk with his sister, Lissa, the woman from earlier and the other nurse, Maribelle.  His aide, Ricken would run in every so often to drag Chrom back to duty if Frederick didn't herself.  When she was cleared to leave the bacta tank, Robin found herself sitting in her old clothes, pants, shirt, boots, and leather jacket her mother used to own.  She thought.  She was at a table across from Chrom and Frederick, and seemed like an awful lot like an interrogation.

"So, who talks first?  Me?  You?"  She quipped, leaning back in the chair as Chrom smiled.

"I believe we'll ask the questions...Robin?"  Frederick looked on his tablet at her information, she guessed.

"That's right."

"Says here you grew up on a minor agro-world in the outer rim before catching your first flight off.  Made your way to Nar Shaddaa, became a pilot until one misadventure too many when you were captured by the Sith.  Faced with either execution or work, and you chose work, until we captured your vessel."

"Wait - " Robin interrupted Chrom's spiel, her chair landing heavily on four legs.  "I've always been a spacer.  Born in hyperspace, as my mom told me."

"Well.  It hardly matters in the grand scheme of things." Frederick said, back ramrod straight.  "You were still a Sith ally and must be killed like one."

"Hold it!" Both Robin and Chrom shouted.  The two gestured at each other a few times before Robin sighed and began to talk.

"I'd rather not die unless we're traveling in hyperspace, thank you.  And it wasn't like I had a choice!"

"Stars, Frederick.  I'd rather give her the benefit of the doubt.  Call me trusting but her record indicates that she's good with tech, which we need."

"'m also good at tactics," Robin muttered.

"What?"

"I said, 'I'm also good at tactics.'  That's what my mom always said."

"Sir - "

"Frederick - "

Before the two men could argue further, the comm blared to life.

"Sir, we have two incoming Sith frigates.  Their hailing that they'd like their prisoner back or they will fire.  How should I respond?"

"Don't worry about it, Stahl.  Give me a few and I'll talk to them directly."

"Sir, I'd caution - "

"Frederick - "

"Enough!" Robin shouted.  "I don't have time for this nonsense!"  With this she stormed off down a random hallway before Chrom and Frederick could reach her, to guide her to the bridge.

"Hello, Republic soldiers.  You have a captive aboard your ship that we want back.  Return her to us, or face the consequences."  The Sith captain spoke nasally, looking down his nose at Chrom through the vidscreen.  Two Sith ships were before them, ready and primed to fire.

"Well, that's not smart.  If we don't return her, you'll kill her with your fire.  Not very smart, are you?"  The captain snarled at Chrom's words, looking away.  

"You dogs!  Scum!  I'm under direct orders not to kill the girl, but so be it!  All cannons, fire!  I hope you've enjoyed living, Republic scum!" At this the call cut and Robin looked up to Chrom.

"I have an idea, Chrom."

"Oh?  Let's hear it."

"Sir, I'd advise caution."

"Well, Robin?"

"Have the ship pull up so that our ventral side - our bottom - is facing the two enemy cruisers and put all power for deflector shields there.  Then, launch all ships through the top and sides and go attack the enemy directly.  Sith ships don't have much turning capability, and if the bombers target where the command center attaches to the hull, it'll incapacitate them." 

The only thing heard in the bridge was silence as the crew stared dumbfounded at the tech/tactician's advice.

"You heard her, everyone!  Let's see how your plan works, Robin!"

"I'm surprised that worked."

"You're telling me.  I just came up with it on the spot."

Robin and Chrom looked out the bridge's viewport to the destruction around them.  The two bomber squads led by Sumia and Cordelia had swiftly destroyed the two Sith cruisers while they were busy firing on the Falchion's deflector shields.  

Chrom turned to the tech and extended his hand.  "Care to join the Republic?  We could use someone like you on our side to beat the bad guys."

Robin shrugged dramatically as she extended her hand to meet his.  "Seeing how I'm out of a job, I don't see why not."

Chrom beamed.

"My Lord, everything is going to plan.  The target has been accepted and there has been minimal loss of life.  The encoded memories and strategies are integrated perfectly.  Still, my Lord, I do not understand why we did not implant and tech in her head to control her."

"Ah, my apprentice.  Still so foolish.  Any physical trickery would be rooted out by the Jedi as soon as she arrived.  No, better she believe that she is in charge and coming up with these tactics than for them to just download.  Besides, it will make the despair so.  Much.  Worth it."

"Of course, my lord.  Shall we proceed to the next step?"

"Indeed.  Tell the soldiers to advance to phase two."

An evil chuckle resounded through the chamber that only increased in timbre and pitch as time went on.

Chapter Text

"Hyper space travel is still boring."

Chrom turned to Robin as she dead-panned, staring into the blurry blue of faster-than-light travel.  A few rotations had passed since her recruitment onto the Falchion, and she had spent that time getting to know the rest of the crew - Lissa and Maribelle in medical, Stahl and Kellam in navigation, Cordelia and Sumia in the pilot devision, Miriel and Ricken in R&D, Sully and Virion in security, and Vaike in offenses.  The technician was confused how such a mess of incongruous personalities and characters could work together on a small frigate without conflicting attitudes tore the ship apart, but they were all unified in a single purpose - the restoration of peace in the galaxy, free of Sith presence and violence.

And so they were here, in the far reaches of the Outer Rim, patrolling through the sea of stars to their next destination.  In reality, in Chrom's words, they 'just moved around from distress beacon to distress beacon and help out wherever we can'.  

"Yeah, but that's life.  Honestly, all the excitement makes up for it.  But still - "  Chrom started before a distress siren blared, and Stahl's words of "leaving hyper space!" greeted them as the Falchion exited hyper space.  In front of them was a small space battle.  Limping slowly along was a small cruiser, a twin-engined hunk of metal that puttered along with its rear deflector shields flickering in and out of existence.  Behind it was a small horde of Sith fighters, flying around in an attempt to utterly destroy their prey.  Within a minute, the Falchion was hailed from the pursued ship.

"Hail the Falchion!" A male voice called from the vid screen.  "This is the Ebon Hawk, and would appreciate some assistance -" the call cut for a moment with the sound of turbolaser fire - "Frack!  I'm carrying a very important person and there are Sith onboard!"

"Ebon Hawk, we read you loud and clear.  If you swing around toward us we can catch them and you can board.  From there, we'll deal with the Sith."  Chrom crossed his arms and spoke as a commander, different from the somewhat dorky and clumsy man Robin recognized from earlier.

"Confirmed, Falchion.  Hey, Surik!  Get ready!" Then the call cut.

"Surik?"  Robin asked, looking up at Chrom.  

"Yeah, Surik.  That must've been Atton Rand.  You know?"

"No?"

"Atton Rand and Meetra Surik, Grandmaster of the New Jedi Order.  Jedi Master?"

"Wow.  Alright.  Let's get this done."

Robin jerked back as a green lightsaber burst through the wall's corner and through a Sith trooper's head.  She squeaked and jumped back, hesitant to pull the trigger.  She and Chrom had boarded the Ebon Hawk to rendezvous with Surik and Rand and purge the rest of the troopers while the rest of the crew would handle the small squadron of Sith fighters.  

"Oh!  Hello there.  I'm Meetra Surik.  And you are?"  A woman walked around the corner and it was obvious she was a Jedi.  Even without the lightsaber in hand or long brown-and-tan robes, she gave off an aura of peace and confidence.  Her eyes looked older than her record-given 35 years of age indicated, and quickly following her was the man from the call - Atton Rand.

"Oh!  Hello.  I'm Robin.  I'm the technician/tactician for the Falchion.  It's an honor to meet the both of you."

"Yeah, yeah," Atton drawled, a lightsaber in one hand and a blaster in the other.  "Surik, I don't sense any left.  We clear for now?"

"Yes, I do believe so.  It is nice to meet you, Robin," Meetra said and stuck out her hand.  As Robin's met hers, she felt a small tingle of electricity pass between them and Meetra instantly brightened.

"Oh great," Atton murmured, knocking past them and heading off the collapsing ship, "another Jedi.  Great."

"What?"  Robin asked, confused.

"Hmm.  I have a feeling that we'll need to go to Dantooine.  I've some friends that might be interested in meeting you.  Say, did you know that you have Force potential?"

"What?"  Robin asked, wide-eyed on the bridge of the Falchion.  

"Yeah, you heard us.  Since the Hawk's kinda trashed we were wondering if we could ride along with you for a bit.  'Sides, we've to go to Dantooine.  Your pal Robin's got Force potential.  And if my instincts are right - and they often are - she'd be a strong ally for the Jedi.  So, Robin?  You up for it?"

"Chrom?"  Robin whispered.

"Yeah?"

"If I became a Jedi, could I still help with you and the rest of the crew?"

"Well, it depends on how fast you become a Jedi.  We'd stay for you, but peace doesn't wait."

"Excuse me?" Atton interrupted, drawing attention back to the two Jedi.  "So, Robin?  You interested in helping the galaxy?"

"Sure.  Let's see where this goes."

"Alright," Chrom nodded, and directed his voice over the consoles.  "Stahl, Kellam!  Set course to Dantooine!"

"My Lord, Phase Two is a success.  However, the Jedi accompanying them...well..."

"Get on with it."

"It's Meetra Surik and Atton Rand."

There was a faint rumbling as the master shuffled in his chair, and the apprentice could feel their master's unease rolling off in waves.

"Hmph.  Proceed with Phase Three.  Remember, she must be a full Jedi before she can become the new Vessel.  What are the reports from our spies on Dantooine?"

"They remain undetected, My Lord."

"Good, good.  Proceed as planned."