A/N: This fic is being written as a bit of a challenge, and somewhat sprung out of a TOR based RPG. Pretty much all OCs, mine and others who have been so generous as to let me borrow them. I was challenged to write an OC based fic, outside my usual era, but that still fit within the Star Wars canon and was plausible. I understand OC based fics aren't too popular so I'm not expecting a lot of feedback on this one, but I'd love crits and reviews. :) Also feel free to drop me a line if you have a character you don't mind me playing with.
For clairity since it seems there is confusion on this point the Jade in this story is NOT Mara Jade. Her first name is Jade. Her full name is Jade La'Riek. She is a Sith, and yes, this takes place WAAAY before Palpatine.
Deep within the walls of the usually peaceful Jedi Temple an argument rang out. "Master, I don't think this is a good idea." Daarik pressed. "Letting those two work together? She's a Sith assassin! Since when do Jedi work with Sith- or smugglers for that matter ?" he asked.
"Have you heard the phrase, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" Jedi Master Alcylon answered. "This Jade is a loose canon… it would be best if we kept her aimed away from us. She has no loyalties to anyone… and she is rather… unstable."
"Unstable?" Daarik exclaimed "Master, she blew up a cantina. No explanation, no apologies. She is madder then a mynock!" Master Alcylon shrugged.
"True, which is why it's important we know her movements. That is why I have assigned Daan to work with her and keep an eye on her." he said with an air of finality.
"I've got a very bad feeling about this…" Daarik sighed.
"Bring them in Daarik." Master Alcylon said. Daarik signed and opened the doors. Standing beside the blue twi'lek smuggler they had hired at the recommendation of her half-sister within the Order, was a slight girl, dressed in a form fitting black leather outfit accented with bright green stood. Her hair was a jet black tipped in a shockingly vibrant green and her eyes were an unnatural glowing green like the blade of a lightsaber. Hanging from her utility belt were a wide assortment of weapons, including a lightsaber on each hip, blasters, and several thermal detonators… and that was just what he could see. He knew assassins always kept concealed weapons. Oh Force what were they getting into. Master Alcylon motioned them forward, welcoming them to the Temple. "Greetings Daan… and to you Jade. Do you have a last name to go with that?" he asked. Jade shrugged.
"Don't know. Don't care. I just want to blow shit up. I was told you needed an explosives expert." she answered.
"Ah well, yes we do." Master Alcylon answered a bit taken a back.
"Just tell me where and how big. I don't like Jedi." Jade told him curtly.
"Don't you wish to discuss payment? Or learn about your target?" Master Alcylon asked her. Jade shrugged.
"Jedi are supposed to be fair, so I trust that applies to payment. As to my target- I don't care who or what I'm blowing up. I just want to make it go boom." she said tersely.
"Ah, very well then. Here is the site." Master Alcylon said handing her a map. "Daan will accompany you to assist and notify us when the job is complete."
"You don't trust me then?" Jade asked twitching slightly, rolling a thermal detonator between her hands. Master Alcylon hastened to calm her.
"It's nothing personal. We don't deal with Sith generally, so the Council had requested we send one of our own with you… or as close as we could get anyways" he explained. Jade slipped the detonator back into the holster on her belt and shrugged.
"Whatevs… lets just get on with it." she said, grabbing the map and striding towards her ship. Once she was out of earshot Master Alcylon spoke.
"Well, she's rather.. abrasive isn't she?" he grumbled. "Still we requested the best and she is certainly… passionate about her work."
"She's insane Master." Daarik answered. "Quite frankly I would not be surprised if she decides to blow up the Temple when she comes to collect payment."
"Perhaps you are right" Master Alcylon sighed, "But none the less, she is what we need."
"I hope you're right Master." Daarik sighed.
"As do I." Master Alcylon agreed. "As do I."
"That's not especially reassuring Master." Daarik said, raising a brow at his Master. "The Council isn't backing us on this are they?" he asked.
"Not in their entirety… but many agree it needs to be done. I was the only one willing to meet with our Sith friend however. The rest won't go near her." Master Alcylon answered, staring at the Sith assassins ship as she left. "All we can do is wait and see now… and pray."
"We are definitely going to need to pray where that girl is involved." Daarik said sighing deeply. He hoped against hope they were not in over their heads.
As the ship left the atmosphere Jade punched in the co-ordinates for their destination- Nal Hutta. The Jedi felt some of the Sith within the area were gaining too much power and wanted their weapons cache destroyed. Simple enough. Weapons caches always made such lovely explosions too. Jade had no qualms blowing up her own. After all, they had thrown her to the nexu long ago. Her loyalty was to herself and herself only. Once she was satisfied everything was in working order and made the jump she turned to the twi'lek next to her. "So, I guess we're stuck with each other. Kriffing Jedi." she grumbled.
"I'll second that." Daan said. Jade raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not a fan of them either?" she asked sharply.
"Nope. Far as I'm concerned the Jedi can all kriff themselves." Daan replied. Leaning back in the pilots chair Jade considered that.
"Huh, then why did they hire you for this? You have the Force… I assumed you were one of them." she asked. Daan shrugged.
"My half-sister is a Jedi in the Order. I never trained myself. I find them all to…"
"Stuffy? Moronic? Brain-dead?" Jade suggested, and Daan laughed.
"All of the above!" she said. Jade smirked. Perhaps this would not be such a bad trip after all. Standing and stretching Jade waved a hand towards the door leading out of the cockpit.
"Shall I give you the grand tour then?" she asked. Daan gave a noncommittal shrug.
"May as well. We've got some time to kill." As they made their way towards the aft of the ship, Jade pointed out various rooms along the way.
"That's my quarters… co-pilots are through there… dining area is in here… amusement and living quarters are here." Jade said as they stepped into an open room, filled with a large holo projector, assorted holos, and a gaming table of some sort. Continuing their trip to the aft section, Jade motioned to a door. "And that's the cargo hold." Considering the size of the ship, Daan realized it was a very large cargo hold and curiosity got the best of her.
"What's in the hold?" she asked. Jade shrugged, and hit the panel for the door.
"See for yourself." she said. Daan stepped into the hold and was stunned. The hold was filled with cases of alcohol. Potent Corellian whiskey to be exact. The hold was stacked floor to ceiling with them. She'd been told the Sith was eccentric… but this seemed a bit much.
"What's with all the Whyrens? The entire hold is filled with it! You don't have a shipping manifest, so I know you aren't selling it… You a heavy drinker or something?" Daan asked. Jade looked at her and shrugged casually.
"Sometimes, but it is also wonderful for making fire bombs to blow stuff up." she said as though explaining to a small child. Wasn't it obvious what the purpose was? Beside her the blue twi'lek's leku's were twitching anxiously. "Seriously, what else would I do with that much Whyrens?" she asked. Daan considered that.
"Most sane people would get permits and sell it at profit." Daan answered, her leku still twitching agitatedly. What in the nine Corellian hells had she signed on for?
"I'm not sane." Jade answered plainly. No, she was definitely not Daan thought. As she considered the fact she was not being paid near enough to baby sit an insane Sith, she suddenly realized Jade was no longer standing beside her. Kriff where had that girl slipped off to? She knew they were on a ship, and there was only so far she could go, but she would not put it past the crazy Sith to stick explosives in her room or something. Just as she was beginning to really worry, Jade reappeared with a couple bottles of Whyrens in her hands.
"Drink?" she asked, striding towards the entertainment area. Following her and scolding herself for being so paranoid, Daan grinned.
"I thought you'd never ask." she said.
Having downed a substantial amount of alcohol the pair began to relax. After the first glass or two they had started various drinking games. By the second bottle they had dispensed with glasses all together, having broken several already and decided it was not worth the effort to cross the cabin for more glasses. They stood side by side, leaning against the bulkhead, each taking swigs from the remaining bottle. Slurring and staggering slightly Daan poked Jade in the arm. "Sooooo… how comes you wanna blow stuff up?" she asked.
"It's fun… I like when things go boom… and fire… fire is pretty." Jade answered as reasonably as she could, though she couldn't help herself from giggling as she spoke.
"What's so funny?" Daan grumbled.
"I dunno… I forget… uh, something about fire I think?" Jade slurred.
"What were we talking about again?" Daan asked.
"I like fire." Jade said, leaning against Daan. She tilted her head towards the twi'lek and seemed about to kiss her when Jade tilted her head to the side at the last second and whispered in Daan's ear "Boom" and started giggling again. Daan wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved. Taking in the manically giggling human beside her, she decided on relieved for the moment. As Jade continued to giggle she slid down the bulkhead she'd been leaning against to keep herself upright and sat on the floor cackling, having decided it was too much effort to stay standing. Sliding down beside the mad Sith, Daan found the floor to be most unstable.
"Why's your floor spin?" she asked.
"I don't think it does… maybe you're spinning?" Jade suggested. Daan looked down at herself to be sure. She didn't seem to be moving.
"Nope I'm not moving- definitely your ship." she pronounced.
"Huh…" Jade slurred "Guess I'm gonna have to get that looked at." she said sagely, her laughter calmed for the moment.
"Do you think you can spin it the other way… like using the Force?" Daan asked. Jade considered that as much as her alcohol clouded brain would allow. Lifting her hand and squinting her eyes she tried.
"Did that work?" she asked.
"No that just made it spin faster." Daan said mournfully.
"Oh, well, then I guess not. S'not good with the telekin- tele… not good at moving shit with my mind." Jade said, giving up on higher speech functions for the moment.
"Too fast." Daan muttered as she wretched. Jade scooted away from her.
"Pfttt… least I can hold my liquor." she said as she tried to stand. Stumbling she fell back to the floor with each attempt to rise. "Awww kriff it." she muttered. "I'll just sleep here. Walking's too hard… so's standing."
"Least I can still stand." Daan boasted. Jade raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're sitting like me."
"Well… sith." Daan cursed as she realized Jade was right. She tried to stand, but didn't fair much better then Jade had, and decided the floor was good enough for now. If only it would stop spinning.
Daan woke up with a raging headache. Way to much Whyrens… way way too much. She should of known better then to try out drink a Sith. Though she had modest Force abilities of her own, she had never pursued any training. She'd heard though that the Force could be used to assist with alcohol tolerance… Jedi could anyways. Looking around for Jade she saw the Sith did indeed possess that skill, though perhaps not to the same level as Jedi did. Jade did look hungover, but no where near as bad as Daan felt. Squatting beside her Jade rammed a mug of caffe under her nose. "This will help." she said.
"Why does it smell funny?" Daan asked, eying the drink skeptically.
"Hair of the vornskr." Jade told her and Daan made a face.
"You stuck vornskr fur in my drink?" she asked disgusted, and Jade rolled her eyes at her.
"It's an expression di'kut. I mixed a little Whyrens in." she told her and Daan looked a bit sheepish.
"Oh." she said, taking the warm beverage and sipping it. It did help a bit. As she sipped, Jade tossed her a couple pain relief pills as well.
"That should take care of the headache." she told her.
"How do you-" Daan started but then she remembered her present company. Sith, like Jedi had the annoying habit of being able to read minds. Jade was apparently still listening in because she nodded her head at the unspoken comment. "Oh fer kriffs sake, get out of my head you damn Sith." she growled. Jade shrugged and walked over to the table to nurse her own cup of caffe. Working with others was a definite adjustment for her, but she felt she was doing rather well. Since killing her Master, Jade had mostly wandered the galaxy alone, her only interaction with others being when she collected contracts or payments. Still Daan was at least somewhat tolerable. Certainly the girl could drink, even if she couldn't hold it as well. She didn't like Jedi so that was a plus. Jade decided if they had tried to send her with a Jedi she would of thrown them out the airlock as soon as they were off Coruscant. Daan wasn't a Jedi though... she actually detested the Jedi as much as Jade did herself… so she would give her a chance. For now.