During a training exercise on Mires when she was six, she had broken her leg in three places after being knocked down a short cliff by a zakkeg, one of many transported there years earlier. It had found its way down to her by the time rescue arrived, they could easily down the beast if she had asked them to. There would be no shame for a girl of her age to admit she could not fight one in her condition.
None of them had expected to see the beast fly clear over the next cliff with only a gesture from her hands, though they all immediately knew what it meant.
She couldn't have felt more terrified on that night as her clan discussed what her newfound Force sensitivity would mean. No Mandalorian had ever demonstrated such power before.
That leg, the leg that had opened up her mind to the wonders of the Force, was now gone for good.
"Make it hurt more why don't you?"
"Applying anaesthetic will triple the length of the procedure. We need every nerve and receptor fully active."
Jayden would have swiped the droid's head off were her hands not desperately grabbing the sides of the bed as they continued to attach the base of her new leg to the stump of her right thigh. One painful incision after the other.
The new leg in question was lying on a nearby table, currently being fitted over with synthskin. It matched her left leg a little too well, lacking the scars and slight muscle deformity that had come with healing the breaks in her bones.
She had plenty of scars on her face and arm to compensate now. Her eye had escaped the blast, and while her cheek and jawline were sore, they were still quite passable.
Her hand was the greatest concern. Holding a lightsaber up was nothing compared to driving it through Sith and droids and other foes. The medical droids attending to her had ignored it so far, and she had a very strong grip on the bed still.
"Progress?"
The attending droids looked to the arrival, a towering man that even Jayden herself had to look up towards. Upon seeing him, she nodded as best she could while enduring through the gruelling surgery. "Chief Mires, I am honoured."
He was quick to remove his helmet, holding it against his left side as he approached the bed. The other hand stroked down his green mandibles as he inspected the operation. "Fortune does not favour your right leg, does it Jayden? I assume there is a reason for your anguish now?"
Jayden glanced to the droid before it could speak, slow in turning back to the chieftan. "I have lost a great part of myself. I will not so easily let it fade away."
"Jayden, I understand what you are trying to do. It is not necessary." He waited patiently until the droid had finished before finally continuing. While Jayden was clearly still in pain, she was no longer on the verge of being overwhelmed by it. "I am not here as your leader, but as your mentor. You do not need to put on a show of valor to retain my respect."
By then, they were beginning to attach the cybernetic leg, regularly prodding her in different areas to test that her nerves were registering contact. It was now an annoying distraction more than necessary agony. "It is not a show, Arda. I don't feel like a Jedi right now, and I barely feel like a Mandalorian."
Of all things, Azera was on her mind at that moment. The anomalous Sith, who for whatever reason had slipped her a communicator before her departure. Where to begin in her report to the Jedi Council was the question she couldn't answer.
"Why mentor, then? Am I apparently in need of counsel? Or are there questions others intend to ask. Questions you will help me prepare for."
Arda gripped his helmet a little tighter before finally placing it on a nearby table. "I had hoped to counsel you on personal matters when you returned from your mission for the Jedi, actually. This has obviously changed things."
"No, please. Let's discuss them now so I don't have to think about this further." Her attention was momentarily taken by her foot. She could feel the toes flexing in a very real way. Far beyond the standard technology she expected to be fitted with. "Why…"
"You have done a great deal in your years, Jayden. For the Jedi, for Clan Mires, and for our people as a whole. Consider it a gift." He waited a little longer, letting Jayden have her moment of awe. When the look passed back to him at last, he smiled a little and continued. "Many of the clan miss seeing you back home, especially your mother. We had hoped you would take a well-deserved break from all this spy business to spend time among your people, for only a little while. I certainly didn't wish it to happen in this manner."
Jayden gripped at the new leg, still surprised by the tactile feeling of it, but growing accustomed at last. "That poor pilot the Sith captured changed the plan to rest. Since my contacts are dead anyway…" Her other hand gripped at her lightsaber as she attempted to pull her leg back. There was still a great deal of pain in what remained of her thigh, but it was worth seeing the first return of her mobility.
The positive thought remained in mind as she switched her grip from the lightsaber to Arda's arm. "I will return when I can walk off the ship freely. My word on that."
"Then it is agreed. Rest well Jayden."
She watched him depart, putting his helmet back on as he left the room. Once gone, she reached into the small pocket by her side and removed the small communicator. Until then, asking about the pilot seemed like a pointless question, given how unlikely it was that Azera knew the details of that capture.
It was shoved back into that pocket, after which she looked to the droid making final adjustments to her leg. "I need communication access to Coruscant, specifically the Jedi Council, as soon as possible. Can you arrange that?"
As always, there was a fair amount of soldiers and adepts standing to attention as Kiarna descended from her ship to the deck of Lasidia's vessel. It was a tradition Rak'Sakar had insisted on maintaining, and she had no reason to argue with it. After all, it was a very good reminder to everyone else of her importance, and power.
She was met at the end of the procession by Rak'Sakar himself, and Morgak to her distaste. Both of them seemed oddly lacking in disapproval of her for some reason.
"It is nice to see you can follow orders after all, even if it is only when your life is in danger."
There had been discontentment when Carudan mentioned impersonating her voice, but the warning had proved valuable after all. "I follow orders from my master. The Empire answers to the Sith, remember?"
"This is not the time, Kiarna." Rak'Sakar began moving away from the procession once Kiarna was at his side. "Your master is returning from Telos at this time. Since this Twi'lek is a matter between the two of you, I will only ask about the droids and grey cultists who attacked you in succession."
Kiarna was rather surprised by the display of succinctness from him. There were still suspicions relating to Bellara, but they had waned slightly. "The HK-50 droids I encountered claimed to be hunting me because I made contact with Maarani. But, I also know they attacked several other Sith, as well as Jedi. The cultists are still a mystery, though I do know they are not from either order."
"Do you believe they are connected, then? The last thing we need is yet another rogue entity that is bent on attacking us."
"The fact that the cultists showed up minutes after I arrived seems to indicate as much." By then, they had reached one of the corridors, easily out of earshot from anyone else. The concern had to be removed before she could elaborate further. "In addition to the Jedi spy, I was able to rescue an Umbaran novice of yours, according to her anyway."
Rak'Sakar acknowledged it with a slight nod before bringing the group to a standstill. As Morgak stepped back a little, he turned his head to the young Sith at his side. "If she survived two successive attacks that wiped out many of her fellow novices, then there may be a promising future for her after all. It saves us the trouble of executing the failures ourselves."
"It robs me of watching their suffering. But I see your point, Dark Lord." Kiarna let out a very faint sigh of relief as she kept her gaze on Rak'Sakar's face. Not a trace of deceit to be seen. "She is well disciplined, unlike some I know of. Where is our own Twi'lek friend, if I might ask?"
"She has been sent to another ship for the moment. I believe she will be more willing to supply answers if she believes I am not watching over her shoulder. You need not be concerned about her invasive presence." He turned his head to the corridor ahead of them again. Some of the interrogator's agents were approaching their position.
"General, have the Umbaran report to the hall. I will reassess her standing, and if she passes, you may find yourself with an apprentice, Kiarna."
By then the agents were just in front of them. Rak'Sakar turned back to them, his voice notably dropping the smoother sound he used in their presence. "I assume she has divulged something of note?"
Kiarna tilted her head a little as the report began. Her gaze was drawn past Morgak to an odd area of shade behind him. Despite not being able to perceive shadows caused by light.
"Very well. He may proceed at his discretion, then. Kiarna?"
She directed her attention away from the shade back towards Rak'Sakar. "Yes Lord?"
His eyes narrowed momentarily as he noticed her distraction. "Would you accompany me to the hall? That Umbaran novice will be waiting there when we arrive."
"Of course." As he began moving on, she took another glance at where the shadow had been. It was gone.
"Any luck?"
CC-13 shrugged with her upper arms, while the lower ones continued to fiddle with the tedious mess of wires in the open panel. "It seems previous owners have made rather poor attempts at their own modifications. This is a bigger mess than my insides have been for the past few decades."
It was slightly amusing to Maarani, who clasped the droid's shoulder before backing out of the tight compartment. "Do what you can, and we'll find a way to work with it."
"As you wish, Mistress Maarani."
The Twi'lek left it at that, wandering back down the tight corridor to Dana's quarters. There, she found the Jedi arranging the few things she had brought on board into neat compartments. "Everything set? Didn't leave the lightsaber in the sock drawer or anything?"
Dana smiled a little at that, lifting the weapon up from behind one of her robes to confirm that was not the case. "I do actually know someone who does that, unfortunately. It really isn't a respectful place to put a lightsaber." Once the last of her clothing was packed away, she returned her lightsaber to her belt, then followed Maarani out of the room. "Come up with anything yet?"
"Well, actually, how does an important trader from Coruscant and her long-term bodyguard sound? Since we're gonna be stopping over for supplies frequently, needs something that fits with the travelling, right?"
As they reached the cockpit, she stopped by the navigation panel to make one final check on their projected course. "Let's face it, people expect Twi'lek women to be dancing bare skinned in clubs, not giving mean glares and shooting guns. They'll all wonder what I'm doing, not what you're doing." Once Telos was locked in, she moved to her seat and sat down. It still felt quite comfortable.
"Except you're the one who has experience with 'haggling'." Dana sat down in the co-pilot seat, twisting it to face Maarani. "Since I can't mind-trick through a bad deal, I'm probably going to end up standing there stammering in confusion and ruin the whole thing."
"We're not gonna deal in anything illegal or rare though. If worst case happens, you just tell them you'll go somewhere else. They know it's a real possibility, so they'll usually try to settle. Otherwise I'll kick your ankle when it's a deal you should take."
"Could you please think of a signal that won't give me a bruised foot?"
"I'll try." Maarani twisted her chair around fully to look back down the ship. "Hey CC! Any luck?"
The droid's voice was muffled by all the walls in the way. "Almost got it! Just kindly don't try starting the ship before I have closed this all up!"
"Will do!" She twisted back around, clasping her hands across her stomach and eventually tapping her fingers in tedium. There really wasn't anything to ask Dana that she hadn't already been informed on over the past few days, apart from their first destination which had been kept quite secret. "So who is this Atris? There was a weird tone when Pala mentioned her name, and I seem to be the only one who doesn't know anything about her."
Dana was also hesitant to speak for a bit, though did relent eventually. "Atris was a rather… outspoken member of the Jedi Council, way back when the whole thing with Darth Revan and that blew up. She messed around with Sith holocrons for a while, but Surik and the new Council helped her redeem herself."
"So if she was redeemed, why does Master Pala seem to dislike her?"
"Well, that's probably a more personal matter." When it became obvious that the answer wasn't satisfactory, Dana continued. "Surik made her apprentice, Visas, Grand Master of the new Council, but Atris didn't exactly get along with either of them. And Master Pala was apprentice to Visas, so her being the replacement leader of the Council when Visas left for wherever didn't settle well with Atris at all."
Maarani nodded throughout, taking it all in slowly to get her facts straight. From what little she knew, it did seem odd that the succession of Grand Master had gone like that, but it certainly wasn't her place to question what had been decided long ago. "She's still one of these good-relations people though?"
Dana nodded, carefully considering what she could and couldn't divulge about her own mission there. "Atris is one of the oldest surviving members of the Order, and while she doesn't like a lot of the changes made, that hasn't stopped her from giving help and advice. She deserves every amount of respect given."
"I've lost the sarcastic edge if that's what you're trying to say. Didn't expect eight years of disliking the Jedi for keeping me in the dark to vanish so soon, but here we are. Just needed to sit down and talk it out."
For a moment, Dana was about to congratulate Maarani when the Twi'lek rolled her eyes and began twirling her chair around. "Teegs, there's nothing wrong with having a level of maturity. We owned up to our mistakes, and now we're working together to set things right." It didn't stop the chair twirling. "Teegs you're going to get dizzy. I don't think I want to fly alongside a dizzy pilot."
"I'm just seeing if I can feel the blood rushing to the tips of my lekku." She continued on until Dana flicked one of them. "Ow! What happened to being the mature one? Also that really hurts."
"You're twenty four, not two."
"And you're a Jedi Master."
"A Jedi Master with a Twi'lek that has bouts of immaturity."
"I'm not your padawan."
"If you were, you would end up with more than just a light flick, believe me. Scrubbing the entry hall for example."
That stumped Maarani, who finally stopped rubbing where she had been flicked. With a sigh of defeat, she sat up and settled her hands on her knees. "I do want to become a Jedi. I suppose I just need help getting everything settled and focused."
Dana smiled again at that, taking hold of her shoulder warmly. "That's what I'm here for, Teegs." She glanced through the window ahead at the other Jedi going about their day without concern. Such a normal life to live, one she was about to leave behind for the next several months. "I can't guarantee I'll be the best help if you get scorned by a girlfriend, though. Never been something I've gotten myself involved in, or even intend to."
"I'll keep that in mind." Maarani was about to leave to go help CC-13 when the droid showed up anyway.
"Good to go. I can get working on the shower now if you would like."
"Wait until we're in hyperspace first." After a few pre-flight checks, she carefully powered up the engines. The steady hum brought a smile to both her and Dana. "Much better than it was when we left the dockyards. I'm impressed." She switched over to the comm unit once the checks came through. "Distant Star is ready to launch, do we have clearance?"
"That you do. Good luck out there, Distant Star. Force be with you all."
As they slowly lifted off the ground, Maarani noticed Carmen waving from the edge of the safe zone. She did her best to wave back with a smile while simultaneously guiding the ship high enough for the autopilot to take over.
Once it did, she hummed contentedly while leaning back into her chair at last. "Shame she couldn't come along, would've been nice to have someone around to fix CC up."
"Mistress Carmen did an excellent job of restoring my insides, actually. I believe I can self-repair in future if it proves necessary."
Maarani tilted her head around a bit. "That was one good reason to have her around."
"Teegs, it's not a good idea to mess with Mirialans by flirting with their padawans. They do have their own rules about being chaste early in life."
"Was that why Mistress Carmen got flustered when I-"
"CC!" The Twi'lek shot an awkward glance at Dana, who glared back with no shortage of disapproval. "It wasn't my fault. She started blabbing about Twi'leks being sex-maniacs. On that note where did you even get that impression CC?"
The droid made a buzzing sound, low pitched at first, but steadily growing back up to her normal tone. "I saw… things, while clamped. I was not always in an alley you know. Have you not wondered why I have such an unusually casual vocabulary for a droid yet?"
"I hope you know what parts of your vocabulary should remain unspoken, then." Dana looked back to Maarani, still unimpressed by what she was hearing, though she had dropped the glare. "Yes, the Jedi have relaxed the rules on becoming romantically involved quite a lot, arguably a good thing, but we still have to respect racial customs. And yes, I can understand what this kind of loneliness is like, even though I don't experience it myself."
Maarani had grown quiet by then, though her growing frown did soften away a little at Dana's attempt at empathy. "I was going to say that she reminds me of what Masaka was like, early on. Though we didn't really get much time to actually chat so I suppose this is just more wishful thinking on my part."
She turned and left the cockpit without further word, ignoring Dana's attempt to apologize, and CC's question of concern.
The silence left behind went on well after they left orbit. It wasn't until after they had entered hyperspace that she took her turn to relax, still feeling guilty for causing such embarrassment. "C C one three. C C one E?" She glanced at the droid, who tilted her head in response. "C C L E… Cecile?"
"I am afraid I do not understand, Mistress Dana. Why are you dissecting my name and attempting to convert numbers into letters?"
Dana gave a half shrug, leaning against her chair slightly. "I prefer coming up with quick names. Teegs for Tegama'Arani, Cecile for CC-13. I came up with Torbut, you know, his full Chiss name is Jegh'orbu'dornamo. Horbud didn't sound great..."
"I believe I have heard something like that in my time, not in a nice context, so I do understand." The droid tilted her head again, contemplating the name given. "Cecile. CC-13, Cecile. Ceeeeeecile." Her eyes flickered briefly, before turning to Dana directly. "I will need time to contemplate this."
"Go ahead. I'll be here." She was about to twist back in her chair when she noticed light shining into the corridor from Maarani's quarters. "First, could you make sure she's alright? I think she'll be a little more open to you right now."
Cecile tilted her head again, still finding Maarani's behaviour to be confusing. "Could you explain why the mistress is in distress later? This is the first time I have seen a Twi'lek act like this."
"She's going through the motions of grief. It's actually a good thing that she's still having emotional reactions. Bottling them up can be terrible, as I'm sure you know from experience."
Cecile's eyes flickered again. "I will contemplate this as well, then. It appears I still have much to learn." The droid finally wandered out with that, leaving the Jedi to swing back and watch the stars rush around their small vessel. Telos was just hours away.
