The Daughter of Mortis was not exactly huge at 63.8 meters of length, but it was spacious enough to fit a full team of Commandos, two Jedi, and their assorted cargo comfortably. It was considerably less cramped for space than the Ghost, which Leia had been aboard her fair share of times, during their occasional team-ups before being assigned a Fireteam, or at least one that could conceivably keep up with them.
Leia remembered the first, a squad of veteran Clones. She'd grown around replicated Mandalorians most of her childhood, given her mother had had a protection detail ever since she could remember. Jai and Curt had been Padmé's personal bodyguards before her first term as Chairwoman, and Leia's toddler self had been thick as thieves with them. She'd learned their hand gestures, the ones taught for combat, and used them to plot mischief around their home. If she was absolutely honest with herself, she'd been sadder about saying goodbye to them, than her father, when she moved to the Jedi Temple. Father had always been more than a little absent, in more ways than just physical.
Dromund Kaas this, Dromund Kaas that. She'd never been, but she already kind of loathed that planet.
In any case, the next time she'd seen Jai and Curt, they did not greet her. They couldn't; moments before, there had been a failed assassination attempt on her mother, some disgruntled Hutt getting back at her mom for enforcing the galaxy-wide ban on slavery after the Cartel Skirmishes. Jai, sweet as he had been, always falling for her pleading and pouting, lay in a pool of his own blood, a gaping hole through the plastoid armor that protected his chest.
Leia hadn't even been able to take his helmet off before he drew his last breath.
Curt had lasted longer, had even taken one of the assailants down; a blue skinned Rhodian mercenary missing most of his face she'd nearly stepped on in her haste to help. Ultimately, Curt fell too. Too many blaster bolts, overwhelmed his armor's ablative properties. Leia stepped in, saved the day, and was hailed as a heroine. There was no credit for Jai and Curt anywhere, and indeed they were quietly replaced with new Clones, fresh off the Facilities on Kamino. Shinies, as Rex called them, with no actual combat experience, and having little to no interest in knowing Leia as more than their charge's kin. Aside from Rex, who was as much of an Uncle to her as Obi-Wan was, and maybe Fives on the few times the busy ARC Trooper had met her, Leia had not allowed herself to connect with any other Clones. Not even the Commando team, who'd tolerated her Master and her for two missions before requesting a reassignment because Ahsoka and Leia were 'too reckless'. The Clone Commandos hadn't known about Jai and Curt. They hadn't known about Shili, either, the circumstances that led to the odd bond between Master and Apprentice. Leia, to say the least, did not miss the overly cautious Clones.
Krayt was...different, and not just because they were not Clones. Looking at the new guys animatedly chatting and bantering away in the rec room, all relaxed postures and no armor, she thought back to an earlier conversation she'd had with her Master, as they approached the Daughter and the Commandos loitering around it.
"What do you think?" -her Master had asked.
"They're...not Clones." -she'd noted.
Ahsoka had smirked. "Much as their abilities might seem artificial in nature, I doubt they were grown in a vat, yes. Very few Commandos come out of Kamino these days."
Leia only hummed.
The Togruta had softened her features, Leia's issues with trust and friendships having been extensively talked about beforehand. "I can feel the concern radiating off of you. I understand your reasoning, but they are good people, excellent soldiers. Try, at least, to see past their numeric chance of survival, through to the characters and beings that they are."
Leia, ever skilled at wordplay, had shot back at her with a sardonic smirk. "Thought there was no try. What would Master Yoda say, at such blatant disregard for his teachings?"
The elder Jedi, still not exactly at peace with the High Council since her return to the Order, only scowled.
Leia was brought out of her musings by the Mirialan Commander. "Everything ok, Padawan Skywalker?"
She blinked, casting a last look at the rest of the Commandos, and then focusing on Commander Adiri's face. "I'm alright. And Leia's fine, by the way; I don't really care for titles."
The amber-eyed woman smirked. "I understand. Please, call me Lara. As I told your Master before, I believe we'll get into enough trouble together that the first-name basis should be pretty much a given."
Leia smiled knowingly. "I see you've read our file."
Lara chuckled. "I will admit, it read like a horror story. But we enjoy a challenge, which I'm sure this will be."
"Hopefully." -said Leia eagerly.
A few moments passed, Lara staring out the viewport at the distant specks of the Home Fleet while the Daughter performed the necessary (albeit annoying) maneuvers and protocols needed to safely exit Coruscant's atmosphere. Leia did not much care for awkward silences, so she tried to make conversation.
"I see you've elected to stay in your armor, unlike the rest of your squad."
Lara turned. "I have."
Leia cocked her head slightly. "May I ask why?"
The Commando seemed off-put by the question. "Oh. Well, I'm a Mirialan, of course." -she said, as if that answered everything.
In some ways, it did. "Your species' dressing habits are not satisfied by off-duty wear?"
The human Padawan had, like every other youngling, gone through years of training, both physical and didactic. The former, of course, meant lightsaber combat forms, physical conditioning, and other important techniques used in the field. The latter, however, was what made the Jedi Order so respected; they were taught about the cultures of the galaxy, the different species and homeworlds, everything they would need to act wisely in diplomatic situations.
Luke was a bloody expert at it. Always top of the class. Leia was…well, she was a fighter first and foremost. She'd resolved her fair share of situations without violence, but there was a reason she was known as a duellist rather than a diplomat. She was a bit lacking in the patience department, and she'd never much cared to learn trivia that could not be used to gain an advantage in combat. Sure, she knew that cutting off the lekku would kill a Twi'lek but not a Togruta, or that Kaminoans could only see UV light, but she didn't really know much beyond that.
So, when it came to Mirialan dress code, she knew about as much as someone who'd watched a documentary like, once upon a time.
Lara blinked a couple of times. "Well...it depends on who you ask, I suppose. Most off-world born Mirialans are much more comfortable with revealing their skin. I am not; I was born on Mirial, where my people have covered all but their face for millennia. It is a cold, unforgiving world, where only the prudent survive. My species evolved with this mentality, developed their culture around it, and it is…a hard thing to change. Especially since I spent most of my life there. Besides, my health is something I value above almost everything else, and there are few safer clothes than these." -she said, tapping the dark gray and red armor with a smirk.
Leia spared a comparative glance between them. Compared to the Commando, Leia might as well have been at the beach; where the Mirialan wore a heavy composite suit with a tungsten alloy core, plastoid exterior, and a thermal dissipating ceramic layer, all over a thick body glove, Leia wore only her undergarments, a white, sleeveless Jedi robe, combat boots, a utility belt, and plastoid arm guards. "What about when you're not on a mission, though? Or about to be on one, I guess."
Lara shrugged. "I hardly ever take leave. When I do, I wear my robes. Though, to be fair, I usually go back to the homeworld, where it's mandatory."
"That I didn't know. It seems so odd to me, I can't imagine it, to be honest." -said Leia. Lara nodded with a kind smile.
"You better than most should understand how stubborn faith can make people. While the evolutionary aspect of Mirialan garb started the fully covered trend, and indeed the temporary facial tattoos we all wear made with a special ink designed to absorb and hold as much heat as possible, we choose to keep the tradition alive mostly because of spiritual reasons." -she explained.
Leia nodded thoughtfully. Mirial was not a backwater world; it was, along with others such as Kashyyyk and Ryloth, one of the most important worlds within the New Republic. As such, its technological advancement was on par with the bar set by Coruscant, albeit on a much lesser scale than the capital's enormous size warranted. However, its native inhabitants still lived in cities exposed to the unforgiving weather, and set upon the treacherous, mountainous terrain of Mirial, as opposed to adapting advanced tech such as floating or domed cities within their homeworld. That's where the spiritual side would come in, and so did Leia's fuzzy memories of her lessons on Mirialan culture.
Many cultures had an understanding of the Force, before joining the galactic community. The Dathomiri believed it to be magic, and reportedly manipulated it as such. The Twi'lek of Ryloth saw it as the embodiment of fate, and viewed Jedi as its executors. Many Togruta believed in their old gods granting a select few an almost unbelievable hunting prowess, and more often than not, these champions turned out to be Force-sensitive. Mirialans, however, were the ultimate believers. It was said that their ancient forefathers had actually given the Force its name, though there was no way to prove it. Their ancestors had studied it intensively for thousands of years, before the Jedi, and before even the Sith, being the first ones to describe it as an energy field permeating the whole galaxy. Nearly the entirety of the people in Mirial believed the same basic precepts: that each and every single living being was a tool for the Force to use to further the wellbeing of the galaxy. They believed themselves especially to be just one more part of the mechanism, another face in the endless sea of people the Force used in its quest to make life thrive. As a symbol of their belief in such humility, they covered themselves in black clothing from head to toe, except for their face. It was their own interesting way of contrasting the anonymity of their beliefs with their sense of self and individualism as different instruments of a divine will.
Leia might've wanted to choose a different time to remember all this, however, because Lara was still speaking, apparently mid-rant.
"...and our young girls nowadays see Twi'lek dancers and Human actresses and singers on the Holonet and want to look like them, all midriffs, and cleavage, and bare legs. There's a serious lack of future priestesses on Mirial, and the Church is getting antsy. Honestly, until I showed them my military ID, they even pestered me to join every time I visited." -she said.
Leia cocked her head. "The Church?"
Lara nodded. "The Church of the Force. It's the biggest one in the known galaxy. No one really knows if the Jedi Order got its principles from the Church or vice versa, but they're too similar not to be related. Of course, the Church doesn't have many Force-sensitives, only allegedly wise old men and women pretty much governing the entirety of Mirialan space. They must be richer than the Banking Clan by now, with the way the galaxy was drawn and quartered after the Clone Wars. They set up entire colonies for the billions of refugees we got."
It was times like these Leia wanted to kick herself for how little she actually knew about the galaxy she lived in.
"You don't seem to like them all that much." -Leia noted.
The Commando pursed her lips. "Well, they do a lot for Mirial, and the galaxy in general. But, for a supposedly non-profit organization, they sure rake in a ton of credits."
"And what do you think? I mean I wear...this, and my Master's outfit is way racier. Are we corrupting your traditions?" -Leia asked humorously.
Lara looked like she'd suddenly found something sour in her mouth. "Uh, no Ma'am. I'm sorry if I implied otherwise."
The young human laughed. "No need to apologize. I was just poking fun at you. You're entitled to your own opinion on my dress choices as much as I am of yours."
Now the Mirialan raised an eyebrow. "And what would that opinion be, if I may ask?"
The Padawan shrugged. "I think we should go to a beach planet sometime soon. I'm pretty sure you'd look great in a bathing suit."
Lara gasped, mortified. "Wow. You really are your Master's apprentice."
"How so?" -asked Leia, crossing her arms.
"Well...you are both quite forthcoming."
Leia smiled mischievously "Oh? Has she tried making you wear traditional Togruta garb yet?"
Lara scowled, her blood making her complexion almost maroon. "She was just barefoot, but I could tell she had just strapped on her armor. I should've waited outside."
Leia scoffed. "That's nothing! Her hunting clothes are what you should probably avoid, if you're a little squeamish. I honestly think if she'd lived in Shili any longer, she would just ditch the Jedi-issued light armor and wear the traditional outfit instead. She uses the most revealing armor set in the Order as it is."
Lara shook her head. "I don't know if I want to know, but what's her hunting outfit look like?"
Leia laughed. "I have a holo of her, I'll send it to you later. Just try not to open it around anyone else."
The Commander nodded nervously. The ship jolted and shifted one last time, and finally, the stars elongated, signalling their entry into Hyperspace.
"I'm not sure if I am allowed to ask, but why was Ahsoka on Shili?" -asked Lara, unable to hide her curiosity.
Leia was about to answer, when the Togruta herself walked into the hallway. "I see I have become a topic of conversation while dealing with the Control Tower. It's no problem, don't worry about it."
Ahsoka fingered her old lightsabers unconsciously, waiting a moment before starting, staring off into the swirling blue of Hyperspace. "I was just trying to survive without the Order, I guess. After being absolved, I realized I had nothing to my name. No one wanted to hire me, who had just been tried for treason, regardless of my innocence; I nearly starved, but Master Plo helped me out. We've always had a powerful bond, ever since he found me on Shili, so he found me and took me back. I never had a family, but the people there still received me as a heroine. We Togruta are an odd bunch, and the homeworld and its customs definitely take some getting used to, but I've never felt more welcome and loved than I did all those years as a Huntress. The old Jedi Order took away my sense of identity, as it did to most, but my people gave it back, and then some."
Lara crossed her arms, nodding. "I understand. But...if that was the case, why leave Shili?"
Leia blanched, and even Ahsoka stiffened slightly. "That's...a little more complicated. Perhaps later we'll talk about it, but for now, let's just say I knew I had to train Leia, as soon as I saw her." -the older Jedi said with a slightly forced smile.
The Commander nodded, standing straighter, realizing she'd overstepped a boundary. "I see. Well, I appreciate the talk, Leia, Ahsoka. If you'll excuse me, I should probably try and wrangle my team before they start tinkering." -she said politely, and walked out towards the rest of the Commandos.
Master looked at Padawan, but the human was lost in her memories. Bad ones had a tendency to do that for Leia.
She turned towards the 'fresher without another word, leaving Ahsoka alone to sense the freshly recalled grief in her Padawan's mind.
So, a reviewer brought to mind the fact that Ahsoka's tendency to dress in a racy manner came out of left field. That's just more than a decade of her living on Shili and adopting Togruta wardrobe and many of their customs. Same reviewer said there was a lot to be desired plot-wise with last chapter. I'm hoping to alleviate a bit with this one, while also introducing some pretty important plot elements for later, such as the Church of the Force, and Leia's reluctance to trust new people. Her talking with Lara is a conscious effort to overcome that.
Anyway, what do you think? See you next chapter!