***Author Notes: Hello! I'm so sorry it took so long (literally years) to actually post something. I did actually write during those years… over 200 pages and decided I hated it and scrapped it all so here is my like… 5th...? attempt at rewriting this story! I've changed almost every aspect of Kira Kenvor's story but hopefully it will be much better this time around! Enjoy!***
*Also the actress I envision as Kira is named Ksenia Solo, if you haven't heard of her look her up! I think she is absolutely beautiful and absolutely what I envisioned when I thought of Kira!*
Chapter 1
"A lesson taught is not always a lesson learned."
Dry. Dusty. Hot. So, very hot.
Sweat trickled down her nose and stung in her eye. The beating of her own heart pounded in her ears so loudly it was impossible to focus on little else. Fear corrupted her mind and embedded so deeply in her core that panic set in, burning like a wildfire, catching through every fiber in her being. She had never felt such a fear in her entire life.
Below her lay a coliseum larger than she'd ever seen. Chaos erupted throughout the stadium. She felt a draw to a single human figure below. A Jedi Master. His presence was so familiar and yet foreign. He radiated strength and the wisdom of more than fifty years.
Fear. Anger. Hate. Suffering.
Another man stood opposite the Jedi Master; she couldn't see anything but his silhouette, but she felt him as if she'd known him her entire life. He was a dangerous man; he was a man who had spent his whole life killing. He was a man who rarely felt fear but that was all she could sense from him.
The overwhelming sense of grief filled her heart, it weighed so heavily and stabbed so deeply in her chest. Then, all at once, everything dissipated and froze. There was nothing. Silence where there was once chaos. The world darkened around her and the hopelessness set in, capturing her in its unforgiving claws.
"You are troubled." His voice was warm and calm, it broke through her consciousness and brought her back to reality. Her ice blue eyes shot open, the silhouette of the desert coliseum faded away, the fear, hopelessness, and pain all sank away with every breath. She found herself staring into deep brown eyes. Eyes so dark it was almost impossible to see the separation from iris to pupil. She sat crisscross, hands on her knees, to her left, he sat with his hand on the controls to their Paladin-class corvette cruiser. His expression was stern but concerned. He was tall, even when sitting. Dark skin and eyes, clean shaven head. He was one of the most powerful Jedi she knew, he was her mast er.
"I... don't know." She brought a hand to her temple trying to clear her clouded mind, trying to regain her sense of reality. "I can't tell what that was."
He watched her calmly, waiting for her to collect herself. She shook her head and let out a loud breath. "What did you see?"
"There was this giant coliseum, somewhere in the desert. There was panic and chaos and fear and pain… and all I could focus on was a Jedi and another man." She rambled, closing her eyes tightly. "I think it was a vision?" She said it as more of a question than a statement.
"Be mindful of these emotions, Padawan," He said calmly, "These emotions can blind you from what the Force was trying to manifest."
"Yes, Master Windu," She nodded politely before biting the inside of her cheek. "Master, I have never felt anything so… intense. Why would the Force show something like that?"
Master Mace Windu pondered for a moment. "The Force is rarely obvious," He said. "We will meditate on this further later. We will learn what it means, but we must focus on our mission. We will be hitting Tooma airspace in twenty minutes."
The young padawan nodded. "I just… I don't know how to explain it, Master. It was like my heart was ripped out of my chest at the sight of this man. Not the Jedi. The other one."
"Did you recognize him?"
"No," She answered. "It was only the silhouette of him, but he felt familiar."
"We will learn this vision's meaning." He said reassuringly, trying to hide the concern he was feeling for his young pupil.
"It makes me uneasy." She mumbled as Master Windu flicked over the comm switch waiting for the moment Tooma spaceport would ask for their chain codes and grant them permission to land.
"Emotions can be a dangerous thing, especially for those with the Force." He said. "Powerful emotions can lead you down a dark path if you're not careful."
The Padawan raised an eyebrow and toyed with the dark braid behind her ear before flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I know, I know." She said, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. She'd heard Mace repeat that lesson a hundred times. "I just can't see how feeling upset can corrupt someone to the dark side."
Mace took the moment to explain. "Anger can turn to hatred and that leads to pain and suffering. There are those who can get so consumed by their anger and hate that they cannot see past it, Kira. While no one is completely immune to emotions, that is what makes us human. What makes us Jedi is the ability to put aside our feelings for the greater good. That is why Jedi are not to form attachments."
Kiratta Kenvor considered for a moment. "How does attachment lead to the dark side? How is loving someone the path to darkness?" She asked, giving him a sideways glance.
"Love is one of the most powerful emotions and it can be easily manipulated and exploited," He began. "Consider a moment, a child loses his father to raiders, that child grows to hate the men that killed him. The child's love for his father sets in a need for revenge. Emotions like that can spiral out of control until all that child sees is rage. With that rage, he might do something he might not have otherwise done and bring him down a path he cannot come back from."
Kira watched Mace carefully, considering his words but remained silent.
"As Jedi, our connection to the Force is our greatest gift but also a responsibility to not be taken lightly. Those feelings of rage and revenge can trap you in a dark place and change you in ways even you wouldn't like." He said knowingly.
"Hm." Kira murmured to herself as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the viewport at the blue hue of lightspeed. "It's sad how something so pure and natural can become so skewed."
"It is sacrifices like this that we as Jedi must make. We are keepers of the peace and we cannot allow our emotions to cloud our judgement."
Kira nodded. "I understand, Master." She said as the ship's sensors went off indicating that the ship would be dropping out of lightspeed any moment. Mace and Kira immediately went into action as the ship shuttered and the blue hue faded and the gray, ugly planet came into view. "So, what's the plan?" She asked.
"There is an illegal slave fighting ring going on and we need to shut it down." Mace said.
Kira gave him an eye narrowing glance. "There are millions of illegal fighting rings across the galaxy, why is this one- the farthest one on the galaxy's backside- so important?" She asked unconvinced.
There was claim that the Jedi were a neutral eye within the galaxy and chose no sides but all she ever saw was the Jedi working for a single government and not at all neutral. There were thousands of crimes happening daily, slavery and spice trades happened all within the knowledge of the Jedi and the Republic and yet not one politician or Jedi did a thing about it unless it directly conflicted with one of their interests. She could only wonder what interest the Republic had in this one.
"Apparently, the senator of Bakuu's son, Oolan Jatori, has been taken prisoner and the Council has requested we assist in his rescue." Mace explained. "Apparently the boy has had some… dealings with the wrong crowd and got himself caught up in their mess."
"And when you say dealings you mean…?" She began giving him a chance to fill in the spaces.
"He got himself mixed up in the spice trade." Mace answered shortly. He could guess her reaction before she even gave it. He knew her almost better than she knew herself, he could always guess her reaction before she did, he seemed to always know what she was thinking and feeling. It was like that when you spent ninety percent of your childhood and adolescence with a single mentor, she had been his pupil since she was only ten years old.
Kira's nose curled. "So, now the Republic sends in its own personal rescue team of mystic sorcerers to rescue some little, snot nosed, pretty boy because his dad's got the creds to fix his mistakes?" She asked in disgust.
Mace gave her a look that said fix-your-tone. "A political alliance with Bakuu is what the Republic needs right now, they agreed to open up trading with Ryloth if the Republic helped in rescuing Jatori. One life is worth the effort if it means resources will go to an entire planet of those who need them." Mace said as he sent in the landing request to Tooma's airspace control. Once landing was permitted, he began bringing the ship down towards the surface.
"He'd better be grateful." Kira muttered under her breath. Of course, Bakuu would dangle help to a planet in need in return for a rotten son of a senator. Pathetic. She thought. She didn't understand why people couldn't just be good without reason.
As the corvette cruiser landed on the surface the smell of factory smoke, body odor and garbage filled the ship. Kira's nose curled again in disgust. "Watch yourself here, Kira and don't let down your guard for a moment."
Kira had no doubt that this mission would be as easy as taking out the garbage for Mace. There wasn't much that he failed at. Kira often thought that, in a different life, Mace would have made an incredibly successful bounty hunter, but she never brought it up to him. Mace thought bounty hunters were the scum of the galaxy and being paid to kill wasn't morally acceptable… but killing people because a senator asked was fine. She saw no difference between the two, except one got paid.
Mace Windu was an incredibly skilled Jedi Master; he'd gained the rank of master, passing his trials early, at only twenty-eight years old. A Korun human male, a Haruun Kal native, Mace Windu was trained as a Jedi Guardian and was considered one of the best swordsmen in the history of the Jedi Order thus far. He had created the seventh form of lightsaber combat, Vaapad, a lightsaber form that channeled the user's own dark side tendencies as a weapon of the light and was currently the only practitioner to not fall to the dark side because of it. He also had an unusual ability to see shatterpoints in the Force and see the weaknesses in his enemies.
The Jedi made their way down the alleyway in civilian clothes, Jedi were known for their tan tunics and long brown cloaks. Going to a planet where every crime was being committed every day, it wasn't ideal looking like Jedi. They had to find where the illegal slave fighting was even being held and then another way to free the senator's son. Kira would happily bring the whole place to its knees if Mace would let her. As heartless as she could seem, she really did have the heart of a saint. If she could, she would free every slave and arrest every underworld slimeball she got her hands on.
She followed Mace to the doorstep of a cantina, the whole place smelled like booze and urine. Kira's nose curled. "What in the blazes are we doing here?" She asked, giving a disgusted look as a very intoxicated weequay stumbled out, tripped on the step, and landed face first in the dirt. Mace returned her disgusted look then gave a forced smile.
"I'm getting a drink." He said before stepping into the cantina.
"Are you planning on getting roasty-toasty like our friend outside?" Kira asked, following behind him.
She heard a small chuckle under Mace's breath even though he never responded to her. He strode up to the bar and leaned against the counter.
"I'll take whatever's on tap." Mace said to the disgruntled human bartender. He looked like he'd rather shoot himself in the foot before serving another drunk patron.
"Coming up," He mumbled. "Anything for her?"
Kira smirked trying to hide that she was slightly offended, he had assumed she was Mace's slave or servant. She went to answer before Mace cut her off.
"She's not drinking." He answered as a glass of something coppery and smelled of mead was handed to him. Mace took it and gave it a whiff before taking a small sip.
Kira glared at him. "I'll take a fuzzy tauntaun.". Mace gave her a scolding look as the bartender whipped up her drink and slid it towards her. "Thanks." She said with a small unimpressed smile and passed him a credit chip that covered both drinks before taking the martini glass and turned her back to the counter to casually people-watch the other patrons.
The two sat quietly sipping their drinks as they each listened in on different patron's conversations for a little over an hour. The music and the gossip of cheating spouses and random ramblings of drunkards made Kira wish she could stab a fork in her ears. She took another sip before she heard a dug talking in the corner with a duros wearing a hat the size of a planet.
"Jatori will be delivered once payment has been received." The duros said with an almost droid-like tone while waving his hand casually over the blaster on his hip. Kira brought her glass to her lips and glanced over at Mace, who was mirroring her. Their eyes met and both knew that the other had heard the conversation.
The dug let out a groan. "You bounty hunters are always so concerned about your payment," He said, pulling a datapad out from his satchel and typed away. "The transfer has been initiated."
The duros looked at the screen on his gauntlet and reached across the table, picking up a toothpick from the condiment caddy and stuck it in his mouth. "Pleasure doing business with you." He said as he got to his feet. "I will meet you at the drop off location in twenty."
The dug nodded and watched as the bounty hunter made his way towards the door.
Mace tapped his earlobe, Kira let out a lazy sigh and threw back the rest of her drink with a loud gulp and pushed herself off the counter. Anyone who was watching wouldn't have noticed a thing, but Kira and Mace had a series of silent queues for the other for situations where words would alert their targets and Mace had just given the order to follow the bounty hunter. There wasn't a bond closer than a master and apprentice, Mace and Kira were no different. They could almost have full conversations across the room from the other without a single word spoken aloud, being around the other every day for ten years did that. Kira always loved these sorts of missions; she loved the way the adrenaline would pump through her veins when she was close to catching her target and she relished in the praise from Mace for a job well done.
Mace was like a father to her, and likely the only father figure she would ever have. She wasn't always sure the Jedi always made the right choices, but she was sure that making Mace proud was something she always strove for. When she became a master herself, she was going to make the Jedi Order something no one questioned about where loyalties lied. She was going to help make the Jedi something better.
Kira walked casually towards the door tailing the blue-skinned bounty hunter. She made sure to stay far enough away not to alarm the hunter but close enough to keep eyes on him. She followed the duros with questionable taste in hats down the street, both weaving in and out of the crowds of citizens enjoying their night out on the town.
The duros turned, obviously sensing that he was being followed. The second he turned; Kira turned towards a street vendor's cart acting as if she were browsing his wares. She felt the duros's eyes land on her for a moment before he turned back around and continued his original route. Kira went back to following him, casually walking as if she were bored and had nothing better to do besides wander the streets at night. It was one thing not to let the duros know she was stalking him, but she was sure the other citizens would catch on too if she were too serious about following him. She didn't know who was working with him or the dug employer, and anyone could tip him off that he was being followed.
She followed him down towards the spaceport where a Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighter lay waiting, the ramp lowered, and he entered his ship. Kira looked around for an attendant and when she didn't find one, she made a beeline for the ramp, slapped a tracking beacon on the hull and jumped on just before it closed. She heard voices coming from around the corner and ducked behind a supply cache.
"Where are you taking me, Bane?" A cocky-snooty male voice asked.
The duros made an unimpressed growl before the sound of a stun gun blast rang through the starfighter and a thud rattled the floor. Clearly the bounty hunter, Bane, was not interested in conversation. She heard his footsteps clicking away towards the cockpit and after a moment or two the ship lifted and began flying through the city airways. Kira crouched and crept her way to where she'd heard the voice and peered around the corner and saw a prisoner cell where the limp body of Oolan Jatori lay unconscious. She listened closely for anything indicating that Bane would be leaving the cockpit. She snuck to the prison door and flipped open the flap of her hip pouch and pulled out a doorjacker and inserted it into the port.
She toyed with it for a few moments trying to gain access to the door when she felt the ship shutter slightly and drop altitude, she mentally cursed knowing that wherever they were going, they had arrived. She yanked the doorjacker out of the port and returned to her hiding spot behind the supply cache. The ramp lowered and Bane emerged from the cockpit as two Nikto guards entered from below.
Bane motioned them towards the holding cell and unlocked it. The two guards picked up Jatori and drug his limp body out. Then they all exited the ship. Kira waited only a moment before coming out of her hiding spot and hid behind the wall next to the ramp, she peered out and watched as all the group made their way towards a dark hallway and disappeared behind the door. She looked up and scanned around, they were in a hangar, she looked up at the skyline above where the sun was just minutes from setting. To the right was a hallway that was dark, the walls were starting to crack and peel and at the end was the door where the bounty hunter went through and then farther down there were several other doors and hallways. Kira jumped out and slid her way down the hallway sticking to the shadows, she was sure there were cameras somewhere and she did not want to be on them.
She had no idea where she was, everything was so dim and dark it was near impossible to see five feet in front of her. Kira turned and walked through the door where the smell of booze and the sound of faint cheering could be heard coming from the belly of the building. Kira had an idea that this was what they were looking for. Mace may have only been here to rescue the senator's son, but Kira was determined to shut down whatever was happening down here. She took a moment to look at her wrist gauntlet and sent a location ping to Mace and continued down the hallway following the sounds of cheering.
The bounty hunter and Nikto guards seemed to have vanished, making Kira's guard on an all-time high. She touched the cold metal of one of her twin weapons attached to her belt, touching the ancient weapon gave her the reassurance she needed. She decided that keeping her lightsabers hidden may have been the best course of action, she didn't know what she was about to face but she knew it likely came with a distaste for Jedi. She unclipped both weapons and slipped them on the inside pockets of her navy jacket. Kira stopped outside the door the cheering came from and pressed her ear to the wall. She could hear fighting, a wave of fear hit her like a ton of bricks and knew she was sensing the victim's fear inside.
Her eyes scanned the walls when she heard footsteps coming.
"Fierfek." She cursed to herself. Her eyes scanned the walls until they laid upon an air vent and she dove for it. She ripped off the covering and ducked inside, returning the covering as the owner of the footsteps rounded the corner. It was one of the Nikto guards. He looked around suspiciously before entering the room where the fights were happening.
Kira waited a moment, being sure that no one else was outside and crawled her way through the vent until she came to another covering that lay above the fighting arena. Just what she needed. A perfect vantage point where she could see everything happening; but no one could see her. What she saw was more than she expected.
Before her lay an arena with electrically charged walls, durasteel floors and a rancor in the middle with its claws around a mythrol. Kira's stomach turned as the rancor stuffed the creature in its mouth. The crowd cheered on the beast. Kira frowned and searched the crowd, disgusted in its paying customers. She couldn't imagine the messed-up mind a person would have to have to enjoy watching the death of another sentient being.
"Enjoy that?" The announcer asked the crowd, who cheered their response. "This next victim… er, champion, is a fabled being whose culture has the reputation of being unbeatable warriors! A being so dangerous that even the Jedi of the Republic quake in their boots at the sight of such a creature! Place your bets, up next we have a fearsome and ferocious Mandalorian warrior!"
Kira's attention was caught by a set of blast doors opening to a single man in a millennium silver armor with a blue flight suit, his face was hidden beneath a t-shaped visor with an antenna on the side of his helmet, a chunky slave collar lay tightly around his neck.
The young Jedi knew next to nothing about the Mandalorians except that there had been a great war when the Mandalorians had sided with the Sith and declared war against the Republic and the Jedi over three thousand years ago. For whatever reason, she could barely tear her eyes from him, there was an immediate draw to him, one so strong she never saw it coming. It almost startled her how enticed she was at the sight of this man. She knew then that she had to do something… She had to save him.