A Healing Hand (Warframe x Star Wars SI)

[Grand Munchkin]

Thanks for the new chapter! Once I've refreshed my memory with a little rereading, I'll be jumping right into it again.

On a side note, I glanced at the new chapter, and when I saw

barbettes

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I read it as 'baguettes'. Really changed the scene for a sec

 

[Grand Munchkin]

Hopefully this doesn't bother you, Hawk--and if it does, please disregard this message--but I noticed a few oddities in the chapter that I thought to bring to your attention. Fingers crossed on it not being too presumptuous of me to do this.

Then it is well that I do not assume to break orbit

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'Presume'? 'Intend' ? 'Assume' doesn't seem to make sense here.

78.1% chance that they are engaging in what repairs can be affected outside a spacedock.

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'Effected'.

Her uncomfortably flesh-like feathers rusted and flared out from her torso and head

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'Rustled'?

she dismissed the bow into the ether and summoned a massive scythe.

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'Aether' in this case.

Hulks's

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Definitely Hulks'

audial

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'Aural', for all instances of this, I believe.

pathetically unequipped to deal with the OOM's force.

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'Underequipped', I'm thinking.

the moment they exited the bunk.

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Bunker, right?

Radiating pure smugness from every feather, golden ornament and metallic green lining,

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Maybe 'accent' instead of 'lining'?

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Maybe organize it mentally. Like: Jade is a mom, and she is the mother hen of the group.

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Jade in the fic is in an odd place right now, mentally. She's not a smothering Mommy type as of her appeance in the fic, but it's something that's going to sneak up on her from helping look after her Child-self/Tenno/Daughter.

Until one day she looks back and realises she's gone full Mommy Jade and never even realised. Incredibly sweet and doting Mommy with a biblically-accurate angel's propensity for punishing sinners that hurt her daughter.

So what your saying is...

A Sexy Fem-Stalker?

Alr...

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Sabuuchi made a meme with Stalker being Pre-HRT and Jade two years post HRT a couple of months back...

It hits somewhat differently when everyone realised that Jade's the designanted pregnant Momframe, lol.

Hopefully this doesn't bother you, Hawk--and if it does, please disregard this message--but I noticed a few oddities in the chapter that I thought to bring to your attention. Fingers crossed on it not being too presumptuous of me to do this.

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I'll never turn down typo-correction, because Sol knows I miss a ton anyway despite my best efforts.

And no, Munchkin, your post was the furthest thing from presumptuous possible.

Unrelated to the above, I've got art of Mara and Jade coming. The former being tooth-rottingly adorable and the later showcasing her maternal figure.

I am down bad for Jade and this fic, swear to feth...

 

[Zetakille]

Would it make a lightsaber limp, or just splash against whatever it "sliced" like water from a faucet?

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I'm personally thinking of the effect the original Monado from Xenoblade Chronicles did when it hit something organic: bounce off violently.

 

[KonahrikYol]

Is it possible for the force sensitives to have visions of jade and Mara jade. If so, can they be eldritch and madness inducing for a good portion of them with "jade" being able to interact back. (Read: man in the wall hating spoilers and peeping toms, decides to mess with them on occasion. The eldritch visions being the wall man jacked ones.)

 

[Gear-2557]

I will admit, when I saw the Jade mission my...what, third thought? Yeah, third thought, was that this was going to be your next main Warframe.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Is it possible for the force sensitives to have visions of jade and Mara jade. If so, can they be eldritch and madness inducing for a good portion of them with "jade" being able to interact back. (Read: man in the wall hating spoilers and peeping toms, decides to mess with them on occasion. The eldritch visions being the wall man jacked ones.)

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Consider, if you will, Conceptual Embodiment and the ability of the Void to physically embody literal figments of nightmares.

And now consider all the childish nightmares Mara is going to suffer from for a while because of Christophsis, and flashbacks if anyone asks her about what happened. I can't confirm nor deny force sensitives getting visions of Mara and Jade, but I will say that attempting to read their minds isn't the greatest idea by a long shot.

Never mind that Mara's mindscape is an empty field with the occasional tumbleweed and tooka kitten.

I will admit, when I saw the Jade mission my...what, third thought? Yeah, third thought, was that this was going to be your next main Warframe.

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Rebb gave us a Warframe that looks permanently heavily pregnant with matching animations, Gear!

I'd be remiss as an author if I didn't adore Jade on first sight and instantly decided that she was going to be Mara's Warframe mom, lol.

 

[Stripes]

Delicious, delicious Catharsis of Reap & Tear kind [thumbs_up]

...And now, shenanigans of "What the Hell is this bullshit!?" kind are on the menu? :3

 

[Elite_Noob]

With the reality bending they can do once they are in a nicer environment I imagine maras void techniques to become more playful? Like she is a child and the void is at least partially imagination based so id think she'd make little lights or wisps to play with make little animals run around like a bunch of tiny versions of the horses and squirrel things from duviri or something like that just a kid having fun and reality going along with it

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

With the reality bending they can do once they are in a nicer environment I imagine maras void techniques to become more playful? Like she is a child and the void is at least partially imagination based so id think she'd make little lights or wisps to play with make little animals run around like a bunch of tiny versions of the horses and squirrel things from duviri or something like that just a kid having fun and reality going along with it

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That's pretty much guaranteed now after the split.

Jade's there to modulate and dampen any wild fluxes, but Mara's control is also gone so she has lots of tiny, innocent expressions of Void power.

Such as, like you mention, minor illusions and bringing characters from the picture books she's read at night to temporary life.

 

[Snowbound425]

Every time I read this story or any Warframe thread, i'm very tempted to go back and play it.

 

[Stripes]

My dominant exposure to Warframe is erotic content - and this Story makes me seriously consider playing it. Which will be from zero, since that one time it was installed on my PC, it was my Dad

 

[Blue1ao]

Oh I love this

 

[majinotaku83]

Very interesting. Was wondering if this could be a rather unique story where there wouldnt be any warframes and just the Tenno and her void abilities But am not disappointed by the inclusion of Jade.
Of course, that she is...bigger than normal has me curious. While I can appreciate her aesthetic ( ), the part of my head in the story has me wondering...is she holding the 'souls' of the troopers Chibi-Jade tried to save? But that wouldnt make sense, as there were 11 troopers in total and we have 5 left...would mean 6 sprogs in her if that were the case...
...another thought is I wonder if she is technicalyl carrying 2 other Warframes for Mara to unlock at some point? No idea, but speculation is fun. and of course, I am keeping the 1 occupant as the default one that is the feature of Jade, but I have no idea where you are going with this. Should be fun.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Very interesting. Was wondering if this could be a rather unique story where there wouldnt be any warframes and just the Tenno and her void abilities But am not disappointed by the inclusion of Jade.
Of course, that she is...bigger than normal has me curious. While I can appreciate her aesthetic ( ), the part of my head in the story has me wondering...is she holding the 'souls' of the troopers Chibi-Jade tried to save? But that wouldnt make sense, as there were 11 troopers in total and we have 5 left...would mean 6 sprogs in her if that were the case...
...another thought is I wonder if she is technicalyl carrying 2 other Warframes for Mara to unlock at some point? No idea, but speculation is fun. and of course, I am keeping the 1 occupant as the default one that is the feature of Jade, but I have no idea where you are going with this. Should be fun.

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Recall that Jade felt two outright deaths before the group was split in two, five including Duum and four including Buir.

That's nine live clones, and guess who died in the bunker...

 

[majinotaku83]

Recall that Jade felt two outright deaths before the group was split in two, five including Duum and four including Buir.

That's nine live clones, and guess who died in the bunker...

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Ha! My initial thoughts were right!...it was just wrong about the numbers. I need to re-read. Hmmm...that makes for an interesting situation. Though this isnt a NSFW version, I am suddenly given the horrible mental image of Mara getting her Jade to revive all 12 troops should something catastrophic happen...and can only imagine how much of an ordeal that would be for Jade
Never-the-less...will be interesting to see how the separatists forces react to Jade's presence.

 

[JohnWolfie34]

Recall that Jade felt two outright deaths before the group was split in two, five including Duum and four including Buir.

That's nine live clones, and guess who died in the bunker...

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Well the Jedi's reactions when she 'respawns' them are certainly going to be....interesting!

 

[majinotaku83]

Well the Jedi's reactions when she 'respawns' them are certainly going to be....interesting!

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...oh my...I am now imagining: if the order 66 occurs and after Anakin/Vadar has stormed the Jedi temple, Mara scurrying away later with Jade lumbering behind, laden with the souls of the fallen Jedi, grumbling about being unable to resist her younger self and declaring the remaining jedi better provide child support XD

 

[Katalyxt]

More jade lore in teshin's cave! Real juicy stuff

Spoiler: Jade lore location

 

[JohnWolfie34]

So, when's the next update?

 

[PotatoKannonShunter]

@HarakoniWarhawk
*new clone trooper saluting to Jade*: "Clone trooper 'Ralph' reporting for duty mommy! Sorry, i mean mommy! Sorry, i mean mommy! Sorry, i mean mommy! Sorry, i mean mommy! Sorry, i mean mommy! Sorry, i mean mommy!"

The thirst is real.

 

[Rednuclearbadger]

I absolutely love this just read through the whole story so far in like an hour because it's so good!!! I can't wait for more!

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

The next chapter should be coming out either tonight or tomorrow.

Writer's block is a bitch.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

I'm just over an hour and a half late on my promise, so for that y'all have my apologies. And the writer's block, that sucked.

Music for the chapter is from STARSET (My Demons)

Spoiler: Music for the chapter.

View: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VrJsdm0WoXU&si=AhqNMGxw2wQv_dhh

---

"No, no, no, this cannot be happening!"

Spittle flew from General Loathsom's tusked jaws as he wheeled away from the transparisteel panoramic windows and snatched up his holo-communicator.

The bulky form of TJ-55 fizzled into existence above the mauve disk. "General, I have detected..."

"Order all units to my position right this second," the Kerkoiden bellowed. I don't care how long it takes for Magna Tri-Droids to be activated; I want them here before the Republican reinforcements arrive!"

"But, General, the commando..."

"Damn those useless tin soldiers. Bring the army here, or I'll find another droid that can do the job!"

TJ-55 silently floated above Loathsom's palm for several heartbeats before inclining its visored head. Obtuse to body language reading as the tactical droid was, their deliberate delay before replying was evident that something else was afoot.

"By your command."

Paradoxically, cutting the communication worsened the General's mood rather than improving it now that his entire army was on its way. Tossing the comm-disk almost contemptuously, its resulting clattering impact on the floor went unnoticed by the pacing Kerkoiden. Far from the victorious and noxiously smug man who'd strode into the former command centre, the alien officer was the vision of a sophont on the verge of outright panic not even a couple of hours later. Even the battle droids occupying the consoles filled by clones not all that long ago mirrored their commander's unease with errant twitches of their heads towards the windows and each other. What did they know about the battle outside to display their electronic simulacrum of fear so readily? Or, indeed, why did the Separatists bother programming such responses into droids intended to be manufactured in bulk and die just as readily on the battlefield?

Bail didn't know, but he was secretly enthused that his captors were frightened enough to make no attempt to hide it.

Case in point, General Loathsom paced his way past the windows for the third time in as many minutes, worryingly gazing at the smoke-hazed cityscape beyond the transparent barrier and muttering to himself. His clawed hands clenched and folded together at random, tearing apart with audible snorts and then meshing just as swiftly afterwards. Senator Organa would be lying if the corners of his lips weren't twitching in suppressed schadenfreude at the humorous reversal. But all those years in the Senate proved their worth in schooling his genuine emotions whenever the blue-skinned Kerkoiden recalled Bail's presence. Fear lurked in Loathsom's crimson eyes, no matter how hard the alien squinted or shook his tusks at his captive.

And somewhere far overhead in orbit, the Open Circle fleet under Kenobi and Skywalker was wresting control of space from the blockade forces...

Four consoles down from Bail, a red-painted B1 nervously raised a hand. "Uh, General? Commando Squad Seven stopped transmitting."

Immediately, Loathsom about-faced and stomped over to glare at the trembling battle droid, his chest heaving with furious breaths.

"Where?"

A shaking three-digit hand pointed at the display in front of them, which Bail tried and failed to see without making it obvious. Luckily, the verbal reaction more than filled in the blanks.

"That's the skyway connecting the Eastern Exurbs to the spaceport!" Loathsom bellowed, fury and a slight worry colouring his shout. "When did this happen?!"

"F-Five minutes ago, General..."

A heavy paw violently smashed the red-painted battle droid's head into the console with the audible crunch of breaking crystal and durasteel. Alarmed cries erupted from the other B1 models before the matt black commando variants non-too-subtly waved their blasters over their panicking counterparts. Cowed, the subdued battle droids returned to their work, appearing uncomfortably organic in their forced compliance to a shocked Bail.

"Imbeciles! Fools! Useless walking trash containers!"

Loathsom's raging tirade continued apace, high-brow language rapidly devolving into paint-stripping curses that had Bail's eyebrows rising into his hairline. Not because he was unaccustomed to the crude insults; far from it. Instead, it was that the Separatist General's honourable and refined persona had been revealed as a facade for a brutish if not plain uncivilised true personality when put under -enormous, Bail could admit that much- pressure.

An electronic groan drew the Senator's eyes to the battered security droid rising from their violence-inflicted slump, pained noises coming from the machine as it clutched the crumpled end of the angular head. It spasmodically moved its head and snuck glances at the droids on either side of it for long enough to make Bail curiously follow the machine's odd behaviour. Whether damage or some code line misfiring inside the battle droid's electronic brain, the result appeared like a frightened victim looking for support from their kin. The red-painted automaton was in the midst of rubbing its crumbled head when the identical model beside it leaned over once the nearest commando was looking elsewhere. And despite the ambient noise level and General Loathsom's continued vitriolic muttering, their conversation was reasonably audible.

"... call up one of the backups... chassis damage checked, 422-751," the undamaged B1 whispered nasally. "You know that... risk getting you... scrubbed."

The damaged machine disagreed. "I'm scrap if I tell... the commandos," it shook its sparking head. "Can't run... leave, or I'm doubly scrap!"

Both droids paused in abject fear as the spectral frame of a fire-blackened commando ghosted between the consoles. Even when the lethal automaton's optics remained locked on Bail, who flashed a tight grin, the whispering B1s stayed quiet until the commando was gone.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, the damaged battle droid buried its head in its three-digit hands. "Doomed, I tell you... squad five just went offline..."

Carefully schooling his features, Bail politely nodded at a General Loathsom, who stomped past without acknowledging the Human Senator's existence. His gut and Commander Duum's advice told him that two squads of the lethal commandos dropping off the grid weren't mere communications issues. Oh, there was a greater than even chance that Organa was being led along or misreading the situation, but there was a chance. And, sure enough, Bail's suspicions were proven correct as another B1 -this a yellow-painted command model- requested Laothsom's attention.

"General, communication from Commando Squad Five, audio only."

Slow to halt, the blue-skinned alien officer's head snapped around to glare the guilty B1 down. "Well, what are you waiting for? Play it!"

"Roger Roger..."

Amusingly, Bail noticed he was just one among many -if the sole organic- craning their heads and leaning out of their seats to see and listen to the transmission.

"Report!" Loathsom barked.

One, two, three heartbeat's worth of static answered the call until "Where's Mara'ika?"

At any other time, the synchronised goggling of the B1 battle droids would've been hilarious, especially when they chorused as one.

"Hey! That's not a commando droid, that's a..."

A steaming Kerkoiden beat them to the punch with an outraged howl worthy of a krayt dragon in the command centre.

"CLONE!"

"Buir?" Bail whispered.

Luckily, nobody noticed the flash of surprise that crossed the Alderaanian's face before the trooper on the other end of the line continued apace.

"Getting gutshot isn't pleasant, you understand. All that superheated plasma flash boiling the water in your internal organs hurts like nothing else I've experienced." Buir regaled the command centre in a conversational, almost genial tone for such a gruesome topic. "Blood vessels burst, stomach acid corrodes the bottom of your lungs, and the stench of ruptured bowels..." A fel shadow leeched through the com-line, invisible but for the twitching which infected those nearest the speaker. "Having all the bones in your torso crushed to jellied powder by falling debris is a close second I wouldn't recommend, General. Then again, perhaps you might after trying to hand my daughter over to the kriffing Sith!"

General Loathsom laid a trembling hand on his forehead, crimson eyes sluggishly blinking as he reacted far from expected, in Bail's opinion. Appearing under the influence of some manner of inebriation, the heavyset Kerkoiden wheezed through clenched teeth as he steadied himself on a nearby unoccupied console with great heaving breaths. He kept wiping at his nose every few seconds for reasons beyond Bail's to discern before the separatist General overcame whatever fugue had befallen him.

"You... dare speak to me with such an impudent tone, Clone!" Loathsom snarled. "Droid, cut the line." When the distracted B1 proved too slow, the rheumy-eyed Kerkoiden rounded on them with spittle flying. "Now!"

The indefinable pressure that'd settled in the command centre these last few hours reached a crescendo not with a bang but the deceptively quiet ping of an arriving elevator.

Well, that and the unmistakable- if muffled- sharp whine of discharging blasters.

Bail hated how he knew it was pistols by the pitch, even while his head and attention snapped around to witness Commander Duum walk over the smoking commando droids formerly guarding the turbolift. Entirely wisely fearing the prospect of blaster bolts flying in his vicinity, the Alderaanian Senator braced himself and bodily threw himself sideways until the chair he was confined to fell with him. His pained grunt at falling heavily on his shoulder vanished in the cacophony of shooting that erupted overhead, crimson and cyan streaks filling the charged air with ticklish ozone. Less agreeable were the sounds of bolts impacting their targets, Bail's position lying on the floor between two rows of consoles leaving his imagination to fill in the grisly blanks of whom was shot. The repeated and unmistakable thump of bodies hitting the floor provided far too much fuel for those darker thoughts.

Powerless, all he could do was lie on the thin carpet without the ability to escape or aid the miraculous return of the troopers who'd saved his life again and again on Christophsis.

A pair of white plastoid boots entered Bail's sight. "Commander, I've found Senator Organa!" The clone knelt down with a knife and swiftly cut Bail's bonds before offering the free arm. "You'll want to be up for this, Sir."

"Thank you," he uttered, swaying from the swift rise before his aching shoulder demanded a rub. "Tell me, is..."

"Commander, blow out that window, would you?"

The command centre Bail rose into was a sight that was fearsome, worrying, and perplexing. Grimy smoke curled upward from the dozens of wrecked battle droids collapsed in sad piles or over the consoles they'd been operating. No non-organic remained within the chamber, and of the seven present, including himself, four were clones either throwing Bail a swift salute before joining two others in shooting the downed commando models or, in Duum's case, approaching the floor-to-ceiling windows. Of the remainder, a quiet, strident sixth sense guided the Senator's mind and gaze away from the jade light infusing a lonely corner. Bail tasted an echo of the oppressive invisible pressure from before from a mere glimpse out of the corner of his eye and shuddered in the lurking chill hounding his cold bones. He knew two beings resided within the fey glow, yet Duum's affixing an unremarkable rectangular block to the transparisteel pane proved a more immediate draw.

Namely, the breaching charge blew the entire span of transparent alloy into the windy Christophsis skies, causing Bail, the only one without a helmet, to throw a protective arm across his face.

When the Alderaanian lowered it and blinked to clear the dust, a quartet of clones had rappelled across from the nearest skyscraper, the taut cords of synth wire stark against the blue sky outside the shattered window. Of them, Bail only recognised Jax from the diagnostic monocle affixed on the lefthand side of their helmet. As the troopers went about enthusiastically greeting each other with the fervour of those who'd faced death and lived to tell the tale, one soldier stood apart like a rock amidst a storm. Holding a skeletal blaster rifle in one hand, the other touched upon the hilt of a vibrosword strapped to their back? A lifetime spent amongst the veiled daggers of the nobility unobtrusively took note of the unconscious deference the clones paid to their kin with the damaged armour. Perhaps the soldiers didn't even heed how their body language waxed and waned when passing through the outlier's vicinity, yet instinctively deferred to some hidden aspect of their kin they did.

Perplexed, Bail studied the clone with narrowed eyes that carried a pained wince as he took in the half-melted plates of blackened plastoid, seemingly every inch of the trooper's form marred by some manner of injury. His lips curled upon noticing the slagged ruin of the trooper's stomach armour, the flexible abdomen protection cored through so many times the hole was large enough to fit Bail's fist.

It looked almost... fatal.

'Getting gutshot isn't pleasant, you understand.'

Faced with the disquieting implication that Buir might very well have been speaking from personal experience when threatening General Loathsom, the wary Senator was saved by a peaceful gleam of emerald green light.

"Buir!"

One moment, the unnerving glow had contained the implication of two presences. Now, a third teleported -for no other word suited to describe the instant traversal of the entire room- into Buir's waiting embrace with a delighted childlike squeal. Staggeringly intense relief and joy left Bail grinning so hard it ached as he beheld Mara being swung around in a circle by her adoptive father figure, appearing amidst the devastation with no inkling of how she'd arrived or, indeed, a push to discover the lost time. Instead, the Senator from Alderaan rolled his bruised shoulder and carefully picked his way past the happily crying child to where she'd emerged, exchanging soft thanks with the troopers in his path in the process.

For his subconscious had finally granted Bail permission to look upon the Angel.

Standing a head above even the towering General Loathsom, the angelic being's white and jade feathers fluffed and rippled as she used a slim hand to manipulate the Kerkoidan's struggling face. Left, then right, up, and then down, studying how the tusked alien reacted to the forceful touch with a nigh-inaudible hum each time. To say Loathsom's bulging eyes hinted at distaste was the mother of all understatement, yet Bail struggled to feel anything approaching pity for the rough treatment. Powerless, the once-proud corporate office briefly glanced at Bail when he halted at the Angel's side before the alien's face was dragged in the other direction.

In the end, grim and unseemly satisfaction burned hottest within the weary politican's chest.

"How many innocents do you believe he's harmed as a corporate stooge, hmm?"

Melodic, with just a taste of the fey carried to awaiting ears, the Angel glanced down from her towering perch to regard Bail with an eyeless look backlit by a nigh--unnoticeable glimmer of that penetrating jade illumination. It tore through the facade he wore like a cloak and sank into the Senator's abruptly frigid bones, only for a pleasant warmth to drive the chill away.

However it had performed the act, the Angel had judged Bail Organa and found him worthy.

And so he felt pressured to answer truthfully. "Only the General can know. If his treatment of us is any indication, then I fear many have tasted his ire and not lived to tell the tale."

Loathsom's abject lack of reaction to the thoroughly slanderous comment might well have indicated undue pressure from the Angel if not for Bail's observations of the Kerkoiden's methods. He professed an honourable shell which had no more depth than the average Kuati gene pool, serving only to disguise from casual observation the prideful rot festering beneath. Bail allowed a fraction of the disgust he felt to show, enough to draw an enraged snort from the Separatist officer before a white gauntlet wrenched his head around.

"Ah, ah, ah, General, none of that~." The Angel paused while the distant sounds of fighting from outside briefly overwhelmed Mara's delighted babbling. "Your army lies in ruins, your allies flee the field of battle, and all you hold dear shall crumble to dust and ashes in time. Listen," she forced Loathsom to look at the command centre. "Listen and know that for all your deathly aims, life as always found a way to defy your will. She means more to me than anyone can ever comprehend; my entire existence centres around guarding her from pains within and without. Without Mara, I would be..."

His neck muscles bunching like durasteel cables beneath the mottled blue skin, General Loathsom gurgled something virulently caustic, content heedless of the choked incomprehension of his actual words. His smouldering glare and bared tusks served well enough in forcing Bail to glance away with worry coiling in his gut, if only until the Angel laughed.

It was one of the most disturbing sounds the Alderaanian had ever heard; dark joy bundled in a smothering blanket of grief, pain and fey vindication.

"What are you?"

Bail only realised he'd spoken when the Angel flared her head feathers and bathed him in actinic emerald light spilling from the singular optic hidden underneath.

"I, Senator Organa, am a monument to the sins of false gods and an immortal empire cast into the flames of their own arrogance and hubris. I can lend aid," her free hand touched Bail, and he straightened with a gasp as hidden aches and pains vanished into the ether. "And I can condemn the guilty to cross beyond the dividing veil upon which I perpetually reside, never to experience true life or eternal death."

General Loathsom wheezed as the hand around her jaw tightened, only for his protestations to be smothered by the Angel's continued sermon. No other word accurately encompassed the reverent undertone colouring her words as she unexpectedly paused and lowered her hand to rest atop the gravid swell of her belly. Blinking, Bail performed a double-take to confirm that, yes, the Angel's, well, angelic form was burdened by what appeared to be a heavily advanced pregnancy of a kind the Alderaanian had no experience with.

"But you, Bail, can know me as Jade."

Favouring the openly confused Sentator with a faintly amused air, Jade gestured to Mara, presently sitting atop Buir's shoulders and beaming from ear to ear while turning her exposed 'face' toward her captive.

"We're two halves of the same coin; Mara and I. We soothe each other's pain, soul to soul, as only we can. She is my Tenno, and I'm her Warframe, forever sworn to shield Mara from the darkness of the universe and shoulder her burdens."

Lower, so soft-spoken that Bail half-believed that it was a figment of the howling winds and dying battle outside.

"To do what Mara can't to keep those we cherish safe."

A firm hand tapped his shoulder. "We should be going, Sir."

Seized by an impending sense of an emotion impossible to qualify with his heart thundering in his ears, he allowed Commander Duum to lead him away from the Angel and General Loathsom. Being offered a sleepy Mara by Buir proved a welcome distraction, even if it meant carrying the young child in his arms while the battle-scarred trooper broke off to stay behind. Ensconced within a defensive cordon of the surviving troopers, Bail Organa heeded his sixth sense and left the command centre without a look back.

"I'll be glad to see the end of this."

Nobody claimed the prescient remark before the group arrived at ground level and left the skyscraper behind to find a highway filled with celebrating Christophsians. Militia, civilians and even some few children cavorted and cheered amidst the sparking wreckage of Loathsom's entire army. Unable to shade his eyes with Mara in his arms and her head tucked into the crook of his neck, Bail noted the enormous frames of Hulk turret droids scattered throughout the locals alone or in small units, their emerald optics fixated on the nearest clump of separatist wreckage.

Mara stirring in her sleep meant that the tired Senator missed the flash of jade light from the far-above command centre, for he busied himself in stroking the child's back to ensure she slept a little longer. After everything she'd endured at far too young an age, let alone the mystery of her reappearance, it wouldn't be right to break her slumber.

Excited chatter from his clone escorts brought Bail around to openly gape as a far less maternally burdened Jade exited the skyscraper in the company of Buir and three uniquely hued troopers that hadn't been present earlier.

One in fire-scorched armour, caked in so many layers of burnt carbon that it was nigh impossible to discern their form at a distance beyond the charred outline of an armoured trooper.

One bearing chalky-grey armour on their broad shoulders, dozens, if not hundreds of large and small cracks, fracturing the individual plastoid plates and somehow doing so without destroying their integrity.

One whose otherwise battered and chipped armour remained white above the stomach and was dyed a streaky red, disturbingly identical in hue and intensity to that of freshly spilt arterial blood below that point.

Meeting Jade's shrouded eye with the barest trace of concern furrowing his brow, Bail Organa held the questioning gaze until the maternal Warframe raised a hand and extended a delicate finger toward the command centre. She then formed a fist before extending three digits that landed on her black, grey and crimson escorts.

It was relief, he realised while absently waving at Jade as he finally understood that General Loathsom's short-lived rampage on Christophsis was no more. The innocent would be free to rebuild their lives without the spectre of an army hellbent on revenge for past defeats returning to lay waste to all they held dear.

General Loathsom had been tried, judged, and found guilty of his many crimes.

And Bail had no intention of revealing that the latest of Mara's sworn guardians was the being to perform the act. Just because he hadn't the faintest inkling of how it'd occurred didn't mean the Alderaanian politician wasn't fully aware that the touch of the fey surrounding Mara and now Jade reminded him of some of the darker fairy tales back home.

In this case, the blood price for the three troopers was worth paying to finally have peace on Christophsis.

---

Sorry if this feels a bit disjointed; I welded my existing half-complete chapter nine with the new stuff written over a month later.

Next up, Anakin talks about walls and Jade deals with the Republic Child Protective Services.

 

[UndeadLord22]

"To do what Mara can't to keep those we cherish safe."

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Cant help but refer this as unintentional reference to the Lamenter WH40k?

 

[Night_stalker]

Cant help but refer this as unintentional reference to the Lamenter WH40k?

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Unintentional? My cash is on purpose.

 

[JohnWolfie34]

Next up, Anakin talks about walls and Jade deals with the Republic Child Protective Services.

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Yeah, the RCPS is not going to have a fun time trying to get Mara away from the people she loves- and they'll all die screaming if they try and put her into the Jedi's hands.
(Because, realistically, the Jedi are creating child soldiers, and considering the uh...history of Warframe,plus Jade's STRONG maternal instincts ....lots of power hungry snakes are gonna get a unpleasant surprise of the pointy, penetrative variety if they try to yoink Mara.)

Jade just needs to show has a much more lethal stick,and she's not afraid to use it!

 

[KonahrikYol]

Yes, an update at last. I thought the fic was abandoned for a bit.

Spoiler

So good ol' wally is going to pay Anakin a visit? I want to say nice, but considering the eldritch fuckery... Yeah, I hope he doesn't go insane from Sensing the indifference while chatting with the man in the wall. Because while he has power as a demi-force being, Anakin's mental will power is kinda shitty currently.

Also isn't the indifference more powerful than the local force entities such as bendu, abeloth, father, son, and daughter?

I kinda wonder if void angels, rumblers and murmurs will start popping up around the galaxy. Would make things more interesting, as a third 'faction' pop in. One that just kills everyone and thing.
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[Zetakille]

"I, Senator Organa, am a monument to the sins of false gods and an immortal empire cast into the flames of their own arrogance and hubris.

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...So people are gonna assume she's from the Rakatan Empire's time. That's the easiest misconception this line enables.

 

[Katalyxt]

Yes, an update at last. I thought the fic was abandoned for a bit.


[/Spoiler]
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[Okay I give up on trying to figure out how to box up text to prevent spoilers]

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remove the first / it should be [ Spoiler] (remove the space) on top