Saga Different but not broken.

Title: Different but not Broken
Author(s): Thorn058
Timeframe: Shortly after Hoth before the events of ROTJ
Characters: Wedge, Boba Fett, OC's Tessa and Jace Pavin
Summary: A quick look at a mission Wedge has to contact a slicer who is very different than what everyone expects. This is basically an idea I had to see if I could do the characters I wanted to introduce justice let me know how I did and what you think. I have a second part that I will write and post for the completed vignette


Different but not Broken.

The Rodain looked over the children’s section one more time waiting for the customer at the counter to finish up and leave. Titles like the Emperor’s child, Glorious Empire, Frozen, Hero of the Galaxy and so on didn’t appeal to him in the least. He spared a glance at the young woman sitting at a desk behind the counter seemingly staring off into space. The customer finished up and walked casually to the door. He approached the checkout counter and repeated the key phrase. The clerk offers the counter sign and negations begin.

The Rodain keeps glancing at Tessa, that in and of itself is enough to make Jace not trust him. He asks a question and it focuses Jace’s attention on him once again.

“So can it be done? Do we have an agreement?”

“Oh it can be done easy enough but…” Jace let his reply just hang their a moment.

“But what?” he asks indignantly.

Jace doesn’t get his reply out fast enough and its Tessa’s voice he hears first.

“65% of all Rodians operate in businesses most people find beneath them.” She says staring off at the holodrama section as if speaking to the air.

“What is that suppose to mean?” the Rodain asks clearly put off his game by the statement.

“What she means is that sometimes in this line of work you can get a feel for certain types…”

“25% of those are indisputably criminal activities.” Tessa continues.

“What are you saying girl? What kind of slicer are you?” he asks Jace clearly getting agitated, “One criminal calling someone else names. I should,” he makes like he is reaching for a blaster.

“Easy friend, what she is saying is that we have gotten where we are by being careful and that you look like a risk, so yes the job is easy enough but the price is double the going rate and we don’t move until the money is good. If you are satisfied we refund some in order to encourage further business. If that is a problem move on and we got no problems.”

“Fine I will contact you when the credits are ready. Until then you girl,” he points at Tessa "need to fix whatever is broken about you.”

Tessa looks the room over in a casual sweep of her head. “I’m not broken. People are hard.”

“Well whatever crazy girl.” He mumbles as he heads to the door.

Jace walks over and rubs Tessa’s shoulders

“I’m not broken; I’m not a crazy girl.”

“I know Tess, I know. Remember when I said sometimes you need to talk to the customers?”

“Yes, that sometimes they need to be reassured.”

“This wasn’t one of those times.”

“People are hard, they don’t make sense.”

“Got that right. 25% huh, his creds better come through.” Jace said sitting back down in his chair. If she heard him she gave no sign but stared off into the little store.


Wedge Antilles pulled his collar up a little more and tried to look as inconspicuous as he could. There was a time when he could have walked the streets Iziz and no one would have given him a second glance. Now as a hero of the Rebellion his face was pasted on posters on hundreds of worlds, some for good, some were death warrants. His role at Yavin and to a lesser degree at Hoth had earned him a reputation and that wasn’t a good thing to have this close to the core, the inner Rim was no place for rebels just now but he had a mission and that took priority. He hoped the weeks’ worth of facial hair and a few fake scars were enough to make him look less like his wanted poster and more like a simple spacer taking in the sights on Onderon’s capital city. He hoped to find this place soon, too many Imperial patrols for his liking.

He crossed the street stopping by a short squat black protocol droid and his scruffy looking human companion.

“I’m looking for a man named Jace Pavin, he runs a holodrama rental store here abouts.”

“Yeah we know him don’t we SB? Saw him just this morning heading to his store. I said to SB strang SB there is a man who loves his job, it’s like he is a Jedi or something with how hard that boy goes at that thing. Hey you wanna buy some Deathsticks?”

The droid whistles and hoots at him.

“Strang SB you been quiet for days and now you want to bust in on me when I’m trying to make a sale?” The droid hoots louder. “oh good call SB. My companion here has reminded me that we are no longer in the Death Sticks business, instead can I offer you some Spice, high quality stuff?” The droid turns and looks at him and then shakes its clamshell head making a low mournful whistle.”

“Just the direction to this store friend.”

“Oh yeah it is around the corner just look for the flashing sign.”

He walked away hearing the strange sing song lyrics follow him “Spice Spice Spice, sniffing spice, smoking nice… until he got around the corner. Just as he was told Wedge saw the flashing sign of the rental store and slowly made his way towards the door making sure to glance at everything as casually as he could on his way in.

Once inside he made a show of looking up and down several aisles as if looking for something that could catch his eye noting the clerk behind the counter with his feet up watching a video screen and the skinny nondescript girl sitting behind a desk looking at a spot on the floor he supposed.

He walked up to the counter and waits until the clerk looks his way.

“The temperature on Hoth can get so low it will freeze a Tauntaun in it’s tracks.” Wedge said casually knowing full well the truth of his statement something he was sure this lad had never experienced, he looked younger than Luke did when they flew at Yavin.

“Yeah but it’s not the cold that will kill you it’s the ice.”

“You Jace?”

“That’d be me alright, what can I do for you?”

“I need to speak to Silver Dragon about a job.”

“Well see we got a problem then because I’ve never heard of him and I don’t know you. You smell like an Imp and have ISB written all over you.”

“I’m Wedge Antilles; I was told that you could put me in touch with a slicer named Silver Dragon.”

“Who in this galaxy is Wedg…”

“Wedge Antilles, Commander, Alliance To Restore the Republic, 230 sorties, 85 confirmed kills, 1 Death Star kill silhouette, Imperial Death Warrant, wanted for questioning in terrorist attack on Gus Terta refueling station Corellia.” Tessa filled in without prompting.

“Now aint that something. Well then what can we do for you Commander Antilles?”

“You’re Silver Dragon?” Wedge asked skeptically

“Nope I’m just the business partner, she is Silver Dragon.” Pointing over to Tessa.

“I’m Tessa.” She said looking away uncomfortably.

“Silver Dragon!”

“Tessa.”

“Silver Dragon!”

“Tessa” she says softly giggling to herself.

“Tess you’re killing me here. Silver Dragon was the name I came up with to try and get us out there and generate…

“Tessa.” She giggles.

“Silver DRA-GUN.” He says slowly and continues, “ to generate business. Because most hard core criminal types in need of the galaxy’s best slicer aren’t going to hire a teenage girl.”

Tessa pops her head out of an aisle “Tessa” giggles and then pops back.

“Forget it.”

“Well she had most of her information right, except my sorties, I don’t think they are that high.”

“I added in your escort missions and Flight School training sessions to balance the equations better. There is a 35% probability that given the high profile of your missions that even escort duty is a possible combat opportunity with a plus/minus value of -5 that doesn’t affect the total number of sorties or kill ratio.”

“I’m impressed, I’m not sure what all that means but if you say that it balances out, then I’m in the right place.”

“People are hard, data isn’t. “

“So what is this job Commander?”

Wedge walks behind the counter and hands a datacard to Jace. “everything you need to know is right here, encrypted of course. The Short story is I need a false ID and passwords to get into ISB and I need it by tomorrow. Can it be done?”

“That s a pretty tall order there Wedge and we don’t do deadlines.”

“I was told you were the only ones who could pull it off.”

“Oh we can pull it off alright it is just We Don’t Do Deadlines.” He lowers his voice “Tess works when she works I don’t push her, that can make her dig in and not want to do anything, you know what I mean.”

“I can do it.”

“Are you sure? No pressure if you can’t do it, you can’t do it.”

“Tomorrow be here, by 4.” Her green eyes flash and then she retreats down and aisle.

“Who am I to argue with the Silver Dragon.”

“Tessa” another giggle.

“Are you her only family?”

“Who knows man, I found her wandering the streets when she was seven, been with her ever since.”

“Is it the “force” or somekind of Jedi training that allows her to do what she does?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care, I just glad she does it because it allows me to sit here doing this.” Jace pops some chips into his mouth and smiles.

Wedge walks over to the desk that Tessa was sitting at and marvels at the organization he sees. He picks up a small crystalline figure and looks at it setting it down when he hears a loud groan.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Yep you touched her things.”

Tessa hustles past him taking the figurine from his hand and placing back on her desk and then fusses for a minute before standing and staring at the wall, her green eyes moving right to left rapidly.

“I can put it back if it is that much of a bother.”

“I wouldn’t touch it again if I was you.”

“Tomorrow 5:30” Tessa blurts out

“Wait what happened, what’s she doing?”

“She is recalculating, you moved her stuff. It pushed your stuff back an hour and a half.”

“She is recalculating what?”

“Her life, everything in her life, the desk, everything for the last 18 plus years, she explained to me once but it hurt my head thinking about it. Let’s just say she is placing that statue in that moment in time and finding the equation to allow it to be in her life and that space at this particular moment.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Ok but don’t say I didn’t try to warn you. Tessa what’s the quickest way off planet?”

Without pausing what she was doing Tessa began to talk. “The quickest way is to go three blocks north, two blocks east and then proceed for 11 kilometers southeast, ascend 7 and a half miles to coordinates 194.6/ 139.8/105.2 where you can safely jump towards the outer rim with a 96% success rate and .05 percent chance of encountering a mass shadow. You could shave 5 minutes off your exit time if not for the Plex10 weather satellite which would make its orbit in your direct path 19 minutes after leaving here and causing a +15 deviation in starting jump point lowering the success rate to 68% and the probability of encountering a mass shadow to over 25%. A jump corewards would require an orbit of Onderon and a re-calibration of hyperspace jump points based on fuel consumption, rate of burn, proximity of mass shadows as you approach the core and Imperial shipping but the precise coordinates for the jump are…”

“Thanks Tessa, hows the recalculating coming?”

“I’m up to age 5, the equations are still in balance so the data flows smoother and can be analyzed and correlated quickly. Data is easy.”

“Tessa I know a droid that would love to meet you.”

“Droids are fine they are not as awkward as people. People are hard.”

“Well I thank the force that you can do what you do.”

“The force complicates things, it makes the data orange. I don’t like orange.”

Wedge looks at Jace.

“Let it go man I learned that if you think about it too hard it will make you go cross eyed.”

“She is something special though. Truly a beautiful soul in this universe.”

“Like I said it keeps her happy and me sitting here. Your creds came through so we are good to go.”

“The password to decrypt the datacard is..”

“Save it man she sliced it five seconds after you gave it to me.”

“That is the best encryption the Alliance has.”

“Yeah well the Alliance don’t have Tess.”

“Until tomorrow then.”

“Yep night man don’t let the Imps get you.”

“Goodnight oh Silver Dragon Queen of the slicers,” he bows deeply at the waist.

She sneaks a sideway glance at him “Tessa” she giggles.

“Tessa” Wedge says and walks to the door.

“I’m not broken!’ she says “people are just”

“Hard?” Wedge smiles and walks into the night.

 

Tessa reminds me a lot of River Tam from Firefly.

 

I didn’t think about that while I was writing her but now that you mention it yeah she does. might help me flesh out her character more.

 

Finally was able to finish this so here is part two of this character introduction and study


Part 2



Tessa opened the terminal at the desk and began typing away. She was always happiest when looking at code. It never occurred to her to tell Jace that it would be easy to get back into ISB’s system, she had backdoors into almost every imaginable system in the galaxy. It bothered her that people restricted data, she had to have backdoors, it made things easier for her, she needed the data, she needed things to make sense and be balanced as possible. The encoded data scrolled across the terminal screen, it appeared light blue to her, as it became more balanced the blue deepened, data was all colors to her. Like she told Wedge the force made data orange, the more balanced it was the more blue it appeared, green was the color of data being unbalanced with yellow being bad data and red, well red just felt wrong like it was angry or mad at her, it almost always accompanied the orange data that the force influenced. As always she seemed oblivious to everything around her although it had only been a few moments since Wedge had left the store and Jace had gone back to watching his holodrama. The curtain to the backroom of the shop moved slightly.

“Hi Boba.” Tessa said without looking up from her screen.

The bounty hunter smiled to himself as he took off his helmet, “Good evening Tessa.”

“Friek, you about scared the life out of me.” Jace exclaimed as he righted his chair and picked up the food he had spilled as the bounty hunter’s sudden appearance startled him. “make some noise next time will ya, let a body know you are back there.”

“I knew he was here.” Tessa chimed in.

“of course you did.”

“I had to wait until I was sure Antilles wasn’t coming back.”

“Please tell me you aren’t here for him because paying customers man, that’s just bad for business.”

“Relax Pavin, Antilles isn’t the Corellian I’m after. No the rebel I’m after is a little bit higher on the food chain. First things first, Tessa my girl, how are you doing?”

“I had to recalculate my things, Wedge touched them, he didn’t know not to touch them, people are hard.”

“You’ll get no argument from me on that.”

“You added four more kills to your total.”

“You sure about that? Four you say, I don’t think that’s right.”

“It would be three but there was an addendum to the official coroner’s report on Sluis Van that wasn’t released to the public. They determined that victim was killed by a disrupter blast fired at point blank range to the chest, a verpine disrupter, you signed the kill.”

“Should have known that you catch that, good girl. I got something for you, a contact of mine picked these up from some verpines they know, some number puzzles, thought you’d get a kick out of them.”

She smiled as she took them and hurried back to her desk. For perhaps the hundredth time Boba Fett, the most fear bounty hunter in the galaxy marveled at this small teenage girl. She fascinated him in a way that even someone as jaded as he had grown to be couldn’t explain. He had never encountered someone so unique in the galaxy. She wasn’t like Skirata’s Null’s, or clones that didn’t meet the strict standards of Kaminoan science that ended up being destroyed, or some lab expert gone wrong, no she was born different, had survived, thrived even and existed in her own world, she was right people were hard, they didn’t understand different, they didn’t understand her and how beautiful she was. She was unique and smart and delicate and yet tough and funny and unfazed by how cruel those people could be. He wished he could protect her always.

He turned towards Jace and in lowered voice said, “I took care of those guys from Black Sun, they won’t be bothering you again.”

“You know you don’t have to lower your voice I’m pretty sure Tess hears everything anyways and could repeat every conversation we have ever had.”

“I know but I don’t want to disturb her. These attempts to force you two into one of the bigger criminal syndicates are getting more frequent, I wish you’d let me relocate you.”

“Care to wager how many times she has solved those puzzles already and just doesn’t want you to feel bad?”

“Well the Verpines see them in three dimensions so I think it might slow her down. I’m serious Jace, sooner or later someone is going to really lean on you to join and I can’t always be around to watch out for her.”

“I know man, but this is her home, she doesn’t want to leave and every time I bring it up, she goes into a fit, so yeah we don’t bring it up.”

“I will do what I can then, look I have to go away for awhile, this bounty that Jabba has put out is too good to pass up. If you don’t hear from me for awhile I have asked someone I trust to look after you two. A man by the name of Skirata, Kal Skirata will contact you and take care of everything.”

“I can’t find any data on Kal Skirata!”

“Told you she heard everything.”

“Tessa you are the best slicer I have ever met but you aren’t anywhere near as good as Mereel and Jaing. They are to the point of obsession about wiping out all trace of their existence. Kal was one of my father’s Cuy’val Dar, those who no longer exist. You won’t find anything on them.”

“I could find something.”

“Haha I bet you could consider it challenge then, but I will warn you Kal’s boys are good but maybe you are better.”

“There was a Rodian in here earlier tonight trying to hire us for a job, I didn’t like the vibe he was giving off and it was enough that Tess picked up on it too.”

“I’ll look into him. If he needs to be taken care of, any particular way I should do it?”

“Use the vibroblade in your gauntlet it will balance out better in your totals.”

He laughed again, Tessa didn’t mind what he did for a living, the killing didn’t bother her, it was all just data to her and the unique way she saw the universe.

“I can do that. Take care Tessa, I will see you soon. Jace think about what I said.” He put his helmet back on and slipped out the back.

“Bye Boba. Take care.” But she was already calling up her list of databases to try and find a trail to the elusive Kal Skirata .





Epilogue:



Wedge made his way towards the shop the next day at the time Tessa had told him to be there. Gone was the previous day’s uncertainty replaced by a sense of urgency and purpose and a small bit of curiosity to see if the young girl was as good as her partner claimed. He entered the deserted shop and found Tessa standing at the counter holding a datacard in her hand.

“Hello Tessa.”

“Hello Wedge.” She blushed and looked at the counter.

“Where is Jace, I thought he would be here to complete the deal?”

“He had to go out for a minute, I can handle things.”

“Can you?”

“Yes my friend Boba says that I can handle more than people think.”

“Your friend Boba is probably right. I know a Boba but he is bounty hunter, scary guy.’

"Yeah that’s him, he is not scary to me, he is my friend, he brings me puzzles. I made you a Commander in ISB but without the scars.” She giggles “you look better without the scars. The data is all there, completely foolproof, you have access to everything you need.”

“Thank you, Tessa. This is just what the alliance needed and I'm sure my mission will succeed thanks to you.”

“Ok just don’t die or anything ok.”

“I won’t Tessa, I promise and no more scars if I can help it. I’m glad to have met you Tessa.”

“Wedge, will you be …people are hard…so will you be my friend?”

“I’d like that Tessa. Until we meet again.

“Bye Wedge.”

 

Now I'm curious - why are the chapters in different tenses? There's got to be a reason...

 

The muse spoke unfortunately she spoke in a different tense than when I started this a month ago

 

You're a Browncoat, ain't ya? Like seriously, you must be really into Firefly. Because every character in this story is basically a character from Firefly. Tessa is River Tam, Jace is Simon, Boba Fett is frickin' Jayne Cobb, and Wedge is Wash.

 

While I did really enjoy Firefly I can’t profess to being a Bowncoat although I’m not against it in the future. No the idea for this came from my son having what’s called Sensory Processing Disorder. It is on the autism spectrum although the low end. Most kids with autism have sensory issues but not all SPD kids have autism. So anyway one day I was marveling at how my son stores information I thought could a person with autism or special needs exist in a GFFA and what would they be like. I thought about if I could write a character and do it justice. So I decided to do this character study and see if I could make a functional autistic character and then use them in other stories. The fact that they resemble characters from Firefly is kismet or perhaps my tv watching bleeding into my writing.