Awards 2015 Awards Excerpts Thread: Rules and Excerpts

Welcome to the Excerpts Portion of the Awards!​

In this thread you will find excerpts from the nominated stories. We hope that everyone will read these excerpts before voting and vote on the best story/Author for the category, not just your favorite person.

**We will be doing the awards with Before and Saga done together and Beyond on it's own. We will make no distinction between which stories are Before and Saga.


Dates for Excerpts:
February 14th - February 28th
No excerpts will be excepted after February 28th


Info on Excerpts

Length of Excerpts:
Most stories: 300 words
Best Epic, Best Series, Best Author, Best New Author: 600 words

• As not every processor counts word counts the same, we will use THIS online word counter. Anything over the limit will be cut to the limit.

• You may include a short authors note to preface your excerpt that will not count toward your word count, but it should only be a few sentences at most.

• Author Categories: any example of your writing posted here on the JCF that has been posted in the eligibility dates.

How to get your excerpts into this thread:
Send a PM to both mavjade and Briannakin with your excerpts. If you are nominated for awards in Before/Saga and Beyond, please send separate PM's.

Please include the Era (can be in the subject line or the body of the text), and with each excerpt the Category, the story name and a link to the story. (Please no hot linked stories… we want to see the actual link.)

Example:​

Before/Saga​

Best AU​

My Story Name by MyScreenName​

http://boards.theforce.net/Link_To_Story_A_Part_That_I_Am_Really_Proud_Of​

My 300 word excerpt is here.​

• If you would like, your link can be to a specific post in your story you think is particularly good or an example of the story, you do NOT have to link to the first part of your story.

Other Info

This thread will be locked and stickied, so if you have any questions please post them in the Awards Guideor PM them to the mods.

We will begin posting the Excerpts in this thread on February 14th. You are welcome to PM them at any time until the end of the excerpt period. But remember, the sooner you get them in, the more likely people are to read it.

Any person we don't receive an excerpt from, we will have a link to the story here in the thread.


FAQ:
Why are we limited to only 300 words?
Due to the amount nominations that are going to the voting round, we don't want people to have to read > 20,000 words just to vote. Let's face it, most people won't. Keeping the word count down means people are more likely to read before voting.
Since it is so low, we are allowing you to link to a specific part of the story, instead of it being the first post. (Obviously, one post stories can't do this.)


How do I link to a specific post of a story?
In your thread, you will see that every post has a number on the bottom right side of the post next to "Like" and "Reply". Click on that and it will bring up a link to that post. Copy and paste that and use it as your link.

If my story is nominated for more than one award, do I have to use the same excerpt for every nomination?
Nope, unless you really want to do so, but we figure the more people see of your story, the better!

If I'm nominated for Best Canon Interpretation of a character or Best OC, does that person need to be in the excerpt?
Yes they do, since the writing of that character was what you were nominated for. If you were nominated for one of the relationship awards, your excerpt should have those two characters interacting.



** Note for those nominated - As you are all aware, sometimes the formatting on here can get a little wonky. We try our best to keep it the way you have it in your PM, but it doesn't always work so let us know if we need to fix something!


Index of Excerpts
Before/Saga
Best AU, Best Canon, Best All Around - Post Two
Best Short Story, Best Epic, Best Series - Post Three
Best Canon Interpretation, Best Original Character - Post Four
Best Canon Relationship, Best Original Relationship -Post Five
Best Author, Best New Author - Post Six

Beyond
Best AU, Best Canon, Best All Around - Post Seven
Best Short Story, Best Epic, Best Series - Post Eight
Best Canon Interpretation, Best Original Character - Post Nine
Best Canon Relationship, Best Original Relationship - Post Ten
Best Author, Best New Author - Post Eleven

 

BEFORE/SAGA

Genre

Best AU (Alternate Universe)


“Under a Dark Sky” by Raissa Baiard
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/under-a-dark-sky-au-luke.50021161/

In this universe, Luke and Leia have been raised by Darth Vader. Here, they encounter Old Ben, the blind beggar known as the Anchorhead prophet:

"The Force?" Leia demanded, shouldering her away between Luke and the Princess and shoving Clarys roughly to the side. She stood nose-to-nose with Old Ben, her hands on her hips, anger swirling around her like a miniature storm. "What do you know of the Force, old man?" she challenged, her dark eyes flashing dangerously.

Old Ben seemed unperturbed by her intrusion. "Sadly, I know you, Dark Lady," he answered, shaking his head. "Ah, how your lady mother would weep to see how your master has twisted you. Emperor he calls himself! He will not be satisfied until all light is destroyed and his is truly an Empire of evil."

*Leia, NO!* Luke shouted, useless words that were lost amidst the sound and fury of his sister's rage. It broke around him like a crashing wave and pulled him with it, until he felt himself caught up by an opposing current. Suddenly, he was the current, and it was him. He'd used the Force many times, Luke observed distantly as he was swept along, but it had never before used him.

Time dilated and contracted weirdly, and the world fragmented into a kaleidoscope of sensations: the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting; the villagers' shrieks as they milled like panicked herd beasts; Clarys's ashen face and her fingers digging into his forearm; a brilliant scarlet blade arcing through the air-- and stopping a hand's breadth from Old Ben. And he saw himself as if from outside, one arm outstretched, his hand clenched, and his face set with the effort of countering an equal Force.

*What are you doing?* Leia shrieked, her voice tight with thwarted ambition and frustration that her useless little brother would dare defy her. *He insulted me! He insulted the Emperor! He must die!*


~*~*~*~

Into the Archives by skygawker
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...e-updated-02-03-15-w-bonus-material.50023073/
"Someone has broken into the Holocron Vault," Madame Nu said eventually. "I received an alert when the lock was opened by someone with an unauthorized Force signature. As per the usual security measures, the vault locked has locked itself automatically from the outside to prevent the trespasser from leaving."

"An intruder?" Obi-Wan was shocked. Then the meaning of her words hit him. The invader was able to use the Force, which meant..."Is it the Sith?" he asked breathlessly. Could they have possibly have trapped the enemy they'd been searching for for so long without even trying?

Once again, he sensed discomfort from the gathered group. "No," Mace replied. "It's a Jedi."

What? That didn't make any sense. Why would anyone do that, especially at a dark time like this? He opened his mouth to ask who it was, and was hit with a sudden sensation of foreboding. The way the other Masters were looking at him, at him specifically, with expressions a mixture of sorrow and accusation...and he realized he didn't really have to ask. "No," he said, more to himself than to the others. "No, he wouldn't. Anakin may be - but he wouldn't - he's not-''

Wordlessly, Mace touched a button and a security holograph of the Holocron Vault appeared. And the figure that was standing in front of the search console, an expression of grim determination on his face, was quite recognizably Anakin Skywalker. Oh, Anakin, Obi-Wan thought in horrified desperation. What have you done this time?

~*~*~*~

Tale As Old As Time by aleja2
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/tale-as-old-as-time-l-m-au-update-july-20.50020646/

Description:
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, a young farmer strong in the Force set out on a quest on behalf of the Rebel Alliance. He and his companions wish to gain the help of the Diswaltis, an abnormally cheerful species renowned for their family-friendly resorts, for their cause. Unfortunately, the planet is also home to one of the Emperor's Beasts, a fearsome creature trained to seek and destroy her master's enemies. When the farmer's companions are captured by the Beast, the farmer offers himself in their stead... Inspired by the SJRS Fairy Tale Challenge.

Excerpt:
Luke felt invisible fingers circle his throat. He split his concentration in the Force, managed to reduce their grip to a slight pressure.

“No more tricks,” he finally managed to choke out. “I promise.” He let go of the saber, and she did the same with his throat. He swallowed, and rubbed the sore area. He stared deep into the angry gold depths of her gaze, trying not to flinch. To his surprise, she looked away first and lowered the weapon, shutting it off.

“Why did you come back?” she asked, her breathing a bit ragged. It seemed they were well matched in the Force.

“I had to carry you,” he said with a shrug. “You couldn’t return to the castle on your own, after all. And you needed immediate help.”

“But if you left me in the forest, I would have died,” the Beast said.

“Yes, you would have,” he said simply. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Yet my death would have freed you,” she said. “Why save me?” She stared at him, the steadily burning rage in her yellow gaze starting to dissipate.

He sat up straighter. “We are all connected in the Force,” he said. “Every being deserves a chance to live.”

“Even a Beast?” she rasped softly.

“Even a Beast,” he replied.

Their gazes met, held. Her mind was thickly shielded, but a frown creased her pale forehead.

“Besides,” Luke offered, “you saved my life first. So it was only fair I saved yours.” He smiled at her again, broader this time.

The confusion cleared from her face. “Do not mistake my actions in the forest for compassion, farmer.” Her words were so cold, they made Hoth feel like Dagobah by comparison. “You swore to stay here. I was only collecting what was mine.”

~*~*~*~

Long Gone by Kahara
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-replies-for-epilogue-chapters-12-1.50020998/

“Master Yoda.”

The Jedi Master looks up. Calling the lightsaber back to his side, he studies his new guest curiously. He is not exactly startled by the intrusion. Since Qui-Gon’s first ghostly appearance years ago, Yoda has become resigned to visitations. A comfort sometimes, to meet with old friends.

But this visitor! Unexpected she is. Glows with a bluish moonstone light like any other such apparition. Her, though? Never a Jedi was she. Had not the potential, even. Naboo was a wealthy world, even before being admitted to the Republic. Any child of Force-sensitive midi-chlorian levels would have been recorded. His ears sweep out to the sides in confusion.

This is… not impossible. If impossible, then it would not be happening. A byproduct of the Cave nearby it is not; the Dark Side’s influence reaches some small distance beyond the tunnel, but not this far. Yoda recognizes its phantoms easily and this is not one of them.

He refuses to blame the sudden manifestation of Padmé Amidala Naberrie Skywalker’s spirit on cyanoberry contamination in his porridge. In that case, his problem it would not be for long.



Best Canon

“Enough” by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/enough-a-tesb-one-shot-vignette.50021019/

No. I am your father.

It would be so easy to deny it. The word of a Sith Lord against so many others – others who have fought alongside him, sacrificed themselves for him, drilled wisdom and discipline and humility into him, loved him – should be meaningless. A murderer is a liar at heart, denying all that is good and true in the universe. An enemy only seeks to undermine and manipulate.

And yet...and yet.

The Force cannot lie.

The power that has saved his life and strengthened his hands and mind to wage war, the energy that has renewed him when his body could not take another step, the essence that has connected him to the glorious radiance of all life, can obscure the future and cloud weak minds, but on its own it cannot deceive. It is a revealer of thoughts.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

He has, and it is.

Just as his own face has met him within the abyss of a shattered helmet, it is his own self that reflects back from the black pit reaching out to him across that gantry. Blood calls to blood. A liar speaks the truth.

And that terrible echo, the resonance that vibrates to the tune of his own soul, will not be silenced. He will carry it with him, beneath the hum of his mind and the beat of his heart, when he sleeps and when he wakes, on the most distant base or remote coordinates, in the thick of battle and the moments of idle quiet.

Until it breaks him.

His wrist is numb, but it isn't. There isn't an anesthetic in existence that can wipe out that searing agony, not just of superheated plasma slicing through flesh and bone, but of words.

~*~*~*~

Dusk by Kablob
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/dusk-tano-ventress-offee-post-order-66.50023161/
Author's note: Captain Rex - under the influence of his Order 66 conditioning - has just ambushed Ahsoka Tano in the Jedi Temple Archives. Ahsoka had infiltrated the Temple to de-activate the Jedi homing beacon (not knowing that Obi-Wan was ahead of her) and has just learned that Anakin Skywalker was "dead".

The Jedi dove out of the chair as he fired, the blaster bolts flashing over her head and causing the terminal to explode in a shower of sparks. She rolled once and sprung to her feet while drawing a green-bladed lightsaber. A flash of confused recognition went through the back of the Clone's mind, but his instinct beat it back down. Good soldiers followed orders. He backed away and crouched behind some rubble, pelting the Togruta with shot after shot, and signaled for the rest of his squad to open fire. Just as he'd planned, she was caught in a crossfire - even a Jedi couldn't fight that.

Or so he had thought. A bolt skimmed across her right thigh, prompting a hiss of pain, but as she reached her free hand out a silver blur shot out of a bag lying on the floor. As it landed in her hand a snap-hiss was almost drowned out by the whine of a dozen deecee fifteens. Now armed with two sabers - one green, one blue - she was dodging or reflecting every shot that came her way.

The back of his mind knew that he'd seen that way of fighting before, but that was irrelevant. Good soldiers followed orders, after all. He noted that she hadn't tried to kill any of them yet, but he only let himself think of it in terms of tactics. His orders were to eliminate the Jedi, so that's what he would do. This straggler was trapped - her death was only a matter of time.

Something felt vaguely wrong about that, but he wasn't sure what.

~*~*~*~

The Book of Gand by Findswoman
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ap-8-posted-2-8.50019763/page-2#post-52096505

“To the Findsman thrown across endless leagues of stars to a mistless world, to a small Gand all alone beneath a poisonous sky, how can intuition come? For he cannot contain the Mists in his pouches, nor load them into his weapons, nor distill them into his phials.”

As was customary, Zuckuss began repeating the question to himself in monotone chant: “‘To the Findsman thrown across endless leagues of stars . . .’ Ng’xvi-Ta’al-Lhúd humbly begs the pardon of Your Mystical Honors, but how can he hope to answer that with only one Ritual of Discernment? It is not a fair question.”

Okkfel lunged close to him, his knobbly mouthparts snapping open disapprovingly. “What makes you think it is proper for an apprentice to speak so to his Masters, young one?”

Zuckuss bristled a little at this remark, but he swallowed the feeling and turned his eyes contritely downward.

“Gand apologizes most humbly, Findsmaster Okkfel,” he said. “Gand meant no disrespect. It only seems such an . . . unusual question for a Ritual of Discernment.”

“The youth is not amiss in making such an observation.” It was Volokoss who spoke, looking at Luyen. “It is indeed somewhat extraordinary, and Volokoss would wager that few of the apprentices in this temple have been asked such things in their meditative exercises thus far.”

Luyen turned to him. “The council would never present any student with a Discernment ritual beyond his ability,” she responded impassively. “Apprentice Zuckuss’s prodigious talent is well known to everyone in this temple. Why should either the council or this ruetsavii-tí’kaa waste his time with ordinary riddles when it he is both worthy and capable of intuiting things that are real and true?”

~*~*~*~

“Ἀνάγκη – Necessity Beyond Sway: by Chyntuk
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-sway-chapter-29-posted-22-jan-2015.50023608/

A few weeks later, [Ayesha and Thrawn] took Tam to the Holographic Zoo of Extinct Animals and the little boy spent his afternoon squealing with delight on Thrawn’s shoulders at the sight of the various long-gone creatures that populated the museum. There was an entire new section dedicated to now-defunct species from Alderaan, and Tam was cheering as they weaved through the holograms of great thrantas flapping their wings. Ayesha kept her smile on for Tammy until they dropped him back at his parents’ home, but she declined Mira’s offer to stay for dinner and her face was dark when they reached her apartment.

She usually avoided questioning Thrawn about his work – she understood that, as a civilian, she could not be privy to military matters – but after returning from the zoo, she cornered him and asked unrelentingly about the Rebellion, the Death Star and the destruction of Alderaan. He reverted to his arrogant Navy officer persona and answered her questions with curt, precise sentences. He explained about the Tarkin Doctrine of intimidating rebel systems into submission – a strategy he personally disagreed with, he said, it was sometimes counterproductive, but law and order were paramount given the various threats in the Galaxy and, for better or for worse, the Tarkin Doctrine was the policy of the Imperial Navy.

Ayesha shrugged angrily. “There is no better or worse in such a matter, Thrawn. That Death Star was an abomination. No one would build such a weapon if they didn’t think it’s okay to blow away billions of lives just to make an example.”



~*~*~*~

Saga: Death of a Jedi by Kablob
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/death-of-a-jedi-barriss-offee-post-tcw-s5.50023109/
Author's note: Barriss Offee is presumed dead after dueling Luminara Unduli during the Battle of Coruscant, but in reality she has been captured by Darth Sidious, who now taunts her about her failure to stop his plan.

Barriss tried to respond to Sidious but she couldn't find the words to. She had only an inexpressible anger that coursed through every fiber of her being. Sidious noticed.

"You want that, don't you? To end the corruption? To end the war?" He taunted her with the rhetoric she had once used.

Barriss found her words at last, and threw the little strength she had left into them. "You're wrong! You'll fail! The galaxy will never let the Dark Side rule over it!"

Laughing at her words, the Sith stepped forward into the light.

"Don't be so certain of that."

He lowered the cowl of his robe.

Barriss felt like her mind had shattered into a thousand pieces.

The image in front of her made no sense. She blinked, but his face remained the same. "You...you're..."
The man finished her stupefied words in an entirely different voice, one Barriss had heard hundreds of times.

"Indeed. And what do you think of that?" Supreme Chancellor Palpatine smirked at her.

There were no words in any of the millions of languages in the galaxy to express what Barriss felt then. She was right about everything, more correct than she could ever have imagined. And in the end, it meant nothing. All she had done was make things worse, she was just a cog in Palpatine's game. Her pawn Jackar, the bombing victims, her old friend Mara, her co-conspirator Letta, her friendship with Ahsoka, her master Luminara, and Barriss herself had all been sacrificed for absolutely nothing. She had been so sure all that death and betrayal would pay off in the end, but the war it had been meant to stop was only a plot by the man in front of her to destroy the Jedi.

She had failed.

~*~*~*~

What He Sees by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/what-he-sees-bail-organa-intertrilogy.50018498/

Bail Organa wonders what Sabé sees when she looks at Leia. He wonders if she sees what he does.

Does she see her mother’s grace and intelligence? Does she see her sense of righteousness and duty? Does she put a weapon in her hand and see a crack shot, but one who only shoots when all options are exhausted? Does she retire to her private rooms and weep whenever Leia declares Senator Amidala her hero? Does she see a heart that will die when the galaxy around her falls to pieces?

Can Sabé teach her to overcome those weaknesses? Can she teach her to be strong at all costs, even when those around her fail? Can she teach her never to be afraid, never to give up on those she loves?


Best All Around



“Into The Archives” by skygawker
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...akin-obi-wan-padme-updated-11-29-14.50023073/



The first thing Anakin noticed upon entering the Chancellor's outer office was that no one else was there. He paused for a moment, taken aback; there was no reason he could think of for Palpatine to have sent away his secretary and Red Guards at this time of day.

The second thing he noticed was the sound of lightsabers clashing from the inner office, and he ran faster than he had ever done in his life. He skidded to a stop in front of the door - the noise had stopped, and for a moment he wondered if he had imagined it. Not bothering to knock, Anakin hit the door release.

The scene before him stopped his heart. In the middle of the room was Obi-Wan, lightsaber held defensively in front of him, his face tight with concentration. And facing him...facing him...Anakin blinked, in the desperate hope that the impossible image in front of him would disappear. But the sight of Palpatine with a scarlet lightsaber resolutely pointed at Obi-Wan's throat remained, and so did the bodies of three dead Jedi Masters scattered across the floor.

Numbly, it registered to Anakin that he should be feeling shocked. He wasn't. In some way, he had known, had always known, could have reached this truth himself if only he'd been willing to accept it. He is Sidious. The Chancellor is the Sith Lord.

The two combatants circled each other, both apparently too focused to notice him standing frozen just outside the doorway. And then simultaneously, in a blur of motion, they struck.

"No," Anakin said, as his two mentors lashed out at each other with furious blows. It came out as no more than a hoarse whisper. "No," he repeated, this time more loudly. "No, stop it. Stop fighting."



~*~*~*~

Everyone comes to Doran's place by Raissa Baiard
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/everyone-comes-to-dorans-place-oc-repost.50020957/

Doran looked out across the room, taking in the cross-section of Merkesh City represented by the crowd, from the spit-shined off-duty Imps drinking flameouts to impress their girlfriends to the patchy furred Talz trying to cadge yub nuts off of the band. As he surveyed the Cafe, Doran had the sudden feeling of being watched. He whirled around, one hand dropping automatically to reach for his blaster, but there was only a sad-eyed Sullustan behind him-- Pter Lorr, second rate gambler and third rate con man. “Oh, it’s just you,” Doran said, reholstering his gun. “You should know by now sneaking up on me is a good way to get your jowls singed.”

The Sullustan gave a tiny, obsequious laugh as he slid onto the barstool next to Doran. “I beg you pardon, Doran,” Lorr said. “But I need to speak with you most urgently.”

“Lucky me,” Doran sighed. He doubted he wanted to be involved with anything Pter Lorr had to suggest. Doran was studiously neutral in local politics. But there was something about Lorr that always set his teeth on edge. Maybe it was the way he was always so earnest, trying hard to be everybody’s pal while plotting the best way to profit from them. To Doran’s way of thinking, the only thing worse than a thief was one that wanted you to enjoy being robbed. “To what to do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

“Because you are the only being in Merkesh City who I can trust with a very important task,” Lorr said, his floppy jowls quivering with emotion. “The only one I know who has a shred of decency, of honor.”

Doran nearly choked on his drink. "I think you must have me confused with someone else.”

~*~*~*~

 

Before/Saga

Style:


Best Short Story

Enough by Thread Sketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/enough-a-tesb-one-shot-vignette.50021019/

In this moment he doesn't know how he will keep going. He doesn't know how he can ever be a Jedi, bereft of his weapon – a weapon whose memory is now tarnished with hypocrisy and betrayal – estranged from his masters, undone by the shattering of dreams and legacies. He doesn't know how he can contain the immensity of this secret that will tinge his world in shades of gray and blood-red where once his purpose shone with sun-drenched clarity; a burden that can scarcely be borne over the weight of death and loss and relentless struggle already pressing upon him each day. He doesn't know how he will live with a permanent reminder of his arrogant stupidity and humiliation, of how narrow the gap is between defeat and destruction.

But between breaths he reminds himself whose arms are around him. The same arms that were pinned by merciless gauntlets as the world that had shaped and inspired her, with all its life and beauty, was reduced to vapor and rubble before her eyes. The same arms that fight back with deadly accuracy and lead with stoic authority, refusing to hang subdued in the face of overwhelming tragedy. She has persevered through suffering that he can't begin to fathom, and in the gale of affliction she is at times bowed but unbroken. Even in weakness she is strong.

They are now bound by the kinship of torment, and he is enveloped in understanding. For her sake, he wishes it were not so, and knows that she feels the same for him. But he drinks in her presence, her resilience, like precious water found among the desert wastes.

In this moment, her strength is enough.

~*~*~

Gundark in the Room by skygawker
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/gundark-in-the-room-one-shot-obi-wan-bail-anakin-padme.50025642/
The point is, Bail Organa was no stranger to acting oblivious to a gundark in the room, but even he thought that feigning ignorance in the current situation was absolutely ridiculous. The situation in question? A dinner party, with two of his closest friends and the two's mutual closest friend.

It wasn't entirely unusual for him to eat dinner with Padme Amidala and/or Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the addition of Anakin Skywalker was fairly new. The evening had been going pretty well, with only low-level awkwardness coming from the fact that he and Anakin seemed to have absolutely nothing in common to connect over. Padme and Obi-Wan both insisted that Anakin had hidden depths, but in the few times Bail had met him he hadn't noticed any redeeming features to the boy beyond his skill as a Jedi General. But tonight Anakin hadn't done anything particularly obnoxious or confrontational, and as they had begun to converse after finishing the meal, Bail had begun to accept the idea that the evening might actually be relaxing.

Relaxing, that was, until Padme - who was normally pretty graceful, dammit - had gotten up to fetch some more wine, and tripped over the bottom of her dress as she returned to the table. Obi-Wan had looked over in concern. Bail, seeing that Padme was all right, had snickered a little at her misfortune. And Anakin had practically gone into hysterics and rushed over to her side.

~*~*~



Point Blank by SabyneAmberle
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/point-blank-tor.50020360/


“All right. Are you seeing anyone?” He surprised himself with how suddenly the question tumbled out.

The question caught her off-guard, and Ky began to laugh. She stepped away from her leaning spot against the doors and walked to the nearby workbench. Clearing a spot, she sat on top of it, crossing her right leg over her left. “Now, why would you be asking that?” she teased. “Is that idle curiosity, or is there another question you wanted to ask?”

Torian could feel his ears redden slightly. “Another time, maybe,” he answered, surprised at how even his voice sounded.

“Well,” Ky bit her lower lip thoughtfully. “I'm not seeing anyone now, but I could be talked into it, by the right guy.” She added a playful wink, smiling as she saw a slight blush tinge his cheeks briefly.

“Really? I'll have to remember that.” He was slightly annoyed with himself, now. He wasn't the type to blush and stammer like some lovesick teenager talking to the girl he liked. A warrior was supposed to be able to handle all matters with a cool head and an even voice. He was failing rather spectacularly at both. Word of this got out, Corridan and the others would never let him live it down.

He had to deflect, even for a moment. “Guess it's only fair I let you ask one too. Shoot.”

He thought her smile was lovely as she thought of a question. “Your turn to tell me,” she finally said after several silent moments. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“Not yet,” he answered. “Thinking about it, though.” He saw she was now resting her chin on her hand, as though she were studying him. Maybe she was.



~*~*~*~


What He Sees by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/what-he-sees-bail-organa-intertrilogy.50018498/

Or does Sabé see the father's abilities? Does she become overwhelmed with fear each time the child’s reflexes are quicker than is natural, if she anticipates and reacts faster than the others in the classroom? Does she see his anger? Does she see his rush to judgement, his arrogant impatience and impulsiveness?

Will she reach her breaking point and come to him and say “It’s time.” That she can no longer control the Princess. That Leia’s abilities are beyond their reach.

Does Sabé see what he does?

He sees all of that and more.

She’ll never tell. The stoic and solid former handmaiden stays silent, so long as there is no immediate danger. Bail thinks she’ll go to her grave with enough intel and assessment of them all to fill a small library.

What a thankless task they all have. He, his darling Breha, and Sabé: keepers of a dark and twisted legacy, all in the hopeful embodiment of a child. All they can do is ensure that Leia is looked after, well-protected, and loved.

And when Bail Organa looks at Leia, he can see that, for now at least, she is.


~*~*~


Feline Trouble by Chyntuck
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...c-2014-fic-gift-for-viridian-maiden.50023527/

A short story that takes place aboard the Executor during the beginning of TESB.

“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t do that,” Maneas said shyly but firmly. “Admiral Ozzel is very fond of his cat and would be very upset if I lost it. Besides, it’s a rare breed of Caridan angora. Getting him a replacement would cost a year of my wages.”

By now, Piett didn’t know whether he should laugh, cry or scream. “Get out of here now, crewman,” he yelled in fury. “And be sure that if I ever hear about that cat again, or worse if I ever smell it, you’ll find out more about the brig than you ever hoped to.”

He waited for Maneas to leave and took another deep, calming breath before he switched on his datapad. He’d barely accessed the document he was looking for when someone let out a wail of despair in the hallway. “What is this ruckus?” he thundered as the door slid open.

Crewman Maneas was standing outside Ozzel’s quarters. He was on the verge of tears. “It’s the cat, sir. It escaped.”

That’s the best piece of news I heard since this morning, Piett thought. (...) “Well, go and find it, crewman. I’m confident you don’t need to be a tracking animal to follow the scent.”

“You don’t understand, sir,” Maneas whispered with pure terror in his voice. “The cat left that way.” He pointed at the hallway leading to Darth Vader’s hyperbaric chamber.

I take it back. That’s not good news at all. “Get. That. Animal. Now.” Piett enunciated, emphasizing every word. Maneas hesitated. “That was an order, crewman. Get that cat now, or go to the brig.”

There was a pause. “I’ll take the brig, sir. Should I report there straight away?”

~*~*~*~

Recall by K’Tai qel Letta-Tanku
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...allenge-au-obi-wan-ocs-updated-8-15.50022180/

AN: This excerpt is from T'lor's point of view.

"No, not again. Get out of my head! No more!"

The words are torn from her throat. She drops to her knees, totally consumed by the vision before her. The Force churns as waves of heartache, anger, helplessness, self-loathing, and fear pour out of her. I bend down, trying to pull her back to reality.

"K'Tai, it's a memory. It's past. Focus on me," I say, but she's gone beyond my reach. There is no bringing her back, at least not right now.

"So much blood. My hands...so much blood," and she scrubs at her hands, trying to wash away something that isn't there, and yet will always be there. They are cracked and scraped, and the more she rubs, the closer they come to really bleeding. This is not the first vision, nor is it likely to be the last.

The dark side is like that, an oily residue that never quite goes away. All it takes is a trigger, a scent in the wind or a pose in a kata, and you are right back in the midst of the madness. I know it well. The depths of the visions and the strength lessen with time, but they are never truly gone. I remember a time as a padawan, coming in to our quarters from class to find Gi'den in the midst of a flashback. I can still see the sweat on his face at his hairline, the tension in his muscles as he fought being consumed yet again by one moment so many years ago. It was terrifying. But as frightening as that was, K'Tai's flashbacks are worse.

~*~*~



Best Epic

Into The Archives by skygawker
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...e-updated-02-03-15-w-bonus-material.50023073/

He dragged his fingers along the crevice between the bottom and sides of the shelf, then along the top. Near the end of the shelf, his finger was caught, though not by any physical obstruction. There was something there, in the Force, and if he reached out with his mind and twisted it, just so…
The whole section of wall in front of him swung away, revealing the entrance to a small, dark room. The darkness was not merely the kind that results from absence of light, but the sort of pure entrancing blackness that one could imagine seeing in a bottomless pit or a black hole.

And Anakin Skywalker thought, finally.

He stepped forward without making the conscious decision to do so, pulled across the entrance by a tug that felt physical, as though something inside of the room had put hooks into his heart and stomach and was yanking him toward it. Once inside, he could feel the darkness pressing in on him, pushing him forward and whispering in his ear words like power and destiny and right.

And it felt good, like a piece of himself that he had never known he was missing had been slotted into place inside his heart. He looked around, feeling oddly numb, taking in the shelves of holocrons in the dim lighting from the entryway. They were different than the ones in the room he had just left, pyramids instead of cubes, and were scattered sparsely, haphazardly on the wooden shelves.

He crossed the room in a daze. There was no need to think about where he was going; here, there was only the Force. Guided by an unseen hand, he knelt down in front of one of the old wooden shelves and reached out for one of the holocrons. An old memory of something Obi-Wan had said to him once, about some Sith holocrons being able to possess the people who touch them, was enough to break through the dreamlike feeling and make him hesitate.

But only for a moment. He couldn't let fear get in his way, not now when he could feel that he was on the precipice of something, some powerful inevitability. He lowered his flesh hand, reaching out instead with the gloved, mechanical one. A current of energy rippled through him the moment he touched the holocron, and for a moment he just knelt there, gripping it, letting the feeling of power flow through him. He moved on the the next shelf, and then to the next, picking up holocrons at random and replacing them back on the shelf.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for, but each one he touched deepened his connection to the Force and brought him into an almost trancelike state. Every holocron felt slightly different than the one before, and all of them hummed with an invisible energy that went bone-deep. It was the same sense of static electricity he'd felt before, building up on Anakin's skin and and reverberating through every nerve in his body.

This is Anakin Skywalker, on the edge.

~*~*~

The Book of Gand by Findswoman
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ap-8-posted-2-8.50019763/page-2#post-51664831
(Note: Please note the formatting—this excerpt is from a flashback sequence.)

Fengor Ng’xvi-Ta’al-Lhúd.

That one name plunged the young Gand straightaway into trancelike, swirling darkness.

Father.

The Guardian.

The Guardian stands before the long, broad window of his Temple quarters, watching the wispy silver vapors rising from the great misty void at the Sacred Capital’s edge. Night is falling; a gray haze is creeping in, dimming even more the purple and blue of an already dreary day. Storm-fogs threaten; menacing bursts of rain bespatter the glass.

It is much like a day from many years ago that the Guardian remembers well: the day his younger son was born. He stood before this very same window as his beloved wife, his own Otila, with all the healers of the Great Temple surrounding her, toiled and bled to bring their second son to the light of the Mists. A full rotation of pain and woe culminated in three whole days of harsh labor. With her first she had been able to ease her discomfort by meditating; with her second she was unable to extract a single speck of soothing intuition from the Mists. Her Findswoman’s sense was being sapped away from her, she said, just as a gardener saps all the nectar from his ik-ga bushes at the end of the cold season to keep the nail-grubs away.

Now the Guardian stands awaiting the verdict of his fellow ruetsavii concerning the same son born that stormy night, the same son who had brought his mother such pain and sorrow.

And tonight, as then, he stands before the window, beholds the angrily swirling storm-fogs, and has a vision.

A young Findsman with silver eyes—himself as a youth?—walks slowly toward him, with a strange glowing sphere of energy shimmering golden-green between his strong clawed hands. Before the Guardian can grasp the jeweled vibroblade inside his cloak, the younger Findsman hurls the glowing orb at him, knocking him to the ground.

The Guardian lies helpless, unable to move as his strange young double stoops down and wrenches open his cloak and tunic, leaving his neck and chest bare in one of the Findsman’s most degraded attitudes of defeat. With one knee on the Guardian’s chest, he rifles through the Guardian’s inner pockets, wresting forth blades, ammunition cartridges, binders, chronometers, even the miniature illuminated Book of Light that had belonged to Zukfel long ago. Everything he finds he dashes ruthlessly to the floor. Then, with claws larger and sharper than the Guardian’s ever were, he wrenches from the clasps of Guardian’s cloak the tassels signifying him to be janwuine—one of greatness, worthy of first-person self-reference.

Finally, in a single, swift, horrible motion, his spiked fist pierces the chitin of the Guardian’s chest, dispatching him with a final bloodcurdling shriek to foggy oblivion . . .



~*~*~

"Son of Unveiled Secrets" by Jade_Pilot
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...i-wan-l-m-chapter-43-upated-10-1-14.50013186/

“What was silent in the father speaks in the son, and often I found in the son the unveiled secret of the father.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche


Chapter #1

“He has your eyes.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s head jerked up in surprise at the words from the dark-haired woman sitting across from him. Shifting her nursing baby, she tore off a section of Haroun bread and handed it to the small boy sitting next to her.

Obi-Wan blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

The woman smiled, as if recognizing how tired he felt and sympathizing. “Your son…he has his father’s eyes.”

Obi-Wan looked down into the peaceful face of his charge and was surprised to find him awake and staring out from his carryall. The infant shifted his gaze and locked eyes with him. He has his father’s eyes indeed, he thought. Grief pierced his heart once again as he recalled the events leading up to this moment and the arduous task ahead of them.

The plain clothed woman cocked her head. “Of course yours are a darker blue…but you mark my words, they’ll change up a time or two before they settle. I’m guessing about a week old?”

Obi-Wan found himself nodding as he reached out with the Force at this plain clothed fellow traveler. She only reflected a mild manner and willingness to pass the time through conversation. “Yes…nine days to be exact. How did you know he was a boy?”

She smiled and tilted her now sated bundle toward him, showing the tiny pink bow attached to the baby’s light brown hair. “A guess, really…he is tiny, but appears to be healthy. Is his mother traveling with you?”

“No,” he began, swallowing quickly. “She died…in childbirth.” Obi-Wan looked away wondering why he had dropped his guard so completely with this woman.

“I am sorry,” she whispered, placing her infant over her shoulder and gently patting her on the back. “Your son will need you all the more then.”

“Yes…he will.” Obi-Wan vowed he would be there for the child. Between the Lars and himself, Luke would be well taken care of. He looked around the large room, not remembering the last time he had taken a public intergalactic freighter as his mode of transportation. The image of Anakin and Padme dressed in outland peasant clothing boarding such a vehicle all those years ago flashed before him, causing yet another pang of grief.

The little boy chewing the last of his bread jumped off the seat next to his mother and began to wander closer to him. He stared up at Obi-Wan, his eyes bright. “Did you paint your hair?”

“What?” Obi-Wan responded.

“Your hair…did you paint it?”

“Ben, be mindful of your manners,” the little boy’s mother called, extending another piece of bread towards him.

Obi-Wan smiled, finally understanding. “I’m afraid this is the color I was born with, young one.”

Ben scrambled back towards his mother, taking the bread offered him and biting a mouthful, his eyes never leaving Obi-Wan’s face.

“Sorry,” the mother said with a smile.

“It’s quite all right, he has a naturally healthy curiosity. I imagine it will serve him well.”

Her lips twisted into a grimace. “If it doesn’t get him into trouble.”

“I doubt there is much chance of him escaping an adventure or two.”

She nodded, running her hands through Ben’s untidy hair. “Strange, I had a hankering that this was your first child. I can see now that you’ve already raised one.”

He nodded, looking away—hoping to end the conversation.

~*~*~


The Journal of Jax Pavan by Ewok_Slayer http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-journal-of-jax-pavan-ddc-2014-complete.50017385/


When I returned to the hut the boys seemed surprised to see me. Eventually Kyler’s face broke into a smirk as he made a wide gesture with his arms. “Where are the women? I thought you’d bring us back a harem.”

I dropped down on the dirt floor and shrugged. “The guards flew over in a gun platform and broke up the meeting before the raiding party could leave.”

“No excuse!” Byson said with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t let any Imperials get in my way.”

“Said the man in the Imperial prison,” Norro pointed out.

Byson glowered at his friend. “If it was me I would have taken out the guards.”

Norro snorted and rolled his eyes.

“No, I would. I can just see it now. The gun platform is hovering overhead. I fling a grappling hook up and secure it and then scramble up the rope silently. I creep over the side of the platform and push the first guard over the side while grabbing his blaster. The other guards turn and we get into a blazing firefight. I duck and weave avoiding the blaster bolts until there is only one guard left. We bring up our blasters to fire…and all we hear is click, click, click—both of our charge packs are drained. The large guard gives me a feral grin as he throws down the useless blaster and comes toward me with his bare hands. He thinks I’m an easy kill because he is so much larger…but I surprise him. I reach back into my waistband and pull out a Wookiee crossbow and put a bolt through his head. He screams and tumbles over the side. I then drive the platform to Sister Central and invite the lovely ladies to join me for a ride out of the camp.” Byson ended his fanciful story with a broad smile as he wrapped his arms around his body and simulated kissing an imaginary woman.

Norro was laughing so hard I thought he might break a rib. “Stang! There is so much wrong with that story that I don’t know where to begin.”

“How about the grappling hook?” Kyler said. “Where did you get a grappling hook?”

Byson shrugged. “I may have found some ore in the mountains and smelted it.”

“You smelted it?!” Kyler howled in amusement. “Okay, how about the rope?”

Byson thought about it. “I took strips of bark and braided them together.”

“How does a person pull a Wookiee crossbow out of their pants?” Norro asked.


~*~*~

Silver Swarms of Ships by Goodwood
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...y-2014-diary-complete.50017416/#post-51263340


(Author's Note: This entry takes place after Chak's first experiences in combat, and is notable in how it, along with the entry linked above, helps to lay the groundwork for his ability to develop as a character in future.)

Pilot log, entry ten, 3958.3.2 BBY

The night after the battle I slept horribly, thrashing about in my rack as beams of light crisscrossed the star-spangled visage of my dreams. It wasn't a dream in the normal sense I suppose, nor was it a "vision" or some other stupid mystical crap. I asked one of the other pilots about it in the morning after he asked if I was feeling okay, and he explained that this kind of thing was normal after one's first combat. He also said that it would have been doubly worse for someone, like me, going through two or three engagements before having the time to properly rest and "data-dump the day's events," as he put it.

As if to make up for the rotten rest, we got some shore leave the next day. The Rodian government seems to be quite grateful to the Republic military for defending their world from the Sith, and they showed it when they invited us down from our ships in waves to enjoy the delights of their capital city. It was during our allotted time on-planet that Teish'ala and I had those drinks, and boy did it help our moods. I hadn't really been much of a drinker before the war, but this time it was thoroughly enjoyable. Alcohol is funny that way, it seems; just about every other war holodrama has a scene wherein the protagonist realizes the delights of drinking away the stress of combat. Teish'ala, it seems, is quite skilled at knocking back shots, a feat I wasn't about to try and match her at.

In any case, we had fun on Rodia, taking in the sights when we weren't pub-crawling. This was a world so unlike Coruscant, where it's all urban sprawl; its jungle is organic, though it can be just as deadly. Teish'ala tells me that the Rodians themselves like it that way, as they're hunters by nature, and she seems to admire them for it. I suppose that's why they're so often employed as mercenaries and thugs, but given the previous day's events I can imagine a lot of them will be queuing up to join the Republic Military. The Marine Corps could definitely use them best, I think.

Anyway, we're back aboard our ship, and we plan to meet again in a few minutes' time, so I thought I'd scribble down a few notes about goings-on. Based apparently on the AARs (after-action reports) I've been submitting, Lieutenant Korve seems to think I've got a knack for the written word, and he tells me I should consider making this log into a novel.

If I survive the war, of course.

~*~*~



Best Series


“Early Morning Thoughts…,” “Pandemonium at a Hutt’s Garden Party,” and “Of Urgent Transmissions…” by Findswoman
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...of-visions-ocs-dwb-week-3-challenge.50023022/
(Note: This excerpt consists of brief extracts from two stories in the series, separated by dashes [— — —].)

As the pale orange morning twilight hovered at the edge of the sky, a broad-shouldered female Weequay in dark green coveralls and silt-caked rubber boots made her way along a walk lined with red-leaved flowering trees, trimming back with a large vibroshears any and all branches that looked the slightest bit too long. It was important that the garden look its best today: Great Bonvika would be hosting a gala garden party to welcome a visiting Geonosian noblewoman, the Grand Duchess Peascodd. Word in the servants’ quarters was that a weapons deal was in the works. The grand duchess was in a position to supply Great Bonvika with the munitions the Hutt desperately needed in her ongoing territorial conflict with her third-cousin-by-marriage, the unscrupulous Gardulla Besadii. Meanwhile the Geonosian, a well-known doll collector, stood to receive five hundred cases of the much-prized CoCoToys Deluxe Edition Ultimate Braids Bastila. Bonvika’s agents had scoured the finest Coreworld playware emporiums for these prized collectible dolls, and the promised shipment now sat waiting, neatly palletized, in an unused hangar bay.

The Weequay chuckled to herself, for she alone at Bonvika’s court knew what would happen next. Just before sunup she had gone to that very hangar bay and planted the TB-47 time bomb that, punctually at midnight, would “accidentally” reduce the entire delicately clothed, immaculately coiffed shipment to powdery, hand-painted smithereens. Gardulla would be proud . . .

— — —

It was the perfect evening for a garden party. Hanging lanterns and luminarias of all shapes, sizes, and colors adorned the grounds of Great Bonvika’s palace. The exotic flowers sent up their multitude of odors, attracting tiny luminescent insects to their embrace. Gentlebeings of all descriptions milled about, some mingling over delicacies offered by slave girls, some strolling along winding garden paths, some secluding themselves in vine-wreathed arbors. The soft music of a tri-harp and a Rindao double viol emanated from a gazebo at one corner of the Malreaux Rose Garden, with the purl of the fountains forming a gentle counterpoint. Overhead, all five of Nal Hutta’s moons shone full and round; even dingy, gray Nar Shaddaa never looked so radiant as when it was lighting up the skies over the Gebroila meadowlands.

In her custom-built pavilion at the center of the Great Lawn, Bonvika herself reclined on synthsilk down-filled cushions, loudly scarfing large green bonbons from a box. Beside her, on a sofa brought out specially for the occasion, sat a middle-aged female Geonosian, her arms laden with jeweled bangles and her tridactyl hands clutching an empty glass.

“Oh, and Peascodd, dahling,” began the Hutt in the midst of a mouthful. “If you could perhaps consider throwing in some of those mahvelous incremental sequence bombs you sold dear Borvo that time . . . Quinfruit petti-bon?”

She reached one of the green sweets over to the Geonosian. It was cracked, sending a goodly quantity of runny yellow filling oozing out onto the floor.

“No, thank you,” came the stiff reply.

Wolfing the petti-bon herself, Bonvika continued. “Well, as I was saying, dear Borvo was absolutely enchanted with them, and I was thinking they would be just the thing for dealing with Gardulla’s naughty, pesky bounty hunting scum. Always barging their way in here in the middle of my noonday salon concerts—”

Peascodd drew herself up, her bangles clinking coldly. “Borvo,” she rejoined, “was able to offer me fifty cases of Silken Elegance Visas in addition to the latest CoCoToys Deluxe Edition. If you are prepared to match his offer—”


~*~*~
Death of a Jedi ; The Witch and the Jedi ; Dusk By Kablob
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/death-of-a-jedi-barriss-offee-post-tcw-s5.50023109/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-witch-and-the-jedi-asajj-ventress-ahsoka-tano.50025627/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/dusk-tano-ventress-offee-post-order-66.50023161/
Author's note: This excerpt comes from The Witch and the Jedi. Ahsoka is searching for a lightsaber crystal, and followed an apparition of Anakin into a vision of the Jedi Temple after Operation Knightfall.

"Ahsoka," Anakin's voice startled her, there was a hardness to it that she had never heard before. She turned around to see him standing in a doorway, his deactivated lightsaber in his hand, clad in a dark cloak with a hood pulled up over his head. This isn't right. This isn't Anakin, Ahsoka thought, her heart racing. Something about him just felt wrong, in a way that reminded her uncomfortably of Mortis.

"You have to join me, or this will be your fate too," he said, making a sweeping gesture to the corpses. "Dead old fools, too stubborn to see their doom." He began walking towards her, and a sudden blast of wind blew his hood back. His eyes were bloodshot and yellow, burning with the power of the Dark Side. This is wrong, I was wrong. She turned to flee, only to run into someone else, who knocked her down and fell on top of her, pinning her wrists painfully against the ice.

"He's right, you know. Only by embracing me can you hope to survive." Ahsoka was hearing her own voice, looking into her own face, but it wasn't right. The other Ahsoka's eyes were yellow and bloodshot like Anakin's, alight with madness, and the veins on her face stood out like a dark web, her mouth contorted into an insane grin. She licked her lips, obviously pleased by the real Ahsoka's horror. "If you don't join him, he will kill me!" A flash of suppressed memory flew up into her mind's eye, another reminder of Mortis, another fallen Ahsoka crossing lightsabers with an uncorrupted Anakin. Just as quickly as it appeared, the memory was gone.

The other Ahsoka seemed amused at the prospect of her death. Ahsoka summoned enough strength to push off the twisted version of herself as it began laughing hysterically and stood up. Anakin was right in front of her now, and he held out his unlit lightsaber to her.

"Now do what you should have done years ago, and you will gain everything you seek." His usual sarcastic smile stood out in stark contrast to the hatred in his eyes. Numbly, she took it. Anakin moved beside her to reveal Barriss chained to the ruined wall, looking emaciated and half-dead, her eyes even more hollow than her cheeks.

"Ahsoka, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, everything moved so fast and got out of control." Tears were freezing on Barriss' face as she spoke, her voice a dry whisper. "Please don't make my mistake. I thought I was strong enough to control it, that my own fall was the only way to rescue the Order itself from falling. But I was wrong," Barriss stopped, overcome by a tortured coughing fit. "I was so wrong. There's no controlling it," she continued. "Everything I did dragged us further into darkness. Once it gets a hold of you you'll destroy everything you loved, like I did. Please-"

Her voice cut off into tortured gasping as the false Ahsoka rose to her feet like one of Shili's night predators, closing Barriss' windpipe with a gesture of her hand.

"Do it," Anakin snarled at the real Ahsoka. "Kill her!"

Ahsoka's montrals rang with the sound of her own twisted laughter. She could feel her dark counterpart's breath on her neck, her hand gently running down one of Ahsoka's lekku.

"Come on Ahsoka," she whispered. "It'll be easy. She deserves it, she used you, she wanted you dead!"

I can't, Ahsoka realized. Not then, not now.

~*~*~*~

Long Gone and Kaleidoscope Candles by Kahara
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-replies-for-epilogue-chapters-12-1.50020998/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...verse-canon-characters-legends-oc’s.50025565/

From the Kaleidoscope Candles story collection, which takes place in the same AU as Long Gone. Padmé has managed to wrangle her way into temporary blue ghost status, and to one last meeting with her long-lost children.

“So, did you ever get a wish?” Luke is wide-eyed, fascinated by this apparition of their lost family. Padmé must have looked like that once, Leia thinks. Suddenly, she finds it easy to imagine this glowing spirit as a young child enlivened by the hope to catch a glimpse of that first night-blooming flower.

“Yes, I did.”

The twins wait a moment. Leia breaks first.

“All right, out with it,” she demands playfully. The three of them lean in close for the revelation.

Their mother grins in a conspiratorial way and says softly, “Can’t tell you! It has to be a secret or it might not work.”

Luke is the one who bursts out laughing first, but soon they are all clutching their sides. There is something about the sheer childishness of it, Leia thinks. She feels lighter than air.

“If it might not work, does that mean you never got… what it was that you wished for?”

She wonders then if she should not have asked, but Padmé’s mirth seems unaffected.

“I honestly don’t know, Leia. I was a very ambitious youngling and it was not a specific kind of wish. If it’s still doing something out there, it’s probably like any other dream that people have. There’s no telling what the other end of it would look like. So.” Padmé makes the “quiet” gesture and grins again. “But I did know someone who got her wish.”


~*~*~*~

Fragments and Miscellanea by Findswoman
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-dwb-week-3-challenge.50023022/#post-51821868
(Note: This excerpt consists of extracts from two stories in the series, separated by dashes [— — —]; the link is to the first of the two.)

All that way, only to have the accursed thing go all higgledy-piggledy again. She thought darkly of the delicious plateful of confit de quadduck à la Coronetisi that she had left behind, half-eaten, on that cocktail table. Well, perhaps those pesky little light-up gnats were enjoying it, anyway . . .

“OOH! HEY!”

The youthful, high-pitched voice exploded on Glockel’s consciousness. To her absolute horror she recognized before her the curly purple head of the wiggly Theelin child she had met earlier that day.

“Why hello, Soozoo,” Glockel said as calmly as she could manage.

“You’re the lady who talks funny!” Soozoo was bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet, pointing a manicured index finger at the Human woman.

“Why, yes.” Glockel let this remark slide. She spoke with the silvery, lyrical accent typical of her little-known Outer Rim homeworld, and she knew well her speech sounded odd and comical to most Basic-speaking Humans in this sector.

“Where’s your little friend with the big eyes?”

“Ah, hmm, well . . .” Glockel did her best to let this slide too, since the child had almost certainly never encountered one of her partner’s kind before. “She just went for a walk. She likes to take walks. Say, Soozoo—”

Just then Glockel’s commlink crackled to life with a blood-curdling sound like cramponed boots crunching through an iced-over puddle.

“KKRKRK-K-K brgrrrgrbr rrrgbgr bay five-besh grgrbbgg immediately repeat KKKHHHH.”

— — —

Gently Telfien lifted the Human from the crate, slung her carefully over her shoulder, and transferred her to a nearby passenger berth. It took time; Telfien was small and slightly built for her species, while Glockel was almost a head and a half taller than she, and rather gangly to boot. At last, once Glockel lay safely in the berth, Telfien knelt beside her and looked her over, checking for any wounds. The Gand removed one glove and touched her three-clawed hand to a yellow-gray bruise that was forming on Glockel’s cheek. Then she stayed a few moments, gazing and wondering.

What had her inquisitive Human friend seen when she had picked up and opened this ancient relic? What mystic images had sparked in her mind with each of its tiny chimes? Had she too seen the gigantic ice-gray wedges piercing and dispersing her homeworld’s protective gold-orange clouds . . . rank upon rank of white-armored soldiers trampling down helpless citizens in the streets of the Secular Capital . . . Elders and Findsmasters sitting hunched and trembling and weeping under broken temple archways and crumbling temple walls . . . ?

And the flower of Findsmen—his homeworld’s last hope—swooping unfeelingly off into the void in his sleek, customized starfighter . . . ?

Had Glockel—blithe, curious Glockel—shared these visions? And would they mean anything to her?

 

Before/Saga

Character:

Best Canon Interpretation


Yoda in Long Gone by Kahara
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...e-chapters-12-1.50020998/page-2#post-51744404

Yoda eats slowly this morning. A wavering of sorts in the Force he can sense ever since speaking with Amidala. Pathways are shifting and rearranging themselves in the energy field; all of his attempts at meditation branch off into many fragmented possible futures. Hazardous times draw near, if he is any judge. He doesn’t like it. Especially not at this hour of the morning. Going to be one of those days, he can tell this is.

Done with cleaning dishes and repairing the hole in the storage area, Yoda steps outside to enjoy the humid air and is unsurprised to find Amidala waiting for him. Understood that she would find her way back at some point he did.

“A pleasant morning to you, Senator Amidala.”

“May your work under this sun feed your home and heart,” she returns. The phrase is similar to an old Alderaanian greeting, surely making it the Naboo equivalent. A strange choice it seems until she points out the leaf-tail lounging in a high crook of the mangrove tree. Incriminating purple berry stains the arboreal nuisance has on its fur. They are visible even from a distance.

“Know my business before I do the entire realm of the deceased seems to. But speak while I gather we may.”

~*~*~*~


Bail Organa in What He Sees by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/what-he-sees-bail-organa-intertrilogy.50018498/

What a thankless task they all have. He, his darling Breha, and Sabé: keepers of a dark and twisted legacy, all in the hopeful embodiment of a child. All they can do is ensure that Leia is looked after, well-protected, and loved.

And when Bail Organa looks at Leia, he can see that, for now at least, she is.


~*~*~*~


Leia Organa in Of Hollow Words and Hope by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/of-hollow-words-and-hope-leia-luke.50021526/

Left alone, Leia gazes in silence. The pain and brokenness he’s shown is so strong, it’s begun to affect her, too, tangling in her heart like a knot that can't be undone. Her heart weeps for him; for all he’s been through and for all she still doesn’t know. He won’t be the same after this. All his innocence is lost to him now, even more than the day she met him.

Her hand slips into his and grips tightly; the other brushes strands of still-damp hair out of his eyes. “I don't know what happened out there, but you're going to get through it, Luke.”

Hollow words, but… She sighs.

She's barely left his side since the Millennium Falcon returned from Bespin with him, emotionally and physically beaten, on board. Now, his prosthesis operation complete and healing, she’s relieved that it had gone well. Physically, he will improve quickly; as the droid said, it won’t be long before he was back to top health.

It’s the emotional injuries he bears that frighten her now. She doesn’t know where he's been all these months, location or mission. He left without telling anyone. It's so uncharacteristic it hurts.

But he'd come out of nowhere to save them, only to find himself in need of saving. Now injured himself, would he permit her to help him? Would he come to her about what he'd been through?

He hasn’t yet.

She loves him. She’s trusted him with her life and her heart from moment one. He’s her best friend, but...he can’t be more, could he? Not after Han... Han. Where was he? Was he still alive? She’s not sure she wants the answer to that.





Best Original Character

Raissa Baiard in Raissa Baiard Solves Them All by Raissa Baiard
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-added-oc-revolution-fall-challenge.50023955/

In this story, Vice-Prefect Raissa Baiard has been assigned to find Frugly, the missing pygmy roba of a "sweet old granny." Here she finds him in an access shaft underneath the house:

"Frugly," Raissa said. Well, that wasn't too hard. She wondered if Mistress Magrivray bothered to look anywhere before she called the garrison. "Let's get you out of here, eh, Frugly?" The pygmy roba picked up his head at the sound of his name, wide nostrils snuffling rapidly. He gave a huff, dropped his head back to his paws, and turned away in apparent disinterest. Raissa frowned; she had no idea how one called a roba. She resorted to clicking her tongue like she was calling a pittin. She inched closer, one hand outstretched. "Come here, boy," she crooned. "Who's a good pig...dog...thing?" Frugly gave her a baleful look. He snorted and jerked away when her fingers brushed one two-toed paw.

Raissa sighed and blew a dusty strand of hair away from her face. Clearly, a bit more persuasion was in order. How could she tempt the roba to come to her? She remembered the candy she always kept in her belt satchel for the local children. She reached into the satchel, currently flattened beneath her, and manuevered a couple pieces free.

Frugly perked up and began sniffing enthusiastically even before she had the wrapper off the first piece. He crawled toward her, whuffling with interest,and his broad, sloppy tongue licked the candy out of her hand with a single swipe. "Like that?" Raissa asked as the roba nosed her hand, looking for more. She scooted backwards as she unwrapped the second piece. "Come on, then." Frugly followed her, wriggling eagerly, when he suddenly stopped and gave a deep, hacking grunt. He wheezed and his sides began to heave.

"Ack, no!" Raissa tried to pull away from the retching roba...too late. "Shavit!!!"


~*~*~

The narrator in Diary of a Moisture Farmer by MsLanna
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/diary-of-a-moisture-farmer-ocs-ddc-2014.50017403/


~*~*~
Ayesha Eskari in Ἀνάγκη – Necessity Beyond Sway by Chyntuck
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/%E1%BC%88%CE%BD%CE%AC%CE%B3%CE%BA%CE%B7-%E2%80%93-necessity-beyond-sway-chapter-29-posted-22-jan-2015.50023608/

Ayesha describes to Thrawn how she first met Darth Vader while redecorating the High Command meeting room in the Imperial Palace.

“And, nothing. He came in so I went to get off my ladder, but he told me to carry on. What was a bit weird was that he asked me to finish the song. So I did and I just kept working on the panel, and then he told me a few things about Gungan clay and left. He’s quite knowledgeable about Gungan culture. That’s pretty much it, really.”

“Out of curiosity, what were you singing?”

“Atitcha apaksha. It’s a Jawa lullaby from Tatooine.” She hummed the first stanza.

Thrawn gazed at the cityscape for a moment. “Very interesting,” he muttered to himself. He looked at her again. “And you would like to make his portrait?”

“Oh, yes, very much so,” she said eagerly. “The way he moves, that odd combination of grace and clumsiness in his step... that’s something I’d very much like to try and capture in a sculpture. I really wonder what he was like before... well, you know, before the armour. He must have been quite a graceful man. And,” she added wistfully, “I’d give a lot to be allowed to watch him wield his lightsaber for five minutes.” He stared at her in utter disbelief. “You think I’m crazy.”

The red eyes twinkled. “I would not go quite that far, but you do have a rather unique way of looking at things. The mental image of Lord Vader with lightsaber in hand is more than enough to send most people cowering under their beds.”

She gave him a wicked grin. “Perhaps I am not most people.”

And for the first time, Thrawn laughed. He laughed openly, warmly, without even trying to maintain his usual cool demeanour. “No, Miss Eskari, you are most definitely not.”


~*~*~*~

Princess Clarys in Under a Dark Sky by Raissa Baiard
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/under-a-dark-sky-au-luke.50021161/
Luke and Leia, the young Lord and Lady Vader, accompany Princess Clarys Antilles of Alderaan on a mission to Tatooine. They watch her as she interacts with the moisture farmers she's come to help:

"I have something for you," she said, kneeling down by the little boy. She opened the her belt pouch and pulled out a pink and yellow striped stick of candy, the kind you could buy ten for a credit. "I hope you like star blossom. It was my favorite when I was a little girl." The boy's face lit up as if the deci-credit piece of candy was the greatest treasure in the Empire.

*Look at her.* Luke felt the derision dripping from Leia's thoughts. *She's supposed to be royalty, but there she is, down in the dirt with that sand-grubbing urchin. What does she think she's going to gain from this?*

Luke considered this as he eavesdropped while Clarys and Elka chatted like old friends... Clarys seemed genuinely interested in these mundane details, listening to the farm wife patiently and sympathetically. *I don't think she expects to gain anything,* Luke answered. The Princess simply cared about these farmers because they were in need. She seemed to consider herself adequately rewarded by their happiness.

*Good thing,* Leia snorted. *What could they possibly give her-- sand?*

*She has their loyalty,* Luke pointed out. Clarys could have asked these farmers for anything, and they would have given it gladly. Leia might dismiss them as inferiors, but by showing concern for them, she'd won them more completely than Leia could have with a month of threats.

Another snort. *So with a treat and a pat on the head, she's bought herself a pack of dogs. What's that worth? *

The Rebellion was made of just such dogs, Luke thought. Even if his sister couldn't see, there was a kind of power in the Princess's kindness. And if Clarys didn't see it, either, it wasn't because she was stupid, as Leia thought. She was just too innocent.

 

Before/Saga

Best Canon Relationship

Han and Leia in Wings of Love: The Flyboy & the Princess by Nyota's Heart
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...l-fun-posted-12-28-14.50025562/#post-52061965

“What are you so lost in thought about?” Han asked coming up to join her at the viewing pane on the observation lounge on Home One.

“Hmmm? Nothing… just how very much my life has turned upside down and sideways.”

“I tend to have that effect…”

“Everything isn’t about you, hotshot.” She retorted.

He smirked and kissed her.

He never failed to make her tingle all over … Leia realized. Even on Hoth, in the midst of a tangle of words, her pulses had raced with excitement, although she liked to call it irritation at that stage.

“The remaining Warlords are stirring up major trouble. They’re fighting amongst themselves and also targeting us. Zsinj seems to be the worst of the bunch.”

“Hmm. Yes, I’ll be flying out to head the flotilla. And what will you be doing in the meantime?”

“Meeting the Hapan delegation. They’ve been so insular so long but they have so many valuable resources. An alliance with them will really be to our benefit.” Leia answered.

“They’re a matriarchal society.” Han observed.

“Yes, and their Prince Regnant is reputed to be quite handsome.” Leia answered. “But never worry, I am not one to be turned by a pretty face and an empty brain.”

“Glad to hear it.” Han said and winked. “Since we’ll be apart for who knows how long, we’d better make good use of the time we have.”

“An excellent idea.” Leia smiled.

“I have my moments.” Han said with justifiable pride.

“Not many, but you do have them.” Leia rejoined.


~*~*~

Jax and I-Five in The Journal of Jax Pavan By Ewok_Slayer
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-journal-of-jax-pavan-ddc-2014-complete.50017385/

“You both need instruction in formal dancing. Luckily for you, I have downloaded the dance steps to the most common Alderaanian ceremonial dances and I am ready to instruct.” He walked up to me and put his hands out in the way that suggested he expected me to dance with him.

“I’m not dancing with you,” I protested…especially when Den started laughing so hard his dewflaps turned a dark crimson.

I-Five dropped his hands and frowned. “Do you know the Alderaan Waltz?”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t think so.” He returned his hands into a dancing position. When I didn’t take his hand he simply smirked. “If you are hoping for a female instructor, might I point out, this is a paramilitary base full of fighter pilots and spies. It is doubtful anybody else is capable of teaching you the required moves.”

I could feel my face redden. “This is just so…awkward.”

I-Five rolled his eyes in an excellent human expression of exasperation. “Jax, I am going to teach you to dance, not fondle you on the dance floor. I do not understand your reluctance. Everybody here knows I am a droid. Nobody is going to give this a second look.”

“A man dancing with a HRD droid…yeah nothing unusual about that. Nothing to see here.” I groaned a protest, but I eventually took his hand in mine while placing my other hand on his waist while maintaining a respectable distance from my dance partner. I glared at I-Five for making me do this and I swear I could see amusement in his artificial eyes. I know that is not possible, but I’m positive he is enjoying this.

~*~*~*~

Jax Pavan and Sacha Swiftbird in The Journal of Jax Pavan by Ewok_Slayer
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-journal-of-jax-pavan-ddc-2014-complete.50017385/

After my initial instruction I-Five took Sacha’s hand and guided her toward me. “Now it is time for you two to dance together.”

I remember getting a lump in my throat and my palms getting sweaty as she looked up at me smiling warmly. I took her hand in mine and tentatively moved into the proper dance position. I don’t know why dancing with Sacha made me jittery. We fought against Darth Vader together. I shouldn’t be worrying about stepping on her toes. I loosely draped by left hand around her waist while making sure I kept a respectful distance.

I-Five walked around us critiquing our form before he reached out and pushed Sacha and me together until our hips were touching. “You are supposed to be a married couple. You are going to have to show some familiarity between each other or else nobody is going to believe this rouse.” I felt my face warm in embarrassment by this intimate contact, but Sacha appeared unperturbed by our close proximity. “On three, start out with the basic steps I taught you,” I-Five instructed us. “One, two, three.”

I stepped off with my lead foot moving in deliberate if not hesitant steps. I-Five had to correct us a few times, but we seemed to get the hang of it fairly easily. After a while I found myself smiling and laughing at the ease of moment. Sacha smiled in delight as we swayed back and forth to I-Five’s step-count.

~*~*~*~


Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa in Of Hollow Words of Hope by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/of-hollow-words-and-hope-leia-luke.50021526/

He’s never hesitated to talk to her before. They’re friends. They’re confidantes. She’s run to him as much as he to her; two halves of a whole, they’ve always shared every fear, every problem.

But he hasn’t told her about this.

Perhaps it’s too soon? She knows she should be more patient. He was, in the aftermath of their fateful meeting and Alderaan. It took her months to let her grief out, and he never pushed or complained. No, he sat and held her hand, just as she did now, and waited until she was strong enough to speak without shaking.

Leia closes her eyes. If he could heal by the force of her willpower, she’d make it so. “Please, Luke,” she says. “Don’t you leave me, too. I need you.”

What if he doesn’t want to tell her? An uneasy quiver jolts her stomach, flowing through her veins up to her heart. Was there someone else? Has she been replaced as caretaker of his secrets? Her eyes shift back down to him, still prone and shivering. No, that can’t be it. But what if –

STOP.

His voice rings in her ear as clear as it had in the Bespin skies. He’s stopped shivering, his breathing is even, and he’s made no actual sound. Sleep has finally taken him deeply enough that the pain can’t reach him, and yet…he reached her.

Somehow that makes sense in a way she can’t explain.

So he hasn’t told her what happened.

Fine. She’ll live with that.

But maybe he will someday.





Best Original Relationship

Raissa/Doran in Everyone Comes to Doran's Place by Raissa Baiard
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/everyone-comes-to-dorans-place-oc-repost.50020957/

Raissa is searching Doran's quarters at the Cafe Alderaan, on the orders of the odious Moff Cassius, when he interrupts her:

"You haven't told me what you're doing here. I can't believe the moff's stupid toadies were careless enough to let you slip past. So tell me what song and dance you pulled to intrude on my investigation."

"I asked nicely," he told Baiard with half a smile. The look she gave him in return was unamused. "Look, I just came in to get a few credits. The lieutenants told us all we had to leave, so I told everyone to go to the marketplace on me." Doran shrugged. "No point in punishing them, too. So if it's ok with you, I'll just get the money from my safe and go."

Her expression softened a bit. "Go ahead." Doran knelt by the safe. The contents were just slightly askew when he opened it, and Doran had to appreciate Baiard's professionalism-- and her conscience. Hard telling what would have been left if the lieutenants had been there. Which reminded him…. "Hey, Baiard," he called as he counted out a pile of credit chips.

She looked over from poking through the rack of tunics that hung in his closet. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to say… I'm sorry," Doran mumbled. He didn't really mean to garble the words that way, but it was easier to address his remarks to the safe. "About the bootlicking toady thing. Because… you were right. I'm glad it's you in here and not the Moff's men. I'd be out more than a picture cube if they were."

The silence that followed his apology was broken only by the wardrobe doors clicking shut. When he looked up, Baiard had an odd expression on her face. Doran's errant Force sense brought him a drift of her jumbled emotions.... "Thank you," Baiard said quietly. "You don't know what that means to me."

~*~*~

Thrawn/Ayesha Escari in Ἀνάγκη – Necessity Beyond Sway by Chyntuck
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/Ἀνάγκη-–-necessity-beyond-sway-chapter-29-posted-22-jan-2015.50023608/

There was an indefinable sense of puzzlement emanating from him, an uncertainty, a hesitation that perplexed her. He surprised her more than once by acting with the formal politeness of a perfect stranger, in the first week going as far as asking for her permission to do something as simple as to help himself to a glass of water. She would sometimes catch a glimpse of him staring at her with his trademark arched eyebrow, even though she was merely in the middle of some chore in the kitchen or simply putting a datacard back on its shelf. Or he would stop speaking and tilt his head to the side in the middle of a sentence, and gaze at her for a moment before resuming his train of thought. One morning she woke up to find him at her side, propping himself up on his elbow with his head in his hand and looking at her as if expecting an answer to some unspoken question. She stretched and yawned, and, now wide awake, she asked him why he was always scrutinizing her like an art expert authenticating a piece for an auction.

“Because you are a contradiction,” he said again, as if it were the most obvious thing in the Galaxy.

She grimaced. “Would you care to elaborate?”

He leaned to kiss her shoulder. “You are a unique, a beautiful, a luminous contradiction.” She gave him a glare of impatience when he didn’t say more, and a scathing retort came to her lips, but his mouth was already over hers and there was no need to talk.


~*~*~*~

K’Tai and Obi-Wan in Recall and Getting to Know You by K'Tai qel Letta-Tanku
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-wan-ocs-updated-8-15.50022180/#post-51751524
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/getting-to-know-you-au-obi-wan-qui-gon-ocs.50023558/

"Come on K'Tai. Sesench'ai, listen to me." I call her beloved because she is. I grab her hands, hoping to still them, to help break the spell by touching her and moving her focus to me in the present.

"It's not real. I am real. Now is real. This is the past. You have to let it go." I feel her start to return to the present, to see the memory for what it is. She reaches out to me through our bond.

Obi-Wan?

I'm here, love. Come back to the present. This isn't real.

"I can't," she whispers. "I can't. They died because of me. I couldn't stop it. He killed them and their blood is on my hands, and I can't get it off. It won't come off. See?"

Her eyes are wide and in them I see her teetering on the edge of the abyss. My soul cries out to her. Stay with me. You haven't left yet. Stay with me.

Obi-Wan?

She is aching and while I know that the monster is responsible for her shattered psyche, at some level this pain is my fault. I can do nothing but love her through it. I kiss her hands gently. "They look fine to me, love. They are the hands of a healer and a warrior. They saved many that day. They saved me."

"But I couldn't save them all."

"None of us could. We did our best. We saved most of them." Heart of my heart, soul of my soul, now and forever. I stroke a bit of hair back from her forehead and look into her eyes. She is almost back.

Please don't leave me.

 

Before/Saga

Author:
Best Author

Raissa Baiard

Excerpt from "Under a Dark Sky"
Luke travels to the abandoned Lars farmstead, a place that calls to him in the Force:

This tiny room, at least, was undamaged by the fire. Indeed, it seemed frozen in time. His scalp prickled as he peered into a child's room-- the nursery of Owen and Beru Lars' vanished nephew. The late afternoon sun slanted into the tiny room, illuminating a mural of the twin suns rising over the dunes where a herd of happy bantha frolicked. A crib took up most of the left side of the room, a mobile of suns and stars dangled over it. Its slatted side was halfway down, and a yellow wool blanket was draped over the side, caught where it had fallen. The nursery seemed to hold its breath as he took a cautious step inside.

Something squished underfoot. Luke jumped back with a yelp, then laughed at himself when he saw what it was-- a small plush bantha, just the right size for an infant. A whimsical smile curved its features and its button eyes glinted in the dim sunlight. The bantha wore an orange saddle embroidered with red and gold suns. Someone had poured time and love into the small toy; he felt unaccountably sad as he looked at it. Luke reached down to pick it up.

....and the universe tipped sideways.

He was half asleep when the woman snatched him up from his bed. She held him too tight, crushing him against her shoulder as she ran. Her breath came in ragged, sobbing gasps and her fear enveloped him like a smothering blanket. She'd never felt like this before; she was always so calm and warm and safe. Luke began to wail.

"Sh, sh, Luke. It's all right," she whispered, but the panic in her voice belied her words. She stopped and fumbled frantically at a door. In the distance, Luke heard loud voices and strange crashing sounds, and felt the waves of anger and terror. The woman sobbed harder and lurched into the garage as the door slid open.

The woman staggered toward the speeder that was parked in the center. She hurriedly laid Luke in the passenger's seat instead of putting him into his carrier. The bench seat was hard and hot beneath him. He didn't like it and fussed harder. "Sh, sh," she told him again,

Luke felt the dark man's presence before she did. Shadows swirled around him, full of anger, fear and bitterness. "Beru," his stentorian voice rasped. "Give me the child."

Her spirit quailed. "Please," she begged, sagging to her knees. "Please, don't hurt him. He's just a baby! Please!" The dark man's anger surged. There was a hiss and a sudden flash of red, and her terror vanished. She vanished. Luke reached out for her, but he couldn't feel her anywhere. She was gone. He screamed and beat the air with tiny, impotent fists.....

When Luke came back to himself, he was on his knees in the nursery-- his nursery-- and his face was wet with tears He was the Lars' missing nephew, but it hadn't been Tusken Raiders that had taken him and murdered Owen and Beru. It had been his father....

The afternoon breeze skirled a ribbon of sand around him. Luke shoved himself to his feet. He would not let the desert take this tiny oasis. He banished the snaking sand with a flick of the Force and levitated the fallen door back in place. He sealed it shut, a memorial to Beru, who had loved him, however briefly.

The stuffed bantha was still in his hand. Luke tucked it into his belt pouch as he began his journey back.

~*~*~

Lane_Winree


~*~*~

taramidala


Holiday Heritage by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/holiday-heritage-sabé-leia.50025946/

The Naboo tradition of First Night is not one shared by Alderaan, but one Sabé carries with her anyway on the eve of every new year. With aid from the palace chefs, she sits down her charges to a mini-feast of Naboo delights in her suite: sweetcakes, mincemeats, and grassroot teas.

She leads the girls in remembrance and thanks for the year that’s past. She prompts them for their wishes for the year that’s ahead. In the early years it’s talk of toys and dolls and pretty clothes. Books come later, then technology.

Most of all, there’s talk of home, her home, and history, of the way things were.

Of her childhood, she speaks of green grass and tall trees. Of a gleaming city of marble and light. Of waterfalls and running wild, running free. Of art and service and propriety.

She whispers of war and darkness and things that still are, and how they came to be. Young queens taking on too much too soon too fast, and scheming politicians with too much authority. She preaches for peace and justice and resolution, and how they can be again. Soft sermons, always, skillful wordplay and subterfuge, lest her dissent drift out into the open.

There's manners and propriety always. History and politics, too. Skill and cunning are necessary tools to young princesses who must navigate this new rebellious world.

To the dark haired one she talks of youth and beauty and fight. Of a young queen much like herself who sought fairness and justice and whose end came too soon. To the white haired one, the "sister," the handmaiden, she impresses anything and everything she can, relying on that child's perfect memory with all of her might.


~*~*~

Kahara

(excerpt from Long Gone)
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-replies-for-epilogue-chapters-12-1.50020998/

Here, Yoda and the ghost of Padmé are having a tense discussion of possible futures and what road to take in training Luke and Leia.
“Find it hard to believe I do that you would allow them to remain in ignorance of Vader’s relation to Anakin Skywalker. The Sith must be destroyed. Willing to let that happen you are?” He can scarcely believe that, knowing the strength of Amidala’s devotion to her husband.

“Yes, actually.” Used to seeing ghosts on occasion, Yoda normally does not notice how unreflective their eyes are. He is surprised to find that he must struggle not to back away from that gaze.

She gives a faint, melancholy smile to some memory out of view. “Vader is a grown Sith and can take care of himself. I do still believe there is good in him. That doesn’t mean I want the children finding out at an inopportune time. Early would be bad. Late would be… less than ideal, but not cause for my interference. They are all alive; they will have to sort it out for themselves.”

“Something of an irony I perceive,” Yoda remarks. “If I cooperate, this ultimatum of yours will hardly not interfere in their lives..”

“A matter of degree, Master Yoda.”

“More formal you become when being a menace you are.”





Best New Author

Chyntuck
Ayesha observes as Darth Vader practises his lightsaber skills against PROXY-type training droids to reconstitute his duel against Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress (from the Slaves of the Republic comics).

The Dark Lord gave a start when the image popped into her head, Count Dooku’s blade caught him on the shoulder, and he exploded with uncontrollable rage.

He swung at his opponents with the savagery of a krayt dragon, literally hacking them to pieces as his mind flooded hers. Ayesha saw a woman with sad eyes in front of a hovel. She saw a man in a farmer’s poncho fighting a red-and-black creature from the depths of Chaos. She saw a glowing blade flying through an encampment in a desert, a kiss in an arena of insectoid aliens, a bride by the lake. She saw Count Dooku’s head falling off his body, a gloved hand on a bulging belly, the japor snippet around Padmé’s neck. She saw a bald Jedi caught in a storm of lightning, children slaughtered in stately halls and aliens slaughtered in a dark room. She saw Padmé again, heavily pregnant, clutching her neck as she crumpled to the ground in a landscape of smoke and lava, and she saw a duel on a sea of fire. She saw the Emperor’s yellow eyes and heard his laughter, and she experienced a surge of hatred that could only come from a being who would delight in watching him die a slow, painful death.

The last pieces of the droids clattered to the floor and Darth Vader was towering above her. She didn’t look up, her head buried in her knees as her whole body shivered. She heard him breathe for a few minutes, and then he was gone with a swish of his cloak.

When Thrawn came to Ayesha’s apartment in the evening and rang the doorbell, the transparisteel panel was wide open but no one came to greet him. He peered inside and saw light in the workshop, and when he rang the bell again to no avail, he stepped in cautiously.

The table in the workshop was a battlefield strewn with dozens of carving tools and pages and pages of torn and crumpled drawings. Crushed stone grated under his feet as he walked in and saw Ayesha. She was sitting on her stool, stark naked, her torn clothes on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and chewing her wrist, her glassy eyes staring at crumbled remnants on her potter’s wheel. Thrawn circled the room to come and face her. She did not appear to see him, nor did she answer when he spoke her name. There were several deep cuts on her fingers, and blood was streaming down her chin as she bit her wrist far too hard. Only when he took her hand to remove it from her mouth did she finally react. Her blank eyes focused on his face and she whispered, “Qubshi? Qubshi be-khadeeb?”

Thrawn unfolded her knees and brought her feet to the ground, handling her as if she were made of thin crystal. “I am here, Ayoo’sha,” he said soothingly. “I am here. What happened?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t do it on purpose.”

There was a flash of anger in his gaze. “What happened, Ayoo’sha? Did Lord Vader hurt you?”

Her eyes darted in all directions. “No, Anakin. He loved her but he killed her. He didn’t do it on purpose, he gave her the japor snippet.” She went on mumbling incoherently, then added, “He was in my head but he didn’t mean to. He just wanted to show me, he didn’t do it on purpose.”


~*~*~

Findswoman

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...t-2-chap-8-posted-2-8.50019763/#post-51571169
(Note: This excerpt is from The Book of Gand.)

Would the Mists know? It was said they sang constantly, in tones inaudible to mortal Gand . . .

He began breathing. This time he would not even try to visualize the Mists—only to listen to Them, to try against all odds to hear that unheard music of Theirs. For many, many breaths he sat there, hearing nothing but the silence of the testing room, of his examiners’ expectation. But at last he became aware of distant, airy tones that began slowly to join themselves into wispy strains and finally into familiar melodies, flowing one into another as they wafted through his consciousness: a hunting song his father and brother used to sing while preparing to go on missions . . . a solemn temple hymn . . . one of the traditional meditative chants . . . a tender lullaby his mother used to sing to him . . .

Ng’xvi-Ta'al-Lhúd thought for a moment about that lullaby. He could never remember the words—like so many of his mother’s songs, they had to do with something tiresome and sentimental like being in love. But he had always rather liked the tune. . . . Forcing air through his triple-layered mandibles, he began to whistle.

As he did, Stavrien opened the lid of the box. There was a metallic click, then little invisible bells began to tinkle forth the very same tune, in the very same key.

Ng’xvi-Ta’al-Lhúd opened his eyes and fixed them on the box as he continued whistling. The inside of the lid was decorated with the same delicate, quasi-floral scrollwork as the outside, though with a very different image in its center: this time the Findsman was trampling some miserable, struggling captive underfoot while thrusting a large discharger staff at his throat. The main compartment of the box did indeed contain four metal clips, a small lump of soft pink stone, and a miniature glass vial of bright green liquid.

Ussar, meanwhile, shifted nervously on his own cushion and gave a few nervous clacks.

“Yes, a beautiful old song,” he interposed. “But everyone knows it, of course.” And he began to sing with the silvery, enigmatic melody:

“Strike and wound and heal, O fierce beloved!
Clap this heart in binders, and then it shall be—”

He broke off as he hit a sudden harsh discord with both the music box and the younger Gand.

“What?!” he exclaimed. “But that’s not how it goes . . . Ussar swears . . . ”

Yet, even as he protested, Ng’xvi-Ta’al-Lhúd continued whistling in perfect time and unison with the music box, even as the melody slowed with the winding down of the clockwork. At last Stavrien closed the lid, silencing the music.

“Yes, everyone knows this beautiful old song,” she said. “But not everyone knows the longer variant version sung in the colony of Rhak’zel three hundred years ago. That version survives only in the clockwork of this box, which was a courtship gift from the Holy Madman to the Findslady Isthien. It is never taken from this room, and, as you know, the testing wing of the Great Temple is guarded with the utmost care.” All three pairs of her mandibles clacked open and closed as she leaned toward the young Gand sitting on the couch before her. “So how is it that you know this song, young Ng’xvi-Ta’al-Lhúd?”

For a few moments Ng’xvi-Ta’al-Lhúd lowered his head and fidgeted awkwardly with the baggy sleeves of his gown. Then, with a sudden resolve, he drew himself up, looked Stavrien in the eye, and said:

“Because the Mists sang it to him, Your Mystical Honor.”

~*~*~

Kablob
Author's note: This excerpt comes from The Witch and the Jedi. Ahsoka is searching for a lightsaber crystal, and followed an apparition of Anakin into a vision of the Jedi Temple after Operation Knightfall.

"Ahsoka," Anakin's voice startled her, there was a hardness to it that she had never heard before. She turned around to see him standing in a doorway, his deactivated lightsaber in his hand, clad in a dark cloak with a hood pulled up over his head. This isn't right. This isn't Anakin, Ahsoka thought, her heart racing. Something about him just felt wrong, in a way that reminded her uncomfortably of Mortis.

"You have to join me, or this will be your fate too," he said, making a sweeping gesture to the corpses. "Dead old fools, too stubborn to see their doom." He began walking towards her, and a sudden blast of wind blew his hood back. His eyes were bloodshot and yellow, burning with the power of the Dark Side. This is wrong, I was wrong. She turned to flee, only to run into someone else, who knocked her down and fell on top of her, pinning her wrists painfully against the ice.

"He's right, you know. Only by embracing me can you hope to survive." Ahsoka was hearing her own voice, looking into her own face, but it wasn't right. The other Ahsoka's eyes were yellow and bloodshot like Anakin's, alight with madness, and the veins on her face stood out like a dark web, her mouth contorted into an insane grin. She licked her lips, obviously pleased by the real Ahsoka's horror. "If you don't join him, he will kill me!" A flash of suppressed memory flew up into her mind's eye, another reminder of Mortis, another fallen Ahsoka crossing lightsabers with an uncorrupted Anakin. Just as quickly as it appeared, the memory was gone.

The other Ahsoka seemed amused at the prospect of her death. Ahsoka summoned enough strength to push off the twisted version of herself as it began laughing hysterically and stood up. Anakin was right in front of her now, and he held out his unlit lightsaber to her.

"Now do what you should have done years ago, and you will gain everything you seek." His usual sarcastic smile stood out in stark contrast to the hatred in his eyes. Numbly, she took it. Anakin moved beside her to reveal Barriss chained to the ruined wall, looking emaciated and half-dead, her eyes even more hollow than her cheeks.

"Ahsoka, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, everything moved so fast and got out of control." Tears were freezing on Barriss' face as she spoke, her voice a dry whisper. "Please don't make my mistake. I thought I was strong enough to control it, that my own fall was the only way to rescue the Order itself from falling. But I was wrong," Barriss stopped, overcome by a tortured coughing fit. "I was so wrong. There's no controlling it," she continued. "Everything I did dragged us further into darkness. Once it gets a hold of you you'll destroy everything you loved, like I did. Please-"

Her voice cut off into tortured gasping as the false Ahsoka rose to her feet like one of Shili's night predators, closing Barriss' windpipe with a gesture of her hand.

"Do it," Anakin snarled at the real Ahsoka. "Kill her!"

Ahsoka's montrals rang with the sound of her own twisted laughter. She could feel her dark counterpart's breath on her neck, her hand gently running down one of Ahsoka's lekku.

"Come on Ahsoka," she whispered. "It'll be easy. She deserves it, she used you, she wanted you dead!"

I can't, Ahsoka realized. Not then, not now.

 

Beyond

Genre:

Best AU

Instiable by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...plete-epilogue-posted-12-may.22432924/page-35

“Sorry you couldn’t come to our wedding, Artoo,” Luke consoled the little droid and patted his domed head fondly.

Mara folded her arms across her chest. “He probably would've tried to sabotage the ceremony." She knelt down in front of the droid, at eye level with his viewing unit. “So, Artoo,” she humoured him. “Do you approve of me marrying your master, or are we going to have to fight for him?”

The droid was silent for several long moments and then let out a few terse beeps. [You’ll do] she heard through the Force, and Mara laughed out loud as Artoo rolled out of her apartment.

“And I thought your sister was going to be the hard one to win over,” Mara muttered as she stood, seeing that Luke had been examining her apartment.

“What’s this?” Luke asked, picking up a flesh-coloured jacket from the back of the couch, where it rested with her spare blaster holster.

“That?” she asked with a shrug. “It’s my favorite jacket.”

Luke examined the fabric, the age in the stitching and the sleeves which flared out from the elbows. “I bought this jacket for you,” he said.

Mara looked at him with surprise. “You remember that?”

“Of course,” he answered, fingering the worn material. “You kept it all these years?”

Mara smiled. “Of course,” she said, covering his hands with her own. “This is a bit embarrassing,” she admitted, “but when I was in the ‘Rim, I used to wear it all the time. It’s really pathetic,” she added with a laugh.

“I told you that I wanted you to think of me when you wore it,” Luke said softly, the memory coming back to him fully.

There were tears in her eyes as Mara looked up at him. “I did.”

~*~*~*~

Number Six by ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/number-six-sjrs-halloween-challenge.50024030/

Mara stares at him, raising her hand to brush the side of his face, tracing her fingers down his neck and arm to his right hand. “You’re not right.”

Luke touches the side of his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t--”

“There are only so many things I can do,” Mara cuts him off. “I can’t recreate certain events. I can’t teach you all of the things you need to know.”

“What are you talking about?” He seems wary and steps back, looking around the darkened room, toward a slight rustle of sound. “What’s that?”

“You know what it is, Sky--Luke.” Mara waves her hand as if dismissing the pair of creatures that can barely be seen, attached to their special frames.

He squints, and shakes his head. “There’s so much.” He touches the side of his head again. “It’s hard for me to recall.”

“You’ll never remember.”

“What?”

“You’ll never remember everything. I already know that you’ve failed.” Mara’s fists are tight at her side.

“Failed? What are you talking about, Mara? What’s going on? I’ve been gone and you’ve…”

“I’ve what? Changed?” Mara laughed, but there was no mirth in the sound. “You don’t even know me. The flash memory never works.”

“Flash memories?” He looks around the room, and then back at Mara, helpless. “I don’t understand.”

“I tried using other methods. They took too long. Or I couldn’t find the equipment. And yet, I hoped…” Mara cuts herself off, and steps forward, bringing her hand to Luke’s face again. She traces a path only she can see, near his eye and down his cheek. “The voice is gone, finally. But so are you.”


~*~*~*~

I'll Come With You by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...5-author-thanks.50022292/page-8#post-51968760

The silence in the room thundered in her ears. Right then it was as if she had shifted into a state of superposition with three different women emerging all at once: one screaming panicked obscenities into the void, another shouting triumphantly from the peak of the highest mountain in the galaxy, and the third–herself–staring into the empty space once occupied by the hologram in numb, hollow disbelief.

White-hot anger began to well up within her at the sheer unfairness of it all, that she was no longer the woman in the holo who had reached that point where she could look her friend–yes, her friend–straight in the eyes and agree, against impossible odds, that what existed between them could defy all the challenges that had ever kept them apart and finally culminate in love. Love. That word that scarcely entered her vocabulary or her most furtive hopes.

Now, at last, everything fell into place. Now she understood, with acute, razor-sharp pain, why Luke had been acting and treating her in his way. And she knew his eyes were boring into the side of her head but she could not bring herself to look at him and all his tenuous desires...

“Mara,” he whispered, and she clenched her eyes shut, hands slowly balling into fists. At the slightest movement, the slightest touch, the slightest breath, she felt that she would either shatter or explode, that she would flee from the apartment or say something to his face that she'd come to horribly regret. So she did the only thing she could at that moment to retain her sanity.

Out of a suddenly parched throat she croaked, “Your droid is such a voyeur.”

~*~*~


The Journal of a Very Married Talon Tantiss by Jedi_Lover
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...s-ddc-2014-2014-journal-is-complete.50017395/


Valla was the first person to figure out the circumstances involving our predicament. She turned to her husband. “Ben, they were trying to make out in the ship.”

Ben blushed brightly and I could hear him whisper to his wife. “Did you tell anyone that we…you know?”

Valla was at the bottom of the ladder now, so I couldn’t see her, but I can imagine she was giving Ben one of those pouting looks Zylie pulls on me whenever I'm mad at her. “I just told Zylie.”

Ben groaned before he looked up at us. “Why do you need shampoo? Are you going to shower in there also?”

I shook my head. “We’re stuck.”

Ben let out a deep laugh and had trouble containing his amusement. “Do I need to toss a bucket of cold water on you guys?”

Zylie gritted her teeth before yelling at her sister. “Valla get up here with the soap before it starts to swell!”

Ben started laughing hysterically at this point. I don’t blame him. She hasn’t told them her foot was stuck and was probably swelling up at this point. Zylie looked down and then yelled out. “Hurry it’s turning blue!”

That’s it, Ben is on the deck just about dying. “Her foot is stuck!” I yelled down at him. “Get your mind out of the gutter!”

Valla made it to the top of the ladder with the shampoo. “What exactly is her foot stuck in?”

Ben started hyperventilating but managed to laugh between gasps of air. I swear his face is as red as his hair!


~*~*~*~


Eurydice by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/eurydice-luke-mara-updated-12-october-complete.31937253/

Blinking rapidly, the world came into focus, and he saw that a young woman in white stood before him.

“Luke!” the woman gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock. “It’s you.” She let out an audible sob, and pressed her hands more firmly against her mouth to compose herself. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before lowering her hands to clasp them in front of her. When she opened her eyes, they were bright with unshed tears. “Do you…know who I am?” she asked, the hope clear in her voice.

It only took a few seconds for it to click into place in Luke’s mind. He knew her name, remembered her face, in an instant understanding everything he needed. His heart had cried out for hers from the day he was born, and his face cracked into a smile as he felt whole again.

“Yes, I know you,” he said, swallowing heavily. “Mother.”

“Luke,” she said again, tears beginning to fall. “My beautiful boy, you are so brave. I wish…I wish I could hold you in my arms.”

Luke stepped forward hopefully, but she held up a hard to stop him. “I can’t,” she said with obvious sorrow. “If you touch anyone here, you will not be able to return to the world of the living.”

His hands dropped to his sides, disappointment lancing through him. He had so often wondered about his mother, and now she was before him, as beautiful and kind as he had imagined, but unable to embrace her as a son should.

“There are so many things I want to say to you, my darling,” Padmé said, tears falling unimpeded onto her face. “But you must go, or you will not be able to reach her in time.”



Best Canon


My True Love Gave to Me by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/my-true-love-gave-to-me-l-m-holiday-challenge-day-12.50025548/

Luke removed the velvet wrapping to reveal an aged but well-bound book with a hard blue cover. “The Jedi Path,” he read aloud. “A manual for students of the Force.”

He’d heard reference made to it in many of the holocrons he’d uncovered, a text passed down from master to student through the generations, each adding their own annotations and comments.

“Where did they find this?” he asked Mara, reverently holding the book in his hands.

“Byss,” he told him, and sent through a comforting wave through their bond to let him know that there was nothing to be concerned about.

Luke opened up the book to flick through the pages, the name Kenobi in the scrawled writing of the margins catching Luke’s eye. “This was Obi-Wan’s book,” he breathed in wonder. Ben had left him a book before, in his hut on Tatooine - instructions to build his own lightsaber, and rudimentary Jedi knowledge. Could Luke now possess Obi-Wan’s own instructional text?

“Not just Obi-Wan’s,” Mara told him, pointing out the name Anakin.

Luke almost stopped breathing as he looked at the handwritten notes of his father, noting that the blockish writing vaguely resembled his own. He flipped to the inside cover and saw a list of names; eight owners who had inscribed the book. Luke noted with interest that Yoda had first owned the book, and that the last name, written in red ink, was Darth Sidious.

“Palpatine kept it.” Luke realised, looking with distaste at the pompous little symbol Sidious had drawn next to his name.

“But it's yours now,” Mara reassured him. “Your name will go right there,” she tapped the blank space below Sidious’ name on the inside cover. “And then you will give the book to your apprentice, and the knowledge will live on.”


~*~*~*~

Fleeting Glory by GrandAdmiralJello
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...u-based-opus-chapter-two-up-9-19-14.31441211/

Description: Princess Ederlathh Pallopides ("Edi") is the grand-niece of Emperor Palpatine, and grew up in the height of Imperial luxury. She lives through the turmoil of the Empire's fall and returns to Coruscant years later at the behest of the triumphant Rebel leaders. In this excerpt, Edi is still a child witnessing some rioting on Coruscant but has no idea what just happened at Endor.

Excerpt:

Awakened by a terrible racket, Princess Ederlathh was in a foul mood and would have given her attendants a terrible scolding had she not been transfixed by the sight that lay before her. Imperial Center was normally an orderly world.

“Lady Selton, what are these people doing?” the princess asked her governess.

Selton took one look at the crowd and sniffed derisively. “Hooligans and vagrants, I expect. Pay them little heed, Your Highness.”

[...]

Yet as much as she knew she shouldn’t look, Edi couldn’t help but be fascinated by the sheer number of people in the crowd. She knew from her studies that Imperial Center was home to over a trillion citizens, but she had never seen so many people in one place at any time—there must have been millions of them! What could possibly cause so many people to gather in one place at one time?

Noticing that Edi was still watching the spectacle outside, Selton hit a button on the armrest of her seat which operated the window coverings. Edi crossed her arms in annoyance, and looked around for anything else of interest. She enjoyed playing with her ladies-in-waiting, but Selton firmly discouraged that sort of behavior in her presence. Making faces at the scarlet-robed Imperial Guardsman, then, was entirely out of the question. She always wondered about that lot: she had never seen a single one of them speak, and they were always garbed in robes of such surpassing volume—why, they might be droids and she’d never know it. If he noticed her attention, he gave absolutely no indication of it. Well, that settled it—he was surely a droid, because Edi knew that nobody enjoyed being stared at without squirming uncomfortably.

~*~*~

Chasing Dreams by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/chasing-dreams-l-m-post-njo-repost-complete.50022364/

She heard the call from the other side of the hanger, clear and crisp across the distance. Mara squared her shoulders and kept walking, a bit more briskly. But it only took a few seconds for him to cross the space and snag her elbow, causing her to stop. He must have run to reach her but, insufferably, he showed no signs of it. No sweat on his brow, no irregular breathing to indicate he'd just sprinted across the jungle.

Mara cleared her throat. "Skywalker."

Luke twisted on his feet until he was standing in front of her. There was a small, accommodating smile on his face. "You promised me a few hours, Jade," he said, with a hint of a reprimand in his tone.

"Once again, Skywalker, you misappropriate my words." She looked at his confused, narrowing eyes and sighed dramatically. "I said I would grab a quick meal and then get out of here. I've done that."

"Yes, well... " Luke folded his arms defiantly. "I had hoped that meal would be eaten in my presence."

"Ah, but you didn't stipulate that in your demands." Mara felt the beginnings of a smile work their way onto her face.

Luke grinned in return. "I'll make sure to ask Leia to teach me some proper negotiation skills."

"That might help." Mara felt her resolve to leave fade away. "I'll be expecting a better opponent next time."

"So there will be a next time?" Luke leaned in slightly towards her, a glint of hope in his eye. "You know it means a lot to me when you come here. I realise it's not your favourite place to be."

"Well, I told you Skywalker, there are times I do look forward to seeing you."




Best All Around


The Shadow of Fate by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...e-episode-vii-chapter-17-january-17.50020860/

He reached out into the Force, this time deliberately seeking the visions which had plagued his nightmares. They came again, stronger and more numerous than before but Luke endured them. He saw the shadows consume him, he saw Vader's helmet and the grey sky and spires of the unknown island. He saw Jaina with her impassive face and blood-red blade.

The darkness clung to his body like a shroud, but Luke would not let it consume him. Rather, he brought his mind back to an old Jedi poem Yoda had once taught him, to always remind Luke that there was hope.

The darkness is generous and it is patient and it always wins, Luke recited to himself the words Yoda had spoken so long ago. But in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.

Luke opened his eyes and sighed heavily. He could not find the candle, could not see it's light, but he knew it was there, just outside the fringes of his reach. And he would find it, eventually, when the Force was ready to show it to him.

He thought back to the days after Endor, when he had studied Yoda's holocron and searched the galaxy for lost Jedi teachings. He had found an original version of the poem, many thousands of years old, from before the dawn of the Old Republic, before the schism and the great Sith Wars. It had been scrawled on parchment, and Luke had realized that Yoda had omitted the most crucial aspect of the teaching – or perhaps he had never known it.

Love is more than a candle, the final words of the poem had read. Love can ignite the stars.

~*~*~*~

Eurydice by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/eurydice-luke-mara-updated-12-october-complete.31937253/

Mara stood in high grass, her boots sinking slightly into the soft earth. She could feel a cool, crisp breeze upon her face, and although she knew she no longer had lungs, inhaled it gratefully. Magnificent waterfalls tumbled in the distance, pooling into a stream of rivers, and she could hear the powerful roar of the water as it coursed past her into a distant and unseen sea.

“Lovely, isn’t it?”

Mara whipped around to see a young man standing a few metres away, wearing Jedi robes of black and dark brown. Light brown hair framed a handsome face, albeit marred by a long scar which ran down the right side of his forehead beside his eye.

“Oh no,” she shook her head and took a step backwards. “Not you.” Even though she had never seen his true face, Mara knew exactly who stood before her. And despite herself, she remembered being in the dark and hearing nothing but mechanical breath, always watching, always judging, never speaking. She remembered her Master once sending her to his training room for lightsaber practice and spending three weeks in the medcentre afterwards. She remembered his imposing figure at her Master’s right hand and envying him, hating him and fearing him in equal measure.

Vader.

He smiled at her and it was the most unnerving thing Mara had ever seen. It was the normality of it, she decided. Darth Vader was not a man with a single scar and a youthful complexion – he was not a man at all. He was a Sith encased in black armour, a deep voice punctuated by staccato breath. Behind a grotesque mask were eyes of yellow, not blue, and he did not smile because his charred skin was stretched too light over a brittle skull.

 

BEYOND


Style:
Best Short Story

Shine a Light into Dark Places by SnubJocky
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/shine-a-light-into-dark-places-star-wars-njo-au-oneshot.50024604/

Author's note: after the peace is signed between the Galactic Alliance and the Yuzzhan Vong, Jacen Solo is on Coruscant, trying and failing to fit back into his old life after losing his younger brother and being imprisoned and tortured for a year. One day, he receives a visitor who has survived something similar, and may give Jacen some much needed perspective. His name is Tycho Celchu, and he was held at Lusankya.

..Of course it wasn't his lightsaber. Not the one he built as a student with a corusca gem pulled from the Yavin gas giant himself. Not the one he had taken Tenel Ka's arm with in a stupid, youthful accident.

It was a blue generic with no history, made by Corran Horn or one of the other apprentices in the three-day process they had to use to replenish their stock of weapons while the “stock” of Jedi dwindled during the War.


The blade length is a few micrometers different, and it's slightly heavy on the back end, but it'll serve. Jacen thought as he extended his senses...

...Celchu's aristocratic features had been worn fine with lines and wrinkles to spare, and his blond hair was graying. It made him look more human, less like a middle aged actor out of a holo-ad for blue milk.

He was probably not a Vong in a masquer. There were no obvious Sith agents behind him.

Jacen hit the door release and pasted a fake smile on his face.

“Colonel Celchu, what can I do for you today?”

The older man smiled, which softened the lines of his pale, aristocratic features into something more fatherly, before shifting the parcel to one hand and tugging on his blank collar with the other,

“No décor today, Jacen. Just Tycho is fine. I'm here with your housewarming gift.”

“Er, thanks.” Jacen said, clipping the lightsaber to his robe's sash, “Why don't you come in.”

Tycho stepped inside and was confronted by the miasma of smells of dishes, trash and young Jedi Knight left alone far too long.

“Sorry about the mess.” Jacen said, sealing the doorway and sounding more like his father in that moment than he would ever know.

Celchu raised a single aristocratic eyebrow...


~*~*~*~

Cursed by Ewok_Slayer
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...an-characters-jacen-solo-kyp-durron.50024870/

Both men startled when an inhuman scream sounded in the distance. Jacen quickly stood and tried to determine the direction of the sound. Kyp turned and faced west toward the home of Han and Leia Solo. “That came from your parents’ house!” Kyp grabbed his lightsaber and held the hilt in the ready position. “The beast has arrived.”

Jacen immediately broke out into a sprint racing toward his family’s dwelling with Kyp trailing at his heels. They arrived to find the front door of the two-story brick home smashed open. Both men ignited their lightsabers and cautiously entered the dwelling. The home was dark and quiet with only the hum of their blades to be heard. A scream pierced the stillness causing a cold shiver to crawl down Jacen’s spine. “Mother!” He rushed toward the sound of a struggle and nearly tripped over his father’s decapitated body at the entrance of the living room. On the far side of the chamber his mother’s blue lightsaber was a blur of motion as she fought a tall, cloaked opponent brandishing a red blade.


~*~*~

In-Patient Attitude by ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/in-patient-attitude-l-m-december-challenge.50026031/

“I’m fine, Mara. Can’t we get out of here?”


“The doctors aren’t ready to release you yet. You nearly died not more than a week ago, Skywalker. I’m not ready for you to be released yet, either.”


“I’m fine,” he repeated, crossing his arms over his chest, admirably hiding a wince of pain.


“Be that as it may, you won’t be fine when they release you and I kill you on the spot for putting me through the last few weeks.” Mara bared her teeth, and her sense in the Force showed that she was only slightly kidding. “Stay here where it’s safe, Farmboy.”


“What’s stopping you, Jade? Kill me now and put me out of my misery.” He pushed at the table that was positioned over his bed. An uneaten plate of food was on it. “I can’t even eat. Everything still tastes like bacta.” He made a face.


“And whose fault is that?” Mara’s eyebrow arched. “Here,” she said, standing and placing the red party hat on his head, snapping the band of it under his chin. She bit her lip but couldn’t stop a laugh. “Perfect.”


Luke scowled at her from under the hat’s brim.

Mara only laughed harder. “You would look menacing if you didn’t look so...cute.” She bopped his nose with one finger.


“Cute?” Luke grabbed her finger and playfully bit at it. “I’m trying to be in a bad mood here. Leave me to it.”


“You’ve been in a bad mood since you woke up. Bacta treatment never sits well with you.”

~*~*~

Number Six by ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/number-six-sjrs-halloween-challenge.50024030/

Mara’s eyes harden, and she removes herself from his grasp quickly. “Don’t touch me. I don’t want to--”


“Don’t want to--”


“Just shut up! Shut up! I’m so sick of voices! Voices in my head, and you. Always with the questions. Every time you come in here, you ask me why, why, why…”


Luke swallows, and watches her as she stalks around the room, unhinged. “It was a dark and stormy night. Kriff it all. It was storming, and he liked storms. He liked the rain, cliche as it is. And I would laugh at him, and call him Farmboy, and it’s all so stupid and trite, and kriff him for making me love him. I wanted to go, to leave and keep him safe. The voice, it kept screaming. We thought it was gone, but no. It came back. YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.”


She pauses. “But of course I wouldn’t kill him. Couldn’t. He told me that. He was convinced that I would never hurt him. I thought he was right. I had never felt love the way I did when I was with him. I wanted to know every part of him, inside and out.” She laughs her harsh laugh again. “The holo-press called me a Force-vampire. Said that I sucked the Force right out of Luke, as if he were a piece of candy that I could crack open with my teeth and suck out the sweetness. But I was never the vampire. It was him. Palpatine. He took everything from me. My life. My childhood. My innocence. You.” Mara looks at him as if seeing him for the first time. “Don’t look at me with his eyes!”

~*~*~*~

Set Forth Good Wine by Zonoma
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/set-forth-good-wine-l-m-h-l-vig.50023837/

~*~*~

Same as Always by JediMara77
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...akens-speculation-fic-luke-rey-finn.50025558/




Best Epic

I'll Come With You by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-author-thanks.50022292/page-11#post-52061040

So much had and hadn't changed in the last ten years. From a distance, if she squinted, she could still see the same young man who'd handed her his father's lightsaber and walked away with a gentle spark of hope in his eyes. There was an enduring boyishness to his features that never seemed to fade away entirely despite time and tribulations' best efforts, but she knew it ran deeper than flesh and bone. It was something that had never meant much to her, but she suspected now that it would strike her hard if it was ever gone.

Even as he smiled back he appeared to be in the midst of contemplation, but when the landing pad's proximity alarm sounded he seemed to make a decision and came towards her. The familiar roar of the Action V transport's engines began to fill the air as the old Corellian freighter approached. Mara bared her teeth. “Still thinking of barve-tying Solo to the hull?”

Luke removed a pouch from his belt and held it out to her. “Actually, I just have a little parting gift for you.”

The small, worn leather pouch wasn't heavy. “Unless you've figured out how to miniaturize these babies, I don't suppose this is another lightsaber,” she speculated playfully.

“No, nothing that important. Or deadly,” he reassured her. “You don't have to open it right away.”

Turning it over in her hand, Mara studied the tiny parcel, intrigued by what it might hold. At the low thunder and hiss of the freighter's landing gear taking the ship's weight, she dropped it into a pocket inside the lining of her jacket. “Well...thank you.” Somehow, with Luke, she doubted it was as unimportant as he claimed. “You're always giving me things,” she mused aloud, feeling a little sheepish, “but I never have anything to give you in return.”

An intrepid yearning darkened his eyes, and he tucked a stray lock behind her ear. “There is something,” he murmured, drawing near, and Mara went still as his lips met hers. Slowly they caressed her mouth with tenuous reverence, and as she let herself drink in the warm musk of his breath she also allowed her barriers to relax ever so slightly, and felt the shining weight of his bittersweet joy pressing against them, scarcely restrained. The taste of his soul was almost more tangible than that of him, and for a moment all the world save for him dimmed and wavered.

The sudden hammer of her pulse was the only clue that he had withdrawn, and she blinked, briefly disoriented. Her tongue flicked out to skim her lips as the wind quickly stole away the lingering warmth of his presence, as if she could hold it there for just another second.

Luke smiled one last time, and she realized he would rather leave her with that than a farewell. Returning it without reservation, Mara spun on her heel and strode away towards the ship, her steps light.

Waiting for her at the top of the entry ramp, Faughn offered her a sharply arched brow. “Y'know, when I said the two of you made a good team, I didn't think you'd take me that seriously.”

With wry chagrin Mara muttered, “Stow it, Faughn.”

~*~*~*~

True Blue by Divapilot
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...final-authors-replies.50023681/#post-51894403
Notes: In this AU, Bree is the youngest of the four Solo children and the only one who is not Force sensitive. In this scene, her family discovers her absence from her university and plans how to find her.

“I can’t sense if she’s actually in danger,” Luke said, turning to Leia. “Can you?”

Leia shook her head. “I was never able to sense her like I could the other kids. She blended in too much with the other nonsensitives.”

“What did the university have to say?” Mara asked.

“No sign of a struggle. No signs of violence. No one has seen her in about two weeks, and she hasn’t been to her classes,” Han said. “They didn’t contact us because as an adult, Bree has the right to stop attending if she wants to.”

“Her datapad’s missing,” Leia added. “But her comlink is there and turned off. If she has a comlink then it’s an unregistered one, but no one has heard from her.”

Luke leaned back, assessing the information. “So, no sign of foul play, we don’t have any ransom demands, and no group is claiming credit for kidnapping her.”

“Is it possible that she did this herself?” Mara asked. “Would she just run off and leave everything?”

Leia rubbed her forehead. “Bree has always been such a good girl. Why would she do that?”

“She’s been through a lot,” Mara said. “I know how close she and Anakin were. They were like the two younger twins, the match to Jaina and Jacen. I wonder if she needs to deal with her grief in her own way.”

“But we had a funeral and final rites for him!” Leia protested.

“A Jedi funeral. With Jedi rites. How would that have given Bree any closure?” Han said. “Jaina and Jacen had you, Leia, and Luke and Mara to help them deal with the loss of their brother as a Jedi. I was so devastated by Anakin’s loss myself that I know I didn’t consider how Bree was doing. I took it for granted that she had moved on from it. Maybe she didn’t. I should have paid more attention to her.”

Leia looked distraught. “She never said anything about this to me.”

“You were both crushed by Anakin’s loss,” Mara said gently. “Maybe Bree didn’t want to burden you with her own grief.”

“Whatever the reason, we have to deal with this issue now,” Luke said. “The question is, do we want to start an investigation that involves the official authorities? Should we handle it more quietly? If what Mara suggests is true and we get more security involved, it might drive her deeper away. If she was kidnapped or being held against her will, it might tip our hand that we’re on to the kidnapper. What if we sent a team of our own to investigate first?”

Han and Leia glanced at each other before Han responded. “Let’s try to keep it quiet for now. But I still want the local authorities to be on alert. And if there is a team, I’m going.”



~*~*~

The Shadow of Fate By JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...e-episode-vii-chapter-17-january-17.50020860/

To anyone else, Leia would appear the picture of serene calm. But Han Solo knew his wife, and could see the nervous ticks that betrayed her anxious state. The way she fiddled with the hair at the nape of her neck, ensuring it was properly encased in her intricate bun, the way she smoothed out an invisible wrinkle in her dress, the way she held her head perfectly straight as she watched the entrance to the villa.

"Hello?" a soft female voice called, and a woman appeared at the top of the stairs leading down to the dock. She was well into her middle age, but had a proud, strong face framed by dark hair streaked with only a few strands of grey. She wore an elegant, full length dress of dark blue in the style of the aristocracy, and although her carriage and bearing were almost regal, there was no hint of superiority or snobbishness about her.

Han looked over at Leia, who was still seated on the chaise, seemingly frozen in place. Han leapt up to greet the woman. "Han Solo," he said, holding his hand out.

"General Solo, of course." She grasped his hand and gave it a firm shake. "I am Sola Naberrie."

Leia appeared at Han's elbow, and he put an encouraging hand on her back. "My wife, Leia," Han said gently, and then retreated to his perch on the edge of the couch.

"Leia," Sola breathed as if she had seen a ghost. "Such a beautiful name."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sola," Leia found her voice, although Han could hear the edge to it.

"Oh Leia," Sola's face crinkled into a smile. "You have no idea." She hesitantly reached forward to cup Leia's face in her hands, eyes wet and her lips trembling. "You look so much like her," she said.

"So I've been told," Leia answered softly.

Sola began to cry, and pulled Leia into a tight embrace. After a few moments Leia relaxed into the arms of her aunt and Han sighed with relief. Luke had told him that Sola had a friendly and welcoming demeanor, and it seemed that despite Han's doubts that information had been correct.

Han watched as Leia pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes, visibly composing herself. There was such a look of wonder on Sola's face, as if she could not believe that Leia was real. It made Han's heart twinge a little, for he'd never been close with his own family back on Corellia. His mother and father had died when he was still a boy, and the less said about his aunt and cousins the better. And yet, he had Leia and Luke, and one day, he would have his own children and with any luck nieces and nephews as well. Leia may have taken his name when they'd gotten married, but Han had taken her family. As for Chewbacca – well, he had adopted them all long ago.

"Please, sit down," Leia gestured towards the table where a tea tray had been prepared. Sola took a seat graciously and Leia followed suit, but Han remained perched on the edge of the couch, not wanting to intrude on Leia's moment.

"Tea?" Leia asked, and poured a cup when receiving an affirmative reply. "It must be strange," Leia added lightly. "To have someone else playing hostess in your own home."

"Not at all," Sola replied with a kind smile. "This is a family home, and you, dear Leia, are family. You must come and stay anytime you like."

~*~*~

Invidious Intent by Sokolniki
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/invidious-intent-oc-54aby.50017556/#post-51324830

Author's Note: A story set 50 years after the Rebel Alliance achieved victory against the Empire high above the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, a former Inquisitor finds himself seeking a purpose and a legacy for himself and the men and women who remain under his command. An opportunity for which opens up as former Moff and pirate leader Leonia Tavira seeks him out on the advice of an Emperor's Hand she had saved. But though he has darkness in his heart, death and violence are not the only tools at his disposal.

Excerpt:

The Troydarian let out an angry shout, raising his blaster again to shoot at him as the Inquisitor drew the thermal energy that filled the small plates in his gloves into himself, then reached out with the force, yanking the green little man from the sky and into his grasp… dropping the blaster out of surprise as the humans hand squeezed around his neck. The Omwati looked on in amazement as the nearby Pantoran looked on in expectation.

“No no no… please…” he began to plead.

Ren’Vhan looked closely at the Troydarian’s eye as he reached for one of his saddle packs, opening it up to reveal a small cooler with fresh food in it. With his free hand, he fetched a small red fruit, “The problem about dealing with Troydarians is that because I can’t employ my usual trickery, I have to resort to either bribery to keep them quiet…”

“Yes… yes… please,” he began to beg.

“Tell you what,” Ren’Vhan began to explain. “I give you this Ukartan apple, and you never utter a word about anything.”

The Troydarian nodded desperately. “Yes… not a word.”

Ren’Vhan casually handed Ushritan the apple he took a bite out of it, caring little of the possibility that it may be poisoned, chancing that it might not be over the certainty of being choked to death. When he felt the bite sized chunk of the Ukartan apple rapidly make its way to the back of his mouth before he had a chance to swallow it, he panicked.

Ren’Vhan’s hand went along the bottom of the Troydarian’s mouth as he guided the chunk of fruit to the back of the throat, and then down the neck and into the chest before holding it in place at the point where the esophagus opened up to incorporate a pathway to the lungs, and then held it there. He could feel Ushritan struggle, first to try to force his breath out… this he allowed. But when the small man made an attempt to breath in to make another effort to dislodge the chunk of food, he plugged the windpipe, preventing the winged creature from inhaling. He struggled in a vain effort to breath as the Inquisitor dropped him to the ground, keeping his free hand focused on the fruit within. Kicking and scratching at the dirt beneath him, he felt his chest burning and his heart racing in panic. His mind grew muddled as he tried to pound his chest, his vision blurred and he turned towards a blue blur that was approaching. He reached out, desperate for help, any help. He could barely make out that the figure was kneeling next to him.

“Apparently, the problem with bottom feeding slaver scum like you,” came the sharp tone from the Pantoran, “Is that you don’t know how to chew.” Soon after, darkness filled his vision, and his movements stopped.

The Speeder merchant looked on in shock as Ren’Vhan stepped over the warm corpse and towards him. “Uh… please sir… don’t… don’t kill me, I can be quiet.”

“That’s okay,” explained Ren’Vhan as he reached out with one of his hands. As his fingers touched, the Admiral’s mind was filled with his thoughts and memories. He focused on the most recent. “Because all you’ll remember is what I imagine for you.”

-


“He really always was a sloppy eater,” explained the speeder salesman as he kneeled over the cold corpse of the Troydarian.


~*~*~

Eurydice by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/eurydice-luke-mara-updated-12-october-complete.31937253/

She reached out to take Luke’s hand, and felt instant warmth at the connection. Luke grinned with happiness and relief, his fingers closing around hers as he stepped backwards, pulling her with him.

And yet Mara felt a tug at her heart, wanting to see Ben one last time. The boy with his clear blue-grey eyes that were so familiar, the cleft in his chin, the red hair which was the same shade she saw in the mirror every day. Ben had been right – she knew exactly who he was. And one day she would meet him, but for now Mara wanted one more glimpse to tide her over, wanted to capture the image of him in her mind so she could cherish and grasp if she had any future doubts.

So she turned.

“No, Mara,” she heard Luke call desperately, at the fringes of her consciousness. “Don’t look back.”

But it was too late – his hand was pulled from hers by an unseen force. She was alone in the mist again, unable even to see Ben or the gateway to the Force. She flailed about, panicked, searching for purchase but it felt as if she was about to fall away into oblivion.

Then Mara felt Luke’s hand grab hers again, pulling her back, away from the precipice. She could not see him, but felt his arms wrap around her, tethering her to him. And yet it was not enough, as Mara tried to grasp him, hold onto him, but he kept slipping away.

“Luke?” she called into the white mist surrounding her. She felt her soul splintering as she stumbled blindly to try and grasp him, follow him back into the world of the living.

And then she felt Luke again, but this time, he was inside her. She felt his gentle hands caress her, but he did not hold onto her arms or fold her into his embrace as he had done before. She felt his touch around her heart, in her veins, coursing along with her blood. Luke was there in her mind, holding her, pulling her back.

She gave herself over to it, pushing herself back at him and his mind and heart were open, waiting for her, taking her inside of himself gratefully and enclosing himself around her.

Then she heard music, the sweetest sound she had ever heard. It was enlivening, drawing her back into her body and yet she was not alone. Luke was there, as if her mind and body were no longer solely her own – it was as if they were now sharing the same space, the same energy, the same lifeforce. She felt him, the very essence of Luke Skywalker that she had always known and yet only now truly understood, and knew that he was feeling the same about her.

And yet she did not run from it, did not dare pull away from his strong hold. She clutched at him and held him to her, and in that moment they were each other as the Force enfolded around them, wound through them, and bound them irrevocably together in its eternal hold.
~*~*~*~

Insatiable by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...gst-complete-epilogue-posted-12-may.22432924/

When Mara awoke, the sun was setting, filling her bedroom with fading yellow light. She shifted pleasantly and saw that Luke was already awake, a happiness in his eyes that she was sure was reflected in her own. He reached out to stroke her hair, and she warmed to his touch, pressing herself closer and inhaling his unique scent. They must have only been asleep a few hours, but Mara felt refreshed and alive as she pressed her lips to his gently. Through their bond, she could feel that he was thinking of the times he’d woken up in his bed alone, when she had left him, and his relief at finally being able to hold onto her.

“I’m still here,” she reminded him as she pulled away. “I’ll always be here.”

“I know,” he answered with a smile. “But I think this is the first time I’ve woken up before you.”

Mara shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly. “Well, I sleep now,” she told him shyly, since in the awful days of her addiction and recovery, she had found rest difficult to find. “And I sleep best with you beside me.” She sighed with happiness and caressed his chest absently. “Thank you for waiting for me,” she told him.

Luke chucked softly and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “It was only a week,” he pointed out.

Mara shook her head. “No,” she told him. “It’s been ten years.”

Luke smiled, understanding, and leant in to kiss her softly. She melted under the touch of his lips, and they kissed leisurely for some time. A part of her couldn’t believe they hadn’t been able to find their way to this place years ago.

“We both needed the time,” Luke said softly as he pulled away, picking up on her errant thoughts. He ran a hand down the bare skin of her back and pulled her close.

“I think you’re being kind to me there,” Mara responded, tapping him gently on the chin. “We both know that we could have found happiness years ago if I’d made different choices.”

“Maybe,” he said evenly. “Maybe not. I wasn’t blameless in what happened between us, Mara,” he pointed out. “I pressed you into a relationship when you were unsure and grieving, and I thought that if I just loved you enough, I could fix you. It was arrogant and foolish.”

“And I lied to you, continued our relationship even though I knew you wanted more than I could give,” she countered. “Then I abandoned you and hurt you so deeply most people thought you’d never recover. It was selfish and amoral.” She took his face in both of her hands. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life making that up to you, Luke.”

He took one of her hands and kissed her palm, shaking his head. “You were always completely and utterly forgiven,” he told her. “Our lives together shouldn’t be about correcting the mistakes of the past,” he added. “But a new beginning - making new memories together.”



~*~*~

The Fragile Peace by RevanFan1
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...lker-jade-revival-society-challenge.50020438/

Ben's X-wing reverted from hyperspace and he looked down for the first time at the tan and brown sphere of Tatooine. Twin suns rose over the horizon of the planet, and Ben squinted for a moment until his canopy tinted itself to adjust for the glare. Ben had never been to his father's homeworld, and he was curious to see his heritage. His father had told him that his own father, Anakin Skywalker, had also grown up on Tatooine–so Ben half expected to have some existential epiphany while here.

"Looks hot," he muttered.

Mara chuckled. "Very hot."

"Oh, but it's a dry heat," Luke said wryly. "Don't worry. Your sweat will evaporate quickly. It's more fun than a humid world like Mimban."

Ben arced his X-wing around, following his father and mother as they swept down toward the planet. Jaina was on Ben's port wing, and Damien was on his starboard. The two other Jedi Knights had been with Ben for as long as he'd been Knighted; they were a team so close that they could practically read one another's minds at times. In fact, Ben had been forced to remove himself from the psychic connection at times when Jaina and Damien's feelings for each other had grown too strong.

"We're cleared for landing at Mos Espa Spaceport," Luke said. "Docking Bays 83 and 85. Mara will land with me in 83; Ben, you land with Jaina and Damien in 85."

"Copy that," Ben replied.

The X-wings dropped through Tatooine's atmosphere and Ben looked down at the dunes as they passed over. He winced at the sight. He'd never been fond of desert worlds; having been raised on Yavin IV and Coruscant most of his life, he preferred either jungle or city environments. The desert was too...empty. Soon, the small buildings of Mos Espa appeared on the horizon.

"See you on the ground," Mara said.

"Roger," Ben agreed. "Whoever lands last has to pay the docking fee."

His X-wing touched down and he hopped out of the cockpit, wincing at the heat that slapped him instantly. He jerked off his red jacket and unzipped his black combat suit, leaving it on but allowing his white shirt underneath to absorb most of the sun rather than letting the black do it. Making sure his lightsaber was clipped at his side, Ben walked away from his X-wing. There was a thump sound, and Ben's astromech droid, Tweeter, hopped out of the X-wing and rolled in behind Ben. The Jedi Knight patted Tweeter on the top of his head.

"We made it first," he said with a grin.

Jaina and Damien landed shortly; their astromechs remained with the X-wings to keep watch. Jaina unzipped her jacket but did not remove it, and Damien merely unbuttoned the top collar button of his flight suit. Ben nodded to them, and the three of them exited the bay. The dockmaster, a squat Rodian, approached. Damien pulled a few credits from a belt pouch and tossed them to the Rodian.

"Let's meet the Masters Skywalker," Damien said.

~*~*~


A Second Chance by Jedi_Lover
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...challenge-updated-11-15-14-complete.50020475/


The man ran a scanner over her body before he injected her with some type of chemical. He looked up to Luke to explain. “I gave her a stimulant. We want to get everything moving again as fast as possible.” He ran a medical scanner over her once more. “I detect a faint heartbeat.”

Jacen knelt across from the medic and stared intently at the young woman's chest waiting for it to rise. “She’s not breathing.” Before the medic could move Jacen leaned down and started rescue breathing. After a couple puffs the woman started gasping for breath. Her eyes opened and gazed at Jacen, his face only centimeters from hers. Her brow furrowed before she forcefully shoved him away.

Luke had to suppress his laughter. Although he had chosen a path of Jedi non-attachment, he gave his students the option. Jacen was one Knight that enjoyed attaching himself to any young female that came his way. Luke was sure his nephew's heroic gesture to save this attractive female's life was merely an excuse to put his lips on hers.


The young woman slowly rose to a sitting position and brought a hand up to block the glare of the glowrods blinding her. “Who are you!” she demanded, her voice dry and strained.

“I’m Jedi Knight Jacen Solo,” he stated proudly while giving her his best beguiling smile. “We took you out of stasis.”

She squinted at him and then to the others in the room. “Jedi Knight? What year is it?”

Luke came forward and put his glowrod on the floor so it wouldn’t blind her. “It is thirty-four years after the battle of Yavin.”

A perplexed expression crossed her face. “Battle of Yavin…you mean the destruction of the first Death Star?”

Luke nodded. “Yes. What year did you go into stasis?”

“Shortly after the destruction of the second Death Star.”

Luke glanced at Jacen. “That would be four…almost five years after the Battle of Yavin.” He turned back to the woman. “You’ve been in stasis for thirty years.”

“Is the Emperor still dead?” She glanced around the room with a look of dread.

“Still dead?" Luke said confused. "He died on the second Death Star.”

The woman let out an impatient sigh. “Yes, but is he still dead? Did he show up in some clone body years later.” She gestured to the dead bodies floating in the cloning cylinders.

Luke gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. “If he did, he hasn’t shown his face in three decades.”

"Good, good." She let out a relieved breath before dropping her head despondently. "But thirty years might not be long enough."

Luke cocked his head to the side and gave her a perplexed smile. “Long enough for what?”

She shook her head sadly before bringing her eyes up to meet his. “To be forgotten.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, but we should get you to our ship and checked out thoroughly in the infirmary.” He grasped her hand helping her to her feet. “I’m Luke Skywalker…and you are?”

The woman’s eyes went wide in recognition, but she quickly recovered. She gazed at Luke’s hand gently clutching hers. “I’m pleased to meet you Luke.” She shook his hand with a slight smile. “I’m Mara… Mara Jade.”






Best Series

Delusions of Grandeur by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ketchs-flash-fics-wha-new-fic-10-26.50021369/

Delusions of Grandeur - Fathers and Sons, or A Lesson in Love by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ics-wha-new-fic-10-26.50021369/#post-51659809

“Is tha bad man still aroun'?” A shiver of nervousness flashed across Ben's spirit.

“No, he's not.” And this was one of those numerous times when he wished that Anakin Skywalker was not so far away beyond his reach. As always, Luke had to settle for casting out his love across the immeasurable ocean of the Force. Someday, Father. Not too soon now, I hope. But someday.

He liked to believe that Father had been close by the day Ben was born.

“I needed to face him one last time. I tried to talk to him first so that we wouldn't have to fight, but he refused to listen. This time he said something even worse, so that I hated him, even more than before. I finally beat him and I just wanted to destroy him.” Luke held up his prosthetic hand in Ben's sight again. “He'd lost his arms and his legs many years before, so they were all like this. He'd cut my hand off, so I did it right back to him. But then...I saw how I was...changing. No matter how much I didn't want to, I was turning into him. I was just as angry and evil as he was. It was like waking up from a bad dream.

“So I put my lightsaber down and stopped fighting him. And because I did that, I was in great danger from someone even more powerful and evil than he was. Then he chose to save my life.” Luke's voice dwindled to a hoarse whisper. “We didn't hate each other anymore.”

“Why'd he go 'way then?”

Now go...my son. Leave me...

No! You're coming with me. I'll not leave you here, I've got to save you!

You already have, Luke...

“He was hurt very badly, and he only had a little while left to live. But we were able to say goodbye.”

Ben nuzzled his head into the curve of Luke's shoulder and hugged him again. “I'm sorry I made you cry, Daddy.”

“No, buddy, don't be sorry. It's not your fault. It's good that we talked about this. I would have told you all about this someday; it just came a little early.” He sniffed and, without thinking, wiped his face on his sleeve.

“Ew. Mommy says dat's gross.”

Luke blinked, then grinned. “You're right. Or rather, Mommy's right. I'll go clean up in a minute. But listen.” He stared intently into his son's eyes, letting the weight of his next words impress themselves upon the boy's mind through the Force like a gentle brand. He wanted him to remember this moment for the rest of his life. “Your mother and I have had to fight a lot of bad people for a very long time, so that we can keep you and our family and the whole galaxy safe. Soon we'll start teaching you how to defend yourself and others so that you can keep yourself safe and protect others who need help. But don't ever forget this, Ben. It's always better to show love and kindness to those who hate you, because in the end you may make a friend instead.”

And alongside the bittersweet memories of Anakin Skywalker came those of Mara Jade, another enemy who was now and forever his second half.

~*~*~*~

Children of Mandalore: Prelude to Terror ; Respite ; Shattered ; Children of Mandalore: Red Fang by Mando-Man
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/respite-oc-revolution-challenge-8-2-14-lotf-one-shot.50022099/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...s-njo-mandos-yuuzhan-vong-completed.50022290/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/shattered-oc-revolution-october-november-challenge.50023858/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...en-solo-updated-chapter-18-11-14-14.50020575/

Excerpt from Children of Mandalore: Red Fang

Dain ducked back down behind what remained of his rented airspeeder and swapped out his spent powerpack for a new one. The slug thrower he had brought with him was lying on the permacrete empty and useless. Lucky for him though there had been plenty of weapons left lying around that had previously belonged to the Nikto crew he had killed before rescuing Aru from the abandoned KDY complex. The only catch to that was the Nikto crew hadn't exactly treated their weapons with the utmost care. So far Dain had overheated four scavenged blasters and had overloaded a fifth one to the point where it had detonated in his hand. His beskar gauntlet had saved his hand from being totally destroyed but he could still feel the blisters forming under the armor from the intense heat that had engulfed it for a few short moments.

The pain could wait.

That was the first rule his father had drummed into him during his training. Pain can always wait until after you've completed your job. Dain pushed the sensation in his hand to the back of his mind and looked over into the complex entrance where he had relocated Aru and the two kids just before the Nikto reinforcements had arrived. Aru wasn't in much shape to aid in the defense at all, not with a freshly cauterized wound on her torso. Her skin was ghostly pale and easily identifiable in the dark hallway. Burning her wound to stop the bleeding had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do in his career. He actually liked Aru, even cared about her to a degree, because when everyone else had turned their backs on him because of who his father was, Aru hadn't.

She always had a kind word for him and never turned him away when he needed to bend her ear to relieve the frustration that his social predicament had dumped upon him. To hear her scream the way she had when his searing knife pressed against her skin had shaken him pretty badly, her voice ripped through him just as the kidnapper's blade had ripped through her torso. It was a testament to her strength that she hadn't passed out during the ordeal, he'd seen grown men give out to the pain while undergoing the same process. Dain hadn't had anything to properly dress the wound with except some of the bloody tatters of her tunic that he had cut away to gain better access to her wound to treat it.

She needed to be placed in a bacta tank soon before any infection could take hold, but once again comms were being jammed by the Nikto force that was making its own slow advance on his position. Dain couldn't go looking for the jammer until he had dealt with all of the hostiles and every time he peaked over the speeder there seemed to be more and more of them.

With a measurable degree of reassurance the powerpack slid home into his sixth scavenged blaster and Dain popped back up to return fire. The Nikto group were not going to get Aru and the two kids. He had to carefully pick his shots and with dozens of blaster bolts flying in at him at regular intervals, it wasn't an easy task. He dropped two encroaching Nikto thugs with headshots that weren't as neat as he would have preferred them to be. One of the many blaster bolts shot his way impacted Dain in the shoulder spinning him around and knocking him to the ground.


~*~*~

The Thing in the Maw and Secrets in Scarlet by Darkwriter
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-thing-in-the-maw-syal-valin-and-the-unit-njo-one-post.50022981/
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/secrets-in-scarlet-antilles-and-horn-families-valin-syal-myri-thaymes-post-fotj.50022537/

Author’s note: Includes except from both stories, separated by dashes. “The Thing in the Maw” takes place several years before Secrets in Scarlet.

“I know that,” Valin said. “But I don’t know how to fix things. I wasn’t myself then.”

“So Abeloth was controlling you?” Syal asked. “You’re telling me you weren’t in control of your own actions?”

“I—” He stopped, leaned away from her, and looked at her in surprise. “Well, I guess I was. But—it’s hard to explain. It was like, I was drowning in fear. I really believed that you were dead.”

Syal knew how that felt, better than anyone, losing so many people at once. But it was no excuse.

“Aren’t Jedi supposed to put attachment and emotion aside?” she asked. “If you had done that even for a minute, and tried to think rationally, then maybe you wouldn’t have made such a mess of things.”

Valin grabbed her hand, squeezed it. “Syal, I don’t know how to fix this.”

Syal swallowed and looked at the floor, unable to meet his gaze. He was asking, begging her for help, but she didn’t know how to fix the situation either. She was struggling, just the same as him, to become part of the galaxy again.

“You might never fix it,” she murmured. “Things might never go back to the way they used to be. But maybe you can move forward, one step at a time.”

Valin blew out his breath. “What’s the first step, then?”

“I don’t have all the answers.”

“You’re the bossiest girl I’ve ever met,” Valin said. “You used to love telling me what to do. Surely that can’t have changed.”

“I’m not the same girl I was back then,” Syal said. Couldn’t he see that?

--- --- ---

“I don’t get it,” came Valin’s muffled voice. “It’s like Booster knew what we were going to do and he shut everything down. But I don’t see how—”

Seeing Syal, Myri, Jysella, and Yaqueel, Bazel—the jade-skinned Ramoan—turned up his snout and grunted frantically.

“What do you mean in wasn’t Booster?” Valin asked. Then he raised his head and caught Syal’s eye. “Oh. Should have known.”

Elna marched angrily down the wall. “Oh, no. You lot are not coming with us.”

“Then you’re not going at all,” Syal said. “Only one of us has the codes, and it isn’t Valin.”

“It’s me,” Myri said. She flicked her light brown hair back and put her hands on her hips.

Elna stared at her. “What are you, nine?”

“I’m ten,” Myri said. “And I’m Booster’s favorite.”

“No way,” Valin said. “I’m Booster’s favorite.”

“In your Jedi dreams,” Syal said. “So if you want to go, you have to take us with you.”

Valin ran his hands through his hair, making it even more of a mess.

Bazel gave three short grunts.

“See,” Myri said. “That’s why you’re my favorite. We are the smart ones, aren’t we?”

“Certainly smart enough to keep up with any Jedi,” Syal said.

“Fine,” Elna said. She threw her hands in the air and sent Valin a cross look. “We’ll bring along your shadow. Are you happy now?”

“I’m not his shadow!” Syal said. She wished Elna would just stop it already.

“She’s not my shadow,” Valin said. “She’s my co-pilot.”

~*~*~

Perfectly Sweet & Toasty L/M Treats by Nyota's Heart
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...w-post-march-14.50018396/page-2#post-51413641


Luke is baby sitting and Mara stops over and Jacen and Jaina try to get Mara on their side for a virtual game of Mandos & Bounty Hunters.

"Have mercy on us, Aunt Mara." Jaina pleads and blushes. It was what she'd always called Mara secretly, even though everyone insisted Luke and Mara were "just friends."

"What have you been telling your family, Skywalker?" She thinks. "Are you imagining things between us?"

After the kids are put to bed, Mara faces Luke squarely.

"I promise, Mara, I never implied anything." Not because I wouldn't like to. He thinks before he can stop it.

Something of this must have shown in his blue eyes because Mara's eyes narrow.

She smirks. "Guess you're the one for it then."

"For what?" Luke asks.

"Karrde wants me to look for an associate of his, a former partner, named Jorj Car'das. He suggested Lando, but I turned that down flat! I have to go undercover & Karrde suggested I go with someone I could pose as a couple with. How about it?"

Luke flushes, feeling a thrill of excitement. "Sure." He agrees. Something tells him he won't have to do much play-acting.

[Next part below]

Luke was getting way too into character. He'd nibble her earlobe and stroke her thigh, all to convey the impression they were a couple.

Mara really tried to be annoyed. But what she was ... was all tingly.

She'd enticed and flirted all for the sake of a mission, but that had always left her hormones and heart strictly unaffected.

So, she had assumed, this would be of the same category. Not karking close!

Mara had known comradeship, anger, sadness, but the feelings she was starting to experience ... Were they what some would call attraction, even love?

How could you tell?

Perhaps, she decided, if something happened to Luke, or he started dating someone else, then she'd know.

the bad thing about that was: then it would be too late for the two of them.

No, Mara concluded, the time for realization better come beforehand.

**

Their mission was going well until the trail ran cold. It appeared Car'das wanted to vanish and probably take up a life of non-notoriety. That was fine with Mara. He was welcome to do so.

She sent Karrde an update and smirked across at Luke.

"Guess our little charade is over." She commented.

"I suppose." He remarked.

Definitely ... Mara was not imagining it: there was a wistful note.

"Hmm. You didn't enjoy our little play-acting, did you?" She demanded.

Luke gave a noncomittal shrug.

Mara laughed. "You're not fooling me. You cannot even lie with subtle nonverbals."

He blushed.
"I wouldn't mind if it weren't."

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

"A pretense." He elaborated. "I've been attracted to you since Myrkr, Mara." He confessed. "The more time we spend together, the stronger it gets."

She didn't have room or time for romantic entanglements. But apparently, such things didn't wait for the convenient moment.

Because from the way her heart was skipping beats, she was a goner, already.

When Luke kissed her, something inside melted and she found herself returning it with happy abandon.

When they breathlessly pulled apart, she grinned.

"That was better than I thought." Then she flushed. That had just slipped out!

"Been thinking of us kissing, Mara?"

"That's not precisely what I said." She retorted.

He winked and kissed her again. A very effective way to have the 'last word.'

 

BEYOND

Character:

Best Canon Interpretation

Mara Jade Skywalker in In-Patient Attitude by ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/in-patient-attitude-l-m-december-challenge.50026031/

Detangling her hand, Mara rolled her eyes at the hat. “You look ridiculous.”

Luke laughed, and reached to remove the hat. “I know, it—”

“I didn’t say you could take it off.”

Luke dropped his hands. “Mara.”

“Don’t ‘Mara’ me.” She pulled out her datapad and aimed it at him. “Smile for the holocam!”

“Mara!” She took the shot mid complaint, and Luke had no doubt she’d be sharing it with their friends. “How long are you going to torture me?”

“I would say for the rest of our lives, but since you keep trying to shorten that time-frame, I’ll just say until I’m ready to stop.” She set her datapad on the table, and removed his tray, covering it and taking it to the sink by the door.

Luke sighed. “Mara,” he said, as she turned back to him. “You know I didn’t mean to…” he trailed off, stopping himself. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“More like piss me off, Skywalker.”

“...Or that.” Mara gave a huff of irritation, before busying herself with her datapad, and Luke frowned, knowing he had a lot of work ahead of him to make things right with his wife. A loud noise startled him from his thoughts, and he looked out of the window in time to see a huge blast of color streak through the sky.

“Fireworks,” he murmured. He counted back in his mind. “Is it the New Year celebrations already?”

“Apparently you woke up just in time, buddy boy.”

~*~*~*~


Mara Jade Skywalker in Chasing Dreams by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/chasing-dreams-l-m-post-njo-repost-complete.50022364/

Her five-year old son sat on the couch, grinning adorably at her while he attempted to tie the laces on his small boots. A quick check to her chrono confirmed that they had no hope of making it to the Jedi Temple in time for their appointment with Tionne. Not that the gentle-hearted Jedi would mind the delay, it was simply that punctuality was something Mara asked from those around her and demanded no less of from herself.

Mara’s fingers twitched and she moved purposefully towards her son.

“No, Mama,” Ben cried indignantly. “Can do it myself. Uncle Han showed me.”

Mara mentally cursed that blasted Corellian and the patented Skywalker stubbornness in one thought. Gently lowering herself to her knees, she faced her son at eye-level.

“We’re late, Ben,” she said as calmly as she could, not letting her voice betray her frustration. That was what he wanted. Like his father, Ben seemed to revel in seeing her on edge.

“Can do it myself,” he repeated, refocusing his attention on his small feet.

Mara sighed and leaned back on her haunches. She felt loathe to give in to him so easily, but arguing would simply take more time she didn’t have.

She waited, struggling not to wince at the mess Ben seemed to be creating. Han, unfortunately, had taught him the Corellian method for tying his laces, which of course, made the action ten times more complicated than it needed to be. Mara promised herself to thank Han in her own special way for that later.

“Done!” came the exclamation from Ben, as he beamed proudly at her. Mara took in the tangled mess of laces that adorned Ben’s boots. They were tied…more or less.

Too often, more or less was all she could afford to settle for.

~*~*~

Mara in Number Six by ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/number-six-sjrs-halloween-challenge.50024030/

Mara beats him to it, blocking him with her body. “Are you afraid of me?” Her voice is a whisper barely heard. “Luke was never afraid. Not even when I snapped his neck.”
“What are you talking about? I’m right here.” Luke backs up again and thumps his chest. “You didn’t kill me.”
“No,” she says, taking a step away from the door. “I killed him. He could have stopped me, but he didn’t. He had that much faith in me. I used that against him and murdered him. And, for a moment, after it was finished, I was relieved. The voice was gone. What does that say about me that my first feeling was relief? I had tried for so long to keep it repressed. But it just kept screaming until I did what I was ordered to do. I killed Luke Skywalker.”
Silence falls between them, and Luke looks down at the corner he’s backed himself into, near the creatures and their frames. “Ysalamiri,” he says, reaching out to place a finger on one of the frames. “Now I remember. They block the Force.”
“Don’t touch those!” Mara’s voice is shrill, frantic.
“Why are you blocking the Force?”
“Stop asking questions! And move away from there.” Mara reaches out to grab his hand, to yank him away.
Luke moves awkwardly to avoid her, pitching the frame and ysalamir forward. Mara dives in and catches the frame, setting it back against the wall before rounding on Luke. She grabs him in a practiced move, positioning herself behind him with her arm around his neck. She pushes his head forward, applying pressure. “I told you not to touch them,” she growls. “The ysalamiri are the only things keeping him from finding me.”

~*~*~

Syal Antilles in Secrets in Scarlet by Darkwriter
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...s-valin-syal-myri-thaymes-post-fotj.50022537/

“XJ7, you are clear to board,” said the voice through Syal’s comm system. Grinning, she pushed her throttle, and her XJ7 dipped forward, drifting under the scarlet shadow of the Star Destroyer, Errant Venture. The dark blanket of space disappeared as she neared the Venture, the open hanger filling her vision.

She maneuvered smoothly, swiftly into the silvery docking bay and set down between two cargo haulers. Almost immediately, she yanked her helmet off and shook out her short, blond hair. Her leg had started to shake again. She tried to stop it, but her heart pulsed with anticipation.

It’s been a while, she thought, squeezing her helmet between her palms. Not since she had been to the Errant Venture, but since everyone had been together—

Her cockpit snapped open, hissing by her ears and startling her. Pushing her helmet and her misgivings aside, she clambered out of the pilots seat and swung onto the ladder. A man waited for her nearby—he stood only a head taller than her, short for most men his age, and gray streaked his brownish hair. He wore a light dust jacket over his slim shoulders.

Despite herself, Syal abandoned all pretense of formality that she tried so hard to maintain among Starfighter Command. She ran, her feet quickly closing the gap between the two of them, and hurled herself into her father’s arms.

He squeezed her tight, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “Missed you, little girl.”

“Missed you, too,” Syal murmured into his jacket, then drew away to look up at him. “Am I late?”

“The Horns just got here, actually,” Wedge said. “Valin, Jysella, and Myri all went to the casino—for drinks, they said. But knowing Myri…”


~*~*~

Leia Organa Solo in Set Forth Good Wine by Zonoma
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/set-forth-good-wine-l-m-h-l-vig.50023837/


~*~*~

Mara Jade Skywalker in Contractual Obligations by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/contractual-obligations-sjrs-august-challenge.50022050/

Han pouted. “Leia says I can’t come home until I shave,” he said. “So me, Luke and Ben have been hanging out.”

“Good for her,” Mara prickled with warm amusement. “I’d do the same except you’re already home,” he poked Luke playfully in the belly. “So I’m afraid the bachelor’s vacation has come to an end. For you boys it’s back to washing your dishes, throwing your dirty socks in the hamper and yes, liberal application of the vibrorazor.”

“It’s not like that, Mara” Luke protested, covering his whiskers protectively.

“Then what is it like?” she asked.

“Beardapolooza!” Han drunkenly threw his hands up in the air.

“That’s not a word.”

“Sure it is,” Luke nodded with a bit too much enthusiasm. “It’s a really neat idea to raise money for Coruscant’s homeless. They’ve got a whole bunch of public figures, we all promised to grow out our facial hair, and people can donate money to support whoever they want!”

“And you’re not allowed to trim it?” Mara asked hopefully. She didn’t mind Luke with a beard usually - if it was well kept she actually thought he looked rather handsome. But the beard he was currently sporting could generously be described as straggly.

“Nuh uh,” Han shook his head, standing and ambling over to them. “Against the rules.”

“Well I don’t care what the rules are,” Mara declared and turned back to Luke. “You’re shaving it off right now.”

“Mara, it’s for charity,” Luke said. “And I signed a contract, I don’t shave for anyone until they have enough money.”

“Yeah, Jade,” Han added, pointing to his face. “These are contractually obligated beards.”


~*~*~

Luke Skywalker in Delusions of Grandeur - Fathers and Sons, or A Lesson in Love by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ics-wha-new-fic-10-26.50021369/#post-51659809


Ben's eyes grew even wider and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Daddy, are you a droid?”

As comically absurd as the question was, it still hit Luke like a punch to the gut. “No! No, Ben–“

His son scrambled back toward him and pressed his head against Luke's chest, right over his heart. “You don't go whirr like Artoo.”

“No, I don't. I'm not a droid, buddy.” He finally allowed himself to chuckle and stroked Ben's hair with his left hand, then stretched out his legs and pulled him up onto his lap. “And it's not my whole arm; it's just my hand. It stops right there below what you saw.”

Being considered a droid didn't offend him as it would most others. However unnerving or mundane their existence and employment was to the majority of galactic citizenry, the fact was that Luke considered two droids to be extended members of his family, and he was quite happily indifferent to anyone's opinion of his sanity on the matter. What triggered the knots of anguish in his stomach and the dull throb of old spiritual wounds was something far more personal.

He's more machine now than man...twisted and evil.

Ben's fingers were idly tracing the lines and contours of its palm and wrist. “Looks real.”

“Yeah, it does, doesn't it?”

Now...fulfill your destiny, and take your father's place at my side!

Deceptively soft synthflesh hid the same servos and wires that powered both this hand and his father's grotesque limbs. That excruciating epiphany had become their salvation. Luke breathed deeply and let his eyes drift shut as he rested his chin on his son's head, the memories washing over him.


~*~*~
Luke in My True Love Gave to Me Jade Lotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/my-true-love-gave-to-me-l-m-holiday-challenge-day-12.50025548/

It was close to midnight when Luke emerged from the sabacc rooms, grinning with victory and a few credit notes sticking out of his shirt pocket. Mara was by the large Festival tree, watching the blinking lights as the gentle sound of the band played folk songs.

Luke kissed her and tasted like whiskey, his inane grin the other tell-tale sign he’d drunk more than was perhaps appropriate. “Have you had a good night, my love?” he asked, folding his arms around her.

“Well my husband did abandon me to feed his gambling habit…” Mara teased him lightly.

Luke chuckled and pressed warm hands to her back. “You of all people should know I never turn down a challenge.” He kissed the corner of her mouth.

“Did you get this necklace from the Xiangke monks?” Mara asked as she touched the rings that hung around her neck.

Luke looked at her strangely, his gaze a little unfocused. “Yes,” he conceded. “I spent some time in their monastery a few years ago - they have a fascinating philosophy.”

“I suppose since it’s practically priceless, I shouldn’t be too put out by another re-gifting,” Mara teased. “The vibroblade was a second hand gift as well.”

Luke smiled and stroked her hair. “You could think of it as me sharing what I have with you.”

“Because I need to find balance?” she asked.

“Because you are my balance, Mara,” he told her seriously. “When I went to Xiangke, I felt so lost - they gave me this chain to remind me that all things have a place, and ultimately there is harmony, if one knows where to look.” He traced the gold chain around her neck. “And now I only need to look to you - to us - and know exactly where I belong.”


Best Original Character

Zebula Pavish in The Shadow of Fate by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...e-episode-vii-chapter-17-january-17.50020860/

“This an old haunt of yours?” Jaina asked, although she knew Zeb didn’t like to talk much about his childhood.

“Nah,” Zeb said with a smile. “I think your father would vape me if I ever took you to one of those, yeah?”

Jaina liked that when they were alone, the crisp formality of Zeb’s inflection faded slightly and his natural accent bled through, his speech became slightly more punctuated with lower-level slang.

“Oi, Zeb!”

Jaina looked up to see two figures approaching. The one who had spoken was almost two metres tall with purple skin and yellowed eyes – a Lasat. His pointed ears were feline in appearance and he was bald except for thick purple whiskers on his chin and jaw. The other was a human male with olive skin and dark, curly hair.

Zeb seemed surprised but pleased, and rose to greet the pair as they approached, sharing a complicated handshake with them both. “What’re you two doing here?” Zeb asked them, sinking back into the booth. “Isn’t this place a bit clappin' for ya?”

“Good for a change sometimes, innit,” the Lasat shrugged, then turned and looked at Jaina appreciatively. “Hello, luv.”

“Alright, lay off,” Zeb waved his hand. “Jaina, this is Quix Treelaj,” he indicated the Lasat. “And Petar Sillow.” The human male gave a sardonic little wave. “Mates from the old days.”

“So you’re the Solo girl, huh?” Petar gave her a smile. Whilst Quix had the accent and slang of a Coruscant lower-leveller, she could tell that Petar was Corellian.

“Jaina,” she corrected him. “Nice to meet you.”

“Check you, with your new fam, bruv” Quix slapped Zeb on the arm. “Heard you levelled up. And talking like a right toff, too.”

Zeb shrugged and took a large gulp of his ale.

~*~*~*~

“Bree” in True Blue by Divapilot
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...are-challenge-final-authors-replies.50023681/

Note: In this AU, Bree is the youngest of the four Solo children and the only one who is not Force sensitive.

To her quiet relief, a quick scan of her forged documents triggered no alarms. She tucked the identicard back in her bag and entered the chilly rain of the street level.

Smells assailed her – the oily mechanics of the spaceport, rough scents of the beings who walked past, the faint grease of something cooking nearby. Above, speeders interlaced in their assigned lanes, creating a checkerboard of the sky. She paused to get her bearings, and in that moment, a passerby bumped into her, and she stumbled onto the street just as a landspeeder tore around the corner. The driver, a Devaronian man, shrieked at the girl as the vehicle came dangerously close to her. The girl instinctively put her hands out against the vehicle, and was rewarded with a sharp crack and a painful impact to her wrist. Grimacing in pain, she held the injured wrist close to her chest. She blinked furiously through the downpour and spun around, cursing the Devaronian as he careened down the narrow road.

The girl hunched over in pain and disbelief that one random moment could be so disastrous. No, she thought, I don’t have the slightest danger sense at all. The wrist was already swelling and she gritted her teeth against the pain. She hadn’t planned on what to do if she had an injury. Think, think. There had to be a medic somewhere. Holding her tracker precariously in her one good hand, she scanned it through eyes wet with rain and held-back tears. There was a healer’s office a short walk away. But could she risk it? A cursory scan of her would surely reveal the lie that her identicard told – and reveal where she was.


~*~*~

Ren'Vhani in Invidious Intent by Sokolniki
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/invidious-intent-oc-54aby.50017556/

Note: Ren'Vhan, Inquisitor and Admiral of the Ghost Fleet, a fleet formed during the Galactic Civil War to carry out covert operations and provide support for Inquisitors and Hands, has kept in hiding for fully half a century. He demonstrates his knack for telepathy as he senses the thoughts of the crew of freighter he has captured and plays upon the jealousy of one of the crewmembers.


He could sense the captain's confusion, "what are you even talking about?"

More importantly, someone else's anger was growing. It has been brewing for some time now, it just needs a little more. "Your wife is just as capable, why else would you have cut her out of your crew for so long, and do explain why you put her up front guarding the the cockpit corridor..."

He paused a moment to feign a moment of thought, the continued as though he had broken the captain's plan, "I see, so you intended she'd die, then surrender the cargo so you could run off with her assets and live comfortably with..."

The sudden scream of a blaster echoed through the ship, followed by the shouts of the Rodian before a pair of shots abruptly silenced her. He could no longer feel the presence of the ship's captain either. He could sense the unease from the communication's officer and navigator. The Malndalorian seemed amused by the Admiral's ability to turn the crew against each other and pondered on whether or not the accusations had any merit. Her suspicions were true of course and the Admiral made a note to speak with the astute mercenary after everything was settled if he had the chance. The engineer meanwhile was struck with urgency thinking the ship had been boarded and fought to get the generators back online. The seventh passenger, now the captain's widow now waited patiently for the power to come back.

The aging man then looked back at the squad commander whom was confused, "don't look at me, I haven't ordered an infiltration mission yet."

"You needn't worry commander," Ren'Vhan assured him. "I just have a deeper appreciation for the wisdom of leaving one's wife at port on these tours."

~*~*~

Mark Devlin in On the Run: The Journal of Mark Devlin by Revanfan1
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/on-the-run-the-journal-of-mark-devlin-ddc-2014.50017378/page-4

I was going undercover in an extremist terrorist group called the Empire’s Fist (not related to the 501st, which was formerly called Vader’s Fist). Admiral Pellaeon had officially denounced the Empire’s Fist as radicals, and we now had authorization from Chief Ponc Gavrisom to take them out.

First I had to perfect my Imperial accent. I’d done one before but it had never been at the level it would need to be now. Second, I had to practice my back story until I had it memorized. I was an ex-stormtrooper disgruntled by the peace treaty between the New Republic and the Empire, and I wanted to get revenge.

Third, I had to learn how to use my new weapon, because the final part of the mission was to assassinate the leader of the Empire’s Fist.

My weapon was no blaster, not even a sniper. It was a truly old-fashioned weapon–a compound bow that didn’t shoot blaster bolts or energy lances, but actual metal arrows. Drayson’s reasoning was that a compound bow would be far more anonymous assassination tool than a blaster, because no current government used bows as official weapons.

On the first day of training I was truly pathetic; I missed more than I hit. I had used bowcasters and even crossbows before, but bows relied solely on the strength of the shooter’s arm, and that took some adjusting. After the first three days I was shooting at a better-than-average rate, and today I shot a bull’s eye with almost every shot.

Slinging my bow over my shoulder with my specialized sheath–along with a quiver of arrows that included tips that had explosive rounds, poison tips, grapnels, and other tools including even a computer spike–I headed out the door.


~*~*~


Talon Tantiss in The Journal of a Very Married Talon Tantiss by Jedi_Lover
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...s-ddc-2014-2014-journal-is-complete.50017395/


I laughed and looked over to Ben and was shocked by what I saw. He had a big breasted, red skinned Zeltron sitting on his lap. She was nibbling on his ear while her hands explored places they shouldn’t be exploring. Ben sat wide-eyed and appeared to have trouble breathing. It was like somebody had a Force hold on him. I then realized what was going on. That Zeltron was exuding pheromones that discombobulated my poor cousin’s brain. Unless you are expecting it, a Zeltron can get the best of a Jedi…I should know.

I guffawed at Ben’s panicked expression. This is one time I can save him, instead of the other way around. “Hey beautiful,” I murmured to the topless dancer as I stood and gently pulled her hand off Ben’s upper thigh. “We don’t have the credits and we don’t want the establishment’s heavies breaking our legs for not paying for a date.” I gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

She smiled as she stood. “It’s too bad.” She looked down at my redheaded cousin. “He’s cute.” She gave me a wave and walked off. I turned back to Ben whose face was as white as a Wompa.

“What the hell was that?” he gasped.

I chuckled. “You just experienced Zeltron pheromones on overload. If I didn’t save you she probably would have your last credit.”

Ben buried his head in his hands. “Kriff! Valla is going to kill me.”

“Why? Nothing happened.” I sat back down. “Just don’t tell her. I won’t tell her.”


~*~*~

Finn Skywalker in Same as Always by JediMara77
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...akens-speculation-fic-luke-rey-finn.50025558/

 

BEYOND

Best Canon Relationship


Luke & Mara in I'll Come With You by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...5-author-thanks.50022292/page-6#post-51887775


Over the rim of her mug she saw when he was starting to drift off completely. Oh, come on.

Blocked by the bar from kicking him in the shin, Mara instead ejected her holdout blaster with a sharp flick of her wrist and thumbed the safety to stun. The rustle and click brought him back to full alertness.

“Since you don't seem to be in a hurry, let me give you a little incentive: get your butt in bed or I'll drag it there myself.”

For a long moment he merely stared back at her and the tiny blaster aimed at his forehead, then began to quiver as laughter slowly bubbled up and erupted into a high-pitched and slightly deranged fit of giggling as he dropped his head onto his forearms.

Now he was starting to annoy her again. “What, you don't think I'll do it?”

His only response was another breathy burst of giggles as he picked his head back up and wiped his watering eyes.

She had to conclude that he'd lost his mind.

When his paroxysm finally died down, he returned her scowl with a brilliant smile that crinkled his whole face, the kind she thought he hadn't been capable of anymore. Come to think of it, he'd shown a greater range of emotion in the past day than he'd ever displayed to her.

Before she could even react, he leaned over the bar and kissed her on the cheek.


~*~*~

Mara Jade Skywalker and Luke Skywalker in In-Patient Attitude by Ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-m-december-challenge.50026031/#post-52093446

“But it’s tradition,” Luke said, trying to curry favor. “A kiss to ring in a new year, new attitudes…”

Mara gave him a pointed look. “I hope there will be new attitudes in the New Year. And I’m not going to kiss you. You probably still taste like bacta.”

“Aha. You don’t like it any more than I do.”

Fireworks started going off in increasing volume outside of the window, and Mara set her datapad on the arm of the chair to watch. Luke dimmed the lights in the room to better their view, and tugged at her hand until she reluctantly moved up onto the bed with him. They watched the new year ring in on Coruscant with only the sound of his heart monitor beeping quietly.

“Mara--”

Mara turned and looked at him, rolling her eyes at his hat. “Take that thing off,” she said, pushing at it.

He took it off, tossing it into her abandoned chair. She started to get up from the bed, but he kept hold of her hand. “Please, Mara. I--” He leaned his head against her temple. “I’m sorry. Truly, I am. I would never set out to cause you, or myself, pain.” Words weren’t enough, he knew, and so he tried to reach into their bond again.

Mara reflexively squeezed his hand, but relaxed her barriers to let him in, allowing his sense in the Force to overlap with hers. He could feel her anger, and pain, but overall her fear during those long moments when his prognosis wasn’t known while he floated in the bacta.

“Mara,” he murmured, turning her to face him.

“It was so quiet when you were in there,” she said, her voice cracking. “Too quiet.”

~*~*~

Luke/Mara in Chasing Dreams by JadeLotus
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/chasing-dreams-l-m-post-njo-repost-complete.50022364/

Luke, however, did not seem to be in harmony with Mara's mood. He stood utterly still, leaning slightly against the railing of their balcony, contemplating the skyline. But she felt his tumultuous emotions brewing just below the surface. Deftly, Mara crawled out of bed and moved over to him, the breeze chilling her skin further.

"I thought you were asleep," he said quietly as she approached, still gazing off into the distance.

"I was." She slipped her arms around his waist, her fingers locking themselves across his stomach. Her hands were cold, but so was his skin. "You're thinking too loudly."

"I'm sorry," he muttered distractingly, but relaxing almost unconsciously against her.

"It's alright," she answered softly. "After ten years I should be used to it." He didn't answer, but then, Mara hadn't expected him to. She had learned long ago to recognise the subtle changes in Luke's mood, to understand the times when her teasing would not be appropriate. He gave her no less in return.

Mara rested her cheek softly against his back, between his shoulder blades. "What are you thinking?" she asked finally, when it became clear he wasn't about to instigate conversation.

There was silence for several moments. Anyone else would have thought the Jedi Master was ignoring them, but Mara knew he was simply considering his answer. "I was thinking about the city," he said finally, softly.

"So was I," she said, not really all that surprised. It wasn't uncommon for their thoughts to connect like that. Mara felt, rather than saw, his smile.

"I know," he responded.

She snorted in an unbecoming fashion. So he had known she'd been awake - and he'd waiting for her to come to him, the Sith.

~*~*~


Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade in Luke's Little Experiment (The Scruffy Looking Jedi) by taramidala & ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...st-challenge-co-written-with-ginchy.50022317/


Mara barged into their quarters, dropping her bag by the door of their bedroom. Luke stood to greet her, but she forestalled him with a finger to the mouth, eyebrows quirking as his whiskers rubbed against her finger. “So it’s true.”

Stroking his thumb and index finger against his new beard, Luke tried to squash a smile. “What’s true?”

“That you’ve decided to hide that baby-face.” Mara took his chin in her hand and tilted his head. “How long have you been growing this?”

“Since you left, give or take a day or two.” Grabbing the hand that was finger combing his facial hair, he kissed her palm. “Speaking of….” He dropped her hand and grabbed her hips, pulling her forward. “I’ve missed you.”

“So much so that you had to go back to nature, apparently.”

Luke made a face. “You don’t like it?”

“I’m still getting used to it, Skywalker. Twenty-five years of marriage and you’ve never had more than a few days worth of stubble. I feel the need to call you scruffy, and that’s really more Leia’s term than mine.”

“Who’s scruffy-looking?” Luke pulled Mara closer, mimicking Han’s voice into her ear.

~*~*~


Luke/Mara in Kiss and Tell by ginchy
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/kiss-and-tell-l-m.50018682/

“Tell me about your first kiss, Skywalker.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You want me to tell you about my first kiss.”
“I believe that’s what I said, yes.”
“But why?”
“Why not?“
“I don’t know. I just never…pictured talking to you about something like that.”
“Too busy picturing other things, Farmboy?”
“Mara! No, I just…That’s not what I meant.”
“Mm-hm. Now quit stalling. Tell me about your first kiss.”
“Why do you want to hear about that? I don’t want to hear about you kissing other men.”
“I don’t want to hear about you kissing other men, either. Your first kiss wasn't--”
“Mara!”
“Kidding, Skywalker, kidding. I’ll even go easy on you and not make a joke about you having kissed your sister.”
“Mar-ra.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot. She kissed you. At least that wasn't your first kiss.”
“Ha. ...or my last.”
“Very true. Anyway, I couldn't tell you about my first kiss. I don’t remember it.”
“Don’t remember?”
“No. I think it might have been on an…assignment, but it obviously wasn’t anything worth remembering.”
“Really? Well, have you had any memorable kisses lately?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Maybe I can do something about that.”
“Skywalker! Wipe that grin off your face. And you’re still stalling. Was your first
kiss so amazing that you can’t possibly put it into words?”
“…something like that, yeah.”
“Really?“
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m impressed.”
“So was she.”
“Cute.”
“Thanks. She thought I was cute, too.”
“Ha. Okay, enough stalling. On with the story.”

Best Original Relationship



Bree and Blue in True Blue by Divapilot
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...final-authors-replies.50023681/#post-51909058

Notes: In this AU, Bree is the youngest of the four Solo children and the only one who is not Force sensitive. She has stowed away on a refugee ship where she meets Blue, the ship’s medic. Sparks fly.

She tilted her head. “What about you? What’s your family like?”

“There’s my parents and I have a little sister. She’d be about fourteen. I don’t know for sure where they are now.”

“When is the last time you heard from them?” she asked.

“Years.” Sadness tinged his voice.

Bree was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry.” She instinctively reached over to touch his hand. He pulled away, and she stopped. Then he smiled, the playful smile she had gotten used to, and reached for her hand.

“Let’s see,” he said, holding up her left hand for examination. He traced his fingers around her wrist and rubbed the back of her hand. “Good muscle response, no sign of infection: my diagnosis is that I think your wrist is much better now.”

She stifled a laugh. “That’s the wrong wrist, doc.”

“Oh, my mistake.” He took her right hand into his, and caressed it. “Either way, you have lovely strong wrists.”

They grew silent again. She looked at her hands in his, and stretched out her hands so that their fingers interlaced. Her heart began to beat a little louder. They sat like that for a moment, fingers entwined, before Blue leaned in closer to her. She leaned in too, and closed her eyes. His mouth met hers and she felt herself melt.

~*~*~

Melinda/Luke in After Her by EmeraldJediFire
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/after-her-update-01-30-15.50008799/

A/N: When I first set about to make this story, I was initially inspired by a fellow writer Jedi_Lover, but I wanted my character to be well thought out. I didn't want her to be Mary Suish..I wanted her to be...radiant. Without further ado, here's my excerpt:

Melinda’s visit carried on way into late evening, the chrono reaching 02100. Luke had shown her several holos of Ben as a child and Melinda had marveled in them. In her eyes, Luke saw not only a woman, but a mother just like his wife had been. He saw the tenderness of a mother’s love for a child…and joy for a child that wasn’t even her own.

“He’s so precious.” She murmured and set the holo back. “You must be very proud of him.”

Melinda looked up at him, a joyful light in her eyes as she smiled brilliantly.

His heart let out a particularly loud thump—a moment which startled him. Luke couldn’t bring himself to speak for fear that the emotion in his voice would betray him. He willed his heart to be quiet as if she would be able to hear it. However, he was well aware that he had no control over it at the moment.

He wasn’t exactly sure what had caused this reaction in him. No, that wasn’t entirely true.

Is it Melinda? He wondered.

What was it about Melinda at this moment that set apart from all other moments he’d spent with her. What was it about this moment that caused his heart to let out a particularly loud thump, that had startled even himself?

He thought about it some more and all he could recall from a few minutes ago was that dazzling smile, and the happiness that surged within her when he had earnestly spoke about Ben.

Was that it? Could it be so….simple?

~*~*~

Rey Solo and Luke Skywalker in Same as Always by JediMara77
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...akens-speculation-fic-luke-rey-finn.50025558/

 

BEYOND

Author:

Best Author

JadeLotus


Mara struck, heaving her body into Skywalker’s from the side and throwing him off balance, then landing a forceful punch to his face. He drew his saber but she was too quick, striking a blow against his wrist and sending the saber careening away and disappearing down a nearby slope. He ran after it, but Mara was quick behind him, locking her arm around his neck in a choke hold. She wasn’t sure how, but after a few moments struggle he pulled himself out of her grip and whipped around to face her.

He was certainly more skilled in hand to hand combat than some of her past opponents, but Mara had more practice. They both reached for the blaster in his holster, but Skywalker got there first, although she grabbed his wrist to point the nozzle upward and preventing him from firing on her, while at the same time hooking her leg around the backs of his knees and taking them out from under him. He dragged her down with him, and they both flailed in the slippery mud trying to clasp the weapon which had been knocked from his hand.

They struggled, but she found purchase in the mud first, her hand grasping the blaster. Mara launched herself to her feet and pointed it at him, her finger resting on the trigger. Still kneeling in the mud, Skywalker raised his head and looked directly down the barrel, then sighed and raised his arms in surrender and defeat.

“You don’t have to do this, Mara,” he told her, meeting her eyes rather than focusing on the blaster which was only a few inches from his head.

“Yes I do,” she told him shortly, even though her hand shook. “You have to die. I’ve never failed before.”

He looked at her for a long moment, and she wondered if he could see the hesitation in her eyes.

“Fine,” he said, nodding. His arms still raised palms outward, he rose to his feet and Mara tracked his movement with the blaster. “If you think it will give you peace, then shoot.”

Her finger nudged the trigger, but she did not pull it. Mara bit her lip, trying to remind herself of why it needed to be done. Compliance, justice, revenge. But the Emperor hadn't told her the whole truth about Skywalker - what else had he told her about her marks to ensure that she felt justified killing them? How could she be sure of anything he had said?

“But do it on your own terms,” Skywalker continued, seeing that she was faltering. “You have a choice, right now. You can follow orders, and shoot me. Do what the Emperor could not and kill the last of the Jedi,” his voice broke on the last word. “Or put down that blaster, and choose your own fate. Come with me, if you like,” he added, his voice shaking. “So that I won’t be the last anymore.”

The rain fell heavily around them, but Mara still felt the hot tears upon her face. She’d heard people begging for their lives before, but never like this. Never had another's words touched her like Skywalker’s had; never had someone caused her to hesitate. The Emperor had controlled her, made him an instrument of his will, had used her to commit what she may have been unjustified acts, and yet Skywalker was reaching out to her - Skywalker saw good in her, and only asked that she embrace it.

The blaster dropped into the mud by her feet.




~*~*~*~

taramidala

The Will of the Force by taramidala
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...y-challenge-episode-vii-speculation.50020121/

Calm, he calls to them. But there are too many, so he focuses on those closest. The girl, his girl, with her mother’s fire and heart and grandmother’s coloring. The boy, his apprentice, tempered ferocity behind his dark eyes.

They are Jedi, and they join the others in the fight. The intruders are well-armed and powerful, but with New Republic forces soon behind them, all they need is more time.

Further into the Temple they go. The throng thins out to the sounds of blaster fire and the clash of ‘sabers, enemies falling all the way. He casts a moment of attention towards the children - because they are still so young - feels their control - and is proud. Even among this chaos, he knows the Order will survive.

He catches a flash of red and gold and gray. His wife, his son, surrounded by another wave of enemies. The underlings are easily dispatched, but the leader, a giant of an old man, weathered and scarred by the ages, holds firm.

They are three against one, then, as he moves to join the fray. But he is not as quick as he once was and he missteps. When the old brute crashes a pillar down upon him and his boy, his Ben, and renders them immobile, he is helpless to watch as his wife is left to face down the enemy alone.

She’s never more beautiful than when she’s staring darkness down, sweaty and bloodied and strong, with red-gold hair falling from its braid, curling around her face in wayward strands. She’s faced darkness before, countless times. Her tempered strength and untamed passion in the face of adversity is what made him love her in the first place, and for all their years


~*~*~




Best New Author

ThreadSketch

I'll Come With You by ThreadSketch
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...5-author-thanks.50022292/page-5#post-51871386

Han tilted his brow in droll contemplation. “Y'know...you ever thought about taking a gal out the old-fashioned way? It's called dating. I can give you a crash course faster than that old Kenobi had you blocking bolts.”

He caught the sudden, predatory gleam in Luke's upturned eyes that made him realize he'd just spaced himself.

An exaggerated, nasal baritone began to croon out some familiar and very unwelcome lyrics. “Solo...what a man, Solooo...”

“Alright, alright, knock it off.”

“He's every princess' dreeeeeeam...”

“I said knock it off,” Han growled. Luke's nauseating impromptu performance trailed off into a wheeze of halfhearted laughter.

“Fine. Touché. Doesn't mean I can't throw it out there.”

“I know. It's just...I don't have the time for that. I've been away from the academy long enough–”

After that deft blow, Luke had left himself so wide open he was practically begging for the kill. Now this was just a case of the gundark calling the rancor ugly.

“Oh. Oh, I see. Sure. You're a busy man, I forgot about that. Funny how that works, though–let me tell you what you have had time for.” He started ticking off examples on his right hand.

“You had time to go looking for your old girlfriend all the way out on Nam Chorios. You had time to help Lando find a wife. Lando, for cryin' out loud!” Leaning forward, he jabbed his finger out into the space between them. “You had time to take off with that lyin' Fallahassy-whatever-she-is–Akanah-on a wild nerf chase to find your fake mother.

“You had time for a one-night stand with that schutta!”

Luke's eyes saucered, flashing first with shame and then with deep anger, and he was back on his feet with startling swiftness. For a fraction of a second that old fear gusted through him–fear of the man who'd lifted him by the throat one-handed while calling him an ignorant space pirate–but Han remembered his wife's words and chose instead to be encouraged at getting a rise out of him. Having Luke be well pissed off meant he was making good progress through that dense skull of his.

“You have no right–”

“Since when do I care? I'm telling you, you never bother to make time for yourself that counts for anything!”

Breathing hard with barely checked indignation, Luke held his tongue, his glare smoldering. Han watched his bionic hand clench and unclench in a familiar, unnerving tic; he was never able to ascertain whether it was involuntary or not.

“How many times have you left Streen or Kam or Tionne running the joint? You know it's in good hands. Listen, I get it–she's your baby. I know that feeling. I can't believe Jaina–all the kids–are already as big as they are. I don't even want to think about when they'll start running around on their own, making me gray.

“You've worked hard, practically killed yourself to get this thing started and keep it going. But it's bigger than you. I mean, I don't really need to tell you that–I know it's not a matter of pride. You just worry about it. And...you think that's it. That's all there is to life. It will be, if you let it.

“You don't have to. That's all I'm sayin'. You hopped in your bird just to go help me out with the Diamala. If you really care about Jade–Mara–enough to pop the question, I think you can squeeze her in. And if it takes near-death experiences to get you hooked up with a girl, you might want to rethink your game.”

~*~*~*~

Sokolniki
Invidious Intent by Sokolniki
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/invidious-intent-oc-54aby.50017556/#post-51342901

Note: As cool as Jedi are, they aren't the only force wielding enforcers in the Galaxy as the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances tap into the talents of the Jensaarai in the post Caedus Galaxy. Nor are lightsabers the only way to combat others wielding the elegant weapons. With as little as fist, foot and wit, I intend to create antagonists that can stand toe to toe with any who would stand for the light side of the force.

-
As Leshran landed, she fell to her left knee as she gasped for breath. “I guess I should have done that,” she stated regretfully as she placed her hand over her heart to check it. “Damn Tolura… I should have guessed being stuck in a block of Carbonite for so long would have done this to me.”

Iunha, recovering her grip on her lighsaber cautiously stepped towards the woman. The logical thing was to suspect it to be trickery, but the distress she sensed felt genuine.

She then sensed something threatening her from behind and spun around in time to strike the second Shota’s hilt as it was thrown at her. He saw the man’s glowing red gloves darken as though it suddenly cooled as he gestured a wide sweeping motion to the side, and from the corner of her eye caught the remaining speeder bike jerking towards the Leshran who struggled to her feet. Before she could act on it, she saw the man lunge at her with his fists at the ready. “Your fight is with me lady,” he declared.

“And your fight is with me,” came Valor’s voice as he swung down vertically.

The mysterious foe sidestepped the powerful swing and spun around, swinging his leg straight for the other man’s head. With a twist of his head, Valor brought the spikes on the back of his helmet into the way off the leg, but the armored shinguard smashed through a portion of the spikes, bending them noticeably and knocking Valor onto his side, before kicking off with the leg that was still on the ground to launch himself in Iunha’s direction.

The growl of a speeder marked Leshran’s getaway as the smuggler cautiously stepped in a wide circle around the remaining woman. Their quarry had all escaped saved for this one man, but it seemed strange. The scraping of metal on metal signaled Valor’s getting up to his feet casually. She sensed something about this man. The Dark Side flowed about him, giving him strength, that was certain. But he seemed to be in full command of it. Not once did he lose focus, constantly aware of his surroundings even if there was something that was not an immediate threat to him. Yes, he literally threw away both of his lightsabers, but each one served a specific purpose, allowing a comrade who was no longer useful in the fight to escape. The agent still making his way down from the framework wall was a testament to that. And now he would continue the fight with nothing but kicks and punches. She didn’t feel particularly comforted by the prospect, even against both of them.

Cautiously, she took a step forward and she focused on her self, she could feel his presence in her mind. Not as obvious as the sensation when he’s feeding false sensory information into it to produce his illusions. No, he was probing it for information, and likely was doing the same to the Valor as well. When the male Jensaarai took a step forward, the smuggler reached under his coat and drew a heavy blaster pistol and pointed it to the side and fired a shot, prompting a pained scream from the Cathar slave as she fell to the ground grasping her left leg in anguish. “The next shot will be fatal,” declared the man.

“I’ll curse your name to the end of time Sivrejan,” declared the Cathar venomously.