Beyond - Legends Before - Legends Saga - Legends Intermezzi II | Bits and pieces from the Ἀνάγκη-verse, ECs & OCs | Kessel Run Challenge 2023

Title: Intermezzi II
Timeframe: Before, Saga & Beyond
Continuity: Legends
Length: Series of vaguely interconnected one-shots
Genre: All sorts
Characters: OCs and CCs from the Ἀνάγκη-verse
Challenge response: Written in response to the Kessel Run Challenge 2023
Notes: This is a series of mini-stories about bits and pieces that should have already taken place in the Ἀνάγκη-verse but that I’ll probably never get around to writing otherwise, continued from last year’s Kessel Run Challenge. The complete Ἀνάγκη-related corpus is listed behind the spoiler tag.

Spoiler

Outcast – Ayesha’s childhood during the Clone Wars
The Family Holos – Ayesha’s preteen and teen years with her Wookiee family
La Bohème – Ayesha and her friends as students of the Academy of Fine Arts
Ἀνάγκη – Necessity beyond Sway – The main story
Awakenings – The happy-end sequel to the main story
The Lost Artist – The next generation, or, how Ayesha and Thrawn’s daughter met the galaxy
Intermezzi I – Misc. bits and pieces from the Ἀνάγκη!verse
Song of Fate – A crossover between the Ἀνάγκη!verse and Mira_Jade’s Song!verse
Further bits and pieces can be found in my drabble threads Worlds beyond the Stars and The Secret Life of Droids

Table of contents
Diversions – Quinlan Vos during the Jedi Purge
The Sibling Day Singing Card – Rumpacharet the Wookiee toddler
The Bad Jedi – Quinlan Vos confronts a nasty OC during the Clone Wars
Infiltration – Mysterious intruders in a Black Sun warehouse
A Draft Memo for Sate Pestage – A xenosociologist in the Imperial bureaucracy
Transland Day – Holiday shenanigans aboard the Admonitor
Nana – Toddler Tam Stramnig and his great-grandmother Nazmat Koch
The Grand Admiral's Wife – What if Ayesha had married the wrong man?
The Tables Turned – When Palpatine's scheming goes wrong
‘Discarded’ – Or, the tale of a Nautolan ex-boyfriend
35:07:01 GrS – Where were they on the morning after Life Day?
The Colonel's Datapad – Or, how Soontir Fel lost and found his datapad

 

Kessel Run week 1: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that starts with the sentence: “He had not been courageous” and that uses the picture behind the spoiler tag for inspiration.

Spoiler

Characters: the Legends version of Quinlan Vos
Timeframe: 19 BBY, during the Jedi Purge, shortly after Unexpected Parenthood
Word count: 977 words
Notes: Finta sempli is a Force ability created by the amazing @Findswoman (see her fanon post here)

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Diversions

He had not been courageous, Quinlan Vos thought grimly as he listened carefully for the telltale clank of armour outside his hidey-hole. He had been foolish.

Rescuing Ayesha from Paraseel Malki had been the right thing to do, he had no doubt about that. It wasn’t only that the little girl had a special presence in the Force and that leaving her in the clutches of a Sith acolyte was simply not an option in the grand galactic scheme of things. But Quin felt that he owed her. He had been in a dark place indeed when she had popped into his life, and had it not been for her he might have been irredeemable. It was her determination to challenge him that had brought him back to the light. Without her, Khaleen would probably be dead, and Korto would never have come into existence – and Quin would never have experienced the true meaning of having a family of his own.

He also knew that bringing her to Yakooboo and Messiri here on Kashyyyk, while not optimal, was still the best solution under the circumstances. He was a hunted man, and it was bad enough that his lifemate and child would have to remain in hiding as long as the Empire ruled. There could think of no justification to impose this life upon a little girl who had already been through so much, and at the same time, he could see that she would need his help to heal. Yakooboo and Messiri could give her the love and care she so deserved, and Messiri was a skilled healer herself. However, Ayesha’s soul had been maimed by the dark side of Force, and Quin knew that it would take another Force user to undo the damage – if it could even be undone.

Of course, Khaleen had been proud of him when he’d gone off to fetch Ayesha from Kiffu. She said he was brave, she encouraged him and stood by him every step of the way, and she wouldn’t have expected any less of him in the first place. But using the Force in this day and age was risky business, and Quin had used it against his better judgement. And, well, engaging in a lightsaber duel on the top of the highest tower of a fortress on Kiffu, in plain view of every passer-by, was bound to leave a trail of breadcrumbs, however tiny, that a tenacious investigator had ultimately been able to follow to his family. When the Empire had come sniffing too close to the secret cave that he, Khaleen and Korto called home, he’d had no choice but to create a diversion and lead them in one direction while Khaleen took the baby and fled in the other.

He squeezed deeper into the crack of the wroshyr trunk where he’d sought refuge and focused as hard as he could to suppress his presence in the Force. It was bad enough that the Sixth Level below the town of Palsaang was swarming with stormtroopers, but it appeared that some sort of Force-sensitive Jedi hunter was with them. In the back of his mind, he marvelled again at the ruthless efficiency of Palpatine’s plan. Having spent the Clone Wars infiltrating Dooku’s team as a double agent in a failed endeavour to determine the identity of the Sith master, Quin knew better than most that the scheme to overthrow the Republic and annihilate the Jedi Order had been in the making for years. Yet it still amazed him that, so soon after proclaiming himself Emperor, Palpatine had already reorganised his minions into the Inquisitorius – never mind that, a few short months earlier, they’d been on the losing side of war.

Thankfully, Quin had paid special attention during his padawan years to his master’s teachings about finta sempli – the art of cloaking oneself from detection through the Force – and he had managed to master this rare skill to some extent. Furthermore, the recent warm spell in Kashyyyk’s winter meant that the snow melting off the vegetation added its irregular dripping sound to the myriad other cracking, brushing and slithering noises of the forest. At the same time, Kashyyyk so teemed with life that the stormtroopers’ infrared detectors were essentially useless. The entire Grand Army of the Republic wasn’t large enough to follow every heat signature in this wilderness. He’d had the troopers running around in circles for days already, and he could sense that their hunt was coming to an end. They were about to give up, and he would be able to sneak out and go find Khaleen in the safehouse Yakooboo had established for them. The Wookiee was, no doubt, already working on more permanent accommodations, but for now Quin merely longed to see his lifemate and son and ascertain that they were safe.

A shiver suddenly ran down his spine. He felt cold, very cold, as if he had been doused in freezing water. There was a dark presence near him – a soul so evil that it was black as coal. The shock was such that he dropped the meditation of finta sempli for a fraction of a second, and he glimpsed the Jedi hunter’s flash of triumph and glee before he could bring his mental shield back up.

“He is here,” a deep, rumbling voice tinged with the electronic twang of a vocabulator said somewhere outside his hiding place. “Quinlan Vos is here.”

So much for the troopers giving up, Quin thought bitterly. How could he have been so stupid? He’d let himself be found like an amateur. Now the Imperials would look more closely, and the crack in the wroshyr trunk where he’d been sheltering for hours felt like a death trap.

He shrugged. Well, there was nothing for it. He was Quinlan Vos, after all. He’d just have to create another diversion.

 

That's Palpatine for you. Very, very sneaky. And good at being evil.

Yeah, I'm thinking that's gonna cost him a few extra days of sleep.

Well done challenge response!

 

Great to see Quinlan Vos, one of the great legend characters. I hope he will escape the Sith

 

So cool! I love how you write Quinlan. This brings back so many memories of your amazing saga.

This is such a wonderful touch. The juxtaposition of Quin being redeemed, saved from a life of darkness by the power of love and compassion. But it's a selfless love. He sacrificed his safety to protect Ayesha, and that allowed him to open his heart to Khaleen and to become a father. How unlike Vader, whose selfish love and fear of losing Padme resulted in the opposite. He lost everything.
And now, it's Vader who's hunting Quinlan.

OOOOH so close!

You got this, Quinlan.

Great character portrait!

 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! This brings so many wonderful feels back to me! Ayesha! Quinlan's musings are so in character and definitely you can feel that he weighed all the options and made the best choice.

Oh no! There's nothing worse than thinking you evaded your adversary only to find they're lurking right outside! Another diversion, totally needed.

 

Great to see Ayesha and Quinlan Vos back in action!

 

Thank you for all the reviews and thanks to everyone who stopped by to read!

A few replies

@Vek Talis Welcome to this 'verse, I hope you'll enjoy your visit! Indeed, Palpatine is a sneaky, evil sheevster, and I've used (and abused) that a lot while writing the main story, by making him appear a few times but mostly by keeping him as a menacing presence in the background. This story takes place in the Legends continuity and Quin's character in particular borrows a lot from the Republic comics, so Quin is one of the few people who figured out what really happened in the CW. And as you said, he's going to lose a few nights' worth of sleep for his moment of distraction, but he'll survive – I need him for the other stories, after all!

@Findswoman Thank you and welcome back to the world of necessity Of course I remembered finta sempli! It's one of those bits of fanon that stuck with me from the day you first posted about it (in no small part due to your brilliant story where it first appeared), I went and checked your fanon post to make sure I was getting the specifics right but it turned out that I even remembered the details. And it seemed like an appropriate Force skill for Quin to have, given how I had him survive throughout Ἀνάγκη. Thanks for the review!

@Mira_Jade Welcome back to the Ἀνάγκη'verse! You know, I keep saying that I'm done with this storyline and that I should move on to something else, but every time unbidden plot bunnies remind me that I have unfinished business here and the Quinlan/Khaleen subplot is one of them. And Quin is such a pleasure to write, being a "not very good Jedi" as he says himself, impulsive and with a tendency for flourish and bravado I have more ideas of stories that include him, especially a longer vignette with him and Khaleen, and I'm hoping that one or another of the Kessel Run prompts will give me the opportunity to write them. Thanks for the review!

@earlybird-obi-wan Welcome to my thread! Quin will definitely survive. Depending on what Viari throws at us you may even get to see the specifics of his escape Thanks for reviewing!

@divapilot Hello there! What I loved about Quin in the Legends continuity is that he's portrayed all along as this tough guy who ultimately turns out to have a heart of gold. He was just too good not to use in relation to Ayesha, not only for the family ties and the role she plays in his life (I know, these are all not-so-tantalising hints, but I'm planning to write those stories at some point) but also as you noted for the contrast between him and Vader. Quin almost turned to the dark side in his quest to figure out the mystery of the Sith. Anakin had the answer right under his nose, and well, we know how that turned out. And they both end up having ties to Ayesha, all the while trying to kill each other Thanks for the review!

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Hehe, look who the tooka brought in Yup, the Ἀνάγκη'verse is back, and you might even see Ayesha in action in this thread. You already know that Quin will escape because you've seen him elsewhere, but I'll do my best to be unpredictable while giving you the required dosage of melty-gooey feels Thanks for your comment!

@Nehru_Amidala Welcome! Yes, they're back, I'm putting the team back together I saw while skimming the boards that your Thrawn writing has grown in a number of directions, and I have on my list to read all about it in the coming months. Thanks for reading!

I'm taking this opportunity to say again how happy I am to be back on the boards. It's a pleasure to revisit the characters that I used or created, but it's even more of a pleasure to be doing it with friends

 

Kessel Run week 2 – “Get out of jail free” prompt: Write a poem in any style, of any length. There is no word limit.
Characters: Rumpacharet the Wookiee toddler (OC)
Timeframe: 13 BBY, two and a half years after The Crib
Warning: Avoid singing this to the tune of The Cuppycake Song at all costs, unless you want to be stuck with the most ridiculous earworm.
Notes:

• The inspiration for this so-called story came from my eldest nephew who, when he was very tiny, told his mother that he loved her “because you’re as warm and soft as spinach rice”.
• Holoogle Translate is a creation of the most amazing @divapilot for her humorous story Dear Mr. and Mrs. Solo
• Chyntuck pie is also a creation of divapilot for her story The Way to a Princess’s Heart

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The Sibling Day Singing Card

By: Rumpacharet Wookey, littler of Ada’ Yakooboo and Ata’ Messiri
For: Big Sister Ayesha, middler of Ada’ Yakooboo and Ata’ Messiri

♫ You my Kashyyyk cake, topato mash,
Wasaka-saka-saka,
You my chyntuck pie,
You my bantha roast,
Jelly orb, orga-rooty-leafy,
You the mushbloom of my eye.
And I very love you and I must you know
That you always be Rryi-Bashhi,
And I like to sing food song for you
Because you so yummy! ♫

(Translated from Shyriiwook to Basic using Holoogle Translate)

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Fanon elements and Wookieepedia links

Ada’, Ata’ and Rryi-Bashhi are Shyriiwook words of my creation meaning ‘father’, ‘mother’ and ‘big sister’, respectively.
Kashyyyk seven-layer cake
Topato
Wasaka berry
Mushbloom
Jelly Life Day orb
Orga plant

 

Very cute. I wonder what Chyntuck pie tastes like?

 

Love the poem with different kinds of food. Chyntuck pie smelly?

 

Good grief, that was adorable!!!!

 

I do not know Quinlan well; only by reputation, his TCW episode, and a few fanfics, but I'm fond of him nevertheless and this sounds exactly like what I'd expect from him

So tiny

I like this detail! It makes a lot of sense

I do kinda love this flashy showboater

Kids say the weirdest things - but also, spinach rice sounds pretty great, so still a good compliment!

Aw, so adorable

 

It's time for an update, but before I get there a few replies!

@Vek Talis and @earlybird-obi-wan Thanks for reviewing! Since your questions were both about chyntuck pie, I'll refer you to @divapilot's The Way to a Princess’s Heart, which you should definitely read because it's such an entertaining story in addition to being of course, the ultimate authority on chyntuck pie. According to her, while Chewie is baking it, it smells "kind of like nuts roasting, or onions, and with a sort of citrusy touch". However, there's a catch, and you'll have to read the story to find out!

@Nehru_Amidala Thanks! It's no secret that I like Wookiees, and, well, baby Wookiees should be even cuter than grown-up Wookiees, so...

@Gabri_Jade Thank you for the reviews and welcome to this thread!

Thanks! I love it when people use words like "showboater" to describe Quin in my fics, because it tells me I'm doing something right. He's such a character, always having the strangest ideas and throwing everyone off-balance. That makes him difficult to write in some ways but also highly entertaining.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love spinach rice. It's one of those homey Greek dishes where every mouthful makes you feel that Mama loves you. But, you know, it has that comforting mushy texture, so the compliment is a bit like telling someone that they're like mashed potatoes

@Findswoman Thank you!

Oh yes, I think that I displayed my talent for English-language poetry in all its glory

Haha, thanks! I remember, way, way back, when you commented that Rumpy's nickname is somewhat unfortunate, that I told you that I always thought of him as a chubby little Wookiee whose butt is bigger than his head, so here we are: food comparisons galore to tell Ayesha how much he loves her. I definitely want to write more about him in his young age, because he's just too much fun!

Thanks again for the reviews and thanks to anyone who stopped by to read!

 

Kessel Run week 3: Write a story between 500 and 1,000 words in which you make up a new OC (original character). Your OC must interact with at least one EC (established character), and your story must include the following line of dialogue: “Something was bound to go right sometime today.”
Characters: the Legends version of Quinlan Vos, OCs
Timeframe: 21 BBY, a few weeks after The Dancer and the Thief
Word count: 975 words
Notes: Kchak Pr’ollerg is an OC from Ἀνάγκη. His nephew Thirr Pr’ollerg is the new OC in this story.

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The Bad Jedi

The purple-haired woman inserted her keycard to open the door to her residential quarters, and the child followed her inside. Thirr Pr’ollerg allowed himself a tight smile as he hid in a recess across the street and thumbed his comm. “I have her, Uncle,” he whispered. “The little dance slave. I found where she lives.”

From the other end of the line came the purr that expressed satisfaction in their kind. “Something was bound to go right sometime today,” Kchak Pr’ollerg replied. “Are you certain that the Jedi is not around?”

Thirr snorted. “I’ve been tracking her for days, Uncle. There is no Jedi. The woman was bluffing when she claimed they had Jedi protection.”

“Perhaps,” Kchak said thoughtfully. “Still, be cautious. This slave girl was a valuable investment, but we must avoid attracting attention at all costs.”

“I will, Uncle,” Thirr said. “Today in the shadows, tomorrow in the open, for the glory of Zygerria,” he added as an afterthought.

There was a faint chuckle over the comm. “You’ve learned our mantra well, boy. But remember, it is not only a mantra. It is a project to rebuild our people’s wealth.” Kchak’s voice took on a harsh undertone. “Do not fail me, Thirr. Do not expose our people.”

The young Zygerrian’s pointed ears twitched with annoyance. He had led successfully several covert operations to track down and recapture slaves that had escaped during the Jedi’s attack on the Royal Slave Auction; yet the Guild still didn’t trust him to act with adequate discretion to rebuild the Slave Empire under the Republic’s collective nose. “I won’t, Uncle. Do I have your approval to recover the slave and bring her to you?”

“You do,” Kchack said shortly.

Thirr switched off his comm, took a step further back into the recess where he was hiding and pulled out his datapad to study a map of the area. The front door of the flat where the purple-haired woman and the slave lived opened on this alley, but the back of the building overlooked the gaping chasm of CoCo Town’s main thoroughfare, and this level was sufficiently high up in Coruscant’s vertical expansion that there would be a balcony. He stroked his jaw spurs pensively. This should be easy enough. All he had to do was to enter a neighbouring apartment whose residents wouldn’t make a ruckus at the sight of a Zygerrian, reach the slave’s balcony, throw in a sleeping gas canister and take her away while she was unconscious. Come to think of it, he’d take the woman as a bonus – she’d given the Guild enough trouble to warrant retribution.

He peered into the street to verify that it was empty and checked his datapad again. The population registry indicated that the slave’s neighbours were Weequays, a species so dim that it wouldn’t take much to convince them to let him in. A pretext to access their balcony was already forming in his mind. He stepped out into the alley purposefully –

– and walked straight into a man who could just as well have dropped from the sky.

“Apologies, gentlebeing,” he began – and froze.

The man was tall and olive-skinned, with long, dreadlocked hair. He wore a cuirass and gauntlets that gave him a rather menacing aura, and a yellow Qukuuf ran across his cheekbones over the bridge of his nose, not unlike the facial marking that distinguished the slave girl herself. It was obviously a coincidence, Thirr thought, but it threw him off-kilter enough that he was unable to utter another word.

The man tilted his head to the side. “You seem lost,” he said with a hint of irony.

“Indeed, sir, indeed,” Thirr finally spluttered. “I was just standing over here and looking at a map to find my way.” He couldn’t help but feel that this stranger’s eyes were boring right into him. He’d have to abort, he thought ruefully; the man had taken a good look at him and would be able to identify him even among other Zygerrians. Perhaps he should hand over the operation to –

The stranger’s voice brought him back to the here and now. “Let me show you your way.”

“I’m fine, sir, I’m fine!” Thirr protested. “I already figured it out –”

The man grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip. “I insist. I can’t let you leave before you understand that your destination is as far away from here as possible” – he paused – “and for as long as possible.”

He was strong enough, but Thirr was a Zygerrian and he wouldn’t let himself be intimidated by a Human lowlife. He shoved him away and brushed some non-existent dirt off his sleeve. “And who, pray tell, are you,” he asked contemptuously, “to order passers-by around?”

A metallic cylinder materialised in the stranger’s hand, and, with a snap-hiss, an emerald blade sprang from it. It took all of Thirr’s self-control to not turn tail and run. “I’m Quinlan Vos,” the man said coldly. “I’m the Jedi who’s been tracking you down while you tracked down my niece. I know exactly who you are and what you’re up to.” He brought the tip of his lightsaber closer to Thirr’s throat. “So if you value your life, do as you’re told. Go away and I’ll let you live. And tell every other Zygerrian on Coruscant that the same goes for them.”

Thirr took a few cautious steps back. “This isn’t over,” he said with as much dignity as he could muster once he’d put a respectable distance between himself and the green blade. “We’ll see what the Jedi Council have to say when they find out that one of their own is threatening innocent sentients in the streets of Coruscant.”

Quinlan Vos gave him a wicked grin. “The Council won’t be surprised, slaver. They already know that I’m not a very good Jedi.”

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Fanon and Wookieepedia links
There is an inconsistency in Legends as to the appearance of Zygerrians, who are sometimes portrayed as near-Human with pointed ears and facial bone spurs, but mostly as a feline species. For some reason that I can’t remember, I chose to use the near-Human version in this ‘verse.
Clan Pr’ollerg is the Zygerrian clan that rules the Slavers’ Guild
Royal Slave Auction

 

Yes Quinlan Vos makes an appearance and with who. Your new OC is quite the guy to confront him

 

This little song is so adorable! And I can hear him singing it. Such a cutie, so much affection for his sibling!
Thank you also for reminding me of those two stories I wrote about.

Oh my.
Quinlan on a mission is a man after my heart. I love how he protects his family! Thirr had NO IDEA what he stepped in. He doesn't have a chance.

You can try, but I am pretty sure - as is Quin - that the council already knows. Quinlan acting like this is situation normal.

Great scene!

 

Very nice. The set up, the approach... and then the let down as the Jedi steps in to threaten instant death. I'll bet Thirr had to change his underwear after that encounter.

 

Oh boy! *dives in*

I'm recalling the plotline of the comic with glee - the various candidates for Sith Master, such as Sora Bulq, turning out to be red herrings ...

And so he did! We just know he did, no matter that the Big Bad tracked him!

D'awww, such cuteness!

They are incorrigible ...

I can hear Quin say this, irony and self-knowledge dripping from him.

 

Thank you for the reviews and thanks again to everyone who stopped by to read!

A few replies before I post week 4.
@earlybird-obi-wan

Thank you! Actually, I'd say that my OC has no idea what he got himself into

@Mira_Jade Thank you for the extensive review!

No, no, please don't die, we need you around here. I always enjoy having cute family scenes with Ayesha and her Wookiees, but they don't come to me quite as easily as I'd like. Writing a pastiche of the Cuppycake Song was fun though

Oh yes, Zygerrian slavers are rather unsavoury characters in general, but I wanted this new one to be an ambitious, arrogant, speciesist and all-around insufferable upstart more than most, who thinks he got dirty just because a Human touched him. And yes:

He's also that!

Well, Quin got him for sure, but I haven't decided yet if Thirr got out of this encounter alive. Maybe Vi will give me a reason to torture him some more before the challenge is over!

@divapilot Thanks so much for your comments!

I realise that, in the grand scheme of your writing, these two stories are minor works, but both are near and dear to my heart. The Way to a Princess's Heart is one of those wedding presents I truly cherish, and you know, chyntuck pie? (with or without twigs, for that matter!) Also, Holoogle Translate is such an endless source of inspiration, I can't not credit you every time I use it.

Totally!

@Findswoman Thank you!

I'm happy all of that came through, and yes, it's definitely Khaleen (admit it, you've been taking notes!) Though I considered having Thirr go up against Khaleen, he thinks she's easy prey but he truly has no idea, Quin or no Quin!

@Vek Talis Thanks!

I'm not sure if this is an image I didn't need in my head or the beginning of a crack!fic in the making

@pronker Thank you and welcome to this thread

We touched upon this in the YKYAFFWW thread a few days ago, but yes, this story arc from the Republic comics is one of my favourites. So many twists and turns (and an interesting trail of dead bodies ) for nothing, but in the end Quin survived, just has he survives here, because he's Quinlan freaking Vos. I just love this character

And this is one of the things I just love about him. We often see him embracing the fact that he's entirely sui generis as Jedi come, and with a wicked sense of humour. As Obi-Wan says somewhere, "let's just say he's crazy."

Thanks again to readers, reviewers and lurkers! The week 4 entry will be up in a few minutes.