[LOTF Fanfic] Vincible

[Tysyacha]

Author's Note: This is a STAR WARS: Legacy of the Force fanfic, taking place in the year 40 ABY directly after the events of REVELATION. Jacen Solo, officially known by his Sith name, Darth Caedus, is but a few battles away from tyrannizing the entire galaxy as his grandfather did. His twin sister, Jaina, feels she alone has the courage and moral fortitude to defeat him. Others, however, feel differently--including a Mandalorian slave girl...

 

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What makes a man a villain, or merely a coward too ruthless to ignore?

 

Ask Darth Caedus that. As for me, I'll watch his twin sister Jaina...carefully. She strides around this farm as if she owns everything on it--the land, the animals and crops, even the hired men who work the fields. The latest rumors say she's training to be a metaphorical "sword" of some sort, but as far as I'm concerned, she's a spoiled Jedi princess. And a Solo, too.

 

That's right--a Sith Lord's sibling. I really don't resent her so much for that as for how often she forgets who she is here. She's a student, a guest of Boba Fett, our Mand'alor. He could snap her neck with a single squeeze of his crushgaunts or a swipe of his fierce beskad blade. Jaina may be using Mand'alor for target practice--or in this case, lightsaber practice--but that does not mean she has the right or the power to disrespect him as she does. I can see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice when she speaks. She despises him at his core, loathes his being. Jedi aren't supposed to hate, but I suspect that when she's done with her training, she'll discard him like crumpled flimsi. I may be a slave, but I'm Mando by choice.

 

It was the Hutts who first captured me, or at least their henchmen going on a scavenger hunt through the stinking slums of Galactic City. They were going to send me to a spice camp, if only because I was tall enough to pick it, but Mandalorian bounty hunters catered to their greed before they could pack me in a crate and ship me off as "perishable cargo". Even though I was viewed by the hunters as landuur, or "delicate", I soon proved my worth through menial tasks and, later on, greater ones. I sliced into security systems, crunched credits, and even healed the wounded after ambushes by fellow hunters--or GAG police. The Galactic Alliance Guard was Jacen Solo's secret police, before and while he became Caedus. They were as ruthless and disciplined as he was, though less deadly. No one could be as lethal as a Sith Lord--or as Mand'alor.

 

"Excuse me?" It was Jaina. She wanted something. "Could you please launder these robes for me, and buff this armor? I've had a hard training session with Fett, and I don't want to look sloppy when Jacen comes. When I fight him."

 

"Agreed." Some slaves simply said yes or gave a noncommittal grunt when their overseers gave them an order, but I was polite. It didn't pay to trifle with Jedi, especially when those Jedi were the children of your leader's greatest foe. And when they had blood ties to Sith. Still, her attitude did rankle me. I wasn't supposed to talk back to superiors, and yet I would. "My name is Tysy Dvyx. Call me that, if you would. My master's Venku."

 

"Venku? Ah, the one known as Kad'ika." It rankled me further still to hear Jaina use his Mandalorian nickname--"Little Saber". Being a Jedi, didn't she know the first thing about diplomacy or manners? Even I was more tactful. Of course, my adoptive race typically didn't do tact, but if I had my way, no one other than friends or family would call him that again.

 

"He's sensitive to the Force, you know. I hadn't thought Mandalorians could be that way, but there he is in flesh and blood, waiting for someone to train him. Someone to show him the ways of it, to open his veiled eyes."

 

"You'd have to take off his helmet first," I said dryly, snatching some scouring pads from the shelf nearby and beginning to polish her armor. "You wouldn't get that far. Mand'alor may be training you, but until Mustafar freezes over, there's not a chance that he truly respects you. You are jetiise to him," I said, using the combined Mando words for "foreigner" and "Jedi".

 

"Be that as it may, I need his help, and yours. Jedi. I could fight you if I chose--for insubordination."

 

"Agreed, then." I lay the scouring pads and armor down for a brief moment, retrieving my own version of a beskad. It wasn't a real one, as slaves were not considered worthy to use them, but at least Venku gave me the training blade that his colleague's ten-year-old daughter had outgrown. I was grateful. Even slaves fought when their homeland was being attacked. If this girl's Sith brother had his way, our planet of Mandalore would see more than its share of bodies and charred territory. I brandished the beskad'ika.

 

Was that a trace of a smile on Jaina's face? "I'm won't use my real saber."

 

"Why, Jedi? Because I'm only a slave? I'll duel you and win." Relax, now. Remember your training from Venku, who admired your boldness in demanding to be trained. He could have slain you for that, but you nonetheless lived.

 

"No. Because you're only like me." She ignited her saber and leapt forward.

 

There was no way my child's training toy stood any chance against a Jedi lightsaber, but the girl remained focused and calm. Attacking only when she was sure she could, Jaina wasted no time or extra motion of her body in order to subdue me. It took a while--far longer than I expected, as a matter of fact--but in the end she pinned me to the ground, flat on my back with the hissing violet blade of her weapon snug against my neck. I shivered.

 

"Is this it?" I asked. "Do you want to kill me now, in preparation for what lies ahead?" I was almost certain she wouldn't, yet almost wishing she would.

 

"No. I'd never do such a thing; it's what separates me from Jacen. From the Sith he is now as opposed to the man he once was. I said that your master Venku was sensitive to the Force, and yet during our fight, I sensed that you were, too. Nothing except the Force could compel you to duel as you did, without fear, only a training blade at your disposal. May I train you?"

 

This time it was my turn to spring up and smile. "Hah! You Jedi know nothing of war or what it takes to win one. All Jedi say their weapons are only tools, used for serving the Light, and yet what are they doing when they sever someone's head in the name of it? I call that hypocrisy. I've never killed, being a slave, but I'd be honest about whom I killed, and for what reason."

 

"I know you're afraid," said Jaina. "Humble yourself, and let the Force come."

 

I shivered for a second time, and a flood of warmth enveloped me. It was as if the sun had shone into my soul and thawed it, making it crack and melt like a polar glacier on Telos. If this was the Force, was it giving me a rebirth?

 

"There," said Jaina. "I have to get back to work now, but I'll find you soon."

 

My heart clenched. I still did not trust her, this Jedi with strutting steps and hidden fury in her eyes. I'd find a better teacher than Jaina if the Force would let me. Venku. Either he or someone else would show me what I had to learn before the end. Before this galaxy was consumed once more.

 

Endor, said a voice in my mind. Come to Endor, or serve Venku and your Mand'alor. Either way, I am with you. As for the Sword, let her be...

[Rev7]

So this is from the point of view of the Mandolorian slave? The guest of Boba Fett?

I like how you show a lot of emotion and feeling in your fics. It makes them really enjoyable. Great job!

[Tysyacha]

The fic is from the point of view of Tysy, the Mandalorian slave. Jaina is Boba Fett's guest and student. Again, thank you for the warm compliments. You have no idea how much I appreciate feedback on my stories!

[HIGH ON PIE 14]

WOW. I just finished reading one of your comic stories and now I'm genuinly shocked. You write very good drama as well. This has a lot of emotion. Even just in this scene of talking you brought out all that feeling. Quite an enjoyable read! I will make sure to follow your work from now on.

 

--HOP

[Tysyacha]

Thanks much, HOP! For another taste of my dramatic side, check out "Vremya"...