Ficlet | Star Wars AU | The Strange Case of Starship Iris

[jaggedwolf]

She watched as the kid went through the datapad - it had their ID details, cover stories, all of it. Irritation on the kid’s face grew with every flick of her thumb. That was concerning. The kid knew better than her who they were dealing with.

“Padawan Patel sounds stupid as shit. You couldn’t find me a better last name?” The kid tossed the datapad back to her.

Promising. If that was the only thing the kid could think of, maybe they had a chance. “Believe me. I’m not going to enjoy being called Master Tripathi.”

She held in a shudder. The Jedi had protected The Republic countless times, but that didn’t mean she’d ever agree with their practices. The height of arrogance, taking children because of simple measurements, happily discarding them at 13 if none of the masters took a liking to them.

None of that distaste could matter for this operation. She needed to be esteemed Master Sana Tripathi, and this kid who’d never been off the lower levels of Coruscant, let alone the planet itself, would have to play the part of her apprentice.

So far, she had more faith in the kid than herself.

“How are we going to pull this off anyway? Unless you’re hiding something from me, you can’t do any of that force bullshit.” The kid snorted, shaking her head. “They’re gonna see through our shit as soon as we show up without lightsabers. Even the Outer Rim folks know that.”

Right. She hadn’t put that part of the plan on the datapad. It hadn’t needed planning. Forgive me, my friend. She pulled out the durasteel hilt from her bag, angling it carefully before pressing the button. The first time since -

Brilliant green shot out diagonally between her and the kid’s faces, and she felt the uncomfortable humming through the hilt. The kid winced instinctively, but soon relaxed, her hands curling up into tight fists as she watched the blade. It was hard to mistake the look on her face as anything other than awe.

Of course. No kid could think of the Jedi as anything other than simple heroes, not even a snarky one who huffed at being called kid at the old age of fifteen and then still refused to give a name.

She couldn’t blame the kid. Had to hold on to the few things you had. She switched the lightsaber off. “Unfortunately, if our new friends ask for a demonstration, we’ll be out of luck. As for yours-”

“I don’t get one yet. Or I’m an incompetent padawan who managed to lose hers, and you’re annoyed at me about this.” An easy grin slides on to kid’s face. “Decent way to establish a dynamic for these suckers.”