Jade was in her ship—that sat peacefully in the hangar—working on her armor. The droid was outside, doing as she instructed to check the additional tweaks she made to its hull. The ramp was down to allow it to come in and out and inform its master of that status of the ship.

Her chest was wrapped tightly in several layers of dark, thick fabric. Her arms were tense from the movement of re-engineering her armor. Sweat beaded her brow and her bare body. At least, she thought mutely, I’m not as revealing at Aisha.

The top part of her armor was held up and she examined her handy work. With a dissatisfied grunt, she placed it back on her armored lower half and continued to work on it.

“Oi, droid!” she shouted, eyes locked on the armor. “Where’s that status update?”

“No status update right now, slave.”

Oh, bloody Mandalore.

“Oh, nice of you to drop by, Aisha.” She scanned over her armor again, then put it back in her lap and continued working on it. “There’s some wine in the back quarters if you want some.”

“Is Thaddeous here?”

“Can’t you comm him? I’m a little busy.”

Aisha stepped closer and grinned. “I’ll take that as a no.” She was wearing the same attire as before. Her entire body as practically naked from her hip up, the small bra protecting bare minimum. Jade wondered how she didn’t catch a cold looking like that. Even without her armor, Jade still had several thick layers of fabric to cover her rather generous chest.

With a glance upwards from her work, she shrugged. “So you’ll try to assassinate me, hm? In my own ship? Very clever.” She started working on pulling her chest piece on, feeling the new metal webs of mechanical work she had recently added back in against her skin. Aisha laughed darkly.

“You think I won’t erase the camera footage afterward, slave?”

“You do realize Thaddeous is meeting me here? In this hangar? On this blasted ship?” The last piece of her armor clicked into place. Her lightsabers were always on her, so she didn’t worry about a weapon.

“Then I’ll make this quick.” Aisha lunged forward and Jade leapt from her sitting place and onto the ground, rolling swiftly back to her feet. She whirled around, lifting her arm to guard a blow from Aisha’s leg to her head. She laughed again.

“Stronger, aren’t you?”

Jade didn’t respond as she quickly countered, making quick jabs and coming in close to minimize Aisha’s ability to pull out her lightsaber. Jade managed to land one blow against her bare stomach with her knee, satisfied when she heard a menacing crack. Aisha flipped backwards, away from Jade’s reach, and activated her lightsaber. Jade reached to her own side, flicking her blade on as well.

“That’s why you should wear armor over your entire body, gizak.”

“You know it’s pronounced gizka right?” Aisha’s double-ended blade fell to her side as she lifted up her right hand, lightning pouring from it. Jade’s crimson blade absorbed the shock, her feet planted firmly to keep from moving. She wasn’t too worried about its effect on her, due to her upgraded armor, but she wasn’t about to test it now. She hadn’t even finished tweaking it.

“This is fun and all, but I was hoping to have a drink before I left.”

“Sorry to ruin your moment. But you’re a disease in the Order. No one humiliates our leader like that.”

“Difference of opinion, then.”

“You pathetic waste of air!” she howled, jerking her hand away and closing the distance between them quickly. Their lightsabers smashed against each other and Aisha’s face was filled with hatred.

“You weak little acolyte!” Sparks flew. “You come in here disgracing all we hold!” Lightning cracked at her fingertips and Jade leapt aside. “You arrogant little—” The smash of their blades crushed her word. “You act as if you’re high and mighty! You act as if you’re the Emperor!” Jade staggered back and hurriedly blocked the next wave of attacks. “Here’s news for you, Jade Cavvar.” Jade slipped to the side, missing the crimson hum by mere centimeters. “You are not the Emperor. You are not the ruler. You disgrace the entire Order! You’ll get us all killed with your recklessness! You’ll disgrace us in the eyes of the Empire, you’ll ruin us with your soft heart!” Aisha’s blade slammed down through the ground, carving a nasty crack through the metal. Jade fell back into her defensive form as Aisha turned orange-lined eyes to her. “But here, I will stop our demise. You act noble. You act like you’re better than the rest of us. You think you can break me, Jade? You’ll end up in another coffin before I let that happen!”

Aisha’s blade came close, slamming against Jade’s. They held it there, glaring at one another.

“I am better than you.” Jade said at last. Aisha’s eyes filled with fury.

“Ah, ladies.” The two jerked back, panting. Thaddeous strode onto the ship and smiled at the two. “Sparring? Jade, your ship will be destroyed at this rate.”

“I don’t mind.” Jade hummed. She clipped her lightsaber back onto her belt. “Getting warmed up, is all. You might want to have those ribs checked out, Aisha.” Her eyes settled on her opponent with cold brutality. “One of them might have been broken.”

Aisha’s eyes flashed and, for a moment, she looked as if she would lunge for Jade. She didn’t, smirked over at her, and walked out. Jade rolled her shoulders back, allowing her heart to slow.

“You ready to go, hot shot?”

“If you are not too sore from fighting Aisha,” Thaddeous offered, smirking mockingly. Jade rolled her eyes and called in her droid. It clattered up and closed the ramp as Jade brought the ship to life.

<— Chapter 1