Star Wars: Transformations

Authoress's notes: Thanks to Das Flute for all his suggestions and editing! The following story takes place after my Imperial Prostitute & Jedi Submissive series, and after the Fate of the Jedi books. If I may retcon some, in this and my future stories, Jaina, Tahiri, Tenel Ka, and the others never served in the Imperial ProCorps, and the Jedi have never heard of it. Jaina did briefly serve as Daala's Jedi Liaison, until Ta'tan'ia took over that role. Both, as well as Syal Antilles, served her sexually as well. Please read and enjoy all of my stories, and vote me a five! Also, please leave me feedback, public or via email.

Tahiri Veila: Transformations

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Part I: Bounty Hunter ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tahiri strode down the quiet street, towards her nearby ship. This part of the spaceport was mostly deserted at the moment. In fact, besides a Rodian passed-out against a wall a dozen meters or so ahead, she only sensed one other being nearby. Unfortunately that being had been tailing her for a while, and seemed to be ready to finally confront her.

"Tahiri Veila, in the name of the Galactic Alliance, you are under arrest," her tail announced in a determined-sounding voice from several meters or so behind her.

Tahiri let out a small sigh. She had sensed the Jedi quite a while ago, and had hoped to avoid him. It wasn't that she was afraid or anything, it was just that she didn't know him, and didn't want him to do something dumb, like try to enforce the arrest warrant that was still technically active for her.

"Toss your weapons away, put your hands on your head, and drop down to your knees," the assured voice of the Jedi instructed her.

Now Tahiri let out a little smirk. Like that was going to happen, no matter who was behind her. In spite of his determined-sounding tone, she could sense his uncertainty in the Force. She paused a moment, then slowly turned to face him.

She didn't recognize the Jedi. He was a human male, perhaps nineteen or twenty years old, with short dark hair. He was wearing a typical brown Jedi robe, with lighter color Jedi garb underneath it. His feet were about shoulder width apart, with his right hand near his lightsaber, which fortunately was still on his belt.

Tahiri, by contrast, was wearing an armored black and dark gray body suit, with a long black nerfhide coat over it. She had full-grade black beskar armor over her torso—a gift from Boba Fett after they had teamed up against Abeloth. She also had full-grade beskar plates—black to match her torso armor—around her upper arms, forearms, thighs, and shins. That armor she had gotten on her own. Her half-finger gloves had beskar protecting her knuckles as well.

Boba Fett had also given her a full-grade beskar collar that was six centimeters wide, allegedly for protection. While the collar was useful for that purpose, Tahiri mostly wore it because she liked it. It was black as well, to match her chest armor.

Unlike Mandalorian mercenaries, Tahiri didn't have electronics and weapons built into her armor. She trusted in the Force far more than whatever surprises the Mando programmers might try to slice in.

Her own lightsaber was on her nerfhide belt, horizontal at the small of her back. Her favorite blaster was on her hip, and a carbine was slung across her back. She also had a full-grade beskar knife on her left thigh and a smaller vibroblade on the inside of her left forearm.

Unlike Mandalorians and a lot of other bounty hunters, Tahiri didn't like to carry around an excessive amount of weapons. She only had her carbine because she had been out hunting a bounty. She also had a couple sets of stun-cuffs, and twenty meters of fibercord.

Tahiri rolled her eyes in annoyance, and gave him a hard look. "Does Master Skywalker know what you're doing?" she asked him. She was careful to keep her hands visible, as she didn't want him to do anything rash.

Now the earnest young Jedi flashed a look of uncertainty. "What do you mean?" he asked, his hand on his lightsaber. "Of course Master Skywalker knows what I'm doing. He assigned me here to be a guardian of peace and justice."

Tahiri sighed. "Look; Master Skywalker and I have an agreement. I don't turn to the dark side, or kill too many innocent people, and the Jedi leave me alone."

The young Jedi considered that a moment. "Master Skywalker would never make a deal with a Scumbag Sith Assassin like you," he declared. "Now toss your weapons away; slowly. I'm taking you in to face justice for what you've done." As he spoke, he began deliberately walking towards her.

Scumbag Sith Assassin? Now Tahiri was insulted. She had been a lot of things in her life. Tusken Raider. Yuuzhan Vong. Pain Slut. Killik Joiner . . . she guessed Sith Assassin too. But Scumbag?

Still, she didn't want to hurt him if she didn't have to. She definitely couldn't let him take her to the local authorities—who would probably do everything they could to enforce the galaxy-wide arrest warrant.

"Please, just comm Master Skywalker, and he'll explain everything," she implored him, using the Force to add a little pressure to the request.

"Of course," he agreed with a nod as he continued approaching her. "After I have you in custody where you belong." With that he pulled his lightsaber off his belt, and ignited it. "Now toss your weapons away, and drop down to your knees. You are under arrest."

Tahiri let out another sigh. He certainly seemed to be determined to be a good little Jedi today. Still, maybe she could make him see reason. He was only a few meters away from her now.

"Please comm Master Skywalker or one of the other Masters before someone gets hurt," she asked him again, using the Force to influence his mind. As she spoke, she reached for her own lightsaber at the small of her back. There was no way she was letting him arrest her.

As she pulled it out, he swung his blade towards her wrists. It was a pretty slow strike for a Jedi Knight. Tahiri wasn't sure if he was holding back, or if his skills were just as bad as they seemed. At least he didn't seem to be trying to kill her outright though.

Tahiri effortlessly blocked the strike, then, at less-than-full-speed, kicked out at his feet, which he easily leapt to avoid, as she had planned. In mid-air he flicked his lightsaber towards her wrists again.

Tahiri instantly stepped past his blue blade, drove her elbow into his chest, and heard a satisfying grunt as the air went out of him. As he came down, she grabbed his right arm, and slammed his wrist on her armored thigh. She heard an even more satisfying crunch as his lightsaber fell out of his hand.

She quickly followed that up with a measured strike to his temple with the hilt of her lightsaber, knocking him unconscious.

Tahiri ran through a Jedi calming technique as she took a few deep breaths. The Jedi was lying on his back. She had one knee in his chest, and one hand gripping his forearm above his broken wrist. She shut down her lightsaber, and put it on her belt. Then she located his weapon on the duracrete a meter or so away, and summoned it to her waiting hand.

Before she had been interrupted, Tahiri had planned on going to her ship, and meditating on the location of the bounty she was tracking. She couldn't leave the Jedi unconscious in a seedy spaceport though. After another deep breath, she picked him up, slung him over her shoulder, and carried him towards her ship.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Once she secured her ship—and her Jedi—Tahiri retrieved a bacta-splint from her medical supplies. Then, while he was still unconscious, she put it on his wrist. Next she secured his wrists—in front of him—with her stun-cuffs. After that she relieved him of his identichit and other items she found on him. Now she had to contact someone and find out why an over-eager Jedi was trying to arrest her.

Since she was a wanted fugitive, Master Skywalker didn't want her to comm the Temple directly. That wasn't really a problem since she had several Masters' direct comm codes. In less than a minute she was in contact with Jedi Master Jaina Solo.

"Hey Tahiri," Jaina greeted her with a smile.

The Jedi Master appeared to be slightly out of breath, like she had just been working out, or training. Since she was wearing a jumpsuit and not a sports bra and hotpants, Tahiri suspected the latter.

"Master Solo," Tahiri replied with her own, tight smile. "I see you're training, I'll try not to keep you too long."

"It's no problem," the young Jedi Master answered with a dismissive wave. Her durasteel comlink was visible on her wrist. "Just sparring with Ta'tan'ia a little."

Tahiri knew that Ta'tan'ia was a Twi'lek, and had served the former Chief of State as under the title of Jedi Liaison, which mostly consisted of being her personal secretary, errand girl, maid, and sex slave. She assumed the sparring session was more of a training session, since Ta'tan'ia wasn't known to be very good with a lightsaber.

Tahiri promptly moved her holoemitter so the knocked-out Jedi was in the field. "Does this belong to you?" she asked, gesturing towards the unconscious figure propped up against the wall. "His ID-chit says his name is Wyric Torrin," she explained.

"Yes, that's Jedi Torrin," Jaina replied with a frown. "What happened to him?"

"He tried to arrest me, then he came at me with a lightsaber. I broke his wrist, knocked him out, then brought him to my ship and put a bacta-splint on his arm," Tahiri explained to Jaina.

"And binders," Jaina commented absently.

Before Tahiri could respond, her would-be-arrester spoke.

"I was trying to arrest this escaped prisoner, and she attacked me, knocked me out, and kidnapped me," Jedi Torrin countered as he regained consciousness.

"I asked him to please comm Master Skywalker, as we had an agreement," Tahiri calmly informed her. "Instead he came at me waving his lightsaber. I took him down as quickly as I could."

"She's a wanted criminal," Wyric insisted as he tried to sit up, which resulted in him wincing noticeably. "And you broke my wrist," added painfully.

"And I could have left you unconscious in the middle of the street," Tahiri replied calmly.

"Thank you for providing Jedi Torrin medical assistance, Tahiri," Jaina stated, to Wyric's obvious surprise. "I hope he didn't cause too many problems?"

"Not really," Tahiri answered with a shrug. She paused, glanced back at the cuffed Jedi on her deck, then back to Jaina's hologram. "He's not much of a swordsman," she told her friend. "I hope this isn't a typical product of the Jedi Academy these days?"

"Hey!" Wyric replied indignantly.

Jaina let out a soft chuckle. "Not everyone can be Master Skywalker or Master Katarn," she responded. "As matter of fact, he's one of Master Hamner's," she explained, nodding towards Jedi Torrin.

"Oh," Tahiri said, nodding her head in understanding. While that might not explain his lack of skills with a lightsaber, that did explain his insistence on trying to arrest her. "Well, can you tell him to stay away from me?" she asked.

"No problem," Jaina answered cheerfully. She turned to Wyric, and said, "Jedi Torrin, when Tahiri releases you you are to leave her ship, and leave her alone, is that understood?"

"But she's an escaped prisoner with a galaxy-wide warra—"

"I said, is that understood, Jedi Torrin?" Jaina repeated firmly.

"Yes Master Solo," he answered resignedly.

"If you have any questions, feel free to contact Grand Master Skywalker, or anyone else on the Council, but don't bother Tahiri anymore," Jaina added. "Just forget you ran into her."

"As much as you can while nursing a broken wrist," Tahiri couldn't help but adding with a smug grin.

Wyric shot her a dirty look, then turned his attention back to the hologram. "Yes Master Solo," he answered with a small nod.

"Thanks, Jaina," Tahiri told her with a friendly smile.

"No problem," the Jedi Master replied with her own smile, quickly turning her attention back to her. "And if you ever want to come back to the Order, I'm sure you'll be welcome."

"Thanks," Tahiri responded sincerely. "I appreciate the offer, but I think I like bounty hunting."

"Well, keep it in mind," Jaina said. "We'll even let you train Jedi Torrin there in lightsaber technique."

Tahiri glanced back at the Jedi, who had risen to a sitting position, then back to Jaina. "I'm not sure if that's a pro or a con," she explained wryly.

Jaina chuckled in response. They exchanged goodbyes, and Tahiri shut down the connection. Then she turned back to her would-be-arrester.

"Sorry about the wrist," she told him.

He stared back at her a few heartbeats before replying. "Don't mention it." He paused again, and glanced down. "Can you take these off me now?" he asked, raising his cuffed wrists a bit.

"Hell no," Tahiri answered. "I know plenty of people that will pay big for a Jedi."

Wyric's eyes went wide with shock. "You wouldn't do that," he replied, quickly regaining his composure.

Tahiri eyed him a few seconds. "Lucky for you," she finally responded. After a couple of seconds of silence, Tahiri tapped her wrist comlink a couple of times, unlocking the binders.

Her wrist comlink, which was maglocked around her right wrist, was black durasteel, and six centimeters wide, just like her collar. A matching chrono was maglocked around her left wrist. While a wrist comm was practical for several reasons—you couldn't really accidentally leave it on a table at a restaurant or something—she mainly wore her cuffs for the same reason she wore her beskar collar. She liked the feeling of hard metal around her neck and wrists.

Once he was free, Jedi Torrin climbed to his feet, careful of his injured arm. "My lightsaber?" he asked, holding out his good hand.

Tahiri rolled her eyes and sighed again, this time in mock annoyance. Then she produced his lightsaber, and tossed it to him. "I suppose you want your ID and credits back too?"

"Yes!" he replied with an indignant frown.

She gave him the rest of his stuff, and idly played with her binders while he sorted it out.

"So you've got a Mando partner?" Wyric asked, gesturing towards the red helmet sitting on a shelf nearby as he pocketed his credit chits.

Tahiri followed his eyes to the Mandalorian helmet, then looked back at the Jedi.

"Not anymore," she answered.

"What happened?" Wyric asked curiously.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

A few months earlier . . .

Tahiri was awoken by a sudden sense of danger from the Force. She opened her eyes in time to see a grenade coming through the open hatchway a few meters away. Almost instinctively, she reached out with the Force and pushed it back towards the opening.

Even though the door had only been open a handful of centimeters—and opening wider—when the grenade had come through, somehow it closed again before she could get the grenade back out. It hit against the closing door, and fell to the deck.

In a split-second Tahiri reached out with the Force, clenching one fist, to contain the grenade blast. At the same time, she grabbed her beskar chest plate with her other hand, and held it in front of her. A moment later the grenade exploded.

Tahiri barely had time to realize that it was only a stun-grenade before her cabin door opened again, and someone began firing blaster bolts in at her. When the first shot hit the beskar armor, she realized they were stun-bolts. She also realized that it was her partner Kad'ika—now former partner—who was shooting at her. Tahiri hurled the armor at him, and grabbed her lightsaber from underneath her pillow.

As she charged towards her opponent, she deflected another bolt into the floor with her lightsaber. In a flash she was through the door, and facing off with a fully armored Mandalorian bounty hunter in the corridor. Tahiri, in contrast, was barefoot, and only wearing a gray tank top and black panties. Her chrono, a six centimeter wide durasteel cuff was on her left wrist, and a matching comlink was around her right. However, Tahiri had the Force as her ally, which more than made up for her attire.

Kad'ika was back-pedaling as he continued firing at her. Tahiri calmly deflected what were now kill shots back at him. She could sense his panic through the Force. While still firing, he suddenly reached for the miniature flame-thrower on his right forearm.

As the jet of flame came out, Tahiri used the Force to shove it back towards him. She flashed an evil grin as the fire engulfed him. With the Force, she fed the fire, intensifying it, and keeping it close to his body. He fired wildly at her in response. Tahiri kept her lightsaber in front of her, but none of the bolts came close enough to bother with.

After just a few seconds though, her ship's fire-suppression system kicked in. Tahiri knew she couldn't keep the flames going with it activated, so she quickly switched tactics, and made him think he was being burned alive.

With real flames all around, it was no problem to make him think his skin was literally peeling off. Tahiri quickly intensified the feeling of being burnt. She also added the urge to take off his armor to relieve the pain. He dropped his blaster carbine, and began yanking at his helmet. She took a couple of steps, and was in the air flying towards him as his helmet came off.

Her lightsaber blade sliced through his head about the level of his mouth. Tahiri landed on one knee just behind him, with her lightsaber blade extended away from her body, and her head bowed. She heard the top part of Kad'ika's head hit the deck with a thud, then his body a second or so later. She held her pose a few more moments as she ran through a Jedi calming technique. Then she shut down her lightsaber, and turned to examine her handiwork.

Five minutes later she had stripped off her former partner's armor and assorted weapons. She made sure to hang on to the full-grade beskar knife. In spite of being exposed to a brief but intense fire, the suit's electronics were largely undamaged.

The next thing Tahiri did was go to the cockpit, to find out if Kad'ika had left her anymore surprises. She settled into the pilot's seat, and made sure they were still safely in hyperspace. Then she ran a diagnostic. Sure enough, the traitorous Mando had tried to upload some programming to take over her ship's computer. Luckily she—through Talon Karrde—had better slicers, who had programed her ship's computer to defend itself against such intrusion attempts.

In less than a minute she had all of Kad'ika's programming flushed. Next Tahiri had her ship's computer check his cabin—and the rest of the ship—for traps. That search came up negative as well.

Once Tahiri finished securing her ship, she headed to what had been Kad'ika's cabin. She paused just outside the hatchway, and used the Force to sense danger. After she was satisfied it was safe, she went inside, to see what she wanted to keep.

Luckily, Mandalorians didn't normally acquire a lot of belongings. Tahiri quickly cleaned out the stuff she didn't want, and took it to the airlock. Next she dragged Kad'ika and his head to the airlock as well. She closed the inner door, and ejected her former-partner and his trash out into hyperspace.

After that Tahiri activated her wrist comlink and summoned the housekeeping droid to clean up the fire suppressant, bits of Kad'ika's brain, blood, and the rest of the mess from the fight. She also left it instructions to go over her cabin, as well as what was now her newly empty cabin. While the droid cleaned up, Tahiri went to the cockpit, and napped in the pilot's chair, just in case.