A Healing Hand (Warframe x Star Wars SI)

[PotatoKannonShunter]

@HarakoniWarhawk
On one hand, Anakin may or may not be parent / mommy starved for affection. I don't know if he's in a relationship with Padmay at this time or not.

On the other hand: UUUUOOOOOOOHHHH BIG SEXY ROBOT MOMMY! MILF! BIG CYBER TIDDI !

Also Anankin: I was born into slaver and would appreciate some hugs right nie.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

@HarakoniWarhawk
On one hand, Anakin may or may not be parent / mommy starved for affection. I don't know if he's in a relationship with Padmay at this time or not.

On the other hand: UUUUOOOOOOOHHHH BIG SEXY ROBOT MOMMY! MILF! BIG CYBER TIDDI !

Also Anankin: I was born into slaver and would appreciate some hugs right nie.

Click to shrink...

Anakin's been married to Padme for just over two months at this point, so very much in a relationship.

Parental affection, especially Jade's incidental "Mommy loves you all very much" vibes, means all the hugs and compliments.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Guess who's back?

Yeah, me. Uh, apologies for the 7 month hiatus, Muse did as Muse does.

Got commed for another chapter, so it'll be up tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

It turns out that writing the Republic Child Protective Service barging in to swing their authority around is both more depressing and emotional than I expected.

At least I'm on the track now, thank the Force. Gotta love how, as far as I can find, legally, the clones aren't people. Not as the Republic's laws recognise them, anyway.

Welcome to the dying days of the Galactic Republic, folks, where even the people meant to protect kids have been warped by centuries of political shitfuckery...

 

[unknown_entity]

It turns out that writing the Republic Child Protective Service barging in to swing their authority around is both more depressing and emotional than I expected.

Click to shrink...

Uh, I don't think you need to do that. The only role for "Protection of Children" was historically handled by the Jedi, and while they technically still hold that role, they themselves became the greatest violators when they lowered the minimum age... The Republic really doesn't have anything to fit that role anymore.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Uh, I don't think you need to do that. The only role for "Protection of Children" was historically handled by the Jedi, and while they technically still hold that role, they themselves became the greatest violators when they lowered the minimum age... The Republic really doesn't have anything to fit that role anymore.

Click to shrink...

Ngl, I feel like that's, like, utterly nonsensical.

This is the dying days of the Galactic Republic, for crying out loud; corrupt and bloated carcases of once useful systems are its bread and butter, lol.

More seriously, it's less depressing and more just reducing the "Mara being a cute little void demon" time. Sad, but the plot must move forward.

And Mara and her clone protectors have to stick together, and Jade ain't letting her kid self go near a warzone again.

 

[Tybresa]

Ngl, I feel like that's, like, utterly nonsensical.

This is the dying days of the Galactic Republic, for crying out loud; corrupt and bloated carcases of once useful systems are its bread and butter, lol.

More seriously, it's less depressing and more just reducing the "Mara being a cute little void demon" time. Sad, but the plot must move forward.

And Mara and her clone protectors have to stick together, and Jade ain't letting her kid self go near a warzone again.

Click to shrink...

I'm dying to see the Jedi's reaction to Mara and Jade. What do they think she is, where she came from, and what she can do! So excited.

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Well, this is late. Got caught between writing serious and writing funny, and ended up doing a little bit of both.

To the commissioner who requested this, thanks for your patience. After this, back to more Isekai Jade.

Music for the chapter is from Keith Power (This Is What You Are)

Spoiler: Music for the chapter.

View: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FEiTgU-hM5k&si=PHGHdECcqM20DB_b

---

With victory came change, as surely as one day rolled onto the next.

For Christophsis, many a debt was repaid, and just as many grudges were settled in the days following the relief fleet's command of the orbitals. Loathsom might have vanished off the face of the world -with rumours abound regarding the infamous General's whereabouts- but the long spectre of the Retail Caucus cast a chill over the celebrations. Those sold out by their leaders to the interstellar conglomerate nursed their grievances and hatred for the time they could get their revenge. From the high caste's servants to asteroid foremen, crystal miners and indentured immigrants, all knew their so-called "leaders" would return any day.

Brooding clouds of dust still hung swollen and cloying over Crystal City as the first of Cristophsis' ruling oligarchs returned alongside regular units of the GAR. Prior dealings with the Confederacy had been quietly swept under the rug of necessity now that the Republic had secure access to the system's vital resources. Just as volunteer and conscript units arrived on-world, the 501st and 212th prepared to depart for other battlefields.

The war effort demanded everything Cristophsis could spare, and the planetary rulers arrived expecting to return things to how they'd been before the invasion.

If anyone asked Anakin, he was wisely choosing to be elsewhere than the mountain of paperwork attempting to consume Obi-Wan alive back at the field base. And it was only appropriate for General Skywalker to bid farewell to Senator Organa with the Alderaanian heading back to Coruscant now that his aid mission was complete. Pry further -as Anakin's old master attempted- and you'd get the brown-haired younger Jedi muttering that he wanted to show off his troops to the arriving regular formations.

Prideful, yes, and entirely expected of the Jedi General leading the 501st legion to bring a squad of his best troopers as an escort… But not the entire tale.

For good or for ill, the Force wanted Anakin at the spaceport, and his cybernetic hand hadn't stopped itching since he'd arrived. Something up in the roiling clouds hanging over the borderline pandemonium of Crystal City's spaceport set the Jedi's teeth on edge, sharpening the hard shadows lurking around his intense blue eyes. Every descending lander and shuttle earned a rough probe of the lives within, always searching and never providing an answer. Microservos whined as a incongruous luxury yacht breached the clouds like an exploding pimple, colouring the air around its sleek white hull with a hauntingly familiar cloak of avarice.

If looks could kill, the decadent spacecraft would've been so much burning wreckage strewn across the port and surrounding kliks.
A shock of heat burned away at the itch as tiny fingers grasped Anakin's durasteel hand and squeezed. Forcibly returned to the spaceport, the Jedi turned his searching gaze down at the blue-haired child holding onto his hand with a gap-toothed smile.

"Ith's okay tho be mad ath them," Mara lisped with odd certainty written across her cherubic face. "Nobody liketh them."

For all that the young girl starkly refused to exist in the Force, Anakin nevertheless felt the child's concern for him loud and disarmingly clear. The wall erected between the tall Jedi General and the noble kid didn't appear to trouble her when it came to reading Anakin, strangely enough. Feeling a wry grin tugging at his downturned lips, he figured he'd humour the girl.

"Did an angel whisper that in your ear?" Anakin teased.

As Mara pouted and squeezed the life out of the Jedi's metal hand, he glanced at the biomechanical guardian beneath the ramp of the Consular frigate in the docking bay. Jade was deep in conversation with Senator Organa at the base of the boarding ramp, discussing who knew what with the dusky-skinned Alderaainian politician. Here, Anakin's darker thoughts stuttered as the maternal Warframe shook hands with the departing politician and turned to wave his way. With one limb trapped by a clingy and happily babbling child, he awkwardly mirrored the friendly gesture with his organic hand and a shy smile.

In truth, the human Jedi still wasn't clear on what exactly a Warframe was, but Mara's insistent tugging provided a wonderful excuse to hide his burning cheeks from Jade.

However, a single look at the girl's worried expression doused the gentle embarrassment with a cold dose of reality. Forewarned, Anakin turned in time to catch Rex and Buir appear from the access passageway on a least-time course with their chosen subordinates prickly with wary tension. The squad of 501st troopers with Rex stood in stark contrast to the colourful trio trailing Buir, and that was all the time Anakin had for that before the latter swooped in and plucked Mara up into their embrace.

Black, grey and red fell in around the imposing and uniquely strange trooper, danger leaking from their tense frames and half-raised weaponry. Anakin's hand dipped towards his saber's hilt as the multi-coloured quartet put their backs to Organa's transport, feeling a hint of the danger bleeding into the Force.

He recognised a VIP protective stance anywhere.

Rex and the 501st troopers didn't need to fall in around their Jedi General, but the clones did just that as their officer took up position at Anakin's side.

"Something's got the 32nd boys spooked, General," Rex offered sotto voce, a strained note colouring the assessment. "Buir's got it in his head there's child snatchers on the way."

Anakin performed a double take, face darkening even as his mind fought with the sheer absurdity of the assertion.

"Child snatchers?"

"Just what he said to me, Sir. If it was anyone else, I'd call them out, but…"

What the Captain pointedly didn't voice was as damning evidence as Anakin needed to offer a curt nod of approval. Determination and relief swirled around Rex in that split-second before he began issuing orders to his chosen men. Just like that, the clones of the 32nd Independent Company had a squad from Torrent Company at their backs. Both units worked like a well-oiled machine to take cover behind the crates, support pillars and, in one clone's case, an unfortunate gonk droid littering the docking bay.

Senator Organa's unbothered Force presence settled alongside Anakin as a much-needed balm for the electricity running through the Jedi's nerves. Less comforting than Obi-Wan would be, but the two men were cut from the same bolt of cloth in their unflappable demeanour.

"Trouble, Knight Skywalker?" Bail murmured.

Anakin tensed as a determined group of minds prickled the edge of senses. "Buir thinks someone's coming to snatch up Mara." His brows furrowed as he sensed a knot of cold anger from the composed Alderaanian. "Senator?"

A quick check revealed Organa's patrician features to be carved from so much stone, formerly warm brown eyes now cold, furious and locked onto the interior bay doors. It crumbled beneath the politician's durasteel will a heartbeat later, but it was enough for Anakin to openly palm his saber, just in case.

He was right to be on edge. "I suspect that Child Protective Services are on their way," Senator Organa's words balanced on a blade edge as they emerged from his tight lips. "Buir and the others are wise to be on guard. Whatever noble ideals RCPS once held, it's now a wholly political creature in the worst of terms. There's only one reason they would be on Christophsis so soon after you broke the blockade, and it's not to anyone here's benefit."
Anakin didn't quite suppress a flinch as a hand squeezed his shoulder. "While I wouldn't be opposed to fighting our unwelcome visitors," Jade all but purred into the knight's ear. "We could just… fly away."

More than one set of eyes looked at the consular corvette sitting there ready to lift off.

Advice offered as if it wasn't an order in everything but name, Jade squeezed the Jedi's shoulder and brushed past him, though not without fondly messing with Anakin's hair. While the embarrassed knight aggressively tamed his wayward locks, the white and gold warframe sedately walked over to the door controls and drove her slicing spike into the circuitry. Having had multiple opportunities to see the tech in action, Anakin tracked Jade's hacking with every arm twitch until the panel flashed red and it sealed with the weighty thunk of electromagnets.

Withdrawing the parazon, its angelic wielder positively radiated smug pride as she offered everyone a slow curtsey as best her maternal figure allowed. Beside Anakin, Senator Organa chuckled under his breath with a shake of his head. Just like that, the pressure weighing on the Jedi evaporated, eliciting a gesture to Rex and the 501st troopers.

"Well, boys," Anakin began with a rakish grin. "Looks like we've got a diplomatic transport to catch, if Senator Organa agrees?"

Shaking his head at the superfluous question, Bail's half-cape rustled as he turned, beckoning with a hand and walked towards his ship. On the move, he lifted his comlink to his twitching lips in full view of everyone.

"Captain Hanzo? We'll be taking on a few more passengers. Eleven, in total… Only to orbit, yes?" This he asked Anakin.

Plans coalesced in the tall knight's mind as he caught up with the senator. "We can rendezvous with the Resolute. If anyone asks, you've requested an escort back as far as Rendili."

"At least the Separatist attacks have one silver lining."

"Don't let Obi-Wan hear you say that, he might think you've gotten a taste for combat," Anakin joked as he made it to the top of the ramp.

The tanned Alderaanian politician cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing as Rex walked past with the rest of his squad in tight formation hot on his heels. Anakin waved the clone officer on when he looked to his superior officer for orders, trusting them to get settled wherever. It was going to be a quick trip, anyway. From Padme's recollection, the CR-70s with the diplomatic service had no shortage of comfortable seating.

Rather than joining his men, or Organa when the older man took his leave, the Jedi General lingered while the hazy troopers of the 32nd's detachment trooped past. Mara offered a wave as Buir carried her at the fore, in good cheer despite it all. The trio of equally strange clones following their leader flickered in and out of awareness, existing as a shadow in the Force that lingered with nigh-imperceptible whispers.

Void-touched, as Jade explained on that first day in the old militia bunker. A power, or residual energy, that made it hard to focus on those most affected by its touch. The danger to any Jedi was immense, and part of Anakin felt obliged to report the effects to the Council the moment he stepped foot back on Coruscant.

Luckily, the tap-click of heeled feet on the ramp tugged Anakin's thoughts out of the disquieting rut it'd been trapped in. He offered an unneeded hand to Jade as she brought up the rear, only to blink as her weight proved unmoved by the initial tug up the ramp. Infusing the limb with the Force fixed that issue, but now left the knight in close proximity to Mara's biomechanical guardian as the deployed entryway sealed behind the warframe.

Rather than let go, Jade used her grip to pull a furiously blushing Anakin into a literally warm hug. Only his childhood growing up on Tatooine prepared him for the palpable heat soaking through his armour and clothes. Most humanoid races would be actively dying at that sort of internal body temperature, and yet, it just seemed to be the norm for the maternal warframe.

"Don't think too hard about it, honey," Jade ordered as she tightened her embrace. "Now, be a good boy and let me thank you for breaking a great many laws for my Mara and her protectors."

"I-It's nothing, r-really," the Jedi tried, only for the breath to be squeezed from his lungs. "Anyone would do it…"

"Nonsense."

Jade's head feathers opened as she pulled back to sternly look down at the young man caught in her vice-like hug, her single cyclopean optic bearing the impression of a painfully familiar look borne by mothers across the galaxy. Just like that, Anakin's heart and words caught in his throat, trapped much as he was in a position he was wholly unwilling to break first.

"No matter how anyone else reacts to your actions here, I'm proud of you," Jade's synthesised voice hitched for a beat. "As, I'm sure, your mother would be, if she was here."

Any hope of coherent thought on Anakin's part guttered and died beneath the smothering grief the warframe's words engendered, kindly though they'd been offered. Lips moving without sound, the floundering Jedi turned watering blue eyes up to Jade's single golden optic.

Wordlessly, he ceased fighting the hug and let the maternal guardian hold him upright, not trusting his legs to do their job.

And, if Anakin was being honest with himself, he needed a mother's embrace more than he needed a Jedi's pride.

"There, there," Jade whispered consolingly as the shuddering knight fought with his demons. "Oh, Kenobi's lucky we're heading offworld, leaving you to stew like this for too long. He'll rue the day…"

---

"Anakin, care to explain why I have an official outside the door claiming you've kidnapped a child?"

To Obi-Wan Kenobi's credit, the life-sized hologram of him projected into the Resolute's CIC did zilch to dampen the sheer presence the bearded Jedi carried with him. In the guise of General Kenobi of the GAR, he positively radiated quasi-parental disappointment aimed squarely at his former padawan. At any other time, I had no doubts Anakin would be bristling like a wounded hedgehog or borderline sulking from earning the older Jedi's disapproval.

"Genewal Kenobi!"

Unfortunately for Obi-Wan's efforts, Mara had demanded Anakin lift her up the instant she learned the Jedi master would be calling. Safely out of the way of the holoprojector's pickups, I watched Kenobi's thinned lips twitch in an abortive smile at my younger self's enthusiastic greeting.

And say what you will about the only Jedi to defeat a Sith in centuries, but he was a sucker when it came to kids. Barely half a minute into Mara tapping into the Void to ask endless questions without breathing, the final pitiful remnants of Obi-Wan's stern expression crumbled. Any second now, the holographic Jedi would…

"Hello there, Princess," Kenobi greeted with a smile, eliciting a delighted squeal from the blue-haired Tenno. "Seriously, Anakin, did you even think of the laws surrounding children with no family before…"

I laid a hand over my sealed mouth as the rakishly handsome Skywalker held Mara higher like a shield, metaphorically and literally putting her between him and his master's disappointment. Not that my kid self was all too irked being used as a technically non-human shield, as the heightened speed of her endless queries tumbled out of her mouth far beyond comprehension. Hell, the little shite knew full well what she was being used for, and I wouldn't put it past her to drag several kilos of sweets out of the Resolute's crew as payment afterwards.

Even as a kid, Mara was truly a mercenary Tenno at heart.

Beneath it all, Anakin's chuckles were well hidden. "Sorry, Master, you're breaking up," he joked, drawing a look from the Jedi master on the other end. "You want me to escort Senator Organa and Princess Mara back to Coruscant?"

"Anakin…"

"Don't worry, Obi-Wan, I'll make sure to visit Master Nu and see if the archives have any information on Mara's home system." Anakin flashed the projector a cheeky grin. "And if that doesn't work out, well, we'll cross that hyperlane when we get to it."

Pincered between a child and an immature, older child who knew all his buttons, Obi-Wan Kenobi gave up even bothering with the pretense of giving a dressing down. Rubbing at what had to be a growing headache, the bearded Jedi's traitorous lips kept twitching every time he looked up at the pickup on his end to find Mara and Anakin smiling innocently.

Total BS on both their parts, but damn if they weren't two peas in a pod at that moment. Pride swelled in my chest as I looked on, synthetic musculature itching to swoop forward and embrace the two of them as they rightfully deserved.

But I didn't, as much as it pained me to leave the motherly urges untouched. I waited with bated breath as Obi-Wan looked ready to jump back into the fray, before a rueful expression drove away any hope of remaining impartial. The man was damn well on his former student's side, but he was honorable enough to balk at outright flagrant law breaking.

At least, this early in the war, for all that that future couldn't come to pass anymore.

Eventually, Kenobi sighed. "Alright, Anakin, you win. Do try and keep the Princess and her escorts out of trouble."

"Trouble? Me?" Anakin echoed with faux-disbelief and hilariously wide eyes. "Why, Master, it almost sounds like you don't trust me or something."

"Goodbye, Anakin," then, much more warmly to Mara. "May the Force be with you, Princess."

If my heart wasn't already gooey maternal mush, Mara's goodbyes would've killed me from diabetic shock, warframe physiology notwithstanding. Mustering every scrap of noble bearing a girl her age could achieve, my mini-me Tenno sister solemnly nodded at the amused Jedi Master on the other end of the holocall.

"And with you," Mara intoned, before pointing at something behind Obi-Wan. "And donth leth Wally theal all your thuff!"

Oh, that wee void devil!

Kenobi's bemused twisting flickered and snapped off as a tiny hand hit the transmission button, leaving Mara free to wriggle out of Anakin's hold and start tugging the Jedi towards the CIC hatch. Perhaps merely glad to have escaped a dressing down from his mentor, the tall young man obediently let himself be led along out to where Admiral Yularen was waiting for their emergence.

"General Skywalker, we're cleared to jump to hyperspace as soon as you give the word." Seeing Anakin's predicament, the Admiral's moustache trembled. "I'll give the order in your stead, Sir."

"Yes, right, take us away," the besieged Jedi managed.

Mara, frustrated at the delay, jerked at Anakin's arm to get him moving.

"Leth go!"

A low round of chuckling broke out in the Venator's flag bridge as their Jedi General was dragged towards the turbolifts by a blue-haired girl a quarter of his age and barely half his height. Yularen was too disciplined by far to show something as blatant as a smile, but he carried an amused air well enough to show his true feelings.

Truth be told, I didn't expect for him to address me afterward.

"We've taken the liberty of assigning quarters in officer country for Commander Duum and his troopers," the well-groomed flag officer began, expression unruffled despite my everything. "I thought it best to avoid depriving your charge of her escort."

"Thank you, Admiral," I paused to press a hand against the small of my back. "Mara's tougher than she looks, but, well…"

I let my voice trail off, and the Admiral didn't feel presumed to fill the resulting silence. Delivering a curt nod, Yularen smoothly took his leave to go do Admiraly things, leaving me at loose ends. Finding myself drawn to the transparisteel viewports at the far end of the elevated walkway, I mentally smirked as the working chatter in the crew pits on either side ever so slightly faltered in my wake.

For them, I threw a bit of extra sway to my hips as I reached the armoured windows and the starfield beyond. God knows that letting these childbearing hips shake was a never-ending temptation that I barely quashed some hours, and I'd only been Jade a week.

As the stars turned to elongated streaks with the Resolute's jump to hyperspace, I laid a hand on the swell of my midriff and wondered if our destination was better than staying on Christophsis. The crystalline world might be a warzone in the future, but Coruscant was Coruscant.

Unbidden, a familiar tune escaped the clutches of memory and filled my little corner of the Venator's bridge.

"So it's into the Void, now, me girls and me boys…"

---

Writing this has given me stupidly enticing ideas for writing a spiritual redux of Biohazard Warning, just with Jade instead of Saryn.

If anyone remembers that old fic of mine, you can imagine how radically different using the pregnant mommy angel Warframe would be, lol.

 

[Faber_The_Builder]

"So it's into the Void, now, me girls and me boys…"

Click to shrink...

Sooo...Hyperspace Anomaly in 3...2...1...

VOID ADVENTURE!

PS: Now looking at it...would Anakin and Padmé adopting Mara make her...Mara Jade Skywalker?

 

[Gusion]

omg, its back.

damn it's been awhile. my first fic ever read and it still kick ass, awesome to have you back Harakoni.

 

[unknown_entity]

Well, that was a fun read. I love Mara's antics.

"So it's into the Void, now, me girls and me boys…"

Click to shrink...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EtOAaK19bA
This song is too important to not link. *stare*

 

[HarakoniWarhawk]

Sooo...Hyperspace Anomaly in 3...2...1...

VOID ADVENTURE!

PS: Now looking at it...would Anakin and Padmé adopting Mara make her...Mara Jade Skywalker?

Click to shrink...

I imagine Padme would spend a lot less time running headfirst into lethal danger if she had Mara to look after. Kid's a handful and a half./jk

If she got adopted, yes, she would be Mara Jade Skywalker.

But doing that would need either y'all to want Mara to be adopted by Padme, or someone commissioning me to go that route.

 

[SolusEclipse]

How i missed this... thanks for the chapter!
I am going to re-read this now.

But doing that would need either y'all to want Mara to be adopted by Padme, or someone commissioning me to go that route.

Click to shrink...

Nah, Mara is Jade's child

 

[JohnWolfie34]

It's back! Glory be to Momma Jade!