I have been doing my re-reads of all of @fialleril's stuff and I just got a funny little mental image re-reading Ekkreth’s List of Imperial Officers to Poach If Possible, of Ekkreth needing to get Captain Altor out because she's being used as a patsy. Here's the result:
Anakin does not know how to get Captain Tova Altor to safety. After all, he is Darth Vader, the Emperor's right hand, the Shadow, who brings destruction wherever he goes. Captain Altor is a distinguished Imperial officer, who rose to her rank through merit alone in a short span of just over a decade, and while she may be aware that these Moffs are implicating her as the perpetrator of the embezzling scheme they were almost caught in, she has no reason to believe him when he approaches her with a way out.
Her eyes are firm, narrowed only slightly as she seems to see through the mask into his intent gaze. Anakin knows she does not care much for Core World politics. He knows she's not in the Empire for nationalistic pride or particular loyalty to Depur's ideals. And yet, he does not know her true motives – does not even know why ZV-Y6, Eevie, Kadee's friend, has spoken so highly of her in so many occasions.
"I would not have expected such an offer in these circumstances, Lord Vader." Captain Altor speaks, after a long, agonizing moment. "In fact, I would have expected to be treated the same as you would any other officer who committed such an infraction."
I would have expected to be killed, she doesn't say. I would not expect you to believe my claims of innocence. Not without evidence.
What's the catch? She also doesn't say. And yet.
"And yet." He says, because she hasn't outright refused him. She hasn't sounded any alarms or made any effort to override the scrambler. There's something there, something familiar in her gaze. "You would do well to consider it. Admiral Motti does not expect you to be brought to him until the morrow. You are well aware of the troopers' rotations. It would not be difficult for you to take a shuttle to the rendezvous and destroy it before you are tracked."
"You say you would have me defect into the Rebellion. That they'll welcome me." Tova Altor says. Is that what you'll tell them all once you have killed me? She doesn't. Am I to be bait for the Rebels?
Anakin inclines his head, a single, simple nod. He does not know how to say 'I have been working with them for nearly two decades' and be believed. He also does not know if she'll report this. But somehow he doubts it – it would not only doom them both, but he has a feeling that she wouldn't. And that feeling is one he has learned to trust. "They will." He says, voice final, "If you provide them with a code."
Tova Altor raises an eyebrow, a precise gesture that communicates her skepticism without words. And who will provide this code? You? She does not say.
But she hasn't refused him yet.
"You will tell them you are sent by Ekkreth. The rain was long ago." He says, "But the desert does not forget."
And before he can say anything else, the Captain's face transforms. It is a falling away, he thinks, of a mask he never knew she was wearing. And suddenly, as her skepticism turns to shock that belies a fragile, unbreakable hope, then to a blazing, grim joy as bright and terrible as the twin suns, he realizes the familiarity she holds.
"The desert never forgets." She says, but her words are not in Basic. His own shock subsides quickly, and he responds in kind.
"The Mighty One comes with the Storm and the Fire." But he says 'Leia', and 'Umakkar'.
"We will walk free." She finishes, but instead of free, what she says is 'Lukka'.
Captain Tova Altor is Amaviikan. He did not expect that. But it explains things well, he thinks. The careful balance of a slave, between the words she left said and unsaid. The feeling of familiarity in her gaze, a steadiness that reminds him of the desert. And the droids like her, of course.
"Ek masa nu Bentu Terakreth ku." She says, a secret joy dancing in her once again composed face.
It's risky. He shouldn't. But he has a feeling. One that he has learned to trust.
"Ek masa nu Anakin Ekkreth ka."
-----
Notes: Literally all elements of this are from @fialleril and their amazing headcanons, from their Tatooine Slave Culture and, more specifically, their Double Agent Vader AU. Go read that stuff!
Some of this was lifted directly from Apology Accepted, and some from The Slave who Makes Free. Captain Tova Altor, AKA Bentu Rockstrider, is from the latter fic as well. It probably takes place some time before Bespin but not too long. Definitely after Apology Accepted, though.
The joy Anakin describes as grim and bright and terrible as the twin suns is the joy Bentu feels at realizing the implications of Ekkreth being Darth Vader's code name, that Vader is a slave, yes, but the Slave who makes Free, that he's Amaviika, a child of Ar-Amu, part of Tatooine Slave Culture like her, and oh the Emperor is so wonderfully screwed.
When they share the desert phrases, they're speaking Amatakka, the language of the Slaves in Tatooine Slave Culture, where Leia is The Mighty One, the Elder Sister to the slaves, she who walks the desert unafraid, Krayt Dragon; Umakkar means the Storm, sandstorms to be specific, and Lukka is the word for free. Yes, Padmé named both of her children with names of their father's culture. Go read Fialleril's stuff for context.
The final words they exchange are an introduction in Amatakka, "I am a person named Bentu Rockstrider, she/her" and "I am a person named Anakin Skywalker, he/him". Why are introductions like this? Go read Fialleril's work :P
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How Joel and Ellie act in the last of us is definitely how I picture Anakin and Leia acting as father and daughter. Especially in a double agent Vader aus.
I have no time or energy to write this right now, but imagine Leia in the Double Agent Vader 'verse, sent back in time to the Clone Wars. She knows the general history of the war and how it ended, but her father died before he could tell her anything significant she might need to know going forward. And maybe she doesn't really need to know that Count Dooku was a Sith Lord, but that's certainly something she wouldn't have learned on her own until someone mentions it in the past (it's Ahsoka). And Leia already knows that Palpatine is a Sith Lord.
And suddenly, she gets it. She understands the Clone Wars. Of course it destabilized the galaxy and allowed Palpatine to grab power — but with him on one side and his apprentice on the other, that has to mean that he engineered it. To destabilize the galaxy, give him an army, allow him to grab power, and kill off as many Jedi as possible in such a way that no one would ever suspect it.
Like, we already know this, but imagine Leia realizing it. Imagine her in her early twenties, first fighting Depur and his military with everything she's got and now helping in the Clone Wars in any way she can, and imagine her realizing just how much of her reality was engineered by one man. How much pain and death he's wrought, not as Emperor but before that, and when she's right in the thick of it. All the soldiers she's seen cut down, just to build a reality controlled by a monster.
Imagine Anakin Skywalker being the one to comfort her when she doesn't react well. The father of her best friend. The man who reminds her eerily of Ekkreth (and maybe, just maybe, he really is Ekkreth, just young and unfinished). And maybe it's her reaction to the revelation that sets things in motion, a cascade of revelations that will culminate in her being introduced, finally, to the woman she recognizes as her mother...
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This is @dyspunktional-leviathan, and this is a new project for helping to fundraise for Gaza, Sudan, Congo, Tigray, possibly more in future. Send me proof of your donations, and I will make audiobooks.
If anyone wants to join the project, you're incredibly welcome! Please message this blog for that.
My current plan is $30 per chapter, but I am not familiar with that currency and this is my first time making audiobooks too, so that might change.
Example recording — Canticle of the Dragon, the first prologue of Dragons of Autumn Twilight (CW for mentions of war, mass death and displacement, gods turning against their subjects):
The further recordings will be posted on AO3, with links on this blog. This chapter on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58599967/chapters/149305654
For every $30 of donations for vetted Gaza evacuation fundraisers (get them here: @vetted-gaza-funds), I will record a chapter of Dragonlance, starting with Dragons of Autumn Twilight and going in release order.
For every $30 of donations for Crips4Esims4Gaza (https://chuffed.org/project/crips-for-esims-for-gaza), I will record a chapter of The Locked Tomb, starting with Gideon the Ninth.
For every $30 of donations for the Mutual Aim campaign (https://www.tumblr.com/ana-bananya/753577456030679040/here-is-an-update-on-the-mutual-aim-campaign-for) that fundraises for the charities helping Sudan, Congo and Tigray, I will record a chapter of Fialleril's Double Agent Vader (https://archiveofourown.org/series/286908).
If/when I'm done with one of these, I will choose a new thing to audiobook for each branch of the project.
A masterpost for all the stuff I've published so far.
Amatakka word list, part 1: ah — anu
Amatakka word list, part 2: an-um — cheli
Amatakka word list, part 3: china — ek ma
Amatakka word list, part 4: ek- — hinil
Amatakka word list, part 5: hruga — katta
Amatakka word list, part 6: keekt — kuimm
Amatakka word list, part 7: kukur — maru
Amatakka word list, part 8: massi — nushu
Amatakka word list, part 9: ome — seek
Amatakka word list, part 10: sehpa — tenar
Amatakka word list, part 11: tenek — zuqaq
I will probably put a one-file version somewhere here.
Edit: The file version on Google drive is online here, mostly done, but it will stay a work in progress probably until the end of time, since everytime my overactive imagination comes at me with new words, I'll add them to it.
Edit 2: For the Huttese and Jawaese please check the Complete Wermo's Guide to Huttese; for Ryl please have a look at Project Twi'lex.
'double agent vader series' ????? 🥵 i know the post implies it's unfinished but if you have a title or a link for it please share 😔
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Okay so the 'bad' news about Double Agent Vader is it's only got canon ships. Any time I ever recommend a non-obikin fic, know that it's TOP TIER because I can't read them otherwise. It helped that a lot of it's gen or not very romance focused BUT it's also so, SO well written that I fucking enjoyed the bits of HanLeia in it, a ship which usually makes me throw up in my mouth.
Everyone loves Double Agent Vader because it's the origin of the Amavikka, the OG Tatooine slave culture which absolutely fucks, but honestly? Even as popular as it is, it's STILL MASSIVELY UNDERRATED bc there is so much else to like besides the gorgeous worldbuilding!!
People are sleeping on phenomenal characterization, immense narrative effectiveness (the painful parts are painful, the funny parts are funny, the hopeful parts are hopeful, etc) and the level of emotional nuance in complicated relationships.
It also masterfully fills in material previously untouched in the OT (it's largely focused on Anakin's relationship with Leia for example) without disrespecting or neglecting what canon focused on (contains my absolute FAVOURITE portrayal of Luke Skywalker HANDS DOWN).
Like okay. You know how I say the rebels remind me of the grassroots af local punks I got in with as a teen who helped me start to deprogram? That didn't start when I watched the OT. That started when I read Double Agent Vader.
Especially the fic "Empire Day" after which I was like "this author has DEFINITELY spent a shitload of time with some irl group analogous to the Rebellion" because I felt like I was back on the couch at one of the illegal squats laughing at the last political joke a friend of mine told me before fleeing town bc he'd become enough of a problem for local Nazis that he was legit gonna die if he stayed. They got right everything contemporary media tends to get wrong about it. I just.
Fwoo. Deep breath cause I realize I did not start at the beginning here AT ALL lmao.
The premise of Double Agent Vader is that about ~4 years after the events of RotS, Palpatine sends Vader to visit Tatooine as a punishment to remind him of his place. But instead it reminds him of his people. And he soon starts thinking of himself as Anakin again, in his head referring to Sidious as depur instead of master, and starts working for the Rebellion behind Palps' back, and. What if OT but Vader is a rebel spy? And his cover is so deep most of the rebels don't know. They don't even fucking know.
This is an author who understands Anakin so well. I can't say much more without spoiling it.
And like. Years before the Kenobi series came out (last individual fic in the unfinished series was completed in like 2017), this was THE story that gave Leia the attention she deserved.
I'd give a fuckin kidney for this series to have continued up to RotJ, which was probs the author's initial plan. As it stands, it goes up to shortly after the end of ESB.
