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greyias · 4 years

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FIC: Smoke and Mirrors - Chapter 13

Title: Smoke and Mirrors Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: T Genre: Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn Synopsis: Something’s rotten on Carrick Station, and Theron won’t rest until he finds out what. But picking at the frayed threads of suspicion quickly unravels a conspiracy much larger than even the Republic’s top spy can handle on his own. (A mostly canon-compliant retelling of the Forged Alliances storyline, as seen through the eyes of Theron Shan.) Author’s Notes and Spoilers: See Chapter 1.

Chapter Index: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Crossposted to AO3

"Hell of a thing,” Jace muttered at the conclusion of Theron’s debrief. “Never thought the Imps would strike Tython.”

Theron shifted his weight, watching as Jace glared at his reflection in the desk. He had no idea if he was meant to respond to that, and if so, exactly what to say to it. It was just the two of them this time, as he was the official SIS liaison on the Korriban op. It was his job to debrief the military on both the Korriban raid and the Tython recovery. He’d already gone over everything with Marcus Trant.

Well… almost everything.

Of all the people in the galaxy to disclose his suspicions to, it made the most sense to do so with his boss. However, Theron knew that the first thing that Marcus would ask for was proof. For the SIS to do anything about Darok, they would first need actual proof he had a role in the attack on Tython outside of the suspicions of one agent. From the Republic’s viewpoint, the colonel was a hero whose quick actions had helped repel an Imperial invasion on one of their Core Worlds. Without evidence, the optics on accusing said hero of high treason were… not good, to put it lightly.

“First Coruscant, now this,” Jace continued on darkly, apparently still mired in his thoughts. “Hate to see the Order go through this again.”

The level of destruction hadn’t been on the exact scale of the Sacking of Coruscant, but was still devastating from the what Theron had witnessed via holo. Agents had already been dispatched to Tython to gather intelligence, and the Director was redirecting resources to the investigation. Even the mountain of data that Theron had managed to scrape from Korriban’s servers was being pushed to the back burner at the moment. It was possible those records contained information about how the Empire had not only managed to get their hands on isotope-5, but also more troubling, how they had managed to weaponize it.

Theron had done the scouting for the initial mission to Makeb, and had done a recent recon of the Aida Sector. Considering the attack on Tython, his suspicions about Darok, and the fact that there was probably a leak in their intelligence somewhere. It made him wonder how much else he’d missed… more than he was comfortable with. And it had gotten a lot of people killed.

“We’re going to find out how this happened,” Theron finally said, pulling the older man out of his dark train of thought.

“Don’t take it personally, son. Sometimes ops go sideways, it’s what you do next that counts.”

There was a part of him that bristled at being called “son” — although in the moment he couldn’t determine if the moniker had been meant literally or more figuratively. Theron really wouldn’t have appreciated it either way, but squashed the rise of irritation. Any long term relationship with the older man, either professional or familial, was going to take a bit of compromise on both sides.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” he said, failing to keep the bitter note out of his voice.

“You, Darok, and Highwind are why we have Tython back.”

“She’s why we have it back,” Theron corrected firmly. “And her crew. They were the ones on the ground.”

He’d done what he could to help, but… he wasn’t the one that had been in the line of fire. And Darok definitely hadn’t been.

Jace raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. “So, I guess you don’t find her dossier so fictional now?”

“No, she’s very real,” Theron said. “Just different from what I expected.”

“That’s how they get you.” The teasing lilt in his father’s tone was something that was not appreciated. “Take it from me.”

“Uh huh.” Theron didn’t know where Jace was attempting to go with the comment, and had a feeling whatever lay at the end of that conversational detour was something he really didn’t want to explore. So he tried to stay on topic. “She’s capable, I’ll give you that.”

“Capable’s a bit of an understatement — I don’t think I’ve ever seen Saresh authorize anything that fast, much less a Medal of Valor.”

“The paperwork didn’t go through your office then?”

He kept his tone light, as if the answer to his question was really of no importance. Even if he was very interested in exactly how Darok had managed to procure that medal in the timeframe that he had. If Jace had any insight on it, it would chip away a little of the mountain of detective work that Theron had in front of him.

“It was a special case,” Jace said. “I think Saresh wanted to find a way to generate some good news out of this whole ordeal.”

Create a hero before anyone could focus on the disaster too much. That certainly sounded like Saresh. There was another possibility though. That someone else knew that about the Chancellor’s political tendencies, and had someone inside of the Chancellor’s office just waiting for the right moment. If all of the proper paperwork had been filled out ahead of time, an aide might only have to wait for a holocall from Darok so they could fill in the remaining blanks.

“I thought about putting one in for you and Darok, but I figured you’d want to keep a low profile. And Darok refused.”

“Where is the Colonel?”

“Still helping organize the cleanup on Tython. Dedicated soldier, that man.”

An uneasy tingling sensation took up at the base of Theron’s spine, and he studied his father carefully. “Sounds like you know him pretty well.”

“Never served with him directly, but he’s run a lot of operations under my watch.”

Not a close friend, but still had the ear of the Supreme Commander. Made sense. Darok would need the confidence of the main in charge of the Republic military to pull of a hasty covert mission. Even if Theron and Jace had a closer father-son bond like normal families, it would have been useless to mention any suspicions. No. It was obvious Theron was going to have to gather all of his proof before he would be able to bring anyone else in on this. And for that he was going to need to start his surveillance on the colonel.

Jace took Theron’s quick excuses of needing return to his investigation at face value. Although technically they weren’t excuses as he was returning to his investigation — just running a different avenue of it. He decided to head back to his apartment. It would take a little bit of extra work to disguise his electronic trail, but it would be far easier to start a trace on Darok’s activities there. It was considerably more difficult to stay off the radar if he used the main network at the Heorem Complex. For right now, it was best that any inquiries into Darok didn’t show up in official channels.

Maybe it was paranoid, but at this point Theron didn’t know how far the colonel’s influence stretched. Better safe than brought before a board of inquiry (at least before he sniffed out the truth). He still owed the Director an official report on both the Korriban and Tython ops, but that paperwork could wait. Just long enough so that he could lay the groundwork on the real investigation. If Marcus asked, Theron would just say that he could write reports just as easy from his apartment chair than one of the uncomfortable ones in the office.

It took painstaking effort to set up a program to route through the HoloNet and track all of Darok’s activities in such a way that the data trail wouldn’t be traced back to him. The whole process might have gone quicker, but after about the fourth time he coded a line, he had to admit to himself that he was distracted. There was no point in pretending otherwise. With a sigh, he pushed back from his terminal and grabbed the nearest datapad. A few keystrokes later and he’d been able to run a discreet search and corroborate Darok’s whereabouts.

The colonel was on Tython, just like Jace had said. The uneasy sensation that had been distracting Theron’s coding session still lingered, so he made one more inquiry: the current berthing of The Defender and her crew.

Also Tython.

Considering how eager his recruit had been to dig into the investigation, it wouldn’t hurt for him to check in. If she hadn’t run into Darok yet, Theron should give her the heads up — and remind her who was running the intel side of this operation. Without a second thought he pulled up a mail window, and began to write.

To: Greyias Highwind From: Theron Shan Subject: Reconstruction Efforts

I left the other day before I could inquire into your part in the reconstruction efforts at the Jedi Temple. I’ve seen some holos, and it looks like a lot of work. I heard that our mutual friend might be onsite, but also that he’s a very busy man. You probably shouldn’t bother him if he is there.

He stared at the message for about ten seconds before deciding that was good enough, and hit send. Temporarily mollified, he returned to his coding. It was at least an hour, but he was just on the final part of the trace when he heard a ding from his inbox indicating that he had a new message. He muttered a choice expletive, but pulled his attention away from his work so he could read the missive.

To: Theron Shan From: Greyias Highwind Subject: Slow Progress

So this is your address? Had you mentioned before leaving, I would have written to let you know about all of the people helping out with the reconstruction efforts here on Tython. It is slow going, but progress is still being made. Most of the Council was away with the war efforts, and even now not all of them can return. I’m afraid I have not been able to keep an eye on everyone as well as I would like, as we are still searching for survivors amongst the rubble. My friends and crew are helping, although I would not say I am on the “friendliest“ terms with everyone here. There has been quite a lot of activity in the library. Seeing as Doc says it would make a good area for triage, I am planning on speaking to the individuals blocking access. I will let you know how my conversation goes.

Last we spoke, there was also mention of a certain bracelet. I have yet to see this mythical piece of jewelry make an appearance. Let me know if you find it.

Theron nearly missed the last paragraph, as his blood pressure skyrocketed on reading the previous sentence. Without hesitation, he immediately hit reply.

To: Greyias Highwind From: Theron Shan Subject: Patience Is a Virtue

Have you considered that perhaps the library is structurally unsound? It sounds like whoever is up there might just be part of the engineering crew doing their job. Being that it’s on the second floor, wouldn’t it make more sense for your medic to set up in one of the classrooms on the first floor instead? That way neither of us has to stop what we’re doing to have any premature conversations. It’s always good to have proof before you start accusing anyone — of blocking medical access in this case.

And I’m pretty sure I mentioned that the bracelet was hypothetical. So you are correct in your categorization of it being mythical.

He sent the message off without even reviewing it, hoping that it was read before she charged in like a raging gundark and started asking questions. He didn’t bother getting back into finishing his query, not until he was sure that she wasn’t going to tip Darok off to their suspicions before Theron even had a chance to start digging. He watched the seconds pass by on the chrono, feeling tension gathering in his shoulders. This was why he worked alone. It was much easier to control the situation if he didn’t have to constantly be riding herd on others.

Finally, mercifully, his mailbox dinged as another message came through.

To: Theron Shan From: Greyias Highwind Subject: Fine

We’ll use the classroom. I need to go. Someone has just found another body—I think it might be Liam Dentiri. I may have to go bury one of my friends.

Theron stared at the short, clipped message for several long moments, not quite able to untangle the cold sick feeling winding through his gut. He need to stay focused on the larger picture here. If he put too many faces, attached too much emotion to the lives lost he might lose focus. It would be too easy to get lost in the fact that every single person slain in both of the conflicts had a larger, wider effect on the world around them. That they weren’t just numbers. Numbers were easy to look past. Names weren’t. As evidenced by Dentiri’s continuing to pop up, even now. He could still hear the pain and rage in Kira’s voice ringing over the comm. Couldn’t completely banish the image of Highw—Grey—trying to brush away the evidence of her grief.

How many other names were on that fatality list? How many more people were mourning friends or loved ones tonight? With no answers for why beyond the grind of an endless war. No hope for justice or an end to their pain, just the endless call to press onwards.

Theron rubbed his forehead, tension mounting near his cranial implants as he stared cross-eyed at the screen in front of him. He needed to get back to work and finish those last few lines of code, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the “reply” button. Finally, he hit it, if for nothing else than to get rid of those four sentences burning a hole through him.

To: Greyias Highwind From: Theron Shan Subject: Condolences

Sometimes I can get too caught up with trying to see the big picture sometimes, and I miss smaller details. Which I shouldn’t, because rooting out the tiny details are part of my job. That came out wrong. What I mean is that you once called Tython your home. It wasn’t ever mine.

What I’m working on will take some time, but I’ll stay in touch. In the meantime, obviously you do whatever you need to do over there.

I’m sorry about your friend.

He hit send and ran a hand through his hair, and the cursor on his terminal continued to blink at him. As if trying to tell him that he still had the last bit of coding to finish. Instead he continued to stare at his inbox, all the while wondering what the hell was wrong with him.

#swtor fanfiction #theron shan x jedi knight #Theron Shan #Female Jedi Knight/Hero of Tython #oc: greyias highwind #otp: adorkable #SoR Fic O Doom #smoke and mirrors #swtor #fanfic #greyfic

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darlingpeter · 6 years

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i believe it could be.

“can i get uuuuuuh pre movie eddie flirting with reader as he's crafting an article about them”

eddie brock is such a sweetie and i’ve been excited about this ever since i went to go see the film!! also this is one of the best requests i’ve ever received, hands down. please only send in requests if they’re in this format. thank you.

(title is from peace train by cat stevens)

pairing: pre-movie!eddie brock x reader

warnings: none!

length: 1119 words

part two - part three

“So how did you break into the San Francisco art scene?”

You were sitting in a coffee shop, sipping on a cappuccino as Eddie Brock tapped his pen against his lip absentmindedly. You were the subject of an article he was writing about up-and-coming artists making impact with their work in the bay area. You could admit that you were nervous at first: he was the Eddie Brock and you still considered yourself a starving artist - not yet used to the traction that your work had gained in the recent months.

It also didn’t help that he was even cuter in person.

You were a fan of his show and his work, and you were really trying to be conscious of what was coming out of your mouth. His reader-base was huge, and you really wanted to come off as professional just in case future commissioners were in his audience. However, it was taking almost all of your concentration to keep yourself from completely melting under his blue-eyed gaze.

Because of this, the conversation took a more casual tone, and where it wasn’t something you necessarily expected, it was actually very nice. Conversation came easy with Eddie. You had already discovered that the two of you had a similar taste in music, and that you were both looking forward to seeing some films set to premier soon. He had dropped plenty of subtle hints that he would like to go to a show of an artist that you both liked, and that if you needed someone to see a movie with, he was a call away. Unfortunately though, you read the subtlety as him just trying to be nice, and you figured he was just trying to be polite. How embarrassing would it be if you misread the situation? Better safe than sorry, you figured.

“I was lucky to already have a strong network when I moved here. I have a lot of friends with connections in the city, and many of them really paid off in building an audience.” You answered his question, fidgeting with a ring around your finger.

Eddie scrawled a little note in his notebook with a half smile on his face. “I had a feeling you weren’t from around here.”

You raised a brow at his comment. “Oh yeah? How so?”

“Folks around here who are higher up on the food chain tend to be a little, uh,” He sent a quick glance around the shop, making sure that no one was listening. “They tend to be a little self-righteous. Pompous. Like other people owe them something, you know?”

You knew what he meant. It definitely didn’t apply to the majority of the people who lived in the city, but those who held top spots in many city corporations were bitter and entitled. You had had a run-in with a local CEO who wanted to commission a piece from you, but was willing to pay much less than you would normally accept and suggested that having a name like his under your belt would be payment enough for your services. You told him off, said that it was because of jerks like him that people with incredible talents ended up living on the streets with nothing.

You shared this story with Eddie after making sure that he would take it off the record (you made him pinky promise), and it left him grinning, his eyes bright with delight.

“You really said that?” He asked, and you nodded. “That’s so badass. I feel like I need to kiss your ring for that.” He joked, and you played along, extending yours across the table in response.

He took your hand in his and brushed his lips along the delicate skin behind your knuckles before looking up at you and pressing a kiss there. His slightly chapped lips lingered for an extra beat, and your cheeks flushed at the sensation of his stubble scratching at your skin.

You let out a (hopefully not awkward) laugh to play off the situation a little bit and retracted your hand, and color jumped to Eddies cheeks. “That was probably pretty weird, um, thanks for rolling with it.” He laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“Of course. I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to feel like some sort of important English noblewoman.”

Eddie and you continued to talk, the point of conversation moving back toward your work and your hopes for the city, but you couldn’t help but think you noticed an extra sparkle in his eye.

After assessing the scrawled notes that he had taken in his notebook, Eddie finally closed it with a sigh. “What’s after this for you?” He asked, capping his pen.

“Do you mean in terms of my career? Or like what i’m doing this weekend?”

Eddie smirked. “I mean what are you doing tomorrow night? Any plans?”

Your heart fluttered. So you weren’t misreading the signs from earlier. “Why? You wanna get coffee with me again?” You asked in a slightly teasing tone.

“Yeah, I mean,” Eddie rubbed at the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle. “I was thinking of something a little stronger. Maybe I pick up a couple of bottles of wine and I cook you dinner?”

“You can cook?”

“Absolutely not.” He laughed. “I was thinking of getting takeout and putting it on plates so I can try to take credit.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. He was definitely the kind of person you could see yourself sitting down and having a good drink with. Though, you wouldn’t mind if more than that were to occur.

“I’d really like that, Eddie.” You told him, and he physically relaxed. “Make it a twelve pack and Thai and I’ll be there.”

“Yes ma’am.”

You reached across the table to grab his pen and scribble your number and address on a stray napkin. You slid it across the table back to him along with his pen. “Pick me up at seven, Brock.” You stood, and grabbed your bag. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you then.” He acknowledged, and you were close enough to hear his breath catch as you leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek before walking out of the shop.

As you walked past the shop window, you spared one more glance inside at the reporter, and looked just in time to see him grin down at the napkin in his hands with the digits on it and do a seated, fist-pumping happy dance. It made you smile. What a dork.

it had been a long time since you had been so excited for a date.

[a/n: hi everyone!! i’m so happy to be back and active on this blog!! my hiatus can be explained by this post here, and i’m so grateful to be in such a supportive community!!

i’ve been out of my element for a while, so all and any feedback is super appreciated because i’m a bit rusty and i’m afraid it showed in this work! let me know what you thought of this. i’ll be checking my messages, inbox, replies to this post, and the tags on reblogs!!

as always, my requests are open!! love you guys!!]

#eddie brock #eddie brock x reader #my writing #request #eddie brock imagine #eddie brock one shot #eddie brock fluff #venom imagine #venom fluff

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zipgrowth · 5 years

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Judge, Jury and Education Startups: Reflections From the SXSW EDU Launch Competition

All the world’s a stage when you’re a startup, and life becomes a pitch in front of investors, advisers, reporters, partners and potential acquirers.

Those hats were represented in the panel of judges at this week’s SXSW EDU Launch Competition, which included Bridget Burns, executive director of the University Innovation Alliance; Vince Chan, co-founder at Creta Ventures; Jonathan Rochelle, product management director at Google for Education; and your correspondent.

The annual tradition dates back to 2012, and features early-stage companies showing off the latest efforts to solve intractable problems across the education landscape. Eight startups took the stage this year.

Over the years I have attended dozens of demo days and exhibitions, and slogged through what already feels like a lifetime of pitches in my inbox. Yet this was my first time participating as a judge, a role that forced me to pay extra close attention.

Some things were once simpler: Edtech pitches used to concentrate on either the K-12 or higher education market. Others, like the repackaging of buzzwords and branding tactics, stay the same. And ageless problems, like helping kids read and pay for college, remain in need of solutions.

Here are my reflections from playing edtech judge for a morning.

Education Is Encompassing Everything

“So where’s the education in this?”

That’s the question that Google’s Rochelle posed to Chelsea Sprayregen, CEO of Pie for Providers—and not because the startup’s name sounds like food. The company offers a suite of administrative software to help daycare providers execute a variety of tasks, from managing government subsidies to financial bookkeeping.

It was an honest, earnest question—but one that raised broader questions about whether there’s a meaningful distinction between childcare and education. Certainly they overlap; few would deny that childcare services make an impact on a child’s development.

It’s a gray area that education funders, including government agencies and venture capitalists, are increasingly dabbling in. Investors at another SXSW EDU session noted that, since 2016, government spending on these programs has increased 17 percent, and private funding has risen 12 percent.

Questions similar to Rochelle’s surface in my mind when it comes to hiring and recruiting tools. That’s what UpKey pitched—a service that helps students build stronger resumes and “connects them to employers looking for students with grit,” according to its flyer. The emergence of these tools in “edtech” reflects the belief that perhaps the most tangible and important benefit of education may be to get a good job.

AI Is the New ‘Adaptive’

“Adaptive” and “personalized” were once ubiquitous in pitches and press releases. The new magic these days is artificial intelligence, or AI. Call it what you want. But rare is the company that takes care to explain how those technologies actually work in their products.

The first question I asked went to Mark Angel, CEO of Amira Learning, about how the AI works in his company’s reading-assistant tool. While it’s unrealistic to dive into details about algorithms and machine learning within the 5 minutes allowed for Q&A, he did at least articulate a mechanism for how the tool collects and labels data, and uses that data to continually train and fine-tune its system. (I often refer to this piece as a primer of questions to ask about AI.)

Another “AI-powered” startup present was ROYBI, which is developing a machine learning-powered robot companion for children. The company claimed it is capable of a wide range of things, from conversing with toddlers and teaching languages and “STEAM” concepts, to being able to react to their emotions and send progress reports to parents. It was a long list of checkboxes for a product that’s still in development.

Not All Ideas Translate

Ideas that sound like viable businesses in one part of the world may not translate as well to others. That was one of the challenges that emerged in the pitch for SoroTouch, which offers an app and also runs tutoring centers that teach the abacus method to do calculations. (The method is apparently very effective.) According to the company’s founder, the tool is popular among the many cram schools that dot Japan, where the company is based.

But in front of a panel of U.S. judges, the value of calculations and cram schools seemed to miss the mark. As a Kumon alumnus, I certainly appreciate all the practical use cases for quick mental calculations (especially when it comes time to split the dinner bill). When it comes to math education, however, the trend is focusing on deeper conceptual understanding and application to real-world problems. As math reformer Conrad Wolfram suggests, why not let computers handle the computations?

The ‘X’ for ‘Y’

“Netflix for education.” “Uber for tutors.” It’s a common and catchy marketing tactic to align one’s service with a popular brand. It can be risky as well. “Facebook for education” just doesn’t evoke the same fuzzy feelings as it used to.

That pitching tactic remains alive and well. At the competition was Caribu, which billed itself as a “FaceTime meets podcast” service that aims to help to connect parents and children via an interactive video call for reading and drawing activities. Think live screen-sharing with digital books that one can also doodle on. There was also Giide, which its founders described as podcasts for professional learning. “Learning must be reshaped to fit our lifestyle,” so goes the company’s flyer, which presumably means listening to a lot of bite-sized audio lessons on the go.

Still Trying to Afford College

Money talks, and when it comes to the cost of higher education, the issue still screams for attention and solutions. Edmit, which provides tools to help students and families research higher-ed costs and find financial aid opportunities, won the Launch competition. The startup claims it can provide more accurate cost estimates based on personal, geographical and publicly available data sets. It all sounded enticing enough to get Bridget Burns to ask: “Why hasn’t the College Board acquired you?”

Judge, Jury and Education Startups: Reflections From the SXSW EDU Launch Competition published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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