Chapter 132: Warning

Lemon Warning! This chapter contains a lemon, which is clearly marked with -Lemon Starts Here- and -Lemon Ends Here- for those that wish to skip such things...

Chapter 132: Warning

– Rishi – 21.9 BBY –

Shaak Ti in absolutely nothing but a loincloth was an incredible distraction. Doubly so when she was stalking prey and Izuku was following behind her, doing his best to put her lessons in the same to good use. Despite her own incredible focus, he could feel from the mild amusement radiating off her that she knew what was causing his own focusing issues. More than that, he could tell part of her was pleased that he found her distracting, even while most of her wanted him to focus properly on the task at hand. Willing himself to do so, he had to stop himself again from instinctively cheating with the Force as they crept slowly up on the Jungle Wampa that was their target.

The beast was impressive.

Where most wampa topped out at three meters, at most, a number of those they’d seen here on Tracyn Island were exceptionally larger. This one, in particular, was closer to four meters (13ft) than three. It was also, unfortunately, a rogue. While the jungle island, once an ancient volcano which had created extremely fertile soil, wasn’t inhabited by people…the animal was still disrupting the natural balance of the island. Enough so for Shaak Ti, far more in touch with the natural Force of a world than anyone he’d met that wasn’t a Neti¸ to have detected the imbalance.

It wasn’t a serious issue, to be honest. Eventually the creature would have overhunted its territory, starved, and the population rebounded over the course of a few decades. At worse, as far as the Force was concerned, it might have created a small swell of darkness in the local Living Force, and never would have impacted the Cosmic Force at all. Yet, in tune with nature as she was, when Shaak Ti had expressed a desire to hunt, she had communed with the Force to pick out a target that would cause only good to the local balance. The removal of this rogue wampa wouldn’t make any lasting or significant impact, but it would improve the natural balance of Tracyn Island just slightly.

Izuku understood that, even admired it. Yet he was still seriously unsure why the Force had decided he needed to come along.

Not that he minded. Even aside from getting away from politics for a bit and getting to see Shaak Ti in her ‘back to nature’ outfit, Shaak was the odd one out among his lovers that he hadn’t yet spent much true one-on-one time with. Not none, of course. Despite the difficulties with all of them leading interesting lives, Izuku had done his best to spend both one-on-one and group time with all of the women who had inexplicably gravitated to him and his bed. The arrangement was still unusual to part of him, and he never wanted to make any of them feel less appreciated than the others.

The truth remained, however, that Shaak Ti had been drawn into his orbit as much or more by Aayla as by Izuku himself. As a result, outside of sparring and a few companionable meals here and there, he and the Togrutan Jedi Master had mostly spent time together when Aayla was also around. Something which wasn’t the case at the moment, Aayla having been drawn into unexpected and quiet negotiations with her homeworld. At roughly the time Aayla had been pulled away, Shaak Ti had come to Izuku claiming that she had felt the itch to hunt in the Force, and that for some reason she felt he was supposed to go with her.

Apparently, this was a thing she did periodically, to stay in tune with nature. She nearly always went alone, however, unless she was taking a student to teach primitive survival or escorting a Togrutan Padawan to an Akul hunt on Shili as a rite of passage. The latter was a cultural touchpoint that was allowed by the Jedi Order, and one which Shaak often volunteered to take young Togruta on. Though Izuku suspected she probably wore more than a loincloth with her students or impressionable Padawans.

He hoped so, at least. Particularly as the loincloth was more symbolic than practical. There was 100% nothing under said loincloth. Nor was it wrapped or tied in the way her normal cloth-underwear-wrap-thing usually was to be at all covering. A major part of Izuku’s reason for distraction at the moment was getting semi-frequent peaks of his lover’s intimate bits as they did their sneaking…

Speaking of which, somehow Shaak had brought them to within a bare three paces of the Jungle Wampa without it detecting them. Without use of the Force. A subtle signal from her had him shifting not to creep, but to prepare the primitive spear he was carrying for an ambush. Still very confused what a city boy like him was doing learning the art of stalking and hunting on a world-of-no-importance, he readied himself to wait. This beast was supposed to be his kill for…reasons? Despite the Force nudging him as he’d meditated with Shaak Ti, giving him a firm push to go with her in a way it rarely did for him, he still had no idea why he was here.

Well. Those thoughts would have to wait. Right now he needed to focus on getting the perfect strike in on his prey, without use of the Force to assist. An odd and dangerous challenge, but one much better than being stuck behind his desk doing paperwork…

… … …

-Lemon Starts Here-

Shaak Ti moaned freely, not even vaguely attempting to control herself, as Izuku sucked on her pulse point. He’d set his ambush well, even if he was sure she had known it was coming, and as a result he had her flat on her back and ‘staked’ to the ground, with her arms stretched over her head. The stake in question, to which her wrists were bound, was one designed for all-weather securing of a tent. It was a higher-tech option, which spread a magnetic containment field deep into the ground to hold through even the toughest storms. As a result, it wasn’t going anywhere, even if Shaak could near-certainly have broken the far cruder leather strap he’d secured her wrists to it with.

As usual with her, it was the basic form of the thing that mattered to her instincts, and she’d only briefly tugged and yanked at the binding to discovery if she was suitably ‘restrained.’ It was performative, in a way, but whenever Izuku did something like it with her, Shaak’s more primal side came out. He had to admit that it was a hell of a view, too, to have her staked down and ‘helpless,’ in nothing but her loincloth. With one hand on a hip, he held her still, as the other reached to tweak and pull on a rock-hard nipple.

A rock-hard pierced nipple, which had been another thing driving him to distraction for the last week!

Unlike Padmé and Sabé, Shaak Ti had expressed no interest at all in having anything like Zavra’s implants. Mei, he knew, already had several, and Aayla was interested, even if she hadn’t yet tried any of them. Well, not beyond the bone and muscle lace that both she and he had gotten recently. Shaak, more in tune with nature than any of his other lovers, didn’t click with the idea of even the laces and skin weaves…but she had shown clear and obvious interest when Aayla had turned up after a trip away with nipple piercings. Apparently, piercings of various kinds were a common body modification for Togruta, and Shaak had been instantly interested in the idea.

He hadn’t actually known she’d gotten her own set until their first night of the trip to Rishi.

Made out of Akul bone instead of metal like Aayla’s, the piercings only served to amplify Shaak Ti’s primal aura still farther when she stripped away her Jedi behavior and embraced her heritage. Which had just made her even more distracting for the last week as she taught him to stalk and hunt, wearing nothing but a loincloth that suggested everything and covered nothing. The fact she’d resisted any nightly advances until he properly completed a ‘hunt’ had only charged the atmosphere all the more intensely.

Now, after having claimed the Jungle Wampa kill for himself, she was his prize.

He drifted away from her pulse point, using his weight to keep her from bucking so he could free up his other hand. He shifted, capturing one nipple and its piercing with his lips, sucking and tugging, delighting in her moans. One hand continued to play with the other nipple, pinching and pulling, even as his newly freed second traveled from her hip to her stomach. He traced her abs, slick with fine droplets of moisture from the humid air and just a tiny bit of sweat. He found a ticklish spot on accident, delighting in the giggle-moan that resulted, but didn’t linger long.

As his wondering drifted down to her apex, the loincloth she wore impeded him not at all, easily being brushed aside to expose her dripping sex. Just like Aayla, Shaak Ti’s pussy was smooth and uniform, completely lacking the clitoral hood at the top of the mons. Where Aayla had two clitoris analogues to either side of her sex once those lips were split, however, Shaak Ti had nothing external at all. What was inside as he split those lips with three fingers, was more than adequate compensation for her, and just as alien for him as the first time he’d plundered her offerings. Hundreds of little nubs, each a mini-clit in general purpose, lined her inner walls…and Shaak Ti came unglued the moment his questing fingers began to tease them.

Izuku had to use just a bit of the Force to keep his lover from bucking him off in reaction, even as she practically howled and attempted to get more friction. Grinning…he kept teasing her walls as he switched nipples. Shaak whimper-moaned as he refused to let her peak, keeping the action teasing and gentle enough that she couldn’t quiet get over the edge. She’d teased him for days, and he wasn’t going to let her cum quite that easily as a result.

In a few minutes he’d work his way down her body with his lips, to use his tongue to take things up a notch. But even then, he’d do his best to draw it out. Eventually, he’d let her have it properly, knowing she loved it rough and fully intending to ride her until she passed out. For now, however, she was going to pay for being such a tease…

-Lemon Ends Here-

… … …

Once Shaak Ti’s more primal desires to hunt and…do other things…were resolved, she had turned into a taskmistress. One that, admittedly, Izuku was chagrined that he needed. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to listen to the Force’s not-so-subtle hints that he needed to learn to accept its help a bit more often. He had, after his, Mei and Aayla’s trip to Tython, put more effort into seeking insight day-to-day. It was something that had enhanced his understanding of Battle Meditation, his Danger Sense, and more. Yet he knew he’d fallen short of getting anything more than guidance-in-the-moment.

In part, that was understandable. The nature of his connection to the Force was different than that of a Jedi or Sith. He was tapped in far more directly, without the benefit of a translation layer that would help filter the noise. Without cheating by reaching through his links to Aayla or, more recently Zavra, he was never going to be able to get the sort of long-term visions and guidance that Jedi chased after. Which, frankly, was fine with him anyway.

He did know he should be capable of using it for more middle-term tasks, though. Which is what Shaak Ti set about forcing him to employ. Which is how they found themselves deep in the jungles of Rishi, well away from where they’d been hunting, tracking down a ‘feeling’ Izuku had gotten while meditating on the Force for any sort of near-term guidance. With the way his connection worked, it was a bit more like fishing than hunting, throwing out a question and trying to figure out what bits of returning information were valuable.

Despite that analogy, he had to admit that there was some mindset relation to what he’d learned from Shaak in order to properly stalk and hunt the Jungle Wampa. Which finally explained why the Force had wanted him along for this little expedition. At least in part. His recent meditations made him aware there was something else they were waiting for, but neither he nor Shaak Ti were certain what that was.

As for finding near-term items of importance…there may have been an embarrassing first attempt that had led them to Shaak Ti’s hidden stash of ‘toys.’ If that had happened, he wasn’t planning to mention it. Though he had an unfortunate suspicion Aayla would learn about it from Shaak. Hopefully, the current expedition would turn up something more generally interesting, rather than interesting specifically to Izuku. Thankfully, as they finally broke through some undergrowth thick enough that it had required Shaak Ti to employ her gift with using the Force on plants to open a path through, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Interesting. This looks like a Jedi Shrine of some sort. Though not one I recognize…no, wait a moment. I believe I do recognize some of these symbols. They appear to match some of those from the station where you found Zavra.”

Izuku blinked, having still been mostly focused on the Force. When he checked what Shaak said against his memory, though, he realized immediately that she was right. More than that…

“That symbol. It belonged to one of the Heroes of that era, I think. Someone called ‘Warden of the Order’ or just ‘Barsen'thor’…”

Moving forward, focusing on the Force in just the immediate area now, Izuku was able to get clearer impressions. Impressions that led him to a pedestal that seemed empty…until he channeled the Force into the symbol he’d mentioned. An ancient mechanism, preserved through a layer of the Force laying upon it, ground to life as what was clearly a holocron rose out of the pedestal. Shaak Ti radiated pleased smugness behind him, and Izuku tried not to huff in annoyance at that.

“Okay, yes, I should be doing this more often. I promise, I’ll keep practicing. Now, why don’t we take this back to the ship and see what’s on it…”

Shaak Ti, just as curious as he was, was quick to agree to that plan.

… … …

– Rishi – 21.8 BBY –

“Ah. So that is why we are here.”

Izuku and Shaak had awoken from their previous day of discovery, including plentiful use of the toy stash that had been Izuku’s first discovery, with the certainty that the reason they were on Rishi was approaching. They had cleaned up the ‘natural’ camp that Shaak Ti had insisted on creating away from their ship, and returned to the unassuming freighter they’d used to reach Rishi in the first place. Instead of using the Wandering Fate, they’d come in a generic-looking Ghtroc 580, recently renamed the ‘Wayward Turtle.’ It was another Anash special, specifically acquired used and highly modified to impressive specs while still looking like the sort of tramp freighter a smuggler or wandering trader might use.

Anash’s refits were mostly used by LIS, but Wayward Turtle hadn’t been put into any service yet, and thus had absolutely no trail beyond that of its original owner. Who, in fact, had been a smuggler. The ship had been acquired from an impound, in point of fact. It had been a combination of warnings from the Force and basic common sense had resulted in the choice. Whatever they were on Rishi for needed them not to be noticed. Which, given that they both recognized the even-more-heavily modified HWK-290 that was landing as being Celeste Morne’s Shades of the Past, abruptly made a great deal of sense.

The pair waited calmly for the new arrival to shut down, noting as she finally disembarked that Celeste was alone this time. As well as looking quite satisfied that they were there.

“Izuku, Master Ti. I admit I was surprised, when I came into orbit, to feel Izuku’s unique effect on the Force. Without that, your Force Stealth might well have let you pass completely unnoticed.”

Intrigued, as well as idly noting that someone sufficiently familiar with him might be able to find him by a difference in environmental Force instead of direct sensing, Izuku smiled at her.

“It’s been a while, Celeste. I’m happy to see you, of course. Yet, I admit I’m unsure why the Force called us out here. It seemed to feel this meeting was important.”

Celeste barely blinked at that.

“I, on the other hand, have a guess. I was only stopping at Rishi on my way to investigating a lead on a remote planet that has been surprisingly difficult to locate. For all that I wasn’t looking for you, however, I am glad to have encountered you. Both as I am following a lead that may be important…and because I have another that needs investigating in a way I cannot easily do myself. Yet any time I meditated on trying to contact you, the Force warned me off.”

Izuku frowned at that. Such a warning implied there was a chance, possibly a high chance, that her contacting them might have leaked information. Celeste’s identity, their connection to her, or even the information passed on in the first place. Given Celeste had long since been given a Quantum Comm, it was flat out impossible that the call itself would have been intercepted. Meaning there was either an information leak in those he would have passed the information too, or else someone was keeping a close enough eye on him and his through the Force, that they may have been tipped off.

Which was…possible. More than possible, honestly. While spying on him directly with the Force would have bordered on outright impossible due to his direct connection to the Cosmic Force, sensing a danger to themselves in the possible actions of those around him might be another matter entirely. Given how much of a public figure he was now, that the Sith Celeste was chasing might be looking his way that closely was very possible. With him away from those he might have made aware of a report from her, such as Aayla, that sort of chance would be lessened greatly. The fact that Shaak Ti wasn’t yet really known to be ‘closely associated’ with him might have prevented the same scrutiny from being aimed her way too. Which would explain why the Force had used her as its agent to prod him into coming.

“That is obviously alarming. But possibly also encouraging. If whatever you’re onto is sufficient to cause a reaction if even a hint of it is caught by the enemy…”

Celeste nodded firmly.

“My thoughts precisely. Come, let us discuss this aboard my ship. My own target is a world called Kamino. But the other thing that needs following up on is a check on the Senate. I have eliminated all practical options, aside from Count Dooku who is almost certainly a Sith, among the CIS. Added to others I have eliminated, I am increasingly certain that the Sith Master we are after is among the Senate. Given your unique access to the Cosmic Force, it is my hope that getting you close to the bulk of possible Senators all at once will help identify our target swiftly. Or at least eliminate numerous possibilities all at once.”

Shaak Ti nodded along, interjecting for the first time.

“A meeting which, with the Separatist Crisis and Izuku’s position as the head of the League of Free Stars, would be entirely possible to arrange. Indeed, I understand from Padmé that there has been increasing pressure for the Sovereign of the League to appear before the Senate. Due mostly to the rapidly increasing number of systems choosing to leave the Republic via the Hutt Space loophole, or exit from Republic Influence if they weren’t actual members, in favor of joining the League.”

Izuku nodded at that. If he wasn’t absolutely certain at this point that war was coming, he would have done his best to choke that flow so as not to aggravate the Republic. As it was, nearly two hundred additional Republic worlds and five times that many unaligned worlds within ‘Republic Sectors’ had made appeals to join the League. With Esa Rotsino intentionally dragging out the signing of a new agreement to end the ‘drifting border’ that the Hutt Empire and Republic had agreed to, those applications were still legal. Which was increasingly pissing off the ‘Loyalist’ faction of the Republic, even if the numbers were small compared to the thousands leaving to join the CIS.

By this point, they’d made it aboard Celeste’s ship, and she gestured them into seats around a holotable. Flicking it to life, the Jedi Shadow entered multiple passwords, then did something with the Force…triggering a mechanical switch inside the table, maybe? Whatever she’d done, the holodisplay switched from showing a Dejarik board to a custom interface displaying both a galaxy map and a list of files.

“I’ve been attempting to eliminate suspects from those who had frequent contact or friendships with Hego Demask, aka Darth Plagueis. Given his various positions, there were an irritating number of possibilities among the movers and shakers of the galaxy. So far, while in the process of eliminating many, I’ve discovered the following possible links…”

Shaak Ti and Izuku would be several hours in getting a full briefing, after which they would be both appalled at some of what Celeste had discovered, and impressed she’d manage to collect so much of it. As for following up on the various trails and leads, that would take quite some time to arrange.

... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: Shaak Ti had gotten, by far, the least attention of the girls with Izuku. While it did serve other critical purposes, the biggest reason for it to exist was to give Izuku and Shaak some time together, to show them properly interacting in more than just professional settings or the bedroom.

A/N 2: The holocron is another shout out to a SWTOR element. You can make a Holocron on Rishi as a sidequest, with what you put on it being a player choice. What exactly is on this one is something I'll leave a mystery for now.

A/N 3: Oh, ho ho. So that's where Celeste is...