It was that time of day again when gloom descended on the forests of the world Cerenas and the nighttime mists began to coalesce. Aayla Secura, Captain in the Cerenas Defence Force or CDF was making her solitary way home, following a narrow and winding forest path towards the abandoned hunting lodge where she and Bly lived. The fading daylight tinged the mist a pale blue colour and trees were little more than black lines, cutting through the murk close up whilst fading into grey the further she looked into the distance. Aayla could hear precious little other than the sound of leaves crunching under her feet. So quiet was it that one might hear a stick snapping for a mile around. That wasn't to say that the forest was empty, just that the creatures that lived within it did not generally advertise their presence.
Cerenas was a sparsely populated forest world, visited mainly by freighter pilots on long hyperspace journeys, if it was visited at all. It boasted just two population centres of any note: Cerenas City (the capital) and Arlaast (a smaller outpost town where she and Bly worked). Most of the inhabitants were human – Cerenas had no sentient alien race of its own. It was isolated, but that wasn't such a bad thing as far as Aayla and Bly were concerned. They could live here in peace and quiet, undisturbed by the many threats that lurked in this particular corner of the galaxy – not to mention the Galactic Empire.
Almost five years had passed since then Chancellor Palpatine had made himself Emperor of the galaxy and had the Jedi murdered by their own clone commanders. It was just good fortune that Bly, the clone commander serving under Aayla, had refused to execute her. She still didn't know what had made Bly different from the many thousands of clones who followed Palpatine's orders to the letter but it had formed an unbreakable bond between them. When she had decided to flee to the Unknown Regions, an uncharted region of space beyond the borders of the Empire, he had opted to come with her.
Building a new life from scratch had not been easy. The Unknown Regions, whilst uncharted, were far from empty. Many of the larger, more populous worlds harboured Imperialistic ambitions of their own and were engaged in endless wars with their neighbours. Other technically habitable worlds were left uncolonised purely because the non-sentient creatures that inhabited them were so dangerous. Aayla and Bly had hopped from world to world in their stolen Imperial shuttle for more than a year before finally settling on Cerenas.
After twenty minutes walking, Aayla could at last see her house emerge from the mist. Her house. Home ownership was an odd concept for a Jedi, one that she had still not quite gotten used to she had to admit, though she knew it was normal for most people that lived in the galaxy. But Jedi were forbidden from having attachments and property and thus did not own their own homes. The experience was new for Bly as well. As a clone soldier, the Republic military was all he had ever known and he had spent his entire life either in Republic bases or on the battlefield. The Republic never permitted its clones to leave the military and live a civilian life and Aayla doubted the Empire had changed the policy.
She was close enough to her house to be able to see it clearly now. It was a simple structure, single story, constructed entirely out of wood. It was derelict when Aayla and Bly found it and they had spent their first summer on Cerenas repairing and refurbishing it. It wasn't comfortable; it lacked all the basic amenities, even running water. But this didn't bother her too much. A Jedi didn't need to live in comfort. Bly too was used to basic living conditions from his years of war. The most important thing was, the house provided a roof over their heads and it was watertight.
Aayla could see no lights shining through the mist. The window was dark and empty. That meant Bly was still on shift. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. Not a keycard, a physical key for an old-fashioned mechanical lock. It wasn't good security but it was the best they could do. Their house wasn't connected to the Arlaast power grid and never would be. It was too far from the town for a connection and having a new power line laid would cost more than a house in Arlaast itself. So they relied on battery power for the few devices they had and this had to be conserved. They couldn't run an electronic security system every hour of the day.
She let herself in, locking the door behind her. The house was cold, the interior pitch black, save for a trickle of light though the window which was shrouded in mist. Automatically, Aayla made her way towards the back of the house and turned on the power supply. Then she went to the main room and the kitchen, switching on the lamps in turn. Instantly, Aayla felt better as a warm, orange light dispelled the darkness in the lodge. She noticed that Bly had left her a note on the kitchen table. It read: Aayla, They've got me on village patrol - as far out as Mar-Syrr. Won't be back til 01:30 at least so don't stay up! See you tomorrow morning. Love you, Bly.
She smiled at his last; he was straightforward and to-the-point as always. But she couldn't suppress a sinking feeling in her heart. She hated these long, lonely nights in the forest. She was certain he did as well when he was stuck here alone. Aayla and Bly both worked for the rather grandly named Cerenas Defence Force which in reality was far more versed in local policing than planetary defence. When officers were sent on village patrol they had to tour the many small villages that surrounded Cerenas City and Arlaast, march up and down their high streets, reassure locals and generally just be as visible as possible. It didn't achieve much, other than keeping those who lived in these isolated communities happy.
Aayla set the note down on the table and then headed over to the window to close the curtains. She changed out of her uniform and into her nightclothes, hanging the uniform over the back of a chair in the bedroom. She hoped it would dry out by the morning. She suspected it wouldn't. The nighttime mists made for a damp environment, rather too damp for Aayla's liking. Not for the first time, she questioned the wisdom of their decision to live in the forest. It always came back to the same argument. They had no assets besides their Imperial shuttle. If they sold the shuttle they could afford a house in Arlaast. But then they would not have a sure way off this planet if they needed to leave in a hurry. They both agreed it was better to hang on to the shuttle and put up with the forest for a few years.
One day they would leave though. Not just the forest but this world. They were still young, they could put their talents to better use than policing an outpost town on a forgotten outpost world in the Unknown Regions. Aayla yearned to find out what had happened to the other Jedi. Most would have perished, she knew. But she felt sure there were at least a handful of other survivors. Sometimes she imagined she could feel the presences of other Jedi across the stars, distant echoing ripples in the force. More than likely an illusion she told herself, each time these feelings occurred. Sensing presences across vast distances was hard and fraught with error, even for the most powerful Jedi.
It didn't stop her dreaming though. She often imagined herself founding a new Jedi Order on a new world – not Coruscant – training the next generation in the ways of the force. Then she would remember that there wasn't a next generation. She would remember why the Jedi Order was no more. She struggled with these dreams and tried to suppress them when they occurred because they always led back to the Emperor. There could be no future for the Jedi whilst the Sith ruled the galaxy.
If founding a new Jedi Order was a recurring dream, the Empire discovering her and Bly here was a recurring nightmare. It always took the same form. She would find herself being shaken awake by Bly. Come on, come on, we've got to go Aayla! He would say. They're here! The Empire! She would run out of the house and there, hanging lazily in the sky, would be the familiar wedge shape of a Star Destroyer. It would fire its turbolaser once and the bolt, bright green, would streak across the sky, heading straight towards them like lightning. In her dream, the bolt would detonate right next to her and knock her off her feet. Then they would be running, she and Bly, towards the hiding place for their Imperial shuttle. But of course, a man in grey uniform would be there already, waiting for them. He would be surrounded by Stormtroopers, all of them pointing their rifles straight at her head.
This was normally the point where she would wake up, weak and shaking. Bly would sooth her, he would tell her it was just a dream. And it was just a dream. But it was a dream that might come true. The Unknown Regions were hard to enter due to hyperspace anomalies but not impossible. Seasoned smugglers did it all the time. If they could do it and she could do it then the Empire could do it as well. It was really just a matter of time before the Empire arrived here. Then she and Bly would have a choice. Would they run away once again, search for the last bits of the galaxy outside Imperial control, or would they stand and fight?
It wasn't a worry she could share with anyone besides Bly. Knowledge of the galaxy beyond the Unknown Regions, the other side as those who lived in these parts called it, was limited. No matter how many times Aayla told her work colleagues that the Republic had fallen, they never seemed able to accept it. They probably never would. The galaxy beyond just wasn't very interesting to them and their views on it were fixed. That was something she had to accept.
As she was musing, her eye fell on the note on the kitchen table again. Bly was right of course. She shouldn't stay up. It was late. She needed sleep. But first, she needed to eat. It was too late for her to cook. Ordinarily she liked to cook, but not after late shifts. Fortunately, they still had a few ration packs left in storage. They weren't nice tasting but then they weren't intended to be. They were fast to prepare, long lasting and nutritious. She picked one out, noting with a pang that it was Imperial Army issue. The smugglers that bridged the divide between the Unknown Regions and the known galaxy did a roaring trade in stolen ration packs; Aayla had been buying them ever since settling on this world and it hadn't escaped her notice that Republic branded packs were becoming an increasingly rare sight. It was a small reminder, as if she needed one, of how much things had changed.
She finished her meal and then turned out the lights, leaving the power on only for a small electric heater in the bedroom; the nights on Cerenas were cold. Finally, she set her blaster pistol on the bedside table, loaded, safety catch off. That was always the last thing she did every night. What would Master Yoda have thought about that? He wouldn't have approved, she knew. But these were different times. The galaxy was a harsher place than it used to be and she had become a good deal more anxious since the fall of the Republic. The loaded blaster was reassuring. Even though it shouldn't be. She lay flat on her back under the covers and stared up at the ceiling she couldn't quite see because it was so dark. At some point, she fell asleep.
– Notes:
Sorry about the delay folks, it's been a busy few weeks for me. Here's the first chapter of the sequel to Uniquely Felucian that I promised. I should point out that the world Cerenas and everything on it I made up so don't go searching canonical sources for it! There will be more non-canon content to come but I can promise some canonical characters/villains so fear not! Anyways, hope you enjoy this one. More soon. :)