Riyo dreamed of Fox's face.
After their evening together in Shinyee market, Riyo knew what was under that wall of plastoid. She'd seen his face before, but now she'd seen it. Now she knew about the sharp cut of his jaw, the profile of which was somehow slightly different from the other clones she'd met. Now she knew about the pale scar that bisected his lip on the right side, extending from a few centimeters above his upper lip and dragging downwards to almost the bottom of his chin. Now she knew about his eyes, those amber eyes hiding unfathomable depths she wanted to dive into and never resurface.
She knew so much now, but there was so much more she didn't know. Like what it would feel like to run her tongue across his lip—if the scar tissue would feel cooler and smoother than the rest. How he'd respond if she bit down-
"Madam Chancellor?" a voice called from the other room, followed by a few polite knocks.
Riyo opened her sleep-swollen eyes, then immediately shut them again. The light streaming through her bedroom windows was too bright, too insistent. She lifted herself up enough to check the chrono on the nightstand next to her bed, then let her head fall back into her pillows with a groan. It was too early to be this late.
"Madam Chancellor?" the voice called again, followed by a surprised whoa and the shuffling of feet.
"Oh, get out of the way," a second voice said. "Riyo!"
Recognizing the voice, Riyo grabbed a second pillow and shoved it over her face. She didn't feel prepared to face an angry Maja right now.
"Riyo, I don't care how great your date was last night, your meeting with Grand Master Yoda is in ten minutes so if you don't get your sorry ass out of bed right now, I'm declaring a coup!" Maja shouted through the door.
Riyo shot up like a rocket, wincing at the pounding in her head but fighting through the pain. There were plenty of people she could afford to blow off every once in a while as Chancellor, but Master Yoda was definitely not one of them. She pulled on some clothes—something elegant but drapey and uncomplicated—snatched a makeup bag from the bathroom, and ran out the door. Maja waited impatiently on the other side, hands on hips, and next to her stood her guard for the morning. Moab, from the arched patterns on his vambraces.
"I'm so sorry, I don't even know-" she began.
Maja held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it. Just get in the speeder and I'll fix that mess on your face on the way. What happened, Riyo? You look like you got chewed up by a space worm."
Heat rose in Riyo's cheeks. She'd barely had time to glance in the mirror, but she knew there were dramatic dark splotches under her eyes and lipstick smudges on her cheeks. Much worse than that, though, was the answer to Riyo's question. Pulled from the make-believe of her dreams, what had really happened the night before became unavoidable.
I tried to kiss Fox and he rejected me, she thought. "I forgot to wash up before bed," she said instead.
Maja raised an eyebrow at the strain in Riyo's voice, but didn't ask anything. Instead she just handed Riyo a bottle of water and hurried her out the door.
They made their way to her private garage and Maja slid into the back seat behind Riyo, unzipping Riyo's makeup bag as she went. Shifter took off, and Maja handed Riyo a makeup removal swab.
"Thank you," Riyo said, then she started cleaning up the mess that was her face.
"Well?" Maja said, finally relaxing now that they were on their way. "Seems like someone had a good time last night."
Riyo's face heated again, and memories returned to her of Fox: of the delight he couldn't quite hide when he ate something delicious, of the way so many normal things seemed to surprise him, of how earning a smile from him felt like conquering the galaxy. Of all the reasons she'd wanted to be closer to him, and of his ultimate decision to back away.
"Really?" Maja asked, leaning into Riyo's space. "That good? I could have sworn Saetang wasn't your type…"
"Saetang? Oh! Yes, well…" Riyo scrambled for an explanation. A part of her wanted to tell Maja about her trip to Shinyee market and the subsequent disaster, but she couldn't. Not yet, and certainly not with Shifter and Moab within earshot. She shrugged. "He wasn't the best companion, but I still had a good time. The food was delicious."
"And the booze, too."
Riyo swatted at her friend. "I really didn't drink much! I'm just a lightweight."
"Sure, sure, I believe you."
Riyo finished cleaning her face off and Maja swooped in, expertly applying a smoothing base then a toning cream. Riyo cleared her throat and glanced to the front seat of the speeder, where Moab sat at the ready.
"Moab?"
"Yes, ma'am," he answered immediately.
"When will Commander Fox be back on duty? I can't quite remember the schedule."
"It isn't the Commander's full day off, ma'am. He'll relieve me at eleven hundred."
Right after her meeting with the Grand Master. Riyo bit her lip, a toxic tincture of anxious anticipation and dread unsettling her stomach. Even with his rejection, she still wanted to see him again. Maybe… maybe the timing just hadn't been right. He'd wanted to kiss her, she was certain. Well, pretty certain.
"We're arriving now, ma'am," Shifter said, and Riyo looked up at her driver's face through the rearview mirror.
He didn't typically wear his helmet when he drove, so his clone features were fully visible. Riyo remembered when she'd thought that all the clones were identical, but looking at Shifter now it was hard to see how she could have ever thought that. Yes, he had Fox's aquiline nose, his heavy eyebrows, and his brown-golden eyes, but he wore the face completely differently. Shifter always seemed on the verge of smiling, and laugh lines had accumulated beside his eyes. His expression was relaxed and open where Fox's was opaque and imposing. And Commander Fox's eyes, while the same color and shape, had a depth and intensity that Riyo could never quite look away from.
She was starting to daydream, and she cursed herself. She looked down at one of the datapads Maja had prepared for her and forced herself to concentrate. She had important business to attend to. She was the Chancellor, dammit, not some schoolgirl with an adolescent crush.
They pulled up to a secured speeder lot and Moab got the door for the two ladies. Maja checked her work on Riyo's makeup and nodded in approval before scooting out, letting Riyo free. Riyo made a mental note to send Maja some kind of gift of gratitude. Leave it to Maja to keep articles about the young Chancellor and her hangover out of the tabloids.
Grand Master Yoda was waiting at the entrance, his presence somehow massive despite his diminutive stature. Riyo focused herself and walked over to him, bowing low.
"Pleased am I that you have agreed to meet with me today, Chancellor Chuchi," Master Yoda said, returning her bow.
"Likewise, Master Yoda."
"Find a place to speak freely, shall we?"
The Jedi Temple was beautiful. Not in a flashy, opulent sort of way, but with an ancient aesthetic steeped in tradition and restraint. Yoda led them through the vaulted halls of the temple, past ancient libraries and ceremonial sparring rings, and eventually guided them to a small private garden deep within the temple's depths. The garden was bursting with verdant life, an oasis on a planet of durasteel towers, overcrowded streets, and suffocating pollution.
"Enjoy my garden, I hope you will," Master Yoda said, and he reached a clawed hand out and played with the fronds of a plant spilling out of the raised bed. A fuzzy mouth emerged from the plant and nipped at the Jedi master's fingers, but Master Yoda simply smiled fondly at it and patted its head.
"It's quite lovely, Master Yoda, though I do not think you invited me here to discuss horticulture."
Master Yoda's smile faded, and he nodded gravely. "Correct you are, Chancellor. Invited you I did, because considering leaving the political sphere the Council is."
Riyo's eyebrows rose and her eyes widened. Beside her, Maja choked.
"What exactly do you mean by 'leaving the political sphere,' Master Yoda?" Riyo asked.
Master Yoda sighed, and for the first time Riyo imagined she could see the weight of his eight centuries. He sat down on the bench bordering the raised garden and gestured for her to join him.
Riyo sat at his side and he looked off into the distance, his long ears moving as he considered his words.
"Old, the Jedi Order is. Older than me, even! Slow to change, we are, but change we do. When a Padawan I was, the Order never would have considered serving in the Republic's military, acting as generals. Never would we have counseled the Chancellor on matters of state. Not a political entity, the Force is."
"But… But Master Yoda, the Council was vital in deposing Chancellor Palpatine! How would we have faced such a challenge without your help? We would have been powerless to stop him!" Riyo said, panic rising within her. It was the Council's support that had made Palpatine' removal possible, and to a certain extent it was her closeness to the Council that had gotten her elected. Where would she be without the Jedi at her back?
Master Yoda shook his head sadly. "Exactly the reason we must withdraw, this is. Focused on the corruption growing within our ranks, we should have been. Not prepared to combat the Sith, the Senate is. Had the Council been focused on the Force rather than battle, never a Sith Lord would have arisen."
Riyo's vision swam, spots appearing before her eyes. In the hazy darkness, a pale, withered face approached her. Riyo Chuchi, it said, you dare defy me?
"No!" she blurted out, lurching towards Master Yoda but pulling back before actually grabbing his robe. His eyes measured her thoughtfully, and she pulled herself together, her throat thick with embarrassment. "No," she continued, more calmly now. "If anything, the Jedi should be more involved. The Council has the wisdom and power to guide the Senate in the right direction. You have an obligation to lead."
"Any more worthy of leadership or power, a connection to the Force does not one make," Master Yoda said. "Because of our abilities, prideful we have become. Down a path of destruction, our confidence in our righteousness has led us. A solution, more power is not."
"Master Yoda, you don't understand… The Senate… It is chaos. We are all fighting for our systems, fighting for our interests. But nobody truly knows what's right," Riyo said, her hands twisting nervously in her lap as she voiced concerns that had only grown since she'd taken her place as Chancellor. "I do not know what is right. I can only guess. But the Jedi… The Jedi have the power and wisdom to protect us, and to keep us on the right path."
A frown turned Yoda's beak-like mouth downwards. "Disagree with you, I must. An Order of Spirituality, of the Force, the Jedi Order is. Not always in alignment with the good of normal people, our beliefs are. Already too much power we wield. Power that may mislead the Republic, and power that may also corrupt our own goals. Different, our interests are, and so separate, our organizations must be."
"I don't understand. Isn't the Force in line with the good of the people? How could the Jedi ever work against the aims of the Republic?"
"The best example, perhaps the Clone Wars may be. Peacekeepers, we are meant to be, but as soldiers, the Republic needed us. As a separate entity, refused the order we could have. But as a part of the Republic, join the fight we felt we must."
"If you're saying you felt pressured into fighting-"
"Chose this path, we did," Yoda protested. "Because entrenched within the Republic, we already were. Go against the Senate, our duty as peacemakers may require. This is why we must separate."
Riyo blanched. "But if the Jedi opposed the Senate, w… what would we even do?"
"To take over the Republic, never would we intend. But now, if opposed to the Republic we were, too much power we have to bend the Senate to our whims." Yoda sighed and leaned backwards, stretching his short back out. A faraway look glimmered in his ancient eyes. "Powerful, the Force is. Powerful, it makes the Jedi. Conscious we must be of how this affects our relationship with others. Of how it affects our position within the Republic."
"I… I see... " Riyo said, though she was only just beginning to see. The Republic's ultimate goal was for the good of its citizens, while the Jedi's goal was to align themselves with the will of the Force. Those goals might not always align. She still wasn't comfortable with the idea of the Council withdrawing from the political sphere. Their departure would leave a vacuum, and who knew what would fill it.
"My own thoughts, these are," Yoda continued. "Though leave mess of politics, I believe we eventually will, the Council is not yet unified on this issue."
"I thank you for giving me some advanced warning," Riyo said, her mind already buzzing with the legislative reforms that would need to shore up the void left by the Jedi Council. As she worked through the problems, Master Yoda's thoughts made more and more sense. Why should a peacekeeping force be pressed into serving in a civil war? And why should the Senate feel reliant on the Jedi Council? And how often had the Senate let the Council bear the burden of their morality? She grudgingly found herself agreeing more and more with the Jedi Master, though this change would be a massive, dangerous one.
"A difficult time, this is. But navigate it gracefully, you have."
Riyo laughed. "I hope so, but I am not so sure."
"Unnecessary, this modesty is. As times change and the Senate faces its mistakes, with certainty you must act."
Riyo nodded her head. "Yes, I… I will try. I can see your reasoning, Master Yoda, in wishing to distance the Council from the Senate. If this is indeed the course of action the Council chooses, I will of course support the decision. It will be a painful process, but it may help both our organizations maintain our integrity. We may operate more successfully as partners if we are not too inextricably linked."
"Keep you informed, I will."
Riyo and Master Yoda spent the rest of their meeting discussing the timeline the Council was considering, as well as when their meeting to finalize the decision would take place. With every minute that passed a new complication and a corresponding solution popped into Riyo's mind, and Maja took furious notes. All too soon, the time allotted for their meeting passed, and Maja made increasingly urgent signals for them to leave.
Riyo made her excuses and Master Yoda graciously led them back to their speeder, talking all the while about Pantora and Riyo's family back home. They entered the docking bay, and Riyo started at the sight of Commander Fox waiting by the speeder.
Of course he was there. Moab had told her Fox would be returning to duty after her meeting with the Grand Master. She'd just been so preoccupied with the meeting she hadn't remembered to prepare herself for seeing him again.
She remembered how close he'd been to her, how she could breathe in his polished-plastoid scent, could see the texture of the stubble just coming in on his chin. Then he'd backed away, choosing to remove himself from the situation, perhaps not even sure if he'd had a choice in the first place. The near-crippling embarrassment from earlier finally faded away, but only once it was gone did Riyo realize what a blessing it had been. In its wake, all she felt was shame.
Riyo managed to bid Master Yoda farewell, but her body was just going through the motions. She quickly slid into the speeder, the guilt hot on her heels. Shifter pulled away, and Riyo grew more and more horrified with herself.
Fox was her guard. She was the Supreme Chancellor. She'd hit on him, possibly making him wildly uncomfortable all night. She'd tried to kiss him, even, and he'd been forced to put a stop to it. How could she do that to him? How could she put him in that position?
She was pretty confident that he'd been interested in kissing her, but that didn't matter. Well, it mattered some, but it didn't absolve Riyo of her sins. Fox was a man only just learning to exercise autonomy, someone who'd been trained since birth to be unfailingly obedient to his superiors. And it didn't get much more superior than the Chancellor.
"Shifter, can we stop by Coruscant Park?" she said.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Riyo, you've got another meeting in-" Maja said.
"I know, I'll just be a minute. I just… need a breath of fresh air."
Maja looked doubtfully at Riyo from over the top of her datapad. "If you say so."
Shifter parked at a landing pad near the less crowded side of the park, and Riyo fled the speeder. "Go ahead and get caught up on messages, Maja," she said, gesturing for her friend to stay in the speeder. Maja was only too happy to comply.
Fox came with her, though. Of course he did. He came with her everywhere. That's why she couldn't treat him like some man she was interested in. She couldn't ask him out on a date, couldn't gauge his interest based on how often they interacted, couldn't expect him to be totally open with her. Riyo bit her lip to keep it from wobbling, but it hurt, to have finally found someone she felt a connection to only to realize it couldn't work.
Riyo looked around the park for a good spot—someplace secluded enough for a private conversation but open enough that they'd be visible to passers by. This conversation needed to happen someplace where Fox wouldn't feel cornered.
She eventually picked a bench a ten minute walk into the park. It was nicely shaded and the foliage on the path was pleasant, but the bench didn't really overlook anything in particular so the path was empty. Riyo took a seat and Fox lurked in the background, always following but never demanding attention. Riyo met his gaze through his visor and gestured for him to join her. He hesitated a moment, then obliged.
"Fox?" she said, looking at the hands fisted in her lap.
"Yes, ma'am?" he said after she didn't speak for a long moment.
"I wanted to apologize."
Fox didn't respond, and Riyo looked over at him. His helmet was on and his body language neutral, completely unreadable. Riyo braced herself, and forged ahead.
"I put you in a difficult situation when I… last night. I wasn't thinking of my station and how inappropriate it would be."
Fox's blank helmet finally turned in her direction. "No apology necessary, ma'am."
Riyo shook her head vigorously and put a hand on his vambrace. He looked down at her small hand, and she jerked it away, face flushing. "I'm sorry, I… Apologies are necessary. I respect you, I respect what you're trying to do, the independence you're clawing back from the Republic. And I put that in jeopardy."
For a long moment Fox didn't respond, simply tilted his helmet to the side in a measuring manner. Riyo squirmed under his scrutiny but refused to back down. Eventually, Fox lifted his hands and unclicked his helmet.
"I accept your apology," he said stiffly, like he was acquitting a soldier in a court-martial. His helmet was off but it still felt like she was talking to a plastoid wall.
Riyo swallowed a thick ball of something and held his gaze as long as she could stand, then looked away. She was grateful he'd forgiven her, but his straightforward acceptance also felt like a confirmation that her interest was unwelcome. Stupid and unwise as it would be, a part of her had hoped that he'd refuse her apology, would insist that he cared for her, would take her into his arms…
Her shoulders sagged and she let out a long breath. "Thank you, Fox. Now, we should probably get back to the speeder before Maja flays me alive for being late to my next meeting."
"Yes, ma'am."
His helmet clicked back on and they started back towards the speeder. Fox was already melting into the background, so close but somehow on a different, unreachable plane. The softness of his brown eyes, and mischievous quirk of his lips, all of that fading away was suddenly unbearable. Riyo turned to him, desperate to find some way to leave the door open for the future, if only just a sliver.
"Of course, if you ever approached me… That might work, right?" she blurted out.
Fox stared back at her and she burst out laughing, her voice high and false. "Well, we'd better get going!" She said, then sped-walked back to the speeder.
It was inelegantly done, but maybe… No. Riyo cut off that line of thinking. She'd left a door open, and now she just needed to leave it alone. If anything was going to happen, it wouldn't be up to her.
She scooted back into the speeder next to Maja, and her assistant immediately dove into the notes for their next meeting. It was with the Child Services Agency, about finding homes for the child clone she was going to be collecting from Kamino in only a few weeks. Riyo set her jaw and concentrated, determined to do right by the clones she hoped to liberate. She had work to do.
Being a Marshal Commander had its perks, the most significant being access to his own personal terminal. On the terminal, Bacara combined clone medic Kix's analysis of the inhibitor chips with notes about their potential purpose and history. He made sure to keep everything off the holonet and confined to his local terminal, and encrypted the notes three, four, five times. Then he wrote the information to a hard disc and slipped it into one of the pouches around his waist.
He walked down the sterile halls of the Venator towards the docking bay with purpose in his stride and his "do not talk to me" expression on. It worked, and he arrived at the freight loading area without any problems.
A grey, utilitarian light freighter was docked in the loading area, the doors open as droids carried supplies onboard. This would be the last freighter to leave the Venator before their own return to Coruscant next week. This was his last shot to get information to his brothers securely before he himself arrived at the capital.
Bacara scanned the room for prying eyes, then walked casually aboard, ignoring the droids flitting about. He made his way to the back of the freighter, where an orange and purple astromech droid sat, powered down. He knelt down in front of it and turned it on.
It made pleasant sounds of greeting at him as it powered on, but he hushed it sternly. He held the data disc out to the droid and murmured his instructions.
"When you arrive on Coruscant, give this to Commander Fox-"
"Commander Bacara?" a cool voice sounded behind him.
Bacara nearly jumped out of his skin, but he brought himself under control and slowly turned around, leaving the disc in place sticking out of the astromech droid.
General Mundi stood behind him, his tall form casting a long shadow in the harsh industrial lighting.
"General! I, uh, I was checking in on my astromech-"
"Please hand me the disc, Bacara," Mundi said, stretching his long fingers out.
Bacara kept his gaze on Mundi, unblinking. He considered playing dumb for a moment, but he knew it wouldn't fly. No matter what it was, no matter how tightly guarded Mundi always seemed to know.
Bacara reached behind him to pull the disc out of the droid. He slowly placed it in Mundi's hand, all the while considering his options. He couldn't let Mundi look at it. It was too sensitive, a failsafe against the Jedi that only worked if the Jedi were unaware of it. If Mundi took it, Bacara might have to do something drastic.
Mundi examined the disc in his hand briefly, then closed his fingers around it and crushed it. Bits of plastoid and silicoid crumbled out of his hands, and Bacara eyes grew wide.
"...Sir?"
"I know you're keeping something from me, Bacara. I won't pry. I trust you. But I can't just let you trade information under my nose."
Bacara's jaw set. He wasn't about to admit to anything. And trust? How was anything between them based on trust? If Mundi trusted anything, it was probably Kaminoan engineering rather than Bacara as a person.
Mundi turned to leave, but as he reached the door of the freighter he looked back over his shoulder. The shadows fell heavily across one side of his face, exaggerating his sunken eyes and towering brow. "I know we do not agree on everything, Bacara, but I know that we would both sacrifice anything for the Order."
Bacara nodded, and Mundi left. Bacara took a step forward and his boot crunched against the broken bits of the data disc scattered around the floor. He looked down, and his hands were shaking.
That's where you're wrong, Bacara thought. You might sacrifice anything for the Order, but I would sacrifice anything for the Republic.