Friendship Never Dies
By Dolfinz
Disclaimer: Do I LOOK like George Lucas? Pfft. SW is his, yo.
Quick A/N: For any of my super-faithful readers out there, this story has NOTHING to do with Obsession Leads to Coruscant. I just like the name Andraya. This Andraya is not that story's Andraya. Just to clear things up!
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"I just can't believe my luck, ya know?"
"Nope."
"I mean, one minute I'm a successful HoloNet reporter, on the way to being an anchorwoman on the Coruscanti Nightly Newscast, and now I'm right back where I started, on this backward sandy rock in the middle of nowhere."
"Yup."
"You really don't care, do you?" Andraya asked the bartender, shooting him an icy glare over the rim of her glass.
"Kid, it ain't just you havin' bad luck these days," he retorted, wiping the glass with a cloth attached to his belt. "The entire galaxy's gone nutty. Better get used to it is what I say."
Andraya sighed. "I guess," she said into her glass, watching the two-toned blue liquid that made her Coruscanti Cooler potent swirl with the motion of her hand. She couldn't argue with the bartender's statement. Not with events transpiring as they were.
Her last days at the Coruscanti HoloNet had been spent rushing to get the latest news of destruction and political corruption out to the public before any other newscast company, and it had resulted in some glaring errors, including publishing an extensive piece on the Jedi. Andraya's colleague had received an anonymous call describing in detail the plots and inner corruption of the previously esteemed order, and asked Andraya's help in writing the full report. Unwilling to trust the validity of such a shocking and disturbing story to this single, anonymous caller, Andraya had put her foot down and refused to help out with the project, and instead had taken to digging up what she could in the Jedi's defense.
An hour later, their rival newscast corporation aired the story. Andraya was blamed for their sluggishness, and she was fired on the spot. Tensions were high, and everyone's faith in just about everything had been shaken too much to allow such seeming incompetence.
Andraya was furious.
"Still," she said, attempting to engage the bartender in conversation, however one-sided. "You'd think there'd be justice left SOMEWHERE in the galaxy. Justice for people like me who just try to report the truth."
The bartender stopped cleaning his glass and gave her a suspicious look. "You can't honestly believe the Jedi were still on our side in the end," he said quietly, recalling her earlier monologue describing her forced resignation.
Andraya put her glass down, continuing to stare into it. "What's your name, bartender?"
"Uh, Rundi."
"Rundi, you've never met a Jedi, have you?" Now she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. Rundi started a bit at her suddenly pall expression.
"I take it you have?"
"Yes. Well, no. Sort of," she stammered, looking back into her drink. "Only one, I guess. And…he wasn't very far along. But," she said, expression hardening to match the intensity of her voice. "The one I DID know could NEVER have done what the Jedi are being accused of."
"When did YOU ever know a Jedi, kid?" Rundi asked, walking across the bar to refill the only other patron's drink. He paid no attention to the conversation, and seemed to be distracted by something outside the cantina. Andraya paid it no notice. She was surprised anyone else was even in the cantina. It was early afternoon, an odd time to get drunk.
But little else made sense these days, so why should the hour she chose to forget about life be bound to the societal rules she thought she knew?
"When I was little, back when I was a slave," Andraya murmured, taking another swig of her Cooler. Stars' end, she missed Coruscant. The drinks were so much better there.
"You were a slave?" Rundi came back over to the livelier of the two patrons, leaning on the bar to better speak with her.
"Finally got your interest, did I?" she grunted, finishing off her drink. "Yeah, I was a slave over in Mos Espa, mostly. We were dreamers, the whole lot of us." She trailed off, eyes looking past the colorful array of bottled alcohols to some fond memory of her past.
"One of my friends always said he was going to be a Jedi. He just knew."
"And I take it he did?"
Andraya smiled. "Yeah," she said wistfully. "One day he was just gone. Word is he left to become a Jedi. I never heard from him again, but I know he would make it. He was…amazing, really. Incredibly talented. And…so kindhearted…" She trailed off, still smiling into her Cooler.
"Well, maybe he tried to fight the corruption," Rundi said, shrugging. "All I know is that most of those Jedi are no good."
Andraya sighed, giving up the argument and downing the rest of her drink. She put her glass down to find the holonet receiver flickering to life, an event witnessed far and between on a planet so far from the Core.
"Ugh. Holonet," she muttered, bitterness lacing her words. "Rundi, can I get another Cooler? I think I'm going to need it to stomach whatever those idiots have to say."
The bartender chuckled, refilling Andraya's glass before turning to watch whatever the weeks-delayed holonet reports had to show. The other patron finally turned his attention from the Cantina's entryway to watch the report as well.
"Welcome to the nightly Holonet," the anchorwoman said, smiling in the artificial blue glow the receiver gave the set. "Tonight, we..." The woman paused, putting a hand to her ear. The smile disappeared from her face. "It seems we have breaking news from the Kashyyyk system. We now go to our correspondent Lorice, who will be reporting this exclusive story. Lorice?"
"Thank you, Ceyri," Lorice said as the camera cut to the human reporter standing against a backdrop of burning trees.
Andraya grunted. "I know that guy," she said. "I used to work with him."
"Tonight we have devastating news to report for the Kashyyyk system," he began.
"Is there any other kind?" Rundi muttered.
"The identity of Darth Vader has been discovered, and I'm sure it will come as a surprise to anyone who is watching."
"Darth Vader?" Andraya said, frowning. "Who's that?"
Rundi turned to the young woman. "Are you serious?" he asked incredulously, mouth agape.
"Hey, I've been out of the news circle lately."
Rundi grunted. "Just watch, then."
After a dramatic pause, Lorice continued his report. "As I'm sure you all know, Darth Vader has been somewhat of a mysterious figure, seeming to leave destruction in his wake wherever he goes."
Andraya gasped. A photo of a tall…THING dressed in black from head to toe appeared on the display as Lorice continued his narration. Andraya couldn't listen; she was too fixated and…HORRIFIED at the image now before her. The figure wore a menacing black mask and had what looked like a life support system fixated to its chest. The image of pure evil was completed with the long, black cape that flowed behind the dark figure. And…
A red lightsaber.
He had a lightsaber.
"A Jedi?" Andraya whispered, unable to believe her own words. This couldn't be a Jedi. It just couldn't be!
"No one knows, really," Rundi said. "But that is one of the theories."
"It can't be," Andraya said firmly. "Maybe an enemy of the Jedi who happens to have a lightsaber, too. But not a Jedi."
"Whatever you say, kid."
Lorice continued to report on Darth Vader, and had moved on to showing a montage of the destruction that was attributed to the dark figure. "The most recent act of devastation that Vader has wrought was right here on Kashyyyk. You can see behind me the fires that rage though the native Wookies' tree house homes, leaving thousands homeless." The camera panned off Lorice to show the intense red flashes of fire coming from the forests. Wookie families, including many small children, ran from the blaze. Some of the men howled in angry defeat as they passed the camera.
Andraya's eyes were wide with terror. "He did THAT all by himself?"
"Well, I'm sure he had help. Rumor has it that he's Palpatine's right-hand man when it comes to messy things like this," Rundi said.
"He's working for Palpatine!" Andraya exclaimed. "Now I KNOW this can't get any worse," she sighed, shaking her head and downing the rest of her Cooler. "And I also know I need another one of these," she said, pushing the glass across the bar.
"For weeks, the identity of this masked villain has remained a close-guarded secret. But today, the Coruscanti Holonet has received information of the highest authenticity that reveals who this horrible evil figure is."
Andraya lifted her now refilled glass to her lips. All this horrible news just increased her desire to get drunk out of her mind.
"Darth Vader is the new moniker of former Jedi Anakin Skywalker, who has joined a mysterious evil force, further confirming that the last of the Jedi have indeed crossed over to their infamous Dark Side."
Rundi started at the sound of shattering glass behind him. He turned to see Andraya, empty hand still poised to hold her drink. Her face was stricken with terror, her skin white as a ghost. The remains of her Cooler glass lay in scattered shards on the cantina floor.
"Hey, kid…you okay?" he asked gently, trying to catch her gaze. She ignored him, continuing to stare at the news display.
"That…that isn't…it's NOT…it…it can't BE," she stammered, pounding her fist on the bar with the last word. "It CAN'T be! I don't believe it. They're lying again. It's not true!"
"Whoa, slow down there, kid. What isn't true?"
Andraya turned slowly to look at the bartender. "Anakin…he was my friend. The one that…left to be a Jedi…" She trailed off, turning again to the holonet receiver, which was again showing the photo of Darth Vader.
"Ani…" she whispered. A tear escaped her hurt-filled eyes, which were looking past the figure in black to a memory of a little sandy-haired boy smiling proudly as he built another useless gadget.
Across the bar, the other patron tightened his grip on his drink as he bowed his head against the similar pain the image on the receiver brought him.
And although no one saw under the hood of his cloak, tears escaped his tightly shut eyes as well.