28: Strange Day

"Hold on… you want us to slow down?"

"Absolutely right." Grand Moff Kimura looked up through his office's massive skylight. He could see the leading edge of the station's outer shell now--just a week before his view of the stars was un-encroached. "Your men are working admirably, but in this case, speed is not the object."

"But… sir…!" the poor man sputtered. He was a civilian contractor, and still unused to dealing with bigwigs of any type. This government job was his big break; he couldn't afford to screw it up. "We'll be vulnerable until the shell is finished!"

"That's the point. Advanced tactics, my boy, don't worry yourself with it."

"Well, if you, if you say so, sir."

"By the way… tell your female employees to wear their coveralls with one of the straps undone. I hear that it's good luck."

"Sure. What should the guys do?"

The noble stared at him for a long, crackling moment. "Why are you bothering me with such trifles? Get to work!"

"Y-yes, sir!" the contractor scuttled away.


"Oh, do you smell that?" Tomo asked exuberantly. "Nerf Bread! You love Nerf Bread, don't you, Yomi?" She rushed about a yard to her right, pushing a few Jawas rudely aside before she was yanked back by her partner, who'd been leading her by the hand through Mos Eisley's crowded streets.

"Quit running around," Yomi said severely. "If you're going to plow into things, at least wait until you can see!"

"Let's go get some of that Nerf Bread, c'mon!"

Yomi sighed.

"Might as well," Kagura said. "She oughta be really hungry now… and you, too, now that I think of it. When was the last time you had a good meal?"

"Hmph."

"C'mon, Yomi!" Tomo towed her right through a Boy Scout troop to the vendor, whose tableload of rolls was covered in dust, but then, on Tatooine even the dust has dust on it. "Two of these and three of these and I want one of those," she yelled cheerfully, pointing pretty much at random.

In spite of herself, Yomi enjoyed her friend's good spirits. "Hold on," she said with a laugh in her voice, "Er, don't listen to her. I'll take…" she looked around. "Huh. They don't have Nerf rolls."

"What?" Tomo stood straight. "Your eyes deceive you! That's Grade A Nerf meat I smell!"

"Well, six Bantha rolls. And, uh… dust them off, please?"

"Sure thing, lady."

"Why does everyone call you laaaaady? I wish people would call me lady!" Tomo whined, hanging off Yomi's shoulder. "Or at least Miss!"

"Then why don't you try acting like one?" Yomi grumbled happily. "Idiot."

"Lady! Laaaady!"

"Shut up!" As Kagura started laughing, the Valerian rounded on her as well. "And you shut up, too!"

The three friends took to a handy bench (in Mos Eisley, "handy" meant "grungy and never used"); they were hardly seated before Tomo started devouring hers. "Yeah! This is definitely 100 Nerf!"

"But it's a Bantha Roll…"

"So," Kagura took a measured bite, grimaced and set hers down. "Do you think it's the end of Spince's little empire, there?"

"Well, he's not getting any of those guys back."

"Yeah! We kicked his ass!"

Kagura smiled nastily. "And he'll really get nailed when the eco-terrorists Mr. Sakaki called come to take the Rancor back to its natural habitat."

"Harsh!" Tomo chirped, grabbing her third roll.

"Hey! That's mine, you little…" before Yomi even finished the sentence, the smaller woman had already mostly wolfed it down. "Was it good?" she asked, her tone acidic.

When Tomo smiled brightly and nodded, though, she found it hard to stay angry.


Sakaki's old house had not yet been reclaimed by the desert. It looked exactly as Chiyo remembered it; the speeder bike on its wall hadn't even been stolen by Jawas yet. She sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor, surrounded by an array of small metallic parts, but ignoring them for now.

The prodigy's eyes were closed in concentration. If there was any place, any place in the whole galaxy that she would return to…

"She won't come, you know." Chiyo gave a massive start and turned. Yuichi leaned on the doorframe, looking about the small home with something akin to nostalgia, if you can really have nostalgia for something you've never seen before. "Heh! You're so much like your father… right down to that 'stunned-bunny' look you get when something surprises you."

"Er… stunned bunny?"

"Well, I'm exaggerating a little. And yet there's a bit of your mother around your eyes; you might have a growth spurt in your future. She was pretty tall… and quite the looker, too." He whistled rudely. "Yow!"

Chiyo just stared at him.

"And that's exactly the look Yasuhiro would give me, too!" Yuichi chuckled. "You're too funny, Chiyo-chan."

"But what did you mean about her not coming?"

"Oh…" Yuichi moved into the house and sat on a chair, taking an old stuffed cat up fondly. His voice was so different now that he didn't sound like the same man. "It was one of Nanashi's quirks. She was like a great big cat, you know? She'd never come when you called her… but she always managed to be there when you needed her."

"Mm."

"I remember giving her this…" he said, placing the stuffed toy reverently on its chair. "Huh. I've gone and opened up, now." For a time there was silence.

"So… where are you off to now?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'm done with this getting-shot-at shit, though."

"Not going to join the Rebellion?"

"I don't play well with others."

"What about Marco?"

"Ah, we get along because he's the same as I am. Old, ugly, mangy and antisocial… you know, Chiyo-chan, I can see how knotted up you're getting. You should go out and get a cat before you end up like me. It'd smooth you out a little." He stood, stretched, and started out the door. "You sure you don't need the speeder bike?"

"They're coming to pick me up at sunset."

He walked outside without another word and pulled the light-framed vehicle off of the wall. As he started struggling with its ignition (it was only natural that the bike would be disagreeable after so long in the elements), Chiyo came out after him and watched.

"Will I ever see you again?" she asked.

"Not if I'm lucky," Yuichi replied, in such a tone as she knew it was nothing personal. He mounted the humming vehicle and gave it an experimental rev.

"Goodbye!" Chiyo called.

The father of Sakaki threw a casual wave over his shoulder and roared off towards the horizon. In less than a minute, he nothing but swiftly vanishing a speck in the rippling distance. She stood looking after him for a few minutes longer, then glanced at the sky, wondering why it was still double-noon.

Ah, yes. Retrograde, the longest day of Tatooine's year. Her friends would probably be miserable for the heat!

Chiyo walked back into the house and sat again. In taking Sakaki's saber apart, she'd intuited most of its workings; after a few small experiments, she had lightsaber theory down pretty well. She picked up the green gem that she was planning to use for her own and held it to the light. It was perfect in size and shape…

But then, looking at the pale purple stone that had focused Sakaki's weapon, an idea came to her. She took it up and turned the two around and around in her palm like tranquility balls, thinking.


Some hours later Chiyo snapped the final piece into place. One of the final steps to becoming a Jedi (or whatever it was she was becoming) had been completed. But oddly enough, she felt no sense of drama or accomplishment, just a little drained from concentrating on such a long and difficult task.

She held the weapon on high, thumb hovering over the switch, but at the moment, she honestly didn't want to see if she was doomed to another day of intensive work. Instead, Chiyo wandered outside and flopped backwards into the sand, staring into Tatooine's pristine, pale sky.

It was just so… comfortable to be back here! After months out in the bitter cold of space and on worlds not much warmer… (or in the case of Thyferra, an acceptable temperature but with air you had to drink), it was nice to return to the atmosphere of her youth. Odd that she should already think of it like that.

With a pang of sadness, the young prodigy wished to see her Aunt and Uncle again, but she knew that it would never be. Not through official channels did she know, or even through the Force… she just knew. Occasionally tears still caught up to her, but never where others could see. What kind of a Jedi cries, after all?

The certainty of their loss gave her a weird sort of peace. All she could do now was try to lead a life that would make them proud.

As waves of comforting heat washed over her in the soft sand, she actually started to drift off— and snapped back to reality to a large, rough tongue rasping over her forehead. Chiyo sat bolt upright and half turned. "Who-?"

A very small Sand Panther sat behind her, staring with calm, droopy eyes. It was probably still a kitten; heck, it wasn't even bigger than her. The animal acknowledged her question with a fang-filled yawn and stretched out on the sand she had just been covering.

"Is this your spot?" she asked good-naturedly. Chiyo remembered her old friend's affinity for the panthers. Perhaps this one was a regular visitor? "Well, if you were Ms. Sakaki's friend, we should get to know each other."

The cat suffered to be stroked for a little while, but then his ears pricked up at the distant whine of an approaching speeder-bike. Chiyo stood as her new friend loped away, looking around uncertainly. Out here it was sometimes hard to tell what direction sounds were coming from. Was Yuichi returning…?

Wait a second! It's not slowing—!

Chiyo flinched. Something- a blinding purple flash in the corner of her vision- buzzed by just a centimeter from her head. She jerked in surprise as her left pigtail drifted to the ground at her feet. Her assailant's bike was skidding in a tight circle to face her again; all she could see of its rider through the billowing grit was the flickering ends of a light gray cloak.

Before her stunned mind could process more than these few jumbled impressions, the attacker was returning and the shockingly purple blade came streaking down towards her again. Acting without conscious thought, Chiyo jumped… and landed awkwardly on the back of the roaring bike.

Now, as any concerned parent will tell you, small, light-framed speeder bikes aren't made for riding tandem. Her weight sent the vehicle slewing sideways, and all at once they were careening right into Sakaki's house.

A few seconds later, Chiyo sat up dazedly, coughing painfully. The small domed house was partially crumbled in and something in there was burning, releasing a column of dark smoke. Where was the attacker? Had it survived the crash?

The wind that howled over the endless dunes answered her question, dispelling the smoke in an instant and revealing a small figure standing atop the house. A light gray cloak fluttered around its slender form over tan boots planted together on the roof's crumbled edge. Concealing its face was a dark gray mask with eerie, blank white eyes.

Chiyo stood staring as the glimmering purple blade was reignited, extending down past its owners feet, and a familiar-looking azure blade ignited in its other hand. The wind picked up with a mournful shriek and the being leapt soundlessly towards her, sabers humming in vicious arcs.

At this point, the young Jedi snapped out of her stupor and wished that she had tested her new lightsaber before… the cold cylinder leapt to her hand and her thumb depressed its switch.

Click. Except for the whistling wind, silence.

I'm going to die.

And then emerald green light of the most vibrant and eye-hurting sort blossomed before her and lashed back and forth between the incoming weapons, finally leaping hungrily towards their master. The grey being seemed to slide back from her attack, brushing it aside with a gentle movement of its violet blade.

Chiyo stayed on the attack, refusing to give her foe the chance to regain the initiative. But though her blade moved like emerald lightning, the stranger was always just a step ahead of her, moving with unhurried grace to stop each ferocious strike. It slid and shuffled about so lightly that it didn't seem to touch the ground, and if not for the buzzing impacts of their weapons, she wouldn't have been fully convinced it was even there.

There was no telling how long they fought under the twin suns; neither had any sense of time or the world around them. The universe was a small ring of flashing blades and ragged breath.

The apparition was not infallible; after an eternity of combat, Chiyo's blade sheared through a lightsaber's hilt just above its hand, making the weapon burst into a gritty cloud of blue smoke. The prodigy felt a sharp pang at the destruction of her father's lightsaber, but didn't slow.

Pressing the advantage, she lunged forward and turned a ring around the handle of her lightsaber. Her lime blade was suddenly shot through with pale amethyst and a half-meter longer, snapping out towards that frightening mask faster than any thrust she could have made.

Chiyo's foe leaned back and slid its lightsaber under hers, gasping sharply. Its hood slid off, freeing a thick fall of dark brown hair. A line shot down the length of the mask and it split apart, falling heavily to the sand on either side of those light boots.

What did Chiyo expect to see? A fiercely painted warrior, perhaps. A skull. A bundle of snakes. Something fearsome and evil and Sith-y. Instead, the mysterious figure turned out to be a girl who seemed to be only a few years older than her, gazing emptily with huge, sad brown eyes. "That…" she said faintly, "…was close."

The combatants slowly backed away from each other. Something intangible had changed between them, but what it was neither could say. "You're… you're not what I expected," Chiyo said.

"You aren't what I was imaginin' either…"

"You aren't a Sith, are you?"

"I'm… a baby Sith. In the makin', you could say."

"I've seen you in my dreams."

"An' I, you."

"Really?" Chiyo was curious despite herself. "What was I like?"

"You were dead…" her voice quavered oddly, there was a storm of confused emotions behind her words, the end result sounding just a little scared. "I'd killed ya. It was the greatest moment o'mah life…"

"What did I ever do to you?"

"Nothing." If possible, her expression grew even sadder. "But it's the only way I can be free."

"Free?"

"Y'don't know what it's like… t'have his voice…" she hung her head and Chiyo was struck by the momentary, absurd urge to go to her. But then the young Sith looked back up, her eyes empty, cold and terrifyingly clear.

Their blades collided once more, with such force that motes of green and purple light burst from them and drifted free, swirling in the desert wind. Again and again they crashed together, freeing more and more embers to fly around their duel. Just as it became certain one of them would have to give, though, a golden blur yowled and collided with the Sith, knocking her sprawling and the violet lightsaber spiraling in to the air.

The Sand Panther snarled, tail lashing in the air, teeth flashing as it descended to tear her throat out. Before the beast's dire aim was met, his snarl turned into a yell of pain and he leapt away from her, shuddering all over. He didn't back down from there, though, slinking in a circle about her, an indistinct form like molten bronze in the setting suns.

The Sith-trainee thrust a hand towards him, and something shot towards the Panther, a distortion in the air that stirred the sand beneath its rushing path. As it washed over the animal, his ears flattened to his head and he shuddered again, clearly unwilling to give.

Chiyo took the opening to lunge for her, but the emerald blade encountered only air. She skidded to a halt and looked frantically about; the woman in gray was gone. All that remained was a paper pinwheel stuck into the ground at her feet, whizzing in Tatooine's harsh wind and catching the last of the settling saber embers.

Understandably, it took Chiyo took a little while to get her cool back. She plucked the pinwheel from the ground and held it to the setting sun. "Who in the galaxy was that?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the approaching roar of the Silver Rose.


"Hey, guys," Chiyo greeted, coming aboard. Kagura was sitting in the common room, stretched out on the couch and working on something, absently whirling a pen through her fingers. Upon seeing her, though, the pen slid from the soldier's fingers and clattered on the deck.

"What's the hell is that thing? And what happened to your hair?"

"Oh?" Chiyo reached up and scratched the panther's flank. Though he was the size of a largish dog, he rode comfortably on her shoulder. "His name is Maya. Isn't he cute?"

"S…sure…" Kagura met the animal's fierce eyes. "Hi, Maya. I, uh, I think you look pretty tasty, too."

Chiyo flopped into the couch across from her, Maya hopping to the floor by her feet and curling up. She gave a massive, rib-creaking sigh. "What a strange day this turned out to be…."

And on Tatooine, the cloaked figure watched them depart skyward. "Friends with the animal kingdom, too?" she mused. "Guess I'm just no match for a prodigy."

She removed a melon bread roll from her pocket and chewed contemplatively. Dead last again, but good bread could make anything better…