37: Cloudgazing

"Do you have any Commanders?"

"Go fish."

A sigh. "Yuka… you really need to learn to play Sabbac."

Chiyo's eyes flew open. And then they snapped shut just as quickly when the ambient light stabbed into them painfully. "Oh…!" At the soft exclamation, both of her friends rushed to her side. "Chiyo-chan! Are you up?" Yuka asked, voice filled with concern. "How do you feel?"

"Fff… fine…" she tried to rise but found that she couldn't. "Why can't I move?"

Yuka made some tching sounds at Maya and he reluctantly plodded off of her chest and thumped to the floor. Chiyo gratefully drew an unencumbered breath… and suddenly sat bolt upright and threw her arms around Miru. "You're alive!"

"Yeah…" Miru said uncomfortably, hesitantly returning the hug. "They didn't let us come on the Katana… most of the powder monkeys and cooks and stuff got left behind."

Yuka unabashedly threw her arms around both of them. "I'm so glad you're all right C-chan! You were out for three days!"

Miru pulled out of the tangled embrace and pointedly slid a ways down the bed to sit by Chiyo's feet. The young Jedi ran a forearm over her eyes. "Three days? What's been happening, then?"

"Two solid days of hard partying, and now everybody's hung over or asleep," Miru summarized. "We've been here with you mosta the time, so we don't really know any of the political stuff… uh, Ms. Kagura was by with something for you, but you weren't up yet."

"You guys were here…?" Chiyo asked, "I'm… I'm sorry for making you wait so long. Thank you so much!"

"Don't worry about it, we…" Miru trailed off, staring at her. "Uh…"

"What's wrong?"

"Y-your eyes!" Yuka squeaked, thrusting a mirror into her hands. A sinking feeling filled Chiyo as she saw her reflection. Once light brown, her eyes were now stained a deeper chestnut color, with a faint reddish tinge. "It left its mark…" she sighed.

"What did?"

"Never mind, it's not important." Chiyo suddenly brightened. "What are you still staring for? Let's go find that party!"


Endor's towering trees waved under an overcast sky. The sun had finally recovered from the Death Star's solar draw, but though it was as bright as ever, the air was still unnaturally cold. The grounds beneath the Endorian village were strewn with the detritus of the Rebel's celebration; Kurosawa had promised the natives that her men would clean up, on pain of much scratching, bacteria and general misery.

Ships of the Smuggler's Alliance were taking off and landing on the formerly Imperial landing platform; though the Rebels one day hoped to establish themselves as a legitimate government, for now they were still friends with outlaws and scoundrels, including those who came to do business with the celebrating victors.

Near one of the Endorian village's mostly arbitrary borders, Kagura rolled over on her lawn chair checked her chronometer. "Ugh… what time is it?"

"I dunno…" Benjiro sat up next to her and rubbed his head. He had been stretched out on the grass next to her chair, and seemed to be missing his shirt.

"Did we, ah, did we do anything?" Kagura asked.

"Nope." He shook his head with a chuckle. "I wish."

She smacked him. "Hey, I'm still your superior officer."

"Not for long… and we weren't drunk, anyway."

"What?" Kagura picked up a bottle in the grass at her side and checked out the label. "Cider? I'll be damned… so what happened to your shirt, then?"

"Beats me."

"Well, you'd better go find… oh, hey Shorty! Shorty, over here!"

Some ways away, Chiyo glanced over. She had been wandering the village grounds in a state of amused shock, wondering where everybody was. Very few of the revelers were still around; most had scrambled to get off-planet before the cleanup. She rushed over with a big smile. "Ms. Kagura! It's so good to see you!"

"And you… what's with your eyes?"

"Bad experience," she shrugged it off quickly, noticing Benjiro and eagerly changing the subject. "Oh… uh, hello, Mister…"

"It isn't what it looks like," Kagura said quickly. "Captain Kitamura here was just explaining to me why he said I wouldn't be his superior officer anymore. I hope he doesn't think he'll be promoted; we're lucky if we're not discharged for this mess."

"Hey, you didn't react when I…"

"I just caught it. Start talking, buddy."

Benjiro sucked a breath in through his teeth. "I'm not cut out for all this soldiery stuff, is all… it was fine being a guard in Osaka, when all we had to do was… y'know, we were like cops, pretty much, and it was a peaceful neighborhood. I can't do war… I'd rather be more…" he put out his hands in a smoothing gesture, "Laid-back."

Chiyo laughed softly.

"So you're gonna quit, then?"

"I'll do something else for the Rebellion."

"I almost envy people like you; I couldn't do something like that. I'm a soldier… it's what I gave my life to, it's what I'm driven to do, and I don't think I can change it."

"Well, you're pretty damn good at it," Benjiro offered.

"I think so, too," Chiyo added.

Kagura shook her head. "Not good enough. Not yet. What'll you do with yourself after the Rebellion, then?"

"I dunno… I was thinking of retiring and becoming a gentleman of leisure."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," a new voice said. All turned, and Chiyo sprang joyously to her feet. "Mr. Sakaki?"

"Unfortunately, yes," the towering man replied. He made no move to stop and talk to them, instead striding right on by. Seeing that Chiyo wanted to follow him, Kagura said, "Before ya go, Shorty, take this." She tossed a medal to the girl. "Kurosawa said to give it to you."

"I get a medal for…?" she eyed it doubtfully. "Um- thank you, Ms. Kagura. See you later." Chiyo turned and jogged after the bounty-hunter-turned-smuggler. He glanced back at her, not showing how he felt about the intrusion. "So how ya been?" Yuichi asked noncommittally.

"Er, fine," she replied inanely. "But what… what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I got bored with retired life. Got a job with the Smuggler's Alliance; I'm workin' right under Karrde. I see you got a cat, by the way. Big one, though."

"You met Maya?"

"Yeah. Bugger tried to eat Marco… oh, don't make that face, Marco gave 'im the what-for. They're getting along famously now…" and indeed they came across the two felines, pressed together over something on the ground, making a cacophony of snaps and crunches. "But do you have any idea what that thing is?"

Marco looked back at them and Yuichi held out his hand. With surprising grace, the fat cat bounded up to his arm and swished to his shoulder. Chiyo held out her arms and got bowled over by her own pet. Completely ignoring the girl's plight, Yuichi squinted at the remains the animals had been working on. For the life of him…

"Maybe it's one of those big gray birds?"

"I love you too, Maya, now get offa me!"


Yomi and Tomo walked along one of the Endorian trails, Yomi silently basking in the natural grandeur of it all, Tomo prancing along and humming the Rebel Victory March. The Honorable Captain whirled her medal about her wrist on its loop; she'd smacked herself in the face with it a few times, but couldn't bring herself to just wear it.

"You know…" Yomi suddenly said.

"Eh?" Tomo turned and almost knocked herself off her feet with the medal. "Augh! I'll get you for that one!"

"I kinda miss the old days," the Valerian continued, as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Back before we met Chiyo-chan and Kagura… before the Rebellion. When it was just me and you, before things got so complicated."

"I thought you loved complicated things."

"That's not what I meant… but I suppose we can't go back now, huh?"

"You kidding? This Rebellion stuff is great!" Though she was as bouncy as ever, there seemed to be a deeper current in Tomo's voice. "I mean, I finally have something that I care about, yeah? I'm a part of something bigger than myself now! It's just such an awesome thing! I finally have a cause I could die for!"

Yomi winced at her choice of words. "Tomo…"

"But there is something missing still…" Tomo looked at her sideways, then hopped up onto a rock and walked across its top like a child. "Someone to live for."

"What are you…?"

"Oh, look! Chiyo's out!" Tomo dropped down and ran to the girl.

Chiyo leaned on a tree by the side of the trail, turning the medal over and over in one hand. She was gazing at with an incredulous, almost disgusted expression, as if it read 'For Meritous Conduct and Mass Murder.' Tomo walked up and slapped her on the arm, making her jump.

"Ms. Tomo!"

"Hey, Chiyo, I know just what you're thinking and trust me, it'll make you feel a lot better. Heck, I'll even do it too, it'll be fun. On three? One… two…" In unison, both hurled their medals into the forest, Chiyo with a strangled, angry cry. "THREE!"

They stood together for a few seconds, breathing heavily, then Tomo patted her back. "Didn't that feel good?"

Chiyo looked like a weight had been lifted from her narrow shoulders. "Thanks…"

"Oh, shit! I wanted to keep that!" And then the Honorable Captain sprinted into the woods, commencing a frantic search through the brush. "Yomi, help me here!"

Yomi stood next to the young Jedi and watched her friend's capering with a bemused smile. Chuckling warmly, she shook her head. "I'll consider it…"


Much to their dismay, most of the fighter pilots ended up getting roped into helping clean up. Grumbling half-heartedly, they spread out through the village grounds with garbage bags and sharp sticks, watched over by Endorians glowering from low branches. Still, some of their number managed to get some business done at the same time.

"What do you mean I've been passed up for your new squadron?" Mike cried.

"Sorry, Mike," Wedge rubbed his face tiredly. "But he's a better pilot, a better marksman and… now, I really hate saying this, but he's even better at being an obnoxious idiot."

"Oooh, man! Is nothing left? Where is this Janson guy? I'm gonna kill him!"

"Leading Katana squadron isn't a bad deal is it?"

"No, but… hey, what're you doing here?" Mike espied Chiyo with her own garbage bag, sweeping bits of detritus into its mouth with the Force. He poked at her gently with the stick when she didn't respond to his hail. "Didn't you secede?"

"I thought I'd help out," she said airily. "How're you guys doing?"

"Ah, we're doing fine, except this backstabber cut me out of his new squadron."

"Well," she shot him a grin and returned to her work. "I don't want to ask this, but are you really Rogue Squadron material?"

"Probably not," he admitted grudgingly.

"But you are, Chiyo," Wedge said, leaning on his stick. "If you ever want back in, we'll have a fighter warmed up for you… and a drink chilled." The girl blushed. "As far as I'm concerned, you'll always be Blue Three."

Nearby, the box of Sombra parts stirred.

"Roger, Blue Lead," she replied lightly.

"Screw you, Blue Lead," Mike grumbled.

"But about this new…" Chiyo suddenly dropped her back and looked to the horizon wide-eyed. Just as the pilots were about to ask what was wrong, she sprinted away as if Lord Nyax himself was on her heels.

"I'll bet it was something you said, Mike," Wedge commented.


Ayumu sat high in a tree with a clear mind and peaceful heart. As long as she focused on nothingness, there was nothing in the universe that could bother her… never mind that she would have to face Chiyo again (who she was still under orders to kill), and Tomo, and that bloody panther. Never mind that she had betrayed the Empress and thus no doubt earned the wrath of the Guardsmen, who had been her only friends. Never mind that every time she saw Benjiro it tore open her wounds from Osaka.

Nothing could bother her. Just remain completely unhinged from reality, and everything would be okay.

After perhaps an hour of noncontemplation, she noticed somebody grunting and huffing their way up the tree beneath her. Not bothering to reach her senses out to see who it was, she waited, serene in her bubble.

"You… were really hard to find…" Tarvis said, pulling himself up onto the branch behind her. "Couldn't you have picked a place on the ground?"

"Maido…" Ayumu looked back at him. He didn't seem vengeful and enraged… what was he here for? After a moment, she stood, her feet resting lightly on the pencil-thin branchlets. "What's up?"

"You know that I'm supposed to be locked up with Garus, right?"

"Yup."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Nope."

"Huh… guess you're not the ideal defector."

"Guess not. Why'd you climb way up here?"

"Well, I had something really important to tell you." He stood unsteadily behind her and started edging down the branch. "I've been waiting a long time to say it."

Ayumu closed her eyes and backed towards him a ways. Though she didn't let on, in her uncharted depths she was a romantic soul, and thought that maybe, just maybe… "What is it?"

They met exactly at the line where Tarvis's weight would have broken the branches beneath them. He put his arms about her, looking down at the back of her head regretfully. "It's that I… I…" he sighed. "I'm very sorry."

"For what?" she asked as the knife slid under her ribs.

"I wish I was like you," he whispered in her ear. "But I gave myself wholly to the Empire… if I turned my back on it, Bashere's spirit would haunt me forever… my partner, my b-brother died knowing that I would carry on to the death, and I can't… I can't…"

Ayumu drifted, once again in her bubble. It was just too much—even though she was expecting it, the reality of Tarvis's betrayal formed an impenetrable wall in her mind, impossible to scale or press through by any means. All she could do is flounder, disconnected, an impartial observer as a Force Shriek blasted out from her person and the tree shattered around them.

Tarvis's confession ended in a pained gasp as they fell together, the knife sliding free and spiraling away, trailing dark blood. They reached the ground at the same time, Ayumu landing lightly on her feet, the other slamming into the hard-packed dirt with a fatal crunch.

She looked down at him blankly, then down at her side, where blood oozed thickly through her light blouse, then at the knife that had landed nearby. It was a simple decision. Ayumu took three steps towards the knife, then suddenly laughed. "Silly of me!"

The lightsaber's cool handle felt good in her hand as she pressed its mouth to her heart. Everything was right with the world, or would be in just a… "What is this? I leave you for a lousy week and look what happens. Well go on, then, make it quick. I don't need you anymore, anyway." It wasn't fair! Nochichi's poisonous voice managed to drain the joy out of even this last, most wonderful leap.

"Well? Aren't you going to-" Without conscious thought, Ayumu shut him out. It should have been an astounding victory, but she had more important things to worry about. The galaxy would be a better place without her. For one thing, Chiyo would be safe from-

"Don't!" a pair of skinny arms flew about her waist, very nearly startling her into igniting the weapon. "Don't go!" Chiyo cried. Well, speak of the devil… for a moment, a perverse little voice in Ayumu's head pointed out that if she ignited her weapon now, it would impale both of them, meeting her original goal and carrying out the Empress's last order…

But instead, she dropped the lightsaber, fell to her knees, and burst into tears. Chiyo knelt by her side, still holding her. But it sort of made sense that it would be Chiyo to reach her--though fate had set them against each other, they had much in common. Both had lost their families and homes, both had been manipulated and forced to do awful things and now, in a very important way, both were alone in the galaxy.

Well, maybe not alone…

Sniffling miserably, Ayumu looked up into the Jedi's stained, darkened eyes and realized that she could trust them. In spite of all that had passed between them, they could still be friends… and would.


"Four hours after Empress Yukari surrendered, the Imperial Viceroy on Coruscant seized power. Two hours later, he was murdered in his home and the Director of Imperial Intelligence, Ysanne Isard, took over," Matsuyama ruffled his papers nervously; lately, it had been kind of difficult to meet Kurosawa's eyes. "I used to work for Madame Director. She's a psychotic, evil bitch who's as cold as Hoth's poles and sharper than a lightsaber. But I, uh, I hear she has a charming laugh…"

The Professor didn't respond to his lame attempt at humor. "Go on."

"Well, she's decided to see to our destruction personally… I'm sorry to say, we're going to miss the days when it was just Kimura after us. Speaking of whom, the other report I was going to make- those Imperial Guardsmen we lost track of tried to spring him and Yukari. Fortunately, the resident Jedi and her sidekick thwarted that one for us."

"Her sidekick? You mean the cat?"

"No… remember Darth Mito? I guess she's had a change of heart or something. Ever since about four or five days ago she's been following Ms. Mihama around like a puppy, and honestly, none of us know what to make of it."

Kurosawa's lips curved upwards slightly. "First student, perhaps?"

"It's a possibility. Was there anything else you wanted?"

"Princess Kaori… do the Imperials still consider her a wanted fugitive?"

"I thought you'd ask that. No, she was Kimura's project. The other Moffs could care less."

"That's a relief. We need all the talented diplomats we can get these days."

Matsuyama glanced at the wall chronometer. "Uh, I'm due before the Admirals in ten minutes, but before I go… did you want to see Yukari before the trial? I could arrange it."

The Professor opened her mouth to reply but then fell silent. After a few seconds, she turned away from him and sighed. "No. I have nothing to say to her."


Chiyo and Ayumu sat back to back in the middle of the village grounds. The fleet had already mostly shipped out, but they could take their time. The Dream Knife, recovered from the superweapon's wreckage and repaired admirably, awaited their need.

Above them, the stars burned brightly in a midnight-blue sky. Bands of dark cloud rushed overhead, still propelled by Endor's recent unnatural climate shifts.

"Back on Tatooine," Chiyo said softly, "We thought of clouds as a good omen."

"Was clear days for us," Ayumu replied. "Ah wonder why it was a good omen, though? They came so rarely, ya'd think they'd want it t'be a bad one…" she trailed off and they sat quietly.

"Are you still worried about Ms. Tomo?"

"A tad…"

"I'm sure she'll feel better after shooting you a few times." Both giggled weakly at that. After all that had befallen them, all there was to do was laugh. "There's so much we have to do, though… I don't know if we're up to it. I mean, should we wait and learn more before trying to find students, or should we get a big group and all learn together?"

"There was this one fella'…" Ayumu said, in one of her patented 45 degree subject shifts, "Streen… a hermit that lived on Bespin. Nice guy but he hated people…" evidently, she didn't see a contradiction in that, "Ah'd visit him sometimes… we'd talk, y'know? We were really on the same wavelength. Ah think… Ah think he has potential. Oh, hey, Pika Meow Meow!" Maya, who had crept up out of the shadows towards them, snapped at her and curled up by Chiyo's side.

"I have a few in mind myself… but there's something else we have to deal with, too. You know the message capsule Wedge found this morning?"

"Y'mean the one he stuck his hand in t'keep from blowin' up?" Ayumu rubbed her hand in sympathetic pain. "Smashed his hand between those crystals?"

"Yes. Well, the message was for me. Take a look at it." She handed her new student/partner a folded sheet of paper. The message was very simple:

I'M WAITING.
1887288-432340-388372

"What's the numbers?"

"Spatial coordinates. Ayumu… it's Eddore."

Ayumu gasped and dropped the page, but on further reflection broke into a grim smile. "It never ends, eh?"

"I don't think it will for a while…" Chiyo turned herself around and took the measure of the other woman. Was Ayumu ready? Was she? "So we've sat around long enough, don't you think? Let's go."

They stood together and Ayumu withdrew the Dream Knife's keychain. "I guess the Galaxy had better watch out," she said with quiet amusement. "'Cause a two-woman Jedi Order is coming to… uh… I lost the keys."

Chiyo slapped her forehead. Some things never changed.

Finis


Epilogue:

And then, in the dark forests of SRS-174, an evil force stirred! A flock of red birds looked around nervously, feeling the darkness approaching. Little did they realize that this would be the day when—

Zap! With panicked cries, the birds scattered.

"PAH HAA HA HA HAAAA!" the rogue training remote howled after them, "That NEVER gets old!"


Final Author's Note:
Thanks to Pete Zaitcev, who beta-read all 90,000-odd words of the unextended story, and without whom, quite apart from never being finished, this story would be roughly 1/5 as cool.

Thanks to regular reviewers for motivation and suggestions- you know who you are, and anyone who peruses the reviews will as well.

Thanks to Kiyohiko Azuma. You rock.

Thanks to Aaron Alliston, Michael A. Stackpole, Kevin J. Anderson, Timothy Zahn, and George Lucas for ideas and characters that I shamelessly stole and tore apart for my own selfish ends.

Thanks to Doc Smith, author of the Lensman saga and father of the modern Space Opera. I owe the Valerians, the Spacefarer's God Klono and the name Eddore to him, though his Eddorians are much, much scarier than Chiyo-dad. On second thought, I probably should have named his race for the Overlords of Delgon.

Thanks to James Brown, just because.

And finally, thanks to you for coming with me for these 90,000-odd words… and thanks in advance for leaving your final comments! (er, please?)