Flight of the Emerald Tether
Jedi Temple, Atarashi'e, 214 ABY (Four Months after the battle on Coruscant)
Within the cavernous hangars built into the cliffs underneath the Jedi Temple, Riko Nai-Jal was building a starfighter. His gray-white tunic, tan-brown skin, and jet-black hair were matted with sweat and grease. His head was buried in the starfighter's mechanical innards, his green eyes fixed upon his work, hidden behind a set of goggles he never liked to take off. He and his adopted little brother Niner – a small patchwork droid with large, curious green eyes and a wheel instead of legs – sat atop the cylindrical cockpit of a modified TIE-series craft. Before Riko stood the fighter's messy, disassembled sensor array. In his hands were his hydrospanner and a laser welder. He had two simple tasks: install the new fighter's sensor system. The second: modify the sensors with a transceiver which would link it to the Wild Nomad, enabling the two ships to share readings and data easily. This would be crucial to the fighter's role.
Riko screwed the new electrophoto receptors in, careful not to overtighten them or risk damaging the linkage, slowly twisting them in until they felt just right. He repeated the process for all three, until they were all in just right. Poking his head into the hull, he then plugged the linkages to the processor: yellow wire to primary data port, white wire there, red wire here. He carried out these actions whilst guided as much by instinct as by knowledge and technical knowhow.
Tinkering was Riko's meditation. For his active mind, servicing machines was the only task which could calm his racing thoughts and center his being. It was both practical and soothing.
"I've got this smaller bolt fixed," Riko said, "Niner, can you hand me the size-six?"
"Okay!" a reassuring high-pitched, childlike voice issued from Niner's small vocabulator. A panel opened on Niner's narrow chest, from which the little droid retrieved a size-6 hydrospanner, extending outward with his stubby fingers.
"Thanks, Niner," Riko smiled warmly. He turned his focus back towards installing the sensor transponder.
"Artoo," Riko turned towards the Astromech droid inserted into the hull socket to his right, "How are the power linkages?"
"Bweet-Doot!" R2-D2 reported positively. He had served the Jedi Order – and until recently, the Skywalker family – in one way or another for centuries, and in the past year, the aging, reliable, plucky astromech had become Riko's friend through their missions together.
"Alright," Riko said, "We need to finish this final stage together, monitor the signal as I adjust the focus lens."
For the next minute, Riko carefully aligned the lens as Artoo monitored the power level, until Artoo declared that it was aligned.
"I think it's ready!" Riko said eagerly. He sealed the hull paneling below him, "Try out the sensors."
"Dweet-Breet-Veet!" Artoo chirped affirmatively.
"Alright," Val's voice responded over Riko's comm, "Ready to sync up with the fighter."
In the few seconds that the sensor test took, a new idea popped into Riko's mind.
"Cross-referenced with the Nomad's," Val said, "Everything matches. We're good! Get down here!"
As Riko and Niner walked atop the Nomad's hull towards the maintenance lift, Riko thought of the progress he had made. As an initiate at the Temple, he had struggled to lift a single rock. He had been a difficult student: the Force was a phenomenon which he had understood in theory, but struggled to harmonize with in his own life. Yet, he had overcome the challenges, the fears, doubts, and difficulties which had hindered his connection to it, and now here he was.
Even after four years of study and practice, Riko was still discovering more about the energy which came from life and weaved into the fabric of the universe. Limits he had once believed himself to hold. Through the Force, seemingly anything was possible, and Riko was eager to keep exploring more.
Riko's sense of caution tempered his excitement: he thought of the dangers this eagerness to explore could entail if brought too far.
He and Niner walked off the ship's hull onto the maintenance lift. Riko listened to the clanking sounds of gears turning as the mechanism lowered the platform and its occupants to the ground.
Riko stepped off – and Niner rolled off – the platform onto the floor. A few feet away, down the Nomad's landing ramp came a tall mercenary in a jumpsuit adorned by gleaming black armor, his most notable feature being a full helmet with a glowing yellow T-visor, the left side of which was marked by a long, bleeding gash painted in scarlet hues.
Most people would run at the sight of such a man. Instead, Riko felt a warm camaraderie as his biological father walked up to him and ruffled his hair.
"Well done, kid," Val said, "Well done."
Riko used to struggle to read facial expressions. Reflecting back upon an old test Kali'sto had given him when he was little, Riko guessed that Val was smiling beneath the helmet. As Val removed it, Riko felt pride in the fact that he had guessed right.
"No problem, bu-er," Riko still struggled to pronounce the Mando'a word for dad. He kept practicing, though. One day, he'd get it right.
The two walked out and looked upon the Wild Nomad and its brand new auxiliary craft, the results of their dedicated labor.
Val's pride and joy, the Wild Nomad was a scarred gunship. A Mark V Samsa class transport, the vessel was built in the likeness of an armored Samsa beetle, and boasted a variety of weapons obvious and hidden, most notably a turbolaser mounted on a track on its hull and two forward ion cannons which resembled pincers. It was a durable ship which had taken beating after beating – boasting a variety of black-pitted scars and replacement panels – yet still endured. Over the past year and a half, it had become something of a home for Riko.
On their first mission together, the Nomad's auxiliary craft – an elegant Sorosuub patrol pod known as the Vagrant - had been destroyed ferrying Riko and company to their destination. Throughout the last six months, the ship's docking nook had remained empty.
Until now.
The new vessel had been built over the course of three long months, based on Val's imagination and designs issued by a retired starship designer from Chelaal Industries, and built from parts scrounged up from multiple salvage yards and whatever resources Riko, Val, Niner, and Artoo could take from the Jedi's stores. Now, their hard work had borne fruit.
Built from the frame of a TIE/w/s Shadow fighter, the scout fighter sported a geometrically-paned viewport at the front of a cylindrical cockpit, attached to which were a set of long, thin, triangular S-foils. It had seats for a pilot and copilot, and was agile enough to contend with many starfighter models. Thanks to many hours of tinkering and modifications, it was capable of docking with the Wild Nomad. The fighter's wings were folded under its fuselage as it now nested comfortably within the Nomad's docking nook.
Jade would probably compare it to a bird, Riko mused as he surveyed the ship before him. He really wished she could see it now.
"You thinking of Jade again?" Val asked.
"Yeah," Riko admitted. Over the past few months, he worked to accept that Jade was no longer a part of his life. It had been difficult: he had tried to focus on what was in front of him: his training, the next mission, tinkering, studying, everything he could. Jade had felt she needed to leave, and had done so.
"I think she'd love to fly this," Val agreed somberly.
He then gestured his arm towards himself, which Riko assumed meant to come closer. He and Niner obliged.
"I just got a tip from a pilot," Val said, "Apparently, there was a stowaway on a transport heading down the Braxant Run. Her hair was red, but apart from that, she matched Jade's description. She was caught leaving the ship once they landed on Fodro. They lost her in the crowd."
"So Jade's on Fodro?" Riko asked excitedly. He presumed that Jade could have dyed her hair, for personal reasons or to conceal her identity. The thought saddened him: her natural blonde-streaked mahogany hair was beautiful.
"Could be," Val said, "This happened two months ago, I only got the report now."
Riko's response was something between flaring nostrils and a sigh. So much could have happened since that report. Jade could still be on Fodro, or have fled offworld. Or maybe the stowaway wasn't even her. Out of the trillions of beings in the galaxy, there were likely millions of human teenage girls smuggling themselves on ships across the galaxy.
"I know it's hard, kid," Val said, "We're still keeping our eyes open. We'll find her."
"I hope so," Riko said glumly.
"I think she's ready to fly," Val gestured back to the fighter, "Let's give her a test run, what do you say?"
"Sure!" Riko said, before a new thought slipped into his mind.
"Wait," he said quickly, "I should get everyone. I'll go get Dad."
"Okay," Val said, "I'll grab Bao."
"Come on, Niner!" Riko called the little droid to follow him.
The two brothers walked and rolled through the crowded hangar, gracefully weaving through the myriad of droids – pill-shaped 4R-series astromechs and broad, spindly MT5 loadlifters – and fellow mechanically-oriented Jedi, all of whom were operating on T-Wing Rapier fighters, spire-like L-Wing light shuttles, broad-winged Ksilworm-class shuttles, and various freighters and transports docked within the hangar. All of these ships were seeing wear, and required care to maintain their operation.
As they walked through the Temple's austere stone hallways, Riko and Niner wove their way through a myriad of Jedi, droids, and support staff. Some were having discussions, others were moving crates or supplies, it was busy, yet well-organized.
All things Jedi pass through here, the new saying went. As the Omnists raided Jedi outposts across the galaxy, more and more Jedi, artifacts, and such found their way here at some point.
There was a sense of calculation here that Riko hadn't felt before. Selected Jedi Knights always stood guard, patrolling the halls, balconies, and surrounding mountains and lakes. A curfew was rigidly enforced by the Masters, and the padawans were not permitted beyond a certain point without supervision by a Knight or Master. Deflector shields had been installed, and squadrons of T-Wing Rapier fighters were kept on standby, ready to be manned by pilots in the event of an emergency. Already attacked once by Asharr's forces, the Temple had become a fortress.
As he reached the chamber he sought, Riko decided to put such thoughts aside for another time.
Before him lay a vast chamber, its walls stacked with shelves from floor to ceiling, upon which stood a myriad of datadisks, old paper books, and even a few geometric crystal holocrons, containing the preserved wisdom of the Jedi and a myriad of other scholars and cultures from centuries back. Though Riko knew it was far smaller than the massive library of the Jedi of the Old Republic, it was still a very impressive catalog filled with great wisdom.
The archive's two most frequent visitors and caretakers were both present, a centenarian and an armored, cloaked figure sat at a table, and engrossed in conversation. The elder man was a tall, reedy humanoid known as a Vie'vantae, with bark-like skin, root-like hair, and vivid, multicolored eyes. He was dressed like a traveler, with a heavy jacket and a large shoulder bag. Strapped onto his right leg was a metal brace, to mitigate the damage of an old injury. Leaning on the table was his long amber coral staff.
As Riko grew closer, he realized that he and his acquaintance, a Jedi Knight named Tyro Kalda who followed the offshoot Jensaarai tradition, were discussing Keshri history.
"Viranna's philosophy is quite empathetic," Kali'sto's voice was a rich, lively rasp, "Passion and…"
He looked towards Riko and smiled with both warmth and a hint of anticipation. Kali'sto had once been a Jedi, before casting off that mantle and spending centuries as many things, including a traveler, historian, storyteller, and father.
"Excuse me, Kalda," Kali'sto said.
"Of course," Tyro Kalda replied, "This has been my pleasure, Kali'sto."
The green-skinned Miraluka woman rose to her feet, as did Kali'sto. They both bowed to each other respectfully. Kalda walked away, while Kali'sto grabbed his staff and walked towards Riko.
"Riko," Kali'sto said warmly, "Is it ready?"
"Yeah, it is!" Riko had a familiar enthusiasm, that of a child proud of his accomplishments, "We're ready to fly, Dad!"
"Let us go, then!" Kali'sto said eagerly. Father and son walked back through the halls towards the hangar, until they reached the Wild Nomad and her new docked craft. Eyeing the avian-esque TIE, Kali'sto whistled in admiration.
As Riko and company walked towards the landing ramp, Val descended down to meet them. Beside him hovered a state-of-the art – though slightly dinged – blue D0-series medical droid with a biomonitor on its face and eight limbs protruding from her legless torso. Her chest-mounted photoreceptors tilted upwards in what Riko recognized as pride.
"You're clearly proud of yourselves, boys," MD-D0C – Val's longtime crewmate – noted warmly, "Well done."
"Bao's busy at the moment," Val said, "Grand Master duties."
Riko's excitement was only slightly tempered by the absence of his master. Ever since the Jedi had chosen him as their interim leader, Bao Sklar-Pierce had taken on a much grander responsibility. He was no longer just Riko's mentor or Val's friend, he and his fellow masters had to govern the Jedi Order. His presence as a member of the Wild Nomad's crew had sadly diminished, and though he still found the time to train his apprentice every day, Riko found he missed his master's presence beyond their role. He missed the tight-nit intimacy the crew had shared, however briefly.
"Wait," Val pointed to the hangar door, "There he is."
A tall, dark-eyed Trandoshan clad in brown Jedi robes was walking through the doorway.
"Bao!" Riko said. He felt a surprising mix of emotions upon seeing Bao here, not all of them positive.
"Well done, Riko," Bao's voice was its usual deep, formal, rasp.
"Bao!" Val said eagerly, "You told me you were in a war council meeting."
"It just finished," Bao-Sklar Pierce grinned toothily, "I'm glad I was still able to make it."
"Thanks…," Riko replied unsteadily, "Master."
His extended family was gathered around him, marveling at the achievement they had made. The moment was almost perfect.
The feeling made him unpleasant, and suddenly he felt unsteady. He felt an emotional pressure release within him, an unsettling feeling of anger and grief and rage and sadness and regret and all other kinds of emotions, all at once, flooding him.
"You okay, kid?" Val asked.
Riko ignored him, and bolted into the Nomad. He had to get away, he needed to be alone.
He ran for the cargo bay and sealed the door behind him.
"Riko!" Niner said, "Is you okay…"
"I just need to be alone!" Riko said.
"Riko," Bao started to say…
"Get away!" Riko said, "She's gone, and it's our fault! Our fault, our fault…" Riko kept whispering the words again and again and again and again, the same thought building within him again and again as he let a flood of regrets and buildup overwhelm and consume him into a singularity of warped emotion, all of it centered around the fact that Jade was gone. She had been consumed by her loss, left adrift, and Riko had failed to help her. She had needed him, she had needed him, and he failed. He failed.
"I failed," Riko said, "Jade needed me, and I failed."
No one followed him in.
He let himself collapse to the floor, curling up on himself.
"I failed her," Riko said, "How could she leave me? How could she leave us?"
Jade was the strongest person Riko had known, and yet she had fallen apart. She had abandoned him, abandoned him…
"Abandoned me," Riko said, "Abandoned me…"
She had needed to, and it was his fault. He had failed. Everything came upon him in a single moment, and he truly, completely, felt the complete, agonizing wound that was at the heart of his being, the feeling of utter loss that he had held with Jade's leaving him. The connection between them was gone, absent, barely present, aimless over the vast gulf in the stars that separated them now. Jade had left him, and despite her promise to find him again when she was ready, he didn't know if he'd ever see her again.
It was all around him, and it was all too much.
The door opened. Bao walked into the room, and Riko started to straighten out…
"Don't," Bao said, "Padawan, just be."
Riko paused, then he decided to stay curled up. It helped him let everything flow out.
"I can't believe I couldn't help her," Riko's anger and sadness roiled and mixed together as a raging storm, "I thought I could help her, I thought I could help her get through this, like she helped me. How… why couldn't we do this? Why couldn't we help her?"
A moment passed before Bao replied,
"Jade carried too much on her shoulders," Bao said, "You're right, Riko. I did fail to help her. If I had been more open, or more understanding of my own feelings, maybe I could have helped her feel less alone. Maybe then she wouldn't have left."
Both of them kept their distance from Riko. Niner rolled towards Riko, only for him to scootch away. He didn't want to be next to anyone.
"Even Jedi fail," Bao said, "That's simply inevitable. After all, we are only mortals, Riko."
Riko mused, and the tsunami of his emotions receded a little bit.
"There's just so much," Riko said, "I don't want it! I don't want it!"
A moment passed before anyone responded and Riko sobbed, his own grief flooding him.
"You know she's still alive, Riko," Bao said, "She's still out there, she's…"
"I don't ever want to see her again," Riko said. The words burned with an inner fire as he spewed them out, "I don't want her to hurt me again. I don't want to get hurt again! I don't want to get close again, never!"
He mused that it was better this way. No attachments, after all, was a part of the Jedi Code. A moment passed before anyone spoke.
"Riko," Bao said, "I can guess what you're thinking. You're musing on the Jedi code, aren't you?"
Riko paused, a mixture of sensations moving through his mind in response, relief among them.
He nodded.
"Riko, attachment and love are not the same thing. Empathy, compassion, connection, a desire to be with another person, the joy of sharing their company, love," Bao let the last word sink in before he continued, "These are all intrinsic, natural emotions that should be celebrated. We must accept these parts of ourselves, at all times. Connection, this is where our greatest strength is found. In the Force, in our hearts, in our friends, our family, all are one. That is the truth of what a Jedi must be."
"But," Riko said, "What about the greater good? Aren't I supposed to let go?"
"Yes and no," Bao nodded, "Acceptance is about being willing to feel everything that comes with these connections. We accept them, and thus let them go. To live them without fear. Loss, grief, sadness, absence, guilt, these are things every person must face, especially a Jedi.
When I discovered who Tau Skywalker truly was, I felt my life fundamentally shift. I questioned everything I had come to accept, every teaching, every cornerstone of who I am. I continued to act because the galaxy needed us, but I was unsure of myself and I questioned if I could have stopped it. If I could have saved my master from what he had become, had I known. Could I have saved him? Was I tainted from his teachings? Was I still a worthy Jedi, a worthy master?"
Riko started to uncurl as Bao spoke, resting his feet on the floor and watching Bao as he continued,
"I let my fear and self-doubt prevent me from helping Jade. And by the time I understood myself and my master, I had let that gulf widen for too long, and it was too late. I deserve as much of the blame as you do, Riko, perhaps more so. I knew what she was feeling perhaps more than you did, and I did nothing. You didn't, and yet you made every effort to be there for her."
"You are very mature for your age Riko, but don't forget that we always have more to learn, at every stage in our lives."
Riko listened carefully, and paused. He felt shook to his core, the emotions receding, perhaps from weariness, perhaps from understanding, and empathy.
Riko moved to his feet, walked towards Bao, and hugged him. Bao writhed in his grasp, hissing, and Riko moved back.
"Sorry, Bao!" Riko said, "Sorry."
"Trandoshans don't appreciate physical touch in quite the same way as you humanoids," Bao explained, shuddering.
"Sorry," Riko repeated.
Bao's laugh was a reptilian siss, "It is alright, Riko."
He placed his hand on the young man's shoulder, "I am so proud of you, my padawan."
"Thank you," Riko smiled, "Master."
Bao matched Riko's expression with a toothy smile. For a long time, the two sat together in silence. "Now come," Bao said, "Perhaps we can test out the fighter together, shall we?"
"Right now?" Riko asked.
"Perhaps we could meditate or spar first, if you wish," Bao said, "But I find that exhilaration can help me center myself as much as rest."
Riko thought about how he felt for a moment.
"Actually," he finally said, "I want to test-fly it, but there's one more thing I want to do first."
Riko, Bao, Val, Artoo, and Niner spent the next hour applying a paint scheme to the Tether's hull. When they finished, the air had a faint sour reek of quick-drying spraypaint that Riko tuned out with a Jedi breathing exercise. He looked once again upon the ship, now beautifully colored in an emerald-green base with brown and red accents.
Bao grinned widely. Kali'sto smiled and placed his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Congratulations, Riko," he said, "You should be proud!"
Their enthusiasm fueled Riko's own.
"She's amazing!" Riko smiled eagerly, "I love it!"
"We did it!" Niner shook with excitement, Artoo joining him in a hail of cheers and exclamations in binary.
"She'll need a name," Val mused as his gaze turned towards the embarked craft.
"What did you have in mind?" Riko asked. He almost giggled as he reflected upon his father's precedent of choosing names such as the Wild Nomad and the Vagrant…
"Actually," Val placed his hand on Riko's shoulder, "I was thinking you could name it."
"Me?" Riko asked.
Val's response made Riko realize just how bizarre the sight of a Mandalorian nodding with his helmet on looked.
"Well," Riko's thoughts raced as he mused on the question, his gaze passing over the ship's design as he tried to think of a fitting name.
"Designate that Giant Metal Moth!" Niner suggested excitedly.
"I don't know…" Riko attempted to politely explain that he absolutely disliked that suggestion.
"The Oxpecker?" Bao suggested nonchalantly.
"Um," Riko didn't like that one either, "Sorry Master, but maybe not…"
"Dow-weet-breet-beep," Artoo suggested.
"No," Val replied, "We are not calling her that." Artoo blew him an electronic raspberry in response.
"Perhaps you should choose something personal…" Kali'sto mused.
Riko decided to tune out their suggestions. He mused again on his comparison of the ship to a nested bird, maybe he could draw inspiration from a bird's name. Or maybe he could draw upon some other feature of the craft, like its TIE line origins or its role as a scout/stealth craft.
Or the fact that he had painted it green and brown. Colors of earth, life…Jade's favorite colors.
"The Emerald Tether?" Riko suggested.
"Emerald Tether?" Val asked with a hint of skepticism.
"Yeah," Riko said with greater confidence, "The Emerald Tether."
"Hmm," Val mused, "Alright. The Emerald Tether it is."
Riko still felt a flood of emotions within him, but it had been released, no longer bottled up like it had been before.
The crew boarded the Nomad and prepared to set off. As Riko watched, Val opened the hatch in the Nomad's docking nook, then he turned towards the rest of the gathered crew.
"I'll take the Nomad out," Val said, "Emdee, you fly copilot with me."
"I haven't had to fly the ship in months," Emdee grumbled, "Why did you bring that up?"
Val's answer was a simple gesture of his arm towards Emdee. Emdee rarely performed any tasks outside of her original medical programming without a degree of well-communicated reluctance.
"Sorry Emdee, you're still part of this crew," Val said, "Plus, I'm flying the Nomad, so you're my copilot right now. It's tradition."
Emdee rotated her monitor and torso and veered off. Kali'sto smiled wistfully as he followed her to the cockpit.
"I wish I could go," Niner's frame drooped with disappointment.
"Sorry, little brother," Riko lowered himself to his knees to face the droid at eye-level, "The fighter only seats two."
"You might be able to fit into the space at the back if you magnetize your wheel," Niner's frame rose up and his eyes brightened with excitement as Riko spoke, "But I don't want to test that out just yet."
"I want to go now!" Niner said.
"It would be pretty cramped," Riko replied, "And in an emergency, it wouldn't be as easy for you to get out."
Silently, he mused that he could upgrade Niner's jetpack to operate in atmosphere as well as space. Perhaps a repulsorlift would help…
"Have fun on this first one, then!" Niner replied.
"Right," Val said, "We should get started. Have fun, kid!"
Val and Niner returned to the Nomad's cockpit. Bao, Riko, and Artoo walked through the hatch into the Tether. The auxiliary fighter's small interior was small, only three meters long, with its seats swung back against the floor at the bow and a hatch in the back. All of this was contained within a cylinder with a geometrically paned canopy which ran from the bow to much of the dorsal hull. Artoo moved into the aft hatch.
Bao climbed into the pilot's seat, laying down and swinging his legs up. Riko did the same in the copilot's seat behind him, an experience which he found disorienting.
"Orienting seats," Bao warned. A second later, Riko felt a lurch as the seats gently swung forward into position, his perspective and center of gravity shifting in five seconds.
"Reengaging astromech interface," Riko flicked a switch on his control panel. Mechanical claws within the slot affixed themselves to Artoo's frame, then shot him up the slot until his head and chassis vanished from sight, leaving only his feet visible. Riko couldn't see it from here, but he knew Artoo's head was popping out of the hull. It had taken a month to acquire the parts needed to customize a navigator's slot for an astromech this old, but their previous tests had worked quite effectively.
"Breet-Veet-Dreet!" Artoo affirmed.
"Standing by to lift off!" Bao declared.
"Let's go, Emdee," Val said over comms.
Riko felt the Nomad lift off through the vibrations in the deckplates and watched through the canopy as the heavy transport flew out of the hangar and into Susevfi's midday sky. Riko's anticipation built as the Nomad rose up into the air and flew across the Temple grounds.
"Our mass-to-thrust ratio is stable," Val reported, "Any kinks on your end?"
"Dweet-Beet-Veet!"Artoo reported. All systems on the Tether were stable.
"Alright," Val said, "Let's see what she can do."
"Standing by to disconnect clamps," Bao said.
"Get ready to hold on, kids!" Val said.
Bao looked back towards Riko, and smiled.
Riko flashed a similar, albeit less toothy grin. Bao turned back towards the viewport and grabbed a pulley mounted on the wall.
"Disconnecting now!" Bao pulled it. Panels shifted and couplings disconnected within the Nomad's hull. Riko felt a lurch as the Emerald Tether was launched forward, emerging from the Nomad's portside docking nook and soaring out into the sky, its ion engines roaring to life and its S-foils unfolding into a pair of sharp-triangular wings.
Bao quickly looped the fighter around, swooping around the huts, tall pagodas, and ancient ruins that made up the Temple's uppermost level before veering off to fly past the lakes and mountains which surrounded it. Riko saw a swarm of dots which enlarged into red insect-like outlines, recognizing them as Viro-Moths before Bao veered the fighter to the right, away from them. The fighter veered up, the wind a muffled roar as it buffeted the ascending craft. Bao then swung downwards, Riko felt a lurch as the fighter dropped. The cloud layer gave way to a clear, gleaming sea that reflected the afternoon sun. Riko's eyes briefly flashed to the domed dots and specks of Vialam, a neighboring coastal town populated by a tribe of Matukai, before all sights of the landmass faded. He saw the sea ripple with movement as hoversailcraft circled the waves, and beyond those, the water's surface being broken by giant finned Gaan-eels.
The fighter rose up a few hundred feet, then slowed to a more leisurely speed. As the ship slowed down, Riko realized he was laughing.
"Breet-Deet-Dweet!" Artoo declared.
"Let's head for orbit," Bao suggested, "Padawan?"
"Let's do it!" Riko agreed eagerly. Bao then took the fighter and veered it upward. Riko's eyes darted between his display and the viewport as the ship climbed into the atmosphere. As they passed through a layer of cloud, Riko heard a rapidfire thump as drops of water impacted the fighter. Soon, the clouds gave way and Atarashi'ie's multicolored sky gave way to stars as the ship ascended into space. Soon, it ceased climbing and simply shot forward, through the void.
Bao veered the ship to the left, turning it into an elliptical orbit that placed Atarashi'ie to their port side. Riko was transfixed by the iridescent planet that made up much of the vista he saw, blanketed in a layer of clouds and gases which appeared to neatly encircle the planet.
"All systems are green," Bao said, "Well done, Riko."
"Thank you," Riko smiled, "Master."
He thought back to the ship itself, and all the work he had helped put into it. The Emerald Tether would be a perfect complement to the Wild Nomad and her crew. And it was a beautiful, graceful, nimble ship.
Riko knew that he had built the ship for Jade as much as Val and himself. She would have loved it.
He hoped that someday, she could fly it.