Jar Jar was just as clumsy as ever, though he seemed to have matured quite a bit. He wasn't as… childish was the nicest term she could say. Just as she had suspected, however, he didn't recognize her.
From what she had gathered on the trip to Coruscant (which was now called the Imperial Center), Emperor Palpatine had left the planet for an unknown reason. Darth Vader was nowhere near the core, so she didn't have to worry about that… though what she would do when he returned was completely beyond her. What if he recognized her? Despite her confident portrayal to her family, she was very afraid of Vader discovering her identity. After all, she could never hide herself from her own husband.
No, she told herself. Ani is dead. No matter how many times she repeated that, though, she just couldn't get herself to believe it. How could she be this irrational? It was obvious that he wasn't the same wonderful person who was so full of life and love.
It had been three days since her arrival on Imperial Center, and she had already helped Jar Jar avoid some major mishaps with other senators and Imperial Inquisitors. However, she had noticed that he had learned some subtlety. She didn't realize that her supposed death would affect him in such a way.
They were now in the senate building, discussing some issues with getting supplies to a backwater planet with a mainly non-Human population, thus garnering no help from the Empire. Padmé suddenly froze in mid-sentence when she heard the voice of her closest friend in the senate: Bail Organa.
"Senator Organa," Jar Jar said with a smile. "Let mesa introducen yousa to mesa new aide, Cordé Tarix."
Bail nodded to acknowledge her when he suddenly paused, eyes narrowing before widening in shock. He stood flabbergasted for a moment before continuing with his nod and saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Cordé."
"The pleasure is all mine, Senator Organa," Padmé replied with a bow. "How is your daughter?"
"She is in good health," Bail quickly replied. "She is quite feisty, I might add, but she has a tender heart. Actually, she looks almost exactly like you."
Padmé held the tears back as she smiled and nodded her head. "I'm very glad to hear it, senator."
Their conversation came to an abrupt end when a thin and pale woman with straight black hair gathered to the crown of her head approached them. She wore a yellow gown with long wide sleeves and designs of red flowers on them. Over the yellow gown was a sleeveless red silk dress that layered the lower half of her body. The dress flowed gracefully down to the floor. This was Senator Miko Demora, the senator from Nihoma.
They all exchanged bows of respect and courtesy before the senator smiled and held out two data cards to Jar Jar and Bail.
"On my home planet of Nihoma, we are celebrating a festival called Mmoma Ie," Senator Demora explained. "It is to celebrate our unification under one rule. We would be honored if you would join us in Noriyuki City in two weeks' time to celebrate with us."
As she was talking, Padmé and Bail exchanged wary glances. Senator Demora herself didn't seem to be a horrible woman, but her planet was highly loyal to the Empire. Going to Nihoma for any reason could be risky. However, her next statement caught their attention:
"Other distinguished senators such as you are also going to be attending: Senator Mothma, Senator Bel Iblis—"
She continued listing other senators, some of whom were loyalists who had been part of the Delegation of Two Thousand that had failed so miserably just prior to the Republic's fall. Perhaps this party would be worth attending, after all.
When she finished talking, Bail immediately bowed. "I would be more than happy to attend, Senator Demora."
Jar Jar looked at Bail and then Padmé. Padmé was suddenly thankful that the Gungan had learned the powers of observation, for he also agreed and bowed, though in his own somewhat clumsy and informal manner.
This would certainly be interesting.
Palpatine's fleet had been investigating Death Squadron's last known location for almost two weeks now with no success whatsoever. It was actually starting to become a little disconcerting.
As Palpatine meditated upon this, he received a transmission from the bridge. The hologram flickered to life to reveal the admiral who had been leading the fleet.
"Admiral Pescer, what is the status of the search in this system?" Palpatine asked half-heartedly since his mind was still on his meditation.
"We actually have found something of consequence, Your Imperial Majesty," the admiral said in an earnest tone. "Our long range sensors have picked up debris. From what we can see, it's Alliance and Imperial alike. We suspect that there must have been a large battle that happened recently."
"Where has this debris been found?"
"Around Dantooine, sire."
"Interesting," Palpatine muttered to himself before ordering the admiral to take the fleet to Dantooine to investigate further.
Lo was so excited! He had been feeling horrible the entire trip to Nihoma, but now he was actually going to see the planet! He couldn't remember seeing anything except for the ships he had been living on, so this was just too exciting to ignore. He pushed his pains aside and made sure no one noticed; if they did he wouldn't be allowed to go and he couldn't have that happen!
Luke had been hanging out in Lo's room since he had nothing to do. Apparently the others just avoided him for fear of getting bruised ankles. Lo liked his company; it made him feel like the others were around for some reason, so it kept him calm and content. However, even Luke's presence wasn't going to keep him still this time. He couldn't wait to see Nihoma!
A small beep emitted from his door, and he knew immediately that it was the others. He opened the door and they all entered, sitting down and facing him fully.
"Now Lo, you have to listen to us about this," Kerrick said. "No finding loopholes and no exceptions."
"Okay," Lo said quickly.
"We're going to let you go down to Nihoma with us since we're taking leave there," Moeema explained. "However, you are to stay near us at all times. If anyone ever asks what your name is, just say Lo. If they ask for your rank, say you're a lieutenant, okay? Never wander away from the group, Lo, no matter what you see. Are we clear?"
Lo nodded excitedly. "Can we go now?"
Jifo shook his head. "Not yet. We still have one more hour to go before we arrive. In that hour, you need to clean yourself up and get ready to go. We'll meet you in—"
"Hangar bay 8, I got it!" Lo said happily as he stood up. "I'll see you guys in an hour!"
They all smiled and nodded, leaving the room.
"Well that didn't go horribly," Jifo commented. "At least he agreed to stay with us."
"Yeah," Moeema laughed. "All younglings say whatever you want them to say and then do their own thing. We have to keep a close eye on him when we land. Where's Koby, anyway? He was supposed to be here as well."
Jifo shrugged. "He said he was too busy on the bridge. In fact, he said he couldn't join us on Nihoma because of his duties."
"Are you serious?" Zhymmia asked, surprised. "I thought he would welcome the break. From what I've heard, whenever people get shore leave Kobayashi takes them all out for socializing."
Jifo nodded. "Yeah, that's how I got to know him. We had liberty on Corulag when I first arrived and he took me to all the great restaurants and bars and everything. I had a blast."
"He's been acting so curiously lately," Kerrick sighed. "I don't know what's gotten into him."
"Well, there is one thing I do know," Shiine noted.
"What's that?"
"Little One's not going to let him stay on that bridge."
Everyone laughed and agreed before preparing to disembark the Executor.
Just one more door…
Lo panted as he ran his legs off to get to the hangar bay. He wanted to get there as fast as possible, so sometimes he pushed even harder and it almost seemed as if he flew by the people in the hallway, who would then shout out in surprise.
As he reached the door that led to the hangar, he suddenly came to a screeching halt. Wait a minute…
Closing his eyes, he reached out to feel who was in there: Captain Grumpy, Commander Jerk, Lieutenant Commander Jerkette, Ress, Kerrick, Zhymmia, Carh'la, Rowan, Ooke, Marrax, Katsure, Wefaskan, Ran, Naren, Quan, Moeema, Dev, Zekk, Tej, Faelgrom, Kirana, Wen, Frevik, Numel, Shiine, Jifo, Freja, and Salth. However, he did not feel Kobayashi. Where was Koby?
Keeping his eyes closed, Lo called out for Koby. He felt him on the bridge. What was he doing there of all places?
Immediately disregarding every rule he had been told about staying off the bridge, Little One ran to the turbolift and punched for Deck 85. The instant he arrived, he went straight to Kobayashi and, without a word, dragged him back to the hangar.
"What—are—what?" Koby stuttered, breathless.
"Hey, Koby!" Jifo shouted, waving. "I didn't think you were coming!"
"I—I'm not," Kobayashi replied…
Or at least he was about to reply before Little One shouted, "Of course he's coming!"
"What? I'm not going, Lo!" Kobayashi protested.
"Why not?"
"Because—because I have duties to attend to."
"Like what?"
"Like—like overseeing ensigns and others."
"Can't they oversee themselves?"
"No, I—I have to stay here."
"No you don't."
"Little One, I'm not going!"
Lo looked at him sadly. "But… I thought we were all going…"
"Well… w-well I—I…" Kobayashi stammered, looking at Lo before finally sighing.
Little One didn't understand why Koby didn't want to go. Was it something he said? Did he do something wrong? Why didn't he want to be with him?
Kobayashi sighed again and shook his head, saying, "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"
Lo's spirits blasted through the roof and he excitedly grabbed Kobayashi's arm and ran as fast as he could toward the others, paying no attention to Koby's yell of panic.
"All right, everyone's here," Rowan said. "Since there are so many of us, we're going to divide onto three different ships with ten on each ship. Shuttlecraft Vindicator will carry Capt. Mentzer, Cdr. Katsure, Lt Cdr. Tade, Lt. Niedra, Lt. Reukli, 1st Lt. Zarbo, 2nd Lt. Vang, Ens. Mothezsh, Ens. Goodner, and Ens. Flast. Shuttlecraft Retribution will carry me, Lt Cdr. Chelcu, Lt. Sanus, Lt. Beillane, Lt. Lo, 1st Lt. Serr, Ens. Kenzee, Trooper RE-793, Trooper TK-421, and Trooper TK-875. Shuttlecraft Extinguisher will carry Lt Cdr. Norhek, Lt. Tunrott, Lt. Vrei, 2nd Lt. Sonter, Ens. Hu, Ens. Tavik, Ens. Corman, Ens. Noko, Trooper QB-792, and Trooper JD-288."
Lo began to walk towards the Retribution where his group was beginning to board. Kobayashi walked alongside him. The people he would be traveling with all knew him well. Rowan, Kerrick, Numel, Koby, and Zhymmia were the ones he was closest to. Ress (RE-793, though Lo hated calling him that) was the next most well-known. Then came First Lieutenant Dev Serr, a kind man with broad shoulders, a stout build, and a pleasant personality, and TK-421, whose name was Faelgrom Doneta, a tall blonde-haired blue-eyed man with a strict demeanor. The other trooper, TK-875 was Frevik Orana, a thin man with little to no pride, though he had a compassionate heart.
After boarding the Retribution, they walked back to the crew compartment. The crew area was a box that held six seats on the port and six on the starboard. The seats faced each other.
Lo sat on the starboard side between Kobayashi and Numel. Kobayashi was awfully silent as the pilots did preflight checks, so Lo talked to Numel instead.
"What's Nihoma like, Numel? Is it pretty?" he asked.
Numel laughed. "From what I've heard, Little One, it's beautiful… as well as its women!"
"Why are you always talking about women?"
"What—how could you not want to talk about women? You know, they provide everything a man needs in life—love, hugs, kisses—"
Numel paused before asking, "Hey, hey, have you ever kissed before?"
"What's a kiss?"
"Force, you're deprived! Don't you worry, Little One, I, Numel Sanus, am going to set you up on a date!" Numel laughed.
Bewildered, Lo turned to Kobayashi. "Numel talks about the weirdest things."
"Yeah…" Koby muttered.
"What's wrong, Koby?"
"I…" Kobayashi shook his head and looked Lo in the eye. "Little One, when we land on Nihoma, you have to call me Romi Bha, okay? I—just call me that."
"Okay…" Lo said awkwardly. "Why are you so tense?"
"Nothing's wrong," Kobayashi quickly replied, wringing his hands nervously.
He could tell that something was definitely wrong, but the moment the shuttle's engines roared to life, all his worries vanished and were quickly replaced with a flood of enthusiasm.
The other occupants were all chattering amongst themselves as everyone waited to set foot on Nihoma. They would be landing in the capital, Noriyuki City. From what Lo had read about it, it was considered one of the most beautiful sites in its sector.
Five minutes later, the ship shuddered as the landing gear touched the ground. They had arrived.
Lo immediately leapt to his feet only for Kerrick and most of the others to grab a hold of him.
"Don't forget, Lo, that you have to stay close to us," Kerrick reminded him.
"I know, I know!" Lo said quickly. "Come on, let's go!"
Kerrick giggled and released Little One, who immediately ran to the ramp and bounced on his heels while waiting for it to lower. The moment it did, he rushed down and paused, taking in the first view he saw.
The spaceport the Retribution had landed in was made out of transparent weather-proof bubbles. Immediately, Lo could see through the diamond-shaped patterns and caught his first glimpse of Noriyuki City.
From what he could see, the view was breathtaking. Tall steel-colored rectangular skyscrapers tore into the skyline. The skyscrapers had royal blue curved roofs sticking out in numerous places making it look like more than one building was stacked on top of each other. However, the skyscrapers didn't populate the center of the city. Apparently something lower did, but Lo couldn't see it from where he was. Around the skyscrapers were shorter buildings with similar architecture. There wasn't too much sky traffic; most of the population went about by foot. The entire city was snuggled in a valley with monstrous but cozy mountains surrounding it on three sides.
The third shuttlecraft, the Extinguisher, landed shortly after Lo's shuttle arrived. The passengers disembarked, some whooping for joy while others stood in awe and more merely smiled contently and moved on. The three shuttles powered down and the pilots climbed out to join the rest of the group.
Immediately the groups separated into smaller segments which included people who knew each other well and wanted to explore the city together. Others, like the captain himself, went on their own to explore.
"It's so beautiful here," Lo said as his friends gathered around and led him outside the spaceport.
"Yes, it is," Moeema agreed.
"Koby, I don't see how you could not like it here," Jifo said to Kobayashi, who immediately stiffened upon hearing his name.
"Just call me Romi Bha here, okay?" he muttered under his breath, though loud enough so they could hear.
"Romi Bha?" everyone repeated, just as confused as Lo had been originally.
As soon as they had exited the dome that held their shuttle, they entered into another dome where hundreds of people were milling about. It was the terminal area where people roamed to prepare for their flights or where they gathered their luggage and left. Wait… luggage?
"Oops," Lo mumbled. It wasn't like he had anything to pack, anyway…
He felt even worse when he saw his friends grabbing duffle bags and hoisting them over their shoulders. Marrax approached Lo.
"Where's your bag, Little One?" he asked.
"I… I didn't know I would need one." Little One shrugged before worriedly asking, "You're not going to send me back up there, are you?"
"Of course not," Marrax laughed and put a reassuring hand no Lo's shoulder. "You can just share with us."
Lo excitedly thanked Marrax with a large hug before bouncing into the air happily. The rest of the group caught up and after a quick explanation from Marrax, heaved a collective sigh or chuckle before walking out of the spaceport.
Waiting for them were JG-8 luxury landspeeders lined one in front of the other. They were all different colors with designs on them. They were open cockpit and passenger, and seated two passengers. Moeema was paired with Lo and the two headed towards a black speeder with designs of tan, purple, and green leaves. The seats were made of comfortable tan leather that conformed to the person who sat on it.
Little One sat beside Moeema and leaned back, looking around and enjoying the pleasurable breeze that played with his face. He had never felt a breeze like this before; it felt so good! He loved this planet!
The luxury speeders in front had already been filled and were firing their engines. The speeder Lo and Moeema were in maneuvered around the others and went ahead. They were on their way to Noriyuki City.
Moeema sighed contently as she sat down beside Vader. She had never been to Nihoma before, so this would be a very enjoyable shore leave. However, Kobayashi's odd behavior was concerning her.
Her thoughts of Kobayashi were blown out of her mind by the wind and Vader's sudden affection. He leaned against her shoulder and she giggled, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and allowing him to snuggle as they waited to arrive in Noriyuki.
"Are you excited?" she asked him.
Vader nodded with a wide smile, giggling.
Moeema had to admit that she had never imagined she would ever hear Lord Vader giggle. However, it was a carefree sound, so loving and bubbly that it was contagious and she had to laugh with him.
"How long are we going to stay here, Moeema?" Vader asked, snuggling deeper into the crook of her neck and closing his eyes contently.
"Let me think…" Moeema looked at the scenery for a moment before saying, "I believe we're going to be here for two weeks, Little One."
Vader let out a whoop of joy and hugged Moeema, who laughed and returned the hug before they both resumed their previous positions. Eventually, Vader's excitement was too much for him to handle sitting still and he pulled away from Moeema and began looking around at the scenery.
The area between the spaceport and the capital was completely forested. The only thing that showed it was a well-flown path was that the path didn't have any trees blocking the way.
Occasionally, Vader would point and say he saw an animal and then would get excited and start describing it in detail before asking Moeema what it was. Most of the time she would let out a laugh and answer him and then she would tell him what they ate and how they lived. For twenty minutes they played this game, until they finally reached the border of Noriyuki City.
"Wow!" Vader said in awe as they hopped off the speeder.
The rest of the group caught up with Moeema and Vader. Kobayashi looked more nervous than ever.
"Does anybody know a good place to eat?" Ooke asked. "I'm starving!"
"I hear this place has the most beautiful women in the Outer Rim!" Numel laughed at the same time. "Let's go find some!"
"I want to see their museums," Kerrick said with interest. "I hear they have some fascinating things there."
"As long as I get to eat, I don't really care," Zhymmia said, nodding to Ooke.
"Well, let me see…" Rowan pulled a small holoprojector from his pouch and activated it. A map of Noriyuki immediately appeared.
Rowan pointed towards a red blip on the holographic map. The red blip indicated where they were standing. As he pointed to it, the map automatically focused in on the area. Points of interest appeared in yellow with small informative bits of information appearing over them.
"Um…" Jifo pointed to an area that was east of them. "How about here? This place is a nice-looking restaurant."
Rowan accessed the restaurant and the map faded away before rematerializing as an image of the restaurant. Information slid across on the right of the image.
"Looks like a decent price range to me," Carh'la nodded. "I say we should go eat there."
"But what about the women?" Numel asked.
The group heaved a collective sigh before Zhymmia smacked Numel over the head. Vader laughed with the others and then pointed to a street to the right. "The restaurant's over there, so let's go!"
"All right, Little One," Moeema chuckled.
As they walked down the street, Zhymmia pointed to a building. "Hey, look! Isn't that the theatre off in the distance?"
Rowan checked the map again and then nodded. "I believe so. Perhaps we should get tickets to see one of their shows? I hear they have some amazing performances there."
When they finally reached their destination, Vader immediately ran towards the restaurant and went inside. Sighing in exasperation, Moeema quickly followed him.
The doors leading inside were made of metal though they had a wooden exterior. They slid open and Moeema heard the sound of wooden wind chimes clanking against each other. Vader looked around the restaurant excitedly.
"This place is so wizard!" he said.
A woman approached them and bowed respectfully. She wore her straight black hair layered and tied together at the crown of her head. Decorative golden sticks were placed in the bun and had pink ribbons hanging to them. She wore a Nihoman-styled dress. The dress was baby blue and made of cotton. The collar folded left over right. It was rather straight, not fanning out or clinging to the woman's body. She had it tucked slightly at her waist where a large light brown obi was tied over it. The sleeves went to her wrists and the width trailed down to her knees at the very end. The length of the dress reached her ankles. All over the dress were large pink blossoms. At the very bottom of the dress was a deep royal blue. The woman wore no shoes, but only plain white socks.
"Welcome to the Hisashi," she said with a smile. "How many will be dining?"
"Twelve," Moeema answered.
The woman bowed again. "Right this way."
Everyone else entered just as she began to walk away. Numel didn't even notice the scenery in the room; he just watched the woman. Moeema found herself rolling her eyes in exasperation before hearing Zhymmia bonk the man over the head once again, garnering a snort of laughter from Kerrick and Carh'la.
The restaurant had wooden floors and walls. Besides the lounge area, though, which had comfortable couches attached to the wall where one could get a view of outside, Moeema didn't see any tables. Instead, she saw a hallway with numerous sliding doors on each side. The woman led them down the hall to the fourth door on the right. She slid the door open and bowed, waiting for them to enter.
The room, also having wood floors and walls, had a long wooden table that was low to the ground. There were six plates on each side of the table. Instead of chairs, since the table was so short, there were large wooden rectangular frames with dark blue cushions inside the framing. Attached to the wooden rectangles were another set of frames with cushions to be used as a backing. On the wall opposite of the door was a window, providing natural lighting and an excellent view of the bustling street. A lighting fixture hovered overhead.
Everyone sat down on the cushions, which were surprisingly comfortable. The woman then handed them menus and bowed before exiting, sliding the door closed behind her.
"This is nice!" Jifo said with satisfaction. "Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any of these dishes that these menus mention."
Carh'la laughed. "Then I suppose we'll just have to sample the cuisine and go from there."
Moeema sat on one side between Kobayashi and Rowan. Kobayashi was on the far left of the table, so after Rowan sat Zhymmia, Jifo, and Marrax. On the other side of the table were Carh'la, Numel, Vader, Ooke, Shiine, and Kerrick.
Kobayashi leaned over to Moeema and pointed to one of the meals on her menu. "If you don't like anything spicy, don't get that one."
"Do you know about these foods, K—"
Kobayashi shot her a look and she quickly said, "Uh, I mean, Romi?"
"Yes, I do," Koby nodded.
"So I presume you've been here before."
Again, Koby nodded. "Yep."
"Then help me choose what to eat!"
Kobayashi laughed, getting some of his cheerfulness back. "All right."
He wondered what the entire bustle was about. Cleaning droids were tearing down the hallways and making sure everything was spotless. He could hear employees talking excitedly and nervously. Eventually, his restlessness got the best of him and he stopped worrying about whatever the problem was. Instead, he walked outside of the inn and wandered down the street.
The people who normally walked through were all dressed in typical Nihoman clothing. The women would wear different styles of the Nihoman dress and men would wander about wearing eepudah (a basic Nihoman dress) and then wearing large baggy trousers over the eepudah.
He tensed when he saw Imperials and hoped his new outfit would help him blend in to the environment. Most people who lived on Nihoma had straight black hair, small eyes, and pale skin, but there was still a substantial population that did not. Hopefully this would allow Obi-Wan to get away with wearing a tan eepudah under a brown kuze (Nihoman trousers that go down to the ankle). It actually reminded him of his Jedi robes.
The Imperials were talking loudly and laughing. A commander accessed a holomap and talked to the others, asking where they wanted to go. A young dark-skinned woman with curly brown hair and blue eyes pointed to the center of the city. However, a lieutenant who looked rather like the natives loudly protested against her decision. They all seemed innocent enough.
In the middle of the group was a young man. His back was turned to Obi-Wan, so he couldn't get a good look at him. Something about the boy nagged him, but if he were to stop and examine it further, the Imperials would get suspicious. He would just have to worry about it later, for it was bothering him too much to be entirely ignored.
Obi-Wan sighed and walked on to the downtown area of the city.
"All right, where should we go next?" Rowan asked the group, bringing the hologram of the map back to life.
"I say we should go here," Zhymmia said as she pointed to the center of the city. "The royal palace."
"No!" Kobayashi quickly said. "W-we don't have to go there just yet. Why don't we, uh, go watch the parade?"
"What parade?" Lo asked, getting curious.
"Well there's a parade held every year around this time…" Kobayashi explained. "It's to celebrate when all the separate clans of Nihoma stopped warring and joined together under one rule. It's called Mmoma Ie, or Unification Day."
"That sounds like fun!" Lo clapped his hands together before suddenly pausing. Was someone he knew nearby? He could have sworn he felt something…
Looking around, Little One turned about and almost recognized someone before Zhymmia said, "I still say we should go to the royal palace. I haven't heard anything about a parade yet."
"All right, we'll go to the palace first," Kerrick smiled to Zhymmia.
Kobayashi looked like he was about to faint. Lo looked at him a little worriedly and then said, "I want to see the parade."
"Today is Gamoa 20th, right?" Kobayashi asked.
"Yes."
"Then there's definitely going to be a parade," Kobayashi nodded. "They do it the day before and the day of the holiday."
"But Kerrick said we're going to see the palace," Lo pointed out.
"What are you talking about? Forget what he said, we're going to see that parade or my name isn't Romi Bha!"
"…But it isn't." Little One reminded him.
Kobayashi suddenly jumped and said, "Shh!"
Review! ;-D The next update should be relatively soon but I'll wait for my reviewers before submitting it.