Innocents of Ryloth

Scene 9

The newly liberated city of Nabat. Night.

Commander Cody glanced up at the black skies of Ryloth, at the pale disks of its three visible moons, and watched as the last of the Republic cruisers hummed overhead, on its way to land in the plains to the northwest of Nabat. General Windu had sent the first wave of the fleet in practically before the battle had been won, as though he had foreseen its outcome. And maybe he had. Cody shrugged – there was no figuring a Jedi master.

Ghost Company was engaged in providing immediate relief to the people of Nabat. Food and med supplies had to be distributed and a few emergency shelters erected. His men would work in shifts, taking turns sleeping and assisting the Nabat leadership in reestablishing some semblance of normal civilian life. By morning, they would be ready to march again.

Cody walked briskly into the largest of the shelters, where a soup line had been set up and sleeping cots arranged in neat rows. Power generators protected against the night chill. Everywhere within, Twi"lek voices talked and shouted, laughed and sang. He craned his head about, seeking the General amid all the tail-head hustle and bustle.

There he was. Right in the middle of a tight knot of village elders and other prominent members of the Nabat community, locked in earnest conversation. Numa was there, too, happily perched on the shoulders of a male relative. So that was all right, then. At least the kid got part of her family back. She wouldn't be one of the millions of war orphans scattered throughout the galaxy now.

Kenobi shook his head gently – a firm "no" to some request, and then shook it again. Cody pushed through the crowd. The tail-heads were pleading, urging the Jedi to do something or other. The clone commander couldn't make out anything of their language, but he recognized the tone of their voices, the wheedling, cajoling way they spoke. Good luck, he snorted. Kenobi was about the stubbornest son of a – he did a double take and stopped in his tracks, a few paces away. The whole group had taken seats in a semicircle around the Jedi, who gave one of those wry half smiles of his and started singing. Yes, by hell's sweet moons: singing. Some Twi'Lek song, a sort of soft lilting chant.

Valeh nerra valeh, chumma tu duenni ma veyah oni

Pleena ta falla, veyah do sallah

Qui ja wah uni, veyah yarhumi

To mal yahn'we mah, veyah hawee'I

Valeh nerra ma valeh.

That got the tail-heads murmuring and nodding and clapping, all right. Cody was hanged if he got a word of it. But he added "passable singing voice" to his list of the General's odd abilities. Kenobi extricated himself from the enthusiastic Twi'leks before they could demand an encore, and found Cody in the crowd.

"The last cruisers just landed, sir."

"Thank you, Cody. I had better meet with General Windu."

"Ah…General. If you don't mind. What was all that in the song back there?" He thought maybe the Jedi flushed just slightly, but it was hard to tell in the dim light.

"It's a traditional song of blessing, actually."

"I didn't know you had it in you, sir," Cody remarked. In fact, he didn't know what to think at all. They didn't teach music on Kamino.

Kenobi just gave him the strangest look and kept walking, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head and face as he disappeared into the darkness outside the shelter.

In the plains outside Nabat, Republic cruisers disgorged the heavy ground assault vehicles and battalions of troops. There was far more to be accomplished before Ryloth was free. Dawn had just broken over the horizon.

"Great job getting rid of those cannon," Mace Windu said in a rare moment of informal and heartfelt praise. He had been debriefed on the mission already via hologram, but had not yet had a private moment in which to speak to his fellow General. His congratulations were offered to an equal and a friend. ObI Wan had the sense not to respond. Jedi did not indulge in sentiment or needless words – to remark on the compliment would be to belittle it.

"Now we have a more difficult objective," Mace continued, shifting back to a cool, detached manner. "We must take the capitol city and free this world." He would personally lead the attack on the capitol, held by Watt Tambor himself. ObI Wan would simultaneously strike at the supply lines in the southern deserts. Anakin still patrolled local space, repelling any would-be reinforcements. Together the three Jedi held the fate of the planet in their hands.

Mace moved away to coordinate the provisioning of the troops under his command. Obi Wan took a moment to observe Ghost Company's last exchange with Numa and her people. The small girl ran to embrace one of the clones, and then waved in farewell as the men gathered their equipment and marched away to join their larger battalion.

"Nerra! Nerra!" her high clear voice rang out over the plain.

Cody and his men fell into step behind Obi Wan, on route to a gunship that would ferry them to their southerly destination. The Jedi felt a pang of pity or sorrow, and let it pass through him without resentment or attachment. Numa had her place here among her people; and he had his place, rooted in the Living Force. She belonged somewhere and he everywhere. But where did Cody and his men call home? They belonged…nowhere. They were rootless. All they had to center themselves in the universe was each other's company. But perhaps that was enough. A true comrade was a gift beyond measuring. What would the clones do without each other? What, for that matter, would he do without Anakin? What would anyone at all do without at least one steadfast friend?

"Sir, what is that she keeps calling us?" Cody wanted to know.

"Nerra," he said after a moment. "It means brother."

FINIS