Beyond - Legends Lady of the Sky: Uncertainties 6/16

Note: This is intended to be a stand-alone companion to my fic Signs of Life. For those who have not been reading it, Anakin has turned back and survived, he and Luke are recovering from injuries sustained in the battle at the end of ROTJ, and some other AU-type things have happened that don't really affect this yet, such as Biggs surviving the Battle of Yavin.

This was also partly inspired by the recent Purges challenge here.

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Disclaimer: I wish I could claim I own Star Wars, but I don't. George Lucas does. I am just writing in his universe.

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Prologue: They Call Me Lady

They call me Lady.

I suppose it started the first few times I used my ship to move human cargo.

Now, don't look at me that way. Willing human cargo, although I will admit I've raided slave ships before. But that was after...

After the willing cargo that was unwilling.

I suppose it doesn't matter if I explain, since the Empire is falling apart at the seams now and no one I smuggled is probably alive.


I changed my hair, changed my way of life. Traded an upper-class personal starliner for a stock freighter, pocketed the change along with whatever I could grab from my regular accounts before I took to ground.

I transported fine wines from Alderaan to Coruscant. Those who bought from me supplied the finest restaurants of the Empire, places I could have once walked into and been instantly seated, even if the waiting list had been years long. On the return trips to Alderaan...

I smuggled Jedi.

Padawans, Knights, Masters, waves and waves of initiates of all ages.

Elder Jedi clinging to their Code, chanting it over and over as a cherished thread to a life they would never know again. The younger generation, Jedi who had been attracted to each other for years but had either respected the Code or met in back hallways, smiling and giggling at each other in-between emotional break-downs.

Heart-breaking. Heart-warming.

...

They only knew me as Lady, another person dislocated by Palpatine's rise. His friends were the first I smuggled. They knew perfectly well who I was.

If it hadn't been so dangerous, if I wasn't hiding so much, I would have let myself get drunk when I had to deal with them. But all it would have taken is whispering his name in a moment of drugged inhibition for me to be in big trouble. Even today, that could be a problem. A big problem.

I'm still under cover. Deep. Years ago, in the Clone Wars, I got a hold of a Senate report listing the number of Spaarti cloning cylinders ordered for a military base somewhere in the mid-rim. I was on the planet once, after a smuggling run, and saw the cylinders being destroyed as part of the Emperor's public crusade against clones, Jedi, women, aliens... anyone standing in the way of his schemes or who is not a human male produced by normal reproduction.

I still have a bet running with my friend Sala on whether or not he would eventually bring back the age-old skin color discrimination. 50 Republic credits, and the final value rose with each credit coin he melted to make Imperial money.

Nearly a hundred cylinders fewer were destroyed than were installed. Palpatine siphoned them off somewhere, and I've spent over a decade tracing them.

I sell food, staple items and delicacies. Cultural items. Books. Holofilms. Anything that can keep for months in my smuggling compartments or the rooms I once shipped wine in.

And I trade information on the side. Harmless things. Never anything that could cause harm.

I think I've nearly found the cylinders. Just a few more years, if that. To lose my cover now... the funds lost from Sala acquiring a Force-scrambler, a simple medallion created by I don't know who that kept even Jedi Masters from identifying me... the years of tracking... It would be such a waste...

...but oh so tempting. Palpatine is gone. The world is changing. I have contacts who wouldn't care who I once was, people I could stay with for

 

I smuggled Jedi.

Padawans, Knights, Masters, waves and waves of initiates of all ages.

Elder Jedi clinging to their Code, chanting it over and over as a cherished thread to a life they would never know again. The younger generation, Jedi who had been attracted to each other for years but had either respected the Code or met in back hallways, smiling and giggling at each other in-between emotional break-downs.

Heart-breaking. Heart-warming.

This was heartbreaking. This was done very well though. I really did enjoy this. I liked how it showed a smugglers perspective of the Empire (besides Han and Lando ). Great job.

 

VadersMistress: Thanks .

I've started writing the next part, so it should be up sometime within the next two weeks, depending on how often I can write and on how long it becomes before I can wrap up the chapter.

 

Oh, I'm intrigued!

And if I go to the Alliance, to see if Mon Mothma will let me get anywhere near their resident ex-Sith... That is one scene I am definitely looking forward to. If I'm right about Lady's identity, that is.

I also really like the way you wrote this fic--first person, present tense. It's different. (In a good way!)

 

Cool idea and nice execution!

Awesome!

JS

 

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Trail

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Disclaimer: See first post.

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My parents would have cringed if they had ever had any inkling of the bars and taverns I've been in over the last 20 or so years.

It all started in Dexter's Diner. Everything starts in Dexter's Diner. The Clone Wars, the Jedi evacuation of Coruscant... I wouldn't be surprised if Palpatine had met his Sith Master in the building Dexter bought for his diner. It was just that kind of place.

I was meeting some of the remaining members of his clan, Deer Clan, and some other Jedi there. I had a feeling I was already being observed... he had disappeared, and the Purges had started, though unofficially enough that nothing official was happening. Yet. So, I came to the meeting in tight blue spacer pants and a loose white men's shirt tied at the bottom to make up for the extra length. My hair was in the simplest of braids possible. I wore makeup like I'd never worn makeup before: to hide true features by using hideously overdone coloring to detract the eye.

Only Deer Clan recognized me. They called me Lady then, for the first time. The other Jedi never knew who saved them.

I left the meeting with the barest idea of what I was about to get involved in.

And then, the holonews viewer in the diner flared to life.

Palpatine had just declared himself Emperor and outlawed the Jedi from leaving the planet.

That was when I knew what had happened.

The only further marks left on the world by the woman I once was were a few transactions at back-of-nowhere unmonitored bank terminals.

I disappeared without disappearing.

Dexter's place was a gourmet restaurant compared to the place I'm in now.

I'm not even sure what the name of this spaceport is. I'm on my way to the Outer Rim, again. I've been from one end of the galaxy to the other more times than I want to count. I could program a hyperdrive for every twist and turn of the major routes without a navcomputer, if the data in my head weren't so rare and valuable. I had to stop for supplies somewhere.

I'm not even sure this place qualifies as somewhere, actually. But it sells fuel and the food is halfway edible, so it's better than being dead in space. Not by much, though.

I suppose some would consider this constant narration of my life as a sign that I've finally lost my grip on reality. For 20 years I have been without family, without confidant, without true friend. If a bit of mental instability is all I have to show for that, I'd say I'm doing better than I should be. I have too great a grip on reality, and no one to share it with other than myself.

Even when I was training Han in the ways of honorable independent trading, I was mostly alone. He was alone too. I never asked him about what he had seen while in Shrike's group, and he never asked me anything about where I'd come from. We had an understanding about our secrets and our rights to keep them.

I wish I dared go to wherever the Alliance is right now, even if only to let him know I am still alive and traveling. He might even be willing to help, or might know someone who could help.

I don?t want to be that close to Vader, yet. Even if he ends up being the final source I need access to in my search for those stupid Spaarti cylinders.

...

No! This can't be. No.

I finally got to my intended destination, only to be given the name of one of the first planets I visited years ago.

Palpatine backtracked on the delivery path. I know he was the one to sneak out the cylinders now, not that I ever really doubted it at all; only he would be devious enough to braid a shipment of illicit materials (for that is what the cylinders were and are) over thirty planets before shipping it back through one of the first ones. He probably repeated the same process over again at least twice.

Doing this the normal way could take decades more, if tracing the cylinders is even possible now.

I feel like sticking my hand through a wall. I can't afford what the repair costs would be though, so I head home to my ship.

 

Thanks for the PM! I really like what you've got going with this story - very different!

Upsies,

JS

 

I suppose some would consider this constant narration of my life as a sign that I've finally lost my grip on reality. For 20 years I have been without family, without confidant, without true friend. If a bit of mental instability is all I have to show for that, I'd say I'm doing better than I should be. I have too great a grip on reality, and no one to share it with other than myself.

Awww... Poor girl. But at least she can handle her own. I love how you brought in Dexter's Diner. That was great. Great update!

 

Thanks for the PM!

I don?t want to be that close to Vader, yet. Even if he ends up being the final source I need access to in my search for those stupid Spaarti cylinders. Still looking forward to that scene!

And the trail has ended? Uh-oh!

 

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

VadersMistress:

I love how you brought in Dexter's Diner. Thanks. When I saw AOTC, Dex reminded me of a bartender OC I had just started developing, so I kinda combined the characters. In this universe, Obi-Wan isn't the only Jedi who knew Dex well... his diner was occaisionally a gathering place for various fringe Clans, particularly Deer Clan (which included Saman, Hannar, and Kennet from The First to Fall), who weren't exactly perfectly orthodox Jedi.

Darth_Suzi:

And the trail has ended? Yes, but another trail has begun...

Hopefully I can sneak writing the rest of the next chapter during Latin and between classes tomorrow...

 

ohh I like it keep going

 

A sequel? Already? You have no idea how overjoyed I am

 

JediFalcon: Welcome.

Ana_Labris: Yes, a sequel. Well, not exactly a sequel. From this point on, I'm going to try to have Signs and Lady running so that chronologically they're at about the same point in time, give or take a few days of story-time or so.

 

That will be interesting to read - this is from Lady's POV, while the other isn't in any specific POV as it switches. Can't wait for more!
Gods how I hate Palpy.. and his clones

 

I hopefully will have hte post done within the next week.

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I've seen more than a few girls in spaceports from Bakura to Belkadan swoon over the slightest image of him in the news.

I can't blame them. He did grow up handsome.

Maker bless him. Maker bless them both.

How can I feel so protective toward someone I barely even had contact with, much less two someones?

But that was another time... another life...

 

need more need more

 

Disclaimer: See first post.

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Chapter 2: A Lady's Dilemma

News filters through the world of smugglers and independent traders slowly, ever so slowly.

It's been days since any news filtered from the Alliance. Not that I really care... but I do. I'm in my hiding place on my ship, so I can care.

That sheaf of flimplast prints off the holonet is proof enough of how much I care.

Prints of a few very impressive Senate speeches by a woman?no, she was a girl then, not much older than I was once, long ago?who tried to change the system from inside and came to realize there wasn't much left to salvage.

Tales of a strange Tatooine bushpilot?or shouldn't that be dunepilot? crazy linguists?who came out of nowhere to save the Alliance. I've seen more than a few girls in spaceports from Bakura to Belkadan swoon over the slightest image of him in the news.

I can't blame them. He did grow up handsome.

Maker bless him. Maker bless them both.

How can I feel so protective toward someone I barely even had contact with, much less two someones?

But that was another time... another life...

There's no news, not even an addendum to the Imperial Traitor List, now including the near-complete crews of several Star Destroyers and a Super Star Destroyer.

The list used to be a few thousand on its wanted list, a list almost unending on the executed list. For the first time since the dawn of the Empire, the wanted list is the same length or longer.

I'm still high on the list. Or, rather, she who I once was is. Funny, those who oppose the Empire curse she who I was, and the Empire still wants to execute me... she... whoever.

She who I was can go nowhere. She who I am can go almost anywhere other than Imperial garrisons, secret bases, and the like.

She who I was would have access to her family now. She who I am will be lucky to get within a parsec of her family.

Who am I?

...

My leg still hurts from where I banged it this morning.

I suppose I really should explain. The medallion only blocks my sense in the Force, not the sense of other things in the Force. I can sense what little I could always sense, but to most Force-users I'm a blank wall now. A really blank wall.

I've never been very Force-sensitive at all, except in dealing with a few people I was close to. Him, the children when they were very small, my sister. That and huge disturbances. I'm not good at blocking, so when Alderaan blew up I passed out for a long time, deep in space.

It's dangerous sometimes, but by the time anyone realized I had even minor Force-gifts, the Jedi were fleeing Coruscant for their lives.

I felt him this morning. I haven't felt anything from him since he turned, which is no minor blessing. He was in pain, but it wasn't physical. Something was wrong, deeply wrong.

I fell in shock and from the shared emotion.

Something was wrong, that I could feel clearly. A stationary Force-disturbance.

But there was something else.

The rumors from the Alliance were correct.

I felt him. My Ani, not whatever he became, and he was clinging to the Light as he was buffeted by the disturbance's effects.

He turned back.

He turned back!

And then there is the thing that now makes my head and heart hurt worse than my leg.

I can't go to the Alliance now, for if I do, no one anywhere will be keeping an eye out for those stupid cylinders. If I let the Alliance know, if I beg them for help, news that someone knows of them will leak out somehow. The stakes are too high.

And anyway, I would have to remain Lady anyway to keep up the search. A glance across a room at my children and my once-lover, is this something to risk the world for? Am I willing to take the risk of destroying them by seeing them?

And so, I sit glancing through my holonews printouts, coldpack on my leg, and ponder why Palpatine needed cloning cylinders.

What I ponder scares me.

 

And then there is the thing that now makes my head and heart hurt worse than my leg.
Poor her! I'm glad they still have a bond and can feel emotions even tho she wears that medallion.
And I'm starting to love this idea of both stories going on at the same time.

Edit: tyop.. er.. typo

 

Padmes alive yes!!!!

come on girl smarten up and go see Anakin he could use you

 

Hopefully I can sneak writing the rest of the next chapter during Latin and between classes tomorrow...

He he he... I know what you mean! I write in class all of the time! When you get an idea you kind of just have to go with it!

Okay, back to the real topic here. YEAH! Padme's alive! Woo-hoo! Sorry, I best collect myself.

That girl needs to get her wits together and go see Anakin!

A GREAT update! I really enjoyed it!

 

To everyone: Thanks for the comments, and yes, Padme is alive.

Ana_Labris: Glad to hear you're enjoying the side-by-side fanfiction experiment.

 

Next post should be up by the end of the week. I almost had it done when I got sidelined by plot bunnies with nasty sharp pointy teeth. Sorry.

 

Disclaimer: See first post.

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Chapter 3: Bittersweet Memory

Sometimes I miss the people I once knew.

Certainly most of the senators were idiots, and I used to have long fantasies about ways to kill the Nemoidian delegation, but there are friends I wish I still had beside me.

I miss my sister. I still don't know what happened to her. Palpatine did some very messed up things to his home planet when he became Emperor, and I've never gone home to survey the damage. Too many people there might remember me, and I can?t afford to not be Lady again quite yet.

I miss Mom and Dad. I hope they survived. I haven't heard anything from or of them since I became Lady, and given the opinions the galaxy holds of their infamous daughter, I hope they are someplace safe from those who might blame her mistakes on them.

I miss Sala. I suppose I could just nip into her settlement, but her people like their undisturbed existence. If I accidentally led the Imps to them?I'm sure I'm not being tailed, but one can never be too careful when snooping around in all the wrong places?I could never forgive myself.

I miss Hannar and Shani. The way the flecks of gold shone in his eyes when he was laughing. It's amazing. He's been undeniably dead for years, one of the brightest rising stars of the Jedi, and I miss his eyes. Shani... I wish I knew what happened to her and her babe. Was she alone? Did the child live? There's been no news of her for years. Hannar lives on in Coruscant street legend, but no one ever mentions that she was pregnant. I suppose she wanted things that way, but it's all rather maddening when all one now has are memories.

I miss Saman and Zora. They were made for each other, the street-rat and the street-heiress. I've been down to her homelands once or twice since they disappeared, but not even her sister has any real news about what happened. Only a rumor that they were caught up in a raid somewhere during the Purges.

I miss so many people...

...

I miss Anakin.

I think it's the first time in many years I've been able to admit that I miss him and not just the way things were.

Sure, he was scary when he started going Darkside.

Really scary.

There were good times, too. If there could have been just good times...

Life doesn?t work that way. Good and bad balance.

But how can anything balance the things that have happened in my lifetime?

...

I sit in a bar on a little world I can't remember the name of, sipping something that takes like spiked watered-down oranji juice. I don't really care what it is; I'm not trying to get drunk.

I've been doing a lot of sitting in bars lately. Oh, if Daddy could see his little girl now, he'd probably have a heart attack. Or a mental breakdown. Maybe even both.

News is still slow.

 

awesom update I can't wait for more

 

I sit in a bar on a little world I can't remember the name of, sipping something that takes like spiked watered-down oranji juice. I don't really care what it is; I'm not trying to get drunk.

I've been doing a lot of sitting in bars lately. Oh, if Daddy could see his little girl now, he'd probably have a heart attack. Or a mental breakdown. Maybe even both.

News is still slow.

I am really liking this story. You have done an amazing job with it. Bravo!

My dad would probably do the same.

Great update!!