It took awhile, but everybody was used to palace life with Lyra and Nova around. Lyra took the longest to accept it, but she got there eventually. The three girls stayed together almost at all times. Their ability to be around each other so often and never get totally sick of each other was something the palace staff would never understand.
Nova had an absolute blast living on Pantora with her friends. Aurora took them sightseeing every week to explore a new part of Pantora. Every new place was always as beautiful as the last. Nova and Lyra even got their own beds after a week of staying there.
They went the the same market they met in once a week too. Aurora let Nova and Lyra pick out some of their own food, as well as any ingredients she would need for cooking dinner.
It's been 6 weeks since Aurora took her leave as Riyo's handmaiden. Nova and Lyra, even though one of them wouldn't admit it, has never been happier than they were on Pantora. But nothing lasts forever.
What was scary is how Aurora felt about it. She had never been happier either. It was alarming give her special someone she chose didn't make her as happy as two kids off the street did, even though those two kids would turn out to be as good friends with her as Riyo despite not knowing each other for as long.
It's been 6 weeks and no word from Riyo either. So imagine everybody's surprise when her ship was expected to be landing within the hour unexpectedly. Surora was rushing around trying to get her friends room prepared for her arrival.
"I'm confused. Why are you changing into... whatever that is?" Nova asked. Lyra sat on the couch watching her new favorite holovid shoveling popcorn down her throat at 7 in the morning.
"Don't be stupid, Nova. She's obviously going bar hopping." Nova's facial markings contorted in even more confusion.
"At this time? Really?" Aurora rolled her eyes with a playful smile on her face.
"Nova, how have you been friends with Lyra for this long and not picked up on sarcasm yet?" Nova shrugged, not knowing either how she couldn't decipher it. Lyra was too invested into the holovid and her popcorn to comment.
"Lyra, off the Holoscreen. You know those things rot your brain." Aurora lectured as she trekked back and forth with different items in hand each time.
"Oh please, if you were really worried about my brain you wouldn't let Nova talk to me." Again, Nova cluelessly turned around to face the girls with a mouthful of Coruscant crustios I'm her mouth.
"What?" When she opened her mouth, some fell back into the swarm of blue milk in a bowl.
"Again with the sarcasm thing." Aurora complained. She pushed Lyra forward on the couch, straightened and fluffed the pillows she was laying on and walked away. Lyra spared a short glance away from her show to make sure Aurora was gone before plopping backwards on the pillows again.
Her and Nova shared a chuckle behind Aurora's back as she put the last of the dishes away. Nova set her bowl down by the sink and walked around preparing to clean out her dish, only to have Aurora pick it up and take care of it for her.
"Aurora, calm down. You're a cleaning fiend right now. Give us something to do, we can help."
"Speak for yourself!" Lyra shouted from the couch.
"Okay. I can help. Tell me what to do."
"I need you to restock the wardrobe, prepare baked dru'un slices for lunch, dust the—"
"Let me stop you right there, Rory. How about I do the dishes while you take do the fancy Senator stuff."
"That works too. Thank you, Nova." Nova did the dishes while doing he debts to not pay attention to the brain rotting holovid, which was getting harder and harder by the second. First in the show, some girls brother claims he impregnated another woman, then he reveals that woman is his her moms sister, but she reveals that she is really a 16 year old girl.
"That makes no sense! Didn't she grow up with that other girl since their sisters? Did she just not notice her sister is a decade younger than her?" Nova kept going on while cleaning her Coruscant Crusties bowl.
"No, no, that's her cousin. You're thinking of Sharon." Nova rolled her eyes and put the bowl in its collective cabinet.
"Well excuse me for getting Sharon mixed up with Cheryll. That's totally not confusing at all." It didn't help Nova that humans all looked the same to her. Especially these two humans who had dark brown hair, pale skin and green eyes. What other defining features were there for humans? Nova couldn't think of any. A couple minutes later Aurora came bouncing back into the room.
"Hey. You look less stressed already. Something good happen?" Nova inquired, putting away the last of the cutlery. She washed out the sink and ran the disposal to clear it of any food before me giving her full attention to Aurora.
"Riyo just told me why she's returned. Also there's no need to make lunch because she won't be staying for long, but I do need to find her wintertime apparel." Aurora tried to run into her bedroom to look for clothes prepared for the cold climate. She found clothes for Lyra easy enough since they were around the same size and height, but Nova was too short and small to fit into anything from her closet.
"Rory what the hell are you doing?" Nova asked, eyeing the clothes actively being thrown onto the bed and floor.
"Looks like you'll have to borrow Riyo's clothes. She's short like you."
"Hey." Nova said. Her height was one of the main things she was subconscious about when it came to her appearance.
"What is all this about anyway? What are you looking for?" Aurora dug around in the closet a little deeper. Her voice was muffled by all the layers of clothes she was behind.
"Riyo is back to investigate some incident on Pantora's moon, and she invited the three of us to come along." Nova gave her a look that spoke volumes.
"Yes, I told her about you two. But I didn't tell her you two were Separatists. Just keep your things covered." She motioned to Nova's wrist. Nova didn't even realize she was scratching at it until she glanced down.
It had became a guilty habit of hers that's hard to shake, especially since she has such sensitive skin it often irritates her in the middle of the night and random moments in the day. The brand was a part of her now. She wore anything to keep it covered at all times, even fell asleep with a glove on so she didn't have to look at it while trying to sleep.
"Well, will anybody else be there? Anybody from the Republic? Any troopers?" Aurora shook her head as she handed Nova different pieces of clothing.
"Riyo only mentioned the Chairman going with us, no one else. Should be safe for you two." Aurora finished off the pile with a traditional Pantoran scarf with the royal markings around the neckline.
"Give that to Lyra, would you?" Nova tossed it at the girl who didn't even see the incoming t clothes pile being hurdled towards her.
"Hey! What the hell is this?" Lyra asked while inspecting the clothes with a scowl on her face.
"Clothes. Put them on, we're taking a trip to Pantora's moon." Lyra mindlessly nodded along and muttered a few words of agreement after getting back to her holovid. When Nova went back to the bedroom Aurora was already changed into her perfectly fitting winter outfit. There was a knock at the door.
"Lyra get the door!" Aurora yelled, squeezing the scarf around her neck.
"Lyra!" Nova yelled. No response was given except a second knock at the door. Aurora groaned and went to open it herself. It was another hand aided of Riyo's whose job it was to stay behind and monitor the palace space.
"Senator Chuchi asked me to inform you and your friends that she will arrive at bay 2 momentarily."
"Perfect, thank you Ginnia." Nova put on the loose fitting jumpsuit and bit off the ends of the pants to fit her more. Aurora was startled, not noticing her vicious looking fangs before now.
"Okay then. Come on girls, let's go." Surora opened the door and ushered the two into the hall. She gently pat the back of Nova's lekku as she passed, waiting to touch Lyra's with no such luck.
"Lyra! I said let's go!" She groaned dramatically turning her holovid off and running out the door.
"Get your jacket."
"But I'm not—"
"You will be cold when we get there. Get the jacket." Aurora hissed, trying her best not to raise her voice. Aurora loved them both dearly and equally, but it was easy to tell who the problem child was. Lyra groaned even louder as she roughly grabbed the jacket and flung it over her shoulder.
"You know, we still live in her bedroom, right?"
"Stow it, kid." Nova, Lyra, and Surora all sighed in unison. They chuckled togrther for a second before walking to the bay. They got there just as Riyo's gunship had landed.
"Aurora!" She exclaimed with utter joy. The two ran to hug each other, Lyra and Nova snickering behind them.
"She seems extra happy to not be stuck with us anymore." Lyra joked.
"Aw, don't say that. She's just happy to be out of the castle like I am." Nova was always cheerful, but she especially excited to go exploring on different terrain today.
"Ugh, God. I'm sweating my balls off in here." Nova gave Lyra a lopsided grin at the weird remark. Nova sensed a presence that put her on edge behind them and tapped Lyra in the shoulder, gripping her light saber.
"How very classy, young lady." They both whipped around, but relaxed when they saw it was just the chairman.
"Thank you, but I wasn't trying to be." Lyra said with a defiant smirk on her face as she bowed the respect. The action in itself was an oxymoron.
"Yes, one can tell." He said with disdain before marching right past her.
"Senator." He greeted curtly.
"Chairman" she bowed respectfully to him as he walked right past her into the gunship. A few of his guards and the women got in the ship as well. It was a peaceful ride in complete silence. Although it wasn't the kind of silence they shared when watching a holovid together or when they would just sit near each other. It was tense, and Lyra could tell Nova wasn't used to it.
"To think I left my holovid for this." Nova slapped her playfully in the arm. Lyra's leg was completely healed by now, and her resolve to feel useful again has never been stronger. Some time later they could all feel the shift of the cold nothingness to the icy cold from the planet. When the ship touched down Nova, tried to walk out straightaway with Lyra doing the same behind her. Aurora grabbed Lyra by the shoulder to keep her there, making Lyra do the same thing to Nova.
"The chairman always goes first." Aurora whispered. All three of them followed behind Senator Chuchi.
"General Kenobi." Lyra gasped and quickly covered her mouth. Nova stopped in her place, the two slowly turning to look at each other. The other Jedi narrowed his gaze at the two covered by hoods behind the senator.
"Is he there too?" Nova asked softly, obviously referring to Anakin Skywalker.
"Yeah." Aurora fell back into step with them.
"You know those Jedi?" Aurora asked, tugging both their hoods down to cover more of their faces.
"You could say that—"
"We tried to kill him." Nova pointed to the one with darker hair as she muttered a guilty truth.
"That's... not ideal. Keep your heads down. Maybe they won't notice." Nova did just that. Lyra and Nova were both in their own heads while Kenobi and the chairman debated who owned what and why. They really didn't care, and they both really weren't listening. Aurora was fascinated by policy though, so she slighted intently.
"Anakin, stay here with the Senator and the droids while we secure the base." Uh oh, is what Nova thought. This was going to be awkward. Lyra was really missing her holovid right about now. A golden protocol droid along with an R2 unit went up to Skywalker asking to go inside.
"I don't know, threepio. How are you and your handmaidens, Senator? Too cold?" Skywalker asked smoothly. Riyo didn't notice anything off with him asking, but Lyra and Nova started backing away slowly. And then it happened; Nova made the deadly mistake of sneezing. Aurora was the first to grab Nova by the shoulders and look up to Anakin.
"Wow, look at that. Must be having a reaction to... the cold. I'll take these girls to the ship so you won't have to worry about us." Aurora said with an awkward chuckle as she took Lyra and Nova by the backs and started heaving them back to the gunship.
"Of perhaps it's the fur. Maybe they should take off their hoods." Now they knew they were in trouble.
"Oh no, that's okay."
"No, I insist!" Anakin used the force to drag them backwards toward hun, spun them around and remove the hoods to reveal their faces. He didn't waste a second in activating his light saber and aiming it in between the two. Lyra and Nova activated their light sabers too getting into defensive positions on the ground next to each other. Within seconds every trooper in the vicinity had their guns pointed at the two of them. Aurora ran in front of the girls and held them back by the waist.
"Please, don't hurt them!" Nova was first to deactivate her light saber and clip it to her belt.
"Please, we are not here to fight." Nova tried to get them to lower their weapons.
"I didn't want to be here at all." Lyra growled, glaring at Skywalker.
"Well, that's true too. Please, put the weapons down and I'll explain everything!" Anakin's gaze softened as he stared into Nova's purple eyes that somehow reminded him of Ahsoka's. But he snapped back to the situation when he glared st Lyra with her saber still raised and ready to fight.
"That means you too." Nova gently put her hand on her friends saber and turned it off for her. Lyra clipped it to her belt and stood up straight. Anakin deactivated his saber but kept it firmly grasped in his hand. All of his men lowered their blasters too.
"You better start talking, Separatist scum." Anakin had a fire behind his eyes.
"We are not Separatists! We were taken against our Will and given a choice, kill you or suffer a fate worse than death ourselves. Even then we couldn't go through with it!"
"You couldn't kill me because I stopped you, not because you didn't want to." Anakin growled, not liking her defense so far.
"Ever think it could be both, wise-ass." Lyra was not helping g the situation, and she was certainly making it a lot harder for Anakin to hear them out.
"Do you think if we were willingly out to get you, Count Dooku would've don't this to us?" Nova rolled down her glove to show him the Separatists brand on her wrist. Anakin's firm opinions against the two wavered slightly at the sight.
"He branded us because he was afraid we'd run firm him, which we did as soon as we got the chance! We did t want to hurt you, but at the time we saw no other way." Anakin briefly thought things over in his head.
"Can you vouch for them, Senator?" Riyo didn't have to look at Aurora to see the pleasing look in her eyes.
"Yes, Master Jedi. I knew who they were when I brought them with me. They serve no threat to you any longer, I can assure you of that." Both Lyra and Nova were absolutely shocked by the Senator's willingness to stick her neck out for them. They hoped it didn't show too much on their face.
"Watch them. They're dangerous." Lyra smirked at that, getting a bigger head by the second.
"What in the blazes is going out here?" General Kenobi asked as he came outside to see his old padawan aiming a light saber at three handmaidens with his troops ready to fire at will.
"Those two are the ones who tried to kill me!" Anakin yelled at Obi-Wan who looked thoroughly exhausted and too tired to deal with this right now.
"Ah, well, almost any friend of Anakin's is a friend of mine." Obi-Wan shook the two girls hands. They shared confused looks with each other as they did so.
"Did you not hear me?"
"Oh, Anakin. All you're friends except Padme have tried to kill you one time or another. Lighten up." Obi-Wan pat him on the shoulder.
"Lighten... Obi-Wan!" He was already half way down the snow hill.
"You two, don't move until we get back. I'd very much like to have a chat with you." Obi-Wan told them. Lyra and Nova were frozen in shock and shivers from the cold and confusion. After the Jedi left, just the Chairman's guard remained outside with a few of Skywalker's men.
"So, Aurora, when we're you planning on telling me you were friends with Separatists?"
"I... didn't know?" Riyo didn't seem to buy it as she made a face.
"Um, we're former Separatists, actually." Judging by the ludicrous looks everybody gave her, Nova guessed that correction didn't help anything.
"Do you know how horrible that could've been if the Chairman heard my handmaiden snuck two former Separatists into the castle for weeks? He'd have my head over it!" Riyo whisper yelled at her friend.
"Now, I'm going to trust you on this Aurora. But if they do anything..."
"I know. I take full responsibility for them, Riyo. They will behave with care and not speak unless spoken to." Lyra loosened her collar, feeling it become harder to get air. Or maybe it was just the thought of having to hold back her beloved sarcastic comments.
"Right?" Aurora asked. Somehow, that single word she whispered so gravely was scarier than any other time Aurora yelled at them to put the dishes in the sink or pick up their clothes.
"Yes ma'am." They both squeaked out.
"Good. I'll be inside." Riyo excused herself to go speak with the Chairman inside. Aurora sighed with relief.
"All things considered... I'd say that went over pretty well." Lyra and Aurora had never stared more peculiarly at the little Togruta who happily hummed a toon and kicked some nose off her buried shoe with not another car run the world.
"Well, it always could be wor—" Lyra cupped her hand around Aurora's mouth before she could finish that god awful sentence.
"Do you wanna die? Because that's what people who wanna die say." Lyra snapped.
"Ugh, this is a mess." Aurora sighed and sat on the floor of the gunship that brought them down the this hellish moon. After the Jedi have been gone for more than an hour, clone troopers told them they had orders to take the chairman, senator, and the "handmaidens" back to base.
They spent the time there in anxious silence, impatiently waiting for the Jedi's return. Lyra and Nova walked behind the Senator with Aurora beside Riyo, all of them standing behind the chairman.
"What's did you find?" He asked rather aggressively.
"It seems we may have stumbled upon an inhabited planet." The chairman, however, was quick to shut this line of thought down.
"Impossible. Our explorers have spent much time here over the long history of Pantora. No one lives here; they're trespassers." He declared. Nova noticed how he spoke of the matter as if he was more worried about the owning of the planet it's self instead of it's newfound inhabitants. She didn't appreciate it very much.
"With respect, Chairman Cho, these creatures, the Talz aren't advanced enough to master space travel. I think they may have been here longer than Pantora." Master Kenobi said. Nova smiled, glad at least someone was looking out for the inhabitants. He noticed the young girl smiling at him and happily returned it. He also noticed the harsh glare Anakin gave her and the other girl.
"Whoever they are, they belong to us—"
"I'm sorry!?" Nova gasped at the outrageous claim of Chairman Cho. Everybody looked at her expectantly. Obi-San smirked at her boldness.
"You can't just claim a people because you thought you owned the planet on a technicality nobody cared enough to debate! The Talz are apparently sentient beings, and you're trying to say they belong to you? Do you think all the beings that reside under your rule belong to you!?" Aurora grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to drag her away from the situation.
"How dare you speak to me like that, child!"
"Please, there is no need for yelling. We can have a civilized discussion about this." Obi-Wan reassured everybody.
"I will not allow some filthy, street rat, Separatist scum to question my position! You will speak to me with respect, child, or you will not speak to me at all. Senator, get her out of my sight." He waved his hand, giving the prestigious Senator the job of a simple servant who worked for him instead of with him.
"She has a point, Chairman. If there are life forms on this moon, then it is up to the Senate to de use who has jurisdiction here." Aurora and Lyra led Nova away from the situation before she could make it any worse for herself. Lyra and Aurora thought that by now with all she's said they would be done for.
"Why am I the one in trouble? He's the one trying to use his power to literally enslave a group of people!" Nova screamed at Lyra who gently pet her lekku. It worked wonders at calming her down.
"I told you, Rory. More people like you need to be in power so stuff like this doesn't happen!" Aurora smiled softly as she took Nova into a sweet hug. She gently touched her hands against Nova's neck and back, letting her just sit there and brood. Aurora let go and stared at Nova who tried not to look at her.
"Sorry for causing a scene. I know I shouldn't have done that, for yours and my own sakes." Nova humbly admitted to Lyra.
"Eh, if you did t say anything I would've slapped him. So if anything you saved my skin, girl." Nova chuckled, finding her need for violence before words hilarious. It was one of the many things that set them apart from each other.
"I'll be right back." Aurora excused herself to join Riyo and the Chairman, wanting to hear how this will all end. The answer is it wasn't ending.
"You okay?" Lyra asked, not really used to being so touchy feely with anyone still.
"I'm fine. I just... I wanna go back to the castle. This trip has turned out to be so bad."
"And it's not over yet." Aurora came back over to them and sat down next to Nova.
"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.
"So, I have a plan. The Chairman wants to go to war with the Talz and the Jedi do not. The Jedi probably will lock you up after their mission is over for, you know, the whole attempted murder thing. But maybe if you go and prevent the war from happening they'll let it slide?" Aurora finished off her plan uneasily, starting to lose faith in it herself. Nova and Lyra glanced at each other skeptically.
"Oh who am I kidding, it's a horrible plan. That'll never... guys?" Lyra and Nova had already hopped into one of the speeder bikes.
"Hey, that's ours!" Two clones yelled, running up on Aurora. Luckily they figured out which button shut the dome lid just in time. Aurora watched with a faint giggle as Nova genuinely apologized to the trooper while Lyra pretended to be apologizing for being unable to hear them as she laughed in their face.
The two of them figured out the controls and took off. They stayed in the back of the pack so no one could visibly see it wasn't a trooper in the bike. When they arrived, Lyra and Nova hopped out of their collective speeders last. The other troopers did double takes at seeing the two sheepishly wave at them. One trooper with a red Diamond and faint blue markings on his modified helmet waved back, but was hit upside the head by the other one.
"Captain." The trooper who hit his brother called out. Rex turned around to face Echo.
"Wh—sir!" Rex called out. Anakin recognized Rex's voice amongst the other troopers and turned around to see what it was about.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me." Obi-Wan sensed the presence of two brave women behind him and smirked, knowing that was Anakin's greatest weakness.
"Just... watch them, Rex. Make sure they don't pull anything." Rex sighed, but nodded firmly to Skywalker. Nova smiled at him but it went unreturned. She couldn't blame him of course, but she was still worried how his disdain for her would effect her future here.
"So, gotta name kid?" The one with a red Diamond on his helmet asked.
"Nova. And that's Lyra." The one who smacked him in the head earlier came back up to him.
"Fives, stop talking to the Separatists."
"Echo, respectfully, shut up." Even with his helmet on, the girls could tell he had never been so offended by his brother in his life.
"Do they look like separatists to you? No, it's because they aren't. Didn't you hear this one skittle lament earlier? Jeez." The one called Fuces shook his head disappointingly at his brother called Echo in a kidding manner.
"Boys, cut the chatter. Stay alert." Captain Rex told them. Fives and Echo both became more serious as they gripped their weapons tighter and formed up beside their other brothers. Right about now was when Lyra and Nova started questioning whether this was a mistake or not. Finally, the Chairman and his guards left the meeting spot and came right up to the Captain.
"Troopers, mount up and follow me." The Chairman ordered as if he was their fearless leader.
"Who put his dumbass in charge?" Nova whispered to the nearest clone to her, which happened to be Echo with a nudge to the arm.
"No one smart." Lyra chuckled under her breath.
"What do you know, big brothers got a sense of humor after all." Fives and Nova laughed, that was until General Skywalker came along glaring at the two girls again.
"You're gonna have to stay with the Chairman until we can work things out. Protect him at all costs. And make sure those two don't try to kill anyone on our side. They have a habit of trying to do that." Fives and Echo glanced at each other unsurely, they almost forgot about that little discussion from earlier.
"Mount up! And follow me. You two—" Lyra and Nova liked up, knowing it was them the Captain was talking about.
"Try any funny business, and you'll be shot down. Am I clear?" Nova stood and saluted hun.
"Crystal, Captain." Under the helmet, Rex smiled at the younger girl who seemed so eager to help. He found it hard to believe she was capable of such things his General claimed. Lyra however, he fully believed would do such a thing. She rolled her eyes at him and hopped in her bike.
"Try not kill me please. I've got so much left I wanna do with my life." Fives fake begged Nova who pushed him away from her.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" She egged him on.
"Well, I'd never taken a pretty girl out to eat before. Say, you're grumpy blue friend wouldn't happen to be available, would she?" Echo caught up to them so he could say one thing to his brother.
"She tried to kill the General; Fives." He merely shrugged with a grin under his helmet.
"We all have our flaws. Well, except me of course." Nova found her newfound friend to be hilarious. Echo however found his brothers new friends to be a pain that would probably impair them with a light saber later. They all hopped in their collective speeders and took off after the Chairman.
Nova didn't know what was really happening, all that was on her mind was making sure the Chairman was safe. He may be a piece of bantha fodder, but he was the mission. She would do next to anything to get in the Jedi's good graces again. Nova came out of a foggy haze and started to see something dark in the snow.
"There they are! Fire when you're in range." The Chairman is trusted as if he was the one in charge, again.
"Sir, with all due respect, we're only here to protect you." Rex tried to explain to him, but Nova was convinced nothing would ever get through that thick head of his. She screeched loudly as she swerved to miss one of the Talz warriors as he popped up from the ground.
"Ambush!" Rex called out, all the men formed up behind him and around the Chairman.
"It's a trap, kill them!" Nova didn't realize this plan of theirs could make her take a life. She didn't want to do that, regardless of how primitive the Talz were or not.
"Don't really have much of a choice now, do we?" Nova saw Captain Rex too busy looking at his fallen brother's ship explode to notice the creature coming at him.
"Captain!" He didn't look in time, so Nova collided into his bike with her own to push him out of the way.
"Um, thanks." He said awkwardly, not knowing entirely what just happened but he wasn't dead so it couldn't have been anything too bad. Rex leaped out of his bike and started shooting at the creatures.
"Wait, stop!" Nova didn't know how she did it exactly, but she held her hand out and his pistols flew to the right.
"Hey!" All the men stopped just behind Rex's speeder. Fives got out and tossed him his blasters back. He also handed Lyra one of his own pistols so she didn't have to get out from under cover. Nova was trapped behind her bike as spears were thrown just past her. Rex sighed, yelling at her to get behind their cover. Nova took a run for it and helped face first into the snow behind Rex's bike.
"Sorry, Captain. I swear I didn't mean to do that." Rex wasn't paying her much mind as he had his eyes on the Chairman and the Talz coming from every direction.
"We're surrounded! Defensive formation!" Rex yelled, all his men circled up around the speeders, shooting at any creature in sight. Rex handed Nova one of his pistols so she wasn't just sitting there helplessly. Nova fired one shot and missed horribly. She could hear Rex's frustrated sigh. Lura on the other hand, was impressively knocking down Talz warriors left and right.
"Wow! I'm impressed. Where'd you learn how to do that?" Fives asked, inching ever closer to her. She gave him a dumb, pointed look.
"Oh. Right." Echo could be heard snickering behind him on the other side while he kicked a warrior in one of the arms and shot him in the chest. Lyra noticed the Chairman wasn't near any of the troopers. He was standing in the middle with no adequate cover.
"Chairman, get over here!" Lyra practically growled. She. Pilsner help but groan when on of his guards were slashed across the chest. Lyra got a running start and side-kicked the fighter in the face. He fell over and it gave the guard enough time to shoot him. Lyra activated her light saber and stood up to guard the Chairman now.
"Fall back! First squad, cover the retreat!" Captain Rex ordered. Nova activated her light saber and skimmed any Talz in the way of the Captain before he shot them. Rex didn't ask for it, but what he got was his own personal savior. Anything that got close to the Captain, or any trooper for that matter, Nova attempted to block it.
Her form was atrocious and her success rate at blocking every shot can't have been much better than 50%, but it was the fact that she was trying at all that turned Rex's opinion of her around. He ran to the Chairman who was lying on the floor. Lyra expertly twisted her saber in a downwards spiral to Skaggs a spear headed right for his back cleanly in half. Rex did a double take as he watched Lyra save the Chairman's life.
"Nice block." Echo elbowed her, a way of apologizing for what he said about her earlier. While Lyra was distracted by the genuine compliment, something she had never been given before, a Talz managed to sneak up on her and hit the Chairman with his spear.
"Hey!" Echo shot the Talz warrior and the pair watched him fall to the ground.
"I'll take him!" Rex said, charging toward her.
"You'll what?" The chairman asked incredulously, just before being snatched up and thrown over Rex's shoulder. He plopped onto the nose of Rex's speeder bike before they took off.
"Get everybody else out of here." Nova said. Her and Nova moved to each others sides, each standing against each others backs so they only had to worry about 50% of the fire.
"Not without you." Lyra grabbed Nova by the arm and pushed her into a ship. Nova got in the ship only after she saw Lyra running for her own speeder bike. They hopped on and followed Rex. Nova couldn't help but look behind her shoulder at all the dead men, and the dead Talz fighters left in their wake.
"Here they come!" She heard Rex's piercing voice shout from the front of the pack. One of the people in front of Lyra got beat with a club off the bike just before it exploded. Nova slammed the brakes and turned back around to go back for that trooper.
"Nova!" Lyra slammed her own brakes and turned without hitting the accelerator.
"Come on, stay with the group!" Echo told her. She scoffed and shut off the com connected to the bike.
"Sorry, but I don't take orders very well." Lyra stepped on it back to Nova's position. She slowed to a stop when she saw Nova dragging the trooper by his arm.
"Nova! What we're you thinking?" She shrugged, Lyra's overprotectiveness not being her main concern at the moment.
"The Talz are right behind us, quick, get his legs." Lyra grabbed the clone by the legs and Nova took his hands. Together they sprawled him out on the nose of Nova's bike. They both got back on and followed the path at of the canal. It was easy to tell which way the trail of the bikes went. By the time Nova and Lyra circled back multiple gunships had already landed.
"What'd they do, Rex? Where'd they go?" Nova chuckled when she saw Anakin losing it over their disappearance. Nova went the long war around the Talz who ceased their attack after the ships landed.
"Right here, Skywalker." Nova said as she parked her bike. She tossed Rex his pistol back and placed her hands around the waist of the trooper on her bike who was starting to wake up.
"You're alright, I got you." Nova said but as soon as he put any of his real weight on her she shrieked and fell over. Lyra picked him up off of her.
"She's got you." Nova corrected herself, hiding her enflamed cheeks.
"Well, guess it's ten dead. Better than eleven. Thanks, kid." Nova smiled appreciatively of the positive feedback. Lyra set him against the bike for his other brothers to take him into the gunship. All the wounded were taken back to one of the gunships.
Aurora was at the back of the Jedi's gunship trying to get out to see her friends but two troopers who had specific orders to not let her do that acted as human blockades. It was a lot harder to keep a woman who was almost as tall as them at bay, but she wasn't very strong.
"Good, Senator." Nova noticed the Chairman's condition. His raspy, shallow breaths and him being too weak to sit upright didn't bode to well for his chance of survival.
"You must avenge me. As my final command, as Chairman of Pantora, I order you to destroy the Talz!" He hissed. Nova wondered how anybody could assume ownership over a people, no matter how primitive their ways were.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Chairman. The Pantoran assembly has called you out of order. I am to negotiate peace." Nova was happy to hear that. Lyra smiled fondly at her, enjoying seeing her smile again.
"No, impossible. Peace? Never!" Riyo tried not to offend him anymore in his last moments than she already had.
"I died for our... people." And with those final remarks; the former Chairman Cho had passed on. Even though the man dying in front of her seemed like a horrible person, it saddened Nova to see him go.
"Senator, now is the time." General Kenobi told her. Riyo grabbed the helmet from the fallen Chairman, and a spear that was thrown at Rex and his men.
"Protocol droid, come with me." She said softly. Threepio almost had an aneurysm.
"Threepio, get going." Threepio shuffled through the snow slowly but surely over to Riyo's side. The leader of the Talz was on a large creature. He denounced the creature and approached Rioy with its spear pointed at her, a warning and threat.
"Droid, translate for me." There was a moment of tense silence. Everyone held their breath as the Senator raised the spear above her head. Nova didn't realize how close she stood to the Jedi that didn't hate her guts while she held her breath. Nova released it when she threw the spear headfirst into the ground. The Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi looked down at her with a curious glance, not able to figure her out.
"Are you alright?" Nova didn't realize he was talking to her until she looked up to meet his kind gaze. She smiled and chuckled dryly at the idea of being "alright".
"It's been a day, that's all."
"Oh yes, I can imagine." Nova and Obi-Wan smirked at each other. Nova felt a grin come to her face when she realized his tone indicated he was speaking sarcastically.
"To die for one's people is a great sacrifice!" Riyo says just loud enough to the Republic fighters to hear her. She placed the former Chairman's helmet on the stick.
"To live for one's people, and Ben greater sacrifice. I choose to live for my people! What do you choose?" Nova couldn't hear everything Riyo said over the weather conditions. The wind made it hard for Nova's lekku to not make a distinct ringing sound occasionally.
"He chooses to live as well!" Everybody heard Threepio announce.
"We will leave Otto Plutonia under the watchful eyes of the Talz from this day forth, and recognize your sovereignty as a free and equal people." One by one in a beautiful picture, the creatures the Talz rode on bent down on one knee to show Riyo Chuchi the respect she deserved.
"Well, that was easy." Nova said with an innocent smile. She couldn't help but notice the glare from Skywalker, but she also caught Master Kenobi's eye. He had a different emotion in his facial expression. Nova almost missed the small upturn of his lips before he walked away towards the Senator.
Nova's eyes widened with wonder, curiousity begging to know why he seemed to like her so much. She ran after him over to the Senator. The guards by Aurora finally let her go now that the matter was resolved. Before Nova could go and ask, Aurora scooped her up in a warm hug. The ringing in her head lessened from it.
"Thanks for the tip, Rory. I don't know if we're off the hook yet, but at least one of them doesn't hate my guts anymore." Nova said with sheer joy. It was a contradicting element which made Aurora chuckle. Aurora, on the other hand, didn't much care about her being pardoned or anything like that anymore. She was just happy little Nova was still alive. If she wasn't, Aurora didn't know what's she'd do with herself.
"Ey, where's my hug?" Lyra asked.
"That was sarcasm, wasn't it!" Nova pointed out. Lyra smirked as she rubbed in between her lekku.
"Good job, kid. You finally got it. What made it click?" Nova pointed to Kenobi, and Lyra was instantly on guard. Lyra turned around just in time to make eye contact with Obi-Wan through the crevice of the gunship.
"There you two are." Fives said, taking his pistol out of Lyra's hand. He expertly flipped it in his hand a few times to show off before swiping it into its holster.
"Cool it, Fives. Don't wanna scare her away like the last one." Echo hit his brother in the back on his way to the gunship. Nova jumped up to join Echo's side on the gunship. Aurora went with the Senator and Captain Rex. Unfortunately the only gunship left after the others took off was rescue. Many dead clone troopers laid inside. Nova tried not to touch any of them.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save them." Nova almost felt as though each time one of them died when they were fighting, a little piece of her soul went with them. She could feel it inside, but it was more than just in her heart. It was her. She just didn't know how to explain it.
"Well, you saved one brother. But, if you stay, you'll realize that no matter how skilled you are with that glow stick of yours or with a blaster, you can't save them all." Echo spoke with a grave tone as he tried to teach Nova the reality of war. It made Nova realize that he probably had lost someone really close to him, even closer than just the natural hind the troopers have.
"Don't worry about it, kid. With any luck you'll go back to your palace life and never have to experience loss like us." Echo tried to reassure her, but Nova didn't take it that way. Now if she were go back to the castle and just, what? Clean dishes and judge Lyra's holovids for the rest of her life? She wanted a goal and a mission in life. Something to aim towards, something that wasn't an empty sink. Lyra rolled her eyes at something Fives said as they entered the gunship.
"Hey, Lyra?" Nova thought carefully about her words, knowing she could get easily offended.
"Yeah, kid?"
"What if I... didn't stay? At the palace?" Lyra couldn't hide her shock in hearing that. Lyra saw firsthand how at home she felt there.
"Well, where would you go?" Lyra's question went unanswered for the rest of the trip over to base. After they touched down, the doors opened to reveal the two Jedi at the front of Nova's mind were standing right there waiting for them.
"Ah! Just the two people I wanted to see." Obi-Wan said. Lyra flinched when he touched his hand to their shoulders. Nova got all giddy at seeing the all powerful Jedi talk to her again.
"If you two would be so kind to follow me." Obi-Wan didn't wait for them as he turned on his heel and started walking away from Anakin who stayed still, glaring at the two of them. Lyra rolled her eyes and tried to walk back into the gunship away from both of them, but Nova dragged her over to Obi-Wan.
"Captain Rex tells me great things you've accomplished on the mission to keep Chairman Cho out of harm, despite him causing it." Nova was beaming at him from behind. Lyra tried not to audibly gag.
"Is it true you went back for one of his men against his orders?" Obi-Wan stopped mid walk to look at Nova specifically while asking her. She nodded, her beautiful grin becoming infectious. Obi-Wan couldn't keep a smile off his face for long with her near.
"Well, I feel obligated to tell you that Anakin does not share the same sentiment as I when it comes to the fate of you two; but..." Nova couldn't contain her hope for much longer. Even Lyra picked up her head with the quirk of a brow, wondering where he was leading with this.
"Well, let's call it a test, shall we. I'd like to put you two to the test, and see how good your skills will suit the Republic." Lyra and Noca didn't know what to think of this. Lyra, of course, knew what getting into an army would be like and it was never on her bucket list. Although it's sick, she always wanted to become Dooku's assassin so she didn't have to work for or with anyone except him. Lyra was hesitant to do or say anything that would give away her opinion, until Nova—
"I'll do it! When can I start? Today?" Lyes fought off the overwhelming urge to smack her upside the head for such a rash agreement with no thought behind it. But Lyra thought back to the promise she made her when they were crashing that ship. Lyra can't keep her safe on a battlefront from the comfort of Pantora's castle.
"Fine, I guess." Lyra frowned deeply at Nova, but the smaller girl didn't much care. She was happy to have her skills noticed by somebody who didn't try to electrocute her when speaking to her. Lyra and Nova noticed Obi-Wan glance up past their heads.
"I'll leave you all to discuss. The gunship going to my cruiser will be flying out in five minutes." Obi-Wan gently placed his hand on their backs as he walked past them. They both turned around to see Aurora standing there with Riyo.
"Your leaving?" Her voice cracked with regret. Aurora wished she never came up with that idea, not that they wouldn't have by themselves anyways a second later. She still blamed herself for this.
"Just for a little while. "Tests" don't last forever, do they?" Nov a jumped up and gave her a big hug on her tippy toes to barely reach Aurora's shoulders. Nova prayed to the force that this test wouldn't be worse than Count Dooku's.
"I suppose not." Aurora let go of her in time to snuggle her nose before anything fell. Lyra stepped up to Aurora but made no move to give her a hug. Aurora thought she was just being her stubborn self and her lethargic, unemotional ways were coming back to her. But really it wasn't that at all.
"Do you wanna... how do—can you just hug me please?" Lyra had never given or received a hug before. Aurora's heart cracked and she no longer felt upset about them leaving as she swooped Lyra into her arms. Lyra's arms were strapped to her sides for a moment. Nova gently took her hands and draped them around to Aurora's back, shooting her a thumbs up after Lyra gave her a nervous glance.
"Yeah, okay, you can let go now." Aurora chuckled as she pulled away.
"That wasn't the worst torture I've ever been exposed to." Was Lyra's lovely way of saying she quite enjoyed it.
"Well, I guess we better get going if we don't wanna be left here at the mercy to the Talz." Nova chuckled at her own joke.
"Bye, Rory. Thank you for everything you've done for us!" Nova waved as she happily skipped away onto the gunship with Captain Rex and the Jedi.
"Is your friend coming?" Rex asked her.
"She will. This whole saying something nice thing is new to her." Nova smirked at Captain Rex, who she had a feeling wore a similar expression. Anakin saw the interaction between his Captain and the girl who tried to kill him and didn't like it one bit.
"Hopefully now the staff won't hate you as much with us gone." Lyra said. She kept her eyes trained on the ground in order to not let Aurora see her tears brimming in her eyes.
"They don't matter. What does matter is that I loved having you there. You and that little girl over there will be welcome to visit me on Coruscant anytime." Lyra could feel her tears about to spill at the idea of being welcome back there, being invited to see Aurora.
"Thank you, Aurora. I'll... I'll see you later?" Aurora smiled as she nodded. Her voice cracked with tears ready to spill over too.
"You better. Do you know how boring my life was before you and Nova popped into it?"
"Hey." Riyo said, slightly hurt by that. Aurora and Lyra waved to each other again before she got on the gunship. Aurora wasn't joking, she was not looking forward to going back to Coruscant and explaining where she's been all this time to Rupert. Riyo was right about one thing; he always found a way to be angry at her over something.
Rest assured, Aurora will be back. 😈