Star Wars: The Jedi Revolt

Chapter Six: Partying Ways

Luke stood on the balcony of his sister's penthouse apartment. It was a massive half-circle made of a brilliant bronze-colored metal. There was an invisible force field that allowed anyone to stare down on the sprawling cityscape below without taking a fateful, 1000 story-plus plunge.

Leia had the highest residential apartment in the illustrious 500 Republica apartment complex, which also meant that she had the highest apartment complex on the planet — a fact that did not surprise him in the slightest. The only buildings that were higher, Gurgo had told him, were telecommunication towers and shield generator relays.

As Luke looked out onto the Coruscant skyline and saw a seemingly endless vista of glass and steel towers, he felt a pang in his stomach. Space was cold and desolate, but the grandness made him feel connected to the universe. This made him feel different. There was so much here — people stacked upon other people — and it made him uncomfortable. The vast cityscape was only interrupted by the occasional puff of white smoke.

It looked identical to the smoke of the ships he took down in orbit of Starkiller base.

"Nervous?" asked his military officer Eveth. She was wearing a full-length dress with tiny metal fragments that sparkled in the twilight. She handed him a silver goblet filled with some sort of green alcohol.

Luke grabbed it and took a huge gulp.

"I guess that answers that," Eveth continued sarcastically.

Luke heard a scream, but then realized he was mistaken. It was a laugh. They were taking a break from talking to people at a party — his party.

As a hero of the New Republic, Leia had organized this celebration for his return from the Unknown Regions. It was THE event planetside, and according to Leia, anyone who was anyone was going to be there. There were hundreds of people crowded around him dressed in the most elegant attire credits could buy. Luke had only just arrived, and already he had had conversations with dozens of people. They thought that the balcony would be less crowded, but guests were following him, waiting for their opportunity to curry favor with him. He was easy to pick out in a crowd because Leia's campaign manager Hiram had insisted that he wear his opal Jedi robes for the sake of optics.

"I never liked these things," said Luke, as he set down his glass on a nearby high table. "They make me feel exhausted."

"Well, it's best to smile and say thank you," said his sensor analyst Gurgo matter-of-factly. He was fitted in a slimming green dress that matched his bulbous black eyes. Gurgo was not looking at Luke, but scanning the room for potential people to watch out for. He was his handler for the evening. Leia had wanted to use someone on her staff, but Luke had insisted on using someone from his own crew. She had acquiesced, though not without a few good glares over the holostream.

"Careful," whispered Gurgo, "A person on Leia's no-list is headed towards us. To your left. Senator Johant Nichatt of Chandrila."

A woman approached Luke. She was wearing a light blue two-piece suit that was crisp and perfect, despite being packed together with hundreds of people. He recognized the high-fashion outfit. It was made of a nanite-embedded composite restructuring the fabric continuously at an undetectable level. He had been gifted one from a Hyperdrive Installation CEO and seen the price tag left on by "accident."

It was an expensive suit.

Luke thought she was taller and paler than the pictures on her campaign videos--though she was far from the only person to have a different identity on the holostream. Half of the galaxy had never seen a picture of him past the battle of Yavin.

"Senator Nichatt, good to see you" Luke lied as she drew too close to ignore.

"General Skywalker, thank you, you are too kind. Though I think we both know that your sister and I do not always," she paused, before selecting her next words, "align politically," she said at last.