Pinned
Summary: After a Pantoran discovery offers to turn the tide of the war, Riyo is thrust into the limelight trying to keep her footing around having new political power—and enemies. A failed assassination attempt sees her paired with a squad of the Coruscant Guard, who bring with them protection, family, and a glimpse into the underbelly of the Republic that she begins to realize she isn’t supposed to see. Alone, neither Riyo nor the commanders of the Guard are able to make sense of the plot that seems to be tightening around them, but maybe together they can unravel the mystery before it’s too late.
Hear ye! Hear ye! The foxiyo fic I have been working on for forever is finally here! The Prologue is below! Link to Chapter 1 is after that!
Prologue, Part 1: Unfriendly Fire
The forest looms large around them and Fox signals to spread out through the low underbrush. They are close, he can feel it. It’s only a matter of time until their trap closes around their prey.
Until then, the mission is a song singing in his blood, his pulse an eager drum. The hunt is before him and his squad is behind him; purpose and belonging ingrained so deeply inside him it may as well have been etched onto his bones. They’ll find their quarry together.
—
Riyo browsed through the scarves lining the rack but none of them called to her and she began to second-guess her decision to come alone. Perhaps a second opinion would have been helpful. But the prospect of a whole afternoon out by herself had been too good to pass up.
The last month had been so overwhelming that this errand had presented itself as an opportunity to feel comfortable in her own skin. She just wanted a moment without feeling like she was hiding—not in her apartment, behind her politicking face, or from her suddenly endless obligations. Making necessary updates to her wardrobe at the Coruscant Uptown Market had been a three-birds-one-stone for all of them.
She took a deep breath and looked back at a selection of scarves she knew she normally would have leapt at. At least in theory it should have helped her feel more like herself.
—
The forest darkens.
They slow their pace as the scrape of their armor through the thickening underbrush disrupts the hush that has settled around them. Any sound now could be the difference between hearing their target or giving themselves away.
The trees close around them.
—
“You have fine taste,” the vendor smiled at her. “These were just imported all the way from Mirialan. Would you like to try one on? I was assured that the gold leaf on that jade one is pure Ortherian.”
“I’ll keep looking, but thank you,” Riyo smiled politely. She’d known a handful of Pantorans who could successfully wear green. She was not one of them. And her lack of interest in the scarves was posing an identity crisis she wanted to muddle over by herself.
“Perhaps the violet?” the vendor pushed. His voice was warm but his smile no longer reached his eyes.
—
The silence around them becomes absolute and the hair on the back of his neck prickles. He stops. Listens. Not even the birds have come this far.
Fox turns around and fear clenches his gut. His squad is gone.
He is alone.
The trees around him tower indifferently and he squints through them until they disappear, endless, in the near black. No one else is here.
His rifle is in his hands and he grips it tightly. If he can just finish the mission, he’ll find them.
Finish the mission.
—
Tired of the shopkeeper, Riyo turned to leave. There were plenty of other stalls and boutiques to wander through that would allow her the solitude that she sought today.
She stepped out of the exit, squinting in the suddenly bright sunlight streaming at her between the towering buildings in front of her. Padme had told her that, once upon a time, the Uptown Market really had been at the true height of Coruscant but the levels continued being built ever skyward around it from the moment it had been completed.
She closed her eyes and tried to let the beam of sunlight soak into her.
—
There! A cloak whirls in the distance and Fox sprints forward in pursuit. The forest rushes past him and he closes the distance in an instant.
He leaps, tackles the cloaked figure, draws his fist as the hood falls away.
Chancellor Palpatine’s unblinking visage stares back at him.
Fox draws back, alarmed, but Palpatine doesn’t appear surprised or confused. Just stares, scrutinizes, as Fox helps him stand.
That means the enemy is still out here.
He gathers his rifle and takes a defensive stance in front of the Chancellor. He peers once more into the immutable forest and swallows around the dread rising up his throat.
Something is about to happen.
—
The awning post next to Riyo exploded, showering her with splinters.
Through the scream that tore from her throat she could hear the echos of a sharp crack reverberating through the towering buildings around her.
She flinched so intensely that she fell and began scrambling away, shaking, when a scorch mark blasted across the ground just in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of it on her face. The echoing crack followed again and a chorus of screams from other patrons in the market began joining her own.
—
Fox is knocked forward off his feet and the pain buried between his shoulder blades is so intense he knows he’s been shot.
He scrapes himself along the ground to turn back. He has to protect the Chancellor.
Except when he drags himself up with his forearm, it is Palpatine who is holding the blaster directed at him.
Palpatine who shot him.
But…but that doesn’t make sense.
He’s a good soldier.
He follows orders.
Shadows begin to materialize from the murky depths of the forest. His squad! Except…
They surround him, closing in, blasters drawn.
—
The roof of the stall she had been browsing creaked under the strain of the shattered post and Riyo rolled towards it as it collapsed forward, blocking her from the exposure of the market street. Another shot fired through the roof but it went well clear of her as she dragged herself further inward, away from her unseen assailant.
Her panicked breaths choked on the dust and debris clouding around the stall as she curled herself up behind the register counter, tightly grasped her knees close to her chest with trembling hands, and squeezed her eyes shut, alone.
—
The last thing Fox sees is Palpatine staring malevolently back at him as his vision fades.
Fox’s eyes shot open and he lurched out of bed, blaster gripped in his trembling hands.
But he was alone in his bunk. It was just a dream.
