Star Wars Character Cafe

Title: Cena Mei Neu (PG-13)
Author: Emimar
Characters: Flik Sivrak (oc), Shiba Black (oc), Kaitlin "Kat" Ros (oc), Riv Shiel
Era: 5.5 years after A New Hope
Category: Romance
Summary: Shiba Black recalls the time Flik Sivrak proposed to her.
Disclaimers: I have not, am not, and will not recieve any profit from the creation of this story. I do not own any of the canon Star Wars characters that feature in this story.
Note: This story contains an extract from Hunter's Conscience, a story for older readers that can be found on my fan fic site, Darkside of the Moon.

CENA MEI NEU

Shiba peeled off the blood stained surgical gloves and turned to the Medical Droid that was her assistant.

"He's ready for the bacta tank now, Emdee," she said to the droid. Her patient on the operating table was one Riv Shiel, one of the two Shistavanen pilots in the Ackley Squadron. The other was Shiba's husband, Flik Sivrak. Even after two and a half years since the death of Palpatine, the civil war with the Empire still raged and didn't look like it was going to end soon. People on both sides still fought and died, she had lost friends, but her life had purpose, now, not like it was when she had first joined Flik as a bounty hunter. In the time she had joined the Alliance, she had become the Alliance's expert on alien physiology and was very much valued by the Alliance for that. She was one of the few doctors who could appropriately treat non-human species, but even so, she had to admit that there was a lot that even she still had to learn, for there is more diversity among sentient beings across the galaxy than one person could ever uncover in a life time.

She realised as she cleaned her hands and took off the protective white lab coat she had worn during surgery that it was exactly five years since she had met the fallen Shistavanen Jedi, the last of the Old Jedi Order.

Shiba activated the internal comlink so she could speak with Flik. "The surgery is finished, Flik. Riv's going to be fine. I'll be along in ten minutes."

"Okay, Shiba, just don't be too long."

"I need to clean up here. I'll be there as soon as I can."

She deactivated the comlink and set about cleaning the blood off her equipment and preparing it for sterilisation for the next time it was needed. Her thoughts turned to Flik as she did so. It had just been unlucky that Riv and his wingmate, Kaitlin Ros, had been ambushed by Imperials on their patrol of the Folar System on the day she should have spent with Flik, not slaving away in the operating theatre, but that was life.

"How is he?" the words from Kat Ros, the young blonde haired woman from Chandrilla interrupted her thoughts.

"He's stable," Shiba replied, "But it will be a few hours before he can come out of the bacta."

Shiba saw a look of relief cross the younger woman's features.

"When his ship exploded, I thought I'd lost him. I should have been able to feel him in the Force, but I panicked, a little. Then I realised he'd gone EV -"

"He'll live," Shiba said, trying to reassure her.

Kat shook her head and looked at Riv, now floating in the healing fluid of bacta. "I just don't think I'm cut out for this Jedi stuff."

"Go on," Shiba said, sensing that Kat needed to talk. It looked like Flik would just have to wait a little bit longer.

"Flik says that I'm too volatile, that I'm too easily distracted -"

"I don't think that's true," Shiba said. "You were the most successful cat burglar on Ord Mantell. That had to take a lot of steady nerves and concentration. You just need to transfer those skills to what you are now."

"Perhaps," Kat said. "Easy though, when you don't have to worry about your boyfriend getting killed."

"Do you think you'd be better off alone? Is that what you're saying?"

"No - I -"

"Good. Flik once told me that a Jedi could never love. It became clearer what he meant when he said that he was forced to leave the order because he chose to give into his feelings for Auoura."

"What do you think?" Kat asked.

"I said how could a Jedi be a Jedi if he or she didn't care about anyone, or anything? After Alderaan was destroyed, I thought I could never care about anyone again, even though I had two children, I couldn't care for them, it seemed like the Death Star had destroyed that part of me as well, and the part of me that was a doctor had died too."

"What made you care again?"

"It was Flik. Oh, when we first met, we argued, fought and insulted each other like there was no tomorrow. At times, it seemed like we hated each other, but it was really just a barrier we both put up between ourselves to hide what we were truly feeling for each other. Even when we had the chance of ridding ourselves of each other, we ended up saving each other's lives over and over again. It wasn't until Flik was captured by Clagula the Hutt that I realised just how much he meant to me."

"That sounds like an interesting story."

Shiba smiled. "Yes, it was in more ways than one, but it's getting late, now and I'm exhausted."

"But could you tell me what happened? You don't have to go into detail."

"I rescued him, of course, with a little help from Lak Sivrak."

Shiba continued, and Kat nodded, remembering the brief encounter she'd had with her Master's brother, just before his death at Endor. "After that we went to Corellia, to pick up Jeana and Chan from the friend I'd left them with. It was then that we found Zak. It was there that he told me the truth about him being a Jedi. I sometimes think that we were meant to meet, that the Force, even though I have little knowledge of it, wanted to put us both back on the path that we were meant to tread..."

As she said the words, that night came back to Shiba, very much as vivid as though it had happened only minutes ago, one of those memories that stayed with her forever, just like the time she was told that Alderaan had been destroyed...

Night had fallen now and Shiba and Flik went outside into the back garden. The night was clear and the sky was filled with the twinkle of stars. Shiba pointed some of them out to him. The biggest ones to be seen weren't stars at all, but planets.

"I've not felt like this since the last time I was with my family," Flik said to her, gripping her hand in his.

"We are your family now."

Flik turned to face her. He lowered his gaze so he didn't have to look at her. "There is something I must tell you and I hope you can forgive me for keeping this from you. If you don't want to be with me after I've told you this, then I understand."

"What can be so terrible that I'd want to break up with you over?"

"This."

Flik reached inside his jacket and produced a cylinder. He activated it and swung the green blade through the air. It hummed and hissed with every movement. Shiba looked at the weapon in shock.

"Flik, that's a lightsabre! Then you are--"

"A Jedi Knight. Or at least I used to be. Cherys wasn't my mate either, but I did have one, her name was Auoura. Twenty Four years ago we had a son, Tek was his name. It was forbidden for Jedi to marry, to fall in love and I did, with her. When she became pregnant we couldn't keep it a secret and I was forced to leave the Order. That is not the worst thing. Just before I left, a group of us, my father and my Master were on the verge of uncovering a Sith plot to take over the galaxy."

"Wait. I thought you said Jedi weren't able to marry."

"Let's just say my father was much better at keeping secrets than I was. My Master was killed in action and my mother became pregnant again, with Lak. This time she was unable to keep it a secret and when Palpatine took full control of all decisions, rendering the senate useless, she pulled the Uvena System out of the Old Republic. A three way war ensued, the Republic and the Jedi on one side, the Confederacy on the other and Uvena III caught up in the middle. My people were defeated. My father refused to battle his former colleges, the Jedi and tried to warn them what was happening. The Jedi, even the Masters were under the influence of the Sith Lord. It was too late by the time they realised what was happening.

"The Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy and were picked off one by one. My father was one of the last. When he died, my son desired revenge and so he went to confront the Vader and his Emperor. They turned him to their side and he killed his mother. I was forced to kill him. As he died, he told me of a female Shistavanen, Cherys. She was carrying his child."

"Zak."

"Yes."

"Flik, I had no idea--"

He kissed her. "It seems strange to find peace in a galaxy torn apart by war and hatred and oppression."

"We find it anywhere we can Flik and with who we can. It is what the Rebels are fighting for."

"Even after all I've just told you, are we still going to join?"

Shiba stroked his face with her other hand. "Do you still want to marry me?"

Flik looked into her eyes and stroked her hair. "Yes," he said after a while.

"That is the answer to both questions, then."

"Well, we'd better do this properly then," Flik said. "I have another confession to make. I borrowed the rings Chan gave you so I had the right size," he reached into his pocket and took out the rings Chan had given her and pressed them into her palm. He closed her hand around them and watched as she put them away. "I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, but here goes," he went down on one knee and reached into his pocket to take out the ring he had bought. "I want to ask you if you will be my mate, my partner in the hunt forever." He took hold of her hand, kissed it and slipped the ring on her finger.

"You did it just fine," Shiba said to him. He stood up and she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, passionately, lovingly.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Shiba -" Kat's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Sorry, Kat. Just remembering something. After he told me the truth, I couldn't have been happier, but that was short lived because the bounty hunters Clagula had hired caught up with us again and captured us both. We couldn't put up a fight without hurting the children, so we let them capture us. We were sent to the arena on the planet, Jubiler, to fight in it. After our first battle in there, we were freed by the Alliance, and that's how we joined. But there is one truth about the no-possession of the Old Jedi Order, though I've only come to understand it recently. It allowed me to let go of my past and begin my future with Flik -"

Another memory came unbidden, that of the last time she had gone to the Alderaan system...

They came out of hyperspace several hours later. The children had been woken up, Chan sat on Shiba's knee. Zak and Jeana were sat on Flik's lap, his large form big enough to accommodate them both. They sat quietly so Flik could pilot the ship. It had been the first time she had been home since the planet was destroyed. She hugged Chan closer to her and kissed him. Tears were already forming in her eyes as she stared out the view port.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," She heard Flik say. Shiba reached across to him and squeezed his thick bicep. "I have to do this sometime, Flik," she said. "I just want to get this over with and out of the way."

Flik nodded. He understood. "Are you going to do it or shall I?"

"I'll do it Flik. I don't need you protecting me from myself."

She fired the box containing the holograms she had packed on Corellia out into space and then shot them with the Warrior's laser cannon. The box exploded like a miniature Alderaan when the Death Star fired its super laser at the unsuspecting world. Flik flipped on the comm.

Shiba spoke into the comm. "Goodbye, Chan my love and father of my children. My memories of you may fade but my love for you never will," she glanced over at Flik. "I have come to love another and I hope that you can forgive me. You will always have a special place in my heart and the children though they will not remember you, I will make sure they love you. Your body may be dead but you will live forever in our hearts." Her voice cracked and though she wanted to say more, she couldn't. She was over come with emotion and the tears came in torrents.

Flik turned the comm off and did the calculations to Eridau. Soon they were leaving the broken planet of Alderaan behind. Flik let the children down and went over to her. He hugged her to him fiercely, not wanting to let her go as she cried her last good bye to her lost husband. Finally she was ready to begin her new life with Flik.

"I think we should all get something to eat," he said to them all. "Then you, Shiba should try to get some sleep."

Shiba nodded. "But you need to rest too."

"I will get rest later."

Shiba nodded and allowed him to take care of her.

"That's why, Flik always' tells you to focus on the here and now, so you can move on to the future, but you mustn't forget the past completely as you can still learn from it: the past is the key to the future," Shiba continued.

"Hey, I thought you didn't know much about the Force!"

"As a doctor, K know people, Kaitlin."

"Time's getting on. I thought you'd have come to bed by now," Flik Sivrak stood revealed in the doorway. "Hello, Kat."

"I was just about to be on my way," Shiba replied.

Kat stifled a yawn and felt more tired that she thought possible, in the circumstances. She bid Flik and Shiba good night and did the same to Riv, even though he was still deeply unconscious.

Shiba stretched to flex out the kinks in her aching muscles, and gave Flik a loving but sleepy smile.

"Cena mei neu," Flik murmured as he slipped an arm around her shoulders. As they walked through the winding corridor to their quarters, Shiba couldn't help but think of how much she loved him.

Meeting him had been the greatest turning point in her life, she just wished she wasn't too tired to celebrate the anniversary.

But she wasn't too tired to return the words, "Cena Mei Nu," I love you, to him.