Silver Mercury
Epilogue – Allies
The next several months in Seventh Heaven had slow business days, thanks to the near-martial law set forth by the garrison Darth Vader left behind before his departure to some other unlucky place in the galaxy. It reminded Tifa Lockheart of the old Shin-Ra days, when it was a battle just to obtain clean and healthy water down in the slums. Like always, however, AVALANCHE somehow managed. Except for Cid, who took the airship past Mideel to keep it safe from the Imperials, they hid out in the basement under the pinball machine while Tifa managed the bar, just like old times. It wasn't really so bad, she found herself admitting. After a month or so, commercialism and a small amount of tourism from other parts of the galaxy were finally allowed on New Korriban, and the Imperial presence was no longer so daunting, not with so many alien species interacting with the people in Edge and the other cities.
Tifa was excited to meet all of the different people from other worlds. That day, as she polished her bar, she thought about the new products and drinks she had been asked to offer by the few new customers that had visited the poor town of Edge. The Empire was oppressive, but she and the others no longer had to worry about Boba Fett or any other bounty hunters. With Cloud Strife thought dead, AVALANCHE was considered virtually harmless without their leader. Knowing how wrong they were always brought a smile to Tifa's face.
"Yo Tifa."
Tifa looked up from her work and saw Barret ascending from the basement on the pinball machine. They were beginning to spend less and less time down there.
"Yeah?"
He set himself on a stool at the bar. "You been hearing all the hype lately about droids?"
Tifa pushed a stray bar glass aside and nodded. "Yeah. It seems everyday hundreds more are being shipped over here. Why do you ask?"
Barret scratched his plaited head. "You ever consider getting one for the shop?"
Tifa paused and blinked. "No, actually. I haven't." With a smirk she looked around her surroundings. "Now that you mention it, I could use a helping hand around here, especially with cleaning. It's tough managing a household of eight!"
Barret pouted. "Aww. We ain't that much trouble are we?"
Tifa laughed. "Well, Yuffie's been a little behind on the dishes lately."
"Yeah," he replied loudly. "When is that brat goin' back to Wutai anyway!"
From upstairs came a resentful, "I heard that!" and they spent the next few minutes laughing at it. Afterwards, Barret brought up what he had heard and learned about droids, being fond of new technology as he had always been, and soon enough, Tifa forgot about her work and found herself deeply attentive to the currently fascinating universe of droids, speeders, and spacecraft. She was sure that wherever Cid was, he was having a field day with it all as well.
"It really would be perfect," she answered solemnly as she traced the polished bar with her finger, "if it wasn't all controlled by an insane dictatorship. Was it always this way?"
Barret frowned. "What do ya' mean?"
Tifa propped her elbow on the counter and rested her face in her palm. "I mean… was the Empire always in control of the galaxy? How did it all start?"
Barret shook his head. "Dunno. Guess we'll be finding out sooner or later, though."
Tifa nodded in agreement and then found Cloud coming down the stairs into the bar. "What time is it?" he asked.
"Almost sundown," Tifa answered. A quick glance out of the front window showed a virtually empty portion of Edge bathed in orange sunlight from the setting sun.
Cloud took a seat next to Barret. "I heard that Rufus is still alive."
"Well, that's…" Tifa began. "Good, I guess." She had always harbored ill feelings towards Rufus Shinra, but with the Empire to consider, he now seemed to be the lesser of two evils.
"Only if the Empire isn't controlling him," Cloud pointed out, "which they probably are. Shin-Ra has a lot of resources they can use."
Tifa rubbed her hands together in thought. There was still so much to worry about, and she didn't even know where to begin. As soon as she poured drinks for Barret and Cloud, the door opened with a soft chime, signaling a customer. Cloud tensed, but Tifa's expression signaled to him that it wasn't a stormtrooper.
The customer that had entered was human. He looked to be about the same age as Yuffie, with brown hair and a clean-shaven face. He wore clothing that was not native to New Korriban, but was simple regardless; forest green pants and a black tunic. There was a blaster strapped to his hip that worried Tifa just a little, but as soon as he sat at the bar with a tired sigh, she decided that he wasn't much of a threat. Yet.
She approached him with a smile. "Welcome to Seventh Heaven. What would you like?"
The new customer looked up and said, "Oh good, you speak Basic."
Again, she smiled. "Yeah. Unfortunately, we don't offer any other languages yet."
The teenage boy shrugged. "Don't worry about it. A lot of non-humans are multi-lingual anyway." When Tifa said nothing else and just seemed to wait, he nervously laughed. "Oh yeah, sorry. Uh, what do you recommend?"
Tifa turned towards the liquor shelf. "Well, we just got a new shipment of Mideel wine. It's sweet, and not too strong. One of my favorites, actually."
He smiled in return. "Okay, I'll take your word for it then."
Tifa nodded and poured him a glass of the popular wine. As she set it in front of him, she glanced at Cloud and Barret, who seemed to be talking quietly amongst themselves, and thankfully, not looking too suspicious.
"Mmm!" exclaimed her new young customer. "This is pretty good!"
"Glad you like it," Tifa replied. "So, where are you from?"
"Corellia, originally," he replied. When he noticed her lack of recognition, he added, "Oh, haven't heard of it yet, huh?"
"I've only heard about Imperial Center around here," she admitted, "and even so, very little about that as well."
He shrugged. "Probably because this system is just so far away."
Tifa offered him a sympathetic smile. "You look like you've had a long travel."
"I came looking for someone," he explained. "Or, more than one person, actually. Speaking of which, you're Tifa Lockheart, aren't you? Of AVALANCHE?"
The room went uncomfortably quiet, and Cloud and Barret turned in their seats to glare at the man. Tifa tensed, but then boldly answered, "Yes, I am."
"And who the hell are you?" Barret demanded. The three of them were all thinking the same thing: Imperial agent.
The stranger hesitated and nervously answered, "I'm not here to cause any kind of trouble."
"You damn right you're not!" Barret threatened as he stood up and towered over the much smaller man. The stranger seemed to shrink back in response from the obvious intimidation.
"How do you know about AVALANCHE?" Cloud calmly asked.
"News travels slow from this end of the galaxy," he quickly answered, "but there was a rumor that you fought the Empire when they arrived."
"Invaded," Cloud corrected him.
"If you're here to turn us in-," Tifa began.
"I promise you I'm not," he replied. "My name is Wedge Antilles."
Barret took a step back, and Tifa stood stunned. Wedge…? Her thoughts went to the original members of AVALANCHE, all three who had died at the hands of Shin-Ra. This new Wedge looked nothing like the one she used to know, but it did bring her a painful reminder of their past.
Wedge Antilles stood and carefully looked at the speechless forms of Tifa, Barret and Cloud. "I was sent here to see if there was anything left of your group. We need any help we can get in fighting the Empire. I know not a lot of news gets around in these parts, but…"
"…have any of you ever heard of the Rebel Alliance?"
Silver Mercury Concluded
Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to thank those who have read and reviewed: rjectkd89, Elvenluver (to whom Resia Tomebar offically belongs), X-Over, Darth Malazia, InfernoFlames140, fangs4fun, Capt. Jon Elric, Boudicca Aturia, HolyKnight5, Dacl73, PauL32489, NeoSeether, Tio Hiwatari, The Arbiters Guardian, hecate-19, and Lokichaosgod, as well as those who reviewed anonymously. Thank you all for the praise, and even the occasional criticism, for without which I probably would not have caught certain discrepancies in the story. It's thanks to all of you that I was able to complete this crossover, an idea that I originally did not expect to last more than three chapters or so. However, the sequel is now being planned, and I have taken all of your ideas into consideration. Any other suggestions will be gratefully welcomed as well.
As for this story, I'll be going back to clean it up and revise one last time, probably while I work on the next story. I'm not really sure if sends e-mails for resubmitted chapters, but if you do happen to get those alerts for this story, then you can ignore them if you like. They're not updates, just the same chapters corrected and fixed up. Again, thanks, and I sincerely hope this story has been enjoyable to read. I certainly had fun writing it.