This is beautiful. I'm not really sure what else to say besides that, but I'll try anyway.

You took this ragtag bunch of misfits, so far one-off characters in the series whom the fans all love (myself included), and you completed them. I especially love how you expanded on Rumi's character; she was the first one to die in the episode, so we never got to know her. Seripas is the same mixture of brilliance and timidity that he was in the episode, and his motivations were well in keeping with his character. Embo's mental dialogue is great; everybody has to interpret for him, so hearing things from his side of the story is rather refreshing. Sugi is...Sugi. Your connection between her name and her personality is artful and brilliant.

Upon reading this, I really can't think of these characters in any other way. This is definitely going in favorites. Well done.

Loved it! Sugi is awesome and you write her well.

I hope you write more about Sugi, it would be awesome to see more of her before the episode "Bounty Hunters" and maybe some more of what she was doing in the seven years after Order 66 before meeting Cody.

Very nice. I was carried along with this story, enjoying finding out more about the bounty hunters and the way you fleshed out their universe. I like the repeated phrases and themes- "not-quite-woman", Saripas' looking for a "big life", the assumption that Iridonian Zabraks are all crazy. lol Very well-done fic. I love "They were crazy people, but they saw the world the way it was seen a millennia ago, so they were respected crazy people, and feared crazy people, and wise crazy people.", both for its observation and its rhythm.

"She would sing battle songs, and epics of heroes long dead. That was the kind of voice she had." Nice.

I always liked Embo's design but never really thought much about him as a person, or an alien for that matter. I like how he so consistently sees through the lens of his people. You really make the bounty hunters feel like aliens, instead of like...people dressed up in colors, like they sometimes seem to be on the show. I love the bits about the Zabraks, like her mother's jewelry and the pain from her horns coming through. "Mama," she groaned. "I am getting horns!" made me smile. D'aww. And it's fascinating to hear about things like Zabrak kids being sorted into cohorts. This really makes the Star Wars universe feel real.

The reverse timeline worked really well and, along with the dialogue in the beginning, recalled to me my favourite Firefly episode (Out of Gas). _ Great work.

Interesting, well written and descriptive too. I don't think I've ever read a story focused on Sugi's bounty hunter team. This should be good.

From the very first line I was grinning! Loved the subtle references to "Firefly" in the first few sections, as she's starting to gather her crew. I loved how you wrote each member's part as well, as they have such distinct personalities and traits, and the writing showed that so perfectly: Rumi's own arrogance - ironic - and her "looking down on" Sugi, literally and figuratively; Seripas' inner-monologue, a stream of excitement and hopefulness interlaced with a keen desire to be "anywhere but here," which was so endearing; Embo's reluctance to place his faith in the scraggly "not-quite-woman" who saved his life and spoke to him of sacred things just as swiftly as she called him (justfied) names...

Loved how you worked backward in time, revealing layers of Sugi's personality in reverse, showing us how she came to be who and what she is. Young Sugi was wonderful! Of course she's *almost* a grown-up because she has *horns* now (almost!) and has little time for her mother's stories, but I also get the sense that she still likes to sit with her mother and be a child. Great job showing her on the edge of her childhood, overlooking the cusp and seeing an adult's world within reach.

The imagery of the trees "grounding" Sugi in the past juxtaposed with her desire to travel among the stars was breathtaking and perfect. Just perfect! Honestly, I could quote your own writing back to you forever, but there was just so much that I loved about this one-shot. I will say that the last line - like the first one - was phenomenal! "She...took the memory of trees with her."

Thank you for sharing this! (It *almost* satisfies my desire for a crossover! :P)

LOL, I like it. :D I haven't seen the show but I'll have to see if I can look it up. :D

Oh, and since I don't have time, I managed to leave out my praise for the rest of the tree "analogy", specifically the line "tall and strong and sheltering" line. Again, it tied all of these 'ficlets' together - although, assuming you meant for some sort of poetic equivalence (or whatever it's called), I'm not sure which of her partners line up with "strong" and "sheltering" ("tall" fits Seripas of course). Maybe Rumi for "strong" and Embo for "sheltering"? Hmm.

Must. Stop. (your writing does that to me. It's hard to put off, even when I need to do so)

Wow. I only wish I had more time to review this thoroughly, but I'm crazy pressed right now, so I'll have to be quick.

I imagine this had something to do with your last chapter of 'Fate'?

This piece (I'm assuming this is a one-shot, though I don't see any indication either way) is stirring, to say the least. I can't help but be reminded of the "Homestead" origin story for Cut and Suu - the way you build the characters "into" the ones we see in the show. Awesome job, at that.

Rumi - wow. She probably interested me least of all the band (though Sugi's remorse over her death caught my eye - there's obviously something special about her). Seeing she's the only other female I could see the two of them having a close relationship. I really like how you get across the "swaggery" feel of a bounty hunter with both Sugi and Rumi - the line about the "short resume", etc.

I /loved/ Seripas here - his interaction with Ahsoka was so fun during the show (even though the 'moral' of that scene seemed a bit cheesy - don't have to look tough to be tough? I mean, it's true... I guess it's just another way to say "size matters not." Still sounded a little cheap, IMHO). Just through his dialogue you get that sense of "smallness" and eagerness that we say in the episode.

"He couldn't work alone, he knew, because he was so small and people always discounted him, and probably wouldn't give him work, but he could fight! He could!" It feels strange to call an aspiring bounty hunter "cute", but that's all I can say. Awww...

"The galaxy opened up before him." Perfect combination of his excitement and a general "Star Wars" sentiment.

Actually, what you did here really made Seripas a more believable, plausible character to me - onscreen he sounded a bit stereotypical to my ears. Seeing your portrayal sets my mind more at ease with him, and makes the screen version more palatable.

It's like you're making a kid's show more suitable for adults - hey, us grown ups like these characters too!

And you definitely see that "grown up" aspect in Embo's section. My, that was dark. I don't know that we actually see much of Embo's character but this seems to fit him well, and it also makes it clear that Sugi herself is no stranger to death and carnage. She's a criminal, in the show, so it makes sense that she has some dark experiences. And yet, her discussion with Embo suggests more of a heart - that she does want to be "good", in her own way. But that's just it - her own way.

Which is a perfect segue into the final section. And while that was beautiful and rich and deep - I can't get over this line: "Mama," she groaned. "I am getting horns!"

Oh. My. You know, ever since Darth Maul I've had this grating feeling about humanoids with horns, and this seemed to perfectly get across the idea, turning it into an almost cute 'growing up' phase for the Zabarrack. It's like losing teeth, you know? Uncomfortable, but it just happens. I couldn't help but grin and grimace at the thought of "getting horns". :)

Okay, the serious stuff. Sugi's mother's admonishment meshes perfectly with the 'thread' running through this story, of a girl/woman who's finding her own way, on the "wrong side of the law", but still wants to do good, still wants to be strong morally, not just with weapons. Her mother's words are perfect for imprinting that concept: "You can be the biggest, baddest fighter in the galaxy. It is /why/ you fight that determines who you are, Sugi. "

This builds perfectly into the Sugi you showed us in "Fate" - she may be a space pirate, looking to make a deal, but she does "look at the job", and she has a sense of honor. Like the Fetts, I image. And unlike, ah, Cad Bane. :P Or Aurra Sing, for that matter. Oh... a Sugi vs Sing story would be fun...

Anyways, whether this is a one-shot, a series, or a full length, it's a stellar piece (as usual, I guess). Again, you build "into" the canon characters perfectly, while deepening and expanding them beyond the necessarily limited portrayal we get in TCW. The theme of 'trees' (or cedar) was an excellent one, speaking to the idea of strength, of being rooted in one's principles, yet reaching ever upward and outward beyond one's humble beginnings. It fits Sugi in particular, as a lawbreaker, who still binds herself to her own "laws."

As she says so well:

"So, in your mind, I'm just like any other pirate."

"Am I wrong?"

"Not entirely."

Ah, but Obi-Wan /is/ wrong, just a little bit.

Amazing work! Oh, and did I tell you I don't have time to write a long review? :P