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Chapter Text

The undercover assignments were the worst, Ahsoka thought, especially this close to strategic hyperspace lanes where security was heightened and so her alert must be as well. The dirt of Bracca clung to her poncho, reminding her not unfondly of her first real assignment on out of the way Tatooine. Things had been less complicated then, the Republic, the Jedi, it had all seemed so inevitable. Now the only thing truly inevitable was the need for survival.  

Embedding herself in the Scrapper’s Guild had been the easy part, her mechanic’s skills were some of the best in the galaxy, after all she had been taught by one of the best tinkerers out there. Next came the hard part, finding her contact. For their safety she had insisted on a sparseness of details. Enough that someone with her skills could piece it all together, but hopefully only just enough. It wouldn’t do for the Empire to find either of them. Especially not their new twisted dark force users.

Turning her attention to the droid overseer Ahsoka awaited her new instructions. Her first lead involved getting assigned to the most dangerous shifts, and something, maybe the force, told her that her work had been exemplary enough that that was where she was headed.

“An error has been detected on line Ten-A. Hauler clamps are jammed.” The droid’s modulated voice whirred in an emotionless monotone, like the majority of droids throughout the galaxy, this one was programmed for a specific task and fitted with restrainer bolts to ensure it followed that programming to the letter. “I need two workers to climb up and secure the cables.”

“That’s not an easy job.” That was an understatement, the hauler lines were some of the most complex pieces of equipment in the scrapyard and required constant maintenance. 

“That’s why you’ll be going with me.” A large Abednedo lumbered up next to her, an easy manner evident in his gait. “The guild always pays double for these shifts too. Isn’t that true Foreman?”

If the droid could blink in irritation Ahsoka was certain it would. “That is … correct Prauf. As long as your work is up to guild standards.”

A half-head taller than her Prauf gazed down at her with eager eyes. “Alright.” She said. Not quite sure what she was agreeing to, Ahsoka knew she couldn’t afford to second guess herself. 

“Let’s go.” Prauf turned, waving for her to follow. Line Ten-A wasn’t too far, just full on the other side of the scrapping yard. Whatever, it would give her enough time to feel out this Prauf and determine if he was her contact or not. “Didn’t catch your name.”

Moving to catch up she offered the fake name she picked for this assignment, one she hadn’t used in a while. “Ashla. Name’s Ashla.”

“Nice to meet you Ashla.”

“Nice to meet you too Prauf.” And it was, even if circumstances were not what she preferred, it was always encouraging to see that some people’s lives weren’t terribly different now than before the Empire.   

The passage through the scrapping yard carried them past a number of relics from the war, battle droids, separatist cruisers, as well as a corelian fighter or two. However most of what’s out here was, as the name implied, scrap.

“How long have you been out here?” Starting with the simple questions was the safest route, even if the tediousness of it grated at Ahsoka’s nerves.

“Hah. I’ve been a scrapper my whole life. Born on Corelia, fled after the war reached us. Been on Bracca ever since. It’s not a bad life all in all, scrapping, prospects aren’t always great, but it’s not bad.”

“Hmm.” 

“What about you?” Prauf’s voice as he lumbered ahead was bright, not weighed down by the heaviness of current events.

“As you probably guessed, I’m new. Only been here a few weeks. I grew up in the Outer Rim, my family were all engineers. I was going to be too, if things had turned out differently. Now I take what work I can find, ya know.” The lies came easily now that she had several years away from the Jedi and their hypocritical, yet stringent, morality.

“Don’t I.” 

The scrapping yard was very poorly organized, she realized, as the two of them have to climb over and through piles of unsorted junk. The air was thick with the smell of grease, and as it clung to her poncho she couldn’t help but be grateful that when this assignment was over and she had her intel, there was a change of clothes waiting for her.

They rounded a corner and the hauler cables came into view, hanging a few hundred feet above her and even further over a yawning chasm. As close as they were, Ahsoka could see the problem. What must have been line 10-A had come loose from the clamps, and it hung limp. Re-attaching it would mean climbing out onto the clamps, and they hadn’t been supplied with any safety gear.

Before she could get too deep into figuring out how she was going to do her job, Prauf called to her from somewhere to her left. “Ashla, come take a look at this. 

Turning towards his voice she immediately saw what must have grabbed Prauf’s attention. 

“It’s a Jedi fighter!” Prauf’s excitement was palpable and Ahsoka almost wished she could share it. But there was nothing exciting about it for her.

“What a score. They let us scrap that, we’ll be set for months. This heap’s been here for what, four years?”

Walking towards the fighter, an Actic- class interceptor, Ahsoka studied its markings. Just the usual blaster scoring, nothing to mark it as belonging to a specific Jedi. Whatever residue their death left in the Force had faded, whoever the pilot was was long gone. “Five.” It had been five years.

“Yeah, well. Whoever flew this went down in a blaze of glory.” Prauf lumbered towards it, kneeling to rest one of his large hands on a wing.

That’s one way to put it. Ahsoka glanced around, really not wanting to be found hovering near the crashed fighter.

“Those Jedi. A shame what happened to them.” Turning his head back to her, his gaze met hers. “Always said they couldn’t all be traitors.”

“If you listen to the holonet, they certainly all were.” Even if Prauf was her contact there were still certain topics that she was wary of broaching. The Jedi’s guilt, or lack of, was one of them.

“Hmmph.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to the fighter. “Must just be our lucky day. We’ll certainly get a lot of good material out of it.” 

Ahsoka watched as he investigated the ship, tapping the wings, the cockpit glass, checking the wiring.  

“Here we are scrapping these ships from the war, just so they can turn around and make new ones. Quite a racket. You know, the pay was better under the republic, bosses were a bit friendlier too.”

“Hey, you really should keep it down.” She lowered her voice hoping Prauf would catch on.

“I’m just saying, a finders' fee like this, could be the fulcrum on which your exit from this soggy rock turns.”

Eyes narrowing Ahsoka suppressed a smile that tugged at the edges of her mouth. Either it was a complete coincidence, or her contact had absolutely no grasp of subtlety. Still, very few people were aware of Fulcrum's existence, let alone to know to look for them on Bracca. So she said the established response phrase that would as as the final determinant. 

"Anything and everything can be a fulcrum, if the right pressure is applied." She shrugged as she said it, hoping she sounded non-committal.

When he turned back to her Prauf’s eyes were alight with exuberance, clearly he was pleased with himself. She noticed, finally, that his hand was held out to her. 

“What is that?” She already knew the answer to her question, though the object in his hand was tiny, it was recognizable to only a few. 

“For you.” He said.

Slowly, very slowly, she reached out and grabbed the tiny box. It was a Jedi blackbox, whatever it held would have been kept safe from the elements. Sometimes a Jedi might store something they considered important in one of these, while less secure than a holocron, they could still only be opened by one attuned to the force. Yet another reminder of something she'd hoped to leave behind her, nudgings from the force be damned.

She sensed it just before it happened, the crumbling of the platform beneath them. Her Jedi-trained reflexes allowed her to grab the new edge just as it passed her and hold on for dear life, shoving the blackbox into one of her belt pouches. But Prauf had no special training, no years of life threatening situations to hone his athletic abilities. So he fell, far and fast enough that by the time Ahsoka reached for him he was too far. She could sense his fear, it wasn’t as pungent as the fear of those strong in the force, but fear was distinctive, metallic and cloying. And it meant she had to push down her own and act, even though to do so could spell disaster.

   
Reaching out with the force- 

She didn’t know if she’d ever get use to how empty it felt now, the brightness of the Jedi’s presence gone forever, slowly being replaced by a heavy oppressive presence that filled her with unease. She couldn’t stop using it of course, it was as much a part of her as breathing, but she wished it didn’t feel so wrong.

-she guided it with her free hand and wrapped it around Prauf, slowing his fall. A scrapper’s skiff passed underneath them and she lowered Prauf onto it before dropping down herself. 

Unsteadily Prauf climbed to his feet and and Ahsoka grimaced as he looked up at her in awe. This was what she was afraid of, someone who couldn’t see past their rosy image of the Jedi. At least she could sense his intentions weren’t malicious. But in the end it wouldn’t be his intentions she would have to worry about.

Grabbing the skiff’s controls, she knocked the droid pilot out of the way. “I know you have questions, just please, hold them until we’re out of the open.” She waited. Nothing. Taking his silence for agreement, Ahsoka piloted the skiff towards the nearest platform that wasn’t crawling with people. Hoping against hope that Prauf was the only one who saw what had happened, a sick feeling in her gut telling her that hope was a lie.

Once they landed she herded them off the skiff towards a nearby service passage. For a few moments at least they would be undisturbed. Once safely enveloped in the shadows, before she had a moment to catch her breath, Prauf assaulted her with questions.

“What was that back there? Was it … was that you? Was that the Force?”

“I’d ask you to forget what you saw, but that’s not gonna happen is it?”

“I’ve heard the stories, ya know, Jedi aiding the … of Jedi who survived. There’s bounties on people like you.”

“I know. I know.” Bringing a finger to her lips she signaled quiet.

“Right, right. We need to be careful.”

“You can’t tell anyone what you saw. Understand? No. One.” She punctuated each word with a finger jab at his face. “As you said there are bounties on people like me.”

Prauf nodded. “I may not look it Ashla, but I know my stuff. My … well I knew someone who went of to be a Jedi. I’ll keep your secret.” 

Sensing the truth of his words, as well as a deep sadness, she took a deep breath, letting the Force steady her nerves. Whatever happened next, at least she had the intel she came for. The rest was out of her hands.

Reaching into her belt pouch she pulled out the little box, resting it in her palm.

What secrets do you hold? 

Having decided that one more, quiet , display of the force wouldn’t change events already set in motion she opened up to it again. This time she only let in the tiniest bit, like thread through the eye of a needle, feeding it into the blackbox, she felt a click as whatever inner mechanism responded to the influx of energy. 

Ahsoka watched it open, revealing a holodisc, the kind which required a droid to access. Not for the last time Ahsoka missed Artoo’s presence. It had been a long time since she’d traveled with the little droid, his knowledge considered too valuable to be risked on field assignments. 

“What is it?” 

For a moment she had forgotten Prauf was there. That’s not a mistake she could afford to make. 

“It’s a map. To what, I don’t know. But whatever Jedi died here thought it was important. Thank you for bringing me to it.”

He smiled big at that. “Anything to help.” 

“We should get back. We can tell them the line work didn’t get done because the platform collapsed. They’ll have to deal with sending droids up there.”

“Yeah, let's do that.”

****

Checking in with the Foreman had gone well enough. The droid had simply grumbled something about useless organics before sending them off, officially ending their shift for the day.

As necessary as it was for her to get off Bracca right now , Ahsoka could only afford so much hurry. She’d already done enough to draw attention to herself as it was. That said, sitting still had never been one of her strong suites and the train to the residential area felt like it was taking forever. 

Prauf was calm, thank the Force, and his presence on the bench next to her made it somewhat easier to avoid panicking herself. She’d heard too many stories of an accidental use of the Force leading to capture or worse. Her own past experience attested to the very real danger of being caught. The last thing she wanted to see was another one of those horrific red blades, it’s core screaming in pain, a miniature wound in the Force.

And though it might not be the wisest decision, the hour and a half ride was plenty of time for Ahsoka to get some meditation in. Calm her mind. Ease her breathing. 

She slipped easily into the familiar trance, one taught more by her own initiative than anything her Master had done. Thunder crashed outside and the arrival of rain became a steady plunk, plunk, plunk.  

She let the come Force to her, finding that easier than grasping for it like some Jedi had advised. Even wounded as it was, she still found it beautiful. 

The Force was just beginning to heal from the massive tear that had been made when thousands of Jedi were wiped from existence near simultaneously. It’s tattered and frayed edges were slowly weaving back together. She let that feeling wash over her, ignoring the growing wrongness, focusing instead on the Force around her. The possibilities of the past and future will be what they will be, what’s important are the possibilities of the present.

By the time Ahsoka opened her eyes it easily could’ve been an hour and a half, Prauf was gone, probably off to wherever he called home. The shadows were lower and stronger than they had been, pooling thickly around her. 

Something flickered at the end of the train car, and then her name echoed through the car. Ahsoka!

Gathering her will she stood and began making her way to the back of the car. As she approached a sinister red glow flooded the doorway that led to the next car. A familiar glow, one that made her breath come shorter and her arms feel like led. Her lightsabers seemed woefully out of reach when at last a figure emerged from the shadows. 

And it was the last person she expected to see. 

“Master?” Relief flooded her as she realized she was facing what must be the spirit of her dead Master. And he was unarmed. The sickly red glow was simply atmospheric and not the result of a corrupted kyber crystal.

Anakin’s face was distorted into a snarl. “Ahsoka, you must listen to me.” 

Before she could speak she felt his presence in the Force extend and wrap around her, lifting her from the floor.

Held aloft Anakin’s voice echoed in her ears. “You are making a mistake.”

Before she could wrap her mind around what the kriff was going on, her Master’s presence receded, along with his control over the Force and she fell to the ground with a thunk . 

And her eyes fluttered open. She was still sitting on the train, Prauf next to her. Plunk . Plunk Plunk And it was still raining. It had been a while since the Force had given her a vision. This was the first she had ever seen of her Master since his death. It left a tingling sensation on her skin. Not unpleasant, but not welcome. It meant danger, and it meant now.

The train ground to a halt. Chatter rose from the passengers, most questioning, some on the edge of panic. Since the rise of the Empire most folks had learned that safety lay in routine, and any change from that could spell disaster.  

Prauf sighed. “Something’s going on.” 

As if on cue two stormtroopers walked into the car, not unusual these days.

“Everybody up. Identification ready.” Barked through their helmets the Trooper’s orders elicited gasps and obedience from the passengers. Ahsoka tensed. She did have identification, it would be foolish not to, but if they were here for her it wouldn’t matter.

Ahsoka kept her eyes down as one of the troopers walked past her and Prauf footsteps echoing throughout the car. 

“It’s probably just a routine contraband inspection.” One of the other passengers said seeming to think that was the comforting thing to say to their quivering friend. 

Prauf whispered next to her. “You need to get out of here.”

“I know.” She whispered back, her voice tight. For the love of the Force, shut up.

“Everyone, move out and line up.”

Whatever she was going to do, it had to happen now. 

Grumbling, the passengers started shuffling out of the car, Prauf eyed her one last time before walking out with the rest. Ahsoka followed, slowing her breath and focusing on the Force. What she was about to do was one of the few darkside techniques that Anakin had puzzled out and shared with her. He had been especially pleased that it as a technique that allowed one to hide, which both of them certainly would have had to do if the Council had learned of what they were doing. As things stood however, the Jedi were no more and it was their fear of attachments and the darkside that led to their destruction. And now her embrace of the dark could mean the difference between life and death, so she pulled on the shadows cast by the other passengers and drew them towards her, letting them envelop her. Crossing the threshold of the car with the others, she vanished into the darkness and took off running.

Chapter Text

The air around Ahsoka was constricting, a result of using the Force to keep herself hidden. In general once a person opened the door to the darkside, it didn't like letting go. And with this technique, literally wrapped in the darkness as she was, Ahsoka knew she would have a hard time breaking free. During the war it had been one thing to be always on the cusp of giving into anger and hate, it was how you survived. Out here though? 

Running past the lines of Stormtroopers, away from the gathered crowd, Ahsoka needed to put as much distance between herself and them before the patter of rain on her shadow-wrapped body drew attention. 

Finding a rocky outcropping was easy on Bracca however and she slid easily into the cover provided by the natural shadows. Ahsoka let go of the Force just as lightning flashed in the sky, though she felt the cloying darkness would be at her fingertips should she need it. She needed to get away, to her ship, off this rock. But… something held her. 

The black Imperial shuttle perched a few hundred feet to her right told her that danger was here. The shuttle ramp lowered and off ran two, four, then twelve black armored troopers. Kriff. Each carried a melee weapon in addition to their rifles. They filled out around the crowd, cutting an imposing figure against the stark white of their comrades.

Behind them a presence lurked, emerging slowly from the cabin. The Force twisted around the figure, and as they came into view, whatever hope Ahsoka had that she hadn’t been discovered vanished. The large black armored figure carried at their hip a lightsaber, one with the same strange double-bladed design that she had encountered on Raada. She hadn’t had known what the dark force user was then, but that was four years ago. She knew what they were now. Inquisitors. Darth Vader's pet project, they were what in many ways seemed like a direct perversion of the Jedi. She was pretty certain that a few of them had been Jedi.

Their presence meant the black armored soldiers were the Purge Stormtroopers, who like the Inquisitors, had a singular purpose, to hunt and kill Jedi. And they were good at their job. As far as she knew, she was the only one to have survived an encounter with either. And she had won that fight mostly due to the Sixth Brother's lack of experience fighting a trained force user. 

A high-pitched whining drew her attention to another incoming Imperial ship. A slender and imposing fighter, the engines whirred as it landed a few feet from the shuttle, close to a steep drop off. The hatch opened at the top and a slender masked figure climbed out. Another Inquisitor. 

Bile built up in the back of her throat, this close to the two dark side users, Ahsoka felt the wrongness in the Force. Different than it had been with Ventress or even Anakin, their presence screamed as if in pain and deep frustration. She watched as the two Inquisitors marched over to the gathered train passengers.

“Is this all of them?” The slender Inquisitor’s voice was calm, demanding.

“Yes, Seventh Sister.” One of the Purge Troopers nodded. His voice was one Ahsoka was intimately familiar with. Yet, even as it sounded identical to the soldiers she had fought alongside,  Ahsoka had been one of the very few who could always tell them apart. It was part of why they trusted her. Or had, before Order 66...

Behind her the larger Inquisitor paced in a clear attempt to intimidate the crowd. Unlike the Seventh Sister, their helmet didn’t cover their face, and Ahsoka could make out the thick tusks protruding from the chin that marked them as a Dowutin.

“We seek a dangerous fugitive.” The crowd shifted slightly. “This is no common anarchist but a devotee of the treasonous Jedi Order.”

Ahsoka’s breath caught. She could feel the Seventh Sister reaching out with the Force to find her. 

“Failure to turn over this traitor will result in a charge of sedition.”  

Ahsoka instinctively went to hide her presence in the Force, to make it as undetectable as she could manage.  The probing intent of the Sister’s presence passing closer and closer to where she was hiding.  She felt the darkness calling her. If she just wrapped herself in it, she could get away, with them none the wiser. 

Ahsoka shook her head, focusing on the crowd.

“Turn yourself in, or everyone present shall face summary execution.” The echo of rifles being raised, the terrible clack of armor as soldiers shuffled into position. She watched in horror as the passengers stood staring down what had become a firing squad.

The Sister’s presence probed closer to her hiding spot, reaching. Ahsoka knew that if she was discovered before revealing herself the Inquisitor would follow through with her threat. 

“I think it’s time someone came forward.”  Prauf stepped out to from the crowd. “ You know, I’ve been working on ships a long time. Since way before the war.”

There was no relief when the Seventh Sister’s clawing Force presence retreated, only a frustrating sense of the inevitable approaching.

Prauf spoke to the Inquisitors, but also to to the others gathered. “Engineers, that's what we were. We refit and rebuilt ships.”

Ahsoka felt a familiar tightness building in her throat.

“Then came the war, and the Empire.” Prauf continued, raising his voice in a way that, at any other time would have been inspirational. “And engineers became scrappers. And the workers just started getting worked. We all know the truth. We’re just too afraid to say it.”

Prauf marched up to the Seventh Sister and said what Ahsoka knew many of the gathered must have been thinking. “To the Empire, we’re expendable.”

Ahsoka reached for her lightsabers hidden under folds of fabric. Whatever was going to happen she had to act fast.

“Yes.” The Seventh Sister said with certainty, removing her lightsaber from her belt. “You are.” Her lightsaber ignited with a hiss and Ahsoka charged. Time slowed as Ahsoka thrust herself forward, reaching with the Force to try and push the Inquisitor away.

Then the red blade bloomed from Prauf’s chest. She was too late.

Her own white blades hissed to life, held in her usual reverse grip, and she rushed the Seventh Sister. The Inquisitor turned and the second half of her double blade ignited to deflect Ahsoka’s attack.

“Unexpected.” Ahsoka felt the Seventh Sister’s glare through her mask, carried via the Force. “But not unwelcome.” 

Now that she had their attention Ahsoka knew the rest of the crowd were safe. Only a Jedi warranted this much firepower, and they had found her.

Blocking the Seventh Sister’s blade Ahsoka heard another snap-hiss . She disengaged just as the second Inquisitor’s blade crashed into where she had been standing. She took a breath and dashed between the two Inquisitors, allowing the Force to increase her speed beyond normal limits. Behind her their frustration was palpable, but as long as they followed, it didn’t matter. She steeled her nerves, ran toward the drop off, and jumped.      

The wind whipped by her face for the few seconds she was falling. With a quiet thud she landed on top of a train car, rolled with the momentum, and thrust her lightsabers down into the roof to steady herself. The rain beat down on her head as she stood and glanced back up. Hovering at the cliff edge were the two Inquisitors, lightning flashing around them. The train she was on moved fast and they grew further away by the second, just when she was thinking that maybe they wouldn’t follow, that she had miscalculated... the Seventh Sister jumped. 

Ahsoka didn’t have time to see whether or not the Inquisitor landed as blaster fire erupted from behind her. Whirling to face her attackers, blades humming in front of her, she masterfully deflected the laser bolts away. The source of the blaster fire were two Stormtroopers who, Ahoska thought, were completely unprepared to face a former Jedi. All it took was two more shots from their blasters, and for her to weave between them, for her to cut the troopers down.

She grimaced. She had really been hoping that this mission would be bloodless. With a body count of three, so far it was anything but. 

“Ahsoka Tano.” The Seventh Sister’s voice came from behind, drawing out her name. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be long before you were drawn out. The Grand Inquisitor was less than pleased with how you treated our dear brother.”

Ahsoka turned to meet her, dropping into a defensive posture.  

“Whereas I, well I couldn’t be more thrilled. This way I get to have you for myself.” 

Their lightsabers hummed, glowing bright white and blood red. Raindrops hissed as they evaporated off the Kyber-powered blades. 

Ahsoka whirled her blades in defiance of her assailant. 

“It does not matter to us whether you were officially part of the order when it fell, or not. And it does not matter to our Master. Oppose us, and you die. Run from us, and you die. Surrender however…"

Away from the other Inquisitor Ahsoka sensed none of the frustration she had before. The Seventh Sister exuded only a determined calm. Fueled by anger certainly, but it was nothing like her Master's chaotic anger.

The Inquisitor stalked towards her and the image of Prauf’s body skewered on her blade flashed through Ahsoka’s mind. The intentional cruelty of the act was not lost on Ahsoka, it was meant as a warning. To fall in line, or else.

She clenched her jaw against her growing anger, trying to let it flow through her. Ahsoka had always struggled with that, and holding the darkness close as she had been earlier certainly didn't help.

"Never."

The first attack came quick and fast, if she had been trained by anyone else, or if Anakin had been less insistent that she practice everyday, she wouldn’t have been able to meet it.

As it was she smirked as she easily held her own, parrying and pressing her own attack. “Not so easy when you’re not killing innocents, is it?”

Their blades met in a cross bringing Ahsoka face to face with her attacker. 

“No one who defies the Empire is innocent.” Danger laced the Sister's words, their tone and quality sticking in Ahsoka’s ears.

Ahsoka disengaged, Force pushing her opponent away. She felt a shiver run down her lekku. There was something about the Inquisitor that was … familiar. 

The two of them, neither of them Jedi, circled each other. The train speeding away beneath them carrying Ahsoka further from her ship. 

A moment passed and then their blades found each other again. Every lunge, cut, and slash Ahsoka made the Seventh Sister dodged, blocked, and parried with a precision that could only have come from years and years of practice. 

Sparks flew as their blades connected. They were evenly matched, as long as it was the two of them. Something had to give before Seventh Sister’s partner showed up.

Ahsoka's montrals picked up the vibrations of an incoming presence, echo?  in the Force. 

“Mmm. Your capture will please Lord Vader.” A hunger threaded through the Inquisitor’s voice, filling Ahsoka with a sense of longing for her past.

The rumble of ship engines caught her ear, and she jumped back at the last second as laser fire barraged where she had been. Preparing to run, Ahsoka watched in confusion as the ship’s guns followed the Seventh Sister, the rapid laser blasts pushing her further away.

A hatch opened on the side of the ship and a woman appeared. Her green skin stood out in the growing dark, with black hair that was pulled back in tight braids. Recognition grasped at the edge of Ahsoka’s awareness. 

“Get on board!” The Mirialan woman shouted again. The Force echo, if that’s what it was, came from her. Who was she?

“Tell your master he’ll have to wait.” With a glance behind her Ahsoka let out one last taunt and ran toward the ship. She deactivated her lightsabers and launched herself forward with the Force, landing steadily in the open hatch of the ship.

Behind her Ahsoka watched as the train sped away. She couldn’t see her attacker, it could just be her black armor making her hard to see as night approached, yet… 

The ship pulled away from the train, gaining altitude when Ahsoka saw something hurdle towards them. There was a thud as the Inquisitor clung to the ship. The hatch closed shut on her lightsaber, leaving scoring that would need quite a bit of repair. 

“Captain.” Her rescuer ran to the cockpit, her energy nervous and … hollow? 

Ahsoka followed, tension making her shoulders tight. Along the outside of the ship she could hear the Inquisitor moving, jumping. And then she appeared again, clinging to the glass of the cockpit. She reached out her hand and through the Force ripped the control wheel from the Latero pilot. The ship careened, spinning out of control, as Ahsoka sensed the ground quickly growing closer.

The Mirialan woman yanked on the control wheel, tearing it out of the Seventh Sister’s grasp. The ship righted with a jerk and the Inquisitor lost her footing and fell.

A few seconds passed and the Captain punched buttons and pulled a lever and the ship rocketed into Hyperspace.

“Both of you grab some seat.” The Captain’s voice, grizzled and rough.

Ahsoka found one on a semi-circular booth, but she didn’t sit yet. “Who are you people?” Something about the Mirialan was familiar, where did she know her from? She studied the woman’s stance, her posture, her face, the face was what was most familiar. Ahsoka imagined the woman wearing a headdress, covering her coarse hair… and it dawned on her. But it was impossible… Or maybe not.

“Master Luminara?” Ahsoka ventured. “Is that you? How are you alive? The Empire… I heard you were executed.”

“Near enough Padawan Tano.” For a moment Luminara’s eyes held indescribable sorrow, then she blinked and it was gone. She gestured to the pilot. “This is my Captain, Greez Dritus.”

“How ya doin?” Jumping down from his seat in the cockpit the short heavily whiskered man approached Ahsoka, smiling. “Yeah, the Mantis is my ship, but you better listen to this lady here.”

Ahsoka glanced back at Luminara and again felt a sense of hollowness coming from her. Her presence in the Force felt weak, only a faint echo of what it should have been from a Master of Luminara’s power.

“So… who are you?” Greez took a seat across from her, map console beeping faintly between them.

“Ahsoka Tano." She turned to Luminara. "Not to sound ungrateful Master, but how did you know I needed help?”

“We monitor Imperial communications. We heard the Inquisitors were headed here, and … we were in the area.”

Ahsoka sighed, breathing easy for the first time in several hours. “Well, it is nice to see a familiar face.” She took in the woman's features, despite her faint Force presence, she exuded calm and determination .  Nothing else about her seemed weak.

“Wait, you two know each other?” 

“I was a Jedi Padawan a number of years ago and Luminara was one of my Masters. I worked with her and her Padawan during the war.”

She thought she heard Greez mumble something about Jedi and coincidences. She wasn’t sure and it didn’t seem like he was going to elaborate.

“Too many Jedi have fallen at the hands of the Inquisitors. You may be the first to survive an encounter with them.” 

“I've had some practice. I encountered one on Raada four years ago. Killed him. They're all very single-minded.”

“Indeed. And now that you’ve escaped, the Seventh Sister won’t stop until she destroys you.”

Destroy me.... The woman had indicated that the Grand Inquisitor would prefer she be brought in alive. The Seventh Sister was unlikely to stop pursuing her, but Ahsoka didn't think she wanted to destroy her.

The immediate danger passed, Ahsoka’s breathing returned to normal, and her heart stopped pounding. She closed her eyes for a moment. Unfortunately she wasn’t out of the woods yet. 

“Greez, are your communications secure?” She turned to the short pilot, affecting an air of certainty. “I need to contact my people.”

“Yeah, whoever you need to talk to, I can hook you up, no sweat.”

“Ahsoka, there’s more at stake here than you and whatever friends you've made.” Luminara rested a hand on Ahsoka’s shoulder, a gesture of familiarity she had never seen before from the older Jedi.

“Oh?” She crossed her arms, tilting her head at Luminara. “Like what?”

“Like rebuilding the Jedi order.”

Chapter Text

Beep, beep. A small bipedal droid peeked out from behind one of the chairs and ran up to Ahsoka and squeaked up at her. 

“Oh, who’s this little guy?” More than happy to take whatever distraction was offered, she kneeled down and brushed her hand against the droid’s head. It wasn’t a new droid, but she could tell it had been well cared for throughout the years.

“That’s BD-1, he’s annoying. But kinda cute too, I guess.” Greez’s voice dropped at the end, almost like he didn’t want the droid to hear him. 

“Why are you here if not for this?” Luminara’s insistent voice carried a desperation that demanded attention, if for nothing else than for the sadness of it.

“Master Luminara, I mean no disrespect, but I left the Jedi. I will fight the Empire, I will do what I can to protect people. But if rebuilding the Order is your goal, I’m not your woman.”

Luminara watched her with searching eyes.

“I’m here on assignment. Every action we take, no matter how big or small, is a blow to the Empire. Right now that’s what matters.” The other woman seemed to be processing what Ahsoka said, so she took the opportunity to look around the ship.

It was sparingly decorated, the only thing in the central cabin that stood out was an empty terrarium. Bunks lined the wall, made with typical spacer issue linens. 

At the far end of the cabin she saw a lightsaber, not close enough to make out details, on display inside a glass case. Her attention returned to Luminara and she marked that the older Jedi wasn’t wearing her lightsaber.

Ahsoka finally sat, pulled down by the sudden realization that she was exhausted. The kind of exhaustion that cut deep and settled in her bones. The kind that came from being on alert for hours on end. The kind that demanded rest, except that now, more so than ever, she couldn’t let down her guard.  

For starters, there were a number of things about Luminara’s sudden appearance that gave her pause. The fact she just happened to be on Bracca, the strange hollowness of her presence in the force, and what Ahsoka found most confusing, that she no longer wore her lightsaber.

“This weapon is your life, Snips. Without it, we’re not Jedi.” Her Master’s words, but it was true of every Jedi. Their lightsaber was their identity, to see a Jedi without it was ... unheard of. 

So many questions, many she knew she wouldn’t like the answer to, so she decided to start with the one that she hoped had the simplest answer. 

“What were you doing on Bracca?”

“We’ve been searching for something left behind by a Jedi I once knew. It took us a while but we discovered that her ship went down over Bracca when the Purge started.”

Sitting up straighter, Ahsoka couldn’t help but wonder…

“When you say her ship. Do you mean a troop transport, her flagship…?”

“Her interceptor. Imperials records indicate she was shot from the sky by her troops.”  

Ahsoka reached into her belt pouch and produced the blackbox. “I found this in a downed interceptor on Bracca. Could it be from your missing Jedi?”

BeeDee One jumped up onto the seat and blinked at her. He beeped and nudged his head at the hand holding the blackbox. 

“There’s only one way to find out.” Luminara sat, attention on Ahsoka and BD-1. 

“BD-1 I’ve told you a hundred times to keep off my sofa!” Greez jumped up from his seat and swatted at the droid. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get oil stains out of potoli-weave fabric?”

BeeDee beeped mockingly at Greez, jumped onto the Captain’s head, and off onto the holomap table.

“Oh you little.” Greez mumbled and seeming to remember what was going on turned to BD-1. “Just make yourself useful.”

The droid whirred eagerly as Ahsoka rose from the sofa and approached him

“Well, here goes nothing.” She loaded the holodisc into the reader on the side of BD-1’s head. There was a whirring sound as it loaded whatever data was on the disc. BD-1 turned and from his left eye a blue hologram flickered into existence in the middle of the cabin.

The hologram was of a Mirialan woman, quite a bit older than Master Luminara. When the figure began to speak recognition flashed across Luminara’s face.

“Ahh. Thank you, whoever you are for finding this recording. By finding this you have gained access to many such recordings stored in the droid, BD-1. I am Master Arwen Kohl, I may not know your name but I know your purpose. The fate of the Jedi order lies in your hands.”

The hologram shifted and the room Kohl was in came into view. 

“This place, this vault. It is a sacred temple. Built by a vanished civilisation known as the Zeffo.” She gestured to wall cravings older than anything Ahsoka had seen. “Meditating here I was granted a premonition through the Force. A vision of doom. I have placed inside this Vault a Jedi holocron from the Archives, containing knowledge essential to our survival. Inside this droid you will find the map to the Vault, but if you seek to follow you will have to pass many tests. I can only trust this holocron to someone who has followed my path and understands. Seek out the hidden tombs of the three Sages and learn to perceive the mysteries of the Force as the Zeffo once did. In this droid you will find everything you need to succeed on this journey. In the heart of the Zeffo, seek peace in the eye of the storm. In the heart of the Jungle, seek life’s Origin. In the heart of Darkness, seek peace within yourself. Good luck Jedi, and may the force be with you.”

The hologram flickered again and vanished. BeeDee turned to Ahsoka and beeped, clearly pleased with himself.   

Greez stared at Luminara.  “What kind of coincidence is it that we happened to rescue a former Jedi, who was carrying a holodisc from your master, that just happened to unlock data in our droid?” 

“There are no coincidences with the Force.” Ahsoka glanced at Luminara as they both finished the familiar aphorism.

“Oh Jedi nonsense.” Greez shook his head in consternation. 

“That still doesn’t mean I’m the right person to do this. I have responsibilities, people who rely on me. I can’t drop that to go dashing off on some quest to save that which is already gone.”

“Ahsoka, this is why the Force brought you to us. We need you. If it makes a difference, I know what’s in the Holocron.” Luminara paused a moment, taking a breath before continuing. "It contains a list of force sensitive children.”

What? Ahsoka blinked. “Force-sensitive children?”

“I’ve read your mission reports, I know what happened with Cad Bane and the children he kidnapped. If you hadn’t rescued them they would have become like the twisted beings that hunt you.”

Her head pounded. It was all too much. She had wondered what Darth Sidious had intended for the children those many years ago. She hated that she now had her answer.

“If we don’t find these children and train them in the ways of the Force, the same thing will happen to them. We have a responsibility to them Ahsoka, to the next generation of Jedi.”

“How do you know what’s on the holocron? How did you know Master Kohl?”

“A long time ago I was her apprentice. Kohl was a loner. The little droid and I are probably the only ones who know about the vault and the holocron.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Greez threw his hands up in exasperation. “A Holo- what?” 

“A Holocron. It stores information, but only accessible to Jedi.” Luminara’s face lit with excitement for the first time since their force-fated reunion. “Hang on, I think I have one around here.” Luminara rushed up the back of the cabin and started rifling through a bag hidden behind one of the bunk pillows. Ahsoka and the rest followed. 

Luminara produced a square box, the energy pulsing within tinting it the lightest blue. She held it out to Ahsoka. 

“You know how to open it.” It was a statement, not a question. Ahsoka took the Holocron from the older Jedi and released a burst of Force energy into it. The Holocron responded immediately, it floated from her hand and its sides and top flared apart to reveal a holoprojector. From within Ahsoka heard yet another familiar voice.

“This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The image flared to life, flickerless and steady, and Ahsoka was staring into the face of an old friend. A dead friend. “I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen…”

Ahsoka shut it off. She had seen this message once before, not long after her troops had turned on her and her world shattered for the second time. She blinked away tears and handed the Holocron back to Luminara.

“With that list of force-sensitives we could rebuild the Jedi Order and defeat the Empire.” Luminara said. The way she looked at Ahsoka made her uneasy.

“Okay, no problem. Let’s get it.” Greez turned excitedly back towards the cockpit. “Uh, anyone know where we’re going?”

Ignoring Greez Ahsoka took a breath steeling herself, what she was going to say next was going to hurt. “Why can’t you do it Master Luminara? If these tests require one to be attuned to the Force, why can’t you go? You’re a Jedi Master, why do you need me?”

Luminara tensed, and as she looked at Ahsoka her eyes were again filled with that deep unfathomable sadness. “I had an experience that … changed my perspective. So I, I cut myself off from the Force.”

“But you still want to rebuild the Order?” Ahsoka understood cutting yourself off, if not from the Force, then at least from the people who had most represented it. What she didn’t understand was Luminara’s loyalty. “You and my Master lectured us so many times on letting go of attachments. How is this different? The Jedi are gone.”

Sighing, Luminara raised both her hands helplessly towards the ceiling. “I will not pretend to be perfect Ahsoka. I simply believe rebuilding the Order is the best chance we have against the Empire.”

The pounding in her head increased. This was too much. She was too tired for this. She needed… 

“Master, I need to rest.” She hadn’t intended to whisper, yet it seemed that was all she had the strength for.

Luminara had the good sense to look chagrined as she directed Ahsoka to one of the bunks alcoved in the wall. With effort, she made her way to the bed and stripped off her rain soaked poncho. She removed her sabers from her belt and slid them under her pillow where she could reach them quickly if needed.

Once she laid down, sleep took her easily.

*

When she woke she couldn’t remember any dreams, only the horrid, pained voice of her Master.

“Ahsoka. Why did you leave? Why did you leave me all alone?”

She hadn’t done that. She hadn’t left him alone. He had had the Jedi, Master Kenobi, and he had had Padme. Whatever happened to him and the others, it wasn’t her fault and no exhaustion induced nightmare was going to convince her otherwise.

Except… if she walked away from these children, who haven’t harmed her or betrayed her or hurt her in any way… Could she forgive herself if she let them suffer just because she didn’t trust the Jedi?

She lay there lost in thought until she found Greez staring at her. “You were talking in your sleep. Weirdo.” Greez shook his head and wandered off again. “I made breakfast if you want it”.

Pushing herself up on her elbows, Ahsoka took in the cabin with fresh eyes. Closer to it now she could see that the lightsaber on display was indeed Luminara’s. What could make her cut herself off from everything that made her a Jedi?  She sensed it was a deeper wound than the one that preceded Ahsoka’s own exit from the Order.

She swung her legs over the side of the bunk and found BD-1 curled up in stasis mode by her feet. That’s cute. She smiled to herself and then walked to the table to grab a bite. 

Greez and Luminara were talking in hushed tones in the main cabin space. It was one thing to say that with the Force nothing was a coincidence, another entirely to see it. Luminara was right, she was here for a reason, and maybe that reason was a second chance. At what she wasn't sure.

She looked at the table and over what Greez had prepared. Being standard spacefaring fair, none of it was very exciting, though it was certainly a far cry from the drab rations she had grown accustomed to during the war. She gathered herself a plateful and took it back to the bunk to eat.

She ate in silence, catching only snippets of conversation from the others aboard. There was no doubt that protecting these children from the Empire should be a priority for the Rebellion, and even though it didn't fall within her purview as Fulcrum, there was no one else in the Rebellion whose purview it did fall under. 

Her plate emptied, she sat it down and made her decision.

If the children were to be kept safe, it would have to be her or not all. 

“Hey BD-1.”

The tiny droid whirred as it woke from stasis and extended its body to normal size and stared blankly at Ahsoka.

"Sorry to wake you, but I need to talk to you.”

The droid jump up onto her bunk and beeped. 

“How’d you know?” 

“Beep, borp, whoooo.”

“Do you mind if I poke around in there?”

BeeDee squawked excitedly and a panel on his chassis opened revealing a computer interface. 

It didn’t take long for her to find what she needed. BD-1 only had the coordinates for one planet, the Zeffo homeworld. Obviously that would be the “heart of the Zeffo”  Kohl mentioned. The location for the “heart of the jungle” and the “heart of darkness” were locked, and it looked like Ahsoka was meant to puzzle out where they were. “It looks like we only have the one choice little guy.”

She rose and walked towards the front of the ship.

“Greez.” Ahsoka announced. “I know where we’re going.” 

Chapter Text

“Tell him that I'm following a lead, Fulcrum can survive without me for a week or two.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Senator Organa’s aid nodded and Ahsoka closed off the Mantis’ communication panel. She hoped it would be no more than a few weeks. She didn’t know how long it would take to find the different pieces of the puzzle, but she knew this was important to the rebellion’s efforts.

Having taken care of her last piece of business Ahsoka walked into the cockpit. “I’m ready to get going.”

“It’s about time.” Greez climbed up into his pilot’s chair and began inputting commands.

“BD-1 you can input the coordinates to Zeffo now.” 

Excitedly the little droid ran past her up to the holomap and through a connector on one of his feet uploaded the needed data. The ship's computer beeped in recognition as a hologram of Zeffo flared to life. 

“Hmm. That’s in the Outer Rim, along one of the newer hyperspace lanes too.” Greez shook his head.. “Ahsoka, Luminara, strap in and make yourselves useful.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say.” She eased herself into the copilot’s chair and began familiarising herself with the Mantis ’s controls. Behind her Luminara took a seat at the tertiary control panel, BD-1 perched on her shoulder.

“Hold onto your keisters. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.”

“Wait, Greez, you're a starship captain and yet you don’t like space?”

“It’s terrifying. But when it’s behind a comfortably thick wall of Umbaran glass? That’s perfection.”

"Okay" Ahsoka muttered.

Greez pulled the big lever on his control panel and the ship lurched. Everything swirled outside the window from black and white to a blur of blue as the Mantis began moving faster than even the light from the stars. 

It had been years since she had gone on what might be called a Jedi mission. The last one had ended in horror, she hoped that at least some good would come out of it this time. 

“Booo.” BD-1 beeped.

“I know. It has been a long time since either of us saw her.” Luminara’s rich voice echoed throughout the cockpit, even as she exchanged what clearly were meant to be private words.

“Bop-boop.”

“You two must have spent a lot of time alone together working on this project.”

“Boooo…” Ahsoka could hear BD-1’s servos whirring as the droid spoke. A glance over her shoulder confirmed he was shaking his head.

“Oh… Do you remember the last thing Kohl said to you?”

“Good luck Jedi. May the Force be with you.” The last of Kohl’s recording echoed through the cockpit in obvious response to Luminara’s question.

“The log we found… Nothing else?” 

BeeDee whirred sadly and the two fell into silence.

The sadness in the old Master’s voice when she spoke with BeeDee was palpable. Luminara had tried to hide when speaking with Ahsoka, but she could feel it coming off her in waves. Whatever had hurt Luminara was deeper than what had hurt the rest of them. There was something worse that could happen to a Jedi then even the death of the Order. Ahsoka pushed the thought side, she'd spent too much time dwelling on the particular horrors awating fallen Jedi in the last few years, and it always brought her to the brink of despair. Something she didn't have the time or the energy for. 

The next few hours passed in quiet conversation, most of it inconsequential. The familiar blue and white blur of hyperspace soothing, after all as long as they were in hyperspace, they were safe. Nothing could follow them through the lanes. Not even the Inquisitors.

“We’re coming out of Hyperspace, everyone hold on.” Greez shouted, louder than necessary. The stars whirled around them and then they were thrust back into normal space.

Below them the planet Zeffo grew closer, massive storm clouds covering the area of the planet closest to them.

“Heck of a storm brewing down there, this might not be the best time to land.” 

“Space is one thing, but don't tell me you're scared of a few clouds Greez?” Ahsoka said, smirking.

Greez glared at her without comment.

“Something strange.” Luminara flipped through communication channels. “Those winds are interfering with our coms.”

‘Peace in the eye of the storm.’  Kohl’s words, were they a clue?  Ahsoka adjusted the long range scanner, searching for a signal… There. “In the middle of the storm, there’s an Imperial radio signal. I think it’s coming from a settlement.”

“We have to get there.” There was no ignoring the urgency in Luminara’s voice, certainly not the hope that bubbled under the surface.

“Copy that.” Greez inputted a command and the Mantis surged toward Zeffo’s atmosphere, laser focused on the eye of the storm. Outside the glass the clouds grew closer, massive and imposing. Ahsoka was suddenly aware how dangerous a maneuver it was to head for the storm’s center. 

“So, Greez, the Mantis, it wasn’t built for this, was it?”

“You kidden? Of course not. But she’s a sturdy ship, she’ll hold together.”

“Bwraap ree ooo.”

“Keep your opinion to yourself, or I’ll make ‘bucket of bolts’ actually mean something.” Greez growled, not unfriendly, towards BeeDee.

Though the storm winds battered at the Mantis they experienced nothing more than some mild turbulence . Mountains sped by as they closed in on what was appearing more and more to be a settlement. With shouts of caution Greez finally brought the Mantis in for a landing.

“Ahh. Perfect landing.” The captain grinned at Ahsoka as the ship jerked before settling onto the landing platform.

“I’m still getting interference on the coms. It’s going to take a minute to get them back up.” Luminara looked up from her consoles. “Ahsoka…”

“I know. I’ll take BeeDee and see if I can find any trace of Kohl.”

“You’ll hear from me as soon as I crack this.” 

“Good.” Ahsoka stood, glad of the opportunity to stretch her legs after the confining trip. “BeeDee can you tell me anything about Zeffo? I’m not going to walk into a nest of wild gundarks am I?”

“Brrrp?”

“Nothing. Just some old Jedi humor.”

She checked her lightsabers at her waist, clipped securely until she needed them. Her clothes had dried and Luminara had gifted her a hooded cloak that was much less conspicuous than traditional Jedi wear, which Ahsoka had never been one for anyway.

BD-1 climbed up and rested on her shoulder. 

“Hrrrr.”

“Hmm. I guess it is better if I carry you.” She smiled to herself. “Just be glad you’re not very heavy.”

With a final glance and nod to Luminara and Greez, Ahsoka stepped off the Mantis out onto the nearly deserted landing platform.

The storm overhead clouded in front of the sun, casting the landscape with a greyish tint. Through the Force Ahsoka felt out the energy of the planet, like many in the Outer Rim Zeffo had a quieter energy, lacking the frenetic pulse of the more populated planets. In the direction of the settlement she felt the Empire’s disrupting presence, like a jolt of energy in the planet’s calm energy. She sighed, whatever they Imperial’s wanted from Zeffo she knew it spelt bad news for whoever lived here.

At the far end of the platform there was a structure built into a hillside. From a distance it looked like every other hanger Ahsoka had encountered, which meant there was either an ambush waiting for her, or that was where she needed to go. Most likely, both.  

“ Brrrp. ” BeeDee chirped by her head, brushing up against her left montrail. “ Beee ba brr. ”

“Careful, that's very sensitive. That's how I hear.”

“ Oooor .” BeeDee whirred, quieter than before.”

“That’s better.” She laughed to herself. “Now, what’s this about making a map? You’ve been here before right?”

“ Eee ee ooo brr aabrr .” Ahsoka set off toward the hangar, listening to BeeDee’s excited binary.

“I’ll do my best. I don’t know how much exploring we’re actually going to do here, we’re here for a mission, and that means staying on task.”

BeeDee wrrrd in response as Ahsoka stepped into the dimly lit hangar and out of the storm. “There’s a computer over there BD-1, see what you can get off that.” She gestured to the back wall of the hangar. “Gotta be better than mapping this whole place manually.”

The droid jumped from her shoulder and ran off toward the panel of flashing lights and quiet beeps. “Just make sure not to alert the Empire that we’re here.” The Hangar was small, more of a storage area for cargo than for ships. Clearly the settlement wasn’t used to having visitors who did more than unload cargo and then leave.

“Find anything?” Ahsoka walked over to where BeeDee was plugged in, eagerly chirping and chattering with the computer. The droid didn’t respond to her, but she could see what it was accessing. Imperial records, communication logs, excavation notes. Nothing she could make sense of at the moment, she’d have to wait until the droid was finished unscrambling the data.

To the right of the computer was a door with its magnet seal firmly in place, not unusual, but certainly an inconvenience. She considered trying to open it with her lightsabers, but she wasn’t in any hurry to bring stormtroopers down on herself.

Another few minutes passed as BeeDee sifted through the data, Ahsoka could unscramble it herself, after all that was part of her job as Fulcrum; however, she knew it was important to let droids do their jobs too. Sometimes though it could get a little boring.   

Finally the droid removed its foot from the data port and turned to her, whirring happily. 

“What’ve you got for me?” 

BeeDee thumped one of its feet down on the computer panel and the door slid open.

“A way forward, okay. What else did you pull from the Imps?”

In front of BeeDee a hologram flickered to life, though this time it was just a blue dot.  

“That’s not going to be very helpful.”

BD-1 whirred impatiently as the blue dot expanded into a holomap.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes but sat with BD-1 anyway to look through the map. She could make out the landing area, the nearby settlement, as well as a series of tunnels and excavations BD-1 said were a result of the recent Imperial presence on Zeffo. 

She sighed quietly. She could sense that whatever she needed on this planet, whatever trial Kohl had laid out for her, lay within the Imperial excavation. More accurately beyond it. And between her and her goal were likely more troops than she was prepared to deal with. But how many times had she been given a choice when it came to the Force? 

She stood and held out her hand so the droid could scramble up her arm and perch on her back. 

“Alright little guy, hold on tight and keep quiet.”

Ahsoka stepped through the door into a rocky area covered in green grass. Slowly she moved past a rocky outcropping into an open area between the landing platform and the settlement. She wasn’t thrilled about moving through spaces where there was little to no cover, but there was nothing to be done but advance. Up ahead of her she began to sense life, both human and non-human. What she couldn’t make out though was whether the humans she sensed were the settlers from the old republic or Imperials. Either way she necessitated caution. She needed to get in and out, not draw the might of the Empire down on herself, again .

The closer she got to the life signs the more turbulent their signatures in the force became. Unlike Force-sensitives, conflict between non-force sensitives had to be particularly intense for it to ripple out in the Force, so she approached ever more cautiously. Eventually she could hear the sounds of blaster fire and troopers yelling. Whatever was going on had the troopers at least a little afraid. She laughed to herself, frightened stormtroopers were always a little easier to handle. They always underestimated her and overestimated their abilities. Her Master would have smirked approvingly at using an enemy's fear against them, even as he lectured her for Obi-Wan's benefit. 

As she crested the hill she’d been climbing she saw what was causing the commotion. Three white armoured Stormtroopers were fighting off a small pack of what was clearly native, and very aggressive, fauna. Not that she blamed the local animal life for being aggressive, the Empire invited it with every provocative action they took. It was a wonder that Bail had been able to keep the growing rebel alliance from getting more militant more quickly.   

Assessing the situation in front of her, Ahsoka lay flat on the hill top to play the waiting game and see who came out victorious. The Stormtroopers there would be no reasoning with, they would meet her lightsabers and that would be the end of it. But if it was whatever creatures the soldiers were fighting, well, it’s possible she would be able to use the Force to her advantage.

After a few more minutes of crudely inaccurate blaster fire, the Stormtroopers fell screaming and cursing, their armor cracked open and the soldier’s within became the beast’s next meal.

Cautiously she rose to a standing position, sending out her peaceful intentions through the Force. She approached slowly, trying to avoid drawing the creature’s attention to herself. She was an enemy of the invaders. She certainly had no interest in taking their rightful kill. In the end, after a tense moment where the creatures stopped their eating to snarl at her until she passed them, Ahsoka approached what was clearly an abandoned settlement.

Though not as abandoned as she would have liked, trooper’s patrolled throughout, keeping an eye out for Force knows what. Certainly not her, no one knew she was her except Luminara and Greez. With the Force she pulled the shadows around her again, briefly checked BeeDee’s area map again, before making her way towards her destination. Force, she pleaded, please let this go smoothly.

Though when had the Force ever responded to her pleas for calm?

Chapter Text

Running into the Seventh Sister again was absolutely NOT Ahsoka’s idea of things going smoothly. She hadn’t sensed the other woman’s approach, and even now with her standing in front of her, Ahsoka sensed her presence in the Force was muted. Despite her own Force Empath abilities, she could get no read on the Inquisitor. 

“Ahsoka Tano.” A single blade of lightsaber flared to life as she said Ahsoka’s name. Full of contempt and rage. Ahsoka ignited her own blades, and adopted a defense posture.

“I’m afraid, Inquisitor. That you have me at a disadvantage. You seem to know who I am, but I have no idea who you are. What’s behind that mask of yours.”

Ahsoka was very aware that she was at a disadvantage in more than just knowledge, the space around them was very tight, clearly built as a passageway from one room to the next, with no thought given to a lightsaber fight happening between it’s walls. Beyond the Inquisitor though she could see a much larger room, one that conceivably would be more conducive to a fight. She just had to maneuver past the woman. 

“I know more than your name. I know your past, I know what my master hopes for your future. But most importantly, I know about Kohl. Where is the holocron?”

Ahsoka smirked. “Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t actually know.” Her lightsabers raised, Ahsoka started to circle her opponent, hoping to draw the other woman away from the exit to the larger room. “Kohl made it so whoever is looking for it would have to pass a number of tests, prove their worth. You know how Jedi are.”

“Oh yes. I’m well aware of the ways of your order. Mind games disguised as wisdom, hypocrisy disguised as preparing for the future. And failing to do so. Much of which led to your current predicament.” The Seventh Sister jabbed her blade in Ahsoka’s direction, testing her defenses. Ahsoka knocked it away and took the opportunity to circle closer to the exit. 

“I’m not with the Jedi.” 

“That remains to be seen. After all, they trained you, your ideals are a manifestation of that upbringing. Your selflessness, spoken to with veracity by your actions on Raada. And even now you seek one of their holocrons in order to rebuild that which must remain buried.” 

Ahsoka frowned. She had no plans to rebuild the Jedi Order, whatever Luminara’s hopes were. The Jedi had failed, spectacularly, and the rot that had infected them was not something she felt either her or any former Jedi had the ability to excise. The dark spot in the Force where the Jedi’s light had been will heal, and people will move on. Something new will take the Jedi’s place. Still, none of that would matter to the Inquisitor, she only cared what Ahsoka’s actions pointed to. 

“I seek the fall of the Empire. What comes after that...” She shrugged. ”Well that is a problem for another time.”  She felt the nudge from the Force trying to get her to think deeper on that. To think about what her plans were beyond destruction. She pushed it aside.

“I see.” The Inquisitor whirled her blade once more, again easily dodged by Ahsoka. Two more steps and Ahsoka was close enough to the exit that she was able to shift towards it. She clearly telegraphed more than she had intended because the Seventh Sister jumped at her, forcing her to catch her red blade between her two white. What sounded like a growl echoed through the inquisitor’s mask as Ahsoka pushed her off and turned to dash through the exit. BeeDee jumped off her back and ran ahead through the archway, beeping loudly about something Ahsoka didn’t catch.

The vaunted ceiling of the larger room would be beautiful to look at if she wasn’t already engaged. The other woman’s Force presence lashed at her, trying to hold onto her and keep her still. She pushed against it, letting the darkness rise in her to meet the Inquisitor’s.

Once she found a spot she was sure would serve to fight off the Sister, Ahsoka began to notice, again, that the Inquisitor's Force presence was familiar, even twisted and submerged in the dark side as it was. Something about her screamed that they had known each other. 

She tried to focus on other things that would be familiar if that had been acquainted. But the Sister’s fighting style was unlike anyone she had fought alongside or against. Except for the way she used her rage, which forced Ahsoka to sidestep quickly to avoid a lunge. It was reminiscent of her f ormer Master’s use of rage, which of course he had taught her, and she used now. It added strength to slashes, speed to thrusts, made it easier to parry and follow up with her own disarming twist.

As the Sister’s saber flew from her grip Ahsoka took the advantage and pressed her white blade to the Sister’s throat. She felt her rage build in proportion to the fear and defiance she sensed from her opponent. 

“Not so easy is it, when you’re not hunting children?” Ahsoka bared her teeth, barely holding back a growl. 

“Not so easy when it’s you . Ahsoka.” Even through her mask Ahsoka thought she sensed a… tenderness to the Sister’s voice. And it was enough that she removed her saber from her neck and let go of the Inquisitor. The other woman stumbled back to the ground so that Ahsoka was nearly standing over her.

“Barr woop.” Ahsoka blinked. “Brrrr dee ooo.” She sighed and began to release her rage, letting her grip on the darkness lessen. BeeDee beeped at her for the third time, and she finally noticed that BeeDee was plugged into a console. Focusing her grip on the darkness made it easier to hear what the droid was saying. She stepped back from the Sister and nodded.

“Do it.” 

A ray shield flared to life around the Sister trapping her with just enough room to stand.  

Ahsoka glared at her new captive. “What are you going to do now, Inquisitor?”  She spat the woman’s title.

“I am at your mercy, Tano.” The woman laughed. “Though, it's hard to say what your Master taught you of such a concept, all things considered.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ahsoka pointed her lightsaber at the woman. “What do you know of my Master?”

“You don’t know do you?” The Inquisitor pressed her palm against the ray shield. “What he did to me? What he does?”

“So you were a Jedi.” Ahsoka lowered her lightsaber slightly. “What happened to you?”

“The war did. You were there Ahsoka. When the council became so blinded by loyalty to the Republic they stopped doing what was right, what was good. The Jedi lost their way and became the villains in a conflict they were supposed to put an end to.”       

The sentiment was familiar to Ahsoka, she had said as much herself when she signed onto the Rebellion, her Master had expressed it once or twice, but the way the Seventh Sister expressed it, she was certain she had heard those words before.

“Who are you?”

“Ahsoka. I’m hurt. After all… “ The Seventh Sister raised her hands to her helmet and pressed a release at the back, with a mechanical whirr the mask retracted, revealing the woman’s face. 

“We were close once.”

Ahsoka’s eyes widened. Staring at her was a green Miralan face, two rows of diamond-shaped tattoos flowing diagonally from from her nose over her cheeks.    

“Barris? You’re alive?”  

Chapter Text

Ahsoka fell back a few paces, though her eyes never left the Seventh Sister. Who was apparently her old … friend Barris Offee.

“How? Your execution date was set. The holonet says you were shot.” Ahsoka felt her chest contract and her breathing come harder. She hadn’t ever expected to think about Barris again. Let alone see her face.

“You’d be surprised what the holonet says is true, but isn’t.” Any remaining disbelief vanished upon hearing the Miralan’s unfiltered voice. This was Barris. The woman who betrayed her. The reason she wasn’t a Jedi anymore. Ahsoka felt her anger rising. And now.. Now her betrayer scoured the galaxy in the name of the Empire, to kill or corrupt Jedi.

“You were trying to warn us. You went about it in the worst way possible. But you were right. The Jedi were lost, the Sith were manipulating everything, even…” Ahsoka caught herself before she said it.
Bariss kept referring to Ahsoka’s former Master, what he had done. Ahsoka knew some of it, but she’d deliberately avoided reading details. It made it easier to hope that her visions were wrong.

“Did…” Ahsoka took a breath, trying to appear calmer than she was. After all, it's not everyday one speaks to a ghost who may or may not have been tortured by her old Master. “Did he... I mean... Vader did this to you, didn’t he? Turned you into a Jedi killer like him.”

“Oh. Lord Vader did many things the Jedi wouldn’t like. Turning us is probably the least interesting.” Despite the way her anger fogged her senses, Ahsoka felt amusement from the other woman. “He doesn’t say it, but we all know he misses you. In fact, if I reported you, he’d probably be here before you could blink.”

“So he doesn't know who you’ve been chasing? I would have thought after Raada that…”

“Oh, no one knew that was you. Only that the Sixth Brother had been killed by someone immeasurably more skilled. The Grand Inquisitor had a theory, wanted us to keep an eye out. Secretly of course, as Vader had officially declared you killed in action on Mandalore, and, well you know how he can be when he’s crossed.”

Ahsoka squeezed her eyes shut against Bariss’ words. She didn’t want to hear this, right? The truth she’d been avoiding. Her confusion must have shown on her face, because Bariss’s next words were full of sick mirth.

“Don’t bother asking me. Whatever I know is only a guess, no one knows who Lord Vader is except the Grand Inquisitor and the Emperor, presumably. So you can keep nursing that knot of worry and hurt that must be sitting in your gut. Unless you want me to … cut it out of you.”

Ahsoka heard the hiss of a saber igniting and opened her eyes to find Bariss’ red blade floating mere inches from her abdomen. She stood her ground, unflinching. And sought the eyes of her foe. She wanted to see what she could sense of the women’s emotions through her eyes.

So of course that would be when she snapped her mask back in place.

Ahsoka decided on another tactic to get through to the woman. “How many of the people you trained alongside have you murdered?”

“Honestly Ahsoka?” Her voice was once again filtered and mechanical, though having heard it unmasked, Ahsoka is surprised she initially couldn’t tell who it was. “Five. Most of them were killed by the clones, and we only get called in when someone proves too much for the regs to handle.”

“Like me.” Ahsoka smirked. “Though, it seems I was too much for more than just the bucketheads.”

“Enough about you Ahsoka. I want to talk about who you’re traveling with. Luminara Unduli?”

Gently, Ahsoka stepped back from the blade pointed at her abdomen and brought her own up enough to defend herself from more long range saber attacks. Staring at the other woman, the other former Jedi, a number of things fell into place.

“Right. Your Master.”

“Some Master she was. She betrayed me. If it wasn’t for her, then Vader never would have been able to lay hands on me.”

“You betrayed her first.”

“So sure are you? She wasn’t a bad Master, but just like yours, she failed to prepare me for what war would ask of me. And when it came down to it, she chose to save herself. And she will do the same for you. Afterall, she “knew when to let me go”.

“Your words mean nothing to me Barriss. I know who I am, and how to survive, no matter what other people do.”

“Just like the old, your new master harbors great darkness. Surely you’ve felt it.” Through the mask Barriss' voice sounded almost pained. “When she saw what the Empire made of me. She exposed her true nature.”

That must be why she cut herself off from the force. Ahsoka resisted shaking her head in consternation. She had seen and heard of what happens when even the best Jedi were faced with something they were unprepared for.

“How long before her veneer of the perfect sereen Jedi cracks and betrays you too? Is that who you want to pass the holocron to? Is she really the one to rebuild the Jedi?”

“I can’t think of anyone better.” Ahsoka spoke with as much confidence as she could muster. “I would love to stay and chat, but I do have somewhere to be. I missed you Barriss. Don’t be a stranger.”

Ahsoka clicked off her lightsabers and reattached them to her belt as she turned away from the captured inquisitor. BeeDee chirped and ran to catch her and climb onto her shoulder. The droid chirped again, clearly pleased with himself.

“Oh and don’t worry, this place is old enough that the power to that shield will fail eventually. And I’ll be long gone.” Ahsoka smiled to herself, though as the weight of the encounter settled, and she left the woman further behind her, the smile faded. Ahsoka shivered.

***

Ahsoka had been following BeeDee for the last hour, either directly as the droid scampered through the increasingly dilapidated ruins of the Zeffo tomb, or when he projected a map of the area that she then had to decipher. Ahsoka had never been one for tomb-diving. The few experiences she had had with caves and ruins during the Clone Wars had soured the experience for her, and she had avoided it in the five years since. But as always, the Force had other plans.

Two things had surprised her about this place, the first being that no matter how deep into the ruins they went, and how far below the surface they seemed to go, it never got any darker. The place was light as if the sun shone through everywhere.

The second was that the ruins seemed to vibrate with the Force, almost as if the presence of the Force in the tomb had been distilled and heightened. It reminded her somewhat of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, though it felt much, much older. And it had an unsettling coldness to it.

The walls were covered in various kinds of growth, both old and new, obscuring and sometimes distorting the paintings and etchings that were just visible underneath. What Ahsoka could glimpse wasn’t enough to tell her anything more about the Zeffo, who the tomb was for, other than the “sage” Kohl had mentioned.

As Ahsoka followed after BeeDee, her thoughts turned back to what Barriss had said about Luminara, and what Luminara had said about herself. The woman, a former Jedi Master, had cut herself off from the force, and, if the inquisitor was to be believed, because she had turned to the dark.

Whether that part was true or not, what did Ahsoka really know about Luminara now? How much trust had Ahsoka put in her based solely on their shared past? It had been five years since the order had been given that destroyed all they were, and even before that, the Miralan had been part of the Order that had cast Ahsoka out. Who was Luminara Unduli, former Jedi Master? And was she really who Ahsoka was going to give the holocron to once they found it?

And Barriss? How had this happened to her? Her attack on the temple had come from a desire to awaken the Jedi to the danger that threatened them, and now she herself was that danger.

And the terrible allusions she had made to Ahsoka’s Master making her what she is...

Once again she shut her eyes and her mind to that line of speculation. Anakin Skywalker had died. She had felt it through the force. He had fought with the Chancellor, who it was clear now was the Darth Sidious Maul had warned her had been grooming Anakin. But he had fought him, alongside Master Windu, and Windu died, and then she had felt Anakin … vanish. All this she had felt through the Force during those terrible hours when she had been hiding from her own troops.

Whatever Barriss thought she knew was wrong. Anakin Skywalker was dead.

She took the alert of her comm device as a welcome distraction, and activated it.

“Ahsoka here. What is it Luminara?” She purposely withheld the title every instinct in her screamed to use. She would not be ruled by her past.

“Oh, she wouldn’t know I’m afraid. See I’ve intercepted your communications, you won’t be hearing from her anytime soon.”

Kriff.

Ahsoka was tempted not to respond.

“I know I’m the last person you want to hear from right now. I just thought you would want to know that I’m free, I know what you’re looking for, and I’m going to find it before you do.”

“You know Ahsoka, this could all be avoided. No one liked the Sixth Brother anyway, and by killing him you’ve certainly proven yourself. You’d be welcome as a Sister. And you wouldn't be alone anymore.”

“I’m not alone.” She wasn’t. She had her work with the rebellion, she had friends in Kaeden and her sister. And now Luminara was back in her life. Though that felt immeasurably complicated.

”I have BD.” Ahsoka smirked, and BD beeped a pleased response.

And I have work to do, and as touching as our reunion has been, I don’t really need to have you whispering in my ear.”

“Mmmm. Not really the right atmosphere for that is it?” Ahsoka was sure she didn’t hear a touch of a purr in the inquisitor’s voice. “How about now?”

All at once, whatever was keeping the tomb lit failed, and Ahsoka found herself in darkness cut only by BeeDee’s quick reflexes in switching on his built in flashlight. She drew her shoto and ignited it, it’s white light blending with that cast from the droid. And she kept moving forward.

“No fair. Toys are meant to be used in the dark.” Barriss said, with a touch of sultry that Ahsoka couldn’t ignore. She felt a shiver run down her back.

“Barriss, what are you doing?”

“Playing. Couldn’t you tell?”

Ahsoka grimaced. She had always been uncomfortable with others' advances most of her life, it wasn’t something the Jedi had taught them much about, and as a result Lux and Kaeden had received mostly lackluster responses from her. It hadn’t been until much later that she had realised that maybe Barriss had been interested in her as well. The only one she had had eyes for in her youth was Anakin, and that had been forbidden by taboo stronger than death.

There was little time to think about this right now, let alone meditate on it in the Force as she was feeling the urge to. Disconnecting the comms wasn't an option either. Luminara was undoubtedly working to get past Barriss’s jamming signal just as determinedly as BeeDee was, and Ahsoka wanted to know as soon as she was connected to the older woman. So she decided to endure the chatter in her ear.

Turning her focus back to her mission, Ahsoka pulled up BeeDee’s map. Up ahead was a three way fork in the road, another example of just how large this “tomb” was. From the size and statuary she kept passing, she began to wonder if the tomb wasn’t more of a temple. Either built to honor the fallen Sage or simply deemed a fitting resting place she couldn’t tell. That would have been a question for the Jedi or Republic archeologists, she doubted the Empire cared much about the who of a place like this. Only how it could be made to serve them.

After consulting the map, Ahsoka picked the rightmost path; it wasn’t the only one that looked to go deeper into the tomb-temple, but the only one that BeeDee said lacked significant traces of the Imperial excavation project. With Force-knows how long she still had to search, whatever exactly she was searching for here, she sensed it wasn’t close yet and she’d rather avoid another run in with the inquisitors.

Whatever Barriss had done to kill the lights had been unfortunate. With the otherworldly light gone, the light off her shoto and BeeDee’s headlamp wasn’t enough to feel safe exploring into a tomb that was feeling increasingly cold as she descended. She knew she could warm herself somewhat or stabilize her footing, both with the Force, which would draw Barriss attention to her whereabouts. So Ahsoka did neither and kept proceeding in the cold dark, senses alert for danger.

“BeeDee.”

“Woo?”

“How long has the Empire been on Zeffo?”

“Berrwrrp.”

“That long?”

“Rarrrwee.”

“Did the Republic archeologists ever find anything?”

“Eeeerooo woooooow.”

“Only Kohl had? Ok, thanks little guy.”

Up ahead Ahsoka reached the expected end of the hallway, as it morphed and descended into what seemed like endless stairs. She sighed, and began her own descent. The thick presence of the Force began to thin and feel more focused. This “Key” must be ahead.

***

After what seemed like hours, but must have only been half an hour, the stairs ended and there was a closed door. The panel to its right seemed to have power, yet, she sensed something familiar ahead. It wasn’t the Inquisitors, yet it was a presence she had also trusted once…

Steeling herself, Ahsoka pressed her hand to the panel and the door opened slowly, revealing two of the black-armored Purge troopers she’d seen on Bracca. That would explain their familiar presence.

“Commander Tano.”

Or it would have, if they hadn’t spoken. If she hadn’t heard the voice of Jango Fett, the voice of the Clones.

Faster than a breath, her saber was drawn and ignited and she had settled into her favoured defensive stance, a reverse grip on her blades, nearly crouched, ready to pounce or block. A stance inspired by Togruta hunting techniques and perfected over years of fighting both in the Clone Wars and then in the Rebellion. It had become second nature, just as it had become second nature to no longer hear the voice of a friend when the Clones spoke.

The staff weapons carried by the troopers made them a more formidable enemy than the regular clones or the stormtroopers. Like the Inquisitors they were trained to fight Jedi and other force users, and like the Inquisitors, Ahsoka preferred to avoid a fight with them.

From her defensive crouch Ahsoka took in the room she had entered. It was narrow, more of a hallway than a room, but behind the troopers, through another door that had been propped open, she could see what looked like a large sarcophagus. And from it an incredibly ancient force signature, though for how close she was to it, its signature seemed fainter than she expected.

More than an inconvenience, the troopers stood between Ahsoka and her goal.

BeeDee darted from her shoulders, while Ahsoka stared the troopers down. She let the troopers make the first move, deftly blocking the first’s overhead strike with her saber before sidestepping a lunge from the second. As the trooper stumbled past her, she slashed with her shoto, catching his armor and burning right through to the underarmor beneath.

The first disengaged, and Ahsoka stepped back from both. The one to her left checked the extent of the damage to his armor, while the other studied her. She didn’t give him long before she moved in with an attack of her own. A feint to the right torso, followed by a slash to the legs. The trooper dodged the first, and blocked the second with his staff.

“Is that the best you can do?” The Clone said mockingly.

“Not by a long shot.” Ahsoka retorted. Rather than give him the chance to push her towards his recovered ally, she reached out with both hands and Force-pushed him against the far wall. She turned to his companion just as she heard the thud of his armor against the stone.
In short order Ahsoka took care of the second trooper, easily parrying his attacks, only once narrowly avoiding getting struck with the end of his electro-staff, before cutting the weapon in two, and then slicing through the trooper's neck.

She stared at the body as it slumped to the ground. She hated that part, where she could sense the already light Force-signature leaving a person as they died. She hated even more being the cause of it. Yet, she took a breath, turned to the other trooper, and saw him standing, helmet off. Once again she looked at the face that had once been the face of her friends. The face of a soldier who stood weapon raised to kill her just as she had killed his comrade. Once she had tried to avoid killing the clones who attacked her, but times had changed. And while the faces stayed the same, the minds behind them were no longer the minds of friends twisted by Imperial plots, but enemies born and bred.

So she did what she had been taught to do to enemies, she put away her shoto and raised her left hand to the trooper and squeezed her fist. The Force coalesced in a choking grip on the clone’s neck and he dropped his weapon to claw uselessly at the pressure. The shadows cast by Ahsoka’s saber extended towards the clone, stretching up his body and as he choked his last breath, swallowed him into darkness.

Ahsoka stood for a moment and released the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. She shuddered as the coldness of the darkside passed through her. It was not a weapon she had intended to use, and she didn’t like how it seemed to have snuck up on her.

She reignited her shoto for the light and smiled half-heartedly as BeeDee came running towards her from the corner he’d been hiding in. She took one last look around the room. The first clone she’d killed lay in the middle of the hallway as expected, however, where she thought to see the body of the second one, she saw what looked like a body dipped in tar. As she approached instead of dark liquid she saw it was more like thick fog just holding the shape of a body, wisps of the black fog rolling off as if blown by wind. In a few seconds the body had entirely disappeared, joined to the shadows of the hallway.

Ahsoka squeezed her eyes shut, only to find the body still vanished when she opened them again. The cool feeling of the dark that had touched her was still there, as if it had settled, rather than simply passed through her.

Unfortunately she didn't have time to think through the implications, she had to get to the Sage’s resting place. Which thankfully, she was certain was in the next room. BeeDee had run ahead into the room, beeping excitedly.

***

The sarcophagus was larger than she had anticipated, seeing it through the open door. Standing in front of it, she could see it was a little over a story and half in height. If this was the Zeffo Sage’s resting place, the being must have been larger than most wookies. The next she registered was that it had been forced open and there was lightsaber scarring all along where the cover met the body’s resting place. Whoever had been in here had taken care not to damage it during the process of opening it.

Ahsoka took a breath to lessen her rising frustration. She placed her hands on the cover and pushed. Even though the seal had been broken, the cover was still heavy. Whoever had opened this either had the strength or the numbers to move the cover and then replace it. The likelihood it was that other Inquisitor, the Ninth Sister, seemed high. Her heart began to sink. The Force signature she had sensed had continued to grow faint, and the more oppressive thick Force she had felt before began to return

After a few moments Ahsoka managed to move the cover enough to see inside the sarcophagus. The body had been embalmed and wrapped and its hands placed, palms open, on it’s torso, as if it had been holding something. Whatever it was had been the source of the ancient Force signature. And it was gone.

“Kriff.” Ahsoka slammed hand on the edge of the sarcophagus. She stared at the body and the empty space in its hands. Surely the Force wouldn’t have guided her here for nothing? She sighed. “BeeDee, it’s gone.”

The droid didn’t respond. “Little guy?”

She heard the familiar whirring sound of the droid getting ready to play a message and turned in it’s direction. From BeeDee’s eye another blue projection of Master Kohl appeared, this time life size. She gestured to the near wall as she spoke.

“My friend, you can see here a depiction of a Zeffo artifact. The key laid to rest with the sage. Here Sage Mikkul is using it to open the hidden vault. Based on this imagery, I believe this artifact allows a force wielder to perceive the mysteries of the vault. But the location of the vault has been scrubbed from every inch of this tomb. What I can tell you is this. You need to find a Zeffo Astrium. They were their most sacred, most secure temples. If anywhere still contains the location of the vault, it will be an Astrium. Now, the location of the Astrium I will leave for you to discover. May the force be with you, my friend.”

“There must be something else. BeeDee, you don’t know anything do you?”

“Barrrrrr drree.”

“Great.”

Ahsoka finally took a look around the room, aside from the plundered sarcophagus and the etchings that had activated BeeDee’s memory banks, there wasn’t anything of interest. Somehow the Empire had found and taken what Ahsoka had come for. Stare as she might, she wasn’t finding any additional clues in the wall etchings.

Eventually the beeping of Ahsoka’s communicator caught her attention, and she pressed the activator on her wrist.

“Ahsoka. Do you read?”

“Yes Luminara, what is it?”

“There’s an emergency call coming in on your “Fulcrum” frequency. Should I patch it through?”

“Yes, right away.”

Garbled static momentarily replaced Luminara’s voice and then a disguised voice came through.

“Fulcrum, this is Partisan-1, requesting assistance in the giant’s jungle. Onderon is now.”

Ahsoka pressed a button on her belt and when she spoke her own voice was cloaked.

“Onderon is in the past, Partisan-1. Our roles have changed. Besides that agent is unavai…” Before Ahsoka could finish her sentence, she felt that familiar prodding. The Force pushing her in the opposite direction of her gut instinct, what had often been a sign that she needed to think deeper on something.

“Partisan-1, elaborate on the giant’s jungle.”

Ahsoka could sense the operative’s impatience, this particular actor had never been one to hide how he was feeling. Their response was curt.

“Fulcrum, the heart of the Jungle has been compromised. Onderon is now.”

The heart of the Jungle…

“Affirmative Partisan-1, no one will be sent. Fulcrum out.”

Another few seconds of garbled static and then Luminara’s voice popped back in.

“What was that about?”

Ahsoka turned off the device that cloaked her voice, took a breath, and responded.

“Tell Greez to set a course for Kashyyyk.”

“Ahsoka, that place is crawling with Imperials. You know what they’re doing there.”

“Yeah. And Darth Vader has also been seen there several times in the last few years. It’s not ideal, but it’s where we need to go.”

“You haven’t changed at all, young one.” Luminara said wistfully.

Ahsoka sighed.

“Ahsoka Out.”

Chapter Text

Ahsoka barely recognised Saw. Since she had seen him last he had shaved his head and grown out a beard, likely part of some attempt to disguise himself. Though she couldn’t imagine what utility it would have, despite agreeing to use codenames and operate separately from other rebel cells, the man had a tendency to go for the most explosive way of sticking it to the Empire. What most people knew about the rebellion was Imperial propaganda about the Partisans. So she kept her contact with them limited.

He didn't seem to begrudge her her presence, if the handshake was any indication.

"Saw. Good to see you."

"Is it? I know you don't agree with my tactics, that your rebellion and its soft leadership don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done."

Then again… Ahsoka sighed. She hadn’t come to argue with the man. He was an effective fighter and leader in his own right and she hoped that their disagreements could be worked out in time.

"Fulcrum agreed to your request for aid because there's intel here we desperately need."

"Scratch my back, I scratch yours? Whatever works." Saw nodded in the direction of a young girl who couldn’t be more than ten or eleven years old. "Jyn." He shouted. "Come meet my old friend Ah…"

"Ashla" Ahsoka interjected before Saw could give away her identity. She was still operating on the assumption the Empire thought Ahsoka Tano was dead and she needed it to stay that way as long as possible.

"Ashla, meet Jyn Gerrera. She'll brief you on why you're here."

"Aren't you a bit young?"

"Yeah. Your point? I hate the Empire just like you. Come on, I'll show you what we need."

Looking closer at the girl, Ahsoka revised her initial assessment, Jyn was closer to nine or eight. What was Saw doing letting her be a part of this?

Ahsoka would have to figure that out later. Fulcrum would definitely be issuing censure against the Partisans if Jyn was doing anything more than giving briefings.

She followed Jyn to a makeshift holotable with cables running from it to elsewhere in the rebel compound. She would give Saw this, he'd managed quite a setup in the Jungle. But then, Jungle terrain wasn't completely foreign to him.

"The Empire hasn't penetrated far into Kashyyyk, but they're making inroads. They want the wookies as slave labor for their "Great Works" program." The table flared to life at Jyn's touch, projecting an image of what looked like an Imperial compound.

"Here" She pointed to a spot on the holomap, "is where you come in. There's a small garrison of Purge troopers stationed there to keep alert for Force-sensitive activity. They've proven incredibly hard to kill. Partisan-1 thinks it best to fight fire with fire."

She felt Saw's approach before she heard him. "They want a Jedi, let's give 'em a Jedi."

Ahsoka squashed the part of her that wanted to deny the accusation. Everywhere she went, if they knew her or of her skillset, then they assumed she was Jedi. Saying otherwise usually led to people wondering if she was something else, and that was a different headache entirely.

"Just don't say that so loud. You know how dangerous that information would be in the wrong hands." She looked at the map again. "I'm assuming the troopers are also protecting a high value target?"

"Correct. Our contact believes it to be one of Chieftan Tarfful's aids. If there's intel you need on Kashyyyk, she'll have it. We’ll use these cutters,” Saw pointed at a spot on the map, “to cause a distraction so you can get her out, and she'll probably answer whatever questions you have."

Ahsoka considered their proposal. Helping out Saw & the Wookies seemed to play right into her current mission. And whatever her and High Command's disagreements with Saw, he wasn't a liability yet and the wookies… She felt that familiar nudge from the Force that served as an indicator of what to do.

"Alright. I'll help. You must have had an extraction plan prepped before you realized you needed me. Let's see it."

The next several hours were spent refining the plan to account for her presence. After which she changed into borrowed camo fatigues. They weren't her usual garb, but they would serve her better traipsing through the Jungle thicket than her scavenger's poncho. She was glad to be rid of it if she was being honest. It was loose and reminded her too much of the robes she never wore.

By the time she had what she needed to feel comfortable heading into the Jungle the sun had set and it wasn’t necessarily safe to go alone. So she headed back to the Mantis to grab BeeDee.

Luminara spotted her as she stepped on board. "You are heading into the Jungle then?"

"Yes, the Rebels here need my help and they may benefit our search. If anyone can guide us to what your Master found here, it will be the Wookies."

"That is sound thinking Ahsoka. You keep up with your pursuit of the holocron and I’ll keep an eye on you from here."

Ahsoka looked passed Luminara to Greez, who was sitting at the table near the rear of the ship staring at a spread of sabacc cards.

“You two need anything before I go?”

“Nah, we’re good.” Greez looked up. “May the Force be with you or whatever…”

She nodded. “You too.”

Ahsoka left the Mantis and followed the path given her out to the Imperial base. Approaching the stronghold, a structure built around the massive wroshyr trees, she surveyed the security. Stationed out front were four stormtroopers, casually standing and looking around for intruders, none of the discipline that the Clone would’ve had. If there were four here, then there were definitely more inside. Saw’s distraction would be needed if she was going to get inside and to the detention center without alerting the wrong people.

It wasn’t long before she felt a warning in the Force and then a moment later heard something that sounded like metal smashing into metal, but enormously big. Smoke began rising and the stormtroopers turned to stare at it. One of them pressed a finger to their helmet, potentially accessing comms. The doors of the facility opened and out rushed a small detachment of troopers, an orange pauldroned trooper at their head. Heading toward Saw and the Partisans.

Two of the initial guard were left behind, now at attention, seemingly ready for anything. Except for her.

She pulled the shadows around her, easy to do with the massive trees everywhere, and she snuck up to where the guards waited. Her lightsaber was ignited and protruding from one of them before they had a chance to react. She easily deflected the blaster bolts aimed at her, and at this distance, directing them back to their origin meant that the trooper’s helmet was blasted apart from the impact.

She grabbed the hand of one of the dead troopers and pressed it to the building's access pad. The door whooshed open allowing Ahsoka and BeeDee to enter. The room she now stood in was lined with computer walls, and there was one gray clad officer sitting along the left wall. Ahsoka reached with the Force and slammed their head into the computer bank with enough force to give them a concussion.

The officer would wake and sound an alarm shortly, so while BeeDee dismounted and plugged in to ensure Saw's map was up to date, she secured the imp. When they woke, they wouldn’t even be able to scream.

At the far end of the hallway the room extended into was the building's lift. BeeDee wharbled as he claimed back on her shoulder.

"Glad to see Saw's gotten better at intelligence gathering."
Once inside the lift she pressed the call button for the detention level and waited as the lumbering machine roared and the sounds of movement indicated she was heading deeper into the complex.

Eventually the lift ground to a halt. She stood still reaching out with her senses to the detention control center on the other side of the metal doors. She sensed the problem she was sent to address almost immediately, the signature of four Purge troopers distinct in the Force. Clones. Clones ready to kill her. Just like on Zeffo. Just like on the Tribunal.
Not something she ever thought she’d have to get used to.

She quickly looked up and found the lift escape hatch, opened it and pulled herself up and through. From above she watched as the doors whirred open, to bait the trap she held the doors open with the Force. Hopefully the troopers would send someone to check out the empty lift.

To their credit, they were alert and waiting. Not for her, but for anyone. Four black armored soldiers, electrostaves and electrohammers evenly spread amongst them. She sensed one of them making their way to the lift, cautiously, clearly aware that something was up. As soon as they were close enough she yanked with the Force and the Trooper flew into the lift. With a flick of her wrist the doors closed and she dropped down into the lift with the Clone.

With their usual snap-hiss her sabers light up the darkened lift, and with two cuts of her blades the trooper lay dead at her feet. She opened the door and was charged by the three remaining clones. She threw them back with the Force and charged them herself. She fell into a groove quickly, and while dealing with three Purge Troopers that had the sense of men she had cared for was undesirable, she dispatched them much quicker this time.

With all four troopers taken care of so quickly she wondered if she had really been needed here or if Saw's people couldn't have handled it. Was it her training that made this a relatively easy fight? Probably, she thought. Even if there was something more to the Empire’s presence here, it made sense that when prepared like she had been, the fight would’ve always gone this way.

She reached out with her senses to find the Wookie mind, and it was there, down the detention block. Only one, and guarded by two more Purge Troopers, which meant they were likely who she was here for. She quickly scanned the computer terminals for any sign that an alarm had been tripped, and confirming she was all clear, headed to where the Wookie sense originated from.

The two guard Troopers put up more of a fight, one even managing to get in a hit with his electrohammer. It thudded into her left thigh, throwing her off balance as it jolted her with enough electricity to numb her leg. Favoring her leg, Ahsoka found herself playing more defense than she would have liked. She really hated how the Purge Trooper weapons were weaved with cortosis, giving them enough resistance to her sabers that she couldn’t simply dismember things. But the troopers…

If she didn’t end this fight soon her leg would catch up with her, and then the clones would as well. Ahsoka shifted her stance so her weight was all on her right leg, she let the Force move through her muscles and launched herself at the closest of the two troopers. Caught off guard by the speed of her shift to offense, he raised his weapon too late to block the strike from her saber that removed his head from his body. The second trooper was on her as she landed from her strike, trying to take advantage of her bad balance. And then it hit her. She focused the Force into her left leg, reinforcing it so she could properly put weight on it. Stabilized Ahsoka engaged the trooper in a quick dance of stab, parry, strike, before her shoto found the clone’s torso and cleaved him in half.

From there it was simple to lower the shield around the Wookie’s cell. The massive creature rushed her as soon as it was free, and it was only quickly closing down her blades that kept them from body-slamming her.

“Hey big guy. “She managed through the pain in her leg, which her Force-enhancing stunt seemed to have worsened. “I was sent to get you out and back to Saw’s people.”

[Jedi. I thank you.] The Wookie drew itself up to full height. [But you must leave, this is a trap. You are in danger.]

Ahsoka looked around, there was nothing here indicating that she could see. The purge guards all lay dead and… it was then that she sensed a familiar presence. The Wookie growled and charged behind Ahsoka. She turned intime to see the red-white ignition of Barriss’ blade and the woman grab the Wookie with the Force and throw them past her toward the lift.

“I have no quarrel with you, run, alert your friends. It is no matter. I have my prey.” Barriss turned her masked face in Ahsoka’s direction.

[Jedi!] The Wookie growled, ignoring Barriss.

“Go. I can take care of her. Tell Saw to send backup.”

The Wookie growled in disagreement just when Ahsoka Force-pushed them onto the lift and pressed the button to close the door and send it up. Leaving her alone with the Seventh Sister, who for her part hadn’t taken her glare off Ahsoka.

Barriss raised her hand and pushed. Ahsoka felt the Force pressing in on her and pushed back, until she felt her left leg give out under her and she was thrown back into the cell. Barriss stalked over, activated the shield and stood staring at Ahsoka. Her mask peeled back to reveal a triumphant grin.

Chapter Text

“I should have expected you would follow me.” Ahsoka said venomously. Her leg was in pain now and she found it nearly impossible to stand at the moment. So she sat on the floor of the cell, the walls were standard Imperial gray and she’d infiltrated enough Imperial bases to grow to despise it. She glared up at Barris.

The Miralan woman stared back. “Would it surprise you to learn this trap wasn’t for you? Just any Jedi who happened to walk into it.”

“Great. That makes me feel so much better.”

“It should Ahsoka.” When she said her name, Ahsoka saw a flash of something recognizable as the woman she had known. It struck her almost as affectionate. “If you cooperate this will go so much easier.”

“I certainly don’t plan to make it easy for you to kill me.” Ahsoka pushed herself from the floor where she had fallen, scooting to the back wall. There she could lean back and take some of the pressure off her leg while it recovered.

“Kill you? I have no plans to kill you ... yet. Simply give me the path to the holocron and we can put this behind us.”

“Never.”

Barriss pressed something on the cell control console and the confining shield flickered off. She glanced down at Ahsoka’s feet where her sabers lay out of reach. The Inquisitor gestured with her hand and pulled them further away from Ahsoka. They landed behind Barriss, just outside the cell threshold.

Ahsoka held Barriss’ gaze as the woman stood over her, backlit by the light from the detention block. Her red blade glowing in the low light of the cell. When Barriss knelt down to Ahsoka’s level and the two were face to face, Ahsoka only intensified her glare. She would give her nothing.

Barris sighed heavily. “Why do you just not cooperate?” Ahsoka sensed reluctance from the Miralan woman, but it wasn’t enough to override the pervasive sense of hatred. Hate that was not directed at Ahsoka directly, but which was, at the moment, a driving factor for the other woman. “Why do you compel me to inflict pain?”

As she spoke the last two words, Barriss touched the tip of her lightsaber to Ahsoka’s left lek and held it there for what felt like an eternity before Ahsoka was able to jerk away. She gritted her teeth, biting back a yelp of pain. She’d no intention of giving Barriss any satisfaction in this situation. She just needed a few more minutes for the mixture of pain and numbness in her leg to fade and then she could escape.

And unfortunately the best way to keep Barriss from thinking of ways to prevent Ahsoka’s escape, was to goad her. “I know what you want with the children.”

“What can I say? We may not be Jedi any longer, but we’re still a family. What’s a family without children?”

“In your hands they wouldn’t be children anymore though would they?” An image flashed to the surface of Barriss’ mind, Ahsoka caught a glimpse of it before Barriss finally raised her mental shields. It was a horrifying image of children connected to machinery, as if they were powering something like a battery. Maybe I don’t know what they want them for. It didn’t matter in the end if Vader and the Emperor wanted to mind control the children or raise them as wards of the state, she had to ensure the Empire never got their hands on the holocron.

The look on Barriss’ face shifted from surprise at being caught with her shields down to one of … determination, Ahsoka thought.

“As pretty as you are…”

“What?” Ahsoka blinked. Pretty?

“I only need you alive, that doesn’t mean… untouched.”

Barris leaned closer to Ahsoka and kissed her. If this was an interrogation technique, it was the last one Ahsoka expected. In part because it felt good. She had imagined kissing Barriss once, many years ago, but they had been Jedi then… and now after years of living as Fulcrum she’d still never pursued anyone or let herself be pursued. But that’s not what this was. Barriss was clearly confused. Not just about this, but everything.

“What are you doing?” She asked when Barriss finally pulled away.

“What I’ve always wanted to Ahsoka. Don’t deny that you haven't wanted this, me.”

“I haven’t thought about you like this in years. And I certainly wouldn’t want you now. You’re a murderer!”

“And you aren’t?”

“No. Anyone I kill I kill to defend myself and others. Not for the petty reasons you and your Empire do.” She would keep telling herself that as long as she could, but she knew that she’d always killed in ways that Council would never have approved of. As Fulcrum she’d made what she called hard choices, but were really just murder.

“Petty? Ahsoka we serve the most powerful beings in the galaxy. I’d hardly call that petty.”

Ahsoka just glared at the woman. Barriss moved in closer once again, but stopped short of kissing Ahsoka again. Instead she cupped her cheek with her hand. Ahsoka was torn between a desire to jerk away from the foul sense that wafted off the woman or lean into the surprising gentleness of the touch.

“I want to know how you were able to just walk away? You saw first hand how blinded the Jedi were and you didn’t do anything, you just… left.”

Ahsoka took a breath, trying to calm her heart. "I couldn’t stay. Not after what you and the council did."

"I showed you the truth!" There was no bite to Barriss’ words, just pain. Deep and profound, dripping from her like honey.

"What does it matter now Barriss? You said the Jedi were an army fighting for the darkside, and here you are. Still part of an order of Force users that, at the end of the day, are controlled by Palpatine."

"Lord Vader gave us few choices, Ahsoka. I made the only one available. Just like my Master did, and just like you will."

“I’ll never join you!” She shouted, surprising herself. She was angry at the hurt that she’d experienced in the last several minutes, and the hurt that these people were inflicting on the galaxy. It isn’t right! Ahsoka chose that moment to pull her sabers to her. With them solidly in her grip she unleashed a blast with the Force that not only slammed Barriss to the wall but ripped and tore sheets of metal from the walls around her. Barriss closed her helmet and raised her saber to block shrapnel that flew at her from every direction. Ahsoka darted out of the cell, raising the shields as she went.

She favored her left leg as she headed back to the detention level control room.
Once there she located the base’s emergency stairs and then at one of the semi-circle computer stations disabled the call function for the lift. And to be extra sure she wouldn’t be followed anytime soon, she pulled the lift’s door’s shut and welded them closed with her saber. Only then did she slip into the shadows of the stairwell and head up. Heart beating and anger pulsing in her veins.

~~~

Ahsoka only stopped dodging from shadow to shadow when she’d reached Saw’s base. The Wookiee she’d rescued had made good time and was here, being looked at by medical staff. Ahsoka looked around for Saw. Shadow’s still clung to her, not enough to hide her or draw eyes, but they were there. They muted the pain in her lek and leg. She could get looked at later. Right now she was certain Saw had known that she’d been walking into a trap, and had avoided telling her. Likely for some obscure tactical reasoning that Fulcrum would find ludicrous.

“Saw! Saw Gerrera! Are you here? Are you alive?” Her shouting drew attention, Partisans and Wookiees staring at her as if she’d lost her head. Jyn came running up to her.

“Ahsla. You need to keep quiet. The Imperials don’t know where here, and we don’t need you giving us away.”

Ahsoka looked down at the girl. She’d been unable to determine the child’s age, but she was certainly too young to be out in the field like this, no matter the stakes.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Can I ask you a question?”

The girl looked at her a moment before responding. “Sure, I guess.”

“Does Saw ever put you on missions? With a blaster or some other weapon?”

“Yeah. He says because I’m so small, the Imps will never see it coming and I can get places others can’t.”

“And you’ve seen combat.”

“Of course. Every Partisan has.” It was the utter calm with which Jyn spoke that made Ahsoka’s decision. She needed to talk to Saw, now.

“I was looking for Saw?” Ahsoka glanced around, hoping the change of subject felt natural.

“He’s on your ship, talking to the other Jedi.” Now Jyn smiled excitedly. “Saw says the Jedi are heroes that they’re going to save us, help us destroy the Empire. Are you?”

Ahsoka laughed mirthlessly. “The Jedi are gone, kid. They can’t save anyone, they couldn’t even save themselves.”

Ahsoka knew that was unnecessarily cruel but she turned away anyway and stalked toward the ship.

Inside Saw was speaking with Greez and Master Luminara, somewhat casually, seated on the leather upholstered sofa.

“Ashla!” Saw waved her over. “Glad to see you made it out of the Empire’s little trap.”

“So you did know.” She said flatly.

“Of course.” Saw smiled at her as she entered the main cabin. “I figured you would handle it, and if not then what use were you to our cause anyway. Nothing personal.”

“Do you treat your people so cavalierly?” Ahsoka crossed her arms over her chest.

“My people know how to survive. We’re fighting a rebellion here Ashla and we can’t afford to be weak or keep the weak around.”

“What’s this about?” Luminara glanced between her guest and the former Padawan.

“What does it sound like? Gerrera here doesn’t consider there to be room for improvement with his fighters. It’s either succeed or don’t.”

“Sounds a bit like the high-rolling tables.” Greez muttered.

“Does that apply to Jyn as well? She's, what, eleven years old?” Ahsoka decided to ignore her shipmates.

“She does her job well. And who are you to judge me Ashla?” She thought he meant *Ahsoka*. “I know that Fulcrum is no stranger to casualties and making hard decisions.”

The shadows Ahsoka had never let go of clung to her, seeming to wrap around her anger. Her *righteous* anger. “How long before Jyn becomes one of those necessary casualties, because one day she couldn't cut it?”

“Jyn would understand.”

“Right.” Ahsoka ignited her lightsaber and closed the distance between her and Saw.

She thought about saying something snippy, but nothing fitting came to her, so instead she simply plunged her saber into Saw’s neck.

Chapter Text

Shadows rolled from the cavern in Saw’s neck, whisping and whirling around her white blade like smoke from a fire. They stretched toward her and spread throughout the Mantis, wrapping around Luminara and Greez, blanketing them from Ahsoka’s vision. For a moment it was just her, the dead Saw, the light of her saber still in his neck, and shadow. And then even Saw was gone.

Her blade illuminated an empty space on the ship where no one and nothing was or had been. The shadow’s filled that space, morphing into a vaguely humanoid shape.

“Ahsoka.” The shadow spoke, its voice echoed in her head and the ship’s cabin. It echoed once again in that voice she never thought she’d hear so many years later.

“Master?” She said it hopefully, almost as a question, though she knew the answer. The shifting shadows and the dream-like environment felt just like the last time she heard him on Bracca.

The shadow Anakin seemed to grow in size until it burst the confines of the ship, which then vanished, and she and it were alone in a vast openness full of stars that resembled empty space.

“You are no Jedi.” The shadow spoke accusingly, and tendrils of shadow-smoke reached out to wrap around her. “You only survived because of what I taught you!” She was consumed by the shadows, they stole her eyesight, her senses, her awareness of existing. She was held in infinite blackness, alone in the Dark, at the end of all things. And that was good wasn’t it? Preferable even. In the Dark there was nothing, no need to struggle, no need for serenity, passion, harmony or chaos, she just float forever, and cease to exist…

And then suddenly she was aware again, she was aware that she stood in the cabin of the Mantis, lightsaber drawn, staring down a shaken looking Saw Gererra. A voice whispered in her head, “Use what I taught you.”

She took a breath to come back to herself, reached out with the Force to ensure she was truly still aboard the Mantis, on Kashyyyk, not alone in the Dark of Infinite Night. Alive in the realm of meaning, not meaninglessness.

What had Anakin taught her? To disregard typical Jedi protocol, but not to murder. She told Barriss she wasn’t a murderer, Fulcrum’s hard decisions were tactical ones, and she had no intention of changing that. But she could ensure this man would think twice about endangering his people.

She stepped forward, around the holo table and right up into Saw’s personal space and casually pressed her blazing blade against his neck. Enough to start smelling burnt skin, but not enough to permanently injure him.

Luminara rushed to her feet but whatever she shouted at Ahsoka was lost as blood pumped through her Montrals. Her own voice dripped menace. “Saw Gerrera, you treat your people as disposable assets, their survival secondary to achieving your missions. You bring children into lightfights. You are guilty of the same crimes we fight to prevent the Empire from enacting on us. For this you are censured. Fulcrum will no longer provide you tactical aid or backup on missions, you will not participate in joint missions. You will receive medical aid and foodstuffs, only as long as I can determine that you are making a concerted effort to increase the survival rate of your people. And you will not allow Jyn onto the field or on stealth assignments until she is old enough to enlist in any regular military.”

“Understood.” Saw was indeed shaken, but not afraid. He reached for his neck the second Ahsoka shut down her saber. Luminara rushed over to check his wound, throwing an accusing glance at Ahsoka as she did so. Whatever, Ahsoka thought. The Jedi didn’t know what almost happened, what Ahsoka almost did. Ahsoka turned and stormed off the ship. She’d deal with all that later. Right now she needed to speak to Tarfull’s aid and get whatever information she needed to find the Heart of the Jungle.

***

Seventh Sister kneeled as the hologram flickered in front of her, emanating from a specialized emitter designed for end-to-end encryption based on the Force signature of the one’s sending and receiving messages. She could send a message that could only be received by someone with the correct Force signature, just as calls could be made that only she could answer.

“Lord Vader is most displeased.” A smooth voice belonging to a lithe male Pau’an echoed through the cabin of her ship, a sleek modified transport called the Veiled Shadow. Tucked away on one of the moon’s of Kashyyyk it currently posed no threat to the Rebels on the planet, but both it, and its inhabitants, could move at a moment’s notice. Where they would move to would be determined by the outcome of this conversation.

“Fulcrum is a most elusive target, Grand Inquisitor. She is well trained.” Barriss had chosen to continue to hide the identity of the Rebel she pursued, if only because she knew the second any of her superiors knew who she was, she and Ninth Sister would be removed from the chase. And she couldn’t have that.

“Our Masters demand results, not excuses. You have had your chance, Seventh Sister. Ninth Sister, you will return to Kashyyyk. Trail the Jedi, determine her destination and finish her. Seventh Sister, you will provide the logistical aid needed for your comrade to succeed. Am I clear?”

Ninth Sister, who hadn’t kneeled to the Grand Inquisitor, towered behind Barriss. “Of course. The little Jedi won’t know what hit her.”

“Do not boast until you bring Lord Vader her head.” The Grand Inquisitor’s eyes narrowed. “You have one Kashyyyk rotation to either report her death or your own.” The hologram dispersed into beads of light which then vanished when the emitter shut down.

Barris stood and leveled a glare at Ninth Sister. “It won’t be as simple as you think. She is no ordinary Jedi.”

“I specialize in “not-ordinary” Jedi.” Ninth Sister grinned, a facial feature that took on a decidedly menacing quality in part because of the tusks protruding from the woman’s chin. “Just get me down there and I’ll deal with her. And then maybe you’ll be redeemed for your failure.”

Seventh Sister knew that Ninth Sister would never include anything favorable of Barriss in her report. It was a taunt, an acknowledgment that if the Ninth Sister did kill Ahsoka, Barriss’ life would be forfeit. She let her anger boil over, yet spoke calmly. “I’ll make sure you get what you deserve, like all of us.”

She turned and headed to the cockpit. They had had a pilot, but Barriss hadn’t trusted him and so had killed him after they left Bracca. Which meant she had to pilot the Veiled Shadow, which was fine with her. Jedi-trained as she was, as all Inquisitors were, she was a better pilot than most. Indeed, she would make sure Ninth got what she deserved, and Barriss, she would get Ahsoka Tano.

Chapter Text

The Mantis entered the Dathomir system a little under the expected forty-eight hours as a result of what Greez called “unsanctioned” modifications to the hyperdrive. Ahsoka was glad to be away from Kashyyyk, run-ins with two Inquisitors and her own brush with the Dark had been wearying.

Speaking with the Wookiee leadership had led her to the top of Kashyyyk’s origin tree, which BeeDee informed her was the first tree reclaimed by the Wookiees after the long ago terraforming of the planet by the ancient Infinite Empire. 

Above Kashyyyk’s canopy, she’d found the remains of a Zeffo tomb. She’d also found the Ninth Sister waiting for her. The fight was hardly memorable, Ahsoka had merely thrown all her frustration from her encounter with Saw into the fight and she’d walked away victorious. BeeDee’s sensors had detected his return to the previously visited location and displayed the now familiar visage of Master Arren Kohl. 

“At last.” The hologram had flickered in front of her. “My friend, I have found my, our quarry. The Astrium.” Kohl held a cylindrical device towards BeeDee’s holorecepters. “It was harder than expected. The sage Kujet did not base his life’s work on a planet like Zeffo or Kashyyyk, but rather Dathomir, which seems to have a natural relationship with the Darkside. The local population was also suspicious of Jedi presence, as the mostly human residents are descendants of an Old Republic Penal Colony. And the Nightsisters… if the Tomb had not been in their territory things would have been much easier.” Her image faded like all the Jedi faded from Ahsoka’s life.

BeeDee then confirmed that their next destination was Dathomir. Which was very likely the “heart of darkness” Kohl had mentioned before. 

The trip itself had been unremarkable. Arriving on the Mantis she’d found Luminara and Greez serving dinner. Luminara had fussed over her, tried to talk to her about Barriss, and what happened with Saw, but Ahsoka had brushed her off. She wasn’t sure she needed advice from a former Jedi Master, one who had fallen at that. Something urged her to hear the woman’s explanation, to explain hearself… but Ahsoka decided it could wait.

Exiting hyperspace just outside Dathomir’s gravity shadow they could still see the red of the planets’ atmosphere, flooded with energy from the system’s red sun. 

“When we land, I’m staying on the ship.” Greez turned in his seat back to her. “Red sunlight. It can’t be good for the skin.”

“More than that Captain.” Luminara spoke with a tone that Ahsoka recognized from classes on Coruscant. “Dathomir is home to powerful clans of force-wielders called Witches. The most prominent of the clans in recent memory called themselves the Nightsisters. 

“Witches? I thought only Jedi used the Force?”

“No. There are many groups around the galaxy that turn to the Force as a source of strength. The Nightsisters took their considerable power and focused only on themselves. They were almost completely wiped out by the Sith during the Clone Wars. Any survivors are undoubtedly dangerous. Be careful Ahsoka.”

“When am I not?” She smirked. 

BeeDee had supplied the coordinates for the tomb, and Greez set the ship down on a mesa that looked to be only a few kilometers from her destination.

Once the ship landed Ahsoka grabbed her lightsabers, waited for BeeDee to climb to her shoulder, and pressed the toggle to lower the exit ramp. As the Dathomir air rushed in Greez muttered “I’m on the ship. Indoors. I have Jedi. I.. I’ll be fine.” Ahsoka suppressed a laugh. She didn’t want him to think she was laughing at him, that would be rude.

As she stepped off the ship, she felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. 

“Yes Luminara?”

The woman’s green skin looked odd in the red sunlight, but really, not much odder than everything else. Ahsoka herself looked washed out, her predator’s instincts noting that blending in here might be easier than places with yellow light. 

“I just want you to be prepared, Ahsoka. They’re are going to be many challenges ahead…”

Ahsoka stopped her. “I don’t need you to say anything. Really. Just keep me apprised of anything you can track from here, ok?”

“Very Well.” Luminara bowed to her slightly. “May the Force be with you.”

“Thanks.” Ahsoka exited the ship and began looking around with her eyes, sensing for vibrations with her montrals, and reaching out with her Force-sense. She could see the Tomb looming in the distance. From her studies at the Temple she knew that Quinlan Vos had once visited Dathomir and managed to stop an attack on Coruscant by the Nightsisters, Obi-Wan had also told her something about his experience here with the Nightsisters. Really, the Nightsisters were the beginning and end of her knowledge of Dathomir. She doubted the Jedi knew anything about the Zeffo presence here, or much of anywhere really. 

And looking around at the landscape, she could see why. For the last thousand years or so, since the Ruusan Reformation, the Temple Jedi had focused themselves on worlds they considered lush and full of life. And at least from where she stood the fauna of Dathomir couldn’t be described as lush. But then, this was a whole planet and despite the galaxy being full of single-biome planets, plenty of worlds have varied ecosystems. With the archives noting that the Republic considered more than eighty percent of the planet unexplored, she couldn’t say anything for sure. She could however say that the Jedi would have avoided this place like the plague. Passion, chaos, emotion itself seemed to emanate from the planet. The Jedi Order would have believed there was nothing for them here. 

Ahsoka crossed a wooden bridge that connected the isolated mesa to a much larger area containing empty structures. She couldn’t tell how long they had been abandoned, if it was the result of Grievous' massacre or natural migration.  She let BeeDee hop off and explore, she needed to find her way through what increasingly looked like a village toward the Tomb. And it didn’t help that her senses didn’t agree. Her eyes saw nothing, but she felt vibrations and sensed disturbances in the Force. Something was moving around, hiding from her, potentially following her. 

“BeeDee. Find anything?”

The tiny droid beeped at her, ran in front of her, beeped again, and ran off in a different direction. His body language and tone of beep indicating that he wanted her to follow. The droid ran past empty structures that upon inspection did look like houses, and did look like they’d been abandoned for only the last several years. Though, if the abandonment was the result of the battle here, she didn’t see much to indicate that. No blaster scoring, no unattended dead. Some droppings and footprints that looked to belong to a large quadruped, but nothing to draw her attention. Certainly nothing that should have excited BeeDee so much. 

After walking for another ten minutes, passing statues that looked vaguely like Asajj Ventress, and receiving a hastily beeped assurance from BeeDee that he had detected something from this direction, they abruptly came across a pillar etched with markings. Right where one would expect it to be, at the entrance to a looming cavern. 

BeeDee whirred excitedly and lit up the pillar. The markings were the Zeffonian runic language she’d seen previously but couldn’t decipher. BeeDee suddenly shut off his light and whistled a warning to Ahsoka. 

“I know, this place seems to be abandoned, but we’re not alone.”

And around her she finally sensed the vibrations that had eluded her. Shambling sounds of feet reached her and she turned quickly to see what looked like three copies of Maul standing behind, glowing green smoke emanating from them. Each one holding a dangerous looking weapon. And a voice echoed around her. 

“Our home is forbidden to you Jedi.” It was almost familiar, but she didn’t have time to contemplate that as the three Maul look-alikes, male Zabraks she assumed, charged her. 

She met their ferocity with her own. Her white blades cut through their weapons like a knife through nerf butter, though cutting through them was harder than anticipated. The green smoke seemed to act as a physical shield against her swords, and her strikes against the largest of her foe hit with the impact of a bludgeoning weapon. Which meant it would take longer than usual to deal with the threat. 

Still, she eventually killed all three of her attackers. Standing over their bodies, bruised and blooded rather than burnt and dismembered was a different experience for Ahsoka. And she wasn’t sure which one she preferred. One was cleaner than the other, but neither were strictly speaking good . 

She felt the disturbance in the Force this time, and it felt like the shifting of wind through the tall Shili grasses. The world in front of her seemed to part and from the opening walked a woman clad in a red hooded-robe.

The familiar voice had led her to think her watcher was someone else, but this woman was a stranger. “You are not welcome here. This is the graveyard of my sisters and you defile it, Jedi.” The woman said Jedi with more venom than Ahsoka imagined possible. The sense of familiarity came from her voice, she spoke with the same tones, though not the same accent, as Asajj Ventress. “Leave now.”

“I don’t mean to defile anything, but I can’t leave. I’m sorry.” 

The woman stared at her then raised her hands. “Then Dathomir will destroy you.” 

From their raised position the woman crossed her hands in front of her face, balled them into fists, and pulled them down across her body. The air around her responded by twisting with the green smoke and she took a step forward and vanished. 

Ahsoka sighed. She had not come here to antagonize the locals. “Why couldn’t the tomb be in the territory of one of the other clans? Singing Mountain sounds a lot friendlier than the Nightsisters.”

BeeDee whistled back at her.

“No I know you don’t know. It was a rhetorical question.”

Brrr eee poolop. 

“Not a joke, just a question I know neither of us has the answer to.

BeeDee beeped again.

“No, I don’t know why we ask questions we don’t want an answer to.”

Ahsoka turned her attention back to her environment. If Dathomir was going to destroy her, the likeliest candidate seemed to be the local Rancor population. If she just avoided them, she should be fine. As long as she didn’t run into more of those Force-enhanced Nightbrothers. 

She walked toward the towering Tomb, continuing to take in the reddish-brown landscape. So absorbed was she in her surroundings she missed the hooded figure who watched her, crooked staff in hand, muttering to themself about "the plan."

Chapter Text

Barriss stalked the halls of the Fortress Inquisitorius, weaving between passing troopers and the occasional fellow Inquisitor. The one who demanded to be called Starkiller sneered as she passed him. His arrogance was unfitting and didn't suit him, he acted like he was the Force's gift to the Inquisitorius, but as far as she knew, he was a middle of the road acolyte. She sneered back, he was pathetic and needed to be taught his place. 

That would have to wait however, she'd been summoned to report to the Inquisitor's Court to explain her failure to kill Ahsoka. She still kept the name from them, so she couldn’t make the argument that Ahsoka’s skill made her a challenge. Yet it’s possible that even in this place of darkness and deceit, the truth would serve her. Part of it anyway. 

She wore her helmet closed here, as most of the Grand Inquisitor’s group did. A former Temple Guard, he valued anonymity and encouraged it in his acolytes. No one knew his name so he was just The Grand Inquisitor. And he had gone out of his way to recruit Jedi who hadn't known each other. He said it gave them a fighting edge. This way they weren't individuals, rather fighters named for their skill. To her it seemed suspiciously like an evolution of the Jedi philosophy of detachment, something they were supposedly all to reject. 

Then again, Hydra's approach didn't strike her as better. The other Grand Inquisitor, Hydra was much more of an Intelligence operative than a Jedi Hunter, she encouraged, no demanded individuality from her people. Rather than pit her acolytes against each other solely on their number of kills, she encouraged innovation, developing one's skill and power. Starkiller was one of hers. Her chief lieutenant, High Inquisitor Jerec, had once been a Jedi Master. They were all unique.  

That was another thing that set Hydra's people apart from The Grand Inquisitor, she allowed advancement in rank for things besides killing. She thought about Ninth Sister, one hand missing and impaled on her own saber. And Barriss couldn’t help but wonder if Hydra's method didn’t produce better results. At least some of the time. 

And that was the purpose behind it all. Neither Lord Vader, nor Hydra or Grand Inquisitor said it, but the purpose of the two units seemed to be a way of honing them through constant competition. Slippage was corrected both by direct admonition and through praise of one's rival. Unfortunately, being called before the court meant she was likely in for a bit of both.

The door loomed over her, imposing in its Imperial Grey. She knew what story she would tell them, how she would win their support. And then Ahsoka Tano would be hers . 

***

Ahsoka walked and walked, and climbed walls covered in vines that almost seemed to cling to her skin. The entire landscape seemed hostile, depending on where she stepped, crawling beasts of different sizes scurried away. Some scurried at her, meeting the heel of her boots and the edge of her blade. 

Walking through this place felt like walking through a tomb. Ahsoka could sense the death around her, the monstrous act wrought by Grievous attempting to annihilate an entire clan of people had left a mark. For all the Jedi’s vaunted ability to sense things worlds away, she wondered how none of them had sensed the death of the Nightsisters. Was it as simple as the Jedi’s fear of the dark, of worlds like Dathomir? She didn’t expect the Jedi to have been able to sense every genocide in the galaxy, but the Nightsisters were Force-weilders, they were different. And if had been the Emperor the whole time, clouding their abilities, what did that say for her ability to defeat him? Or to help the rebels beat him. She didn’t think she could match a being of the power Palpatine must wield, not alone. And there was no one to help her. 

She sighed, there was nothing to it. She had yet to discover other survivors, ones who were still good, or useful, anyway. Luminara had gone and cut herself off from the Force, she hadn’t given up, but against Palpatine Ahsoka might as well throw rocks as involve her.

She would bet credits that those who had escaped the Inquisitor’s notice were buried deep, fake names, fake histories, cut off from the force. What use would they be to her? But it would be nice to not be going through this so alone. She missed Anakin...

*

Again, Ahsoka didn’t sense the creature that seemed to slither alongside her, in the shadows, just beyond where her Force-sense reached. The being’s dull thudding steps muffled by the Force, their malevolence masked by the swirl of passions that was Dathomir. They watched as Ahsoka worked toward the heart of Dathomir’s darkness, and closer to where they could get their hands on her. They smiled, white teeth between lips of red and black, it was a wicked smile, one that promised chaos.

*

Above, cloaked in feathers and red fabric, perched atop the large stone carvings that lined the path to the tomb, another figure watched. She looked between the hooded and cloaked figure spewing evil from its pores and the wandering Togruta. 

Hope burned in her heart for the first time in years, if that woman was who she thought, then soon her clanlands would be free from his influence. The Nightbrothers would be put in their place, the child would be free, and she could begin rebuilding.

Chapter Text

The Wraith watched. He stalked the girl. She had turned him down once, ignored his attempts to contact her. Yet, her potential was too great to ignore. With the right teacher she would be a powerful Force-user. Jedi or Sith, it mattered not. It would be how she used her power that would determine her fate. My fate, he thought. The red and black skinned Zabrak watched as the droid led his future Apprentice into the temple that towered over him like an ancient leviathan. 

breep. His comm shouted, vying for his attention. The wraith growled, he wanted to watch the woman, guide her to becoming his. Yet, it wouldn’t do to let his other ventures falter to obsess over merely a potential student. He would have to trust that his influence over this place was enough. 

“What is it?” The wraith snarled in answer.

“ Lord Maul” the voice crackled. “Crimson Dawn is ready my lord, the traitors will remember to whom they owe their allegiance. The Shadow Collective will be strong again.”

Maul took a breath and let the Dark Side flow through him. Yes, he thought. Even if the timing was inopportune, this was a good thing. “I will return to my ship, then I want a full update.” 

Maul closed the connection and glanced again at the Temple entrance. The Togruta was gone, swallowed by the Temple maw. He smiled. She would be his, or she would die.

***

Ahsoka felt both better and worse once she crossed the threshold of the Zeffo tomb-temple. The sense that she was being watched disappeared, but the presence of the Dark Side was stronger, nearly oppressive. It reminded her of her last days on Coruscant and Mandalore when reaching for the Force had felt like mucking through a swamp. Yet it wasn't an identical sensation, here there was some clarity. And that worried her. A Jedi, former or otherwise, was not meant to find clarity in the Dark Side. Breathe, she told herself. She shoved the thought aside and turned her attention to the chamber she'd walked into.

It was a narrow corridor, the only illumination coming from Beedee. The light from the droid cast shadows from the tall pillars to either side of the corridor, they pressed against the wall and stretched to a ceiling too high to see. There was only one way forward, illuminated by the little droid. Ignoring the ancient unreadable script on the walls, Ahsoka marched ahead following Beedee’s trail of light. She emerged from the corridor into a circular chamber filled with light that seemed to have no origin. Beedee was gone, and standing in the center of the chamber was Anakin Skywalker. Looking for all the galaxy as she had seen him last aboard his flag ship. 

“Hey Snips.” His smile was that roguish one that had always set her heart a flutter. She quashed it just as she had always done.

“Master?” She asked, knowing it couldn't be him, and hoping… “Anakin?!”

“Ahsoka.” He answered, still smiling. Her heart thudded in chest even as it felt like her blood stopped pumping. 

“You’re not really here, are you?” She hated that she sounded desperate. 

“I am, and I'm not. I'm not here , wherever that is. But it is really me.”

“I thought you were dead. Killed during the attack on the Temple.”

He suddenly looked indescribably sad. “A lot has happened, Ahsoka. I'm not who you remember. I've done things I'm not proud of. They were necessary, but…” He paused and seemed to reconsider his next words. “I'm glad you're alive.” Anakin’s visage flickered for a second, a ghostly black one taking his place before he returned to normal. “I never got to talk to you about you abandoning me.”

“What? I never abandoned you.” Hadn’t she though? She had left him.

“Don't play games with me, Padawan. You left me alone to deal with the treachery of the Jedi. And then you came back, only to abandon me again.” His tone was the same one he had greeted her with, the same one he had always spoken to her with. Despite his words, he didn’t sound disappointed.

“You… I thought you trusted me. To find my own path, to bring Maul to justice.” He had trusted her, right? At the time he had seemed eager to welcome her back, to give her her lightsabers, her own company, and Rex. What changed?

“And where is Maul? Did you return with him to Coruscant? Did you kill him when Order 66 demanded his death? No. You failed, and now he threatens everything I've built.” 

Now Ahsoka was very confused. Why would she have followed an order that sought her death? “Anakin, you’re not making sense.”

“Ahsoka. Let me show you what I have become.” 

The room warped and fog filled her sight and she was no longer on Dathomir in an ancient temple. She didn't know where this was, but as the fog cleared it had the sterile look of something Imperial and medical. Where Anakin had stood was a Bacta tank with a figure floating inside. Scarred, bruised, and missing all four limbs. The breathing apparatus the patient wore obstructed his face, yet it didn't keep her from sensing a familiarity. The man's eyes were a golden yellow and they stared at her, unblinking. She heard Anakin’s voice, this time in her head.

Ahsoka . The man's eyes changed and for a moment, a beautiful and terrible heart rending moment, they were the bright blue eyes of Anakin Skywalker.

Somewhere, someone screamed, and Ahsoka fell to her knees, eyes squeezed shut. It was moments before she realized the voice was hers, and she was squeezing away tears. When she opened her eyes the Imperial medical bay was and she was looking at the floor of the Zeffo temple. She looked up and Anakin was there, lightsaber drawn, an imperious expression marring his typical youthful handsomeness. 

“Stand up Padawan.” 

Ahsoka was shaking. This can't be happening, she thought. She didn’t even know what was happening. Maybe it was just a vision, something produced by the dark side, by the temple, or by Dathomir. She fought her shaking body to do what he’d demanded. Anakin had assumed a combat ready stance. Ready for what? she wondered, her mind racing.

He took a step. 

Horror dawned. “I will not fight you.” 

Then, a voice she had never heard - except in her nightmares. Deep and mechanical. “Then you will die.”  

It was Anakin’s voice again when he attacked her, so fast and with such ferocity that before she had her blades drawn, he had already sliced through her. She screamed again, but there was no pain. Eyes clenched shut, she frantically felt her torso, head, head-tails. Nothing, no burns, no cuts. Nothing. She opened her eyes. She was alive. She looked around her. She was alive, in the Zeffo temple, and Beedee was standing where Anakin had been. 

The droid tilted his head at her in confusion. He beeped a question at her.

“No, I don't know what happened. Did you see anything strange?” Beedee shook his head. “Okay.” She took a shuddering breath. It wasn’t real. It was the Dark Side. Just the Dark Side. That didn’t make it much better, it didn’t stop her heart from pounding. Another breath, then, “Did you find anything?”

The droid whirred excitedly and ran toward the back of the room. Ahsoka waited a moment before she followed, and when nothing happened she looked over the panel Beedee pointed out. Set into a carved wood panel, was a triangular shaped flat disk. Beedee beeped again.

“The Astrium? This it it?” Ahsoka brushed her fingers gently over it and it glowed red at her touch. She yanked her hand back. 

“Can you release it Beedee? And carry it for me?”

Beedee nodded and set about removing the tiny artifact. An artifact that would guide her to the holocron. She still needed to get the Vault’s key from Barriss, and for that she’d need to talk to Luminara. She sighed. None of that would be easy. She didn't want to confront either woman. She wanted to be alone with her confusion, her anger, and the rising coldness she felt when she thought of Anakin. 

***

Ahsoka emerged from the temple into the dim red light of Dathomir, ready to comm Luminara and alert her to her return. She wasn't prepared for the hours that had passed, for the setting sun, or for the figure who waited for her. 

“Maul.” She said, her voice venomous. 

“Lady Tano.” He smiled a predatory smile. “What an expected surprise.”

Chapter Text

“What do you want?” Ahsoka readied her weapons, illuminating the growing darkness with bright white light. First some horrible vision of Anakin, then Maul? For that must have been what it was back in the tomb, the Dark Side toying with her. Her Master could never be that vile being, twisted and evil. It couldn’t be him. But in the Force Maul felt real, and Anakin had felt the same. She shook her head, her former Master didn’t matter right now. Not with Maul looking at her as if searching for something. Finally he spoke, “What did you see?” 

That threw her off guard. 

“See? Nothing.” 

“Lady Tano, that Temple shows you what you most wish to see and what you need to overcome to become strong in the Dark Side. So answer me, Apprentice. What did you see?”

She scoffed. “I’m not your apprentice, Maul. You’re not even a Sith.”

“I am what I am.I was raised by the Dark Lord to inherit his Empire. Just because he has handed the keys to someone else does not mean I have forgotten.” Maul walked closer to her, invading her space, as if he could read her easier when their breaths mingled. Ahsoka held back from striking him because she was still shaken, not yet composed for a fight. Unbalanced. “You saw the truth, didn’t you, Lady Tano?”

“I saw lies, my fears twisted by the Dark Side.” Ahsoka wanted that to be true, but even if there was something more going on, she couldn’t let Maul in. She’d nearly trusted him once before and he would have led her to murder her Master. 

Maul pulled back and took to pacing in front of her. “I once invited you to join me. If you had accepted your place as my Apprentice we could have prevented the rise of Sidious’ New Order, and ended his pet machine Vader before he became the menace to the galaxy that he is today. The truth is Lady Tano, that you are not worthy to call yourself Anakin Skywalker’s Apprentice, and you will never be. Until you are willing to do what must be done! You must join me and together we can defeat the Sith, you can destroy your Master’s legacy. Put an end to his tyranny!”

“You’re spouting the same lies again Maul. Anakin Skywalker died defending the Jedi from Darth Vader. I felt it.” She gripped her sabers tight, too tight to fight well, but tight enough. She remembered the voice she had heard, when darkness had descended on her bond with Anakin.

Maul stopped his pacing and turned away from her, anger filled his voice. “Why are you so resistant to the truth?” He stomped his staff on the ground, and Ahsoka winced. “Your former Master is Darth Vader.” 

“NO!” Ahsoka lunged at the Zabrak, knocking him to the ground. They tumbled until they fell still,  Ahsoka straddling him. She didn’t bother with her sabers, but beat at him with her fists and claws. “You. Are. A. Liar!” Each word was emphasized with a thud - her fists bloodying Maul’s face. She was surprised when Maul started laughing through her punches, finally she stopped, her knuckles raw and red.

“What’s so funny sleemo?”

“You.” With a shove of the Force, Maul threw Ahsoka off him. His mechanical legs moved quickly and he was standing again, and his red-bladed lightsaber hummed to life. “When you finally turn, you will make a beautiful Sith, one who will illuminate the darkness.” 

“I will never join you.” She hurled the words at him with a finality fuelled by Force-certainty.

“I believe you, Lady Tano. This is why you must die. You cannot be permitted to join him.” Maul was on her by the time she finished her next breath. He wasn’t as fast as the apparition of Anakin, and she was prepared. Her lightsabers caught his and a brilliant dance ensued, white and red flashed in the Dathomirian twilight. Green sparks lit up the growing darkness with each meeting of their blades.

Maul twirled away from her and reached with the Force to throw an uprooted tree. Rather than dodging it she unleashed her own energy and threw the tree back at Maul. Before it could impact, Maul’s blade halved it, and the pieces fell to the ground. To either side of the entrance to the Temple were stairs that wound up to the apex of the structure. Maul growled and turned to run up the stairs that would lead to the Temple apex.

Ahsoka followed, her Jedi-honed Togruta speed should have resulted in her catching up to Maul in seconds, but the former Sith was enhancing his mechanical speed. He turned, while still running, and threw back a fist full of the Force. Enough kinetic energy to unsteady a Bantha slammed into Ahsoka, but she had been trained by the best in Temple. Just like Anakin had taught her, she threw up a hand to shield her body and dispelled the attack with her own Force energy. With a shout she continued her pursuit. This time he would not get away from her.

***

Shadows on Dathomir were no different than on any other planet, the simple shape taken by light blocked from reaching its destination thanks to the presence of a physical object in its path. However, in the Nightsister territories, whether the forest domain of Gethziron or the mountain stronghold of Mother Talzin, shadows were no longer simply shadows. Shaped by the use of Nightspells every shadow was a potential portal, a doorway by which a Nightsister - or a former Nightsister, could be in one place and then with a step find herself elsewhere.

This was how Ventress found Ahsoka Tano. She had watched Maul stalk the woman and had determined that he would not get his hands on her. When Ahsoka  entered the temple, Ventress had returned to her home to prepare. She had drawn on the Force in all the ways she knew how, ways familiar to the Jedi, the Sith, and to the Witches of Dathomir. Her preparations included meditation, a little blood, and a roaring fire on her hearth. The stew this resulted in was not her favorite, anything involving bugs she disdained, but it would fill her with strength. When she felt the time had come, Ventress simply stepped into the shadows cast by her hearth fire and appeared where she needed to be. 

During twilight, the apex of the Zeffo Temple was the brightest part of Nightsister Clan lands, and still the green and purple glow of magic swirled around Ventress and cast unnatural shadows. She heard the clash of the sabers, the thud of Force meeting Force, she felt the exertion of combatants twisting the Force. Asajj Ventress waited and was rewarded when Maul burst onto the courtyard, Ahsoka hot on his heels. 

Magic shot out from her hands, catching Maul in a vice grip of Force energies. “Well well, if it isn't the Sith traitor, and the Jedi survivor. What an odd pair you two make.”

“Ventress?” Ahsoka asked, after she narrowly avoided smacking into the frozen Maul. 

“ Lady Tano is it?” Asajj said. “I do hope that this spat means you haven’t taken up Maul on his offer? I’d hate to have to kill two Sith today.”

“In his dreams.” Ahsoka snarled.

“Good.” Asajj smiled. “Because now that you’re here, this is his nightmare.”

“Let me go you venomous witch!” Maul shouted. He struggled against her grasp, forcing her to exert more power to hold him. If she wasn’t careful, she wouldn’t have enough to help Ahsoka defeat him - if the former Jedi was up to the task. 

“He’s a liar who deserves to die.” Ahsoka walked softly into the apex courtyard, she held one blade pointed toward Maul. “Drop him and let me finish this.”

“Us, Tano. This man has despoiled my home. I do not wish to live among any variation of the Nightsisters, yet he is leading people astray. Isn’t that right, Father Maul?”

“I am the blood-son of Mother Talzin, it is my birthright to lead, here and amongst the Stars. I do not despoil, I enlighten - ”

Asajj quieted him with a Force-powered slap to the jaw. “Men have no rights on Dathomir, no matter whose child you are. That you would change our ancient ways is desecration. You have not proven yourself by defeating a Sister in combat, or in any other realm for that matter.”

“Drop him Ventress. It’s time for him to die.”

“As you say Tano.” Ventress opened her fist and the purple-green energy vanished from around Maul, dropping him to carved-stone ground. The red light of his blade had never dulled, but freed from confinement, it danced across the courtyard as Maul took a ready position. 

“Good Lady Tano, let your hatred for me grow. Take your despair at knowing the truth and use it!” Maul charged Ahsoka, his blade swirling so that Asajj had a hard time determining where he would strike. It did not matter, she ignited her own yellow lightsaber and joined the fray. 

The blade with which she fought was a painful yet necessary reminder of the Sith’s refusal to let her go, even after they had discarded her. She had thought she was Darth Tyrannus’ true apprentice, that she would join him to slay his Master, Darth Sidious, and they would remake the galaxy together. Instead Asajj had been betrayed, and when she found her way home to her people, they had been murdered. She lost her twin red-bladed sabers to another Jedi traitor and replaced them with one she built out of black-market pieces. She had an opportunity for revenge against Dooku when she joined Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos in his assassination attempt on her former Master, a convoluted mess that resulted in the Jedi fool believing he was in love with her, before she gave her life to save him from Dooku. That had ended with her being buried here on Dathomir. But that had not been where she awoke. 

Rather than the ancient waters of life, her first breath of her new life was in a regeneration tank amongst Dooku’s private holdings, where he’d brainwashed her and forced her to fight for him again. He had supplied her with new blades fashioned, once again, after his own. Obi-Wan Kenobi of all people had broken through the Sith mind-control and helped her regain her sanity. Many other things of little consequence happened, with the only important ones being that she had come here, and turned Dooku’s last “gift” to her into a weapon with which she cut her own path through the galaxy. As she would cut one through Maul now.  

***

Ahsoka stepped back on her right foot to stabilize herself when she caught Maul’s blade against her own. She had experience now fighting the duel-blade wielding Inquisitors, and knew that she could defeat Maul. Especially since he was now on the defensive as both Ahsoka and Ventress pressed the attack against him. 

“Father Maul? Don’t tell me you have children here? They’re bound to be ugly.” Ahsoka had learned from the best to throw your enemies off balance with words. 

“Only the faithful.” Maul was a different beast when he was fighting two at once, and the ferocity and speed of his attacks clued her in on something she had long suspected - he had held back during their fight on Mandalore. 

The next moments were savage and brutal and Ahsoka found herself wanting to take Maul’s advice, to draw on her anger and hatred of him and Darth Vader. It would have been easy to rend Saw Gerrera if she had given in, let her anger flow. And now? She had plenty to be angry about. Anakin’s death. Barriss Offee hunting her as an Imperial Inquisitor. Maul the arrogant failed Sith claiming to be able to teach her? She didn’t need him. She had a Master.

She did what Anakin had taught her and pulled the shadows around her, making her movements harder for Maul to trace. He growled and lunged at where he thought she was, only for Ventress to block his blade. While he was distracted Ahsoka tried something she hadn’t done before; she gathered the shadows and twisted them, pulling them toward her and then shooting them at her opponent. Black writhing echoes of tree branches, lightsabers, and combatants reached for, climbed up Maul’s body. Intangibly they pulled at him, he was thrown off balance, he stumbled, and Ahsoka dove into close range, sliced once with both of her sabers and destroyed Maul’s weapon.

“No!” he shouted. He reached a hand in Ahsoka’s direction and she felt a tightness around her throat, but she ignored it and pulled tighter with the shadows she controlled. They flowed over Maul until he was covered in them, looking only like a solid shadow, an echo of the warrior he was. His cries were muffled and his grip on the Force fell away. Ahsoka breathed deep, the setting sun shining on her and her defeated opponent. It inspired her. Light created shadows, cast them, and it could also destroy them. Ahsoka did something else she’d never done before and pulled on all the energy of the Force around her, the shadows and the sun, the dark and the light. She clipped her sabers to her belt and raised both her hands. Light burst from them, rending the shadows that held Maul to pieces. His muffled screams echoed as she held the flow of power, burning through her, until there was no trace of Maul left aside from his lightsaber. Her hands dropped to her side. She felt empty, and would have hit the stone floor when she collapsed if not for Ventress, who caught her and held her close.   

Ventress spoke quietly, reverently. “You. You destroyed him.”