Coruscant
The Undercity was not a welcoming or kind place. The area was trapped in perpetual darkness with the various lights from buildings, streetlights, and the odd speeder trying to make its way through the crowds serving as the sources of illumination for a part of Coruscant that anyone above it did their level best to ignore.
Said ignorance, Ahsoka realized as she made her way through an alleyway, was probably the main reason there weren't squads of clone troopers patrolling the area trying to find her...that or the fact that she'd made sure she'd gone
deep into the Undercity. Still her face had probably hit the holonet at this point and both C-SEC and the various bounty hunters no doubt roaming the area probably had her face and orders to bring her in...well knowing Tarkin it would
really be something along the lines of "as a Jedi she is too dangerous to try and bring in alive" or something that sounded vaguely justifiable-
She shook her head.
Focus. Worry about the big picture after you know you're safe.
As she made her way through the alleyway, Ahsoka eventually came across a being of some kind in a cloak that covered most of his body, just what she needed. As she got closer she noticed a bottle in his hand, indicating that he was probably not doing well in general if he was getting drunk. Pushing that thought aside, she moved closer to him, the figure turning towards her. "What do you want?"
"A trade," she said as she held out a ration that she kept on her as part of her military kit. "You look hungry, and I need a cloak."
A moment later a now concealed Ahsoka made her way out of the alley and onto one of the more open streets, though "open" was a generous description as it was still crowded with people and buildings that seemed to press together, giving the area an air of claustrophobia.
I can't believe people have to live like this, Ahsoka thought to herself as she continued walking forward, occasionally glancing around to check for anyone following her.
So much pain and suffering just below the Jedi's feet...She shook her head again. Focus
, Ahsoka. As terrible as this is you can't do any good if you're dead. You need to figure out where that base Anakin mentioned is. All you have to do is search the entire Undercity...
She started to walk by a building that had a conspicuous Silver Cross logo on it, only to stop and turn towards it.
Or you could just ask someone who probably knows it better than you do.
Walking into the clinic, Ahsoka was greeted by a Ithorian manning the desk. "Greetings young one. What seems to be ailing you?"
"I...the kind of problem I have can't be helped by anything here. Would you happen to know where I could find more specialized treatment?"
"That depends. Do you have any credits on you?"
"Not enough to help me."
"I understand, young one. In that case-" The Ithorian produced a datapad which displayed a map leading to a location labeled "Verusch Laboratories." "The people here may be able to help you, though as a Silver Cross employee I am obligated to warn you that the treatments there are highly experimental and could be potentially dangerous for you. However, they are entirely voluntary and-"
"I get the idea," Ahsoka said as she took the pad, "And I appreciate the advice, but I'll be fine."
"Very well then. Good luck and be safe."
Nodding respectfully towards the Ithorian, Ahsoka left and looked at the map.
Right, I doubt that these labs are exactly what I'm looking for but they're the closest I've got right now. Time to get moving.
Ahsoka made her way through the various streets of the Undercity towards the labs, doing her best to dodge the various C-SEC patrols she saw or anyone that looked even remotely like a bounty hunter. She'd managed to go on for about five minutes before she suddenly got the feeling she was being watched.
What made that sensation particularly unnerving is that it seemed to vanish entirely after what seemed to be a split second, but Ahsoka's instincts hadn't led her astray on Wasskah and she trusted them now. Acting like nothing was wrong Ahsoka calmly continued on her way before casually turning left at a fork and glancing down the street. Everything seemed normal, but her eyes were drawn to what appeared to be a Zeltron woman that seemed
just out of place. It was hard to pin down exactly
what it was but Ahsoka's instincts were telling her that woman didn't belong here. Facing forward again she continued her walk only slightly faster this time, making another turn to the right-
Only to see that the woman wasn't following her.
Ahsoka wondered whether her paranoia was getting the better of her before she heard a voice from behind her.
"Ahsoka Tano?"
Fighting to stay calm, Ahsoka slowly turned to face the speaker as she mentally prepared her escape routes. "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong person," she said in a slight falsetto, hoping that maybe-
"It's alright Ahsoka. I'm a friend," the man in the green robes said to her, though she still tensed up and prepared for a fight. "I worked with the Five Oh First as a medic around the time Skywalker and Grievous had a contest to see who could count higher."
She did remember that (and still was slightly unnerved by the Kaleesh in question) and it got her to relax slightly, though there was always the off chance he read about it on a record-
"I'm here at the behest of our mutual friend who's been rather blue at your false accusations, they've got him seeing red."
That got her attention. "You know Thrawn? Is he nearby?"
"Right now he's not close enough. Come with us. We need to get you off the street to buy us time so we can get evidence to prove your innocence."
Debating her options and deciding that her odds were much better this way, she nodded. "Alright...I guess I have to trust you, don't I...?"
"Riphath Althean. Here," he said as he held out an earpiece, "this will let you talk with the rest of us."
"Right, who exactly is 'us'?" she asked as she put on the piece.
"We can tell you after you get moving," a woman's voice came in over the comms.
"In case you forgot you're not safe."
"Right," she replied, nodding towards Riphath who began to guide her through the Undercity, pointedly avoiding the more heavily trafficked areas.
"Okay, now we can do introductions. You've met Rip already. I'm Dani Plenar, the Zeltron you noticed earlier. Gotta say I'm impressed that you were keen enough to single me out even if I wasn't trying to hide."
"I'm sure I would have found you anyway," Ahsoka retorted.
"Keep dreaming, kid. Anyway we've got one more person-"
"Arla," another voice said, and a noticeably older one at that.
"You'll be safe with us."
"Right, now that the fun's out of the way, Ahsoka I have to tell you that there's a high chance you've got a tracker on you of some kind. So I need to ask you some questions. Did anyone place anything on you while you were in your cell?"
"No."
"Were you injected or implanted with anything?"
"No."
"Did any of your current possessions get out of your line of sight for more than an hour or so?"
"My lightsabers and-" Ahsoka facepalmed before ripping her comlink off of her sleeve. "My comlink, which is the most obvious thing anyone could use to find me."
"That it is. Hang on a sec and let me swing by."
After a moment Dani walked in from a side street, "unintentionally" running into Ahsoka. "Watch where you're going, dammit!" She shouted as she quickly took Ahsoka's comlink out of her hands then moved away, grumbling to herself.
"Okay, now that the show's over I can drop this down a vent or something. Bad news is there's not much we can do about the lightsabers right now since we can't really stop, though I think you'd notice if someone messed with those."
"How would you know?"
"Because I have one of my own. Try to keep up kid, I thought you were Thrawn's star student or whatever it is."
"I...where did you get one?"
"Not important. No seriously, I mean it, it's really not that important."
"So where exactly where were you going before we found you?" Riphath asked. "You seemed like you were looking at a datapad earlier for directions according to Dani."
"Actually...I was trying to find you - or at least people who knew where Ciaran's...'base' is? Or something like that?"
"Where did you hear about that?" Arla asked pointedly.
"I...don't think I should say right now."
"Look. We're all on a first-name basis with Ciaran and
Thrawn," Dani said, noticeably annoyed.
"Ciaran herself was the one who sent us to find you, and we know how to keep our mouths shut."
"I'll tell them when we get there, okay?" Ahsoka looked at Riphath. "We
are going there, right?"
"Not yet. We need to make sure you're not being followed, so we're taking you to a safe place closer by before we go there," he calmly explained.
"If it makes you feel better the boss and Thrawn are going to be where we're headed anyway. We had more people looking for you and we're planning on getting together there before we do anything else."
"Um...are you sure Lady Ciaran could help?"
"Of course she can," Dani said in a tone akin to a teacher lecturing a particularly daft student,
"why would you even ask that?"
"I mean...I don't think she does 'subtle.'"
That got Riphath and Dani to crack up a bit, and Ahsoka thought she heard a chuckle from Arla over the comms.
"Y'know that's fair, I get where you're coming from."
A couple of minutes passed as Ahsoka moved alongside Riphath before Arla came in over the comms with a simple
"Don't react. The two of you are being followed."
"Confirmed," Dani said.
"I'm seeing a pair in full-body cloaks following Rip and Ahsoka. No signs of any markings on their clothing, can't tell what weapons they have from where I'm at."
Ahoska breathed in, focusing herself and tried to sense something from the people following them. It was difficult for her as the Force seemed to be "loud" for lack of a better term, her senses blunted by the sheer amount of people moving around her all with the desperate desire to simply survive another day. Still after she focused enough she felt the tell-tale sign of the Dark Side hanging over the both of them.
"They're Sith," Ahsoka said, "or at least they're in tune with the Dark Side. Either way they're probably here to kill me."
"Not good," Riphath said quietly. "They probably tracked you to this general area with your comlink, and now they can just use their Force senses to keep following you."
"I've already sent in a support request to the other team but it's going to take ten minutes for them to get here," Arla said.
"Do the three of you think you can handle them?"
"Thing is we don't know if they've got any more friends in the area," Dani said as Riphath and Ahsoka noticeably increased their pace after turning a corner.
"Good news is they can't be that good if they haven't noticed me or you, Arla."
"More likely they weren't expecting Ahsoka to have support," Arla replied.
"Then they're underestimating us. Even better. Alright then, Ahsoka here's what's going to happen; you're going to follow Rip to a crossroads while I move in behind these two. After that you're going to start immediately running to your right until Arla picks you up and helps move you to the meeting point."
"I could provide fire support-" Arla started to say-
"When I was given help to escape earlier the culprit specifically left behind by comlink and lightsabers," Ahsoka calmly replied. "It only makes sense that if they're here for me they'd have sabers too, and that means they would block your shots."
"The kid's got a point."
"But I-"
"Arla," Riphath said in a calm but firm tone of voice. "You getting Ahsoka to our safe place is
far more important than you staying here and trying to provide support. We can take care of ourselves, especially with Team B on the way in...nine minutes now."
"...Right, you're right. Ahoska-"
"I'm not going."
"Sorry kid, but this isn't a debate. You need to go with her right now. Like Rip said, we can handle ourselves." Ahsoka started to open her mouth-
"And before you say something along the lines of 'I've fought plenty of guys like this before' I'd like to remind you that there are probably more of them and you don't know the area like they might do and we definitely
do. And you need to protect Arla as much as she needs to get you to the safe spot. Got it?"
"...I got it."
"Good. Up ahead there's going to be an intersection where you're going to turn right, walk about five paces, then immediately
bolt into an alley on your right. From there you'll meet up with Arla. Clear?"
"Clear."
"Take care of yourself. Turn in five, four, three, two, one, now-"
Ahsoka turned, walked five steps-
"GO NOW!"
Without a moment of hesitation Ahsoka bolted into the alley Dani had pointed out, quickly jumping over and working her way around the debris scattered around in it for about half a minute before nearly colliding headfirst into a woman clearly wearing a variant of Mandalorian armor.
"Arla?"
"Yes, follow me," she quickly said as she began to rapidly lead Ahsoka out of the alley and on the way to her destination...
------------
"GO NOW!"
Riphath watched as Ahsoka tore past him and into the alley Dani had pointed out for a brief second before calmly turning around and waiting for his pursuers. Breathing in deeply to steady himself he waited for what seemed like the longest minute of his life before the two figures in cloaks rounded the corner, stopping suddenly as they realized he was waiting for them. From the new angle Rip could tell that the two of them were both humans and possibly twins if their identical faces with mirrored scars were any indication, though not much else besides.
"You know if you wanted to talk to her you could have just
asked," Rip said, breaking the silence as the two men continued to stare at him, the tension continuing to build.
"Whoever you are, get out of our way if you want to live," the man on the right said.
"No can do."
"Perhaps you misunderstood my brother.
You will let the two of us pass by," the man on the left said, his voice becoming more commanding as Riphath felt the Force try to press down on his mind - and he was pleasantly surprised to note just how
ineffectual it was against him.
"No I won't," he said as a smirk came over his face, "And it's rude to try and use the Force on strangers you know."
"How-!?"
"Who
are you?"
Oh this is too good. You two thought you were dealing with some random idiot, didn't you? Riphath thought to himself before he bowed slightly and clearly mockingly. "Can't tell you my real name so let's just go with Reaper for now."
That did however give the two men time to recover and they both quickly drew and ignited crimsion lightsabers. "Very well then, 'Reaper.' It's only fitting that-"
Suddenly the two pivoted to block blaster fire coming from behind them, moving their lightsabers to block the incoming bolts only for both of them to suddenly shift direction rapidly, quickly redirecting themselves around their defenses. One bolt hit the right side of the twin to Riphath's left, whereas the other bolt hit the other man's left thigh.
"You wanna have your moment, Reaper!?" Dani shouted as she began to charge at the two men, continuing to open fire.
"Why not," Riphath muttered to himself as he reached under his cape and brought out his scythe, the pole slightly retracted to hide it but now fully extending as he brought into his hands. "It's only fitting that I take your lives, right!?" he shouted as he charged at the man on his left-
"Vinoc, move!" the man on the right shouted as he moved closer to Dani, trying to force her to focus his fire on him. In response Vinoc focused his attention fully on Riphath as he just barely dodged the first swing of his scythe, trying to sever the blade from its handle with a strike of his lightsaber only for Riphath to suddenly yank it out of the way at a speed faster than he anticipated, quickly cancelling the scythe's momentum and going in for another series of swipes. Every time Vinoc tried to get a swing at Riphath's scythe he would keep pulling it away from him, either cancelling its momentum outright or using the new positioning to go for a much faster swing that was more difficult to dodge, and making matters worse was that the pain in his right side was throwing him off his attacks more often than not, letting Riphath take the lead in their fight. Getting closer to Riphath was almost impossible as he was constantly making sure that Vinoc stayed at his scythe's length, ensuring that Vinoc couldn't try for a killing blow with his lightsaber.
"Karoc-" Vinoc started to shout only for Riphath to nearly take his head off with a lucky swing. "Ah ah, you're fighting me and he's fighting her, that's how this works!" Riphath taunted as he continued to pin down Vinoc.
For his part Karoc was barely doing any better; while he had succeeded in drawing Dani's fire the problem was that he now had her
full attention as the Zeltron continued to pelt Karoc with bolts that seemed to come from almost every different direction, and every time he moved to block them they would suddenly shift position before their momentum resumed, slowing Karoc to a near crawl as he tried to get closer to the widely grinning Dani while blocking her blaster shots.
"Come on, is this really all you've got!?" Dani shouted as she continued to fire. "This is honestly starting to embarrass me, I thought you were actually a threat!"
"Damn you," Karoc muttered before throwing caution to the wind and charging directly at Dani to get a killing strike. "DIE!" he screamed as he moved to pierce Dani's heart-
Only for her to ignite her amber lightsaber and block the strike, Karoc's eyes widening as Dani's grin intensified.
"Now this is more like it!" she shouted as Karoc suddenly found himself in an even
worse position as Dani began to mix lightsaber strikes with blaster fire. Each time Karoc was forced back far enough, Dani would take a shot, redirect it and force Karoc to waste time blocking it, allowing Dani to move in and try to score a hit on him. Karoc was
barely holding his own, but the injury Dani had given him earlier was slowing him down as well, making his movements much sloppier as the pain kept him from turning and pivoting more rapidly.
And after a moment, that cost him dearly as a bolt made it through his defenses, hitting him in his right leg. Karoc screamed out in pain as Dani quickly charged in to take advantage of the opportunity, quickly knocking his lightsaber aside and stabbing him cleanly through the chest. Karoc let out a last gasp of breath before Dani yanked out her lightsaber, letting his body fall to the ground.
"Karoc!" Vinoc screamed out, diverting his attention from Riphath for a brief instant - but that instant was all Riphath needed as he dropped his scythe, put Vinoc into a hold and twisted his lightsaber out of his hands before drawing out an injector and jabbing it into his neck-
Only for Vinoc to reach out with the Force and send his lightsaber flying straight towards him and Riphath. The blade pierced straight through Vinoc's chest as Riphath barely managed to disengage in time, the lightsaber only a couple of centimeters from piercing his own heart. In a manner that eerily mirrored his brother, he too fell to the ground, clearly dead.
"Dammit," Dani cursed as she surveyed the damage. "I can't believe he was crazy enough to kill himself to keep us from getting anything out of him."
"Right," Riphath said with a calm that surprised himself given what just happened as he called up the other team. "Area secure, move to protect the package."
"Copy."
"Alright, 'Reaper,'" Dani said as she hoisted Karoc's body over her shoulder. "Time to learn how to get rid of a body."
"I know it's part of my codename," Riphath said as he took Vinoc's body, "But I can't help but feel like you're patronizing me."
"You're learning then."
----------
It took some time and tensions were high as Arla led Ahsoka through various alleyways to ensure that no one would follow them, but they managed to make their way back onto the main streets after a moment as Arla led Ahsoka to a cantina labeled "The Diamond Deception."
"A
cantina!? That's your 'secure hiding spot!?'" Ahsoka hissed to Arla.
"Don't worry," she said to Ahoska as she moved to open the doors. "You're a lot safer here than you think."
As Ahsoka entered the cantina she was surprised by
the music that was playing from the speakers, adding to the atmosphere of the cantina as various patrons from what seemed like a dozen different species enjoyed themselves with drinks, argued with other patrons, sat in corners reading holopapers (Ahsoka didn't recognize the name "Coruscant Intelligencer," to her surprise), and generally paid her no mind as Arla came in behind her.
"Fancy a drink?" she asked as she moved her way to the barside, Ahsoka following her confused as she sat down. In front of her, a blond woman in ragged clothing that seemed vaguely familiar was standing with her back to them, idly cleaning out a glass with a rag. As Ahsoka wondered if she should clear her throat to get her attention, the woman turned to face her, violet eyes taking in her form. "New customer, eh?" she said coolly, not stopping her cleaning as she looked over Ahsoka and not seeming to register Arla's presence. "Well, you
look a bit young to drink, but I can't even remember the last time C-SEC came here so you can order whatever you want."
"I'll just have something without any alcohol or anything like that," Ahsoka said suspiciously.
"Fair enough," she said, moving away from Arla and Ahsoka as the latter turned to face the former. "So I was told Thrawn would be here..."
"Relax," Arla replied. "Like I said, you're a lot safer here than you think."
"Right then," the bartender called out as she plunked a glass down in front of Ahsoka. "The freshest water the Undercity has, on the house for a first-time customer!" The water inside was clearly filthy with various particles drifting around inside of it that Ahsoka didn't want to identify. "This is the
fresh water?"
"Like I said, it's the freshest in the Undercity. Down here you have to take what you can get." The bartender started to move away before stopping suddenly and looking over Ahsoka who was very gingerly pushing the glass to the side. "Come to think of it you look like someone who doesn't have a place to stay."
"I-"
"Ahshshshhhhh," the woman interrupted, handing over a keycard with a '3' on it. "Room number three just down the hall is yours for the night. Don't worry about it." Then the bartender moved away as Ahsoka turned to Arla visibly confused.
"You should get some rest," Arla said almost disinterestedly. "I can stay out here and keep an eye out, don't worry."
Nodding with a
very confused expression on her face, Ahsoka got up and made her way through the cantina to the back rooms, looking for the room in question and opening it up when she found it. Shutting and locking the door behind her she looked around and saw a ruddy bed, what appeared to be a closet of some kind, and a table next to the bed - with a flimsiplast note on it. Moving over to it Ahsoka read it to herself.
"Push against the closet's back wall on the right side."
Pocketing the note she did as it instructed, feeling the wall turn in place as she pushed it before it rotated fully, leaving her in a dimly-lit corridor with a well-lit room of some kind at the end. She moved closer towards it, trying to see what was inside...
"You can come in Ahsoka," a familiar voice called from inside. Picking up her pace Ahsoka practically rushed in the room to see Thrawn himself calmly sitting at an old table covered in dust but still visibly bore the crest of the Abyss Watchers. "A pleasure to see you," he said with a slight smile before his expression hardened, "though obviously I wish this was under far better circumstances."
"R-right, good to see you too," Ahsoka said as she sat down. As she did and began to relax the events of the past few hours finally had the chance to sink in:
She was being framed for the Temple bombing.
She was being hunted by Tarkin, who didn't care in the slightest whether she lived or died.
She was also being hunted by Sith who wanted to make sure that she couldn't do anything to prove her innocence.
She couldn't rely on Anakin otherwise he'd be accused of being an accomplice or worse.
"Ahsoka."
She couldn't rely on any of her friends in the Order.
Would they even take her back?
Did they even-
"Ahsoka."
She jolted in place as Thrawn spoke more intensely to her. "I understand how difficult this must be for you right now, but I assure you that both myself and Lady Ciaran fully believe that you are completely innocent."
Ahsoka was silent for a long moment before she heard the wall turn again. "Ah, I was wondering when Lady Ciaran would be finished with her performance," Thrawn offhandedly commented.
"Performance?" Ahsoka asked as she turned to face -
the bartender!? H-how could she have missed that she was Ciaran!?
"I'm assuming you're wondering how you missed me," she said as she moved to take a seat, "and the answer is that you would be amazed how easy it is to hide in plain sight. But fun aside," she said as her face hardened. "You've got a problem and I guarantee that you can't solve it alone."
"I know," Ahsoka replied. "It's why Ma-
Anakin told me to find you."
Ciaran's eyes widened and Thrawn's gaze on her intensified. "When did he tell you that?" she asked.
"Just as I was about to make my way into the Undercity, he found me and told me to get to a...base of some kind you had down here. Apparently you had Senator Amidala stay there at one point for her safety?"
Ciaran was silent for a moment as Thrawn looked at her curiously before she shook her head and chuckled to herself. "Of course. Where else would he point you to at a time like this?" She refocused her gaze on Ahsoka. "Honestly though that does solve a lot of the trust issues I was afraid we were going to have to get past, so that's good. Glad we don't have to go through that song and dance."
"So you
did do that?" Ahsoka asked.
"Yep. Juuust when the war was starting. Seems like ages ago...anyway we're getting off the main subject:
you."
Ahsoka stayed respectfully quiet as Ciaran drummed her fingers on the table. "Honestly if I had my way I'd be sending you off-planet to hide in a bolthole on Nar Shaddaa until this mess gets sorted out, but according to Thrawn and knowing your Master I
highly doubt you want to do that."
"I
don't," Ahsoka said coldly.
"Of course if things go bad you might end up doing that anyway, whether you want to or not," Ciaran said in an equally cold tone. "I've seen Tarkin's dossier - he's going to stop at nothing to get his hands on you and string you up in front of the Senate as a traitor, terrorist, and basically any crime he can throw at you that sounds even remotely plausible.
But, and this is a big 'but,' we do have other options right now. Option 1 is to have you brought in-"
"Excuse me!?"
"-and have Thrawn represent you in the inevitable trial. I can get him for your defense no matter what bureaucracy tries to stop me, and I assure you that no matter what he is up against he
will win."
"Indeed," Thrawn replied. "I would not do too much, just simply prove your innocence and ensure that Tarkin's career comes to a complete and absolute end. Nothing more, nothing less."
"In the meantime with Courscant's eyes on you my people could have a better shot at figuring out what's really going on. Naturally there are objections to this so that leads us into Option 2: You work with us to try and lure out more of the bomber's associates or possibly even the bomber themselves. We
will find them - no one can hide forever in
my streets- but we might not be able to officially prove your innocence unless you want to go through with the trial as per Option 1."
"That sounds good to me, or at least the 'hunt down the bomber' part of it does," Ahsoka said.
"I figured as much. Anyway, any other plans would ultimately be permutations of those options: hide you away, go to court, or track down the culprit," Ciaran said as her gaze suddenly intensified. "But right now we don't have much to go on in regards to them. So to make Option 2 available I need to know everything Letta told you before she died."
Ahsoka closed her eyes, focusing back on the conversation they had. "The real culprit behind all of this is a Jedi. I didn't get the name, but Letta was told to contact me specifically as a 'someone she could trust' or something along those lines." Her eyes opened. "That's...really about it, she didn't give me any other information before..."
"That is still far more we have to go on than before," Thrawn said as he clasped his hands in front of him and set them on the table. "We now know that the culprit is familiar with you on a very personal level."
"I mean, my name's gone around a lot after Wasskah," Ahsoka said sadly. "It could be anyone-"
"No it could not," Thrawn said as his voice began to intensify. "The nature of the trap is very important: the culprit had to be
absolutely certain you could escape the base you were being held in and make it to the Undercity. That way you could vanish down there and there would be no trace left of you or their assistance in your escape, and just as importantly no way you could try to track down the bomber. There is no way they would bank such an important stage of their plan on reputation alone. They had to be sure. They had to
know for a fact that you could escape. So now we can add a narrowing factor: which Jedi have you fought alongside at least fairly recently? Omitting Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi as the three of us here know none of them would be guilty in the slightest."
"Right," Ahsoka said nervously as she thought to herself. "There's...the man who brought me to the Jedi...Master Plo Koon."
"He's a Council member," Ciaran interrupted, "meaning there's no way he wouldn't be recognized by Letta as such and there's an obvious lack of motive. Who else?"
"Um...there was one mission I had with Master Aayla Secura but I really didn't do too much of note there," Ahsoka continued. "There were quite a few missions I went on with a fellow Padawan - Bariss Offee..." Ahsoka trailed off as that statement sunk in. "B-but there's no way, w-we've been friends ever since we first met-"
"She's not excluded," Ciaran interrupted. "Who else?"
"More Council members who don't count...then there were the three...people from Wasskah..."
"Their names, Ahsoka. The trauma they went through there could have been enough to convince them to turn," Thrawn said calmly.
"...Kalifa, Jinx, and O-Mer. A-and...that's all I can really think of..." Ahsoka said as she trailed off again. "Y-you're telling me that either
one of my closest friends or the people I risked everything to save-"
"Ahsoka," Ciaran said in a forceful tone that the Torguta in question had
never heard from her before. "Breathe. You can't lose yourself now."
Starting to shake slightly but nodding towards Ciaran Ahsoka took a few deep breaths, calming herself. "I-I'm sorry. I just...I just cant believe any of those people would do this..."
Ciaran and Thrawn shared a meaningful glance with each other before facing Ahsoka again. "Of course," Ciaran said neutrally, "I can understand how hard this must be for you. Why don't you try and get some rest while Thrawn and I talk things out? Don't worry, you're perfectly safe here."
Ahsoka nodded glumly, then slowly made her way out of the meeting room. After going through the secret door she flopped onto the bed, trying to let herself relax after everything that happened...
----------
"Bulq has to be involved. If Ahsoka's descriptions of the likely suspects is any indication I'm almost
positive that man has been doing exactly what Dooku said he would: corrupting Jedi who would be
just the kind of people who could do something crazy given the right push."
"I would err towards one of the Wasskah survivors being the culprit as they all have experience with being guerilla fighters and the tactics needed to execute the bombing and infiltrate the base Tano was being held at. Offee seems to be the less likely culprit-"
"Which would make her much more likely to fly under the radar and deflect suspicion, especially given Ahsoka's reaction. So...aside from what we're going to do with her we need to figure out what we want to tell our Sentinel friend. I honestly don't know what they think about this and if they believe Ahsoka's guilty or not."
"You have told them that the bomber was not working alone so I would hope that they are intelligent enough to believe that unlike the other parties here."
"Would you bet on it though?"
"It is not a certainty."
"Right..."
----------
So what exactly is going to happen to Ahsoka?
[] You're shipping her off-world to a bolthole on Nar Shaddaa. No arguments, no excuses. She needs to get off the planet.
[] Get legal with this and have Thrawn formally defend her in a trial. It doesn't matter who or what Thrawn's up against, he can tear apart the prosecution's argument, and he's disturbingly eager to do it.
[] Work with Ahsoka to try and draw out the bomber. Obviously the riskiest option but it might give you a shot at Bulq, either directly or indirectly.
[] Write-in, maybe there's some other option you haven't considered.
And what are you going to tell your Sentinel contact and Anakin by proxy about all of this?
[] Write-in
AN: Phew! Between life getting in the way and having some trouble getting the fight scene down on paper this took some time, but I like how this turned out.
Anyway, let's see how you folks are going to try and throw things off the rails...
