Chapter 24

Chapter 24

THE TRACTOR BEAM seemed to take its time reeling her into the hold. It was almost like whoever had captured Ahsoka wanted her to have time to arm herself and get ready to fight back. Which was exactly what she did. She left the blaster where it was but rummaged through the weapon box that all Fardi ships carried. She’d never gone through hers before now, because she’d never needed to, but there was a first time for everything. She discarded several smaller blasters, a stun rifle, and three explosives whose yields were not clearly marked. At the bottom of the box was a pair of bastons. Not perfect, but they were as close to her former lightsabers as she was going to get. Then she went down to the main hatch and waited.

After what felt like forever, the hatch opened. Standing there were two humans, both with helmets covering their faces and with their weapons up. She didn’t know if they were the only two people on board, and she didn’t wait to find out. She jumped, flipping down the ramp to kick the taller human at the base of his helmet while striking the shorter one with the baston in her right hand. They were unprepared for the swiftness of her attack. The man dropped immediately, but the shorter one, a woman, managed to dodge the full brunt of the first blow.

“Wait!” she said. “We’re here on behalf of—”

That was as far as Ahsoka let her get before she dropped the woman with another blow to the helmet. Both of them would wake up, but by then Ahsoka would be gone. First, though, she had to deactivate the tractor beam, and the easiest place to do that was on the bridge.

Bastons at the ready, she prowled through the ship. It was a fairly straight line from the hold to the bridge, but she wanted to be sure no one surprised her, so she took a quick detour to the engine room and the berths on the way. There was no one else on board, which was strange, because the ship could have accommodated many more crew members with no stress on the oxygen recyclers. Maybe her would-be captors just liked their privacy.

Ahsoka shrugged and opened the door that led to the bridge. The first thing she noticed was that there were no people here, either. The second thing she noticed was the beeping of an astromech droid, one that sounded exactly like—

“Artoo!” She didn’t mean to shout at the little droid, but she was so startled and surprised that she couldn’t help it. She’d had a very stressful day.

The little blue-and-silver droid disconnected from the console he was working on and rolled across the floor to her so quickly that she thought for a second he might have flown. He was beeping so fast she could barely understand him, but she could tell by his tone that R2-D2 was as happy to see her as she was to see him.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, dropping to her knees to give the droid a hug. She didn’t care if it was a silly thing to do, and R2-D2 seemed to appreciate the gesture. “They didn’t even memory wipe you?”

The droid beeped happily at her.

“You work for a senator? But you’re not supposed to tell me who?” she said. The droid had always been good at keeping secrets. “What about your friends in the hold? Can you tell me about them?”

R2-D2 rolled back across the floor and called up two holos. They were labeled, and she read the names of the pilot and copilot, both of whom she’d left unconscious in the hold of their own ship.

“I hope they don’t hold a grudge,” she said. “Though really, what do they expect? Capturing people in tractor beams.”

The astromech chirruped soothingly and went back to stand beside her. She was going to have to leave soon, but she really didn’t want to part with the little droid again.

“What was their mission, anyway?” Ahsoka asked.

R2-D2 told her what he was permitted to, specifically that the pilot, Chardri Tage, and his partner, Tamsin, had been tasked with taking her to meet someone.

“The same senator you’re not supposed to tell me the identity of?” Ahsoka asked. “Artoo, I need to know.”

The droid seemed to consider it for a moment, rolling back and forth on his three legs. Then he said a name.

“Bail Organa?” Ahsoka said. “I can’t believe they let him live. He’s a known Jedi sympathizer. He must be in so much danger.”

R2-D2 beeped that she didn’t know the half of it.

“And you won’t tell me,” Ahsoka said. “I get it.”

The droid reminded her that Padmé Amidala, too, had trusted Bail, not just the Jedi. Ahsoka sighed.

“Look, can you release the tractor beam on my ship?” she asked him. “And then I’ll escape, and you can tell everyone you never saw me, okay? Just make sure I can track this ship. If I like what I see, then I’ll come in. I promise.”

R2-D2 rolled back and forth for a few moments. The little droid was used to espionage and high stakes. He would understand why Ahsoka wanted to do this under her own power, as much as she could. After a moment, he beeped his agreement and told her the code she could use to track the ship.

“Thanks, Artoo,” she said. She turned to go, but he rolled over to her again. He made a series of sad sounds.

“I know, little guy.” Her heart clenched around the empty spot where Anakin Skywalker used to be. “I miss him, too.”

R2-D2 rolled back to the controls, and Ahsoka saw he was wiping all surveillance of their conversation. Then he beeped farewell to her and activated an electrical circuit that would make it look like she’d shorted him out. It wouldn’t fool Bail, so he’d know to expect her if he was paying attention, but it would probably do the trick with the two pilots.

Ahsoka didn’t waste any more time. She went back to the hold, dragged the pilots to the pressurized area, and then boarded her ship and fired up the engines, as much as they would allow in their damaged condition. She slipped out of the cargo bay and scanned around for a good place to hide and make repairs while she waited for the pilots to wake up.

In the end, she had to settle for one of the small moons that orbited the planet where she’d fought the Black Sun agent. She hoped they weren’t hiding there to mend their ship, too, but honestly, she didn’t think even her luck today would be that bad. She was nearly done with her repairs by the time the signal from Artoo started beeping at her, indicating which way he and the pilots had gone. She watched as it stuttered, meaning they had entered hyperspace, and then settled back for a nap. She wanted them to have a head start, and she’d need to be rested when she talked to Bail anyway.

Floating above some nameless moon, Ahsoka closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Bail did his level best not to laugh through the report that Chardri Tage delivered to him. They hadn’t even seen the Jedi long enough to give a description of her. She’d taken them out immediately, shorted out the R2 unit, and disabled the tractor beam with no real effort at all. Bail actually felt a little guilty. He hadn’t told Tage what he was setting him and Tamsin up against, and apparently the Jedi was as well trained in combat as any Clone Wars veteran. She’d even scrubbed most of the security footage, but there was one clip she’d overlooked.

It was a shot of the engine room. Everything looked in order at first glance, but if he paused at the exact right moment, a pair of montrals was clearly visible above one of the coils as the Jedi checked to make sure the room was empty. Bail swallowed a shout of pure triumph. He knew those markings. This wasn’t just any Jedi; it was Ahsoka Tano, and he had to find her immediately.

He paused. Ahsoka would have recognized R2-D2. More important, the astromech would have recognized her .

“Why, you little metal devil,” Bail said, cursing the absent unit.

He couldn’t really blame Ahsoka for her caution. He hadn’t associated with her as closely as with Skywalker and Kenobi, and she hadn’t parted well with anyone when she left Coruscant. Also, he’d sent two people to kidnap her, essentially. She must have a plan, though, and the R2 unit undoubtedly knew what it was: the droid had all but told him to expect her, if not any of the specifics.

He recorded a new message to send Tage, giving coordinates to meet, even though they hadn’t successfully apprehended the Jedi they were after. Tage didn’t reply with a holo, merely sent a confirmation code, but Bail knew his orders would be followed to the letter.

Ahsoka Tano would find him, and he’d be ready for her. He didn’t know what he would say to her, how much she knew already, and how much she should know. Perhaps it would be for the best if he didn’t tell her anything at all. He thought of his daughter, safe on Alderaan, and the boy, safe in the desert. He owed them his silence, but he would do his best to sound out Ahsoka. If she already knew, she would be a valuable ally. He couldn’t tell her that Obi-Wan lived, but he could gain her trust in other ways, and he would start by making his invitation in person.

He left his quarters on Captain Antilles’s Tantive IV and made for the bridge. The captain was on duty, so it didn’t take long to make his request. Antilles was loyal to a fault and knew better than to ask questions in front of the crew. They were working, slowly, to replace each crew member with a rebel or recruit the existing crew to the cause, but it was patient, cautious work. As it was, everyone was loyal enough to Alderaan, and to Breha specifically, to keep secrets. The rest would come in time. It was as safe a place as any to meet a Jedi.

The trip through hyperspace was short, and Tage’s ship was waiting for them when they arrived. There was no sign of Ahsoka. The system they were in was mostly empty, but there were a few unpopulated planets nearby. Antilles liked to arrange meetings where there were hiding places available if he needed them. They waited for a few hours, with no sign of another ship. Eventually, Bail ordered Tage to return the R2 unit to the blockade runner and go. Perhaps he’d been wrong about Ahsoka’s loyalties. Perhaps she was already settled into a new life and didn’t want to be embroiled in another war. He couldn’t say that he blamed her.

Bail saw the R2 unit returned to his flighty golden protocol droid companion, who immediately began to berate the little astromech, and then made his way back to his quarters. They were in the center of the ship, accessible by the main corridor. He’d never given much thought to the maintenance shaft that ran behind the row of guest quarters. It provided access to the panels that controlled the environmental systems in each suite and also connected the bridge to the engine room as an alternate route if something happened to compromise the main passageway. There were several escape pods located there and one airlock.

Bail walked into his temporary office, turned on the lights, and nearly had a heart attack. Sitting at his desk, wearing a pressure suit with the helmet off and resting on the table between them, was Ahsoka Tano.

“Hello, Senator,” she said pleasantly. “I hear you wanted to talk.”

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