Little Miss Rebel
Little Talks
X
Ashoka spared one last glance at her former home. Betrayal and hurt coursed through her very being. "Goodbye Master," she whispered, wiping away the twin streams that had begun to cascade down her cheeks.
Anakin watched Ashoka vanish in the crowd in the bustling streets below. Goodbye, Snips. Ashoka glowered up at the looming Senatorial Rotunda. Perhaps Barris had been right all along. The Republic had corrupted the Jedi Order long ago. She spared one last glance at the Temple that appeared to be ablaze beneath the bright rays of the descending sun.
Ashoka veered off out of the crowd and descended into one of the magnarail stations. The train thundered down the tracks and came to a halt just past her, the doors granting entrance to the citizens. Ashoka followed the lines of citizens entering the train and ignored the looks of distrust and suspicion cast her way.
The train accelerated down the tracks, the stop to a massive sky dock station dead ahead. Ashoka rose as the train slowed once more and then thought against it, stopping before she reached the door. A steady trickle of people filtered off of the train to leave this world.
Ashoka watched the sky dock become a blur in the distance as the train thundered towards the entrance to the lower levels of Coruscant.
There's something I have to do before I leave this place.
The train passed the edge of the massive hole leading to the sublevels and Ashoka flicked her palm through the air, unlocking the doors with the Force. The doors slid open and she dove outside before the override forced them shut. Ashoka felt herself plummeting and panic began to take over. A freighter began to descend into the belly of Coruscant and Ashoka diverted her path towards it.
She slammed into the hull of the freighter and watched the speeders and sky cars of the sublevels fly past as she descended towards level 1312.
An emergency vehicle zipped past the freighter with its lights flashing, no doubt in response to the endless influx of criminal activities. Ashoka sighed and leapt off of the freighter, her leap augmented by the Force. She rolled with the impact as she landed on the roof of a ruined warehouse building and jumped down.
S nasentient. Ashoka sighed, "Guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way then."
Ashoka heard a scream up ahead in the crowd and saw a few stray blaster bolts fire off into the air. Her gaze quickly followed a slender form spiraling through the air landing in a crouch. Gotcha!
Ventress followed her target sprinting through the crowd, still firing random shots her way. Ventress hissed in annoyance as one came a little too close for comfort and she lashed out with the Force plucking him off of the ground. The man flew like a ragdoll through the air into her outstretched hand. Several of the Balmsmen burst onto the roof. Ventress tossed the unconscious man towards them, "Now I expect the money I deserve for catching the brute," she hissed.
"The bounty will be wired to the usual account," replied one of the Balmsmen dismissively.
Ventress leapt off of the rooftop down into the alleyway below. Ashoka stepped out of the shadows cutting off her escape to the streets, "And what do I owe this pleasure?" asked Ventress sarcastically.
"I decided for a change of scenery," replied Ashoka, "I-I decided to leave the Order."
Ventress's eyes widened in surprise, "So you sought me out for a reason then?" asked Ventress.
"I know I said I couldn't picture us working together, but maybe we should," began Ashoka, "We could leave Coruscant together."
"So the Padawan has decided to become a bounty hunter after all," said Ventress, a hint of humor creeping into her tone.
"Do you have a ship to get us off-world?" questioned Ashoka ignoring the jabs at her expense.
"Hold your starfighters sister. I never agreed to anything," replied Ventress her eye narrowing.
"If you would rather live in this slum than by all means," snapped Ashoka spinning on her heel.
"Wait," called Ventress before she could cross the street.
"What?" asked Ashoka.
"I'm coming with you."
-1 Year Later-
Ashoka veered off through the asteroid field tearing after her target. Ventress sat on the edge of her seat as asteroids barely flew past the starship's hull. "Can you get a clear shot?" asked Ashoka, swerving out of the path of a massive asteroid. "No," replied Ventress in frustration.
Their target's freighter cleared the field and began the preparation to jump to hyperspace. "You're not escaping from us again," growled Ashoka signaling to Ventress. Ventress fired an ion shot from one of the swivel turrets on the side of the ship and left the ship to the mercy of space with all of its systems powered down.
Ashoka brought their ship around and docked with the freighter. Ventress jumped to her feet and burst onto the shuttle with her new lightsabers in hand. The crimson blades were a blur as she redirected the blaster bolts of her attackers into the ceiling and walls. Her saber lashed out slicing a blaster rifle in two. Ashoka came to her aid and stunned two with the Force slamming them into the wall.
Ventress stalked past the unconscious bodyguards and entered the bridge of the freighter finding it empty. "Come out, come out," taunted Ventress, the glow of her red lightsabers casting werelight in all corners of the bridge.
A man presumably in his forties burst out from behind the navicomputer and fired off a hasty shot, completely missing Ventress. Ventress wrenched the blaster pistol from his grasp and into her outstretched palm.
"Now, now Naissus," chided Ventress with a cruel smirk, "You've made a lot of powerful people angry. I'll be happy to collect on you when I hand you over to the Hutts."
"W-Wait! Come on now, let's be rational," protested Naissus, "I'll pay you double what the Hutts are offering."
Ventress raised an eyebrow and let out a cruel laugh, "You have no idea what the price is on your head, do you? Do you have any idea how many times I get that from my targets? People never change," she spat with disgust.
Ventress lifted him by the collar of his flight jacket and dragged him onto their starship and sealed him away in the cargo hold. Ashoka disconnected the airlock and let the freighter drift away from their starship before calculating the jump to Tatooine.
Ventress entered the cockpit, "That's another one," she sighed smiling wryly.
"This one made our work cut out for us," admitted Ashoka as the blue streaks of hyperspace began to fill the viewport.
"How many days until we reach Tatooine?" asked Ventress.
"One," replied Ashoka.
"Great one whole day of listening to the moron back their try to bribe his way back to freedom," groaned Asajj.
"Just think of the reward at the end of the trip," reminded Ashoka, "This is our greatest bounty yet, we'll be set for a long time after this."
Silence took over the cockpit both of them staring straight ahead before Asajj turned towards Ashoka, "My sources tell me the Clone Wars are about to come to an end soon," she said.
"How could they possibly know this?" asked Ashoka incredulously.
"Well my master is dead and soon Grievous will find his place alongside him in hell," she replied, her anger flashing at the mention of her former master, "Anakin killed him you know," she said after another period of silence.
"He made the right decision," replied Ashoka instantly coming to his defense.
"I commend him for finishing what I failed to do," laughed Asajj.
"By the way, what did you mean Grievous will be dead as well soon?" asked Ashoka warily.
"The Republic just invaded Utapau, which is his current hideout," replied Ventress with a shrug of her shoulders.
"How do you know all this?" asked Ashoka.
"I have friends in high places, in many places," said Ventress smirking.
"Well that's a relief, because I don't know how much longer I can take the turmoil in the Force much longer," sighed Ashoka in relief.
"Who knows what will happen when the war ends? We may have to change our game plan," cackled Asajj.
Ventress sighed before rising from the co-pilot's chair and left the cockpit. "I'm going to go check on the prisoner," called Ventress heading towards the cargo bay. She stopped in the main hold of the starship as the holoprojector started playing a report. "The newly proclaimed Galactic Emperor has released a proclamation ordering the extinction of the Jedi Order. They have been condemned as traitors to the Empire and are charged with his Excellency's attempted assassination and the overthrowing of the Republic."
"Ashoka is not going to like this one bit," said Ventress her eyes wide. Ventress hurried back to the cockpit. "We have to return to Coruscant," she said suddenly, surprising Ashoka.
"Why have the Separatists launched another offensive?" asked Ashoka with alarm.
"No it's worse than that, much worse. Palpatine just condemned and ordered the extinction of every Jedi," she replied.
"He can't do that!" protested Ashoka. She cancelled the jump and was met with the vast void of open space and replotted a course to Coruscant, "I hope we get there before anything happens," said Ashoka in horror.
X
Vader stood inside the entrance hall of the Jedi Temple, the beautiful temple a husk of its former self. Marred forever by explosives and laser fire. Saber marks scored the walls everywhere and the air was thick with the smell of death. Corpses of Jedi laid sprawled everywhere.
Vader walked out of the ruined doorway into the Temple and descended the destroyed staircase, skirting around rubble. Clones saluted Vader as he passed. Captain Rex walked with him silently down to the transport waiting to take him back to the Senate Rotunda.
The LAAT gunship hovered through the waves of sky cars and began its descent towards one of the landing strips outside the rotunda. The LAAT stopped and Vader leapt out landing in a crouch and hurried over to his starfighter. "R2 warm up the engines!" ordered Vader.
The astromech droid chirped in reply and the engines flared to life, and the cockpit opened. Vader climbed inside and lifted the landing gear. The starfighter tore off above the towering skyscrapers and into the cover of the clouds exiting the atmosphere.
"R2, plot a course to Mustafar," said Vader grimly. R2 let out a string of beeps in compliance and Vader felt the navicomputer let out an alert for hyperspace travel. Anakin closed his eyes as the blue streaks of hyperspace enveloped the starfighter.
The anguished screams of fallen Jedi echoed through the Force and screamed for his blood, whispers of treachery and murder spat scathingly at him through his connection to the force. Order 66 was the start of the peace the galaxy deserves. Barris was right; the Jedi Order had fallen from its path as diplomats to warmongers.
The screams of the damned filled his head and Vader lashed out with the Force purging the anguished from his head. Vader stared ahead, "I have to live with this decision. I had to betray the Jedi so I could keep Padme alive. This is and will always be the only path I can take," he reassured himself.
Anakin opened up his link to Obi-wan and heard nothing but the storm of the Force howling in despair as the balance shifted from the light to dark. "Fine I was tired of our little talks anyway," spat Anakin into the link, blocking it without any hesitation.
A/N: That's the end of the very first chapter. Not much action yet, but just wait it gets a lot better in the next few chapters. I just needed to get the story rolling first. Review, favorite, follow, PM me with feedback, whatever you wish.
Thanks for all of my readers' continued support. I'm excited to see all of your reviews.