Hyperspace

19 BBY

5 months before Order 66

Ahsoka Tano had always considered hyperspace to be strangely beautiful. The swirling blue tunnel of light was like something out of a dream. It made her head hurt if she looked at it too long though, so she kept her eyes on the instrument panel in front of her. There was no where else to look in the cramped cockpit of the surplus Y-Wing fighter she piloted. Ahsoka checked the chronometer; they would be coming out of hyperspace soon. She opened the comm to the gunner position behind her.
"Hey Ventress, we're almost there, wake up." A groan and what sounded like a muffled promise of death was the only response she got. Ahsoka shook her head. If someone had told her four months ago that she'd be flying a ship through Unknown Space with Asajj Ventress of all people, she would have been very skeptical.

But then, if someone had told her Barriss would betray her, the Council would expel and abandon her, and she would leave the Jedi Order on her own she would have laughed in their face. But here she was. Ahsoka had discovered, walking down the Temple steps for the last time, that the hardest thing she had ever done was to not look back. If she had looked back at Anakin she wasn't sure she'd be able to go through with it. She'd wandered around the area outside the Temple for hours, lost in her own thoughts, trying to wrap her head around the enormity of what she'd done. The day before that she had been Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic, apprentice of the Chosen One himself. That morning she had been Ahsoka Tano, accused traitor, terrorist, and mass murderer, on trial for her life. And at that moment she had no idea what she was, or even where she was going. Eventually night had fallen, and she had passed out on a public bench. That's where Asajj had found her."Pleasant dreams, Jedi?" she had asked. "What's Skywalker's little pet doing sleeping out here? Did those Jedi scum kick you out again?"

She smiled at the memory. Asajj had been incredulous at the news of what Ahsoka had done, and insisted on getting her a meal to celebrate. Ahsoka had been wary of accepting the offer, but her stomach had overruled her wariness. And she had felt something, a tremor in the Force, that told her Asajj may be trustworthy after all. So they had eaten at Dex's Diner, and learned a lot about each other. Ahsoka told her the whole story of why she had left the Order, and used that (and, admittedly, some alcohol) to pry the life story out of the ex-Sith turned bounty hunter. Hearing how much pain and betrayal the Dathomirian had gone through had put her own issues in perspective. Ahsoka had realized that deep down, Asajj wasn't the uncaring, murderous Sith she had always acted like. She had the potential to be so much more, and Ahsoka was surprised to find she wanted to help her former enemy.

But she knew Asajj wouldn't just let some ex-Padawan hang around for no reason, so she proposed this expedition to her, knowing it would intrigue Asajj too much to turn down. It had taken them five months to get enough credits together to buy this salvaged Y-Wing, mostly by hunting various petty criminals with bounties on their heads in the depths of Coruscant. It wouldn't have taken so long if it wasn't for Ahsoka's stubborn refusal to take the shadier bounties. Asajj's resistance to that had been less than Ahsoka expected, and she felt like Ventress was starting to warm up to her. At the very least she probably wasn't going to kill her in her sleep now.

An alarm went off in the cockpit, signaling they were about to hit a gravity well.
"Alright Ventress, get ready to stretch your legs." Ahsoka hit the decelerator, and the swirling vortex outside resolved into star-lines that quickly reverted into realspace. The blue-white orb of a frozen planet was in front of them, orbiting a distant star.

"So this is the famous Ilum?" Ventress looked out the dome of her turret. "Doesn't look like much."

Ahsoka worked at the controls. "What did you expect? A big ball of light floating in space? I hope you don't mind the cold."
"It's already freezing in here!" Asajj complained.

"Well maybe you would rather we got changed in the ship?" Ahsoka shot back. "It's a bit cramped, if you haven't noticed." Both of them were wearing cold-weather gear.

"Whatever. I still don't see why I couldn't find this place myself." Asajj cracked the kinks out of her neck audibly.

"Hey, you want to wander around in hyperspace for weeks, be my guest." Ahsoka brushed frost off of one of the readouts while she guided the craft down through the atmosphere. The cheap astromech that came with the ship was blathering on about the temperature. Ahsoka ignored the droid. It was no Artoo, that was for sure. Already the stars were growing faint as they descended. Hopefully this will be less eventful than the last time I was here...

The Y-Wing touched down with a metallic groan, seeming grateful for the rest. The ship had been salvaged by a junk dealer, and Ahsoka suspected that it had gone through more damage than the dealer let on. She popped the cockpit, and immediately received a blast of snow in the face. As hospitable as ever. She pulled the hood over her montrals and climbed out, her legs protesting the sudden movement after hours crammed into the confined space.
"R3, stay with the ship." The droid beeped in relief. Ahsoka ducked under the fuselage, the landing gear was already being obscured by snow. Ventress jumped down while Ahsoka opened the cargo bay.

"Tell me it's not far." Ventress' voice was muffled by the snow.

"It's just behind that cliff over there." Ahsoka pulled out the backpack filled with their parts, then the two started the trek across the frozen plain. The parts needed to build a lightsaber were surprisingly common, with the exception of one. They had been able to get the focusing lenses, emitter matrices, power cells, and all the various bits of metal from junk dealers around Coruscant. All but the most important part.

After trudging through the snow for another hundred meters or so Ahsoka could see a circular platform ahead. As she got closer she could make out a frost-encrusted symbol of the Force emblazoned on it.

"This is it! The entrance is frozen over, we're going to have to break it to get in!" She had to yell to be heard over the wind.

"Would it kill the Jedi to put up a simple door?!" Ventress shouted back.

The pair reached out their hands and concentrated on the ice. After a moment there was a loud crack, quickly followed by another. The ice shattered, falling down in a cascade that billowed up in a cloud at the bottom. When it dispersed, the entrance of the Jedi Temple on Ilum was revealed.

"It probably would," Ahsoka muttered to herself.

It wasn't any warmer inside the Temple than outside, but at least it sheltered them from the snow. The huge circular chamber looked the same as it had when Ahsoka brought the younglings on their gathering, dominated by crystalline pillars and four giant statues of Jedi Masters, the walls and floor covered in strange engravings.

Ventress took the sight in. "Not bad for the Jedi."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. She had gotten used to Asajj's casual hatred of the Jedi. "You might be the first non-Jedi to come here in peace in thousands of years, Ventress. You should be honored," she teased.

"You aren't a Jedi either, you know. You can pull the stick out." Asajj stopped in the center of the chamber, where Master Yoda had been sitting just a few months earlier. "So where do we go from here?"

Ahsoka propped her backpack against one of the statues and gestured at the frozen wall of the back of the room. "Through there."

Asajj shook her head, "The same test twice? Not very imaginative." Ahsoka looked up towards the ceiling.

"Oh no, you'll like this next part, trust me." She used the Force to open the window at the top of the chamber. The sunlight poured through into the elaborate network of crystals above, focused into a beam that was directed into the frame around the ice door. The sheet of ice melted, flowing down into drainage ducts in the floor. The entrance to the crystal caves beckoned. And for the third time in her life it took Ahsoka's breath away.

Ventress didn't show it, but Ahsoka could tell even she was impressed. "Fancy, if a bit impractical."

Ahsoka shook her head. "You're impossible." They entered into the dimly lit corridor beyond.
"I'm surprised you've never been here before, Ventress," Ahsoka commented. "I remember that the Seps tried to blow this place up back near the beginning of the war."

Asajj raised her hands defensively. "Hey, I wasn't part of that!" It was true though, the temple would have been destroyed by Chameleon droids if it wasn't for the two Jedi who happened to be inside. Ahsoka stopped her thought there. That was the last thing she wanted to think about.

She changed the subject. "We'll have to hurry, the door will refreeze soon, and we'll be trapped for the better part of a month."
Ventress gave her a confused look. "Couldn't we just smash it like we did the first door?"

"Yeah, they just tell the younglings that so they'll work together." Ahsoka laughed to herself. "So congratulations, you're officially smarter than a youngling." They came to the crossroads, several doorways leading off in different directions.

"I thought this place was supposed to be full of crystals. You better not be lying, Tano." Asajj glared at her.

Ahsoka suppressed a smile. "You should know by now that it's never that easy. Only the crystal meant for you will be visible. Just open your mind and let the Force guide you." She had never realized how much fun it was being the vague mentor.

Asajj groaned impatiently. "Fine, I'll do it the Jedi way." She always managed to say Jedi like it was some horrible curse.

"Meet you back at the entrance." Ahsoka turned away and closed her eyes, clearing her mind. She listened to the sound of Ventress' footsteps until they slowly faded away, leaving nothing but a comforting silence. Then the former Jedi opened her eyes and picked a doorway, setting off into the cave beyond.