Star Wars: Choices
Ch. 1
Ahsoka, now under the alias of Crystal Onat, has been a smuggler for about a month, and she was making a quite a name for herself as a skilled smuggler, despite her age and the age of Twilight. She made enough credits to buy a small house on a planet like Dantooine, but she wanted to ensure that her and Lena had plenty of money to last the rest of their days, especially when Lena decides to move away from Ahsoka and live on her own. The only thing Ahsoka regretted about becoming a smuggler was the fact that she couldn't see Galen ever again, but she would always remind herself that she was in self-exile and that she deserved this punishment for the crimes she committed as a Dark Acolyte. So Ahsoka quickly got over her regret and continued flying through the galaxy so she could deliver her package to the secret location and get her two hundred thousand cash credits, and another three hundred thousand in her account. Once the Twilight exited hyperspace, she found the space station known as Outland Station, and once she landed at the required platform, she saw a man wearing an expensive suit, and surrounded by four heavily arm Trandoshen Guards.
"Lena, when we land, stay inside the ship. Alright? And get the defense guns ready to fire." Ahsoka ordered, an the nine year old nodded and started pressing buttons on the control consul.
"It's ready Ahsoka." Lena said.
"Good. Now I have to talk business. I'll be back in a few minutes, and then I'll treat you to dinner while we're here." Ahsoka said, and she lowered the ramp and walked over to man.
"You Onat?" The man asked, and Ahsoka nodded. I wasn't aware my boss was working with a child."
"The package is in the storage room in the back of the ship." Ahsoka said, ignoring the comment, and led the contact to the back of the ship and brought the crates down so he could inspect their contents, and once he finished, he smiled.
"You might be a kid, but I'm impressed." The man said, and he nodded to one of the Trandoshens and he walked to Ahsoka and pulled out a data-pad and activated and pressed a few buttons. "It was three thousand into your account, correct?" The man asked, and Ahsoka nodded. The trando then pressed a few buttons and showed Ahsoka that the transaction was successful and complete. The other three trandos then took the crates off of Twilight, and the man smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you." And with that, the man and four trandos tried to leave.
"Wait! You're boss promised me two hundred thousand in cash creds!" Ahsoka demanded, and the man chuckled.
"Little girl, that's the grown-up cost; you're lucky I'm giving you the three hundred. Now why don't you go to the playground or take a nap or whatever it is you brats do." The man said, and continued to walk away, but Ahsoka lifted the five of them with the Force.
"I suggest you give me my money before I throw you out of the airlock!" Ahsoka demanded, but the man remained stubborn.
"You put me down right now, Jedi scum! Otherwise I'll make sure you never work for my boss again!" The man said, and Ahsoka dropped the five. "Men, kill her!" The man ordered, but suddenly, two blaster cannons appeared from the Twilight's hull and shot the four Trandoshens, killing them. Ahsoka then activated her lightsaber and pointed the blade at the mans neck.
"My money. Now." Ahsoka again demanded, and the man growled at her and snapped his fingers, and a man appeared from the shadows carrying a metal case, and he brought the case to Ahsoka, who opened it and counted the money inside the case, and nodded. She then took the case and walked back to her ship. "Oh, and next time you see your boss, give him this message; next time he needs my help, and he will, my price has now doubled." Ahsoka said finally, and she walked up the ship and closed the ramp. "Strap yourself in Lena; we're leaving. I know I promised you something to eat here, but it's too dangerous now. There's another space station just a couple of parsecs away. Do you think you can wait that long?" Ahsoka asked as she walked to the pilot's chair of the Twilight, and Lena nodded. "Okay. Prepare to make the jump into hyperspace." And with that order, the Twilight took off, and disappeared in an instant as soon as it left the station.
After a couple of weeks of staying in a nice hotel on the planet of Alderaan, Ahsoka decided to check for any transmissions containing job offers, and saw a particularly interesting offer coming from the planet of Lok, which was inhabited by fellow smugglers and pirates, so she activated the transmission and saw a male Feeorin with a cybernetic hand.
"Who are you?" Ahsoka demanded.
"Are you Crystal Onat?" The Feeorin asked, and Ahsoka just smiled.
"Who wants to know?" Ahsoka asked.
"My name is Nym; I run a piracy operation here on Lok, and I hear you're a pretty decent smuggler." Nym said, and that got Ahsoka's attentions.
"My skills are based on how much I'm getting paid; the more money I get, the better I am." Ahsoka said, and Nym smirked.
"Well, I'd say the pay is pretty good; seven hundred fifty thousand in total, and I'll give you half upfront, in cash credits." Nym said, and Ahsoka whistled.
"Must be some hot cargo." Ahsoka pondered, and the Feeorin nodded.
"Let's just say, you don't want to be stuck with it for too long." Nym said, and Ahsoka was even more interested.
"I don't want any trouble with the Republic, or the CIS, and if I have to go any of their bases or construction yards, it'll cost you another hundred thousand." Ahsoka said, but Nym laughed.
"You can either take that deal, or I can find someone else! I'm not so sure I'm willing to leave this job in the hands of a child anyway!" Nym said, and he was getting ready to kill the transmission when Ahsoka held up her hand to stop him.
"Wait, perhaps that is asking too much. What do I have to do?" Ahsoka asked.
"I'm not going to tell you over an open link; you'll have to come here to Lok." Nym said, and Ahsoka sighed.
"When do you want me to pick up the package?" Ahsoka asked.
"In two weeks. Will you be able to make it by then?" Nym asked, and Ahsoka nodded.
"I expect the upfront payment to be ready if I accept the job." Ahsoka said, and Nym nodded and his image disappeared. 'Hmm…two weeks, and Lok is in the far Outer Rim…if Lena and I leave in next week, we should be able to make it by the end of the deadline if nothing goes wrong. But I don't want to risk missing the deadline due to some minor inconvenience, so we'll leave in five days.' Ahsoka thought to herself, and she went back to her room in the hotel and saw that her sister was watching holo-toons and eating her favorite sugar cereal.
"Hey Ahsoka, wanna watch these holo-toons with me?" Lena asked, and Ahsoka smiled and nodded and sat next to her sister.
"Lena, we're going to have to leave a couple of days earlier than I had planned; I got a job offer at the planet Lok." Ahsoka said, and Lena frowned.
"Oh…" The nine year old, and Ahsoka wrapped her arm around Lena and gave her a loving squeeze.
"I know I promised to spend more quality time with you, but this is the highest paying job I've ever been offered, so I'm going to see if I can take it. I'm really sorry Lena…" Ahsoka said, but Lena didn't budge or say a thing. "Look…how about…when I'm finished with the job, or if I don't take it, we'll go to Hologram Fun World like you've been wanting to." Ahsoka offered, and that got Lena to smile.
"Okay…" Lena finally said, and Ahsoka hugged her sister one last time.
"Good…besides, we still have five days until we have to leave." Ahsoka said, and the two continued to watch holo-toons.
Two weeks later, the Twilight exited hyperspace above the planet of Lok, and two pirate vessels appeared and approached the ship.
"State your business." One of the pirates demanded.
"This is Onat; I was asked by Nym to see him about a job offer." Ahsoka said, and after a couple of seconds, the pirate spoke up again.
"Onat, you are to land at platform two, if you divert from that path, you will be shot down." The pirate said, and Ahsoka cut the feed and landed at the required platform and saw the Feeorin that contacted her the week before.
"Lena, stay in the ship and…" Ahsoka started, but Lena cut her off.
"…activate the Twilight's defense system. I know." Lena said, and she activated the defense cannons and got them ready to appear and fire just in case.
"And get your shoto and pistol ready, just in case. I never trust pirates." Ahsoka said, and Lena nodded and put Ahsoka's old shoto in her lap, and grabbed a small DC-17 blaster pistol, Ahsoka took from a smuggling shipment that went bad when her employer betrayed her to Separatist forces, from under her chair.
"Be careful, Ahsoka." Lena said, and Ahsoka kissed Lena's forehead and hugged her before she lowered the ramp and walked outside.
"Nice of you drop by, Onat. Are you ready to hear about this job offer?" Nym asked, and Ahsoka nodded.
"Just keep your men away from my ship." Ahsoka demanded, and Nym nodded, and the two walked into the base.
"Now Onat, what do you know of the asteroid prison, Oovo IV?" Nym asked.
"It's the most feared maximum security system in the galaxy, housing the worst scum in the galaxy. Why?" Ahsoka asked, suspicious.
"There's a few friends of mine stuck there, due to a mistake on my part during a mission. My men and I have tried to bust them out, but we failed, causing more of my men to get captured or killed. We would've tried again, but now, as soon as we'd exit hyperspace, we'd by greeted by swarms of fights and heavy defense Mass Driver turret guns." Nym said.
"So…what do you want me to do about it?" Ahsoka asked.
"I just want you to deliver a special package to the prison that will leave them defenseless. But I suggest you move fast, and make sure you're not around when the package goes off." Nym said, and now, Ahsoka was really curious.
"What's the package?" Ahsoka asked and somewhat demanded.
"It's an EMP detonator with a wide enough range to take out the defense guns and energy shield that protects the prison." Nym said, and Ahsoka pondered on it.
"This seems like a pretty dangerous job, first of all because I have to go to Oovo IV and drop off this package, and secondly, the package is an EMP detonator." Ahsoka figured.
"Do you have a problem with that?" Nym asked, and Ahsoka shook her head.
"No, but I think this kind of deal is worth at least another fifty thousand." Ahsoka said, and Nym growled.
"I already told you; the payment is seven hundred fifty, no more!" Nym yelled, but Ahsoka shook her head.
"Look, this is a very dangerous job; if I'm caught, it could cost me and my partner our lives, so that's worth eight hundred thousand. You can pay that, or I'll inform the prison of your little plan for the asked price of this job." Ahsoka threatened.
"Why you little…" Nym started, and he pulled out his blaster pistol and pointed it at Ahsoka's head, but the Feeorin felt the muzzle of Ahsoka's pistol on his gut.
"Let's not make things difficult Nym; I'll take the eight hundred, half of it upfront in cash creds, the rest in my account." Ahsoka demanded, and Nym growled.
"Bloodsucker." Nym growled, and he called in a pirate and the pirate gave Ahsoka a case filled with cash credits, and Ahsoka smiled.
"Good. Now have the bomb put the back of my ship, and I'll deliver it to Oovo IV." Ahsoka said, and Nym nodded. "Now one final question; does it have a timer or is it remote detonated?" Ahsoka asked.
"Does it matter? As long as you deliver it within forty-eight hours, you'll be fine." Nym said.
"Very well. I'll get started as soon as the package is on my ship." Ahsoka said, and Nym smirked.
"It's already on board." Nym said, and Ahsoka nodded and left at that, and got back on the Twilight. She then took off and entered the coordinates to Oovo IV, and the Twilight disappeared into hyperspace.
A/N: So, that's the first chapter to Choices, the sequel to The Glory of Redemption. If you're wondering where Galen is, he'll be the main focus of Ch. 2, and then Ahsoka will be the main focus in Ch. 3, and so on and so forth, until the two are reunited, so just bear with me until then.
