WHILE OTHERS BECAME SPECTERS
By Lux's Sister
Cast of Characters (Italics indicate an OC)
Ahsoka Tano
Lux Bonteri
Saw and Steela Gerrera
Captain Rex
King Tandin of Onderon
Mina Bonteri
Hutch St. James – "Cashier from Hell," a brilliant hacker
Hero St. James – (The rebel who yelled "Look!" at the end of Tipping Points) Hutch's wife, a snarky rebel who loves to cook.
Sierra Bonteri – the group's grifter and the youngest Bonteri child, three years Lux's junior
Tav and Kiara Bonteri - Lux and Ahsoka's son and daughter
Molly St. James - Hutch and Hero's daughter.
EXPLANATION OF THE AU
This story is a continuation of the While Others series. If you have not read the other stories, please go read them now.
It's been a while since the last story was completed, so I will try to fill you in here.
This story takes place in an alternate universe where several characters who appear to have died have survived due to a government program called the Lazarus Project. The Project was designed as a propaganda tool for the coming Empire, and two of its victims were the Bonteri family and Steela Gerrera.
After Steela's escape from prison and the reunion of the Bonteris, Wilhuff Tarkin and King Dendup were jailed for their crimes until Order 66. Ahsoka married Lux Bonteri, and two years later gave birth to a son named Tavin. Hutch and Hero St. James also married and chose to adopt Katooni, a Jedi youngling left alone by the deaths of her friends.
After the rise of the Empire, the rebels were forced into hiding and had to become con artists in order to survive.
On one con, Sierra Bonteri's alias fell apart. She was arrested by notoriously cruel prison warden Tor and held for four days. During her captivity, Tor took out his vendetta on the Bonteri family by torturing her. The rebels arrived in the nick of time before Sierra went into shock and had to be taken to a medical station on Alderaan.
In retribution for what was done to their friend, the rebels exposed Tor's many crimes to the Sector Ranger. He was arrested and sentenced to jail.
And now, without further ado, I present the story.
…
WHILE OTHERS BECAME SPECTERS
CHAPTER ONE - OLD JHO'S INTEL
"Come on, Jho. You have to know something."
The old Ithorian continued on his business behind the counter. "Not much is coming my way, Kanan. I just know when my next shipments are coming in."
"It doesn't have to be big," Kanan says. "Just enough to sustain us for a while. Don't you have anything?"
Jho shakes his head, and Kanan's about ready to ask if he wants some tables bussed for a quick credit, when the Ithorian turns around.
"Actually, there is one thing." He says. "That character Azmorigan was in here a while ago, complaining that a group of con men stole everything in his cargo hold. If I were you, I'd watch out for them."
"Con men?" Kanan asks in consternation.
"Con men and con women." Jho corrects himself. "Azmorigan was going on and on about how he was charmed by a woman, of all things." If it was possible for Ithorians to snort, he would. "A box of rocks could outsmart him."
True, Kanan thinks. It wouldn't be the last time a woman outsmarted Azmorigan. I only wish I could have seen the look on his face when Hera hit him with that tray.
"Anyway," he says. "I think they're still local, and if you were to return Azmorigan's goods to him, he would reward you handsomely."
…
"Azmorigan?" Hera cries when Kanan brings the idea up in the cockpit.
"We don't work for Azmorigan!" Ezra interrupts. "We work against Azmorigan."
"I don't like it either, but we need to put fuel in the Ghost and food on the table." Kanan argues.
Hera likes it even less, having spent time with the crime lord. "I understand, love. As much as I wish there were other options, I'm not sure there are."
"Hera, Kanan, you can't be serious." Zeb argues. "What do we know about these con men -."
"Con artists," Sabine corrects.
"Whatever," Zeb scoffs. "Whoever they are, what do we know about them besides that they stole from Azmorigan? That's not saying very much."
"That's true," Kanan points out. "But luckily for us, Azmorigan is the type who talks to his bartender and Old Jho was more than happy repeat it for us. I know about the group dynamics, and the best time to strike. And for that, Hera, I have a question."
"What about?"
"Do you have a dress?"
Hera's proverbial hackles go up. "Kanan, what did you do?"
"I may have used Jho's transponder to hire the crew." Kanan admits sheepishly.
"You did what?"
Ezra decides to go scrub the ventilation ducts, they really need cleaning.
Sabine suddenly remembers she left her paints uncapped and she doesn't want them to dry out.
Zeb conveniently has to go to the refresher.
And Chopper, Chopper just leaves without pretense or excuse.
Once all four of them are gone, Kanan knows he's really in the doghouse.
"Tell me," Hera says, struggling to keep her voice even. "Why did you hire a group of con men, and how much do they know about us?"
…
"Our clients are the crew of the Ghost," Hutch St. James announces to the group of rebels seated in the common room. "They say they're a group of private contractors based on Lothal."
His wife Hero sniffs. She isn't a fan of their current docking location at all.
"What do they need?" she asks.
"The guy who called me said they'd been cheated by a rival merchant cartel and needed us to help get their money back." Hutch explains. "But if you could bottle 'suspicious', this guy's supply could stock a store for a year."
"So, what are we actually going to do?" Saw asks.
Lux Bonteri, the team's mastermind, studies the information.
"If we all go in at once and we're smart, then we should be fine." He says.
"Lux, are you sure it's a good idea to take a job while Ahsoka takes the kids on a training mission?" Steela Gerrera asks.
"With backup, it shouldn't be a problem." Lux proclaims. "When Ahsoka and the kids get back, we'll have a nice surprise for them."
…
Kanan is starting to regret that he asked to meet the con artists in a restaurant, and not because of the nature of the place. He purposely picked an upscale, but still crowded establishment for their meeting.
He completely forgot that "going to a restaurant," for some members of his crew, meant hours of preparation.
"Sabine," he yells. "I need to use the refresher, please!"
There's a scuffle, and then Sabine rushes out the door in a cloud of chemicals and neon color.
"Sorry, Kanan. My new paints didn't set." She apologizes as she examines the designs painted on her arms. Hera breathes a sigh of relief that she didn't paint them on her face.
He wordlessly goes about his business in the refresher and once he's out, his crew has gone wild.
Sabine is happily putting on a pair of wild-colored shoes with high heels ("I found them in a Dumpster and after I painted them they looked great!") Ezra is complaining about the shirt Hera is trying to make him wear ("It looks dorky, Hera!" "Well, it's what we have.") Zeb is trying to figure out how to tie a tie. ("There's a reason we didn't wear these things on Lasan. They're too complicated.") And Chopper, for no apparent reason, rolls up to shock Ezra.
"What was that for?" The teenager yells to the orange droid, who only whirrs in response.
Hera grabs him. "He says to put on the shirt!"
Kanan knows what Chopper is saying, and it isn't remotely close to 'put on the shirt'. But he's pretty sure Ezra hadn't caught it so he plays along.
"We have to blend in with the other patrons, Ezra." He said.
Ezra grumbled and did the top button. "I know, I know. I still don't like it."
"Fine," Hera says, smiling in satisfaction at their team – even though Zeb's tie is crooked, one of Ezra's buttons is unbuttoned, and Sabine's outfit would make a rainbow look dull. "Let's go, everyone. Time to meet a crew of con artists."
…
"Zeb, stake out the bar," Hera orders as they approach the restaurant. "Ezra and Sabine, take a table where you can see the exits. I don't have to remind you that all alcoholic beverages are completely off-limits?"
"What?" Ezra asks with mock disappointment. Sabine slugs him.
"We'll just get glasses of water, Hera." She says.
"Good. Alert Kanan and I if you see anything or anyone that looks suspicious."
"And where are we going?" Kanan asks.
"We're taking a table as well." She says, linking her arm with his. "I'm not going to let you meet these people alone. When it comes down to it, I own the ship and I'm the captain. Therefore…"
"Therefore, you make the rules," Kanan admits, feeling about one inch tall.
Ezra snickers behind them, and Zeb slugs him before Sabine can get to it.
…
"Specters five and six, status report." Hera orders, raising her comlink.
"It looks like it's all clear. We have our waters and Ezra ordered cheese fries. I didn't even know places like this served cheese fries." Sabine says rather happily.
"See, I told you this was going to be fun." Ezra replies, his words garbled by what Kanan and Hera can only assume is a mouthful of cheese fries.
"Stay alert kids," Hera advises and shuts off the comlink. "All right, Kanan. When do you think they'll arrive?"
"They won't all show up at once," Kanan whispers. "Jho said the group we're looking for will probably try to contact us through a grifter. That person's job is to act as a ruse or more commonly, charm and persuade the target into handing over whatever the crew is trying to steal."
"And the charmer is going to be the one talking to us. How do you know we don't end up being targets?"
"You can't charm a Jedi," Kanan smirks. Hera would beg to differ, but he keeps talking. "She may be the figurehead, but her crewmates will be everywhere."
"She?"
"Azmorigan said he was tricked by a female, and the perfect grifter is an attractive woman. She operates like a black widow. Do you think she's already here? There are attractive women everywhere - you know, other than you." he quickly covers.
Hera looks around the room, then picks up her comlink again. "Specter four, are there any women at the bar who are only responding to attention from wealthy-looking men?"
"Negative." Zeb reports. "There's one person trying to buy a woman a drink, but she's not interested. I would step in but it looks like the bartender has everything under control."
Hera and Kanan direct her attention to the bar. A Rodian man is hovering around a human woman with dark, curly hair, and trying to convince her to let him buy her a drink.
"I'm not interested, sleemo." The woman snaps, brushing him away.
"Come on baby, you haven't even touched your water." The Rodian wheedles.
"Hey! The lady said to scram, so get lost!" The bartender shouts.
The Rodian turns around, mumbling, but then reaches for the woman's chest. Hera sees it. Kanan sees it. The bartender sees it. But above all, the woman sees it.
Without missing a beat, she snatches the Rodian's wrist, grabs one of his fingers, and bends it backward.
"Want a broken finger?" she asks dangerously.
The Rodian pulls back, and the woman releases him with a shove. "Son of a daglo," she mutters and goes back to her drink as he makes a run for it.
"You all right?" The bartender asks, sneering at the Rodian.
The woman nods. "I'm fine. Thanks."
"Looks like she handled herself well," Hera says.
"Sure did." Kanan turn his attention back to the table. "Now, what about -?"
"Excuse me?"
Hera and Kanan look up. Standing by the table is a woman, late twenties or so, nervously scrunching her hand through her red hair.
"I'm sorry if this sounds strange, but can I sit with you until my friend gets here?" she says. "She's caught in traffic and some men by the door were bothering me."
"Of course," Hera says graciously and moves over to give the woman a place to sit. "You have pretty hair."
"Thank you," the woman says, taking her hands from her tresses. "It runs in the family. So, are you two husband and wife?" she gestured to Kanan and Hera.
"Oh, no." Hera says. "Not yet anyway."
"Really? You could have fooled me." The woman settles herself into the chair. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too." Hera says and subtly kicks Kanan under the table. But Kanan has already seen it.
Kanan edges around the table, slowly pulling his blaster from his pocket.
"You know, it's strange that you have brown eyebrows yet you say your natural hair color is red." Hera begins.
The woman holds her hand out in a stop sign gesture.
"Before you do anything," she says, "I'd look over to the table where your friends are sitting."
Kanan looks. There's a man sitting at Ezra and Sabine's table. And he doesn't look like he's there to talk about cheese fries.
"I'd choose your next words very, very carefully." She says.
"Fine," Hera comes closer. "But first, tell your friend at the bar to walk out of here."
Kanan watches as the woman at the bar freezes.
"People at bars actually drink their drinks." Hera says triumphantly.
The woman who hit the Rodian stands up and walks out, sending a very black look toward Hera.
"Well," the red-haired woman at their table announces. "It looks like the decks are finally even."
A/N: And here it is – the much awaited sequel to "While Others Fought for Justice". Who's glad to see our two groups of rebels together, even if they're currently working against each other? I for one am very excited to see how this story unfolds.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed to the last story and to Black Sheep. And speaking of reviews, please review!
Until next time,
Lux's Sister