Alone With Ghost
Normally the dark blue of a hyperspace tunnel would make her sleepy and afford her a rest from the constant danger of a mission or battle, but not this time and Ahsoka Tano wondered if she'll ever sleep soundly again.
Ever since she left Coruscant and everyone else behind several days ago, things have been so quiet. Like she was a ghost and whatever happened in the galaxy didn't matter to her anymore. No longer a Jedi, no longer a Commander, no longer trusted, all the events that led up to her chosen exile has left her all but emotionally dead inside.
She needed guidance but not from any Jedi and she wanted more than a few cheery words from a friend. No, she had to figure this out on her own and discover a new path to take.
And what better place for looking into one's self than on Ilum, the sacred Jedi sanctuary that all Jedi know to go to when in times of great need.
But she wasn't a Jedi anymore, a fact that she had to constantly repeat in her head to make clear. Just stepping foot on Ilum might put her on wrong terms with the Order she had just left. It was a risk she was willing to take though, she was desperate for clues and answers, and was prepared to face anything to find them.
Just as she was just about to slip into a shallow dream the cockpit alarm went off with a lekku shattering screech. Ahsoka was already wrenching the hyperdrive switch back when the alarm sounded, having sensed the danger she was in as clear as day.
A whorl of light made her dizzy as the J-Type Star Skiff prematurely punched out of hyperspace. The safety harness cut into her shoulders as something incredibly solid smacked the underside of the small starship.
"Asteroids," She bit her lip in confusion and wondered if her hyperspace coordinates had been off by a few digits. Another bump and crash told her that wasn't important at the moment.
"Artoo, raise deflector shields and prep–" She choked on her words when the realization had dawned on her that this wasn't the Twilight and Artoo wasn't there to offer assistance and a colorful series of beeps and boops. What hurt the most was that she could feel her master's eyes on her back, anxiously watching as she steered the ship into unknown perils and wanting to remind her not to get the hull all scratched up.
She had to literally turn around to reassure herself that there was no one there, and that there never will be anymore. Facing imaginary ghost from the past was hardly the thing to do when starring down a gauntlet of cruiser-sized asteroids.
She raised the deflector shields and armed the forward laser cannons. Small, micro rocks would pelt her shields as she blasted anything she could to make a clear path towards Ilum, now but a fist sized ball of white from her perspective.
Turning and swirling like a mynock with its tail on fire, the nimble starship flew circles around the larger rocks which were so closely packed together that there was absolutely no margin for error. If she ever made her way back to Coruscant she'd thank Padme for giving her such a speedy craft.
For what felt like a century, but really five and a half minutes, Ahsoka blasted her way out of the asteroid field with some scratches and dents on the wings. A thin trail of smoke was bleeding out of her lower fuselage which she'll need to patch up for later hyperspace travel.
The damage looked worse on the outside as Ahsoka stood before the ship, two gloved hands on her hips with a hood pulled tightly over her lekku. The star skiff was brand new, fresh from a Naboo manufacturing facility and cost more than a squadron of Z-95 Headhunter starfighters.
She sighed a little and kicked a pile of snow. Padme had all but begged her to take the starship and now it looked like it had been put through the grinder. The sleek, teardrop-shaped main hull and wide, sweeping wings gave the ship an elegant design and its reflective chromium plating deflected almost any kind of blaster-based weaponry. But the chromium does little to protect the ship from things like missiles and, apparently, asteroids.
Once the ship was locked up, she swung a survival pack over her shoulders and began to trudge off into the night.
"Hey Snips, try not to crash the ship next time,"
Ahsoka spun on her heels at the sound of the voice amongst the howling wind. Looking left to right, up and down and in all directions, she saw no one and nothing.
"I am alone," She told herself. I am alone.
She calmed her racing heart and focused on the path ahead. Before the ship was out of sight behind her, she whispered "That's your job Skyguy," with a frozen tear dropping from the corner of her eye. Ilum was known to bring out an individual's deepest thoughts, dreams and fears. She hasn't entered the sanctuary yet and already Ilum was at work on her.
To enter the Jedi sanctuary, and subsequently the crystal caves, a group of Jedi had to focus the Force on a pillar of ice that acted as both camouflage and gateway. She found the large medallion of the Jedi Order buried under a thin layer of snow and stood in the center of it.
She came to Ilum with no clear plan. Meaning she had no other place to go for guidance from the Force. Only the saturated Force presence of Ilum's crystal caves can bring out her demons and allow her to overcome them.
Taking in a deep, dry breath, Ahsoka raised a hand towards the icy pillars and pulled. It budged but did not fall with only a few loose bits of snow slipping off the top.
Ahsoka deepened her concentration and this time raising both hands to pull with all her might. The pillars shook but refused to yield.
Letting out of gasp she collapsed onto the medallion and panted, her lungs burning from taking in dry frozen air. On her hands and knees she starred into the symbol of the Jedi engraved into the stone medallion upon which she stood.
She looked at it and slammed a fist into it out of fury and hatred. A long list of curses came to mind as images of her trial before the Jedi Council came to her. They had found her guilty under circumstantial evidence, stripped her identity from her and handed her over to the Senate just because they requested them too. And worst of all, after the true culprit was apprehended and all charges against her dropped, the Council invited her back into the Order and explained that "the Force works in mysterious ways."
They actually said that. They actually had the nerve to blame the Force for their incompetent, obstinate and misguided judgment!
Her hatred boiled to a threshold and she sent in forward into the pillar. The ice cracked then shattered under sheer pressure. Ahsoka rose and once more put her hands before the pillar. She didn't just pull this time as she tore at it and pulled it in two different directions, imagining it represented all the people who wronged her, who betrayed her, who wouldn't trust her.
The pillar broke cleanly in half and fell to either side of her. She hardly noticed the crash the pieces made. When all the knocked up snow dissipated she had a satisfied smile on her face and twinkle of yellow in her eyes.
"Be weary of the darkside younglings, great is its temptation,"
The voice came to her again, belonging to Yoda. She remembered it from her time as a youngling, before she was a Padawan, before she was trained by…
Ahsoka shook her head, hard, and focused. She may not be a Jedi anymore but that doesn't mean it was acceptable to use the darkside. On her list of paths to choose, being a fallen Jedi was not an option. She'd die before that ever happened.
Moving quickly through the gateway, Ahsoka found shelter inside the sanctuary as she waited the next sunrise and her chance to take her Jedi trials all over again.
Author's Notes
First off, I loved the Season Five finale. Chosen Exile will be just a few glimpses into what I think Ahsoka will do afterwards. Honestly, I'm making this up as I go and I am open to suggestions.
The title is a play on words as in Anakin is the Chosen One and Ahsoka (in my mind) is the Chosen Exile because, hey, she chose to be an exile. Get it? Okay then.
I have the habit of losing interest in stories real easily so I'm going to try to keep these chapters short and sweet so I don't get stressed out and sloppy writing ten thousand word chapters. Plus there about half a dozen other stories I should update sometime…
Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see if can't get these chapters out more often.
Xander867