He was lost. Days, weeks, months of searching for him on this miserable planet.
And he was lost. There was no way of tracking him. No way of sensing him. The force was an empty clouded void on this planet.
But he was here. His target, the one he sought after for so long, the one who had ruined everything.
He didn't care if it took him years to find his goal. He would find it eventually, and he would right the wrongs of the past.
But he was still lost, and he had no way of finding his way back, or to his goal.
No way, unless he had help.
Help. That was what he needed. No one would willingly help him however. Most ran in fear from him. Others had a tendency to die around him.
And the rest distrusted him, rightfully so he thought.
But there was one in recent history who had trusted him. One who had willingly worked with him to achieve a mutual goal. He had helped her, so now she would help him.
Yes. Yes! That was what he had to do.
She would come to him, and she would lure out his goal.
But how the summon her here, to this planet.
He thought, his mind wandering, reaching through the force, revisiting his memories of his time with her.
It came to him.
The Holocron! She had it!
He could call to her through it. He had left his own imprint on it when he held it briefly. All holocrons absorbed the briefest of essences of those who had used it, even those that had held it, even for a split second.
He reached into the force, finding the dark, yet subtle presence of the holocron. It lay dormant, but he could activate it.
And by activating it, he could deliver a message to her through the force. All those that held the holocron would hear it, as the artefact would act as a conduit for the message.
That meant the boy and his master would hear the message too, but that was of trivial concern.
He needed her here, to help him. To lure his target out.
Reaching into the force, he spoke in a whisper, one loud enough to gather her attention.
"Lady Tano!"
Ahsoka Tano's head jerked up.
She had been stifling over a series of reports from her Fulcrum agents. Apparently Cassian Andor had uncovered some sort of conspiracy about the empire building a doomsday weapon of some kind and was investigating it in his usual explosive manner.
Another report was from her latest recruit Alexsandr Kallus, the turncoat ISB agent. He was still serving with Phoenix squadron at the moment, offering what support he could on ground missions against the empire, whilst simultaneously gathering intel for other rebel cells.
Still, the reports could now wait. Someone had disturbed the force.
And they were calling to her with a very familiar title.
It was one of the rare times she was on Atollon. Since returning from Lothal with Thrawn's prototype Defender, Ahsoka had actively been taking missions that caused her to travel to the far reaches of space. She traversed the outer rim, landing on planets such as Florrum and Ryloth, coordinating with other rebel cells that had taken form there.
She had also made good on her promise to visit Princess Leia Organa on Alderann. The two had spent hours discussing Ahsoka's latest mission to Lothal, giving her time to recover from the blaster wound she took, courtesy of Thrawn.
And when she had recovered, rather than travel back to Atollon to help her friends, she had left them again.
Truth be told, she was avoiding Atollon. To be precise, she was avoiding Rex.
It had only occurred to her later in the day what she had done.
She had hit him. Her oldest friend. And she hit him, simply because of something he said.
He was only trying to help her, Ahsoka could see that now. But she was ashamed of what she did. She was scared what he would say to her, what he thought of her now.
So she avoided Rex.
And she regretted it.
Still, she had other matters to attend to right now.
The voice that had called out to her was unmistakably Maul's, the former Sith Lord who had assisted her on Malachor against Vader. When they had parted, he had promised not to interfere or harm her friends.
So for him to be calling out to her through the force now meant something big.
And she had to know what he was doing. The force was singing a warning to her. Whatever the Zabrak was up to, it wasn't good.
Ahsoka rose from her desk in the small room she had on Atollon. It was night time, and apart from the night shift staff, everyone was asleep.
Luckily for her, she could sense one person was not, and that he too was experiencing some disturbance in the force.
Leaving the small building she was in, she headed towards the Ghost.
The rebel base on Atollon was shaping up nicely. They had finally began to acquire the weapons and technology necessary to prove to be a credible threat to the empire.
From what the crew of the Ghost had told her, they seemed to run into Thrawn a lot. Hera had encountered her on Ryloth, Commander Sato above Mykapo, and even Zeb had had a run in with an infiltration droid sent by Thrawn.
Each time they seemed to get away, but Ahsoka knew Thrawn's type. He was preparing for something big. Only time would tell what.
Ahsoka navigated her way through the rebel base, entering a maze like collection of munitions and other hardware, all stored in large crates. AP5 had been quite insistent that he be in charge of organization around the base, and the others, Chopper especially, had been more than happy to let him do so.
As Ahsoka turned another corner in the maze, she bumped into someone.
"Oh Ahsoka, sorry, I didn't see you there."
Ahsoka grinned. After Lothal, both Kaeden and Miara Larte had requested a formal transition to be placed at Chopper Base as official personal. This marked them was members of Phoenix Squadron. While Miara had accompanied the Ghost crew on a few missions, even getting to fly an A-wing, Kaeden had remained round the base, organising logistics with AP5 and Commander Sato.
And it appeared, she was up later than everyone else.
"Kaeden? What are you doing up this late? Everyone else is asleep." Ahsoka asked. She didn't need her friends overworking themselves. Mind you, she was guilty of that herself.
"I could ask the same of you Ahsoka." Kaeden replied, regaining her composure from the collision.
Ahsoka smirked. Kaeden, ever the smartass.
"Paperwork." The Togruta replied with a humour laced edge. It seemed no matter the profession, paperwork was the number one running reason for late nights.
"I hear ya, worst thing ever." Kaeden replied with a small smile of her own, understanding Ahsoka's plight.
"You sure you're ok though Ahsoka, you look awfully pale, for an orange Togruta that is." Kaeden's face shifted to one of concern, her eyes shifting over Ahsoka's form.
Ahsoka hadn't realized she looked any different from normal. To be fair though, she wasn't surprised.
"Force thing." Ahsoka replied. Kaeden nodded in understanding, despite not understanding the situation at all.
"I'll let you go then." Kaeden responded with a smile. "But come talk to me if you need to yeah?"
Ahsoka nodded in affirmation, before moving past the human woman and continuing towards the Ghost.
She arrived at the ramp to the ship a minute later.
As she proceeded up the ramp, she noted the lights were dimmed. Clearly everyone aboard the ship was resting. All except for one.
As she reached his door, she lifted her hand, and knocked twice.
"Enter." A voice came from the other side.
So she did.
The room was darkened, not that it mattered to the occupant at all. He sat on a backless chair, legs crossed in a meditative position. Ahsoka could feel the force swirling around him, touching her presence in the force and welcoming it to his own.
She sat on the floor opposite him, and mimicked his position.
The two sat in silence for a few seconds, reaching into the force.
Then Kanan spoke.
"I guess you heard his voice too then?"
"You heard it as well?" Ahsoka replied. Why was Maul contacting Kanan as well?
"Unfortunately," The blind Jedi knight responded, "Though I don't think I was supposed to."
Ahsoka contemplated this newfound information. Whatever method Maul had used to contact her was clearly powerful, but not refined if Kanan had heard it too.
She only hoped that Ezra did not hear it also.
"Ezra's asleep and hasn't come in here asking questions, so I don't think he heard it." Kanan released her of any worry in an instant. Of that she was glad. Ahsoka didn't want to give Ezra any unwanted trouble.
"So what do you think?" Ahsoka asked. She considered Kanan a good friend, and she trusted his opinion.
"I think that whatever Maul has found is important. But I also think it could be a trap." Kanan answered, sounding wiser than most Jedi masters.
It had become a thing of theirs since Malachor. Ahsoka and Kanan would confide in one another about all things force related. Kanan had expressed his concerns about teaching Ezra, and Ahsoka had openly admitted to opening the Sith holocron. Kanan hadn't been impressed.
"If Maul is interested in it, then it must be important. I have to find him." Ahsoka replied. She couldn't have Maul running around the galaxy with some crazy weapon after all.
Not that she intended to kill him of course, just ensure he was not harming the innocent.
"I agree. But we have no way of locating him." Kanan opened his eyes for the first time since Ahsoka had entered the room. The injury he had suffered at Malachor had left them milky white, but he could still see, just differently than before.
Ahsoka admired his resolve. Most people would have let what happened on Malachor break them, but not Kanan.
The two force users sat in silence for a minute, contemplating. If Maul had called out to Ahsoka, it was clear he wanted her help.
Or needed it.
"Any ideas on how we find him then?" Ahsoka inquired.
To her surprise, Kanan stood up. "No, but I might know someone who does."
Author's thoughts
Welcome back one and all, to the third outing in this four part AU.
For those that are justing joing us, welcome, I do hope you enjoy this story. As for those returning from my previous stories, welcome back.
Now, unlike the past two stories, which could easily be read as standalone fics, this one is more connected to the past two. To fully understand what has happened, I suggest you read the first two stories. Its not necessary, but you might get somewhat lost otherwise.
The previous stories go as follows:
1: The Formers Apprentices
2: The Tale of Two Fulcrums
3: Vendettas and Stratagems (this fic)
This story takes place at the end of season 3 of rebels, with some changes. Mostly everything has remained the same. Sabine is off with her family, but does not have possession of the darksaber. Kallus is already part of the rebellion at this point, thus the Kallus centric episodes do not happen.
Aside from that, its the normal order of business.
I hope you enjoy this story. Things are about to get hectic in this AU.
Now, since I dont have any comments to analyse, I will provide a list of "important events" that occured previously to refresh peoples memory.
Anyone who hasn't read the past two stories and wishes to avoid spoilers, cease now!
Spoliers Below
Spoilers Below
Spoliers Below
Previously on this AU
Ahsoka was the one to encounter Maul on Malachor first, not Ezra.
Maul did not betray the Jedi.
Darth Vader blinded Kanan, not Maul.
The Eighth Brother was betrayed by Vader. (you have outlived your usefulness)
Darth Vader died at the hands of Ahsoka Tano.
The Eighth Brother survivied the events of Malachor.
Ahsoka and Maul parted ways amicably.
Ahsoka is now in possession of the Sith Holocron.
Agent Kallus was discovered to be a Fulcrum agent.
Ahsoka reunited with Kaeden and Miara Larte. (from the Ahsoka YA novel)
The Rebels captured a prototype TIE Defender from Thrawn.
Thrawn has a tracking beacon on the Defender.
Kallus has joined the rebels.
Ahsoka and Rex had a falling out over her use of the Sith Holocron.