As morning came to the city, the light of the rising star began shining through the tattered curtains of a small Nar Shaddaa sanctuary. Ahsoka jolted awake after a long, hard night of tossing and turning. She found herself clutching her lightsaber as she sat up. She could not remember anything she saw during her dreams as it all faded away when she awoke; everything but the deep breathing of an imposing figure in a black mask. She got up and stepped over to the window, moving the curtain aside to view the skyline of the crime infested moon.

"Ahsoka…" a quiet voice echoed through the room.

"Who's there?" Ahsoka voiced loudly. She turned away from the window and ignited her bright green lightsaber into a defensive position.

"How could you leave?" the voice said again.

"Master?" She said, starting to recognize the voice in her head. She had lowered her lightsaber but still kept it ignited.

"You're no Jedi,"

"Show yourself!" Ahsoka shouted.

The voice of her old master stopped. Ahsoka turned off her lightsaber and hooked it back on her belt. She dropped to her knees and pressed her hands against her head. It was not the first time she was hearing voices from the past, but recently they had been growing more clear and more invasive.

Ahsoka departed her sanctuary and made her way down the busy street while sticking close to the alleys and remaining more observant than ever of her surroundings. Word traveled quickly through the galaxy about the Empire's ever-growing presence and steep bounties were being set for any jedi that were found. She had been moving from world to world constantly, generally sticking to slum settlements and fitting in to avoid detection. She did not stay on any one world for too long and decided it was time she depart from Nar Shadda before anyone became suspicious. She located the compound she had been scoping out for several days where a pale Zygerrian was selling various ships and speeders and began making her way to the merchant.

"Hey, watch it you togruta scum!" a man shouted at Ahsoka after she walked into him. Ahsoka only turned her head to send the same angry glare back into his eyes as she stealthily hid away the small blaster that she had just pick-pocketed from him.

"A deceptive move, Padawan," the voice said again, "carried out like a true criminal."

Ahsoka responded by looking around for the speaker while trying not to look too suspicious, "Get out of my head," she said under her breath as she approached the Zygerrian merchant.

"Ah, another customer," the merchant said as she arrived, "I have not seen a togruta here for many months, how can I be of assistance today?"

"I have been considering a departure from Nar Shaddaa for a while now and I find myself in need of a ship," Ahsoka answered quickly, "Preferably one with a hyperdrive," She added, fixing her gaze on a number of small fighters similar to the ones she piloted during the war.

"Really? The merchant said, sounding impressed, "Where is it that you are going?"

"I'm hoping to make it as far as the Alderaan system, I have an old friend there I would like to visit."

"That one over there," the Zygerrian said pointing at a sizeable single person ship in a hanger, "Might suit you well if you have the credits." Ahsoka took a moment to approach the ship and inspect it to make sure that it would be in working order upon purchase and returned to the merchant.

"How much?" she asked.

"Two million credits," The merchant replied.

"WHAT!" Ahsoka shouted, "That bucket of bolts is barely worth two thousand. You must be crazy."

"Think of the price as…compensation,"

"For what?"

"Well, you see," the merchant started, staring intensely at the lightsaber at Ahsoka's waist, "The Emperor has put a particularly high bounty on jedi. I was thinking that a slightly higher price might make me forget I saw that little…weapon of yours."

"You assume that because I have this lightsaber that I must be a jedi?"

"I assume nothing; but seeing you has jogged my memory slightly…kinda like I know you from somewhere."

"I believe you are mistaken, sir. I'll pay the credits and we can both pretend this little exchange never happened."

"Wait," the merchant continued, "I do remember you from somewhere…"

"You don't remember be from anywhere—" Ahsoka waved her hand subtly attempting to deceive the Zygerrian.

"You're that scum that helped stir up such a load of trouble on my home planet! You're the one that freed all those slaves!"

"I did not free anybody," Ahsoka said, attempting the mind trick again, "you are thinking of someone else."

"Maybe I'll just turn you into the authorities and call it square, eh."

Before the merchant could say anymore or make any action, he found a blaster in his face. "Shut up!" Ahsoka said as she aimed the blaster she had stolen earlier.

"You wouldn't shoot him, would you?" she heard Anakin's voice in her head again.

"You will not call the authorities," she said, ignoring the voices in her head, "You will let me take that ship, and I will leave this system unfollowed."

"Or what?" the merchant asked, laughing slightly, "A jedi wouldn't hurt me."

"It's not the Jedi way. Don't shoot him."

Ahsoka's hand began trembling. The more she heard her master's voice in her head, the harder it became to hold the blaster. She glared at the merchant with intense eyes as she fought back tears and lowered the weapon slightly.

"I knew you couldn't do it," the merchant said, "No jedi could,"

"I am not a jedi," She affirmed.

"Pull the trigger!"

...

Blinded slightly by shock in her inability to control herself at that moment, Ahsoka looked around in horror at the aftermath of her actions. The merchant slumped back in his chair with a blaster wound in his chest and countless witnesses stared at her, some whispering to each other and some acting as if it was nothing new to them. Unsure of what to do, the fight or flight response took all control of her body and she ran for the ship she intended to buy. After some difficulty getting the ship started, she finally, albeit recklessly, got the ship flying and out away from the surface of the moon.

After flying out a safe distance from the moon and it's planet and ensuring she was not being followed, she closed her eyes entered a state of light meditation in an attempt to recall the coordinates to the Alderaan system that she had once memorized a long time ago. As the memories of the numbers came to her, she typed the in the location of her destination and allowed the hyperdrive to take over.