The group scanned the marketplace. It was crowded more than usual and Katooni frowned.
"I hate coming here on Sunday. There are so many people. So much anger, fear and jealousy."
"Yeah, but I want Heri and Mr. Kingu comes here only on Sunday." said Barriss and started moving through the crowd. Kingu's stall was green and black with hundreds of fruits and vegetables. There was a queue and the Mirialan pointed to the wall on the right. "You and Ahsoka go and wait me here. I will come shortly." They nodded and leaned on the wall. Ahsoka pulled out three Breny oranges and they began eating.
"I must get back soon because I am worried for Ezra. He is a witty boy but his weakness is his curiosity. When he learnt I was a Jedi in the Clone Wars, he asked me billions of questions. That is why Maul tried to lure him to the Dark Side.
"But his Master is there, right? He will be able to protect him. Calleb was always strong." put in Petro and Katooni nodded.
"Yes, but now he is blind, he may not be able to keep an eye on Ezra. And the rest of the Ghost crew can't sense what is in the boy's mind. Only Sabine has some chances of keeping him but I must return. Are you coming?" They had said they would discuss it.
"Yes, Master Offee said we will come but we should prepare. This will take at least two days."
"But we can buy a ship legally and there will be no need to steal one, Ahsoka." said Barriss, joining them.
Suddenly both of them bowed their heads.
"What is happening, Masters?" asked Katooni concerned.
"There are Force sensitive in danger. Let's go see what is happening" with these words Ahsoka headed for the market square. The others followed and soon saw a crowd gathered around a fountain. They were watching a group of Zygerian slavers and 2 slave teens. The girl was maybe 16 and the boy looked 2-3 years older. As the four Jedi were watching, the girl raised her hands and pushed a Zygerian male away with the Force.
"Look, look. What do we have here? "asked the leader. "You won't be sold there. I will offer you to the Emperor for his gold. He will be very pleased."
"We are not going anywhere!" yelled the boy and his master flew backwards. "I am not a thing. I am a living person!" The rest of the group surrounded them.
"If you aren't coming willingly, we will have to force you!" shouted the boss and raised his whip. But before he could hit them, his weapon flew out of his hand and right into Petro's.
"Not if we have the word! "He ignited his saber and Katooni followed him. The Zygerians quickly recovered from their shock and turned to them.
"Wonderful! Now we will give him 4 Jedi. The Gods bless us!" exclaimed the leader and drew a vibroblade.
The duo was strong and much better than 18 years before but they couldn't fight 15 Zygerians. One lucky female caught Katooni's saber with her whip and yanked it out of the Tholotian's hand. She lashed again but Petro blocked and pushed her into some crates. Another one tried but Katooni dodged him. The rest of the group circled them. They raised their whips and….
"Enough!" said Ahsoka and everyone's weapons flew behind her. Barriss raised her hands, lifting the Zygerians and threw them right into the fountain. The Togruta walked towards the leader. "The fact that there is no law against slavery, doesn't mean you can do it without punishment." then she turned to the crowd." Everyone who has come to buy slaves can leave. We will give these people to choose if they want to serve someone." The group saw the duo trying to sneak away.
"Hold on! You are coming with us." They felt the girls stiffen. "Don't worry, we will get you with us in our home." The teens nodded hesitantly and followed them. But a cry stopped all. A man was walking towards them.
"Excuse me, but are you rebels? Because the Togruta looks familiar." Petro's hand caught his saber. But Ahsoka raised her hand and lifted her hood.
"Yes, I am Master Tano." The man's eyes widened.
"But we thought you were dead! How…?"He pulled out a communicator. "Should I warn senator Organa and the Ghost crew? They were really shaken when…"
"Only Senator Organa. I will meet with the crew soon." Then she lit up. "Can you get us a small ship? We can pay the price...
"Of course we will. We will pay it and have the documents brought...uhm…"
"The house of the healers. "said Barriss. The rebel nodded and left them. The Jedi turned to the teens. "Don't worry, we will get you with us and teach you how to use your abilities. We don't work for the Emperor, we work against him." A small smile appeared on the girl's mouth and soon the guy followed her.
"Can we made our own lightsabers?"asked the girl and all laughed.
"Maybe. Petro and Katooni have some crystals that we took from the Temple when we escaped. Can we know your names?
"My name is Dakota Crsli and this is my sister Micka. You will teach us both?" he asked the Mirialan."
"I will take your sister and Barriss will teach you." Ahsoka informed him. Katooni and Petro smiled.
"Looks like our group has grown.
It took the rebels on Zygeria 2 days to buy and provide the ship with all the equipment. They had chosen it well. It was a freighter. But either it was very expensive or the rebels had modified it. Its weaponry included 2 high-classed torpedo launchers, 2 ion cannons, 4 laser cannons and a turbolaser turret with an additional auto-aim system. The engines were highly upgraded. When they first saw it, Katooni, Petro and the teens had gasped in amazement. Barriss had only smiled. The same man that they had met 2 days before, gave them all documents. He said they may have problems and that was why they had installed all these weapons. Another development were the shields. The rebels had given them a reserve shield generator. The main shields were class Artong and could outlast the attack of a whole fleet of starfighters. But nothing was at expense of another. The casual sensors and radars were working perfectly. Ahsoka thought that if she didn't keep the ship, she would at least install some of the parts on the Ghost. The only disadvantage of the ship was that because of all these weapons and equipment, to keep its speed the ship required its hull to be made very thin and it had only one rescue capsule. It also didn't offer much comfort and there was no room for practicing.
Ahsoka and Barriss had begun Micka and Dakota's training and they had both proved to be very good. Micka had slim figure. Her hair was brown, long and soft. Her face was beautiful and normally pale. Her eyes were deep black and contrasted with her light brown eyebrows. She was hyperactive but this didn't prevent her from being obeying and attentive when she was studying something. Ahsoka had made a very fine progress and Micka had learnt mostly easily.
Dakota was muscular and a feet taller than his sister. His hair was short, black and curly. His eyes were the exact opposite to Micka's being bright green. He was calm and Barriss also didn't have problems with teaching.
The two former Jedi Padawans had decided to teach them together and Katooni and Petro helped them. Ahsoka had chosen two attack forms and one defensive for Micka. Having in mind the girl's flexibility and speed, the Togruta was teaching her Makashi and Ataru for attack and the modification of Soresu, Shien, for defense. But Barriss had decided to use Dakota's strength and chose for him 4 forms, teaching him the basics of all of them but emphasizing on 2 main. The four forms were Shii-Cho, Soresu, Djem-So and Niman, mainly the second and the third. All of them were suitable and compensated his lack of speed but used his power.
But now they had to stop the training for the journey to Alderaan to meet with Senator Organa. It would took them a day with the modifications of the ship.
"Oh no…"said Dakota and all turned to him. He pointed to the radar. Four Zygerian frigates were approaching. Ahsoka immediately felt Micka and Dakota's fear.
"Don't worry, we will be fine. I want you to take laser cannons. Katooni, Petro go to the ion cannons. Barriss take the steering and turn on the shields to maximal power." soon only the two women stayed in the pilot cabin. "It looks like the Zygerian slaver still wants his prize. I will take the turbolaser turret."
"I think they didn't know that the rebel engineers like to overact. Let's greet them." she said and fired proton torpedoes towards the engines of the first frigate. It shook and for now got out of the battle. Two of the other three fired. But the third started heading towards them, using the covering fire.
"They will board us! Maybe they have some kind of hooks or gravity traps." The Togruta fired the turbolaser, aiming for the third ship's engines. Its shield held but the ion cannons opened fire and soon the shields fell, followed by explosions as the laser cannons started working. Despite their lack of skills, both were doing great.
Unable to pierce the shields, Ahsoka and Barriss aimed for the 2 crippled frigates and soon the boarding one turned to debris. The other one held for some minutes but a lucky shot from Ahsoka hit the weaponry or the power core and a massive explosion lit up the cosmos. When she turned to the other 2, they were already getting away. One of Barriss' torpedoes hit the left board but the slavers managed to jump into hyperspace.
The Mirialan felt everyone relax and leaned back.
"Now let's enter the coordinates and pray we don't have any problems for the rest of the day."
At this point R2 runs from Luke and into the desert to find they is still whole and is still searching knowledge in the holocron and Kannan's blindness prevents him from overseeing his next part will present them at some point.