Ahsoka Tano

Guardian of the Galaxy

Chapter 1

Eyes Open, Walk with the Shadows

The heavy smell of socked ash in the air was enough to make me gag. Two months living on the ruined surface of Krylor had not done much to help me get used to the stench that always filled my small home with an almost toxic cloud, though I tried my best to ignore it as always, while hoping I would someday be one of those responsible for making sure it would never haunt this planet again.

Outside, the sky was now clear and brightening with the rising of the morning sun as a new day dawned. The illuminating rays fell downwards and touched the scared surface below with gentle warmth, though I, like many of the people who called these lands home, knew that light would never be enough to erase and repair the damage that had been done.

It had been such a short time, but even still my mind continued to recall flashes of memory from that horrible night when my ship crashed hard into ground. If I had waited even an instant longer, I would have shared the same fate as my craft, ending in a pile of broken, crushed and burning debris somewhere out in the wilderness where no one would dare try to intervene or help.

I have been lucky, the fall was in itself just a blur of recollection in the back of my mind, but what still remained from that was the pain I had felt the moment I hit the ground. One broken arm, a few cracked ribs and a bruise on my spine the size of an apple, or so the doctors had said. They recalled pulling me onto a makeshift stretcher and taking me in for immediate surgery to stop the bleeding both outside and in. They said I had died at one point, been lost to the unknown depths of the afterlife before somehow pulling myself back. A miracle, but I wondered if such things would be so kind as to grace me with their time.

When I woke up four days later, I was alone inside the ruins of what used to be a hospital. The first thing that had stuck me was the cold that waved in from the glassless windows and the sting that had shot up my left arm when I tried to clutch at the thin blanket and pull it closer to my body in a failed effort to stay warm in the blistering chill.

I didn't call for help, nor did I want it. It became clear to me from the instant I had woken up that something very dark had occurred to make the building I was in fall apart like it was. That same strong stench of ash had haunted me then and hadn't stopped since, but as time went by, living with it became easier than trying to get used to the burning that overcame my nostrils and throat.

Laying there in cold, the strong damp clinging to my exposed, blanket covered body made me forget I was on a planet I did not know. Fear had been the only emotion I'd felt in those long hours , fear of being alone, fear of dying alone and fear of the unknown which I had found myself stuck in the middle of without any means to escape. That's when they came to see me.

A small crowd of seven or more Krylorian's filed into the room slowly as my eyes blinked frantically and moved to look each one of them over as an inborn precaution to seek out and avoid danger. Only two of them had been doctors, the same two that immediately came to a stop either side of me and ran small scanners over my body before covering me again with the blanket they had so quickly thrown off to initiate their examination.

The combination of an aching head I had just then noticed and the speed at which the red-skinned people were moving kept my pleading voice low and soft as I tried to ask them simply if they spoke basic. None of them had so much as spoken a word, they didn't even seem to see how scared I was at first, but that didn't last long, much to my undying gratitude and relief.

Aryn had been the first to speak up and order the medics to stop and give me a moment to catch my breath. She had exuded the air of a true leader from the moment I locked my eyes with hers, though in them I seen a gentleness, a need to help those that needed it, both traits I would come to learn and appreciate a lot more in the coming days.

"Get her some water, extra blankets and close up those windows!" the tall woman shouted her orders loud enough for all to hear before turning to the two men to her right, "Bring a heater and a generator, I want power back in this wing five minutes ago!"

From the moment we first spoke, I knew Aryn and I would get along like a star-ship on fire. She was the first person into my room each morning for the two weeks I stayed in the hospital and the last one to leave before I went to sleep the following night.

We would speak for hours on end, me explaining who and what I was, where I'd came from and how lost I felt in a galaxy I didn't know. Aryn would go on to do the same in introducing me to Krylor and the people that lived here, but most of all, she was there to offer a comforting hand each time emotion got the better of me. All the while she would tell me stories about both herself and her planet, its history and what she and her group were doing to help return Krylor to what it used to be.

I never mentioned the Jedi, at least not when speaking about myself. I realised quickly that no such Order existed in the minds of the Krylorians or anyone else, nor did any knowledge of the Force. At first I had been a little shocked, but that feeling quickly faded away the more I learned about this new place and all that had happened in the months, years, decades and centuries before my arrival.

Aryn spoke of a galaxy wide war between a people known as the Kree and the Empire headed by the Nova Corps on the planet Xandar. The former had only recently bombed Krylor's surface, robbing so many people of their lives with death, fire and destruction. The planet had been trying to rebuild itself ever since and though Nova had supplied an amount of aid to help with that, there was simply not enough to go around and famine was quickly becoming a threat both Aryn and her people were trying desperately to hold at bay, if not prevent fully if they could help it.

The higher class people who had become victims of Krylor's need called them thieves and criminals. Nova themselves had put out multiple arrest warrants on leaders that did not exist within their knowledge due to the use of stealth and deception which the group had employed to perfect effect to hide their race, identity and point of origin. They had saved many with their efforts, but it was still not enough to help the rest of the planet where more and more survivors continued to reveal themselves in frightening numbers.

Aryn revealed her determination to recruit more to her group's efforts, to eventually reveal herself as a representative of her people and show those who neglected them that Krylor would not stand by and fall without a fight. Her admission had awoken something in me which I feared was long dead, a drive to match that of the Krylorian's own burned in me, along with the need to repay the debts I personally placed upon myself for the care I had received.

I swore that day that from the moment I was able to stand on my own two legs without pain, without doubt, that I would join Aryn and repay her kindness as well as that of her people's, not just because of that, but because their cause matched that of my own as a keeper of the peace and a defender of the defenceless. I may not be a Jedi anymore, I may never fill the void that has grown in my heart since I closed my Padawan braid around my master's hand, but I would find a purpose to cloud over the hurt, to hold it at bay, until I found my true place here, in a galaxy I would now have no choice but to call home.

Adapting was probably the easiest part of the job. Using what I learned as a Jedi, force enhanced movement, martial arts and general swordplay earned me a bit of a reputation in a short amount of time, but that never proved to be a bad thing in the company we kept. The people I met encouraged me rather than try to put me down for the sake of improvement. They took me in as I was; an exile lost in a faraway galaxy and accepted me without question as an ally and a friend.

Aryn had of course played a part in that too, though she tried not to make it too obvious when she asked one of her seconds in command to help me out or show me what to do when it came to breaking into safes, or cracking the code of a locked door before sneaking in and snatching whatever I could without anyone ever noticing or sensing my presence.

Truthfully, there was always a level of shame whenever a job was carried out successfully. No one here ever wanted to resort to stealing as a way to survive, but there were more reasons for doing it than there were those against and we were constantly reminded of that as a way to keep moral up.

"Eyes open, walk with the shadows…"

I repeated our would-be mantra over and over again before I went to sleep at night as everyone else would. It wasn't as meaningful as the Jedi code, but it kept all of us cantered and ready for whatever could and would happen if or when things went wrong. Most of the time nothing ever did, but it was still nice to have something to cling to and remember, it gave us strength in a way, as well as focus and we stuck by that from the beginning of each mission to the end. Why not? Every good thief needs something to live by after all.

A shiver runs up my recently healed spine as each memory runs a course through my head. It still seems hard to believe that only two months have passed. Two months, and I still carry so many signs of both the crash and life in general since my arrival on Krylor.

Running a hand along the bandages on my arm, I stand from the sitting position I'd held on my bedding and reach out with the Force to touch any and all life around me in what has become a habit of scanning for danger. My small hut sits barely ten clicks east of the nearest town, next to a small lake on a grassy plain that reminds me so much of my home world, Shili.

It wasn't my first choice. As a Togruta, it's hard to keep at bay my inborn need to be among others. Loneliness never became a problem when I was a Jedi, there were always other members of the Order or Clone Troopers around for me to talk to and break my boredom, but here, unless I made the short walk into town, I was mostly on my own, living in silence and isolation.

I allow a short sigh to escape my lips before checking the chrono next to my bed. Just under an hour until the sun hits its height and once again I curse myself for not being able to get a full night's sleep. The strips of cloth that cover most of my chest threaten to slip down and off as I stretch out my arms and exhale a large breath, trying to centre myself after just four hours of rest and settle the lingering shakes that come with the unwanted fatigue.

The sun had just about peaked it's warm gaze over the nearby green hills and snow-capped mountains before I left the only slightly warmer confines of my hut and began the morning rituals I had been practicing with vigour since my wounds had closed enough for me to avoid worrying about them re-opening should I push myself to limits I didn't care to acknowledge as existing.

The routine had been the norm as a Jedi. Like all in the Order, I would rise at dawn with the sun, but unlike the many, I would join but a few in the Temple's gardens to train and exercise before a day of planning meetings and mission de-briefings drew out the hours and bored me enough to send me to bed early if they didn't end with the preparation and flight to another battlefield somewhere outside of the comfort of the core worlds.

While on Krylor, the problem with training so early in the morning lay almost solely on a broken sleeping pattern and a host of lingering injuries that seemed to never cease their attacks on each and every one of my pain centres. The lack of a working lightsaber, the remains of which remained in a small satchel that held all of my valuables, meant swordplay was also something I had had to neglect, at least until Aryn had provided me with a blade of steel, a short sword, which had become the new extension of my arm as I continued to search for a way to fix my old weapon which had been half snapped, half melted by the all too horribly convenient pool of acid and fuel I had found it laying in while searching the Coruscant Underworld for the last item I had left to my name.

The rather simple attire I wore for training could have been mistaken for that of a Sedrian warrior monk's if seen back in my home galaxy, made up of the cloth-strip wrapping around my chest and upper midriff, a maroon skirt which almost matched my battledress and the grey, diamond cut leggings capped off with my usual pair of almost knee-high boots. It was functional and easy to move in, all features I had come to appreciate as my grip and arm muscles continued to adapt the added weight of a non-energy blade.

My old outfit had sustained only a small amount of damage from the crash and jump which had led to my training becoming so much less than it used to be, but still needed some slight repairs to make it wearable again. In truth, it almost looked brand new after the local Krylorian tailors had finished with it and returned it to me at the moment I was discharged from the hospital, but I'd still made an effort to add some modifications to suit my new line of work, including attachable silver-steel armour for my boots and right shoulder, a custom helmet which was more to hide my face and origin with deception but served a purpose with its functioning night vision, and finally, the long strapped dark grey satchel which I kept with me at all times so as to avoid losing what was hidden inside.

Taking the grip of my short sword into hand and balancing the sharp and unforgiving blade in front of me, I move to stretch and twist the muscles of my arms to once more get used to the added weight of the heavy steel which was a far cry harder to wield than the weightless energy of a lightsaber.

Training over the period of a month and using the weapon on rare occasions while out on the field had made handling the hefty blade easier, but I was still struggling to adapt to using it in the same way I'd been able to use my saber to the greatest effect.

Form V and the reverse Shien style of grip I'd employed since I was still a youngling initiate had once been like an added sense to me, but employing it with this new sword had also made things difficult and sometimes almost lethally messy when I'd come close to severing a finger, an arm or even a lekku tail while trying to get used to the weapons weight, but I had learned my lesson since those occasions and now tried to keep things simple and effective, at least until practice, patience and time made way for a better understanding as to how to handle the sword as best I could.

A few swift swings, stabs and Force-augmented leaps began my almost dance-like training as I pictured a host of mentally conjured enemies to engage with. My voice gave way for a string of yells, grunts and curses as I felled my invisible attackers one by one with lightning fast manoeuvres, combining my sword with non-existent plants of my boot to equally ghosted chests.

In my mind's eye, the extended blade in my hand burned and began to morph into a lightsaber as I twisted it in my grip mid-stab and reversed the grip to face a newly summoned group of adversaries which took the form of masked and shrouded dark side warriors wielding their own fiery crimson weapons.

Two of them fall to me quickly and disappeared back into the ground from whence they came. A third tried to strike at my legs before I leapt upwards to avoid the blow, spun in mid-air and removed the assailants head with one swift slice before only one more figure remained standing before me in a battle ready stance.

A smirk crosses my lips as I charge at the phantom and fane a low swing of my blade before kicking the shrouded man in the gut and knocking both the wind out of his lungs and the weapon out of his hand. As he falls to his back I step forward once again, bringing the tip of my own blade down to hover over the skin of an exposed neck as the figure stared back at me with an unflinching gaze.

"I win again, it seems…"

The words leave my mouth dryly at the moment the ghostly figure of my own creation removed its mask and revealed its face to be that of Count Dooku, before following in the same fate as his fellow shadows and disappearing into the dirt beneath my boots with a cloud of black mist, which was also quick to fade.

It would have been normal to revel in the victory if the enemy had not been that of mere images brought to life by thought and a trick of own sight. Such things had become hollow and meaningless with each occasion I beat one of the many spectres of evil from my past, though that had not meant it didn't serve to encourage me enough to keep improving as my training ritual continued to move ever closer to the normality I had enjoyed at the Jedi Temple.

A sigh leaves the slight opening of my mouth, my breath slowing down with the returning fatigue of the illusion of battle and the reminder that my body still lacked enough rest to function at peak levels of effectiveness.

Such thoughts had become common place in the forefront of my mind, but as usual I pushed them back as quickly as they attempted to get the jump on me. I knew I needed to sleep, just for a while in order to get come kind of regular flow of energy back into my body and mind if Ii was ever to enjoy a day again without feeling as though everything was heavy and lacking in anything bright enough to make me smile. If only I had such a chance.

From behind and within the hut which now stood in the full light of the risen sun, I could hear the sound of my communicator beeping loudly with an incoming message I knew instantly was coming from Aryn.

It had been two weeks since the last job, so I was not surprised to hear the older woman's voice greet me and confirm her presence on the other end of the line with an unusual tone to her usually upbeat voice.

"Need you back at the base, Tails." She spoke quickly, again, not like she normally would, "Something for you to sink those sharp teeth of yours into… client asked for you personally…"

I had been as quick as I could to wash off the sweat and grime from my training before dressing into my battledress and strapping on my armour as a multitude of thoughts rushed through my head at a pace which didn't allow me to properly grasp at any of them before they slipped away back into nothingness.

It was raining by the time I'd reached the town and made my way into the small base we as a group used to plan our jobs and communicate with anyone in or outside of the organisation who wanted to hire us to undertake a personal break-in or something of the like.

It was rare, no; it was really never that any client would ask for any one of us singularly, simply because no one was supposed to know who we were. To say I had been shocked when Aryn told of how I was asked for by name would have been an understatement, especially since I had only been with the group for less than a month and wore a mask on each mission so as to disguise myself and my unique disposition as a Togruta in a galaxy that had never seen one of my kind.

Inside the building which had once been a Nova Corps office, the few Krylorian's that call the base home due to a lack of anywhere else to go greet me with friendly nods or waves as I make my way toward the back where I know Aryn will be waiting to brief me on what was going on.

The chrono on the wall tells me it's less than two hours until noon, but already the smell of cooking from the makeshift kitchen inside the west wing of the building fills my nostrils with scents of meats and vegetables which will be handed out to the remnants of the town's citizens at noon as it was every day, one of the smaller covers the group used as a distraction, but still something we had always worked hard to provide for the staving Krylorians who had come to depend on the daily three provided meals in order to survive.

It wasn't an easy environment to find a smile, but we were encouraged to still try and boost people's spirits even a little if it meant they held on to whatever hope they had of things getting better. I'd personally made an extra effort to reach out to the children of the town, especially the orphans, of which there are far too many.

Aryn greeted me with a soft smile as I entered the briefing room and shut the door behind me. She was dressed in a pair of black leggings tucked into knee high white boots. A similarly white form hugging top completed her outfit, while her long brownish-red hair was tied up in a ponytail and a single fusion pistol sat in the holster that hung from her black leather belt.

"You took tired, Tails. Still not sleeping well?"

My lekku blushed a shade of dark grey from their usually bright blue as the woman wrapped me in a hug and then held me at arm's length to lock her green eyes with my own. Aryn had been a lot better at hiding her own fatigue than I was, but standing this close it was hard not to notice the small, darkened lines that had been carefully concealed behind a thin layer of pink eye shadow which almost matched the colour of her reddish skin.

I had learned from others that Aryn had lost her husband to-be after the Kree bombardment led by a fanatic called 'Ronan the Accuser'. The woman had never liked talking about it simply because she was afraid, but I had made an effort to try and comfort her when I could, even if it only meant giving her a shoulder to cry on away from the eyes of those who looked up to her as the natural leader she was.

"I'm fine, Aryn. Really. Just still not used to the air around here I guess."

She smiled again and patted me on the shoulder, though I could tell that she had seen right through my lie like she always did when I tried to take the focus off myself or turn it around to make it seem like I was as "fine" as I claimed to be. I was always thankful that she never followed up with more questions.

"We got a call from Xandar about an hour ago from some hood asking for "Ahsoka Tano" to take on some kind of special job. I tried to deny I knew your name, but he only shuck my attempts off and demanded you head for the capital to meet him at some bar called the Content Damsel in the high district before he cut himself off. I'd usually tell one of my people to ignore something like this, but if his offered price is for real, well…"

Aryn stopped mid-sentence.

"…You don't have to say anything yet, Tails. I won't order you to meet a contact like this, but the amount of Units he said he was willing to pay was a little too high to ignore."

Biting my lower lip lightly, I took another step forward to stand right next to Aryn and look down at the data she had received from this shady client. I gasped half shocked half out of amusement as I spotted the price, instantly thinking it couldn't possibly be real until I read the rest of the request and whatever doubt I had were quickly challenged by the last few words that ended at the bottom of the screen.

High risk; Job will either end in certain death, or guaranteed riches.

I could feel Aryn's eyes on me even as I read the same line over and over again in an effort to fully understand what I was getting myself into. The report provided spoke of a restricted zone somewhere outside Nova controlled space, while any descriptions of the prize were lacking to a simple need-to-know end to the sentence in which the client had listed the requirements needed to undertake the task.

"He didn't say how he knew me? How he figured I would fit all of these requirements?" I ask, never taking my eyes of the list in front of me.

"He didn't even tell me how he found out how to contact us, only that he was representing a powerful figure that would make sure Krylor would never want again… there wasn't anything in his voice that told me he was attempting to lie. That's why I called you; I think this guy is for real."

Turning my head to see Aryn staring back at me, I could see the small, fragile glint of hope which had been a common sight in many of the town's citizens, but never in her.

"Do we have a ship to take me to Xandar?" I ask with a confident smirk, something I can't recall doing since my last mission as a Jedi when I had saved my masters life as his star fighter fell out of the sky.

"Ahsoka… I need to know you're sure about this before I send you out on your own." Aryn's stare turned to one of steely caution signed off by her using my real name instead of the nickname she had given me the night we first met.

"You're just as important as anyone else here and I don't want to put you in danger. At least take some time to think it over."

I shuck my head, "I am sure, Aryn. This is a huge opportunity for us and Krylor as a whole. I won't let it slip through our grip when I have the chance to pay you back for all you've done for me while also saving the rest of the planet at the same time… You don't need to worry; I know I can do this!"

She smiled brightly and once again wrapped me in a tight embrace. "You're a lot braver than I ever will be…" She sighed, "The contact said he'd send a ship to pick you up as soon as we send confirmation… it'll be waiting for you five hours after the message is sent. Five clicks to the west, next to the lake."

Returning her embrace with that of my own, I dig my nose into Aryn's shoulder and welcome the warmth before she breaks us apart once more while holding onto my shoulders in a show of strength and support.

"Eyes open, Tails…" she says with a wink.

"Walk with the shadows, commander…" I reply with a nod of my own.

Authors Notes: Just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited the first chapter. Your support has been fantastic and I hope this chapter was up to scratch.

Thank you all once again for reading and I will catch you guys next time. Cheers!