She'd walked away with nothing, but she still had her training and the Force. She could give up her lightsaber and her padawan braid, but those other things weren't something you could return. She used them to get herself hired on a ship to the outpost where Barriss' ship was still located. Just a little Force mental nudge to convince a receptive captain of her value. She'd never had to work like this before, but Jedi training was thorough. Thanks to Anakin, she had acceptable piloting and mechanical skills. His training was foremost in her thoughts the whole way. It had hurt her to hurt him. He would blame himself but it wasn't his fault, any of it. True, maybe he could've let her go, stood with her against the council and bucked them like he usually did. But she doubted it would've accomplished anything besides getting him in trouble too.

She didn't have anyone she could talk to. She didn't dare make any friends. A former padawan would still be a prize of the Separatist. She strode down the ramp at their destination to find a dust storm blowing in across dry grass plains. She coughed and pulled her hood up. She found the berth where the ship was supposed to be. "Ah." Circumventing the security was easy, but made her more homesick thinking of Artoo and her master's fondness for him. A touch of jealousy rose. He'd broken the rules hunting Artoo, why not for her? But the more rational part of herself knew that was different. Artoo wasn't accused of murder. And he was far from the watchful eyes of the council at the time too. Easier from there to ask forgiveness than permission.

"Okay then." Standard Jedi codes got her into the ship. She prowled around it, looking for clues. No brain bugs, thank goodness. She shuddered. Nothing out of the ordinary, save it was abandoned. Except….she got to the hold and froze. It couldn't be. She peered into the crates and was astounded. "That's impossible!" How could all the medical supplies be here still? Barris had delivered them! Reports from the front had confirmed it!

She frowned, thinking. Then she called up the logs. With some careful hacking, using tools Lux had supplied, she gained access using the ship to the security at the hanger. "Oh now. What's that?"

With a date stamp about the time Barriss had left, a rough looking pirate craft had made a stop on world. Back checks showed it actually skipped around the world, before settling here and taking off one last time. And pulling up the security…the last time, Barriss was with them! She looked wrong, somehow, eyes nearly shut… Ahsoka swallowed. They wore blue Raveagle tattoos, a pirate group smaller than Black Sun and more specialized. Apparently they took food and supplies from here. But where were they going? Where was there base of operations? What she'd give to have access to the Jedi computers about now!

Ahsoka pondered for a long moment. Lux had left her a number. And some numbers that would enable him to redirect a signal, masking it's origin point. And last she heard, one particular person was off Coruscant for a short time...

"Senator Chuchi." She greeted the blue skinned Pantolomin girl.

"Ahsoka! I was so horrified to hear what happened to you. Please know I never believed it was you!"

"Thank you Senator."

"I heard you left the Jedi."

"I…" This was harder than she thought. "I have questions I need to answer for myself." The former padawan fumbled. "I was hoping you could help me with something. I just need some information…and I don't know who else to ask." Ahsoka's eyes lowered. "Barriss was my friend. And I know Anakin would help but I don't want to involve him…."

"Please. Ask. I will help if I am able."

"I'm backtracking Barriss' trail. I'm trying to understand why she fell….not just disagreeing with the war, but killing Jedi and framing me. I found something odd happened with a pirate group, Raveagle. I'm not sure it's important yet. But I think it might be, do you know if anyone knows where there base is?"

"I've no idea. But I'm sure I can easily get the information."

"Please, don't let anyone know I'm the one asking."

"Ahsoka, you've done nothing wrong. There is no reason for shame."

"Maybe not. But…..I don't know who to trust anymore. Why would my friend frame me? Until I know that, what can I do?"

"I see your point. I shall keep your secret."