CHAPTER FOUR – COME, YOU SPIRITS

AHSOKA

"Ahsoka, would you like cream or sugar?"

I take my eyes from my datapad. "Black is fine, Lux. Thanks."

On the other side of his kitchen, Lux pours two mugs of caf and adds cream to one. He picks up both cups, takes them over to the table and sets the black one in front of me.

"Our breakfast should be done soon." He says, looking at the microwave where he placed a plate of heat-and-eat sausage, and the toaster where slices of bread should be emerging any minute now.

"Thanks," I take a sip of caf and sigh as I feel the caffeine seep into my system. When you can't get a good night's sleep, black caf is a necessity. "All right, back to business. What do we have on Bonnie and Clyde?"

"First, the list of victims." Lux taps the screen of his datapad. "First is a Twi'lek named Rassk. He was found in his apartment in Lessu a week and a half ago. He'd been shot in the chest with a slugthrower. Three days later, another young, male Twi'lek was killed in his apartment with a slugthrower. The ballistics report says the bullets came from the same gun as the one from Saw's leg." He looks up. "Of all things, why a slugthrower? Blasters don't leave bullets, and bullets are the evidence connecting these crimes."

"Slugthrowers don't show up on weapons scans." I say. "All they would need to do is wrap it in a shirt and stuff it in the bottom of their bags, and no one would be the wiser. Bounty hunters sometimes use them when they're trying to infiltrate a high-security area."

"So it wouldn't have been flagged if they took a commercial flight to Onderon." Lux rubs a hand through his forehead. "That makes finding their tickets and where they cleared customs much harder."

Finding those name fragments in the incredible amount of space tickets would be a nightmare. Factor in the possibility they might have taken connecting flights, and the situation worsens.

"I think we need help. We can't do all the research and all the investigation by ourselves."

"I agree. I just don't know who to call." Lux says. "Saw's in the hospital, and he's terrible at doing research anyway."

A faint memory from the rebellion pops into my mind. "What about the guy who did the research for Steela and Saw during the rebellion? The cashier?"

"Hutch St. James? The last anyone heard from him, he was on vacation. I tried to contact him, but his comlink doesn't have service wherever he is." He snorts. "I bet you anything he's on the moons of Rion, sipping a cold drink on the beach."

I consider asking how Hutch manages to take what's no doubt an expensive trip on a cashier's salary, but I decide I don't want to know the answer. All right, so he's out. Who else do we know who has constant access to computers and is willing to sit through an unbelievable amount of research?

The toast pops just as a mental lightbulb goes off.

"I think I know just the person," I say, grabbing my comlink.

"Really? Who?" Lux asks.

"Let's hope she answers."

I press the numbers into my comlink and wait, crossing my fingers. Please let her pick up. Please, please, please…

"Hello Ahsoka."

Thank the force. "Barriss! How are you?"

"I'm well," Barriss says, sounding entirely content. "I've been studying in the Archives today. I heard you were assigned a new mission."

Perfect, just perfect. "I was. Can you do me a favor? Are any of the Archive computer terminals open?"

"They are," she replies, her voice ten times more skeptical. "Why do you need to know?"

"Great. Barriss, can you please do me a favor? Can you get on one of those terminals and pull up the passenger manifests for all direct flights from Ryloth to Onderon in the last week?"

"Why do you need to know?" she repeats.

Time to spill the beans. "I'm on Onderon. There have been a rash of murders and we think the killers traveled here from Ryloth in that time period."

Barriss clears her throat. "Which company?"

Barriss, words cannot describe how grateful I am right now. "Senator Bonteri and I don't know. Can you pull all flights?"

"I am," she says. "But it's worth noting that the Jedi only archive major spacelines and cargo shipments. I can't account for any kind of private transportation."

"That's all right; just pull what you can."

Barriss pauses. "I've accessed the passenger manifests and crew schedules for direct Ryloth to Onderon flights in the last seven days. There are more than I thought."

"Were any of those tickets bought by someone with a first name 'Jack'?"

"Over a hundred."

We're starting to get somewhere. "Were any of them traveling with a female companion?"

"Most of them were alone. The rest were either traveling with an entire family, or they're children."

"Great." I sigh under my breath. "Thank you, Barriss."

My best friend reads my mind all the way from Coruscant. "I'll keep looking and contact you if I find anything."

"Barriss, you're a lifesaver."

"Say hello to Senator Bonteri for me, Ahsoka." She says sweetly and ends the transmission.

Lux plucks the pieces of toast from the toaster and opens a container of jam, spreading a generous amount of the red goo over each piece. My mouth waters.

"I guess the ticket idea didn't work out."

"Barriss will find something soon." I assure. "I've never seen someone who can study like she can. Until then, I guess we just have to go back to whatever we were doing."

Lux sets a plate of jellied toast and a few of the sausage links from the microwave in front of me.

"We were having breakfast."

I grab my fork and tuck into the food. I didn't even realize how hungry I was until I saw my breakfast. "Thanks for cooking this for me."

"It was my pleasure," he says and sits down across from me with his own plate. "It's nice having someone to eat with; these days I usually eat alone."

I glance around his apartment. "Do any of your friends come over?"

"Saw does every Friday," he admits. "We have hamburgers or something similar and watch the news. Hutch has shown up a few times, but he's mostly occupied with work or whatever he does in his spare time." He makes a flippant gesture with his hand.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with paying for this mysterious vacation?"

"Almost certainly."

I go back to my plate.

"So, how's your training been?" Lux asks after a pause.

"It's coming along." I swallow a bite of sausage. "I hope I'll be recommended for the Trials soon."

Lux blinks. "The Trials?"

"You know, the tests necessary to become a Jedi Knight?"

"Right. Those Trials." He says, even though it doesn't take a Jedi to notice he hadn't a clue. "Wow! I didn't know you were so close to those. When do you think you'll be knighted?"

"I don't know for sure. Master Skywalker has to recommend me first, and then if the Council agrees they'll schedule the dates for the five trials. Though, ever since the war started they've been waiving some of the formal trials if a Padawan passed them in the field." I say.

Lux picks up his piece of toast. "Well, I can think of some instances. What are the Trials?"

I rack my memory banks. "Trial of Skill, Trial of the Flesh, Trial of Insight, Trial of Courage, and the Trial of the Spirit."

He smiles. "I can vouch for your Trial of Courage being the moment you stepped in at King Dendup's execution."

"Lux, the Jedi Council would censure me before they allowed that to be my Trial of Courage."

"Right. I was just joking."

"If there was a Trial of Restraint, I think the Carlaac incident would do well in its place." I joke.

Lux turns red. "Right. Carlaac. Ah, I think you're right. Thank you for restraining yourself with me."

The fantasies I had of dragging Lux through the snow and back onto the ship, lecturing and yelling at him all the way flash through my mind.

Careful not to choke on your stupidity.

I planned that line as I cooked the soup with the other women. I paid less attention to the task as I did coming up with the perfect witty thing to hiss at Lux that would sum up all my anger and frustration. I asked Tryla for her input, but all she did was shrug.

I even practiced in front of the soup bowl.

"Careful not to choke on your stupidity," I said to the dishes. Nope, the inflection wasn't quite right.

"Careful not to choke on your stupidity!"

A-ha. Perfect. I repeated it, looking at my reflection in the soup to get the perfect facial expression to go along with it.

It was then that I noticed one of the Ming Po women staring at me like I'd just sprouted a second head.

"Is something wrong?" I asked frostily.

The woman kept staring until one of her friends elbowed her in the ribs and they went back to stirring the soup cauldrons.

"You made up for it later." I tell him and go back to my food, which is markedly better than whatever the Ming Po and I slapped together in the tents.

Lux shakes his head. "I don't know what I was thinking."

I decide to be honest. "You weren't."

He nods assent. "That's probably true."

Well look at that.

"Whatever you were thinking, it's in the past." I say. "What matters now is that you're moving forward with your life. You've made friends and you're willing to help them when they need it."

"Her music box." He sighs. "Out of everything Saw has, I never expected him to need us to find that. Tandin gave it to her near the end of the rebellion, and she loved it. I remember I was jealous; I just got a ring."

I rack my memory banks, but try as I might I can't remember Steela receiving a gift. Must have been focused on our tasks, I guess.

"Ever since she died, Saw keeps it like a treasure." He says plainly. "It's usually on his nightstand and he listens to it before he goes to sleep. I don't know why he brought it to the coffee table that day but he did."

"I don't remember what it looks like."

Lux opens his datapad's camera roll and shuffles through a few photos. "Here's one. Let me zoom in and crop it."

He turns the 'pad toward me, showing off an image of Saw in his room, the box on his nightstand. I order myself to focus on the design: gold-colored, with a bejeweled lid surrounding a circular gold plate.

"I'll send the photo to you," Lux volunteers and taps a few buttons. My datapad buzzes with the notification.

"Thank you," I save the photo to my camera roll.

"We need to get it back as soon as possible."

"What we really need to do is stop this murder spree. The box comes second to that, maybe even third place if we start to deal with bureaucracies." I remind him.

"You're right about the killings. I'm just not sure you understand the rest," Lux coughs. "Saw, he ah, he needs it. To sleep."

There's something a little unnerving about this revelation, if only that I find it a little creepy.

"He hasn't talked to anyone," Lux clarifies. "Not to me, to a counselor, to King Dendup – we've all let him know our doors are open, but he just isn't willing to talk. Saw can't lose the only thing that reminds him of her."

I feel a pang in my heart: my men dividing up their fallen brothers' paltry possessions, staring at them like their owner would spring forth to reclaim that prized novel or doodled-in reg manual or deck of sabaac cards.

"I understand." I give Lux a weak smile. "We'll get it back for him, I'm sure of it. Now, back to the slugthrower -."

Just then, my comlink rings.

"Barriss, I love you." I mutter under my breath and answer. "Hello?"

"Ahsoka, what was that HoloNet program you made me watch with you on Halloween called?"

"It was The Walking Dead. Why?"

I can hear Barriss' smile in her voice. "I just found out how they got from Ryloth to Onderon without being detected."

And what does The Walking Dead have anything to do with Bonnie and Clyde here? Last I checked, they weren't zombies.

Thank you to Starwarshobbitfics and TessaFred for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

LS