Alderaan

Asajj had been given one of the suites designed for the political guests of senator Bonteri, since Ahsoka wanted to be sure that no one apart her family and the inner circle of handmaidens knew about her guest's true identity. The Dathomirian put on her dark amour-like outfit, which had become like her second skin during Asajj's days as a bounty hunter. More than once there had been droids and assassins who had tried there best in earning the reward for her head only to fail despicably and end spiked on her red lightsabers. Despite the risk she kept the weapons openly displayed on the front of her belt as an open warning to everyone who wanted to mess with her. With a push on the small green button she left the room and went directly to her Star Skiff to do the last checks on the ship's hyper-drive, since neither of them was very eager to end crashing down on Alderaan like a pot of petunias. "Are we ready for take of?" it was the first time since the siege of Mandalore that Ahsoka was wearing her jedi outfit again. "We can start as soon as you are aboard". Ahsoka quickly went up the boarding ramp and sat down in the copilot's seat behind the main dashboard.

Katooni and Petro had turned out of bed very early in the morning in order to be able to hide aboard the Star Skiff before Asajj or Ahsoka saw them but their idea was crushed when Katooni saw the Pale woman entering the ship. "Ahsoka has just left the estate, she is going down the connection to landing platform now". The two where hiding on an overhanging rock just above the platform of which they would be able to leap down and sneak aboard the Star Skiff. To the youngling's benefit the sun hadn't risen yet and darkness cloaked them. "Are they still on the Platform?" his inherently bad night vision had already interfered with his training as a jedi when they were still living in the temple. It had been master Yoda who had told him to sense and not to see his surroundings, a trick he had used on several occasions eversince. Still he was only able to feel objects in a close range, an effect of which the boy wasn't sure whether it was reasoned by his lack of training or a too weak connection to the force. Katooni on the other hand had the natural gift of superior Tholothian eyes enhanced by her strong connection to the force, granting her perfect vision and the ability to perceive a wider spectra of light if necessary. "Okay, the platform is clear", she leaped down first in order to enable Petro to focus on her silhouette so he wouldn't jump past the platform or land on one of the Star Skiffs major wings. The boy could feel the spot where his friend was standing and without hesitation he jumped for it almost striking Katooni when he touched down right next to her. Petro had confessed his lost ability to see in the dark to the girl, even though he had held back the reason why. Katooni was about to say something when the two engines of the Star Skiff were ignited and the boarding ramp began to close. Rapidly the two jumped trough the remaining gap and hid in a cabinet since the both considered the passenger cabins as too risky.

"Don't you think we should take the established hyperspace route to Alderaan?" Ahsoka asked when Asajj manually calculated the data for the hyperjump. The woman shook her head "I don't want to run into an imperial control and furthermore the direct route is not only shorter but faster". With her typical superior smile on her purple lips Asajj pulled the leaver to activate the hyperdrive. The stars outside the windows began to blur into lines of light before the familiar blue glow of the hyperspace surrounded the ship. "Since we are using a short-cut we should arrive at Alderaan in less than an hour". Asajj and Ahsoka had become friends after both of them left their former order, but that didn't mean there was no competition about who held the greater knowledge between them. During the flight the two women went through their plan again. First they would visit senator Organa, ask him where the padawans were hiding and as soon as they has found them they would leave together to find a new hideout for each of them.

There were only two things they couldn't fit in their planning, the number of padawans who had searched shelter on Alderaan and exact time the empire would arrive. They could only hope for their rescue mission to stay unnoticed as the chance that the padawans could hold themselves in a fight against a clone army or one of the empires newly appointed inquisitors. The empire had broadcasted the news about the inquisitors on every channel they possessed and thereby announced their function and capabilities as official jedi hunter. Neither of the woman had yet seen them in action but both were sure that the emperor had put great effort in their training as assassins. Ahsoka experimentally wielded her lightsaber hilt. She was a little out of practice since the last time she engaged someone in a lightsaber combat had been on Mandalore and she didn't want to have to rely on Asajj to protect her against an inquisitor as this would only be an unnecessary risk of their and the padawans' life. "If you're interested we could do a little sparring session when we are back on Onderon, I too could use a well trained partner". Ahsoka gladly accepted her friends offer. When they really wanted to start a rebellion the would need money, ships, soldiers and weapons, things that were easier to gather for someone who was close to the politicians, someone who wouldn't attract attention travelling to the various star-systems, someone she could only be if she was able to survive stronger opponents.

Collecting sympathizers was the easier task, many had suffered great loss either through the republic or through the new empire, the bigger problem consisted in their race against time. Sure there were some senators like Lux or Bail Organa who had sensed the wrong path the republic had gone in its last months and had taken precautions but even they had underestimated the speed at which the emperor had changed the galaxy. Alderaan held a rather big starfleet and so did other systems but even together they would be no match for the imperial navy. It would presumably take at least ten years until the first rebel cells could spur to action and certainly another five until they could join to an open rebellion against the emperor. "Would you have thought that the two of us would one day join forces and fight the sith together?" Ahsoka raised her eyebrow thinking for a moment before she answered, "To be honest there were times I wished your star-fighter would simply explode but since you helped me on Coruscant my opinion of you changed and I hoped for you too find the right way eversince". The right way, a funny expression when Asajj thought about it. Both women had been let down be the people they trusted the most in the galaxy and both had found a way in the middle of the light and the dark side, realizing that neither of these paths brought the necessary wisdom. As grey jedi they believed that only the use of both sides of the force could grant you to true comprehension of the force. The the ship's navigational computer gave a signal that they were approaching Alderaan and Asajj switched the computer back to manual control to land the Star Skiff manually.

Bail Organa had always been a close friend of the jedi and Padmé Amidala and it had been the senator who had introduced the young padawan Ahsoka Tano to him all those years ago. He had told Breha about the visit of her and the former separatist's general Asajj Ventress, of whom the latter didn't cause a too happy response by the queen. Still she had told him that she would feel a lot safer once the padawans had left Alderaan. Bail had thought a lot about her last sentence, his wife had always been very protective about her family and he was sure she would be happy to give shelter to another child but he agreed that three jedi apprentices were a too high risk for Leia to be discovered by darth Vader. A black Star Skiff cut through one of the few white clouds in the sky and graceously circled one of the close mountains in a landing approach. The air whirled around him when the ship's landing gears touched the ground. "Lady Tano, Lady Ventress I was very happy when I heard about your intention to take the padawans to a new and safer home", he shook their hands before guiding them inside the building.

The room the women were brought was held in a functional style indicating this to be not one of the royal conference halls. Bail activated a holoprojector in order to show them a projection of one of the suburbs of Aldera. He magnified a little area in a small neighbourhood, "The three padawans are hiding in this old harbourage which has a network of secret passages underneath its floor", the pathways were indicated by lines of blue light although none of them seemed to be very accurate. Ahsoka looked at the rather imprecise map that remembered a little too much of the underground labyrinth of the Geonosian droid factory, "Let's hope we won't need to go underground". The Togruta wasn't very eager to be trapped under tons of stone once more. She was about to leave when Bail stopped her. "I would suggest to take one of the land speeders as your ship might attract to much attention and even on Alderaan there are spies of the emperor". Asajj agreed with the senator. She knew from first hand how easy people could be persuaded to betray even their closest friend once you started use the right methods. The room's door opened with a hiss and one of the senator's servants stepped inside, "Senator Organa there is a star destroyer approaching Victory class and it is accompanied by two Eta-2". Asajj nodded towards Ahsoka confirming her premonition about the approach of the inquisitors.

Katooni had used the force to be able to listen to the conversation in the small briefing room. As soon as the servant left she motioned Petro to follow her to the land speeders parked on the flight deck. There were three speeders all ready to start, so in order to be able to follow the women Petro attached a mini tracing device to the back of each speeder. He had just finished with the last one when the door slid open. Quickly the boy jumped up and hid inside the hangars ventilation shaft. "I am sorry but I can't come with you for the risk to be seen by the inquisitors is too high", Bail excuse was kind and reasonable. Ahsoka nodded in response, "I hope you will think about the idea of a secret rebellion". "I certainly will my lady and while I'm thinking about it right now I have come to the conclusion that a cell of force wielders trained by Asajj Ventress would be a huge benefit for our young Alliance". The senator's suggestion took Asajj by surprise, sure she had thought about joining the rebellion in order for revenge on the emperor, but the training of young jedi was a whole different story. At second thought she would be able to form a powerful army capable to destroy large parts of the empire's army once her students were ready. With a hint of grim charm in her voice she answered Bail's request, "I think I might be able to find time for the schooling of the padawans". Together with her, Katooni and Petro they would already be six force wielders and as she once had to realize the hard way, a trained jedi can be worth a thousand soldiers. Ahsoka ignited the engine of her speeder. "May the force be with you", Bail's voice was barely audible over the engine's noise when Ahsoka and Asajj raced out of the hangar. For another minute Bail stood and watched the trail of dust the speeders left behind, then he turned around, knowing he had to greet the imperial visitors.

To Petro it felt like ages until the senator finally left the room and he could crawl out of his uncomfortable hideout. Katooni was already sitting on the remaining speeder, "Hurry up, will you". Her excitement was pretty evident and the boy didn't want her to have to wait for him. He sat down behind the Tholothian his hands holding on to her waist. Katooni pulled the gas leaver and the speeder shot out of the open hangar doors. The girl activated the computer synchronizing it with the signal of Petro's tracing devices and soon two red dots appeared on the head-up display. "Do you think they will turn around when we join them?" she asked her friend more as rhetoric question than from actual worry. He shook his head, "I think they will say something like, we shouldn't have come and it's to dangerous, but in the end they'll be glad that we're here". Katooni accelerated abruptly causing Petro to tighten his grip on her and the red dots to come closer.

"We're being followed", Asajj noted not turning her head around to leave their pursuer in the assumption of a stealth approach. "I noticed it too, maybe the senator changed his mind", her voice stated her disbelief in her own thought. The pale woman didn't believe in the rather positive idea either, "The force is very strong in him, maybe it is one of the inquisitors". She rested her left hand on the hilt of her lightsaber while Ahsoka prepared to ignite her right shoto. The Togruta held up three fingers and counted backwards before they both hit the brakes and caught the trailing speeder between theirs. It shocked them when they saw who had been following them. Ahsoka was the first to find her voice again, "You?" "We thought the two of you might need help", Petro replied. Ahsoka shook her head in disbelief, "You thought two highly trained force wielder could need help from two former younglings who haven't even passed the initiate trials?" The former younglings looked at the ground with embarrassment in their eyes. "If I remember correctly you my dear once did the same when you and general Kenobi freed Piell and Tarkin out of the citadel". Neither of the two younglings would have thought it would be Ventress who would allow them to join in on the mission.


AN: Sorry for the abrupt ending but when I wrote this chapter it soon had enough words for two. So today you got the first part of the mission to Alderaan and the second one you'll get next time. I hope you are still interested in reading and feel encouraged to review or make suggestions for the characters' future path.

Best Regards

-Alicia