Hi guys, How are you? I'm doing great, taking advantage of my last moments of peace before the winter session starts. I will continue posting chapters, I just don't know what my rythme will be like.

Thanks for your reviews again guys, it's really nice.

I've got some big news for ya, guys. I've pretty much planned everything from now to 17 BBY and I'll tell you that after the big arc on Corellia with Star Jump, there's going to be another arc (maybe not that big) but after that too, there will be a huuuuuuuuuge arc taking place during and right after Order 66 in 19 BBY. So hold on to your screens because all you Luxsoka shippers out there will be served. That huge arc will mostly take place on Raxus and, of course, with Lux. There will be some explicite sexual content, but in order not to turn away from the style of this story, I will post the sexual scenes as independent stories with the appropriate rating, so you'll be free to read it or not if you don't want to. I'll mention the titles of those stories when the chapters concerning them will be out (although I already know what they will be). But yeah, there's going to be a lot of Luxsoka in that arc, so if you're not into that pairing, don't hate just don't read.

This new chapter is quite long and I could have cut it in half (Devaron then Kriselist/Corellia) but the bits on Kriselist are too short. So here it is. I hope you'll enjoy this one too and see you soon guys!

TS


20 years before the Battle of Yavin / twelve days after leaving the Jedi Order

Ahsoka woke up a good hour before the time she was supposed to meet the client. Because she wanted to have plenty of time, but not for herself rather to find Sax and Geronimo. She could just feel they got themselves into some trouble. Something involving a fight or sex, either way, she was sure they would be late for the meeting so she decided to look for them before that.

She dressed in her uniform, took a quick breakfast and went downstairs. After giving the key back, she left the hotel, completely rested. Since she had started to work for Star Jump, she slept well, almost as if she had never had trouble sleeping back at the Temple. Almost. She made her way to the bar where Vizago's sister worked, the place where she had last seen her companions. She didn't expect to find them there, but it was a good place to start looking for them.

There were only three people inside and she had seen them the day before. The first was a waiter she had briefly seen serving people and she knew nothing more about him. The second was Vizago the kid who had plucked Sax almost bare. He was sitting at the counter like the day before but his glass of juice was already empty. He was playing with some cards but she didn't know the game. She could tell though that he was learning the rules because he kept asking the other waiter what which card did. His earnings from the day before stayed by his glass and shone brightly like a treasure which it probably was for a child. It was still early in the morning, that's probably why the kid wasn't playing with the others.

The third person was Vizago's sister and she was cleaning up the place. Now that Ahsoka looked more carefully at the interior of the bar, she realized some furniture had been broken along with glass that littered the floor near the entrance and where the tables and chairs had been destroyed.

"What happened here?" Ahsoka asked, her curiosity speaking before her will to know the whereabouts of the two pilots.

Vizago's sister lifted her head and a small smile appeared on her dark green lips but it quickly faded away and she focused back on her task of sweeping off the glass debris. Ahsoka stopped to help her out and grabbed a broom. She had to admit that she wasn't surprised Sax had fallen head over heels for the young Devaronian woman. She was truly pretty, her face was graceful and in the same color that her brother's and her hair was neatly tied in a long braid that reached her waist. Instead of horns, she had two small dots on her forehead and a few black freckles around her nose.

"Your friend happened. The Zabrak."

Ahsoka almost facepalmed herself but signed instead.

"What did he do this time?"

"When I refused his advances and made it clear I wouldn't sleep with him, I thought he'd stop. He seemed like the reasonable guy. But he had been drinking a lot, I'm not complaining, we never had such a busy night as yesterday and we made a lot of profit, but he started messing around. It was nothing at first, he simply tried to convince me with a speech that lacked proper grammar but eventually he thought I refused because I was already taken. So he decided to find out who I was supposedly going out with and challenged every single guy in the room. Most of them ignored him and we were about to throw him out but Brango lost his patience and was about to kick his butt. That's when his friend popped in and tried to calm things down. The Zabrak ran away in the end, or tried to at least, and your human friend took a beating instead. I don't think Brango caught the Zabrak, he also drank quite a lot."

Ahsoka's face was deadly pale and she stopped sweeping.

"I'm so sorry." She looked at the furniture. "If you need me to pay for the repairs, I'll…"

"No need, these tables and chairs were old anyway and we made enough profit yesterday to buy twice as much chairs. So it's fine."

Ahsoka gathered the glass shards and tossed them into the bin while the Devaronian woman thanked her.

"Do you know where they are? We're supposed to meet the client in less than an hour and then leave before ten. I'm going to kill those two idiots!"

Vizago's sister smiled and indicated her brother with her thumb, resting her hands on her broom.

"The Zabrak was sleeping on our porch when we woke up, he's probably still there. I asked my mother not to throw him out. But she might have tried to wake him up. As for the human, my brother probably knows since he's been running through the whole city since dawn. He was certain you'd come by to look for your friends."

Ahsoka sighed and thanked the Devaronian before approaching Vizago.

"Hey kid. I've got a job for you and I guess you already know what it is, am I right?"

Vizago turned his head towards her, put down his cards and smiled slyly.

"That'll be ten credits."

"How about three?"

"Eight."

"Five and that's my last offer."

The child seemed to consider it for a moment as if he was hesitating but Ahsoka could see he had already taken his decision.

"Deal!"

He jumped out of his chair and bowed and Ahsoka did the same, then put the credits in his small hand which surprised the kid. He wasn't expecting her to trust him like that.

"Come on, let's go!" She winked and Vizago smiled as his newly acquired credits joined the small pile by the glass.

They reached his house and she found Sax sleeping on the porch. She shook him and it actually took Ahsoka a whole minute to wake him up because he just seemed unable to feel any pain, probably due to the numbness of too many drinks. The Zabrak finally opened his eyes and Ahsoka had just the time to step away from the place where he threw up.

"Hey, Sax! Wake up you idiot!"

But the Zabrak fell back unconscious and the Togruta sighed. She was going nowhere like that. Sax was in no condition whatsoever to walk even less fly. She would have to do without him. But she couldn't just leave him there. First because they had to take away the fighter and the cargo before ten and second because he had caused Vizago's family enough much trouble as it was. Besides, she wouldn't let him get away with this and an idea started forming in her mind. She turned to Vizago.

"Do you happen to know a few strong guys who would do some heavy lifting for a couple of credits?"

He nodded and they let the Zabrak on the porch when Vizago's mom told them she didn't mind as long as someone cleaned the mess in front of her door. Ahsoka promised to do that before she left and Vizago showed her the way to Geronimo. He was in a shape even worse than Sax. He was lying between two broken crates in some other street, his lips were puffy, he had a black eye and a broken arm. Ahsoka checked him for further injuries; she wasn't a medic but she knew what life-threatening injuries looked like. At most, the human had broken ribs. She didn't want to take any chances though so she promised herself to get a medical droid to check up on him at the spaceport. There should be some medical droid walking around between transfers. She hoped at least because she couldn't afford paying a real doctor and she wasn't even sure if there was a Devaronian doctor in that city or if they would treat humans. She had always been raised in a way to respect every race equally but she had also met medics who refused to treat certain species.

"Don't you worry, Gero. We'll all be back to Corellia by the evening and I'll kick Sax's butt when he'll be able to feel it!"

Geronimo wasn't answering, still completely knocked out cold. Ahsoka sighed again. She felt like she would do that a lot that day. She then asked Vizago to find those strong guys and they all met at the entrance of the spaceport some half hour later. It was almost time to meet the client. Ahsoka looked at the seven Devaronians in front of her. They were all at least two feet taller than her and had buff arms. Some of them looked dangerous and she would have fled just like Sax before Brango if those guys were angry at her. She took all the credits she had in her belt back pocket.

"Alright guys. I have fifty credits here. Are you willing to do some heavy lifting and then share that sum between yourselves?"

The biggest one nodded and they agreed that Ahsoka would give them the credits once the job was done. She couldn't run away anyway, if they'd catch her, she'd be in the same state as Geronimo. She sent two of them to pick Sax, two to find a stretcher and bring Geronimo and the three last to follow her. Vizago was sent to find a medical droid in the spaceport. They met the client at their landing bay. Ahsoka was pleased to see that nothing had changed since they left the place, the cargo ship was still there just like the three fighters and their helmets, even the droid piloting the cargo ship was awake and ready to work. The client was already waiting with crates of exotic fruit and vegetables and Ahsoka signed the document that stated she had taken the goods. All that was left to do was to deliver them to Kriselist. That was the easy part. The hardest part would be to leave Devaron with everything and everyone on time not to pay extra. After all, she didn't want to lose her job after just a week.

Once the client was gone, Ahsoka turned to the three Devaronians. Loading the crates would be easy since they could float and so her helpers took only ten minutes to put them all inside the cargo ship. Usually they didn't pile them too high in case they fell and some goods were fragile but this time she had no choice and asked the Devaronians to pile them as high as possible, up to the ceiling actually, so that as much place as possible was freed. She had a plan and it was unusual and risky, but she had no choice if she didn't want Bulack to pay a great bill. Then she asked the guys to lift one of the fighters and put it also inside. They had more trouble doing so and had to use some droids to help them out but they managed to squeeze the first fighter into the cargo ship. The latter had a huge ramp door so fitting it through wasn't the problem. The crates were all lined up in three rows against the right wall and the fighter fitted in the empty space. But there was no way a second fighter would fit in there.

Ahsoka knew perfectly well how much worth those fighters were. Bulack had made it very clear during her first day and she had enough experience in that domain to be able to tell herself. There was no way she could leave it here without losing her job. She could pay the spaceport to leave it, but she wasn't sure it would still be there when she came back, for such a thing she'd have to pay an insurance that would be very expensive. If she left it on the planet but in the wild, there was even less chance she'll find it again. She had no choice, she had to fit them in the cargo ship.

The ship was tall enough so she asked the Devaronians to put it up, as if it was reaching for the sky with its nose and it fitted but it took them an entire hour to put the two fighters in there. By that time, Vizago was back with a medical droid and the pilots were also there. The droid did a diagnosis and Geronimo had three broken ribs but nothing more serious. Sax was also still unconscious. Ahsoka put them both into the cargo ship, laying them under the fighter, that way if a crate went loose, it wouldn't fall on them but on the fighter. She also put Sax's helmet next to him and prayed that if he suddenly felt the urge to throw up, he would do so in his helmet. She paid the Devaronians but Vizago stayed to see her take off. Once the other guys were gone, Ahsoka pulled one credit from her glove and gave it to the boy for helping her out. In return, he promised to clean the vomit in front of his house for her.

Ahsoka then set course for Kriselist and got in her own fighter. Leaving the atmosphere of Devaron wasn't hard. She just hoped Sax wouldn't puke all over the place because she didn't want to explain to the new client why their fruit smelled like vomit. It was bad for business.

But as soon as they were into space, a Separatist boarding ship appeared and three fighters came after them. Ahsoka ordered the droid piloting the cargo ship to raise the shields and follow the programmed route but to wait for her for the jump to hyperspace. She took care of the first enemy fighter before it even had the chance to try to aim at her. She followed the second one closely until it was blown to bits but the third one managed to hit the cargo ship. Fortunately, the shields held. Then the Separatists sent vulture droids that were much faster and there were nine of them. Ahsoka used evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit and to destroy as many as she could.

Her heart was beating fast and sweat was starting to stick to her forehead, not able to flow on her face because of the helmet. Her eyes were looking at everything like crazy behind the goggles integrated in her helmet. She kept talking to R6, occasionally yelling at the poor droid. She managed to destroy two thirds of the vulture droids before the shields of the cargo ship were disabled. The cargo could not be hit. Not even once. Because her job depended on it but also the lives of her friends. She considered Sax and Geronimo as her friends even though she wasn't very close to them yet. She was new at that 'being open' stuff. During her entire life she had learned she wasn't supposed to form attachments and let herself be truly open about all sorts of things in life. She needed time to experience this kind of things. She wasn't used to leading a normal life and she had trouble doing so as it was. She needed time. To get used to life outside the Jedi Order and to find herself, to discover who she truly was. That didn't meant she'd stop using the Force. She couldn't just stop being Force-sensitive, and she intended to keep on connecting, but not as a Jedi.

She took out two vulture droids after they disabled the shields but the third was about to attack and she didn't have time to turn the guns in its direction. She pushed the fighter in the path of the vulture droid and took the damage instead of the cargo ship, then destroyed the last enemy. And before the Separatist ship had time to attack again, she told the droid piloting the cargo ship to jump into hyperspace. They reached Kriselist without more problems and Ahsoka could finally breathe again.

The planet was mostly urban and hadn't any specific traits and it was inhabited by humans. Ahsoka made sure to unload the crates before the client appeared in case Sax or Geronimo decided to screw things up. After all, the journey hadn't been that calm… Things got a bit awkward when someone threw up inside the cargo ship as Ahsoka was getting the client's signature and he looked at her with a questioning look but she simply smiled innocently and he left with the fruit and vegetables. Ahsoka then sighed in relief and went to check on her comrades. Sax had heaved and not in his helmet. She washed it up and left the door of the cargo ship open before tending to her fighter. The damage wasn't major but she started fixing it at least until she was sure it would hold through hyperspace.

Then they came back to Corellia and landed in the bay of the Star Jump company. Bulack was waiting for them and Ahsoka jumped out of her fighter and took her helmet off before greeting her captain.

"I was getting worried, you should have been back an hour ago. Where are Sax and Geronimo? And what happened to you?"

He didn't seem mad, just genuinely worried. Then he saw her pale face and worn-out silhouette.

"Well the journey through hyperspace from Kriselist was quite long, but we've encountered a Separatist boarding ship with its load of problems." The cargo ship ramp was being lowered and Ahsoka quickly added. "Before you start wondering, I need to explain the state of the ship!"

As she said that, Bulack came closer and took a peek inside before immediately pinching his nose. The two missing fighters were inside, one of them up, and the two pilots seemed dead under the one that was in the normal position. There was a poodle of vomit on the floor and the R2 units in the fighters beeped when they saw the captain. Bulack then turned to Ahsoka, his eyebrows raised.

"It's a long story," Ahsoka sighed.

In the end, she explained everything to Bulack, how their trip to Devaron was as peaceful as it could be, what had happened in Vizago's sister bar, how Sax and Geronimo had ended up like that, what she had done to get everything and everyone on board and the attack on the ship which explained the fried shield generators and the damage on her own fighter. Bulack listened carefully, congratulated her for her ingeniosity and courage and promised to deal with the two pilots once they were conscious. From his tone, she guessed it wouldn't be pretty and promised herself not to be around when the yelling would take place.

Bulack then gave her three days free. First because thanks to her brilliant idea, they hadn't lost any profit. The repairs would cost a little, but it was nothing compared to what they would have had to pay had Ahsoka's plan not worked out. Second, because their next shipments for the rest of the week were essentially on Corellia itself or on Duro which meant droids could do the piloting because Separatists never attacked so close to the Core Worlds. Third because she deserved the rest after the stunt they all pulled. Ahsoka thanked him then set to work on her fighter after changing into more casual clothes: light cargo pants and a small sleeveless top that showed her belly. She never liked leaving something undone for the next day and she had nothing better to do that evening except going to sleep because she was dead tired. She was planning to use the next day to fully repair the fighter, but she wanted to make sure that after her quick repairs on Kriselist, the fighter would hold during the night.

As she was lying under it, she listened to the news on the big screen on one of the walls. Two walls of the landing bay were doors that were always open for the ships to come and go. There was also a hole in the roof but at the moment it was closed because not useful. The third wall was leading to the rest of the bay which was basically the buildings of the company, including Bulack's office, all their quarters, hangers, garages, droid storage and maintenance rooms. The fourth wall had shelves with tools and the big screen.

"Pass me that screwdriver, R6 will you?"

The droid bipped and handed her the tool as the news shifted again, one programme ending. Suddenly, a new reporter's voice boomed in the bay and Ahsoka didn't pay too much attention until the name Onderon was mentioned. She even almost hit her head on her fighter out of surprise. She got out from under the fighter and sat on its wing as she took off her brand new pair of goggles she had bought before Devaron and wiped her hands on a cloth.

"…and now, since Onderon joined the Republic, Senator Bonteri has been representing his home world in the Senate. He even made a speech this afternoon at the ceremony that celebrated Saw Gerrera's new military rank of Commander in the Onderanian Army."

The image shifted from the reporter and played the recording of the speech. Lux was standing behind a reading desk and wearing some rich clothes she guessed were from Onderon. She smiled when she saw that the collar of his shirt had the same embroidering that everybody wore on Raxus at the Bonteri estate. His hear wasn't pulled back like the first time they met which she had thought made him look like some pretentious spoiled kid. He looked more like a Senator than a rebel, but Ahsoka could tell he had a certain glow that wasn't artificial like for most Senators. You could immediately see he too had gotten his hands dirty to free Onderon. She also discovered the recording was simply a part of his speech since it started right in the middle of something that had nothing to do with military promotions.

"I know it is not Onderon's freedom anniversary yet and that this day is still fresh in all our minds, but I wanted to remind us all something. That Onderon was freed because of Commander Saw," he motioned to the now decorated with a medal and proud as ever Saw who bowed, "because of every rebel and citizen of Iziz, but also because of Steela Gerrera that sacrificed her life for a better future."

Ahsoka bit her lips. She had gotten over Steela's death and wasn't considering it as her fault anymore even though it was what she had thought at first. She hadn't forgotten either, how could she? Even if Steela had been a rival, Ahsoka wished she wasn't dead. Even if that meant maybe seeing Lux with her instead. Then Lux spoke again.

"But I want to remind you also of all the troopers and Jedi that helped us free our home. Allies of the Republic helped us, and I couldn't be more proud that to represent you all in the Senate, by the side of other Republican Senators. We owe those troopers and Jedi a great deal, especially the one that stayed behind with us in Iziz to make sure our actions were successful, the Jedi who saved our king, the Jedi who saved us."

He closed his eyes for a moment and lowered his head as did Saw and the General. The King stayed serious but a faint smile appeared on his bearded face as his gaze didn't leave Lux's silhouette. The camera quickly passed on all the important faces gathered and Ahsoka saw Master Kenobi among them, as serious and wise as always. The Senator then looked again at the people gathered in front of him. His voice was strong as ever.

"I am sure she would be with us here if she could." He swiftly glanced at Obi-Wan. "And I want her to know that she won't be forgotten, that all those who helped free Onderon will always live in our hearts, living or dead, close or away."

The reporter from before came back again and Ahsoka looked away from the screen, not interested anymore. She felt better and wiped the single tear that wet her dirty cheek. He was thinking about her. She was sure he wanted to put a hidden message in his speech. He was looking for her, she was certain of that. She promised herself to call him soon. Her heart leapt of joy at that thought.