Chapter 10

Witch hunt

A narrow beam of light came from the emitter. In an instant, it ran over Ahsoka's face. The device gave a triple beep, and the Inquisitor put it back in his pocket. He held up his left arm, and from his wrist, a small holograph of her facial pattern appeared. Red lines hovered in the air, other facial patterns briefly appeared and overlapped with hers. Finally, the holograph disappeared, and the Inquisitor's device gave another triple beep.

"Your facial pattern does not match any of the current Togruta Jedi," he growled. "Is there anyone else aboard the ship?"

"There's one more on board. An injured soldier. We found him, floating in a defunct escape pod. He's recuperating in our med bay," Jyssa volunteered quickly. "We contacted the nearest Republic base. I mean, Imperial base. Haven't heard back yet."

The man growled, "Which base might this be?"

"I don't remember," said Jyssa. "I think it was..."

"740A, Captain Motla," Ahsoka volunteered.

"Thank you. Yes. 740A. On Priostare."

The Inquisitor snorted. "Convenient. I'm afraid that base 740A was overrun by the Separatists a week ago, before the cease-fire was arranged. I will need to see this soldier."

He turned around and left the engine room, heading directly towards the med bay. Jyssa followed him a few feet behind. The Inquisitor barged into the room to see Arc, lying on his bunk. Arc sat up slowly and said, "Sir, ready to report for duty as soon as necessary."

"At ease, soldier. I'm not your commanding officer."

Arc shook his head. "Sorry sir, I thought that was a lightsaber on your belt."

"If it was, you would be obligated to shoot me. Order 66 was issued, and has not been rescinded."

Arc blinked. "Order 66... but... where does that leave my command structure?"

"I don't know, soldier. Nor do I really care. As soon as you are returned to your people, you can be briefed. I am simply here to find, detain, or destroy any Jedi on this planet."

Without another word, the Inquisitor turned and walked away. Before leaving the ship, he turned to Jyssa. "I will question the archeologists you spoke of. Until I leave or until I let you know otherwise, this ship is not to take off for any reason."

"We ain't going anywhere until our academic passengers are done with their little field trip," said Jyssa. "Until then, we're grounded no matter what you say."

The moment he was down the ramp, Jyssa closed the hatch. She ran back to the engine room, where Ahsoka had already cleaned up most of the mess. Jyssa exclaimed, "We've got a problem. It's only been four days since Order 66, and they've already got official Inquisitors out looking for Jedi. We need to get you a fake ID, girl. Why didn't his scanner get you?"

"I told you. I was expelled from the Jedi order. They asked me to come back, but I said no. So according to their records, I'm not a Jedi."

"Yeah, well somebody's gonna put some databytes together and add you to the list. We need to plan."

"Yes, we do. But first, we need to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. That was a Zygerrian. Normally I try not to judge a person by their species... but you can make an exception for Zygerrians. They're slavers. They kidnapped an entire colony of my people during the war and tried to make slaves out of them."

"I take it they didn't succeed."

"No way. Anakin and I weren't going to let them get away with that." She looked down at the ground. "I barely remember my childhood before the temple. But Master Skywalker... well, he grew up in Hutt territory. He was a slave until he was ten years old and the Jedi found him. When we were heading out to Zygerria... I don't think I've ever seen a fire in his eyes like that before."

"From what you've told me about him, I think I should feel sorry for the Zygerrians."

Ahsoka smiled, and said, "Maybe a little. All we did was save all of my people, destroy a major slave training outpost, accidentally get their Queen killed, and destabilized their entire government and economy. Not really enough punishment for being slavers, in my opinion." She reached out a hand, and the rest of the clutter in the engine room started floating as she used the Force to put the part, one by one, on the rack they came from. "I should get out there, though. Shadow him. Make sure nobody says too much."

Jyssa raised an eyebrow. "As long as my engine room is clean, you're free to go."

"Sure thing, Captain."

Ahsoka watched from a niche in a broken wall as the Zygerrian interrogated the student archeologists. Focusing on her senses, she could hear his questions from a distance, and so far he just seemed like he was being thorough before he moved on. And to their credit, not a one of them mentioned Ahsoka's name, or the fact that she was a Jedi.

The Inquisitor's wrist beeped again, this time it appeared to be some kind of communication. A holo floated above his wrist. From a distance, Ahsoka could only see that it was text of some kind. He swiped through a few holopages, then turned to leave.

Ahsoka slipped down from her perch and made her way back to the Red Drexl, just in case the Inquisitor came back to check on them. She made her way to the padded pilot's chair in the cockpit and put her feet up to watch. The Inquisitor went straight to his ship, and a moment later the ship's systems started powering up.

"Hey," said Jyssa as she walked into the cockpit, "that's my chair. Nobody sits in the comfy chair but me. And get your feet off the console. That's a captain's prerogative."

Ahsoka put her feet down. "Sorry, I was just trying to keep tabs on the Inquisitor. Looks like he's heading out."

"Good riddance."

"He got a message right before he left. I'm worried he may have actually gotten a lead on another Jedi."

Jyssa shrugged and said, "So, what do you think you can do about it?"

"I don't know. But I don't intend to let him find any other Jedi if I can help it."

Jyssa snorted and shook her head, "Only a kriffing Jedi would risk their life to save a random person who may or may not even exist. Remember, I can't take the ship up until the students are ready to go home."

"You've got a swoop on board. I'll pay for the fuel."

"You know you don't have to do that. You can take it. Just please, bring it back in one piece." Jyssa gave a wry grin and said, "Please come back in one piece yourself, too."

The two watched as the Inquisitor's Baudo lifted off, banked to the north, then rocketed off. Jyssa followed it on the sensors.

"It looks like its heading for Sandrale city, eighty kilometers to the north," said Jyssa. "Shouldn't take too long on speeder."

"I'll fuel it up. Thanks, Captain. I'll be back before you know it."

"Good. But in the meantime... out of the comfy chair."