AN: Just wanted to say to 'ancientdragonduelist' that Ahsoka's attempted kidnapping was so easy for reasons that are more complicated than they seem, which will be revealed later on in the story.

Chapter 11

Several weeks had passed since the incident with the man, who they unsurprisingly found out was an associate of the prisoners, infiltrating the Temple – again. And, since her attempted kidnapping, Anakin had stuck to Ahsoka like glue, spending more time at their apartment at the temple in just one week then he had in his entire career.

Ahsoka had noticed her Master becoming more and more distressed as time passed by, choosing to visit the Chancellor as lot more than previously, however – due to his trust issues – he would always force her to come along with him and then make her sit outside and wait for him, sometimes they would be hours. It was rather frustrating to say the least.

It would be a lie to say that the past few weeks had no redeeming points though, Ahsoka had found that – whilst it still had a fragile undertone – her bond with her Master felt fuller and stronger than it had in months, perhaps due to the fact that he was around her more and she didn't feel quite as neglected.

The Council had decided that Ahsoka and Anakin would be taken out of the action for a few months, as her Master had new responsibilities - as he was the Chancellor's own personal representative on the Council – and they had deemed her a target of the prisoner and his friend's organisation, which they found out to be called Vipera, a relatively unknown group that had just cropped up and begun causing trouble earlier in the year. They had made quite the name for themselves and they were capable, they had proven this by infiltrating the temple, not once but twice.

Ahsoka couldn't help but feel dejected, she was so easily captured, wasn't she supposed to be a Jedi? Well, she was pretty pathetic one if she got her ass handed to her by a civilian.

Ahsoka furrowed her brow, although, now she thought about it, that man wasn't a typical citizen. He was a fantastic fighter, that much was obvious, but – what she hadn't noticed in the heat of the battle – was that he fought her too easily. Looking back on it, he didn't seem to struggle at all; in fact, it was as if he knew exactly where she was going to strike and exactly what she was going to do.

And how did he know where she was, he had slipped in through a window. The temple was absolutely massive and it was almost impossible to figure out what window belonged to what room from the outside. Something was very wrong. She could feel it, something told her that – maybe – this man wasn't quite as mortal as she thought he was.

Ahsoka slumped boredly through the halls of the temple, confined there by her overbearing Master, she looked at the sky high columns in the place she'd once thought of as open and free, now they made her feel like she was living in a prison.

She was Togruta, she couldn't go on like this, she couldn't remain cooped up inside, it wasn't natural for her. It wasn't. Slowly, but surely, it was driving her crazy; she could feel her mind boiling in the confinements of the walls of the temple. She couldn't stand it.

The man who had attempted to kidnap her had been identified as one Carcino Homille, with throngs of murders and charges of assault lined up behind him, no-one had been too upset when her Master reported he was killed, although he neglected to inform the Jedi of who gave the order for his brains to be blown out, he simply told them the clone open fired, because he was considerate like that. The clone wasn't disciplined, though, in fact, he was commended for 'ridding the streets of such a monster', it was alright for them, they weren't the ones that had his blood splattered all over them.

The prisoner, Cashell Marcus, was also given the same charges and was due to be executed by firing squad, by order of the chancellor, and as much as she believed he deserved it, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of something unidentifiable – guilt, perhaps? – no matter what they did, she couldn't bring herself to agree with the idea of killing a human being. Unlike her Master, whose eagerness for the execution was slightly disturbing.

Being a target was no fun at all, she missed being free to move about, but – according to her Master – she had to stay with an adult at all times, however – in a fit of teenage rebelliousness – she had purposely chosen to leave their quarters without being overseen, just to prove to him that the columns weren't about to jump to life and kidnap her.

Ahsoka sat down on a window ledge, looking out at the city pensively, when had things all gone to pot? She had been targeted by a crime organisation whom they had no information about, one that was so easily able to infiltrate the temple, and that's what scared people most, that they so easily found their way in.

She had to admit, she was slightly frightened, these people had made capturing her their top priority when she had Cashell captured and arrested, and then Carcino was killed because of her and her Master, so she was pretty sure that hadn't earned her any brownie points with them.

"Ahsoka Tano?" A youngling, no older than 11 or 12, uncertainly approached her.

"That's me." Ahsoka hopped down from the window ledge with ease, awaiting the approaching child.

"I have a package for you, there was no sender's address." The youngling held out the small package in question.

"Have you scanned it for any dangers?" Came Ahsoka's weary query, she'd been down this road before, nothing good ever came of mysterious packages.

"Yes, I am an official temple post regulator" The young boy sounded offended, before adding – in a haughty tone, "It's basic protocol."

"Of course." Ahsoka stifled a laugh at the snooty boy.

Ahsoka accepted the small brown package, turning it over in her hands, well, if experience told her anything, it was too light to be a bomb. That was a relief. And, ruling bomb off the list, it only left 397 ways the packages could bring about death…or serious injury/maiming.

The youngling haughtily walked away, head in the air as if her comments had been a serious insult, Ahsoka shook her head in amusement, she had never been that bad. She didn't know what Skyguy had to complain about, she could've been the poster girl for 'angels of the universe.' There was no way she'd ever been that obnoxious and snooty.

Ahsoka ripped open the edge of the package; beyond curious at what was inside, as a Jedi Padawan she couldn't quite say she was frequented with packages, especially since Jedi weren't allowed personal possessions, so this was quite exciting for her. Who knew, maybe she had won the lottery or something?

A small datachip fell out, so much for the lottery, uninteresting and small in size, nothing special. She stopped for a moment, wondering if her Master had ordered her a new one, after all hers never really survived past the first day let alone long enough to store information. She had an urge to plug it into a datapad, an unexplainable urge to see if there was any data already on it.

Ahsoka turned carefully and slowly, her eyes still fixated on the small chip, and began to walk back towards her quarters. Maybe she should check this thing out.

Almost half an hour later, Ahsoka finally made it back to her room, having taken extra caution to avoid bumping in any Master or Knights who knew of her restriction to her quarters unless accompanied by an adult - her Master was such a bother - she didn't need or want a lecture and she definitely didn't need someone grassing her up to her Master.

She sat back, datapad in hand as the chip loaded up and began to transfer information, slowly filling a small loading bar. A slight ping erupted from the machine when the chip had successfully transferred the data.

A small box screen popped up onto her desktop and then a room suddenly appeared on the screen.

"Ahsoka Tano."

Ahsoka furrowed her brow slightly, disturbed by the voice that had just called her name. Maybe she was just going crazy; she had warned people it would happen when she'd started to forget her lightsaber somewhat frequently. Yeah, that must be it, she was just going crazy. No-one was calling her name.

She looked down at her datapad, the small black box was still invading the screen, refusing to close when she touched the small 'x' in the corner of the box, it was just being stubborn.

She jumped back in her seat, terrified beyond belief, when a bearded man suddenly appeared in the box, unkempt and scruffy to say the least. His hair, which could have once been brown, was black from dirt and matted together from neglect, giving him a rough fearful appearance, his eyes were an icy blue, as cold as the wintry temperatures on Hoth. His face was adjourned by numerous scars, all telling their own tales, each one adding this fear that garnered in her gut when she looked at him. Whoever he was, he was important, she knew that. Some big underworld boss perhaps?

"I'm sure you've figured out that this chip is acting as a link for us to have a secure little conference."

Ahsoka sat up, lifting her datapad a little higher so she could be at eye-level with the man, forcing her fear down, it would do her no good letting him know that she was frightened. That would not help her at all, nope, she would be assertive, she was a Jedi. Jedi don't get scared.

"Who are you?" She demanded of the man intruding on her desktop.

"That is none of your concern, whilst others may have told you of all their plans when you confront them, you will find I am not that stupid." He told her, cruelly mocking the teen.

Ahsoka's eyes flittered to the tattoo peeking out of his scraggy off-white shirt, the coiling art that seemed familiar to her. She couldn't see all of it but the little she did see was familiar, the coiled up snake, looking ready to viciously jump out and mercilessly attack. Where had she seen it before? It hit her like a speeder: Cash, Cash had that exact same tattoo, if her memory served her correctly.

"Are you with Vipera?" She surmised intelligently, assuming the tattoo was some form of mark for their little gang.

"I see you're more resourceful then I thought, you will be of great use to me."

"Forget it, whatever scheme you have cooked up." Ahsoka told the man irritably. "If you're a part of that organisation then you are an enemy of mine."

"I'm not just a part of the organisation, I own it."

"Then I will hunt you down and kill you." Ahsoka clenched her fists as her anger raged. "You set your goons on my friends, younglings, and I'll make sure you receive justice."

"There's your assassin's spirit, you will prove even more helpful than any of us anticipated, there's more darkness in you than expected."

Ahsoka bristled; shaking slightly from her annoyance before she regained control, wanting to prove him wrong about her, she was nothing like an assassin, how dare he say that there was even an inkling of darkness within her. She was a Jedi for peats sake; she was a member of a light-inclined group.

She frowned, folding her arms over her chest before snapping. "What do you want?"

"Your service, I believe that your Jedi skills could be of great help to my business." Came his simple reply, being unforthcoming with information.

"What service?"

"That will only be divulged when necessary."

"What if I refuse?" Ahsoka asked boldly, her eyes glaring into the screen.

The image faded out, replaced by a video recording of…Padme's apartment? Well that wasn't a very good threat, if the Senator wasn't even there and they planned to blow the place up then she didn't mind. As long as the place was deserted she didn't care, as long as Padme was safe it didn't disturb her.

Ahsoka was about to speak and tell the man of her unimpressed state but seconds later Padme walked into the screen, followed by…her Master? Yes, that was definitely him, Ahsoka's mouth dropped open a little, his arms were coiled around her waist as he whispered in her ear, eliciting chuckles from the Senator.

"Rest assured." The voice talked over the video recording. "This is all live; looks like your precious Master has some skeletons in the closet." She could sense he wasn't lying, it was live.

He waited a moment before continuing to speak, playing on the young girl's attachment to her guardian. "I have men waiting at his position as we speak. It would take very little for me to press the button next to me, the button which will instruct them to kill him."

"You leave him alone." Ahsoka growled instantaneously, baring her teeth in an animalistic way. "If anything happens to either of them then I'll kill you myself."

"You help me and I help you." He chuckled darkly. "But if you refuse I will have him slaughtered."

"You won't, he's too strong, he'll easily fight you guys off." Ahsoka replied cockily. "You won't stand a chance."

In protest to that statement, the force let out a flash of warning, a electric-like pulse that jolted through Ahsoka's body in forewarning.

"Do you really want to put that to test?" The tone of voice in which the man phrased that to her scared the young Togruta, it made her blood run cold, he knew something she didn't. He had something up his sleeve. "Are you willing to sacrifice the closest thing you've ever had to a family? You've underestimated us before and all that came from it was death, are you really going to risk it, little girl?"

He had her there, he knew exactly where to strike, exactly what to say and do to get her to conform. Ahsoka liked to think she was an alright Jedi, she wasn't selfish, she wasn't fearful for her own life…but the lives of her friends, no, she couldn't ever risk them. She guessed she had a bit of an attachment problem; she couldn't help but become bonded to the people around her…her Master, Padme…all her friends.

Like Master, like Padawan, apparently…judging by that video.

Ahsoka had sworn to protect him, especially after all these awful visions, what if she didn't comply and they killed Padme? Her Master would lose it, which could be how he turned, if she didn't help them it might lead them to that awful future she was seeing. She couldn't let that happen.

Ahsoka watched, tears brimming in her eyes, as her Master kissed the Senator – the seemingly pregnant senator – putting his hands on her cheeks affectionately before kissing her again. They looked so happy; she hadn't seen her Master smile like that in so long. She couldn't just let him die, she'd never be able to live with herself. Her Master was the closest thing she'd ever had to a father; she couldn't lose him, not him.

A treacherous tear rolled down her face, they'd die, if she didn't do what this man wanted, he would kill them just as easily as he murdered her friends, with no second thought. She couldn't put them at risk. Not ever.

"You…I…alright…just…fine." She conceded, wiping her tears away quickly." You just leave them alone, you leave them alone."

The video feed of her Master and Padme disappeared, replaced by the man, a cruel look of taunting mockery plastered across his face as he regarded the teen. He had won, they both knew this, he'd threatened her with the one thing she couldn't stand losing and, just as predicted, she had folded.

She had sold her soul to the devil, all to protect her Master and Padme.

"You go to your Jedi, you tell anyone and we'll kill them both." He warned her darkly, all humour gone from his face, misinterpreting her silence for indecisiveness.

"I won't." Ahsoka sniffled slightly, trying to hide her fear underneath a cold demeanour, hiding behind a mask of anger. "You keep away from them, or I'll kill you."

The man only smiled, a scary looked which seemed demented and twisted on his scarred face. "You can try, my dear, meet me in the 'Rusty Cabin', you have 30 minutes."

Then the screen cut off.

What the hell is a Rusty Cabin, was the first thing to run through Ahsoka's mind, followed by her strong and assertive belief that she completely and utterly screwed, if they didn't kill her then her Master certainly would.

But she couldn't refuse him, she just couldn't risk them. It was against her strict upbringing but she found that she had an urge to protect them. This was unprecedented. She was beginning to understand why the council forbade attachments, in the end all they brought you was pain and difficulty.

The force seemed to have taken a worried air to it, as if it too feared for the lives of the Senator and her Master, the force seemed to have Vipera listed as a significant threat. But why? Were they really that powerful? And if they were, how? How did an organisation like that hold a candle to the Jedi order?

Ahsoka had a feeling that Vipera could do more than hold a candle to the skills of the order, deep down she knew that they were something new – different – and they were most certainly something to be feared.

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