Writer's Notes: I wanted to have a go at some Star Wars short stories before diving into any bigger projects. So here is my first Star Wars short. There isn't really a plot, I just wanted to write something. My only target was to write a story about Ahsoka. I really like Ahsoka as a character and I'm excited to hopefully write a lot more of her, particularly once I've seen how the last season of Clone Wars uses her. I thought between the old seasons and the new season was an interesting time to set it. The idea I had was to show the literal journey (in my head I actually pictured a train) from Ahsoka's old life to her new one. As I wrote it, I realised something I wanted to do to the Star Wars universe in this piece of writing and that was to add an unforgiving gritty realism to it. I don't know if it works or if you can even tell from this piece but that's something I was aiming for. The title is lyrics from a song - the song didn't inspire it but I realised after I'd written it and wanted a title that it seemed to fit exactly the feel I was looking for. Runaway Train by Soul Asylum - give it a listen.
It was five hours into a cold morning on Coruscant. Alongside the platform at Mos Kier Spaceport stood the shuttlecraft mockingly known by the locals as the 666-Descender. The old, rusty shuttle boasted that it had a kitchen (an uncleaned sink in the corner), sleeping arrangements (a few bunks less comfortable than the rear end of a bantha), and entertainment (a homeless twi'lek girl, paid in scraps of food to dance without her clothes on and sing badly).
By the step leading up to the platform stood a young Rodian lieutenant, resplendent in Republic uniform, conversing with a small, thin figure, cloaked so that nothing was visible but big blue eyes and a strip of orange skin around them.
It was freezingly cold, and Lieutenant Dosco didn't envy this weary traveller. He emphasised the polished words from his lips just to emphasise that he wasn't like her. Not that he knew anything about her except where she was going. There were always rumours about which disgraced senators and fallen crime lords would be making the descent each week. This week there was even rumours of an exiled Jedi floating around. And then this little stranger had come.
"The shuttle leaves in twenty minutes." Dosco droned. "In two hours, you will arrive in the undercity." Dosco had less polite words for the undercity but he wasn't allowed to use them. It wasn't the first time he'd said these words and it would be far from the last time. "Good," the newcomer agreed.
Dosco looked at the intended passenger curiously. He'd overheard part of her conversation before she reached the platform. Bumping into a white-skinned alien woman that Dosco didn't recognise the species of, she'd apologised profusely. The offended party's eyes had grown wide and he'd quite distinctly heard her say "it's you!" before the cloaked figure had shushed her urgently. It wasn't unusual for the passengers to want to hide their identity, far from it, but what Dosco had heard the woman say next had intrigued him.
"You saved my children."
The cloaked girl had muttered something too quietly for Dosco to hear it and waved the woman away, approaching him on the platform instead at that point. He wondered who she was beneath that cloak: was she young and beautiful? Had she managed to ruin her life so early? Was she desperate enough for a saviour that a Rodian lieutenant stood in the cold might do for her?
He dismissed that thought as quickly as it came. Perhaps under that cloak she was horribly disfigured from some misguided act of heroism. Maybe she was an old hag and the woman who accosted her had been mistaken. It didn't matter. She was going to the undercity now, where if she was beautiful she would soon be disfigured, and if she wasn't then she'd be tossed away within minutes of arrival.
"Do you intend to stay or are you just visiting someone?" Dosco took his chance to gleam any information he could from her. "I'll be there for a few days at least," she answered him politely, with a voice that sounded young, and just a little bit naïve. Dosco laughed at that. A few days would be more than enough for her to fall prey to any number of unsavoury characters down there. He had the privilege of seeing this shuttlecraft both leave and return, but he rarely saw any of the passengers manage to return with it.
A cold blow of air blasted down the platform, striking both of them. The figure clutched her cloak tightly, refusing to let go. Dosco simply sniffed and waiting for the breeze to quieten again. When it did, the girl's hand stretched out towards Dosco and he couldn't help taking a moment to examine the ticket she handed him. He'd never actually seen a ticket for this transport before. If they were already being forced to go to the undercity, it just seemed cruel to make them pay for it as well.
Dosco nodded his approval and the figure slipped past him onto the shuttlecraft. He was sure he heard her mumble "thanks" as she brushed past him too, which was another first for the lieutenant. With a terrific jerk, the transport lifted itself up off the platform, creaking dangerously as it did. Dosco turned away from it, standing to attention. Only now did he realise how cold he really was.
Inside the transport, Ahsoka Tano risked revealing herself. The Togruta girl caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window, despite how steamed up and smudged it was. She could almost believe nothing had changed in the last few days from looking at herself now, seeing the same bronzed-orange skin, with the same pattern of white markings like a border around her face. Her wide blue eyes and soft features still looked so young, so unchallenged. Her white and blue lekku still sat on her head like a crown, a testament to her arrogance, the two end-points gently touching her collarbone. But everything had changed.
On the inside, her once hopeful heart had turned cold. Her bones felt old and tired even if they didn't show it. War takes its toll on all of us. Ahsoka risked a glance around at the other passengers on the shuttlecraft: there were only two. Neither of them looked like people she would want to sit next to: one a Devaronian sat in the corner, cast in shadow, feet planted firmly on the ground with his legs spread wide apart, while he poked at something in his mouth with a toothpick, the other a human pacing anxiously up and down, a large red scar over his right eye, half a nostril missing, and wearing a pale white tunic but which was stained with patches of red and brown.
The whole ship shuddered violently throughout the whole journey, making the twi'lek who was allegedly there for their entertainment stumble wildly around as she tried to dance. Ahsoka had whispered to her to just sit down since nobody was paying her much attention but she had simply glared at her and continued with her tragic dance so Ahsoka kept her mouth shut for the rest of the journey.
Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief when the ship finally landed, even it was loudly and unevenly. The doors slowly cranked open, and the Devaronian leapt to his feet, striding confidently out. He winked at Ahsoka as he passed her which made her feel distinctly queasy. The human didn't seem to notice they'd landed and kept pacing, muttering something to himself about books and equations. Ahsoka handed the twi'lek some of the few credits she had left, hoping there was enough there it seemed like kindness and gratitude rather than an insult. Then she pulled her cloak back around her, secured the hood in position to hide her face, and cautiously stepped off.
Within seconds she was surrounded by a crowd of street wretches, eager to see the new girl. Some were waving what they claimed were maps at her, offering them for prices that varied from 10 credits to 500. Others held out their hands, begging for anything she had spare. Ahsoka wished she had something to give them. After a few moments, a Republic guard stepped in and shoo-ed the crowd away. He didn't offer Ahsoka an apology. He didn't pay her any attention at all.
Ahsoka sighed. It was a long way from the lifestyle of an upper-city Jedi apprentice but she supposed she would have to get used to it. She'd chosen to walk away. This was her life now. It was the only life she could afford.
She found herself coughing, choking even, on the bitter smog-filled air as she left the spaceport. She hadn't left the planet but somehow she felt like she'd entered a different world. "Fresh meat," a voice growled from the shadows near her. Ahsoka braced herself as the figure emerged to square up to her. Whoever he was, he was covered in burns and his flesh was so melted that Ahsoka couldn't even identify what species he was. "You got two options," he spat at her. Ahsoka grimaced and wiped the drops of saliva from her face. "Either you pay, and you can go on your way," he grinned a horrible vindictive smile with far too many teeth, "or you don't pay, and I get to keep you. What's it gonna be?"
Ahsoka didn't like either of the options presented to her, so she presented him with one of her own. Her elbow flew to his face, crashing into those rows of rotting teeth and definitely dislodging a few. He stumbled back, surprised, and she pressed her advantage, leaping into the air and kicking out at him. Her heel caught in the chest, and her knee then rose to strike him on the chin. He snarled and waved his hand at her like a claw, but she caught his wrist and twisted until she heard it pop. He howled in pain.
He fell to his knees, tears welling in his eyes as he tried to sob away the pain. Ahsoka crouched down in front of the brute, face hardened. She could have used a Jedi mind trick and just sent him away, but she wasn't a Jedi anymore so she didn't see why she should have to. The truth was, she wanted to blow off some steam. For a second, she thought about ending his miserable existence, then she caught herself. She might not be a Jedi, but she wasn't a monster. She wasn't going to let the undercity bring her down to its level.
"You've got one option," Ahsoka's eyes met his so she knew he was listening, "Run. And don't come back." The man nodded, struggling to his feet, and disappeared back into the darkness, presumably back to wherever he'd come from. Ahsoka straightened up and brushed herself down. After a moment's consideration, she pushed her hood back down and let what little light there was available shine on her face.
She wasn't a stranger in a new world. She was Ahsoka Tano. She was going to earn some credits, hopefully enough to buy a speeder, and she was going to build herself a life away from the Jedi Temple. Away from the war. She wasn't going to let this miserable excuse for a universe change her into something she wasn't.