Chapter Twenty-Five: Duplicity

By many accounts, standards, and tests in various areas, Vader was nothing short of a genius. However, the duplicity of Ahsoka Tano continued to confound him. Loyal yet willing to stand between him and his goals. His ally where it counted in the grand scheme of events yet willing to be his adversary when it suited her. A trait, he grudgingly admitted, that she'd always had and hadn't lost even after renouncing the Jedi and raising his children. If anything, her renouncement and the forging of her own path made that duplicity all the more apparent. Today, she chose to stand against him as an enemy, if ever a reluctant one, in her foolish pursuit of saving the Jedi who remained from his wrath.

If it were any other Jedi, Vader might not be so infuriated.

When she shrugged in answer to his question, he growled, "Then if you will not assist me, stay out of my way."

"Yeah," Ahsoka said, standing her ground as her stance shifted just slightly. Not to fight him, but as not to be surprised if he decided to Force her out his path, Vader surmised. "Not going to be able to do that one, my lord."

Vader bristled at her ability to turn a title of honor and respect into a mocking insult adding fuel to the burning fire of the rage he already had towards her.

"Ahsoka," he warned.

"We've had this conversation before. I won't stand by and let you kill the Jedi."

"And you must have forgotten the part where I said you would try, but I would not allow you to get in my way. I thought we would both at least agree on Barriss Offee's destruction."

He'd hit a nerve with that one, the fact given away by her inability to contain the conflict she had over the other former padawan's survival and the history the two had together. While he didn't allow himself to ruminate or think about things from his destroyed former life, Ahsoka was the one exception he allowed himself regarding that rule. A necessity created from their partnership. So he drew on that knowledge; the knowledge of the conflict she experienced after escaping punishment and officially being exonerated for the crime but still guilty in the eyes of many; the knowledge that her increasing recklessness, infamy, and fame during the last year of the war were her way of trying to reprove herself; the knowledge of the anger he'd sensed from her as though it were his own after finding out how carefully the Senate, the military, and the Jedi Council decided Barriss' case. He let those memories stoke his rage and inspire him to do what his former self had been too weak and shackled by Jedi principles to do.

"I won't let you destroy her," she said.

"You would choose to stand against me to protect her?" he spat.

"This isn't about Barriss," Ahsoka said calmly. She continued quickly, "This is about you and me."

"How so?"

"You were right. We are the same," she admitted. "I have the same hate and rage that you do. I've had it for a long time. And it blinded me at one point. I may not have been at the temple cutting the Jedi down, but I was right there on Coruscant and didn't feel all those deaths. I didn't even feel that you had turned to the dark side. I won't let that happen again. We may be the same, but it's because I know we are that I'm not going to let my hate and rage control me. The Jedi might have been wrong, but what you're doing is just as wrong. It's no better than what you're hunting down Barriss for."

"I am nothing like that traitor."

"Aren't you?"

"That's enough talking from you," Vader declared as he lit his lightsaber. He would have to sort out whatever it was that Ahsoka had gotten into her head later. Right now, he had a Jedi to catch. "Get out of my way, Ahsoka, or I will make you."

Somehow, he'd missed that her lightsabers were already in her hand like she'd been expecting that ultimatum. The white blades came to life in her hands. White, as a sign of her neutral alignment. White because she gave her allegiance to neither the Jedi nor the Sith. White, because she forged her own path, even if it meant going against him.

"I figured that out," Ahsoka said, a cocky smile playing on her lips as she shifted her stance once again, twirling one of her sabers into the reverse grip she favored. Then, she leaped into the air, closing the distance between them, and landed in from on him.

They struck at the same time, Ahsoka forced to pull away first knowing that not even she had the power to go against him head-on, instead taking advantage of her speed to dodge his strikes. It was a lesson he'd taught her early on since she'd been so small when he met her, something that she still took advantage of now being that she was still slighter compared to his bulk.

"You delay the inevitable," he said to her as she ducked his blade.

"A delay is all I need."

"That is nonsense. Either you're with me, or you're against me," Vader growled as he continued to draw on his rage.

"I am with you. I've always been with you, even when I shouldn't have. But if you're going to be Emperor, I won't let you continue Palpatine's agenda. That starts with keeping the Jedi away from you."

"To what end. We defeat Palpatine, and then we have to deal with the Jedi who won't stand for another Sith emperor?" Vader asked, using the Force to stay one of Ahsoka's strike.

"You betrayed them."

"They betrayed me first. They betrayed you! And you would give them the chance to do it again."

"I'm giving you another chance, aren't I?"

"I never betrayed you," Vader said, getting the best of her through the Force as her resistance to his Force grip crumpled, and he tossed her backward.

He could be accused of many things. Most of which were true, and that he stopped caring were true a long time ago. Monster? Probably. Killer? Definitely. Ruthless? Cruel? Unforgiving? Certainly so. But a traitor wasn't one of them. His former, weaker self had done everything that the Order and the Republic asked; everything that those around him asked, even when it wasn't the way they wanted him to, even when it wasn't what he wanted. And what had he gotten to show for it except their constant reprimand and mistrust? And then because they didn't trust him, because somehow Ahsoka's reputation had been stained by her proximity to him, they'd turned around and betrayed her when there had been no evidence of her betrayal. No. Vader had betrayed no one. He'd just turned around and given everyone what they had given him. And he planned to be as unforgiving to everyone else as they had been to him.

"I am avenging us," Vader said as he made his way to her while she staggered to her feet. "I am avenging you."

"And I'm telling you that's not what I want. You're not listening. Just like you didn't listen to Padmé."

Either her precognition had gotten better, or she fully expected the vicious strike he made at her because her sabers were up to block before he was even halfway to completion with the strike. Despite his reaction to her words and now being on the defense, Ahsoka kept going.

"This is the difference between us. I hate them. I'm as angry at them as you are. But yours is selfish. If it weren't, you'd listen to me. I won't give them the power of making me like them. And I won't give them that kind of power over you. So keep hating Vader. Keep raging. But I'm going to be there fighting you to direct it toward something good every step of the way. If I'm going to help you become emperor, I won't let you be a slave to Palpatine's legacy," Ahsoka declared.

"You will certainly try," Vader said, beating down Ahsoka's defenses finally. He lifted her off the ground by the throat and then threw against the ship she and her crew had abandoned. She crumpled to the ground, but she would live. She'd survived worse.

He created a Force shield around himself to help him fight through the wind and rain that had worsened since the beginning of his confrontation with Ahsoka. He'd just made it over the ridge when the Force told him to turn around.

Ahsoka had gotten up, managed to sprint across the rocky terrain, and lunged at him.

Rather than blocking his saber with hers, she grabbed his wrist, knocking them both off-balance, causing them to fall down the other side of the ridge. When they landed, he tossed her off and away, red blade ignited. Always rising to the challenge, even one they both knew she wouldn't win, she stood with her two white ones. Vader resigned himself to having to use the Force to knock her out and later taking her with him once he dealt with the Jedi she fought so hard to protect. Large red blaster bolts over coming out of the dark grey clouds toward him forced Vader to have to leap back and deflect the attack instead.

"Well," Ahsoka managed through ragged breaths. "Look like my ride's here."

"Ahsoka," Vader heard a voice, likely one of her many special agents, shout.

With some effort judging by how she shakily stabilized herself, Ahsoka leaped into the air and onto the ramp of the ship that appeared in the clouds. Vader reached out to try to pull the ship towards him, but Ahsoka was ready for that too, pushing back against him with the Force and holding him off long enough to allow the ship to escape the reach of his pull and eventually, out the atmosphere.

Vader tightened his fist as he sensed Ahsoka's presence leave the atmosphere, taking Barriss Offee with her. She claimed that his hate and anger blinded him, but her optimism blinded her to the reality that, one, even if he'd wanted to stop his pursuit of the Jedi, he couldn't do that in a way that wouldn't make Sidious suspicious, and, two, even if he did stop his pursuit to end the Jedi, they wouldn't stop their pursuit to end him. That was just the order of things when it came to the Sith and the Jedi. The Sith were ambitious and sought power. The Jedi stood in their way because of their misinformed notion that they had some kind of monopoly of the Force, seeking the same power and influence that they criticized the Sith for. If he allowed the Jedi to live, they'd only continue to cause chaos in his empire.

He stormed back through his ship, using the Force to protect him from the elements as he pondered exactly how he was going to rectify this situation. There was no threat he could use against Ahsoka to make her stop. He could raise his lightsaber against her all day, and she'd raise hers right back. She could take a beating and would fight him to the death if she needed to, but he just wanted her out of his way in this matter. Not dead. So continued physical altercations were out.

He had to outsmart her. Not outsmart her in finding the Jedi, but somehow use her insistence on helping the Jedi to suit his purposes. Make her think she'd gotten her way when really, she'd played right into his hand.

Vader paused, walking as an idea came to mind.

No doubt, Ahsoka was just as fed up with fighting him over the fate of the Jedi as he was, and he was certain that once she was in a secure place, she'd be comm'ing him to let him know of her displeasure about this outing. And it was when she was like this that she stopped being so stubborn and began to try to initiate reasoning with him to go halfway. Leaving the Jedi Order. Luke and Leia. Destroying Palpatine.

He wasn't oblivious. He knew that Ahsoka had figured out how to appeal to his worse nature to get her way. When she did this time, he'd make sure to appeal to her weaknesses, her fears, and the unpleasant truths she didn't like to admit to herself. Then she'd inadvertently help him in his goal.

He smirked in satisfaction with himself. Now all there was to do was wait.


Barriss and Jace made a huge fuss over Ahsoka when the ramp to the ship closed, and she collapsed on the floor. The captain of the ship and the leader of the rebel cell that was their pickup, a young zabarak woman, let them know that she was taking them to their base where Ahsoka could get medical help.

"I'm fine," Ahsoka insisted. "Just need a little sleep."

"Are you kidding?" Jace asked.

"He's right. I think you have a broken rib," Barriss said gently from where she was gently pressing Ahsoka's sides.

"And probably a lot more considering you fought Vader!"

The zabarak captain came all the way out from the cockpit, leaving the piloting to her co-pilot and said, "You fought Vader?"

"No big deal."

"No big deal! Fighting Vader is like having your death certificate signed. You've seen the reports. You know how many Jedi have tried to fight him and lost. Jedi that we couldn't save," Jace said and then turned to the zabarak woman. "Your base is good. Anywhere that will take us with a functioning medical bay is good."

Ahsoka didn't have the energy to fight that. And maybe they had a point about needing medical attention because she remembered closing her eyes to try to calm herself, and the next thing she knew, she was waking up in a private medical room.

"Don't even think about getting up. The medical bay here is passable, but they didn't have access to a full bacta tank. So it's going to take you a couple of days longer to heal even with the max strength bacta patches we've been applying," Barriss' voice said.

Ahsoka looked over to where the woman was sorting something in the corner of the room.

"I wasn't thinking about getting up."

Ahsoka heard the smile in the woman's voice as she said, "Maybe. But your Jedi lineage was notorious for their disdain of med bays. And the Jedi healers and field medics hated having to deal with you all as much as you all hated being there."

That was true, Ahsoka thought. Then she gasped and asked, "How long has it been since Bacrana?"

"Three standard rotations."

Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief. Good. She still had time to contact Breha or Diya if she needed to, if not be back on Alderaan on the date she'd promised the twins.

"You should be all set to go in one more rotation or two. I'll be leaving before that," Barriss added. "I just wanted to make sure you'd be alright."

"What changed, Barriss?" Ahsoka asked, as usual, the words tumbling from her mouth before she could contemplate not saying them. "Last time I saw you, you looked ready to burn the Republic and the Jedi Order down. Honestly, I would have been less shocked if you'd become one of the Emperor's inquisitors. But now… now I don't sense any of that in you. So what changed?"

Ahsoka sensed the older woman's surprise at the question but wasn't going to give her any clues to her curiosity now.

Once she got over herself, Barriss looked down, avoiding Ahsoka's gaze as she said, "Nothing, if I'm honest. I still think the Jedi shouldn't have fought in the war, and the Republic did fall but… once I got some space from all the fighting and all the politics, I was able to clear my head and realize what I'd done. I'd accomplished nothing with the bombing. With framing you. Maybe if I had done something different, they would have listened. I know you don't owe me your forgiveness, but I meant it when I said I was sorry. I know I can't take any of it back but I am sorry."

Part of Ahsoka, the part that was still angry that her friend had turned on her, wanted to tell her what she could do with her apologies. But that would be letting her hate and anger control her rather than her controlling it. That would make her fall victim to what Barriss had. To what Vader had. Because that's what they all were in this. Victims, pawns in a larger game where Palpatine had owned the board, and no one had seen what he was doing until it was too late. Even without that, how many times had she wished she'd had the time to whisk Anakin away somewhere with Padmé and Obi-wan where they could all take a step back and clear their heads and think through everything while not in the thick of having to make life or death decisions? How close had she been to snapping like Vader and Barriss had? What would she have done if she hadn't had Luke and Leia to look out for that first year before she saw through the cloud of hate and rage and glimpsed the truth?

Finally, Ahsoka said, "Well, turns out you weren't wrong. The Republic fell. The Jedi were an army unwittingly fighting for the dark side. And no matter what you did, they wouldn't have listened. But I'm listening to you. And if you still want to do something about it, I'm sure I can find you something to do in this rebellion."

Barriss' eyes widened in surprise. "But you said the rebellion would have nothing to do with me."

"I did," Ahsoka said with a shrug. "I changed my mind."

"But—"

"Are you really going to argue with me? You really want me to change my mind again?"

Ahsoka hoped it came across as the tease that she'd meant it to be because, truthfully, she was still debating the gesture. She trusted Barriss even less than she'd trusted Vader when he came back into her life almost three years ago.

At least Vader was fairly predictable. In some twisted way, she could understand how, to him, his actions weren't a betrayal. How he was just trying to protect everyone he cared for without regard for the fact that those same people would rather die before seeing him lose himself like he had. Protecting people he cared for, his inability to let go, that was a fairly obvious weakness that Ahsoka could make sense of. She could find a way to work that out with Vader.

But despite understanding that Barriss was just as much a victim, Ahsoka saw no rhyme and reason to what made the woman tick. And maybe that was because all anyone had known was Barriss, the ideal, by-the-book padawan, and not the real Barriss. Whoever Barriss really was, it didn't matter to Ahsoka now and she had no interest in figuring it out. It just meant that Ahsoka couldn't predict Barriss, and she might potentially be a bigger liability than Vader.

"Don't make me general or a commander. I support your cause, but I can't be on the battlefield again," Barriss stated. It wasn't a demand, but it wasn't a request either.

Ahsoka understood the sentiment. If it weren't for the fact that her and Vader's plan depended partly on her being in a high enough position of influence and control, Ahsoka didn't think she'd have taken up the role of general again either.

"What do you want to do then?"

"You know I used to really believe what the Jedi represented. Before the war. Not harbingers of war but actual peacekeepers."

"So a diplomat then? Or some kind of negotiator? Sort of?" Ahsoka said, already thinking of the positions she could put the woman in. "You would be helpful in recruitment, maybe."

The diplomatic side was something the rebellion was sorely lacking. She wasn't an orator like Padmé had been, and she lacked the tact and finesse with words that Obi-wan had. How many planets and senators had she spoken with over the years that she hadn't been able to push from sympathy with her cause to outright joining because Ahsoka didn't have the delicacy to inspire those already in power.

"We'll talk about it when your ribs and leg are healed," Barriss pointed out.

"My leg?" Ahsoka asked.

"Fracture," Barriss said as she began to head out the room.

Before she left, though, Ahsoka called, "Barriss."

"Yes."

Ahsoka shifted enough to look her former friend in the eye.

"I'm giving you this second chance against my personal instincts because I think we were all used. But if you ever betray me again, you won't have to worry about Vader catching up with you. There will be no place in the universe that you'd be able to hide from me," Ahsoka warned.

Barriss only smiled in response and said, "Somehow, in all these years, you managed to raise a rebellion and keep it hidden from the Empire. I don't doubt you'd keep your promise on that."

When she left, Ahsoka expanded her senses and waited until Barriss was a good distance away, along with anyone else on this remote base, to summon her things with the Force from where they were sitting in the corner. From a compartment on her belt, she took out a hidden comm, tapped the call button, and waited for Vader to pick up. He didn't on the first call. Or the second. Or the third.

She resolved that if he didn't pick up after the fourth attempt, she'd leave him a scathing message. But he picked up, sans the suit. She could feel rage at her permeating even through the comm. Or maybe it wasn't the comm. Maybe it was seeping through their mental bond. She'd have to check it later.

"You kriffing bastard," Ahsoka snapped before he could say anything. "You broke my rib. And fractured my leg. And choked me. And shot down my ship knowing I was on it."

Vader huffed, a dark scowl on his face as he said, "I didn't choke you. I picked you up by the throat and moved you out my way. Regardless, you've experienced and survived far worse, and I taught you how to safely crash land a ship. If you had just stayed out my way, none of that would have happened!"

"I guess now is a bad time to mention that I recruited Barriss for the rebellion, huh?"

Ahsoka felt his anger and the dark side flare so sharply and distinctly that she wondered if anyone on the base felt it or if it were just her.

"It was bad enough that you're saving Jedi. But you recruited her? Of all people?"

"I can deal with Barriss. But we've got to come to some kind of agreement about the Jedi."

"The agreement is that I kill them." Before Ahsoka could protest that, Vader continued, "Do you honestly think they'll just allow you to bring another Sith emperor to power? They'll declare you corrupt. They'll turn on you and then they'll turn on me. And then try to take Luke and Leia from us both."

"You don't know that."

"I do know. We both know. Jedi don't negotiate with the Sith."

Ahsoka could waste time trying to convince him otherwise, but he'd sense her uncertainty. He was right. She was sure Obi-wan had been sent to kill Vader on Mustafar. And even though there had been questions surrounding Dooku's death, the Jedi hadn't seen his demise as any loss. They'd gone in, lightsabers blazing, to kill Sidious without a plan. If tomorrow Vader rose as emperor, and it came out that she helped him, the Jedi might try to kill her. They'd definitely try to kill Vader. And then they'd try to spirit Luke and Leia away to "safety" as not to allow Ahsoka and Vader to continue corrupting them. But Vader wasn't going to be emperor tomorrow. She had time to change the Jedi's minds, and she had time to change Vader's. She had time to get him to see past his fear and hatred. And the best way to start that was to appeal to it.

"You're right. They don't negotiate with Sith usually. But we have to give the Jedi that remain a chance to do something different," Ahsoka explained. "I won't stop you from hunting them. It would be suspicious to the Emperor if you stopped. But you don't stop me from giving them sanctuary. Give me some kind of heads up so I can get to them. And when you become emperor, if they refuse to cooperate, if they prove you right… well, at least I'll have them all in one place for you."

At those words, she felt his darkness in him come to heel.

"You're just delaying the inevitable."

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm right. Even if I'm wrong, won't it at least be worth seeing the looks on their faces when they find out that they helped bring yet another Sith emperor to power?" Ahsoka asked with a shrug.

She knew the comment would appeal to Vader's dark humor. And he knew she knew that because she could see the corner of his lips twitch as he tried to hide his smirk.

"Fine. I agree to your terms."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. Something told her this had been too easy. Something told her that Vader had planned this conversation. Something told her that she'd been played like an expert sabaac player played the other players around the sabaac table. The all too pleasant tone with which he said his next sentence gave him away.

"Wishing you a speedy recovery, Ahsoka. My destroyer is scheduled for mandatory maintenance soon. I'll send you the dates and the coordinates within the week so you can bring the twins."

"Vader," she exclaimed, but the comm winked out, signaling he'd disconnected.

She huffed and leaned back in her bed with her arms crossed, feeling like she was his padawan all over again and that he'd somehow managed to one-up her when she'd thought she had the upper hand. And just like back then, she couldn't fight the smile that came to her lips at a game well played, even though she'd lost. Not quite lost. She'd prefer if Vader let go of his vendetta against the Jedi all together, but it was a start.

Ahsoka would be sure to beat Vader next time.

End of Part Three


AN: So there's a lot revealed here. Most importantly, we get a lot of insight into stuff going on in Vader's head. Something that's always intrigued me is that though Vader hates himself for messing up at the end of RotS, I never got the sense that he thought he betrayed anyone. I really think he thought that he did everything for everyone and he just wanted everyone to be with and trust him one time but everyone else in his life had a strong enough sense of self to not go along with it. And I've read and studied a lot of media with Vader. We get a lot more of him in the next part of the story because the next part pretty much belongs to him.

The next chapter is an interlude, one of many interludes from the perspective of people other than Vader and Ahsoka and their thoughts on this whole mess, particularly Vader's and Ahsoka's ever-perplexing relationship. I think you'll enjoy the outsider perspective. I enjoyed writing it.

Hope you enjoyed. Review please! I read them all, even when I don't get the chance to reply. Also, thank you for all the favorites and follows. I really did not expect as warm a welcome as I got when I returned to this fandom and this pairing. It continues to motivate me.