Chapter Thirty-Three: Mission

"Remember, Leia—"

"Hold it with both hands, feet spread, lean forward slightly so I won't go backward from the recoil, aim, keep my breaths steady, listen to the Force," Leia repeated sagely.

Ahsoka smiled and readjusted the girl's earmuffs before stepping back and nudging her in the Force to go ahead.

Leia pulled the trigger on the blaster, hitting the practice dummy right in the marking over the heart. She squealed in excitement, jumping and turning to face Ahsoka.

"I hit it!"

"I saw. Good job. Now let's see if you can do it again," Ahsoka suggested.

Leia whirled back around again, and while she adjusted her stance, Ahsoka took a moment to look over at Luke. He was sitting in the corner of the blaster range of the Alderaanian Palace, studying the flight simulator manual for the test he had to take to advance to practical lessons. Ahsoka had never seen him so quiet and studious before. Not to say that he wasn't intelligent. But it was to say that if she didn't know what he was studying for, Ahsoka would be suspicious that he was so quiet.

Two blast shots in a row caught Ahsoka's attention, and she turned back just in time to catch Leia as she stumbled back from the recoil of the consecutive shots.

"Leia."

"I know. One shot at a time. For now," the girl added, rolling her eyes.

Ahsoka laughed. Skywalkers. Always wanting to run before they could even stand.

"Let's try it again," Ahsoka said. "Aim for the head."

Ahsoka was only a little worried about how eagerly Leia did so, but it wasn't any different from the training that she'd received in the Jedi Temple. Learning instant kill points was one of the prerequisites to the more advanced lightsaber training they received further into their initiate training. It was as much to learn how to avoid them as much it was to learn how to hit them if needed, especially once the war came. Besides, if anyone came after Luke and Leia—especially when the reasons would likely have to do with their Force sensitivity and who their parents were—better that Leia learned to shoot to kill so she and brother could live free and uncorrupted another day. Luke—too sweet to want to have anything to do with something that could hurt someone—would drive the getaway speeder, the twins determined together when they had playfully planned a possible future escape. Neither had grasped the seriousness of what they were discussing, and Ahsoka silently prayed to the Force as she listened to them that such a day never came. She'd prepare them just in case anyway.

"Mama," Leia asked suddenly. "What's that vibrating?"

"Vibrating?" Ahsoka repeated. Her hand went to her comm. Nothing from there. Then she remembered that today she had her second comm on her—the one she used to contact Vader. That one was vibrating.

The only reason she had it on her was that it was Empire day. And to keep up the pretense that it was loyal to the Empire as a core planet, Alderaan made a big ado over the Empire celebrations. Like every year, Ahsoka used the palace's many hidden corridors and rooms to remain hidden but kept everything on her that she would need in case she suddenly had to flee the planet.

Soon, Luke and Leia would have to go with their handmaidens to make the appearances that were expected of them as wards of the House of Organa. It was only early morning right now, though, and because she knew that they both hated the celebrations, she'd decided to spend time with them to make up for it. She guessed that would have to be cut short because the only reason Vader would be comm'ing her first rather than sending a message was that it was an emergency.

Vader didn't give her a chance to say anything when she answered the comm. When his image appear above her device in the palm of her hand, he asked, "What intel have you gotten on Eriadu?"

Ahsoka resisted the instinct to tease him for his promptness. Not only had he not messaged her before he comm'd, but he was also wearing the suit. Nowadays, most of their communications were sans the suit. Combined with his abruptness—more than usual anyway—that signaled to Ahsoka that this was no time to joke.

"Nothing lately. If you're talking about the cell there, I haven't gotten any word of any trouble from them in a few weeks since I visited them and smoothed our… misunderstanding over."

A misunderstanding was putting it lightly. Though she tried to be gentle and fair, she'd been swift in her judgment. The punishment included an official censure and temporary probation of the cell's leadership, which included leaving one of her fulcrum agents there to observe their dealings. She was actually due another report from him in a few rotations or so.

A sound came out the voice modulator that might have been a scoff otherwise. Then Vader said, "Oh, you smoothed it over, alright. I just sent you something on your datapad."

Ahsoka reached in her pocket and tapped the notification on the screen. A breaking news video appeared on the flat screen. In big, bold, white, capital letters against a red background, the words "Terrorists Bomb Empire Day Celebrations on Eriadu." In the upper right-hand corner of the screen was the rogue-ish, human leader of the Eriadu cell with his dark blue eyes and matted locks of yellow-blonde hair and beads, looking more like the typical pirate. Ahsoka supposed that was the point of the picture, though.

"Kriff," Ahsoka muttered.

"Mama," Luke said absently, still reading through his manual, "That's a forbidden word."

Ahsoka blinked. She'd forgotten that the twins were there.

"Sorry, little ones," Ahsoka said, shaking her head. "We're going to have to cut things short today. Leave your things here and go find Song and Madison to get you ready for the celebrations today. I'll put everything away."

One of them, if not both, must have sensed the sudden gravity of the situation. That or her tone hadn't come out as cool and calm as it usually did. Either way, Ahsoka didn't get the usual protests she did from them when she had to usher them to doing something they didn't want to. Leia took off her earmuffs and turned the lock on the blaster while Luke closed his manual and dropped it in the corner with his pencil and the datapad he was taking notes on. Then Leia waited for Luke to catch up to her.

"Hi, Daddy," they both chorused.

Somehow, despite the intimidating nature of his suit, Vader's stance softened as he said, "Hello, Luke. Hello, Leia."

The two beamed at the acknowledgment before they both dashed out the room, whispering to each other along the way.

Ahsoka used to Force to make sure the entry was locked before getting back to the pressing matter at hand.

"I didn't authorize that attack. I didn't even know about it," she said immediately.

"I have already gathered that. I'm not calling you to accuse you of anything. I'm calling you to tell you and your rebellion to lay low for a few weeks, maybe even longer than that. Not only was this a high profile attack with heavy casualties on Empire Day, but it happened on Tarkin's home planet, and some of his family was caught up in the casualties. Palpatine and Tarkin are going to be out for blood, at least until this matter is handled. They've already blocked all communications to and from the planet."

Ahsoka agreed with the rebellion laying low for a while. The Alliance Ahsoka ran, while quiet and mostly discreet, was the largest and most organized rebellion threat to Palpatine's power. But there were others. Most of them doing little more than causing minor annoyances that the Empire allowed local planetary forces to handle like the People's Resistance in the Mid-Rim. Some of them, like the Inter-rim Army, were a bunch of pirates and terrorists that the Alliance had clashed with on a few occasions. But Palpatine made no distinction between them. They were all rebels. And when one of them got the attention of the Empire, none of them were safe.

Any group that showed dissent toward the Empire in the next coming weeks would be lumped into the category of whoever had bombed and killed innocent—Mostly. Tarkin's family was far from innocent—civilians on what was supposed to be a day of triumph of celebration.

As for herself, though…

"I've got to go to Eriadu," Ahsoka declared.

"You will do no such thing."

"I will, and you're not going to stop me. I've got to give my people a fair chance to explain what happened."

"Explain? It is very straightforward. They went rogue and planned and executed one of the biggest attacks on civilians since the inception of the Empire."

"You mean outside of the terror you reigned in your early years?" Ahsoka asked blandly. Her intention wasn't to be accusatory. Those years were what they were. But sometimes she had to remind Vader that the only difference between his own dark deeds and the deeds he was quick to punish others for was that his were Imperial sponsored. That and there was no one powerful enough to hold him accountable.

"Those were military operations."

Vader's response was just a second too slow for Ahsoka to believe her comment hadn't had its intended effect. Thus, she didn't argue that point with him any further.

"My people are being accused of a heinous crime. Regardless of whether or not they're guilty, I have a responsibility to deal with this. If I don't do anything, I'm not just giving Palpatine the ammunition he needs to turn people away from the rebellion, but I'm also setting a precedent that I don't try to hear my people out when I have the chance to," Ahsoka argued.

"You have no chance," Vader said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "The blocking communication was just the beginning. Before you could even get to Eriadu from wherever you are, it's going to be so blockaded that it might be easier safer for you to travel to Coruscant."

"You trained me for this. I can get through it."

"I trained you to be able to act in case you found yourself in an impossibly dire situation through no haphazard recklessness of your own. Or no more than normal, anyway. Not for you to voluntarily go alone on a guaranteed suicide mission."

Ahsoka couldn't argue with that. And it was one thing for her to go into such dangerous territory, but another thing entirely for her to ask any of her agents or soldiers to accompany her.

"You're headed there, though," Ahsoka suddenly said.

"I am not presumed dead, nor do I take on the persona of someone wanted by the Empire," Vader said in that terse tone he used when he was using all patience with her.

"No. I'm saying you could take me. To Eriadu. We'll make a rendezvous point on the way. You'll pick me up, and I'll go with you. Still dangerous, but not a suicide."

"No," came the flat response.

"Vader. I'm going to Eriadu. And either I'm going by myself, or you're taking me there."

"Or," Vader said slowly, in a dangerous tone, "you go to Eriadu, I intercept you, and keep you in holding in my flagship under guard until I'm done."

A few years ago, Ahsoka would have dared him, cut the call, and started prepping for her mission, taunting him to hurt her to get his way if he dared. She wasn't so cruel now.

"Look. I get it. Your job is to keep this Empire together long enough for us to beat Palpatine, and then you can reshape it however you want to. And I know what it looks like. It looks like my people went rogue. But how many times have things looked a certain way only for both of us to know there was more to the story. They at least deserve my benefit of the doubt."

"You are being ridiculous."

"It wasn't so ridiculous when you were giving it to me." She didn't have to tell him about what.

Vader paused a few cycles of mechanical breathing before saying, "That's different. I knew you were innocent."

"Did you?"

"I did. I always knew it."

Always because he was one of the few who hadn't given her doubtful looks after everything was supposed to be said and done when she walked through the halls of the temple. And that was before she'd gone and made a name for herself by outright disobeying direct orders from the Council at a pace that rivaled her former master's.

Vader added, "You've been having trouble with these criminals for months now."

"That doesn't mean they don't deserve to be heard. That doesn't mean that they did this. Let me help you investigate. And if they really did this, I'll help you take them into Imperial detainment," Ahsoka offered.

A few more breathing cycles passed before some garbled sound came through the modulator, and Vader said, "I don't know why I ever wanted you as a Sith apprentice. You're too kind to people who don't deserve it."

"So, that's a yes?"

"I'll send you the coordinates," Vader finally said. "Only because I know you're going to go anyway, and you will end up not only needing me to save you but also ruining part of our plan to destroy Sidious. For the record, when this goes catastrophically wrong, I don't like this. I do not like this at all, Ahsoka."

He disconnected the comm.

Ahsoka got the coordinates for rendezvous a few minutes later as she was making her way back to the living quarters of the palace, the privacy of which meant she didn't have to exercise much caution. She found Breha first, in her dressing room getting ready for the day's festivities. Somehow, when Breha looked at her through the mirror at her vanity, she figured out that Ahsoka needed to talk to her.

"Can you give us a moment?" Breha asked as though she needed her handmaiden's permission.

"But milady. Your hair," one of them said.

"I'll help her with it," Ahsoka offered.

The two women nodded and quietly left the room. Ahsoka picked up Breha's brush and began brushing out any remaining curls that the comb her handmaiden ran through it had missed.

"You've certainly come a long way when it comes to human hair," Breha said.

Ahsoka laughed as she put the brush down and picked up the parting comb to part Breha's hair for the traditional braid she always wore on this day. Ahsoka always had a fascination with human hair since togruta were a hairless species (besides eyelashes). But she'd been hopeless with either of her children's hair at first. May taught her how to wash it and keep it soft and brush it when the twins were younger, but she was right back at square one as the twins got older. Especially when it came to Leia's hair. The handmaidens usually took care of it when she was gone, but when Ahsoka was on-planet, she liked to take care of the twins herself. Not for the first time when she was trying to figure out what to do with the girl's long hair did Ahsoka think it would have been better if Padmé had lived instead of her.

Breha, thankfully, took pity on Ahsoka and taught her how to brush and comb out Leia's hair and how to not tug on it too hard and cause her pain. Then Breha taught her a basic braid and sent her holonet videos of different ways she could braid Leia's hair up or pull it back.

As she began to do a four-strand braid on a lock of hair, Ahsoka said, "I've got to leave on an emergency mission in a few hours."

"Does it have to do with Eriadu?" Breha asked knowingly. At Ahsoka's questioning, Breha continued, "It's all over the news. I was hoping it would give us the excuse to cancel all celebrations. But Palpatine thinks doing so would give whoever was behind that attack what they wanted. To make us fear, to disrupt the peace and security."

Ahsoka recognized the tone as the one Breha used when she wanted to roll her eyes, but she was too well trained as a queen for that.

"I think it might have been one of ours. The Empire's blocked all communication on the planet, so I can't get anything to or from them to confirm, which means I have to go there myself," Ahsoka explained as she braided another section.

"It's probably easier for you to get on Coruscant right now."

"That's what Vader said," Ahsoka replied quietly.

"You spoke with him," Breha said, her tone a touch too gentle, the way it always was when she was trying to be subtle about her disapproval. Not that it was helping. Ahsoka already knew exactly what Breha thought of her dealings with Vader.

As far as Breha was concerned, Vader was little better than Ahsoka's verbally and physically abusive co-parent. Ahsoka could see how it appeared that way. But Ahsoka was woman enough to admit that sometimes she was just as guilty of goading Vader into a fight to take out some of her long-simmering anger—not just at Vader but at the galaxy. He was not only an accessible target but a safe one. There was no way she could hurt him, not too bad anyway. And they weren't pointing lightsabers at each other outside the battlefield anymore. Lightsaber duels were just how powerful Force users that were technically on opposite sides resolved disputes when all negotiations failed. Nothing personal. Not usually.

But she and Breha had this argument too many times in the last year and a half. Ahsoka had no hope that today she'd convince the woman anything other than what she already thought about the situation.

"Yeah. He's taking me to the planet to let me investigate," Ahsoka says.

"How did you talk him into that?"

"I…" Ahsoka trailed off.

She'd meant every word about why it was important for her to give the Eriadu cell the benefit of the doubt. Still, she hadn't expected it to change Vader's mind. She fully expected that she'd have to just show up, and he'd use the tractor beam of his destroyer to bring her into his flagship. Then they'd fight and argue until finally, he let her go just because he had no other choice in the matter. But something about what she said changed his mind for no apparent reason.

"I'm really not sure," Ahsoka finally said with a shrug.

Breha actually did roll her eyes that time.

Ahsoka sighed. "Come on, Breha. Vader's not that bad."

"Ahsoka, my friend, I ask this with all the love and respect in my heart for you. But are all Jedi this clueless?" the queen asked, her voice wry.

Ahsoka frowned as she piled the braids in an elegant knot at the top of Breha's head.

"Clueless about what?"

Breha scowled and muttered, "Never mind." Ahsoka wanted to press the matter further, but Breha continued. "So have you figured out how you're going to tell Luke and Leia that you're going to be off-world on their birthday?"

Ahsoka paused.

Kriff.

AN: As promised, the extra chapter. I have been looking forward to posting this arc for months. You're gonna love it. Watch.

Hope you enjoyed! Review please!