Chapter Thirty-Five: Pursuit
"Ahsoka," Vader began, tone conveying a clear warning.
"I know," Ahsoka said, her voice coming out garbled as a result of the voice piece under mask and wraps of her disguise. "Let you do all the talking with the Imperials while I just stand behind you and look threatening."
Despite the fact that her face was covered, Ahsoka gave Vader a cheeky grin. By the mental nudge reinforcing his earlier warnings, Ahsoka was sure Vader knew she was grinning anyway. He turned to face the ramp of the shuttle, the 501st, now colloquially known as Vader's Fist, having already descended down the ramp ahead of them. Without warning, Vader started his descent, but having a decade of following him when he decided he was ready to move, Ahsoka started just in time with him. She stopped in time with him when he met Tarkin after walking through the path his Fist had gone before him.
Ahsoka tuned out the conversation, not caring about whatever respectful pleasantries both men were going over with each other, and surveyed the wreckage of the attack from almost five days ago. Most of the bodies had already been cleared and carried away, but the previously beautiful square was little more than ruins. And though she could easily sense the remnants of the chaotic emotions from the attack, she didn't have the gift of sensing the echoes in such a way that she could see what happened. Whatever there was to find out from the remains of the attack, she learned it all in the briefing Vader gave her.
Taking her focus off the ruins, she scanned the local authorities instead. After a few moments, she spotted a pale-haired human male with green eyes and a thin nose. While Vader continued his conversation, Ahsoka made her way over.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes. You can," Ahsoka said, holding out her hand and showing off her Fulcrum insignia on the flat screen of a discreet wrist comm.
His lips thinned, and Ahsoka got the feeling that he wanted to run away.
"If you try to run, the only one you'll be hurting is yourself," Ahsoka said simply. She was, of course, the one that had just arrived with Darth Vader.
"How do you have that symbol?" he asked lowly.
"The Fulcrum has agents and spies where you'd least expect them. Even Lord Vader's special task force to find Jedi and other Force users." That was only half true. She did have agents and spies in many Imperial task forces, security teams, and military, but none among Vader's inquisitors. Even if they weren't partners and she had tried, they would have quickly been weeded out. This spy didn't need to know that. "Shouldn't be much of a surprise considering you're a captain in the local security forces of this planet. And you're just the one to give me the information I need to give the Fulcrum the information they want about this mission."
"And that is?"
"They," Ahsoka began slowly because run-of-mill members of individual cells weren't supposed to know who the Fulcrum really was, "want to make sure that the Eriadu cell had nothing to do with this."
"And what do you need to know from me?"
"The coordinates to your cell's current base of operations."
"Why should I trust you? You're with Vader."
"Vader's handled. He'll be following a wild goose chase from a tip I planted about a Jedi being involved. While he's occupied, I'll go to the base," Ahsoka explained. The only thing she didn't say was that Vader already knew she planted that tip to give him an alibi for the Emperor.
The man hesitated, apprehension fouling his presence. It couldn't have been because of her disguise. Once she showed him her insignia, he should have been relieved, which meant he had something to hide. It didn't make Ahsoka feel any better about all this.
With sensitive instincts honed from years of war and hiding, Ahsoka didn't need to rely on the Force to know to raise her lightsaber, the red one Vader let her borrow, to deflect the blaster bolt that came from the officer. She behind a fallen piece of rubble to protect her from the brunt of the explosion from the charge the man threw.
A powerful Force wind cleared the debris cloud, and Ahsoka came from behind the rubble, eyes immediately finding her spy retreating in his local security provided speeder.
"And this is precisely why I didn't want you to come here alone. Five minutes on-site and already things are exploding," Vader rumbled from beside her, after directing his troopers ahead and after the suspect.
"What's your personal record? Five seconds?" Ahsoka shot back as a transport pulled up next to them, and they climbed aboard. "And please tell me you told them not to use lethal force. He's our only lead right now."
"How do you not know the base of operations of your own people?" Vader asked as he took control of the transport, after which he gave the order through the comm in one of his gauntlets.
"Because I don't think they're there. I'm almost positive they moved in anticipation of the Empire or me. I'm not sure which one it is yet," Ahsoka replied, trying and failing to find the speeder her spy fled in. "Please tell me your Fist has their eyes on this guy."
"Affirmative, sir," one of the troopers piloting their transport said in response. Ahsoka wondered just how much Vader's legion of troops had figured out about her connection with this mission and her disguise.
Ahsoka caught sight of the fleeing security speeder first. It moved with much more ease and finesse than their bigger transport and managing to avoid damaging civilians and civilian property in the process. Something their transport wasn't doing.
"Can we at least try to avoid civilian casualties?" Ahsoka asked.
"It's either try harder to avoid the civilians or catch the only suspect that may be able to lead us to the culprit behind this attack," Vader replied.
"I just think it's very ironic that we're hurting civilians while trying to catch the guy that may have been part of a terrorist attack partly because he killed a bunch of civilians to get the attention of the Empire."
"There's no pleasing you."
"I never knew you were trying."
"I'm not. But I do make the attempt to pick my battles with you."
There was no cruelty behind the words or even the sarcasm that Vader tended to use when he was fed up with her but not particularly angry. If Ahsoka didn't know any better, she'd say it sounded resigned. Maybe fond. An idea reinforced by a vague warmth that bloomed across their mutually ignored bond, managing to penetrate the thick, cold darkness that Vader usually had it cloaked in. That the feeling, whatever it was, managed to penetrate the darkness at all was an oddity in and of itself. Maybe it was their proximity.
Deciding to continue to ignore the oddity, Ahsoka replied wryly, "You're doing a fantastic job," as they entered a residential area with huge mansions but a lot less traffic.
They caught up with the team Vader had sent ahead, chasing and shooting the lone local authority speeder, which was pulling all the evasive getaway maneuvers that her high-level rebellion spies learned.
"Kriff," Ahsoka muttered as she pulled out her blaster to help. "I never thought my recruitment training would ever come back to bite me in the ass."
"Now you know how I feel," said Vader.
Sight locked on the speeder, Ahsoka aimed her blaster outside the transport, and, once she felt the urging from the Force, made one shot at the renegade spy. The speeder spun out of control into the immaculate shrubbery bordering one of the mansions. The spy didn't waste any time getting out the speeder and running across the front yard and into the back, troopers, Vader, and Ahsoka right behind him. As they ran across the vast expanse, Ahsoka thought it would be an insult to call it just a backyard. More like a private park or farm. After about three hundred yards or so, they came upon an old fashioned wire fence that served as a barrier between the yard and the dense wildlands and forests of Eriadu beyond it.
Faced with his pursuers and the wildlands, Ahsoka wasn't entirely surprised when the man practically ran up the fence, jumped into the wildlands of the other side, and disappeared into the thick grass and foliage. The feat would have been incredible for a regular sentient human, but not for someone used to seeing the feats of Jedi.
"He's as good as dead out there," said one of the local security officers that had come with them as everyone stopped at the fence.
"How so?" Ahsoka asked.
"That's the wildlands. It's got predators and beasts so untamed, no one has been able to tame it since the first Eriadu settlers."
Somewhere even the planet's own settlers wouldn't venture? That sounded like the perfect place for a rebel base…
"I think we may have found out where our rebels are," Vader said and then asked, "How far do these wildlands go and what's on the other side?"
"Nothing but wildlands for hundreds of miles, at least."
Vader ignored him and turned to his captain. "Secure the area and set up an aerial patrol. Just in case he comes back out. We'll follow him."
That said, Vader made one Force-induced leap over the high fence, and Ahsoka followed. It wasn't very long before they were far enough into the dense grass, trees, and foliage that if they looked behind them, they could no longer see out to fence they'd climbed over. Not long after that, the only thing even Ahsoka could hear was the swampland. Figuring it was safe enough, Ahsoka unwrapped the wrappings from around her head and lifted her goggles to sit on her forehead.
She understood why the human settlers of the planet had decided this place was more trouble than it was worth to settle. Her biological hunter instincts had her on edge, the instincts that let her know that she wasn't the only hunter present. Instincts that made her wonder what the early non-native humans of this planet were thinking a thousand years ago when they decided to migrate here. For a species with a lot of biological disadvantages, humans sure were ambitious and adventurous…
As they walked further and into a swamp where even the most shallow paths brought water almost to her knees, the sounds of the ecosystem began to fade. Finally, the only sounds were the sloshing of Vader's heavy tread through the swamp and his mechanical breathing.
"Vader, you need to take off your mask," Ahsoka stated as the uneasy feeling of the hunter being hunted came over her.
"Why?"
"Because you're making too much noise. Don't you feel how still and quiet everything is? Everything except—"
Ahsoka didn't finish. Both she and Vader lit their lightsabers at the same time, half a second before a wet predator several times larger than Vader with scaly skin and muddy brown swamp leaves hanging from it rose from the swamp with screeching hiss. The screech echoed through Ahsoka montrals and discombobulated her long enough that she was distracted when the beast lunged for Vader. By the time she gained her bearings, Vader was in the midst of trying to kill the creature with his lightsaber. But the thick muddy brown leaves on it almost acted as a barrier that prevented Vader from killing it without getting much closer, at which point he'd make himself vulnerable to the swamp beasts' sharp foreclaws.
Finally, he gave up on using his saber and rose his hand to forcefully subdue the beast with the Force, only for two more massive beasts to raise up behind him with their own screeches. Not taken off guard by the sound this time, Ahsoka leaped into the air, landed on the scaly head one of the beasts, and pierced it at the top with her lightsaber. She'd expected the beast to fall, but what she hadn't expected in its dying throes was for it to make another screeching cry. As it thrashed around in its dying pains, it managed to throw Ahsoka off and into the swamp water. As it fell, it swiped a clawed hand—or paw or whatever—at Vader who was using the Force to subdue the other two beasts, both thrashing in their own death throes from his attack. Ahsoka Force-pushed Vader out the way, but the claw still managed to nick him on his right side. He hardly seemed bothered by it, though, as he stood in the swamp water over the three dead beasts.
"There is no way your spy made it out of here alive," Vader declared.
"My spy doesn't have the loudest pacemaker in the galaxy along with heavy footsteps," Ahsoka shot back.
"Well, they're dead n—" Vader cut himself off at the sound of another screech, the swamp shaking with simultaneous movement.
"Come on," Ahsoka said, deciding to head in the opposite direction of most of the shaking. "And take that kriffing mask off."
"Already ahead of you," Vader said as he followed behind her to get away from the beasts, the sound of his pacemaker gone, his voice no longer masked by his modulator.
Once he caught up with her, he yanked her to the left, pulling them into a thick grassy brush closer to drier land of the swamp. He knelt down, pulling her close in his grasp. A few short moments later, four more of the vicious swamp monsters appeared with a loud screech. Ahsoka got the impression of anger from the beasts as well as something that felt mourning. Certainly, they weren't sentient. But the creatures were smarter than most non-sentient beings, and they were out to avenge their fallen brethren. The beasts passed by their hiding spot and continued to head away from them, further into the swamp. Neither Ahsoka nor Vader dared to do anything until the ground stopped shaking from their movements.
Finally, when they were sure the beasts were long gone, Vader said, "It's getting dark. We're not finding rebels tonight. If your rebel really went to his base, an extraction might make them risk fleeing."
"I agree, but I'm not particularly keen on camping out on banks of a swamp," Ahsoka replied.
Vader didn't answer, but she did feel the cold reach of his Force powers extend around them, like feelers getting a lay of the land. It must be a new power, Ahsoka thought. Goodness knew Vader always seemed to be developing new and unique ways to use the Force. A few years ago, her Force signature would have balked at the extension of his power. But she'd learned long ago how to determine when the extension of his powers was dangerous and when it was benign. This was the latter. And in some ways, it was even familiarly comforting. Not so different from a mission where Anakin reached out with his senses during the Clone War while she was still following him across the galaxy as his padawan. Only back then, she hadn't been as acutely aware of his Force signature as she was now. Hadn't comprehended the magnitude of his powers because he was always restraining himself. It was almost disappointing when he retreated his Force signature.
"There's a place we can hide out on drier land to the west of here," he said, standing them to their feet. "It's about an hour's walk."
"Will you be okay that long in this kind of place without your mask?" Ahsoka asked. Not only was he facing unfiltered air but also air thick with humidity.
"I'm fine," he said dismissively.
It's when he started forward that Ahsoka realized something.
"Vader," she said, stopping his stride before it could begin. "You can let go of me now."
His gaze fell to the arm that was still losing holding her from where he'd pulled her into their hiding spot earlier. He considered it before letting her go and continuing his earlier stride and up the muddy bank to lead them to their shelter for the night.
Ahsoka didn't follow immediately, instead tilting her head to consider Vader. He seemed… different lately. And because Vader was just as out of touch with changes in himself as he'd been when he called himself a Jedi, Ahsoka wasn't sure he even realized his behavior was strange. Like on his flagship earlier when she'd accused him of being an ass, and he'd admitted he wasn't trying to be. Even when he was showing a rare moment of kindness, he always found a way to selfishly play it off. Certainly, he'd never admit to it. He definitely didn't go out of his way to make sure she knew he was giving her a kindness.
"You must have an inexplicable desire to become the dinner of those swamp beasts because you're still standing there instead of doing the sensible thing and following me to the shelter you were just complaining about lacking," Vader said grumpily.
"Now that's the Vader I'm used to," Ahsoka muttered to herself, shaking her head of her earlier distractions as she followed him.
AN: The season finale of the Clone Wars broke me, y'all! I just cannot. Those last four minutes or so. So I'm going to keep playing in my little sandbox where things are less tragic and eventually I'll get my happy ending. Also, Ahsoka Tano is the best female star wars character ever (if not the best star wars character) and that's a hill I will die on! Don't at me! Go argue with your uncle!
On a serious note though, the pacing of the Clone Wars has always helped me with writing parts of this story. A lot of episodes and scenes are very "hit it and quit it," and they work really well. They don't drag a lot of stuff out and sometimes when I feel like I need to drag things out, I realize that I really don't and it helps me get chapters like this one out.
Anywho, the next chapter is probably my favorite chapter of this arc, and I think a lot of you will like it too. And I could be persuaded to put it up early. Like... Some time Saturday or Sunday instead of the scheduled Monday. Maybe? But that's up to you guys.
Hope you enjoyed! Review Please!