Author's Note: Canon characters return!
VII
Ossus - 14 BBY
Vegetative debris cluttered the jungle floor. Birds cried out in the distance, singing in harmonious celebration for the storm's passing.
The smell of rain was intoxicating, lingering on the fresh leaves like dew after a springtime morning. Humidity clung in the air, leaving the verdant rainforest a hive of moisture and evaporating mist.
Winding branches and roots enveloped the trunks of colossal Ossuan Jalok trees. Their broad root systems surging through subterranean tunnels and carving out paths of bark and fibrous wood for hundreds of feet in every direction.
The gentle breeze had quickened into a steady wind, gusting in the aftermath of a powerful monsoon that had swept across Ossus' equatorial regions.
A sole being stood at the edge of an elevated clearing and noticed the changing currents.
She lifted her head to meet the parting of the clouds.
The prevailing winds caught the tails of her gray cloak, and it fluttered in her wake like a kite dancing over endless tides of ocean.
As the mists lifted, the luscious landscape beneath her came into full view. A vista unlike perhaps any other in the galaxy.
She gazed out over endless tropical wilderness, buffeted by flat-faced granite mountains, rising up from the earth like pillars and carving vertical canyons through the misty forests.
Fog engulfed the mountain peaks, which rose far into the heavens, coalescing with the tempestuous cloud deck. They were thousands of years old, drawing from the raw energy and lifeblood of the ancient world itself.
Eyeing the departing rainclouds, she removed her hood, and it fell limp against her shoulders, synthcloth distasteful for such oppressive humidity.
The wind embraced her youthful skin and cooled it from the heat of the day. While she was young, she carried a mature resolution, one which hid the weariness of many difficult years.
Sunlight trickled in between holes in the tree canopy, warming the saturated ground further and continuing the cycle of a vibrant ecosystem.
One such ray of sunlight tracked down to her face, illuminating the facial markings that distinguished her from other members of her people.
Soaking in a final observation, she advanced onward, boots crunching in the overgrowth of the jungle floor.
One would worry that the sounds of her footsteps would draw attention, perhaps an enemy hiding among the brush, a predator lurking in the foliage.
But no. She was perhaps the only sentient lifeform for hundreds of kilometers. And this didn't bother her in the slightest.
Ahsoka Tano tread alone.
Oftentimes, she enjoyed the peace that a lonely expedition would bring. The Togruta sought peace, locales to silently meditate in between the frenetic pace of her assignments. The burgeoning movement brought about by Senators Organa and Mothma threatened to swallow her whole.
Here, she could find solace. She desperately wanted to.
But today, she was here to find answers.
As the native wildlife danced between the shrubs, Ahsoka surged through a patch of floral abundance to emerge alongside a flowing stream. Water gracefully parted and ducked around smooth stones, embedded into the streambank for likely hundreds of years. Ossal lilies dotted the edges, blossoming white petals signaling the prosperity of their habitat.
She paused, as a whiff of the alien flowers drifted through her space. It was a clean, life-blooded scent, and brought clarity to her.
The renewed purity in her spirit sent a surge of vigor into her lungs, and with one breath she leapt across the stream, boots firmly planting on the opposite bank, and she pushed on.
Deep within her core, she felt her destination approaching. Drawing upon the Force for guidance, her path meandered through the profuse thicket, under fallen trees, over gnarled roots and through nests of vines. One would feel lost in such a scenario, but she felt only one path.
Securing her way through another patch of crowded Jalok trees, she stood at the edge of a massive clearing.
Viridescent longgrasses swayed in the direction of the winds, bending ever so gently to allow the airflow to pass through their stalks. She stood surrounded by them, yet had no compulsion to bend like they did. She only gazed up.
At the base of the mountain before her, was a massive pyramidal structure. Ancient and chiseled stonework constructed in an elaborately methodical manner, it was slowly being reclaimed by the wilds that encompassed it. Stalks and stems invaded its once secure outer facade, while moss and lichens created swarms of inanimate life that occupied the exterior columns dotting the perimeter of the superstructure.
Broad-faced window formations lined the pyramid near the base, but rising to the pinnacle, it was nothing but primitive stone, aging like a relic of a bygone era.
The sole entrance, a cavernous and hollow opening at the front of the pyramid, had its doors cracked and smashed, lying alone on the ground like two broken tablets, never to be read from again.
The grand approach to the pyramid was, apparently, once majestic. Regal statues accompanied a once-existing pathway, now completely submerged beneath a sea of soil and plant life.
A few statutes were decapitated, others were toppled completely, their original form was lost underneath twisted and creeping vegetation that ensnared nearly all of what once was.
She lingered on the sight for just a moment, feeling the Force's presence surround her.
It was strong here. Perhaps stronger than anywhere she had ever felt, save the temple on Coruscant. It felt truly alive here, in a time of darkness.
The device in her cloak pocket sputtered and produced static. She fetched it and waited for the voice to come.
Static clearing, she heard him loud and clear.
"Fulcrum. Have you found it?"
She sighed.
"Captain, you don't have to call me that here. Really."
"Oh-.. uh, right. Sorry Ahsoka." She sighed again. He was just following his orders.
"Yes, I did find it."
"Good. Should I make another rotation? That should give you another hour or two."
"One more will be fine. Thank you."
"Copy that. Over and out."
The garbled static cut away, and once again she was plunged into the sounds of nature.
Bail was especially lenient in letting his best corvette go on an expeditionary mission. Perhaps it was her nagging that made him give in. Or perhaps he sensed just how important this was to her.
No matter, she was here now, and needed to figure out what was going on.
Taking her first steps towards the pyramid, perhaps only fifty-meters off, she eyed the formation of the statues, the columns surrounding the structure, and the stonework itself.
Just like how it was in my vision.
The same one that had been plaguing her for weeks. She considered the Force was trying to tell her something, but what that was had yet to be discovered.
She had seen this place. Better yet, she had been to it. It was visceral in her mind. Every step, every branch, radiant bloom, and gust of wind had been felt before.
Ahsoka knew the planet well, although she had never visited. During her days as a padawan, the masters of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant would speak to the younglings about the origins of their order. The birthplace of their guiding faith.
Some speculated it was on Tython. Others posed Ach-To as a suitable candidate. A few more suggested Coruscant.
But the vast majority were convinced it was Ossus.
A small jungle planet, just within the clutches of the Outer Rim and a few parsecs from Rhen Var and Felucia, Ossus was far more than just a tourist destination.
It was a site of holy reverence, home to vast centuries of history, teaching, and knowledge. Significant could not even begin to describe it.
And here she stood, before the original temple. The place that started it all.
Or, what was left of it.
In another time, her master promised he would take her there. He had never been either, and was insistent that they visit when the war was over to find what old lore still remained.
That time never came.
Now she entered alone, a single spectre pacing against an imposing testament to time, one of the last of the Force's true disciples.
Approaching the original stone doorway, a cold draft trailed out from the temple's ingress that left her with a slight shiver. A chilly contrast to the sweat that still clung to her brow.
Taking a final gaze at the towering pyramid before her, she took the final steps to reach the entranceway, and took a glimpse inside, stepping over the ruins of the old door.
The hood that was draped across her shoulders returned to her head, mantling her montrals and keeping the heat within her robe as the brisk, damp air of the temple clasped her gingerly.
Broken strands of cobwebs hung from the corners of the monolithic corridors. She noticed vaguely, noting it as odd, but nonetheless she persisted further inside.
She did not have to go far to enter the main atrium of the deserted temple. A massive, hollowed out entrance hall that spanned dozens of meters in height and width, and an expansive floor that took up much of the structure's interior.
Faint streaks of light were shining in from the outside. Windows were positioned along the moss-infested walls, though they appeared to have been mostly broken over time. Once made of glass, perhaps, or something stronger.
The floor itself was elaborate, a perfect circle with notable runic shapes etched into the outer ring. Empty holes adorned the spaces between the runes, every meter or so.
Once holding gems or minerals of value, this place might have been ransacked.
Seeking a better inspection of the runes, she withdrew her shoto lightsaber. With a simple flick of her index finger, a white flame discharged from her clenched hand.
Ahsoka held the lightsaber to the floor, reading across some of the runes. Dirt and mud had caked within some of them, making them impossible to read. Others, though, were manageable. The remnant language derived from old Dai Bendu.
Her hand ran across the carvings, pausing to stroke her finger against their mud-caked remains and translate them, one by one.
There is no em_tion. There is peace.
Th_e is no ignorance. _er_ is knowledge.
There is no _. There is serenity.
There is no ch_os. _here is har_ny.
There _ no death. There is the Force.
The Jedi Code. Alive and well to this day, thousands of years later.
Perhaps there was some error to this thinking, she thought, musing upon the Order's fall.
Standing back to her feet, she continued on, into an interior antechamber beyond the atrium.
Her comlink crackled for a moment, and then went silent. Her descent into the temple left her seemingly out of communication range for her ship in the atmosphere.
The Temple was built well.
Seeking her quarry, she came upon a set of steps, running perpendicular to the atrium. Seeking what hopefully lay at the foot of the flight, she carried her boots down, dust giving way in her wake.
A steady drip of water echoed somewhere in the lower chamber. She paid it no mind, keeping her shoto saber drawn for a light source, as the main floor windows could no longer help.
Beneath the main atrium, was another expansive room, matching the floorplan of the level above. A circular floor was laid about, only this time, the entire floorpiece was missing.
She knew why.
The Jedi Order had the ancient mosaic taken apart and moved piece by piece to be reassembled at the new temple on Coruscant. There it lay for thousands more years until now, Palpatine himself could rip it up and disintegrate it.
She only winced at the thought of the Emperor, and her mind drew back to the visions that flooded her mind in the days leading up to this one.
This room looks identical. The darkness. The drip of the water. The missing mosaic. It must be just beyond this.
Ahsoka's eyes narrowed, finding a sliver of light at the opposite end of the room. A narrow, vertical strip of light that ran from the ceiling to the floor.
Above the door, lay another set of runes.
She could not understand these. They were in a different alphabet completely. Her brows furrowed in frustration, as she decided to inspect the next room.
Treading carefully across what remained of the ancient mosaic, she approached the final doorway, and held her saber to it for closer examination.
There did not appear to be an opening mechanism or direct way in. She threw her shoulder against the rock-built door and gave a good push, and it creaked open in response.
The source of the light was noticeable immediately.
Two massive crystals lay hanging via chains on either side of the subterranean chamber. One was blue, the other was red.
Are those, kyber crystals? She mused. Remarkably similar to the crystals on Ilum that Jedi younglings would take to craft their first sabers. These crystals were gargantuan, and appeared untouched, despite the slow rusting of the chains. They were held well.
In the center of the room, stood a wide platform, surrounded by empty darkness. A deep shaft, falling an immeasurable distance to an unsavory death below.
At the center of the platform, her target supposedly remained.
Alone on a pedestal, chained to the unknown, it stood immobile, Without motion. In stasis. For how long, nobody knew. It's face could not be seen. It's voice could not be heard. It lived under a shadow, with a head hanging limp.
She could see the pedestal before her, holding out the white saber for a clearer view.
But nothing was there.
All that remained, were four broken chains, dangling from the pedestal and subsequently ran off the edges of the platform.
It's gone, she thought.
Then she noticed.
Strewn along the darkened sides of the walkway that led to the platform, were heads.
Not just any heads.
Stormtrooper heads.
Desecrated white helmets, scattered randomly along the edges of the floor. Bits of blood smeared across the mouthpieces and visors. Heads most likely still within them, their spirits never given a proper eulogy.
Ahsoka wanted to panic.
But she couldn't. She drew a breath, and found calm for a moment, bringing her lightsaber back to the platform ahead of her. Not believing her eyes, she now seemingly knew what had transpired here.
The Empire.
They got here first.
And now?
They were gone. Along with it.
She reached for her comlink, only to be met with static. She needed to return to the surface.
A faint noise came from behind her. Like the pitter-patter of a footstep.
She turned on her heels, saber against the darkness. She couldn't see more than twenty paces ahead, back through the door she came through, which had a smattering of bloody handprints sprawled across it.
Inhaling sharply. She drew upon the Force. Concentrating deep in the temple's depths, her first step forward came with ease, then the second, and the third. Like conscious clockwork.
Through the Force, Ahsoka felt the air around her. It was unsettled, disturbed. Something wasn't right. She attempted to feel the past moments of this place, but they would not appear.
What was once here, is now gone, and left a trail of carnage in its wake.
But what was it?
Her visions did not entitle her to the clarity she sought. They only gave the faint glance, the brief perception of the being itself. She could not interpret these visions alone any longer. With an apparent threat broken from its chains, she needed to consult another.
She pictured stormtroopers being cut down, slaughtered like small animals. Such ferocity.
The power it must hold to leave stormtroopers like this. With fresh blood decorating their manicured and imperialistic helmets.
Then, for just a fleeting moment, the feeling of being watched crept through her body. Something lingered in the bowels of the temple. Something primordial.
Her pace quickened.
She felt inadequately prepared for such a confrontation, and wished to avoid it until she knew what had happened.
Reaching the mosaic, she tip-toed across, avoiding much noise herself. The white glow from her shoto led the way back to the flight of stairs, and up to the atrium once more.
Water endlessly dripped in the background. As she ascended, the sound died away.
The shadows cast by the windowed light had grown a bit. She had been down below for longer than she realized.
Turning back a final time out of caution, she saw nothing, and pressed for the entrance.
Assuming the stormtroopers were behind the broken doorway - or something else - she reached for her comlink again upon reaching the warm embrace of daylight.
"Raymus."
Static ensued.
"Raymus, are you there? It's Ahsoka, come in."
"Ahsoka! Thought you'd never call. I was getting worried. How's it going?"
"The Empire's been here. I'm gonna need a lift out. There isn't much more I can do right now."
There was a silence.
"Raymus?"
"Y-yeah, sorry. You said the Empire?"
"Yes."
"What would they want with a place like this?"
She knew the Empire was led by a Sith Lord. But she decided to refrain from indulging him further.
"I'm not sure. I'll send you my coordinates for the flight pod. There's a large enough space for extraction in this clearing."
"Alright. Antilles out."
She punched in a few numbers into her wrist pad and re-attached her saber to her belt.
The wind had picked up in her absence above-ground. The longgrasses that painted the temple meadow with green hues swayed continuously to the north as the gusts whistled between the trees.
Ahsoka's gaze drifted up the stonework of the temple to the pinnacle. She surveyed its condition for signs of structural defects or sabotage.
She saw nothing, and only sighed as her eyes returned to the horizon, met by a rolling canopy of mist-covered jungle.
Erupting from the clouds, nosediving to the green rock below, was the flight pod sent to fetch her.
Approaching the temple, it scanned the meadow for a suitable landing zone and rested its gear on the soft earth, lowering a ladder for her to climb inside.
With only enough room for one person and emergency rations, Ahsoka felt somewhat cramped. The claustrophobic interior of the pod itself was overlooked for the fact that it was a simple segue from planet to ship above, which was too large to land in the jungle.
"Ascending now Raymus," she whispered into the com.
"See you in a few," came the reply.
The pod's landing gear retracted, and it rose to zoom back into the atmosphere where it came from.
Her eyes never left the temple below, like a gray spot in a sea of green, her mind still lingering on what she found, and didn't find inside of it.
Rising above the clouds and towards open space, her focus transferred to the looming ship before her, making its third clean rotation around Ossus.
The cream colored Corellian corvette, the pride of Alderaan's senator and his queen.
The Tantive III.
The docking officer spoke cleanly across the communication channel to her, obeying simple protocol.
"Initiating docking procedures."
The pod slipped up into its vacant slot, alongside twelve of the ship's escape pods, and the docking had completed.
Door whizzing open, steam let forth into the sobering white corridors of the corvette.
Ahsoka's first step out of the pod was met with a familiar beeping. She turned.
One of her oldest friends.
"Hey there Artoo." Her hand grazed the dome of the blue and white astromech, trailing off into empty air.
The droid chirped a reply, and quickly wheeled after her strides.
Not going far, she navigated down a side passage to a lone entryway.
The door to the ship's briefing room opened without effort on Ahsoka's part. Someone was already expecting her.
"Ahsoka." Raymus Antilles rose to the occasion, clapping his hands together. "Timely as always." His playful sarcasm amused her.
She smirked. "Thanks to your quick retrieval." She paused, considering how much she should tell him.
"Did everything go as planned?"
"Not quite," she returned. "I need to speak with Bail. It's rather urgent."
He nodded slowly, albeit hesitant.
"Alright. One moment." His figure found the seat beneath him again and he played with the console before him.
Within moments, a hologram appeared, and the briefing room darkened.
"Leave us," Raymus remarked to the nearby security officer. He obliged silently.
Facing Raymus, the hologrammed figure stood, posturing regally.
"What is it, captain?"
"Are you in a secure location, Senator?"
"One moment." Ahsoka watched him disappear briefly, his voice crackling faintly, "everyone, may I have the room for a moment?"
Within seconds, he returned, this time facing her.
"Ahsoka. How did it go?"
Bail Organa was clean cut, polished and trimmed down to the last Alderaanian garment embellishment. His face was warm - as usual - and demeanor was noble. Ahsoka was quite fond of the Senator, as his persistence and honorable spirit reminded her of another she once knew.
"I'm not sure." Her face contorted into confusion. "I couldn't find it."
"Find what? What you told me you felt?"
She hadn't told him all of it, only that something was there that she felt was important.
"Yes. I believe the Empire was behind this."
He took a bit to process the information, fingers stroking his beard.
"Are you sure?"
The blood on the stormtrooper was fresh. She could almost smell it. Envisioning their fate was not pleasant, and she suspected the manner of their killing was brutal.
"I am."
"Well, that confirms my long-held suspicion. The darker forces within the Empire must be pulling the strings to acquire any artifacts related to the Force."
"But why is the question," she pondered.
Raymus sat in silence, watching the exchange between the two with intense curiosity. Any matters they discussed, he was always sworn to secrecy. He eyed Artoo, who was parked loyally beside his friend.
"That is something for you to answer Ahsoka. I am but a simple senator. You are a Jedi."
"I was a Jedi."
"I still believe you may be the one best-suited to deciphering this. I can leave Raymus in charge of your intelligence assignments while you dig deeper, how does that sound?"
"I'm not sure I can do this without others, Bail."
"By others you mean-.."
"Force users. There were ancient patterns down there that I couldn't quite figure out. It was a place of great mystery. Of great power." She only frowned, eyes falling to the floor. "But there aren't many of us left."
Bail was silent, in deep focus. Her eyes returned to him.
"What is it?" She finally asked.
"I have a friend. On Raxus Secundus."
Raxus Secundus? The old capital of the Separatists? Her mind drifted to her previous visit there, in a different time.
"Go on."
"Her name is Laeda. She leads a medical team. Nonpartisan, neutral. I think she may know where to find someone who can help you."
Ahsoka's brow piqued in interest. Another Jedi? And he chooses only now to tell me? Let's hope he isn't hiding anything else.
She only took a second to mull it over.
"You have my attention."
A/N: So, I've introduced Ahsoka. This was planned from the start, along with a few others, these are definitely not random additions. The main story is still about the clones and Orren, however. She has an important role to play in the overall story, and this subplot will tie in nicely with the others at the end. She is one of my favorite characters, so, given the time period, I wanted to explore more of her story between TCW and Rebels. This is where things really start to get interesting for me in terms of the plot threads.