Chapter Seventy-Five: Accordingly
Ahsoka opened her eyes, snapping out of her sleep in the middle of the night cycle as she heard the Force as clear as if someone were whispering directly into her montrals.
Danger. Evacuate the base. Leave.
When the Force had been that loud, it had never steered her wrong. Especially not during her pregnancy. Thus she got out her bed, ignoring her aching back and hips from the weight of her eight-month pregnant belly. She threw on a pair of wide cargo pants, a tank top that pulled away from her stomach, and a short, wide, baggy cargo jacket. Then she tucked the shoestrings of her combat boots into her shoes before slipping her feet in with some difficulty but a lot less than she would have had if she had to find a creative way to tie the strings. Finally, she put her lightsabers and her comm in her pocket and stuck a hand blaster in the back of her pants. In times like these, she really missed her utility belt, but that was like asking someone to look and notice the swell of her stomach.
Once she left her room, time passed in a flurry of waking up the entire base, assigning cruisers, destroyers, and transports to get supplies and people away, and keeping a lookout on their radar for an incoming attack. Though she'd been surprised to get a call from Vader on her personal comm when she'd been clearing out her office, she hadn't been surprised to hear what he had to say.
Bail, who had been missing for just over a year now. They'd gotten something out of him. Not that Ahsoka could blame him. It was a wonder he'd held out as long as he had and an even bigger wonder he was still alive at all. But whatever they'd gotten out of him and managed to piece together was enough that Vader was sure it was a threat. And though Ahsoka didn't usually like to encourage his paranoia, the Force told her very clearly that this wasn't paranoia. They were at the culmination of something.
And after she'd told him that, though in not as many words, after she'd tentatively opened their bond after months of carefully ignoring it, after she'd felt the vibrating warmth of his caring for her, she'd almost spilled everything. About the baby, about her vision, about all her fears and apprehensions. She'd managed to stop herself at the last minute. Vader would worry enough as it was. No doubt, he already had to talk himself out of coming to the Rebellion base himself to ensure her and the twins' safety. There was no point in giving him more to worry about out of her own selfish whims.
She pocketed her comm again and made her way to command center.
"Are our satellites picking anything up yet?" she asked.
"They're picking something up alright," one of her techs answered, pointing to the radar where an entire fleet was headed their way.
"Not just any fleet," Diya said, coming into the room. "That's Thrawn's fleet."
"Admiral Thrawn?" Ahsoka asked.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn," Diya corrected. "Palpatine gave him a promotion after that battle a few months ago."
Ahsoka didn't need the reminder. That report had been dismaying. They'd not just lost that battle against him. They'd been decimated. Not even because of any costly mistakes on the part of her own generals and admirals, but just because Thrawn was a genius battle tactician. His genius was only second to Vader and without the tendency for recklessness and utter chaos. This was a battle she should be taking the forefront on. This was a battle where she should be at the front of the line commanding her soldiers to avoid Thrawn's schemes, but…
"Why aren't you at the front lines?" Ahsoka asked vaguely.
"I delegated. I'm here to get you out of here," Diya said. "Not to mention, your kits won't leave without you."
"Obi-wan should have—"
"He left for a mission yesterday."
Of course.
"They were supposed to have left on the first transports."
Diya shrugged. "Like I said."
Ahsoka hesitated. On one hand, she'd never been one to leave the fighting to the people ranked below her. But on the other hand, she was more of a liability to the fight than she was a help. The extra weight of her condition now affected the precarious balance needed to use her lightsabers. Even if she didn't have a balance issue, her distended belly was in the way. Still…
If she was inclined to stay despite all that, she'd feel her abdomen cramp into one of the false labor contractions she'd been sporadically having over the last two months or so.
Ahsoka sighed, deciding to set her pride aside. This wasn't about her right now. She could direct things from her ship.
"Okay," Ahsoka relented.
Diya opened her mouth and then closed it.
"What?" Ahsoka asked.
"I just… I expected more pushback from you."
"Well, you know. Every now and then, I can be reasonable."
Diya scoffed and turned to leave the room with Ahsoka following her.
Waiting outside for them was Rex with Luke, Leia, and Winter, Barriss standing calmly off to the side.
"You should have been on one of the first transports," Ahsoka said to Luke, Leia, and Winter. Then she looked at Barriss. "So should you have."
"Mama. Seriously?" Luke deadpanned.
"Diya wanted my help to convince you to leave," Barriss explained.
"Not convince. Just your help in de-escalating her so she'd see sound reason. You are scarily good at that," Diya said.
"Yeah. Isn't she?" Rex said, glaring in Barriss' direction.
Ahsoka sighed. He hadn't let go of Barriss' betrayal of her either. Over a decade ago, though it may have been.
"Okay. We have no time for this. Thrawn is probably already in the planet's orbit. So if your goal is to get me out of here, we better do it now," Ahsoka said.
They headed to her personal ship, much less recognizable than her large battleship cruiser, which was being used to divert attention from the Empire of her escape. As they did, Ahsoka kept abreast of the battle over her datapad, giving direction and order to her generals and admirals remotely over comm.
"Ahsoka," Rex finally said. "You're slowing us down."
"I know, but…"
"You had a personal hand in training almost everyone at the front lines of this fight. I was there when you trained some of them," Rex reminded her. "They'll be fine until the evacuation is finished. You need to get out of here."
Ahsoka groaned but put her datapad and comm away. They continued ahead, and Ahsoka ignored the tremors indicating the Empire had managed to get some of their ground forces past the Rebellion's defense in orbit.
Stop. Right now. Don't go further, the Force whispered to her.
"Wait," Ahsoka said.
"General," Diya said in a longsuffering tone. "Wha—?"
An explosion shook the base, and the hall they were about to head into collapsed.
"What the hell?" Diya exclaimed, holding onto the wall as the shaking stopped. "How the hell did Thrawn get a bomber past so quickly?"
"The Emperor didn't promote him to Grand Admiral for nothing," Rex replied through gritted teeth.
Diya groaned, drawing one of her blasters. "We'll have to go around. General, Luke, Leia, Winter. Behind me. Rex and Barriss, flank from the rear."
They weren't even halfway to the hanger on their new rout when they began to hear blaster shots.
"How the hell did they get in?" Diya asked.
"There's that temple ruin nearby," Barriss pointed out.
"We made sure it was secure first thing when we got here!"
"It's Thrawn, Diya," Ahsoka stated. "He probably researched the entire history and legend of those ruins on the way here and figured out how to blow up a wall and get in. It's not a—"
Duck. Now.
Ahsoka moved into the adjacent hall, pushing the children along with her. Rex, Diya, and Barriss followed, just missing the blaster fire that rained down into the hall from the direction they had retreated from.
Rex let out a curse before rounding the corner to shoot at their assailants.
"Keep going," he ordered. "I'll cover you."
Before Ahsoka could argue with that, Diya, Barriss, and even her own children (traitors) corralled her down the hall to continue to the hanger. Unfortunately, their troubles didn't end when they got to the hanger where her ship was. Troopers were there to greet them, and Ahsoka began to suspect that somehow, Thrawn managed to get forces past them that they hadn't picked up on their radars. If he survived her and Vader's coup, she'd have to ask the man how he'd managed that, though she could think of a few guerilla tactics that would have done the trick. She hadn't known the Empire knew how to employ such tactics.
They took cover behind a bunch of crates. Diya stood every now and then to pick off two or three troopers and ducked down when their opponents waited for the smoke to clear to get better shots.
"Alright, Ahsoka," Diya said. "I know the whole point of all this was to get you out of here before all the fighting started, and that you humor us by acting like you actually need our protection when really you're more protection to us. But we could really use your talents to clear our path right now. So, you know. Whenever you're ready to live up to that deadly reputation of yours."
Any other time, that was exactly what Ahsoka would have done. Would have already done.
"Yeah…" Ahsoka began. "About that. I can't use my lightsabers right now."
Diya sprung to her feet, got off three more shots, and ducked again.
"Why? Did you leave them behind? Even if you did, when has that ever stopped you?"
The way Luke and Leia exchanged a look didn't escape Ahsoka's notice.
Ahsoka reached over to pull on her arm, a shy, nervous habit from her youth that she'd all but totally broken. It only manifested itself when she was cornered into an awkward situation that she wasn't sure how to deal with. The rare times that happened, Vader had something to do with it. Because he was probably the only one that could get under her skin and make her blush and feel embarrassed. In a roundabout way, Vader had something to do with her problem now.
Diya's eyes suddenly widened, and Ahsoka forced her arms back to her side, realizing too late what the old habit had revealed.
Diya's mouth opened and closed a few times before she said, "Ahsoka!"
"What?" Barriss asked.
Diya raised to make two more shots over their cover before ducking down again.
"You're pregnant."
Ahsoka sighed. Trust Diya to never be subtle.
"Yes."
"How the—?"
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "You know how."
"What—Who?"
"Who else?"
Barriss, having finally caught on to what was happening, looked at Ahsoka and asked, "When did this happen?"
"Not too long ago."
Diya practically exploded at that.
"Not too long ago!" she parroted. "That's practically a whole baby! You could drop that kid right now, and it would be fine. That's way long ago! And you didn't tell us. Are you insane?"
"I couldn't, Diya."
"Why?"
"You know why."
"Oh, this explains so much. We thought you were acting weird. Wait," Diya said, her eyes narrowing. She paused to get off more shots in the chaos of the hanger. "Tall, dark, and psycho knows, right?"
Ahsoka didn't answer.
"Ahsoka. He knows. Right?"
"He knows I have something to tell him."
Diya let out a string of curses in at least three languages. Togruti being one of them, the huttese she picked up in the Outer Rim the next, and the other language Ahsoka was unfamiliar with. Based on the words from togruti and huttese, the unknown ones were probably just as vulgar.
"Do you know how pissed he's going to be when he finds out you were pregnant and you didn't tell anyone? Ahsoka!"
"Look. I know all this. You think I didn't think about all that when I decided to keep quiet about it?"
"I feel like I'm missing quite a bit here," Barriss declared.
"You are. I'll fill you in later," Diya directed to Barriss as she pulled one of her blasters off her hips. She held it out to the mirialan woman. "For now, I'm going to need you to help shoot."
Barriss shook her head, looking at the weapon. "I can't. You know I—"
"Yeah. Yeah. You were forced into some shit, it made you into someone you didn't like, and you're a pacifist because of it. If we weren't being shot at and our best fighter wasn't out of commission, I'd respect that. But for now, I need you to get the kriff over yourself. We were all child soldiers and traumatized by war. We can start a kriffing support group after we get out of this alive. For now, shoot some stormtroopers. And for stars' sake, don't set it to stun," Diya added.
Barriss took the blaster with shaky hands. Knowing Barriss was going to be useless with it, Ahsoka started to reach for her own blaster. Leia took the blaster out Barriss' hand before Ahsoka could maneuver to reach her own. Then she rose up with Diya to help thin out the stormtrooper forces so they could get to the ship.
"Leia!" Ahsoka exclaimed.
"Mama, why else did you teach me how to use these things if not because you knew I might have to use it one day?" Leia asked over the fire, managing to make her marks even when she glanced down at her mother. "I'll join Diya's support group later."
"That's the spirit, little general," Diya said.
"Don't encourage her," Ahsoka snapped.
Barriss, finally getting over herself, pulled Leia back down and took the blaster from her.
"I got it," she assured and then looked at Ahsoka. "Diya and I will distract them. Use the cover to get to your ship and get out of here."
Ahsoka started to protest, but Barriss held up a hand and said, "Ahsoka. I owe you. A lot. Let me return the favor." She stood up and joined Diya in her fire. "Go."
Ahsoka sighed. Unfortunately, she had no choice. She was useless right now.
"Come on," she told Luke, Leia, and Winter. "Stay close."
The children nodded and clung onto different parts of her jacket as they made their way across the hanger, ducking behind crates, tables, and what few fighters were left along the way until they got to her ship. Artoo was already there with the ship warmed and trying to calm down a fretting Threepio.
"Oh, Mistress Tano! You made it. I feared the worst when you didn't come at the time Commander Rex had prescribed."
Ahsoka ignored him and guided them out the hanger with Artoo's help. True to Rex's plan, her flagship cruiser, which was fighting to get past Thrawn's blockade, provided them with the cover they needed to get past them with relative ease.
She punched in the coordinates to their first hyperspace drop. Once the view in front of her turned into the streaking blue of hyperspace, Ahsoka fell back in her seat, exhausted.
"Mama," Luke said, coming into the cockpit with Winter and his sister. "Are you okay?"
Ahsoka sighed, taking off her jacket. "Fine. Hungry. Hot."
"I'll go get the rations," Leia said. She disappeared to the back of the ship and came back with bundles of ration bars shortly after in lieu of warming up some of the better tasting ration plates.
Ahsoka took the two Leia offered to her and took a bite of one. Then she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Casually, she swiped a hand across her stomach but didn't get a physical response back. It wasn't out of the norm. She'd read that the commotion of a mother moving about throughout the day could rock an unborn baby to sleep. Wouldn't have been the first time that had happened.
She had to be due soon. But it was hard to know with hybrid pregnancies. According to what research she could find, it just depended on how human or togruta the baby ended up being. Human pregnancies usually lasted a few weeks longer than togruta ones. Based on the few discreet scans she'd gotten with her medical droid, this child was a lot closer to human than togruta. But Ahsoka supposed she'd see eventually. What mattered was that she should at least have a few more weeks to go.
And then she wasn't in her ship but standing next to Vader. Watching him and his fleet in a tense faceoff with Imperial forces. Not just any Imperial forces. The Imperial Center fleet, solely dedicated to the protection of Imperial Center. A look down confirmed that they were over Imperial Center. What they were saying wasn't particularly clear, but Ahsoka got bits and pieces. Vader under suspicion of treason. The Imperial Center forces demanding they be allowed to board and for Vader to come peacefully to see the Emperor.
Ahsoka would have laughed if the images weren't so dire. Vader? Follow any command peacefully? Clearly, they hadn't grown up with him like she had.
Predictably, peace didn't follow, and Ahsoka got a glimpse of fire beginning to exchange before the scene faded. She opened her eyes to Luke shaking her awake.
"We're about to drop out of hyperspace," he said.
"Right," Ahsoka said with a yawn as she turned forward to prepare them for their next jump.
She should have set the coordinates for the next drop off point, one of a series of more to make sure they weren't followed or tracked before they rendezvoused at the next temporary base. But she hesitated. Her vision showed Vader was about to head into the battle they'd always planned. The battle where her forces joined with Vader in a final showdown with the Emperor. But by that point, they were supposed to have stolen most of Palpatine's military might by carefully picking off his most loyal servants and putting their own people in place.
At best, right now, most of the fleet and armies had a healthy respect and fear of Vader. But not enough to rally with him and mutiny against the Emperor and those who supported him. Like Thrawn. At best, right now, Ahsoka was sure they'd follow Vader if he decisively defeated Palpatine, but that was harder. It was why she and Vader had meticulously put this plan together.
But when had any of their plans ever gone accordingly? They hadn't planned on being in outright war again for another couple of years. They hadn't planned on finding contingency. They hadn't planned on a relationship beyond a tentative friendly alliance. And they hadn't planned in any of their wildest imaginations on having a baby during this mess. They hadn't planned on that ever. But all that happened anyway. And if Vader was going to be confronting Palpatine anytime soon, Ahsoka was going to be there whether he liked it or not.
The children would have to come with her. She'd prefer to get them to the temporary base and then go, but that would take her days out of the way to Imperial Center. And as far as she knew, Vader was headed there right now. There would be plenty of places to hide the children on the Imperial planet after fighting her way past the blockade.
There was only one thing that made her hesitate.
In her original vision, she hadn't been pregnant when this happened. Having had those visions several times since the initial revelation, she remembered handing over a baby girl before heading to that fight.
But the future was always in motion. Visions could be little more than the manifestation of fears. Visions could also be flawed.
Ahsoka put it out her head. Here and now.
She punched in the coordinates to Imperial Center and went to get as much rest as she could during the two and a half-day trip.
Just a few hours out from Coruscant after an hour of trying to hydrate, walk off, and distract herself from more false labor contractions that only got more painful and more consistent and much closer together; after talking herself into denial that it was real labor; after feeling a steady trickle of liquid between her legs and seeing streaks of mucus and blood in her panties—it was then that Ahsoka realized with horror that her original vision hadn't been flawed at all.
AN: We are in the home stretch, you guys. Next chapter is the last interude of the story which gives way for the last part of the story. And God know I can't wait for it to be done. Like, I've enjoyed it, but this has been my most ambitious work yet. But a lot of good stuff coming. I can't really even decide what's my favorite. amongst it all. I'll let you all decide when you see it.
Hope you enjoyed. Review, favorite, follow, or whatever you do to show support.
