The Colicoid Swarm had certainly seen better days. The Providence class carrier/destroyer had lost the aft communication towers on both the top and belly, replaced with a much smaller holocommunication dish on the top. It's blue and yellow stripes had heavily faded, as well as the Confederacy insignia. Despite this, both entrances to the hanger were fully functional and there was a sizable number of Vulture and Tri-Droids patrolling around it. Ahsoka supposed that it was a miracle the ship was doing this well. It had barely escaped the Battle of Coruscant at the end of the war and was lucky enough to have its repairs finished above Serenno before the shutdown order was sent out. When it was clear to the Separatist holdouts who had access to the ship, that they couldn't hold the planet, they fled. They tried to continue the fight for a couple years but ultimately, they were forced to make for Hutt Space. There they had turned to weapons and drug smuggling to keep themselves afloat. Recently, they had fallen under the leadership of a woman called Balalaika. From what Ahsoka had been able to gather, Balalaika had been a Separatist child soldier during the war, around the same age as Ahsoka herself. She had since been trained in the ways of Alpha Group, an elite Separatist unit that patterned itself after the Rocket Jumpers of the Ancient Republic. The Alpha Group had been very successful at spearheading invasions of Republic planets during the war, having enabled such things as the Fall of Ryloth, the Conquest of Kiffex, and the Capture of fifteen of the twenty orbiting cities of Duro, enabling General Grievous to destroy the other five and bombard the surface unopposed. They had killed many Jedi and Clones during the war, and even more local defense forces. Most of her subordinates apart from droids were veterans of Alpha Group. The remaining droids had been largely relegated to operating, guarding, and maintaining the ship.
"Why are we meeting these people?" her son Anakin asked. She had brought him along because, as much as she loved him, she hadn't been able to spend as much time with her son as she wanted. She was hoping that this would be a good start to building a closer bond between them.
"We are here to hopefully convince them to join our cause," replied his father. "We are seriously lacking in heavy warships, as well as carriers. The Quarren built these dreadnoughts to last, and it's one of the last of its kind that the Empire hasn't blown up or scrapped." Lux had been far more present in Anakin's life than Ahsoka had managed to be. Lux had officially adopted him as a war orphan, making him Anakin's legal guardian. Everyone acknowledged him as Lux's son, even if they didn't know of their blood relation. He was as compassionate as he was when Ahsoka first fell in love with him, and Anakin was much warmer to his father than his mother. Unfortunately, as part of his cover as a loyal Imperial Senator, Lux had to marry someone other than Ahsoka, who was widely believed dead at that point. Lucinda Argyus was from a fairly prominent family on Tepasi but after her brother Faro had betrayed the Republic when the Separatists bribed him to free Nute Gunray from custody, the family had seen its fortunes turn for the worst. She recovered from this by becoming an effective informant for the various security agencies Palpatine had set up and ultimately married a wealthy investor who had agreed to take her name. After having a daughter named Miranda, Lucinda's husband had been gunned down in an apparent robbery. The main detective decided to find the first Rodian he could when looking for suspects. The suspect they pinned the murder on was swiftly killed by the police, the shooting judged as justified. Of course, given how the Rodian had never been in trouble before, as well as how no one matching his description had been seen close to the murder, it didn't take long for rumors to start that Lucinda had killed her husband. A year later, she had started pursuing Lux, seeing him as a naïve youngster she could control. The Onderonian senator had seen through her. But Lux faked interest in her for the sake of his image, as many Imperials were already suspicious of the former Separatist from a planet known for its independent streak. Ultimately, he had married her to continue this deception as well as hopefully gain information on the Empire from her, so that his old friend Saw Gerrera and his true love, Ahsoka, could continue attacking the Empire. He had also taken a liking to Miranda, as Lucinda wasn't a very loving mother, ultimately caring more about her daughter's image and status than anything. Unfortunately, Lucinda had not taken a liking to Anakin. She saw him as an orphaned gutter rat who Lux only took in to look charitable. Miranda herself was rather distant from Anakin, largely because she desperately desired her mother's approval. Thankfully, Lux had been a loving father to Anakin, so he wasn't entirely miserable. Unfortunately, the Empire now had proof Ahsoka had survived and had started to get suspicious of Lux. Lucinda had quickly put the pieces together that Anakin was likely Ahsoka's son with Lux, and started looking for ways to prove it. Knowing that their cover was about to be blown open, Lux took his son and fled. Ahsoka had been hoping to get closer with Anakin as a result but so far, he was still rather bitter at her absences, as well as how his life had been upended by his connection to her.
"Are you sure they won't kill you for treason as soon as they see you?" Anakin asked his father.
"We have been buying weapons from them for a while," Lux replied. "Hopefully, they will have gotten over Onderon's defection in the war and recognize that ultimately, we are fighting for now what they thought they were fighting for then."
"Hopefully, the name our sponsors are thinking of won't get in the way," Ahsoka added. Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and the others who wanted to form an alliance of rebel had called their brainchild the Alliance To Restore The Republic. Apart from the really bad blood and distrust the Clone Wars had created, most of them considered it counterproductive to include Separatists in such an organization, with Bel Iblis being the most willing to compromise on this. Mostly because the Corellian hadn't taken sides until almost the very end of the war when a terrorist attack left him no choice but to join the Republic. Of course, Bel Iblis and Mothma could barely agree on anything, even if they were willing to talk to each other as opposed to outright shun Saw Gerrera. Just then, their ship was contacted.
"Akul's Bane, this is the Colicoid Swarm, you are clear to land now," the familiar voice of a B1 battle droid said. As they continued into the bay, they saw a surprising sight. It was a stealth corvette left over from the clone wars. It was surprising this ship hadn't been accounted for by the Empire afterward. As they stepped outside the Horizon Star Yacht, they were greeted by a tall man with a long scar across his face flanked by one BX Commando droid and a heavily armored human wearing a green jumpsuit and a gas mask with his weapon slung behind him.
"The captain will see you now," said the leader, turning around and leading Ahsoka, Lux, and Anakin down the hall to a meeting room deep within the ship. As they walked down the hall, they saw an interesting group of people come out of the room. The biggest was a Kajain'sa'Nikto or Red Nikto as they were commonly called, wearing a green jacket with a grey shirt and opaque goggles. Next was a blond human man with an orange shirt which had flowers patterned on it and a set of transparent goggles. Then, a fair skinned human with spikey black hair and large brown eyes who wore a crisp white shirt and draped a formal jacket over his arm. Finally, there was a woman who looked entirely human save for her burgundy hair, wearing very revealing clothes that showed off her impressive physique and an intricate tattoo on her right shoulder. Both the Nikto and the woman were visibly armed, with her wearing a shoulder harness that holstered a pair of DL-44 blaster pistols while he had a conventional holster with a single A-180, currently in its pistol configuration, while neither of their companions appeared to be armed. Just as Ahsoka began to wonder about these people, the scarred man opened the door revealing the woman called Balalaika. The blond human was an attractive woman around the same age as Ahsoka, despite how she had never gotten the burns on her body treated.
"How can we at Hotel Novgorod help you today?" asked the scarred woman at the head of the table.
As you can see, Ahsoka isn't as close with her son as she would like. In addition, I decided to expand on Lux's circumstances that were alluded to in Inferno Squad. His step daughter Miranda would be played by a young Yvonne Strahovski. Those issues I mentioned between the Rebels of the films and the Separatist remnants is in the Expanded Universe. If anyone wants a story exploring Garm Bel Iblis in this continuity, PM me.
Also, for those of you who are unfamiliar with them, I have just introduced several characters from one of my favorite anime, Black Lagoon. The Nikto is supposed to be Dutch, the blond guy is a hacker named Benny, the businessman is called Rock, and the woman with burgundy hair is known as Revy. I have been reading Trojan Prince's fic, The Reclaimer, and it got me intrigued by the idea of incorporating characters from different franchises while keeping them recognizable. Next chapter will be told from the perspective of Rebecca "Revy" Lee as she observes the negotiations. She looks like this Revy by dandonfuga on DeviantArt.