Chapter 15: Meeting in Dark Alleys
But what if it really were Rex? What was he doing here and why was he in civil clothing? It really didn't make sense. I knew that the Empire had changed the armour of their socalled stormtroopers and that they also enrolled beings that were not clones, but I found it hard to believe that they really would send out an old clone trooper on a clandestine mission. Something was definitely amiss. I felt my steps slowing down, literally spoken step by step, and then I halted. And turned 180 degrees on my heel.
I had to find that clone, no matter what. Sith be damned if I was going to let him escape in case it really was Rex, and I felt more and more confident that my assumption in that respect was right.
I found him in a small cantina in an alley further down the main first I didn't see him when I peeked in but then I glimpsed a familiar figure sitting by a table in a shadowed corner of the room. Not good. If he chose to attack me we would surely not get out from there unnoticed. The cantina was not full by any means, but still….
I straightened my shoulders pulled the cowl forward so it covered my face a little better and strode in.
"Look as if you belong." I could hear the echo of my grandmaster's voice in the back of my head as I closed in on the table and sat down.
"Hello there."
I'm not sure if it was a sub-conscious reference to said grandmaster that made me use that particular phrase, but it made the clone startle so the glass with amber liquid in front of him almost tilted. The bantha steak stayed in place on the plate, though.
"May I take a seat?"
Yep. The deep brown eyes that stared at me were definitely Rex'. I had met them often enough in battle and after battles and before battles and….well, anyway I'd recognise them amidst a million clones. After all he was my mentor and big brother among the clones. The one that had corrected my young and overconfident self and taught me the codes of the clone army. In many ways he had as much influence on my upbringing as Skyguy and Master Obi-Wan. He was the one that never let me down. We both knew that.
"Ah…?"
"Ashla," I presented myself. Ahsoka belonged to another time and another life. That name was best forgotten, at least out in public. "Yes, it's me."
I sat down with my back towards the main room. As any good soldier he sat with his back against the wall to have good overview, and I would prefer to not have my face towards the room. I had grown older and was not totally like the Ahsoka who had been the shadow of "The Hero With No Fear" but still I preferred to be as incognito as possible.
He still looked a bit shellshocked but he didn't reach for any weapons. Either I wasn't considered jedi enough to be killed or the urge to kill all jedi nearby had vanished. Both were OK with me for the moment. Killing was bad idea, in particular if I were to be the victim.
We both spoke at the same time.
"What are you doing here?"
"What happened to you?"
None of us were willing to start the conversation. None wanted to plunge head first into the deep murky waters of the last few years. Not yet. I handed over my order to the waiter. Some food would be good no matter what.
"You haven't shot me yet," I stated matter of factly, "why?"
A pained expression clouded his face for a moment and I felt slightly ashamed.
"No," he said quietly. "I haven't, and I never would."
"But others…?" The unspoken question was blurry, to say the least. I wasn't even sure what I was asking. He wouldn't shoot me, because I was me? Because I wasn't jedi anymore? Would he shoot other jedi? Had he done so?
He shook his head, knowing what I was asking even better than myself.
"No. I did not. I escaped. Some of us had it removed after….after Fives. We didn't dare to keep it."
I must have looked every bit as astonished as I felt.
"It?"
