Chapter 38 – Spice Shipments

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars, even if we wish we did. xD

Author's Note: In which the Force gives Ahsoka a vision... and she continues her journey with the sisters. ;)

~ Amina Gila

"I can tell you worked with starships before," Trace observes as I help her finish up her ship. I've been staying around her ever since we first met up, and we're becoming friends, though I still don't have a great liking for Rafa. She seems much colder. I should be continuing with the investigation on the attempted assassination, but something in the Force is urging me to stay around Trace for now. Perhaps doing so will give me more of a lead. I don't know, but I won't question it. The one thing I haven't lost my trust in is the Force, and right now, it wants me to stay with Trace.

"I have. I went to one of the best academies," I remark as I keep working.

"What was it called?" she asks. Oh no.

"Uh... Skywalker Academy," I blurt out. It's the first thing I can think of, even if it sounds stupid.

"Skywalker? Never heard of it," she declares, "But I haven't heard of most things down here. I never went to an academy."

"Why not?"

"There aren't any down here and even if there were, I couldn't afford it." Oh. That explains it.

"Impressive," I remark as I continue inspecting the ship.

"No, impressive is coming up," she insists, smiling, "Once the Silver Angel hyperdrive comes up."

"The Silver Angel?" I can't help but laugh.

"Yeah, why?" she crosses her arms behind me, irritation flashing across her face.

"I don't know. I just never heard of a name like that before," I attempt to explain. Really, I didn't mean to insult her.

"Wait, you're saying it's a bad name?" she demands.

"Hey, it's your ship. You can call it what you want," I reply, as I turn and head off across the shop, "Why don't you name my bike while you're at it?"

"I did," she smirks, "Trash. Its name is Trash."

"Very funny." And appropriate.

**w**

"Do you want to come?" Trace inquires. We're standing in front of the Silver Angel.

I frown. I really want to go with them, but... "I'd like to but, I have some things to take care of here."

Trace looks unhappy but doesn't protest. Rafa turns to the ship. "Well then, see you around, Ahsoka."

Suddenly, the world shifts around me, a completely different scene materializing before my eyes.

"In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest Chancellor," Windu's voice rings out. He stands there with his purple lightsaber ignited, three other Jedi Masters behind him, ignited lightsabers in their hands as well.

"Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?" Palpatine replies, eerily calm.

"The Senate will decide your fate," retorts Windu.

"I am the Senate!" he snaps.

"Not yet," Windu replies.

Palpatine rises to his feet, obviously ready for a fight. "It's treason then." In a swift move, he leaps over the desk, the lightsaber that appeared in his hands moments before igniting as he attacks the Jedi.

"Execute Order 66," I hear Sidious rasping as the world fades to dark and slowly starts changing to something completely different.

A black-robed figure marches towards the Jedi Temple, long lines of clones behind him. As he gets closer, I manage to get a look at his face. It's Darth Maul.

The vision dissipates and I open my eyes to see I'm still in the back part of the sister's shop. We still have time. Order 66 hasn't been issued, yet. I shiver runs through me. I have no doubt in my mind that it was a warning. For whatever reason, even if I can't understand it, I need to go with the sisters even if I'd normally think it's better for me to stay here.

If I don't go with them, I just know that my vision is going to happen.

"Ahsoka?" Trace calls, appearing in the doorway. Right. It's time to get going. We need to leave now. "Do you want to come?"

"Yes," I state immediately, shuttering at the memory of my vision and the thought that if I answered even one word differently, it could be unfolding in front of me within days. It won't happen. It was just one of many possible futures. "I need to tell someone I'm leaving first, though."

She nods. "Okay, meet us at the Silver Angel in five."

As soon as she's gone, I dial Anakin's frequency into my commlink. "Ahsoka? What is it?" he asks as a hologram of him appears.

"I'm going to be leaving Coruscant with the sisters," I tell him, "I had a vision of the galaxy descending into chaos if I don't."

"Whatever you do, don't get in trouble," he warns.

"Oh, don't worry. No more trouble than you'd get into," I assure him, smirking. Which could still mean a lot, but it's really the best promise I can give him.

"Very funny, Snips," he deadpans.

"I better be going," I declare, "They're waiting for me."

"May the Force be with you," he says.

"You too, Skyguy," I reply with a smile before disconnecting the call.

Before long, I find myself aboard the Silver Angel, in the cockpit, with Trace in the pilot's seat and Rafa in the copilot seat. The ship glides out of the hanger as the sisters exchange a nearly tentative smile. We slowly rise out of the lower part of the city, and back up to the upper side of the city where we can see the sky and tops of the towering buildings. The sun is setting over Coruscant as we fly towards the lines of traffic up above.

"What are you doing?" I frown, as the craft approaches a military line of traffic, airspace we most definitely are not allowed to be in. Clearly, she doesn't know anything about air traffic. Has she ever flown before? I have to wonder.

"Just trying to get into that lane," Trace answers.

"That's a military lane!" I exclaim, "You can't go there! That's a restricted area." She continues flying towards it anyway. Seriously?! What is she trying to do? We're going to get caught like this! It's stupidity!

"We're being hailed," Rafa warns, as the ship's communicator beeps.

"Don't answer that!" I hiss. It's going to make it much worse. We just need to get out of here and hope they don't come after us.

"We have to answer that," Trace insists, turning the screen back towards her, as she nervously glancing between me and Rafa.

"No, we don't!"

"Trace, just get us out of here!" Rafa cries, nearly panicking.

"Don't do anything that makes us look suspicious," I caution.

"We already look suspicious!" Trace nearly yells.

"Fly higher," Rafa orders.

"Stop telling me what to do," she snaps, continuing to fly us closer to the Republic Cruiser. Those two are ridiculous. And this is insane. We need to be leaving, not going closer to them. Next time I'm going to fly myself. Actually, I hope there won't be a next time.

Trace reaches for the answer button again. "Don't –" we both begin to protest, but ignoring us, she answers the call anyway. I let out a loud groan and Rafa facepalms in near despair. Now we're really in for it.

"This is the Silver Angel. What can I do for you?" Trace asks.

"This is military airspace. Civilian transports are not allowed here. What is your license?" the voice on the other end replies stiffly.

"License?" blurts out Trace, looking between both of us frantically. This is what you get for ignoring me. Clearly, she knows nothing about traffic rules. "Do we need one of those?"

Rafa groans, turning the communication transmitter to her instead. "Sorry... it's nothing... So sorry, this won't happen again. I was just teaching my younger sister how to fly." Somehow, I don't think that excuse is going to work very well either.

"You're teaching me how to fly?" Trace retorts, "That's a laugh."

Without bothering to wait for a response, I reach forward and disconnect the call. "Just get in the transport lane and fly." She directs the ship away from the cruiser, towards the lane flying nearby. Finally.

It's then I suddenly sense... Plo? He's on that ship. Mixed feelings surge through me as I sense his presence again. I've missed him, but I don't fully trust him. Not anymore. And I don't think I'll ever be able to bring myself to again, even though it hurts to realize it. I've known him since the day I was brought to the Temple over a decade ago, but he still didn't trust me when the time came. The ship flies past the cruiser and up towards the upper atmosphere. For whatever reason, he let me past, and for that I am grateful.

Thankfully, the rest of our trip off the planet is uneventful and before long, we're racing through hyperspace towards our destination.

**w**

The tension in the air is nearly tangible as we come out of hyperspace above our destination, Obah Diah. We had first stopped at Kessel to pick up a shipment of spice, but while we were in hyperspace had an argument over where it was going. I tried to convince Rafa that we could do something much better with it, but she kept on arguing, after which Trace dumped it out into hyperspace. And now we're here without anything to deliver and we're undoubtedly going to be in a lot of trouble. I have a very bad feeling about this, and I'm questioning our ability to get out before we get caught.

The Pykes are waiting for us as we land. They start unloading the shipment. Now we just need to get paid and leave before they inspect it.

"I assume that you had no trouble transporting the spice from Kessel?" asks one of the Pykes, stepping up to us.

Rafa scoffs. "Not at all. This is one of the smoothest jobs I've ever had."

"Hmm, good," nods the Pyke, "Because if anything had happened it would have been very unfortunate for you." To their credit, both of the sisters keep their expressions pretty much neutral.

"Here is your payment," he declares, picking up a container of credits, "Now, let us take a look at that cargo."

"You don't trust me?" she quickly protests, "I mean, you hired me."

"I don't trust anyone who isn't a Pyke," he retorts.

There may be only one way to get out of this. I step closer, raising a hand as I throw the strongest Force-suggestion I can manage into my words just in case a weaker try doesn't work. "You want to pay us our credits and send us on our way."

He immediately holds out the container of credits to Rafa. She stares at him in confusion for a moment. Seriously, just take it! You're making us look suspicious.

"Here are your credits. Now go on your way," says the Pyke.

Trace gives Rafa a pointed look, and she finally reaches out and takes it from him. Then we turn and while trying not to be visibly hastily, head back up the ramp of the ship. Now hopefully we can get out of here before they realize that something is wrong, but I have the strong feeling that something is going to go wrong.

Just as we're taking off, the whole ship suddenly jolts and stops moving. Perfect, just perfect. I draw in a deep breath, preparing myself for a fight. I don't know what they're going to do to us, but I have no intention of letting them hurt me or the sisters if I can help it.

"What's that?" demands Rafa worriedly.

"It's a tractor beam, Rafa," replies Trace.

Rafa expression quickly goes from fear to anger as she turns to me. "Just so you know, when they interrogate me, I'm blaming the whole thing on you." I suppose I do deserve that, but this is happening for a good reason. I can set my conscious clear on that.

"Between the three of us, there's plenty of blame to go around," Trace sighs.