Chapter 10: Drinking and Dancing for Luck

Calcian rested his head against his joined fingers. Across the table, Bashalar sat in his flight jacket, resting one hand on the table, his ears twitching, the other hand stroking at the fur around his chin.

"Do you trust this information?" Calcian asked after a moment.

"I trust the broker," Bashalar replied.

"That's not the answer to the question I asked."

"No...but it's the only answer that can be provided. For any information we receive."

Calcian sighed and rubbed at his head. "We can't really not do this can we?" he said.

Bashalar shrugged and winced at the same time. "We always have a choice. We can always choose not to but...if we don't..." He spread his hands.

"We're missing the chance to stop the Empire from getting its hands on munitions and ore and doing evil?" he said sardonically. Bashalar responded with a raised brow and a smile.

"Yes, I suppose that's one way of putting it." He lapsed into silence with Calcian. "We don't have to change the plan, that all still works," he said eventually. "We'd just be accelerating the timetable."

"Big difference in preparation between doing something in a week and doing something tomorrow though..." Calcian drummed his fingers on the table.

"We could check with the others, put it to a vote and let them decide. That way we know if everyone is ready."

"That might be the best thing to do. I don't want to dragoon anyone into doing something they don't want to do." He nodded. "Yes, we'll have a discussion and put it to a vote. We can also then find out from Grotu if she would be ready to do it, hers is one of the more important parts."

"Yes."

"All right, I'll let everyone know we'll be having a meeting." He stood up to go, but Bashalar held up a hand. "What?"

He looked like he was struggling with himself, but made a resolution. "There is...one way we could mitigate some of the risks of accelerating this operation..." he said, somewhat cryptically, letting his words hang.

Calcian drew his eyebrows together. "What do you mean? What could we...?" Suddenly it came to him and his eyes widened before he let out a groan. "No!" he moaned, but weakly, knowing the truth of it. "One of them is bad enough."

"An average Jedi is worth at least ten ordinary people," Bashalar continued, determined. "If Barriss is even half as skilled as Ahsoka she will be a very valuable ally, and reduce the risk we'd be taking considerably." He met Calcian's eyes. "It's not just what they provide in advice, and lightsabre skill. It's also their access to the Force, the premonitions it can provide. When we're going in faster than we'd like, that could really be the difference between this being a success or a failure."

Calcian closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He couldn't deny the truth of what Bashalar was saying. "I doubt she'd agree," he said at last. "If she was interested in joining up for the fight she would have done so, not scurry off to the town at the first opportunity."

"True, but there are other ways we can motivate her to take part. I daresay she doesn't like having to scurry about, and whatever went on in her past, taking assassination and bounty hunting work can't be comfortable for her." Bashalar nodded. "We do have other resources we can offer to her."

"Which are available only because she screwed up part of the original plan," Calcian said acidly.

Bashalar shrugged. "Maybe we've got the better trade-off here. Maybe it's...the will of the Force?" He grinned at him and Calcian couldn't help returning the grin and shaking his head.

"All right," he said, raising his hands in defeat. "I'll go talk to her before calling the meeting. But if she says no, I'm not going to force the issue."

"Pun intended?" Bashalar asked, with a raised brow.

Calcian quirked a smile. "No...but maybe that was the will of the Force as well."

Barriss settled into her office, thinking it was strange to think that she had an office, but not uncomfortable as a thought. It was a reminder of what it had been like in her earlier days at the Temple when she would work with the Circle of Healers. A reminder of the earlier years of the war, when she would help in the medical facilities.

Before it all went...wrong...

She shook her head. Better not to let the thoughts drift in that direction. Better to keep herself on the here and now. That would make it easier to maintain a comfortable bedside manner.

She heard voices from outside her door, one of which sounded like Doctor Alarba.

"So it's not one of your people I need to clandestinely heal again?" she heard him say.

"No, not this time," a familiarish voice said. "I was wondering if I could see Barriss?"

"Oh...I didn't know she was part of your group."

"She isn't but...I would like to see her."

"Well go on through, she's where my assistant used to be. But don't be too long, there's a fair few booked in today, ignoring the walk-ins."

"Sure, sure."

Barriss frowned and swivelled to face the door. It opened and she let out a groan.

Calcian Dash strode into the room, at least having the presence of mind to look sheepish. "Hello," he said.

"What are you here for?" Barriss asked, all thoughts of a bedside manner gone. "I was given to understand you weren't too happy with me."

"I'm not...well I wasn't..." He shut the door behind him and leaned against it. "But I have a question I would like to ask."

Barriss gestured with her hand. "Go ahead."

"So...basically...we're going to be doing a job tomorrow, and I would like to ask you to come along."

"Not interested."

"I thought you would say that, as did Bashalar." He scratched at his cheek and walked around the room. "But, the thing is...we've had to accelerate this timetable and we would both feel better if we had more than one Jedi helping us out."

"I'm not a Jedi."

He flapped his hand. "Person who wields a lightsabre and can levitate rocks with their mind then."

Barriss sighed. "Look, it's flattering that you would ask, but I'm not interested in getting involved in your resistance movement. I'd...just prefer to keep my head down."

"By doing assassination and bounty hunting work?" He raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "I need to pay the bills somehow. Besides, I'm not sure Ahsoka would be happy with it."

"Well, Ahsoka doesn't give the orders. I do. So if you say yes she'll just have to lump it." He looked over at her. "I know you're not interested in joining the resistance, if you were you would have signed up for it. But we can pay you."

Barriss quirked her head at him.

"Thanks to your own handiwork, we have some credits going spare. I can pay you a fairly substantial fee. Combined with whatever you're getting from the Sentarou job it may be enough for you to not have to do that kind of work for a while. Possibly enough to establish your own place like this."

Barriss raised her eyebrows at him. "Who says I want to?" she asked.

"Your body language does." He smiled. "You look very relaxed in here, even while I'm nervously walking around the room. Whatever you are, this seems like something you like doing or have a calling for." He turned away. "I can't promise it's without risk, the job we'd be doing. But I want it to be successful. And I would feel a lot more comfortable if you were there, whatever your motives for joining are."

Barriss turned away. She pondered what he was saying. The idea of not having to bounce from system to system, setting up some small clinic of some kind, where she had enough credits to allow for donation-based patients rather than just paying customers...it was an attractive proposition. She couldn't lie. She knew Ahsoka wouldn't be happy...but then again, after this, they wouldn't see one another again. And she had to think about herself. One day of awkwardness, or causing upset to Ahsoka, would surely be outweighed by the credits and what that would give her?

Calcian turned towards the door. "Look, you don't have to give me your answer now. I'm going to be running a briefing at sixteen-hundred hours, where they'll be a vote on whether this goes ahead at all. So if you swing by for then, then-"

"No, it's okay," Barriss said, cutting him off. He looked over at her, quizzical, and she met his eyes. "I'll do it."

He smiled at her. "Thank you, Barriss."

She held up a finger. "Provided your fee is acceptable."

"Of course. I'll send you details on the fee and we can discuss it beforehand."

She nodded. "If it's acceptable, I'll be there for the briefing...though...I'll maybe wait to see how your vote goes before I announce myself. So I don't influence anyone's thinking."

He nodded. "Yes, I can see the sense in that." He touched two fingers to his forehead and flicked them at her. "I'll see you there." He opened the door and went out, and Barriss turned to contemplate her computer terminal, and whether she'd just made a big mistake.

But the Force, as it had been for a long while, was silent.

They assembled in the meeting room, sitting around the oval table roughly equal distances apart. Calcian was at the far end of the table, Bashalar to his left one seat over, Grotu opposite Bashalar, then Ahsoka next to her and Leorna at the top end of the table. Calcian looked around the room, took a breath and decided there was no time like the present.

"I imagine you're all wondering why we're having this briefing," he began.

"Nope!" Leorna called. "But we thought we'd indulge you because we all know how much you like grandstanding and speechifying!"

Everyone chuckled and Calcian smiled and nodded at her, appreciating her breaking the ice.

"So," he tapped at the table and holoprojection of one of the munition factories appeared on the screen. It was a large, square building, with an open hangar on one side and river running along beside it, from which water was sucked in for cooling. "This is the factory we were going to attack next week." He paused. "We're moving that timetable to tomorrow."

A murmur around the room.

"Why?" Ahsoka asked.

Calcian nodded at Bashalar. "Our broker has come through with a new piece of intel," Bashalar said. "An Imperial convoy will be coming in two days to restock on munitions, the purpose for which we don't know, but I'm sure we can all use our imaginations."

Nods around the room.

"We want to move the timetable up so that we can stop this from happening. If we were to strike tomorrow, those munitions would be gone and the Imperials would have no way to get the factory working again in time."

Calcian looked around the room. "We know what you're thinking because we've had the same questions. Can we trust this intel? Well, the answer we don't know. All we can say is the broker has not let us down before. Our previous successes are testament to that." He paused. "But we know this is an accelerated timetable. And we don't want to force you to do this if you're not ready, or you don't trust this, or if it can't be done. So, we're going to take a vote. Bashalar and I have already made clear where we stand, so it's going to be among you three." He paused again and then looked at Grotu. "Grotu, you've got one of the most important jobs on this assignment. Can you do this in the timeframe?"

She studied the holoprojection and seemed to look at data running across her scanner. She nodded slowly. "I believe I can," she said. "I've worked out most of the codes and necessaries for slicing, so I will be able to break through the security and do what needs to be done." She nodded, confident. "Yes, I can do it."

"And your vote?"

"I vote in favour."

Calcian nodded. He turned to Ahsoka. "Ahsoka?"

She was sat with her eyes closed. She opened them and studied the holoprojection. "I can't sense anything through the Force. No ripples of the future from this..." she said slowly.

"Meaning there's no danger?"

"Perhaps...or it's being shrouded. It's hard to tell." She paused and then looked at Bashalar. "Have you managed to organize your end?" she asked.

Bashalar nodded. "Yes. I was able to obtain the transport and clothes we need, along with the correct codes. One of the reasons we delayed this until now was to ensure this would be possible."

Ahsoka nodded and turned back. She frowned. It was tempting, very tempting, especially knowing the Imperial cruisers would be coming...but was it too tempting? That was the question. It wasn't necessarily that there was someone behind this, some trap. But people can make their own traps when they rush in without consideration.

And the Force's silence worried her.

She shook her head. "No. I can't support this. I will respect the collective decision but I think it's too risky."

Calcian nodded, accepting her vote. He turned to Leorna. "Leorna, it's down to you."

Leorna sat back in her chair, chewing at her thumbnail. "It's risky..." she said, after consideration, thinking aloud. "It's one of those things that sounds too good to be true...and with a timetable that seems designed to bounce us into a decision." She stared at the holoprojection as if willing it to present her with some answer. She shut her eyes and sighed. "But it also sounds like something that we have to do..." She opened her eyes and nodded. "I vote in favour."

Everyone let out a breath at the tension resolving, even Ahsoka. She closed her eyes and nodded, signalling her acceptance of the decision.

"Thank you, everyone," Calcian said, "for giving this your serious judgement. Regardless of how we voted, I know we can work together and make a success of this."

"I'm sure we can," Leorna said, brightly. "I believe in us. That's what tipped the balance for my vote."

Calcian appreciated her saying it; it helped instil confidence in him and he was sure it did the others. They had got through previous missions, going way back before Ahsoka signed up, and the core four of them had come through. They would again.

But...now came what was in many ways the trickier part...

He cleared his throat. "We do have another way of mitigating the risk we will be facing," he said.

"What's that?" Leorna asked.

He licked his lips and picked up his comlink. "You can come in," he said. "We're going ahead."

A moment later the door slid open.

"No!" Ahsoka leapt out of her seat.

Barriss stood in the doorframe, keeping her cool. She'd been expecting a reaction from Ahsoka, so she didn't flinch when she heard it, though it did sting a little inside.

Ahsoka stared at her and then glared at Calcian. "You decided this without talking to me?" she growled.

"You're not in charge Ahsoka, I am," he replied, trying to keep calm, aware the situation was on a delicate balance. "Barriss has agreed to help, in exchange for a fee." Ahsoka flicked her eyes over to her, but Barriss didn't react. "Think on it rationally Ahsoka," he continued, trying to keep a pleading note out of his voice. "We all know we're facing a risk doing this. With the two of you, we mitigate that risk by a huge amount."

Ahsoka breathed out a sigh. "I know. And I accept it." She sat down, casting a look at him. "But I don't appreciate it being decided behind my back."

There was an awkward silence that settled on the room.

"Well, I feel a lot safer for having her around," Leorna said, smiling at Barriss. She gestured to the seat next to her, opposite Ahsoka. "Come on in, we don't bite. Much."

"Thank you," Barriss replied with a nod, and seated herself at the table. "I suppose for those who don't know me, I'm Barriss. I was Ahsoka's...'colleague' at the Jedi temple." Ahsoka raised a brow at her and flashed a sardonic smile, accepting the touch.

"It is lovely to meet you at last Barriss," Grotu said. "I was sad I missed the opportunity earlier."

"Thank you. I do have one question, though, now I've joined the team." She looked seriously around the room. "Can someone tell me what the hell we're actually doing?"

Bashalar laughed. "Yes, I suppose that would be a good idea." He waved at the holoprojection. "This is the factory we're striking at. It's a combined munitions and ore mining facility. Our original plan was to blow up the entire factory, but thanks to a certain someone who will remain nameless-"

Barriss coughed.

"-we can no longer do that. But we do still have enough to destroy the munitions manufactory." The holoprjection changed, showing a room with a large number of machines, and a set of gangways running across the larger floor below, with a circular central hub connecting the gangways. "We can place strategic detonations to take this out, combined with some of the munitions own parts it will be enough to take out the area, and cripple the factories capacity for at least two months."

"Luckily, this also means we minimize potential civilian casualties," Calcian said, and Ahsoka shot him a look.

"As to the plan," Bashalar continued. "Barriss, you and Grotu are going to break into the facility. When you reach the command centre, you are to issue the alarm for a gas leak. This will clear the facility, according to the rules, though we do of course need to account for the fact that some militia and guards may hang about." As he spoke the holoprojection changed again, showing a route through corridors to the command centre. "When that alarm goes off, it sends out a signal to the emergency recovery and repair team. Grotu will also disable that signal."

"At which point, the rest of us come in," Calcian said. "We have acquired the type of transport that the recovery and repair teams use, as well as their identification codes and costumes. Ahsoka, Leorna, Bahsalar and I will come in and land in the hangar, pretending to be the team. We will then proceed to the munitions manufactory and set the charges."

"Barriss can come to meet us, once Grotu is secure," Bashalar put in. "As the munitions area is the place where we might have the most trouble."

Barriss nodded, studying the projection.

"Once that's done," Calcian picked up the thread, "we all head back to the hangar, with Grotu issuing the all-clear signal. There will be an hour's gap, per standard procedure, before the workers are allowed back in. In that time, we all hop on our ship, head out and detonate." The holoprojection went down. "The explosion will be enough to destroy the munitions room and some of the surrounding rooms, but it won't reach the hangar. So we won't have to wait long before we activate when we leave."

"And we speed off into the sunset!" Leorna said, clapping her hands.

Everyone laughed.

"Yes, exactly that," Calcian said. "Now, are there any questions?" He addressed it to the group, but he meant Barriss as she was the only one who hadn't heard it before. And it would be useful to have her view; as an outsider hearing it for the first time, she might spot a flaw.

She thought a long moment and then shook her head. "It sounds good to me," she said, looking at Calcian.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ahsoka about to say something, and Barriss could guess at one particular 'snippy' remark about 'bombs' and 'sounding good to her', but Ahsoka bit back on it before saying anything. Barriss gave her a sly smile, acknowledging both that she knew what she was about to do, but also thanking her for not doing it. Ahsoka's lekku darkened slightly and she looked away.

"Right, boring stuff done, party time!" Leorna said, jumping up with a grin.

Barriss blinked. "I'm sorry, party time?" she inquired.

"Tradition," Grotu said. "Before every mission, we head to one of the parlours in town to enjoy some drinking and dancing. For good luck."

"Oh, you can count me out of that," Barriss said, waving her hands. "That's not my kind of-"

"Sure it is!" Ahsoka put in, the Snips personality sprinting back to the surface. "Why at the Temple you were always the one who wanted to do the daring and fun stuff." She grinned at her, as Barriss glared at her and mouthed 'you schutta!'

"In any case, it's part of the condition of the fee," Calcian said, with a wide smile. "Even if you're just in it for the money, we need to get to know you a bit more before we can feel fully comfortable entrusting our lives to you."

"Oh...great...yay," Barriss said, sinking into her shawl, giving him a weak smile and calculating whether the fee really was worth this, plus the mission itself.

To Barriss' surprise, the parlour they went to was not the backend tavern she'd been expecting. They'd taken speeders down, Barriss riding behind Grotu, and when they'd parked outside she'd been apprehensive because the building looked very non-descript and not all that well maintained on the outside. But inside, the place was nicely laid out, with a bar at one end and several pods littered around the outside of the circular dance floor, so everyone had a certain degree of privacy. The music itself was also not the rowdy kind she'd be expecting but was a mix of faster and slower pieces performed by a live band of biths. People, of all different species, went onto the floor and out at their leisure.

When they'd arrived Calcian had purchased drinks for them all, which had got everyone relaxed and opening up, and soon the conversation was flowing and Barriss found that she was actually beginning to enjoy herself somewhat, listening to the gang's tales of previous adventures, things they'd got up to against the Separatists, with Leorna giving a particularly animated and amusing account of how she'd saved Calcian from getting crushed in a garbage compactor after a ludicrous escapade that involved him sneaking into a droid camp by dressing up as a super battle droid.

Barriss laughed at the end of the tale, and took another drink from her glass, some fruity concoction that brought some heat to her cheeks.

"All right, your turn Barriss," Leorna said, pointing a finger at her. "Tell us something about yourself. Preferably funny."

"Oh, there's not that much to tell about me," Barriss said, shying away. "I'm sure Ahsoka's told you all the amusing stories that involve me."

"Come on! Start with an easy one then; what's your fighting form?"

"My fighting form? Oh you mean, which form do I use for sabre battling. Well, that one does have an interesting history. I started out as a practitioner of Form III, which is a more defensive formation."

"I know that one," Grotu said. She looked puzzled. "Doesn't that primarily involve one sabre?"

"It does."

"But you dual-wield?"

"Well, that's because of her." She pointed her finger accusingly at Ahsoka. "She bullied me into learning dual-wielding to help her practice."

Ahsoka laughed, as the others made various pantomime hissing and booing noises. "That is a completely unfair and malicious character assassination!"

"You camped in my room and refused to leave until I agreed, giving me puppy dog eyes the whole time!" Barriss laughed. "And then as I soon as I gave in you frogmarched me to the training chamber to start straight away." She shook her head. "I went to bed that night with great big welts on my arms from where you hit me with the training sabres because you weren't taking it easy either."

"All right, all right! But in my defence, as we both know, you did get good at it."

Barriss blushed and looked away.

"Sooo...it turns out Ahsoka was the class bully then," Calcian grinned.

"See, this is the juicy gossip I was looking for!" Leorna said with a smile.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ahsoka raised her hands, still smiling. "You're not getting the whole picture."

"Oop, somebody's doing a counter-attack," Bashalar chimed.

"She's not told you about the time she came wailing to my room, at near midnight, because she, the model student, thought she'd deleted something out of the archive."

Barriss cringed, suddenly remembering the incident as Ahsoka looked triumphant.

"She had me sneak down there, and run technical work on the terminal, whilst we had to duck and hide from Temple security every now and again, until an hour later I finally recovered it and then she made me promise, with threats I might add, to never tell anyone as she couldn't ruin her reputation." Ahsoka took a sip of her drink. "And I've kept that secret right up until this moment."

The table laughed, and Barriss smiled at her evilly. "But now you've broken that promise. What was it I threatened you with again?" she mused. "I think it was that I would dye your lekku and montrals green wasn't it?" And she made an exaggerated show of reaching into her utility belt.

"No! Don't you dare!" Ahsoka gave a mock squeal and made as if to run away, bringing another chorus of laughter. She resumed her seat and put her cheek in her palm.

"Do you guys know what happened to any of your friends?" Grotu asked.

Both Ahsoka and Barriss' faces fell and they both seemed to sober instantly.

"I'm so sorry," Grotu said, immediately, with sincerity. "That was an insensitive question."

"No, it's okay," Ahsoka said, giving her a reassuring smile. She took a deep breath. "The honest answer is no. Barriss is the first Jedi I knew that I've met since. As for the others...well the last time I saw Anakin he was dashing off with Obi-Wan to save the Chancellor on Coruscant."

"Wow...that's bitterly ironic isn't it..." Leorna said.

"Yeah...I guess..."

"Though funny to think," Calcian mused. "That if you hadn't left the Order at that point, you would have been caught up in that as well."

"I suppose I would have been. I don't know if I had the better arrangement there."

"You got to be the Hero of the Siege of Mandalore," Bashalar said. "So that's something."

"Yep. My place in the footnotes of history is secure!" Ahsoka said, trying to put a light tone on it.

"How about you Barriss?" Grotu asked, leaning out to look at her.

"Me?" Barriss said, eyes widening. "Oh no. I mean, same as with Ahsoka really. As for my Master well..." The image came unbidden to her mind, of Luminara's glance, her painful disappointed glance, as she left the prison cell. Barriss dropped her head. "We...didn't part on the best terms..."

"Why was that?" Calcian asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh...well...um..."

"Barriss resigned from the order." Barriss looked up, surprised at Ahsoka's intervention. Ahsoka gave her a supportive nod. "Over a political matter. She disagreed with the Council's decisions in the war effort so she left."

"Yeah," Barriss agreed. "That's what happened."

"Man...that must have been a painful decision," Calcian said with sympathy. "I know what the Order can mean to the Jedi."

"It was but...it had to be done."

There was a small silence. Then the music changed to a faster beat, and Leorna planted her hands on the table and stood. "Well, I think it's time for a change of mood," she announced. She held out her hand to Calcian. "Will you do me the honour of the first dance, or do I have to proposition a stranger?"

Calcian sighed but took her hand. "One dance, then you proposition a stranger."

They slipped around the others and onto the dance floor.

Bashalar turned to Grotu. "Shall we join them?"

"Yes, why not?" Grotu replied with a smile and they slipped onto the floor as well, leaving Barriss and Ahsoka alone.

Barriss watched them for a moment, observing the dancers as they moved with joy and energy. Then she turned back to Ahsoka, who was looking down at the table, lost in thought. "Thank you," Barriss said. Ahsoka looked up at her. "For stepping in then."

"Oh, that's no problem," Ahsoka replied with a smile.

"It's not that I'm ashamed of what I did," Barriss pressed, feeling she had to explain herself. "It's just...I didn't want to make things awkward ahead of the mission. What with me being brought on last minute and you staying on with them. So...you know..."

"Don't worry Barriss I know you're not ashamed, you declaimed about it at great length," Ahsoka said, giving her a wry smile.

Barriss blushed. "Yeah, so I did."

"And I'm not staying on, just so you know."

Barriss looked up with surprise. "Why?" she asked.

"I've just been thinking about...what I can contribute and...some of the realities of the messiness around what we do..." She paused. "I think I need to...find something where I can a bit more strong in having a say around...what goes and what doesn't."

Barriss cringed. "Is it because of what I said?" she asked. "I didn't mean to ruin things for you or hurt...no that would be a lie, I did mean to hurt, but I didn't mean...well you know."

"I know. It's okay. I needed to think about it." She looked to the side. "So after this, I'll be heading off as well."

"Where will you go?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "I don't know. I might just drift around a bit, take some time to think. How about you? What are your plans?"

"Me? Oh, well, I'm hoping with the money I get from this job and my previous one I'll have enough to set up a small clinic somewhere on the Outer Rim. Preferably a place that's not completely in the Empire's grasp, and where there are no important things or people." She paused in thought a moment. "Tatooine maybe," she said. "From what I understand the moisture farmers out around the Judland Wastes could do with some more nearby medical help."

Ahsoka nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."

They lapsed into silence. Barriss opened her mouth a couple of times to say something, but nothing ever came out. Mostly because she couldn't work out what to say in her own head. Various abstract thoughts prowled about the edge of her consciousness but she could never quite bring them forward and put them into a coherent form.

The song ended and the group returned to the table, all of them flushed and happy, slipping past them into their seats.

"Sooo..." Leorna said, a wicked grin pooling onto her face. "I think the two Jedi should dance next."

Barriss and Ahsoka locked eyes with one another and then glanced at Leorna.

"Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it!" Leorna said, tapping at the table with her fists.

Grotu laughed. "I think she's going to be like that until you do," she said.

A slower-paced melody started up. Barriss looked over at Ahsoka and raised a brow. Ahsoka sighed and extended a hand out to her. Surprised, Barriss took it and the two of them walked down onto the floor, along with some of the other patrons.

Surprisingly, formal dance instruction was part of the Order's training, after it was decided that, between ambassadorial duties, protecting senator duties and undercover work, it would impede the Jedi's ability to do their jobs if they were stood about like lemons making everyone uncomfortable at formal gatherings. So it was with a certain degree of familiarity that Barriss and Ahsoka put their left and right hands together and Ahsoka put her right hand around Barriss' shoulder and Barriss put her left on Ahsoka's hip.

Someone, possibly Leorna, wolf-whistled, and Ahsoka broke out from the form to cast an ugly glare about the room, looking for the culprit, but Barriss tweaked her hip and brought her back.

Thus in position, they began to dance.

They moved easily and with grace to the melody, taking long flowing strides when the music asked it, and slipping into quicker steps when it picked up pace in places. They used the Force to gently move themselves along, anticipating notes and beats and so adjusting their step as if they were part of the rhythm itself. They moved through holds, pirouettes and twirls and they enjoyed themselves as they moved in the delicate rhythm together, pulling apart and then swirling back together.

The song came to its end and they finished in the form they'd started in, both flushed and out of breath. There was applause and they looked up and saw that some of the other patrons had been watching them, taking note of their skill, and some of the other dancers cast them admiring looks.

Barriss laughed at the absurdity of it and looked back at Ahsoka, and she froze when she saw her distraught expression.

Ahsoka pulled her hands back and took a step back from her. "Sorry…" she said. "I…sorry."

She turned around, holding her elbows in her opposite hands and walked out of the parlour, leaving Barriss standing behind her, mute, one hand raised.

A new song started up and Barriss shook her head and left the dance floor, slumping back into her seat, looking lost. It has felt so…natural, so good, so easy, out on the floor with Ahsoka. Like when they were talking earlier with the others, it had all had that familiar comfort, that had been so easy to forget.

Too easy. It was all just an illusion.

Leorna grimaced. "I'm sorry," she said, with genuine pain. "If I'd known that would happen I wouldn't have pushed…"

"It's all right," Barriss said, giving her a weak smile. "It's not your fault it's…well it's my fault. Something I did a long time ago."

"What happened?" Calcian asked.

Barriss shook her head. "It's not my place to say really."

He nodded, understanding. "It's just really strange. You seem to have a distant attitude to one another, but then you're suddenly out here and you're swapping stories and jokes and teasing one another like you are really good friends."

"We were, once, best friends. And I guess we still have that in us, we can still…" She shook her head. "We can act the part. But it's all gone now."

She fell silent. Then she put on a smile and stood. "Well I should go," she said. "I feel like I've ruined enough of your evening."

"No, Barriss don't go, you're not ruining anything," Leorna said, reassuring.

Barriss smiled at her. "Thank you, but really I should go. You all have a nice time though."

"We will do," Grotu said.

"Yeah, I'll pick you up tomorrow, around mid-afternoon," Calcian said. "I'll come with the speeder, save you walking all the way up."

"Thank you. Bye, everyone."

They waved as she left, turning so she couldn't see them anymore, her face downcast.

Barriss emerged out of the field and looked up at Ahsoka ship, dark but the outline visible in the soft blue light from the moon, her speeder parked back outside Calcian's ship.

She hadn't meant to come up here. She'd meant to go back to her lodgings at Doctor Alarba's.

But she couldn't get Ahsoka's expression out of her head. And before she knew it, she found herself walking through the field towards their camp.

She took a deep breath. She'd come all this way now. No sense in just turning back.

She walked up to the light cruiser and tapped at the comm channel next to the closed gangplank. A moment passed and then Ahsoka's voice came over the comm.

"Hello?"

"A-Ahsoka? It's Barriss."

"Barriss? What are you doing here?"

"After you left I thought…look can I come in? It was quite a walk and it's kind of cold outside."

"Yeah, sure, just give me a sec."

There was a short pause, and then the ramp lowered down. Barriss slipped up it and then hit the button to close it as she clambered up the ladder out of the dock, and then walked into the Living Quarters.

"Ahsoka?" she called.

"In here," Ahsoka's voice came from her room.

Barriss walked inside. Ahsoka sat cross-legged on her bed, still in her red togrutan tunic, but with the boots removed. She looked fairly miserable, which pained Barriss.

"Hey," she said, not sure how to start. She closed the door and stood back against it, pulling her shawl off. "I didn't interrupt you meditating did I?"

"No, it's okay," Ahsoka replied. "Wasn't going that well anyway."

"Ah…well, I just thought I'd swing by after…after what happened, see how you were doing."

Ahsoka put her hands to her face and then drew them away with a sigh. "I'm sorry about that," she said. "I just…I got overwhelmed."

"I can understand that."

"It's just…" She paused, pondering. "Every time I say goodbye to you, you pop back up again."

Barriss smiled. "Maybe the Force is mad at you because you won't wish it was with me?" she said in a teasing voice.

Ahsoka gave her a weak smile. "Maybe. But the thing is…every time I tell myself that I'm not going to see you again, that's it, and I make my peace with the fact that…that I'm not going to have the answer. And then you turn up again, and it gets harder…and harder to ignore it and I can't…"

She halted, nibbling at her lower lip.

"Ahsoka…" Barriss said softly. "I know things can't go back to how they were between us. But if I can give you an answer to something that's bothering you about what I did, that can bring you some peace, then please tell me."

Ahsoka glanced up at her. She looked away, her face twitching, as though some large internal shouting match was going on between different parts of her brain. Then she made a decision and took a long shuddering breath in, and a long shuddering breath out.

"Just…why?"

"Why?" Barriss was confused. "I…I told you why I did it, but I can go over it again, I don't mind."

"No…no…" Ahsoka shook her head, her lekku softly swaying. She looked up at Barriss, her face one of deep pain. "Why me?"

Barriss eyes widened, as she felt the icy grip of fear swirl its way around her heart.

Here we go...

The last big outstanding questions are about to get addressed: why did Barriss target Ahsoka, and why was the cover-up so incompetent (like genuinely, a half-competent investigator should have been able to work out who was behind it with a couple of questions...)

Apologies if the dance sequence is quite vaguely written - I'm afraid it's not something I'm at all familiar with. The melody I had in mind for it was something akin to Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Waltz.

Nightstrike: It's jokes don't worry quality of writing is *insert chefs kiss*

Ah, thanks! That is very gratifying to know :D

Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time!