Many other dares and truths came to follow but mostly dares. Ahsoka never chose dare, but she was brilliant at coming up with them. She made Jackson balance a glass of water on his head, Jake swallow a handful of pepper, and she even convinced Journey to let Thyla 'decorate' his face with makeup she had in her bag. When Vam walked by with their food and saw it, he nearly dropped his tray.

Ahsoka's burger was pretty good. It had a few additions that tasted questionable, but she really liked the meat in it. She compared it to some of the other meals on the menu and decided what she would try the next time she had the chance.

The rest of the building was full the entire night. People were laughing, talking, eating, some of them drinking, which Ahsoka couldn't do quite yet. Multiple television sets were tuned to different channels, but none of them seemed to be showing pod races. Maybe that was a good thing, though. Ahsoka only ever watched those with Anakin at Halda's.

The Gauges and Gears staff was about to ask for dessert when all of the channels were switched to a news program. The volume was turned up, so no one could miss it. Some of the customers close to the speakers covered their ears, but the other conversations died down as soon as they saw on the screen: 'BREAKING NEWS!' Even the chefs and waiters kept an ear open as they worked.

Two reporters filled the screen, sitting at a desk with microphones. The female on the right starting speaking first. "Just in from the Senate Building, the appointment of the new Chancellor has been completed. Elias James is reporting from the surface."

The scene switched, and people started whispering in hushed voices. Ahsoka didn't bother but listened intently so she wouldn't miss a detail.

"Over the last few days," Elias began, "the members of the Senate have been working diligently to decide what action ought to be taken about the vacant Chancellor position."

A drunk customer shouted out "Yeah, right!" Some people laughed while others shushed him.

"Over the course of the week, nominations were given for the position of Chancellor. Kayla Kanai of Onderon, Bail Organa of Alderaan, and Padmé Amidala of Naboo received seconded nominations."

At the mention of the Nabooian senator, the restaurant rose in cheers. Clearly, she was a crowd favorite.

"Senator Amidala, however, refused the nomination."

Nearly everyone groaned and complained an instant later. Ahsoka had to strain to hear the reporter go on.

Elias, who couldn't hear the disapproval through the screen, went on. "The majority vote landed on Kayla Kanai, the previous senator of Onderon. Once she was named Chancellor, she gave this address to the Senate."

The camera switched to the new Chancellor. "The Republic and the Separatists have been in battle long enough. We now know that Palpatine was feeding the war from both sides, and as he did so, was gaining power in the Senate. The first step to undoing the hurt he caused will be to re-examine the powers recently delegated to the Chancellor over the course of the past four years. I may not have been in this Senate for long, but I doubt that all of the emergency war powers have good intentions.

"The war itself, however, is a different matter. I believe that the Republic has addressed it in the wrong way thus far. We have been so focused on winning the Clone War when we should have been trying to end it."

A chorus of drunk approval came from several tables. Chancellor Kanai went on.

"For too long, the battle has been at a standstill. With the rise of the Inquisitor, who was a traitor to the Separatists, we have realized that the outcome of the war is not set in stone. As it drags on, it only hurts the civilians in more ways than one. Their houses have been destroyed, their homes obliterated, and occupied by soldiers and droids. They pay taxes to fund our ships and our weapons, and in turn, sleep in fear of early death. Therefore, as your Chancellor, my first proposal is that we disengage the Separatists for the present, and instead set up protection around our systems. I say we use the funds given to us by our people back to them. I want to start a program to begin rebuilding what has been destroyed in the past four years, and that starts with the homes of the civilians. If we don't protect our own, we won't have anything left to fight for."

The entire room cheered so loud that Ahsoka barely caught what Elias said next. "To replace Chancellor Kanai, the son of the late Mina Bonteri, Lux Bonteri, married to Jai Perlon, will be promoted to the Senator of Onderon."

While everyone gave their opinion of Chancellor Kanai's speech, Ahsoka analyzed what she already knew.

She had met Kayla Kanai briefly, and only a few times, but she knew a few things. After the civil war, she had taken over the role of Senator since Lux hadn't been quite old enough yet. She had been a rebel in the war but didn't like fighting. She preferred to fight with her words, and Ahsoka thought she would be suited to the position of Chancellor. She definitely looked more promising than the last Chancellor.

Lux is taking over the Senator position then, she thought. She hadn't seen him since she had left the last time after Steela had died. She felt her heart clutch as she remembered the girl falling down the side of the cliff, and for the first time, she could. There was no Jedi telling her she couldn't have attachments.

Ahsoka had always felt responsible for her death. She couldn't control that she was shot, but if she had pulled her up faster...who knows? Maybe she would have been betrothed to Lux instead of...who was it? Jai something?

In the year she spent on Dromund Kaas, she had all but forgotten about Lux. Running around in Darkness had caused him to become insignificant in her mind. Because it had been so long, she didn't find herself to be that disturbed when she heard Lux was betrothed. After Steela, he deserved to be happy. Besides, she was an ex-Jedi, ex-convict, and he was a Senator now. Not a good match.

Ahsoka remembered that Padmé had denied her nomination. She wasn't surprised, since she was very active in her work as a Senator, and wouldn't want to abandon her work. There could be other reasons, one of which Ahsoka had a feeling was a little more personal, but there was no way to know without talking to her, something Ahsoka hadn't done in too long.

She became vaguely aware of a hand waving in front of her face. "Coruscant to Tano," Wheeler called, and the others laughed when she snapped to attention. "What do you think?"

"About which part?" She clarified.

"Who out of the three nominations would you have wanted?"

"We all said Amidala since you weren't listening," Luce teased, and Ahsoka glared at him momentarily before answering.

"I don't think you're wrong in your judgment, Senator Amidala would probably have been a great Chancellor, but she does so many other projects and missions with just being a senator that I understand why she denied the nomination," she explained. "Senator Organa is a good man, and he makes a lot of valid points, but he doesn't have a whole lot of support from other senators. I don't know Chancellor Kanai as well, but from what I do know and from what I've seen, she seems like she can do some good things."

The others were a little surprised at how in-depth her answer was, but they nodded in agreement. Journey spoke up from the left. "What about that rebuilding speech?"

The rest of them started clamoring about how awesome it would be to finally fix the homes that had been wrecked, but Ahsoka wasn't so certain. "It was just a proposal. The news didn't say if it got approved or not. I actually don't think they could, since it wasn't a formal one."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake asked.

Ahsoka took a drink before explaining. "Chancellor Kanai would need to write up a legal, formatted document before officially proposing the idea to the Senate. I don't think she would have had time to, and even if she did they were probably all exhausted from the election that they adjourned right after they finished."

Wheeler laughed. "How do you get exhausted from sitting and talking all day?" The others laughed in agreement. "We fix stuff all day, I'm sure it's not more exhausting than that!"

"Then you have clearly never been to a Senate meeting," Ahsoka grumbled and slammed her forehead on the table. "If I never have to sit through one of those again, it will be too soon."

"You've sat through Senate meetings?" Leslie asked. "Why?"

"They ask Jedi to facilitate them sometimes, in case the arguments get out of hand," she said, taking another bite of her burger. "Or if they have to give a report, every once in a while."

"That's stupid," Jake decided, and Ahsoka laughed.

"As I said, I've had my fill. I may have been friends with senators, but I don't envy what they do."

Thyla cocked her head. "How do you know Amidala well enough to know she does outside projects, or whatever?"

Ahsoka was about to answer that Padmé had been one of two people who had stood up for her during her trial, but she quickly changed her mind. "I had missions with her every once in a while. She and my master worked together often, so I went with them sometimes."

Journey nodded. "You probably know plenty of politicians, don't you?"

"Well, what qualifies as 'plenty'?" Thyla asked, and Journey rolled his eyes.

Ahsoka shrugged. "More than most, I'd imagine. Especially down here."

"What do you mean 'master'?" Rya asked tentatively.

She realized that Rya probably was thinking in slave terms. "He taught me. It's a rank in the Order. It was how I trained."

Ahsoka didn't really feel like going into detail, not when she couldn't explain properly. In a restaurant was not the best place for open discussion about her past.

She watched the conversation continue, but she felt someone come in through the door that she didn't like. Ahsoka peered down to the ground level, and saw an armed figure in a cowl, searching for something, most likely a person. Ahsoka excused herself to go to the bathroom and got as close as she could without seeming intrusive.

The figure slipped past the waiters who were trying to get him a table, not realizing that he wasn't here for the food. To Ahsoka it was obvious, but apparently, not to them. He slid into a dark corner and pulled out a blaster.

Bulky, medium barrel, little to no ammunition storage. Probably designed to maximize damage. Thankfully, Ahsoka had repaired enough blasters in the last week to have a pretty good idea of how to foil this guy's plan. She used the Force to jam the blaster and waited. Hopefully, if she had done it properly, the only person who would get hurt was the shooter.

The figure lifted the gun and raised it toward the kitchen. Finally, some of the chefs realized that they had a terrorist in the building, but when the figure pulled the trigger it exploded and turned to burning hot shrapnel in their hands. They flew backward into a table, knocking the food to the ground.

The entire building recoiled, and some of the customers dashed away, leaving their food. A fair amount of screaming followed, but Ahsoka only had eyes for the shooter. He wasn't getting up, which was what she wanted. If the blast hadn't knocked them down, she would have to.

Thankfully, the staff finally came to their senses. They started running around, calming customers, and clearing the mess. Some of them worked together to drag the shooter outside, and Ahsoka had a feeling that he wouldn't be coming back. She figured she should actually walk into the restroom, and five minutes later when she walked out, the room was a lot quieter, but much calmer as well.

The table her group had sat at was far enough away that they hadn't left, but she saw them whispering to each other. No doubt that they thought it had been her. She ran through what she would have to say to them when a man who worked at the restaurant stopped her. "Excuse me, miss," he said politely, and Ahsoka turned to face him. She saw from his name tag that he was a manager. "Did you happen to see what happened?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "All I saw was his blaster explode in his hands, sir. I didn't see how it happened."

It was true. She hadn't seen it, at least, not with her eyes.

He rubbed his forehead. "I don't know how we are going to deal with this," he murmured. "Thank you, miss."

She nodded and smiled, before walking. About five seconds after she did, she felt him turn around and do a double-take on who she was.

Even if she wasn't a Jedi, she could still protect people. It was legal for a civilian to defend themself from potential danger, and to protect the people around them from pain and death. There was always a loophole in the law. No one knew that better than her.