Chapter 11

The Grand Inquisitor was at Fortress Inquisitorius when he got a message from the Devastator. Lord Vader had a new assignment for the Inquisitors. A new Jedi sighting had been reported.

The Grand Inquisitor would've gone after them himself, but he had other assignments waiting for him, like the training of some of the other Inquisitors since Lord Vader was currently away. He called Fourth Sister to relay the information and hand the assignment off. And with that it was out of his hands. It would not be long before another Jedi would be eliminated. He smirked to himself. This part of the job never got old.

=O=

The Fourth Sister got to work immediately, but it appeared to be a hard job. The only info she'd gotten was that the Jedi was a Togruta with two lightsabers, blue. Young adult and in a rebel group. That didn't help all that much.

Finally, after weeks of following up leads and searching, something promising came on her path. A conspicuous group was on Corellia, one of them a Togruta that fit the description. It was finally time to end this Jedi.

=O=

Ahsoka and her team were on Corellia, laying low. It had been weeks since she'd revealed herself to the Empire. They'd discussed what to now, since she was a target. Ahsoka wanted to leave, but none of her teammates would let her. They were all very persuasive and, in the end, it was decided for her to stay. Not that they would've let her leave if she had tried. And she didn't want to leave. They were her friends.

So, they'd all accepted the danger and continued together. But missions would not be started again, yet. It had been decided that was something too dangerous to do. It was one thing to let such a high-profile target stay in the group, it was another to seek out trouble with such a high-profile target among you.

And that's how the team found themselves on Corellia. With all the smugglers and workers on the planet nobody noticed them. And they'd dressed for the occasion. They wore industrial outfits, of course.

They pretended to work on their ship and Dara even got a 'job' working on someone else's freighter. It was all working out for them.

Currently, Ahsoka was walking along the streets of the city with Cornan and Dara, on their way to drop her off at 'work' and get new supplies for their shuttle. It was a routine walk, like they'd done every time, never letting Dara go alone. You could never be too careful as 'rebels'. And besides, the ship needed some new parts to continue full capacity of the primary systems.

They were chatting, as always. But Ahsoka didn't feel comfortable on this oh-so-normal walk. Something was wrong. The Force felt clouded somehow. A dark presence. She just knew something was about to happen but had no idea what.

Ahsoka decided not to sound any alarm to her friends, yet. But she was on guard. She hadn't seen anything dangerous, and the Force had been wrong before in her life. A clouded sense did not always mean imminent danger. But she could not let her guard down. Cornan noticed this after a little while.

"Is something wrong Ahsoka? You look on edge."

Ahsoka looked up at Cornan and Dara, who both looked at her, worried.

"I don't know yet. The Force feels clouded. Like something is going to happen. Something bad. But I haven't found anything out of the ordinary yet, so let's not worry yet. I'll keep my guard up and let you know if I start to feel something different."

Cornan and Dara shared a look but didn't say anything else. Ahsoka knew why. They couldn't understand what she was feeling. The Force was a mystery to the people who had no connection to it. Especially since the Jedi purges. Most experienced Force users were gone, there was no one to teach the world about it.

They continued to walk and arrived at Dara's destination.

"Goodluck today Dara. We'll be back in several hours. Comm us if you need something from us," Cornan said to Dara. Ahsoka stopped listening, so she didn't hear if Dara said anything back, because suddenly the Force flared in warning.

"Get out of the way!" Ahsoka screamed and jumped aside just as a red-colored dual lightsaber zoomed past her head. Its round hilt spun at a dangerously fast pace, rotating the blades. Cornan and Dara jumped back at Ahsoka's scream. They stood wide-eyed, seeing the red lightsaber.

Ahsoka turned around quickly, facing her opponent. It couldn't be Anakin. She was sure of it. She was proven right when the lightsaber was sent back into the hands of a woman, completely dressed in black. The Dark Side flowed off her in waves, but she was no Sith like she knew Anakin now was. It must be an Inquisitor.

"Get inside! Hide!" Ahsoka said to Cornan and Dara. They would've stayed and fought with her, but it was quite obvious they couldn't help Ahsoka in this fight in any way. They rushed their way inside and hid away. That was their best option.

All the other people in the market stopped to stare at what was happening, but at the sight of the lightsaber and Ahsoka's words to hide to her friends, they started to run away. They, too, didn't want anything to do with this part of the Empire. Before she knew it, the entire street was abandoned except for her and her opponent. Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers and moved into a fighting position.

"I have to say Jedi, you were hard to find. You were untraceable for weeks, but you slipped up. Good for me. Your demise will please Lord Vader."

"I'm gonna have to correct you there, I'm no Jedi. And I'm gonna have to disappoint Lord Vader," Ahsoka said the last part in a mocking tone. "Today will not be my demise and not my capture either."

And with that, Ahsoka made the first move full of aggression, surprising the Inquisitor. Jedi weren't known to lash out with aggression, but Ahsoka had been trained to attack, instead of defending. Thank you, Anakin.

Their lightsabers clashed; the sound of electricity crackled in the air. It had been so long since Ahsoka had been in a real lightsaber fight. It was something to get used to, again, but the feeling was exhilarating. A completely different challenge. A way to prove she could still do it.

They were both agile fighters, that because obvious quite fast. The fight was all fast blows and evasive actions. Ahsoka would strike low, and the Inquisitor would block and parry. Or the other way around. It looked almost like a lightshow, for the fact that they both were dual wielders. Red continuingly clashing with blue, four blades swinging to every side.

She needed to end this, was all that was going through Ahsoka's head. She couldn't attract attention to herself. She decided to switch tactics and go on full offence. Fight to kill, not to disarm or capture. She slashed her sabers forwards at high speed, but she Inquisitor blocked and parried every single one of her attacks. Ahsoka got angry. She pushed her sabers forward in a block. The Inquisitor met her head on. Now it was a question of who was stronger. They both pushed, harder and harder.

"I have to say, Jedi. You fight different than all the others I have encountered. But it's not good enough."

Ahsoka grit her teeth and pushed even harder. "Shouldn't be such a surprise, given the fact that your master taught me," she taunted.

And that got the effect Ahsoka had hoped for. Confusion, which resulted in the Inquisitor faltering. Ahsoka used the Force to push the Inquisitor back against the wall, hard. She held her there, immobile.

"You see," Ahsoka continued her taunt. "Your master was once my master. He taught me everything before he even knew you. You never even stood a chance against me." Yeah, Ahsoka was bluffing, but that was the whole point here.

And then Ahsoka knew what she had to do. She couldn't let the Inquisitor go. Not after what she just told her. Besides, this being was a danger to the Galaxy, to any Force user. At least, that's what she told herself to justify this decision.

Ahsoka was thankful for the fact that the Inquisitor wore a mask, so she couldn't see her face when she lifted her lightsaber and slashed it across her midsection. The woman fell to the floor and Ahsoka checked if there was no way she would survive. Then she turned away. She couldn't let this get to her. She had to do this. It was the only way.

People were starting to come around the corners, out of their hiding places, having heard the silence that followed their fight. Everyone looked at her and the Inquisitor. The whispers started. Ahsoka felt incredibly uncomfortable. She rushed inside to find Cornan and Dara.

"Cornan! Dara! Where are you! We have to leave!" Ahsoka yelled once inside. Slowly her friends came out of their hiding places.

"Where is the Inquisitor?" Dara asked.

"Taken care of. Now let's go. We must get off this planet. If one of them knows we're here, others might follow soon. Especially once they realize this one won't check in ever again. Dara, is there a way we can go out the back?" Ahsoka asked. She needed to get back to business. No time to explain everything.

Dara nodded. "This way." And they followed her outside.

Ahsoka commed the others to rendezvous at the ship, now.

=O=

The three of them rushed back towards the ship and ran inside. Lorey and Jax were in the back area, where the ramp was located and saw them first.

"What's going on?" Lorey asked, worried. "You wanted everyone here. Why?"

"The Empire found us. An Inquisitor attacked me. I took care of it, but there is no guarantee that more won't follow. We have to leave, now."

It was clear that Lorey understood. Thea and Deo weren't back yet, but they had said they'd heard the message and were on their way. Thank the Force it did not take long for them to arrive. Right after they ran in the ramp closed and they took off. The ship jumped to hyperspace as soon as possible.

They all sat there, almost frozen from the shock and confusion. This was so sudden. Ahsoka felt guilty. This was because of her. They had a safe spot and had to give it up because of her. Ahsoka noticed Lorey looking at her. She didn't know how much time had passed, or how long she'd been staring at her, but Ahsoka did know why. She looked away.

"Don't do this to yourself Ahsoka. It wasn't your fault."

Ahsoka defiantly didn't look back towards Lorey. "It is my fault. They only came because of me. You know that."

"It's not fair to do this to yourself. We're so glad to have you. We are aware of the risks and we don't care, so you shouldn't stay hung up over it either. Yes, they came after you, but you took care of it. And if we can help next time, we will. But don't start the 'I want to do this alone' discussion again. It won't do you any good. We won't let you."

Ahsoka looked Lorey in the eye at that. Lorey sounded so convinced. Ahsoka wished she had that confidence. But she knew Lorey was right. She couldn't leave. They'd been over that before.

"Thank you Lorey. For having that much trust in me. It means a lot."

Lorey smiled at that. Ahsoka smiled back.

"Now it's time to find ourselves a new place to lie low. Anyone got any ideas?"

It stayed silent for a while. Nobody really knew where to go. They had to think this through. None of the crew wanted to repeat this event anytime soon. It was obvious more Inquisitors were coming. And under no circumstance could Ahsoka let them find out who she was. She couldn't let Vader find out who she was.

=O=

Ahsoka stared out the window at the blue swirl around them. Normally the sights of the hyperspace lane would calm her. Now, it did nothing for her. It only made her more anxious. She closed her eyes and let herself drift in the Force. It wasn't her planning to meditate, but she felt like she needed to. The last time she'd meditated was when she met Obi-Wan on Tatooine. That had been more than 7 months ago now. It was due time.

Ahsoka didn't necessarily ask the Force for something in her meditation, but she kind of did want answers on how to proceed. How could she fight this?

But of course, the Force gave her no such clarity. Instead she focused on her surroundings. On the people around her. She felt their feelings, heard their thoughts. It was intruding, she knew, but she needed to know what they were really thinking. If the Force wouldn't give her clarity on what to do, maybe they could. If they really wanted her to stay or not.

To Ahsoka's surprise, they all felt exactly the way they'd said. They didn't want her to leave. Sure, they were unsure of what to do, but their thoughts betrayed the fact that they weren't gonna let her leave. It was comforting, to say the least. They truly wanted her there, despite the difficult situations she'll bring on them.

But they could never truly understand what Ahsoka was facing. There was only one that knew and could help her. She opened her eyes and walked to the back of the ship. She pulled out her comms unit and called the familiar number. Again, it took a little while for Obi-Wan to pick up.

"Hello Ashla, I didn't expect you to contact me." It was clear Obi-Wan could see her face and the worry she showed, because his tone changed. "What's wrong?"

"They found me, Obi-Wan. They know where I am. An Inquisitor attacked me on Corellia today."

Obi-Wan looked at her, now also worried. "I'm sorry to hear that Ahsoka. I'm sure you did your best. It was inevitable. But I see you got away."

Obi-Wan clearly also ignored they codenames now. It was obvious to him Ahsoka just needed to hear things the normal way. Ahsoka looked down.

"She will never be a problem again."

"So, you killed her," Obi-Wan stated matter-of-factly.

Ahsoka looked up at that. "I had to. I gave myself away. My identity. If they reported back to Vader… Who knows what he would do if he knew…" She trailed off.

"You gave yourself away how?" was all Obi-Wan asked.

"I needed to get an opening. Needed to let her falter. So, I told her that her master had taught me as well. I know that wasn't giving away my name, but still. If she'd told Vader, he could've easily guessed. Togruta, young adult. He's not stupid."

Obi-Wan nodded in understanding but did not comment on her last statement. "You seem troubled about your decision," he stated matter-of-factly, going back to her decision to end the Inquisitor.

"I mean, yeah. It's not the Jedi way to just kill. I won; I didn't have to end her."

"You're right, it's not the Jedi way, but you're no longer a Jedi and we're not in the Jedi era anymore, as much as it pains me to say that. The Order is gone. Times change. This is about survival and that means making tough choices sometimes. You did the right thing. Just like you said. Vader can't know."

Ahsoka nodded. "Thank you Obi-Wan. I needed to hear that."

"I know," he said with a reassuring smile.

"So, how should I proceed now? This'll hardly be the last Inquisitor they'll send after me."

"I agree. You'll just continue the way you do now, although maybe trying to lie low just a little bit more. Couldn't harm to be cautious. I have faith in you. You'll figure it all out and you'll come out on top. Goodluck Ahsoka."

"You too Obi-Wan. Thanks again."

He again smiled at her and then the connection cut off. She felt better now. More determined. If he had faith in her, then she should have faith in herself as well.

She returned to the front of the ship. Nobody asked what she was doing back there. Probably for the better. She wasn't gonna explain. They continued to fly through hyperspace. Next objective: find a new place to lay low.


Poor Ahsoka, she's so conflicted. I wish I could say it would get easier for her. Oh well.