Hunt

They'd been on Corellia for just three days. Finding the poachers was as easy as tracking a leaky ion engine in a desert. Precisely that easy, actually. They were well-armed and reckless. Three easy mind tricks on the midnight watchmen and the entire company was taken without a blaster drawn.

Within the following day, bounties were paid for both poachers and pelts, and the Banshee had enough fuel to make a round trip to Tattooine.

They didn't take time to celebrate (beyond buying a delicious breakfast) as there was still the matter of the engineer's nephew. Ventress arranged a meeting with the engineer, and tried wheedling more information from their potential patron. Twelve-year-old kid left his parent's house, alone, to visit a friend across town. No confirmed sighting of the kid since.

Ahsoka did some quick research and communicated a meeting place to Ventress. They met on the sidewalk of an almost empty side-street off of one of Coronet's largest shopping districts, ankles slowly being drenched by the soot-stained snow that covered every surface.

"Are you sure this is where we'll find the brat?" Ventress asked, suppressing a shiver.

Ahsoka launched into her theory without preamble, "Ian has been missing for more than two weeks, so no body means he didn't just get lost. Local security would have found him if he was with any family or friends. Missing person cases like this usually have three solutions: murder, slavery, or pervert. We obviously want Ian alive so I discounted the possibility—"

"Skip the part where you're clever," Ventress said, raising a hand, "What are we doing here?"

Ahsoka shot Ventress an annoyed look, but complied, "There are reports that nearly a dozen children have disappeared in the past six months who generally fit Ian's profile. Ian just happens to be the first from a wealthy enough family for the local security to put in more than a token effort. Five of those twelve worked on this block. It's the best lead I could find."

"Let's hope it's good enough." Ventress closed her eyes and dropped into what might have been a fighting stance, knees bent, arms raised, palms held outwards. Her jaw was set in concentration.

"Um, what are you doing?" Ahsoka asked.

"Looking for our target," Ventress said tersely.

"Okay," Ahsoka said. She waited a moment for Ventress to actually start investigating the surrounding area. "Traditionally, one looks by looking. Opening your eyes is a good start. Leaving the alleyway would—"

"Quit screwing around," Ventress said, eyes snapping open. "I can't concentrate with you—" The look in Ventress's face changed suddenly from irritation to disbelief. "You don't know—how are you still alive?"

Ahsoka had no idea what was going on. "The same way I always have? Eat, breathe, sleep, don't get killed."

Ventress sighed, "Alright, second lesson. Close your eyes."

Ahsoka reined in her suspicions, but was still cautious enough to quickly feel Ventress's emotions. Finding no more than the usual hostility, she acquiesced.

"Now look around you. Can you see me?"

"No." Ahsoka said. She dodged the backhand Ventress aimed at her face.

"But you saw that, didn't you?"

Ahsoka opened her eyes, "Dodging attacks you can't see is child's play for a Jedi. Literally. It's a game master Yoda teaches all the younglings early on."

"Fascinating. Close your eyes. So you have the ability to sense the world around you without using your senses. The Force is a shy gossip, desperate for a conversation. It speaks loudest of danger. But if you listen closer you can learn all sorts of things. Where living things are without seeing them, find the layout of rooms before entering them. You know I'm here in front of you. What else can you see?"

Ahsoka decided against making any comment on whether she should be looking or listening and concentrated. "Shoppers on the street. Employees in the stores. Traffic overhead. Rodents in the rafters and beneath the floorboards. Homes above the stores. Families."

"Good," Ventress said. "Choose one. Focus upon it. See what they are doing. See their goal. See what they will do next. And after that."

Ahsoka focused upon a besalisk woman in the next building, examining a display of holo-videos. The woman was frustrated, wasn't finding what she wanted. Ahsoka watched her give up and leave the store, walk past the alley where the two bounty hunters still stood, watched her climb into a nearby speeder and leave her day of shopping behind.

Except…she hadn't done any of that yet. She was still staring at the display. But even as Ahsoka watched, the woman left the store without making a purchase and passed the end of their alley. Ahsoka opened her eyes and they confirmed the view she had already felt. The woman walked out of sight, but a moment later her speeder passed by in the opposite direction, as Ahsoka had imagined it would.

How the Force had told her it would.

"You see?" Ventress asked.

"I saw." Ahsoka said, still only half believing. "You know how to see the future?"

"And now you do as well," Ventress said. "But don't rely upon it too much. Your own actions can alter the futures you see, as can the decisions of others. Anyone changes their mind or alters their plans and things won't play out the way they should. Try to look too far ahead and your results will be worse than useless. But the large majority of the universe doesn't changed its course moment by moment. Droids and beasts are particularly predictable. One last exercise though. Pick a building nearby to investigate aggressively. Then watch yourself, and see the results."

Ahsoka picked the shop across the street. A family disturbed. Merchandise destroyed. Security called.

Ahsoka changed her course, barging into a different shop. A trigger-happy customer. A dead clerk. No children.

Children.

Ahsoka broadened her focus, searching for young minds. A trio of siblings. A classroom of adolescents. And…there. A dozen tired minds in the cramped hold of a freighter parked nearby. Sleeping. One adult, also asleep. No, not asleep. Unconscious. A pair of empty bottles decorated the ships deck near where the man laid.

Ahsoka saw herself and Ventress cutting through the ship's meager hull, finding the children relatively healthy, their captor in no condition to put up any defense.

"I know where to go," Ahsoka said.

And she did.

Ventress followed.

When they carved a hold into the ship's side, they found the children where Ahsoka expected them in the ship's hold. She hadn't foreseen the blaster until it was nearly too late.

Ahsoka's lightsaber wasn't finished extending when her swing deflected the blaster bolt into the ground.

Ventress stretched out her hand and the warm blaster leapt towards her.

The young boy that had been holding the blaster clasped both hands together as if he had been burnt.

She caught it with practiced grace and pointed it towards the cluster of cowering children.

"Ventress, no!" Ahsoka said, pushing her partner's blaster-hand away from the ship. "We don't threaten children, and we aren't just leaving the rest here."

"One of them just tried to kill you. I say let the scum do what he wants with that one at least."

"Mr. Garris doesn't do anything to us," one of the braver children piped up.

"And I suppose you gave yourself that black eye," Ventress drawled.

"That was my fault," the child said, "I didn't bring him enough—"

"What's going on down here?" the blaster had awakened "Mr. Garris." The human was as fat as the children were malnourished. His black hair looked oily enough to call the invention of soap into question.

Ventress's hand snapped back up, blaster trained on Garris's nose. "I'm thinking he deserves to die."

Her words were loud enough for all to hear, but Ahsoka knew they were meant for her. They were a question. Ventress was asking permission.

"Maybe." Ahsoka said, "But not in front of the children." She raised her voice, "Mr. Garriss, on your knees and you won't be hurt. Now which of you is Ian Brecker?"