Obi Wan was glad to finally get out of the helmet. The stormtroopers were equipped with filtering systems, that would keep poisonous gases out and enabled them to breathe without an oxygen rich environment for short time.
Getting fresh air, and not being forced to breath through an uncomfortable filter, was something he had always taken for granted. He couldn't even imagine how Vader's mask must have felt.
If his breathing support felt the way it sounded, Vader had to endure quite something. Obi Wan snorted. Here he was, feeling somewhat sorry for a mass murderer and sith lord.
Luke and Leia were still insecure. The only felt safe in their hut on Thyferra and, very ironically, Vader's quarters. "It's alright.", Obi Wan promised. "Everything is fine when we are alone." Luke nodded. "When we see Mommy?", he asked.
Obi Wan frowned. "Maybe, very soon. You see, Ahsoka, I, and your father are all looking for her right now. One of us will find her, but we don't know which one. If I find her, you will see her in a few moments." Luke nodded again.
Obi Wan tried to smile at them, reassuringly. "Let's go then.", he said before engaging the light speed. He had to investigate a tiny, shaggy ship. He couldn't imagine that more then perhaps ten people were living on it.
It was supposed to be shipping stormtrooper blasters, that were produced partly in the outer rim. He knew how illegal it was for civilians to own one of these blasters, it seemed weird how badly protected the ship was.
After all, it looked like a piece of scrap metal, picked up straight from a garbage dump. It didn't take long until the imperial shuttle he was using reached the target. It was floating casually, not hurrying.
Apparently, it didn't alarm them that an imperial ship appeared right next to them. "You need to stay here.", Obi Wan told the children. He helped them off their seats to guide them to the back part of the ship.
He looked around, ensuring nothing dangerous was lying around. "I promise, I will come back soon. You can just play together if you want." The twins nodded and Obi Wan locked the door. They would only be alone for very few minutes.
He locked them, so that no one would reach them if they entered his ship, and so that they wouldn't play around with the ship's controls and maybe even flew away. He sighed, before requesting to dock the other ship.
They agreed almost immediately, and their airlocks deployed, to then connect magnetically. He let his head slide into the helmet slowly. If there were slaves on the ship, he would free them today.
He left his ship through the airlock, marching like a soldier would. They opened the lock for him, without him even asking. "What are you shipping?", he asked the few engineers that were waiting for him.
He figured they were all that the ship's machinery needed to stay running. "Weapons. Blasters, grenades, bombs. Even the parts for a few tanks.", one replied. Obi Wan nodded. "Mind if I make sure, that there is nothing else?"
The engineer frowned. "What do you think we are hiding?", he asked. "We are trying to find an illegal slave shipping, you are a suspect." The engineer snorted. "Illegal slavery? Us?" Obi Wan nodded again.
"I will have a look around.", he said before passing them. He tried to sense, how many lifeforms there were on this ship. He could make out a few, like he expected, barely more than ten. He walked around in the tiny ship, which didn't take long.
He decided to exclude this one. If the slaves were here, they were hidden extremely well, too well to be possible, and someone was additionally veiling their force signatures.
"Thank you for your time.", Obi Wan said politely and headed back to his own ship. As he checked for Luke and Leia, who were sitting on the floor, babbling. "Your mother wasn't here.", Obi Wan said softly.
Leia's lower lip began to move. Obi Wan had spent enough time with the twins, to know what that meant. "That means, Ahsoka or your father will find her instead. You will probably see her today." He crouched down.
"We will find her. If not today, maybe tomorrow. But eventually we will find her. I promise." Leia's eyes began to turn glassy. "She is sad.", Leia sobbed. "And afraid.", Luke added, joining his sister's whining.
Obi Wan looked down at the twins. They could feel their mother without even trying to do so. He didn't believe there were any recordings, of any younglings being as powerful as them. And Anakin hadn't been in the temple that early.
Obi Wan set the ship's holoterminal on the correct frequency. Both Vader and Ahsoka appeared, the three were sharing a connection. "She wasn't here.", Obi Wan said. Vader's face darkened. "Ahsoka?", he asked. She shook her head.
"I didn't arrive yet. I have been following their ship, secretly. They have to land somewhere, so I can sneak onboard. I'm an autopilot after all." Vader nodded. "I'm still on my way, as well. But I will be there soon."
"Where am I supposed to go now? I mean, why would the two acolytes even leave the executor if they came back right after? Don't you think we have to make up some kind of purpose for them to leave?", Obi Wan asked. Vader nodded.
"True. Bring them to Mustafar." Obi Wan's eyes widened. The planet's name felt like a slap in the face. Ahsoka seemed equally surprised. "Mustafar? Why?"
Obi Wan stayed silent. He didn't want to go back there. Never. "There are some fortresses I control. Many not even populated, but supplied. You could stay there for now, hiding on the executor got tiring."
Obi Wan nodded. "What will you tell Sidious? Surely he has already heard that the twins left your flagship." Vader shrugged. "I don't know. I'll say that they are being trained there. That's believable, right?"
"Yes it is. If you tell him that with a little more confidence.", Obi Wan snarled. "Wait, I think the bounty hunters are steering towards that planet. I gotta go!" Ahsoka disappeared. "I'll send you the coordinates.", Vader said before doing the same.
Obi Wan received them almost immediately. Ignoring the lump in his throat he turned his ship around and entered light speed towards Mustafar. Only hearing of the planet had brought bad memories back, he didn't want to go there.
The bounty hunter's ship entered the planet's atmosphere. She didn't know what planet it was, the surface was covered by a greyish mist. As she followed the ship, careful not to be spotted, it became harder and harder to see.
Soon, she was right behind the bounty hunters, because she easily lost sight of them in the fog. Soon, all she could see, were the lights on the other ship's back.
Her instruments let her know that she was getting closer and closer to the surface with every second. She wondered what the bounty hunters were doing here. Were they smuggling goods? Or maybe worse?
She spotted something that was related to a tree, crossing the fog beneath her. She was closer to the surface than she had thought. She had to be careful, not to crash into some hill. Soon, the other ship dived down in a sudden motion.
They were landing. Ahsoka leaned forward, trying to make out anything below her. There was a metal platform, filled with ships. There was a variety of ships parking, there was nothing remarkable or suspicious about it.
Ahsoka parked her own transporter far away from the bounty hunter's ship. She watched as a few trandoshians exited it. They were laughing and fooling around. Ahsoka looked closer, trying to make out what she had landed in front of.
It appeared to be a regular cantina. She snarled. The bounty hunter's weren't following their dirty deeds here. They were just going to drink and gamble. That meant, Ahsoka was extremely lucky.
This way she could just look around their ship, while they were inside. She figured that would be long. The lock was nothing special. She could simply open the mechanism through the force, without trying extraordinarily hard.
A filthy, rotten scent welcomed her inside. She was certain every time she took a step the layer of dirty, fatty slime on her boots would thicken. She tried to breathe through her mouth as she advanced to the insides of the ship.
Soon she couldn't even recognize her hands in the darkness, but she didn't dare to start the ship's engine to power the lightings. Maybe the bounty hunters had gear to supervise their ship.
As soon as she gave energy to the lamps, the potential cameras and microphones would turn on as well. Instead she pulled out her shoto to flood the transitions in yellow light. Everything was completely silent, there wasn't a sound to be heard.
If there were a bunch of slaves hidden, they would be noisy. They would be talking, and crying, there was no way they would stay silent like that. Why would they hide? If anything they would desperately try to be found.
"Hello?", Ahsoka asked into the silence. "It's fine. I am a friend.", she added. Nothing. Ahsoka made another step forward, reaching out with the shoto to light her way. "Anyone?", she asked a bit louder.
It hit her, that there might be more bounty hunters on the ship. What if the few trandoshians that had hopped of weren't all of the crew? What if they had left behind some of their friends, or maybe some horrid pets.
Ahsoka frowned, studying the dark hallway stretching in front of her. The light of the shoto only reached a little distance. "Anyone?", Ahsoka asked again, even louder, and a bit more harsh. There was no reply.
Ahsoka thought for a second. "I'm not an intruder, I just want to sell some death sticks.", she pulled a grimace as she waited for a few heartbeats. Everything stayed silent and dark. Ahsoka sighed and began walking again.
Maybe the slaves were locked away somewhere far away from her. It was quite a big ship.
Vader's stared at the imperial cruiser in front of him. Ahsoka had do be done already, he was waiting for her report. If she had already found Padmé, he wouldn't have to enter the cruiser. And he really didn't want to.
He had to make up a believable excuse, to enter, so that the Emperor wouldn't suspect anything. He had been waiting for what felt like hours, knowing that his wife might be on the ship right in front of him.
He was very close to calling Obi Wan and Ahsoka by himself, as they finally connected to him. "Did you find her?", Vader asked impatiently. "No.", Ahsoka said. "I searched the whole ship, I swear. It took forever. They're not there."
Vader's hopes shattered to pieces. "You still have to search the cruiser, master. Or did you already?", Ahsoka asked. Vader shook his head. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to. What am I supposed to say?" Obi Wan frowned.
"You're bloody Darth Vader, where's the problem? I thought, you had access to all the ships.", he said.
"Of course I have. But I need to come up with some kind of explanation. The Emperor hears of everything, including this. If hears that I brought the kids off the ship, and visited a random cruiser for no reason right after, he'll wonder."
"Just say you were investigating. You heard there might be illegal slaves, so you came to do your job." "I usually wouldn't care. You have no idea how many of those minor criminal reports I get in a day."
"Minor?", Ahsoka called out. "Compared to the things I do take care of.", he murmured. "But this time it was more important, because you can't stand for anyone in your midst committing a crime.", Obi Wan suggested.
"But there isn't a report about slaves being on the ship. If Sidious checks, he will wonder how I even knew about it." Obi Wan shrugged. "You can just fake it. You can just put the case on the imperial law enforcement protocol."
"I can try. Maybe I can do it without leaving traces. I really wish R2 was here sometimes. This won't be easy." Vader turned around to start his computer.
Anyway, he noticed how Obi Wan and Ahsoka looked at each other meaningfully. Vader gulped, as he noticed what he had just said. It hadn't been meant to be a sentimental statement, just a little complaint.
"This will take a few minutes.", Vader said quietly before ending the connection. He cursed himself for reminding them and himself that he had once been Anakin Skywalker.