Hey folks, Grubkiller here.
This is the latest chapter of this story.
Hope that you enjoy.
With the Empire continuing to expand, it's time for Ahsoka to find new allies. She seeks out an old friend. But she's not the only unexpected visitor her friend receives.
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Orange Fury, in Hyperspace.
Ahsoka, Sienn, and the few surviving insurgents were all in the cockpit, trying to figure out their next course of action.
"So what are we gonna do now?" One asked.
Ahsoka turned to Sienn. "Didn't you say that Bail Organa could make a decent ally?"
The Aqua-skinned Twi'lek nodded in affirmation.
"Well, let's hope that you were right. Set coarse for Alderaan."
The pilot nodded, turned in his chair, and punched in the co-ordinates for Alderaan, before the stars elongated, and they were propelled into Hyperspace.
Hours later, the ship exited hyperspace and made its approach to the blue and green world of Alderaan.
As they entered the atmosphere, the console rang. "And they're hailing us." Ahsoka said, and she flipped the switch, allowing their message through.
"Attention freighter crew," a voice said over the comm device. "This is Captain Antilles. This ship is suspected of carrying enemies of the Empire. Surrender peacefully and prepare to be boarded."
The crew looked at each other. "We have no other choice." One man said. "We'll have to surrender."
"Yes," Ahsoka said, to everyone's surprise. "But it's okay. I might know these people. We may be able to work something out with them."
"What do you have in mind?" Sienn asked
"I can sneak out and get inside the city just as they come aboard."
"What about us?" Sienn asked.
"Keep them busy, and your comms on. I'll be right back."
Several Alderaanian security troopers walked up to the ship as it set down in the hanger. They marched through the ship and began to arrest anyone they came across.
Unbeknownst to them, Ahsoka had dropped down from the ceiling vents and just walked over to the other ship. She used the force to open the door, and she ran through only to be met with three guards.
One with a rifle. The other two with electro-batons.
"It's her!"
But before they could react, Ahsoka leaned back and slid on her knees, (A/N: LIKE CATWOMAN FROM ARKHAM CITY), sliding underneath the rifleman. He looked down in surprise, and a little at her unzipped wetsuit, just before she used the force to rifleman to hit the ceiling. The other two tried to go after her with their stun sticks.
Ahsoka merely jumped over one of them, and in one fluid motion, knocked their heads together. Ahsoka then ran through the white corridors - Jenna would've loved this place - of the palace.
She ran off in the direction of the Senator Organa's office.
Ahsoka listened in on the comms from her ship and could hear that the Alderaanians had seized control of it.
"Captain," One security trooper said. "We have the ship and the crew, but there doesn't seem to be any Jedi onboard."
"Alright, she must be on board then." Antilles said. "Continue your search, and keep the crew under guard."
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Alderaan Royal Palace.
Perhaps it was because Alderaan presented such a pleasant picture from deep space that it had enjoyed such a long history of peace, prosperity, and tolerance.
Even deeper into its intoxicating atmosphere, closer to its montage of alabaster clouds, blue seas, and green plains, the picture held.
Coruscant's neighbor in the Core was a gem of a world.
The pacific impression didn't begin to diminish until one reached street level on the island-city of Aldera, and only then as a result of the day's activities, which demonstrated that for tolerance to endure, voice had to be granted to all, even when free expression challenged the perpetuation of peace.
Bail Organa understood this, as had his predecessors in the Galactic Senate. But Bail's compassion for those who had taken to Aldera's narrow streets was not a case of noblesse oblige, for he shared the concerns of the demonstrators and had deep sympathy for their cause. As many said of Bail, were it not for genetics, he might have been a Jedi. And indeed for most of his adult life he had been a valued friend of the order.
He stood in plain sight of the crowds, on a balcony of the Royal Palace, in the heart of Aldera, which itself lay in the embrace of green mountains, their gentle summits sparkling with freshly fallen snow. Below him marched hundreds of thousands of demonstrators-refugees representing scores of species displaced by the war, bundled up in colorful clothing against the mountains' frigid downdrafts. Many of the refugees had been on Alderaan since the earliest days of the Separatist movement, living in housing Alderaan had provided; many more were recently arrived onplanet, to show their support. Now that the war had ended, almost all of them were eager to return to their home systems, pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, and reunite with members of their widely dispersed families.
But the Empire was attempting to thwart them.
Placards flashed and holoimages sprang from hand - and flipper - and tentacle-held devices as the throng moved past Bail's lofty perch in the north tower, behind the palace's high white walls and the arcs of reflecting pools that had long ago served as defensive moats.
PALPATINE'S PUPPET! one of the holoslogans read.
REPEAL THE TAX! read another.
RESIST IMPERIALIZATION! a third.
The first was a reference to the regional governor Emperor Palpatine had installed in that part of the Core, who had decreed that all refugees of former Confederacy worlds were required to submit to rigorous identity checks before being issued documents of transit.
The "tax" referred to the toll that had been levied on anyone seeking travel to outlying systems.
Already a catchphrase, the third slogan was aimed at any who feared the Emperor's attempts to bind all planetary systems, autonomous or otherwise, to Coruscant's rule.
While little of the angry chanting was directed at Alderaan's government or Queen Breha - Bail's wife - many in the crowd were looking to Bail to intercede with Palpatine on their behalf. Alderaan was merely their gathering place, after the demonstration's organizers had decided against holding the march on Coruscant, under the watchful gaze of stormtroopers, and with the memory of what had happened at the Jedi Temple fresh in everyone's mind.
Demonstrations were nothing new, in any case. Alderaanians were known throughout the galaxy for their missions of mercy and their unstinting support of oppressed groups. More important, Alderaan had been a hotbed of political dissent throughout the war, with Aldera University's Students of Collus-named for a celebrated Alderaanian philosopher-leading the movement.
With his homeworld thoroughly politicized, Bail had been forced to play a careful game in the galactic capital, where he was at once an advocate for refugee populations and a principal member of the Loyalist Committee; that is, loyal to the Constitution, and to the Republic for which it stood.
A reasonable man, one of a 'landfill of rankled delegates who had found themselves caught between support for Palpatine and outright contention, Bail had understood that political wrangling was the only way to introduce change. As a result, he and Palpatine had engaged in numerous disputes, openly in the Rotunda as well as in private, on issues relating to Palpatine's rapid rise to incontestable power, and the subsequent slow but steady erosion of personal liberties.
Only with the war's sudden and shocking end had Bail come to understand that what had seemed political maneuvering on Palpatine's part had been nothing less than inspired machination-the unfolding of a diabolical scheme to prolong the war, and to so frustrate the Jedi that when they finally sought to hold him accountable for refusing to proclaim the war concluded with the deaths of Count Dooku and General Grievous, Palpatine could not only declare them traitors to the Republic, but also pronounce them guilty of having fomented the war to serve their own ends, and therefore deserving of execution.
Ever since, Bail had been forced to play an even more treacherous game on Coruscant-Imperial Center-for he now knew Palpatine to be a more dangerous opponent than anyone suspected; indeed a more dangerous foe than most could even begin to guess. While Senators such as Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis were expecting Bail to join in their attempts to mount a secret rebellion, circumstance compelled him to maintain a low profile, and to demonstrate greater allegiance to Palpatine than he ever had.
That circumstance was Leia. And Bail's fears for her safety had only increased since his close encounter with Darth Vader on Coruscant.
He had spoken of the encounter only to Raymus Antilles, captain of the consular ship Tantive IV. Antilles had been given custody of Anakin's protocol and astromech droids, C-3P0 and R2-D2. The former had undergone a memory wipe to safeguard the truth for as long as necessary, and to assure the continued protection of the Skywalker twins.
Could Vader actually be Anakin Skywalker? the two men wondered.
Based on Obi-Wan's account of what had occurred on Mustafar, Anakin's survival didn't seem possible. But perhaps Obi-Wan had underestimated Anakin. Perhaps Anakin's peerless strength in the Force had allowed him to survive.
Was Bail, then, raising the child of a man who was still alive?
What alternative was there? That Palpatine-that Sidious had dubbed some other apprentice Darth Vader? That the black monstrosity Bail had seen on the landing platform was merely a droid version of Anakin, as General Grievous had been a cyborg version of his former self?
If that was true, would stormtroopers like Appo allow themselves to be commanded by a such a being, even if ordered to by Sidious?
The questions had gnawed at Bail without answer, and events such as the refugee march only served to place him at greater risk on Coruscant and heighten his concerns for Leia.
Unaided, Palpatine was capable of crushing any who opposed him. And yet he continued to allow others to do his dirty work, to preserve his image as a benevolent dictator. Palpatine used his regional governors to issue the harshest of his decrees, and his stormtroopers to enforce them.
The march's organizers had promised Bail that it would be a peaceful demonstration, but Bail suspected that Palpatine had infiltrated spies and professional agitators into the crowds. Riots could be used as an excuse by the regional governor to arrest dissidents and perceived troublemakers, and to announce new edicts that would make travel even more difficult and expensive for the refugees.
With so many ships arriving from nearby worlds, it had been impossible to screen for Imperial agents or saboteurs. Even if there had been some way to identify them, Bail would only have played into Palpatine's hands by issuing restrictions, thus alienating refugees and their ardent supporters alike, who viewed Alderaan as one of the last bastions of freedom.
Thus far, Alderaanian law enforcement units were doing a good job of confining the marchers to their preassigned circuit of the Royal Palace.
Contingents of Royal Guards surrounded the palace, and the sky was filled with police skimmers and surveillance craft to ensure that the situation remained under control. On Bail's orders, active measures could only be used as a last resort.
Standing at the edge of the balcony, the object of shouts, appeals, chants, and flurries of raised fists, Bail ran his hand over his mouth, hoping that the Force was with him.
"Senator!" someone called from behind him.
Bail turned and saw Captain Antilles hurrying toward him from the direction of the palace's Grand Reception Room. Accompanying Antilles were two of Bail's aides, Sheltray Retrac and Celana Aldrete.
Antilles directed Bail's attention to a nearby holoprojector. "You're not going to be pleased," the starship captain said by way of warning.
The holoimage of the intruders were taken, and the missing Jedi wasn't among them. To make matters worse, an enormous warship resolved in the projector's blue field.
Bail's brow wrinkled in confoundment.
"We appear to have a missing Jedi in our midst. And there's an Imperator-class Star Destroyer," Antilles explained. "Hot off the line. And now parked in stationary orbit above Aldera."
"This is outrageous," Celana Aldrete said. "Even Palpatine wouldn't be so bold as to interfere in our affairs."
"Don't fool yourself," Bail said. "He would and he has." He swung to Antilles. "Find that Jedi, before Imperial forces can get their hands on her," he ordered as Aldera's vizier and other advisers were hastening onto the balcony to gawk at the projected holoimage.
Ahsoka, C-3PO and R2-D2.
Ahsoka was negotiating Aldera's throng of demonstrators.
It was Ahsoka's first visit to Alderaan in a long time, when she and her old master, Sendak, came here to prevent an assassination of Senator Amidala, by the notorious bounty hunter, Aurra Sing.
From what little she had seen, the planet lived up to its reputation as both a beautiful world and an arena for political dissent, notwithstanding Alderaan's allegedly pacifist views. The mood of the enormous crowd, made up of war refugees and those who had arrived from countless worlds to demonstrate their solidarity, seemed to be in keeping with those views. But Ahsoka had already zeroed in on scores of beings who clearly hoped to provoke the marchers to violence, perhaps as a means of being assured extensive HoloNet coverage, and thus making their point with Palpatine.
Or maybe, just maybe, Alderaan had the Emperor himself to thank for the rabble-rousers.
Judging by the way in which Aldera's police units were deployed, they had no interest in confrontation, and perhaps had been ordered to exercise restraint at all costs. The mere fact that the marchers were being allowed to voice their protests and display their holoslogans in such close proximity to the Royal Palace, and that Senator Bail Organa himself would occasionally plant himself in full view of the crowd, showed that the restraint was genuine.
Alderaan really did care about the little guy.
But regardless, Ahsoka was here to try and negotiate with Organa, and get some help to find Jenna. Maybe she'll get involved in a conspiracy with Anti-Palpatine forces in the Senate and Military, and bring him to justice for his crime. But she had to do it without provoking the Sith and drawing too much attention to Alderaan. So she had to be careful, and quiet.
The palace's south gate entrance was within sight now, but in the time it had taken Ahsoka to get through the crowd, a mob had formed. Three human speakers standing atop repulsorlift platforms were urging everyone to press through the tall gates and onto the palace grounds. Anticipating trouble, a group of forty or so royal troops dressed in ceremonial armor and slack hats had deployed themselves outside the gates, armed with an array of non-lethal crowd control devices, including sonic devices, shock batons, and stun nets.
The crowd surged, and Ahsoka felt herself lifted from his feet and carried toward the palace. The cordon of troops issued a final warning.
When the crowd surged again, two front-line guards sporting backpack rigs began to coat the cobblestone plaza with a thick layer of repellent foam.
The crowd surged back in response, but dozens of demonstrators closest to the front failed to step back in time and were immediately immobilized in the rapidly spreading goo. A few of them were able to retreat by surrendering their footgear, but the rest were stuck fast. The trio of hovering agitators took advantage of the situation, accusing Alderaan's Queen and vizier of attempting to hinder the marchers' rights to free assembly, and of kowtowing to the Emperor.
But amidst the chaos, Ahsoka managed to find a few trees to conceal her movements, and she force jumped onto the wall.
She soon found herself on the palace grounds, ready to continue her mission.
Those poor beings, trapped in that terrible foam," C-3P0 said as he and R2-D2 hastened for a narrow access door in the palace's south wall.
Close to the palace's underground droid-maintenance facility, where both droids had enjoyed an oil bath, the door was the same one they had used to exit the palace grounds earlier that day, when the protestors were just beginning their march.
"I think we'll be much better off inside the palace."
R2-D2 chittered a response.
C-3P0 tilted his head in bafflement. "What do you mean we've been ordered inside anyway?"
The astromech chirped and fluted.
"Ordered to conceal ourselves?" C-3P0 said. "By whom?" He waited for an answer. "Captain Antilles? How thoughtful of him to show concern for our well-being in the midst of this confusion!"
R2-D2 zithered, then buzzed.
"Something else?" C-3P0 waited for R2-D2 to finish. "Don't tell me you can't say. It's simply that you refuse to say. I've every right to know, you secretive little machinist."
C-3P0 fell briefly silent as the shadow of a low-flying craft passed over them.
His single photoreceptor tracking the flight of a midnight-black Imperial shuttle, R2-D2 began to whistle and hoot in obvious alarm.
"What is it now?"
The astromech loosed a chorus of warbles and shrill peeps. C-3P0 fixed his photoreceptors on him in incredulity.
"Find Queen Breha? What are you going on about? A moment ago you said that Captain Antilles had ordered us into hiding!" Arms crooked, almost akimbo, C-3P0 couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You changed your mind. Since when do you get to decide what's important and what isn't? Oh, you're intent on getting us in trouble. I know it!"
By then they had reached the access door in the wall. R2-D2 extended a slender interface arm from one of the compartments in his squat, cylindrical torso and was in the process of inserting it into a computer control terminal alongside the doorway, when suddenly, the door flew open, startling the droids as they came face to face with an orange humanoid with blue and white tentacles coming out of her head.
"Artoo!" Ahsoka didn't mean to shout at the little droid, but she was so startled and surprised that she couldn't help it. She'd had a very stressful day.
The little blue-and-silver droid disconnected from the console he was working on and rolled across the floor to her so quickly that she thought for a second he might have flown. He was beeping so fast she could barely understand him, but she could tell by his tone that R2-D2 was as happy to see her as she was to see him.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, dropping to her knees to give the droid a hug. She didn't care if it was a silly thing to do, and R2-D2 seemed to appreciate the gesture. "They didn't even memory wipe you?"
The droid beeped happily at her.
"Excuse me ma'am, but who are you?" Threepio asked. "How do you know my counterpart?"
It was then Ahsoka realized that even though Artoo was still whole, Threepio wasn't. "I see you still have your memory, but why not Threepio? But what happened to Senator Pad-?"
The droid cut her off with a loud wail.
Ahsoka raised her hands. "Okay, okay!" She exclaimed. The droid had always been good at keeping secrets. "Can you at least point me to Senator Organa's office?"
Before the droid could communicate with Ahsoka, Threepio tried to intervene.
"You certainly will not do as she asks, you coward! This being is not our master! You should be willing to be disassembled rather than offer her the slightest help!"
But C-3PO's admonitions fell on deaf auditory sensors. R2-D2 was already transferring data to Ahsoka's com-link.
"This is most unbecoming," C-3P0 said sadly. "Most unbecoming."
"Got it, thanks Artooie." Ahsoka said, then she decided to play the part of hostage taker. "Now, any attempts to communicate with anyone and you'll wish you'd never been built."
"Ma'am, you don't know how many times I've already wished that very thing," C-3PO said as he followed R2-D2, and Ahsoka went the opposite direction. It was nice to see ld friends again. And Artoo's help reminded her that Bail, like Padme before, was always an ally of the Jedi Order.
Several Alderaanian security troopers walked through the corridor searching for the intruder.
Unbeknownst to them, Ahsoka had dropped down from the ceiling vents and just walked in the direction of Senator Organa's office. She used the force to open the door, and she ran through only to be met with three guards.
One with a rifle. The other two with electro-batons.
"It's her!"
But before they could react, Ahsoka leaned back and slid on her knees, (A/N: LIKE CATWOMAN FROM ARKHAM CITY), sliding underneath the rifleman. He looked down in surprise, and a little at her unzipped wetsuit, just before she used the force to rifleman to hit the ceiling. The other two tried to go after her with their stun sticks.
Ahsoka merely jumped over one of them, and in one fluid motion, knocked their heads together. Ahsoka then ran through the white corridors - Jenna would've loved this place - of the royal palace.
Ahsoka listened in on the comms from her ship and could hear that the Alderaanians had seized control of it.
"Captain," One security trooper said. "We have the ship and the crew, but there doesn't seem to be any Jedi onboard."
"Alright, she must be on the palace grounds." Antilles said. "Continue your search, and keep the crew under guard."
Ahsoka went into the Senator's office, where she found the senator lookin out over the horizon from his balcony, as Clone Troopers tried to help the royal guards control the rowdy members of the protest below.
"You know, Ms. Tano, you could have just knocked," said Bail Organa, still keeping his back turned on her.
Ahsoka looked at him and smirked. They began to circle the table. "And you could have just called us over."
Bail gave a small chuckle. "Apologies, but in these dangerous times, it's important to keep up certain appearances around the Empire."
Ahsoka shrugged and nodded. "Point taken."
Bail smiled, then gestured to the chairs in front of his desk. "Please, sit down."
Ahsoka sat down in front of the desk, and Bail did the same behind it.
"You must have gone through a lot of trouble trying to find me," she said.
"I have," Bail said. "I've been hunting Jedi myself lately, but for different reasons than the Empire."
"I guessed that," Ahsoka said.
He smiled.
Bail activated a hologram and showed a map of the galaxy, and it showed the Empire's territory in red, and also had a simulation of it expanding from the Core and into the Outer Rim.
"The Republic has fallen, as I'm sure you're aware. The Empire stands triumphant in a post-war galaxy, and no one seems to be brave enough to place a check on the Emperor's power. But that has to change. Me and a few other like-minded senators, and even some sympathetic members of the Imperial military, are putting together an organization to challenge the Empire. Well, Ms. Tano, I would like you to join that organization. An Alliance of worlds and individuals bound together for the purpose of challenging the Empire, and perhaps... restoring the Republic."
Ahsoka thought about it for a second, weighing the pros and cons, before she asked, "why me?"
"The Jedi are all but vanquished. Whatever light the galaxy needed has been lost with them. But if you, and whatever other Jedi were out there could band together, and lead our organization, there is no limit to what we could accomplish. The Empire would be powerless to stamp out the hope you could give us." He leaned in and looked her straight in the eye. "So ... Master Jedi, will you help us in our time of need?"
Ahsoka was now well and truly on the spot.
"Senator, I'd be more than happy to join your organization. But before I join, there's someone else out there who needs me," Ahsoka said.
"You lost someone recently, that you cared for?" Bail asked.
Ahsoka nodded. He had his answer.
"What if I told you that I knew where they are?" Bail asked.
Ahsoka leaned back in her chair. "I'm listening."
Bail pressed a button on his desk and projected an image of the Sixth Brother in the room.
"We lost the Jedi girl, but we have her rebel friends." The dark figure said.
"An unfortunate, but temporary setback. Take them to our agri-colony on Raada. We'll lure the Jedi girl into our trap."
The dark figure bowed to the hologram. "Yes, Grand Inquisitor."
The recording came to an end.
Ahsoka looked to Bail.
"Raada is a farming world out in the Outer Rim. The Empire has just established a presence there, and are using a new rapidly growing plant to feed its ever growing army. The people had their land confiscated and political prisoners are being forced to work the fields. We've been wanting to deploy the few forces we have for a while now. If you agree to help us, I promise that we'll do everything in our power to rescue your friend."
Ahsoka nodded.
"I'm in." Ahsoka said.
Just as this happened, the door flew open and a security team poured into the room, weapons trained on Ahsoka, who just sat in her seat.
"Stand down men," Bail said. "We have just come to an agreement."
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Well folks, that was the latest chapter.
Hope you enjoyed.
Until next time, Grubkiller out.