AN: Any comments I have on this chapter are at the end. I don't want to spoil it.

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Seventeen

It had been nagging her for hours now. Something wasn't right, but every time she tried to investigate what it was, it eluded her. Ahsoka shook her head. Focus on the mission, she chanted in her head. She couldn't do anything about something she didn't have any clarity on.

The mission had gone bad from the start. Donovia was technically owned by a private company but worked on behalf of the empire. They dug up the minerals, sold it to the empire and made big bucks. The empire had been content to leave them be until the workers rebelled. The company had turned to the empire for help, but when Vader and Ahsoka got there, they turned on the empire in fear of Vader 'relinquishing them' from their positions, resulting in the empire taking direct control over the mining colony.

Ahsoka had to admit, they knew Vader well. That had been exactly what he was planning and so now their army had been forced to retreat into the safety (Ahsoka used that word loosely) of the mine. The plan had been to figure out how to maneuver through the tunnels to gain the advantage over both parties. Now that they had done that, the only thing left was to deal with the private owners and business men that had turned on them.

Ahsoka rubbed the side of her head as the nagging became worse giving her a miserable headache.

Vader stopped walking and looked at her. "Are you alright?"

"I think so…" Ahsoka muttered as they approached where the men were gathered in a council room.

"What do you mean you think?" Vader asked.

Ahsoka started to reply until she heard it.

"Mama… Where are you? Help me…"

The picture of a city floating among clouds filled her mind and then what every was blocking her from seeing what was going fell and the visions flood Ahsoka's senses.

"Leave me alone. What do you want?"

"That's it child. Show me your pain. Show us your fear."

"We tortured the captain, tortured the wookiee, beat her pet and still nothing. It's like she's just an empty shell, no feeling, no nothing."

"You could have done whatever you wanted to me but what kind of person are you to make her watch all of that!"

"Why are they doing this Han?"

"Shmi run!"

Ahsoka gasped as she snapped out of the vision blinking as she rubbed at the ache that had formed in her chest. Shmi was hurting. Something had happened. She turned on her heal to talk to one of the officers with them.

"Get into contact with Admiral Piett. Tell them that Lord Vader and I are on the way and to set course for the Bespin system. Be ready to leave as soon as we get there," Ahsoka said ignoring Vader's confusion over her abrupt need to leave.

"But milady, what about-?"

"There are enough competent troops stationed here to take care of anymore rebellion. And I do hope you're one of those competent men. Now do it!"

The man nodded. "Yes milady."

"What's going on?" Vader asked.

"I know where Shmi is. I saw her," Ahsoka explained promptly worry etched into her features. "Vader something happened. She's in pain. She called me. I think she's in danger."

Vader only need to hear the word pain for her to convince him though.

"Have the men in this room detained. I will return to deal with them in a few days," Vader commanded.

"Yes sir," the officers said. They were less prone to question Vader than Ahsoka at this point.

Following Ahsoka's directions exactly, Piett had the Executor prepared to head for Bespin. Ahsoka paced the bridge nervously and Vader wondered if that's the way he looked when he was pacing. He was starting to see why Ahsoka hated it when he did it so much. He stopped her when she came back around in his direction.

"This sort of behavior will not help matters," he said.

Ahsoka glared at him. "You're one to-."

"What will help is you telling me everything you saw," Vader said to her.

Ahsoka glanced at the men at their stations and then back at Vader. He got the point. As disciplined as they were, they weren't disciplined enough to stay out of business that wasn't their own. Vader turned on his heel to head to their quarters, Ahsoka following closely behind them. He waited for Ahsoka to go in first and then followed her closing the door behind him, before gesturing for her to sit down. Then he took of his masked and crossed his arms.

"Tell me from the beginning."

"There wasn't really a beginning," Ahsoka said to him. "I had been feeling something all day but it was like something was stopping me from seeing it. Like someone didn't want me to know and then whatever was blocking it fell through and I saw a city in the clouds and Shmi was there with Han. I think they were captured. They were trying to get her to do something. They tortured Han and Chewie and they talked about a pet, some kind of cat I think it was."

"A cat?" Vader asked and then shook his head. That was irrelevant. What was relevant was who had gotten their hands on Shmi and where she was now. He hated to say it but…

"Palpatine is behind this," Vader said as the pieces began to click. "As for what his motives were for trying to scare Shmi, I'm not sure but…"

"But what?" Ahsoka asked.

"Leia might be able to figure it out," Vader replied.

"Leia? Why her?"

Vader gave her that look again and Ahsoka paused to think about it. Then she realized that Leia was a mastermind when it came to manipulative games. She could read them about as easily as she could come up with them.

"Can you find her quick enough?"

"If we both meditate on her presence then it shouldn't be too hard to communicate with her," Vader said sitting on the floor. Ahsoka sat next to him feeling a little déjà-vu as she remembered she used to meditate next to him many a days as his padawan.

"It's been a while since I've done anything like this," Vader admitted to her.

"Done what?" Ahsoka asked.

"Mmeditated with someone."

"I still don't get it," Ahsoka said to him.

Vader sighed. "You'll see what I mean," he said leading her through it as she tapped into a meditative trance.

"Now what?" she asked Vader and he hushed her as she felt him brush his presence against hers. She wasn't exactly sure what he wanted her to do though.

It's okay. Let down your shields and relax.

Ahsoka nodded and slowly let her guard down and when she did, she was shocked to see that Vader had done the same. It was odd. He was practically giving her free reign in his mind. His personal thought, fears, experiences… But she didn't explore. She simply waited for him to instruct her.

Now find Leia. Call her to us.

Ahsoka nodded and searched the force for Leia's force signature. It was easy enough. As soon as Leia recognized the brush of Vader's mind against hers, she let them in, and they were transported to another place.

Ahsoka opened her eyes, but they weren't on the executor anymore.

"Where are we?"

"You mean you don't recognize that tree sitting over there?" Vader asked her.

"Tree?" she said glancing to her left and it dawned on her. "We're back on Rummiya…"

"Not really. It's just a memory that we've put together for our minds to dwell temporarily," Vader said and looked around. "Leia should be around here somewhere."

Ahsoka then looked at him. "How are we doing this?"

"Old force technique. A connection of the minds to bring people into a certain place. I haven't done this since I was a padawan though…"

"Why?" Ahsoka asked.

"Because it's a two way street or however many people are connected. Everyone has to be willing to make themselves vulnerable for a while to accomplish this. It means you there has to be a great deal of trust between the people involved," Vader explained simply.

Ahsoka heard the unspoken words in the explanation though. As afraid as he was of her betraying him one day, he trusted her, at least enough to make this happen.

"Oh wow…" Leia's voice said as she came from behind the tree. "Is this a dream?"

"No princess. It's very real," Vader said to her. "And we need to talk."

Leia looked at them both before saying, "You sensed it too?"

"Depends on what you felt."

"Something happened. Something important, but whoever was involved was trying to block me from seeing it. I can't grasp on to it. Whatever it was is gone now"

"It was Shmi," Ahsoka said quickly.

"What? Where is she?" Leia asked.

"I saw a city in the clouds… Bespin I think. She was in trouble. There were just pieces of conversations and images. But I only saw it after she called me."

"I really hope you're going to say meet you on Bespin, but I know you're not. So what are you contacting me for?" Leia asked.

"We think Palpatine was behind this and we think he was trying to scare Shmi, but we don't know why?" Vader replied.

"And you think I'd know because?"

"You're the manipulative mastermind who tried for nine years to set us up and we were none the wiser to it," Ahsoka said dryly.

"True," Leia said with a small smirk at her genius in her younger years before becoming serious. "But I need a little more to work with besides what you gave me. Tell me what you heard."

"Shmi told someone, a woman, to leave her alone. Then they tried to scare her somehow and the woman told her to show her fear. Then I heard the woman say that she tortured Han and Chewie and still no feeling or anything. I only heard her voice though. I don't know who she was talking to and then Shmi asked Han why they were doing this…That's all I saw. I can't make anything of it."

"Where were you all when you had this vision?" Leia asked frowning.

"Donovia. On a mission for Palpatine."

"The mining colony?" Leia asked. "I bet it was an all of a sudden rebellion out of nowhere that he made you attend to right? How long had you been there?"

"A week and a half," Vader said impatiently. "What does this have to do with-?"

"It's obvious dad. That mission was a ruse to distract you. I think Palpatine found Shmi at least two weeks ago but didn't want to make a move until he distracted you two and so he sent you there. Donovia's in the expansion region so he was counting on you two to sense Shmi but by the time you got there, he'd have what he wanted."

"And what's that?"

"He was counting on the fact that me and Luke would sense her and get to Bespin first where the empire would detain us and take us straight to him," Leia replied and then she added confidently, "Or at least they would have tried. No way I would have let them take me."

"But Palpatine doesn't know about you," Ahsoka said ignoring Leia's confident declaration.

"I think he does," Leia replied. "Otherwise he wouldn't have used Shmi that way. In fact, I think he knows everything."

"What do you mean everything?" Vader said looking at Leia.

She smirked. "First rule of manipulation daddy. Never underestimate your opponent or victim. That's why you're so bad at it and can't stand politics."

Vader didn't know whether to admit she was right or to feel insulted and put her in her place.

"Palpatine is toying with us dad and he's only bidding his time. He knows he doesn't stand a chance against you in a fair duel and so he's trying to get to us before you do and Shmi's the key. If you find her, it's over and he knows it. So he tried to use Shmi to attract me and Luke so he'd had leverage over you and Ahsoka. It's that simple."

"You're speculating all this," Vader said. "You don't know-."

"Dad," Leia said pointedly. "This guy orchestrated a war to get into power. And even if he hadn't, it's always best to overestimate your enemy rather than underestimate because when you do that, you can't be taken by surprise."

"Where did you learn all this?" Vader asked suspiciously.

"Politics is a game of manipulation dad. Why do you think I liked the subject so much?"

"It's in your blood. That's why," Vader commented. He didn't miss the brief frown exasperation that Leia felt at the indirect mention of her mother, but decided not to ask her about it. They had an issue more important to deal with.

"Now the question is though, why are you still wherever you are?" Ahsoka pointed out. "You don't seem distressed."

"Because Palpatine didn't know one thing when he calculated this plan."

"What's that?"

"Shmi hates to be toyed with and if she knew they were trying to get a reaction out of her or she thought she was being mocked, it's only natural that she shut down on them."

"Shut down?" Vader asked looking between Ahsoka and Leia who seemed to know something he didn't.

"Remember that intolerance for mediocracy I said Shmi has?" Ahsoka asked and then continued without waiting for Vader to respond. "She also has an intolerance for being toyed with and so she's mastered the art of ignoring things she doesn't want to react to. I think that's why she doesn't have a bad temper."

Vader frowned. "You mean to tell me you think she consciously ignored what was going on to keep us from finding her?"

"Oh yeah," Leia said. "She knew exactly what she was doing."

"Do you think so?" Ahsoka asked a little skeptical.

"Why do you ask?" Leia replied.

Ahsoka bit her lip before saying. "Well… Because she's… Well she's Shmi. She's nothing like you were at that age Leia. A grown woman trapped in a seven year old body. She's…"

"Unassuming… Like you are," Vader said with a smirk.

"I guess you can call it that… But she's just so childish like she should be," Ahsoka added.

"I think you're underestimating her strength," Leia suggested. "What you call being hardheaded is her incredible resolve not to bend to anyone's will and if she barely listens to us, then she's not going to give anyone else the satisfaction of playing into their hand if she knows what they're doing. Shmi was protecting us alright… So it's likely she's still on Bespin. But I don't think the emperor would risk you all getting to her."

"We're already on the way."

"But I can get to her faster," Leia replied.

"And then you'd be playing right into the emperor's hands," Vader said firmly. "No. You stay where you are. We'll take care of this matter."

Leia sighed. "Fine…"

The scenery began to fade and soon Vader and Ahsoka were back in their quarters on the Executor, Ahsoka's com beeping in the background.

"Yes," she answered.

"We're about to drop out of hyperspace ma'am," Piett said.

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"Sithspit…" Lando said when he saw the Imperial shuttle come down out the cover of the pink clouds.

Melody resisted the urge to groan. As if her mission hadn't turned out bad enough. She had succeeded in freezing Captain Solo in carbonite before sending him and the wookiee off to Jabba the Hutt, but the girl and her pet had gotten away.

"Little girl flying a ship…" Melody said. "She's as good as dead anyway."

"Ma'am," one of her men said to her. "Lord Vader has arrived. His forces have stormed in to take control of the facility."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Lando muttered. "What's he doing here?"

"Sir," one of Lando's men said. "Lord Vader is requesting to see the person who owns these facilities."

"Kriff…" Lando muttered.

"I wouldn't delay him," Melody said. "I doubt he's in a good mood."

"Is he ever," Lando replied and started to walk out the room to meet Vader but found Vader was already making his way to them having obviously grown impatient in the last three minutes or so.

"Which one of you is Mr. Calrissian?" Vader demanded with his arms crossed, and it was in that moment Lando noticed the Togruta woman standing next to him. He had heard of the woman. Rumors had run amuck across the galaxy over who she was. People said she was a mistress, but Lando didn't think a mistress would accompany him directly into battle.

"That would be me sir," Lando said stepping up to him nervously.

The dark Lord immediately lit his lightsaber and put it to Lando's neck. Lando froze.

"I'm only going to ask you this once. Where is the girl that you had in your detainment?"

Lando eyed the lightsaber.

"I am not a patient man Mr. Calrissian," Vader warned.

"I don't know," Lando said quickly.

"Don't lie," Vader added his lightsaber coming closer to Lando's neck.

Lando began to reply but the woman behind Vader spoke first.

"She's the woman I saw in my vision," she said nodding her head over to where Melody was standing.

Lando looked at Vader who looked up at Melody and then lowered his lightsaber, obviously recognizing her.

"Melody," he said glaring at her or that's what Lando imagine. He wasn't exactly sure, but he was just glad the spotlight was off of him.

"Lord Vader," she said with a smirk. "What a pleasure. The emperor said you would be busy and sent me to… retrieve a special package."

"Where is she?" the other woman said as she took of her hood, her face ever so passive, but Lando could see that there was silent fury in her eyes.

"Oh you mean you and Vader's little sithspawn?" Melody asked. "I don't know. Probably as good as dead."

"You liar," the woman said stepping up to face her.

"She's not dead," Lando said after he got over his shock. That girl was Vader's daughter… He mentally began to swear in the vilest languages her knew, but one word in particular kept popping up. Fuck, fuck, fuck…

"Then where is she?" the woman asked.

"She got away," Lando assured.

"Got away from here sure. But we all know that flying a ship by herself that little girl is as good as dead in a few days," Melody mocked. "Her and that beast with her."

Lando saw something feral and untamed come across the torgruta woman's features as she lit a green lightsaber and started to lunge for the woman.

"Hold on Ahsoka," Vader said and to Lando's surprise the woman stayed in place, like she was being held in an invisible grip. "I want to know exactly what happened."

Lando paled. He had heard all about Vader's interrogation techniques. This was not going to be pretty.

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AN: I made up that little connection of mind thing with Ahsoka, Leia, and Vader. Don't know if it's possible in cannon or not, but sense the force is such a mystery in cannon anyway, I don't think it's a stretch. Next chapter is interrogation and I had a good time doing it. It really pushes the boundary of the T rating but it was nowhere near as brutal as I could have made it. I'd like to put it up early, but I don't know… Depends on how the reviews flow and this really isn't a cliffy. It can wait. I'll see.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!