Author's Note: Salutations! This is a prequel to my other story Shadow and Falcon, but it's not necessary to read that one first. I hope you enjoy this. As always, please Review, I love getting input, whether or not it's positive.


Lady Tano

Part I: A Cuppa of Bantha Blood

"Barriss, is that true?"

"Tell them the truth"

"I did it. Because I've come to realise. What many people in the Republic have come to realise. That the Jedi are the ones responsible for this war. That we have so lost our way that we've become Villains in this conflict. That We are the ones who should be put on trial, All of us! And my attack on the Temple was an attack on what the Jedi have Become. An army fighting for the Dark Side. Fallen from the light that we once held so dear. This Republic is failing! It's only a matter of time."

As General Skywalker grabbed her elbow to spin her away from her listeners, Barriss Offee took one last mourning look at Ahsoka. Barriss' eyes were the most vulnerable Ahsoka had ever seen, Barriss wasn't worried for herself, she was horrified at the fate that would befall her last friend. But the moment was broken when Skywalker roughly shoved Barriss towards the Jedi Temple Sentinels, and she was led out of the chamber.

Upon the third viewing, Ahsoka Tano's cool exterior began to break. On the fifth, there were tears speckling her cheeks. Her morning remembrance was now complete. The former Jedi slipped on her armour and pistols. Her armour was mostly made up of miscellaneous clone leather parts, except her gauntlets. The gauntlets were Commander Cody's own, which he had bequeathed to her upon her exodus from the Jedi order. Her pistols were a gift she received much more recently, from her closest non-Jedi friend in the army, Captain Rex; they were his own pistols that had seen uncountable battles. Perhaps most important to Ahsoka, was Five's fauld and tasset, which protected her hips down to her knees. It was his ARC Trooper armour that Captain Rex and Commander Fox had decided to not retire upon Five's horrifically confusing death.

The teenage Tagruda stowed the playback device in her bag, which she slung over her back. She helped herself to portable porridge, which, let's be honest, she's had worse; and then she was out the door, stepping into the dim light of Coruscant's underbelly as her com link crackles to life.

"Little Tano, I've got a hit on that mark you were looking for, but he won't be here for long." Ahsoka smiled at the friendly voice, despite it's gruffness.

"Thank you Dex, I'll be there soon." Ahsoka smiled grimly as she mounted her air speeder began her ascent to the surface.

Upon leaving the Jedi, Obi-Wan had set her up with a reliable contact of his, Dexter Jetster, for as long as she needed tips and advice from a non-Jedi while she was on Coruscant. Anakin had arranged for her speeder, and he spared no expense. Padme probably had something to do with it too. Those two make a cute couple, I can't imagine how Anakin's stayed with the Order so long, repressing the happy life he could have with her if only he could cut his loyalty to people who wouldn't have his back if they knew the best part of his life. Ahsoka mused as she deftly piloted the speeder to the surface, and the sun once more struck her face as it rose above the horizon.

Traffic was light on Ahsoka's route, which is to say it took her much longer than she would have liked to arrive at Dexter's Diner. Coruscant air-traffic was killer. The diner gleamed bronze in the light of the rising sun, a beacon among the assault of apathetic grey buildings rising all around it. Ahsoka parked her speeder in the place Dexter reserved for her and other friends of Obi-Wan.

When she entered the diner, Hermione Bagwa greeted her with her usual, which Ahsoka dubbed 'Bantha Blood'. Ahsoka finished the first glass in less than a minute and waited patiently for it to be refilled. Ahsoka surveyed the room around her, taking in all the usual characters, and some of the more seldom seen characters. But her eyes narrowed, as she did not find her mark. Dexter Jester, the fine owner of this legendary establishment walked over with a second helping of 'Bantha Blood' and placed it in front of the young ex-Jedi.

"He got taken by another hunter with lightsabers, little-'Soka'," the large four-armed cook said jovially. "You look like you needed another one of these," he placed the glass of viscous red liquid in front of the frustrated Tagruda. "Sorry," he said sincerely as Ahsoka just sipped her drink in silence.

Damn it Ventress. I suppose your death at the side of Master Vos at the hands of Dooku was slightly exaggerated. "It's alright Dex, did you happen to catch her on hologram or see what this hunter looked like?" Ahsoka asked pleasantly, her frustration dissipating by the second.

Dex nodded as he replied, "The bounty hunter was tall and assured, it sounded female, but she was behind a mask. She had a single curved hilt lightsaber, but she used the force to pull the mark into her grasp instead of igniting her blades. She did not speak." Ahsoka nodded as she took in the information and matched it up against her last meeting with Asajj Ventress.Of course she'd have a new blade now since my Master confiscated her red lightsabers from Barriss… Ahsoka zoned out a little as her thoughts unbidden turned back towards her old friend and greatest hurt.

She roused herself out of her downward memory spiral before Dex noticed anything truly amiss other than the usual frustration of her sub-par bounty hunting luck. The rules of bounty hunting isn't what made Ahsoka sub-par, it was the fact that her heart wasn't in it. She frequently ended up losing her marks to the more driven hunters that flooded Coruscant since the start of the war. Also, her luck was laughable, as Hermione and Dex often reminded her; but not today though, it was the one year anniversary of her ah, exit from the Jedi Order and the incarceration of Barriss Offee. She had heard of her old Master's exploits among the stars that she couldn't see in the smog of Coruscant's skies.

Dexter suddenly turned away as his communicator beeped. Hermione had taken advantage of the lull in customers to drape a friendly arm around Ahsoka, wordlessly understanding her low mood. Ahsoka's hand drifted absently to where her Padawan beads once rested against her white and blue stripped Lekku which now fell to her mid upper arms. She was taller than a year ago too, when she had first walked into Dex's Diner, she barely stood up to his elbow, and now she was passing his shoulder. Tagruda growth spurts hurt, she thought off-handedly as she was rubbing her left shin with her booted right foot. "Thanks Hermione," Ahsoka said gratefully as the waitress smiled and moved off to accommodate a few new customers.

Ahsoka shivered involuntarily as Dex straightened and turned around, his jovial look not gone, but tinged with curiosity. He whispered, "Ahsoka, there's a certain Mandalorian who would like to see you about a coup." He handed her the communicator which he had momentarily deactivated for the privacy of the caller. He beckoned her behind the counter and into a room off of the kitchen that had a single drink holder and a locking door, a stall for situations exactly like now. Hermione swiftly added Ahsoka's re-filled Bantha Blood to the drink holder before offering thumbs up and softly closed the door. Ahsoka activated the hologram once she was certain she was alone.

The holographic form of a Mandalorian in full regalia filled the stall, and Ahsoka recognized her helmet instantly. "Bo-Katan, I'm so sorry about your sister the Duchess." Ahsoka opened softly. She bore the Nite Owl no love, but Ahsoka wasn't tactless. For her part Bo-Katan tilted her head in acknowledgment.

"Thank you, Lady Tano, I'm calling because I, and Mandalore, need your help. Darth Maul is back, and he's too much for us to handle indefinitely, and you're the only Force-user who we are on speaking terms with other than General Kenobi, who hasn't gotten back to us yet with his answer. Right now, you're our only hope."