Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

After leaving the Jedi Order, ex Jedi Ahsoka Tano joined the crew of a freighter, the Red Drexl. After a year of working as a mechanic and copilot, suddenly the Republic fell and the Empire rose in its place, and she found herself fighting and defeating a bounty hunter named Koros L'Larr and taking his ship for her own. Now Ahsoka has taken on the persona of Riella Masso, bounty hunter, as a way of keeping tabs on the current hunt for Jedi on the run

So far on her journey, she has joined up with not only Jyssa Motla, captain of the Red Drexl, an injured clone trooper who now goes by the name Bryn Arc, but also three other Jedi on the run, two droids, and a Verpine mechanic.

Ahsoka and her new Padawan, Nat Tina, followed a lead on rogue Jedi activity. They discovered that a mysterious informant has been leading pirates in the area on seemingly unrelated missions, and he has been taking parts from the pirate hauls that could be used to construct lightsabers. When Ahsoka found and confronted the man, he managed to get the upper hand long enough to retreat safely.

Chapter 49

Cleanup

Ahsoka stumbled out of the Spicy Squid's cargo bay, her foot still numb where the strange sword-wielding Human had stomped on it. "Nat," she said over her com, "dell Xho that if he's going to make armor plading for me, I deed arbored boots before anything else."

"What did you do?"

"I'll send you the video feed from by bask. This guy was good. Like Jedi or Bandalorian good. And he had a sword that could block a lightsaber." She sniffed as she felt something dripping down her face under the mask. "Ah... I think I habe a bloody dose."

"Maybe he was a Mandalorian. You said that sword that Arc found can block a lightsaber."

"Yeah, and so can some phrik alloys. But this thing looked... old. And not heavy enough to be a Beskad. What's the situation out there?"

"I'm coming in to dock again. The pirates grabbed the escape pods and jumped to hyperspace." Ahsoka felt a light shudder through the ship as it mated up with the Whipclaw. "Got it. Airtight seal."

"All right, I'll send you the video." She tapped at the datapad on her wrist. "What the... there's something wrong with by bask. I'll need Xho to look ad id when I get aboard."

She took a moment to reach inside herself with the Force. Standing in the living area of this strange ship, she managed to find her focus. She felt the bruise on her face, and she could feel where the soft tissue had broken. The blood flow slowed, and in a few seconds, she had staunched it enough that it was already starting to clot properly. Once she was done, she sniffed again and found that she could breathe through her nose properly.

When she opened her eyes again, the crew of the Spicy Squid were in the room with her. "You did it!" the captain said. "You fought off the pirates. They panicked and threw us out of our escape pods just to get away from you!"

Ahsoka shrugged and said, as nonchalantly as she could, "I have that effect on people sometimes."

Then Ahsoka heard the cargo by doors open, and one of the Mon Calamari gasped. Without even looking, she knew exactly where the groggy Weequay pirate was standing. She'd knocked him silly during the fight, but apparently hadn't hit him hard enough to keep him down for very long.

That was easy enough to change, though. She slapped his pistol aside with the Force, then lifted his entire body up in the air. Everyone on board had seen her lightsaber already, there was no point in hiding who she really was.

Slowly, she turned around to face him. Although all he could see was the durasteel mask, with a glowing blue T-visor and a reptilian scale pattern painted onto it. "You are going to tell me everything you know about that Human that was on board with Hondo."

The Weequay struggled in the air, unable to find any purchase to push against her invisible grip. "I'm not tellin' you nothing," he said in a gravelly voice.

Ahsoka pulled him a little closer to the deck, and a meter closer to her. Holding out her left hand, she pulled his pistol out of his hand. "There are a lot of things I could do to make you talk. Some of them are painless."

He tried to outstare her, but her blue visor couldn't blink. "I don't know! We didn't get told nuffin!"

"Let's start at the beginning. What's his name?"

"Honest, I don't know. He calls himself Waylander. He sells information on where to get a good score, and he takes part of the loot as payment."

"Waylander... is that a name or a title?"

"I don't know!"

Ahsoka got the impression that if he wasn't a Weequay, he'd probably be sweating by now. She asked, "How do you contact him?"

"I don't know. Hondo was the one who talked to him."

"Well, I guess we'll have to ask Hondo, then." She turned to the crew of the Spicy Squid. "I'm sorry for leaving trash like this all over your ship. I'll clean it up and take it with me when I go."

The female Mon Calamari chortled, and the Quarren captain shrugged and said, "I wouldn't know what to do with them if you left them."

"How many of them were still up by the fore?" she asked.

"Just the two that you knocked out by the escape pods," the woman replied. "Are there any in the cargo bay? And did they get... any cargo?"

"They dumped some fish on the ground. I don't know if they got any of your other cargo. They found it, but I sent them running." She looked down at her foot. The numbness had faded, and now she could feel a dull throbbing. Somehow the Human must have stomped right on a nerve cluster. "Well, I sent most of them running. One of them just kind of... ambled. Did you see or hear anything about that Human that might help me find out who he is? He's not part of Hondo's crew."

The captain's eyes went wide, "That was really Hondo Ohnaka? And you scared him off?"

"We've had... dealings before. Some good, some bad. Mostly bad for him."

"If I'd known we were being boarded by Hondo Ohnaka, I would have launched the lifepods and taken my chances in deep space!" the Quarren said, "I didn't know this sector was so dangerous!"

"It's not, usually. Whoever this Human is, he was the one directing this attack. And you had something he wanted." Ahsoka fiddled with the pirate's pistol, then asked him, "Does the stun setting on this thing work?"

He blinked at her and said, "I think so. Never used it."

She let go of him in the Force and let him fall to the deck. He stumbled, not expecting the drop.

Then she shot him.

"Oh good, you're awake," Talku said.

Brix groaned. His head felt like it was an overfilled balloon. "Where am... hey... she shot me! The little Jedi shot me!"

"Yeah, and you're the lucky one. I think Jax's shoulder is broken."

The sound of engines humming could be heard through the deck. "Where are we? Are we on a ship?"

"The little Jedi has Koros L'larr's ship, remember? Complete with prison cells."

Brix's reply was an unintelligible grunt, as he tried to push himself up on all fours. "I bleedin' hate stun bolts. Make me nauseous for hours."

"Well, if you're gonna hurl, try to do it back in the toilet. We don't have janitor droids in here. Not exactly luxury apartments, these cells."

Brix, with a little help from Talku, managed to pull himself up on the bunk in the small cell. "I'll be okay."

"Maybe. Maybe not. She's been threatening to use us as bargaining chips. She wants to trade us back to Hondo for some information."

"Oh... bugger. Hondo won't be too happy with us." He closed his eyes and put his hand over them, trying to massage his temples through his thick, wrinkled skin. "She asked me some questions. Wanted to know about the Waylander. I didn't know nuffin', and I told her that."

"All this trouble, and I don't even know if Hondo got those pearls. I hope he did, otherwise we're in a shipload of trouble when we get back."

"Course is set for Florrum," Nat said. "We should get going before any other rescue ships respond to the emergency beacon."

"Punch it," Ahsoka replied.

Nat activated the hyperdrive, and the Whipclaw shot forward through space, then punched a hole into hyperspace. The crew of the Spicy Squid were safe, though stranded until other help arrived. The engines weren't just damaged in the attack, they were destroyed. But the pirates had only made off with two of the eight bags of pearls, which, the captain had said would mean that he wouldn't earn any money on the run. He suspected he'd get just enough profit from the diminished cargo to repair the ship.

Ahsoka wished she had some way of helping, but even a Jedi had limits. She couldn't use the Force to magically fix everyone's problems. Captain Kartilla and his crew were going to make their own way in the galaxy, for better or for worse.

For now, she had someone to track down. Someone who could be a Jedi on the run.

At least, that was the best case scenario.

Author's note: Sorry about the late update. I didn't have a chance to update from my phone when I was at work today. Retail + day before Christmas Eve + somebody didn't show up for a shift today = craziness. Then again, which Christmas this week and everything, the whole week's updates might be wonky.