Chapter III
"They've bumped up their patrols." Ahsoka hears the woman say.
Every night for the past three days the four sit at the same table in the cantina and discuss things for some plan. Ahsoka knows it has something to do with the Empire, it's obvious they don't support it, but she still doesn't know enough about them. They've mentioned a name, "Callan", she believes that whoever this "Callan" is must be their leader.
After listening to the group the past three nights, Ahsoka has been able to match whose voice is whose. The man's voice is very masculine with a slight accent and the Rodians sounds to vibrate in his throat, as most Rodians do. The Thakwaash speaks Basic, very surprising as most Thakwaash speak their native language. His voice is rough and sometimes hard to understand.
"They've included tanks now," the Rodian says, "Can we even destroy those?"
The woman says quietly, "Those are Repulstortank 1-L's, a light tank. The armor is weak on its underside. It's fast, but it's slow in the city. The city is our best chance to take them out, if they get out on the plains were finished."
"Well that's great." the man says, "And how exactly are we going to destroy them?"
The Thakwaash answers in his rough voice, "Callan's got some explosives. Hand grenades and a few landmines."
"The streets are too narrow to use hand grenades." the woman says, "You could overthrow the grenade and kill bystanders or one of us."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"Callan's got landmines. Anti personnel landmines. They're a little old, they were made back during the Clone Wars, but they can still take out Stormtroopers. We take the troopers out, run up to the tanks, plant the grenades under them, and run out."
The man gives a small laugh, "Sounds like suicide to me."
"Do you have any better ideas?"
The cantina patrons go quite and the band stops playing. Ahsoka looks away from the empty liquor glass she's been blankly staring at while she listens to groups conversation. She looks over to the cantina door and sees three Imperial officers walk in with two Stormtroopers standing guard at the door.
"Return to your drinks." one of the officers say - or demands, Ahsoka can't tell what rank he is.
The patrons do as the officer says and the band continues to play. Only the cantina is a bit quieter and tense now with the new customers.
"They found us." the Rodian whispers so only the group can hear, but not quite enough to evade Ahsoka.
"Relax." the woman says, "Their shift is over for the night. Officer's always come here for drinks at this time, we've just been here longer tonight."
"Yeah well, what about the guards?"
"Have you met a Thakwaash other than Zallar? Meet one in a bad mood and things can get dicey. The troopers are for protection."
"We should leave." the man says, "I don't like discussing work around some of these people."
"Noted. Let's go."
Ahsoka glances out of the corner of her eye and watches the four leave the cantina. The officers walk up to the bar and Ahsoka notices the code cylinders on their grey uniforms. Those cylinders can access Imperial documents and data, including shipments going in and out of the Tunka Sector. If Ahsoka can get those shipment logs, she can relay the information to Phoenix. The only thing is, she has to figure out a way to get it. She looks at the empty glass in front of her and gets an idea.
She gets up and approaches the youngest appearing officer of the three - and in a certain strut. Ahsoka thinks to herself, I hope he isn't one of those 'I hate aliens' kind of officers.
She gets up close beside the officer and wraps her hands around his shoulders, using her physical appeal and charm in an attempt to seduce the officer. It's something she learned from her master, Anakin Skywalker, after he used his charm on the Zygerrian queen to free her people from the queen's Slave Empire.
"Buy a girl a drink?" Ahsoka flirts.
The officer looks up at Ahsoka and gives her a sly grin, "For you, I'd buy anything you want." He looks to the service droid acting as the bartender. "A glass of wine for the lady."
The droid nods and prepares a small glass of wine.
"You know," the officer says, "I've never met a Togruta as beautiful as yourself, nor have I ever met a Twi'lek as fine as you are."
"And your the first officer I have ever met. Are all Empires men as seductive as yourself?"
The young officer almost blushes, "Only the best."
The droid hands Ahsoka her drink and she "accidentally" loses her grip on the glass and spills the wine on the officers jacket.
Ahsoka acts shocked as she grabs a rag and starts blotting the stain.
"I'm so sorry!" Ahsoka lies, "I can be so clumsy at times."
Ahsoka dabs the stain a couple more times before quickly grabbing the code cylinder and hiding it in the rag. The officer doesn't even notice.
"You dumb alien!" the officer gets on his feet, "I won't be able to explain this to my commander! Get out of my sight!"
Ahsoka was happy to comply and quickly leaves the cantina with the cylinder in hand.
Jarvana got paid the second half of Ahsoka's hotel room rent. She had enough credits to pay him in the first place, but considering most hotel guests don't pay in full to start with, Ahsoka decided to blend in as just another Outer Rim low life.
Ahsoka still has the officers code cylinder in her hand. She unwraps the rag she hid it in to take a closer look at it. The risk of taking the cylinder is high. If the officer or his constituents can remember her face, they will certainly start searching for her. Ahsoka only hopes that the cantina was dark enough that they couldn't get a good look at her face.
I've never met a Togruta as beautiful as yourself, Ahsoka gasps as she recalls the officers words. She couldn't believe she overlooked the most obvious detail, she is a Togruta, and possibly the only one on Thakwaa. It would be simple for the officer to send out a city wide notice for a Togruta wanted by the Empire for theft of Imperial property.
Ahsoka hates to think of it, but she's going to have to move again before the Empire shuts down all transit off the planet until she is arrested. Ahsoka is frustrated, she wanted to learn more about the four from the cantina as they could be possible recruits for Bail's Rebelion. But she knows she can't stay on the planet, and she has the code cylinder to access shipping logs for Phoenix. All Ahsoka needs is access to an Imperial computer terminal, something Bail might know a way to access. However, she knows she can't use the stollen cylinder in any terminal that could link to Bail. She doesn't want the Empire to find Imperial codexes being opened by the "loyal" Senator Organa.
The quiet solitude of Ahsoka's room is broken by the sudden hum of engines outside. She steps up to the window and looks into the street to find an armored patrol moving towards the Javana. A number of Stormtroopers walk in front and alongside two tanks in the middle of the street. Ahsoka waits for them to stop in front of the hotel while she thinks of a quick way to escape. But to her relief, they don't stop, they continue on their route and turn onto another street down the road.
Ahsoka thinks to herself. If the officer noticed the missing code cylinder at the cantina, he likely would have ordered the patrols to search every possible location she could be hiding. That patrol didn't even stop to search the Javana, therefore the officer hasn't yet noticed the missing cylinder. The only other possible time the officer would notice is when he checks into his first shift at the Imperial complex surrounding Tunka City's airfield. It's then when building searches would be expected.
Ahsoka could leave now before the officers first shift. However, even though the Empire has not imposed a citywide curfew, they do not allow anyone out onto the plains after dark and they have security constantly monitoring the city perimeter. Ahsoka could easily get past the guards, but once she goes airborne it only be a matter of time before TIE fighters are sent after her. And her ship is not equipped to handle too many fighters. Ahsoka decides it would be best to leave in the morning once the first patrol goes by. Until then, she will try to rest as best she can, remaining vigilant in case Stormtroopers bust down her door in the middle of the night.
She lies down on the small bed in the corner of the room with her blaster close to her. Her eyelids grow very heavy, she is exhausted from the day. With one deep breath, she relaxes and falls asleep.