Content Warning: This chapter includes violent content, and reference to serious wounds. It also includes minor character deaths. If this bothers you, skip to the end chapter notes where I will summarize it.

Chapter 36 - Frigus Calamitas

"Well, how are the lessons going?" Bail asked Ahsoka as soon as they were alone in his private study.

"They're going well. Mara is a bright child." Ahsoka laughed. "I've just about convinced her to stop calling me Master Tano. She's very enthusiastic."

"So, can she levitate rocks yet, or do one of those cool mind tricks like Kenobi?" Bail asked.

"She's only been studying this for about a year. It takes a lifetime to master! She needs to learn the theoretical stuff first. Once she's mastered meditations and learning the revised code I'm teaching her, we'll move on to the practical lessons," Ahsoka explained.

"Oh, alright." the father put on a face like a disappointed puppy. "I guess that makes sense. Just remember to warn us before you do. I don't want to find out the hard way my ten year old can mind trick me into giving her extra sweets."

Ahsoka laughed. "I need to teach you to be extra strong minded."

"Don't let her mother hear you say that. She already thinks I spoil Mara," Bail joked. "Pot calling the kettle black, is what I say."

"Is something the matter?" Ahsoka changed the subject. "When we entered here, you ran your scans for bugs twice. Is there a reason for the extra security?"

"Oh, I've been noticing things lately. No bugs, thankfully, but when I leave, then come back to my office, things are moved slightly."

Ahsoka nodded, her face becoming serious with their conversation. "You think one of your people might not be trustworthy."

Bail nodded. "The thing is, I don't know how to find out who. I've already limited access to this floor to only those who I trust the most. My family, my aids, people who've worked for us for a long time. I can't imagine one of them turning traitor."

"Do you want me to have a look at things? I'll see if we can't figure this out, if you trust me too," Ahsoka offered.

"Oh, thank you. If anyone can find them, I know it'll be you." Bail put his hand on her arm. "And I trust you like a member of my family, you know. Because you are one."


Ahsoka had instructed Bail to go about his day as he normally would. She knew this would be hard for the man who was so prone to worry, especially when his family might be in danger, but it was essential. If her targets suspected she were after them, catching them would be that much harder.

Ahsoka was not an expert in Force Invisibility, not by any means, but she did know a little. She could make herself almost invisible with the Force. That almost was the difference between being noticed right away when you enter a room, to being able to stay unnoticed, as long as you're not directly looked at. This trick was very useful to a spy, whether working on an imperial cruiser or on Alderaan.

Once she was wrapped in the cloak of Force Invisibility, Ahsoka snuck into Bail's office and waited. And she waited. She had been waiting for three days. Whatever these spies were after, they weren't very quick about it.

Ahsoka was beginning to wonder if, perhaps these spies had left already, or if they even existed to begin with. But Bail certainly believed they were real, and if he was anxious, she wanted to relieve him of his worry, no matter how long she needed to crawl around on her belly watching various goings on in the palace.

After three days Bail had just left his office to get lunch, when the door opened again. Ahsoka peeked over the bookcase she was hiding behind, expecting to see Bail again. She didn't. It was Sheltay Retrac. She was the head of Bail's aids and the one he probably trusted the most. Her daughter Winter was best friends with young Mara, for pete's sake. 'This doesn't mean anything. She could just be looking for her boss. She'll probably leave in a moment.' Ahsoka pulled back down in her hiding place as she listened for the fading footsteps of the aid leaving.

Sheltay's footsteps could be heard, but not leaving. She walked up to the desk, and began looking through it. Ahsoka gulped. Sheltay seemed to find something. She wrote a note on her hand of something from one of the flimsy pages on the desk, then began putting things back in order again. This was it. It was time to act.

Ahsoka activated her saber and threw off the Force Invisibility cloak. Sheltay froze.

"Aah. Please, I had no choice." Sheltay fell to her knees. Tears started forming in her eyes.

"Educate me then. What is it that makes you betray a friend? Someone who, when you became pregnant, and all the rest of the court was gossiping about who the father might be, stood up for you. Who gave you the promotion so you could afford to spend time with your young one. Someone who shut down a campaign party when the gossip turned sour, because no one talks bad about one of his aids. Someone who paid for your daughter to have a royal tutor. Why do you betray him?" Ahsoka confronted.

Sheltay had tears streaming down her face by the time she was finished. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to. But they had Ob." She sniffled. "He was my first love. We never married because my family and his don't exactly get along, but he gave me one of the best gifts I ever… He's Winter's Papa. A little over a week ago they sent me proof they had him and demanded I spy for them. I tried to satisfy them by giving them just enough to show I was cooperating, but they still haven't released him. Then today they had another demand." She turned her hand to reveal the set of numbers she'd written there. It was the latest frequency of Rebellion communications, which was changed every so often for added security.

Ahsoka closed her eyes. She felt an overwhelming amount of emotions well up. From sympathy for Sheltay and Ob, to anger at the imperials for threatening young Winter's father, she was feeling overwhelmed. Ahsoka breathed in and out a few deep breaths, and she did what she was always taught to do in the face of such emotions, she suppressed them. Then she focused on the problem. 'Sheltay isn't the real perpetrator here. I need to catch the ones who are using her. Whoever they are, they know enough to use Ob against her. That makes them dangerous. But how do you catch a hostage taker?'

"I know what we have to do. How do you deliver your information to the kidnappers?" Ahsoka asked.

"There's a comm I call, from outside the palace. They set it up." Sheltay answered.

"Then we'll go there. I'll tell you exactly what to say." Ahsoka pulled out a paper and wrote down a quick note for Bail, then she pulled a nervous Sheltay with her as she left.


Ahsoka followed Sheltay into town. There she used the Force Invisibility to cloak herself again, and she entered the building Sheltay specified. She searched it for any cameras or wires, and found nothing. Then she signalled Sheltay to enter and dropped her cloak again.

"Okay, I'm going to stand back here. I'll write what I want you to say. Just stay calm and I'll work around any challenges they throw at us," said Ahsoka. Just then she bent down to read her personal communicator, a message from Bail. Their plan was in motion.

"What about Ob? Will you be able to save him?" Sheltay asked.

Ahsoka remembered from her training in dealing with hostage situations, that a positive outcome was hardly ever certain, but she didn't want Sheltay to be nervous. "They will have no reason to harm him. You are doing exactly as they said, giving them the frequency."

Sheltay stepped up to the comm. No face came up on her holo, but the light came on to indicate her holo was being sent to them. "Blue, feathers, One, Five, Seven," Sheltay gave them the passcode to prove it was her.

"Aaaaah Ms. Retrac, you have a little song for me." a deep voice came from the device.

Sheltay looked nervously up in the direction of Ahsoka. Ahsoka pulled out flimsy and wrote a sentence on the board. 'Yes. I have the music. I want to talk again about what will happen when I share this. As soon as you use it my position here will be compromised. I want to discuss sanctuary.'

Sheltay threw a look over to Ahsoka in line with, 'How could you ever connect life with Imperials and sanctuary. Are you serious?' To which Ahsoka nodded.

Sheltay took a deep breath and prepared to read the statement, but before she got out her first word, the man interrupted her. "Aaah aah ah, before you sing for me, there is another change of plans. We want you to deliver the song in person. And to make sure you do…"

Suddenly the holoprojector on the comm started to project an image. It was a young Winter. The twelve year old stood with her arms folded behind her back, and a masked man stood right behind her, holding a blaster to the girl.

"Winter… No!" Sheltay cried out.

The holo image faded, and then the voice began to speak again. "I'm going to give you instructions and you will follow them, or your little girl and her daddy get it."


When he was finally off the line, Sheltay turned to Ahsoka. Her eyes were wide with fear. "What do we do now?"

"Now we go to that contact he gave you," Ahsoka answered.

"How can you be so calm? My little girl!" Sheltay protested.

Ahsoka didn't know what to say. "It will be alright," she lied. "We're going to meet him and when I get the information on how to stop them, I'll get you all out of there. This is actually going to make it a lot easier, you'll see." She gave Sheltay a fake smile.

"But what about you? He's expecting me to show up alone. I can't bring you along, and I'm no spy." Sheltay hyperventilated.

"But I am. Don't worry about me. I have my methods," said Ahsoka.


Ahsoka watched Sheltay walk up to the building from across the street. It looked to be a low level bar, serving cheap booze. Sheltay walked up to the bartender and ordered a drink that was not on their menu. The bartender merely nodded and handed her a bottle. Sheltay tapped her pant leg nervously as she waited.

After several minutes a man approached Sheltay's table. They seemed to talk for a minute, then Sheltay got up and walked with him out the back door.

Ahsoka panicked. This was not how it was supposed to go. She ran through an alley to get behind the building and then she heard a speeder starting up. As quickly as she could, she jumped onto a random speeder bike, hotwired it, and sped off after the speeder that was leaving fast.


"When you are tailing someone, the trick is to keep a distance so they don't realize they're being followed, all while making sure you don't lose the tail in the first place," Ahsoka remembered Anakin teaching her. She frequently found Anakin's advice to be useful in her fieldwork, so when she arrived at the seemingly abandoned building the imperialists were using for their base, Sheltay had already been dragged inside. Ahsoka ripped the sleeves off her jacket and stained her shirt with mud. Then she pulled out a pen and drew a few obscure symbols on her upper arm. She used the Force to dry them quickly so they looked like tattoos.

Ahsoka pulled a small blaster from a hidden pocket and she pushed the door open, using the Force to subtly make it slam loudly behind her. "Aak! What is this! Who's moving in on my prize?" Sheltay and three armed men all looked up in shock. In seconds they reached for their blasters and Ahsoka shot past one of their shoulders. "I wouldn't," she warned.

"M-lady, how can I help you." One of the men sneered.

"Agent Fulcrum. Serial number four-six, one-one-three, Theta-six. I infiltrated the enemy compound and trailed my target for three weeks. I want her, or I'll take my bounty off your corpses." Ahsoka gave him one of her spy identities.

"Oh, that's what this is about. We're just after some information. A comm frequency, and the Rebellion base's location. After that she's yours," he said.

"Deal." Ahsoka nodded once. Sheltay meanwhile sighed and her shoulders dropped in relief. Tied up on the side of the room Winter and Ob were stacked like parcels. Ob had his left hand sloppily wrapped from a recent bleeding wound.

"Now darling," the man turned back to Sheltay. "What are those comm frequencies?"

Sheltay turned her head and Ahsoka subtly shook her head. "Uh, I…" she stammered.

"Remember what we talked about. If you don't give us those frequencies, your Winter is going to lose an appendage." He laughed. "She'll look just like her father then."

Sheltay shut her eyes to hold back tears and shook her head.

"Or perhaps your own. We'll make it a family thing." the imperialist pulled out a pocket knife and reached for Sheltay's hand.

"Are you even sure this is worth it?" Ahsoka asked.

"The frequencies the Rebellion is using are worth every scream." he answered.

"I mean, does she even have what you need? She's a political aid, not a war general," Ahsoka pointed out.

"I have it on good authority that her boss is the commander of the Rebels. He knows, and therefore she knows." He lazily waved his knife between Ahsoka and Sheltay.

"Your authority tell you that the Viceroy keeps his codes to himself and her role is to manage his political life while he's away leading the rebellion? When he's on business, that is. When he's at home, well. She does have a daughter that is receiving the royal scholarship. But the affairs of Alderanean nobility are not my business. She is, and I'll remind you, I'm expecting a bounty on her. Release her, and maybe I won't tell the higher ups how you ruined a good asset." Ahsoka shook her head. "If you had used her properly, the Viceroy could've gone months without suspecting he had a little leak."

The man laughed. "As long as the Viceroy's little ladies love getting their hair done, we'll have sources a plenty."

"The hair stylist," Ahsoka noted. "I'm impressed. Though I would've suspected you'd all have better style if you were working with the Lady Gilette."

"Her assistant has an open mouth, and her boyfriend is smart enough to know that the future is with the Empire," he explained.

"Oh," Ahsoka made the mental note to explore this further. "We still have a problem with my bounty. General Stanson wants to use her as a hostage. And I have a reputation for delivering my parcels intact." Ahsoka glared at the men.

"Fine, bring the youngling over. We were going to dump their bodies in the factory furnace later, anyway." His second in command brought young Winter over to them.

Sheltay gave Ahsoka a deep, distraught look, and Ahsoka knew what it meant. Save the girl. She nodded back at the mother. As fast as she could, Ahsoka dropped her blaster onto the floor and pulled out her sabers. She pushed her body infront of Sheltay and Winter's and blocked them both from the men.

"Shoot!" The imperialist ordered, and his men pulled out their blasters and started shooting at them. Several more men came into the room with more blasters.

Ahsoka used her lightsabers and blocked their blasts as best she could, but she was quickly losing stamina.

Sheltay stepped around Ahsoka. In her hands was the Blaster she had dropped. She fired and took down the leading man. "Save my girl. Baby I love you." After those final words Sheltay stepped farther away from Ahsoka firing wildly at the men to draw their fire on her. Her distraction did not last long, for as soon as Sheltay fell, they turned back to Ahsoka, but she was able to get them closer to the door.

Winter was struggling with it's heavy bolts, and Ahsoka was wishing she had another limb to help her open it with, when they had another unexpected savior. Ob, who had been lying tied up on the floor, suddenly swung his body around so he tripped several of the men as they were walking towards Ahsoka and Winter. The ones still on their feet turned and shot him in retaliation, but this allowed Ahsoka time to help Winter push the door open.

"Run!" Ahsoka yelled at the girl. As they were leaving Ahsoka saw the rebellion army had surrounded the building. She gave a hand signal to them. 'Go,' she communicated.


"Your Majesty," said the servant.

Queen Breha waved them off with her hand. "Honey, you remember what we talked about?"

"Yes Mom," answered Mara. "But if Winter's Mommy is dead, what will happen to Winter? Will she die too?"

"No," the queen stopped to rub the ten year old's back. "Actually your father and I were thinking we would like to give Winter a place in our home."

Mara's eyes became big, then wilted slightly as another doubt crossed her mind. "But, I live with you. Where would I go? You're not going to get rid of me, are you?" Tears welled up in Mara's eyes.

Breha quickly bent down to wipe her daughter's eyes. "Never. You are our daughter now, and forever will you be. We were thinking Winter would be like a Sister to you. What do you think of that?"

Mara's eyes shone brightly again. "Really, that is the bestest! Would she live at the palace, like me? Would we share a room? I'd share all my clothes and toys with her. Well, I think she's too big to fit into my clothes, but…" Young Mara babbled on.

Breha smiled at her daughter's generous spirit. "Yes, this is good news, but remember, Winter is very sad right now. And I think she's going to be for a while. She loves her mother a lot. We can help her by being patient and understanding."


Mara sat with her mother for the funeral. After the funeral was a social time. "A sort of party, but a serious one," her father had told her. It was held in one of the Palace function rooms, and there was a buffet filled with food, and no adults hovering around it to make sure you only took one sweet.

Bail and Breha were in their fourth or fifth conversation each. All on boring topics with boring people who didn't smile, but just nodded as they spoke. Mara looked out desperate for someone to talk to who wouldn't frown at her or pat her head. Across the room she saw Winter walk out of the room. Thinking it was a good place to start, she moved to follow Winter.

Then Mara stopped. She remembered what her mother said about how Winter was feeling now. Then a golden idea came to her. 'Food, Mommy always brings me a snack when I'm sad.' Mara looked over to the buffet of food and she was lucky to find a tray of lummer-nut cookies, freshly laid out. Running over, she quickly wrapped two in napkins and then she ran out the door she'd seen Winter leave through.

"Winter," Mara called out. She found the girl in one of the many palace hallways, staring up at one of the many pieces of artwork in the hall. Mara stepped back suddenly. Her parents said Winter would be sad, but the girl in front of her didn't look sad. Her face was calm.

"Mara, what is it?" Winter asked.

"I brought you a cookie, so you wouldn't be sad." Mara held out one of the napkins.

"Thank you." Winter turned back to the painting and seemed to be staring off into space. After a while she spoke again. "I never noticed before, his Angels look a lot like me and mom."

Mara looked. She had to turn her head slightly, but she did see a slight similarity.

"Ob Khaddor, I've gone past this painting so many times without a second glance. He was my Father. I never knew that, not until after he…" Winter stopped herself before she finished her sentence.

"Ob Khaddor? I thought it was your mother that died," said Mara.

"She did. There were two funerals today. This oil painting isn't even his specialty, I heard he made it as a favor to the queen way back, when I was still a baby. No, his real speciality is grass paintings. He had to leave Alderaan when he made one of the Emperor that had these black lillies that made him look ugly. The Emperor was so mad." Mara laughed at this, and Winter joined her.


Chapter summary: Ahsoka is asked to investigate some suspicious moving paperwork in Bail's office. She finds Sheltay Retrac, Winter's mommy, looking through them for information. She explained that her love, Winter's Daddy, had been kidnapped by Imperialists and she was trying to get what they demanded so they would let him go.

Ahsoka then follows Sheltay to make the comm call to give over the information, when they reveal they have Winter too. And they want Sheltay to meet them in person. Ahsoka follows them and uses one of her Fulcrum spy identities to walk in on the imperialists. She learned where they got the information on who Winter's Daddy is, but then she is forced to take a stand and save Winter, while leaving her parents in danger. Both are killed while giving Ahsoka time to get Winter out.

Breha Organa then tells Mara that she and Bail were thinking about letting Winter stay with them. Mara is a little unsure of this news, but quickly becomes excited when she learns Winter will be her sister.

More Notes:

Winter's mother dying is from the Legends universe. Bail did adopt her there too, as Leia's adopted sister. And the idea of giving little Mara a sister was what made me break out and write more for her than the little bit in chapter ten, and what I have planned for the future chapters when she and Luke meet. Sisters always create drama, after all. I did try to research exactly how Winter's mother died, but there is no further data on this anywhere. So I did some creative writing and made it up. It is an AU, but if I have anything glaringly wrong, please do leave me a comment or review. And special thanks go to AO3 user LordRyus, who gave me the idea to include Winter in the Organa's story.

The first challenge I had was figuring out the POV. A nine year old doesn't see a lot of adult stuff, so she wouldn't be told many details on what happened to Winter's mother. I could've kept it limited to the basics, but I felt that wouldn't be right. You're all adults and would still be wondering what happened, and communicating that through a child's perspective would be difficult.

Then when I decided to have Ahsoka be the main POV, I had another difficulty. I had to have Ahsoka fail to save two people. For a beloved main character, that is hard. Initially I was going to do a 'she fails, but learns something,' arc. So I focused on her deciding to put aside the emotions and doing what she had to do, because her main goals were to find out where they got their information. But that was difficult too, and what kept the last chapter so long coming. Then I had a lightbulb go off, and I went with the whole 'partial success,' arc. I had them kidnap Winter too. The act of saving the girl is worth it when the hero fails to save her parents.

Force Invisibility is a thing, according to the Wiki, but I expanded it a bit with the almost invisible part. And I made up the parts about Winter's mother and father. Wookieepedia seemed unsure exactly who Winter's father was, so I extrapolated that they weren't married from that. A bit of extra storytelling to fill things out.

And for the final scene on the Funeral, I did go back to Mara's POV. I did some reading on the age appropriate reactions to death, and tried to make it appropriate. Mara is still younger than Winter, and I figured her reaction would still be a little bit from an earlier stage compared to Winter's. And Winter's personality was described as being very stoic, so I tried to keep that here.

Oh, and for the title, I used Google Translate. That's Latin for Cold Calamity.