Precipice by shadowsong26

Reunion: Chapter 4

In six years of drifting on her own and then four of working with Anakin and Obi-Wan and Rex again, Ahsoka had been on a lot of occupied planets.

This one didn't stick out much from the crowd. The air was full of that too-familiar, all-encompassing weight of the Empire's boot on their necks, undercut by an electric tension of things-will-Happen-here that made her montrals twitch.

To be fair, that undercurrent only came on occupied planets with active insurgencies, but it was still a very familiar feeling.

For some reason, though, it resonated with her more than usual. Maybe because of her history with the cell they thought-they hoped -was here. Maybe because she wasn't usually the one to make a cold contact like this. Maybe because, with half her family in the Core under fake IDs, who stood to lose everything if they were caught, she was already tense.

Of course, the fact that there had been someone following her and Rex for the past six blocks, flickering along her senses at a strange nexus of threat-not-a-threat, probably didn't help.

"All right?" Rex murmured, steady at her side.

"Yeah," she said, taking a breath and letting it out slowly, forcing herself to relax. Patience. Either he's still here or he isn't. Either you drew attention from his cell or you drew attention from someone else. Or maybe you're just borrowing trouble. Whatever it is, worrying about it won't make a difference at this point. "I just don't like the waiting parts."

"I hadn't noticed," he said, and, despite the mask hiding his face, she could feel him grinning at her.

Not through the Force, either. She just knew.

She rolled her eyes. "Like you're any better."

He huffed a laugh, and didn't try to deny it. "It won't be much longer, at least," he said.

"You noticed?" she said, dropping the facade.

"Yep." He considered for a moment. "Of course, we haven't exactly been making it hard on them."

"True," she said. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to delay a little longer. See what they're really made of."

"My thoughts exactly," he said. "You up for a bit of a chase?"

She gave him a pointed, sideways grin of her own. "Always."

Rex picked the first feint, taking a sharp left into a busy marketplace. Ahsoka followed, keeping one half of her mind behind them, making sure they didn't actually lose their target in the crowd.

Their pursuer matched them, inching closer through the crowd; most likely to avoid losing their quarry. They were good; Ahsoka couldn't pick out exactly who in the milling crowd behind them was the tail.

"Cut through here," Ahsoka said, flicking her fingers at a building up ahead; some kind of local transit station.

"Yep," he said. "And then a roof run?"

The idea was tempting-but the longer they drew this out, the likelier it was they'd attract much less welcome attention.

"Let's see where things stand on the other side."

"Got it," he said, and followed her into the station.

At which point the two of them slammed right into a massive crowd, much denser than in the market outside.

"Kriff," Ahsoka muttered. "This'll be fun."

"That's a word for it," Rex said. "Turn back?"

She shook her head. "More trouble than it's worth. If we get separated, go for plan qek, all right?"

He sighed, and was probably pulling a face behind his mask-plan qek was not his favorite-but nodded. "All right."

They plunged into the sea of beings, weaving their way through and staying as close as they could without being disruptive or causing a scene. It took them an increasingly tense ten minutes-including a full seven seconds where Ahsoka almost lost track of Rex and started looking for vertical routes before she spotted him, two meters ahead of her, and scrambled to catch up.

Not the longest ten minutes of her life, or even of this week, but still not something she wanted to deal with again anytime soon.

But finally, those ten minutes ended, and she and Rex broke through to a dusty street on the other side of the station, with about half the milling foot traffic of the market they'd gone through earlier.

For a moment, when she got her bearings, Ahsoka thought they'd lost their tail in the mess in the station. Then, to her relief, just over a block away, that distinctive threat-not-a-threat taste filled the air again.

"I think this has gone on long enough," she said.

"Probably," Rex agreed.

"There's an alley to the right up ahead. Should be a good spot, you think?"

He nodded once. "Whenever you're ready."

Ahsoka angled her path just slightly, trusting Rex to watch ahead while she focused her attention behind them.

Come and get us, she challenged the being at their heels silently. Whoever you are.

She felt them take the bait, quickening their pace and closing the remaining distance. She tapped Rex's arm at the last second before she ducked into the alley. As one, they turned to face their pursuer. Rex had a pistol in his hand; Ahsoka left her Sabẻrs where they were.

The being paused, clearly unsurprised but wary.

He was a Kel Dor, armed with a simple staff; and Ahsoka couldn't help but line him up against-against her memories, however hard she tried not to dwell on the past.

But he was shorter and leaner than Master Plo had been, and had none of her friend's calm, easy warmth. Rather than giving her a feeling of peace and comfort, this man was full of wary, violent, tension. Not directed at her or Rex, not necessarily, but…

Hungry. Predatory.

I think we were right; we found our cell, she thought. Or a cell, anyway. We definitely found something.

"You were following us," Rex said, without lowering his weapon.

"You gave me reason to," the Kel Dor replied, in Sy Bisti, rather than Basic. Deceptively casual, he shifted his hands on his staff.

"We have a mutual friend," Ahsoka said, in the same language.

He stared at her, and said nothing.

"Tell him Ahsoka Tano is here, and wants to talk," she continued, ignoring the faint, sharp breath Rex took at her side. "I'll be at the Grey Wind cantina on the edge of town in two hours." She and Rex had scouted it, along with several other spots, when they'd first gotten here, and agreed it was the best option for the meeting, if they had an actual choice. Not a lot of troopers patronized it, but the clientele were not exclusively locals, either. She and Rex wouldn't stand out too much.

Exactly the kind of location they needed.

The Kel Dor tilted his head, considering. "Ahsoka Tano," he said.

"That's right."

"I'll tell him," he said at last. "You give me five minutes before you leave."

"Agreed," Rex said.

He studied them for another moment, as if wanting to be sure, then made his way out of the alley. He waited until the very last second to turn his back on them and rejoin the normal flow of traffic.

"Risky," Rex said, holstering his gun once their contact was out of range. Keeping his hand near it, just in case.

"I know," Ahsoka said.

He nodded, and didn't question it any further than that. "We should go."

"Yeah."

She followed him out of the alley, taking a wandering, circuitous route through the streets of the town towards the Grey Wind.

He was right. It had been risky, revealing her real name to an unknown quantity like that. Especially one that put her on edge like this.

(What was it Obi-Wan had said, a lifetime ago, about the fine line between insurgency and terrorism?)

On the other hand, it wasn't like she and Rex reaching out to a total stranger here, and her name would maybe get them through the door, but...well, it had been a long time. So many things had changed.

But not that much. She was sure of it.

He might not be interested in being her friend anymore, but, apart from her own family, Saw Gerrera was still the last person in the galaxy that Ahsoka would expect to hand her over to the Empire.

Rex and Ahsoka made it to the Grey Wind with about fifteen minutes to spare, and found an empty table near a double handful of smugglers playing some variant on sabacc. Their table was in a corner where they could keep an eye on the rest of the place without being too obvious about it, and the players, all of whom were fully invested in their game, provided a handy screen against any unfriendly eavesdroppers. The downside was, it was pretty far from the exit if things did go south, but they had both singled it out as the best place to wait for Saw anyway.

Ahsoka kept one eye on the players-partly to spot any trouble coming from that direction, partly because seeming interested in the game itself was a decent cover.

Rex picked up drinks at the bar for them while she got into position. Neither of them did much more than pretend to drink, but in the interests of blending in…

But no sooner had they settled in then a familiar shadow fell across the table.

"So, it really is you," he said. "I couldn't believe it."

It had been over a decade since the last time she'd seen Saw Gerrera, and the years had definitely left their mark on her friend. There were scars she didn't remember seeing, both on the surface and in the shadows behind his eyes. And he'd filled out some, too, and grown a beard. He was older, obviously, and...harder, which made her a little sad.

But not, given how she remembered him and everything that had happened since, especially surprised.

"Sorry for turning up unannounced like this," she said. "But…"

"I understand," he said. He studied her for a moment, then took the seat Rex had left open for him. His shoulders relaxed a little, and he flashed a brief, but genuine, smile. "I'm glad you're alive. Both of you."

"Likewise," she said, with feeling. "What about the others?"

He shook his head. "Scattered, or dead. Most of them melted back into their own lives as best they could, that last year or so of the War, after we put the King back into power and drove the Separatists out. A few came back to help me fight the Empire when the time came, but not all of them. It was probably better, not to seek them out. I made some new friends, over the years."

"I'm sorry," she said. Because what else could she say? She understood it, at least in part-as difficult as it had been, hadn't Anakin and Obi-Wan and Master Yoda made a similar decision, ten years ago? True, she hadn't exactly done that herself; she had tried and failed to contact Padmẻ more than once, but...well, she understood.

He shrugged. "It's war," he said.

Which was almost harder to hear, than that so many people, friends, were probably dead. But Ahsoka knew how that felt, too. And, of course, she knew that it was better not to dwell on her losses. But there was a difference between that and letting yourself grow numb. And it sounded like Saw was closer to the second than the first.

Then again, after Steela…

No other loss probably compared.

"But I'm guessing you didn't come here just to talk about old times," Saw went on, changing the subject before she could offer up any other kind of sympathy.

"No," she admitted, letting him do it-this was neither the time nor the place to push him or reopen old wounds. And she did have a mission to accomplish here. "We wanted to establish contact with you-contact we hope we can maintain, long term. Because this is going to be a long-term kind of war."

Saw caught her meaning right away. He leaned back in his chair, considering. "I'd heard whispers, of a wider, more organized rebellion," he said. "That's you?"

"To a point," she said. "We're building one, anyway. A network of resistance movements and cells like yours throughout the galaxy."

"Meaning what?"

"Information sharing, mostly," Rex put in. "At least for now. Some resources, too-weapons, medical supplies, other relief to planets we can't help liberate, sometimes. Our cell is pretty mobile, and we help out anywhere we can, any way we can, in addition to making these connections."

"The point is, the Empire is too big for any one cell to take on alone," Ahsoka said. "Someday, we will be an organized, galactic movement. We have to be. And we're slowly, carefully, building up to that now. So we have it when the time comes. And part of that is reaching out to cells like yours, and drawing them in."

Saw frowned down at his commlink, and nodded once. "Maybe you're right," he said. "Still, it's a risk. My people and I keep an eye on other groups-not anything like what you're talking about, we don't have the resources, but we know how to read between the lines when things happen. And the other cells we're watching...not all of them know what this war will cost. Not all of them are willing to pay that price."

And some of them go too far, she thought, remembering, again, what Obi-Wan had said about that fine line. The one she and her friends worked very, very hard to stay on the right side of.

Saw…

Well. Some of their intel said he wasn't always as careful as they were.

But he does have a point, Ahsoka said. About some people being unwilling to act. Sometimes for very good reason, and sometimes...well, he has a point. But hopefully, we can rein groups like his in and spur the others on, by uniting somewhere near the middle.

So, out loud, she just said, "But there's a lot to gain. And we will have to unite eventually."

Saw chewed that over for a minute. "It's interesting, what you're suggesting. I'm not gonna deny that. But I don't know if eventually is now," he said. "Sharing intel, sure. I'm more than willing to do that. Like I said, I keep tabs, but if you've already got a network, we can help each other out. I'm not sure how much else I can commit just yet."

"That's fair," Ahsoka said. And about what she'd expected, anyway, though of course she'd hoped for more.

"Thanks for understanding," Saw said. "...are you two going to be here for a while?"

"We could be," Rex said. "We don't usually stay in one place very long, but our next scheduled rendezvous isn't for a few days."

"Right," he said. "I have a plan in motion, one that should play out over the next couple of days. Before you leave. Work with me and my team-both of you. We could always use some extra help from people we can trust."

Ahsoka exchanged a glance with Rex-they could help Saw out with whatever he had going on. Like Rex had said, they didn't have anywhere else to be for a while. They certainly didn't have any other missions planned. They hadn't been sure, first of all, how long it would take them to find Saw, if he hadn't moved on since their intel had placed him here a week ago. Besides, they wanted to avoid drawing attention to their own cell this week. They'd been planning to lie low, one way or the other, until the others were safely out of the Core.

Teaming up with another cell on something, on the other hand, was a whole other beast to track.

Besides, if Saw was on the fence with helping them build a true galactic rebel alliance, this might help sway him to their cause.

Rex nodded once, and Ahsoka turned back to Saw. "Sure," she said. "Where do you need us?"

Saw smiled. "Meet me in an hour on the other side of town, by the clock tower," he said. "We can talk details there."

So they wouldn't be overheard, or seen leaving the cantina together. "Sounds good," Ahsoka said.

"Great," he said. "I'll see you there in an hour."

"We'll be there," Rex said.

Saw nodded, and stood up. He paused for a second. "It really is good, seeing you again," he said, then headed off into the crowd before either of them could reply.

"I think that went pretty well," Ahsoka said, softly, once he was out of earshot. And, even if a part of her still felt a little unsettled, still keyed up from that sense of things-will-Happen-here lingering in the air...

"About as well as we could've expected," Rex agreed. "Another five minutes, then we follow?"

"Yeah," she said, pulling her attention back to the card players and faking a sip of her drink. "Another five minutes should do it."

And from there...they'd just have to play it by ear. Another waiting game.

But at least this time she knew for sure she was waiting on a friend.