Precipice by shadowsong26

Reunion: Chapter 6

Saw was waiting for them when they got to the clock tower, a few minutes ahead of schedule. He was leaning against a covered speeder painted to look like a delivery van, one of several Ahsoka and Rex had seen during their earlier recon through the city.

Makes sense, she thought. It'll blend in with the rest of the traffic.

Covered speeder, though. With no windows. Which, sure, meant no Imperial security could see inside and identify them, but at the same time...

The two of them paused. They didn't look at one another-they didn't have to. Just weighing their history with Saw against the risks of getting into a vehicle like that with a...a friend, yes, but it had been years. And so many things were different now.

Saw clearly caught their thoughts. "It's not that I don't trust you," he said.

Except it is. And, honestly, if we had an actual base besides the farm and we were bringing him there…

"We get it," Ahsoka assured him, touching Rex's hand lightly. These days, it was better to be careful, even with friends. On the other hand, someone eventually had to take a leap of faith, or they'd never get anything done. And she trusted herself and her partner.

Besides. They'd come this far, and Saw and his people had something in motion. Which meant she and Rex could help. But only if they saw this through.

So, the two of them got into the vehicle, and didn't object when the doors closed behind them, leaving them in semi-darkness.

Still, because it was better to be careful (even with friends), she left Rex in charge of keeping tabs on any more immediate threats, and spent the half-hour drive to Saw's base camp in a semi-meditative state, memorizing the route by speed and direction. Just in case she and Rex needed to make a quick exit.

Other than that, the drive itself was uneventful, and the speeder finally let them out at the entrance to a network of caves, or possibly old mining tunnels.

Both, actually, I think, she decided. Probably started as caves, but they've been excavated. That entrance isn't entirely natural.

Apart from a few sentries-one overt and three concealed-most of Saw's people were gathered in a large cavern about half a klick into the warren. There were about fifteen of them, a variety of ages and species ranging from a Shistavanen whose muzzle was entirely white to a Human girl who looked a couple years older than Leia.

"Friends of mine," Saw said, in response to a curious look from the Shistavanen.

She nodded, accepting that as enough, which was reassuring. It meant Saw's people trusted him, and were willing to listen and follow his lead, which was always a good thing to see when making contact with a new group.

"I'm Ashla," Ahsoka supplied-sure, she'd already used her real name once, but that was in a direct message to Saw. The people in the caves had probably been out of the loop, and the fewer people who knew exactly who she was, the better. Obi-Wan and Anakin worked on the same principle when they met with resistance groups.

"Rex," he said. He, on the other hand, had a name that was a lot less distinctive, and only used a cover ID when planning for a long-term mission. From what Saw had said, this would only take a couple of days.

"Kylie," she said. "Good to have you on board."

"Thanks," Ahsoka said, flashing a brief smile.

"We get the last of the gear?" Saw interrupted.

"Yeah, we're all set," Kylie confirmed. "And we've been keeping track of things through the 'net, we have the window we need."

"Good."

Window? Huh. Something must have happened. Not something Saw and his people had done, though; Ahsoka didn't pick up any threat or deception in what Kylie was saying, just a sort of not-quite-relief that this opportunity had fallen into their laps.

"So, what's the target?" Rex asked.

"A shipment," Saw told them. "Didn't originate here, but it was routed through as of about three days ago. Top-secret materials for some kind of Imperial weapons project. We don't know exactly what it is, let alone where it's headed, or what he's building, but we know it's here now. We don't have the resources to go after it in transit now, but…"

"Current security threat means certain high-value shipments are being held," Kylie finished for him. "Getting to it's still gonna be a pain in the ass, but we can pull it off."

Ahsoka nodded. That tracked with some of what Obi-Wan had been digging into, over the past ten years. About a massive infrastructure project somewhere deep in the Outer Rim. This was also exactly the kind of thing that building a real network might help with—pooling Obi-Wan's intel with Saw's might put them that much closer to figuring out whatever this project was and stopping it.

And that was something she could maybe use to bring Saw and his people in closer, especially if their mission was a success. At the very least, though, whether or not it put them any closer to seeing the whole picture, or got Saw to agree to join their network, even a brief derailment of whatever it was Palpatine had up his sleeve was always a good plan.

On the other hand…

"This threat, though," Ahsoka said. "If it's bad enough they're holding shipments..."

"Security is tighter everywhere," Saw said. "But still better than trying for a moving target right now."

"Fair enough," she said. And he was probably right, especially if he and his people had been here long enough to really get to know the lay of the land.

"What is the threat, anyway?" Rex asked. It might not make a difference for the actual mission at hand, but then again, it might. It certainly couldn't hurt to find out and make that call for themselves.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

"There was a bombing in the capital," Kylie said. "Looks like Princess Lavinia was the target."

Ahsoka drew in a quick, sharp breath. That was-not good. Very not good.

But it could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse.

At least the others are still safe on Alderaan, or we have no reason to think they aren't, she told herself. And the propaganda machine would've already been in full swing if the princess had actually been seriously hurt.

Still. Not the kind of news she liked hearing. Because even if this wasn't the worst- case scenario, targeting seven-year-old kids was never good.

"Kriff," Rex muttered; concerned, yes, but more resigned than actually worried. He'd probably come to the same conclusions she had. "Anyone claimed credit yet?"

That was the real question. Whoever was behind this might not be an ally-might even be someone in the Imperial establishment making a power play-but they were definitely someone Ahsoka and her family should probably be aware of.

But, "Not that I've heard," Kylie said. "But there's some gaps in the 'net coverage, obviously."

"It wasn't us, if you were wondering," Saw said. "Even if I had the resources to put a team on Coruscant, that wouldn't be what I'd do. It's not like I could keep her, and she's too young for anything else."

"I didn't think it was," Ahsoka assured him. After all, everything she picked up from him and Kylie said they were taking advantage of a situation someone else had made. Not that they were forcing the Empire's hand themselves. Not yet.

Besides, Saw was a lot of things-she couldn't help but remember the point he'd made earlier, about being willing to pay a steep price for what they were trying to do. And he was, by reputation, not as careful as she and her family were. And he did give off a much stronger sense of danger than she remembered. Still, she didn't think he would deliberately attack innocents. He wasn't that far gone.

If she thought he was, she wouldn't be here.

"Any idea who it might be?" Rex asked. "Most of our contacts either don't have the reach or wouldn't try it. For the same reasons as you, among others."

Saw and Kylie exchanged a look. "Maybe," he said, cautiously. And, just for a second, his eyes flickered over to the Human teenager, who was busy cleaning a half-disassembled rifle in the corner.

Ahsoka decided not to ask. Not just yet.

"We can talk about that later," she decided. And she would-with Saw, if he would let her, and definitely with Obi-Wan and Anakin when they got back from Alderaan. At that point, they might know more than she and Rex did, anyway, especially since Luke and Princess Lavinia were friends. "It's not like there's a whole lot we can do about it from here, anyway," she added.

"And we have a shipment to raid, and only a day or two to do it in," Saw said, the set of his shoulders relaxing just a little. "Or, more accurately, a warehouse."

"I think we've done that once or twice before," Rex said, dryly. "Raided an Imp warehouse. Where do you need us?"

Saw flashed him a hard, dangerous smile, then grabbed Kylie's datapad and pulled up a set of blueprints. "All right, so here's what the security grid looks like..."

Sidious was not particularly concerned about this incident.

The bombing-the probable attempt to kidnap his child-had been disorganized, unlikely to succeed. Possibly connected to some kind of wider insurgency, but he thought that unlikely. Possibly an internal movement, which would be a little more interesting to hunt down and unravel, but even then, it wasn't a serious or credible threat to his power.

On the other hand, that made it in some ways more irritating than a better-planned assault would have been. While the actual damage was slight, easily repaired, it was enough that cleaning up this mess would occupy time and resources better spent elsewhere for several days. And, inept though this attempt was, Sidious would have to deal with those responsible personally. The child was, of course, hardly irreplaceable, but she was still his child.

Conversely, the damage was slight enough that he could only make limited use of it. A handful dead, but no one of consequence, a speeder destroyed, a few buildings mildly scorched. That was all. Barely any political capital to be gained from it, either in terms of broad-based propaganda or specific bait for anyone susceptible to such things.

And nothing in Grand Moff Tarkin's report was likely to improve the situation.

"The Princess broke her collarbone, and sustained a few other incidental injuries, but nothing serious," Tarkin finished. "I left her and her guards in her quarters, back within the Palace perimeter."

Which, of course, Sidious already knew, courtesy of the guards themselves-the one who had been with her at the time of the incident had been killed in the initial explosion, but two of the others had responded promptly to fill the gap. Even if Tarkin had arrived on the scene itself quicker, and handled the immediate aftermath while waiting for them to arrive.

In any case, Sidious was far more interested in how Tarkin pieced together his update than the actual facts at hand. In what details he highlighted, and what he might leave out. Always useful, to test those assets he had placed in particularly sensitive positions. "Good," he said. "And the conspirators?"

"Unfortunately, Majesty, we captured none of them alive," Tarkin said. "We are still searching for any who were not on scene. Of the four who were present, one was already dead when we arrived, two were killed as we secured the scene. The last was initially captured alive, but was able to break open and swallow a suicide capsule before we could stop him."

So. That made an internal action less likely. A pity. On the other hand, the fact that the assailant had been so quick to end his life, rather than attempting to use his brief moment of celebrity to pontificate, might be relevant. Possibly this action was a mere feint-striking at the child while she was exposed to make some noise and draw attention away from some larger game.

Of course, the insurgent's suicide did not rule out the chance that the attempt, however inept, was sincere. Idealists were often sloppy, desperate creatures. The dead man likely knew he wouldn't be given a chance to speak anyway, and found the possible costs of an interrogation too great. That argued for the existence of other conspirators elsewhere. Possibly in waiting elsewhere on the planet, but possibly…

"Infernalis," he said.

"Master." His apprentice stepped up behind Tarkin, whose jaw tightened a little, but didn't otherwise react.

"While Governor Tarkin investigates here on Imperial Center, you will pursue any links to off-planet groups," he said.

Infernalis bowed. "It will be done," he said.

"Anyone you find, bring them to me," Sidious said.

"Yes, Master," he replied, then, at a wave of Sidious' hand, bowed again and swept out of the room, cloak swirling behind him.

Sidious turned his attention back to Tarkin. "Go," he said. "Settle this. Report back to me on your progress by nightfall."

"Majesty, it will be done," Tarkin said, before following Infernalis out of the room.

Leaving Sidious alone with his thoughts, and his lingering annoyance at the situation.

True, he had lost nothing but time-and not even much of that-but it was irritating, nonetheless. Like an insect bite. Incidental, but distracting.

But soon solved, he was certain. And perhaps, buried beneath the incompetence of this paltry conspiracy, Infernalis or Tarkin might find something actually worth his time.

He doubted it. But one could never be too sure.