Chapter 2 - Voyage

Author's Note: They can't stay hidden forever. ;)

~ Amina Gila

Sae still doesn't trust the Jedi, but Ahsoka is a lot more fun than she expected. To be fair, she can't be much older than Sae herself. Anakin had felt nice too, but she's still cautious to trust him until she actually knows him.

Din shifts in the dark space the three of them are sitting together in – hiding in a storage closet is beginning to get very dull, even if she feels admittedly a little safer hiding somewhere in the dark when it feels like no one can see her. "Can we do something?"

She doesn't think Din shares quite the same sentiment, though. He always seems tense in closed spaces – something to do with where he was hiding before the droids killed his parents.

"What if we explored the vents here, too?" Sae suggests, hopefully.

Ahsoka hesitates. "This isn't a Republic military vessel. I don't know the vents quite as well," she objects.

"Won't that make it more fun?"

"True," the Togruta concedes, "But we'll have to be extra careful. This ship belongs to a Senator."

In short, not someone she has a terribly high opinion of. She doesn't remember much of anything, but the word Senator doesn't have the best connotations with it. They're usually greedy, selfish people.

"We'll stick close," Din promises, and Ahsoka finally stands, edging to the door of the closest and listening.

Sae can't help eyeing her lekku, wondering what it would feel like to touch them. Not that she will. She doesn't want to risk annoying her.

"All clear," Ahsoka hiss-whispers, gesturing for them to follow. They dart out, scurrying through the storage area until they find the nearest vent opening.

It is just as much fun as crawling around on that cruiser, or at least it is until they hear movement down below, and Din accidentally makes the vent screech much too loudly as he tries to dodge out of sight.

"Hey, stop!" a voice demands sharply from below, and Sae jerks back against the wall, heart hammering. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, after all. Why, why did she ever think coming here was a good idea? That sharp tone is something far too familiar, even if she doesn't remember much, and –

"I saw someone up there," she hears another clone's voice saying from down below.

Ahsoka freezes, and Sae's never seen quite the perfect picture of chagrin on anyone's face as she does right now.

"What do we do?" Sae whispers, desperately. She's of every mind to just try running, and she would if they weren't in hyperspace right now. They probably won't be hurt, but she doesn't know that. They weren't supposed to be here or get caught.

"We shouldn't leave them searching for us needlessly. We'll have to tell them," Ahsoka replies with a grimace. Actually, it's more of an embarrassed to-the-point-of-being-about-to-die than anything else.

"Won't they be mad?" Din objects, hesitantly.

"They won't hurt you," Ahsoka assures, scooting closer to pull off the grate and jumping down. "It's just... us," she says, as all the clones gape at them.

"... What are you three doing here?" Cody inquires, staring. He sounds mostly incredulous, though not outright angry like she was afraid of.

"We... came along?" Ahsoka offers.

"I wasn't aware you were on the mission?" he replies, glancing very pointedly at Sae and Din.

"We..." Ahsoka starts, awkwardly, right as two other figures round the corner. Anakin and someone else Sae doesn't recognize. She shifts closer to Din, instinctively. She doesn't like all the attention suddenly focused on them. Why did she ever think disobeying directions was a good idea? Now they probably will want to get rid of her and Din,for causing unnecessary problems.

Anakin and the other person are still looking between them.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin asks, surprised.

"We found them on board, sir," Cody says, clearly still confused.

"I was keeping an eye on them," Ahsoka finally settles for.

Anakin just seems amused. "On board a diplomatic vessel?"

"... Yes?"

The other Jedi frowns, looking between them. "Who are the younglings?" he demands.

He doesn't know? That's not good. Right? No one's gotten mad yet, though.

This time it's Anakin and Cody's turn to just look at each other.

"Why does it appear I'm missing something everyone else knows about?" he asks, crossing his arms.

"The boys picked them up a few weeks ago," Anakin explains, after a beat of silence, "War orphans. They... did not want to leave and have nowhere to go. They were... not treated well at the last place they were staying."

"And you never considered mentioning this before?"

"There wasn't a good time to tell you, sir," Cody says, sounding vaguely apologetic.

"We should discuss this later, Master," Anakin says, glancing between him and them.

"I agree," the Jedi replies, sighing.

"Din, Sae, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, my former master," Anakin introduces.

This person taught Anakin? That makes her relax just a little, but he's still an adult and way older than Anakin or the clones and she doesn't trust him.

Obi-Wan nods at them in greeting, though he doesn't say anything directly. She doesn't really mind. She doesn't want to have a conversation with someone she doesn't know at all.

"The clones need to be focused on guarding the ship from actual threats," Obi-Wan goes on, "Perhaps they should remain with us when we go meet the Duchess. Your padawan might be helpful checking security."

Ahsoka isn't going to stay with them? Sae should've expected it because they weren't supposed to be here but at least she was comfortable around Ahsoka, and she doesn't know where they'll be taken now.

Anakin hesitates, for a moment before nodding. "Ahsoka, see if Rex needs your assistance with anything." He approaches Sae, lightly touching her and Din's shoulder. Something about the gesture is oddly comforting. "Come," he says, leading them down the hall.

Sae follows a little warily, until they reach the room with this... Duchess. The room is overly decorative, and the carpet is red. There's red everywhere, actually, and it looks velvety. It's expensive. These people are wealthy, and that instantly sets her on edge.

The people in the room are all fancily dressed, especially the woman on the seat with steps going up to it. But what really catches her attention is the much too fat Twi'lek in the room. There are two other orange ones next to him, who are barely wearing anything, and she doesn't know why they'd ever do that by choice. People in the galaxy are very strange but especially given the strange way the serving droids look in here, Sae can't help wondering if the Twi'leks are... what she was about to become before she and Din ran away.

But no one else in the room even seems remotely phased by it. Either it's not what she thinks it is – which she doubts – or no one cares,and she can't trust anyone here.

She really, really doesn't want to be in here, now. But at least this should answer whether or not she and Din should risk staying around. Even if she has no idea where they'd go if they didn't.

Obi-Wan and the Duchess are arguing now, something about whether or not to fight the war that Sae's not keeping track of, but she has no idea why they're getting so loud about it. She doesn't even understand why the sides are fighting. She doesn't remember what side she was on before, if any, or if it never mattered to her at all.

But the droids killed Din's family, so that automatically means she doesn't like the Separatists. But it's not like the Republic is better anyway, right? Not all of them. It's too complicated to think about, especially when she hardly remembers anything.

Her gaze drifts back to the... presumably slaves again instead, especially when other Twi'lek Senator steps between Obi-Wan and the Duchess, advising they go for dinner.

Everyone files out of the room then, much to Sae's relief because the entire situation was uncomfortable, though Anakin and Obi-Wan linger behind.

"You and Satine knew each other?" Anakin asks, glancing at Obi-Wan.

"An extended mission when I was younger," he confirms, "Master Qui-Gon and I spent a year on Mandalore, protecting the Duchess from insurgents who threatened her world."

Sae can't ignore the swell of frustration that floods her, hearing about it. "Is all you do protect politicians?" she blurts. Probably, she shouldn't be so blunt about it, but she can't stop thinking about those Twi'leks and it's like no one cares.

"We help them frequently, yes," Obi-Wan says, looking down at them for the first time, "They're the ones who lead the people. On Mandalore, a civil war killed most of Satine's people. We were attempting to stop it, to no avail."

Well, she knows that's probably true in some cases, but still. She doesn't care.

"That's why she doesn't like fighting?" Din asks.

"Yes," he agrees, "And she took on the difficult task of rebuilding her world alone, after the war."

"Sae? Din?" Anakin asks, "What do you say to going to the lower parts of the ship to explore again?"

Is he serious? She thought they'd be stuck standing here entirely bored for the rest of the mission.

"Really?" Din questions, hopefully.

"If you want," Anakin replies, glancing at Obi-Wan, "Master, I'll keep them with me. I should be going to check security."

Obi-Wan nods. "Go ahead."

He heads down the hall, but Anakin pauses, turning back to them. "Are you... alright?" he asks, crouching so they're actually at eye level.

The question catches her entirely by surprise. She didn't expect anyone to notice, much less ask about it. But Anakin is... nice, and he pays attention to them though she hardly understands why. People rarely do that unless it's unwanted attention. And Anakin said before that he used to be a slave, so she's sure at least he'd understand about the Twi'leks. "Those Twi'leks," she says, "Who were they?"

"Senator Orn Free Taa's... aids," Anakin answers.

"Is that really what they are?" Sae queries, because she doesn't believe that. It's too simple. Too easy, and that's not what it looked like.

Anakin throws a glance at Obi-Wan. "That's what the official story is," he replies, "But there are questions as to whether they're slaves."

Just like Sae was afraid of. It's no wonder the Republic was planning to sell her into slavery again. "Why does no one do anything about it?" she demands. That's what doesn't make any sense.

From the shift in Anakin's expression, he's obviously upset about it, too. "The Republic doesn't always help everyone," he answers, "And there are... many times that slavery is covered to appear as something else. People know the truth, but there are laws we have to follow. The corruption, even here, is... deeper than we can do much about. I know it's not fair to any of them, but there's..."

"I don't understand," Sae says, crossing her arms and glaring. "What's even the point of having a government if it never takes care of anyone, anyway?!"

"It isn't that it doesn't help anyone," Anakin replies, "Governments don't start corrupt. It happens over time, and it was from that corruption that the Clone Wars started in the first place."

She can somewhat understand that, but it still makes no sense that no one's doing anything about the corruption that's obvious. "But that doesn't make sense," she objects, "I thought Jedi helped people, even if the Republic doesn't. Why can't you do something about that Senator?"

"The Jedi answer to the Senate, Sae," he answers, "I used to question that, too, when I was younger, but there are rules the Jedi have to follow."

She makes a face. "That's stupid." What's the point of having rules if it means they can't help people, especially when they need it the most? If she and Din hadn't escaped, they could've ended up in the same kind of place the Twi'leks are now, and no one would either care or be able to do anything about it.

"Maybe," he admits, "But we are trying to change things. Maybe it will take a long time, but I have hope we can make the galaxy a better place someday."

Sae doesn't fully understand the meaning of hope, to be honest. It seems so pointless. It certainly didn't help her and Din, and nor did it make anyone come help them when they needed it. Waxer and Boil helped, but she hadn't counted on it. Hadn't hoped for it. They came, and she's grateful and indebted to them, but that's not what Anakin is talking about.

"Is just hoping enough?" she can't help asking.

"It takes hope for anyone to fight to make anything better," Anakin says, "Yes. I believe it is."

She wants to believe that too, but she doesn't know that she can. At least not when her and Din's fates are still up in the air.

"It helped you," Anakin continues, "You had the strength to get yourself and Din out of there, because you had hope you could make things better for both of you, and you did."

For now, she doesn't say.

"Can we go exploring now?" Din interjects, hopefully. He's been lingering silently behind her, until now.

Anakin nods, standing. "If that's what you want."

"Yes," Din says, hopefully, looking to Sae.

She doesn't trust basically anybody here, but it's not like they have anything else to do, do they?

**w**

One thing leads to the next in their exploring adventure, which is how they end up playing hide and seek in the cargo hold.

It's dark down there and hard for Sae to see anything, but she doesn't mind the darkness. It helps her feel like she's hiding so no one can find her. Even if she's not overly comfortable with having Din out of her sight.

This is fun, though.

She darts around another crate corner, suppressing the ridiculous urge to giggle. She hasn't felt that lighthearted since – ever, that she remembers, actually. Maybe there was a time, but she has no idea. It's maddening sometimes, how lost she feels when she thinks about her past.

She and Din are trying to find Anakin down here, but he's proving impossibly elusive. It doesn't help that she could practically swear she senses him close.

She hears a sudden scuffling sound and freezes, backing against the crate into the shadows to see if she sees him moving around. Because she's almost certain he must be, or there's no way they couldn't have found him by now.

But the noise doesn't exactly sound human. Maybe it's just Artoo keeping watch again, though she doesn't know what there would be to keep watch for in the cargo hold.

Din hadn't been overly happy to see the droid, but Anakin seemed very fond of him.

Sae darts around the next corner the moment the noise stops, pausing when she sees a crate tipped onto its side at an odd angle. It shouldn't have been stacked like that. Is Anakin trying to make it easy for them now? That's almost insulting, considering how obvious this is.

She creeps forwards as quietly as she can anyway, then abruptly jumps in front of the open side only to see... nothing.

The crate is empty, and that means –

A sudden chill runs through her. That can't be an accident. No one would load an empty crate on board, and something must've moved it. And it definitely wasn't Anakin, because even if he's playing with them, he's still a General, and she's pretty sure that would be pretty irresponsible.

That's not good.

"Anakin?" Sae calls, heart rate picking up.

This isn't fun anymore. She's lost between endless lines of crates and has no idea how to get back out quickly if she has to if there's really something or someone dangerous back here. Especially with Orn Free Taa on the ship, she's more inclined to think it's a someone.

"Sae?" he asks, somewhere out of her line of sight. Maybe she was going in the right direction to catch him, then – though she hardly cares about that anymore.

The very inhuman scuffling sound is back again, faint enough it's hard to pick up on, but she's jumping at everything now.

Especially when an enormous spider-shaped object with glowing red eyes comes running straight towards her.

Sae shrieks, spinning and running as fast as she can, but that thing is moving way faster. A lightsaber activates behind her, Anakin jumping down from one of the crates, plunging his blade through the top of the spider droid.

It tries to throw him off as he slashes through it again, before it collapses to the floor, sparking.

Clones round the corner seconds later, blasters raised, right as tiny little spider droids start jumping out of the top of it?!

Something about the sight is about as horrifying as it terrifying, especially as the tiny droids run in every direction, towards them.

The clones start shooting at the things, and Anakin starts cutting through the ones closest to him, but there's way too many.

"Sae, get on the crates!" Anakin calls.

She doesn't even hesitate, not with those creatures only inches from jumping her. She spins to half-jump, half-clamber up the side of one, and Anakin catches her with the Force, lifting her on top.

The droids lose interest in her, turning to jump the clones again instead.

The fight lasts only seconds longer, before Artoo whizzes up, electrocuting them all. Sae hardly dares to breathe a sigh of relief, heart still pounding.

"Secure the lifts," Anakin orders, turning to the clones.

"Yes, sir!" calls one with blue markings on his armor, scrambling out of sight.

"Are you alright?" Anakin asks, turning and approaching the crate Sae is perched on top of.

"Yeah," she replies, a little shakily, heart still pounding.

"You and Din need to get upstairs where it will be safe," he says, as she slides off the edge. He catches her before she lands, lightly setting her down. "Cody, you should accompany them."

"Yes, sir," the commander agrees, motioning for her to follow as they start making their way out from between the crates.

"Sae!" she hears Din calling a second later, before he practically barrels around the corner, tackling her in the hug the second he sees her. She catches him, squeezing him back, tightly. He could've run into those droids alone, too. Either of them could've died down here – it's not like they haven't been in very dangerous situations before, but this came so close. "I heard noise. Droids."

"It'll be okay. They can't get out of the hold," she assures. At least, she hopes they can't.

For now, all she can do is nervously follow Cody into the elevator, still holding Din's hand as they head for the upper levels of the ship.

Neither Anakin, Ahsoka, or any of the clones are going to be up there, and she isn't really looking forward to this. They really shouldn't've come on this trip.

Obi-Wan is waiting outside the elevator when they get up there. He and Cody exchange a few words before the clone goes back down, leaving them alone.

Sae shifts to stand slightly in front of Din, uncertain where this will go, now. Obi-Wan is the one in charge here and that always makes her wary. Besides, she still doesn't know if Obi-Wan likes that they're here in the first place.

"We won't be in your way," she finally supplies, trying to hide her nervousness.

He doesn't have the same gentleness or openness in his expression that Anakin did. Or the childishness Ahsoka and the other clones do. It's different, and it's unnerving.

"I... understand that being around the Senators is not comfortable for you, but you'll need to stay close to me until this situation has been resolved," Obi-Wan replies.

She nods. That's fair, even if she doesn't like it.

"That's fine," Din says, though she doesn't think he thinks that any more than she does.

"Since you'll be in the dining hall regardless, would you... like to eat anything?" he asks.

She blinks in surprise, at the unexpectedness of the question. She'd say yes, but she doesn't want to be anywhere near the other Senators. If she has to tolerate being in the same room as them, at least she won't have to be at the same table as them. Even if she doubts they'd be at the same table anyway.

"No, not... right now," she says.

"Very well," Obi-Wan replies, moving ahead into the room. Sae and Din trailing along behind. Several of the eating Senators glance up when they enter. Sae glowers at Orn Free Taa when he looks her way for a moment, though he doesn't really react.

Obi-Wan's comm beeps a second later. "Obi-Wan! There's more assassin probes down here. One made it up the lift. I'll try to hold the others here," Anakin's voice calls.

Sae's eyes widen, and she backs away from the door. This is not good, especially because she has the very bad feeling that –

"Quickly! Secure the lifts!" Obi-Wan yells, igniting his lightsaber and running forwards, right as the doors burst open and an enormous spider droid scrambles out, kicking aside the Senator guards trying to force the doors closed again.

Sae yelps, scrambling out of the way, and dragging Din after, who's practically frozen in panic at the sight of it.

The droid ignores them entirely though, leaping onto the table and running across it, straight towards the head where Satine is sitting.

Obi-Wan jumps on the droid before it's half-way across the table, stabbing his blade through before he jumps to the floor in front of it, plunging a blade through its front eye.

"There's tiny ones inside of it!" Sae calls, just to make sure they're ready for that.

Obi-Wan takes a cautious step back, holding his lightsaber ready. The droid slides off the table, taking all the dishes with it as it falls the floor, the same second tiny droids immediately start leaping out the top.

Orn Free Taa shrieks, throwing down the food he's mid-devouring – still, in the middle of all this. What is wrong with this person? – and she'd almost find that funny if she wasn't so terrified right now. Maybe one of the droids will zap him, though. That she'd have no regrets about.

Obi-Wan and Satine fight back-to-back as the droids advance towards them, Satine shooting at them with a deactivator. Which she and Obi-Wan are squabbling about for some reason Sae doesn't follow or care to follow.

Sae watches warily on the far side of the room, until Obi-Wan finally steps away from the sparking droids extinguishing his lightsaber. They're hopefully all gone now. Din doesn't look any happier about moving away from his position up against the wall, and she squeezes his hand reassuringly.

"Is everyone alright?" Obi-Wan asks, glancing around the room.

The Senators answer with varying levels of wariness. Sae doubts the question was directed to them anyway, even if the notion of someone else having their best interest in mind is more... believable than it used to be. Just a little bit.

Anakin shows up in the doorway moments later, holding out a datapad to Obi-Wan.

That's what finally prompts Sae to come out of hiding, approaching them to see what's happening. Din stays glued to her side, expression tense.

"What's wrong?" she asks, when Obi-Wan frowns.

"It appears one of the Senators is a traitor. Their stamp was on the container that brought the droids on board," Anakin explains.

"I sense it, too," Obi-Wan replies.

"That Twi'lek?" she guesses instantly, though with how loud he screamed, that's probably not too likely. Unless he's just a good actor.

"No," the Jedi answers, "He would have nothing to gain from this, and nor is any of this situation relevant to him. It's someone else."

Why would he have anything to gain from being a slaver, either? Sae won't ask Obi-Wan that, though – Anakin didn't have a very satisfactory answer, and she doesn't know Obi-Wan as well. Doesn't trust him as much.

Din yelps suddenly, backing towards the entrance. "There's another one," he says, pointing.

Sae whips around to see one last tiny spider droid scrambling across the floor right towards them.

"That gives me an idea on how to expose the turncoat," Obi-Wan replies, looking almost smug, "Return to the hull of the ship. Destroy the last assassin droids. I'll find out which of the Senators is the traitor."

Sae is already pretty sure she knows what he has in mind. It's clever, and she frankly has no regrets at the thought of scaring everyone in the room just a little. She doesn't have a reason to like any of them.

Anakin nods, disappearing back into the elevator.

"Wait outside," Obi-Wan instructs, turning to them, as he levitates the flailing spider droid with the Force, calling it to... what looks too disturbingly close to his hand. "But don't go far. The ship isn't secure yet."

Din immediately backs away down the hall, pulling Sae after him. "We'll wait outside," she promises.

It's a while before the room is cleaned up enough and the table reset for the Senators to resume eating.

Sae and Din finally resort to running races up and down the hall quietly, once there's no one out there to watch them. It's fun, for the few minutes it lasts.

She jerks to a stop, so fast that Din slams into her, nearly sending both of them sprawling. "What's wrong?" he asks, pausing.

"Something's –" A lightsaber activates in the next room, and she can hear loud talking. "Wrong." They knew this would happen, but it feels worse than just that.

The door suddenly snaps open, except instead of Obi-Wan coming out, it's Senator Merrik, holding a blaster to Satine's head.

What?!

He's the traitor?! But she thought he was Mandalorian too! She officially dislikes Senators even more now.

Sae scrambles back against the wall alongside to Din to get out of the way as Merrik keeps backing down the hall. Obi-Wan steps out some moments later, lightsaber held ready, but he can't come any closer without risking Merrik shooting Satine.

There's nothing he can do and – Sae has no idea what they should do. If Merrik gets away, who knows what he could do then. Din could easily get hurt, and so could her, and probably so could Ahsoka and Anakin and the clones, even if they all seem so untouchable.

They could run and hide and hope everything goes fine, or they could... something. She doesn't know, but the others are disappearing down the hall, and after a moment of hesitation, she darts after, still only half sure what she's planning to do.

Just something. She has to do something, because she can't let Din get hurt. He's all she has.

"What are we doing?" Din asks breathlessly, sprinting after her.

"I don't know."

"There's nothing we can do," he points out, fear glinting in his eyes.

No, there really isn't. Maybe if she could use a blaster, but – "We need somewhere to hide," Sae replies, glancing around furtively.

"The vents!" Din supplies, perking up.

Yes, that's perfect. The only question is how they'll get up there, but they solve that quickly by going back to the dining room, and dragging a chair into the hall they can climb onto to pull themselves into the vents. It's too obvious to risk staying right around here, though, so Sae starts crawling.

But they hardly make it any further before the ship shakes violently, with the far-off sound of metal breaking. And then she hears blaster fire.

Are they being attacked?! Of course, there's more droids on board, though. It's... a good thing they're up here where no one can find them.

Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^

Come hang out on Discord (delete spaces), discord . gg / nqSxuz2 or find us on tumblr at fanfictasia (our more serious blog which does have controversial posts on it; I won't be offended if you choose to block it, promise), and disastertriowriting (which is our fun blog with crack posts or incorrect SW quotes)

We've got a YT channel for tributes! (delete the spaces) youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA

ALSO: We have SW gift request forms for General, Anakin-Clones-centric, and Bad Batch fics. :D (delete spaces) bit . ly / CourtesyTrefflinFicRequests