Chapter Eleven

The briefing, much to Ahsoka's dismay, had already began by the time she and Ghes had reached the Temple ops center.

It was Anakin's fault, really. Regardless of how he'd known she was with Ghes, whether he'd just assumed they'd be together or had some other way of knowing, he hadn't given them nearly enough warning to get here. If they'd left the Temple, as had been the plan before Barriss had interrupted, or if they'd never come in the first place like Ghes had wanted, they never would have made it at all. Ahsoka didn't want to believe that Anakin would do something so passive aggressive as to wait on telling her and Ghes about the briefing so they'd be late, if only because active aggressive was more his style, but she couldn't deny that it felt a little like that was the case.

She'd planned on confronting her master about this while rushing to the briefing, and possibly even having the second confrontation with him over her relationship with Ghes she suspected may be inevitable. That is, she'd planned all of this before she realized who else was attending the briefing.

"Padawan Tano, Colonel Marczak," Master Windu said, raising an eyebrow. "how kind of you to join us."

The expression, and the idle suspicion behind it, was mimicked by Master Yoda, who turned in his usual ponderous manner away from the central holotable to face the pair. Obi Wan seemed less interested, more used to the idea of Ahsoka and Ghes's "friendship", even if he'd only ever seen them together once. Anakin just looked irritated, as if he hadn't been expecting them to walk in together.

"My apologies, masters." Ahsoka said, bowing toward the three Council members deferentially.

She willed herself not to let the embarrassment she felt show on her face as she moved to take her place beside Anakin.

Ghes, looking bemused by the whole situation in a way Ahsoka found profoundly irritating, walked to a spot behind her and Anakin and leaned casually up against a bank of consoles without saying anything.

"All right then…" Obi Wan said after another moment passed in awkward silence. "I believe we were in the middle of something?"

"Yes…" Master Windu said, thankfully turning his attention back to the data hanging in the air over the table. "As most of you already know, earlier today the Council received a plea for assistance from an anti-Separatist militia group on the planet Onderon."

Oh no, Ahsoka thought, please don't let this be who I think it is.

"The request was made to us by Lux Bontieri," Master Windu continued. "formerly of the Separatist Senate, now one of the leaders of this group."

Stang.

"Padawan Tano, know this Bontieri you do, yes?" Master Yoda asked.

"Yes, master." She answered, no longer certain she could continue to hide her embarrassment, in the Force or on her face. "I do."

Lux was… well, Lux was complicated, especially recently. Ahsoka would like to be able to count him as a friend, no matter how much unlike one he seemed to act at times. There had even been a time, back when they'd first met, that Ahsoka had possessed stronger feelings for the young man, but a lot had changed in her life since then. And a lot had changed for Lux as well, he'd gone from the son of a prominent senator to, apparently, a guerilla leader. She wasn't sure what his feelings towards her where, though, not since what had happened on Carlac.

"Bontieri?" Ghes said, stepping off the consoles and up next to Anakin and Ahsoka. "Wasn't he the one who tried to crash the Sundari peace talks?"

Ghes didn't really know about her and Lux, not that there was much to know. Their first encounter had never seemed worth mentioning, not to Ghes at least, and she'd only given him a basic description of their little adventure on Carlac. Unfortunately, even that breif outline had included the Death Watch's involvement. Needless to say, that fact had given Ghes a very… negative impression of Lux.

"Yes, he was." Master Windu confirmed. "Your point being, colonel?"

"My point is that the he walked into a high profile diplomatic summit to accuse the ex-Jedi head-of-state of the CIS of corruption and murder with no plan for how to avoid being killed himself." Ghes said matter-of-factly with a hint of amusement. "The kid's obviously not the sharpest knife in the set. How do you know this "militia" isn't just him and a handful of his drinking buddies?"

"We have ample evidence to support Mr. Bontieri's claims, colonel." Obi Wan answered. "And, more to the point, the Council has already decided to grant his request."

"So you're going to pass this along to Special Operations Brigade, then?" Ghes asked.

"No." Master Windu said. "As the request was made to the Council directly, Generals Kenobi and Skywalker will be handling the mission."

Ghes scoffed.

"No offense, generals, but this is a job for ARC troopers…"

"They're right, Gh… colonel." Ahsoka interjected, only just stopping herself from making the same mistake she had earlier. "Sending special forces won't get us anywhere. Lux doesn't trust the Republic, but he does trust m… the Jedi."

"Which is while you'll both be accompanying us." Anakin said, not event trying to hide his distaste for the idea.

"So you won't send ARCs, but you'll send me?" Ghes asked.

"Personality aside, colonel, your record does speak for itself." Obi Wan admitted with only a hint of the annoyance she could feel from him in the Force. "And, if Commander Tano's reports are to be believed, you two already have a good working relationship. I wouldn't ask if I didn't believe you'd be a valuable asset to the team."

That irritated Anakin most of all, Ahsoka could tell, that Obi Wan was choosing to bring Ghes along, probably over his objection.

"And here I was starting to think that you all just like having me around." Ghes said, smirking. "When do we ship out?"

"Four hours." Obi Wan said. "This is all happening on a short time scale, so we already have Capitan Rex arranging for transport and supplies."

"Rex is coming to?" Ghes said.

"Why wouldn't he be, colonel?" Obi Wan said with a hint of a smile. "He is ARC trained, after all."

"It should go without saying that none of this can be linked back to the Jedi Order." Master Windu said. "Regardless of what our colleagues in intelligence make a habit of, we are not in the business of overthrowing governments. That means no overt use of lightsabers or the Force while in the public eye, and no Republic issue body armor."

While that last part might not have been directed exclusively at Ghes, Anakin and Obi Wan both wore a few pieces of armor and Ahsoka had heard stories that Obi Wan had once worn the whole set during the battle of Muunillist, Master Windu was looking squarely at Ghes when he said it.

"Don't worry, general." Ghes reassured him. "I'm sure I can pull something less conspicuous out of the back of my closet."

It was a lame joke, but Ahsoka would have been lying if she said she wasn't tempted to laugh just a little bit.

"Good." Master Windu continued. "As Master Kenobi said, there isn't much time to prepare, so I suggest that you take what time you do have to gather whatever you're going to need and make your way over to the Fleetyards. Dismissed."

Ahsoka silently let Ghes know to hang back until everyone else had left. They'd all seen the two walk in together, she'd rather they not see them leave together as well. Masters Windu and Yoda were the first to leave, probably heading off to take care of some other pressing matter that required the Council's attention. Obi Wan left soon after, nodding towards the three who remained while reminding them of the short time left to prepare for their mission. That left only Anakin, who didn't so much as glance at the door, instead fixing his gaze clearly on Ahsoka.

"Colonel," He said harshly, not looking away from his Padawan. "if you could give us the room."

"No." Ahsoka said firmly, stepping around Anakin to stand next to Ghes. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say to Ghes."

She didn't enjoy having to be so defiant towards her master, but if this was about what she thought it was, then it was as much Ghes's business as it was hers.

"Ahsoka…" Anakin started.

"No." She repeated. "Either he stays, or we both go."

Anakin sighed.

"Fine…" He relented. "I wanted to… apologize for how judgmental I've been about this."

He made a hand-waving gesture towards the both of them before continuing.

"It has been brought to my attention that I don't have any room to criticize when it comes to doing things the Jedi Order would… disapprove of, and that, even if I disagree with your decision, I shouldn't let that disagreement ruin our relationship."

It wasn't too hard for Ahsoka to guess who had convinced Anakin of all this, or who had brow-beaten him into coming up with the awkward, forced sounding apology in the first place. She'd have to decide whether or not to thank Padme later.

"Thank you." Ahsoka said, doing her best to sound gracious. "That… that means a lot to me. To both of us."

"Yeah." Ghes agreed at her silent urging. "Thank you, general."

The look Anakin gave Ghes left no doubt in Ahsoka's mind that he still hated him. She decided that was… acceptable, at least for now. She knew better than to expect too much from her master all at once. Anakin was an extraordinarily stubborn man, but Ahsoka was confident that he'd come around eventually.

"A bit of advice, though." Anakin said, trying to force a little humor into his voice. "You two shouldn't, make a habit of showing up places together like that. Someone's going to start suspecting something."

Ahsoka cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe we'd have had time to think about that if someone had given us more than a fifteen-minute warning to be here." She said accusingly.

"That wasn't my fault!" Anakin insisted. "Obi Wan's the one running point on this, he set everything up the minute the Council made the decision. You knew as soon as I did."

Ahsoka wasn't sure she believed that, but she decided to accept the excuse anyway. She wasn't about to start another argument, not so soon after they'd made peace, and definitely not right before they embarked on what could end up being a fairly long mission.

"Alright," She said, taking Ghes's arm. "We should probably get going. We both have gear we need to pack, and I'm sure you want to see Padme before you leave…"

"Yeah," Anakin said, suddenly seeming more awkward than she'd ever seen him. "It's awful, that I have to leave again so soon."

"I know." Ahsoka said sympathetically. It wasn't fair to him or Padme that he'd been on Coruscant less than a day before having to leave again. At least Ahsoka was bringing Ghes with her this time. "Go. We'll meet you at the ship."

Anakin smiled for a moment despite himself before stiffening up again.

"Ahsoka." He said with a nod towards her before the last bit of warmth drained from his voice as he forced himself to give Ghes the same courtesy. "Colonel."

It was interesting, Ahsoka thought, how important a role Nu-class shuttles seemed to have always played in her life. It had been a Nu-class that had first brought her to meet her master on Christophsis what seemed like a lifetime ago, and it had been a cargo variant which had first taken her aboard Retaliation to serve with Ghes and his men, who themselves mostly used the vessels rather than the more ubiquitous "larties". Now she found herself aboard one of the shuttles yet again, strapped securely into the troop bay alongside four of her closest friends and a metric ton of anti-droid ordnance graciously provided by the Republic to their new Onderonian allies.

To her left were Anakin and Rex, neither of whom had had much to say for most of the nearly ten-hour journey from Coruscant. Not that this was unusual, Rex rarely said anything more than he had reason to while on mission, and brooding had long been one of Anakin's primary pastimes. Across from her sat Obi Wan, off to the left towards the exit, and Ghes, directly in front of her. There was an empty seat separating the two, partly because Ghes had wanted to sit directly across from her, and partly, she suspected, because Obi Wan didn't want to sit next to him.

Ahsoka didn't know much about Obi Wan's history with Mandalore beyond the very basics, it just wasn't something he discussed often, at least not with her. She found it telling, though, that he had been visibly perturbed when Ghes had shown up for the flight wearing full beskar'gam. Something else she'd gathered was that Obi Wan more tolerated Ghes than anything else, and that he was only here because Obi Wan did honestly think that he would be more an asset to the mission than a hindrance.

Ghes, for his part, was asleep, and had been for a while now. She wasn't sure if anybody else had realized it. Strapped down as he was, there wasn't much to indicate that he was asleep other than the chin of his helmet resting on his chest. Ahsoka didn't know how he'd managed to sleep for what had to be close to nine hours now, especially when he'd expressed more dissatisfaction with the details of their mission than anyone else. From the transport, to the ordinance they were bringing, to how they'd be inserting onto the planet, Ghes hadn't liked any of it. And, While Ahsoka would admit he had a point about not bringing any real heavy ordnance, most of his other complaints had seemed rather pointless. He had been the one to make them though, and yet he was the only one that seemed able to sleep steadily through most of the flight. But maybe he'd just been tired.

She woke him with a mental nudge as she began to feel the familiar shudder of atmospheric re-entry.

"What?" He said groggily as he jerked awake, helmet cracking against the hull behind him with a metallic thud.

"You awake, colonel?" Ahsoka joked.

Even though his helmet, she could feel the annoyed look Ghes was giving her. He didn't like being called out like that, she knew, but that was part of why she'd done it. At least Rex seemed to find the exchange amusing.

"Target in fifteen mike." The pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Prep for drop."

Almost in unison, the five occupants of the troop bay unlatched their restraints and stood, though Ghes did so a little more awkwardly than the rest of them. He had a lot of extra equipment attached to webbing slung across his chest along with a custom blaster rifle, enough that it made him sag slightly forward with the weight of it all. Ahsoka stifled a laugh as she moved to help him attach a jump pack to his back, a bit awkwardly as it was clearly meant to be mounted on standard trooper armor.

"There." She said, tugging on the pack a few times to ensure it was secured.

"Thanks." Ghes said quietly as he turned to face her.

The jump pack balanced him out a little, making him no longer appear as if he was in danger of falling flat on his face. Ahsoka didn't entirely understand why he'd chosen to overburden himself like this, but she suspected Ghes would say something about wanting to be prepared for whatever happened. Subconsciously, her hand drifted to the grip of a heavy blaster pistol Ghes had insisted she take from him "Just in case".

"This is a bad idea." Ghes said aloud, hopping a few times as he adjusted his gear.

"And your concern has been noted, colonel." Obi Wan said, sounding more than a little annoyed. "But I believe it's a little too late to call off the mission."

"I wasn't talking about the mission… that time." Ghes responded. "Right now, I'm wondering why the plan is to jump from below two-hundred meters. Why not jump with chutes from low orbit, or just land if you wanted to skim the canopy anyway?"

"Because there's nowhere to land." Obi Wan explained, exacerbated by Ghes's continued. "For the very same reason that we are not parachuting into a jungle."

"Jumped into worse…" Ghes mumbled.

For her part, Ahsoka was glad they weren't parachuting into Onderon. She had only ever done that sort of high altitude insertion once before, on Umabara with Ghes, and it wasn't something she looked forward to doing again. She didn't have a problem with jumping, per se, but the high-alt equipment was heavy, and having a chute took away most of the control she was used to having during a jump. Ghes, she knew, just wasn't very fond of jetpacks.

"Since when do you complain so much, Marczak?" Anakin said derisively.

"Since you started directly involving me in your crazy schemes." Ghes shot back.

"Please, colonel." Obi Wan said, a hint of humor sneaking into his voice. "This is hardly like one of General Skywalker's "schemes". The ship is still in one piece."

Ahsoka laughed and Anakin just looked even more aggravated than he already had. It hadn't been his idea to bring Ghes along, that much was obvious, and he'd seemed rather against it, in fact. But this wasn't Anakin's operation, so it hadn't been his decision to make.

"Starting final approach." The pilot said. "Drop zone in one mike."

The troop bay was bathed in faint red light as the normal illumination panels gave way to the operational signal lights. Rex moved past Ahsoka and Ghes toward the rear of the compartment, prepping the pallets of ordnance follow them out the door. At the front of the bay, the ramp opened slowly, welcoming a rush of damp night air and revealing the vast jungle rushing beneath them.

"Ahsoka! Colonel!" Obi Wan yelled over the roar of the wind. "You two jump first!"

Ahsoka nodded and made her way toward the ramp along with Ghes. Grasping the bulkhead for support, she looked back at Anakin, Obi Wan, and Rex, the latter of whom was now walking the pallets forward toward the nose of the shuttle. Obi Wan's eyes remained fixed on the light above the entrance to the troop bay, waiting…

The red glow turned to green and Obi Wan gave them the signal to jump. With a quick glance to Ghes, Ahsoka took a step forward, grabbed hold of the edge of the ramp's frame and used a combination of the Force and her own strength to propel herself out into thin air. She used the Force twice on her descent, first to punch through the canopy, and again to slow herself to a soft landing on the forest floor.

Immediately, she turned skyward to look for the glow of Ghes's jets, but instead saw only a dark shape flailing wildly as it crashed noisily through the canopy. Ahsoka reacted on instinct, grabbing the shape in the Force and slowing it enough to be sure Ghes wouldn't be too badly injured on contact.

"Uhh…" He groaned as he rolled himself over onto his back.

"You okay, Ghes." Ahsoka asked, kneeling down by his side and looking him over.

At a glance, his armor was scuffed and covered in mud along the front, but otherwise he seemed fine.

"Shabla Republic issue…" Ghes swore, hitting the jetpacks quick release and shimmying it out from under him before tossing it aside. "Damn thing never fired. Should've run a diagnostic."

Ahsoka smiled and shook her head. Ghes was fine.

She heard the others land a few moments later, maybe a hundred meters further along their flight path, and a group of inelegant thuds from further away she assumed were their supplies.

See, She thought, no problems. Ghes had been worried about nothing.

Ahsoka heard it all at once, a snapped twig, a low growl, and the switching of a weapon safety. She turned just in time to see the beast and its rider step out of the brush, worn but functional blaster trained on her.

Ghes reacted quickly, grasping the rifle still slung across his chest and pointing it up at their assailant. But there were more riders now, emerging from the jungle around them, all similarly dressed and armed.

And everything clicked.

"Wait!" Ahsoka said, positioning herself between Ghes and the first rider, who she now saw was a dark skinned human woman. "My name's Ahsoka Tano. We were sent by the Jedi council, we're here to help."

For a tense moment, the woman kept her weapon up, and Ahsoka began to question whether she'd called this correctly, whether this was the militia they'd come in search of… until, slowly, the woman lowered her rifle.

"I'm Steela Gerrera." The female rider said grimly. "You should come with us."

It took around two hours for Ahsoka and Ghes, as well as Anakin, Obi Wan, and Rex once their "escorts" joined together, to reach the militia encampment walking alongside the beast riders. Ahsoka could tell Ghes and Rex didn't like being led like this, both keeping their weapons close at hand and eyeing their new "allies" suspiciously. She didn't blame either of them, even though she'd yet to feel any ill intent from any of the militia, there was just something disconcerting about being escorted by more than a dozen armed riders when you weren't sure where you were going.

First light had just begun breaking over the trees when the party finally stepped out into the clearing in which the ramshackle base was located. There were only a few buildings that appeared permanent, hunting lodges, Ahsoka suspected, with the rest of the space around them being crowded with large tents and makeshift pens for all manner of beasts of burden. What stood out the most was the smell of the place, of animals living and dead, the latter being cooked, dried, or tanned as was appropriate. This all combined to make the place appear more like a refugee camp than a military one.

There was no real welcome committee waiting for them, only a slowly growing crowd of vaguely curious and well-armed on lookers who appeared haphazardly from out of tents as word of their arrival spread through the camp. Ahsoka scanned the crowd, looking for the one familiar face she knew had to be hidden amongst it. She saw the effect he had on the crowd before she saw him, those further towards the back shuffling out of the way as a man who barely came up to most of their shoulders pushed his way past them.

Up until the point when he emerged at the front of the crowd, Ahsoka was unsure how she would react to Lux Bontieri again. On the one hand they were still supposed to be friends, but, on the other hand, last time they'd met he'd stubbornly refused her help and nearly gotten them both killed. What she wasn't prepared for, though, was his reaction.

"Don't move!" Lux yelled as he drew his blaster, much to the confusion of everyone around him.

"Lux," Ahsoka said, staring wearily at the weapon which appeared to be trained on her. "What are you doing?"

"The Mando!" Lux yelled, a look of pure fear in his eyes as he pointed his blaster past her at Ghes, standing less than a meter behind her. "Why did you bring him here?!"

Ahsoka had been worried something like this might happen. Lux's falling out with the Death Watch once he'd realized just what terrorist meant had been… dramatic, and he was still clearly shaken by it.

"Lux…" She started, before Ghes pushed past her to confront Bontieri.

"You have a problem with me, Bontieri?" He said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and resting his hand casually on his sidearm.

"Don't come any closer!" Lux said, hands visually shaking. "I know what you are! You're a Death Watch assassin sent here to kill me!"

That did it. Despite what many beings, including the Sundari-based New Mandalore government, seemed to believe, not all Mandalorian warriors were a part of the Death Watch. In fact, Ghes's family had been decimated by the violent Mando splinter group after refusing to join them. For Lux to accuse him of being a part of that…

"What did you just say to me?" Ghes growled, getting close enough to Lux that the shorter man's blaster tapped against his breastplate as his hands continued to shake.

Despite his fear, Lux stared defiantly into the black void of Ghes's visor.

"I said," He started with as much false bravado as he could muster. "that you're D…"

Lux never finished his sentence, as a split second later he was on the ground, unconscious. Ahsoka knew what happened, if only because Ghes had showed her the same move. He'd grabbed Lux's blaster with his left, pushing the barrel away from his body and twisting the weapon out of Lux's hands before smashing his nose with a right cross. The result was a broken nose for Lux and Ghes standing over him in possession of his blaster.

What came next happened almost as quickly. Seeing Lux go down, the militia in the crowd who were armed trained their weapons on Ghes, who responded by drawing his sidearm and holding both it and Lux's weapon on the two nearest rebels. The resulting standoff wouldn't have ended well if Anakin and Obi Wan hadn't chosen this moment to jump into the middle of the situation.

"Stop!" Anakin said forcefully as the two Jedi stood in between Ghes and the militia.

"Yes," Kenobi said. "Col. Marczak is an officer in the Grand Army and he is with us! He means you no harm."

The Jedi's sudden intercession, while it may have prevented blasterfire, seemed to do little to reassure the skittish rebels of Ghes's friendliness.

"Right Colonel?" Obi Wan prompted. "You're not going to hurt anyone?"

"So long as nobody else has a problem with me being Mando'ad." Ghes growled, nudging Lux's groaning, crumpled form with his boot.

That seemed to get the message across, and most backed down pretty quickly. A more cynical part of Ahsoka took this to mean that Lux wasn't very popular with his new-found comrades, though one or two seemed more reluctant to let Ghes's assault of the man slide.

With the standoff defused, Anakin, Obi Wan, and Rex wasted no time trying to move past what well could have been a fatal blow to the Republic's relationship with the Onderonian rebels, not to mention a bloodbath. While the two Jedi went off to inspect the camp and Rex brought a group of rebels to retrieve the supply crates they'd inserted with, Ahsoka pulled Ghes aside. She was… disappointed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ahsoka said, quiet but still angry. She slapped him on the side of the helmet. "And take that thing off!"

"All right, all right…" He said, pulling the helmet off and tucking it under his arm. "I don't see why I'm in trouble, the kid drew on me first!"

"So you almost killed him?!" She snapped, knowing for a fact that it was about more than Lux pulling a blaster.

"I barely tapped him!" Ghes scoffed dismissively. "It's pretty obvious the pampered little snot's never been hit before."

"We're supposed to be helping these people." Ahsoka countered. "And you knocking out one of their leaders is beyond counterproductive."

"Why do you care about this kid anyway?" Ghes asked, gesturing with his helmet off toward were he'd left Lux. "The little di'kut practically kidnapped you after you saved his useless shebs and almost got you both killed by Vizla's thugs! I should have killed him on principle for doing either of those things to you, but now you're defending him!"

"The 'kid' is my friend" Ahsoka said, more than a little fed up with Ghes's dismissive attitude towards Lux. "And he saved me from the Death Watch."

That wasn't strictly true. Lux had only "saved" her in the sense that he'd helped her escape by piloting the speeder while she'd warded off pursuit. Up until that point, he'd done pretty much nothing except dig them deeper and deeper in to trouble with every action he took. But Ghes didn't really need to know that detail, now, did he?

"How'd that work?" Ghes snapped derisively before continuing in an insulting parody of Lux's voice. "Hello Mr. Vizla, if you'd be ever so kind as to not kill this Jedi I've practically gift wrapped for you, she's my friend, you see!"

"Of course not!" She shot back. "He lied about who I was."

Ghes's eye narrowed.

"Who'd you say you were, then?" He demanded, clearly unwilling to drop this.

Ahsoka sighed. She really had not wanted to tell Ghes about her own poorly conceived ruse to conceal her identity, but it seemed she had no choice.

"He said I was his… betrothed." She admitted reluctantly.

The change in Ghes was obvious, in the Force as well as his eyes.

"I'll kill him." He said, making it sound more a promise than a threat.

Before Ghes could storm off to carry out Lux's death sentence, Ahsoka grabbed him along the top of his breastplate and held him in place as much with the Force as with her own strength.

"No, you're not." She said forcefully. "Listen to me; Lux is just a friend. I'm with you and that's how it's going to stay so long as you stop acting like a jealous child."

"You think that's what this is about?!" Ghes shouted, pushing her away and taking a step back. "Me being jealous over, what? An act you two put on for Vizla?"

"Yes!" Ahsoka yelled, getting right back in his face. "Otherwise you would have just killed Lux when he came at you!"

What was Ghes on about? She knew him and what he was capable of better than anyone else. If he'd wanted Lux dead for any reason other than petty jealousy, he would have done it in any of a dozen ways the moment he'd come within arm's reach. She should have known something like this was bound to happen after he'd questioned her about Rex…

"Do you know why I hate the Death Watch so much?" Ghes asked, letting his rage knee-jerk rage subside. "Why my father's generation fought a war to stop them?"

"Yes." She answered, trying to calm herself as well. "You told me. They attacked your clan for trying to stay neutral."

"Well, there's more to it than just that." He continued, folding his arms across his chest and turning away from her. "Vizla's men, they're not like me, Ahsoka, or like other Mando'ade. For every idiot kid seduced by the promise of a resurgent Mandalorian Empire, there's a dozen more who just want to pillage their way across the galaxy."

"Ghes…" She said, reaching out to grab his shoulder only for him to pull away.

"What happened when you presented yourself as Bontieri's "betrothed"?" Ghes asked over his shoulder. "Did they treat you as an honored guest? Or even as an equal?"

"No." Ahsoka admitted. "They treated me like a slave. Along with all the other women they'd kidnapped."

"Exactly." Ghes said, turning back toward her. "Because that's what the Death Watch does. Aruettisse, foreigners, they don't matter to them. They're chattel, slaves, tools to be exploited in service of Vizla's twisted idea of a greater Mando race. Do you understand what could have happened to you? What would've happened to you if you couldn't handle yourself?"

It didn't take much imagination for Ahsoka to understand what Ghes was saying. She'd seen Vizla, seen how he exploited beings who couldn't defend themselves, seen how ready he was to slaughter innocents to get what he wanted. And the truth was she hadn't been able to stop him. She and Lux had only survived because of R2's timely intervention. Ahsoka had come within a hairs breath of death and Ghes knew it. That was what scared him more than anything else, almost losing her while he was half a galaxy away, and not even knowing about it until days afterwards.

"He didn't want to put me in danger, you know." Ahsoka said after a long silence. "Lux. He wanted me to stay on the ship, but I didn't listen."

"You never do." Ghes said, just the hint of a smile touching his lips. "But you still never should have been there in the first place. And you wouldn't have been if it wasn't for him."

Ahsoka sighed.

"I know." She said, taking one of Ghes's hands in hers. "But please, just give Lux a chance. For me."

"All right." He relented, though he did his best to seem unhappy about it. "I won't kill the lucky little chakaar. For you."

"Thank you." She said, reaching up and giving him a peck on the cheek. "That means a lot to me."

"Doesn't mean I won't break his legs if he so much as looks at you the wrong way." Ghes said, only half in jest. "I have to have some principles."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. For all his tough talk, she knew that, deep down, Ghes was really just a big softie. Well, not really, but he had a soft spot for her, and that was good enough as far as she was concerned.

"Don't worry." She said, glancing over her shoulder at where Lux was having his bloodied face treated by the woman they'd met earlier, Steela. There was something about the way the two looked at each other… "I don't think that's going to be a problem."

Author's Notes:

Before we start I just want to say, this month was pretty hectic on my end. You see, I got a new job at the end of last month only to find out that the company had been bought out, which in the security field is a whole nother thing so far as retraining and integration goes. I've also been working on the paperwork for a second job on weekends at a local casino, which has to be run through my state's gaming commission. Then, on top of all that, I had to sit around in the woods for two weeks because, despite me being away for close to six months between this year and last, I still had to go with my unit on AT (annual training). So, long story short, I haven't been getting nearly as much writing done as I'd like to and it looks like monthly rather than weekly updates are going to be a thing for the foreseeable future. I apologize for the inconvenience (cause I know just how much this story means to all of you and that you must surely be lying awake at night thinking about what's going to happen next in the lives our intrepid young heroine and her... Ghes) and assure you that all attempts are being made on my end to at least finish Part II before I am inevitably distracted and/or disposed by some circumstance of life/Middle Eastern War.

Now that that annoying "real-world" stuff is out of the way, let's get down to business. And, by business, I of course mean the reviews that have been posted since my lat update:

8th, I'm going to start by thanking you for your compliment/support because Pro Bono was a one-shot (which everyone reading this should read if they haven't already) and the next Kad story is likely to be some time coming. As always, your comments are appreciated.

The other review this month (actually for the story this is attached to) comes from Dae, and is going to require a little bit more from me in order to respond properly. I like your suggestion, it'd present the opportunity for some good character moments and actually give Barriss a real role in the story as a character father than a plot device. Unfortunately, though, I don't think that's the direction I'm going to go in. When I said I didn't know what to do with Barriss, I meant I didn't know what to do to fix her character within the confines of her role in the story laid out by the series. Now, I have my own suspicions (which I won't get into here) about the motivation Filoni had that led to the whole Wrong Jedi arc and Ahsoka's exit from the Jedi Order, but for me, as far as what I'm doing and the story I want to tell, there are some compelling reasons to keep it despite the obvious flaw that is Bariss's part in events. Rest assured though, I already have a plan for Barriss to reappear in Part III that should at least provide some closure for the disaster that was her "character arc" in TCW. Now, as to whether of not this is an AU, the answer is... technically? I'm actually pretty adverse to changing things that happen "on screen" i.e. in a movie/episode of a TV show/(sometimes)book, even when changing something would probably be best for my story (for an example, see the Onderon arc in Marczak, which is basically just cliff notes versions of the episodes "but also Ghes is there"). As you'll hopefully see in the next few chapters, I've loosened up on this, but I still want everything to follow the general flow of how it's "supposed" to be. What this means is that, while little things off screen and in the background might change, the larger story of Episodes I-VI remains unchanged. After all, this isn't a story about the fate of the galaxy, it's the story of Ahsoka and Ghes's life together and how they survive and are affected by those galaxy-defining events. This still leaves me a lot of room to do my own thing, and I have more of a Legends mindset that ignores TCW Season 6 so don't expect anything to be too predictable either.

There, done with review responses. On to this month's chapter!

So does everyone know how I feel about Lux Bontieri yet?

You do?

Good, so we can just get right into why I don't like the closest thing Ahsoka has to a canonical love interest, and I can assure you it has nothing to do with his position as a possible romantic rival to a character I created specifically as a love interest for everyone's favorite Togruta Jedi (sorry, Shaak-Ti). Honestly, and I recognize that I'm probably going to catch a lot of flak for this if the right people catch wind of it, but I just think he's an awful character. Let's start with the concept for his character, he's Padme but a few years younger and a dude. That's it, that's why he exists, to be a direct parallel to Padme for Ahsoka's Anakin. And I get it, that sort of parallel is attractive, at least in concept, but they just made the absolute most useless, annoying character they possibly could have (and it doesn't hurt that the episode he was introduced in was annoying for how noble it tried to portray Separatists as despite them canonically being a bunch of corporate stooges). Think about it, what did Lux Bontieri do? His mom gets killed by the cartoonishly corrupt government he supports, so he decides to accuse COUNT DOOKU of her murder in an extremely public way (yes, I know it was a ploy to get Dooku's location, but that required him getting captured and how the hell was he supposed to know Ahsoka would even be there, let alone that she would be ordered/allowed by Padme to violate diplomatic protocol to save him from his own stupidity), then he joins the FREAKING DEATH WATCH, the most obviously psychotic terrorists in the galaxy, without seeming to understand that they're terrorists or what that entails, and, after Ahsoka (and R2) saves him FOR THE SECOND TIME IN LESS THAN A WEEK he still has the nerve to be all high and mighty about the Republic and LITERALLY SHOOTS HER IN THE BACK. Then there's the whole Onderon rebellion, which is probably the only worthwhile thing he's ever been involved in and gave him his own love interest. Of course this was just so we could have one scene were Ahsoka was jealous, followed three episodes of Steela demonstrating that she was the only competent leader person on Onderon before she was unceremoniously killed off at the last minute so that Lux could be single again. This, of course, didn't matter because he and Ahsoka never got together and Inferno Squad revealed that he ended up with a failed marriage to some nameless "Imperial" (whatever that means) anyway, so the only effects of Steela's death were an unnecessary "sad" ending and her brother going completely bat-shit insane and becoming a terrorist. Lux, of course, being the bastion of intelligence and good decisions he is, joined up with Saw's band of "Partisans" (despite the not terrorist Alliance being an option for resisting the Empire) and manipulated his daughter into feeding him information that he handed over to the remnants of Saw's wacko fanatics who used it to try and BOMB A GROUP OF SCHOOLCHILDREN (an attack for which he isn't punished along with the rest of the partisans, thank you Iden Versio). Real stand up chap, wouldn't you say?

In the end, Lux Bontieri is really nothing more than a fairly generic pretty boy political dissident type who, in actuality, has only a vague idea what it is he's dissenting from and a world view so astoundingly far detached from reality that it's a wonder he can even function, let alone hold an position of authority (though I suppose it helps to have a wealthy and important mother). He's that spoiled, rich UCal student in a Che Guevara t-shirt constantly trying to get you to sign a petition for some flavor of the month cause. But hey, I guess that plays well with West Coast college girls (incidentally, the farthest thing I can think of from Ahsoka Tano)...

Wow, I've had that one bottled up for a while, haven't I? Probably shouldn't have said that, if only because hating on Lux Bontieri is even more likely to alienate certain people around here than expressing my burning hatred for the sequel trilogy. Whatever, 'the die has been cast', as they say. I promise that, despite my obvious bias against him, nothing terrible is going to happen to Lux just because I'm under no canon obligation to keep him alive. I do not, however, promise to stop giving him shit for being a rich kid in over his head. Yes, I'm bitter he didn't die at the end of Inferno Squad, what of it?

So that's it for this month, as always thanks for taking the time to read and don't forget to leave a review telling me how wrong I am for hating on Rule 63 Padme, or just follow and favorite if you enjoyed.