Chapter Sixteen
It was the smell that stuck in her mind the most, that smell that was about the only thing a planet spanning metropolis had in common with Outer Rim farm towns. It was the smell of decay; rotting garbage, bodily fluids, spoiled food, the inevitable products of millions of beings packed into each square kilometer. Down here in the lower levels, the public services that kept this urban blight away from the surface were rarely seen, sanitation workers and droids unwilling to venture into areas so rarely visited by CSF patrolmen.
Well, the organic ones, anyway, Ahsoka thought as she passed two worn and beaten looking constable droids attempting to rouse what appeared to be the slumped form of a Gamorrean blocking a door. She gave them as wide a berth as possible. Droids were probably more likely to recognize her from whatever description Tarkin would supply CSF than a beat cop, but they were also quite a bit dumber and she could dismantle them without a second thought if she had to, so staying in their territory was probably the better option.
The events of the previous night, thinking she was being rescued only to find a hallway full of dead troopers followed by her harrowing escape, played over and over again in Ahsoka's head as she scrutinized every minor detail she could remember for any clue as to what she was actually going to do. All that she knew for sure was that she had been set up, at least by another Force-user if not Jedi. But why break her out when she was already in custody with evidence against her? Had whoever was framing her expected her to escape, or was she supposed to have died trying? The idea that she might be being led into another set up was almost as disturbing as the idea that it really was a Jedi behind all of this as Turmond had believed…
Ahsoka forced all of that conspiracy talk to the back of her mind. As important as it was that she untangle the plot of whoever was trying to manipulate events so she would take the fall for Turmond's murder and who knows what else, she wouldn't have any chance if she were caught before she even found out where to start searching for answers. Escape and evasion had to be her priority right now.
Jedi contingency protocol for a compromised operation; escape and evade pursuit until you can make contact with Republic planetary authorities, failing that, secure the necessary equipment to send a message off world to the closest Republic or Jedi vessel capable of providing assistance. Not much help there considering it was the Republic and the Jedi who were hunting her.
GAR special operations manual urban "E and E"; destroy sensitive equipment and intelligence, ditch or alter identifying uniforms and armor, blend with civilian population until extraction. Much more useful, thank the Force that Rex had always kept a stack of manuals on the bridge for long night watches.
Thinking pragmatically, her lightsabers, wrapped in part of a trash bag clutched against her chest, were probably the first thing she should ditch. Ghes would have told her to do it, Rex would have agreed with him, even if he wouldn't have suggested it himself. Anakin, though, he would have reminded her that a Jedi's lightsabers were her life, probably adding some anecdote about a time he'd lost his own weapon just to emphasize the point. While she was still as much a Jedi as she was a soldier, she'd risk keeping her sabers. Her clothes though…
Ahsoka walked a few blocks before she was able to find a thrift store, which wasn't as bad as it could have been, and it gave her time to subtly lift a few credits here and there from the crowd, hopefully not enough individually that any of the unlucky targets would miss it, but collectively enough to get her what she needed.
She headed right for the rear wall of the small, poorly lit shop stocked mostly with second-hand clothing and junk parts from dozens of different models of droids, speeders, comlinks, and assorted appliances. A quick check with the Force confirmed there was no one else besides the clerk, who she'd blown past without so much as glancing in his direction.
As she began going through the racks of clothes to find something suitable, Ahsoka weighed her options. Without access to Jedi or GAR systems, all she had to go on was what she could remember of the investigative work she and Anakin had done. That had ended with Turmond, though, once they'd brought her in Rep Intel had taken over rooting out any other connections she may have had to a larger terrorist cell. What that left her with was what Turmond had been trying to confess to her, that she'd had an accomplice, a Jedi. Not much to go on even if Ahsoka did choose to believe it. Their were a few thousand Jedi in the Order, most of whom she didn't really know, it'd be impossible to investigate everyone of them, not while she was already on the run. What she needed was information from the inside, anything that could give her a lead on where she could start looking for Turmond's accomplice.
Her hand came to rest on the last thing she needed, a well-worn synthetic cloth pack that looked like surplus from some long forgotten war in a far flung corner of the Galaxy. Ahsoka grabbed the sand colored bag and ducked into the curtained off corner of the shop that passed for a changing room. She stripped off her dress and leggings, rewrapped her lightsabers in them instead of the trash bag piece, and shoved the bundle into the pack. The outfit she'd grabbed to change into consisted of black trousers, a tank top of the same color, and a green jacket, the first three things she'd found near enough her size and in decent enough shape for her to wear. She couldn't find any boots, but not changing those shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Slinging the pack over her shoulder, Ahsoka walked to the front of the store and dropped the tags she'd taken off her "new" clothes onto the counter in front of the clerk, who she now saw was a heavyset, balding human disinterestedly taping away at a datapad.
"Wearing this stuff out?" He asked, picking up the tags and looking her over.
"Yes." She said, trying to sound as impatient as she could as she slapped a stack of cred chips down on the countertop. "This should cover it."
He took his time counting, stopping every couple of seconds to glance up at her or over at the datapad now sitting on the counter.
"You know," The clerk said as he finally opened the cash box to put away the counted chips. "a while ago a couple of them security droids came in asking if I'd seen a Togruta girl."
"Really?" Ahsoka said, feigning disinterest. "I'll have to keep my eyes open."
"Wanted on some kind of murder charges, serious stuff." He continued as if she hadn't said anything, closing the cash box and folding his hands on the counter in front of him. "Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that, now would you?"
Ahsoka just looked at the man. He was easy enough for her to read, didn't have all that much going on upstairs, and he really was being serious. What was his angle, though? Was he trying to collect the bounty that was probably on her head by now? No, that wasn't it, so what was it? Ah, there it was, he was trying to fleece her, get her to pay him off to not say anything.
She sighed.
"That's probably not me." She said, putting the Force behind her voice and waving her hand in the distracting gesture she'd been taught as a youngling. Mind tricks had never been her specialty, but this man seemed fairly weak minded.
"No,… it's probably not you." The clerk agreed, his eyes starting to lose focus.
"I should be on my way now." She continued.
"You should be on your way now." He repeated.
Ahsoka turned to leave, but paused. She still needed a way to get in contact with someone…
"I need to make a call. Let me borrow your comlink."
"Here, borrow my comlink." He took the device out of his pocket and held it out for her to take.
"Thank you." She said, snatching the device out of his hand, then quickly adding. "You won't tell anyone I was here."
"I won't tell anyone…" He started, but Ahsoka was already out the door before he could finish.
As she started down the walkway again, she looked down at her newly acquired comlink, an older model, as should probably be expected considering the state of everything else in that store. It worked though, she noted as she flipped the device open. That just left the question of who exactly she was going to call.
Anakin was out of the question; he'd already taken enough of a risk letting her escape the night before. If she had to bet, somebody'd be keeping an eye on him, either the Council or Tarkin.
Ghes…, she didn't know what Ghes would do if she called him. He wasn't the kind of guy to sit back during something like this, especially not when she was the one in trouble. He'd want to meet up, help her investigate, and, much as she might have wanted him to, she couldn't let him. After what had happened… Tarkin knew, she was sure of it. She wasn't going to let Ghes get himself court-martialed trying to save her.
Who did that leave; Rex? No, he was tied into the GAR system even more then Ghes and Anakin were, besides, he was probably out with the troopers hunting her. Padme? She'd just get Anakin involved. Barriss? Maybe. She'd seemed pretty distraught after the service yesterday, but…
Ahsoka stopped walking and sighed. She didn't have much choice, did she?
"Hello?" Barriss's voice came shakily through the comlink. She sounded a little better, not much, but still.
"Barriss, it's me, it's Ahsoka."
"Ahsoka?" Barriss didn't sound shaky anymore. "What happened? They said you murdered that woman who bombed the temple…"
"Barriss!" Ahsoka snapped. "Listen, I can't talk for long. Somebody's trying to frame me, maybe someone inside the Order, I'm not sure. I got away, but what I need right now is your help."
"What? Ahsoka, I can't…"
"I just need a lead."Ahsoka reassured her. "There has to be something I missed, maybe something CSF or Intel found, something to help me find whoever is doing this to me."
The comlink was silent. Ahsoka knew she was asking a lot of her friend, especially in the fragile emotional state she'd been in since the Temple bombing.
"Barriss," Ahsoka continued. "please, you're the only one I can turn to."
"Okay," Barriss answered reluctantly. "I'll do some digging. Where are you? How can I get in touch with you?"
"I'm…" Ahsoka started to say and then caught herself. The chances that someone was listening to their conversation weren't good, but… well, Ahsoka didn't want to take any risks. "I'm in the lower levels, that's all I can say right now. Don't call this com back, I'm going to ditch it. I'll find some way to get in contact with you tonight."
"Alright. I'll see what I can find by then." Barriss promised. "Be careful, Ahsoka."
"I will." She said, and then cut the link.
Now she had a few hours to kill. Probably best to keep moving, especially if CSF was spreading her description around.
She looked down at the comlink again. There was no way she was giving it back to that clerk, maybe if he hadn't tried to extort her, but he had. Keeping it wasn't an option either, if he woke up enough to report it stolen then it could be traced. She'd ditch it in an alley somewhere, but first….
She'd decided she wasn't going to call Ghes for help, but a short call couldn't hurt, just to let him know she was okay…
No, he wouldn't leave it at that, or someone would overhear and he'd get in trouble, or any of a dozen other things that could go wrong that made contacting him a bad idea.
Ahsoka sighed. She could still feel him in the back of her mind, she always could, there for her to reach out and feel like he was there with her. It just wasn't the same as talking to him, though, was it?
But still...
Ghes reacted how he always did, surprised, as if he'd forgotten she could do this, but that faded quickly. It was replaced by concern, and she sent back reassurance. That wasn't satisfying for him, she could tell, but it was all she could give him right now. Well, almost all…
There was one thing she could communicate through their bond clearer than anything else, three words she'd had the most practice saying in all the time they'd been together…
I love you.
"And you say you lost her in the ventilation tunnels?" Tarkin asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he looked across the table at Skywalker, like a parent giving their child a chance to correct their story.
"Yes." The Jedi confirmed, stubbornly sticking to his guns. "I wasn't able to keep up with her and she escaped, probably into the lower levels."
Skywalker lied badly, enough so that Ghes wondered why he ever even bothered trying. He'd let Ahsoka get away from him, there was no doubt in Ghes's mind, and, if it hadn't of been for the six dead troopers, he'd have been inclined to believe the Jedi had let her out of her cell in the first place. A quick look around the Coruscant Guard ops room made it pretty apparent that Ghes wasn't the only one who'd reached that conclusion, and equally obvious that no one was going to get any closer to calling Skywalker out on the lie than Tarkin currently was.
"We've already been over this." Skywalker continued, his frustration clear. "I don't know why..."
"Yes, general," Tarkin said, cutting him off. "we have, but it is important we establish exactly what allowed Padawan Tano to escape your pursuit."
"I believe it equally important that we find out how she escaped your custody in the first place, admiral." General Plo Koon said, his voice filtered through the mask all Kel Dor wore when off their homeworld. "The explanation you provided has many… holes."
Ghes didn't like dealing with Kel Dor, physiology was too alien, made them hard to read. Ahsoka liked this one, though, and so did the men under his command, from what he'd heard. That counted for a lot in Ghes's book.
"I don't see how, general, my investigation was quite thorough." Tarkin sniffed. "The chain of events is fairly obvious from what we've determined, she used a Jedi mind trick to convince a clone to open the door, then proceeded to cut him down along with five others before fleeing the facility."
"Yet there lies the issue, Admiral." The Kel Dor admonished. "Ahsoka has always shown great concern for the clones under her command. That she would now murder these men is… difficult to believe."
"Master Plo makes a good point." General Windu agreed. "I do not believe that Ahsoka could have fallen so far."
"With all do respect, general, the beliefs of the Jedi Council are irrelevant." Tarkin spat, letting his arrogance show through his usual dispassionate demeanor. "We deal strictly in facts and evidence, and the evidence points to Padawan Tano being guilty of the attack on the Temple and the murder of Republic officers."
"That's a load of osik and you know it, Tarkin!" Ghes snapped, no longer able to keep his mouth shut while the admiral did his level best to paint the woman he loved as a terrorist. "All you have is circumstantial evidence for anything other than Turmond's murder. You've done nothing since we've been here but make baseless accusations without even once considering that she might be innocent!"
Now here was a man he despised, probably more than anyone else in the Republic. Maybe even more than Vizla, though buir would probably have beaten his shebs if he ever heard him say anything like that. Then again, maybe he'd understand. Men like Tarkin weren't uncommon; arrogant, petty, and utterly convinced of their own superiority because of money, or breeding, or any of the other osik areuetiise used to decide which of them was better than the others, you dealt with them all the time living in the Core. But Tarkin possessed a ruthlessness and cunning most of those men didn't, and that made him dangerous.
"Hmm, quite." Tarkin said quietly after a moment, beginning to tap away at the control console for the room's central holotable. "You are, of course, right about my assuming Padawan Tano's guilt, colonel. I see no need to go searching for phantom assailants in one of the most secure facilities in the galaxy when there was a far more likely suspect standing in front of me. What I do find puzzling, though, is your refusal to accept reality. Almost as puzzling as your presence here."
"I'm a member of General Skywalker's staff and I've been hunting criminals since I was old enough to carry a blaster." Ghes shot back, crossing his arms across his chest. "If you want Commander Tano found quickly and without anyone else getting hurt, you're going to want my help."
Not that I'm going to turn Ahsoka over to you when I do find her, Ghes added silently. He was already working on a plan to get her off planet and as far away from this chakaar as possible.
"Oh, I didn't mean to question you're credentials as a mercenary, colonel. It seems you misunderstood my meaning." Tarkin looked up from the console as a hologram of the GAR table of organization sprang into being, with one particular line of text highlighted. "Eighth battalion, reconnaissance, 501st clone legion, attached to the Acclamator-class cruiser Retaliation. I do believe this is your command, correct colonel?"
"It is." Ghes confirmed, his stomach sinking as he saw where this was going.
"That's odd, then." Tarkin began, raising an eyebrow. "It would appear that your men are deployed in support of ongoing operations in the Outer Rim, yet here you are on Coruscant."
"What exactly are you accusing me of, Tarkin?" Ghes growled.
"Abandoning your post, dereliction of duty, insubordination." Tarkin listed, putting particular emphasis on the last one. "Not that this is anything new if your service record is to be believed. You appear to have developed quite a penchant for disobeying orders and appearing in places you shouldn't. May I ask why you were with Padawan Tano…"
"You arrogant, di'kutla sack of…!" Ghes barked over Tarkin's words. "I am an officer of the Grand Army of the Republic…!"
"You are a mercenary," Tarkin spat back with utter contempt. "a hired gun. You'd do well to remember that when speaking to me!"
"Enough!" Windu shouted before Ghes could respond. "You are both out of line!"
"Yes!" Yoda agreed, tapping his cane sharply against the durasteel floor. "Pointless, this argument is. To the matter at hand, let us return."
"Of course, master Jedi." Tarkin said, inclining his head in a slight deferential bow. "I just felt it was relevant to ensure there are no, conflicts of interest, shall we say."
Ghes glared daggers at the admiral. Why even dance around it at this point? Did he think this was going to get him to shut up and step in line?
A quick glance around at the four Jedi didn't tell Ghes much. That was the thing with the older ones, a lifetime of suppressing emotions led to them not showing much on their faces. But they were looking at him, waiting for him to say something…
Ahsoka.
"General Skywalker," Ghes began, straightening up sharply. "It's clear I'm not needed here. Permission to be dismissed?"
That caught them a little off guard, he could tell. Well, except Tarkin, it was probably what the miserable chakaar wanted.
"Granted." Skywalker said with a nod. It was clear he wanted Ghes out of there as well, though mainly for Ahsoka's sake considering how close Tarkin was coming to outing her and Ghes.
"Gentleman." Ghes said, snapping a crisp salute and then quickly departing before anyone could return the gesture.
Ahsoka.
He felt her, she was reaching out to him through their link in the Force.
Where are you? Are you safe? What do you need me to do?
This was always so aggravating, feeling her so close but not being able to really say anything to her.
She was trying to reassure him, he could tell, but that wasn't enough. He needed to know where she was so he could get to her before Tarkin's men could…
Ghes stopped as he was stepping out of the lift into the speeder bay and smiled bittersweetly. At least there was one thing he could hear clearly.
I love you too.
She'd picked up the tail three blocks back.
At least, that's when she'd noticed it. Whoever it was, they were good, it was only because of a fluke that she'd noticed them at all, a gut feeling and a reflection in a window. More importantly, she couldn't feel them in the Force, which meant they were hiding their presence. They were Force-sensitive.
Looks like I might not need your help at all, Barriss, Ahsoka thought to herself as she fingered the tip of the knife hidden up her sleeve.
She'd lifted it off a Twi'lek kid she'd "accidently" bumped into a block back, old trick that still worked in a crowd. Probably did the kid a favor, he'd looked like he was going to do something stupid.
Now she just needed a place to make her move…
The alleyway coming up on the right looked like as good a place as any. She ducked in and slowed her pace to let her pursuer gain ground, letting the knife drop and catching the grip in her hand. They may have been hiding themselve from the Force, but she had other senses that weren't so easy to fool.
The tail walked lightly, but Ahsoka could still hear the faint click of boot heels on durasteel as they started coming down the alley after her. She walked a few more meters, putting a little more space between them and any pedestrians that could potentially get caught in their fight, before the scrape of metal on leather forced her hand.
Ahsoka spun on her heel, sending the poorly weighted knife on a Force-assisted flight blade-first towards her attacker's torso.
The woman, Ahsoka could see now that it was a thin, humanoid woman in a face concealing helmet, spun out of the way. She attempted to bring her blaster back up, but Ahsoka had closed the distance between them, grabbing the woman's wrist and twisting it so the two shots she got off before dropping the weapon went through the side of a dumpster.
Pressing her advantage, Ahsoka twisted the woman's arm behind her back and pushed her face first up against the wall.
"Who are you?!" Ahsoka growled. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Don't tell me you don't recognize me, Tano." The woman taunted back in a raspy voice Ahsoka was all too familiar with. "I'm hurt."
"Ventress?" Ahsoka said, letting up just enough in her surprise for the Dathomiri to get a foot up on the wall and push off so that she had to let go or be forced off her feet.
"So you're the one behind all this!" She continued, steadying herself before rushing back at the woman.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ventress spat, blocking Ahsoka's attempt to grab her again. "What I know is that there's a bounty on your horned little head I intend to collect."
"So you're a bounty hunter now?" Ahsoka said, keeping in close so Ventress couldn't draw either of the sabers she now saw hanging from her belt. "How do you think you're going to collect? You're a war criminal and a Sith, they'll lock you up right next to me!"
"I can hand you over to the bondsman and still get paid!" Ventress snarled. "And you don't have to be alive, either!"
She kept backing up, trying to get the breathing room she needed to go for her sabers, or any other weapons she may have had on her, but Ahsoka was doing her best not to give the witch that chance. Blasterfire and a fist fight wouldn't draw any real attention down here, but lightsabers… lightsabers turned heads, especially with a manhunt on for a "rogue" Jedi. Besides, Ahsoka's own sabers were still in her pack with no good way for her to get to them without giving Ventress an opening. They couldn't do this forever, though, probably not even for much longer. She needed a way to end this…
Ahsoka saw it out of the corner of her eye while ducking to avoid a punch, Ventress's blaster, lying a few meters behind her where it had fallen. That far away… she was only going to get one shot at grabbing it before Ventress realized what she was doing. She grabbed the weapon in the Force and pulled it towards her, going to a knee and reaching out a hand to meet it. Ventress, instinctively stepped back to block an expected counter to the punch Ahsoka had dodged, realized a second too late what was happening and went to tackle Ahsoka just as her hand closed around the blaster's grip. She swung the weapon around, whipping the barrel into the side of Ventress's helmet with an audible crack.
The thing about helmets is, while wearing one would keep you from getting cut or fracturing your skull, most wouldn't do much to stop the energy of a blow from transferring into your skull.
The Dathomiri went limp from the impact, smacking her head almost as hard again when she hit the ground. Not wasting any time, Ahsoka jumped on Ventress. Putting a knee into the woman's chest, she tore the helmet off her head and pointed the blaster squarely at her face.
"Hands where I can see them!" Ahsoka ordered. "Now!"
Still shaken, and possibly concussed, Ventress groaned loudly as she complied, placing her hands palms up on the ground above her head.
"If you're going to shoot me, just get it over with." She moaned.
"I should." Ahsoka said. "After everything you've done, I should!"
"Then do it!" Ventress snarled defiantly through gritted teeth.
Ahsoka looked down at the woman she had at her mercy, finger tensed on the trigger. Ventress was responsible for who knew how many deaths; troopers, Jedi, civilians, all while she'd been Dooku's personal assassin. And she didn't believe for a moment that she wasn't somehow behind what had happened. Hell, she was trying to kill her right now. The more Ahsoka thought about it, the more reasons she could think of why she should just pull the trigger and end her miserable life right here and now.
So why hadn't she? It wouldn't exactly be in cold blood; she'd just have been defending herself. But she'd know the truth, wouldn't she?
"No." She said finally. "You're getting what's coming to you, witch, but first you're going to clear my name."
"I already told you…"
"Yes you do!" Ahsoka yelled over the protest. "You framed me for killing Leeta Turmond! You're the one behind the Temple bombing! It was all you!"
"Why?!" Ventress snapped back. "What reason would I have to do any of that?!"
"Revenge." Ahsoka said. "Against the Jedi, against the Republic…"
"Revenge?" Ventress repeated, almost laughing at the idea. "Do you know where revenge against the Jedi has gotten me? My "master" betrayed me and now I hunt debtors and bail jumpers for scraps! I don't care about your Order or your war anymore!"
She glared up at Ahsoka, hatred burning in her eyes, but in the Force… No, there was no deception there.
Ahsoka roared in anger and frustration, standing up off of the woman and kicking away a piece of discarded metal that was just one of the many pieces of garbage littering the alley.
"I take it you believe me, then?" Ventress said, starting to stand before Ahsoka wheeled back on her with the blaster.
"Stay down!" She ordered. "You're still a criminal, I can't just let you walk away."
"So are you." Ventress sneered, pulling her legs in so she was now seated upright. "The difference is the whole planet isn't looking for me."
Much as Ahsoka might have hated to admit it, Ventress had a point. With the Coruscant Guard and CSF after her, and now a bounty on her head, she wasn't exactly in any position to be taking prisoners. That didn't leave her with many options. If she let Ventress go now the witch was going to try this again, and killing her was… well, it wasn't an option she was going to take unless she had to. What that left her with was two choices, either find some way to restrain her and make an anonymous tip to CSF, or…
"If you didn't do all this then you're going to help me find out who did." Ahsoka said finally.
"And why would I want to do that?" Ventress scoffed.
"Dooku tried to kill you, right?" Ahsoka asked rhetorically. "The only lead I have is that whosever doing this is a Force user. Without you, that means a…"
It was still difficult to say because she didn't want to accept it was possible, but now it seemed unavoidable.
"…a Jedi." She finished. "What if this is his new apprentice? Don't tell me you don't want to get back at him for betraying you."
"Is that all you can offer?" Ventress laughed. "Maybe I can kill Dooku's new pet? You're going to have to do better than that with how much money you're worth."
"Okay..." Ahsoka growled. "How about this? If you help me, I'll put in a good word on your behalf, you get a full pardon, become a free woman. How's that sound?"
"You're not that well connected." Ventress said dismissively.
"My master is." Ahsoka countered. "The chancellor listens to him, so does Senator Amidala. If you help me, I can get him to convince them, and you're as good as pardoned."
"Deal." Ventress said after she'd thought about it for a moment, reaching out a hand to be helped to her feet. "But don't think I'm forgetting about that bounty if this starts to go against you."
"You try anything again and I won't give you the chance to regret it." Ahsoka snapped, unsure herself whether or not she was bluffing. She waved away Ventress's hand and made her stand up herself. "Not that you'd get very far even if you did manage to collect."
"You think Skywalker scares me, girl?" Ventress said, reaching her feet and dusting herself off.
"He should." Ahsoka shot back. Not to mention everyone else who'd be after her; Ghes, Rex, Obi Wan, probably Master Plo… "And don't think he'd be the only one, either."
"Well aren't you special." Ventress mocked as she bent to retrieve her discarded helmet. "Tell me, why do you need my help if you have all these friends?"
Ahsoka growled lowly, more out of aggravation for having walked herself into that one.
It's because I don't care what happens to you, She thought, holstering the blaster through her belt at the back, the weapon hidden by her jacket and pack.
"Come on." She ordered as she walked past Ventress and back the way they'd come down the alley, toward the storefronts and the skylane. "I have to make a call."
Directing Coruscant air traffic must have been a nightmare.
At least, that's what Ghes had always thought during the years he'd lived here, looking up at a sky perpetually swarming with airspeeders and starship's ranging from swoop bikes to lumbering freighters and, in recent years, capital ships. Even discounting planetary traffic bound to the skylanes that ran through every corner of globe-spanning city, there were still thousands of vessels airborne at any given time, all of which needed to be identified, tracked, and directed to any of hundreds of spaceports, large and small.
Back when he used to work with his buir, what felt like half a lifetime ago, there had been a few times when they'd had a case or a bounty or a contract that had brought them into this world. It was pretty much always smugglers trying to run something under CSF's nose; drugs, weapons, live animals, one guy even tried moving Twi'lek girls with the help of a corrupt customs agent, which hadn't ended well for either of those two geniuses once buir had gotten a hold of them. That one had been a bit tricky to explain to security when they turned over the bodies…
The point was, with the amount of traffic that came into Galactic City every hour, it was a pretty simple task to slip most anything through without much scrutiny, provided you didn't do anything suspicious and stuck to smaller spaceports, the kind that mostly berthed personal transports, like the one Ghes was at now.
He stood leaning up against a wall as he waited for the worn down Sorusuub yacht to finish its landing sequence. Finding an open hangar hadn't been an issue, usually wasn't when you were willing to pay upfront, and everything usually went a lot faster when you weren't trying to cover your tracks.
Ghes knew the game, knew that Tarkin only let him walk out of that meeting because he thought keeping him out of the loop would keep him out of the way, but it also opened up other options. Acting as an officer of the Grand Army, all his actions were subject to scrutiny and, with Tarkin looking over his shoulder, censure. Acting as a private citizen, though… well, there wasn't much the admiral could do to him at all up until he broke a law, one of the perks of being a mercenary. The most he could do was maybe have Ghes followed, probably not that difficult when he was wearing his beskar, but who was he going to send? Fox's men stuck out even more wearing bright white and red, and Ghes was willing to bet that'd he'd done more favors for Intel than Tarkin ever had. That was how he'd gotten out of the Coruscant Guard, after all.
The yacht settled into its landing struts with a hiss of released pneumatic pressure, the boarding ramp folding out of the side of the hull as the roar of the engines faded into silence. Ghes stood off the wall as he saw the four men that had occupied the vessel begin to disembark, grabbing the duffel he'd brought off of the ground next to him. He waved off the salutes they tried to give as he approached.
"Stand down, boys," Ghes said, coming to a stop in front of the group. "we're not on the clock, so I don't want any of that."
"Roger, col… boss." Vor responded sheepishly. "Should have figured that one."
Ghes would admit he hadn't been that clear when he'd called them the day before, after Ahsoka's escape. All he'd told them was that she was in trouble and to come in a non-Republic ship without their armor. Gathering from the probably commandeered ship and the civilian attire they were wearing; they'd followed even those vague instructions to the letter. He loved his men.
"So, what's in the bag, boss?" Niner asked excitedly. "You get me a gift?"
Ghes smirked under his helmet.
"This is plan B." He said, tossing the bag down in front of them.
"What happened to plan A?" Vor asked as the others kneeled to open the duffel.
"Dead on arrival." Ghes said flatly. Plan A, what he'd originally been planning before he'd gotten into it with Tarkin that morning, was going to be slipping the four of them, Vor, Stalker, Rip, and Niner, in with the shocktroopers he'd assumed he'd be leading as part of the manhunt. That wasn't really tenable now for obvious reasons.
Rip whistled.
"This is a lot of hardware, boss." The sergeant said, pulling a durasteel combat helmet painted in dark grey out of the bag and turning it over to look at the interior. "Serious hardware."
"Four sets of body armor, carbines and sidarms." Ghes listed off. "Compliments of ner buir."
Or at least they would be if he knew I'd taken this stuff, he added silently. That was another thing for him worry about later. Besides, buir had made him part owner years ago, so technically, he didn't have to ask borrow anything.
"So this is merc kit." Niner said, still digging through the bag. "Looks expensive."
He pulled out a carbine and handed it to Stalker, who pointed it at the ground and looked through the sights.
"Custom built kit like this?" The sniper laughed. "Gotta be worth at least a year's pay."
"Hey, boss, is your old man hiring?" Rip asked, his voice filtered through the vocoder of the helmet he'd pulled on. "I'm asking for a friend."
Ghes chuckled a little under his breath. Clones were about the only ones he'd ever met that got as excited about kit as he did, probably because it was all they really knew.
"Sir…" Vor began quietly, pulling Ghes aside.
"What did I just say about that, Vor?" Ghes interrupted the trooper with mock admonishment.
"Sir," Vor said again, more forcefully this time. "You need to tell me what's going on. What happened to Commander Tano?"
Ghes sighed heavily and took off his helmet. He'd let himself get distracted, but Vor was right, it was time to tell them. He smiled sullenly and clapped a hand on Vor's shoulder, then turned back to the others.
"Alright, boys, mission brief time, so listen up." Ghes said, tucking his helmet under his arm and pacing in front of where they were laying out their new gear. "I'm going to assume Vor told you why I came back to Coruscant, roger?"
He paused for a moment for them to answer, all nodded.
"Good." Ghes continued. "Long story short; the whole thing's gone sideways and they're blaming Ahsoka for the bombing and killing the woman that she arrested for it."
"That's ridiculous, boss." Niner interjected. "There's no way Commander Tano'd do something like that."
"Me, you, and the entire 501st knows that, Niner." Ghes agreed. "But Admiral Tarkin and our illustrious Jedi leaders don't agree. They had her in custody until someone broke her out, I don't know who, just that whoever it was killed six of your brothers and is probably the same hut'uun that's been behind all of this."
"Is that who we're after?" Stalker asked eagerly. "We going to find the guy and gut him?"
"If the opportunity presents itself." Ghes said. "But that's not the primary objective. Finding Ahsoka is, finding her and bringing her back here so we can get her off world until this all blows over."
"Sir," Vor said. "if Commander Tano is wanted by the Republic…
"I know." Ghes cut him off, then sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you, if we do this we'll be aiding and abetting a fugitive. If we do this right no one will know you were involved and I'll be the only one they come down on, but there's still a risk.
"Colonel," Rip said, forgetting Ghes's earlier instruction not to use his rank. "If you think we're going to let them arrest you…"
"You will, and that's an order, sergeant." Ghes snapped. "But that's the only order I'm giving today. I won't make you help me, not with this. You can all back out now and I won't hold it against you."
"We're with you, sir." Vor said without hesitation, Stalker, Rip and Niner, nodding their agreement.
"Good." Ghes said, smiling thinly. "Finish gearing up, we move out in five."
"Stop tinkering with that thing and just make your call." Ventress sneered, glancing back over her shoulder at the deserted street outside the public holobooth.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes, knowing the woman couldn't see her face while she worked in the booth's service access. They'd gotten lucky here, finding any part of this planet where somebody wasn't lurking was usually next to impossible, finding a place like this with a holobooth was a minor miracle. Best not to waste it by being careless.
"I don't want anyone to be able to trace it." Ahsoka explained, her hand finding the right component and yanking the chip out with an audible snap. "There, easy."
She stood out from under the device's housing and punched in the code on the keypad.
"Do you mind?" She said to Ventress over her shoulder, finger hovering over the enter key.
Ventress huffed and rolled her eyes, but stepped back away from the both.
"Barriss, it's me." Ahsoka said as the blue image of her friend materialized in front of her.
"It's so good to see you, Ahsoka." Barriss said, smiling in her usual dour way that made Ahsoka wonder if the girl was ever really happy. "Are you okay?"
"If you consider every trooper and cop on the planet being on my tail a good place to be in." Ahsoka joked.
"Were you almost captured?" Barriss asked, concerned.
"Not yet." Ahsoka said, deciding Ventress didn't count. "But I don't know how much longer that's going to last. Did you manage to find anything?"
"Possibly…" Barriss began sheepishly. "Where are you?"
"We don't really have much time, Barriss." Ahsoka insisted. "Can you just tell me what you found?"
"It's…, well…" Barriss started before sighing in frustration. "This would be easier if you'd just tell me where you were."
Ahsoka bit her lip. She'd disabled the booth's monitoring and recording equipment.
"I'm on level 1312," She said, craning her neck around to look outside the booth at a street sign. "at the corner of twelfth and G."
"Got it." Barriss said, hands moving to something Ahsoka couldn't see in the hologram. "Three levels up from you to the north on sixty-third. There's an abandoned warehouse used to assemble munitions that Turmond visited during the time when CSF thinks she was getting access to the nanodroids."
"If CSF is investigating won't there be a patrol on duty?" Ahsoka pointed out, though for a case as big as the Temple bombing, they would probably have the whole area on lockdown.
"It's something they've just started looking into." Barriss explained. "They haven't had time to get a warrant."
That was… odd. Ahsoka hadn't thought they were still investigating Turmond, she'd kind of assumed that all of CSF and the GAR's resources would have been devoted to hunting her. Then again, she hadn't been on the run long, only a little over a day, and there still had been a few unanswered questions about the bombing before she'd been framed…
"That's perfect, Barriss." Ahsoka said, moving her hand over the end call button. "Thank you."
"Be careful, Ahsoka." Barriss said before her hologram winked back out of existence.
"Well?" Ventress said to her as she left the booth, arms crossed and fingers tapping impatiently on her upper arm.
"I have a lead." Ahsoka told her. "An abandoned munitions warehouse on level 1315. We should be able to find something there."
"Hmm…" Ventress hummed, considering what Ahsoka had said for a moment. "I think I know where it is you're talking about."
"Can you get me there?" Ahsoka asked.
"I can."
"Good." Ahsoka said. That'd save a lot of time. "Let's get goi…"
Ahsoka let her words trail off into silence as she heard something echoing down one of the side streets. It sounded like… heavy boots on duracrete. Troopers. From both directions, she could hear now, at least ten.
"What…?" Ventress's hearing wasn't as good, and it took her a few seconds longer to catch, but once she did she tensed and moved into a defensive stance.
"There they are!" The lead trooper of the group coming at them from the left yelled as he rounded the corner, followed a second later by another group from the right. The troopers spread out as they moved, forming two vees that came together into a circle around the two women.
"Don't move!" The leader, not Fox but a trooper in grey highlighted armor Ahsoka recognized, ordered. "Commander Tano, you're under arrest. Come along quietly and nobody has to get hurt."
"That's not going to happen, Wolf." Ahsoka said. "I don't want to fight you."
"I do." Ventress interjected.
"Shut up!" Ahsoka snapped over her shoulder before turning back to the troopers. "I'm not going to hurt any of you, we're not going to hurt any of you, but I can't let you take me in. You know I didn't kill those men, let me go so I can find out who did."
The shocktroopers looked to Wolf, waiting for his response. Even if the commander believed her, the men he was leading might think differently. Ahsoka had never worked with the Coruscant Guard, few Jedi had, and it was their men, not Wolf's, who she'd been accused of killing. This put him in a difficult situation, one Ahsoka probably wouldn't envy if her situation hadn't been significantly worse at the moment.
"I'm sorry, commander, but I have my orders." Wolf insisted, advancing another step towards them. "And I am bringing you in."
Ahsoka tensed. There wasn't going to be a way out of here without a fight, was there? There were ten of them, she'd guessed right, all carrying DC-15 carbines except Wolf. It wasn't impossible for her and Ventress to take them down without killing them, but it would depend on how the troopers reacted. If they started backing up, they could start spraying stun rounds without worrying about friendly fire, more than two men doing that would definitely drop the two of them. That meant they had to move fast, keep them in close, like Ahsoka had when Ventress attacked her earlier. Silently, she signaled her intentions to the woman in the Force as best she could.
"Cuff 'em." Wolf barked, gesturing with one of his sidearms.
The trooper to his right stepped forward, pulling a pair of binders off his belt. Ahsoka held out her arms like she was going to comply, allowing the trooper walk up to her and take hold of her wrist. As he brought the binders down she made her move, twisting her arm out of the trooper's grip and grabbing onto his arm and the side of his chestplate. The clone let out a startled yelp as Ahsoka pulled him in close to her, using his body to absorb the stun rounds fired by his comrades as they realized what was happening and trusting Ventress to watch her back.
"Blast h…!" A trooper behind her started to yell only for the words to be lost in a pained grunt and the clatter of plastoid onto the pavement.
Taking the deecee out his hands, Ahsoka threw the limp body of the man she'd clung to away and into Wolf. The commander attempted to catch the unconscious trooper, only to be knocked off balance and backward into a street lamp, helmet impacting with a sharp crack before he slid to the ground as well.
Two down, Ahsoka thought, dodging to the left to avoid a stun round that just barely missed her arm. That left three more assuming Ventress could handle the other five on her own. Judging from what she could sense happening behind her, that was probably a safe assumption.
Ahsoka ducked a butt strike with a carbine and fired her own commandeered weapon point blank into the chest of the man who'd thrown it. Two more now, circling away from each other to try and catch her in a better crossfire. She rolled toward the closet one, putting her shoulder into his stomach as she stood up and knocking him flat onto his back. The other pivoted sharply on her, firing a rushed shot that still would have hit her head if she hadn't sensed it coming and dropped back down to a knee. Ahsoka put one into his chest before he could readjust, then another into the one on his back to make sure he stayed there
"Sorry." Ahsoka apologized quietly to the men as she stood, placing the carbine she'd taken on the ground.
She looked over her shoulder at Ventress, tossing aside a deecee of her own.
"See? Didn't kill one." The woman said gesturing to the unconscious troopers around her. "It's the new me."
"I'm so proud of you." Ahsoka said, rolling her eyes at the woman as she kicked blasters away from troopers' hands. "Now let's get out of here before another squad shows up."
"Come on then, this way." Ventress said, waving for her to follow. "I know a way that should keep us out of sight."
"Are you sure this was her, sir?" Vor said as Rip slowed the speeder to a stop outside the cordon the shocktroopers had set up along the deserted side street.
There weren't that many of them, maybe a dozen plus a CSF medic team, probably whatever other teams had already been in the area when Wolf had called it in. Ghes and his men had gotten lucky, they'd been less then ten clicks away and Tarkin hadn't ordered his men to switch frequencies since he'd cut Ghes out of the operation.
"Wolf said they'd found her and the follow up team reported no serious casualties." Ghes said, hopping out over the side of the vehicle. "That sounds a hell of a lot like Ahsoka to me."
"Still, sir," Vor continued, hopping out the other side. "taking out ten men without killing any of them is a bit much even for Commander Tano."
Much as Vor might have had a point, it wasn't one that was on the top of Ghes's list of priorities right now, not while Ahsoka was still out there. The shocktrooper who'd stopped them wasn't one he recognized, but the sergeant he turned to when Ghes handed him his ID card was, and the man waved them through.
"You boys wait here with the speeder." Ghes said to Vor, taking off his helmet and tucking it under his arm. "I'm going to go see what Commander Wolf has to say for himself."
Vor nodded in acknowledgement as Ghes turned and started walking toward the medical speeder around which most of the men he assumed were Wolf's clustered. The commander himself sat on in the opening of the rear compartment with one of the CSF medics looking him over. He shot Ghes a suspicious look as he approached, looking all the fiercer for the deep scar down the right side of his face and his silver prosthetic eye. This was another man Ghes didn't know, though he'd heard enough through the clone grapevine. He worked with the Kel Dor, General Plo Koon, which meant he probably knew Ahsoka.
"Commander Wolf?" Ghes asked as he stopped in front of the man.
"Who's asking?" The clone responded gruffly, still looking like he was trying to burn a hole through Ghes's beskar with his gaze.
Ghes held out the same card he'd shown at the cordon, his GAR ID. He was walking a fine line here, he knew, but he didn't have much of a choice. There was a look of recognition in Wolf's eye as he read the card. The commander had heard of him, then, hopefully not from Fox or Tarkin. Ghes wouldn't put it past the admiral to have to have told his officers not to give him anything. He shelved that concern when Wolf tried to stand to salute him, something the medic treating him seemed very much against.
"Easy, soldier." Ghes said, gesturing for the man to remain seated. "I'm not here in any official capacity."
"Yes, sir…" Wolf said, clearly a little confused. "You're looking for Commander Tano, though?"
"I am." Ghes confirmed. Could have been a guess, but he wouldn't bet on it. "You expecting to see me?"
"Captain Rex said you were working in parallel to us." Wolf explained. "I just assumed it was still under GAR jurisdiction."
Ghes hadn't even known that Rex was part of the search, though, thinking about it now, he probably should have guessed. Skywalker and Plo Koon were running point on this from the Jedi end of things, so it made sense for their men to be involved. That was good for Ghes, it gave him another potential out if this went wrong.
"Well, I'm working on this from a different angle." Ghes continued. "Why don't you tell me how she got away?"
"Yes, sir." Wolf said, stiffening a little the way most troopers did when reporting anything. "Commander Tano wasn't alone like we expected her to be, sir, she had an accomplice."
"Do you know who it was?" Ghes asked, more than a little concerned. As far as he'd been able to tell, Ahsoka hadn't reached out to anyone since she'd gone on the run.
"I do." Wolf nodded, face hardening even more than usual as he spat the next two words out like they left a bad taste in his mouth. "Assajj Ventress."
Ghes didn't even try to hide his surprise at that one. Ventress was bad news; Separatist agent, extremely dangerous, standing orders to kill on site bad. From what Ahsoka had told him, she was also dar'jetti, a Sith, like Dooku. Why Ahsoka would even think about working with her…, well, he couldn't think of any answer he liked.
"You're sure that's who it was, commander?" Ghes asked. "It couldn't have been anyone else?"
"I am absolutely sure, sir." Wolf answered. "It doesn't make much sense to me either, but I know that witch when I see her. She and Commander Tano disabled my men and fled, I didn't see which direction."
"None of your men were seriously injured, though?" Ghes said, thinking it was odd none of them had been killed given Ventress's reputation.
Wolf opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off before he could speak by the medic still standing next to him.
"I'd hardly call three concussions 'nothing serious'." The Duros said. "We really should take them to a medical center for brain scans…"
"I'm fine!" Wolf barked at the man, it was hard to tell with Duros but Ghes guessed from the voice he was male. "No, sir, they stunned most of us. Me and two others took blows to the head."
Ghes let out an aggravated sigh. None of this was making any sense. Why would Ventress go out of her way to avoid killing troopers? Why was she with Ahsoka? Why was she even on Coruscant? The worst part was, none of it left him with anything he could use. He had no new leads except Ventress, and what was he supposed to do with that? There probably weren't many Dathomiri on Coruscant, usually weren't many anywhere other than Dathomir, but that didn't do him much good even if they only searched this sector of the city.
"I'm sorry I can't give you anything more, sir." Wolf continued, picking up on Ghes's frustration.
"Not your fault, commander." Ghes responded, waving off the apology and turning to leave. "Make sure you and your men get checked out fully before you start searching again. You won't do anyone any good passed out in the street."
"Yes, sir." The trooper agreed begrudgingly as Ghes left him alone with the medic again and began making his way back to his men.
Back to square one, then. Or was it worse now that someone like Asajj Ventress was involved? Either way, it didn't leave him with anything to go on outside knowing that they'd been at this intersection roughly an hour ago. At least that cut down the search area a little. Assuming the two women were still on foot, there was only so far they could have gotten….
"Marczak!" A trooper's voice pulled him out of his thought, making him turn around to catch sight of Commander Fox storming toward him from the other end of the cordoned area.
"Fox." Ghes responded with a barely contained sigh as soon as the clone was close enough for him not to have to raise his voice to be heard.
Ghes'd suspected that a confrontation like this would be inevitable once he'd poked around long enough, but he'd hoped to be gone quick enough to avoid having it out with the Coruscant Guard commander here.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing here, Marczak?" Fox growled, getting right into it. Ghes had never known the man to be anything but blunt, even when it actively made his job more difficult. "Last time I checked you were not a member of this task force and not authorized access to any part of the operation."
"I'm not here as part of the Grand Army, Fox." Ghes said dismissively. "I'm here as a private citizen with a valid license to hunt bounties on Coruscant, which, since the Senate issued one for 'Togruta Jedi, female, orange skin, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five' means I can ask any questions I want so long as I don't interfere with the carrying out of official business."
"That why you're still showing a GAR ID?" Fox shot back, clearly not amused by the little loophole Ghes was using.
"Most recent one I have." Ghes shrugged, just a hint of self-satisfied smarm slipping into his voice. "Been a bit busy the past couple years."
Fox let out a noise that was half a frustrated sigh and half the sort of growl one would expect from a pissed off strill.
"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish with all this, but it's not going to work." The trooper spat angrily, taking a step forward and resting his hands on the grips of his holstered pistols. "One way or another, we're bringing Commander Tano in."
"She's innocent." Ghes countered reflexively. He better squared himself up to Fox and rested his hand on his own weapon.
"You saw the same security tapes I did." The commander continued. "No one else was in that cell. You've been emotionally compromised, colonel, and you're the only one that can't see it."
Ghes set his jaw, just barely keeping himself from unleashing all of the considerable physical and verbal abuse he was capable of dishing out on the man in front of him. Part of him wondered if this was even Fox speaking or if the clone was just regurgitating something Tarkin had said. It certainly sounded like Tarkin, that man had probably never even smiled at his own mother.
"We're done here." Ghes growled, turning his back on Fox and stalking away. He couldn't trust himself enough not to do something he'd regret if he hung around much longer.
"Just stay out of the way, Marczak." Fox called after him. "Or else this is all going to get a lot worse."
Like hell I will, Ghes swore inwardly, pulling his helmet back on as he walked towards where Rip had parked their speeder next to an alley. What did Fox think he was going to be able to do to him? There wasn't a trooper on planet that'd lift a finger against him on Fox's orders, so unless he wanted a go at arresting him all by himself then Ghes didn't give a damn what he or Tarkin were threatening.
His men stood clustered in a circle just inside the alley next to their speeder when Ghes reached them.
"Sir." Vor greeted him over his shoulder, waving for him to come closer. "You're going to want to have a look at this."
"What'd you boys find all the way over here?" Ghes asked, genuinely curious as he walked over to join their little semi-circle. "Anything useful?"
"Don't know yet." Rip answered, stepping aside to let him in and gesturing to a skinny Rodian that was apparently the focus of the gathering. "Figured we should let you sort that out."
"Who's this?" Ghes queried, looking over the shorter, green, bug-eyed alien who shifted nervously from foot to foot as it eyed the five armored and heavily armed men surrounding it.
"Wouldn't give us a name." Vor answered for the creature. "Just said he had information we'd want to know."
"Did he, now?" Ghes said, eyeing the alien skeptically. "Alright, out with it then."
"A hundred credits." He said, about as gruffly as a Rodian could given their biology.
"What?" Ghes said, even though he was sure he'd heard him clearly. Everyone always wanted something on Coruscant, especially in the lower levels.
"You give me a hundred credits," The Rodian repeated, clearly trying its best to sound more confident than it felt. "I tell you where they went."
"They?" Niner asked under his breath.
"You saw where the Jedi went?" Ghes continued, ignoring the question for now. "Why didn't you tell the troopers?"
"They not going to pay me." The Rodian explained, shaking his head. "You after the bounty on Togruta, pay me so you can find her."
Ghes sighed. He probably could have guessed that one, honestly. Most beings in his experience seemed to be more motivated by credits than any civic duty to assist law enforcement. It was unofficial policy for a lot of CSF precincts in areas like this that detectives carry extra cash to help "motivate" witnesses. Honestly, the easiest thing to do most of the time was just pay them. But today…
Ghes ducked quickly and drove his fist into the Rodian's stomach before the little chaakar had time to realize what was happening, not hard enough to rupture any organs, but hard enough to knock the wind out him with a wheezing shriek. He followed up by grabbing the man by his thin neck and slamming him back into the wall of the alley.
"Sir!" Vor said, nearly as surprised by Ghes's sudden violence as the Rodian.
"Not now." He shot back at the trooper, leaning in close enough to the captive man that he could see a faint reflection of his buy'ce's faceplate in its large eyes. He lifted up his left arm next to his head, showing off the vobroblade he'd deployed from his gauntlet as it hummed softly just centimeters away from bare green skin.
"Please…" The Rodian squeaked pathetically, pupils flitting back and forth between the blade and the soulless black void of Ghes's visor.
"Tell me where they went. Now." Ghes said slowly, taking the time to enunciate every syllable.
"1315!" The Rodian shreiked. "A munitions warehouse, the Togruta said!"
Ghes held on for another thirty seconds after the man had finished speaking, letting the image of the blade a hair's breath away and the fear swimming through his mind at that moment embed itself.
"Go." He said finally, releasing the Rodian and watching as he tripped trying to get as far away from the Mando as fast as possible.
"That was unnecessary, sir." Vor said after the man disappeared around a corner into an adjoining alley.
"Come on." Ghes said, choosing not to acknowledge the point because he knew Vor was right. "We've got a lead."
There couldn't be more than one or two warehouses in this sector of the city that had ever been used to store munitions, he'd be willing to put money on it. They were getting close, Ghes could feel it, wouldn't be too much longer now.
Hold on, Ahsoka, I'm coming for you.
"There it is." Ventress said, nodding toward the darkened, bunker like building separated from it's neighbors on all sides by what looked like at least fifty meters. "Supposed to have been abandoned for years. What exactly are you supposed to find in here?"
"I'm not sure." Ahsoka admitted, scanning the surrounding streets for any sign Barriss was wrong about the warehouse not being under surveillance. "Barr… my contact, said Turmond was here a few times before the bombing."
"That's it?" Ventress sneered, looking at her skeptically. "That's your lead?"
"Do you have anything better?" Ahsoka countered.
Ventress let out an aggravated sigh and rolled her eyes.
"Hurry up then," She said, waving Ahsoka on. "only a few more hours until morning. I'll wait here and keep watch."
"It'll be faster with two of us." Ahsoka pointed out insistently, wondering why Ventress seemed to want to make this difficult.
"And if you're not the only one that got this 'lead'?" The older woman countered. "Do you want to come out and find the place surrounded?"
"Fine." Ahsoka huffed. This argument wasn't worth wasting time on. "Wait here, this won't take long."
Ventress had been right about one thing, the place looked like it hadn't been in use for at least a few years. The front offices seemed to have been stripped of most of their furnishings, and every surface was covered in a thick layer of dust, lit only by feint red emergency lights that seemed to be built into the ceiling at regular intervals. If she had to guess based on where it was, Ahsoka would have said this warehouse had probably belonged to one of the weapons suppliers for the small, pre-war Judicial Forces fleet that was the only standing fighting force the Republic had had for something like a thousand years. With the Judicials folded into the GAR and a drastically increased demand for the sorts of resources needed to fight a war, most of the old infrastructure had been abandoned in favor of the newer, larger scale facilities that had been built closer to the new fleetyard.
The facility Ahsoka found herself searching had been fairly sized by those pre-war standards; five levels, reinforced and compartmentalized, each room with heavy durasteel racks probably capable of storing thousands upon thousands of crates of munitions of various types used aboard the patrol corvettes that had been the Judicial Navy's mainstay. Or, at least, that's what she would have guessed would have been here when the place was still in use. Now, though, while there were still a few empty crates left behind in the first few rooms she checked, it seemed like the warehouse was exactly what it appeared to be from the outside, abandoned.
Ventress was right, this is a waste of time, Ahsoka began to think as she made her way up to the second level, How am I supposed to find a clue when I don't know what I'm looking for?
The second level was a little different from the first, a little more open and bisected by a series of large conveyor belts that had probably been used to move heavier crates without the hassle of loadlifters. She was half way through and about ready to write this level off as empty when she spotted something interesting, what looked like… footprints.
Yes, they were footprints, coming out of a narrow opening in a wall that was probably a maintenance access. They only represented a few steps, like whoever had left them had stepped in a puddle of oil or grease, but they looked recent.
Interesting, Ahsoka thought, kneeling down and touching the smudged impression of a boot tread with the tips of her fingers. Dry, so not from the past few hours, probably longer considering these floors hadn't been cleaned in years. She stood back up and wiped her hand off on her pant leg, following the direction the short trail led in with her gaze. That would narrow her search a little.
A quick peek inside the opening revealed what she'd expected, a narrow space filled with exposed piping Ahsoka mentally tagged for further investigation later before turning her attention to what remained of this level in the direction whoever had left those footprints had been headed. The first room she checked seemed immediately off. There were more crates left in here than there had been anywhere else she'd checked, most of the ones closer to her being very obviously empty because they'd been opened and stacked rather haphazardly along the first couple of shelves in a way that blocked her view of the room beyond them.
Pretty confident that this wasn't how this room had been left when the warehouse had been emptied, Ahsoka decided to investigate further. Most of the levels of the rack behind the first were similarly filled with crates laid purposely so anyone looking would immediately see they were empty, but while the bottom shelf had a few of these as well, there were five crates that appeared to still be sealed.
Further inspection revealed that not only was this the case, but these crates were also of a slightly different make than the others Ahsoka had seen left behind by the warehouse's previous occupant. Acting on a hunch, Ahsoka slung her pack off her back and reached inside, removing one of her lightsabers from the bundle of clothes inside. Pulling one of the suspicious crates off the shelf with the Force, she activated her weapon's blade and quickly but carefully burned through the container's locking mechanism. Powering down her saber and placing the hilt on the ground beside her, she slowly lifted the lid off the container. Inside were around two dozen vials packed neatly into a foam tray, probably the first of many judging by the depth of the container.
Taking one vial out of the tray to examine it, she looked closely at what appeared to be like millions of grains of metallic silt just barely big enough for her to see floating in a clear solution.
"Nano droids…" Ahsoka whispered, barely realizing she was saying it out loud.
So this had been where Turmond had gotten them, or at least where they'd been stored before they'd been given to her. It must have been her mysterious accomplice's footprints she'd found, checking to make sure these were still here. Where these five all there were? If they were, there was still enough ordnance here for a hundred attacks like the Temple bombing. What was whoever was behind this planning…?
A sudden sense of another presence nearby broke her attention away from the vile and it's implications. Whoever it was, they were close, but they were also disguising their presence.
"Ventress?" Ahsoka called out, guessing the former Sith assassin had followed her after all. "What do you want? Did someone from CSF show up?"
When Ventress didn't answer, Ahsoka stood up and poked her head out into the aisle between the side of the shelving units and the wall. There she was, standing in the entrance to the room, wearing her helmet again for some reason.
"What?" Ahsoka asked, more than a little annoyed by woman's refusal to answer her the first time. "What do you want?"
Ventress ended up answering the question without saying anything, all she needed to do was activate her lightsabers.
Ahsoka reacted quickly, grabbing her own lightsaber from the ground where she'd left it with the Force and bringing it up just in time to block the Sith woman as she leaped at her.
"Uhh!" Ahsoka grunted, falling backward hard from the force of the attack. She looked up past the three blades into the expressionless vision slit of Vemtress's helmet and bared her teeth. "You witch!"
She kicked the woman off of her and rolled to her feet, immediately going on the offensive. Ventress blocked the flurry of strikes and retreated back toward the entrance.
"What?!" Ahsoka snarled after her. "You already regretting trying this again?!"
Still silent, the woman gestured up with one hand at the shelving unit Ahsoka was now standing next to.
"No!" Ahsoka yelled, throwing her hands up instinctually to stop the avalanche of crates she knew was coming.
But it was a feint, while she stabilized the shelf against Ventress's influence, the witch deactivated the saber in her other hand and threw the hilt.
Ahsoka was vaguely aware of the sharp pain of the curved metal cylinder striking her in the temple before her vision suddenly went dark.
Ghes held his pistol close to his chest as he crept through what had once been the warehouse's front offices. This was the place, it had to be, the only place within a hundred klicks on this level that had ever been used to produce or store munitions. At least legally, anyway.
"Office's clear." Ghes said quietly into his helmet com, more out of habit then necessity. "First floor looks clear on thermal, moving to the stairwell."
"Roger." Vor answered dutifully. "We're still clear out here, sir."
Ghes'd left the four clones outside to watch the perimeter and keep the speeder running. Probably not the greatest plan given he didn't really know what he might be walking into, but he also didn't want to put them at risk with an unknown like Ventress in play. His beskar could and would stop a lightsaber, but, while the armor buir bought for his men was as good as anything on the private market, it was still just plastoid. Besides, thermal imaging and all the other fancy mods in his buy'ce made up for a lot as far any disadvantage he had going in alone, probably as much as the Force if you didn't mind the extra weight, years of getting used to the interface, and not being able to throw shit around with your mind.
"Sir, we have a problem." Vor came again over the com as Ghes was stepping out of the stairwell onto the second floor. "Somebody must have seen something and tipped off CSF, because we've got GAR tactical teams enroute."
"Here?" Ghes asked, heading towards a feint thermal signature barely visible on his HUD through a reinforced wall.
"Sounds like it." Vor confirmed.
"Of course…" Ghes grumbled under his breath. "Stand by and keep posted. I think I have something."
So either they weren't as far behind the two women as he'd thought or CSF was being especially slow sharing information today. Either way he was on a clock now, it wouldn't take a tactical team from the nearest barracks more then fifteen minutes to get here, less than that if they'd had teams standing by in the area supporting the search. He'd bet on the later.
"Ahsoka?" Ghes called out, switching off thermal and turning on the small lights built into his bucket.
He found out why she hadn't answered when he rounded the corner into the room where he'd seen the signature.
"Ahsoka!" He yelled dropping his sidearm into his holster and rushing to were she laid in a heap next to the second shelving unit in the row. He knelt beside her and brushed a lekku aside to check her pulse, still strong. She was just unconscious.
"Vor, I've got her." Ghes grunted into his com as he picked Ahsoka up off the ground and slung her over his shoulders. He found one of her lightsabers under her and clipped it onto his belt. "She's unconscious, I'm not sure from what. There's a medkit under the front passenger's seat…"
"Got it." Vor answered. "Do you want us to pull up to the door?"
"Negative." Ghes ordered, starting back toward the stairwell as fast as he was willing to move with Ahsoka on his back. "Stay back until I signal you. I don't want you chased down for fleeing the scene if someone shows up. See you in five."
"Roger." Vor confirmed. "We'll be ready."
Ghes owed a lot to those men, he had even before this, even before he'd met Ahsoka. Between the four of them they'd saved his shebs more times than he could count, even Niner had a few times in the little under a year he'd been with the battalion. After all that, he hadn't had any right to asked them to put themselves on the line like they were helping him.
"I don't deserve those boys anymore than I deserve you, cyar'ika." Ghes said aloud. "You're going to have to help me think of a way to pay them back when we get out of this."
He missed the ETA he'd given Vor trying to get back through the front offices with Ahsoka on his shoulders, having to sidestep through the doors and through parts of the hallway adding about another minute.
Almost there, he thought, breathing a sigh of relief as he finally reached the small reception area that led out onto the street. "Vor, I'm ready for pickup."
"On our way. Rip, pull around to…" The trooper began before abruptly falling silent.
"Vor?"
"Sir," He responded after another moment. "We've got incoming!"
As if on cue, the thrumming of dropship repulsor engines found its way to Ghes through the thin transparisteel barrier of the warehouse door, followed a moment later by the glare of searchlights dancing across the street beyond.
No, no, this wasn't right. He had Ahsoka, he'd found her, they were about to be home free…
"Vor!" Ghes shouted into his com, turning on his heel and heading back deeper into the building. He pulled up a copy of the schematic from the public records office on his HUD. "There's a fire exit around back, I'm going to try and meet you there. If I'm not out in ten minutes I want you to go to ground until I contact you."
"Sir, if you think we're going to…"
"I'm not asking, lieutenant!" He snapped. "Going silent until then, Marczak out."
Okay, then, everything was fine, Ghes could still salvage this, could still get Ahsoka out of here. All he had to do was find a clearly marked fire exit at the other end of the warehouse, not that difficult. He'd gotten out of worse situations; Yavin, Geonosis, that blurg stampede on Ryloth, those had all been way worse, right? Compared to any of that this should be a walk in the park, hell, Ahsoka didn't weigh half what Rip had when he'd carried him twenty clicks out of that bug nest they'd gotten lost in. There wasn't even anyone out to kill them this time…
He saw the beams of light coming from around the corner before he saw the troopers themselves, five of them, he guessed, grouped tightly together as they moved through the tunnel that was supposed to have been his escape route.
No, Ghes thought, looking around for somewhere he could duck into or something he could hide behind. But this area in the rear of the building had been a loading bay back when the place had been operating, wide open except for a few support columns too narrow to do him any good.
"Freeze!" The first trooper around the corner screamed, immediately homing in on him. "Grand Army of the Republic! Hands where I can…"
The clone stopped suddenly, blinding Ghes with his light so he only barely saw the rest of the team fanning out into a wedge behind their leader as they came out into the bay.
"Colonel Marczak?"
"Sergeant Kain." Ghes answered, pulling the name out almost as soon as his HUD tagged the man's CT number. "Long time no see."
There, something he could work with. Kain had been with the Coruscant Guard from the beginning, part of the original tac teams he'd help retrain for their new policing mission. A man he knew, a man that trusted him.
"What are you doing here, sir?" The Sergeant asked, switching off his light.
"I tracked Commander Tano here." Ghes bluffed, bouncing Ahsoka a little on his shoulders. "She was unconscious when I found her, but I think whoever did this might still be here. Can you get your men to start clearing…?"
"Our orders are to take the fugitive in." The trooper to Kain's right interrupted.
"Thanks, trooper, but I think I can handle her." Ghes said, forcing as much humor as he could into his voice.
"Sir, I'm afraid we can't let you…"
"Calm down, two-seven." Kain ordered, waving for his men to lower their weapons. "The colonel is one of ours."
"But, sarge," Another spoke up, keeping his carbine trained on Ghes. "the commander said…"
"I know what the commander said!" Kain snapped back, then sighed. "Listen, you boys weren't around back then…"
"That traitor killed six men, sarge!" The first trooper shouted, gesturing toward Ahsoka with his weapon. "You can't just let this guy walk out of here with her!"
"You don't know…"
"Screw this, I'm calling it in!" The second trooper said defiantly, pressing a hand to the side of his helmet. "Command, this is Delta-three, we have target and are moving to extract."
Ghes closed his eyes and sighed quietly behind his helmet's faceplate. So that was it then, no trying to talk his way out of here.
"Dammit, Sy!" Kain swore at the man. He let out a growling mixture of anger and resignation and stepped forward. "I'm sorry, sir, but we're going to have to take Commander Tano."
For a long second, Ghes just looked at the men, the sergeant he knew and the four troopers he didn't. The Westar heavy blaster pistol on his hip felt heavier than usual, heavier than it ever had. It was a powerful weapon, powerful enough to punch clean through plastoid inside ten meters like it wasn't even there. He could have it out in less than half a second, would barely even have to aim. All the beings he'd killed, what was adding a few more, really…
He could feel her breathing, even through his armor he swore he could. Maybe it was just the Force, or his mind playing tricks on him, it didn't matter. She was there with him, she was alive, her fate hanging on what he decided to do next.
And he knew in that moment that he could do it, would do it. Knew that he could live with the guilt of knowing he'd traded the lives of five innocent men just to save hers. Even if that meant she'd want nothing to do with him afterwards.
As that silent second turned into first two, then three, the muscles in his arm tensed in preparation for what he was growing increasingly certain was going to come next…
No.
And, in that instant, he let the tension go.
No, some part of him repeated from deep within his mind, Ahsoka wouldn't want this.
That was it, wasn't it? No matter how willing he was in that moment to cross a line, how much the love he felt for her drove him to do anything to protect her, how willing he was to live with that decision, she wouldn't be. And he didn't have the right to force that decision on her.
"It's okay, sergeant…" He relented finally; despite how much the words tore at his heart as he said them. "You boys are just doing your job."