Chapter 7 – The Challenges of Ruling

I'm finished with the next chapter of this story. Ahsoka has been queen for a short while now, getting a little used to life as a queen. However, there are many different hardships that a queen can face as well as decisions that she will find difficult.

Hope you enjoy.

;-

Queen Ahsoka Tano of Shili looked at her reflection in the large mirror of her bedroom. Little over two weeks had passed since Senator T'Rani Corso had returned to Shili. Since then, they had been able to do a lot of work to help the people. Her renovation plans were already underway and the results were beginning to show. A lot of people were very happy with them and a number of them had also volunteered to help wherever they could. The mood in the city had been very good.

Ahsoka smiled as she studied herself in the mirror. Three days ago, she had travelled to a nearby tribe with a number of royal guards. Her reason had been simple: she needed a new headdress. Every time that she saw her reflection it had made her feel a little uneasy, so she wanted that little problem fixed. A few of the warriors had expressed some concerns, but she had thanked them for worrying and dismissed their concerns. She had done killed an Akul before and she could do it again.

Hunting for an Akul again had been an exhilarating experience. The thrill of the hunt was the same as the last time. Her skills thankfully hadn't gotten rusty over the years, so she had a very successful hunt. She now had a new headdress sitting on her forehead and she was very glad for that.

The hunt had been very welcome after what happened earlier in the week. Following a brief trial, seeing as he had already confessed to it in the throne room, the usurper Goran Reendorr had been sentenced to death for his crimes against the royal family of Shili. Being queen, Ahsoka had to be there during the trial. It hadn't been a very pleasant experience, especially after her own trial which had resulted in her being executed.

His execution had been the following day. No one in the city had seemed to be against it, quite the opposite really, quite a large group of people had already been demanding his execution. It had all been very trying on her, but she wasn't going to stand in the way of what they people wanted. They had all suffered under him for so long.

The laws of Shili were very clear on such crimes against the royal family, so he was sentenced and executed. It was what he deserved.

She was just glad that she hadn't been required to be present during the execution itself. She had the idea that Shaden, Silara and senator Corso had pulled some strings behind her back, but she was glad for that. She wasn't sure if she would have been able to handle it after her own experience. It was all over now, he would soon be a nasty memory for the people and they could all move forward again.

She pushed the memories away and turned her attention back to the servant girl who walked into the room with a cup of tea.

The green skilled girl smiled at her as she placed the cup on the nearby table. "Welcome back milady, I'm glad that you returned safely from your hunt. You had us a little worried, the Akul are always dangerous," she said as she gave a slight bow. "If I may, your new headdress looks great on you."

"Thank you Lyra," Ahsoka replied with a smile. "It was a thrilling hunt, just like how I remember my first hunt was. It went well and I must say that I am very glad to have a headdress on my forehead again. I just didn't feel right without it." She glanced over at herself in the mirror again before turning back to Lyra. "How about you? Did you never feel like hunting an Akul yourself? She asked, noticing her lack of a headdress.

Lyra gently shook her head, lekku swaying along. "No milady, I'm not a fighter like yourself and the others. I don't dare to hunt the Akul myself," she said honestly. "I've always been more of a crafter. I'm really good in sowing and wood crafting. Some people might not find it that exciting, but I enjoy it greatly."

Ahsoka looked at her a moment. The custom wooden engraved bracelets on her arms were hard to miss, as was the intricate pattern on her sash. "So you made your bracelets and sash yourself?" she asked.

Lyra nodded. "That's right milady, I did," she replied with a smile. "I've also made a number of dresses and other clothing with my mother. Quite a few of my friends always asked me to make something for them."

Ahsoka smiled as well. "That's pretty impressive," she said. "While fighting in the way, I learned how to sow to do simple repairs for my clothes and whatnot for when they tore during the fighting, but I doubt that I would have the patience to do much more than that." She laughed a bit and was pleased that Lyra was slightly laughing as well. "How have things been here while I was away?"

"It all went pretty good milady," Lyra replied. "More of the smaller renovation projects in the city have been completed. Because of that, we were able to help more of the people that were staying in the palace to return to their own homes, the ones that were taken from them by that usurper. They were fixed up again and ready to be moved into."

"That's wonderful news," Ahsoka said with a smile. "I'm glad that they were able to finally return home. I'm sure that T'Rani will fill me in about the other projects soon."

"I'm sure that she'll be eager to. I haven't seen her smile this much in years," Lyra replied. "I will return to my duties now. Goodnight milady."

"Alright, thank you Lyra," Ahsoka said. Lyra bowed to her and left the room.

;-

A warning sensation rippled through the Force and Ahsoka opened her eyes. The small holo-clock on the nightstand read 03:22. It was in the middle of the night, something wasn't right. She reached out with the Force around her and a felt a strong sense of direct danger.

She slowly shifted in the bed a bit, making it seem like she was just moving in her sleep a little. Her mother's katana were still sitting next to the bed where she had left them. She grabbed hold of them with the Force, ready to call them into her hands at a seconds notice.

One of the first things that the royal guards had told her about after becoming queen was the little emergency button that was located in multiple rooms of the palace, ready to be used in case of emergency to immediately signal them. She pushed it with the Force, to let them know that something was wrong.

The sound of silent movement filled her montrals. Someone was definitely in her room, heading straight for her. Between the Force and her montrals she could clearly tell that the unknown threat reached for a weapon of sort and moved to strike her lying in bed.

She waited calmly for the threat to get a little bit closer. "Now!" she though as she quickly called the blades towards her and swung at the assailant, blocking his knife and obviously shocking him. The man moved back and she leapt out of the bed, going after him. He swung at her again, but she easily blocked his weapon and knocked it from his hands. He jumped back a bit and reached for the blaster holstered on his side. In response to that, Ahsoka used the Force to slam him into the wall. He slumped down unconscious.

With the threat no longer a threat, Ahsoka used the Force to turn the lights on. Her attacker was a human man, dressed in a form of armor similar to what she had seen bounty hunters and would-be assassins wear before. Just to be on the safe side, she pulled his blaster away with the Force, flinging it away to the other side of the room.

Movement outside her bedroom caught her attention. She already knew what it was when five H'Raani M'Kai warriors stormed into the room. Upon seeing the invader lying unconscious by the wall, two of them quickly moved to him, weapons drawn and at his throat. Two others quickly checked the rest of the room while the fifth warrior came up to her.

It was moments like this that Ahsoka was glad that she had gotten some proper sleepwear. Being more than half-naked would have made this moment incredibly awkward and embarrassing as well. She shook the thought away and focused on what was going on.

"Milady, are you alright?" Cira Tao-Ni, one of the warriors who had stormed to her room asked. Her fellow warriors were already restraining the invader.

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, I'm alright, thank you Cira," she replied. "Just get this creep out of here for me would you?"

"Don't worry milady, we will," Varik, one of the male warriors replied as he and his warrior brother dragged the unconscious assassin to his feet. "We will make sure that he won't be able to hurt anyone. We'll question him as soon as he wakes up."

"Thank you," Ahsoka replied as the two dragged him out, followed by a third warrior. The remaining tension in her lessened a bit as the assassin was out of the room.

The other remaining warrior, the female markswoman Aurora, walked up to her. "Milady, would you please step out of the room for a moment? I want to scan the room and make sure that he hasn't left anything dangerous behind," she asked her.

That thought hadn't crossed her mind yet. The man was obviously working for someone. If they wanted insurance that she was killed, than they could have told him to plant a bomb in her room as well. She silently scolded herself a little for forgetting the possibility in the heat of the moment. "Good idea Aurora," Ahsoka replied. "Just be careful yourself, I don't want to see you getting hurt if he has planted anything."

Aurora smiled at her. "Don't worry milady, I'll make sure to be careful," she said as she handed Ahsoka a long robe from the nearby closet. Ahsoka nodded her thanks and left the room with Cira.

Ahsoka and Cira went to one of the smaller meeting rooms close by, but far enough from the room should there be a bomb in it. After she sat down, she asked one of the palace staff working a night shift to get her something to drink.

Cira sat down opposite her. "Are you sure you're alright milady?" she asked with concern.

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, don't worry Cira, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up," she replied. "It's not like people haven't tried to kill me before. In my time with the Order, I was constantly in such danger. I don't want to say that I'm used to it, but…" She shook her head and looked at Cira. "Did you already check in with the other guards? Was no one in the palace hurt?" she asked.

Cira shook her head. "Don't worry milady, everyone is doing fine," she replied. "Are you sure you're alright? This assassin was after you."

Ahsoka studied her a bit. "Yes, I'm fine, but I might take some more time to relax tomorrow," she said with a light smile. "Is everything alright with you? You seem quite concerned about something."

Cira was silent for a bit and looked down slightly. "He should never even have been able to reach your room milady," she said with some regret in her voice. "We should have stopped him outside the walls of the palace and detained him instantly. Instead, he came that close to you. I fear that, over the years of being disbanded, we may have gotten rusty. Our skills aren't what they used to be. For that, I am truly sorry milady."

Ahsoka was surprised by her words, but she could sense how much this meant to Cira. "Cira, don't worry. Everyone is safe right? No one was hurt, he's been imprisoned. Everything worked out fine, didn't it?"

Cira took a deep breath. "You are right milady, still, his attack should have been prevented," she replied. "We didn't do our duty properly."

"Cira, stop talking like that," Ahsoka said with a slight frown. "Everything is alright. When I sounded the alarm, you were there in less than two minutes. Compared to some of the response times I've seen on Coruscant, that was just incredible. Please stop talking like this. I'm not going to be angry or upset with any of you if that's what you think."

Cira nodded and gave a small smile. "Alright milady, I'll let it go," she replied. "However, I promise you, we won't let this happen again."

Ahsoka smiled as well. "That's the spirit," she said. "I know that none of you will let me down."

The door opened and Aurora walked into the room. "Good news milady, we finished scanning your room and everything checks out fine. No explosives in or around it, it will be safe for you to return," she informed them. "However, two of us will be keeping watch outside the door, just to be sure. We do not know if the assassin was working alone."

"When I knocked him out and you secured him, the danger I felt through the Force faded, so I think he was alone," Ahsoka replied. "Still, I'm grateful for the offer. I just hope the rest of the night is quiet." She finished her drink and stood up.

"I think that's what we all would like milady," Cira said with a smile as she stood up as well.

;-

The following day

Ahsoka was in the throne room, talking with Shaden Zadane, leader of the Shilian royal guard. They had interrogated the assassin earlier and he was now reporting their findings.

Shaden stood close to the throne in his full armor, his axe on his back. "The bounty hunter confessed to have been hired to assassinate you milady," he told her. "He also shared with us who hired him: the Night Thorn Syndicate."

Ahsoka frowned instantly. That gang of thugs had shown up on Shili the week before. They were there to see 'king' Reendorr. When they learned she was now queen, they had demanded to have an audience with her instead.

She had reluctantly agreed to see them. After the royal guards looked up who they were, Ahsoka didn't really want a band of criminals like them running through the city, so she let them in the palace to see what they wanted.

During their 'conversation', she really had to work on keeping her anger under control. Apparently, that slime of an usurper had negotiated a deal with them. He would get a large supply of credits and other valuables and in return, they would get a bunch of servant girls from the palace, either to keep as slaves themselves or to sell them on the slave market.

The way they had stood in the throne room, pointing out the girls standing in the room and demanding that they be handed over to them, Ahsoka truly wondered if she had ever been that furious with someone before.

She had somehow managed to keep her composure and ordered them to leave Shili immediately. If they tried to take any girl, they would be in serious trouble. Their anger with her had been very obvious. They vowed that she would regret breaking their deal.

Ahsoka turned her attention back to Shaden. "So they made the mistake of following up with their threat, haven't they?" she asked as she shook her head. "Such people disgust me, being so willing to turn others into their slaves and degrade and abuse them like that." She took a deep breath as a few memories of the entire mess of Kiros with the Zygerrians flashed through her mind again.

She focused her attention on Shaden again. "Do you have any idea where they are now?" she asked him.

Shaden nodded, a sense of determination resonating from him. "Yes milady, we do," he replied confidently. "We followed them last time and made sure that they left Shili. We registered their ship while we did so. Our scanners showed that it landed in the scrublands of Shili somewhere during the night, in the general vicinity of three tribes. It seems that apart from trying to have you killed, they also want to collect on their rotten 'deal'."

"Those disgusting…" Ahsoka took a deep breath and worked hard on releasing her anger. "I will not allow scum like them to harm our people. You have their exact location?"

"Yes milady, we do," Shaden replied. "With your permission, I will assemble a group of warriors and go deal with them personally. We will send a clear message that the people of Shili will be safe under your rule."

"Oh, you definitely have my permission," Ahsoka said as she stood up from the throne. "When do you expect we can leave? I want to deal with them before they have a chance to hurt anyone from the tribes. Get some fighters in the air as well, just in case they try to get away in their ship."

Shaden's face remained calm, but a sense of concern did flicker from him. "Don't worry milady, we will make sure that they don't have a chance of escaping," he told her. "However, I must ask that you leave this to us. Please remain here in the palace."

Ahsoka looked at him, surprise clearly visible on his face. "Don't worry Shaden, I grew up as a Jedi and I fought in the war for years. I can easily deal with a group of thugs like them," she replied.

"I do not doubt your skill Ahsoka," Shaden said as he walked a little closer. "but this group has already tried to get you killed once. I do not want to risk your life in such a way milady. You are our queen now. All of Shili is counting on you to lead them. Your life is too valuable."

Ahsoka couldn't deny that he had some good points, but it was hard for her to accept it and do nothing about it herself.

Shaden noticed her reluctance to accept it. "Milady, as your royal guard, it's our duty to protect both you and the people of Shili," he told her. "Trust in us to handle them. We will not allow them to get away with this."

Ahsoka sighed a bit. "I do trust you Shaden, do not doubt that, please," she replied. "It's just that… having been a Jedi all my life, I'm used to taking action myself. I never hesitated to throw myself in harm's way in order to protect others. Not doing anything in this situation just doesn't make me feel right."

Shaden gave her a slight smile. "You have a good heart milady," he told her. "But you are taking action. Part of being a queen is sending out others to take handle certain situations. In this case, you are sending us to deal with a threat to our people. You are doing what is expected of you as queen."

Ahsoka nodded, even if she was slightly irritated by it. "You're right, but that doesn't mean that I have to completely like it," she replied. "Very well then, commander Zadane, see to it that these criminals are dealt with. Assemble your team, go after them and protect our people."

Shaden smiled and saluted. "I will milady, rest assured that we will do so," he said. "I will gather the others and we will depart immediately." He gave a quick bow and started to make his way out of the throne room.

Ahsoka watched him leave and sighed. "After so many years of taking action myself, staying behind like this feels really strange. Shaden and the others can take care of them, I'm sure of that. I just hope that nothing bad happens to any of them or the people of those tribes."

She shook her head and stood up from the throne. She had an appointment with T'Rani, but after the attempt on her life that had been postponed a few hours. She started making her way towards one of the doors at the side of the throne room. Two servants came up to her. "I'll be in the gardens. Please have someone let me know when Senator Corso gets here," she asked them.

"Of course milady," one of the girls replied as they both bowed. Ahsoka nodded to them and made her way to the gardens to relax a bit.

;-

A few hours later

Ahsoka and T'Rani had finished up their meeting and walked out of the room. They had spent some time discussing other recent events happening on Shili, as well as some new safety measures that could be implemented in the space ports to prevent such dangerous individuals from setting foot on the planet again. It had been a lengthy talk, but Ahsoka didn't mind. The senator was good company and she really cared for the people of Shili, just like Ahsoka herself did.

T'Rani looked at their young queen, some concern still present in her. "Ahsoka, I hope you don't mind, but after hearing what happened I have to ask: are you doing alright?" she asked.

Ahsoka looked at her and nodded. "Yes, don't worry T'Rani, I'm fine," she replied. "It's not exactly the first time someone has tried to kill me. The reason was just different now." She shrugged. "I'm just a little worried about everyone's safety with that gang on the loose. Not directly taking action myself is just something that I'm not used to."

"Don't worry milady, I remember seeing captain Zadane and the other warriors deal easily with all kinds of different crooks. They'll make certain that this gang is dealt with swiftly," T'Rani said in return. "I'm sure that they will return shortly with some good news."

"Believe me T'Rani, I don't doubt their skill, not one bit," Ahsoka said with a smile. "I guess I'm just a little stressed out by all of this."

"I don't think anyone can blame you for that, so don't worry about it," T'Rani replied. "The rest of the day should be free of meetings, so maybe we can find something relaxing to do."

"Maybe," Ahsoka said as she thought about it. A little idea came to her. She had talked with a few royal guards the week before. Apart from their regular training, they were also very qualified pilots. The way they had talked about their fighters had made her quite eager to give them a little test flight herself. "Hmm, the fighters of the royal guards should all be in the hangar and ready to fly, right?" she asked innocently.

"Yes…" T'Rani replied slowly, unsure of where she was going with this. "Why do you ask?"

Ahsoka just gave her a smile in return and started heading in the direction of the hangar. T'Rani's face paled slightly in worry as she hurried after her.

;-

Shaden Zadane sat in the transport with his fellow warriors. They had been successful in dealing with that group of criminals. When the warriors arrived in the area, their targets were busy harassing one of the tribes that made their home there.

It was not a sight that made him very happy. Three of the male hunters of the tribe were lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding from wounds caused by shrapnel launchers, not regular blasters. Five female teens from the tribe were also lying on the ground behind the group, bound up and gagged, meant to be taken away.

They had moved swiftly and effectively, placing themselves between the gang, the tribe and their captives, weapons drawn and ready to strike. He had made it very clear, they had one chance to surrender and only one chance. They chose to attack the warriors instead, it was their last mistake.

It took less than a minute. They might have been hardened criminals, but they were heavily outgunned by his group of warriors, not to mention that a few hidden hunters from the tribe also hurled spears at them and fired arrows from their hiding spots in the Turu grass. The gang had been too arrogant in their actions and they had paid the price for it. None of them remained.

Half of his group of warriors, mainly those trained more in medicine and engineering, had stayed with the tribe to help them recover and repair the damages caused by the criminals. Shaden himself and the rest had begun to travel back to Corvala, to report to their queen. Once their fellow warriors were finished, they would take the ship of the criminals and fly that back to the city.

What happened to that ship would be their queen's decision, but he hoped she would share his opinion of scrapping it. There was no denying that it was a ship for slavers and criminal scum. Several 'rooms' of the ship were obviously meant to hold others captive and torture them. The walls and floors were stained with their previous actions. It was a ship that should just be destroyed.

"Speaking of ships," he thought as he looked up to the sky. Three of their fighters were flying through the air, one of them flying very rapidly and pulling all sorts of intense maneuvers.

"Is one of the new trainees going for a little joyride or something?" Aurora commented next to him.

"It sure looks that way," Shaden replied as he observed the fighter shooting through the air. "As long as they don't damage the fighters, it's alright if they show of a little bit."

"Hmm… looking at those moves, it might be Varon or Silara demonstrating what our fighters are capable off," Aurora said as she followed the fighter as well. "There's no way that a new recruit would be able to fly at that level."

"Guess we'll find out soon enough, let's continue to the palace," Shaden replied. The others sounded their agreement and they continued on their way.

;-

Shaden and Aurora made their way through the hangar to where Senator Corso was waiting for them. Upon seeing them approach, she smiled and walked up to them as well. "It is good to see the both of you. How did everything go?" she asked them.

"Senator Corso," Shaden replied as they saluted. "It went well enough. We took down that group, but they did wound a few of our brothers and sisters in the tribe. The others stayed with them to help them recover. They will return once they are done there."

T'Rani nodded. "I'm glad that they're dealt with. That bunch was too dangerous to allow them to roam around unchecked," she said. "Do they need anything in the form of supplies in the tribe?"

"The others will contact us later today to let us know. Once they do, we'll inform you senator," Shaden replied. "Where is the queen? I'm sure that she would like to hear our report as well."

T'Rani's face gained a bit of a worried expression. "When you returned to the city, did you happen to see a fighter flying around like crazy?" she asked them.

"Yes, we did. Why do you ask that?" Shaden replied, not understanding the question. T'Rani merely gave him a look and something started to dawn in his mind. His face turned to worry as well. "You don't mean…" he trailed off as he looked at the fighter pull off a few fast corkscrew maneuvers.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," T'Rani said as she looked up at the fighter again as well.

;-

Ahsoka smiled and was still a little giddy with the adrenaline as she landed the fighter back in the hangars of the palace. This had been exactly what she needed after the stresses from the day. "The royal guards have some pretty nice fighters," she thought as she got out of the cockpit. She looked to the side and saw T'Rani, Shaden, Silara and a number of other warriors and palace staff standing there with worry clear on their faces.

She smirked and walked up to them. "Your fellow warriors were right, these are some pretty sweet fighters," she told the group, amused by the feelings she felt through the Force.

Silara was the first to respond. "Ahsoka, what were you doing?" she asked in shock and worry.

"Just relieving some stress," she replied with a smirk. "I really needed that after everything that happened." She then turned her attention to Shaden. "Captain, how did everything go?"

Shaden wanted to comment about her actions, but seeing her standing there like that, her stance and that smirk on her face, it brought back memories of her mother doing the exact same things. He couldn't help the smile creeping onto his face. He shook his head slightly. "It went well enough milady," he informed her. "Unfortunately, those thugs were able to wound a few of the people from the tribe, but some of our fellow warriors stayed behind to help them recover and repair the damages. The criminals themselves refused to surrender, so we were forced to put an end to them."

Ahsoka nodded. "Well, I'm glad that they're dealt with. They were too dangerous to just ignore," she replied. She thought things over a moment and turned to T'Rani. "Can we schedule a visit to the tribe? I'd like to see how they are doing myself."

T'Rani smiled and nodded as well. "Of course milady, I'll get right on that," she said.

"That's great," Ahsoka replied with a smile. "I'll fly," she added with teasing smirk, causing a few startled looks amongst the others. She laughed and started walking towards the exit of the hangar, a few others following her, giving some slight protests.

;-

That's the end of this chapter.

Ahsoka had to deal with more problems caused by the usurper, but all ended well. The criminal group has been dealt with and the people of Shili are safe again. Ahsoka will continue to ensure that her people are safe under her.

I'm going to work on The Hunt again next. This story will have two more chapters and I'm going to finish those both first. I want to pick up my other stories again and seeing as this mini story takes places in their time skip, it needs to be finished first. So, up next: Aisha's Akul hunt.

Until next time.