“Ani, strap in, I’m going to make the jump.” Ahsoka chimed over the onboard comm.
A slight crackle, then “Good to go.”
Ahsoka blew out a deep breath and engaged the hyperdrive. Executing the directive, she had confidently set herself on, she was still somewhat apprehensive about what awaited them at the other end of this. She could not ignore the overwhelming feeling of nervousness that was creeping closely toward consuming her, bridged by fear to a conclusion that could not be foreseen by anyone. She felt betrayed in that fleeting moment, betrayed by her own ambition, selfish motivations, she could not pinpoint the source. Ahsoka was confident she was destined to this path, but the confusion of recent events, thrusting her mind in so many differing directions caused her pause. The children had always been her priority, and that list of involvement was long, consuming her past and present. The swirling blue where time stood still, yet did not, had a matter of putting things into perspective. She could not live in the past. Mistakes were made, choices made, none of which could be undone. But she could live for the present. A present that was ever more populated by young ones with a high degree of attunement to the Force, not so young ones that have lost their way and those that were destined to make a difference. She thought immediately of Luke. Although his destiny was shrouded from her view, she trusted both Jedi masters implicitly in their wisdom, as it were, to guide her toward other endeavors. She had Ani. The thought made her smile, but what came so quickly as a feeling of joy and purpose clouded over with the dark mist of the unknown. Kowani had added another element to herself with T’zar, and Ahsoka wasn’t quite sure if that was a good or terrible thing yet. She trusted Kowani, but the Mirialan was naive at best to the Force in general. She let the thought play out in her head while trying to tune out the clattering noise her friend considered music.
“Ani, where’s your headset?” She asked wrinkling her nose as the bass rattled the hull of the ship yet again. There was no immediate response. “Ani?”
“What’s up?”
The voice was right behind Ahsoka. She spun around to face it. “I thought you were still in the cargo bay.”
“Oh...yeah, I was but I couldn’t hear what you said over the comm.” Kowani replied.
Rolling her eyes, Ahsoka swiveled back in her seat shaking her head.
“I get the feeling you don't much appreciate the tunes.” Kowani said, planting herself in the co-pilot’s seat, facing her, “C’mon Ahsoka, everyone appreciates music.”
Ahsoka stifled a laugh, “Music yes...that? No.” She said, the laugh escaping her despite her efforts.
Kowani rolled her eyes, “It takes an appreciation of all music to get a feel for the types you truly love.”
“I could not agree more.” T’zar commented.
‘Not now’ Kowani thought, appeasing the voice at least temporarily.
Ahsoka did not bite despite reasoning the logic within the statement.
“What is it Ahsoka. What is on your mind so heavily? Surely it isn’t the music.” Kowani was silent for a moment before saying, “The T’zar thing?”
Ahsoka looked down at the control panel in front of her before saying anything. “No Ani, it isn’t either. Your music is a part of who you are, as for T’zar, I can’t say I trust his motives….”
“That hurts.” T’zar muttered.
“...But I trust yours.” Ahsoka finished, then “the feeling is fleeting at times, elusive at others. There are so many questions with no answers Ani. Things that don’t make sense. Too many loose ends.” She trailed off in either thought or memory, Kowani couldn’t decide.
“Lay it on me, maybe we can figure something out together.” she said matter of fact.
Ahsoka did not alter her gaze as she unclipped master Windu’s saber hilt from the loop at her waist. She held it firmly in her grasp, eyes locked on it intently, “You should not have been able to disassemble my saber.” She cast a furtive look in Kowani’s direction, trying to see T’zar within, “Even with ‘his’ assistance.” She cast her eyes back on the hilt again.
Kowani took the pause as an injection point for a carefully crafted plan of defensiveness, “Then why assign me the task?” She asked sincerely.
Ahsoka raised a dismissive hand and shook her head slightly, “That isn’t my point here. Regardless of the intentions, you succeeded. ‘That’ point” Ahsoka placing added emphasis, “Was to eliminate the effort from the attempt. You would have either failed or succeeded because you didn’t ‘try.’ Now, your success is giving me serious doubts about how this came into our possession Ani.” She relayed, holding the hilt out in front of her. “It was payment for a contract on me, ultimately funneled down to a no name bounty hunter that failed miserably. The payment was made by a close partisan of the Emperor meaning it came from him directly.”
“If I may add some measure of knowledge to the conversation...?” T’zar spoke to Kowani.
‘Yes of course’ Kowani thought in return but said, “tracker possibly?”
“I have sensed nothing at all; besides, we were planet side on Dagobah long enough to have been traced with nothing to show for it.” Ahsoka said a moment later.
“T’zar may have some input here, he was there after all.” said Kowani.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes to herself, “I am all ears.”
‘And how do we do this?’ Kowani asked T’zar.
“Repeat after me?” He responded quizzically.
‘Oh…. yeah, ok. I thought you had something more elaborate in mind.’
“Simple is best sometimes.” He returned.
Ahsoka stared at Kowani expectantly, then understood the nuances involved.
Kowani began, “While you are limited in your interactions with tangibility, I have the luxury of no parameters in the matter. I have ‘wielded’ the saber,” stuttering on the word, “and as such have an intimate knowledge of it, inside and out. I will assure you that saber hilt has no stow away assemblies or components. Perhaps simplicity is the most logical reasoning then? It is just a ‘thing’ after all.”
“That makes even less sense to me then…” Ahsoka said crinkling her nose, “A lone bounty hunter?”
“Again, I should interject.” T’zar, through Kowani, responded. “The original company had six members. Check the crew quarters aboard, you will see it was occupied by more than one lone individual.”
Ahsoka lifted an eyebrow, agitated at herself for not inspecting the vessel more thoroughly as well as for assuming things she herself had not vetted properly.
“Two of the former crew were dispatched to Mos Espa, an additional two to Anchorhead. The fifth, and last, had been purposefully inebriated and was face down on the table beside me...Anaem...in the cantina.”
Kowani stopped and shook her head. “So, the attack was you then?” She spoke aloud.
“No” T’zar continued through Kowani, “Precisely the opposite in fact Ms. Y’mmat.”
Ahsoka could not help but think how bizarre this interaction must be for Kowani.
“Anaem’s intentions were clear enough when he sat down, his minion, Devrone, was quite susceptible to ‘inhabitation’ and imbibed far too much. Anaem was quite upset with him in fact. To the point, he was not willing to make a move on his own. It took quite the effort to ‘move’ him, and he fought for control with abandon. The carelessness of the ‘attack’ would have more than likely left everyone for dead, but I did my best to arrest him in the end.”
Ahsoka raised a hand, beckoning for silence. “By this admission, you were the direct cause of the confrontation.”
“Directly, yes. But, had I not gotten that beast under control Ms. Y’mmat might well have been killed.”
“Stop calling me that.” Kowani said immediately.
“Apologies...Ani. The point is, he had come prepared. And you Ahsoka were his target. He had successfully hunted down Jedi in the past, which brings me back, full circle, to my point regarding simplicity. Owning the saber of a Jedi Master may have well been enough motive.”
“All this theory regarding the saber brings me back to my original frustration. And, yes, directly you.” She said, staring deep into Kowani’s eyes. T’zar felt the direction of the question. “Why did you even get involved?”
“Ahh...the heart of the matter.” T’zar, through Kowani, let the statement echo for a moment. “Master Yoda was right Ahsoka, you will always carry the memory of Mortis with you. How can you not sense the enormity of who you are Ahsoka Tano. Forget about prophecies as told by either allegiance, you know the Force is real and that is all that there is to know. Look in the mirror young one and finally see what everyone else does. Then, and only then, ask me why I would get involved. The question should be, ‘Why Not’ get involved.” T’zar finished.
No one spoke for quite a while, Ahsoka, letting the words mingle throughout her, turned to stare out the canopy into the spiraling nexus of hyperspace. Kowani, resting her hands on her knees, catching up on breathing, stared objectively at Ahsoka. She, too, could see what T’zar had abstractly described, and wondered why it was so hard for the Togruta to just be comfortable within her own self.
“Ahsoka.” Kowani said. “I can feel the truth of his words, the Force itself has a respect for you I’ve never seen before. It wraps itself around you, protectively, like a child but also as if you’re it’s mother...or father. Currents like that don’t exist Ahsoka, not even Master Yoda affected that...love, for lack of a better word.” Kowani let the words register without further coaxing then stood up to leave the cockpit. She reached the doorway and turned around. “You don’t need a mirror Ahsoka. With all the paths laid before you, look what you chose to prioritize over everything else.” She spoke the words softly and with compassion, smiled and left for the cargo bay.
Ahsoka had not taken her eyes off the vortex before her but had heard every word. Despite the irrational danger ahead, she was, yet again, putting the lives of the innocent before her own. She closed her eyes and thought immediately of Jedi Master Plo Klun. ‘because someone did the same for me.’ She gripped the saber hilt, tightly, for a final time and returned it to her hip, brushing her hand over the newest addition to her arsenal. Reflexively, she pulled her hand back quickly forgetting it’s place at her side, then slowly moved to remove it. Her grip was firm around the oddly cold cylinder. There were no questions in her mind at all about this saber as she brought it up before her. In its creation she had poured herself into the effort, had swaddled it with passion and infused it with raw emotion. It now contained equal parts reverence and malice, devotion and hatred, forbearance, and rage, it is then, balanced she knew. Through it, she felt again, the purpose for which it was constructed. “Freedom” she spoke the word. Freedom from so very many things she thought, but most accurately, from the past. (decide to add more later?)
“Although I am a bit aged in the art of lightsaber combat, the forms are easy enough to describe.” T’zar said to Kowani. “You seem to have attained the basics of Shii Cho which would suffice as a defensive technique plied toward intermediate blaster interaction. Refocusing the bolts would employ the Shien form, thereby disregarding Makashi, Soresu and Ataru for the time being.”
‘I have no idea what you just said.’ Kowani responded.
“You are decent enough with form one to employ it against moderately skilled infantry, however, the possession of an energy blade also creates an opportunity of sorts to redirect their fire. This would employ basic knowledge of form five, bypassing forms two through four.” He simplified.
Kowani, sweating again, deactivated the blade and slowly placed her hands on her knees, crouching, to regain her breath. ‘This is just one form? How many are there?’
“Six known to me, but I am sure there are others. I was never adept in lightsaber combat but there was a certain level required by my former master that I needed to learn and retain.” He finished with a slight pause at the end.
‘T’zar, how did you learn?’ Kowani asked.
“Learn what?”
‘Well...everything, I guess. The master you’ve mentioned a few times now or even before that.’ She felt humbled asking the question.
“Darth Imperious was her name…” He hesitated, considering the benefits and impediments elaboration would elicit. He could feel her involuntary response to the title with a quick inward tension, but she relaxed just as quickly, giving him a cue to continue. “I do not recall much prior to being her apprentice so there remains vacancy in my memories. She was a dedicated practitioner of the Force and a steadfast devotee of the Sith. Her skill in lightsaber combat was astonishing and found disfavor with me quickly upon learning we did not have the same beliefs. I have always been fond of the Force, a respect if you will, whereas she sought to control it and bend it to her will at all costs. I would spend my time in meditation to her displeasure, but she would accost me and force me to learn the forms and how to employ them with a modicum of success. Beyond that, we had almost no interaction. She would leave me to prayers for weeks on end, in search of a new apprentice I found out later. Her aggressive nature led to her ultimate failure but not before rending a rift within the Force that was powerful enough to alert the Jedi to her machinations. She had desecrated that which I found sacred, had invaded my sanctuary with the intent to transform it to an abomination of her will. I assisted her new apprentice in her defeat and then withdrew completely into the Force, leaving my corporeal form to rot. Kowani, I have seen much in the time since. There is a wave of change coming that will directly affect both realms with ferocity. Whether it is a confluence or a vergence, I do not know, only that the Force is preparing itself for ‘something’.”
‘That...is a lot of information, but...thank you T’zar. I know memory can sometimes be painful, and everyone has one.’
“Your compassion is perhaps your greatest gift young Mirialan.” T’zar said.
‘I thought it was my innate skill with a lightsaber.’ She quickly fired back.
T’zar paused before saying, “I am sure that I will grow accustomed to your elaborate sense of humor over time. Ignite the saber and I will show you the form five sequence.”
‘Shien.’ She stated.
“Ahh...you were paying attention!”