On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter LX

Ahsoka stepped off the ramp of Calrissian's ship and into a busy Rebel hanger. She wasn't surprised no one was around to greet her—it wasn't like she had the ability to give anyone a heads up—but it stung a bit all the same.

"Thanks for the ride," she said, glancing at the man beside her.

"No problem," he said with a grin. "No, if you'd excuse me, I want to see if a friend of mine's already left."

"By all means," Ahsoka responded. He nodded, leaving to head into the inner corridors of the ship before turning down a hallway. The Torgruta went the opposite direction. Mon knew she was visiting for a little while and wanted to meet with her, but besides that, Ahsoka's schedule was free.

And she already had a stop in mind—the higher in command you were, the easier you were to find, after all.

~*~

"Who is it?" Leia called out as she flipped through the plans of what may yet turn into another hit and run with an Imperial factory for after Luke got back—it was definitely ships and other equipment this time though the reports did hit at some possible interference Hand wise. In fact, she had an entire stack of documents about attacks on Rebel cells by the Hands she needed to go through before High Command met to talk strategy about finding a way to lower the chances of people being found out.

Things were so much simpler when Vader was in control of the military. A lot less Sith agents popping up at random to destroy everything and kill everyone.

"An old family friend," a voice said from the door. The Princess's head sprung up in surprise to find a familiar figure had already walked in.

"Ahsoka!!" Leia shouted, dropping the datapad and slipping out of her chair to race to the Torguta's side before pulling her into a hug. "What the hell happened?!?! Papa said you were dead!"

"It's a long story," Ahsoka responded, with a slightly pained smile as Leia stepped out of the embrace to glare at her. "It was a close call, but.... You know where I work."

The Princess's anger deflated slightly at the reminder. Of course. The identities of Fulcrums were secret for a reason. If Ahsoka had been reactivated, then she likely wasn't allowed to tell anyone that she had survived her fight with Darth Vader. Leia didn't even have the clearance to know a Fulcrum's identity unless the agent in question was involved with something she was in charge of.

"....Did Papa know?" she asked. The Torgruta had been Bail's friend after all. Leia could remember seeing the Grey Jedi going to and from his office as a child—sometimes stopping to entertain the Princess with a strange game or give her a tip on how to work a weapon the handful of times she'd seen the young girl practicing.

It was only after Leia had begun training in the Force that she realized some of those tips and games were Force related. It would explain why she had seen Ahsoka so often when she was younger despite the latter's attachment to Rebel Intelligence—Bail and the Grey Jedi had likely been talking about her some of the time.

"I don't know.... I'm so sorry about what happened to Alderaan," the Torgruta responded. The ache Leia carried in her chest flared for a moment at the reminder.

"It.... It wasn't your doing," the Princess stated, forcing her voice to be firm as she hurriedly tried to move on to a happier topic. "What brings you to the fleet?"

"My partner has been running the both of us to the bone so we decided to take a bit of a break. I thought I'd come here and see who I could meet. I hear Commander Skywalker is out and about?"

"Yes," Leia responded as she moved back to sit down, gesturing for the Grey Jedi to do the same. She knew her brother would be cursing his luck as soon as he learned someone who'd been a padawan before the Empire's creation had stopped by looking for him. "I'm afraid I don't know when he'll be back. He went with Han to make sure they didn't lose all of the Rebellion's credits."