Meet You at the Dark Side

Chapter 37 - Invasion of Florrum

"I can't believe Dooku is really sending us on a mission with him," Ahsoka huffs as she and Obi-Wan make their way up the ramp of the ship. Maybe it's his newest torture method. Of everyone she's ever known on the Separatist side, there's hardly anyone worse – if anyone – than General Grievous.

"It's better than it could be," Obi-Wan points out.

"Better than Dooku himself?" she asks dryly. "Maybe, but he'd never lower himself to such standards. At least he doesn't go around hacking his lungs out all the time, though."

Well, at least for once they're being given a mission that she doesn't have any major objections to. Dooku wants them to find the pirate groups on Florrum, headed by Hondo Ohnaka. She's pretty sure the main reason Dooku is doing this is because of the time the pirates were able to capture him and nearly ransomed him off to the Republic. Petty revenge.

Still, the pirates do need to be dealt with and the Republic never did anything about it before. Maybe the other reason Dooku's doing this is for publicity's sake. The people would certainly like it if pirates were gotten rid of. Ahsoka doesn't mind this, either. After all, having spent so much time with Dooku, she has picked up on a few things. Including the belief that there's some people who don't have a place in this galaxy.

"Welcome," croaks an all-too-familiar voice. She turns to see Grievous striding – more accurately, clanking – towards them. "General Kenobi, we've been waiting for you."

"He's not a general anymore," Ahsoka reminds, doing her best to keep in all unpleasant remarks. It's honestly hard, considering that he was one of the ones to lead the attack on the Temple. How many Jedi did he kill there? She hopes she never knows the answer to that. Someday, she'll avenge them. But not today.

"I would not have expected Dooku to spare you," croaks Grievous as they make their way back to the bridge as the ship jumps into hyperspace.

"These days are full of surprises, aren't they?" Obi-Wan replies mildly, though from being around him so much, Ahsoka can see the tension beneath his mask. Not that that's a surprise. He's fought against Grievous so many times throughout the war and then during the final battle at the Temple... It's almost surprising he's managing to keep his cool like this.

"Yes, they are," he cackles – coughs – Ahsoka isn't sure which, "I didn't expect the Jedi to lose the war so soon." Fine, if he's going to try to aggravate them, maybe she'll politely return the favor.

"Hey, since you're now free to move about on Coruscant, did you ever consider buying the galaxy's best cough drops? You could really use them."

A growl escapes him as he turns to glare down at her.

"No insult intended, General," Obi-Wan quips, "She's only concerned about your health."

Grievous growls wordlessly at them.

"Perhaps we should focus on... I don't know, discussing the mission instead of this?" proposes Ahsoka. As amusing as it is to antagonize the cyborg when he'd probably get in trouble if he hurt them, she really has no interest in staying around him any longer than necessary, so there's no use in intentionally prolonging their conservation. They may as well get down to business and then go their separate ways until the ship reaches its destination.

***

Before long, the ship emerges from hyperspace above the Outer Rim planet of Florrum, and they descend to the surface. As far as Ahsoka can tell, this planet seems to be nothing but a hot, dry desert. What a homely place to live. Although, she supposes it would be ideal to discourage anyone from enforcing the law on the pirates.