The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight

Chapter Twenty-Two: Cody's Observations

COMMANDER CODY

The next morning, the New Hope exited hyperspace just above Onderon, with Christo at the controls. He was preparing for the crucial moment when the Imperial forces would contact them, and the team would set their plan in motion.

Rex and Cody stood watching him, with Ahsoka, Lux and Anakin standing a little while away. Cody noticed how they seemed to be making a point of standing further apart than they usually did; he took it as a sign that something had happened. Although they were doing a remarkably good job hiding it, they had both clearly had a major fight.

But he shook his head, clearing those thoughts away. It wasn't his place to wonder about the personal lives of his superiors. And he could tell that they wouldn't want to talk about it.

He would have to consult Rex at the earliest opportunity. Anakin had a habit of telling him things: and since Cody knew where to poke and prod his friend to get information out of him, he could probably find out exactly what he knew...

"Unidentified ship, state your business. There is rebel activity in the area," came the voice of a prissy-sounding Imperial officer through the speaker.

"Yeah, I heard about them rebels," Christo said, slurring his voice to create something not unlike a Corellian accent. "They got a lot of nerve, those guys. What'cha doing 'bout them? Cutting off their supplies? Laying siege to their sandcastle of a base?"

The Stiff had nothing to say to that. "I repeat: state your business."

"My business is my business," he shot back, but then let loose an over-exaggerated sigh. "But, if ya absolutely have'ta know, I have a friend on the surface I owed a favor. So I get me to Corellia, to the Eldest, specifically, and grab some cargo for him. Then I pilot all the way back here, and—"

"Just. State. Your. Business." Cody smirked. He could practically see the man pinching the bridge of his nose from his spot on the nearest Imperial Cruiser.

"I just told ya!" Christo said, making an obscene gesture at the speaker, and somehow squeezing smiles from everybody in such a tense moment. He really was taking this seriously. "I owed the guy a favor, and—"

"Send us your clearance codes," the Imperial said, his formal tone returning. His superior had probably just walked by. "Do not alter from your current course."

"Sure... But ya're missing out on one hell of a story, though." He turned back towards them, smiling. Then he pushed the button to send them the codes.

But, unknown to the Imperial officers, there was a virus in the code Christo was sending them to allow the ship to land. And, as soon as he activated it, it would set the ship on a collision course with the nearest cruiser of the same make.

Semm's skills as a slicer were really paying off. That would be a nice little surprise for their friends the Stiffs.

After a moment, the speaker crackled to life again. "Sunrise Pavilion," the man said, unwittingly using the fake name for the Hope that had been programmed into the codes, "you are cleared for landing. Be sure to register your time of arrival and departure with a docking official."

Christo winked at his friends. "Yessir..."

Then he pulled on a joystick, and the ship took off towards the surface of the planet Onderon. Cody couldn't help but chuckle. It had been too easy.

His eyes narrowed, his laughter dying at his lips. Almost too easy. But he would wait to see if something happened. If there was a tracking beacon or some other surprise tethered to the ship, then they would find it.

A few more buttons pushed and the rest of their slicer tricks had served their purpose: to make it look like their ship had registered near the Starport sector in Iziz. Then, in two days, the Imperial archivists would find that the so-called Sunrise Pavilion had gone, with frozen preserves as cargo, back to Corellia. 

*Cody knows that there's trouble in paradise with Ahsoka and Lux... But have the others guessed it too? And what will they think if they know that a couple that's only been married for a few months is fighting? And what sort of welcome is waiting for our heroes on Onderon? You'll find out in the next amazing chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

Yeah. That was it. If any of you want to kill me right now by writing a seriously evil chapter two posts ago and then writing this funny one, don't, please. I want to live long enough to finish this fan fiction, if you don't all mind.

I must be going now. I have another chapter to post!!! *puts on Superman cape and flies away*

Have your padawan leave the Jedi Order and may the Force be with you,

Sharron