Luxsoka: A Love Story

A Night To Remember

Beep beep. Beep beep.

Seventeen-year-old Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano rolled over in her bed, further entangling her legs in her thin but fluffy blanket. "Shut up..." she slurred. Her half-awake mind was suddenly faced with a difficult decision: either to reach out of her warm and cozy cocoon of blanket to her nightstand and answer her comlink... or to try to ignore it.

Beep beep. Beep beep.

She made a valiant effort for option two, hoping that the cursed beeping would stop, but it just wasn't an effective strategy. So, groggy and still not fully awake, she pressed the talk button.

"Yeah?"

"Well, that's no way to talk to your Master!" came a voice from the other end. It was Anakin Skywalker, otherwise known as the Chosen One or The Hero With No Fear, the Knight supervising her tutelage in the Jedi arts.

Ahsoka knew he was joking, but the way he said it was still enough to scare her awake. "Sorry, Master! I was asleep, and I-"

"Relax, Snips," he said, using his pet name for her, which had stemmed from her 'snippy' attitude towards him when he had first taken her as his apprentice. "It's just me, not stiff old Master Windu or someone."

She stifled a laugh. She could practically hear his smile through the comm line. "So what's up, then? It's late!"

"No, it isn't. It's only twenty-one-hundred hours, standard. You just have jet lag from that little trip to Felucia two days ago. And besides, that crazy duel earlier tuckered even me out."

"Liar," she teased, despite the fact that it was true: to her internal clock, it was three hours later. "The Hero With No Fear never tires, never sleeps... And never stops until the Confederacy have been defeated and justice has been served!"

It was an almost completely inaccurate quote from the HoloNet that had become a 'cool' thing to say in the last few weeks, but it was more than that for the young padawan learner. It was a brilliant way to torment her Master.

She could just picture his expression of mock-horror. "Oh, no. Please, no, no!"

It was perfectly silent for approximately five seconds. Then they both burst out laughing. "All right, Master, what's actually going on?" she finally asked, rubbing at tears that laughing as hard as she had been squeezed out of her eyes.

"Finally. That's why I like you, Snips. You always get right to the point. Obi-Wan, you and I have been given a mission." His voice suddenly hardened into what she called his 'General Skywalker' mode. That was part of what made him such an effective commander: his ability to go from easygoing and friendly to serious and battle-hardened in the space of a few instants. "But I'll let you know in a little while. Meet me at the Eastern entrance in fifteen."

"Okay, Master. See you there."

"Skywalker out," he said, signing off in the customary military fashion.

Chuckling to herself, she got out of bed and made a beeline for her closet. Its meager contents were almost sad to look at: the components of her everyday outfit, duplicated five times, and in various states of tidiness. The worst ensemble was in a heap on the floor, with part of one of her brassieres sticking out from underneath it.

As that bra was the only one in sight, she grabbed it and the set of clothing with the least wrinkles in the fabric, and got changed out of her sleeping clothes, a lightweight top cropped just above her belly button and loose pants. Once she was ready, she headed for the refresher, washing her face, applying mascara and lip balm, and looking at her reflection in the mirror.