Survivor: A Star Wars Story

Chapter VII

AHSOKA TANO

The Togruta stood beside her master in front of the Jedi Council silently whilst he, Master Kenobi and Master Plo gave their reports. They'd been in here for at least an hour and she could feel her energy levels starting to drop. Her legs were aching and her thoughts were barely able to stay on the conversation for more than a few minutes at a time as the effects of jumping from time-zone to time-zone began to set in. Sure, she was used to it. It didn't make it any easier to manage though. Despite the rest of the ship being in chaos from the sudden addition of all the slaves of Kiros, the communication room was mostly empty besides from a few high ranking clones and of course, the four Jedi.

"Padawan Tano?"

The voice of Mace Windu shook her from her stupor and as everyone's eyes turned to her, she quickly realised that she'd missed something.

"Sorry masters?" Ahsoka replied politely, mentally cursing herself for losing focus.

Windu looked slightly disapproving but repeated his question nonetheless. "Do you have anything to add?"

She paused and thought about her answer briefly. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Master Plo would have definitely covered it from a battle front, but she wondered whether they'd mentioned Ra-Kin. Something about the ex-slave didn't add up to her, starting with that enormous gap in the holding cell she had leaped back on Kadavo. Granted, Ahsoka had not seen her do it, nor was she sure Ra-Kin was 100% human, but it still warranted suspicion. Even the way she spoke rang alarm bells. She always seemed to give enough to answer what she'd been asked, but no more. Experience had taught Ahsoka to be on guard around people like that. There was also the matter of her defeating two guards - Ahsoka was pretty sure that slave drivers didn't exactly teach self-defence to their servants.

No, she thought. These were concerns to share with Anakin first and may not even be important enough to bother the Council with. The last thing she needed was to waste their time after she'd been caught not paying attention.

"No, masters."

"Very well. Return you shall, to Coruscant." Master Yoda spoke up. "Rest in these times, we all need."

She heard a grim undertone to his voice and realised how long it had been since she had been at the Temple. As more Separatist activity increased, it was becoming harder and harder to get a full nights' rest, let alone a good one. Often, Anakin and herself would have to take shifts when aboard the cruisers, taking turns in making sure everything ran smoothly. At the start, Anakin had done the lion's share of the work until she was ready to take her load. Now they shared it fairly evenly, much to Anakin's frustration as he had more time to try and fix his insomniac habits.

The transmission cut off and Master Kenobi spoke up. "And what are we going to do with Ra-Kin? There isn't really anywhere to stay for her once we reach Coruscant."

"I'll go and see if she's given any more thought to my suggestion. If she agrees, then she'll be able to stay at a military base." Master Plo said.

"Well in that case then, I'll go and help the men down in the hangar. It's all hands on deck at the moment with the Togrutans onboard." Master Kenobi replied before leaving the room with Master Plo. As soon as they were gone, Anakin turned to her, furrowing his brows in concern.

"What's up with you then? It's not like you to lose focus in a meeting." He asked.

"I'm not sure. It might just be because I'm tired. What was Master Plo talking about?"

Anakin sighed and ran a hand through his hair, finally allowing stress to become evident on his face now that his peers had left. "He suggested that Ra-Kin tries to find a job in the Republic. He feels that with some training from experts, she might amount to something - intelligence on the slave ring, maybe? There's bound to be stragglers left, and she was in a uniquely insightful position being stationed in the palace."