Star Wars Rebels: Come In, Spectre Six

Part One

The Trillion came out of hyperspace. Ahsoka Tano pulled back the lever that activated lightspeed and looked down upon the planet Lothal with hasty blue eyes, tossing her long blue-and-white lekku behind her shoulder. The smokey dark-green color was finally starting to look healthier from space, but the Empire's wrath was still visible from afar. Ahsoka sighed, smoothing her white cloak and readying her long white staff. She regretted that she wasn't there to help finish off the Empire. Maybe she could've gone instead of Ezra... She wasn't of as much importance as he was-- is-- anyway.

"We're here," she called back to Sabine, who was in her loft in the back of the small ship. Sabine kept telling her that her room was "too dull" and needed "more color", and that sometimes made Ahsoka uneasy. She was always afraid that Sabine would accidentally make a paint grenade go off in her room and blow up half the ship, but Ahsoka was just now getting used to Sabine's creativity.

Sabine came through the small doorway to the cockpit. "Never been happier to see this place," she sighed.

"Think again," Ahsoka said, "the Ghost crew won't be happy when they figure out we've found nothing on Ezra's whereabouts."

Sabine sighed again. " Oh... Right."

* * * * *

"Nothing?" Zeb Orrelios, a muscular purple Lasat,  scoffed, "not a clue? A speck?"

"No, Zeb," Ahsoka and Sabine said in unison.

"Where could he possibly be?" Hera breathed. "I mean, how far could the Purrgil have gone?"

"I don't know," Sabine said sadly. No one spoke after that.

Ahsoka got up from her seat and left the room. She couldn't stand the tension Hera brought when it came to Ezra. She was once part of their long investigation, but soon decided to quit when they weren't making progress. Now that her son, Jacen, was seven, she would do anything to protect her son. 

The balcony of the new Ghost hideout had a beautiful view over a sparkling lake. A peaceful cityscape sat along the horizon, bustling with racing speeders above and in between the tall buildings. When she was there, Ahsoka liked to gaze upon it, wondering what Anakin or Obi-Wan or Ezra would say about everything that happened that day. She sadly knew her old Master was dead thanks to Jedi Master Luke (whom she recently met) but she still felt his presence around whenever she felt lonely...

Sometimes she talked to him, as though he could hear her. Sometimes, she felt he did.

"Good evening, Masters," she whispered into the cool fresh water breeze.

"Good evening."

Ahsoka turned around toward the familiar voice, but no one was there. She searched the balcony, but she couldn't find any sign that someone else was there other than her.

"What're you looking for, Snips?"

She whirled around and pulled out her white-hot lightsaber, ready for combat... To find the tip of it going right through a familiar Force ghost's nose...

"Whoa!" Anakin exclaimed, "Watch it, I'm only planning on dying once."

"What?" Ahsoka stuttered. "But... you... how..... You're dead! You died! Luke told me he--"

Her voice trailed off as she studied the man who used to be her master. Every inch of him seemed familiar: his sad blue eyes, his choppy brown hair, the way he smirked when she turned around, how he'd cracked a joke. Could this be the master she lost so many years ago?

"Luke is my son," the Ghost-of-Anakin said. "I told him not to tell you. I wanted the honors of showing up and surprising you... mostly to scare you, but, you know..."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Nope!"

She turned to go back into the living quarters of the Ghost crew's new hangout, but felt a warm hand on her shoulder and stopped.

"Snips," he said warmly, "it's me. I'm here to help you like you've been asking."

She turned to face him, tears welling in her blue eyes, and couldn't help letting a smile and a relieved sigh slip out.

"There she is!" He pulled Ahsoka into a much-needed hug.

He felt warm like he was alive. Of course, he was, but... not like Ahsoka was.

"What was it like?" she asked him. She looked up at him.

"What was what like?"

"The end?"

Suddenly his face went cold. "I try not to think about it... But now that I do, I don't remember dying..."

"You... don't?"

"No... Maybe I can try, but--"

"No!" Ahsoka said quickly, regretting her sudden remark. "Never mind. I don't want to know. I'll just figure it out when I get there." She smiled warmly at Anakin, who stared into the distance blankly. "Anakin?"

His eyes glowed an unusual yellow. "I am not your master," he declared, his voice sounding much deeper than it had a minute ago.

"I'm sorry?" She quickly pulled away from him and his portentous glare.

He looked down at her. "I am..." The ominous glow in his eyes quickly vanished, and the balcony seemed to pause in the silence.

"What's wrong?" Anakin asked after blinking hardly a few times.

"Nothing, Master," Ahsoka said, trying to keep the concerned tone out of her voice. "Nothing at all."