When She Was Gone

Chapter 19

Luke glanced up from the console as his father re-entered the cockpit. "What was all that yelling?"

Anakin sighed. "Nothing. Rex was cleaning his blaster and it went off."

Luke slid off his seat and crawled under the console, removing the small panel that hid a cluster of wires. He paused. "Dad?"

"Mmm?"

"Who is she?"

He didn't speak for a moment, and Luke feared he'd said the wrong thing. "She...she was my Padawan. You should have seen her in action. She rivaled Obi-Wan. You remember Obi-Wan?" Luke nodded. "She nearly took down Grievous at age fourteen, and again at age sixteen."

"Grievous? Like, Separatist General Grievous?"

"Yes." Luke whistled and cut a wire. "She was accused of creating a bomb three years into her Padawanship, but it wan't her." He left out the fact that it had been Barriss, someone who was now dive-bombing the Destroyer. He had (grudgingly) come to trust her, but his son tended to jump to conclusions. "And they expelled her. They expelled Ahsoka Tano. They asked her back after they realized she was innocent, but she turned them down and left. I couldn't get her to stay."

He watched Luke crawl out from under the console and hit the engines. They flared to life and he plopped back down in the pilot's seat. "Do you...know how she turned?" He asked tentatively. Anakin sighed again, then chuckled sadly.

"It's ironic, really. She had just saved my life." His son raised an eyebrow. "She got in touch with me and asked if I could come to help her on Ryloth. Apparently, an old Sith had emerged from the shadows and been terrorizing the locals. I took the 501st and we met on the battlefield." Anakin frowned. "I don't really remember what happened after that. I know there was some sort of explosion. I was near dead. I don't know how, but she managed to save me. When I woke up, she was gone, and so were the Separatists."

~~

Padme dropped out of hyperspace just above Mirial. She could see the Destroyer in the distance, parts of it burning. A look of worry passed over her face, but she shook it off and headed down to the planet's surface.

She brought up the planetary map and followed it to the blinking marker that tracked her daughter's comm. She didn't like helicopter parenting, but Tatooine wasn't the safest place, especially out near the colonies of Tuskens, so Anakin had installed teensy trackers in the twin's devices. They probably knew, but they were smart enough to not protest.

She set the Syren down just outside the village, and rushed outside to see Leia and Obi-Wan anxiously waiting. Padmé crushed her daughter in a hug, then pulled away and looked her over feverishly.

"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"Mom, I'm fine. Have you talked to daddy? Luke?"

Padmé shook her head. "All the channels they're using are blocked."

"Not all of them," Obi-Wan said. "But I don't think we'll be needing any secret channels." He pointed to the sky, where an Imperial shuttle could be seen, getting closer by the second.

Author's note
Ok I'm trying not to do these authors note thingies anymore, but I felt that this was necessary to mention, since a few of my friends had been asking:
THIS IS NOT AN ANISOKA STORY. There is NO tension between them. They have a brother-sister/father-daughter relationship. Please look elsewhere if you are seeking Anisoka content. :)