How to Take an Empire

Chapter Twenty-Four: Barriss

Righteous hate and fury simmered deep in Ahsoka's heart on most days. If it hadn't been there, Vader wouldn't have been so hellbent on turning her to the dark side. He wasn't actively trying anymore and seemed to enjoy the challenge of her resistance, but she knew he wouldn't be terribly upset if she did agree to become his Sith apprentice.

Her approach to dealing with the hate and fury she harbored was certainly not the Sith approach. The Sith approach was to get revenge. To tear everything down that might get in the way of that revenge. To destroy everything that might even be remotely responsible for that hate and rage. The Jedi way to go about dealing with it was much quieter. To overcome those feelings and let those feelings go into the Force, never daring to do anything with them.

Ahsoka's approach was a blending of the two. Use the hate and fury to selflessly drive her to something better for the galaxy so no one would experience the things that made her hateful and angry. Use the hate and anger to drive her to something productive that would build something beautiful. The Order would have called it blasphemy. But Ahsoka stopped caring what the Order would say a long time ago.

But right then, staring at Barriss for the first time since the older former padawan framed her, Ahsoka was tempted to take the Sith approach to all this.

The last thing Ahsoka had heard of Barriss Offee was that she'd been in prison for the last part of the Clone Wars. Apparently, after the debacle that was nearly sentencing the wrong Jedi to death for a crime she hadn't committed, the Senate nor the Jedi could afford the PR nightmare of making a mistake again. While Barriss had been convicted at her trial, rather than facing immediate execution, she'd been waiting for an appeal date. Because, somehow, the confession didn't matter. Everyone involved suddenly cared about the quality of the evidence.

Ahsoka and Barriss were friends. What if they'd had conspired together? What if Barriss just decided to take the fall, unable to bear seeing Ahsoka die for their plan? What if someone planted the lightsabers in her room, and she was left with no choice but to defend herself against wild accusations made against her by her superior while he threatened her with a lightsaber? What if it was a false confession under duress because of Anakin Skywalker's actions?

Suddenly, everyone was willing and ready to ask the questions that no one had cared to ask Ahsoka. Even with her name cleared, the stain of being falsely implicated in Barriss' terrorist plot followed Ahsoka that last year in the Clone Wars. There had still been people who thought she was guilty and should have faced execution—even Jedi.

So while Ashoka hadn't gone down for the crime like Barriss had intended, the botched handling of Ahsoka in the matter saved Barriss in a way. Long enough for her to apparently escape custody in the chaos of a violent regime change.

"Ahsoka," Barriss finally said.

Surprise. Shame. Guilt. Timid joy. Those were just a few of the things Ahsoka felt from Barriss as the woman stared at her. Ahsoka wasn't exactly sure where to start with all that.

"In the flesh," Ahsoka finally settled on as an answer.

"They told me... they didn't tell me you were coming. They told me the Fulcrum was coming in person."

"I am the Fulcrum."

It was a simple admission, but one that definitely complicated everything in ways that Ahsoka was sure Barriss was aware of by the slowly dawning realization in her eyes. That her wellbeing lay in the hands of the person to whom Barriss' last act was to frame her for murder. The power that Ahsoka knew this gave her over the older woman gave her little satisfaction.

"You're... You're the leader of the rebel alliance?" Barriss asked.

"Effectively," Ahsoka replied and then raised an eye marking. "What? Expected someone older? Or just not me?"