The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter One Hundred And Three: Looking Back

DARTH VADER

Vader was just emerging from his TIE Advanced after a patrol along the outer reaches of the Varic system when his transmitter began to chime.

The Force whispered to him who the callers were, and after a moment's hesitation, he withdrew to his private chambers to answer it. As miniatures of Fifth Brother, Seventh Sister and Eighth Brother materialized on the air before him, he was struck by the most peculiar idea that they looked like a group of unruly children awaiting punishment.

Vader's faith in the Inquisitors was beginning to fail. They had brought him and his Master the Emperor nothing but losses and hollow, partial victories over the past few months, and with Force-sensitive children beginning to drop off the map without explanation, he was beginning to look upon them as a failed experiment.

"What is it?" he barked.

"I have made contact with the Shadow," Eighth Brother began, using the Inquisitorius' name for Darth Maul. "He is on Malachor... as are the Jedi."

Vader started, and turned to the other two holograms. "Does he speak truly?"

"Yes, my Lord," Fifth Brother informed him. "Eighth Brother summoned us here after he encountered and was captured by them and needed reinforcements to complete his task. The Jedi appear to have formed an alliance with the Shadow to learn the secrets of the artifact."

"I did not need your reinforcement to complete my task," Eighth Brother insisted, turning to his fellow Inquisitors. "Only to account for unforeseen variables."

Seventh Sister angled her helmeted head to face him. "If you did not require our help, why did you have us wait for your signal just beyond the heliosphere?"

"Cease your sniping. I do not have time for your petty squabbles," Vader said, his voice cutting through the rabble like a knife. "Tell me – was Ahsoka Tano there?"

Fifth Brother nodded. "Yes, my Lord. She fought alongside them."

Inside his helmet, Vader nodded to himself. Ahsoka... It appears our meeting in a temple of dark stone I have glimpsed in my visions is finally about to come to pass.

"Seventh Sister, send one of your droids to learn of their plans," Vader ordered. "The holocron must be recovered before Maul and the Jedi can use it to unleash the power of the Temple. Delay them until I arrive – I will be there shortly."

The three Inquisitors bowed, and Seventh Sister said, "At once, my Lord."

As the transmission ended and the holograms faded away, Vader set off at a steady clip back towards the hangar. At last, he would face Ahsoka Tano head on. At last he would confront her and put all the history between them to rest.

An image of her smiling at him – no, at Anakin Skywalker – after a victory against the Separatists rose briefly to the surface. It was a young, almost innocent smile, and it revolted him so much he stamped it out of his mind with one he had seen in his vision: her lying on the smooth stone tile, that same mouth parted in a silent cry as the life bled from her body.

Soon, those smiles would gone forever, and he would not need to block out the past with threads of a possible future. Either she would be dead, or a servant of the Emperor. In the end, the choice between the two would be hers and hers alone.

AHSOKA TANO

Maul finally came to a stop as they reached the corner of the pyramidal Sith Temple with a pointed glance at the smooth stone surface. Although Ahsoka got the sense that from Maul's perspective, they had arrived at their destination, she could not see what they were here for.