The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Ninety-Five: The Lifeless Planet

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka faded back to the present as the communications array and quiet but persistent proximity alarms went off at the same time. The things she had seen while meditating still clung to her like morning fog to Temple Mountain on Cialone, dulling her senses ever so slightly, but she managed to make out Kanan telling her there was a call from her from Rex.

As he sent in their clearance codes and the holoproj began to power up, Ahsoka focused on sharpening her senses again to suit the present, and, more importantly, banishing the image of a little Anakin – the tiny piece of her old Master that was still a part of Vader – yelling words she couldn't make out and knocking on the red ocular lenses of his helmet as though it were the wall of a prison.

She couldn't worry about her dreams now; she had to focus on the mission.

"Hello, Rex," she said, as his hologram appeared on the air before her. "To what do I owe your call?"

Rex inclined his head in greeting, but the small smile on his face was soon obscured by a worried frown. "I've given some more thought to what we discussed before you left," he said. "I want to offer my services as backup, should you need it."

"Thank you, Rex, but I don't think that will be possible," Ahsoka said. "Once we drop out of hyperspace, we'll be going dark."

She had spoken with finality, but Rex still continued to question her. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Ahsoka, you don't have to go to Malachor alone. I can be there in two rotations, and–"

Alone. She heard the hidden meaning to the word, and knew immediately that he wished to inquire further about what he hadn't been supposed to see back at the base. "I'm not alone, Rex," she interrupted him quickly, keeping her tone carefully reassuring while glancing pointedly toward the front of the Phantom where Kanan and Ezra waited.

"You know, I could have ordered you to take me along."

Apparently, the reassuring air had fooled him too instead of concealing her sudden unease from just the two Ghost crewmembers. Realizing she could kill two birds with one stone if he wasn't as worried and deflect questions from all fronts, she said, "Well, you don't exactly outrank me anymore."

"In my book, experience outranks everything."

Ahsoka laughed lightly. "Then I definitely outrank you."

Rex nodded, but she could see the worry clouding his usually warm brown eyes plainly. "May the Force be with you."

As the hologram faded away, Ezra turned to face her. "Why is Rex so worried?" he asked uneasily. "Uh, what does he know that I don't?"

"Malachor has always been off-limits to Jedi," Kanan told him.

"Why?"

Kanan sighed. "Old legends; stories told to us as younglings in the Temple."

Ahsoka nodded in agreement as some of those stories came back to her, but frowned when she remembered one of her most recent conversations with Lux on the subject. "There's always a bit of truth in legends."

"But if Malachor is off-limits, why would Master Yoda send us here?"

Kanan opened his mouth to speak, but paused for a moment when his focus shifted to the controls before him. Ahsoka absentmindedly noted the different phases of the process of leaving hyperspace as she waited for him to speak.

They all looked up as Malachor appeared before them with the slight visual shudder of hyperspace fading into realspace, silent and forlorn, and, to Ahsoka's great surprise, with a feeling of emptiness in the Force that was almost lifeless.