The Republic has fallen.
In the final days of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine died under mysterious circumstances. With the Senate struggling to retain a sense of unity, it was the perfect time for the Separatists to strike. And strike they did...
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The week that followed her first call with Rex, Ahsoka got very little sleep. She just didn't have the time.
Further entreaties for Bail Organa's aid ended only in gentle encouragement to continue networking to find supply lines on-planet – so network she did. Loath as she was to bother them, Ahsoka flooded Mira Bridger's inbox with requests for people to contact and inquiries about possible meeting places. Blessedly, Mira's whole family was eager to chip in with their own areas of expertise.
Mira's grandmother, a retired doctor turned local healer, had affluent friends and acquaintances in a dozen villages – and many owed her favors. She told them of Lady Kindness' meeting, and the few who couldn't make it personally promised to pass the word on. Mira's father, with his intimate knowledge of the schedules of the closest towns, contributed a date – two days before Lux was due to return to Kyzeron – and, more critically, a location.
Armed with these, Ahsoka spent her days buried in datapads. She researched everything from local legends to Imperial civil code to Onderonian workers' rights to environmental concerns raised by the steep increase in mining activities. When the time difference and his duty roster allowed it, she spent her nights discussing the finer points of her findings with Rex.
Anakin had often preached the importance of not over-studying. She still felt underprepared as she walked to the edge of the estate on the prearranged day, but she could work with that. She had a far more critical hurdle to distract her from her nerves: the ray shield protecting Bonteri Villa from the jungle beyond.
The shield's control room was rigged with so many cams that tampering with it was impossible. Plus, in order to keep Lux so busy with training he couldn't call on any of the local nobles before today, she hadn't had time to test the shield for weak spots. Ahsoka was still bound to his biorhythms by her slave tracker, and if she wanted mobility, he had to program it himself to allow distance between them.
Ahsoka rubbed at her chest as she came to a stop before the shield, suddenly hyperaware of the tracker beneath her skin. In the bright sunlight of late morning, its transparent surface was vaguely pearlescent. It almost made her think she was enclosed in a giant bubble of soap, but this was far less fragile.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and extended a hand. The shield repelled it without distorting in the slightest.
Her chest tightened a little, but she pushed the panic away before it could set in fully. She'd known this could happen, and she'd come prepared. Taking another breath, she lowered her mental shields. Then, summoning the Force, she pushed.
This time the ray shield buckled back. Ahsoka put more and more power into it, strengthening the pressure tenfold until the shield thinned enough to take on a reddish hue from the strain. She grinned, fingertips tingling with anticipation, and pressed harder still. It was almost dispersed enough for her to break through.
The Force hissed a warning. Ahsoka paused, and felt rather than saw a flash of security personnel in the control room scrambling to reestablish the shield; the proximity alarms had been triggered, and they assumed outside interference was at work. Captain Felarra was on the verge of sending people to investigate.
