On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter XCII

Luna was going stir crazy. Maybe once upon a time she'd have been perfectly fine with being forced to remain in one place doing nothing but reading or watching holos. Or movies.

Mainly binging the Clone Wars.

But that had (clearly) been a very long time ago. Luna hadn't had so much free time since before she met....

Well, since before she'd come to the galaxy she now lived in. And down time to this extent was not something she liked. Sure, the girl didn't mind small periods of rest between missions, but even those were filled with training and paperwork and....

It was getting to the point she missed running the Devastator and halfway running the Executor.

And the worst part was that there were millions of things she could be better spending her time on if Ahsoka would let her. Like fighting the Empire!

"I know that look, and I'm not changing my mind," the Grey Jedi said from across the table where she was reading reports from High Command.

"Just think about all the other things we could be doing right now!" Luna complained, though knowing full well that if she hadn't succeeded in getting her partner to budge on her decision the past few days, it wouldn't work this time either. "Like hacking into the Imperial network or raiding a—"

"What do you think of this?" Ahsoka interrupted, sliding a datapad to the human girl's side of the table. Luna looked over it, raising an eyebrow, unable to see the point of the question.

"Skywalker's got another mission. And I don't."

"Very funny. Don't you think that's a bit much for them?"

"Maybe, but he should be coming into his power by now," Luna said, tilting her head as she thought. They were slowly but surely nearing the time period of what would have been Return of the Jedi. The girl didn't have an exact date of when it was supposed to happen, but the fact Luke could beat Vader ment that his abilities grew a lot in one short year without a master to teach him. With both the Sith and Yoda around to instruct the young Jedi, the boy ought to reach that point sooner than he did in Star Wars. "And they've managed to do similar hits in the past. Cymoon I for instance. And Vader was part of the force defending the base on that one."

"You weren't?"

"It was supposed to be simple negotiations with a Hut representative. Both of us would have been overkill. And Vader always had issues with letting me near things involving Tatooine, negotiations with Huts included."

"I see," Ahsoka said, taking the datapad back. "Well, I was thinking that I might drop in and see if I can help. I've recently gotten word that Leia wants to talk with me about something."

"And you think dropping into their mission unannounced would be the best way to do it?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I could also download some encoded files for you to hack into so you aren't wasting time doing nothing."

"So I'm not allowed to come," the human recognized, expression dropping in annoyance.

"It'll be a quick thing. Besides, you don't want them to start connecting dots, do you?"

"....Point taken. So you want to take the Illusion? The Delta's too recognizable as mine, and you can slip onto the planet a lot easier. And get away if you aren't the only one thinking they may need help."

"That sounds good."

"You'll have to take Cerberus with you."

At that, both the Grey Jedi and Tuk'ata shared a displeased look. "We will deal with it. You promise not to do anything stupid while I'm gone?"

"When have I ever done something like that?"

Ahsoka gave the girl a look.

"What?"

The Torguta took a deep breath and let it out as she turned back to her reports. "I'm not dignifying that with a response."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny.... So when do you leave?"

"Soon if I plan on getting there around the time they do."

"....This is strangely spontaneous," Luna commented, fixing Ahsoka with a confused look.

"Well, to be honest, I've been thinking about it for awhile," the Grey Jedi admitted, sounding surprisingly uncertain, as though she wasn't positive in her choice of action.

"Something wrong?" the girl asked, frowning as she tried to think of what may be the cause of such a reaction. "....Does it have to do with me?" Ahsoka was silent for one too many seconds. "I'm sorry for making things so complicated for you."

"You're not the one who convinced them to look for you," the Togruta stated, voice firm, making it clear that Luna had better not be blaming herself. Not that it'd keep the ex-Shadow from doing the very thing, but it was nice of her friend to try. "Besides, I told Leia I don't know you. It just....a lot has happened since the last time I spoke with her."

"Maybe you should take some more time then? Just finish sorting through it all?"

"I don't think I have the privilege of time."

"It's that important?"

"I think it may be."

"Want me to come with you?"

"Thought we already covered that wasn't happening."

"What if Vader shows up?" Luna questioned, tone worried. "You can't very easily avoid him. And that means you might not make it to Leia. I don't know how closely they're working, but considering the number of times Vader's been around when they've been up to something, it's more likely than not that he'll be there. It'd probably be better for you to come up with a different strategy to communicate with the Princess."

"....Do you think he'd try to kill me?" Ahsoka asked, looking up to meet her friend's eyes. Luna was startled by the uncertainty and....fear. The ex-Shadow reached into the Force to get a read on the Grey Jedi's presence. It wasn't like her to be so uncertain....

"....I would like to reassure you and say no, but I've been wrong before. If Vader's there, don't risk it, Ahsoka. Please. He's nearly killed you once already."

The Grey Jedi nodded in understanding and turned away, seeming in deep thought.