The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Nine

Chapter Forty-Three: Fulcrum

HERA SYNDULLA

Hera awoke with a splitting headache.

She groaned, rubbing her sore forehead. "Those blasted bounty hunters... They hit my lekku!"

Carefully, for she had been knocked down and her side was painfully bruised, she sat up. Suddenly, the full effect of what had happened to her sunk in, and she rushed to assess the damage. Her right hand flew to the holster in her boot and the other went to the money pouch on the back of her belt.

Both came back empty, and there was no one in sight down the alleyway in either direction. She had no way of knowing which way her assailants had gone.

An angry sigh escaped her lips. "Great. The one time I should have listened to Kanan, I didn't! I'm never gonna hear the end of it... And now I have nothing left to trade! How are we going to get the fuel? The supplies?"

She checked her wrist chrono. She had only been out for a few minutes, so Kanan probably hadn't started worrying yet. She checked her comlink, but it had been underneath her when she had fallen – it was now broken in two.

"Okay, so I have a broken comlink, my blaster is missing and no money to get new ones. Or fuel. Or supplies." She opened her mouth again to say that the situation couldn't get any worse, but tempting fate like that was a bad idea.

Suddenly, she heard running footsteps. Her ability to see objects further away from her was still blurry – thanks to the chi'fa who had whacked her lekku – but she was able to make out the twin montrals of a Togruta.

A moment later, they skidded to a halt in front of her. "Are you okay?" came a voice, and as the Togruta bent down, Hera was able to identify them as a woman probably a few years older than her.

"Who are you?" Hera asked, her eyes meeting a pair of crystal blue ones.

"Doesn't matter. I'm a friend." The woman pulled her to her feet, noting Hera's slight grunt of pain as she did so and allowing the Twi'lek to put some of her weight on her. "What's your name?"

"Don't have one."

"Everyone has a name."

Hera looked back up at the Togruta. There was something in those eyes... something that compelled her to trust this stranger who had decided to help her and was letting her lean on them.

"Hera. My name's Hera."

"After the patron goddess of Ryloth. That name carries weight."

"You know of something of my culture, then," Hera said, somewhat taken aback. The most a person usually said about her name was that it was a pretty one... and then offered to buy her a drink.

"Not much. /But I do speak some Twi'leki,/" said the Togruta, incorporating the subtle movements of her lekku into her spoken words that characterized the true Rylothian variant of the language. It only made sense – Togruta and Twi'leks were considered sister species due to the fact that they had linguistic similarities. /Now tell me: who left you here in the gutter and took your blaster?/

/What makes you think I had a blaster?/ Hera asked, her guard up again.

/There's a holster in your boot. And you could just have taken it off if you weren't using it./ The Togruta gave her a long look. /Tell me what happened to you, Hera. I can help you./

She sighed. "The Space Runners happened. Two of their guys took the gun and what they paid me for a job. But why would you want to help me?" she asked, switching back to Basic. Brushing off the Togruta's attempt to help her walk, she sat down on an empty crate.

"Because it's the right thing to do." And with that, the woman turned on her heel and began walking back down the alleyway.

"Wait – where are you going?" Hera called.

"To get your things back. Stay here."

And with that, she was gone. Hera spent a tense few minutes sitting on the box, debating on whether or not to leave, in case the woman was bringing back some friends with bad intentions. Several times, she heard blaster fire in the distance. And, had she not known better, she could have sworn she also heard a lightsaber, of all things!

But then she caught sight of the familiar Togruta silhouette down the way. In a moment, she had reached Hera's side. And, as puzzling as it was, in this galaxy of shady characters, the stranger had stayed true to her word: a stack of credits and her blaster with the fuel and charge intact were dropped gently onto her lap.

"I don't understand," Hera whispered. "People aren't... Like this. The only ones who cares about me are my crew, and Senator Organa–"

"Senator Organa?" A smile curled the corners of the Togruta's lips. "Well, this is interesting... It seems we have a friend in common."

"What do you mean?" she demanded. "You can't know him; you've got to be lying! He never talks to just anyone – especially normal people like us!"

"Oh, but I'm not 'normal people'. And neither are you, Captain Syndulla." Before Hera could say anything, the woman added, "Oh, yes. I know your name – it just took me a while to realize it was you. The Senator speaks very highly of you."

"Who are you?"

"Does the name 'Fulcrum' mean anything to you?"

"Of course it does!" she snapped. She couldn't help it – the odds that this woman was an Imperial agent or working for one of the crime syndicates were getting higher with every second that ticked by. "Fulcrum is one of Senator Organa's closest allies. Why wouldn't it?"

"I'm Fulcrum."

"What?" Hera asked, completely blown away by the ludicrous statement. But, she couldn't deny that it was sheer honesty that shone in the Togruta's eyes.

She smiled. "I really am Fulcrum. Call me tomorrow, same time. We have a lot to talk about, Hera Syndulla."

And, for the second time that night, Hera watched as Fulcrum walked down the alleyway. As she flipped the stack of credits over and read the communications number stuck to the bottom, she realized that she had forgotten to thank her.

But she would next time, because it was the right thing to do.

*Hera has met another member of the Rebellion's inner circle. What could come of this partnership? And what will Kanan and the rest of the Ghost crew think of Hera's newest ally, who is reluctant to reveal any details about them? What might come of of Lux's visit to IronFist? You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

Okay, this chapter is legit 1070 words. You're welcome, guys. 

So yes, this is the UAAT canon of how Ahsoka and Hera met! I've been waiting to write this scene for a while, so yay! Once again, however, I was cut off from my story ideas (my KRIFFING PHONE broke and I can't access much of the writing memory aids), so I had to kind of play it by ear with what I remembered. Hope you people liked, though!

Next up on the list of updates are Her Wings Of Fire (I have an update ready for that one and I'll get it up soon), The Incredible Space Switcheroo and Luxsoka: A Love Story. The latter will take a while, because the chapters are always REALLY LONG, but I'm gonna get started on it, and that's what counts :)

Discover that two droids you now own were once a part of the Rebellion and may the Force be with you,

Sharron