Ahsoka's Return

Chapter 9

Ahsoka blinked, eyes wide. "What are you doing here Ventress?" Ventress smiled and stretched her arms above her head, leaning first to one side, then the other. "Is that the only welcome I get after all this time? I thought we had a connection." Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, most of those meetings ended with you trying to kill me." Ventress held up a finger. "But you're forgetting the last, most important meeting. Don't say you forgot it. It holds a special place in my most treasured memories. Where the great Anakin Skywalker's padowan had to run, and she came to me for help." Ventress smirked as Ahsoka's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "Don't flatter yourself. I needed help, and I could trust you to look out for yourself." Ventress tilted her head slightly towards Ahsoka, her eyes amused. Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "So why are you here?"

Ventress turned and walked over to the wall. She examined it for a few moments, then began to speak. "When Skywalker led the rebellion, I left the city. There was too much going on, and with no Jedi Council, there was no chance of me getting the pardon I was promised." Ahsoka twitched slightly. Ventress paused, then continued speaking. "I went to the Hutts and offered them my services. Most of them laughed, because my uniform wasn't as gaudily adorned as those fools they call specialists. But Jabba was smarter. He offered me a place, so I joined him. Then Vader caught me while I was on a mission about a year ago. He offered me a position as his apprentice, which I refused. Then he said that I would change my mind eventually, and I was taken to a prison facility. The accommodations were... unpleasant."

Ahsoka walked over to her, and Ventress looked at her. Ventress's eyes were hard. "But something changed. I felt him die, and the command immediately began to crumble. It only took a couple days for me to escape after that. But having a prisoner escape rallied the remaining officers. They came after me in force, as you saw." Ventress smiled, and her eyes shined with a harsh light. "Apparently I was a prisoner of some value. I felt the presence of a Force sensitive here, so this became my destination. I expected a weak student trying desperately to learn how to control their abilities. Not a full-fledged Jedi I thought was dead long ago." Ahsoka shook her head slowly. "There are actually five Force-sensitives here now. We've started searching for others throughout the galaxy."

Ahsoka looked at Ventress with a searching expression. "If you knew someone was here, why did you choose this place? Wouldn't you want to avoid being with others and go back to your job as a bounty hunter?" Ventress shrugged her shoulders. "Staying in a prison facility for as long as I did with imbeciles like that gave me a reason to find people who could actually fight. The best place to start would be with a Force-user." Ahsoka pondered this as Ventress turned and began pacing the room. Ahsoka watched her figure move gracefully through the space, and a realization slowly dawned. "She's lonely. That's why she wanted another Force-user." Ahsoka crossed her arms behind her back. "Ventress." Ventress turned and looked at Ahsoka. "Yes?" "There are several people here who are going to need to be trained. I was going to train them on my own, but." Ahsoka looked Ventress in the eye. "It would be better if I had someone else to help them explain." Ventress smiled. "Are you asking me to help you?" Ahsoka sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "may gundarks kill me for saying this..." Ahsoka looked back down at Ventress. "Yes. I'm asking you to help me train them." Ventress's eyes sparkled for a moment before going back to their normal calculating look. "Well, since I have nowhere else to go at the moment, I guess this place is as good as any."

Ventress held out her hand, and Ahsoka shook it. "Do you still have your lightsabers?" Ahsoka looked at Ventress curiously. Ventress gave her a look. "Do you still have your headtails?" Ahsoka flushed, and Ventress drew both her lightsabers, twirling them in her hands. "Before I even considered escape, I planned on how to get them back." Ahsoka nodded and drew her own. "I kept mine. They were one of the only things that kept me sane." "Even with the memories?" Ventress tossed one of hers in the air. It came down and halted half a foot above her hand. Ahsoka nodded, then sheathed her lightsabers. "There are so many memories in them, even with the dark ones, they're still worth those that are light." Ventress nodded and sheathed hers as well. Ahsoka walked through the doorway with Ventress, and they started walking down the hallway. Ahsoka pulled her communicator out, but paused before turning it on and looked at Ventress. "Just, don't use your lightsabers yet. Give them a chance to get used to them first."

Ventress shrugged, and Ahsoka called Leia. Leia's form flickered into view, and she looked up at Ahsoka with a slightly worried expression. "Ahsoka, how is the search going? We haven't found the intruder yet, but we're observing all the cameras." "Don't worry, I found the intruder." Leia's body relaxed slightly, and she grinned. "That's great news. Were you able to catch them?" Ahsoka looked at Ventress, then back at Leia. "It's complicated. Meet me in my room, and bring Han and Luke with you." Leia frowned, but nodded. "All right. We'll be there soon." The hologram flickered out, and Ahsoka slipped it back into its slot. She looked at Ventress and blinked. Ventress was looking at her with an odd expression. "What?" Ventress shook her head. "You look like you've aged, but you're still the commander from the Clone Wars." Ahsoka shrugged. "I never left it behind. It's a part of me now, and I don't think I could forget even if I tried." "You shouldn't." Ahsoka looked at Ventress in surprise. "You aren't a Jedi any more. Not that type anyway. They were corrupt and blind. You understand. Your experiences in the war taught you that much. You are going to define what being a Jedi is now. It's up to you what they do on the battlefield." Ahsoka stopped walking, and Ventress took another step before realizing she had paused and looking back. "Not just me." Ahsoka resumed walking, looking straight ahead. "It's going to be both of us."