Shaak Ti and Ahsoka Tano

Chapter 8

Ahsoka closed her eyes. She no longer trusted herself with the Force fully, but she had no option. She had to see if the Force had a solution to her problem. She hoped and prayed that it hadn't abandoned her just because she left the Jedi Order. Various images flashed through her mind and Ahsoka was relieved that the Force was at least still with her. One scene was particularly interesting to her; a freighter leaving Coruscant and blasting off into hyperspace and then, the same ship dropping out of hyperspace and landing on Shili. She opened her eyes and smiled; she had her answer. No, she didn't have any credits, but she did have something equally important; experience and mechanical knowledge. That was how she was getting off Coruscant. She would hitch a ride on a freighter in exchange for working the trip. Satisfied with her answer, Ahsoka stood up, groaning as her limbs popped and clicked as she did so. The spaceport was an hour's walk from where she was, but it didn't matter. There would be a ship there heading for Shili; there always was. 

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Ahsoka rubbed her eyes in frustration. She had been certain that finding a shipheading to Shili would have been easy. However, she had been looking around thespaceport for over an hour and as yet, she couldn't find a single ship that washeading to Shili. She wasn't helped by the fact that the war had had a hugedetrimental effect on commerce within the galaxy, and because of that, thenumber of flights taken by freighters had dropped off substantially sincebefore the war. In many ways, that was further proof, in Ahsoka's eyes, of justhow wrong the situation within the Republic had got and it reminded her of theaid conference that she had gone to with Senator Amidala on Alderaan. At thetime, Ahsoka had been too busy protecting Padmé from Aurra Sing to reallylisten, but she had heard of the terrible conditions that the war had createdfor some. At least Padmé had tried to find ways to end the war peacefully, shereasoned. For the first time in her life, Ahsoka began to question the Force'sguidance as she walked past another empty landing pad, especially once sherealised that it was the final one. Ahsoka's heart sank as she dropped herselfonto a bench. She had no idea what she was going to do now. In her mind, Ahsokaran through the possibilities. She could, perhaps, try to obtain a ship herselfsomehow. She shook her head at her own stupidity; she couldn't even affordbreakfast, never mind a ship. Perhaps she could ask someone for help. Afterall, she knew that she did have some friends she could go to; Senator Amidalafor one or maybe Senator Lux Bonteri; if he was on Coruscant that was. Ahsoka'sheart ached slightly as she thought of Lux, especially when she realised thatthe Jedi Code no longer applied to her. She had denied herself love for, as itturned out, no reason. She shook her head and dismissed those thoughts; Luxhadn't really returned her feelings and she had decided months before to leavethose feelings behind. However, her heart ached even more when she consideredthe possibility of even asking Anakin for help. No, that was definitely out;she needed to do this on her own and she knew that, most likely, Anakinwouldn't so much help her as beg and plead with her to return. 

Ahsoka sighedwith resignation. It appeared that, for the moment at least, she was stuck onCoruscant and her only real option was to head down to the lower levels and tryto find employment of some description. After all, if she could earn somecredits, then not only could she pay for a flight on a public transport, shecould buy some food, drink and accommodation as well. Just as she stood up, shecaught a trace in the Force. Ahsoka frowned and looked around. Somewhere aroundher she could sense a hint of desperation, annoyance and hopelessness. She hadno idea why, but for some reason Ahsoka knew that it was the break she waslooking for. Concentrating on the Force, Ahsoka homed in on the traces that shewas sensing. Following the Force, Ahsoka found herself walking away from themain landing pads, which she already searched through and dismissed, and foundherself walking towards what appeared to be a starship maintenance area. As shelooked around, a myriad of floating maintenance droids scurried around andlines of spare starship parts sat waiting to be fitted in awaiting ships.Ahsooka knew that for all of these parts to be in, there must be a ship in needof repair and as she narrowed her eyes, she finally became aware of a singlefreighter sat alone in a repair bay. Her hope started to rise as she realisedthe feelings she was sensing were coming from that ship or from whoever was onboard it at least. As she got close, Ahsoka got her first full look at theship. Ahsoka could see that the ship was beige in colour and its boarding rampled up into a fairly broad and snub nose; the top of which appeared to form theship's cockpit. Behind that, the ship appeared to be an angled rectangle insection which went back for about one hundred and twenty metres. Towards therear, the rectangle section flared out into four large ion engines with asingle defensive blaster turret mounted in front. In many ways it was an uglyship, Ahsoka reasoned, all angles with no natural curves, but to her it was thesight she had been waiting for. Ahsoka knew she had seen this very ship before;in the vision which had brought her to the spaceport in the first place. Ahsokacould sense that the ship's owner or captain was inside and for some reason;she could sense that he or she was in trouble. Ahsoka walked to the bottom ofthe boarding ramp and, deciding to test what the Force was telling her, shecalled, "Hello!" A few minutes later a very tall and slender humanwoman appeared at the top of the boarding ramp. Ahsoka estimated that the womanwas about thirty five and she was about one metre eighty five centimetres inheight with untidy long black hair and light tan skin. She was wearing a plainbrown flight suit which seemed to be covered liberally with oil stains and sheseemed to have a solitary stun blaster in a holster which was attached to ablack belt around her midriff. In addition, she was holding a damaged piece ofpower conduit in her hand. Her hazel eyes focused on the skinny teenage femaleTogruta at the bottom of the boarding ramp and she asked, "Can I helpyou?" Ahsoka froze for a second and bit her lip. Even though she stilldidn't trust herself completely, she stretched out with the Force. Quickly theForce told her that, despite appearances, this woman was actually quitetrustworthy and relatively kind. Besides, the woman was no threat to her. Thepilot's lone blaster was no match for the Force; not that Ahsoka really wantedto use it. Satisfied, Ahsoka sighed and replied, "Er yes.....em, you don'thappen to be going to Shili, do you?" Ahsoka could see the woman visiblysink as she sighed herself and replied, "Well actually, I do have a cargothat I've got to drop off on Shili, yes. So, you want to go home, I take it?"Ahsoka slowly nodded in reply. The woman smiled and continued, "Noproblem. My rates are very reasonable for passengers." Ahsoka immediatelygrimaced. Of course she would want money. "Er....." she stammered."Let me guess; no credits, huh?" she asked as she crossed his arms infront of herself. As she watched the young Togruta deflate, she added,"I'm sorry. I hate to leave a young girl like you on this corrupted hellhole of a rock, especially with some of the sickos that are here, but I'm notrunning a charity, especially with what these sleemos are going to charge mefor repairs." On hearing her words, an idea came to Ahsoka's mind. Shedidn't know if she thought of it all on her own or whether it came from theForce somehow. Frankly, she didn't much care. "What repairs?" Thewoman regarded the girl for a moment. Why would she want to know that? Whatcould she do about it? Still, it never hurt to talk. "The power conduitfeeding the hyperdrive overloaded on the way to Shili. I was lucky; I've heardof ships being vaporised or flung beyond known space for less, but fortunately,I was just a couple of days sub light travel from Coruscant. Now I need thehyperdrive overhauling. I've got the parts but, these infernal klankermechanics want over three thousand credits to rebuild the hyperdrive." Sheshook her head then added, "I can repair this ship blindfolded usually,but that is beyond me." Ahsoka's eyes widened. "Three thousandcredits? Why does it cost so much?"