Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.14.1

Saturdays were wonderful for the clerks of Gauges and Gears, for one reason only: No customers allowed. 

It wasn't that they didn't like talking to people, but retail was just exhausting sometimes. On the weekends, all they had to deal with was stuff behind the counter, not people on the other side. Sure, they had to do inventory, and maintenance, and reports, and anything else Fuller needed to be done that weekend, but at least their biggest problems were things instead of people. 

That was the way it was supposed to be anyway, which was why Jackson was very surprised to see three people standing outside the locked front door when he passed by the front counter. He was carrying a box to a closet across the way, but he had frozen when he saw the shop had visitors. They were wearing cloaks and helmets, which was a weird combo in his opinion. Fuller told his staff not to answer the door on weekends unless they had an appointment of some kind, so Jackson didn't feel inclined to help them, but it was still startling.

Then one of them, probably a leader of some sort, turned and saw Jackson standing there like an idiot. He panicked and ran out of the room with the box, heading straight for Fuller's office. He didn't know what those people were doing here, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. "Boss, there's some shifty folks at the door."

Fuller, who was chewing on some jerky at the moment, rolled his eyes and opened the security cameras from his computer. He was half surprised when he saw that it was true, and he had half a mind to call Tano from the workshop to come to deal with them. One of them finally found the button on the front door, and Fuller's recorded message started playing. The visitors opted to leave a message, which quickly found it's way to Fuller's inbox. 

Leslie and Rya had just finished restocking the garage and were passing by when they saw Jackson standing in the doorway. "Something wrong?" Rya asked, poking her head in the office. 

"Probably," Jackson muttered under his breath while Fuller opened the recording and played it. It was about as unnerving as the person who left it. 

"I'm looking for Ahsoka Tano, I understand that she works here. I'd like to speak with her for a few minutes," a female voice announced before the recording ended. Fuller checked the cameras again, and sure enough, the woman and her two friends were waiting patiently outside the door for Tano. 

When in doubt, let Tano deal with it. That had become their motto over the past few months, and it was certainly being invoked right now. Leslie ran towards the workshop and darted down the spiral staircase to the ground, not wanting to risk another break-in as they had so long ago. She still wasn't over that particular event, and she didn't want it to happen again. 

The mechanics noticed her frantic behavior and stopped what they were doing. Wheeler, who was working on a speeder in the center of the workshop with Trace, stood up and stopped her in her tracks, trying to get her to calm down. She had known Leslie long enough to know that something was seriously scaring her. "Tano! Get down here!" she called out, hoping she had a moment to pause what she was working on. She was the best person for panic attacks and stuff like that. 

In truth, Ahsoka hadn't been working on anything. She had been having these weird stomach pains for a couple of weeks now, and she had taken a break to get some water and fight down the ache. When Wheeler called for her, she was on her feet in a second and she jumped off the upper level of the workspaces down to the floor and rushed over. Trace was a little startled when she made the ten-foot jump easily and gracefully, but Ahsoka didn't see her face so she didn't notice. 

She was more focused on Leslie. Grabbing Ahsoka's arm, she managed to shudder out the message. "Someone's here for you. They're at the front door."