If you cannot tell, in this chapter I mixed the story with the episode "Homecoming" from Season two, so you'll see the dialog for some of the show here.
It took several days for the Padawans to fully recover from those nightmares. For the first two days, the three of them were ridden with left-over fear and sadness. Ezra and Rae were back to semi-normalness on the third day - the day they were able to regroup with a portion of the other rebels.
It took Athena a while longer. She had to cycle back to Son after two nights. Father and Daughter were no picnic either.
Most of the time, Athena was either going on small missions with Ahsoka or building her lightsaber as the fleet slowly came back together.
Though, the rebels could barely hold it together.
Athena remembered walking into the cockpit with Ezra by her side as Hera and Kanan talked to a hologram of Commander Sato, Chopper was the projector.
"At best, our squadron is at half strength. We're not just losing fighters, we're losing pilots faster than we can replace them," Hera exasperated, gripping her head in frustration. Figures. She had watched the death of Phoenix 2.
"Until we can find a base, we need somewhere to land our fighters," Kanan said.
"Perhaps we can solve two problems at once," Commander Sato proposed. "A rebel cell has reported an Imperial carrier over their world. If we can steal that ship, we can use it to house all our fighters. This cell is located in the Ryloth system."
"Ryloth?" Hera seemed surprised. "I know the cell you're talking about. I'll contact them." she abruptly stood up, crossing her arms and walking away as the hologram of the commander disappeared.
Kanan seemed even more surprised at Hera's response, "You're actually gonna talk to him?"
Hera paused, back still facing him, "I don't think we have much of a choice. We need that carrier." before walking out of the cockpit.
Ezra and Athena were confused. What the heck was that about?
"What's wrong with Ryloth?" Ezra questioned.
Kanan sighed and looked to the two teens. He didn't exactly know how to explain it to the two. He didn't want to divulge into the personal life Hera barely even told him about.
Then again, Kanan could now relate to the apprehension Hera had with talking about biological familial ties. There stood his little Earthling sister, bewildered by all of this. She didn't even know what Ryloth was.
A set of beeps came out of Chopper and a hologram of Ahsoka soon appeared.
"Lightsaber Mom!" Athena smiled. She was always happy to hear from the togruta.
Ahsoka smiled a little before looking at Kanan with a serious face, "Kanan, Commander Sato told me about the Ryloth cell."
Kanan nodded, "Yeah, Hera's going to talk to him."
"I'm afraid I'm going to need to take Athena off this mission and bring her with me on an op," Ahsoka said. "Taking over an Imperial carrier may be out of her league at the moment. She hasn't acclimated to combat on space-craft. I don't want to risk her fire powers causing an internal explosion in the carrier."
Kanan nodded, "I completely understand."
"What? I should be fine," Athena assured.
Ahsoka shook her head, "Last time you used your powers while in a ship, it was fighting Second Brother and you caused a small explosion with your flames. Your powers are not acclimated to small spaces. We only had you train outdoors."
Athena remembered back to Second Brother kidnapping her and her brother. She was just about helpless with her powers when she was so confined. And in a spaceship, any mess-up could mean a hole in the wall, which meant instant death. With her lightsaber still under construction, the girl only had those destructive powers as a weapon.
The togruta looked at Kanan, "We're going to make a stop here soon. I'll take Athena in a small fighter."
"What's the mission?" Kanan asked. "Nothing too dangerous, right?"
"Just a possible supply retrieval from a small carrier abandoned after the Clone Wars. Mostly a scouting mission," Ahsoka assured.
Kanan nodded and the hologram soon disappeared. The Jedi looked back to his sister. "Looks like you're going on a mission with Ahsoka. You get ready for that."
She nodded. She looked to Ezra, "Tell me how the whole Ryloth thing goes down."
Ezra smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I'll let you know."
***
Next thing Athena knew, she was in the second seat in a fighter - her Master was the pilot of the little ship. Athena fidgeted and squirmed in the backseat as she attempted to connect the seatbelt across her lap.
The mass of dark blue waves surrounded them as they entered hyperspace.
"So," Athena finally buckled her seatbelt. "What supplies are we looking for? Is this just a scavenging job?"
Ahsoka flipped some switches before glancing back to her Padawan, "Basically some bits of fuel. We don't know if the carrier is even still intact with the fuel canisters on board, so we're just going to fly-by and check it out."
Athena rolled her eyes and slumped her shoulders, speaking in a sarcastic voice, "Yay, we get to fly by an old ship. Way more fun than stealing the Imperial carrier."
"Padawan, you must realize that we can't send you into combat right away. You're not only fairly young, but you're brand new to this galaxy and the Empire in general," Ahsoka assured. "And we don't know how much we can trust the Ryloth cell."
"Hey, does Hera know this Ryloth cell?" Athena asked. "She seemed like she knew them."
Ahsoka sighed, "Seeing Hera is from Ryloth and is the daughter of the most well-known General from Ryloth, I imagine she knows them quite well."
"Wait, so they're going to be meeting with Hera's dad?" Athena wasn't sure how she got 'dad' from that sentence but just went with it.
"I believe so," Ahsoka said.
Athena let out a cackle, "Oh my God, that's why Kanan seemed so nervous just before I left! He's gonna meet Hera's dad! That's great. He's lucky I'm not there to embarrass him."
"You sure are one heck of a little sister to him, huh?" Ahsoka joked.
The two soon exited hyperspace and were able to get a clear picture in front of them. A giant, old, rusty spacecraft floating in the middle of nothingness. The lights out. Dead in space.
But, it was intact. No holes to let the void of space inside.
Ahsoka looked back to Athena. "You can create oxygen with your powers, right?"
"I can convert carbon dioxide to oxygen with my Earth powers. I cannot create nor destroy, just alter what's around me," Athena said. "I can grow a super-strong plant that converts CO2 to oxygen for us if you want. Daughter taught me how to do that."
Ahsoka nodded, "Yes, that would be good. I'm not sure how long this carrier has been sitting here and how long the oxygen converter has been out, so it's best to be safe rather than sorry."
Athena held the palm of her hand out and she made a nervous face as she looked to her Master. "Okay, so this is kinda gross. I make the plant from my blood and some hair. It's best not to watch."
Ahsoka shivered, "Daughter taught you that?"
"Well, yeah," Athena shrugged. "You get used to the weird stuff after a while. Trust me."
Ahsoka turned back to the abandoned ship as her Padawan got to work in the seat directly behind her.
Athena took out her knife and pricked her fingertip to draw a droplet of blood. She plucked a strand of blond hair from her scalp and wrapped it around the pricked finger - the root of her hair in the small droplet of blood.
The girl took slow and heavy breaths as she focused on the substance in front of her. Her eyes shut tight and her heart beat slow.
The hair around her finger slowly seeped out more blood from her finger, the red liquid rushing down and around her finger as it surrounded the strand. The red liquid and gold strand soon began to merge - morphing into a green vine wrapped around her finger. Leaves sprouted from the little plant wrapped tightly around Athena's finger now.
Athena handed the coiled green vine with leaves to her Master. "Here, wear it around your neck. It produces a lot of oxygen from the breaths you exhale."
Ahsoka eyed the little plant in surprise. The little vine looked freshly plucked from a planet. She stretched out the coiled plant and put it around her neck, under her lekku, and lightly tied it in the back. It felt like a cool piece of coiled wire around her neck now - but the air she inhaled was noticeably fresher once she put it on.
Athena repeated the process once more and made herself a choker-like necklace of the plant. The green snugly wrapped around her throat.
Ahsoka docked the fighter onto the side of the abandoned ship and her Padawan followed her up the ladder to enter the rickety and barely lit ship.
"Stay close. We're just going to go check to see if the fuel is here," Ahsoka cautioned the Padawan nearly joined at her hip.
The girl's eyes went wide as frost slowly began to creep onto her shoulders. With a sleeveless shirt on, the frost that erupted from her skin was clearly visible. The hardened magma armor plates strapped tightly to her chest and forearms dusted with ice.
"Someone's here," Athena said in a whisper.
Ahsoka glanced at her Padawan and saw the hair on her arms stand on end. This girl was sensing something she had yet to notice.
"Inquisitors!" Athena nearly body-slammed the togruta to the side.
Ahsoka was startled by this for just a moment. As soon as she opened her eyes again, she saw the figure of the Seventh Sister. Her red blade slicing the space where she had once stood. As her knees were bent, Ahsoka could tell the mirialan had just landed from a jump from the ceiling.
Ahsoka and Athena were quick to stand. Two white lightsabers in Ahsoka's hands, two fists ready to fight from Athena.
"Ah, so the girl has good senses," Seventh Sister cooed in her creepy voice. She stood, the face shield on her helmet retracting back into the rest of the helmet.
Fifth Brother soon joined Seventh Sister, jumping down from the tall ceiling to face them. His new red sabers bringing additional light to the dark room, illuminating his hideous smile. A bandage wrapped around his arm.
"Kid, behind me!" Ahsoka ordered.
"Ah so she's your Padawan," Fifth Brother grinned. "Lord Vader will be very- agh!" the Inquisitor stopped mid-sentence in a gag of pain.
Ahsoka was wide-eyed to see dark liquid being dragged out of the nose of the Fifth Brother. To her horror, the Padawan beside her was controlling the blood with the motion of her left hand. The Fifth Brother gagged and grasped at his throat as he felt the blood being stolen from his body, dropping his new lightsaber to the ground.
"You take the creepy woman, I got him," Athena's glowing reddish-brown eyes locked onto Fifth Brother. Her ponytail was a crimson red as it glowed in the dark. "I won't kill him since that'll mean they'll send bigger numbers to take care of me, so don't worry."
"What the-" Seventh Sister looked to Fifth Brother in horror as he fell to his knees. A ball of red liquid now floating in front of his face, fed by two small streams from his nose.
"Get the girl!" Fifth Brother mustered the sentence through the pain.
Seventh Sister's eyes looked back to the girl who controlled her comrade's blood and let out a scream of anger as she swung her red blades at her.
Two white blades met hers.
"You aren't getting my Padawan that easy," Ahsoka said.
Their clash of sabers forced the two further away from Athena and the Fifth Brother. Each strike Seventh Sister threw, Ahsoka met with a graceful duck, block, or dodge as she pushed her back further into the ship. She needed to get these Inquisitors away from her Padawan. She saw the damage the girl took the last time she faced them.
Athena's glowing eyes looked down to Fifth Brother's new circular lightsaber hit lying on the ground. Keeping her left hand flexed and controlling the blood, she took the hilt into her right hand. She looked into his pale eyes as she held the saber hilt up.
"I won't take this one, I promise," she glared. "But I'm gonna make it hard for you to get it back."
A brick of ice soon encased the circular hilt, encasing it in a frosty prison five or six inches deep.
The girl threw the ball of ice away from the two and released her left hand. The ball of blood splattered in front of Fifth Brother's knees. He gagged and spat out what remnants were left in his throat. He glared up at the girl and growled in anger.
"You'll be fun to test my fighting on," Athena remarked. "I can't handle lightsabers though, so let's see how you are without one."
Fifth Brother stood but hesitated. He lost so much blood from her earlier stunt, he could hardly stand straight. Dots danced in his eyes.
"I can't use too much of my powers or this ship will blow," Athena said. "So, you're my practice dummy."
He screamed and threw a punch at her in fury.
The girl dodged and all that could be seen is a glow of orange.
Athena's eyes were engulfed in an orange glow as she smiled, stepping away from the Fifth Brother's swing. Her obsidian ring on her right index finger now floated in front of her, glowing bright orange as it expanded in diameter. It was like a piece of Laffy taffy being stretched out in front of her. A thin ring of lava spinning just in front of her.
Fifth Brother didn't even see it coming. All he knew was he lost his footing and fell forward onto his face. After a moment, the pain settled in and he screamed in agony.
His left foot was severed from his leg, the lava immediately cauterizing the wound close.
"Now we're even, you bastard!" she yelled. She walked over to the struggling Inquisitor as the ring of lava circled just above her head now.
He glanced up, looking at the girl with a halo of lava floating above her head and a fiery orange engulfing the entirety of her eyes. The plates on her arms and chest even glowed a dim red. She looked like some kind of angel from Hell.
She kicked the side of his head with her Converse and forced him into a temporary sleep. She scanned her eyes around and saw her Master still battling with the Seventh Sister.
A little black droid with multiple legs flew by them, its red eye glowing.
Athena sent the ring of lava across the room, chopping the little droid in half as she threw this lava ring like a frisbee. She brought the orange substance back to herself and turned it back to black before putting it back on her right index finger.
Her eyes were teal and her hair was blonde as she watched Ahsoka Force-push the Seventh Sister into the wall. The Inquisitor's lightsaber deactivated as it clattered to the ground. Ahsoka brought her white lightsaber in front of the face of the woman.
"You are once again beaten."
Athena held out her right hand and froze all the moisture in the air she could to create another ball of ice around Seventh Sister's sabers. Her black and yellow eyes were wide as she witnessed this. She looked at the child then back to Ahsoka.
"Lord Vader will have you both," Seventh Sister sneered.
"Shut the hell up before I kill yo ass!" Athena yelled from afar. "I already knocked out your partner!"
Ahsoka had the face of a disappointed mother as her Padawan said that.
"Knock her out and let's go!" Athena called. "I already got the creepy guy out cold!"
Ahsoka rolled her eyes before swiftly kicking the Seventh Sister's head. She paused for a moment before turning back to her Padawan just to make sure the Inquisitor wouldn't be waking up for a while.
When she did turn around, her eyes were wide.
"You cut off his foot?" she yelled.
Athena shrugged, "He ain't dead."
"Let's go. This was obviously a trap."
Athena followed her Master back into the fighter and the two quickly took off and entered hyperspace.
Athena could sense the anger and disappointment steam off her Master.
"I took it too far with the whole foot cutting off thing, huh?"
"Yes. Yes, you did."
"Sorry."
Ahsoka wasn't surprised Athena could take down at least one Inquisitor on her own. Fifth Brother was fairly easy to battle in her experience. The last few days, Ahsoka had been training Athena how to take a person's saber away, so there was no surprise as to the Inquisitors' sabers being frozen either. What was surprising is the fact Athena decided to act upon a fling of vengeance and cut off the same foot Fifth Brother had injured on her.
Athena had healed her ankle up for the most part now, though still a little wobbly and sometimes numb, but never had Ahsoka thought her Padawan would commit an act of petty vengeance.
"Revenge is not the Jedi way. You know that, right? I saw you chopped off his left foot; the one he injured on you," Ahsoka's eyes stared at the warping space in front of them.
"We aren't really Jedi, are we? You and me?"
Ahsoka paused.
"Well, petty vengeance is still very dishonorable. It is below you," Ahsoka stated.
Athena rolled her eyes, "I have slit a man's throat before. Cutting off a murder's foot in a galaxy with cybernetic replacements is nothing."
Ahsoka paused, wide-eyed. "You what?"
"Long story."
"Please tell me it wasn't out of petty revenge," Ahsoka slowly took the vine around her neck off.
She shook her head, "Nah, it was justified. He was a really bad guy who did bad things."
Ahsoka let out a sigh. Her Padawan was getting more dangerous by the day. How could she teach this girl Jedi teachings when she herself did not identify as a Jedi?
"I won't injure anyone like that if you don't want me to though," Athena crossed her arms and leaned back a little. "I can see why you're worried about me doing stuff like that to people. Kinda Dark side-like of me."
"You're a good kid, Athena. I would just rather you didn't do things like that unless 100% necessary," Ahsoka said. "You're a good kid, so do good things."
"So, where are we going?"
"We'll meet up with the Ghost crew. It's been a few hours since you and I left, so hopefully, they acquired that carrier by now," Ahsoka hit a few buttons and brought up a hologram. A little figure of Rae popped up.
"Hey, guys!" Rae smiled.
"Hi Rae," Ahsoka greeted. "Has the Phoenix acquired the Imperial carrier yet?"
The girl nodded, "Yeah. We are just not landing our fighters in it." she chuckled. "It wasn't easy to get this, let me tell you that."
"Can you send me the coordinates?" Ahsoka asked.
Rae nodded. The holographic picture of the Padawan soon disappeared.
***
Vader's heavy and robotic breaths echoed through the halls of the Star Destroyer he commanded. Every officer quickly stepped out of his way.
Every footstep, every breath, every rustle of the dark cape on his shoulders echoed the anger and hatred held in his heart.
The Apprentice of Anakin Skywalker was not only still alive, but she had an Apprentice of her own. Dume.
The surveillance retrieved from Seventh Sister's droid was cut short - but it still confirmed Vader's worst fears. Syla Dume was getting stronger by the day. The Inquisitors were easily defeated by her and her Master. Being trained under the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker only added salt to the wound.
Then - the lava. The lava that she controlled at whim. The orange that glowed in her eyes. The power she possessed was far past that of any Inquisitor he and his Master had at their command.
They were running out of Inquisitors. They were running out of Dark side users who could even be somewhat competent in hunting down a Jedi.
The door behind him shut and the machine who was once a man kneeled in front of a hologram. His Master's voice was more serious than ever.
"Lord Vader, the Inquisitors have once again failed us," he spoke. "Syla Dume continues to plague our troops with embarrassment."
"Shall I punish the Inquisitors with death for their failure, Master?"
"No. We are running low on Inquisitors. We cannot lose what few Jedi-hunters we have left." Sidious said. "That is why I want you to bring in this girl. She has far too much potential to be wasted by these measly Jedi."
"Yes, my Lord." Vader bowed his head. "I will personally hunt down the girl and her Master Ahsoka Tano."
"I do not care about Lady Tano!" Sidious snapped, anger oozing out of the Sith Lord. "I want Dume! The Force has led me to believe this girl is connected to the Ones in some form and I want that power for myself and the Empire."
"It shall be done, my Lord."
"I shall make a galactic-wide broadcast for the Imperial citizens to see. We must squeeze these rebels until they can move no more. We need them to give us the girl," Sidious plotted. "Once we have the Dumes, the Rebellion will stand no chance."
"Both Dumes, my Lord?" Vader questioned. "Caleb Dume, Kanan Jarrus, is hardly a threat."
"He is still a Dume," Sidious warned. "Though he may not live up to his full potential, we know what their bloodline is capable of. Syla Dume is first priority, however, as she has already begun to unlock her potential. But, we shall not desist our hunt for the Jedi until we capture both Dumes."
The Sith bowed his head, "It shall be done, my Lord."