Author's Note: I would say Anakin's line in the Phantom Menace of "the biggest problem in this world is that no one helps each other" is really what Star Wars is all about, and that's essentially what the moral of the Twins series is too. Hardly anyone shows one another any selfless compassion, and inevitably, that leads to things completely blowing up in the worst ways possible. I wouldn't say anyone fit that qualification in Star Wars other than the Skywalkers.
But maybe this once, a little extra selfless compassion will prevent things from going as far as they did in canon. ;)
But hey, don't expect me to give any spoilers. *evil grin*
~ Tirana Sorki
Ahsoka Tano
There's little more we can do in our investigation right now, until Fives and Echo come up with a report on the next lead they've been chasing. Ventress' trip into the Sith Temple didn't get us anywhere, so for now, Alema and I are still hanging around Trace, and to a lesser extent, her nephew – Poe Dameron.
Sometimes, he's here for her to watch over while Rafa is busy elsewhere,
Alema is holding him now, as he he tries to play Trace's tools.
"If you stay, we can test the Silver Angel," Trace is saying cheerfully. She clearly wants us around, but I don't know if we should stay here. We'll have to get back to focusing on our investigation soon, and we don't need to draw attention to them for no reason while we're at it.
"As long as Rafa doesn't mind," I decide, finally. She's the other problem.
"'As long as Rafa doesn't mind' what?" the woman herself demands, marching into the room.
"Ahsoka and Alema are gonna be staying on for a bit," Trace explains with a grin.
"You got any skills?"
"Only useful ones," I offer.
"It seems Trace could use some help here," Alema replies, turning to look at her, where Poe is in her arms. He squeals, wriggling around as though asking to be put down, and she does.
"Mom!" Poe squeals, running over to Rafa and wrapping his tiny arms around her leg. Really, I know why Alema adores him so much.
"This once, perhaps that may be of use," Rafa agrees, reaching down to detangle him from her leg as she walks further into the shop.
"What's up?" Trace asks.
"Look, I wouldn't ask you to do this, but I'm in a tough spot. I hired a starship and crew for a job –"
"What?!" Trace yells, "You were gonna leave me here?!"
"No!" she defends, "I was gonna do a job, make us some money, an dbe back. But then the pilot backed out and took his ship with him, and –"
"I don't know what's worse," Trace cuts her off, "That you were gonna do this or that you hired a pilot other than me to do it with."
"Hey, someone had to watch over Poe, right?" Alema points out, as the toddler scurries back to her side again, picking up a nearby wrench to inspect with great interest.
"Yeah," Trace agrees, though she still looks unhappy.
"What's the job?" I query. After last time, I don't know if I want to be involved in one of these 'jobs' again. Although someone clearly needs to be around them to keep them out of trouble.
"I'll tell you once we're underway," Rafa retorts, "But we need someone to take care of Poe."
"I could stay," Alema offers immediately, "I don't mind watching over him."
Rafa eyes him. "Alright, but if he's in your care, you are not to let anything happen to him. You can feel free to stay around here until we get back, but –"
"Hey, stop worrying," Trace interrupts, "Alema's my friend. She knows how to take care of him!"
Rafa still doesn't look that enthusiastic about it, even if she was the one who kind of suggested it in the first place. "You know we can't count on anyone," she reminds her sister.
"We can count on each other! And maybe Ahsoka and Alema," Trace argues.
"Maybe," she scoffs.
"Hey," Alema cuts in, "Don't worry, I'll take care of him. And Ahsoka can go along to... help you, if you want."
"What are you after?" Rafa asks, circling past Trace and approaching the two of us, "What's your angle?"
"We don't have any 'angle'," I defend, "Unless it's to keep you out of trouble."
"Come on. Everybody plays an angle," she replies, "I don't mind, except when it involves my family. So tell me what are you after?"
"Rafa, stop it!" Trace snaps, "They're my friends."
"Fine," Rafa concedes finally, "Then we better get your ship ready to go." She leaves it at that, going over to explain the situation to her son, so I take the opportunity to pull Alema aside.
"I think I should have time to do this before Fives and Echo find anything out," I tell her.
"I agree," Alema replies, "They haven't left any message of finding anything in awhile." Of course, any traces connecting Palpatine to anything suspicious are next to impossible to find. He would have been uncovered a long time ago if that weren't true, but I wish we could actually find something.
Or maybe find a way to get into contact with Anakin and Aniya directly. Maybe it's not a good idea to keep waiting with information like this, but I don't have a good feeling about taking the information straight to the Council.
Actually, I don't have a very good feeling about anything suddenly, and it doesn't seem entirely connected with what we're doing.
"What's wrong?" Alema asks, eyeing me.
"I don't know. I just... don't have a good feeling about this," I admit.
"Going with Rafa and Trace?"
"No. Everything."
She frowns, glancing around. "I know what you mean. Before we left Ryloth, I had the feeling I'd be back soon, but I also think... everything will be dramatically different somehow. I don't know what it means."
"I guess we'll find out," I reply grimly. What else can we do?
Anakin Skywalker
We haven't been back to Coruscant for anything but restocking our cruisers for a long time now. Aniya and I haven't even had time to talk to Qui-Gon, Padme, or Jaufre in person in months. Maybe we will eventually, but not until the Outer Rim Sieges are over.
And that probably won't be until the war is over, however it's going to end. Something feels... wrong. I don't know what.
I'm standing on the bridge of the cruiser when a civilian transport starts trying to fly through military lanes, and I can hear Yularen handing it behind me. Something feels... familiar, though. I can sense...
Something.
"Who was on board that transport?" I ask, turning and approaching the officers.
"Oh, just some rookie pilots, apparently on their first maneuvers," Yularen replies, "I was just about to send a detachment to arrest them."
I frown, closing my eyes and reaching out with the Force. And that's when it hits me. A presence I haven't felt in so long, I could almost think I was imagining if the Force wasn't screaming so glaringly with it.
Ahsoka.
I can feel her familiar soft presence, though it feels... more matured and closed off from me now, but for just a moment I feel her touching me back through the Force, with an equal amount of surprise.
She's –
She's here. She's right there on the ship. My little sister – What's been happening to her? What is she doing now? Is she okay?
"Should I send a detachment, General?" he asks.
I shake my head immediately. "No, it's nothing." I don't know what she's doing, but she obviously isn't alone, or she wouldn't have accidentally flown into a military lane like that. Maybe someday we'll see each other again, but it won't be now.
Despite it all, my eyes linger on the passenger ship until it disappears from sight, taking my little sister away from me yet again. Where is Alema? Why aren't they together? I would have felt her if she was there too, and I didn't, which means they must not be. At least not right now.
I can only hope that both of them are fine.
***
I can only be grateful that I get to talk to Aniya in person not long later. It's so lonely without her and Obi-Wan and... everyone. I miss Ahsoka. I miss her more than I can ever say and feeling her again has... put me at ease while making me more concerned for her wellbeing. She's not currently with Alema, and I don't know if they're both alright.
"I wish we could go back to stay," Aniya confesses the moment we're left alone in the briefing room. It's been a few days since I left Coruscant again, and I can't get it out of my head. That was Ahsoka, so, so close and I know I could have spoken to her again if I wanted. I felt her reach back, but it was brief before she pulled away again – she's not ready yet.
I can't blame her, either. I'm still struggling with confronting what happened. Aniya and I haven't changed at all, but knowing that there is something, anything in the universe that we might not always agree on... I don't know how to feel.
I wish I'd chosen to follow her, trust her judgment, and yet...
It's not my place to question the Council. They try and do the best they can. I don't know what more I can expect, but it still hurts that they don't trust us. I don't know what we've ever done to make them doubt us. We've tried our best. It's not fair.
"I want to know what surprise Jaufre was talking about," she continues.
"When I was leaving Coruscant, I sensed something," I reply before she can keep talking. "Ahsoka was there."
"What?! I thought they were going to Ryloth!"
"I thought so too, but I sensed her."
Even in the dim lighting of the room and with her loose curls concealing most of her face, I can see her shock. It ripples into the Force, too, and I reach out to touch her presence, as if it can do something to reassure us. Nothing can.
Nothing has since our mother died.
Our mother, who raised us and cared for us despite the nightmare we lived in, and we failed her. We should have saved her, but we weren't strong enough.
And we left her, the same way Ahsoka and Alema left us.
I didn't know how much she did for us until we grew older and until... well, until I got Ahsoka. I knew, to a point, but we were both so young then. We were never able to see and understand when we had to get by on the barest scraps of food, when she'd go hungry for us to make sure we were safe – I couldn't understand, until I found myself doing the same for Ahsoka. Most battles are simple, all things considered, but there are always some that are extended, grueling. There have been times – though far and few between – that we're so low on supplies it... yeah. Aniya had nearly reached the same point back on Jabiim.
She has done that herself, at other times, and I hate seeing it. I hate how there's nothing I can do about it.
"At least they're alright," Aniya says stiffly.
We don't know that though. I know they can take care of themselves, but it's not easy being apart. It's not easy knowing that they're out there alone against a whole galaxy. I have no idea if they've found what they were looking for. (I have no idea if they're going to look back.)
Ahsoka Tano
"I never figured when I took my ship out for the first time, I'd wind up in a place like this," Trace rants, pacing back and forth in the prison cell the three of us are locked in. This was not how I expected the mission to go. I need to get back to Coruscant as soon as possible, in case Alema needs my help. I don't have time to be trapped in a place like this, and the Pykes are already torturing the sisters in an effort to get information out of them. I need to find some way out, something that will actually work.
"Hey, you dumped the spice," Rafa accuses.
"We wouldn't be here if you hadn't taken the job with the Pykes," I remind flatly. That's the real reason why we're here.
"Fact, if she doesn't dump the spice, we finish our job, and we're already gone," Rafa snaps.
"Fact, the Pykes turned spice into something that ruins lives, so those lives would be on you!" I retaliate. Why can they not understand that?! This is wrong on every level, whatever the reason they're doing it.
"Says who?" Rafa shoots back.
"That's just the way it is. You can't profit from other people's suffering, or at least, I won't let you."
Rafa scoffs. "Will you listen to this? We got a regular Jedi here."
What would they do if they knew who Alema and I really used to be? I still have plenty of questions against the Jedi Council, but not the actual Jedi way, and I don't appreciate their attitudes. "What if I was?" I ask, casually.
"Don't kid around," Trace grumbles.
"You didn't tell her, did you?" Rafa asks.
"Tell me what?" I ask, frowning.
"About why Trace and I keep our distance from the Jedi, or any Topsiders, for that matter."
"Oh, shut up, Rafa!"
"I don't think so," she retorts, "Not if Miss 'High Ideals' here is gonna lecture me about morality. A couple of years ago, there was a prison break on the surface of Coruscant where you live, some gangster named Ziro."
I still at her words. That's – I remember something about that. I hadn't been in the chase itself, but I certainly knew about it, and I suddenly have a very bad feeling about where this is going.
"Then came the Jedi. We watched, like so many others, as they chased Ziro and his gang down the portal, leaping from speeder to speeder as they went. Finally, some red-eyes alien protecting Ziro blasted the engine of an ascending cargo transport. The ship went spiraling out of control. The Jedi went into action, tried to gain control of the ship. There was a populated landing platform right in the path of the ship, but the Jedi steered it clear of that, right into the portal wall. And on the other side of that wall was our home."
Oh. Oh. I already know what she's going to say next, and I don't even know what to say to her. It's – I know people sometimes get unintentionally hurt on missions, but it's still... I had no idea this is why they're so upset with the Jedi.
"Mom and Dad saw it coming," Trace speaks up, quietly, "They got Rafa and I out. But they weren't so lucky. Rafa's husband was there too, and he didn't make it. And that was... right after she found out she was pregnant. He – he never even got to know Poe."
I'm too horrified to formulate any words in response, so I let them keep talking.
"The Jedi didn't even capture Ziro," Rafa speaks up, voice surprisingly level despite what she's talking about. "The 'distraction' of the ship helped him get away. Afterward the Jedi came back and one of them came over to me. I'll never forget it. She was beautiful, dark robes contrasting against her light green skin. Penetrating eyes. She looked at me, and you know what she said?"
She chuckles, but there's no humor in it, only bitterness. "She said I had to make a choice, but not to worry, 'the Force will be with you'. That's it. Then she was off, and Trace and I were left without parents, without a home, just left there to find our way in their system. And my child was left without a father. I spent every day since building a new life for me and Trace and Poe, and it's about us not depending on Jedi or these criminals or anyone else. We make our own rules, and we survive just fine! That is, until Trace let you tag along."
"I'm so sorry," I murmur quietly, looking away. I don't know what else I can even say to all that. I couldn't let them hurt other people, but I can see now why Rafa wasn't really worried about it. She needs to take care of her sister and son, and of course, she would put them first.
For now, I just need to find us all a way out of the mess we got ourselves into.
Alema Syndulla
Being here when Trace or Rafa isn't is weird. It almost feels like I'm intruding on their home – well, they don't really have a home, they just live in a side room of the place they work at. But I have to watch over Poe, so I'm doing it anyway.
While I'm at it, I stop to fix up a few of the things that Trace has laying around. It's hard when I have to keep my eyes on a certain mischievous one-year-old most of the time or he disappears, but I'm managing. It's impressive the sisters have been able to raise him so well on their own when they both have to be working as it.
Poe spends most of the time crawling around exploring his surroundings, occasionally stopping to babble to me in baby language.
I think I'm getting a little better an understanding it.
He misses Rafa and Trace though, and I have to admit I'm getting a little worried. Where are they? It's been several days now, and I would have thought Ahsoka would already be back.
Not that Fives and Echo have come up with anything yet, but it's probably going to be at a moment's notice when they do. And I can't shake the feeling that something is shifting, changing, though I'm not sure what. The Force is being strangely elusive, but it still has me on edge.
I'm seriously starting to consider if there's any way I can get into contact with Ahsoka when I finally hear the sound of an approaching ship. I pick up Poe, darting outside instantly to see the three of them walking down the ramp.
"So, you're not going to arrest me for spice smuggling?" Rafa is asking, stopping at the bottom of the ramp.
What?! And wait, spice smuggling? Is that what they were doing?!
"Why would I do that?" Ahsoka asks incredulously.
"Well, you're a Jedi, right? Both of you?" Rafa replies, turning to give me a pointed look
Poe squeals happily, squirming around in my arms, and I set him down, letting him run over to them.
"What's going on?" I ask, warily. After hearing Trace's very low opinion of the Jedi, Ahsoka and I had both agreed it would probably be best if neither of them knew we used to be Jedi. It's not as if it really mattered since we weren't anymore anyway.
"Don't you make a living tracking down criminals like me?" Rafa asks.
"I told you, we were Jedi," Ahsoka replies.
No, I'm not ready to talk about this at all but apparently they found out somehow, so it looks like we have some explaining to do. I'd really like to hear what happened on this... spice smuggling mission. Something tells me it was far more complicated than that.
Trace shakes her head, taking a still giggling Poe from Rafa, "I don't understand. Why would anyone walk away from being a Jedi?"
"Because things aren't quite as simple as they seem?" I offer, stepping forwards.
"It's complicated," Ahsoka agrees.
"No offense," Rafa cuts in, "But I don't want to hear your complicated story. Let me level with you. You might not think of yourselves as Jedi, but both of you act like ones. Or at least, how I want them to be."
I blink in surprise. This – what?!
"She's right," Trace replies, "We got in over our heads. Without you, we'd be done for. Jedi or not, I consider you both my friends."
"What happened?" I ask, frowning.
"Well... it's a long story," says Rafa replies.
"I'll catch you up later," Ahsoka replies, "To cut it short, they..."
"Got captured by the Pykes, and she helped us escape, and you took care of Poe while we were gone," Trace replies, "We couldn't have done it without you."
Well, that explains how... the secret must have come out. Ahsoka probably had to use the Force to save them. "We were glad to be of help," I promise, "Thanks for letting us stay around here."
"It's been good to have friends around," Trace says firmly.
"I could say the same," I reply, giving her a small smile.
And it's then that something prickles at the edge of my awareness. Something dangerous.
"Isn't that sweet?" a voice rings out, and I whip around to see three armored figures in Death Watch armor walking towards us. "Making friends?"
My blood instantly runs cold. "Get back!" I warn, stepping defensively in front of the three. Ahsoka joins me instantly, eyes narrowed, ready for a fight. What are they doing here on Coruscant?!
"So you remember me," the figure in the front says, reaching up to take off her helmet.
"Bo-Katan," Ahsoka replies, eyes narrowed.
"Don't worry, Death Watch is gone. And now, you and I have a common enemy." She withdraws a hologram, and a holographic image of Maul appearing.
What?
"Maul?" Ahsoka and I echo in unison. He's... well, yes, technically he is an enemy of the Jedi, even if he's never outright picked a fight with the Order.
"I need your help. Once we are underway, I will explain everything." Bo-Katan pulls her helmet back on, turning away. "You have five minutes to decide."
Ahsoka and I exchange incredulous looks. "What do we do?" I ask rhetorically.
"It looks like she needs your help, just like we did," Trace offers.
"It's a little more... complicated than that," I mutter. I don't know how she even found us. But I know Maul was on Mandalore, so I probably don't need to expect a trap.
"I know where this is going to lead us," Ahsoka admits. Not that we weren't already on that path anyway.
"Back to the Jedi?" Trace asks, and my sister nods.
"Go," Rafa encourages, "It's what you're meant to do."
Is it? I don't know what to say to that, but maybe this is the Force's way of indicating we need to take what we've found with Fives and Echo to the Jedi already, without waiting. We don't have any information against Palpatine yet, and that is not good. I'm certain he's going to hear about this, and I wanted that information first, but I can only hope this is the right thing to do.
I look between the sisters and their son, back to my own sister. "Come on. Let's go."
I can only hope this is the right choice.
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