This chapter takes place while Shaak and Ahsoka are both in hyperspace, so neither Shaak or Ahsoka will be in it. This will be about the council, I hope you'll enjoy!
Master Yoda sat in his quarters, his eyes closed. As usual he was searching, thinking, his mind surfing the waves of the Force. The grandmaster groaned; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the answer he was looking for. Ever since Shaak Ti had left on meditative retreat earlier in the day, he had been like this, but still, he kept trying. Determined, the grand master again opened himself to the random currents and flows of the Force only for it to rebound back at him. His head throbbed with the effort he had put in and in every way he could think of, he was drained. He wasn't exactly desperate, but he was certainly eager. He needed something, anything. He had followed the Force's will with this plan; even loosening his stand on attachments to do it, but still nothing. There wasn't a hint of the outcome of all of this; instead, darkness. The Force was thick with it and it hung like a heavy duvet, covering everything; threatening, yet enticing at the same time. A chill rose up throughhis being and even with his control, hints of frustration broke out into hisotherwise calm persona. The Force had been his ally, his biggest advisor, fornot far off nine hundred years, but now nothing. Despite himself, he could nothelp but feel a touch aggrieved and betrayed.
"Your servant, I have been.Followed this plan, I have, yet still you provide no answers. Begging you, Iam; need to know what to do next, I do." Yoda realised, as his prayerswent unanswered, that the Dark Side was so strong, strengthened even further byrecent events that his view of the future had all but disappeared. He had noidea what he could do about it and for the first time in his life, an air ofdread and foreboding welled up inside him, especially since he knew that therewas one for whom, after recent events, the darkness was more enticing thenever; Anakin Skywalker; The Chosen One. Like everyone, he'd sensed Anakin'sdemeanour. It was obvious that the council had now lost Anakin Skywalker andafter some thinking, Master Yoda knew why. It was Ahsoka; he now knew herimportance. One sentence that Shaak Ti had said to him among her story had toldYoda everything. Now Ahsoka was gone and with her, the Jedi Order. Withhindsight, the hints had always been there, Yoda realised. The young Togrutanhad always had some way to calm her master down. Whether it was with words orjust the fact that Anakin didn't want to teach his young apprenticeincorrectly, Yoda didn't know, but he knew that she had some kind of hold onAnakin's heart that not even Obi-Wan Kenobi had. His thoughts turned to theyoung Padawan herself. He remembered her saying during her hearing that thedarkness clouded everything. At that time, to his eternal shame, he hadn'treally taken much notice. Their hands had been tied and it seemed that shecould be guilty; end of story, but now? After his attempts to see the outcomeof his plan, regret filled him as he realised she had been right after all. Howcould a young Padawan see the truth if the full council, himself included,couldn't? Why had he and his fellow councillors been so blind that theycouldn't see her innocence? Had the Jedi Order really been effected that muchby the rising darkness that was present in the Force?
Yoda shook his head andhis eyes dropped; he was in no doubt. In fact, he hadn't been in doubt of thatsince he had listened to Shaak's story of how she became pregnant with Ahsoka.One sentence was all it took for him to know that he had sat and watched while the Jedi Order had abandoned the will of the Force and it was a young, innocentgirl that had almost paid the price. Master Yoda sank and hopelessness filledhim; no wonder Ahsoka left. He had failed all of them. That was why he waswilling to push his plan. Yes it was dangerous; exceedingly, but there wasnothing to lose anymore, but the fact that he didn't truly know what theoutcome of his plan would be was troubling. Attachments; they'd been theweakness of Jedi for eons, but now Master Yoda realised the Force was changingbut the Jedi hadn't. That was why his plan was so essential yet so risky, butthere was no backing out now even though he had no idea what would reallyhappen. He had to prepare nevertheless.
MasterYoda wasn't at all surprised by the knocking on his door that interrupted histhoughts. He had summoned him after all, but had that much time really passed?It was certainly possible. "Enter you may, Master Plo. Waiting for you, Ihave been." The door opened and Master Plo Koon entered. He bowedwith respect and stood in front of the grandmaster. His mechanical voice filledthe room as he stated, "You wished to see me, Master?" Master Yodaregarded him. Even though Plo Koon was calm, it was obvious to Yodathat there was more on Master Plo's mind than there appeared; perhaps even morethan Plo himself was aware of. Plo's Force signature was deflated and confused;not in a dark way, but puzzled. Yoda allowed himself a small smile. He wouldhave to speak to him about that, but first, he would deal with what he summonedMaster Plo for. "Wished to speak to you, I do. A task I have foryou." Master Plo nodded. He had suspected as much. However, there was asmall part of him that wondered if the grandmaster had sensed his unease. Eversince Ahsoka had left, Plo had felt a little bit lost. That had only heightenedwhen it was discovered that one of his best friends, Shaak Ti, had been thegirl's biological mother and had to go on meditative retreat. To him, somethingfelt a bit off. Like many Jedi, he had felt the rising darkness and it hadchilled his soul. He put it to the back of his mind and replied, "What doyou want me to do?" Master Yoda stood up and hobbled to the window. Helooked out over the cityscape of Coruscant. His mind focused; clam,questioning. "Lost both of her lightsabers, young Tano did." This wasanother task that Yoda wanted to happen. He would have liked to have done thistask himself, if he'd still been young and mobile enough. Unfortunately, thelower levels were beyond him now; most of the time. In addition, he wasn'tentirely certain if this task was needed, but he certainly hoped it was goingto be. However, he couldn't let that be known. Instead therefore, he had anexcuse already prepared.
"Allow them to fall into the hands of criminals,we cannot. Go, search that warehouse you will. Find and return her lightsaber,your task is." Now Master Plo was seriously confused. Why would Yoda bethat bothered about lightsabers? Yes, Yoda's words were true; they would bevery dangerous if one of Coruscant's less than honest inhabitants got hold ofthem, but still. It wasn't really a viable reason to specifically hunt the lostweapons down especially since their owner, Ahsoka Tano, would never need themagain. In addition, Ahsoka had only lost her main saber at the nanodroidexplosive warehouse; what about her shoto? "Just her main saber?" heasked in a curious voice. "Hmmm, more important her main saber is,"Yoda replied quickly. "But try to find her shoto also, you can."Making sure the Yoda was still looking out of the window, Plo shook his head.Why would one saber be more important than the other? After all, if this wasabout keeping dangerous weapons away from criminals, wouldn't the shoto be justas dangerous? In addition, he had never heard Master Yoda use the word 'try'before. In fact, Master Yoda was known for saying: do or do not, there is no try. Plo knew however, that if he asked, he was unlikely to get ananswer. He therefore just decided to accept the task. "Yes Master. I willleave for the warehouse immediately." Master Yoda nodded, then added,"Wait until after we've sworn in Master Unduli, you should." Heturned back and hobbled towards Plo. "Kept a secret this task must be,especially from Skywalker. Know about this mission, no one must." MasterPlo was stunned. As a general rule, the Jedi Order didn't deal with secretsunless they were to do with the war. Some secrets obviously had to be kept awayfrom the Separatists, but never from each other. The only other example hecould remember was when Obi--Wan faked his death and that was only because of adefinite and serious threat to the Chancellor. However, why would a simple taskto retrieve lost lightsabers need to be kept secret?
Master Plo now had nodoubt, Master Yoda was up to something and he guessed that Yoda's idea to sendShaak Ti on retreat was part of that. However, he had no idea what."Understood," he agreed.
Master Yoda again focused on Master Plo. He immediately sensed that Plo's confusion had only increased. There was no doubt; he needed to talk to Plo more. He did, after all, need to get some of his fellow councillors to think a bit different if the outcome of his plan was going to be anything like what he hoped. Master Yoda sat himself down again and crossed his legs. He gestured in front of him and stated, "Come, sit. Much upheaval I sense in you. On your mind what is?" Master Plo was slightly taken aback as he followed Master Yoda's orders and sat in front of the grandmaster. The truth was that he didn't know exactly what was bothering him, only that he was troubled slightly. Master Plo had been feeling off about the current situation; he couldn't deny that. He decided that that must be it. "Yes master, something is, but I'm not sure what. I just find myself........questioning. First Little 'Soka, now Master Ti, what have we come to?" Master Yoda grunted. He'd been asking himself the very same question. He wished that he could have handled Shaak Ti differently; the one thing he did know was coming was the pain that would have to appear in Shaak and Ahsoka before anything happened; such was the nature of attachments. At least he was able to prevent her getting expelled on the spot. "Lost ourselves, we have. We are in a dangerous situation. Deny that, I cannot."
Behind the goggles that covered his eyes, Master Plo frowned. He had never heard Master Yoda speak like this before. In addition, he could sense concern and reassignment radiate off the grandmaster. He had never seen anything like it. "A dangerous situation, Master? What do you mean?" "Ignored the will of the Force, we have." Master Yoda sighed and again, his ears dropped. The truth was that he had never felt so hopeless. Everything was out of his hands now. "Failed to see young Tano's importance, I did. My failure, that was." Master Plo was shocked. The grandmaster seemed so lost, so defeated. "Little 'Soka was important?" he asked. "Trusts us now, Skywalker does not." Master Yoda shook his head and his whole body heaved with a heavy breath as he again tried to reach into the Force. To his despair, again he came up empty. "Clouded, dark his future is. Lost the chosen one we have. Mistakes with him we have made. Young Tano, the final mistake, she was. Important to him, she is." There it was, he'd finally said it; the secret fear that he had had in his heart since he had talked to Shaak Ti. Ahsoka had been Anakin's moral compass, his anchor in the light. Without her....Master Yoda shuddered; why hadn't he seen it before? It was him that assigned the young girl to Anakin in the first place, after all. Master Plo agreed. He had noticed himself that Anakin could not let the young Togruta go; in fact Plo reasoned that everyone had noticed. In addition, he couldn't ignore the response of Shaak Ti. In his opinion, her attachment was obvious and understandable; she was Ahsoka's mother after all. "Skywalker is attached to her." Master Plo started. "Mind you, so is her mother, but that is understandable." At that moment, Master Plo noticed a slight stab in his heart. All this talk of Ahsoka and of those who obviously loved her made him think of her himself. Plo couldn't deny the fact that he had missed her himself the last two days. He had discovered the young girl on Shili after the pirate attack that had killed her father. She had been so bright, even after that tragedy. He had found himself chuckling at the young Togrutan's antics for days afterwards. Ever since, he had kept up to date with her and he had comforted her when she had been hurt. Even though he had tried to keep her strictly as another youngling, and then another Padawan, he now realised that he had failed. Ahsoka had that way of worming herself into people's affection. That hit him like a rampaging Rancor. He was attached to her himself; it was the only explanation as to why he missed her. However, he reasoned, how was it possible not to be attached to a young girl that you had watched grow up? Behind his goggles, a few tears appeared in Master Plo's eyes as he felt the slight stab of pain and he knew that Master Yoda had felt it. He had no choice but to say something. "I admit master, I'm also attached to Little 'Soka myself and I miss her."
To Plo Koon's surprise, Master Yoda's mouth curled up into a slight smile; he had suspected as much. "Surprise me, that does not. Like her father you have been." Master Yoda then became serious. He had to start to get across the danger they were all in. "Cope with her loss, you will, but let go of young Tano, Skywalker will not. More attachments in him, there are; sensed it, I have, but know what they are, I do not." "What should we do, master?" "Handle Skywalker with care, we must." Master Yoda closed his eyes. "With Shaak Ti, our hopes are now," he added with a resigned voice. Master Plo sat back slightly after Yoda's last statement. Shaak Ti was on meditative retreat, how could she be of use? Although he regarded Shaak as one of his closest friends, even Plo had to admit that the Togrutan Master had been destroyed by her daughter leaving. He doubted that she could even succeed in recentring herself, although he hoped that he was wrong. "Shaak, Master?" he asked with a puzzled voice. Master Yoda knew that would raise some surprise in Plo. Unfortunately, the time had come for some of his hopes to come out; at least cryptically. The grandmaster thought for a second, he knew what he had to say was bordering on breaking the Jedi Code itself, but nevertheless, the one thing he did know was if they had any chance, this approach was vital. "Attachments, dangerous for a Jedi, they are. Every Jedi Knows this. However, accomplish what nothing else can accomplish, they can; forgotten this as Jedi, we have." Now Master Plo was puzzled. He couldn't believe he was hearing Master Yoda speak like this. Even though he was shocked, he didn't fully understand Yoda's statement. What was Yoda hoping for to be accomplished? On the other hand, he wasn't going to disagree; after all, he had just admitted an attachment to Ahsoka himself. The truth was that he had no idea how to really respond to that, so he just replied, "Yes Master." Yoda's ears and eyes sprung up. Yoda sensed the confusion in Master Plo. "Ah, questioning me, you are." Master Plo quickly raised his hands; his long talons spread apart. "No. I'm just surprised."
"No, confused you, I have." Master Yoda seemed to brighten almost instantly; this had amused him slightly, plus it was exactly the confused response he was hoping for. "Good, keep thinking that way, you must. Question everything now, we should. Things, not as they seem, they are." "I will be vigilant. But how are things different to what they appear to be?" Yoda dropped his eyes again. That was the question he was desperate for an answer to himself. "Know I do not, but grown in strength the Dark Side has since young Tano left us. Careful we must be. Watch Skywalker now, we will." Master Plo nodded. He suspected something like that since Master Yoda started talking about him. "Yes Master, but couldn't we get Master Kenobi to do that?" "Hmmmm, too close Obi-Wan is. Question his former apprentice Master Kenobi will not." Master Yoda staggered back to his feet and started to hobble towards the door. Just before he left, he briefly turned and added, "Now come, needed by the council, we are. Ready to be sworn in Master Unduli is." Master Plo stood up and followed Master Yoda. "Yes Master" he answered. He could not hide his confusion and surprise as he left the room. The one thing he did know was that something was going on. However, as a council member himself, he turned his attention to the next issue, Master Luminara Unduli.
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A strange mixture of confusion, concern, curiosity and dread surrounded Master Luminara Unduli as she stood before the Jedi Council. In addition, she was deeply upset. For most of the previous day, she had been interrogating her former Padawan, Barriss Offee, and it had left Luminara heartbroken and destroyed. She couldn't believe that Barriss could've betrayed the Jedi Order and her best friend like that. She wasn't the least bit surprised when she heard that Ahsoka had left the order and if she was honest, she couldn't blame the girl in the slightest. Luminara couldn't help but wonder what she could have done to prevent her Padawan from turning into a monster. What had she done to fail Barriss so terribly that the girl fell to the Dark Side? Was it that she had taught her wrong? Or, was it that she hadn't paid enough attention to the girl's problems?
From her interrogation, it was obvious to Luminara that Barriss had been struggling with the Jedi's position in the war for a while and yet still, Luminara hadn't noticed. This had left Luminara very unsure of herself and she was only certain of one thing; she would never take another Padawan. She had failed Barriss; she would not fail anyone else. Luminara looked around the room. She noticed that almost all the council members were in evidence. The only one who wasn't there was Shaak Ti. This surprised Luminara slightly as she knew that the Togrutan was on Coruscant at that moment or, at least, she thought she did. It didn't really matter, but Luminara was puzzled. Something must have come up. She was surprised by the feelings that she was sensing in the Force. There was definitely a hint of shock, sorrow and even distain in various councillors. She couldn't help but notice that Master Plo and Master Yoda seemed a little subdued. To her, Master Plo especially looked a little lost, but by the same token, Luminara knew that he did care quite a bit about Ahsoka so, although against the code slightly, his pain wasn't that surprising. With her feeling the pain over Barriss herself, Luminara was willing to allow him that. Indeed, were some of her former Padawan's accusations correct? Were the Jedi losing their way? Luminara had to admit, she was considering it. After noticing all of the attention that everyone was giving her, Luminara was a little worried, therefore, as she bowed in front of the council; were the council also going to blame her over Barriss' betrayal?
"I received a message from Master Yoda. You wished to see me?" Master Yoda leaned forward. "Called you here, I have." Even now, Master Yoda wasn't certain the difference a new council member was going to make. He had sensed Luminara's unease and the fact that she was questioning herself as soon as she came through the door. In many ways, he reasoned, that may help. Master Yoda had worked out for himself that one of the problems that the council had experienced recently was an almost arrogant level of confidence. In addition, he knew his fellow council members were keen to hear about the interrogation of Barriss Offee. He knew, however, that once Luminara was on the council, there would be plenty of time for that. He decided therefore to get straight to it. "Lost a council member, we have." Luminara narrowed her eyes. She wasn't expecting this. She thought that the council would want to discuss Barriss, so why was Master Yoda telling her about a lost council member? In slight shock, she looked around again. To her horror, the only person missing on the council was Shaak Ti; surly nothing was wrong with her? There must be, Luminara realised. Shaak was the only one missing and the most likely reason for that was.....Luminara's heart sank; not another Jedi killed in this war. In some way, Barriss was right after all. In a shaky voice, therefore, she uttered.
"Lost a council member? H.....has Master Ti perished?" Master Yoda briefly glanced to his fellow councillors. He was still slightly uneasy about the differing views that he could still sense even though he had needed the differing views to enable his plan. With the lack of answers he had received from the Force, it was leaving him feeling a touch lost. He had also sensed Luminara's horror at his last statement and he knew that she had already guessed a part of what he had to say next. At least he could ease her worry over Shaak Ti being dead. "No, perished, Shaak Ti has not. However, had to send her on Meditative Retreat, I did. Destroyed over young Tano's departure she has been."
"Wha....?" Luminara uttered in reply. Although relived that Shaak was still alive, she felt stunned and seriously confused. Shaak Ti was always calm and serene. Luminara had never seen the Togrutan Master get so much as annoyed before. She knew that Ahsoka and Shaak were the same species, but it didn't explain Shaak reacting to Ahsoka leaving at all. "Why would that destroy her?" Obi-Wan Kenobi decided to answer. He could tell that Luminara was shocked, as they all had been, and he wanted to make sure that Luminara was properly informed before she was sworn onto the council. "Master Ti confirmed to us all yesterday that Ahsoka is actually her daughter." Luminara stood riveted in shock. Every fibre of her being was screaming that this had to be a mistake, but the faces on the council members plus the feeling of truth in the Force confirmed to her that this was not a mistake. Luminara racked her brain, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember a single instance when Shaak Ti gave any indication of Ahsoka being her daughter. Before Barriss' betrayal, Luminara would have been appalled by this news. Jedi were not supposed to form such attachments and were certainly not supposed to have children. However, recent events had caused Luminara to reevaluate such thoughts. During the training of Barriss, Luminara had taught Barriss to uphold the code above everything. As she stood in front of the council, Luminara realised she had been too strict with the code and that meant that Barriss couldn't see beyond it; she lacked the flexibility that the likes of Ahsoka Tano had. She had failed; she had set her Padawan up to be destroyed by the war as strictly speaking, war itself should be against the code. No wonder it had torn Barriss in two and sent her dark; she simply couldn't cope with the emotions of war and they had overwhelmed her. That was certainly the impression she had gained from interrogating Barriss at least. Luminara vowed that she would not make that mistake again. She would definitely have to change her views slightly. After all, she had known Shaak Ti for years and had never known anyone more serene, and yet it turned out that Shaak had had a daughter for all those years and it didn't affect her in the slightest, until the council were stupid enough to believe Ahsoka could be guilty of murder.
Luminara realised that Ahsoka walking away must have overloaded Shaak's control and Luminara instantly felt sorry for Shaak even though Shaak had acted against the code as she had a tiny idea of how Shaak was feeling. However, Luminara had lost a Padawan, Shaak had lost a daughter. She looked down, closed her eyes and shook her head. "Poor Shaak. I can't imagine what that would be like for her."
"Hmmm, in pieces, Master Ti is." Master Yoda again looked to the floor. "Had no option, we did. Only way to prevent the need to expel her, it was. Without her for two months, we will be." Master Yoda raised his head and looked at Luminara Unduli. "A new member, the council now needs. Temporary for now, this would be, but offer you the vacant position, the council does." Luminara's mouth dropped open. They wanted her on the council? She couldn't believe what she was hearing and there must be some mistake. In her opinion, there was no way that she could trust herself on the council; after all, she had just failed as Barriss' master and she was questioning her own beliefs. The council needed masters who were sure of themselves and whose wisdom was certain, but Luminara's eyes, her Padawan's actions had proven that her own wisdom was far from certain. In fact, at that moment, she also remembered an incident on the Jedi Cruiser Tranquility two and a half years before where Ahsoka demonstrated better judgement of an enemy than herself. No, Luminara decided that she was not council material and she decided to tell them. "Thank you, masters, but I'm not Council material. My judgement is....." She shook her head and continued, "....questionable. After Barriss, I can't trust my own insight." Kit Fisto smiled. Somehow, he expected Luminara's initial reluctance and he did understand it. However, there was no way, in his view, that Barriss Offee's fall into darkness was the fault of Luminara Unduli. "Master Unduli, there is no way you can be blamed for her actions."
"Hmmm, Agree I do," Master Yoda added. He had also expected Luminara's response. In fact, one of the usual requirements for council membership is modesty so her response was actually wanted. In this case, however, Master Yoda had other reasons for liking Luminara's views and the fact that she was questioning them. Recent events had made him realise that it was something the council didn't do enough of. If they had have done, Ahsoka Tano would have almost certainly still been a Jedi. "Questioning yourself, you are, Master Unduli, but worry about that, do not. Your fault, that was not." He quickly cast a glance around and added, "Besides, need to question more, we do. Good learning it is."
"Masters, I...." Luminara looked around. Everyone seemed to be basically in agreement. She could sense that there were some divisions in the council, however. Luminara quickly realised that it was undoubtedly due to Shaak Ti being Ahsoka's mother. She could only guess at the discussions that that had caused. She also wondered why Shaak wasn't expelled, but she agreed, Shaak did deserve a chance. Even with those thoughts, she still wasn't convinced. "Are you all sure?"
"We have discussed this," Master Windu replied. Eventually he had agreed with the suggestion of Luminara Unduli as a temporary council member, but he did have some worries still and the unease he sensed in Luminara was one of them. However, the council had decided. "We do believe that you are suitable for this position." Luminara closed her eyes and briefly searched the Force for anything immediately dangerous. Satisfied that everything was okay for now, she finally made her decision. If the council believed that she could do it, then who was she to disagree. Besides, it was hopefully only temporary until Shaak came back from meditative retreat. She opened her eyes again and answered, "In that case, masters, I humbly accept." "Very good. Take your seat, you should." Luminara slowly and calmly sat down in the vacant seat. "Thank you, Master Yoda." Luminara couldn't deny that her heart was racing but she knew that she had to adapt. She was a councillor now, or at least she would be for the next two months, and she had to be firm.
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An air of sorrow and uncertainty filled Master Plo Koon as he approached the warehouse where Ahsoka had been. Pain surged through him as he entered. Ahsoka was only here to find the truth, something which, in hindsight, the council should have done. Ahsoka had actually been attacked here by Barriss Offee. Now Ahsoka was gone and the likelihood was that he would never get the chance to give Ahsoka a personal apology. Even though he had apologised to her in the council chamber afterwards, he was annoyed that he was the only one to have done so and the apology he did give was not a personal one, just an official one. Plo Koon was here to find Ahsoka's main lightsaber that she lost during that event, as per Master Yoda's instructions. However, since Yoda had given him that task, he had been trying to understand exactly what Master Yoda wanted the lightsaber for. Yes, Master Yoda had given a reason for the mission, but Master Plo knew that there was more to it than that. No one would do this just to keep lightsabers out of the hands of criminals. No matter how hard he tried, he could not figure out what this task was really about. His head was also spinning over the need for secrecy. After the council meeting where Luminara Unduli was sworn on was over, he'd had to slip out of the temple, making sure that no one saw him. Although he had managed to achieve the required quietness, he still couldn't understand the need for that either. What would it matter if Skywalker or Obi-Wan saw him retrieve Little 'Soka's lightsaber? Well, he did know that they would probably ask the same question that he himself was asking; why? Plus it was possible that Skywalker could create some kind of scene over it and, after realising that he was attached to Ahsoka himself, Plo Koon couldn't have really blamed him. Of course, he still had the problem of actually finding the lightsaber and he knew that it was not going to be easy. For a start, although it was now known that Ahsoka was ambushed by Barriss, no one had a detailed account of exactly what had happened, since no one had believed Ahsoka until Anakin had discovered the truth. Master Plo was certain that Ahsoka would have found some way off Coruscant by now, he certainly would in her position, so asking her exactly where she lost it was out of the question. Therefore, aside from sheer luck, he hoped that somehow the Force would guide him. If he was honest, however, he knew that was unlikely. Due to his amplified mask, he emitted an audible sigh that echoed around the area; sheer luck it was then. He entered into the street level of the warehouse. He reasoned it was the level that Ahsoka was most likely to have entered. Instantly, he saw the warehouse was in a state of some disrepair. He made his way to the section where Ahsoka had been captured. As he looked around with a fresh viewpoint, the evidence for the fight could be seen; the lightsaber slashes and displaced wreckage all around was clear to see. This in itself supported Ahsoka's words. Oh, why haven't anyone investigated this? Inside, Master Plo died; he had been as guilty as anyone about believing her guilt. Fighting back the wall of emotion that threatened to overwhelm even him, he concentrated. He had no doubt he had found the area where the one sided duel had taken place.
At the time, Ahsoka was tired and injured and had lost her shoto; there was no way she could have defended herself against Barriss. With this in mind, he realised that Ahsoka's lightsaber had probably been lost downwards either through the floor or down the side of it. Barriss had probably Force pushed Ahsoka hard into a wall or across the floor which would have caused the lightsaber to drop. One thing was for certain, he would have to check the lower levels both of the warehouse and under it. Master Plo immediately could see the hole in the floor through which Ahsoka had been knocked and beside it, a drop off. That was it; Plo Koon knew it. At that instant, in his mind he saw Barriss, disguised to look like Ventress Force push Ahsoka into a pile of blocks and boxes at the edge of that drop off. Ahsoka's lightsaber rolled backwards out of her hand and down that drop off. "Ah Little 'Soka; I'm so sorry. We should never have doubted you." Plo shook his head after his apology into the air. He hoped and prayed that somehow Ahsoka would hear it through the Force. He looked over the drop off. To his relief, he could see that there was some kind of floor down there. Even if it didn't look completely safe, which none of the warehouse did for that matter, he reasoned it would still hold his weight long enough to search. With luck, the lightsaber wouldn't have gone down any further than that. Making a decision, he immediately dropped over the edge and used the Force to land safely on the bottom. He immediately scanned around. Just like the rest of the abandoned warehouse, there were bare durasteel beams that could be seen everywhere. He was standing in what he determined used to be another storage room. Behind him the drop off that he had just dropped down continued. He prayed that the saber hadn't gone down there. If it had, there would be no retrieval. As he turned his attention to what was in front of him, he noticed several stacks of crates and boxes similar to the ones he had seen above. As he scanned around, he noticed one such stack approximately two metres in front of him. As he looked at it, he sensed an echo in the Force. It was distant and slight, but he decided to follow it. After all, he'd been searching for a couple of hours now, and it was looking unlikely he would find the lightsaber otherwise; he had nothing to lose. Plo walked up to the stack of boxes. They were piled six deep and many of them were in a poor state of repair. As he looked, a glint caught his eye. As he looked down, he felt a knife through his heart. There it was: Little' Soka's lightsaber. As soon as he called it to his hand, emotions struggled to overwhelm him again. He still remembered when the young Togruta had first built the saber. She had just returned from Ilum and he could still remember the bright glowing smile spread across her face and the pride that radiated off her as she ran to show him. He pressed the activator and the bright green blade sprung to life. At least it was undamaged. He unignited the saber, placed it on his belt and made his way out of the warehouse. His attention turned to her shoto. However, he regarded the time. Her shoto had been lost as she fled and since it was approaching night, he decided to leave it. The truth was, he was highly unlikely to find it. Judging by where she had lost it, the likelihood was that it was either destroyed or so far down into the underworld that it would never be seen again. At least he had found her main saber and there would be something left in the temple to remind them of Ahsoka Tano. In addition, he had to remind himself of one thing; she was still alive and she was out there, somewhere. Just before he made his way back to the temple, Plo Koon again whispered into the Force.
"Where ever you are Little 'Soka and wherever you go, the Force will be with you. I hope you find your peace and I hope I can see you again some day."
I really hope you like this chapter! Next chapter will be about Ahsoka and Shaak again 😉