After the Storm

The olive skinned Jedi sat in her confined cell in the Republic prison. All around her were the most vile criminals in the galaxy.
Her freckle shaped tattoos across her nose scrunched up as she thought of how that arrogant knight, Anakin, had exposed her for her wrongdoings.
Barriss buried her face in her palms as she contemplated how long she would be trapped in this wretched place.
And then a voice said over the intercom;
“There’s someone here to see you.”
With that she rose and moved through a small door at the back of the cell where there was a long desk bolted to the floor, and it was separated down the middle by a thick piece of transparisteel. On the other side of this sat a human male dressed in dirtied old rags as if he had been digging through garbage.
The clones who had escorted him in gave her a cold look through their visors and then left the room.
She sat down across from the figure.
“What is it Tut--” She was cut off as the man said;
“I told you never to use my real name out loud. I’m Tsk Marc.”
After glancing around the room he waved his hand and all the security monitors, including droids, blacked out.
“Now we can talk.” He said opening up his ragged wardrobe exposing the Jedi robes beneath.
“Tutso, I can’t do this for you anymore. I used the technique you taught me to kill the witness, Letta, and frame Ahsoka.”

“You did what needed to be done Barriss.”
“I can’t believe I fought Anakin like that. It’s like something possessed me. And when he turned me into the courts it wasn’t me who spoke.”

Tutso Mara just sat there and smirked.

“That was me.” He revealed.
Barriss looked at him in disbelief

“Yes,” He continued.
“I’ve mastered the ancient Sith art of Transfer of Essence. I knew there was some parts of my plan that you couldn’t carry out so I took the liberty of doing them for you.” As he spoke a gray shadow passed over his eyes.
“And now I am more powerful than ever.” Barriss found herself saying as she recoiled her from her chair.
“How does it feel, my little puppet.” He said with a cold charismatic smile.
“Why did you come here? To gloat?” Barriss said with new found anger.
“No . . . “ He said coldly.
“To do this.”
Suddenly Barriss was on her feet when she blacked out.
She woke up on the floor with clone guards looking down on her.
She rose and saw the transparisteel barrier shattered and dismembered rags strewn across the floor on the other side where Tutso had been sitting.
“What happened?” She demanded.
“Don’t worry, we saw everything.” One of the guards said, something in his voice suggested something was afoot.
Two of the clones grabbed her arms and held her tight.
“What are you doing!” She demanded
“C’mon, we’re moving you to a high security cell for assaulting an unarmed citizen.”
“What? No! That wasn’t me!” She screamed and kicked as the clones dragged her away.
As Barriss kicked futilely she heard Tutso’s voice in her head say;
My little puppet
“No!”. She screamed before she blacked out again.

It's Perfect

Ahsoka boarded the heavy Transport, her montrals and lekku hidden under a cloak.
She was on her own now, the Council, and Jedi, were behind her now.
A wide eyed Rodian reached for a blaster at his hip and she instinctively reached her her lightsabers only to remember she had left them behind.
I'm a nobody now . . . She thought as she looked out over the glistening city planet of Coruscant.
"Now leaving for the Outer Rim." A voice blared over the speakers as the cargo doors closed out the galactic center with a metallic thud.

Where should she go? What would she do? She mingled with the other refugees, if she were a Jedi she could have helped these people have a better life, now she was one of them. A stranger in a strange place.
No free taxi rides, no perks, just an ordinary galactic citizen. She still had the Force.
She recognized a little Twil'ik boy who pointed to her, she smiled back, at least she had done some good in the galaxy before she left.
"You seem troubled." A voice said and she was snapped out of her thoughts.
The speaker was a young human boy about her age, sixteen, seventeen maybe.
"It's nothing." She replied back not making eye contact.
"What happened? Did you lose someone?" He inquired.
With a sigh she answered;
"You could say that."
The ship rumbled as the landing gears extended.
"We have arrived on Dantooine. Please exit to your left. Thank you." The same monotone voice announced.
"My name's Bessen, look me up." He said reaching into his pocket and handing the Togruta a small card.
"Um, thanks." Ahsoka replied stashing the card.
Soon Bessen was lost to the crowd that was herded off the giant ship. Ahsoka followed them rubbing shoulders with beings from every corner of the galaxy.

The city was small, a mining outpost, maybe, that looked like a ghost town in the making.
She watched as the great boarding ramp retracted and the ship hovered above the ground and then shot into the upper sky to ferry the next batch of refugees to a better life.

"Ahsoka? Is that you?" An all too familiar voice said from behind. She turned to see, of all people, Lux Bonteri, the rebel senator wading through the crowd towads her as if it was a thrashing sea.
"What are you doing here?" He asked through the bustle.
"I . . . I . . . " She stuttered awkwardly. She saw him read her bewildered expression and the pair moved to an isolated spot in the run down city. When the crowds were behind them she said;
"Lux, I, I left the Jedi."
"Why?" He asked truly concerned.
"I'd rather not talk about it, Lux."
Those eyes of his pleaded for an answer and she finally delivered;
"A close friend of mine attacked the Temple and framed me for it." She confessed.
"I'm sorry." Was all he said. It was all he could say.
Ahsoka cracked a small smile at his accent, she always found it cute.
"So what are you going to do now?" He asked.
"I don't know . . . " She trailed off stealing a glimpse at his thick, unkempt, dark brown hair.
After a moment of awkward silence Lux began;
"You helped restore order on Onderon. You're a hero. You're my hero."
Even now she still held her feelings deep inside her and kept a straight face, like the remark meant nothing.
She turned her back to him and tried to look busy.
"Well . . . If that's how you feel." He said turning and heading the other way, a sad note hung in his voice.

Her emotions screamed at her, pushing and pulling, in a million different directions. She was letting the love of her life just walk away. It was what the Jedi would have wanted, but, was it what she wanted?

“Lux, don’t leave.” She said turning and running to him with tear filled eyes.
“Lux, I’ve loved you since the day we meant, and I can’t imagine life without you.” She finally said. It felt like a bantha was lifted off her chest.
She clenched his hand tight.
“Lux, please, don’t leave. I need you.” She met his warm eyes, eyes that had seen courtrooms and battlefields and maintained their alluring glow.
She lowered her head onto his chest and listened to his heartbeat.
Ahsoka stayed there as long a possible not wanting to face whatever he may say.
Lux placed a warm hand on her back and held her there.
Their eyes met again and then it happened.
He planted a firm kiss on her lips leaving her dumbfounded for a second.
And then she kissed him back, this time with all the passion she had pent up for him over the years.
They emerged for a breath and Ahsoka remarked;
“That’s payback for on Carlac.”
“Do you really have to bring that up now?” Lux remarked sarcastically.
They held each other for awhile as Ahsoka felt waves of energy ripple around them along with something else. Love?
Finally they released and held each other’s hands.
“There’s boarding house on the outskirts of town. We could stay there, escape the war, just us.”
“That sounds wonderful.” She said beaming.
As she followed Lux she remembered Bessen’s card. She stopped and pulled it out to examine it for the first time.
It said;
Bessen’s Armory and Weapons: Headquarters on Dantooine.

“Is everything alright?” Lux asked looking back at the love of his life.
She met his eyes and said with confidence;
“It’s perfect.”