Hours later, she didn't know how long, Ahsoka's eyes crept open, slowly blinking into consciousness. When she saw the cockpit she was sitting in though, she closed them almost immediately. Nope, not dealing with that yet.
She had been so physically and mentally exhausted from the night before that she didn't remember much of what had happened after Rex had convinced her to abandon her plan to separate. She was vaguely aware that she was leaning up against him, though.
As it had turned out, they had fallen asleep sitting against the wall, leaning on each other. Well, Ahsoka was leaning on Rex, and he was using her montrals as a headrest. Rex had taken off his armor to sleep and had one arm draped around Ahsoka, though it had fallen off her shoulders while he was unconscious. His other hand was holding Ahsoka's.
It was actually really comfortable. Despite the fact that she was awake, Ahsoka didn't feel the urge to move. The alarm she had set for the hyperdrive hadn't gone off yet, so she didn't need to get up yet. She just closed her eyes and relaxed again, trying not to move. She didn't want to wake Rex up.
The only noise that could be heard was the hum of the hyperdrive, as well as the occasional snore from the passenger bay. It was so calm and still, and so drastically different from the reality they were facing that it was almost possible to pretend that none of it was happening. If they didn't move, maybe it wouldn't be real at all.
Ahsoka realized that was what she had been doing in the Lower Levels, probably for longer than she should have. She pretended that because she had retired from the Jedi Order and the Clone War that her part in it was done and that it didn't affect her anymore. Knowledge came with accountability, though. She had tried to shy away from the fighting, to hide in the shadows where she didn't think Tyrannus could reach her. She didn't think it was wrong to want peace, to want to be done fighting, but she shouldn't have run from it all either.
She felt Rex shift beside her, slowly coming to consciousness. Whispering, he asked, "You up?"
"Yeah," she told him, but neither of them moved except to squeeze the other's hand. Ahsoka was grateful for it: physical contact was reminding her that she wasn't on her own anymore.
Rex seemed to be thinking the same things she was. "Are we really going to have to get off this ship? What if we just stay here?"
Smiling, she rolled her eyes a little bit. "There are about a hundred reasons why that won't work."
"Buzzkill."
"Well Obi-Wan isn't here, so someone has to do it."
He laughed softly, despite the reminder that they had no idea where Obi-Wan, or anyone else for that matter, was. It was a lot easier to admit in the dark cockpit where it felt a million lightyears away.
At least they had that moment of peace, though. There was no telling what would happen once they got off of the shuttle, and moving meant facing whatever it would be. Maybe all of this would clear up and maybe they would get back home one day, but until that happened they had to accept the possibility that they might be criminals for the rest of their life.
Ahsoka kind of hoped they had a while before the alarm went off, but about thirty seconds later, it started blaring, startling both of them out of comfort. "Five-minute warning," Ahsoka groaned, stretching her neck. Standing up, she held a hand out to pull Rex to his feet. "Come on, we don't want to crash into a planet for real."
"Guess not," he agreed reluctantly. He took her arm and got up, walking over to his stack of armor. "I'll get the men up, shouldn't take to long."
"Take your time," Ahsoka assured him. "I doubt anyone else will be on Xlenia, even if we have to prepare for it. It's going to take some really bad luck for us to run into trouble on an abandoned planet."
Rex grinned, having remembered a few times when their bad luck had struck. Still, they had made it this far. "Doesn't matter. We could be walking into a trap down there, but I'm still going to be right behind you."
It wasn't anything she didn't already know, but remembering how much he trusted her gave her hope. "Thanks, Rex."
He nodded and grabbed his helmet and the rest of his gear before heading back out into the passenger bay. They were going to be fine, he knew. All of the men trusted Ahsoka, and she wasn't about to abandon them. Whatever was waiting for them on Xlenia, they could handle.
Ahsoka grabbed her bag since she still had a minute or two before the ship needed to jump out of hyperspace. Some of the stuff in there was going to be worthless on an abandoned planet, such as credits, but things like her blaster and the extra food were going to come in handy. Strapping the holster to her back, she wondered how long they were going to end up staying here. There was no plan after this unless something happened that warranted a new plan. Closing her bag, she settled into the pilot's seat.
When the shuttle dropped out of hyperspace, Ahsoka sped towards the capital. It seemed like ages ago she had come here the first time, waiting for Anakin to show up so she could threaten the Chancellor. Another month and it would be a full year since that happened.
She found a landing pad tucked away mostly out of view from the atmosphere. If anyone did happen to find them that wasn't supposed to, hopefully, it would take them some time to find their ship. As long as they had a way off this planet they would be okay, although they ought to find an abandoned fuel reserve. Just in case.
Deactivating the engines, she grabbed her bag and walked back to talk to the men. She had about half a plan, but it wasn't all that complicated. It was harder to strategize when there was no enemy to fight and no maps to analyze. All of the troopers looked to her when she walked in, waiting for the debrief.
"Did anyone come here with General Skywalker a while ago?" she asked, looking around to each of them. A few raised their hands, but not all of them. Ahsoka nodded, choosing to give a bit of background information. "The main thing you need to know is that the Separatists set up camp here about a year ago, in the Judicial Building. It's obliterated now, thanks to you guys."
A few laughs went around the compartment. "We're going to head to the executive headquarters used to be. I'm hoping we can find some equipment that still works, and hopefully, a few resources packed away in storage. We'll sweep through the building in one group, no splitting up until we know what we have to work with." She walked to the ramp, pulling her blaster out instead of her lightsabers. "Let's give General Skywalker something to find when he gets here."
A round of agreement went through the group, and the soldiers put their helmets on and pulled their own weapons. Ahsoka lowered the ramp, leading point, and looking around for any sign of movement. When all of the men had gotten off she held up for a minute, using the Force to sense around her. Beside her, Rex had was scanning for life forms. Everybody else stood still, waiting for results.
It was dead quiet, as far as Ahsoka could tell. She turned to Rex. "Anything?"
"Nothing," he reported, putting the scanner away. "I'm not picking up any heat signatures for ten kilometers at least."
"Me either," she concurred. "Either someone is really good at hiding, or we're alone here." She looked up at the building they needed, analyzing the structure.
It didn't look impressive, but it was clearly built to hold off an attack if necessary. The paint job on the outside had faded, but the structure itself was still stable enough. Ahsoka could pick out signs that this place had a defense system, but she wasn't sure she wanted to test it out. After forty years without being used, it definitely needed a once-over before they tried to activate it.
"Form on me," she called to her men, and they followed her to the access point of the building connected to the landing pad. Ahsoka used the Force to pry the doors open since there was no power in the building and they wouldn't open otherwise. There was no light inside except for the moonlight streaming through the windows.
The troopers activated scope lights as they walked in, and Ahsoka grabbed one of her sabers to help. From Ahsoka's left, Jesse asked, "Do they actually teach you to use your weapons as glowsticks when you're training?"
The other men chuckled as they walked forward. Ahsoka grinned, answering, "No, but it is a lightsaber. It's more about common sense than what we were taught."
"Just wondering," Jesse explained, and Ahsoka shook her head.
"There's got to be some kind of command center here," she rationalized, looking around at the hallway where they were standing in. "It would be on the upper floors, where it's easier to pick up and broadcast signals. Does anyone see a staircase?"
One of the men behind her pointed at the end of the hallway. "I see an elevator."
Armor thudded as someone else smacked the trooper upside the head. "The elevator's not gonna work if the doors are down."
"And I am not getting thrown up the shaft," Rex decided firmly, much to the amusement of the others.
"What, you don't want to go flying through the air again? I thought you loved that," Ahsoka teased him, but she did walk towards the elevator. There would probably some emergency stairs nearby.
Rex groaned, drawing near her right side and talking lowly. "No one told you what happened on Anaxes, did they?"
Smirking, she told him, "No, but I want to hear about it now. Did Anakin toss you again?"
"It wasn't even him this time," he muttered, and Ahsoka fought down the urge to crack up. She didn't have any idea who else had been able to throw Rex, but she wished she could have seen it.
She did find the stairs she was looking for, though. "Let's take a climb, shall we?" she opened the door, pointing her blaster up the stairwell just in case. When nothing popped out at her, she started jogging up the stairs, checking each floor for something that looked promising.
It took six flights of stairs, but she finally found a lobby with a receptionist desk that didn't look like it was meant for visitors. She held a fist up, signaling for Rex and the others to wait behind her. She stepped in, looking around. Picking a door at random, she opened it, peering inside. The first door was a bust, but the second one had what she was looking for: an outdated but intact command center. It wasn't even stripped of equipment.
"We'll set up in here," Ahsoka called back, and the troopers followed her into the room. They filed in an set down the bags they had packed with supplies they had found on the shuttle. Ahsoka put her blaster away, although she kept her saber out for lighting purposes. She took the opportunity to look a little closer at what she had to work with.
Thankfully, the technology in the room wasn't ancient. It was probably going to take some messing around, but she had packed some of the tools from the shuttle in her bag. It couldn't be too hard. Facing the men, she lifted her lightsaber and addressed them.
"We aren't going to be able to use any of this unless we find a power source," Ahsoka began, thinking of what else they would need at the same time. "We'll split into teams, and try to cover some ground. Rex, take five men and start looking for storage units. If there's anything we can use, bring it up in here for now. Jesse, take three and head down to the basement levels. See if you can find a generator that can power this room. Remember, you're not blowing it up this time," she reprimanded him, and she could see him sulking despite the helmet hiding his expression. "The two who stay will help me get some of this up and running. I'll patch into the HoloNet and we'll see what's happened in the past few hours."
"You heard the general," Rex affirmed, waving to them. "Levi, you're with me. I'm not going to let you near anything techy after what happened last week. Everyone else, split yourselves up."
Levi didn't look too happy to be called out, but he complied and moved with the other troopers to start looking around. The two who stayed with Ahsoka, Kit and Chase, took their helmets off once everyone else had left.
Kit swept his hand over a console, rubbing the dust that had collected off the side. "You really think any of this junk is going to work?"
Shrugging, Ahsoka explained, "Xlenia hasn't been abandoned as long as a few other systems have been. The equipment is old, but it should still be within regulation...for the most part." She opened a panel on the side of the room, one that was connected to the HoloNet console. It was a mess but not beyond repair. "I've seen older, at any rate." Turning to the troopers, she showed them the panels that were on the backsides of most of the consoles. "Pop these open and look for anything that's broken. Wires, circuit boards, any of that. Let's try to fix some of this before Jesse finds the generators."
Author's Note: I just wanted to say a quick thank you for making this my first book to receive over 1K votes. That's so crazy, and I'm so happy I could make some of you smile. And cry, but mostly smile. Two more arcs to go!