My Father's Padawan

Part Four

By Marie Nomad

Onboard the Millenium Falcon, Han and Chewbacca worked on the computers as Luke and Leia waited anxiously. There was only a slim chance that Han just happened to meet Ahsoka but the chances of two people meeting in a huge galaxy was slim to none. Yet, the Force had been kind so far in showing Luke glimmers of his father's past.

"Got it!" Han said as he held up a recording. "I was recording this because one of the guys looked pretty suspicious. So, I had this as insurance. I never bothered to erase it. Not sure why."

"Maybe it was the Force?"

Han stared at him suspiciously. "Look, I admit that the Force can be a powerful thing but do you really believe that somehow a lost little Togruta who got on my ship who just happened to be your father's apprentice and that I would just happened to have a recording of her because the Force 'willed it'?"

"Yes."

"All right, let's see if this is the same girl." Han loaded up the recording and played it.

Cargo area of the Falcon was revealed to show several people. One of them was a tiny alien about six inches tall with orange skin and several claws. There was a familiar looking man dressed up in leather. There was a bald woman dressed in black with several tattoos on her head. Finally, sitting in a chair was Ahsoka. Unlike the other recordings, Ahsoka looked broken. Her eyes looked dull. One of her montreals were cut off to make her head look uneven. Those montreals had gone from white with stripes to pure gray with no stripes.

"Welcome to the Millenium Falcon. This will only take a few days so make yourself comfortable." A younger looking Han Solo said to the group. "I am keeping a recording of you because of your little Hyjaker."

The Hyjaker huffed. "Don't worry, you don't have anything I'm interested in. I prefer droids."

The bald woman covered Ahsoka's head with a hood. "Fine."

"What's wrong with your friend? Shouldn't Togrutas be a little more… active?"

The bald woman glared at Han and whispered. "Darth Vader."

"Whoa! Say no more!" Han held his hands up. "I don't care where you've been as long as you pay me. So, let's get going."

Leia turned off the recording. "Where were they going?"

Han read the records. The former smuggler sighed and replied, "Tattooine."

"Maybe they were meeting Obi-Wan?"

"Maybe. But Tattooine's a popular place for wanders to go to."

"Wait a second." Luke turned on the recording and looked at the man. "That's the black market peddler I bought the recording from! And that akul necklace, that was Ahsoka's. He knew her!" He gazed upward with a resolved face.

XXX

Luke, Han, and Leia marched through black market and found the mysterious old man. "Hello, welcome back." He said as he glanced at them. "Tell me, are you here for more Jedi stuff?"

"Where is she, Rex?" Luke asked.

The clone sighed. "Straight to the point. Very much like your father. Come on." He packed up his belongings. "By the way, my name is Cain now."

"So… Cain, how is she?" Leia asked as they followed him through the alleyways.

"It's best if you see it for yourself."

They finally reached a spaceship with a bunch of alien kids running around. "You adopted kids?" Leia was surprised as she waved at them.

"A few strays from various places. Most of them were former slaves that we helped set free."

"Any of them possible Jedi?" Luke asked as he tried to sense them in the Force.

"I don't know. We decided to just try to help who we can." Cain explained. Luke sensed a strong presence in the Force. He saw the tall bald woman walking to them. The Rattatakian had a pair of blasters on her sides.

"Hello." She said as she put her hands on her blasters.

"Are you a Jedi?" Luke asked. The aura around the woman was strong.

The woman laughed at him. "Why does everyone think that I am a Jedi? I am neither Jedi nor Sith. Call me Asajj Ventress. Obi Wan told me about you two."

"You knew Ben?" Luke asked.

"Oh, I know him." She smirked slyly.

"Okay…" Luke blushed. "So, do you know my father?"

"I tried to kill him. He tried to kill me; both as Anakin Skywalker and as Darth Vader. He didn't like me."

"I don't get it."

Asajj glared at him. "I worked for the Sith. I thought of myself as a Sith but I was just a tool for them. When, I realized this, I left. I ran into this little band after Ahsoka accidentally rescued me from a couple of dumb bounty hunters who thought I was a Jedi."

Luke and Leia looked at each other. "How can someone accidentally rescue you?" Leia asked.

"I don't know. I owe the youngling. Don't hurt her." She growled.

Luke held up his hands. "I won't."

Asajj leaned close to Luke's face. "You are… different from your father. Not as much darkness. I will watch this little meeting at a distance." She walked away.

"She… she's intense." Luke struggled to calm down. He didn't know whether she was threatening him or flirting with him.

"Come on. Let's go." Cain gestured to the walkway. They walked into the spaceship to see Ahsoka mending some clothes. She glanced up at the group. "She hasn't talked since she found out who Darth Vader was."

"What did he do to her?" Leia quietly asked Cain as she remembered how Darth Vader tortured her only a few years ago.

"A lot. That is all I can say."

"Hi." Luke took a deep breath as he studied the Jedi. She was dressed in a long robe with only her hands and her eyes showing.

"My name is Luke…" Luke knelt down in front of her. "Luke Skywalker."

Ahsoka took off her hood. The years of exile and hiding had not been kind to her. Leia felt a little stunned to see the girl that she knew as a vibrant teenager looking like a tired old woman. Darth Vader must have been the cause.

Luke held out his left flesh hand and said, "It's an honor to meet you. I watched your holovid and… I know that you loved my father. I'm sorry about what he did to you and to the other Jedi. I don't know if this will make things feel better but before he died, Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker again. He came back to the light. Darth Vader is gone."

Ahsoka took his hand and smiled slightly. "Thank you." She whispered. The Togruta coughed as she grabbed some water and drank.

"You talked!" Cain gasped as he hugged Ahsoka.

"I know, Rex." Ahsoka hugged back. "Thank you, Luke, Leia… Han right?" Ahsoka asked Han Solo.

"Yeah. Glad you remembered me." Han said feeling a little embarrassed.

"Thank you for helping me back then. I… I wasn't able to thank you."

"Don't think about it. I was just doing my job."

"Ahsoka, I have a favor to ask of you. I am going to restore the Jedi… and I need help." Luke asked the Jedi.

The woman shook her head. "No. My Order had been gone for a long time. It had failed for a reason. If I help you, then I will just make it weaker. The New Order must be done with a fresh mindset. I was raised by the Old Order ever since I was a child. I would only fail you."

"But… I can't do it alone. I don't know what to do."

"The Force will guide you. And you have your sister and your friends. As long as you can touch the Force, you are never alone."

"I will try."

"Not try, do."

"Yeah. What are you going to do now?"

"Help out the future. These children are my way of helping the Force. There's also Rex." Ahsoka looked at her friend. "I want to be with him in his final years. He killed his fellow clones, his brothers, to protect me. Besides, he's my friend."

"I understand." Luke looked down and accepted the explanation. He felt a little less alone with Ahsoka, even if she won't help him with the Order.

Ahsoka put her hand on Luke's cheek. "You are such a sweet boy, very humble too. Anakin would have used some of that humility."

Luke blushed as he tried to figure out what to say. "Errr… well…"

"How cute." Ahsoka looked at Leia. "You look very much like your Mother but why are you upset?"

"I'm not… I don't know. I'm just confused. I had never thought of Darth Vader as a… man. Even after I knew that he was my father by blood."

Ahsoka took a deep breath. "I know your pain but the longer you have that anger in your heart, the longer it will hurt you. Anakin Skywalker was a good man. Do not be ashamed to be his daughter."

"I don't think I can. Even after seeing what Anakin was like during the Clone Wars… I can't forget what he did to me, to Alderann." Leia felt a little uneasy. She was opening up her soul to a stranger that she knew only through a recording but in many ways, she was family.

"I'm not asking you to forget, only forgive. I can't help Luke with restoring the Order but I can help you with your heart."

"Thank you."

After several hours of talking, Luke, Leia and Han went back to their place and Ahsoka stood under the sky. Suddenly, the Force shifted. Ahsoka focused and saw the ghost form of her old master sitting on a bench looking depressed. He was looking away, ashamed of what happened in the past. Not even he could alter history to make things better. He was dressed in Jedi robes and he looked like he was in his prime. She sat down beside him and stated. "I… I hated what Darth Vader did to me."

Anakin bowed his head even deeper.

"But… I still love Anakin Skywalker."

Anakin smiled at her. "Thanks, Snips. You were a good Jedi."

"I know." She sighed as she looked up at the vast sea of stars.

The End…