Across the Stars

Hello everyone! I'm back with a new update! Sorry it took so long; things got in the way (school, other stories, life, etc.) but now I'm ready to dive back into clones wars, especially since we're almost have through season 5! I would just like to say the first few episodes on Alderon were Luxsoka paradise. Here's to a Luxsoka happy ending! BTW I don't own anything (except my plot line).

Chapter 8 Douse

White. That's all Ahsoka saw as she floated through oblivion; an endless void of blankness. Was she dead? No, this couldn't be the afterlife. Countless generations of Jedi have always taught that once one passed their essence would be released back into the Force to watch over their successors.

Ahsoka experienced none of that though. It seemed as if she was floating through space, only she didn't feel the extreme pressure, in fact she felt nothing at all. She felt no heaviness nor stress nor even guilt; just contentment. Freedom. Peace.

Maybe this is what Master Yoda meant when he spoke about inner peace.

Ahsoka's restlessness always got in the way of this peace; her Master always said that she was too young to be enlightened by the Force. Perhaps he only said that because he had not achieved illumination himself.

And just like that the liberation was shattered.

One thought of her Master and a horrible black ink threaded its way through the pure white; infecting it. The ink blot spread through the white until it was completely covered. A horror sense of dread came over her. She had felt this feeling before; it was the dark side.

The terror reminded Ahsoka of her life; she was not finished yet; she had so much more work to do. Her universe was not a simple one…but then again; Ahsoka was never a one to turn down a challenge.

With that she awoke from her subconscious back to the waking world.

She let out a shuttering gasp as opened her blue orbs to take in her surroundings. The first thing she realised was that her head was pounding unbelievably; she brought up her arm to touch her tender head. To say that was a mistake would be a big understatement. A blinding flash shot from her shoulder and spread to her entire torso. She screamed in pain beyond anything she had had before.

"Easy, Snips. That shoulder of yours is truly messed up." A smooth voice echoed.

The young togruta turned her head to see her Master clothed in his Jedi cloak; the brown silk looked black in the dimness of the room. His face was like stone with worry; his scar was prominent as he stared at her. His usually light blue eyes seemed darker like an endless stormy ocean; which made him look surprisingly menacing.

"…Master…" Her voice sounded course even to herself.

Her vision was blurry as she scanned across the unfamiliar room, "Where…?"

Anakin sat gently on the corner of her comfy bed, "Save your breath, Ahsoka. You'll need your strength. You're in the infirmary now; you took a laser to the shoulder and have been out for a few days…You had me so worried, Snips."

It all came back to her then: the underworld, the bar, Adi-Haller, Bo-Katan and…Lux. Oh Force Lux. She remembered him coming out of nowhere just when she needed him most and saved her. The only question was where is he? He shouldn't have brought her back to the temple; he knew it would be suicide but he did it anyway. Her heart swam with appreciation but it mixed with apprehension.

She made a move to get up but Anakin foiled her plans by placing a hand on her shoulder, "Don't even think about it."

Ahsoka crinkled her nose, "But Skyguy…Lux."

Sympathy passed over Skywalker's face, "There's something you need to know."

His apprentice scrunched up her brow, "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Ahsoka listen, Bonteri was caught breaking into the Jedi Temple a few days ago. He had you in his arms bleeding and unconscious. Having an outsider walk into the Jedi Temple alone is punishable by death; we got lucky a couple of weeks ago but this time…"

She sucked in a terrified breath, "No…"

"Let me finish."

It took all her might to keep her trembling lips shut.

"Mace Windu was beyond angry when he raised the alarm. I've never seen him so pissed off before, not even when I tried to wax his head…"

"Master! Focus!" Ahsoka shrieked.

Unfazed, Skywalker continued, "Right, sorry. Bonteri broke the most sacred of all the Jedi's' laws. He didn't even to sneak in like last time; he just walked through the main doors! You have to realise how serious this is, by right Mace Windu could have killed him on the spot."

Ahsoka's heart soared, "But he didn't?!"

Anakin gave her the barest hint of a smile, "Bonteri is one lucky little triwp, anyone else would have been slaughtered on the spot. If Barris hadn't have been there to defend him, he probably would have been."

"Barris?" Ahsoka whispered.

That didn't sound right; Barris would never break the rules for Lux; who was a complete stranger to her. Barris even had a hard time bending the law for friends when they were in mortal danger. What had happen to her to make her no longer a stickler?

"Yes. She insisted that you were to brought the infirmary right away. Bonteri made a big commotion out of everything."

"Where were you during all of this?"

"Well I didn't find out about all this until last night. I was on that mission, remember Snips? Not suffering from amnesia, are we?"

Ahsoka frowned, "Of course I remember. But what happened to Lux?"

Skywalker's face fell, "Well he was lucky that he wasn't killed on the spot. But not even Bonteri was able to get away with such disrespect against the Jedi Order; he was arrested by the clone troopers. They're holding him at the moment before his trial before the Senate can be held."

Ahsoka began to panic at the mention of the Senate, "The Senate? But this is a Jedi affair! Shouldn't he be tried under our own court?"

Anakin looked grave for a moment, "Bonteri is a Separatist. Chancellor Palpatine intervened and insisted that he should be tried as a prisoner of war instead of a Jedi problem."

The young togurta attempted to cross her thin arms against her chest but her injury prevented her and she winced in pain, "Since when does Chancellor Palpatine have any say in Jedi affairs?"

Skywalker frowned at her, "The Chancellor is great man; the trial is a mercy on Bonteri if he was to be tried against the Council then he would most likely be convicted and possibly killed. The Order is not very forgiving when it comes to people who oppose it."

Ahsoka had to hold in a snort; she found it hard to believe that any politician could be more understanding than Master Yoda. She didn't trust Chancellor Palpatine; the man intimidated every time she was near him and he seemed to look at her like she was nothing but scum underneath his shoe. She hated politicians who acted as if they were above the people they served. She was so happy that Padme wasn't like that.

Her Master on the other hand believed that the Chancellor was a wonderful person and leader; they have had countless arguments about the subject so she decided not to retaliate. It was not the time to have one of the epic fights with Skyguy that they were known for.

She let out a sigh, Lux was in trouble and she could do nothing about it. This was all her fault; she just had to sneak out without any back up and to try to save the day. If it wasn't for her arrogance Lux wouldn't have had to save her and then gotten caught, he would have been a free person now.

That's when it hit her, she didn't tell anyone where she was…how did Lux find her?

She didn't get a chance to ponder this because Anakin pulled her into a surprising hug, "I know you're worried about Bonteri, Snips. It'll be alright he made his choice and I'm glad he did; he chose to save you. I couldn't lose you; you mean more to me than almost anything in the universe. Remember that."

Ahsoka looked at her Master with shock; Jedi were not supposed to hug each other…But then Anakin was never one to follow the rules. When they pulled away from each other Ahsoka gave her Master an odd look.

"Uh…Master? Are you alright?" He seemed off to her, as if a distant memory was warning her to be wary of him.

"Of course, Snips." He stood then, "I have a meeting with the Council to attend to, stay here and DO NOT do anything stupid. That's an order."

"Aye aye, Master." Ahsoka replied sarcastically as she mock saluted him with her good arm.

Anakin gave her a final warning look before stalking out of the room.

Once he was gone, Ahsoka let out a huff and fell back onto her pillows. It gave her a chance to glance around her infirmary room. It was like every other Republic health station she had been to, there was no colour in the room, all the equipment had been cleanse to perfection and there were a couple of uncomfortable looking chairs that were shoved in the corner. The only upside to the room was the large window that had been placed on the adjacent wall next to her bed. She was able to see the Corusant sun just about to set on the horizon; it was a nice view despite the amount of buildings and speeders in the way.

She growled in frustration; she had to get out of this room and sneak into Lux's trial.

Hurrah for not learning from one's mistakes, she thought to herself as she smirked.

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Night had fallen on the infirmary as the nurse droid left Ahsoka's room after giving her a round of pain medication. She shifted about her bed; she knew that she needed a good night's sleep so she could get up early and sneak out to Lux's trial but she couldn't rest her mind.

She was still puzzled about how Lux was able to find her even though she had not told anyone about her plan with the Death Watch. It was confusing; the only person she saw that night was Barris and she didn't even tell her. So how was Lux able to find her? She remembered thinking about him as Bo-Katan shot her but it was a delirious cry for help…right? She knew that sometimes Jedi could build strong connections through the Force if their familiar enough with each other. Her Master was able to find her and even Master Kenobi at times if they were hurt but that was only at short distances. She remembered Obi-wan telling her that this technique was called Force Bonding and it usually only happened between a Master and Apprentice who had a close relationship.

She had been on the other side of Corusant when she contacted Lux…could Lux be Force sensitive? No that's absurd…she and the other Jedi would have been able to tell if Lux was Force sensitive. Was it possible to Bond with someone who was not Force sensitive?

She made a mental note to search the Jedi archives for any data on Force Bonds.

Exhausted by her ramblings she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK

The sun rose over Corusant as Ahsoka awoke; she felt her stomach churn for she knew that Lux's trial was today. She prayed to the Force that the Senate would be merciful but it did not look good. Her plan to get out of the infirmary had to be executed perfectly.

She rolled her shoulder it was healing nicely but it was still stiff as a board. She shouldn't do anything overly drastic with it, just yet. She waited patiently until her nurse droid came in to give Ahsoka her morning medicine; now was her chance.

"Good morning, Padawan Tano." The medi-droid droned.

The medi-droid turned its back as it went to grab her medicine and Ahsoka took her chance. She pounced like a cat and tackled the medi-droid to the ground; she used the Force to take her lightsabers from the bedside table. She activated one and stabbed the medi-droid through its main frame.

"Sorry." She whispered as she dashed out of the room.

She was able to get out of the infirmary with incredible ease; it was too busy with injured Jedi and clones for anyone to notice her. She jogged out to the hanger bay and was just in time to catch the Public transport. She had to make it to the Senate building in time for Lux's trial.

The transport stopped just in front of the Senate building and Ahsoka jumped off and tried to blend into with the pedestrians. The Senate building has always impressed her; it was a humongous dome shaped building that was held up by massive columns. Each column had its own unique design that depicted scenes from the Senate's past or scenes of justice and equality. The floor was polished marble with red silk rugs that led to each entrance way. Ahsoka filed in with the rest of the observers who wanted to be witnesses to the trial of "justice".

The inside of the building was even more lavish than the hanger. Marble walls and floors with silk curtains and rugs; every surface was trimmed in gold. It seemed like such a waste of tax payers' money.

Ahsoka paused as she realized that she had no access card to get in to the trial. She couldn't even "Jedi mind trick" any of the guards because security was trained to resist it. She sighed softly and went to sit in one of the silk chairs while she rethought her plan. She considered crawling in through the air shafts but decided against it. Her shoulder would jostle around too much and she would scream out in pain which would attract unwanted attention.

Just as she was about to give up; her saving grace appeared.

"Ahsoka! What are you doing here?"

Barris came striding down corridor in her flowing black skirt. A shock look was stapled to her face.

Ahsoka jumped to her feet abruptly, "Barris! Thank the Force you are here."

The other girl placed her hands on her hips in a very mother like way and scowled at her, "You just don't how to stay out trouble, do you? The boy and you have caused such a commotion and you probably just broke out of the infirmary and risked your health to come here. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Ahsoka her good hand on Barris' shoulder, "I know it looks bad, Barris, I do. It's that I need to see if Lux is going to be okay. It's my fault after all that he's on trial in the first place. I need to see this through but I need your help. Can you get me into the trial?"

Barris gave her a long hard look before she sighed in resignation, "Fine. I suppose if I don't help; you would probably do something stupid."

Ahsoka grinned widely and gave Barris an awkward one-armed hug, "Thanks so much!"

Barris sighed again, "Come on, we go through this way."

The two girls made their down the corridor; Barris opened a side door and let Ahsoka through first. It led to a booth in the main Senate chamber. Other Padawans that Ahsoka hadn't bothered to know were seated in chairs that faced the main stage. Ahsoka and Barris sat down together on chairs and waited for the trail to begin.

The Senate chamber was always the most intimidating part of the whole structure. It was a large cylindrical room with no windows to see outside. It was stationed in the centre of the building and was the main support beam. The only light in the room came from the top of the cylinder; which was a natural skylight. Tens of thousands of round booths were placed along the fluid wall of the room. These booths were made for the senators to sit during meetings. In the centre of the room was a platform that was reserved for the Chancellor.

Ahsoka shifted nervously; she wondered how Lux was feeling at this moment. She wondered if he was as nervous and scared as she was. If he was alright after spending a few nights in prison while waiting for this damn trial. She wondered who his defense lawyer would be; would they be fair to him? But what haunted her most was if he hated her for putting him in this situation in the first place?

Suddenly the light began to dim and silence fell upon the audience as the sound of the platform door opened and the Chancellor appeared. He was dressed in a deep purple robe that was trimmed in silvers and gold. His strict face was plastered with expression of passive aggressive manipulation; Ahsoka could just see his beady eyes flicker across the room at the faces of the viewers. It wasn't until he was fully in view that he schooled his features into a look of concern.

He spoke then; his echoing around the chamber, "Ladies and gentlemen it pains me greatly that we have assembled today to enforce justice on child so young. Mister Bonteri is not only Separatist that has trespassed on Republic grounds but he also broke into the Jedi Temple, a sacred place to all Republic citizens."

Ahsoka growled under breath, and Barris patted her hand softly, "It is okay, Ahsoka."

"Now without farther delay, we must bring-forth the accused. Mister Lux Bonteri." The Chancellor commanded.

Suddenly a hatch opened and a booth came floating towards the main platform. On the booth stood two clone troopers; between them dressed in an orange prison uniform and binders was Lux.

Ahsoka gasped at his haggled appearance. It took all her self-control not jumped out of her seat and help him.

The Chancellor gave a barely noticeable smirk before saying, "Let the trial commence."

Okay there is the eighth chapter done. The trail will be continued next chapter and I will reveal who Lux's defense is and who is the prosecutor.

Is anyone else pissed off about how they finished the series? First Barris betrays Ahsoka and then she just walks off into a sunset to think about her life? What the hell is that? What kind of writing is that? Sigh…

Any way please R&R it helps me write faster.