Chapter Text
Ahsoka spent the next ten months running relief missions to varying successes. Very few brought her as close to her life as a Jedi, as her first mission. Those typically only snagged people she was basely familiar with. She never ran into a Jedi or a clone she had personally been friends with, but she did sometimes run into some of her rebel friends from Onderon or Ombae and Hueon.
Her mission directly after Felucia resulted in her being captured. She was caught in between a civil war on a planet she couldn't remember the name of. All she remembered was that the Separatists were funding both sides of the war so they would lose steam and eventually unable to defend their resources.
The more conservative side had managed to capture her, eventually someone recognized her as an ex-Jedi, they hoped to use her to crush the other side before it became dire. (The only reason she was captured was because she was responding to a distress signal on her way back to Naboo. Kriff her hero complex. She was just glad they didn't get any of her relief supplies, Boss would kill her if they did.)
They were right about her having the powers of the Jedi, but they eventually just locked her in a cell when they realized that she wouldn't fight for them. She had sat in that cell for three weeks drugged dumb when the other side broke her out while trying to rescue one of their leaders. They let her escape to her ship.
But disregarding that disaster, very few planets rejected her relief supplies. There were a few memorable times when she was chased away by people with farming tools. No matter what anybody says, someone with a sonic tractor and penchant for laughing creepily, will always be more scary than Dooku ever could be.
She actually grew to appreciate not having a co-pilot when it became a common theme for clankers to try to capture or straight out kill her (none came as close as those B-1s on Felucia, thank the Force). Her status as an ex-Jedi seemed to do nothing to change their minds, but she didn't mind too much. It gave her some target practice. And great material for jokes.
"Tano, this isn't a relief mission. You will be running supplies to a faction of mandalorian fighters." Boss clicked on something, and projection of a planet lit up. She frowned and analyzed it. It was familiar, but it also wasn't in color, so she couldn't be sure if it was what she thought it was..
"This faction doesn't have anything to do with Death Watch? Because if it does, I will have to bow out. Last time I met them, I took out half their forces and fought their leader." Ahsoka stated firmly. Boss seemed to pause, then sighed.
"You're the only one capable to deal with them, Tano. All my other pilots and smugglers don't have the combat experience you do. I can speak to them about your neutrality, but they've experienced changes in leadership in the past few months. The faction is the Nite Owls, and they have allied themselves with the Jedi." Her eyes narrowed before they widened.
"Does this have anything to do with the death of Duchess Satine?" That had been the only news from Mandalore before it had gone radio silent. And it hadn't even come from Mandalore, it had come from Obi-wan and the Jedi council. She'd suspected a coup, but she couldn't be sure.
"Yes. My contact on Mandalore has requested help and resources. They're dealing with an outsider who has taken control of the title Mand'alor. She didn't give me much more information than that. But I've decided to send you because of your experience on Mandalore and with Mandalorians. You're the only one who has an inkling about their culture and habits, besides me." Boss sighed, it almost sounded like a growl. Ahsoka could see why Boss wanted to send her now. Boss couldn't just up and leave their organization, it would suffer without their leadership, especially when it sounded like a long mission.
"Will you make sure that I at least get a welcome that doesn't involve getting shot? I'm pretty sure I can get out quick if things turn ugly." Ahsoka stated uneasily. She started coming up with a hundred different escape plans for getting off world, half of them without her ship. Boss turned off the projection, and handed her a datachip.
"I will make sure of it. Read the info, and get out of my office, Tano." Boss waved her out. Ahsoka made her way to her ship.
It took four days for her to be ready to ship out. Getting and storing the supplies was completed on the very first day. The rest of the days Boss was telling her about the conditions she would face. The meeting point would be on the planet, Carlac. Her mood had immediately dropped when she heard the planet's name. She also remembered the town, Ming Po, very well.
"I've been to Ming Po."
"Good, the Nite Owls are based a few hours outside of Ming Po. Avoid the town, we don't need anyone to spot you and report back to the outsider."
"Who is the outsider?"
"My contact was particularly quiet about that. All I the information I have on them, is that my contact called them 'horn-head'. Likely a zabrak, togrutan, or devaronian."
"I hope... no."
"What?"
"Nothing, I'm just being foolish."
"Alright."
After a few more days of that, Boss deemed her ready and situation dire enough for her to be sent out. It took so long for her to be sent out because Boss wanted to prep her for her role as translator and strategist. And for the possibility that she might be forced to stay and fight if she was stranded. An unlikely possibility, but it was still one with increasing tensions between the two sides and the natives of Carlac.
Ahsoka hoped it wouldn't come to that.
The trip to Carlac was one she zoned out on. A common theme now that she was travelling alone. R5 didn't count because everytime she tried to talk to him, he turned away and ignored her. Something that made her pout and remember R2.
Carlac was just as cold as she remembered. Ahsoka made sure to double up on her layers. Her lekku and hands quivered regardless.
Ahsoka pat the blasters strapped to her back, and set down the ramp. The ramp lowered slowly, almost teasingly as she was blasted with snow. She glared at the landscape, scanning for any threats, or even a sign of life. She loosened up slightly when she saw nothing.
Her boots made a solid, echoing sound when they landed on the ramp. The sound almost swept away by the force of the wind if it weren't for her montrals picking up every minute sound. So it was a surprise when she didn't hear a Nite Owl approach until the blaster cocked right by her upper lekku. She held still.
"Name." The Nite Owl's voice was distorted by the wind and their tinny speakers. Ahsoka resisted turning to glare at them.
"Ahsoka Tano." The blaster didn't withdraw, but she knew it wouldn't. They had a whole song and dance to go through to verify her identity and mission.
"Last time we met."
"Kashyyyk."
"First meal."
"None."
"The bartender's name."
"There was no bartender. He had been thrown out the door when we had entered."
"Hm." The Nite Owl put away their blaster and motioned for her to follow. Ahsoka listened to R5 raise the ramp, and followed The Nite Owl into the raging storm.
The walk through the snow was annoying, but not worse than Felucia's forests. They walked in a direction that led them away from any of the towns. A decision she'd be wary of if the Nite Owl hadn't asked all the right questions. They needed her for her supplies, and wouldn't be able to off her before then. Her ship would only open with her biosignature or the datachip. And she'd left the datachip on the ship.
They stopped right before a rock. The Nite Owl tapped their helmet and seemed to carry on a conversation. Ahsoka watched all of their body language. Nothing to suggest she was being led into an ambush. They tapped their helmet once again, and she watched a hole open up in the rock in front of them. On the other side of the hole was a whole settlement.
Her eyes darted up. This was advanced tech... This was a one way shield that cloaked the occupants from outsiders. She'd love to get her hands on this.
The Nite Owl nodded their head sharply in the direction of the settlement, and she took that as her cue to follow them in.
As she trailed behind the Nite Owl, she felt the eyes o the others follow her. She made sure to keep her walk confident and her back straight. She couldn't show weakness here. Ahsoka was mindful to keep her hands away from her weapons, no need to incite any unneeded violence. She was here on a (mostly) peaceful mission (that might devolve into her getting stuck planetside for a while).
The Nite Owl was weaving in between buildings, seemingly leading the two of them towards the tallest structure in this settlement. Calling it the tallest didn't mean much, most of the buildings in this settlement were only one or two stories, and this building was three. There were plenty of trees just as tall as this building.
When they entered the building, two other Nite Owls stepped forward.
"Besbe'trayce." One of them pointed their rifle at her vibroswords and blasters, then at the table to the side. She eyed them. She knew that they weren't at that point in negotiations yet. They were either speaking down to her, or treating her like a lesser by asking her to give up her weapons like this.
"Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod?" Ahsoka crossed her arms in defiance. She kept them in place even when one of them stepped forward threateningly.
"Gar Jetii-!" The Nite Owl that lead her here held a hand up, and the one who was approaching her stopped. The two who had greeted them stepped back to their previous positions. The Nite Owl leading her motioned for her to follow. Ahsoka followed begrudgingly, keeping her eyes forward.
She shouldn't try to cause anymore problems, her being the one to initiate them or not.
They went a couple sets of stairs that put them on the third floor. The Nite Owl leading her, took her into an office that branched off from one of the control rooms. They motioned towards one of the seats on one side of the table.
She obediently took a seat and waited. Ahsoka was surprised when the Nite Owl took a seat on the opposite side of the table and took off their helmet.
She recognized that face, and barely resisted lunging across the table to smack it. Or worse. Storm out of the room and disappoint Boss.
"Thank you for meeting with me, Tano." Bo-Katan Kryze was the one under the helmet.
Ahsoka folded her arms in from of her and leaned back in her seat. She kept her face carefully placid, while reminding herself she was here on business.
"Likewise." Bo-Katan didn't react outwardly to her less than kind response. Bo-Katan scooted a tumblr and a glass towards her.
"Want a drink before we get started?" Ahsoka didn't sense any bad feelings from the tumblr and glass, but she didn't want to risk it. There were poisons that eluded even the finest of Jedi masters.
"No thanks." Ahsoka focused all of her attention on Bo-Katan as she nodded and put them away. When Bo-Katan's hand came back up, it held a holopad. Ahsoka picked it up when it slid across the table towards her.
"What's this?" Ahsoka flipped through the info. Most of it related to troop numbers, observed strategies, and an estimated body count. Her brows steadily rose as she scanned through it.
"All the intel we have gathered on the outsider. He is amassing more people everyday to his cause." Ahsoka looked up from the holopad and made eye contact with Bo-Katan.
"And what does this have to do with me?" Bo-Katan smiled a smile that made Ahsoka think she had secrets she wasn't telling her.
"Nothing, really. It's for your Boss, we need more supplies everyday, especially now that he has proved to be an adequate opponent." Her interest piqued, and she finally had the opportunity to ask the question she had been dying to ask since she found out she had this mission.
"Who is this outsider?" Bo-Katan's neutral expression subtly shifted, then switched back to it's earlier state.
"He calls himself Darth Maul." Ahsoka sucked in a breath through her teeth.
It was him.
The Sith Obi-wan had fought so many years ago. The one that slaughtered Obi-wan's master and made sure the Jedi were aware there were powerful dark-siders roaming the galaxy. Ahsoka grew up on tales of this shadow, had that story used to scare her back into bed.
She schooled her expression back into its placidness. It wouldn't do to lose her composure here. So she buried her fears and focused on the situation objectively.
Darth Maul planned to conquer Mandalore, why?
Mandalore was powerful, but it was neutral. It had no outward resources that a Sith could take advantage of. Except it's warrior culture. But there weren't enough traditional mandalorians to make much of a difference. So he had other plans.
"When did he first appear?" Ahsoka asked. Bo-Katan frowned.
"We found him and his brother about a year ago. He had slowly worked his way into his group by promising the return of traditional mandalorian culture. He used the black market to stage various incidents in which Death watch was the hero." Bo-Katan took a breath.
"Once we had gained the trust of the public, we infiltrated the government and uprooted Satine. She was imprisoned. Safe. But things were escalating too fast, heading in a direction I did not trust. So I called in Obi-wan Kenobi, one of the few people I knew I could trust to save Satine." Ahsoka nodded. That made sense. Bo-Katan looked away and stared at the wall.
"He came, and he did rescue her. But not for long. Maul knew Kenobi was there, and captured Satine again. He killed her in front of Kenobi and I. So I got Kenobi out of there and regrouped with my Nite Owls, to here." Bo-Katan finished. Ahsoka hummed in sympathy for Obi-wan, Satine, and even Bo-Katan.
She contemplated what she could do.
"Obi-wan may have no problem with helping you, I have a few. But I will operate in the capacity Boss has required of me. I will deliver your supplies, and serve as your strategist and translator for the due five months. As soon as the time is up, I will take my leave."
Ahsoka spent the next five months with the Nite Owls. There were ups and downs to spending so much time with them. Ups were that her Mando'a became a little more proper, she learned how to use a jetpack, and she'd gained a few allies that she could lean on in the future. The downs were... less than pleasant. She faced a lot of kickback because of her past as a Jedi. Or because of her species. There were Mandalorians that hated her no matter what, and no matter how many times she'd saved their lives.
Not that she wanted this branch of Death Watch's approval. This branch of Death Watch was just a bit more tolerable, and had their own outliers. There were also quite a few that had joined the Nite Owls after seeing what Maul was doing to Mandalore. Completely disconnected from Death Watch's previous motivations.
Bo-Katan became a lot more tolerable. She had joined Death Watch because she hadn't like the direction her sister was taking Mandalore, but that didn't excuse her actions while she worked under Death Watch. She just made a lot more sense now that Ahsoka knew what she did about her now.
Bo-Katan was one of the few's comm codes she took with her when she left. Though she hoped to never use it.
After leaving Carlacc she spent a few months just running normal relief missions. At least until Boss pulled her aside and said, "Ahsoka, I need you to get some information for me. It's from an unpleasant source that I know you can handle."
Ahsoka stepped into the bar full of bad intentions, it was just oozing evil. She shivered but resisted pulling on the top she was wearing. It showed a bit of her midriff and her collar bones but nothing else. It was a top made to ventilate in Tatooine's harsh climate. She shoved that temptation down and confidently strides to the bar.
Ahsoka was aware of the stares she was pulling. It wasn't often that a free, togrutan girl walked into this bar. Especially unaccompanied. So she toned down her stride and veered of to one of the booths. Her contact would meet her here very soon. Anxiously she thumbed her only weapon, a blaster, and waited.
The other occupants at the bar eventually turned away once they realized she wasn't going to be causing them any trouble. That she was here under the same pretense as them. But one of them just kept on staring. A trandoshan she didn't like the look of.
When the serving droid came around she ordered an nonalcoholic drink. She didn't want to be vulnerable around this crowd. She went over the description Boss gave her of the contact.
Tall, but not wookie tall. Humanoid. Black hair. Bright yellow eyes. Slight limp in his walk. Fond of blasters and blades. So far no one in this bar fit that description. She let her eyes drift aimlessly along, looking but not staring at the people here.
She darted her eyes away when the trandoshan made eye contact with her and bared his teeth. She really did not like the look of him. Her drink was set down in front of her by the serving droid. She sniffed it, and when she found nothing wrong with it, she took a large swig.
She stuck her tongue out at the bitter taste. Figures Tatooine would have crappy versions of her favorite drinks. She pushed the drink aside.
Thirty minutes later, an intense dizzy spell hit her. She held her head in her hands and groaned. She mentally ran over what could've caused this, and came up short. She'd only eaten her vetted ration packs, gotten enough sleep, been stationary for the past hour, and she'd kept hydrated. Hydrated...
Ahsoka jerked forward and grabbed her drink. She sniffed it and noticed an underlying smell she hadn't beforehand. A bitter one. Something she associated with date rape spice. She shoved herself out of the booth and made her way to the door. Someone in this bar had spiked her drink, and she needed to get somewhere safe.
She stumbled out into the Tatooine 'night', a dimmer version of daytime. It still made her head ache at the brightness. She shook her head then regretted it. She stumbled away from the bar and toward her ship.
Something latched onto her arm. She leaned into it in an attempt to stabilize herself. She was so tired...
"Ssso pretty..." Her eyes darted open and she jerked away. She needed to get away. Her run was more of a wobble than a stride. Her legs felt like boneless blobs.
She heard a distant, hissing laugh from behind her. Her pulse picked up. She couldn't be back on that moon. She couldn't. Her legs were moving on their own, moving as quickly as they could to take her away from the hunters.
Ahsoka ran and ran and ran. But no matter how far or fast she ran, the hunters were always right behind her. The dizziness had started up, making running even harder. She had to stop frequently and rest for a minute or two against a wall or an alcove.
She bumped into someone. She clung to them and begged quietly. She was so out of it that she barely registered when they dragged her into a closet.
"Come out, come out wherever you are! You'll make a nice little addition to my collection, girl!"
The hunter's words made her straighten up in fear. She heard her breathing audibly pick up. Ahsoka whimpered when a hand clamped down on her mouth and someone shushed her.
Her legs collapsed and she passed out.
Boba came to Tatooine to pick up a few jobs... not a girl.
If he was being honest, he probably wouldn't have helped her if she wasn't so obviously drugged and full of fear. It was pure instinct that had him pull her into the closet and hold a hand over her mouth to muffle her noises of distress as she heard her pursuer pass by. It wasn't unlike some of his body guarding missions. Except his clients were usually sober.
He examined her unconscious form. Female, togrutan. Late teens to Early twenties based on the lekku. Obviously lived a life full of fighting, based on the scars visible on her skin. She wasn't a slave, her clothes weren't too unique or boring, and the fact that she had a blaster. Slaves on Tatooine weren't given blasters.
He held her closer with one arm and tapped the button that turned on night vision. The closet lit up in colors. He let his eyes take her in, she had a relatively rare color pallette, and unique markings. They lined and wrapped around her face, framing her eyes and cheekbones. His hold started to falter, so he adjusted his grip after nearly dropping her.
He lowered the girl to the floor of the closet, planning to just leave her there. The girl would be fine, it wasn't likely the drug that was in her system would take too much longer to flush out. And the pursuer wasn't likely to double back.
Boba moved to leave the closet when the girl caught his hand and wouldn't let go. He scowled down at her. She was pushing her luck.
"Please..." His frown deepened, "....'ack...", The girl continued. Her grip started to loosen on his hand. He leaned down.
"What?" The girls eyes fluttered open momentarily, then closed again. He started to pull back when she spoke again.
"He's... 'oming back..." Boba's eyes flicked towards the door. He had his helmet turn up the auditory input, and listened. There was a steady thumping, characteristic of a confident gait. Likely of a bigger stature. Then there was a hissing laugh that he could immediately pin as trandoshan.
Someone was coming. His eyes darted between her and the door, mentally weighing the pros and cons of intervening. Because she wasn't his problem.
It was a bit odd that a trandoshan was hunting this girl. Togrutans didn't merit a high number of jagannath points. And trandoshans drugging their target was uncommon because it reduced the number of jagannath points. As far as he was aware, there were no bounties out on this girl, and she was a free person.
The trandoshan was at the door. Boba shook off the girls hand and stood up fully. The door slammed open and the trandoshan stepped inside the closet. The trandoshan's eyes narrowed at the sight of him.
"Fett." The trandoshan's feet spread apart. Boba's hand inched towards his blaster.
"Yes?" Boba cocked his head. Shame he didn't know the trandoshan's name.
"She's mine." Boba's eyes flicked to the unconscious form on the floor. And made his decision.
"Really? I wasn't aware there was a bounty out on her." This reminded him too much of Quarzite. Except there wasn't any money on the line this time. Little gods, he was getting himself into mess he wasn't sure he was ready for. All over a girl.
"No. Itssss persssonal." The trandoshan leapt at him. Boba grabbed the girl and dove through the cleared doorway. He elbowed the control panel, temporarily locking the closet door, and booked it to his ship. Most everyone who saw him coming, got out of his way. The few who didn't move got shoved or flown over.
He knew that door wouldn't hold long, stuff like that never held Bossk for long either. And he was right, his little lead meant almost nothing to a pissed off trandoshan. The trandoshan had busted out of the closet and was now gaining on them.
Boba kicked on his jetpack and rose to fly over the buildings of Mos Espa. He knew that he wouldn't be able to lose this tail by evading and hiding. The only way to throw him off was to go straight to his ship and into space. He grimaced at all the effort he was putting into getting this girl away from the trandoshan.
He didn't even know the trandoshan's motivation for seeking the girl out. For all he knew, she had killed all of his family, and he was just trying to get his jagannath points back. But it was the principal of the thing, and after he got her away from the trandoshan, he'd dump her somewhere else as soon as she woke up.
His ship rose up in the distance, and he felt a bit of relief at that. The sooner he could get to a secure area, or at least set down this togrutan, the sooner he could defend himself. It irritated him that he couldn't defend against the trandoshan when he eventually wizened up and pulled out his blaster. He figured it wouldn't be long, but he was almost at his ship.
"Open ramp!" Boba shouted the command into his helmet, and worried his lip as he watched the ramp to his ship slowly lowered. His anticipation kicked up a notch when he heard a round of blaster fire. He waited for the shots to fly past, but they never came. He didn't dare look back and risk getting shot by the trandoshan.
Boba was finally close enough to dive into his ship. They landed smoothly inside, and immediately commanded the ship to draw the ramp up. He debated with himself momentarily before depositing her inside the holding cell. He didn't want any trouble when she (hopefully) woke up (he didn't want to dispose of a body, even if it wasn't unusual for him), and took her blaster.
Boba hopped into the pilot's seat and started take off procedures. Blaster fire started up again, but this time it was hitting the hull of his ship. He cursed and jerked the stick up, the ship pulled up violently. The ship was increasing in altitude in a matter of seconds.
Boba spent an hour in the pilot's seat jumping and exiting hyperspace at seemingly random points, designed to throw off the trandoshan if he decided he was that motivated. He rose from the seat and walked around the ship, repairing what was broken or moving supply crates back into place. He had a bit before the togrutan girl woke up.
It took four standard hours before the girl woke up. By that time, he had run her face through several search engines and came up empty. It was like she didn't exist, and he had to applaud her for being unidentifiable. But it made him suspicious. Someone that well hidden was either running, or up to something unsavoury.
At the first signs of her waking up, he parked himself outside the cell and waited. Her waking up was only the start. The girl would go through bouts of drowsiness, waking up and falling back asleep frequently. She would have impaired motor control and judgement, she wouldn't be able to speak coherently for the next few hours. He was there to make sure she didn't choke on her own vomit, or hurt herself.
The girl had a few moments of clarity inter sped through the few hours. He was sort of starting to regret helping the girl, if only because she'd vomited on his chest a couple of times. But he didn't hold her panicked struggles against her. He'd probably react the same if he was under the same amount of drugs as she was. So he tolerated her weak struggles, vomit, and incoherency. It was to be expected.
So it was a surprise when during one of her struggles, she dragged an arm across her tear soaked cheek, and rubbed away her markings.
"Me'ven?" Boba turned around and grabbed the water bottle and one of the clean wash clothes. He set to work scrubbing her face, ignoring the girl's mumbled protests and inability to sit still. Dread slowly filled him as more of her markings were revealed.
No wonder he wasn't able to find her in the databases earlier. Ahsoka Tano had hidden her face beneath face paint.
He leaned the Jetii against the wall and abruptly left the cell. He locked himself in the cockpit and starred in the lines of hyperspace.
He'd saved a Jetii from someone that could've very well ended one of them. The trandoshan was hunting the Jetii likely because she had killed a family member, or because of jagannath points.
A vicious part of him urged him to grab the steering stick and turn them around. Turn around and dump the Jetii on the trandoshan. He watched his twitching hands, wondering if they would commit the act. Eventually they stopped.
Boba closed his eyes and remembered his father.
"Boba, I'm going to be on a job for a very long time, be good to your caretakers." His father knelt by him. Boba had a starship in his hand, and he was staring up at his father. Boba was trying not to cry, because that would make his father sad.
"Don't worry, ad'ika. I won't be gone long."
"Now Boba, you can't track someone by stepping all over their footprints. If someone else is on your trail you don't want to make it easier for them to find you."
"Get him Dad!" Boba squeezed the controls and practically bounced in his seat out of both anxiety and fear. His Dad was fighting a Jetii!
His father's head rolling on the sandy wastes of Geonosis.
He would not forget, nor would he forgive. But this Jetii was not a Jetii at this moment. She was just a helpless girl spiced up to her nostrils. As soon as she wasn't in danger of choking on her own vomit he was going to dump her on the nearest planet and leave. This was the most kindness he would show a Jetii like her.
With his mind made up he left the cockpit and went to her cell. Suddenly he was glad he dumped her in the cell as opposed to his room. He shuddered at the thought of a Jetii in his room. He ran a hand through his hair and sat down outside her cell.
The Jetii started to stir, he sat up and watched her actions intently. She first stretched out and then curled back in. after doing that she struggled to sit up. It was a slow process but she did it, and blearily blinked her tired eyes at him.
"Cody...?" He frowned at her. She thought he was one of the clones that had followed he foolishly into a pointless war.
"No. I'm not Cody." He said slowly with a hint of disdain. She stared at him in confusion a little bit longer and then it seemed to click in her head.
"Who... are you? Where am I?" She took in her surroundings for what seemed to be the thirtieth time. It wasn't the first time she'd posed those questions, she always forgot by the next time she woke up.
"I am Boba Fett, and you are on my ship." Something seemed to click in her mind and her breathing picked up. Her brows furrowed she she struggled to focus on him.
"Why?" Her eyes darted to the closed cell door. He followed her gaze and sighed.
"You're in a cell because I couldn't identify you at first. The because I realized you were a Jetti." Boba watched her shake even worse at the word Jetii. Hm. So she knew what that word meant immediately. Probably even knew the connection Jetii had to his culture. Not a good one.
"As soon as you seem like you can take care of yourself, I'm dumping you on the nearest planet." That did nothing to ease her fears, in fact her shaking turned into sobbing. He watched her with his head tilted in confusion.
That's not the normal response.
"Please-please don't bring me th-there! I don't wanna go back!" He jerked back. It looks like something he said triggered some memory. He didn't know to deal with this.
"Uh, hey, I'm not taking you 'there'. Please stop crying." He pushed himself to his knees. She didn't seem to hear him through her sobs. Nothing he did seemed to break through, and sometimes what he did made her sobs worse.
But slowly she calmed down on her own and stared into space. He forced himself to not sigh in relief, afraid that she would break into another round of sobs at the slightest of sounds. He leaned back against the hull of the ship, almost slumping over in exhaustion. He'd been dealing with her for over five hours. Normally that'd be nothing to him, but he hadn't had the change to sleep in over forty-two hours.
It almost wasn't worth the effort. But he'd invested too much to just toss her out the airlock now.
"I'm sorry." He'd almost missed it because it was so quiet. But the Jetii had whispered her apology. He really did not want to ask what for.
"Oh, you're calm now?" He leaned his head back against the wall and let out a sigh. The Jetii made some noise, some shuffling. His head tilted forward almost involuntarily just in time to catch her sit down by the bars. He tensed up at that.
"I'm sorry for getting you put in prison. I didn't know that they would treat you like that." The Jetii looked downright pitiful. He snorted. He didn't want her useless apologies for something in the past. As much as he hated to say it, she wasn't even the one to blame for him being put in prison. Mace Windu and Plo Koon were the ones that put him there, Tano was just there.
"I'm not a prisoner here... right?" She looked up at him with stupidly pitiful eyes. He held her gaze as long as he dared before flicking though the list of posted bounties on his comm. He shut it off after not catching any hint of the Jetii.
"No, you have no bounty." He crossed his arms and watched her face. Her face became relieved then filled with anxiety. Now that he thinks about it, she'd probably flushed out the majority of the drugs in her system.
"Can I borrow a comm?" She asked. He hummed and considered her request.
"What for?"
"I need to comm my Boss and tell them I failed my mission." That was a surprise. But it made sense based on the state he found her in. No one could complete a mission in that state. Not even he thinks he could do it, those were some heavy drugs if she, a Jetii, was so thoroughly knocked out.
"Sure, Jetii." She jerked at that, almost missed catching the comm unit he tossed to her.
"I'm not a Jetii." She hissed at him, and he raised a brow. That was a lot of anger for her being basically placid a few seconds ago.
"Really? Walks like a Jetii, talks like a Jetii, its gotta be a Jetii." Her anger grew at his words before simmering down.
"I will not stand to be put with them. They blamed me for something I didn't even do with so little proof that it was almost laughable. They cast me out without even asking for my innocence because they wanted to avoid political scandal. I am not a Jetii. I am Ahsoka karking Tano, and I am a relief pilot." She finished off almost growling. He stared at her with his brows raised. He didn't expect that level of vehemence from someone who was singing the Jetii Order's praises not too long ago.
But it did make sense. He had watched the news like everyone else at the time. Everyone was either baffled that she had done it, not surprised but unable to look away, or using her story to further their own agenda. He'd been a mix of the first two, especially when it was revealed it was her best friend that did it and blamed her.
"Alright. Better get on with that call then." He stood up and leaned onto the door frame. He watched her glare at him fro a few moments before fumbling with typing in a long sting of numbers.
The call picked up immediately, and was answered by the distinct rumble of shryiiwook.
"Who is it."
"Boss, ugh, sorry but I'm going to need you to extend my ship's parking?" Tano's voice steadily rose in pitch the longer she talked. Boba snorted from the doorway, she shot him a glare.
"You didn't meet the contact did you?" Tano cringed at the resigned tone. She flicked her eyes to Boba again and she seemed to be weighing her answer.
"Sorry Boss, I was roofied by one of the... hunters." She resolutely stared down at her comm. He watched her, but otherwise didn't react. What she said definitely put some things into perspective, but left others in the darkness. Why would she be familiar with the trandoshan hunters? She was a Jetii and would have no contact with them.
The silence stretched on the other side of the comm. The longer this Boss stayed silent, the more Tano fidgeted. Boba waited patiently for the Boss's answer.
"You're safe?" Tano stared at Boba. He stared back and nodded once.
"I think so. I'm definitely going to need transport." Tano averted her eyes and continued the call with her Boss. He tuned it out because it was mostly just further questions about Tano's state, and who could come out to pick her up.
Not long after that she dropped the call, and handed him his comm unit back.
A few hours later he dumped her on a planet that had a port and jumped back into hyperspace.
For a ex-Jetii, she wasn't so bad. He definitely wouldn't want to see her again though.