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A green-skinned Mirialan woke up with a gasp, a small smile playing around her lips for a few seconds at the warmth that the dreams, no the memories provided to her. She had but a few moments of comfort from the memories before the truth of her situation reasserted itself, looking around at her small energy shielded cell made of reinforced metal allowed reality to quickly reassert itself over the dream world where she was meeting her best friend for the first time, a reality where her joyous smile faded into one borne of sadness. She was alone, friendless and abandoned by everyone who had ever been in her life, friends, fellow Padawans, teachers, Masters, clones, all of them, Ahsoka included, stripped of her status and position in the Jedi Order, stripped of her Mirialan tattoos. The worst part, the part that made her detest herself even more wasn’t even that she knew she deserved it, she was a murderer, a terrorist, a traitor, it was the knowledge that her efforts had failed, the Jedi were still a bunch of warmongering murderers who dared to call her a terrorist when mass planetary-scale terror was their modus operandi and had been for three years and that only made her hate herself more, that she was more regretful that she had failed than the lives she had taken. Sure she truly felt regret for what she had done, how she had gone about taking a stand against the corruption in the Jedi Order but that was almost always promptly buried in the avalanche of sentient souls she had seen and felt being destroyed by the war, a war the Jedi condoned and took active leadership roles in, though the regret she felt was strongest over how she had repaid Ahsoka for years of friendship, Barriss had framed the Togruta for her crimes, her own best friend. The Mirialan did feel sorrow at the loss of life her actions had caused, but so many more were dying every day and every night. Billions upon billions of souls, beautiful unique souls had already been crushed en masse by a war the Jedi led yet she was doomed to be punished so harshly for killing a mere two dozen? That was the hypocrisy, that was the Jedi saying ‘those lives ended by your bombing are worth more than all the others' when the Jedi were supposed to value all life equally and protect it over all else. Protecting life was the one thing the Jedi truly had failed at, they had killed so many, and so many more had died as collateral damage. The Mirialan knew deep down that she deserved to be punished for her actions, but if she was to be punished then so should every single other Jedi, except maybe the Padawans who knew nothing but the war and had been promoted to apprentice too soon so they could follow their masters wordlessly into the bloodshed. They, at least, were worth saving if they were to be removed from the 'care’ of the Jedi indefinitely and allowed an opportunity to start again, as True Jedi or along their own path like Barriss' own best friend, Ahsoka had once her Master, Anakin Skywalker, had cleared her name. She would admit to herself that she felt an unbelievable relief once she heard that Ahsoka had left the Jedi Order, maybe at least her former best friend, for she couldn't really call herself Ahsoka's best friend anymore after what she did, would escape the inevitable corruption of the Jedi and the probable obliteration of their once peaceful and wise religion
The memories that had brought her so much comfort while asleep in her cell were also another point of contention for the young ex Jedi. At first, the Mirialan had been so confused that, aside from the occasional dream, she hadn't remembered anything of her first meeting with Ahsoka, a meeting that took place many years before the second battle of Geonosis, many years before the quiet and studious Padawan healer had been forced down a path that hadn’t been right for her, like all Jedi Padawans, Knights and Masters were. Deep meditation, something that the Padawan had always excelled at, had allowed her to uncover that the Jedi Council had decided to steal those memories from her because she had formed a bond that was too strong and slowly that confusion had corroded to resentment since she couldn't risk talking to anyone about the memories she had recovered lest they try to rip them from her again. Ahsoka had been too young to remember knowing Barriss for several months a decade before her second outing to Geonosis so her resentment never ended up targeting the younger girl who would, in all likelihood have been treated exactly the same way had she remembered. The Jedi Council left no explanation as to why they had gone so far as to wipe her memories beyond their usual 'attachments lead to the dark side' catchphrase. She had unearthed the memories at some point after Umbara and had held on to them tightly as the only light in the dark that had surrounded her in every sense of the word and they had served her well, for a time. Eventually, the resentment had led her to question other aspects of the Jedi and indirectly resulted in her most infamous action; the bombing of the Jedi Temple, something not even the Separatists would attempt to match months later in their invasion of Coruscant. Barriss was able to derive the smallest crumb of comfort that she had been able to share the memories of their first meeting, of her first friendship with Ahsoka before she lost her way and carried out her ill-advised Temple bombing. The two Padawans had unwittingly created a second Force Bond between them, one that was even stronger than their first that had been broken and had been able to use that to share some of their happiest memories that the other didn't have. Since the vast majority of their happiest memories were of both of them together, Ahsoka had shared being found by 'Ploplo' and Barriss her recently recovered earliest memories of Ahsoka.
Barriss sighed, her formerly beautiful blue eyes had faded into a sort of dull gray and she spent most of her time in meditation while trying to glean what news she could about the war in the wider galaxy and what she could of her former best friend. Barriss knew, thanks mostly to her connection to the Force, that there had been an almighty uproar across the entire planet or even the Republic when the Jedi attempted to deal with her crimes internally. Some had flocked to the Jedi's literal lamb in protest of the leniency, leniency that hadn’t been offered to the victim that had been framed for the bombing and leniency almost certain to be guaranteed as the Jedi had no death penalty. The second and largest group merely viewed the Jedi’s decision as an attempt to evade true justice and the infamy that would come with the conviction of one of their own but both factions wanted the same thing; for Barriss to be treated as if she was Ahsoka. The third faction was just out for Jedi blood and didn't care how they got it and the fourth and smallest faction supported the Jedi in their effort to deal with it as an internal affair. After a time, the Jedi Order has been forced to concede and the authority for the trial had been transferred to the Senate where, most notably, the senator from Naboo, Padme Amidala did not act as the defense, she was instead assigned to the jury though nobody was quite sure how that happened. She, along with every single member of the jury, a jury that included Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Riyo Chuchi, voted guilty after a thorough investigation. The investigation occurred much to the prosecution's chagrin and later elation. Tarkin wanted an open-and-shut case but the Senate was cautious to avoid a similar miscarriage of justice to the one that Ahsoka had faced when she was facing a trial
*****
“Offee” one of the clones permanently assigned to her cell spoke, interrupting her meditation. Barriss hadn’t seen outside of her cell since she had been arrested after her confession, she had been classed as a flight risk in light of Ahsoka’s escape. The innocent girl had escaped from one of the most secure buildings on the city-planet without too much difficulty, and perhaps a little bit of help from Barriss. As such she had been placed in a cell that had been custom-built to hold Jedi, a cell that had been built while Ahsoka was on the run, a cell that wasn't just a durasteel box, it had ray shielding on both the inside and outside of the cell to protect against lightsabers and the shielding was adjusted hundreds of thousands of times a second in order to scramble the occupant's control over the Force anywhere except within the cell. “Stand” the trooper ordered, she had grown to recognize the troopers merely from the way they stood, they were the only people she had seen in quite a while. Barriss hadn't even left her cell for the trial, that had been conducted via video link much to the former Jedi’s despair, she thrived best in a natural environment and she hadn't seen anything save the inside of her metal and duracrete box since she had been arrested
Barriss sighed and stood, feeling a slight pain in her neck at the activation of the Force suppressors wrapped around her neck that injected her with some Force blocking drug that left her feeling weak and nauseated and the pull of the magnetic actuators on the binders she had to wear all the time, the magnets slamming her wrists together hard enough to bruise once again. Commander Fox had been reinforced by one or two Troopers from Ahsoka's old legion that had been discharged from field duty on a medical basis and they especially didn't much care for their prisoner. They didn't speak to her unless they absolutely had to and they didn't care about the bruises that formed on her wrists and hands from the activation of the binders. She felt her awareness of the universe dim once the drugs had taken effect and after a few moments, the men unlocked her cell with the biometric locks, lifting their blasters to deter her from doing anything stupid. “Is it time?”
“Silence” Echo growled. He had been rescued and returned to the Republic soon after Barriss’ incarceration and had been resentful of her ever since, aside from the occasional mission with The Bad Batch, he helped out at the Republic's Command Center. Barriss nodded, not wanting to give the men any reason to consider shooting her with their blasters. The Mirialan had already had to learn that the blasters were not set to stun yet were not yet set high enough to kill.
“Prisoner Offee” Fox had gestured for Echo to speak the words, as she knew he had wanted to since he heard about Ahsoka being framed. He was a former member of Ahsoka's 501st so she understood the resentment he felt. “You have been convicted of sedition and treason toward the Jedi Order and Republic. You have been sentenced to death by firing squad.” The rest of his words remained unsaid; you’re a traitor to your best friend who trusted you. “The sentence will be carried out at noon, in fifteen minutes. Do you have any last words? Any last requests?”
“I would like to speak to Ahsoka Tano, if she's still on the planet” she replied, making sure to keep her response short and to the point, as to not anger the clones further
“That will be impossible to arrange, she's no longer on Coruscant” Echo growled
“Then I’d like to speak to Luminara Unduli”
“Again, impossible. She requested an off-world mission” Echo was calmer when replying to that second question and momentarily she wondered if Ahsoka was truly offworld, or if he was saying that to keep her away from his Vod'ika.
“Fine, then can I see a holoimage of Ahsoka?” Barriss was beginning to panic, it hadn’t truly set in for her how she was going to spend the last few moments of her life alone, away from everyone she ever cared about and surrounded by clones that had requested the posting of guarding her with the sole purpose of carrying out justice for their Vod’ika.
Echo frowned, eventually conceding and pulling out a flimsi photograph of Ahsoka, Anakin and the whole of the 501st. Echo stood proudly among his brothers, with his General and his Commander front and center along with Rex. “Thank you” Barriss took the photograph carefully and looked at it, a new pain flaring up in her chest, the feeling of heartbreak. “I'm so sorry, Ahsoka” With those words, Barriss touched Ahsoka's cheek and handed the photograph back wordlessly to the Trooper who took it back and slipped out into a special compartment on his armor.
“It's time...” Fox grabbed Barriss' binders and pulled her out of the cell, leading her down a darkened corridor to the execution room, a vast cavernous room with plenty of room for a full firing squad though Fox, Echo and Dogma were the only ones present. Dogma had been removed from the front line after he killed the traitor Pong Krell but remained active in the Grand Army as one of the multitudes of support officers. Once Barriss confessed, he was assigned to Fox's unit at Echo’s request.
“Execution of Prisoner Barriss Offee. Admiral Tarkin presiding” some nameless and soulless aide droid spoke. Barriss looked up and sure enough, the slimy smarmy man who had gone all out to have Ahsoka executed was stood on a raised platform to oversee the proceedings
“Proceed” he spoke without emotions, without much of anything. Echo and Dogma lifted their blasters
“Would the prisoner like a blindfold?” Fox asked and when Barriss didn't reply he tied one on anyway. “Face your execution like the coward you are”
Blinded and helpless, Barriss couldn't do anything but brace herself for the blackness that would soon come
*****
A low keening penetrated the thin walls of the craft for a brief period then it tapered off to be replaced by a high-pitched trilling. Both were part of a melody of agony coming from a bed in one of very few cramped living quarters on a cramped freighter. The young woman on the bed's species' crying took the form of the high-pitched trilling but the young woman in question had been around other species enough to pick up their crying habits as well as her species’ natural trilling
“What's wrong?” a new feminine voice spoke quietly, calmly, almost timidly. A pair of arms cautiously wrapped themselves around the crying woman and pulled her close. “look, if what I said upset you that badly, then I'm sorry”
“I-it's not anything you did. It's just... I lost someone important to me recently. The kriffing war” she knew she couldn't mention Force Bonds. “I'm sorry”
“Don’t be sorry for something you can't help. If there's anything I can do to help you, just mention it” the other woman asked, hoping that there was something she could do to help the other woman
“Stay with me” the distressed woman requested. It didn't do her any good to be alone, especially at such a difficult time. The other woman immediately agreed and stayed where she was, trying her utmost to provide at least a modicum of comfort for the woman
*****
Blinking in confusion, Barriss woke up with a jolt. She was back in her cell, no trace left of the intense agony she had felt for at least five minutes. Was that a vision? The healer in Barriss knew what had happened intimately, the blaster shots hadn’t been outright kill shots and had burned through her in such a way as to not expedite her end. She didn't know why she was so surprised, the people assigned to her firing squad had a vested interest in making her suffer. I'm gonna die slowly and painfully...
Suddenly, the ray shielding around the cell stuttered and then shut down. Barriss wasn't sure on just how much it took to take out the entire security grid in the Command Center but it must've been a lot. The Jedi Archives held the blueprints of the Center, she knew that because she had used them to plan her next steps after she became aware that Letta Turmond wanted to speak to Ahsoka, to expose her for her part in the plot and had later been amazed by the measures being taken to ensure the cell that was to be Ahsoka’s was never disabled. Barriss watched the defenses shut down one at a time and the door eventually open. A single figure stood on the other side of the door, their face shrouded in a white hood, their body beneath a white cloak. The figure didn't speak but lifted her gloved arm to gesture at Barriss for her to follow, the glove was white like the rest of her outfit and didn't give up any hints as to who the mysterious stranger was. “W-who are you?” Barriss asked, trying to keep up with the imposing figure who started moving away from the cell as soon as it had been opened. The Stranger merely raised her hand and used the Force to effortlessly open every door between them and one of the smaller landing platforms with no regard to the magnetic locks on each of the massive blast doors designed to keep Jedi contained. Barriss gaped and, once she had gotten over her shock, only recognized the path because it was the one she had been led on in her vision, the path she had taken to die. The words I am one with the Force seemed to ring out around them
“Please talk to me,” Barriss asked, she didn’t like to be kept in the dark, partly why she had devoted so much time to her studies, she had aspired to be as wise as Master Yoda and as powerful as Master Windu, but she had sabotaged herself with the bombing.
The Stranger didn't reply, not even when Barriss staggered to one side as she passed the room where her execution had taken place, a feeling of burning agony unexpectedly originating from her chest, a burning agony similar to what she had experienced in her vision. Whimpering, Barriss fell sideways into the wall and the Stranger did nothing beyond wrapping Barriss' arm around her shoulder to provide her with the support she needed to walk and then continued to guide the Mirialan toward the landing pad, away from the execution room without heeding Barriss' need and requests to open that door and see why she felt the way she did. “Hey...” she asked once a good distance past the door and the pain had abated enough for her to be able to stand without support and breathe without pain. “Who are you?”
“I think you already know who I am” the Stranger spoke with an unexpectedly gravelly voice, one that still sounded somewhat familiar to the Mirialan. She led the way out through the blast doors and out into the brightest Coruscant day Barriss had ever seen. The weather patterns on Coruscant were tightly controlled but despite the planet having almost nothing but clear skies and sunny days, she hadn't ever seen the sky quite that bright, it seemed the glow came from the sky itself instead of the mirrors redirecting the light from Coruscant's star
“It’s such a beautiful day, I never thought I'd ever get to see the sky again” Barriss admitted quietly, reverently.
The Stranger led Barriss up the boarding ramp, speaking toward Barriss fondly. “The sky will always be beautiful where we’re going. A place far from wars, far from the Jedi, far from the Sith. Far from all those oppressive rules. Somewhere where we can be true to ourselves” She led the way to the cockpit and sat down
“Ahsoka!?” Barriss jerked in her seat at the realization of just who she was sat next to. What the Stranger had said was an almost perfect word-for-word recitation of something Ahsoka had said to Barriss about what she would do if she could do anything she wanted in the aftermath of some skirmish that was almost as brutal as the one they had endured over Umbara. The two girls had just reunited after docking and they had both retreated to the bowels of their cruiser, seeking a bit of safety and solitude after yet another grueling space battle. It was at that point that Barriss had put forward the idea of what they would want to do after the war. Ashoka had immediately delved into an elaborate description of a perfect world where she and Barriss could retreat to and live out the rest of their lives in happiness and peace
“Hey, you. It's me.” She revealed her orange-skinned hands by removing the gloves, pulled back her hood to expose her face, a face that looked similar yet so different to how Barriss remembered her. “It's nice to see you”
Ahsoka slowly reached out for Barriss' hand and Barriss recoiled like she had been burned. “How can you be so nice, even after what I did to you?!” Barriss asked, trying to control the urges to recoil and to cry. she's taller than I remember
Ahsoka sighed, “you know, I was so worried about getting back to you, I haven't thought about all that for a very long time. I forgave you a very, very long time ago, Barriss”
Slightly baffled, Barriss settled in to watch hyperspace streak past their ship, unsure as to how Ahsoka had forgiven her so easily
A few hours later, Ahsoka brought their ship out of hyperspace over an amazing looking planet. One that was lush with greenery where both girls’ love of nature would be fulfilled, with huge lazily meandering rivers as wide as a Venator-Class, with long, beautiful beaches, wildlife that Ahsoka could hunt to her heart’s desire and a brilliance that was clear to see even from space. “Ahsoka... That is...?”
“Beautiful, I know” Ahsoka brought the shuttle down on a clear patch of grassland with the tiniest bump, removed the two lightsabers from her belt, ignited them with a small smile, reminiscing upon the blades, the likes of which Barriss had never seen before then disengaged them and set them down on the controls. “We won't need those” she explained at Barriss' curious expression
“This is... Our planet?” Once again, Barriss was forced to recall the discussion they had had months beforehand
“The Force works in mysterious ways” Ahsoka explained then led Barriss off the ship, her orange hand tugging on Barriss’ green one as she tugged her along toward the peace that the Mirialan had craved for so long.
“This can be where we build our home” Ahsoka pointed at a random clearing in the wooded area that they had reached after a few minutes of walking and sealing the deal with a kiss on Barriss' lips.
Barriss sighed into the kiss and squeezed Ahsoka closer. “Ahsoka...”
“I love you, Barriss”
“I love you too, Ahsoka” the two young women continued to embrace each other and kiss as the day on their planet came to a spectacular end, the sunset causing a million shades of gold, orange and red to fill the night’s sky over their heads and to be reflected in the water in the lakes and rivers around them.
The two young women finally had peace, happiness, and love, regardless of what happened in the wider universe.
Fin