Chapter Text
Back on Malachor
Ahsoka ran as quickly as possible through the portal to escape from the sith magic, which Palpatine was currently casting. She jumped through the portal and landed hard on the ground. Morai was sitting next to her.
She immediately scanned the vicinity, trying to see if Vader was still nearby. Luckily, he was gone...... Anak... no Vader nearly killed her. Anakin was completely gone and replaced by a cruel and dark being, which committed countless genocides and war crimes. That monster in the black armor would have killed her, without the intervention of Ezra.
She stood up slowly and thought May the force be with you, Ezra. Wherever you're, hopefully, you're well off.
Honestly, a swift death wouldn't have been that bad and her gruesome life would have been finally over.
Still, she was thankful, that he prevented her death by Vader, who was probably dead. If there was any way out of this dead and dark planet, she would find him.
She was much deeper in the sith temple and discovered an opened door. For some reason, the force wanted her to step in. Something was there and she asked herself if that was the reason Yoda sent them here. She hobbled slowly closer and Morai flew towards her. She smiled happily and the bird sat down on her shoulder, fluttering its wings happily. Ahsoka glanced at it and mumbled depressed "I don't know, why I still believed Anakin remained in Vader. He is gone, replaced by an evil monster."
The bird emitted brightness to try to lighten up Ahsoka's mood. The nearby area around her was flooded with overwhelming light and she felt it. The oppressive dark side retreated and Ahsoka peered at Morai.
"That doesn't really help, Anakin is gone and I nearly died for nothing," Ahsoka said saddened. The convor began to fly around her and chirped.
Don't be depressed, look forward The daughter spoke to her
Fine, how do I get out here? What is calling me?
She got no answer, Morai just flew forward and lit up the way before her. It looked like a subway, filled with shallow water. After probing the way with the force, she slowly waded through it. The water reached up to her hips and Morai was guiding her through the dark tunnel.
On the walls were inscriptions, which she couldn't read properly because it was too dark, some of them seemed to depict sith ceremonies. No surprise really, she was inside a sith temple. The planet was once alive and thriving. What happened to this place? Even Sith wouldn't want to destroy their planets! The ancient sith empires were strong powers, which had competed with the old republic. She saw the petrified corpses of Jedi and Sith, something had gone terribly wrong.
Without the brightness of Morai, the darkness of this place would have weighed her down heavily. After a few minutes of walking, she saw a staircase. Finally, she left the shallow and muddy water and stepped upwards. At the end of it, she found herself in a large room and looked around. It was mostly empty and Morai landed on a table in the middle of the room. She scrutinized it and there was a strong force nexus. The dark side was more concentrated in the mediation room than elsewhere else.
Why did she feel a pull towards it? Morai fluttered with its wings, what was Morai signaling? She wouldn't fall for the lure of the dark side!
Come closer, it isn't dangerous. A soft voice spoke up
I can't fall, I'll be twisted into an unrecognizable monster
You won't, I promise. You stood firm against the darkness and its allure. Acquiring knowledge isn't wrong, is it?
You never lied to me, I'll trust you.
Ahsoka still had her reservations and carefully stepped closer to the force nexus.
A hazy and blue humanoid male person slowly appeared before her, who she couldn't identify. Neither he wore Jedi robes or sith battle armor. He was wearing battle armor and some sort of robe. His armor protected his entire body, unlike hers, which only protected her legs, arms and torso. She preferred agility and speed over full body protection. She suspected, that it may be ancient Jedi armor.
"It has been a long time since someone appeared here. Why would a lightsider enter a sith temple?" the person said and was examining her for a few seconds. Ahsoka concluded, that it must be one of the ancient Jedi, from millennia ago. How he could be even still alive, is he even alive? His blue hazy appearance was weird, in contrast to Yoda's look.
"I'm Fulcrum, who you are? From your appearance, you must be one of the old Jedi. How you could even survive that long?" Ahsoka asked him and probed his presence, which was light, with some traces of dark. She tracked every movement. If he tried to harm her, she was prepared to defend herself, with hands near her lightsabers.
"Ahsoka, I sense, you're afraid of me and what happened shortly before to you. You're defensively and you fought with a dark tall figure. What lead you here, in the first place?" He wanted to know, what she was hiding behind her multi-layered and thick shields. He sensed, that she was lying. She even didn't bother to hide her mistrust and alias name usage. It seemed, that the modern Jedi lost the knowledge to retain consciousness after death. If he was honest, maybe then she would talk.
"First answer, who you're. Then we can talk. Why you are blue and hazy? How do you know my name?" Ahsoka retorted coolly
"I'm Jedi master, Jalok Konash. I died millennia ago because the sith misfired their battle station. I managed to bound my awareness to the force nexus to retain my consciousness. You seemed to have experienced a hard life, judging by your expressions and distrustful behavior. I had observed your fights, your Jedi companions Ezra and Kanan and some sith assassins." Jalok observed and took a seat at the table. After he finished his sentence, he saw her scowling.
"Hard to believe, it's impossible to retain consciousness after death. It'll merge, with the force." Ahsoka stated factually, carefully eyeing him. She didn't know him and needed to be careful until she could figure more out about him.
"Ahsoka, it is a practice.... maybe it was forgotten over time. I don't want to harm you, you can sense it." Jalok said softly
The force rang with truth, why a Jedi would harm her? Well, she had already seen too many insane things, like Mortis, Vader and the world between worlds.
"I had already seen too much, I lost nearly everything. Encountered many impossible things and you're one of them. I learned to be careful, in these dark times." Ahsoka replied, her expression saddened. He could see many conflicting emotions raging in her eyes, something terrible had happened
"I see your conflict in your eyes, what happened? You must have experienced gruesome events, I felt the Jedi got widely wiped out decades ago." Jalok said softly and gestured towards a contrasting chair "Wouldn't you mind making yourself comfortable? I just want to have a nice talk with you."
Ahsoka analyzed him and just saw kindness and honesty. She sat down at the offered place and decided, he can be trusted. His appearance was weird, like the force embodiments on Mortis.
"What is bothering you? Your contradicting emotions couldn't be overseen." Jalok remarked, asking himself, why she still mistrusted him. He wanted to know, what had happened in the past thousand years. He managed to bound his essence to the local force nexus, but couldn't leave the planet. Just able to observe the events around Malachor.
"A lot of things actually. I had only seen war since I was deployed in a fake war as an inexperienced young teenager on the battlefield." Ahsoka said, with bitterness underlying her voice. She didn't want to think about her bad life.
"Your friends escaped safely. Since when did the Jedi order deploy teenagers on the battlefield instead of experienced knights and masters?" Jalok wondered
"We shouldn't have joined the republic war efforts at all and the now sith emperor Palpatine forced us to join the war by using political leverage. Honestly, the separatists had valid reasons to secede from the inept and exploiting republican government. Couldn't you wander around the galaxy to observe the events yourself?" Ahsoka explained
"I'm bound to this place and that sounds horrible. The Jedi shouldn't be forced to do anything, especially from governments." Jalok said honestly and saw Ahsoka's features softened up. How the Jedi could be that foolish?
"It must be terrible to be alone. From the first battle of malachor, we have only tales. Could you explain why this entire planet is barren and dead? The misfired sith weapon couldn't have killed the entire planet." Ahsoka said and Morai was on the table, watching them both converse.
She just saw honestly in his demeanor and his force presence felt real since he appeared. If he was really sincere, she would find out.
"It wasn't, was still an agricultural world for many years. Countless years later, the republic, led by Revan and the Mandalorians fought here, in a massive naval battle. Someone had activated a superweapon, which caused both fleets to crash into the planet's crust and as a result, most of the planet's surface was fractured. The debris and broken planet parts were drawn back by the planet gravity and formed the new barren surface." Jalok explained
"The infamous second great battle of Malachor. It's only known, that it was a turning point in that war and the Mandalorians were completely defeated. Much of the knowledge of the past is lost nowadays." Ahsoka said saddened
"Like, how to retain your consciousness after death. How the Jedi could just forget such important events?" Jalok looked incredible
"Well, many more Sith-Jedi wars had been fought. Sith and Jedi were on the verge of collapse, multiple times. I guess that's why." Ahsoka contemplated
"Currently, the Jedi are now on the verge of collapse. I'm happy, that I had seen several surviving Jedi." Jalok smirked
"The Jedi are no more, nearly the entire order was eradicated, because of their hubris and arrogance! Just dozens survived the purge, now scattered in the galaxy." Ahsoka said, with anger flaring up in her eyes.
"I understand your grief and anger, you lost your entire family. You learned, how to live on, despite it." Jalok said softly
"I know..... you don't reprimand me, for showing off emotions? The former Jedi would have reprimanded me." Ahsoka asked interested, reprimanding herself to retain control.
"Why should I? It isn't wrong to have them, just not let them take over. Bottling them up could lead to a catastrophe. You have impressive control over your emotions." He wondered, why she ask him this specific question.
"We got taught, that emotion should be suppressed and attachments were completely forbidden. After I left the order, I learned, that having emotions and attachments wasn't wrong and without them, I would have nothing to live for. Concerning my emotions, I learned to control them and it didn't affect my actions negatively." Ahsoka explained, with a small smirk appearing. She let her shielding partially slip, he could feel her deeply buried grief, anger and sadness. That she learned to control them on her own, was quite impressive.
"They had the audacity to forbid natural feelings? Not how to deal with them maturely? Every living being is bonding with someone. Outright forbid it, sounds wrong. We used to teach to control and deal with them properly. You control them, what should be the case." Jalok stated unbelieving
"Because they believed, emotions could lead to falling. They forbade them, not take any risk." As Ahsoka elaborated, he just shook his head in disbelief.
"They formed too rigid and ridiculous rules. By totally shunning emotions, you're basically living droids. How you can fight for peace without passion and emotions? The Jedi decayed too much." Jalok reasoned. what she told him, was terrible.
"Not just that, they were puppets of the corrupt republic government. They ignored the obvious signs of the transformation of the republic to a sith empire. Palpatine infiltrated the republic as supreme chancellor and they couldn't sense nor defeat him. Then, he successfully turned the public and clone army against them. The public had already forgotten the Jedi." Ahsoka said, with expressionful eyes. Half-truths would work because the memories of the last decades weren't pretty.
"The sith had changed, it seemed. I assume Palpatine is one of many sith lords, right?" Jarlok looked at her
"He's the sith master, the black figure is his apprentice. Not heard of the rule of two, where only a master and apprentice could exist? The others are just a few enforcers." Ahsoka answered
"No, must be a new rule, we used to have large-scale fighting between thousands of Jedi and Sith. The Jedi couldn't defeat a few dozen sith and had ignored the sith manipulations? I still can't believe it!" Jarlok expression soured, she wasn't lying. The darkness swept over the bright, just in one moment. Thousand bright presences got snuffed out in seconds, with most probably killed by the army.
"Yes, hearing that convinced me, that the Jedi completely lost their ways. You took on thousands of sith lords and they lost to a few." Ahsoka said bluntly
"I understand, why you left them. I would have done the same. After hearing all of your explanations, it doesn't surprise me. Apathy, accepting slavery and playing political games...... they would be regarded as radicals in my time. Now, I understand, why you left the order. The hypocrisy of using a slave army and their willingness of submitting themselves to politics led to their fall." Jarlok stated understandable and she nodded tersely. The Jedi of his time would never let the sith corrupt the republic from the inside and wouldn't have tolerated serving a slave army.
He asked himself, why the Jedi had just watched when the state had turned against them. They had to be very stupid and foolish, to let it happen. For these reasons, his Jedi order hadn't submitted themselves to any government. Ahsoka wanted to avoid talking about sensitive themes, but she was intrigued by the old Jedi ways.
"I never expected to talk to an old Jedi..... you wouldn't have done the same severe mistakes. I want to point out, that the high council was guilty, not the common members." Ahsoka smirked lightly, thinking at Kanan Jarrus and Ezra.
Her Jedi order hierarchy needed to be destroyed, to see their shortcomings. Something new would arise in its place and her activity as Fulcrum showed, how the high council utterly failed the common people. She knew, that Obi-wan and Yoda survived and went to hide somewhere. She was proud of Kanan and Erza, they were formidable force users, in their own right.
"Good, that you have insight and understanding. Do you have contact with more other surviving Jedi, than your few companions?" Jalok asked
"Sadly not. They chose to hide from the sith empire and conceal themselves to avoid detection. The former grandmaster, Kanan and Ezra are the only Jedi, I know about. Better to stay hidden these times." Ahsoka clarified
"Agree. Could I ask you, why you are here? I observed your fight with an armored sith warrior. Then, you suddenly disappeared and re-appeared of nothing." Jarlok asked her
"The former grandmaster told us to go here. If I had to guess, our purpose was to prevent this superweapon to fall into sith hands. I got pulled into a plane of existence, which connects time and place. Then we were forced to run and returned to our original destinations." Ahsoka replied
"Have you some sort of comm station here?" Ahsoka then questioned him
"Come with me, with some repairs and leftover energy from the previous activation, you should be able to contact someone." She followed Jarlok
"Luckily, I'm a proficient mechanic," Ahsoka said smugly
As they approached the comm station, Jarlok asked her
"What do you want to do afterward? You can't fight alone and you are obviously tired of it."
"Laying low and re-emerge, when the time is correct. They believe I'm dead and the small rebellion has currently no chance of defeating the sith empire." Ahsoka answered bluntly
"That's a reasonable plan of action. Upholding the illusion and working from the shadows." Jarlok reasoned
Ahsoka began to repair the console, which was still in pretty good shape. After a few minutes of tinkering, it was working again. To test it, she tried to call Captain Rex, who she completely trusted.
After a few minutes, their signal was received and Commander Rex appeared.
"Ahsoka, you're alive! They told me, you stayed to fight Darth Vader. I had fear, that he may have killed you." Rex said relieved
"He would have killed me without timely and unexpected intervention. Darth Vader is fallen Anakin Skywalker and nearly murdered me." Ahsoka replied, with tears appearing in her eyes.
"It can't be! How the compassionate and passionate Anakin could turn into the ruthless monster Vader, who is killing billions without mercy? It's impossible!" Rex's expression was startled.
"I still can't believe it, but it's truth. It was him, with his force presence is completely dark." Ahsoka's voice wavered a little and wiped her tears.
"That's terrible, I always assumed, he had died. Vader isn't Anakin, can't be." Rex stated saddened
"Yes, Anakin is dead mentally. He would never do such cruel things, even killing younglings..." Ahsoka trailed off, sobbing
"I'm just glad, you're alive. Please stop sobbing, it doesn't help anyone. If I had to guess, you need a way off from Malachor?" Rex asked her
"Anakin..... why...." Ahsoka tried to stop sobbing, then stiffened herself with her regaining control. It didn't help anyone...
"You guessed right. Could you come over with a ship alone, I want to lay low in the next months. They will believe, I'm dead and I need time to re-orientate myself, after that revelation. Only Bail Organa can know of my survival, no one else." Ahsoka said, then sent him her exact coordinates.
"Will do it, I'll be there in one day. I understand, you need to come to terms with Anakin's fall." Rex replied understandably
"Along with pretty food and water, please. This is a karking barren planet, without any life." Ahsoka added and closed the call.
"Ahsoka, there is still hope for him. A faint light remained in him to redeem. It'll be difficult to pull it off though." Jarlok spoke up gently
"Wait, you want to tell me, fallen Jedi can be redeemed?" Ahsoka looked at him with hope shimmering in her eyes
"We redeemed a few successfully. It needs a strong incentive to climb back from the darkness, for example, family, loved ones and close friends. Even pointing out their misjudgment and keep insisting on it, had worked." Jarlok explained
"I was close to him, for one moment...... he was back. Only Padme could possibly redeem him, he deeply cared about her." Ahsoka was saddened because she wasn't strong enough to pull him back. Maybe her leaving the order caused, that he treated her like any other enemy. If she hadn't left him, maybe it could have worked. But then, she would have been probably killed in the temple raid. He was already gone by this time and replaced by Vader.
They walked hours side by side, slowly out of the depths of the sith temple.
"This temple was mostly built for the singular purpose of a weapon of mass destruction. Still, there are a few sith holocrons here, you want to see them? Acquiring more knowledge isn't wrong." Jarlok asked her
"We got taught, to fully shun sith knowledge. It could corrupt you." Ahsoka countered
"It doesn't, knowing and applying are completely different. How do you fight your sith opponents, without knowing them? Knowledge gives you the ability to defend against them." Jarlok replied gently
"We were forbidden to learn anything about them, except biased history. Your argumentation makes sense though." Ahsoka mused
"That is idiotic and dumb. Everything I hear, makes me shake my head. It was just a question of time when the Jedi would get destroyed." Jarlok said bluntly
"You hadn't ignored the natural inner darkness, but learned to tame and control it?" Ahsoka asked
"Correctly, you have already adapted and channeled your emotions and inner darkness to combat Vader. What is that bird, following us?" Jarlok asked
"It's Morai, my permanent companion. I guess, knowing more about them, won't harm. We have still plenty of time before Rex arrives." Ahsoka agreed to his previous proposal
Jarlok smiled slightly and gestured to her to follow him. She already accepted her inner darkness and harnessed her passion and anger controlled to enhance herself. Her eyes were filled with revenge, when she fought Vader, but hadn't allowed herself to be totally submerged by it. Her companion was a very bright presence.
As they entered the nearby library, one small shelf was glowering red, with 6 Sith holocrons on it.
Ahsoka looked a bit unsettled at that "Ehm, the darkness emitting from these things."
Jarlok soothed her "I had studied them a long time ago, it won't turn you. Although, the sith personalities can be sometimes very annoying and infuriating."
Ahsoka nodded, then force pulled one to her and asked him "How I open these holocrons? Jedi holocrons are working quite differently."
"Use your passion and emotions to open it. I'll help you mentally to acquire the knowledge, I have experience with them." Jarlok explained, as Ahsoka approached the shelf, sat comfortably down and began to open the Sith holocrons.
As Ahsoka, with the assistance of Jarlok, deepened herself to explore the knowledge of the few Sith holocrons.
She found it quite useful and had already learned from experimenting and practice, how to create better force barriers, force crushing, force explosions and conceal herself. Adding more knowledge, like force lightning or sith mind breaking method didn't harm. She had improved her defensive measures against it.
Yes, the sith personalities were quite annoying. They tried to persuade her to give in to the dark. She brushed their attempts easily off and had acquired their knowledge, Jarlok was a great help. They were quite interested, in what had happened and she exchanged stories with them. Why she shouldn't? She won't get a second chance to talk to pre-banite sith. All the sith were appalled by the rule of two and declared the modern sith as an abnormality. In return, she got told, that the Jedi tried to genocide the Sith first.
Ahsoka replied, that she didn't agree with the old Jedi's attempts to kill them, because they just wanted to live in peace. She now understood, why the sith want to kill off the Jedi. Their passion to kill the Jedi is equally her passion to end the oppressive sith empire. The Jedi caused the Jedi-Sith wars, which were ongoing until today. Jarlok agreed with her, but they had to kill the sith, in his time for peace.
Ahsoka agreed with him, the Jedi and Sith utterly wanted to destroy each other.
He was impressed by her, that she managed to break free of the indoctrination and think with her mind.
After studying one day of sith holocrons, she finished one holocron and her commlink beeped.
She opened the channel and Rex appeared. "Where are you? I'm already here for hours and wasn't at the meeting point. Currently, I'm going to you and I'm currently on an old battlefield."
"I'm sorry, was studying a few sith holocrons to better understand the dark side. Coming to you." Ahsoka replied apologetically
"What? Please don't fall like Anakin." Rex had a worried expression
"Ehh, have no worries. I have here a force ghost of an old Jedi master from millennia ago." Ahsoka assured him, while she attached the sith holocrons on her belt.
"Force osik, I won't ever understand it," Rex mumbled
"I had seen more impossible things, we'll meet soon," Ahsoka replied and Rex nodded
They walked out of the sith temple and Ahsoka told him "To achieve permanent peace, the Sith and Jedi need to stop hating each other or their orders need to be destroyed, to allow every force wielder to find their ways. My order regulated heavily our behavior and life, we were basically slaves to the Jedi high order."
"We gave our members much more freedom and hadn't infringed upon private matters. I agree, that your order was wrong, in many aspects. Honestly, they are bad like the sith, too radical and want to control everything." Jarlok stated understandable
"I see, I would have like to live in your order. I would be a happy and content Jedi. Anakin wouldn't have turned, he could have been able to confess his feelings and you would be able to help him." Ahsoka replied bluntly
"Even if he had turned, we would have tried to turn him back. We supported each other, like a family." Jarlok said softly
"Unlike mine, they were detached and cold. They would rather murder or imprison him, instead of helping him. He would be probably expelled for his relationship with Padme." Ahsoka stated
"I already thought that, because they had forbade any attachments. We allowed families, as long the relationship was mutually beneficial. We nearly arrived at our destination, have you intentions to rebuild the Jedi, if possible?" Jarlok asked her
"Not really, why do I want to rebuild an order, who let the darkness take over? The galaxy is better off, without a commanding order. I laid down the foundation of the agent network, they can operate without me. I just want to be myself again." Ahsoka answered honestly
"I understand. Although, you would make a great new grandmaster, with your insights and tolerance." Jarlok said factually
"Maybe, when I figured out my new purpose and the galactic empire is down, alongside the sith," Ahsoka replied touched. Sadly he was bound to Malachor, he would have made a good companion.
A few minutes later, Rex and Ahsoka met each other, in the petrified figures of the ancient battlefield.
Ahsoka launched at him and hugged him passionately. As an answer, Rex hugged tenderly back.
After a few seconds, they pulled back and Ahsoka showed at Jarlok's blue figure "That is Jarlok, a very old Jedi master from ancient times. It has been a pleasure to meet you."
"Same, I wish you both a good journey. The space around it is clear." He nodded and slowly disappeared.
Ahsoka and Rex headed quickly towards their ship, they wanted to leave this kriffing barren planet.
"Kanan and Erza are fine? Kanan fought Maul." Ahsoka asked
"They are well off. He threw Maul down the depths." Rex replied factually
"That's good, he'll handle it. Have you already told Bail Organa?" Ahsoka wanted to know
"He's fine with it and wants to speak with you over the commlink," Rex answered gently
When they entered the ship, Rex gave her good food and water. Yes, she really need it, she was very thirsty and hungry.
Then Rex took control of the ship and jumped into hyperspace.
As she finished her lunch, she approached him.
"You want to leave the rebel alliance?" Rex asked her
"I want to be myself again, I only know war and fighting. They can work, without me." Ahsoka said softly
She sat down at the communication console and opened a channel to Bail Organa.
"Rex told me, that you had survived. I feared you had perished." He told her softly
"Of course, I had survived. Aren't you upset, that I'll leave for an unknown period?" She asked him
"You have done much work for us and you deserve time off. Especially, after the revelation of Vader's true identity, you need time to come to terms." He replied understandably
"Why you haven't told me, that Vader is Anakin? I wouldn't have been upset if you had told me the truth earlier." She wanted to know
"If I had told you, you wouldn't believe it. Even now, you still obviously struggling with that." He clarified and Ahsoka looked abashed
"Yes...... but please don't tell anyone, I survived. I want to be myself again and re-adjust to that, what happened, in the last days." Ahsoka's voice was serious
"I'll do it, the Fulcrum network can run, without you. " He stated factually
"Don't get me wrong, if I ran into someone, who is interested in joining our cause, I'll contact you. I'll keep you updated about my well-being, but we need to keep up the illusion, that I got killed." She explained her plans to him
"Take your time and tell me someday, if you want to officially rejoin our ranks." Bail Organa agreed and disappeared
Ahsoka opened the nearby star map and pointed at one nearby system, which was just a few days away.
"Rex, drop me off on this outer rim neutral planet. You and Bail have my commlink, we'll stay in contact." Ahsoka smirked
When they arrived at the spaceport of the mentioned planet, Ahsoka was in her armor and grey cloak. The hood over her montrals was hiding her facial features. Then she disembarked and stood near the loading ramp.
She was prepared this time, with credits, rations and water in her backpack, alongside the 6 sith holocrons. Her lightsabers and a modified DH-17 blaster pistol, which shot colorless bolts for the human eye, were concealed in the wrap.
She looked back to the nearby standing Rex and they hugged each other passionately. She would certainly him, but she needed to forge her destiny. As they pulled back and Ahsoka distanced slowly from the ship, she turned back and they glanced at each other for the last time, with affection.
She would be fine, she survived as a young adult alone, and now grown up, she would be more than fine. When Rex compared the scene to their first separation on the moon, she chose to carve out her new life prepared this time. On the outer rim planets, she would be able to live, without much danger of detection.
Then, she headed toward the nearby city and slowly disappeared in the far.
In the following years, she was roaming the galaxy for knowledge in abandoned sith and Jedi temples and occasionally helped out the common people, by killing criminals and slavers. Free from duty and permanent fear of getting discovered, she enjoyed her new life as a roaming helper. The needed income to sustain her, came from her work as a mobile mechanic and compensations for killing and arresting criminal scum. Her skill as a force wielder came in as handy, for that.
As predicted, the Fulcrum network stayed intact and proceeded to work well, under the new Fulcrum. Of course, if she had met people, who disliked the galactic empire, she informed Bail Organa, who further relayed it to them. The ghost crew continued to do good work and handled her supposed death remarkably well.
The daughter's spirit merged as a consequence of the trip to the world between worlds, with her force signature. That enabled her to visit it and she made sporadic trips to further understand the force, as a whole. To be honest, she still didn't understand wholly, how this world worked. What Malachor showed her, was that the intentions of your actions mattered, not where you draw your power.
She watched, with the help of the daughter spirit, past and future important events and discovered, that the galactic empire would fall to the rebel alliance and a new republic would emerge. To her horrors, peace wouldn't last and in the near future, the Vong, an extragalactic invader would throw the galaxy into disarray and the war would destroy many lives. Her being was mostly irrelevant to the flow of history, the galaxy was always swinging between good and bad times and she saw herself being well off later down the timeline. By watching and understanding important events of the old Sith-Jedi wars, she concluded, that neither the Jedi nor sith were right.
She had become something else, she couldn't find a proper term for her. She used her knowledge of the Sith, to further improve her defensive abilities against their offensive techniques.
Roughly 4 years later after Malachor, the rumors about a death star were confirmed. A moon-sized battle station, powered by kyber crystals and equipped with a planet-destroying weapon, was revealed and used immediately to destroy Alderaan. Luckily, a talented pilot named Luke Skywalker, destroyed it, with a proton torpedo, which destroyed the reactor. As consequence, the death star exploded into thousand parts.
She was so happy to speak with Rex a few days later, who survived the battle on Endor's moon. It was the first time, they met each other in months. To put it mildly, she was surprised, that Luke Skywalker was the son of Anakin. She may meet him soon, he was quite powerful and quite untrained, in the ways of the force. Perhaps, she could teach him things about the force, that no other surviving Jedi could, due to her understanding of the force, as a whole.
Maybe he would be able to turn Anakin back to the light, which she couldn't do. Jarlok said it needed a very strong pull. Anakin was always a family man, why he would dare to harm his children?
As soon as the news of the annihilation of Alderaan and the death star spread, many imperials and citizens saw the true color of the Palpatine. It wasn't a regime, that cared about the safety and prosperity of its inhabitants. Instead, it was an oppressive and cruel government. The usage of the superweapon backfired and now many were flocking to the banners of the rebel alliance. She heard from Rex, that they are planning a grand-scale campaign against the galactic empire to liberate many planets. The whole empire was thrown into disarray, the rebels may have a chance to emerge victorious. That might be the moment, the rebellion would overthrow the empire. She witnessed a victory ceremony on Coruscant after it got liberated from the imperials.
In the wake of the unfolding chaos, the imperials largely gave up on patrolling the outer rim and were in process of reorganizing themselves. She smiled, now Tarkin and Palpatine were facing a large-scale rebellion. Their reign of fear and terror backfired terribly and their empire would be torn apart, like the ancient sith empires.
A few weeks later, after the destruction of the death star and her meeting with Rex, Ahsoka was roaming again the outer rim, in her T-6 shuttle and the force guided her toward an abandoned jungle planet. The planet had a strong connection to the force, which was giving her the feeling, that she should investigate it. Maybe more knowledge to collect in form of holocrons? She wouldn't dismiss the nudge of the force to go there.
Traveling through the outer rim without detection was now easy, with the imperials in total chaos and jumped out of hyperspace to approach the planet. Immediately activating the cloaking device, she entered the atmosphere and neared the place where the force was the most concentrated. After meditating a little bit in her ship, which she set on autopilot for a while, the force guided her mind to an abandoned old Jedi temple, that seems to be relatively intact and stable. It was surrounded by jungle and the structure itself was overgrown by plants.
She dropped out of her meditative stance to look for a good landing spot and detected a good jungle clearing with a big plain surface. After taking control of the ship, she safely landed it in the large clearing.
Then she checked if her ship took damage from the long travel, which would be needed to be repaired and exchanged some exhausted power cells for fresh ones. With the cloaking device of her ship active, if someone would track her, they wouldn't be able to detect it. In her white cloak, she walked out of her shuttle with her concealed lightsabers, a modified DH-17 blaster pistol and a back bag. The plants and trees around the temple cast large shadows and made it difficult to find an entry and she enlightened the nearby surroundings with force light. The sun indicated, that it was already evening and it darkened the temple even more.
After a while, she finally found the entrance of the temple, which have been left behind by the Jedi order, before it had centralized on Coruscant. She asked herself, why the once Jedi order, close to the people, chose to seclude themselves from the public. Couldn't Yoda see, to what it could lead?
Decades later after the purge, Palpatine managed to erase the memory of the Jedi from the public and already won in this aspect. Even if he got destroyed, the Jedi wouldn't be widely accepted by the public. There was a new Jedi order, but from what she had seen, just had a few hundred members in total.
She opened the heavy and metallic doors with a strong force push and went along the corridors. It was built similar to other ancient Jedi temples, small and modest, unlike the once grand and prestigious coruscant temple. Then, she let her force presence wander through the temple and felt drawn to a left central room and looked around there. Only a few shelves could be seen, alongside metallic tables spread around the room. She teleported her presence to the shelf and a few holocrons were laying on it. Even though a few artefacts were nearby, she must head over there. She pulled her force projection back toward her corporal body and moved towards the library room.
It was already getting late and put all holocrons and artefacts in her backpack. The long travel and force projection had tired her out and she needed a big meal. She glanced around the room and sat down at one nearby table. They have been made to sit down on the ground, probably on comfortable paddings. She was already used to sleeping on cold metallic or stone ground, it didn't bother her anymore. Laying down her backpack nearby down, she took food and water out of it and settled down.
Putting her meal on the table, then began to enjoy it. It was a tiring day, after all. When she finished it, she walked back to her ship and covered her trails. She went to sleep in the safety of her cloaked ship, a comfortable mattress was awaiting her.
The next day, she was fresh to study the newly acquired holocrons and artefacts, Sith and Jedi alike. A sith artifact was glowing with weird energy and as Ahsoka probed it, with the force, her eyesight got blurry. Hazy pictures quickly replaced the blurry surroundings and she saw her children. Also, she was standing aside Dooku, fighting Palpatine? Battles were fought, which sorta looked like the clone wars!
She was utterly confused, was it a kark force vision again? Seconds later, these hazy pictures were replaced by a bright white flash and she couldn't see anything anymore. What to kark hell was happening! She reinforced her shields as much, as she could muster, but it didn't help. She was rendered unconscious in the next moment and slumped to the ground.
As she woke up again, her head ached a little. Luckily it was just a soft collision against the wall. She immediately raised her impenetrable shield and concealment, then she closed the minor wounds, with force healing. After that, she checked, if everything was in order, just the mysterious sith artefact had disappeared.
Wait, why the force was feeling that different, it was way lighter and filled with bright presences! She went to the cabin of the ship and looked completely bewildered. Why she was at Christophsis again and no imperial banners were hanging? It was an imperial important world and if it had defected, she would have already gotten word of it! Also, she felt three very similar force signatures. It wasn't possible, they felt like Obi-wan, Anakin, before he had fallen and when she was a teenager! If that was a genius fake, no one can replicate force signatures! Scrutinizing the city more, it looked exactly like, before it got utterly destroyed by the fighting in the clone wars.
She fell into a deep trance and looked in the force for answers. The daughter appeared and Ahsoka asked her "I'm really in the past? I encounter many impossible things already, that will just another happening to the list."
"Yes, you're. The sith artefact had sent you back in time." She confirmed
"Dawn it, I had found my peace," Ahsoka grumbled
"You got a second chance. With your future knowledge, the disaster can be prevented." She said softly
"I'll somehow figure out a plan," Ahsoka replied gently and woke up from her deep trance. Well, why she had experienced many impossible things already.... still, she was skeptical and wanted to confirm her suspicion.
She checked if the cloak was still running and the ship was undamaged. The monitors confirmed that, but a fuel refill wouldn't be bad. Another problem came to her mind, her imperial credits were worthless and she had to earn republic credits to pay for her needs.
She needed to investigate, but she couldn't use force projection with three Jedi nearby. They would detect her and it wouldn't end well. Anakin would threaten her, with his hot-headed nature. Better not to be detected and somehow find a suitable job, mechanic, hunting criminals as a mercenary or bounty hunting.... all were in her skill set. Well, she disliked bounty hunting, but she would do it if it was required to cover her costs.
She put on her white cloak to cover her armor and facial features, with her lightsabers and DH-17 blaster pistol in her wrap. Her backpack with the holocrons were covered with a force shield and well hidden in a repository. Over her left shoulder, she hung a shoulder bag and pinned it there, to have a mobile and portable storage room, for small things
As she left her ship, she prayed, that the battle was already over or she would get into real trouble. A supposed civilian wandering in a military zone wasn't welcome and would be watched with suspicion, especially Anakin!