Work Text:
Riyo’s meeting with Commander Tano begins with casualty projections.
This is unfortunate, because Ahsoka Tano is 15 years old and should not be able to discuss military death rates with the calm fluency of someone reviewing transit schedules.
“The revised reinforcement bill cuts medical resupply authority from local commands,” Ahsoka says, enlarging one section of the proposed legislation. “That’ll slow down emergency requests in contested sectors.”
Her blue-white striped montrals angle slightly toward the projection. Slim HUD eyewear frames her face, connected to the headband framing her face. It isn’t bulky enough to be called goggles, though Riyo has heard several senators use the word and watched Ahsoka’s expression become progressively more carnivorous each time.
Data scrolls across one lens as her eyes track the bill.
Her irises are still mostly blue. A narrow ring of gold circles each pupil, subtle enough that Riyo only notices because they have spent the last hour sitting across from one another.
Riyo adds a note beside the funding clause.
“The committee claims centralized approval will prevent commanders from hoarding supplies.”
“It’ll prevent commanders from getting bacta while somebody on Coruscant decides whether they’ve filled out the right form.”
“Unfortunately, that may be the actual intention.”
Ahsoka leans back in her chair. “Can we call it attempted murder by paperwork?”
“Not in the official objection.”
“What about the unofficial objection?”
“I’ll ask Commander Thire. He owns an annotated copy of the regulatory code and considers loopholes a recreational activity.”
Ahsoka smiles.
She is impossible not to like.
They met several months ago after General Skywalker deposited his Padawan in Senator Amidala’s office under the stated purpose of “learning the Senate.” Generals Skywalker and Kenobi then left the planet to do something Riyo still does not fully understand, involving a blockade, stolen medical supplies, and at least one fighter landing where fighters were not designed to land.
Padmé had attempted to teach Ahsoka legislative procedure.
Ahsoka had attempted to determine why six committees were required to approve emergency food deliveries.
By the end of the first day, they had both become offended.
Riyo joined them for dinner and discovered that Ahsoka could identify hidden exits, concealed weapons, and lying politicians with equal efficiency.
Her senses are extraordinary even by Jedi standards. She hears aides whispering through closed doors. She can follow someone through three levels of the Senate by scent and movement alone. Riyo once watched her locate a missing diplomatic courier by crouching beside a landing platform and studying footprints nobody else could see.
Had Master Yoda not interfered with her training path, she would apparently have become a Jedi Shadow.
Riyo suspects Master Yoda had his reasons. She also suspects those reasons involved preventing a 14-year-old apex predator from being given official permission to hunt people through the galaxy.
“The war’s first anniversary is in five days,” Riyo says. “Several senators want a remembrance session before the vote.”
Ahsoka’s smile fades.
“A year.”
“Yes.”
“It feels longer.”
Riyo looks at the casualty projections between them.
Ahsoka has grown during that year. Not merely taller. There is something older in the way she holds herself now, hidden beneath quick humor and bright expressions.
Riyo wishes she didn't need to grow that way.
“The session would honor civilian and military losses,” she says carefully. “Including clones.”
“That shouldn’t be unusual.”
“No.”
“But it is.”
“Yes.”
Ahsoka taps one finger against the table.
“Fox is pushing for names.”
Riyo looks up. “How do you know?”
“He sent General Skywalker a 46-page objection to the phrase ‘material losses.’”
“That does sound like him.”
“He highlighted every time the report referred to dead troopers as damaged assets.”
“That also sounds like him.”
Ahsoka studies her.
Riyo pretends to concentrate on the bill.
It works for nearly four seconds.
“So,” Ahsoka says, “how often do you talk to Fox?”
“Commander Fox and I discuss military policy.”
“He’s Chief of Defense now.”
“The appointment is new.”
“You still called him Commander.”
“He was Commander Fox when we met.”
“And you discuss policy.”
“Yes.”
“Frequently?”
“When necessary.”
Ahsoka’s montrals tip forward.
Riyo has seen that posture before. It's the one Ahsoka uses while tracking.
“Commander Tano,” Riyo says, “we are reviewing a medical appropriations bill.”
“I know.”
“You stopped reviewing it.”
“I’m gathering context.”
“For medical appropriations?”
“For you.”
Riyo closes the projection.
“That sounds dangerously close to gossip.”
Ahsoka brightens. “Padmé says gossip is an informal intelligence network.”
“Padmé says that because she enjoys gossip.”
“She says she doesn’t.”
“Padmé also claims General Skywalker visits her apartment for security briefings.”
Ahsoka goes still.
Riyo goes still with her.
Neither speaks.
Somewhere outside the office, an aide drops a stack of datapads. The crash echoes through the corridor.
Ahsoka’s expression becomes very careful.
“What kind of security briefings?”
“The private kind.”
“That sounds secure.”
“At midnight.”
“Threats don’t follow business hours.”
“General Skywalker does.”
Ahsoka looks toward the door, perhaps checking whether Padmé developed the ability to materialize whenever someone discusses her personal life.
Riyo folds her hands.
“I like to think I’m a good judge of character. It is necessary for surviving the Pantoran Assembly.”
“I thought surviving the Assembly involved dueling.”
“Only rhetorically.”
“Disappointing.”
“Padmé and General Skywalker are very close.”
“They’re friends.”
“Of course.”
“Very good friends.”
“Exceptionally.”
“The kind who have private security briefings.”
“At midnight.”
Ahsoka presses her lips together.
Riyo does the same.
They lose the battle simultaneously.
Ahsoka bends forward over the table, laughing into her hands. Riyo tries to remain dignified and manages only to make the laugh come out strangled.
“I knew it,” Ahsoka whispers.
“You knew?”
“I’ve known something was happening since he started volunteering to carry her luggage.”
“That was your evidence?”
“Skyguy once let R2 drag a broken engine component across three hangars because he didn’t want to carry it. Then Senator Amidala asks for help with one travel case and suddenly he’s a gentleman.”
Riyo lowers her voice. “The Guard knows.”
Ahsoka’s head lifts. “The Guard?”
“They react whenever either name is mentioned.”
“How?”
“Commander Thorn walks away. Commander Thire looks like he was forced to read something classified. Fox develops a headache.”
Ahsoka considers that.
“Captain Rex changes the subject.”
“There, you see?”
“He changes it very quickly.”
“They absolutely know.”
“Do you think they’ve seen something?”
Riyo remembers a conversation with one Guard communications officer who had gone pale at the words Senator Amidala’s office and requested an immediate transfer to traffic control.
“I think they’ve seen several things.”
Ahsoka winces sympathetically.
The office door opens before either of them can investigate further.
Fox enters carrying three datapads and the expression of a man who has found fault with all of them.
His armor is absent for the Senate, replaced by dress blacks with Guard-red piping. The new Chief of Defense rank sits strangely on him, not because it does not suit him, but because everyone around him is still learning how much authority the accidental appointment contains.
Riyo noticed that Fox already knows.
He stops when he sees Ahsoka.
“Commander Tano.”
“Chief.”
His gaze shifts to Riyo.
“Senator Chuchi.”
“Fox.”
Ahsoka’s eyes move between them.
Fox places a datapad beside Riyo’s hand.
“The casualty language has been corrected.”
She opens the document.
Every clone listed in the remembrance measure now has a name where available, a designation where it is not, and a unit assignment. The term material losses is gone.
“You did this quickly.”
“The original phrasing was unacceptable.”
“The committee will object.”
“They can submit the objection to my office.”
Riyo smiles despite herself.
Fox looks at her for half a second too long.
His expression barely changes, but something in his shoulders loosens.
Ahsoka watches with the focused interest of a predator spotting movement in tall grass.
Fox seems to realize this.
“Was there anything else?”
“No,” Riyo says.
“Yes,” Ahsoka says.
Riyo looks at her.
Ahsoka’s face is perfect innocence.
“General Skywalker is missing.”
Fox does not blink.
“Senator Amidala is working from her apartment today.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“It's the information available to you.”
Ahsoka’s grin becomes dangerous. “You know.”
Fox picks up the remaining datapads.
“I know many things.”
“Is that why your eye twitches when someone says ‘security briefing’?”
Fox turns toward the door.
“I have a meeting.”
Riyo bites the inside of her cheek.
As Fox passes her chair, he pauses. “Your escort for tonight has been changed,” he says. “There was a scheduling conflict.”
“Which escort?”
“Me.”
Ahsoka’s eyes widen.
Riyo’s heart performs something deeply unhelpful.
“I thought the Chief of Defense was busy.”
“He is.”
Fox leaves before she can answer.
The door closes.
Silence fills the office.
Riyo continues staring at it.
Across the table, Ahsoka slowly rests her chin on both hands.
Riyo does not look at her.
“So,” Ahsoka says, “you and the new Chief of Defense?”
Heat rushes into Riyo’s face so quickly that even her ears burn.
Ahsoka’s grin answers the question for her.