This is an Ahsoka fanfiction. It kicks off before the show, will extend through the end of season one, and hopefully conclude with post-show content before season two of the real thing airs. Let me know how I’m doing in the comments!
I’ve started loading chapters into Archive of Our Own. Let me know if you follow over there!
Rating: General, Spice Level: None
Characters/Tags: Original Character, Master and Apprentice Relationships, Original Female Character, Original Jedi Character, Ahsoka Tano, Huyang
Chapter 13 – A Silence Destroyed
Dusty white ruins sprawled around them as they entered the ancient Arcana city. At least Kendra thought it was a city; there wasn’t enough left to really decide if it was a living area or a temple area or both. There was nothing else on the planet they had found from space.
Pillars rose fifty feet into the sky or lay on their sides. Crumbling ten-foot-high walls stood in neat lines leading forward, to the left, and to the right. They occasionally formed large circles and trapped the planet’s black dirt in corners on the white stone pavers.
She checked that her lightsaber was still on her hip again. Although scans showed no life forms present, and Huyang would monitor from the ship far above, Kendra felt uneasy.
“I’m going to head toward the center,” Ahsoka said. “You go left. See what you find. Use the comms if there’s anything interesting.”
“Yes, master.” Kendra said it without thinking, and almost didn’t realize she’d called Ahoska master as she struggled to contain the sense that something was off about the planet.
Ahsoka didn’t comment on the title as she moved forward. “I feel it too. This planet is old and carries a lot of memory. Deep breaths, go slow, trust the Force.”
Kendra turned left and walked under a stone arch, one of the few remaining structures in the nearby area still standing. The white stones and black soil contrasted unnaturally under the clear, bright blue sky. A barely perceptible breeze flowed through the ruins, adding to the chill of the day.
She pulled her borrowed cloak around her shoulders and examined the ruins. All the stone was the same type, and all of it was white without blemish, except for the black soil from the planet. There were no chisel marks or evidence of how they were made.
After several minutes of walking, she came to another entrance to the ruins as the walls to her left opened up to the wide, empty plain outside. This set of structures was the only thing they’d found on the planet; why did it need multiple entrances?
Smaller than the apparent main entrance where they’d started, this one also held designs on the stone pavers. She kicked away some of the soil with her foot. Three hooded women, etched into the stone, pointed inward into the rest of the ruins.
Unlike the earlier entrance, the path from this did not go straight all the way into the center. Walls lined either side, but after around one hundred feet, it ended with another wall and opened to either side. She turned and moved in, boots echoing on the pavers against the stone walls. A series of arches stood overhead, somehow untouched by time.
There was no difference between the left and right path at the intersection, so she turned left and continued in the direction she’d started. It wound around, ending in another circular open space bordered by the stone walls. A pillar lay on its side across the only other entrance into the room, blocking her progress.
Kendra turned to return the way she came but stopped, suddenly aware of the sound of something scraping against stone behind her. She spun. Metal fingers grasped the top of the wall before a gray HK assassin droid pulled itself over the stones across from Kendra. She’d seen images of these when learning about their mission, as they served the woman Ahsoka had imprisoned. A black cloak fell across one side of its body, and it activated its electrostaff as it dropped onto her level.
Huyang had noted they were an antiquated design. That brought Kendra no comfort, and her heart immediately jumped into her chest. She reached for her lightsaber, nearly dropping it as she thought of her comms at the same time.
“Where is the map?” the droid asked, its mechanical voice flat.
“Map?” Kendra repeated, taking a step back.
“Huyang.” Her comms started abruptly with Ahsoka’s voice, then dropped into static.
Huyang’s reply was similarly garbled, though she made out the word “jammed.”
Someone was jamming their transmissions. There had been no life forms on the planet when they’d scanned, so it had to be this droid. It must have been dormant until someone arrived.
She pressed the button on her wrist comm to indicate a problem and activated her lightsaber. The green blade reflected off the white stones as the HK unit advanced.
Her arms shook as she raised the blade to a guard position, just like they had with the Tarnox. Unlike the earlier fight, Ahsoka was not watching nearby. Kendra was on her own. She recited the Code in her mind as she’d practiced while sparring Ahsoka and Huyang.
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.
Kendra sunk into the Force as much as she was able. She knew it wasn’t like when she meditated, but still connected.
The droid stomped forward steadily while Kendra struggled to think. She needed to return to where they started, as that was the most likely place Ahsoka could find her and help her. But she wasn’t going to be able to outrun the droid.
It closed the distance and unleashed a powerful overhead strike on the padawan. She parried with her blade and stepped to the side. Her form could help her defend, but this opponent would not get tired and make a mistake. She hadn’t thought to ask about that possibility while training.
“Where is the map?” the droid repeated as it side swiped at Kendra, its electrified staff slamming into the wall beside her.
Map… They were here to find the location of the missing ship. There was a map somewhere, but this droid didn’t have it or know where it was. It was operating on the same idea Ahsoka had in coming to this planet, but had failed to locate the secret.
“Uh… my master has it.” Kendra did not want to fight the droid. She did not want to die. “We should find her.”
The droid paused, but only briefly. “Then we do not need you.”
A fair point.
Kendra blocked three more attacks from the droid while continuing to step backwards. She had no idea what she would do, but so far, her practice had paid off. While she wasn’t coming to any conclusions, she was able to think some while fighting.
Her comm system crackled to life with Huyang’s voice. “Return to the ship.”
Easier said than done. She deflected another staff attack as she and the droid moved under the set of arches she’d passed earlier. A sudden thought struck her, and without really thinking, she reached up with the Force and pulled the last arch down as she passed underneath.
Cracks formed in the ancient stone on either side before the weight gave way to gravity and plummeted toward the advancing droid. She turned and ran before she saw the results.
Kendra made it back to the paver with the three women before she heard the steady thumps of metal feet behind her. Her lungs burned from the sudden effort, as did her thighs, but she kept going, arms pumping wildly. She hoped she’d given herself enough of a head start.
As she approached the entrance where she and Ahsoka had split, Ahsoka ran into the same open area.
The older Jedi glanced to her right. “Kendra!” With a flick of her arm, she nudged Kendra with the Force.
Kendra tripped and fell to her right, sliding on her chest and chin several feet. The droid’s electrostaff whizzed over her head. The thing had thrown it at her from behind.
She pulled herself up and watched as the staff returned to where it came, this time propelled by Ahsoka. It slammed into the droid, which was far closer to Kendra than she’d realized. It didn’t go down, but it did stop running.
“Run!” Ahsoka yelled.
Kendra stood and started to run again, more and more aware with each step how hard she was pushing and how much her lungs burned. Pain shot through her knee where she’d fallen, and blood ran down her face where she’d slid on the dirty pavers. She thought about trying to heal herself, but didn’t have the energy to focus on anything but running.
“Huyang, where are you.” Ahsoka cast a glance behind her, but not at the chasing droid.
Kenda made it to the entrance and both Jedi fled the ruins.
“I am above your position… now.” Huyang’s voice came across clearly at the same time the ship roared in above them. “I shall set down.”
The metal footsteps behind them stopped, replaced by an ominous clicking.
“No you won’t!” Ahsoka yelled. “Keep going!”
“I don’t understand,” Huyang said.
Kendra didn’t understand either. She hadn’t seen more HK droids pursuing Ahsoka, and her own attacker had stopped when hit with his own staff.
A sudden explosion behind them lit everything around them as a shock wave slammed into Kendra’s back. She stumbled but kept running, vision going dark around the edges from the exertion and force.
“What would you rather I did?” Huyang asked.
Kendra felt a sudden increase in energy and calm, and her vision cleared. She felt the support of the Force coming from Ahsoka. The sound of the explosion reached them, and she barely heard Ahsoka talking.
“Just keep flying and lower the ramp,” Ahsoka said over the comms. She grabbed Kendra’s arm and pulled her along, even faster than Kendra had been running. “The Force is with us.”
Fire swelled in the ruins and chased the Jedi as they ran. Black dirt sprayed them and the air around them Huyang piloted the ship to just above the ground as the ramp descended. They jumped on, just as the flames and debris swept where they’d just stood.
The support from the Force and Ahsoka left Kendra as soon as they made it onto the ship. Kendra dropped as well, intending to only fall to her knees but ending up with her face sliding against the cool floor as she gasped for air. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she felt like she’d not had water for days. She rolled, tucking her knees under her chest as she grabbed her head with both hands.
Ahsoka’s hand touched her shoulder as she knelt in front of Kendra. “Control your breathing. You’re safe now.”
She didn’t even sound tired. Kendra thought to ask about that, but instead retched on the bile creeping up her throat.
“I’ll get you some water.”
Kendra slowly pulled herself into a sitting position and leaned against the wall, reciting the Jedi code repeatedly to pull her mind away from how her body felt. Her breathing slowed and her heart rate dropped toward normal, but she was still shaking when Ahsoka arrived with a cup of water.
“What happened?” Ahsoka asked.
Kendra stuttered through her path into the ruins, the HK’s appearance, and her retreat.
“Sounds like you did well,” Ahsoka said. “Good job pulling the arch down.”
“Was there a map? It kept asking about a map.”
“There was.” Ahsoka pulled a spherical metal object from her robes. “And that droid wasn’t alone. The ones that attacked me self-destructed when they couldn’t defeat me.”
“Oh.” Kendra leaned her head against the wall.
“You rest here for a bit,” Ahsoka said. “Come up to the cockpit when you’re ready. Nice work today.”
Kendra’s head pounded too much to agree or argue. How did she go from a quiet rural planet in the outer rim to traveling between the former Republic capital and then to an abandoned ruin with a powerful but not quite Jedi and an ancient Jedi Order droid? A few weeks ago, she’d barely trained with Master Edith’s lightsaber, and now she was taking on assassin droids. Not winning, but she didn’t die.
She closed her eyes and began her meditation in earnest, focusing on healing herself as she calmed her mind. She wasn’t sure she liked this part of being a Jedi as much as she’d hoped.
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