Saga Ahsoka: Fallen Order

After playing Jedi: Fallen Order I couldn't help but wonder, what if some of the players had been different? What if instead of Cal Kestis the story followed Ahsoka Tano after she started working with the Rebellion? And what if Cere and the Second Sister were instead people from Ahsoka's time in the order?

Title: Ahsoka: Fallen Order
Author: (Lady) Delpheas (posted elsewhere as SuperQueeroTrash)
Continuity: AU divergence from after E.K Johnston's Ahsoka novel, following somewhat the plot of Jedi: Fallen Order.

Date: 14 BBY, Ahsoka is 22yrs old.

Summary: Five Years after the fall of the republic, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano operates as Fulcrum, a spy and informant for the fledgling rebellion. When an assignment goes wrong and she is forced to reveal that she is attuned to the force, Ahsoka must use everything she has learned, as a Jedi, a refugee, and rebel spy to evade the grasp of the Empire.

Note: This story contains spoilers for The Clone Wars, the Republic comic series, Star Wars: Obsession, Dark Disciple, Ahsoka (novel) and Jedi: Fallen Order.

And due to similar plot developments, it technically has spoilers for Tales of the Empire and The Bad Batch/Tales of the Underworld. Though seeing as I came up with these plot threads back in 2020, it's not really a spoiler.
See the spoiler tag for more info.

Spoiler: for Part II

Namely Barriss becoming an Inquisitor and how Ventress survives the events of Dark Disciple

This story is mostly complete, barring the last few chapters. I have been posting it over on AO3 since 2020, and finally decided I wanted to bring it to the JC Forums!

Thanks: To @creativside for Betaing!

Table of Contents:

Part I
Chapter I

 

Suggested listening: No Roots by Alice Merton, Natural by Imagine Dragons

Chapter I

It’s been four years since Ahsoka has joined the fledgling rebellion, no longer a Jedi, but also no longer a refugee, she’s become something … else. What that is, she's not quite sure.

Dispatched to Bracca to meet with a possible new rebel agent, Ahsoka must be wary. The Empire is everywhere and unbeknownst to the former Jedi she is being hunted…​

The undercover assignments were the worst, Ahsoka thought, especially this close to strategic hyperspace lanes where security was heightened and so her alert must be as well. The dirt of Bracca clung to her poncho, reminding her not unfondly of her first real assignment on out of the way Tatooine. Things had been less complicated then, the Republic, the Jedi, it had all seemed so inevitable. Now the only thing truly inevitable was the need for survival.

Embedding herself in the Scrapper’s Guild had been the easy part, her mechanic’s skills were some of the best in the galaxy, after all she had been taught by one of the best tinkerers out there. Next came the hard part, finding her contact. For their safety she had insisted on a sparseness of details. Enough that someone with her skills could piece it all together, but hopefully only just enough. It wouldn’t do for the Empire to find either of them. Especially not their new twisted dark force users.

Turning her attention to the droid overseer, Ahsoka awaited her new instructions. Her first lead involved getting assigned to the most dangerous shifts, and something, maybe the force, told her that her work had been exemplary enough that that was where she was headed.

“An error has been detected on line Ten-A. Hauler clamps are jammed.” The droid’s modulated voice whirred in an emotionless monotone. Like the majority of droids throughout the galaxy, this one was programmed for a specific task and fitted with restrainer bolts to ensure it followed that programming to the letter. “I need two workers to climb up and secure the cables.”

“That’s not an easy job.” Was all she said, though that was an understatement. The hauler lines were some of the most complex pieces of equipment in the scrapyard and required constant maintenance.

“That’s why you’ll be going with me.” A large Abednedo lumbered up next to her, an easy manner evident in his gait. “The guild always pays double for these shifts too. Isn’t that true Foreman?”

If the droid could blink in irritation Ahsoka was certain it would. “That is … correct Prauf. As long as your work is up to guild standards.”

A half-head taller than her Prauf gazed down at her with eager eyes. “Alright,” she said. Not quite sure what she was agreeing to, but Ahsoka knew she couldn’t afford to second guess herself.

“Let’s go.” Prauf turned, waving for her to follow. Line Ten-A wasn’t too far, just full on the other side of the scrapping yard. Whatever, it would give her enough time to feel out this Prauf and determine if he was her contact or not. “Didn’t catch your name.”

Moving to catch up she offered the fake name she picked for this assignment, one she hadn’t used in a while. “Ashla. Name’s Ashla.”

“Nice to meet you Ashla.”

“Nice to meet you too Prauf.” And it was, even if circumstances were not what she preferred, it was always encouraging to see that some people’s lives weren’t terribly different now than before the Empire. The passage through the scrapping yard carried them past a number of relics from the war, battle droids, separatist cruisers, as well as a Corellian freighter or two. However most of what’s out here was, as the name implied, scrap.

“How long have you been out here?” Starting with the simple questions was the safest route, even if the tediousness of it grated at Ahsoka’s nerves.

“Hah. I’ve been a scrapper my whole life. Born on Corellia, fled after the war reached us. Been on Bracca ever since. It’s not a bad life all in all, scrapping, prospects aren’t always great, but it’s not bad.”

“Hmm.”

“What about you?” Prauf’s voice as he lumbered ahead was bright, not weighed down by the heaviness of current events.

“As you probably guessed, I’m new. Only been here a few weeks. I grew up in the Outer Rim, my family were all engineers. I was going to be too, if things had turned out differently. Now I take what work I can find, ya know.” The lies came easily now that she had several years away from the Jedi and their hypocritical, yet stringent, morality.

“Don’t I.”

The scrapping yard was very poorly organized, she realized, as the two of them had to climb over and through piles of unsorted junk. The air was thick with the smell of grease, and as it clung to her poncho she couldn’t help but be grateful that when this assignment was over and she had her intel, there was a change of clothes waiting for her.

They rounded a corner and the hauler cables came into view, hanging a few hundred feet above her and even further over a yawning chasm. As close as they were, Ahsoka could see the problem. What must have been line 10-A had come loose from the clamps, and it hung limp. Re-attaching it would mean climbing out onto the clamps, and they hadn’t been supplied with any safety gear. Before she could get too deep into figuring out how she was going to do her job, Prauf called to her from somewhere to her left. “Ashla, come take a look at this.

Turning towards his voice she immediately saw what must have grabbed Prauf’s attention. “It’s a Jedi fighter!” Prauf’s excitement was palpable and Ahsoka almost wished she could share it. But there was nothing exciting about it for her.

“What a score. They let us scrap that, we’ll be set for months. This heap’s been here for what, four years?”

Walking towards the fighter, an Actic-class interceptor, Ahsoka studied its markings. Just the usual blaster scoring, nothing to mark it as belonging to a specific Jedi. Whatever residue their death left in the Force had faded, whoever the pilot was was long gone. “Five.” It had been five years.

“Yeah, well. Whoever flew this went down in a blaze of glory.” Prauf lumberd towards it, kneeling to rest one of his large hands on a wing.

That’s one way to put it. Ahsoka glanced around, really not wanting to be found hovering near the crashed fighter.

“Those Jedi. A shame what happened to them.” Turning his head back to her, his gaze met hers. “Always said they couldn’t all be traitors.”

“If you listen to the holonet, they certainly all were.” Even if Prauf was her contact there were still certain topics that she was wary of broaching. The Jedi’s guilt, or lack of, was one of them.

“Hmmph.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to the fighter. “Must just be our lucky day. We’ll certainly get a lot of good material out of it.”

Ahsoka watched as he investigated the ship, tapping the wings, the cockpit glass, checking the wiring. “Here we are scrapping these ships from the war, just so they can turn around and make new ones. Quite a racket. You know the pay was better under the republic, bosses were a bit friendlier too.”

“Hey, you really should keep it down.” She lowered her voice hoping Prauf would catch on.

“I’m just saying, a finders fee like this, could be the fulcrum on which your exit from this soggy rock turns.”

Eyes narrowing Ahsoka had to keep from burying her head in her hands. Either it was a complete coincidence, or her contact had absolutely no grasp of subtlety.

When he turned back to her Prauf’s eyes were alight with exuberance, clearly he was pleased with himself. She noticed, finally, that his hand was held out to her.

“What is that?” She already knew the answer to her question, though the object in his hand was tiny, it was recognizable to only a few.

“For you.” He said.

Slowly, very slowly, she reached out and grabbed the tiny box. It was a Jedi blackbox, whatever it held would have been kept safe from the elements. Sometimes a Jedi might store something they considered important in one of these, and while less secure than a holocron, they could still only be opened by one attuned to the force.

She sensed it just before it happened, the crumbling of the platform beneath them. Her Jedi-trained reflexes allowed her to grab the new edge just as it passed her and hold on for dear life, shoving the blackbox into one of her belt pouches. But Prauf had no special training, no years of life threatening situations to hone his athletic abilities. So he fell, far and fast enough that by the time Ahsoka reached for him he was out of reach. She could sense his fear, it wasn’t as pungent as the fear of those strong in the force, but fear was distinctive, metallic and cloying. And it meant she had to push down her own and act, even though to do so could spell disaster.

She reached out with the Force-

She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to how empty it felt now, the brightness of the Jedi’s presence gone forever, slowly being replaced by a heavy oppressiveness that filled her with unease. She couldn’t stop using it of course, it was as much a part of her as breathing, but she wished it didn’t feel so wrong.

-and guided it with her free hand and wrapped it around Prauf, slowing his fall. A scrapper’s skiff passed underneath them and she lowered Prauf onto it before dropping down herself.

Unsteadily Prauf climbed to his feet and Ahsoka grimaced as he looked up at her in awe. This was what she was afraid of, someone who couldn’t see past their rosy image of the Jedi. At least she could sense his intentions weren’t malicious. But in the end it wouldn’t be his intentions she would have to worry about.

Grabbing the skiff’s controls, she knocked the droid pilot out of the way. “I know you have questions, just please, hold them until we’re out of the open.” She waited. Nothing. Taking his silence for agreement, Ahsoka piloted the skiff towards the nearest platform that wasn’t crawling with people. Hoping against hope that Prauf was the only one who saw what had happened, a sick feeling in her gut telling her that hope was a lie.

Once they landed she herded them off the skiff towards a nearby service passage. For a few moments at least they would be undisturbed. Once safely enveloped in the shadows, before she had a moment to catch her breath, Prauf assaulted her with questions.

“What was that back there? Was it … was that you? Was that the Force?”

“I’d ask you to forget what you saw, but that’s not gonna happen is it?”

“I’ve heard the stories, ya know, Jedi aiding the … of Jedi who survived. There’s bounties on people like you.”

“I know. I know.” Bringing a finger to her lips she signaled quiet.

“Right, right. We need to be careful.”

“You can’t tell anyone what you saw. Understand? No. One.” She punctuated each word with a finger jab at his face. “As you said there are bounties on people like me.”

Prauf nodded. “I may not look it Ashla, but I know my stuff. My … brother was a Jedi. I’ll keep your secret.”

Sensing the truth of his words, as well as a deep sadness, she took a deep breath, letting the Force steady her nerves. Whatever happened next, at least she had the intel she came for. The rest was out of her hands.

Reaching into her belt pouch she pulled out the little box, resting it in her palm.

What secrets do you hold?

Having decided that one more, quiet, display of the force wouldn’t change events already set in motion she opened up to it again. This time she only let in the tiniest bit, like thread through the eye of a needle. Feeding it into the blackbox, she felt a click as whatever inner mechanism responded to the influx of energy.

Ahsoka watched it open, revealing a holodisc, the kind which required a droid to access. Not for the last time Ahsoka missed Artoo’s presence. It had been a long time since she’d traveled with the little droid, his knowledge considered too valuable to be trusted with field assignments.

“What is it?”

For a moment she had forgotten Prauf was there. That’s not a mistake she could afford to make.

“It’s a map. To what, I don’t know. But whatever Jedi died here thought it was important. Thank you for bringing it to me.”

He smiled big at that. “Anything to help.”

“We should get back. We can tell them the line work didn’t get done because the platform collapsed. They’ll have to deal with sending droids up there.”

“Yeah, let's do that.”

*

Checking in with the Foreman had gone well enough. The droid simply grumbled something about useless organics before sending them off. As necessary as it was for her to get off Bracca right now, Ahsoka could only afford so much hurry. She’d already done enough to draw attention to herself as it was. That said, sitting still had never been one of her strong suites and the train to the residential area felt like it was taking forever.

Prauf was calm, thank the Force, and his presence on the bench next to her made it somewhat easier to avoid panicking herself. She’s heard too many stories of an accidental use of the force leading to capture or worse. Her own experience attested to the very real danger of being caught. The last thing she wanted to see was another one of those horrific red blades, it’s core screaming in pain, a miniature wound in the Force. And though it might not be the wisest decision, the hour and a half ride was plenty of time for Ahsoka to get some meditation in. Calm her mind. Ease her breathing. She slipped easily into the familiar trance, one taught more by her own initiative than anything her Master had done. Thunder crashed outside and the arrival of rain became a steady plunk, plunk, plunk.

She let the come Force to her, finding that easier than grasping for it like some Jedi had advised. Even wounded as it was, she still found it beautiful. The Force was just beginning to heal from the massive tear that had been made when thousands of Jedi were wiped from existence near simultaneously. Its tattered and frayed edges were slowly weaving back together. She let that wash over her, ignoring the growing wrongness, focusing instead on the force around her. The possibilities of the past and future would be what they would be, what’s important are the possibilities of the present.

By the time Ahsoka opened her eyes it easily could’ve been an hour and a half, Prauf was gone, probably off to wherever he called home. The shadows were lower and stronger than they had been, pooling thickly around her. Something flickered at the end of the train car, and then her name echoed throughout. Ahsoka!

So it’s vision time, huh?

Gathering her will she stood and began making her way to the back of the car. As she approached a sinister red glow flooded the doorway that led to the next car. A familiar glow, one that made her breath come shorter and her arms feel like led. Her lightsabers seemed woefully out of reach when at last a figure emerged from the shadows.

And it was the last person she expected to see.

“Master?” Relief flooded her as she realized she was facing what must be the spirit of her dead Master. And he was unarmed. The sickly red glow was simply atmospheric and not the result of a corrupted lightsaber.

Anakin’s face was distorted into a snarl. “Ahsoka, you must listen to me.”

Before she could speak she felt his presence in the force extend and wrap around her, lifting her from the floor. Held aloft, Anakin’s voice echoed in her ears. “You are making a mistake.”

Her Master’s presence receded along with his control over the Force and she fell to the ground with a thunk.

And her eyes fluttered open. She was still sitting on the train, Prauf next to her. Plunk. And it was still raining. It had been a while since the Force had given her a vision. This was the first she had ever seen of her Master since his death. It left a tingling sensation on her skin. Not unpleasant, but not welcome. It meant danger, and it meant now.

The train ground to a halt. Chatter rose from the passengers, most questioning, some on the edge of panic. Since the rise of the Empire most folks had learned that safety lay in routine, any change from that could spell disaster.

Prauf sighed. “Something’s going on.”

As if on cue two stormtroopers walked into the car, not an unusual sight in recent years, but still unwelcome. “Everybody up. Identification ready.” Barked through their helmets the Trooper’s orders elicited gasps and obedience from the passengers. Ahsoka tensed. She did have identification, it would be foolish not to, but if they were here for her it wouldn’t matter.

Ahsoka kept her eyes down as one of the troopers walked past her and Prauf footsteps echoing throughout the car.

“It’s probably just a routine contraband inspection.” One of the passengers whispered to their friend, though why she thought that was the comforting thing to say to their friend was beyond her. Ahsoka balled her hands into fists.

Prauf whispered next to her. “You need to get out of here.”

“I know.” She whispered back, her voice tight. For the love of the Force, shut up.

“Everyone, move out and line up.”

Whatever she was going to do, it had to happen now.

Grumbling, the passengers started shuffling out of the car, Prauf eyed her one last time before walking out with the rest. Ahsoka followed, slowing her breath and focusing on the Force. She pulled on the shadows and drew them towards her, letting them envelop her. Crossing the threshold of the car with the others, she vanished into the shadows and took off running.

 

I haven't played Fallen Order (as a matter of fact, I've never played a video game in my life) but if I understand correctly how you're planning to structure this fic, this is actually a good thing for me, because I'll discover the plot as I go along.

I love this opening in a scrap yard; it's such a quintessentially Star Wars setting, and it's definitely the sort of place where spies and informants for the Rebellion would meet while posing as manual labourers. The presence of a Jedi fighter there made perfect sense too; why wouldn't those ships be scrapped for parts, after all? But if course, when you're a Rebel agent, you know that the real value of that sort of wreck isn't in the ship itself, but in the information that may be hidden in it. I also liked the fact that Prauf isn't the "professional" Rebel; he's too loud, he's too enthusiastic and he's too outspoken, and that's bound to come and bite him in the butt at some point (probably sooner rather than later too). And of course, there's no safety in the workplace in an Imperial scrapyard, so things were bound to go belly-up at some point, and Ahsoka would have to use the Force to save the day.

The absolute highlight of this chapter for me was your descriptions of the Force, of how it feels wounded and empty after the extermination of the Jedi, and how the darkness is creeping in. Especially during Ahsoka's meditation, you really pointed out how she has to choose which aspects of the Force she wants to let in, but even so, she can't avoid that bizarre vision of Anakin – or rather, a vision that feels bizarre to her, because we as readers know why it's so warped. And I absolutely loved the idea that, to make her escape, she gathers the shadows and wraps them around her, in an act that feels like a variant of the mind trick. But if the stormtroopers heard that there had been something out of the ordinary, the Inquisitors won't be far behind...

Bottom line, you have me hooked already! I'm not the most consistent reviewer, but I'llmake sure to at least drop a "like" whenever I come here to read your updates, even if I don't leave a comment.

 

Very riveting. There's a strong undercurrent of necessary not doing anything to draw attention to yourself that Ahsoka is dealing with and then the sheer act of having to react to the collapsing of the platform. The appearance of the stormtroopers, so not a coincidence either.

 

@Chyntuck I think not having played Fallen Order is a great way to come to this story. I follow enough of the plot beats that if you were familiar you could probably guess some things. But I also wanted this read as a proper sequal to E.K. Johnston's Ahsoka, with the narrative of Fallen Order shifting accordingly. Ahsoka is gonna handle things very differently than Cal Kestis would, and due to her relationship to Anakin her trauma is also different.

Playing with Ahsoka's relationship to the Force in this has been of my favorite things, so I'm glad you liked it.

And yeah, you're not wrong about the Inquisitorius...

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha I'm glad! Riveting is what I shoot for!