Saga What Any of it is Worth (post-ROTS, Ahsoka, Rex, ensemble, OC's) 2/4

Crap, I missed a post when I was out of town.

Loved seeing the kids training.

?I said I was sorry!? he protested.

Waxer frowned down at him. ?Did you just shout that you were sorry a lot, or did you actually apologize??

Waxer, been hanging around my kids? Pretty sure I said that a few times just today.

These are dark times. You need to rely on each other to survive. Even if you don?t always get along.

So true.

Loved that Ventress' change gave Ahsoka hope for Anakin. Too bad she has to wait several more years.

And the alliance between them, for a rebellion--awesome.

...if Ahsoka had learned anything in the past few years, it was that a rebellion took time to build. These were small, disjointed resistance cells now, but someday, when they were linked, they would be the beginnings of a network; a foundation for greater things.

YES.

And this: ?Because there are so few defenders left.?



I'll admit that my heart sank when Ahsoka said she wasn't giving up Alderaan. I had forgotten for a minute that that's where the kids were training. At least on this timeline they should have a few years to get those kids away from there.

I think I've missed a few CW episodes but I'm really interested in finding out why Ventress is so interested in Obi-Wan.

Great chapters.

 

Love the irony of this line - that the clones, who are the target of the most prejudice, have their own prejudices also, because our prejudices are what we have been taught to (or let ourselves, based on only a few experiences) believe...

Echo himself is an answer, isn't he? If one would think and truly question his beliefs for just the slightest moment, that would be the starting point...

 

And somehow I totally missed commenting on the last chapter.

I'm seeing parallels between what Slick did and what Anakin did. And you capture the horror of battle really well.

The difference between the clonetroopers and the stormtroopers is spooky, the fact that they look exactly alike but think so differently, because they were taught to do so. Like the difference in their outfits as well, the stark uniformity of the stormtrooper gear as opposed to the differentiation in the clonetrooper gear.

 

anakin_girl - The parallels between Ventress' "death" in the comics and Vader's death in RotJ are remarkably similar in tone and staging. The more I see of the two of them, the more I can't help but see similarities. No idea how things will pan out for Ventress in the still airing TCW episodes, but Said the Joker and What Any of it is Worth primarily use the comic version of Ventress' end, since we don't have one yet for the animated series. As of last week's TCW episode "Nightsisters", this story is now definitely AU in terms of Ventress. As for your comment of: "I'm really interested in finding out why Ventress is so interested in Obi-Wan" - that's also primarily a comic based thing. Again, the "death" scene - imagine Obi-Wan in Luke's position and Ventress in Vader's, with Obi-Wan insisting on getting her a medic and Ventress all "You were right about me" and then telling him to go protect the Republic.

Anyway, now that I've written you a mini-book.

Valiowk - I've had a lot of fun with chapters 9 and 10. I really wanted to poke around the issue of how clone troopers (portrayed so sympathetically in the TCW series) could also be stormtroopers (tools of Imperial control).

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[i]What Any of it is Worth[/i]



Chapter 10. Songs of Captivity and Freedom


He expected torture.

His helmet had been taken from him. He had not been able to see any of the others, locked in one of the ship?s holding cells, so recently occupied by the terrorists they?d apprehended. Those same terrorists were now free, thanks to the aid of their comrades. It was as disturbing as it was disgusting, the thought that these criminals would again be free to run loose on the galaxy. He bent his head, grit his teeth, and chafed his wrists together, unable to even feel the thin band of plastoid binder wrapped around his gauntlets, pinning his hands behind his back. The plates of his forearm armor slid awkwardly against each other as he tried to stretch and flex the binders enough to free an arm. It had no effect.

One of them was another clone. He?d revealed his face as a distraction, preventing Darner from managing to take even one of them down with him. He scowled at the floor as he marched, trying to ignore the man steering him forward. It?d been a bad move, and he was somewhat relieved no one else was conscious enough to see him, in his panic, try to take a hostage. The other clone was right; he was desperate and if they?d taken the bridge, he had nowhere to go. The best he could do was take one of them down with him, but he?d failed even at that, allowing himself to be startled when the other man had revealed his face. A clone! A [i]traitor![/i] What kind of right thinking soldier turned away from the Imperial Army?

His guard, face covered by the goggles they all seemed to be wearing, was maneuvering him down familiar hallways, a blaster pointed at his back and a firm grip on his upper arm. They moved in silence, with the only sound their steady footfalls on the floor of the corridor. Darner kept his head low, his chin down, but lifted his eyes up enough to watch them approach a gaping hole, which was once a set of emergency doors in the outer hull of the ship. He grimaced, and his guard pushed him through the breach and into the other ship. He stumbled, the guard?s grip on him tightening, steadying. He jerked his arm away, trying to display what little defiance he could muster.

They would torture him, then they would kill him. That was the way of things.

[hr]


Two figures slipped into the hotel room, locking the door firmly behind them.

It was a fancier place than they were used to, often traveling on freighters and sleeping in cramped corners, eating in cheap tapcafs or diners. The hotel was not particularly large or impressive, and though it had seen better days, it was clean and comfortable, a boutique hotel which usually catered to middle class tourists on vacation.

Half an hour ago, Fives and Behri were supposed to meet Null ARC-7, named Mereel. Little contact was kept betwe

 

That was amazing. Darner, an Imperial stormtrooper, assuming that Rex and Cody would torture and kill him. Amazing how well they were indoctrinated.

Sad, and scary, the influence that Palpatine had on people, the way he made them believe that he was on their side and that an Empire would actually be good. Hence liberty dying with thunderous applause.

Loved the scene with Ahsoka and Rex at the end. And Tatooine?

 

Yet another powerful chapter, iceaffinity. I have to admit, I have little idea where this story is headed, but every new chapter is always such a pleasure to read and more and more pieces of the story just fall into place as the story progresses.

You've summed up excellently how people tend to judge others by their own behaviour, until their misconceptions are pointed out to them. Even then, it's sometimes difficult to change long-held opinions.

Behri is right, of course, but I also shared Fives' disappointment very strongly here - it's always frustrating not being able to do as much as one would like, even though one is already putting in one's best.

Of course, Darner didn't understand the true significance of this question. What a huge difference a few years makes to the clones! And of course, "almost three years of life" is chilling if one thinks about the age at which one considers humans to begin to mature - once again, you've brought across the point of how wrong the entire idea of a clone army is.

Interesting comparison here. One cannot wonder how much of the decision to be a Jedi was free will and how much was the result of "indoctrination" as a child - this certainly forces us to think about the way Jedi younglings were raised.

And Tatooine? I certainly can't help but wonder what's going to happen there!

 

Author's Note: I have primarily based Ventress? storyline in here off of the comic version, since TCW series is still ongoing. At the time of establishing Said the Joker as a fic-universe, and drafting What Any of it is Worth, only season 2 of TCW had aired. With the recent airing of season 3 episodes, this story has become AU in regards to Ventress? history.

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[b]anakin_girl:[/b] [face_blush] I love writing Ahsoka and Rex. They're entirely too much fun. As for the stormtroopers - the further I've pushed this fic into the Imperial period, the more curious I've been about how the clones became stormtroopers. It's kind of sad. [face_cry]


[b]Valiowk: [/b]lol, I'm not sure there's a real climax to the fic. It's just a lot of little puzzle pieces I've been having fun placing together. As far is youngling "indoctrination" goes - the Jedi tend to treat their children well, teach them to be moral. Where is the line between "good upbringing" and "indoctrination"? [face_thinking]


[hr]



[i]What Any of it is Worth[/i]



Chapter 11. For I Am Made of Snow


The sand slipped between her fingers, and was borne away on the wind.

If she breathed deeply enough, Ventress could almost smell the scent of salt in the air, though she suspected it was merely the knowledge that this place, eons ago, had been smothered in salt water. All liquid long since boiled away under the pair of brutal suns, the Great Chott Salt Flat stretched in a tawny expanse in nearly every direction, until it met the long blue seam of the sky.

Tatooine was a parched world. The grit got into everything, and even the slightest of breezes could create serpents of sand, slithering across her previous footfalls. She did not appreciate having to sit through a sandstorm a week ago; communications were knocked down for kilometers around Anchorhead, and she was trapped in a shoddy inn with raucous locals, of which many seemed to think the storm was a good opportunity to get roaring drunk. Karking idiots, the lot of them, and smelly too. She rolled grains of sand between the pads of her fingertips, frowning slightly. She stood, brushing her hands on her pants, then pulled out her pair of macrobinoculars, setting them to her eyes to look at the little moisture farm.

Tracking on the planet was next to impossible. The endless dunes eagerly erased any footfalls, the sharp rocks left little trace. The Hutts that ran the planet had little care of recordkeeping beyond their own profits and trade. There was no real local government to keep records of births, deaths, purchases. No one kept track of free folk, of what they did or where they went. Tatooine was a wilderness of disorganization, petty thieves, and powerful crime lords.

The brat, Tano, had not lied about Kenobi?s location. The process of searching was frustrating, but the choice made sense, in its way. The Empire had little to no interest in a planet like Tatooine. It had no resources of value, sparse population, no purpose but to serve the interests of the Hutt syndicates. A useless little world on the fringe of civilization, its lack of structure serving to confuse and frustrate anyone who may come seeking out those who hid there.

A good place to hide; she could not have chosen better. Still, though it was an imminently practical location for disappearing from the Empire, the question remained: Why? Why this particular planet, and not any one of a dozen other Outer Rim planets that were equally worthless to Imperial interests? A more comfortable planet, where water did not have to be scraped from the air and your throat was not left raw and dry after days of walking through Tatooine?s cities, your skin not threatening to burn red from walking under its? suns?

Kenobi would not select such a place at random. There was a reason he chose this place, above others. He also needed to be close enough to people to live; water must be purchased, food must be purchased, basic staples that could not be farmed on such an arid planet must be purchased. Soap and grain and power cells a

 

This is a lovely chapter, iceaffinity. I love the way you write Asajj, especially the faint, elusive sadness that you give her.

Extremely interesting that Asajj deems Tatooine "a good place to hide"; I'm sure many of us SW fans have wondered many a time how Obi-Wan managed to hide away on Darth Vader's home planet for almost twenty years without raising any suspicions. Then again, I guess it's the sheer surprise factor that makes Tatooine a good hiding location.

Again, it's just so fascinating how Asajj can make such acute observations and yet be so far off in the same paragraph - Obi-Wan is a "sentimental fool" in some sense, but certainly not sentimental fool enough to live closeby to the Lars homestead and a "Skywalker boy" simply because they are related to Anakin in some way. Asajj's simultaneous clear-sightedness and blindness to what defines Obi-Wan makes the relationship between them all the more intriguing.

Loved the sheer simplicity of this sentence, together with the complex emotions contained within. You do such a great job in conveying complex emotions with your juxtaposition of simple observations and detailed descriptions.

Love this ending line. I can picture this scene very vividly in my mind - the purple flowers, the sand outside the window, two people looking in different directions, yet thinking about each other...

 

Loved this. Your Obi-Wan is so...Obi-Wan. I can see Sir Alec saying his lines.

I'm glad Ventress did not figure out who Luke was. Probably not a good idea at this point anyway.

Loved her speculation on what the heck Obi-Wan could possibly be doing on Tatooine. She doesn't have Obi-Wan's patience and she wants to see action.

A wicked little impulse suggested that she drag him into whatever room he kept his sleeping couch, and suggest a few of the more personal things she wanted from him, but in the end, that also was not what she really wanted from Obi-Wan Kenobi.



Time inevitably changed a person, and though she wanted to believe she was not so different than the person she was when the Clone Wars ended, she knew her resemblance to Dooku?s apprentice was now mostly superficial, reduced to mannerisms, pride, and a refusal to openly side with the remaining Jedi, who she had loathed so deeply and so long. She had learned control, and though that control was sometimes tenuous, it existed nonetheless. Her years away from Rattatak and away from the Sith showed her people who were much like she was, when she was a much younger person. Victims of abuses of power and cruelty. She?d once used power and cruelty to overcome her enemies, to take her vengeance against perceived wrongs. It had only earned her betrayal.

Power and cruelty could not be overcome with more power and cruelty.



The kindness was almost a blow, and she shuddered once as though struck, quickly moving to swallow her tea as though her shiver were only a part of the motion of drinking. Even when she?d stood squarely in the Dark, he?d always somehow believed in her. He could see the results of that faith, now that she was sitting here before him. She was stronger for it.

Master Narec was her teacher, the closest thing she had to a hero. Obi-Wan was the closest thing she had to a friend.

She struggled for a moment before managing, roughly, ?Thank you.?

And that's Obi-Wan. Unconditional love and acceptance.

I also like what they said about there being no place for Jedi but there was definitely a place to train people to resist the Empire.

Great chapter.

 

All caught up now and . You've really captured the mix of bitterness and determination and uncertainty of this time period.

 

Valiowk - Thank you. The more I see of Asajj, the more interesting I find her. She's wonderfully complex. And I think under all that rage she's got going on all the time, she's a bit lost and lonely. In one way or another, for better or worse, she's lost pretty much everyone she's cared about. Her parents, Narec, even Dooku. As for Tatooine - LOL, Asajj doesn't know Anakin is Vader. I doubt she'd think it such a good place if she knew how strong the connection was!

anakin_girl - LOL, it's amazing how well those emoticons showed your reaction! And thank you so much about the comparison to Sir Alec.

Valairy_Scot - Thank you! There's just so much change going on in this time period, it was hard to resist exploring it a little.

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[i]What Any of it is Worth[/i]



Chapter 12. Always With the End



Two sets of eyes peered over the countertop.

One was a pair of eyestalks. The other pair was accompanied by two cream colored lekku.

Waxer grinned and turned towards the oven with a tray of sliced topato wedges that would, in about a half hour, be a part of dinner. By the time he turned back around, the eyes had finished surfacing over the counter to reveal the full heads of Roo-Roo and Neaera, both of them peering hopefully towards the sticky sweet rice balls Nura was in the middle of shaping, rolling them between her palms and then placing them in a bowl for serving later. Waxer didn?t need to look at Nura?s face to know she was resisting a grin as well.

It was becoming a habit with Roo over the last couple months. She was, according to Nura, hitting her early-adolescent growth spurt, and apparently needed food every other hour to help fuel it. The Gungan girl was steadily taking on the lankiness of her species, and her ear flaps seemed to have gone from chin-length to brushing her shoulders within a week. The bright pink of her skin was darkening to something rosier, with a bit of sepia dappling across her arms, the contrasting hue reminiscent of Nura?s coloring.

Roo was legitimately hungry.

Neaera was just turning into a glutton.

?Mama,? Roo whined, in a particularly plaintive voice, ?Can Isa please have something to eat?? She set the long bill of her chin down on top of the counter while making her eyes as wide, sweet and innocent as she possibly could. ?Isa?m so hungry! Isa haven?t eaten in hours!?

Nura chuckled, her ear flaps twitching in amusement. ?That?s right. Yousa not been eatin? since lunchtime, like everybody else.?

?But Mama,? Roo whined again, stretching her hands out towards the sweet rice, ?Isa?m [i]so hungry.[/i]?

?Yousa gonna be eatin? all the vegetables at dinner??

Roo whined again, this time in protest, but nodded. Nura handed her a rice ball, which Roo promptly began to stuff into her mouth, chewing happily and, once she got down a mouthful and a swallow, managed, ?Thanks, Mama!? before clambering up onto one of the barstools to actually sit at the counter and finish the snack.

Waxer waited a moment. Neaera would ask him, that much was given. He always tried to be fair to the kids, and not show favoritism, but it was hard with Neaera. She reminded him too much of the first non-clone youngling he?d ever spent more than five minutes with, a brave little Twi?lek girl named Numa. Neaera always managed to wheedle more out of him than he intended, and she was smart enough to realize that when she wanted something, Waxer-[i]nerra[/i] was her best bet of getting it. She was currently going through a phase when she wanted to idolize the older children. If Roo was hungry and wanted food, then Neaera also was hungry and wanted food.

Roo was currently chomping on a rice ball.

?Can I have one too?? Neaera begged, ducking under the edge of the counter, then pulling herself up onto one of the stools so that she was at approximately the same height as Roo. Neaera looked at Roo, then at her own position, then squirmed around until she was sitting on her knees, making her completely level with the older girl. ?Please??

Waxer o

 

Awwww, loved the kids. And Waxer's reaction to being called "Papa."

Poor Echo, all that apprehension at telling Suisen who he was and what he was really doing on Alderaan, and it turned out that she suspected anyway. Love the description of Alderaan--it's the one place in the GFFA that I would choose to live. Makes it sadder that the Empire blew it up, and I have to wonder if their reasons had to do with the fact that it's the opposite of what the Empire is. And I think I need to read Said the Joker to the Thief again, I had forgotten the details of how Ahsoka escaped the purge.

And Behri and Fives having a baby. Awesome.

Great chapter.

 

Such a lovely chapter; I'm so pleased for Waxer, Echo and Fives. Waxer's reaction to being called "Papa"...

Sometimes, a simple line like "Now you?re Echo my boyfriend" is all that's needed to reassure someone after all that worrying. Acceptance is a wonderful thing...

And Fives - he can't begin to imagine what he has in store for him! Looking forward to seeing the first baby in the family.

 

anakin_girl: Alderaan just sounds like an Eden. It's such a tragedy it got destroyed. And yep, Behri and Fives are having a baby. All the kids are fun to write.

Valiowk: Last chapter was all about the waff and the acceptance. Well, chapter 11 too.

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[i]What Any of it is Worth[/i]



Chapter 13. Comes Hope and Rebirth



?Leaving??

Rex leaned against the wall, folded his arms, and waited for a response. It was early yet; the sun was just barely above the horizon, and the house was still asleep. No adults were making breakfast, no younglings were running between the bathroom and the kitchen. All was quiet inside the safety of their home, and Cody was preparing to leave it, standing in the foyer, suited up with a large knapsack strapped to his back and a ration pouch on his hip.

Cody shrugged and shook his head, making a small gesture towards the table set against the wall. Nura kept a vase there, and Olwen usually picked flowers to put in it. There were little white ones there now, with a folded note and a communicator beside it. ?I?ve been meaning to go for awhile,? Cody began, adjusting the straps of the knapsack on his shoulders. ?With Fives taking care of Behri, it seemed like the right time to take off on my own.?

?Corellian sector??

A nod. ?The communicator?s already encrypted.? He hefted his arm, turned his hand enough to show the comlink affixed to the back of his wrist. ?I?ll keep in touch, and let you know if there?s an emergency.?

Rex considered his old friend, waiting to leave. Cody probably figured it was easier this way, to avoid long goodbyes, allowing himself to just disappear. Since joining them, Cody belonged, but did not quite belong; he knew he had a home there, friends that were now family. There was a haven, and safety, and peace if he wanted it.

But there was also a whole galaxy out there, and the safety here was tenuous. To even go to town risked revealing how many men with the same face lived up the road from the other houses. It was a restrictive way of life. Rex knew Cody couldn?t stay still any longer than he could. It was, perhaps, only surprising that he?d stayed as long as he had. Their lives here were small, and if Cody wanted more in his life than the caring of children, he?d have to leave to get it.

Rex chuckled once, wryly. ?If you wait a day, Ahsoka and I can you a lift to Aldera and the spaceport.?

Cody returned the laugh. ?But where?s the fun in that??

The two men grinned at each other for a moment, until Cody shrugged deeper into the knapsack. ?I?ll be in touch,? he repeated, a subtle signal that he wished to leave.

Rex straightened, unfolded his arms and nodded. ?Watch yourself.?

?You too. And Ahsoka.?

He always did. Cody turned and opened the door, allowing in a rush of fresh, sweet smelling morning air. Rex followed as far as the porch, watching Cody wind his way down the path towards the road. The world was awash in red, with rosy fingers of light reaching up into the sky beyond the treetops.

Another day was beginning.


[hr]


There were no ghosts in this place.

This world was once visited by a slow, steady stream of men and women from nearly every species in the galaxy; they arrived seeking the precious crystals nestled deep within its caves, for use in their particular weapons. But these people visited no longer, their lives extinguished, their culture erased, their ways forbidden. The temple set on the Crystal Cave was vacant, no more than a ruin of ice and snow and stone, collapsed in upon itself. Forgotten, Ilum languished in its solitude.

Only one little ship visited the world of ice and snow. It did not come often, but when it did, it found its way to a little valley somewhere on the southernmost continent, and the small party within the ship would venture out to a nearby ravine, and a deep, narrow cavern hollowed out within it.

Away from the wind and the snow, the temperature was somewhat warmer within the belly of the cave, but Ahsoka could still see the faint cloud of her breath

 

Oooohhhh, Cody is going to Corellia?

I have not paid much attention to lightsaber construction and probably should have. I love the way you described it--Ahsoka in the freezing cave with two apprentices.

Love this line:

Now, though, she was preparing to take on apprentices of her own. Not one, but two, and soon many more, far more than she should. It would not be easy, not even with help from Rex or from the others at home. She could not think of herself as a learner any longer; now she must be a teacher. Others relied on her for guidance. She must be a Master.

Poor Ahsoka. Sucks that they all had to grow up too fast. Even before Order 66, the war caused people to get knighted too soon. *coughAnakincough*

Looking forward to the next part. And Star Wars stories are supposed to be trilogies.

 

As the days go by, they move on to new tasks and responsibilities. Cody to Corellia, Ahsoka to the role of Jedi Master.

Like anakin_girl, I loved your description of Ahsoka and the Padawans constructing their lightsabres on Ilum. And how appropriate it is to end this part of the tale with the same location and characters that it began with.

Looking forward to the final part. Although you mentioned that there will be a bit of a shift in focus among the major characters, I guess we might still see some of our familiar characters taking on the role of leaders, mentors - certainly a sharp contrast from the beginning of Said the Joker to the Thief, when Ahsoka was but a Padawan and the clones were still in the 501st!

Would you put me on the PM list for the next part? Thanks!

 

This was excellent. I really loved the follow-up with Fives and all the rest of them. And the ending gives you quite a bit of hope. I certainly hope our Jedi and clone friends move off of Alderaan in a few years. It also makes me wonder: if this is Ahsoka's task, will Luke's destiny be different now? I definitely look forward to seeing where this goes from here.