Leslie and Rya were in the staff room when Ahsoka knocked off for the day. They were looking a little worn, as they normally did, and as anyone would after seven hours with only a substantial lunch break. Not to mention, they had to deal with a plethora of people with questions about every subject having to do with mechanics and a few that had nothing to do with mechanics. Ahsoka admired them for it, she only had to work with the seve-no, six people in the back, and machines that had exactly zero questions. She forgot that Granger had left; there were only six others now.
Tyme and Jackson were both out sick, so the girls were groaning about having to cover the whole shift that day. They had just finished and were half asleep on the table when Ahsoka walked in. They barely acknowledged Ahsoka when she said hi to them.
She just smiled and pulled her stuff out from her locker. It was the weekend, and Ahsoka had packed a bit more to bring to work than she normally did. She was heading out again, which made it the second weekend in a row that she was going to be spending off-world. She loved it.
Rya noticed her bag looked bulkier than it normally did. "Leaving again?"
"Yep," she said, sliding the straps onto her shoulders and shutting her locker door. "A friend of mine invited me out for the weekend."
"You still won't tell us about your last 'adventure,'" Leslie complained, propping her chin on her hand. "You know, the one where you knocked out a Jedi who became a Changeling and then disappeared in a Jedi speeder."
Ahsoka laughed at the memory of commandeering the Republic's property. Only she could get away with stuff like that, she knew. Anyone else would have been arrested. "Sorry, but I'm sworn to secrecy. The Republic censors war details from civilians and they don't want word getting out about how a teenage ex-convict did their job better than them."
The two of them laughed, although they were so tired it sounded forced. She didn't mention it, but she did suggest, "You should rest while I'm gone, though. Seeing as trouble tends to follow me, you shouldn't have any life-threatening dangers in the area."
"Thank God," Leslie groaned, before face-planting on the table. "Have fun, Tano."
"Thanks," she replied, before heading out the back door and jumping onto a rising export ship in the shaft.
As the ship ascended to the surface, Ahsoka sat down and thought to herself. Recently, she had finally inquired into who in blazes 'God' was. She had heard people talk about him all the time, but she had never heard such a name as a Jedi, and certainly had never met him.
It turns out, there was no way for her to meet 'God' because she had no 'God'. He wasn't actually a person, but a superior deity that people worshiped. Supposedly, he had unlimited power, and he created and controlled everything that happened in the universe. There were building called churches dedicated entirely to the worship of God.*
Ahsoka, as an ex-Jedi, ex-Inquisitor, and Force User, found it extremely, extremely difficult to not dismiss it as stupid and incorrect. Despite being a freelancer, she knew a lot about the Force and there was no God that controlled it all. The closest there was to gods in the Force were the Father, Son, and the Daughter, but they were not all-powerful, and as far as Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were concerned, they were dead. Well, maybe the Father wasn't dead, but he had been at one point.
Still, she had forced herself to have an open mind about it. She had gone to a church service with Thyla and Journey, sat in, and asked the leader about the specifics and details to the belief system. Listening intently, she considered everything he said and thanked him for his time, and compared it to what she knew to be true for herself. Ultimately, it hadn't made a difference, she still thought it was absurd and ridiculous, but she didn't think any less of the people she met there, Thyla and Journey included. If anything, she respected them for it. After all, she had been a part of her own religion, which was devoted and intense enough to be considered a cult. She had no right to judge just because she disagreed.
After a bit of investigation, she discovered that most people didn't believe in God, but most of them didn't think of the Force as a religion either but just a superpower, which explained quite a bit, actually. Most people were 'atheist', meaning they followed no religion at all. The reason they said phrases like 'Oh my God' and 'Thank God' were because they had extended into popular culture, and were now universal expressions of shock and relief.
Ahsoka's train of thought was interrupted when the afternoon rays of the sun hit her face. She stood up and leaped off the ship, and started walking to the train station. Work was wrapping up all over the place, so people were everywhere, but Ahsoka had been invited to the Senate Building and she didn't plan on walking that far if she didn't have to.
Leaping up to the roof of the station, she smiled. Padmé, upon hearing that she was alive and well, had sent an invite for her to come to Naboo and said that she would meet her at the legislative headquarters. A small handwritten note on the bottom had let her know that a decoy would be meeting her there, but that the real Senator would be waiting for her on her home planet. Ahsoka was ecstatic, it had been forever since she had seen Padmé, and it had been a week since she had found out about her child. It was about time they had gotten together again.
She caught a ride on top of the train as it exited the station. Clinging tightly to the rails on top, she squinted as the wind rushed past her, her lekku trailing behind her. After about fifteen minutes, she jumped off and started walking to the front entrance of the building, passing weary adults who were just heading home.
Thankfully, the security lines going into the building were quite thin. After a minute or so, she was at the front of the line. The security droid motioned to the conveyor belt running beside him. "Please present all accessories for examination," it instructed.
Ahsoka complied, and then followed the droid's directions for passing through the x-ray scanner. After about five minutes, she made it through, and she thanked the droid before grabbing her things and continuing inside. It probably didn't get much respect around here.
Not much had changed since she had been here last. She didn't really count the time she had come as the Inquisitor to kill Sideous, since she had barely stepped outside his office. Before that, the last time had been her trial, which was hardly a better memory. She suddenly felt exposed and figured it was best if she stuck close to the walls until she found Padmé's decoy. She avoided making eye contact with any of the politicians. She didn't trust them, not one bit. There were exactly three exceptions she was willing to make.
She saw the first one quite quickly. Ahsoka hadn't talked much with Bail Organa personally, but she knew those who had. Between his reputation among her friends and what she had heard herself from various interviews and Senate meetings, she knew he was an honest man. Not to mention that her Force intuition agreed. He was in a conversation at the moment, so Ahsoka made no move towards him, but he saw her out of the corner of his eye and gave Ahsoka a wave of acknowledgment. She waved back, smiling a little. It was reassuring to know that there were still good people in a twisted, messed-up universe.
She didn't know where 'Senator Amidala' was at the moment, so Ahsoka decided to head up to her office. On the way, she read the nameplates outside of doors, noting the ones she knew. She wasn't far from Padmé's door when she saw one in particular that piqued her interest: Lux's.
Ahsoka pauses, wondering if now was a good time. She didn't know when she would have the chance again, though, so she knocked lightly on the door. "Come in!" Came the tired reply, and she grinned. Must have been a tense meeting today.
The door slid open and Lux looked up at her, shoulders rolled back and a fake smile plastered on his face. He was probably expecting another senator to come in and talk to him, so when he saw Ahsoka his whole act dropped on the spot. "Now there's something you don't see every day," he remarked, grinning for real now.
She cocked her chin. "Why, Senator Bonteri, it has been some time, has it not?" she teased, using a dainty, old voice, before hugging him and greeting him properly. "You're looking better than the last time I saw you."
"I could say the same, seeing as you're not being accused of treason anymore," he quipped back, motioning over to the couches in the corner. "Come and sit, I could use some casual company."
Ahsoka obliged, setting her bag on the ground while Lux grabbed some water. While he was standing, her eye caught a framed picture on the shelf, and she pulled it to her as he came back. Lux was wearing a black suit, donned with a bit of native Onderon regalia, while he was carrying a woman with short, blonde hair wearing a white dress bridal style.
"Is this Jai?" She asked when Lux returned. He sat down and smiled, handing her a small glass with water. She took a sip as he answered.
"Yes, about two weeks ago. I wish you could have come, Ahsoka, it was an amazing night," he said, a light in his eye that Ahsoka didn't remember seeing before. "Between her, and the venue, and the reception...the whole thing really. It was more than I had hoped for."
She smiled, giggling slightly when he started blushing a little. "I'm glad. With everything that's happened recently, we could all use a little more of that."
Lux took a drink and set his glass down on the table in front of them. "No kidding, I think the Senate needs it the most." He groaned and slouched on the back of the couch. "We had a five-hour debate on trade routes. Five, hours, Ahsoka. On trade routes."
Sounds about right, she thought and rotated so her body was facing him, her feet dangling off the edge of the cushion. "Let me guess, the Trade Federation proposed a new contract after Sideous was killed."
"Yep. Which is fine, it's great actually. Hopefully, it will give us an advantage in the Clone War, but why is the deadline for it in one week?"
"Probably because in order to sign a contract with the Republic, they had to cut the contract with the Separatists, which means no money coming in," she speculated. "They're losing profits right now. The sooner they get business again, the sooner investors get a little happier."
Rubbing his forehead, he looked over at her. "You make it sound so simple."
She shrugged. "I've learned how to filter what the Senate says into layman's terms, is all."
"Maybe you should be a senator," he joked, before sitting up and facing her. "Now that you've seen what I've been up to, what about you? Are you still doing well under the surface?"
"Yeah, actually," she answered, thinking back to last weekend. "I don't suppose you heard about the Jedi dilemma last week?"
To her surprise, Lux shook his head. "I don't have access to all Jedi reports, just ones pertaining to Onderon. It's one of the changes being made to the infrastructure of the Senate: Those without military experience aren't allowed a say in warfare, out of respect for those who have served."
It wasn't a bad policy, but it sounded a little complicated to Ahsoka. There had to be a lot of technicalities with that. "I'm guessing overthrowing a Separatists government doesn't count?" she suggested with a hint of humor, and he laughed.
"No, not quite. Anyways, you were saying about the Jedi?"
"I led a mission with them, is all. I was assuming you knew about it, but if that information's not released, then I don't want to test that boundary."
He was about as surprised as she expected him to be. "I didn't expect that from them. The circumstances must have been desperate if they were willing to compromise their protocols for civilian involvement."
It was a bit more complicated than that, Ahsoka knew, but now wasn't the time or place to divulge. "Well, and as soon as I was in charge, protocols went out the window."
Lux grinned. "I wouldn't have expected anything less."
*Author's footnote: The God mentioned above belongs to no particular religion we think of in real life and is not meant to shame or bash any religion in particular. I do imagine that just like here on Earth, there are philosophers (think of Aristotle and Socrates) that will try to explain the origins of life and creation in supernatural ways in the Star Wars Universe, especially since the research and knowledge of the Force is limited exclusively to the Jedi/Sith and those they share it with. I doubt everyone believes in the Force, so I came up with an alternate 'religion' to add depth to Ahsoka's surroundings. I will answer questions if you are curious.