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“Ahsoka, may I remind you—no two battlefields are the same. It’s our job to adapt to those changes and anticipate what may happen on the ground.”
Ahsoka stared up at Master Kenobi with a slight air of frustration. “I know, but…”
The hologram of the planet’s surface cast a bluish glow across her Grandmaster’s face, deepening the lines beneath his eyes. He was unusually tired, but only someone who knew him well could’ve made the deduction—the telltale signs of fatigue so subtle that any other person might’ve mistaken it as a trick of the light. She could see it in his posture, the weight that seemed to settle on his shoulders, and the slow in his reaction time. As for his presence, the Jedi Master was a blank slate, all sense of emotion locked behind the well-trained, perfect barrier of training and control, impassive and impenetrable.
Ahsoka watched as he shifted his weight, moving closer to the holotable.
“Anakin and I may have our differences when it comes to warfare and battle, but this attack will be nothing like you’ve seen before. It’s not Christophsis or Naboo—not even Ryloth. Ahsoka, you must remain in the rear guard with the heavy artillery. They need you there.”
Ahsoka’s brow furrowed, and after a brief hesitation, she nodded, eyes falling. “I understand.”
His hand dropped onto her shoulder, and Ahsoka looked up into her Grandmaster’s face. He wore a soft smile, a stark contrast to the near-coldness that his expression had held only moments before.
“You’ll have another chance to lead with us, Padawan.” A shadow fell across his face, and Ahsoka watched him heave a sigh. “Something tells me that you’ll get plenty of action protecting the back line—hell, if I’m right, everyone will see their fair share.”
A faraway look entered his eyes as Master Kenobi leaned back, arms folded. Ahsoka felt curiosity work its way into her mind.
“Master… you and Master Skywalker fought there before, didn’t you? What happened?”
For a moment, Master Kenobi seemed about to answer, then he smiled and looked back at Ahsoka, eyes crinkling.
“Perhaps I’ll tell you another time.” Slowly, he moved away from the table and deactivated the hologram, pulling the data stick from its port. He tossed it to Ahsoka.
“Anakin’s forces will be East of your location, but Separatists will have a heavy presence across the entire sector. Study the environment and geography. Anything will help, even if it seems meaningless. The personal logs will be a good place to start.”
Ahsoka caught the stick with both hands. “Yes, Master.”
Master Kenobi hesitated as he reached the threshold. “Your personal entry might not do it, but Anakin's passcode should do the trick—yes, I know you figured out what it is. Either way, it’s not a pleasant read, but if you have time, you may find it… useful.”
Slightly taken aback, Ahsoka nodded and watched him exit, only daring to breathe once the door slid shut.
A part of her wanted to retreat to her quarters and read it in the confines of her room—by all means, it was what she should do, and clearly what Master Kenobi had intended...
She debated for a few seconds, but curiosity won her over.
Forcing herself to remain calm, Ahsoka reached forward and plugged in the datastick, entering Anakin’s clearance code. After pressing a few buttons, she brought forth an overhead image of the sector in question. One more key combination brought up several lines of text—annotations scanned into the Jedi database.
[Dense atmosphere, heavy rain expected]
[Landscape prone to landslides and flooding]
[Roughly five to ten days of clear weather per cycle]
[Plantlife: dense, predominantly toxic, caution advised]
Eyes narrowing, she took in the jagged peaks and dense forests of Jabiim, noting the thick haze that hung low about the trees and unusually high canopy.
Tapping into a separate menu, she heaved a sigh. Studying the terrain would be long and difficult, that much was apparent already.
[Republic Standard Logs—723 entries : Personal—256 entries : Restricted—36 entries]
[Holonet Archives—68 entries : Local Archives—1145 entries]
[GAR roster: Archived Data: Communication Logs]
[Temple Logs—36 entries : Delayed Logs—34 entries : Restricted—12 entries : Obituaries—x : Corrections—1 entry]
Ahsoka eyes widened as she scanned the directory. The battle of Jabiim was far too recent to be in the history classes. All she had were the stories, which was nothing official or confirmed, to be sure. After all, every Youngling and Padawan had heard the rumors and felt the ripples of devastation in the Force.
There were so many secrets, so many contradictions, questions, and mysteries gone unanswered.
That information was now in front of her, presenting itself within the confines of a single stick of data. It was all there. All of it.
Ahsoka’s finger ghosted the “corrections” log, knowing full well that there had only been one Jedi to return from the planet who would warrant a category of his own in the logs—one entry to nullify his archived time and date of death.
His survival had been a mystery, one of the many that formed the legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Feeling a tearing sensation in her chest, Ahsoka closed her eyes.
But would he even want her to see its contents? She doubted it, even though he had been the one to give her access to the information in the first place.
Logs could be deceiving, a mere reflection of cold numbers and words to describe a moment of time, but they also could tell everything. This planet, this battle—Ahsoka knew it had been dark and terrible, leading to thousands of deaths.
There were some who had said that Master Kenobi had returned in bad condition, indicating that he'd been in recovery for months. The archive would have medical records, images, audio and visual files—not to mention the Temple's own analysis of his condition upon return. And if he had been tortured as those rumors said he'd been...
Was she prepared to see that? Was it right for her to see it?
Breathe, Ahsoka, she told herself. Breathe.
No—she decided, didn't feel right.
Mission first.
Jaw set, determination filling her, Ahsoka clicked into the GAR Archive Data and began to filter for environmental entries. Settling on a rather dense medical file containing various contaminants, diseases, and hazards, she began to read.
One day, she would ask her Grandmaster what happened. She was so curious that it was painful, but she respected him too much to just dig into the files. If she was to learn what happened, what Master Kenobi had suffered, she would learn it from him and him alone.
One day, it would happen.
One day.