Hopeless

Chapter 10

Becoming a padawan, especially Anakin Skywalker's, had been just about the best thing to happen in Ahsoka Tano's life. Well, maybe second to Master Plo finding her on Shili and taking her to the Jedi Temple. When she was first granted the rank of Padawan, Ahsoka was foremost just excited, excited to go on missions, learn from a powerful Jedi and do her part and fight in The Clone War. After she got over her initial excitement though, Ahsoka found herself struggling with the pressure that came along with her new life. Ahsoka learned very quickly in her training that her mistakes have consequences, and unfortunately those consequences were most commonly the lives of her men. Over time, of course, she excelled in her training and the fear and stress of that pressure had slowly gone away. Nowadays she very rarely found herself nervous before a mission or concerned about her own capabilities. Well, at least she did before he happened.

Now Ahsoka found herself on a routine undercover mission and to say she was nervous was an understatement. Ahsoka had been feeling uneasy ever since this mission started and it only increased after Anakin had decided they were going to a nightclub to see if they could catch the black market dealers in the act. Ahsoka even began to feel warnings from the force, as if something bad was going to happen. She considered telling her master about it but quickly thought otherwise. Anakin often wasn't swayed to abandon a mission just based on a feeling. So if she were to tell him he would simply just tell her to keep her eyes peeled and then proceed to hover around her, which wasn't really something Ahsoka wanted right now.

So that's how she found herself walking into a nightclub in the underworld of Coruscant. When she stepped through the door Ahsoka was greeted with quite the scene, instantly feeling the headache that would, sure enough, develop. The music in the club was loud, the sound bouncing around her skull and montrals. Her eyes also felt the assault as bright neon lights strobed throughout the club. When her eyes and head finally adjusted to the environment, Ahsoka was able to take in the physical layout of the club. It was reasonably large, and broken up into 3 main areas. The dance floor was located in the centre of the club, with a stage and DJ farthest away from the door. The bar was off to the left of the dance floor and there was a row of booths and tables on the other side. It must have been a busy night because the club itself was packed with people. The dance floor was crowded, to say the least, and only a few bar stools and tables remained open. 

"Alright, we all know the plan," Anakin spoke softly, "take your positions and keep an eye out for the people we saw in the holo video"

Ahsoka watched as Anakin and Rex both split off to different sides of the club. She had to resist the urge to follow her master. Ahsoka had done undercover missions before but the fact that this was her first one back and due to the ever creeping unease she felt Ahsoka was desperate to stay close to Anakin. However, she needed to show Anakin she could handle herself, so she ignored the knot in her stomach and made her way over to an empty booth at the back of the club.

Once she sat down Ahsoka decided the spot was good. The booth had a full view of the club, particularly the front door and the doors which went towards the back private rooms, which was the most likely spots their targets would be entering or exiting from. 

As she scanned the room for anything suspicious, her eyes quickly landed on both Rex and Anakin who had also found good vantage points. Rex was standing to her left, near the edge of the dance floor closest to doors they had entered from.  Anakin, on the other hand, was almost exactly across from Ahsoka, sitting on a barstool on the other side of the dance floor. Rex was placed near the front doors in order to ensure the escape route, theirs or their targets', was secure. Anakin was right beside the doors to the private rooms, hoping to follow their targets in if need be. Ahsoka's position was chosen so that she could keep on eye on everything, and report if there was any reason to think they had been compromised.