Star Wars: Ahsoka

“They got here just a moment before you did,” Ahsoka said. “They’re still on their first round, and they haven’t spoken to anyone since they gave Selda their order. The stormtroopers haven’t sat down, and the officers just watch.”

“Not exactly subtle,” said Miara. Kaeden had missed her shot, and now Hoban was trying again.

“I don’t think the Empire goes for subtle,” Neera said.

“But why here?” Kaeden said. “I mean, there are better planets for food than Raada. We’re tiny. We don’t produce that much for export.”

There was a very heavy silence. Malat’s long fingers hesitated on her shot, and Ahsoka knew she was thinking of her children. Even though Ahsoka’s concern for her own safety was no longer immediate, she had a bad feeling about this.

“I think it might be smart to start accumulating ration packs,” Ahsoka said. She tried to sound knowledgeable but not expert. She wanted them to listen to her, not follow her orders. “If the Imperials start to dip into the food you grow to eat here, there isn’t going to be a lot you can do to stop them.”

“That’s a good idea,” Vartan said. “I’ll let Selda know.” His eyes flicked past the place where the Imperial officers were sitting. “Later.”

Ahsoka nodded and took her turn at the crokin board. She missed the shot, as well. Neera’s piece was just too well protected behind the peg. They did another full round, Ahsoka’s side trying to dislodge Neera’s piece and Hoban’s team trying to dislodge Kaeden’s. No one had any success, except that it was nice to focus on the frustrations of the game instead of the presence of the Imperials.

Neera was about to take the final shot of the game when there was a disturbance at the front of the cantina. The two officers had been joined by a third, a superior judging by his insignia. The officers stood and saluted. The stormtroopers remained motionless. The new officer leaned forward to confer with his fellows but spoke too quietly for Ahsoka to hear what he said. Then he marched to the doorway and fastened a notice to the wall. He looked around the cantina with some measure of scorn for the occupants before leaving. The other Imperials followed him out without looking back.

Selda walked slowly across the cantina toward the notice. Ahsoka wondered if he would tear it down, but he only read it quietly, his shoulders slumping more with every line.

“The thing about crokin,” said Vartan, taking the last disc from Neera’s grasp, “is that you don’t have to hit the opponent’s piece head-on. You can wing it, if you want, and hope for a good ricochet.”

He lined up the shot and flicked the disc at Kaeden’s. He clipped the edge, and both pieces went flying off the board.

“Sometimes you don’t get it,” he said. “But you still get points.”

Neera’s piece was the only one remaining on the board. Her points showed up on the scoreboard a moment later, once the board realized that all the pieces had been played and the game was over.

“We still win,” Kaeden said. “We have Malat’s points from the beginning.”

“That’s the other thing about crokin,” Vartan added. “You have to remember every piece that’s been played, even the ones removed from the board, because some of them might count against you in the end.”

His words made Ahsoka uncomfortable. She didn’t like the way she automatically began to think about tactics. She got up from the table and went to read the notice board. It was, as she suspected, a list of rules. There was a curfew in place now, which would, among other things, make it nearly impossible for anyone working the late shift to eat out when they were done. They’d have to eat at home. There were rules forbidding group meetings of more than a certain number. The Imperials weren’t closing the cantinas, but they were shortening the hours and restricting the food and alcohol available. With the lost business, it would be only a matter of time before the cantinas closed on their own.

It was everything you’d do to keep the locals from communicating with each other and getting organized. It was everything you’d do to soften them up before the hammer fell. It was everything Ahsoka didn’t think the farmers on Raada would be able to counter. Scenarios ran through her mind, ideas for insurgency and defense. Reluctantly, this time she let them.

She turned away from the notice and made space for the others who wanted to read it. She pushed her way back through the strange and crowded silence to where her friends were sitting, and when she sat down, she relayed what she’d read. She didn’t tell them any of her conclusions about what the new rules meant. They would figure it out, or they wouldn’t, but she would have to be careful to conceal her military experience now. There was no guessing how it might be used against her if the Imperials found out. She had to keep her secrets for as long as she could.