-From a general perspective-

A suffocating silence descended into the dark cave. The adventurers were conflicted by this new revelation. They were all taken aback, becoming uncertain of what to do with the hibernated person.

Well, almost all of them… the exception was Malle, the blue skinned togruta woman who was currently fiercely demanding to immediately free the unfortunate person trapped in the carbon platform… especially since it was probably a harmless teenager.

-What are you waiting for, you heartless bastards?

On the contrary, Qaghr, the aqualish, didn’t want to hear anything about releasing anyone. To take it even further, the man wanted to destroy the platform as it was.

-I tell ya… this. All bad luck! ‘e shou’d lea’ it or destroy it!

Malle spat right in front of Qaghr, succesfully regaining his attention as he glared at her hatefully.

-Look at that, now you can speak standard all of a sudden? I always thought that you were a coward, but now you have proved my suspicion!

She sneered at the man, who dared to suggest the absurd idea.

Suye stepped next to Malle, adding her own two bits.

-I-I think that Malle is right, we shouldn't kill someone without a proper reason… I don’t want to do that…

Bamadal, nodded to that with a stony expression. It seemed that he also agreed with the girls.

Ligo looked at the unfolding scenario while sneaking thoughtful glances at the carbon platform. He took out a somewhat crumpled cigarette from one of his pockets and ignited it with the lighter held in his other hand. Soon a few billows of smoke were breathed out by the man, which served as a last push for him to finally make up his mind. He eventually turned around and said, determination mirrored in his gaze.

-Fine.

He stepped closer to the frozen figure and smirked.

-Ain’t this your lucky day?

With that, he activated the inbuilt melting process, which started an automatic chemical reaction which evidently ended up with the frozen item, or person regaining its original structure.

The entire process only took up thirty seconds.

Soon, billows of steam began to fill the room. Ligo stepped back, clutching his hand blaster while pointing a stern glare at the steaming platform. The others following his example and also positioned themselves around the platform while spreading out in a half circle, ready to spring into action if the need arises.

As the seconds passed in such a tense way, one third of the room was slowly filled up with a thick smoke screen. They were waiting for some movement or a voice, but it did not appear. While the silence stretched uncomfortably long, the tension seemed to only grow higher.

At last, a desperate gasp could be heard, which was followed by a series of dry coughing.

Right away, a small thin form stepped out of the smoke, but could only take a few steps in their direction before collapsing on her knees. While her entire body was shaking in her coughing fit.

Ligo, lowered his blaster, allowing it to slowly slip back into its holster which as usual was loosly hanging from his right hip.

He waved to Malle with his right hand while saying lazily.

-Check on the girl, Malle… Who knows, she could be one of your cousins, of all I know.

Suye looked at the pitiful-looking teenager. She could see the familiar white stripes covering the leks and small montrals surrounding her roundish face. It seems that she was a togruta, just like Malle, but younger and with a base skin color of orange instead of blue.

Malle didn’t need more encouragement, as she bolted from her place, and was kneeling by the side of the other togruta.

She began to draw small circles in her back with her palms while trying to calm her with her presence.

-Cough, cough… cough! Whe-cough! Where am-…cough… I?!

-Shhh! Shhh! Calm down, sweetheart, don’t speak, just breathe, slowly… Yes, that’s good! Keep it up… You were carbon-freezed, we just melted you out of the stuff, it takes time for the side effects to disappear, it’s based on how long you were put on cold.

The girl seemed to calm down a bit, which was unusual. The more common reaction was to start panicking. It was a known fact about hibernation, especially in the case of carbon-based hibernation types. This is an old technology. It worked fine, but the side effects were unusually strong, and there were more comfortable modern ways for personal hibernation which had little to no lingering side effects.

For that reason, it wasn’t really used for that purpose anymore, except in the case of bounty hunters who didn’t care about the comfort of their merchandise.

The steam was slowly dissipating. Suye at last made up her mind and walked up to Malle and her new ward offering a full bottle of water to the still harshly coughing girl. She didn’t have the presence to take the offered bottle, so Malle took it instead.

She opened the bottle and said to the girl encouragingly.

-Listen, you need to drink some water. I will help you, just raise your face towards my voice, alright?

-I… I can’t see… cough… cough!

Was the only thing the young girl said, while swallowing a half whimper.

-Shhh, no need to panic… Your eyes are fine! I promise you, okay? It’s perfectly normal after a longer time of hibernation. Your vision will clear up. Just give it some time, okay?

She nodded, while biting her lower lip anxiously. Then she made a weird grimace as if... as if she just remembered that common knowledge.

Malle showed an amused smile, while helping the girl to lift her face, and finally allow a few small gulps of water to enter her mouth.

-No need to be embarrassed with yourself, lass… you are confused, hell I bet either of us wouldn't react any better than you!

Suye also kneeled down next to the pitiful girl, helping her into a sitting position while grasping her right hand reassuringly. She at first was surprised by the unfamiliar presence, but through sensing her gentle behavior, she quickly and gratefully accepted her help.

-Slowly, lass, you shouldn’t drink too much at once… Now, that’s enough for now, I will give you more in a minute… We must allow your body to adapt, alright?

-Y-yes…

She answered and nodded too, to reinforce her shaky statement. At least her coughing finally abated.

Ligo, stepped closer and offered a blanket, which he just managed to untangle from the lower part of his backpack.

Malle looked up at him and took it with a warm smile.

-Thanks boss!

She said, and this time there was no sarcasm in the words. She quickly draped the fabrik over the shaking togruta and pulled it closer around her body with her own arms. She needed to warm up as fast as possible, otherwise and especially in this environment, her life could still be in danger.

Ligo, waited until the girl was muffled in the warm blanket, and only then did he crouch down in front of her. There was another strange thing, he noted as he crouched down.

The girl's face slowly turned towards him, as if she could sense his presence. Even though he didn’t announce his arrival, she was clearly focusing on him.

Then again, it could be the cigarette smoke he was constantly breathing out…

He decided to drop the topic for now.

-Hi. I am Ligo, the leader of this little adventuring party. I am relieved to see that you are alright, mostly, anyway… Can you tell me your name little miss?… I don’t want to push you much, but I took a huge risk freeing you from that prison… and it would give me a relief if I knew who you are and what are you doing on Korriban of all places?

The orange togruta’s eyes seemed to take the form of large saucers. Her body went rigid, as she asked in disbelief.

-Ko-Korrib-ban? Am I on Korriban now?! Ho-ow?!

The crew members surrounding the young girl exchanged quick and worried glances, then turned back to her.

-I.. I am sorry, I really don’t know. I wasn’t sup-posed to be here… or anywhere near to it…

Bamadal stepped closer and demanded her name.

-Your name, kit? Focus, and tell us who you are.

Her face turned towards the new voice, she blinked a few times… however, her eyes still remained the same, cloudy and unfocused. Her face fell, but she tried to collect herself and eventually answered.

-.. I am… Ahsoka Tano… Jedi- cough, padawan… to Anakin Skywalker…

There was a simultaneous sharp intake of air, filling the dimly lit room. Which was quickly followed by a heavy silence. Tension began to fill the hall once again.

The girl called Ahsoka instinctively sensed the change in the atmosphere, grasping the blanket edges between her shaking fingers, desperately pulling it tighter around her, while lowering her face towards the ground. Waiting for the reaction of the people standing around her.

She was in no condition to fight or defend herself in any way… It was plainly obvious to everyone, and she didn’t feel the strength in herself to pretend otherwise. She was confused and miserable, more miserable than she had felt in years… And that was something considering that she was a child war veteran of the sort… Her clothes were drenched, she felt both hot and cold while her skin was prickling all over her body. She was hungry and incredibly thirsty. Her mouth felt as dry as a desert, even though she had just drank a few seconds ago.

On top of that, she could barely see anything. It felt like she was underwater, her head hurt, her ear protrusions pulsed and she was dizzy, not even mentioning the extreme sense of weakness that was slowly getting a hold over her.

Even sitting seemed to take a huge effort.

She didn’t remember how she got here… and that confused her incredibly. They were supposed to go on a tour from Unity, to a different settlement under the directorate of the Gray Order, with a few new acquaintances of hers… everything was going fine, yet, when she walked through the gate… she suddenly found herself in complete darkness… She didn’t know what was going on, and the last thing she could remember, was the bone cutting coldness that seemed to engulf her completely. Then… she…

She screamed in terror and pain… and after that, the darkness… swallowed her whole.

She shivered even more pitifully as she remembered the terrifying experience.

Then she felt the same warm hand from earlier, continuing to draw reassuring circles on her back. Her mind refocused on the present, and she realized that she probably missed an argument while she was spacing out just now.

The tension in the air was slowly dissipating as Ligo closed the argument.

-I don’t give two shits about the hutts, and while you serve on my ship, you better don’t think about slave trafficking either. For fuck’s sake, she is just a kid… and she is one of Malle’s people. You know how tightly knitted togrutas are. You better forget that idea, unless, if you prefer to wake up with a knife stuck between you ribs...

Bamadal, crossed his arms over his chest, and stated drily.

-I understand it, just fine, Ligo… but how are we supposed to pay off our debts now? Hmm? It’s not like we managed to find anything else valuable here…

Qaghr unexpectedly released a surprise squeal like sound, which immediately gained everyone’s attention.

As the steam finally dispersed, a new corridor appeared, which was hidden behind the now melted carbon platform. The corridor stretched far into the depth of this labyrinth like construct.

Ligo smirked and clapped his hands jovially.

-It seems that our expedition is yet to be done!

Bamadal shook his head, amused.

-Fine, but still… if not the hutts, I bet the Republic would happily pay a reasonable amount of credits in exchange for one of their lost pupils. Especially after taking into consideration the recent decline in the jedi’s numbers… heh… That way everybody wins!

Ligo patted the back of Bamadal, as he said in a much kinder tone.

-See? Now you are talking.

Ahsoka, hearing the last part of the argument, quickly realized that she was just spared from a terrible, terrible fate… but before she could truly feel relieved about it, she caught on to something that for some reason made her stomach drop.

She willed her shaking lips to form the words tentatively.

-Wha-what do you mean… by recent… decline?

She couldn’t see it, but she could feel the surprised and pitying gazes that suddenly turned towards her. The awkward silence that followed have only reinforced the sense of dread she was feeling…

-Ma-master…

Was the first thought that came to her mind, and she unknowingly said the word out loud, in a whisper…