Chapter Text
Anakin used to dream about being a Jedi, about helping those who were like him and his mother, about being a hero and doing good. Now being older he realised how childish and naive he was for believing he could make good as a Jedi. In the end it wasn't the Jedi who saved him from his miserable life on Tatooine, but the Empire.
The Jedi were weak. They lacked the conviction to make real changes.
They were nothing more than the Republic’s and Senate’s puppets which ultimately led them to the extinction of all Jedi. They were too blinded to see the corruption of the Republic and the Empire did what it had to bring peace to the galaxy.
However, some people still couldn't see that and had formed a rebellion against the Empire.
While Anakin wasn't what he had once hoped to be, a Jedi, he still became an upholder of justice and order. An inquisitor. His job was to crush the pathetic rebels and their idiotic movement to keep the peace. Why couldn’t they just understand that the Empire didn't want to harm them, but had to because they and planets who refuse to join the Empire were creating chaos and fear.
“Sir,” a voice pulled him out of his thoughts, “The prisoner is waiting in the interrogation room.”
Anakin nodded towards the trooper as they walked towards the lower levels of the ship. “Has she said anything yet?”
“No, sir. At least nothing important according to the Captain.”
“And where is Rex right now?”
“Still with the rebel.”
As they reached the end of the hallway Rex came into view. He was holding his head against his hip with his left arm and pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand. A clear sign of annoyance.
Anakin spoke as soon as he was close enough to the clone Captain, “So I take it that the interrogation did not go well.”
“General,” Rex exclaimed, standing up straight.
“At ease, Captain.”
“No, there were a couple complications,” Rex said, unsure of how to properly explain their current predicament, “Frankly, I am at a loss at what we should do.”
Anakin raised an eyebrow, “The usual tactics didn't work?”
With usual tactics Anakin meant intimidation and if that didn’t work – which happened more often than Anakin liked – then some physical measures. Sure it wasn't the most ethical way of getting information, but it was quick. If they wanted to get rid of the terrorists claiming to be rebels fighting for freedom then they had to crush them before they could multiply.
“No…” Rex trailed off. “This is kind of a special case.”
Special? Anakin narrowed his eyes, “Well it doesn't matter how resilient the rebel is, I'll deal with her.”
“General, before you go in there I have to tell you–”
Anakin didn't hear him out, already storming past him. It didn't matter how tough the rebel was, he was going to get answers from her even if he had to use ugly methods to get her to speak.
Pushing his way inside the room, he sat down in the chair closest to the door and looked up to see–
A child.
There was a child in the interrogation room and she looked like she had been in there for a while.
He almost believed that they had arrested the wrong person, but the description on the file matched up with the child in front of him. She had white and blue striped lekku, white facial markings and a short stature, but by reading her file Anakin assumed she was just a small person and not a literal child.
No wonder Rex was lost at what to do. They never had to arrest a child nor torture try to get information out of them.
He didn't agree with the Rebellion using children for their cause, but he to admit no one would have suspected the young togruta in front of him to be a rebel. They certainly wouldn't have caught her if they didn't encrypt the Rebel Alliance's most recent transmission.
Despite being handcuffed and a prisoner on an imperial ship, she still managed to glare at him with her chin held high. If it were anyone else interrogating her this wouldn't have gone over well. Fortunately for her, Anakin thought, harming children is beneath him.
“I won't tell you anything,” the togruta said, seemingly fed up with the silence.
“You just did.”
“You know what I mean,” she shot back.
Whether it was just her nature or due to being locked up for a while, the girl had a short temper and everyone knew how a loose grip on emotions led to making mistakes. Good, Anakin could use that to his advantage.
“Look, why don't you make it easy for the both of us and just tell me what you were doing. What is the Rebellion trying to find out at a small imperial base?”
“I don't know.”
Anakin raised an eyebrow, “You don't know? Somehow I doubt that.”
“Well, I don't know.”
“Come we both know better than that. Why else would you have been there instead?”
The togruta looked at him as if he were stupid, “I was there, because it's a moon, a habitable moon and people live on moons. It's not just an imperial base.”
“That's a lie.”
“It's not.”
“Yes it is.”
“No. You can look it up everywhe–”
The slam of his metal prosthetic coming down against the desk was enough to shut her up. Anakin took a deep breath, calming himself. Wasn't the original plan to rile her up, so she'll slip up and not him? “I meant you living there. My troops investigated and found out very quickly that you've only been there for a week at most.”
“I recently moved there to–”
“Let me finish. We also know you were there on the behalf of the Rebellion, collecting information.”
“The Rebellion? What's that?”
Anakin just gave her a deadpan look. “You don't have to lie. Like I said, my troops were investigating. They have also found quite the interesting evidence proving otherwise,” he waited for a moment to see if she'd say anything and accidentally give herself up before continuing, “A comm, but not any comm unit. One of the newest available on the marker. It's quite popular among the rebels for being able to securely encrypt messages so that not even the Empire's tech can decode it.”
A snort escapes a lips, “As if. The Rebellion can’t afford anything above than the slightly better than average comm units. The one you guys found was obliviously planted. Mostly likely by yourselves, so you can legally lock me up or something.”
“And you stand by that answer?” Anakin asked, trying not to smirk.
“Yeah one hundred percent I am not falling for your cheap trick. That comm you guys found isn't mine.”
“Well of course not I made it up,” for a moment the young togruta looked smug and Anakin almost felt bad for setting her up this way, “But the thing you said about the Rebellion comm units that's news to me. You don't seem to just know what the Rebellion is, something you lied about previously, but also have information about stuff not even the Empire knows like how much the Rebellion can afford.”
Ahsoka gasped when she realised her mistake, but quickly schooled her face to a neutral expression. However, Anakin could still feel her anxiety in the Force. If Anakin didn't put his whole focus on her, he probably wouldn't have noticed it. Her Force presence was strange, weak like all the other non Force sensitive, but in a way it also felt muted.
“I am gonna be honest with you, there is no way you can talk yourself out of this. Even if you hadn't had that slip up. That thing about the Rebellion not being able to afford good tech equipment must be true, as we managed to receive and decode a transmission meant for you. So how about you spare me and yourself the headache and come out with the truth.”
Having learnt from her previous mistake, the girl didn't open her mouth, but just glared at him.
“If you just tell me what the Rebellion was trying to find out then I’ll do anything for you not to get in trouble.”
Nothing. She continued to wordlessly sit in her chair.
“You know I am a pretty important guy, so I can guarantee your safety and freedom if you tell me what you were doing on that moon. I mean it. The Emperor and I are close, so you can trust me when I say you’ll be spoken free of all your crimes.”
Nothing again.
“You help me and I help you.”
Once again nothing.
“I can even make sure you get enough credits for a new life. Practically anything you want as long it's reasonable I can get you. You just have to tell me the truth.”
And for the fourth time she said nothing.
He could feel his anger boil over. She was making this harder than it needed to be not only for him, but also for herself. “Nothing? Fine you're not the only one able to stay silent.”
And so they sat there in silence. Both glaring at each other and neither willing to look away or speak up.
Finally losing his patience, Anakin stood up, his chair squeaked loudly as he did so. The prisoner flinched whether it was from the noise or his abrupt movement. Anakin stalked over to her and yanked her up by the chain of her handcuffs, dragging her towards the exit of the room.
“Rex, bring her to her cell and then get back to me for a report.”
“Yes, sir,” he nodded and then turned towards the prisoner.
There was something akin to worry in his expression, but Anakin couldn't be sure, because it disappeared as soon as it appeared on Rex’ face.
Anakin watched them walk off and then pinched the bridge of his nose similar to Rex half an hour earlier. This wasn't going to be easy.
Cursing the Rebellion for using children instead of grown adults who know better and can take responsibility for their actions, Anakin made his way towards his quarters wanting to clear his mind before anything else.
← *•°☆°•* →
If asking her nicely, then Anakin just had to use other methods to get her talking.
He sat on one end of the table which he took from the mess hall. It was a little too long, but it'd have to do.
Soon Rex entered the room with their prisoner in tow who sat down on the chair of the other end at the table. As she did so, she glared at Anakin like she did yesterday, but he didn't let that faze him. With a nod Rex dutifully took his position behind the togruta ready to intervene if something were to go wrong.
“I think we have gotten off on the wrong foot,” Anakin started. “We haven't even introduced ourselves yet. So let me mend that right now. My name is Anakin Skywalker” – her eyes widened, indicating that she heard of him before – “General of the 501st and one of the best Inquisitors.”
Rex shot him an amused smirk at his bragging which Anakin pointedly ignored even if his ears heated up in embarrassment at being caught.
“Now you introduce yourself,” Anakin pointed at the girl with his. It felt weird calling her rebell, prisoner or child in his head all the time. Plus it would help them if they knew the true identity of the rebel. When she didn't answer he just threatened her with another round of silent glaring they did the last time they spoke.
Fortunately she was just like him and hated doing nothing for longer than needed, so she just sighed and started speaking, “My name is Krie, Krie Yuu spelled K R I E and Y U U, but pronounced as Kri You, so no elongated U or ie.”
Rex gave her a questioning look that she couldn't see while facing forward. Did he know something Anakin didn't? Well, whatever it was he would ask the Captain later.
“See that wasn't so hard. If both act reasonably and cooperate then this can be over quickly and you'll be free again,” Anakin said, relieved that he at least got something from her, “Krie, beautiful name, what were you–”
“Thanks, it's my grandmother's name,” she added cheerfully.
Anakin hummed to himself and tried to steer the conversation back to her part in the Rebellion, but she interrupted him again.
“My parents named me after her, because she worked herself out of poverty to give my dad a better life. My mom chose my middle name tho. It's Eff spelled with two F's. Originally it was supposed to be Elf, another word for fairy, because my mom used to love stories about fairies when she was younger, but her handwriting is not eligible, so the government people thought it was Eff. My parents didn't want to go through the trouble of getting me a new birth certificate, so the name just stuck,” Krie finished her story with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Okay that was a nice tale, but let's go back to what I was trying to discuss befo–”
However, before Anakin could finish, she interrupted him again, “So yeah my full name is Krie Eff Yuu as in kriff you if you actually believe I am going to rat out the Rebellion, Skyguy.”
Anakin could feel his eye twitch and his anger slowly growing, Rex's attempt at playing off his laughs as coughs also didn't help.
By taking a deep breath Anakin tried to calm down. He focused on the way the air traveled to his lungs and how expanded with each air intake and deflected and when he breathed out. This was a kid he was talking to. Who was most likely brainwashed into believing that the Rebellion were the good guys. He had to approach this calmly.
He breathed out a last time before speaking again, “First of all that was the least funniest joke I've ever heard.”
The girl looked all smug when responding, “I found it pretty funny and I am pretty sure Rexster did too.”
Anakin just gave Rex a questioning look at the nickname and continued, “Okay miss smartmouth if you don't want to tell me your name then don't. It's not what we want to find out anyways.”
“Well I am not gonna tell you anything, so you better give up.”
“Well then you can enjoy spending another night in that cell. Come on, the Rebellion is not worth your freedom.”
“I mean the fact that the Rebellion fights for freedom is telling me yeah it is worth it.”
“Oh so freedom fighters use children to do their work?” Anakin couldn't help but think about his time at Watto's. Working for free not knowing it wasn't normal for children at an age under the double digits to work. It was only when he was older that he truly understood how wrong it was. In a way she reminded him of himself when he was younger, sure she wasn't in the exact same predicament – which he was extremely glad for it wasn't something he wished upon anyone – but like his younger self, she didn't know it wasn't normal to do the dirty work of someone else. In her case that someone was the Rebellion.
“I am not a child I am– uh,” she stammered, probably remembering her last blunder, before settling on, “I am old enough.”
Anakin just gave her an unimpressed look. He cleared his throat before speaking again, “Anyways there is a reason why we are in this room today.”
The togruta looked around the room wearily as Anakin spoke into his comm, “Echo, Fives bring in the goods.”
“The goods? What goods?” She asked, fear evident on her face.
The doors opened with a hiss and in stepped Fives and Echo with a rolling table of food.
The girl turned to him with a befuddled expression, “You're trying to bribe me with food?”
“Oh no, that's just me showing you the Empire's hospitality. I figured that you might be grumpy from only getting to eat ration bars, so this might help you talk,” Anakin crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat, seemingly proud of his ‘genius’ idea.
“This just makes you look like one of those generous holo-drama villains with their long tables and fancy food, planning to poison the main character.”
“It's not poisoned,” and to prove his point Anakin stabbed a piece of meat in front of him with a fork and slowly chewed it. “I had Captain Rex ask you about your favourite food last night so dig in.”
Turning to Rex, she shook her head in fake disappointment and said, “And here I thought you liked my company and quick wit.”
“Sorry, kid.”
The togruta looked around the table and found what she was looking for. Cashew-like nuts which were local to the planet Shili. Shili was also a planet inhabited by the togruta species, so it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume it was her home planet and the nuts something she liked to eat when she was still living there. Anakin thought she really must have loved them as he watched the girl shove a handful into her mouth and only chew a few times before swallowing and going for more. He was a little shocked by her lack of manners, but that was hardly important.
“As you can see the Empire is not as cruel and merciless as you make it out to be. We treat all our prisoners with respect in dignity,” that part wasn't necessarily true, but she didn't need to know that, “So seeing that you can mistaken sometimes, maybe it's time for you to reconsider your opinion of the Rebellion–”
Anakin didn't get to finish when the young togruta in front of him started having a coughing fit. At first he thought something just went down the wrong pipe while swallowing, but soon those coughs turned into wheezes. Rex was already at her trying to check on her when Anakin suddenly felt a spike of fear in the Force.
Realising it was coming from Rex, Anakin quickly got up from his feet and rushed to their side. Just a look at her was enough for him to deduce what was going on. She was undergoing an anaphylactic shock.
Her face was all swollen up and red, eyes watering and a red rash was visible on her right hand. She was allergic to those damn nuts and still chose to eat them. Definitely on purpose.
“Rex, help me get her to the med bay! She is having a severe allergic reaction.”
Dutifully Rex picked up by the legs and Anakin took her by the arms. She trashed against their hold and tried to free herself, but the strength of Rex and Anakin combined was too much.
The two of them rushed through the halls trying to reach the med bay before it was too late. Halfway there the kid stopped struggling and Anakin belatedly realised it was due to her falling unconscious.
Finally they reached the med bay and Kix took her from them to treat her.
All Anakin could do now is wait and hope nothing else would go wrong.