“Who you were does not have to define who you are.“

DANGEROUS DEBT
Prisoners of the Pykes! Ahsoka Tano has teamed up with the Martez sisters, who live in the underworld of the city-planet Coruscant. Struggling to make ends meet, Rafa Martez scored a job running a spice shipment from the planet Kessel. Tempers flared when Ahsoka realized the spice was being sold to the Pykes, a powerful crime syndicate. As Ahsoka and Rafa argue, Trace Martez dumped the spice, hoping to end the dispute. With no shipment to deliver, the three attempted to deceive the Pykes and failed.

We now find them imprisoned deep within a fortress on the planet Oba Diah….

The Martez sisters’ past

From inside their cell on the planet, Oba Diah, Ahsoka Tano, Rafa, and Trace Martez watch as Pyke guards lead a Snivvian prisoner away. Trace grumbles that she never imagined that she would wind up in a place like this the first time she took her ship out. Rafa reminds her sister that she dumped her spice. Ahsoka counters that they wouldn’t be here if she had not taken the job with the Pyke Syndicate. Rafa retorts that if Trace had not dumped the spice, they would already be on their way and gone.

Tano responds that the Pykes turn spice into something that would ruin people’s lives, arguing that she cannot profit from people’s suffering. Rafa quips that Ahsoka is a “regular Jedi.” Ahsoka suggests that she might be a Jedi. Trace tells Ahsoka this is not a joke. Rafa explains that there is a reason she and her sister keep away from the Jedi or any “Topsiders.” She is not willing to let Ahsoka lecture her about morality.

Rafa recounts that a couple of years ago, there was a prison break on the surface of Coruscant when a gangster named Ziro escaped. She had watched as the Jedi had pursued Ziro and his gang down the portal, leaping from speeder to speeder. A red-eyed alien, protecting Ziro, had blasted the engine of an ascending transport, causing the ship to spiral out of control. The Jedi tried to regain control of the ship and managed to avoid a populated platform but steered it right onto the other side of the portal, which was the home of the Martez family.

Trace explains that her parents managed to get her and Rafa out but were killed during the collision. Rafa recalls that the Jedi failed to capture Ziro and that the accident had allowed the Hutt crime lord to escape off-world. Later, a female Jedi with green skin and dark robes visited the Martez sisters and told them that she had to make a choice but that the Force would be with them. Rafa was upset that she and her sister had been orphaned and left homeless without assistance from the Jedi. She explains that she has devoted her energy to building a new life for herself and her sister, not dependent on anyone else, including the Jedi and criminals. Rafa blames Ahsoka for all the trouble that they have gotten into.

Captives of the Pykes

Ahsoka feels terrible and apologizes. Just then, the Pyke guards visit their cell and summon Rafa. Ahsoka tries to protect Rafa but is stunned and thrown to the ground. The guard also throws Trace aside. As she is led away, Rafa tells Trace that she gets the family business if she dies. Trace protests that she does not want the family business and will not die and vows to get her out. Rafa tells her to figure it out quickly.

Rafa is led to an interrogation chamber, fastened to a harness manned by an 8D-series smelter droid. Rafa says she does not like pain and claims that the people on Kessel scammed them. However, the droid does not believe the story and electrocutes her, causing Rafa to scream.

Back in their cell, Trace tells Ahsoka that Rafa is telling the truth, saying that it has been them versus everyone else since their parents’ deaths. Ahsoka asks Trace why she bothered with her. Trace replies that her mother had always believed in helping others. She says that her life is not the life she was raised in. Just then, the Pykes return with a bruised and injured Rafa.

Prison break

Trace demands to know what the guards did with her sister. Ahsoka warns Trace not to make her captors angry. Trace reiterates her demand and is dragged out by the guards. Ahsoka tries to intervene but is hit by their stun staff. Trace gets Ahsoka to check that Rafa is alright. Trace is led to the same interrogation chamber where the smelter droid demands to know where the spice is.

Trace offers to tell the smelter droid where the spice is but says she doesn’t want her friends to know. When the droid approaches her with a stun baton, she pretends to faint but grabs the guard on her left’s blaster and shoots the guard on her right. She knocks out the guard on the right and takes down a third guard in hand-to-hand combat, throwing him into the path of the smelter droid.

Trace flees the remaining two guards and heads back to her cell. From outside, Ahsoka watches the guards pursuing Trace and uses the Force to unlock the door to their cell. She awakes the unconscious Rafa, who initially mistakes her for one of her captors, but Tano manages to calm her down. When Rafa asks where Trace is, Ahsoka says they took her but must go now. When Rafa asks about the door, Tano claims a power outage shut down the energy field. They go and search for the case.

Meanwhile, Trace runs through the Pyke prison, past an Ithorian and Weequay. She runs into a Pyke guard, causing him to drop his gun. The Pyke sentry grabs her, holding her against the Ithorian and Weequay’s cell. Hearing their pleas, Trace lets the prisoners out. The Ithorian comes to her aid and hurls the guard against the door, knocking him out. Several Pyke guards, armed with blasters, approach. The Ithorian throws the body of the unconscious Pyke guard at his comrades. He and the Weequay attack the guards, allowing Trace to flee.

Fighting their way out

Trace runs into Rafa and Ahsoka. Trace is alarmed, but Rafa tells her they have come to rescue her. Trace counters that she is on her way to break them out. As more Pyke guards approach, the girls argue about which way to go, but Ahsoka convinces them to flee down a corridor that leads to an outdoor hangar. They block the door with several barrels and hide. When the guards arrive, Trace uses her blaster to ignite their crates, causing an explosion. Ahsoka uses the Force to block the guards’ path with crates as they flee.

They run across a bridge, but the captors begin retracting the mechanical bridges. Rafa manages to jump across. Tano saves Trace from falling. When the guards approach, Trace decides to take her chances and jump. Though she falls, Ahsoka uses the Force to hurl her toward the other side of the bridge, allowing her to climb. Rafa helps Trace up.

Rafa tells Ahsoka she will be back for her but thinks that Ahsoka won’t make it. Trace argues against leaving Ahsoka behind. However, Ahsoka uses the Force to leap over the gap, landing behind the Martez sisters, who are amazed at her athletic powers. As more guards approach, they flee down a flight of stairs that leads to a garage. The three women join forces to subdue a guard ascending a platform, crushing him against the machinery.

Rafa is shocked that Pykes would put so much effort into killing them over the spice deal. Ahsoka warns that this happens when they get into business with criminals. Rafa counters that when trying to make a living, they don’t think about torture or execution being part of the deal. Ahsoka says that the Pykes are not letting them get off the planet because doing so would damage their reputation. Rafa tasks Ahsoka with disabling the gates while she and Trace distract the guards. Ahsoka agrees to her task despite thinking it is beneath her.

Trace remarks that Rafa seems to be getting along with Ahsoka, but Rafa warns that looks can be deceiving. Meanwhile, Ahsoka infiltrates the guard tower and fights with the guards inside, taking them out. Rafa tries to attack another Pyke guard from behind, but he chokes her and throws her to the ground. Trace sneaks up on the sentry and knocks him out. More guards discover the two. Meanwhile, Ahsoka uses her Force powers and fighting skills to knock out the sentries in the control tower. Seeing that her friends are in trouble, Ahsoka unlocks the gate and joins them on the ground.

Fugitives on the run

Watching the gun battle, she uses the Force to draw out two Pyke sentries, allowing Trace and Rafa to shoot them. The trio then escapes through the open gate into the streets of Oba Diah. Heading to the spaceport, they search for the Silver Angel, with Trace leading. Ahsoka observes that Rafa might be cut out for a rough life, but not Trace. Rafa says that Trace can choose to say no to the jobs that she does. Ahsoka asks Rafa to consider whether her sister would say no to her.

Trace approaches a structure that she uses as a platform to search for the Silver Angel. Ahsoka explains to Rafa that Trace looks up to her as her older sister and thinks she has her interest at heart. A Gotal beggar asks Rafa for money to buy food, but Rafa tells him to go away. He leaves but takes an interest in Rafa and Ahsoka. When Rafa tells Ahsoka that she never answered her question, Ahsoka explains that in her life, she always helps people no matter what. She says that this is who she is. Rafa says that she knows someone who likes to talk like her. Ahsoka explains that Trace had told her about it. Rafa replies that Trace is trying to do what is best.

Meanwhile, the Gotal approaches the Pyke guards, haggling them for credits. When he sees a hologram of Ahsoka and the Martez sisters, he offers to help them in return for financial gain. While standing on a structure, Trace tells Rafa and Ahsoka that the Silver Angel is parked on one of the landing platforms at the top of the Pyke Palace. Rafa tells Trace to forget the ship and find anything to get them off-world. However, Trace is unwilling to give up her ship.

Mandalorian entanglements

Rafa tells her to be innovative and not waste her life to get back her ship. Trace demands that she buy her sister a new ship, which Rafa grudgingly agrees. The Gotal and the Pykes catch up on the trio, who flee through the streets. They pass by a masked Mandalorian figure who is wearing a cloak. The three try to hijack a landspeeder, but the Pykes shoot one of its engines, causing it to crash.

The Pykes recapture Rafa and Trace, but Ahsoka manages to flee down an alley. Meanwhile, three cloaked figures wearing Mandalorian helmets watch over the Martez sisters and Ahsoka. One of the Mandalorians thinks it could be the Jedi she had met on Carlac. She wonders what the Jedi is doing here. The second Mandalorian thinks that her presence could complicate her mission, but the first Mandalorian reminds them they have a common enemy. She tells them to keep track of Ahsoka because she could be helpful to them.

Recaptured

Meanwhile, Rafa and Trace Martez are brought before Fife and Marg Krim, the latter corresponding with them via holoprojector. He tells the Martez sisters that they have cost him thousands of credits and tried to cheat him. He asks if they had considered whether they could get away with fooling a Pyke. Rafa responds that they wouldn’t have tried, but Fifes orders their execution. Rafa claims that she knows where the spice is.

Krim disagrees and says that their friend is still in the city. He vows to torture her and find out everything they know. Meanwhile, Ahsoka ambushes and knocks out a Pyke guard. She powers up a hover pod and interrupts the Pykes’ planned execution of the Martez sisters. Trace manages to climb on, but one of the guards grabs Rafa. Ahsoka exchanges fire with the guards and returns for a second round, picking up Trace.

Before escaping from the compound, they run into more Pyke sentries who use a laser cannon to shoot down their speeder. The lead Pyke says he knew that keeping the Martez sisters in the open would draw Ahsoka out. The prisoners are led back to their cell.

Back at their cell, Rafa proposes they do another job for Krim, but Fife doesn’t trust them. Trace asks if she plans to torture them again. Fife responds until they give him the spice. Once they are alone, Rafa apologizes for taking this job. Ahsoka reassures her that they live and learn. Trace agrees but asks for how much longer.