"Gone with a Trace" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars - Season 7, Episode 5

Ahsoka Tano, former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, travels through bustling Coruscant on her speeder bike. But without warning the vehicle malfunctions, sending her downward! Finally, she crash lands on a platform in Level 1313 of the city-planet.

A mechanic named Trace introduces herself, offering to repair Ahsoka's bike. When Ahsoka asks why, Trace has a simple reply: "Seemed like the right thing to do." Still, she wants payment for the service, though Ahsoka says she doesn't have much money.

Trace toils on Ahsoka's bike, and finally offers to do the work for free. They chat, and Ahsoka tells Trace she's from the upper levels of Coruscant. The mechanic is not impressed. "They've forgotten all about us," Trace says of the Jedi, though Ahsoka is careful not to reveal the truth about who she is. Trace dreams of leaving Coruscant, the Jedi, and the war behind, and heading off to the stars with her sister.

Suddenly, a gangster named Pintu enters Trace's shop. He's looking for money owed by Trace's sister, Rafa. As his goons corner Trace, she fights back...but soon needs Ahsoka's help.

The former Padawan makes quick work of the gangsters, her fighting prowess on full display. The crooks slink away, defeated, but Pintu promises that matters are far from over.

Trace and Ahsoka go to tell Rafa about what happened. The street-smart Rafa says that she has a new job that will more than cover her debt, though Trace seems skeptical of its legitimacy. Soon, Rafa's client enters the shop with three droids in need of repair.

Ahsoka and Trace work in the rear of the shop. When Ahsoka activates one of the hulking droids, it suddenly glares down and attacks her! Luckily, she triggers the restraining bolt, freezing the droid in place. Ahsoka warns that these loadlifters were frauds and prone to violence.

But when Trace activates another droid, she does so without a restraining bolt in place! The droid comes to life and quickly tears through the shop, running out into the open. Ahsoka and Trace give chase, but the load-lifter is fast, wreaking havoc as it jumps, climbs, and barrels through the streets.

Finally, they track the droid and pin it with their speeder. When the load-lifter begins to escape and scale a wall, however, Trace leaps onto its back. Just as it reaches the above platform, she manages to hit the droid's power switch. But the load-lifter starts to slide backward and fall!

Just in time, Ahsoka catches them with the speeder's claws, and quickly attaches its tow cable to a pipe. When that's not strong enough to pull them up, she subtly draws in the speeder, droid, and Trace with the Force.

Back in the shop, Trace and Ahsoka argue with Rafa about the droids. Rafa refuses to dismantle them, but promises to "do the right thing."

Later at the wharf, Rafa meets up with Trace and Ahsoka. Rafa says she charged her client double, paying off Pintu and earning enough for new tools. Still, Ahsoka and Trace are troubled by Rafa's actions. When Rafa departs, the new friends head back to the shop to finish work on Ahsoka's speeder.

This arc began production in 2012, originally planned as part of Season Six. When the episodes were revisited for the final season on Disney+, they would change greatly, including one major addition: the Martez sisters.

Rafa Martez was one of the design options for Trace that artist JP Balmet presented to executive producer Dave Filoni. The look wasn't selected for Trace, but would form the basis for the finished Rafa design.

The megalopolis world of Coruscant was built in layers, with the most privileged citizens living in the highest levels and the lower levels becoming dangerous slums run by the criminal underworld.

The Martez sisters live on Level 1313, the same level where Ahsoka hid away after being falsely accused of planting a bomb in the Jedi Temple.

Pintu Son-El is the same alien species as Yushyn, the Mining Guild boss seen in Star Wars Rebels. The species is based on a bounty hunter design created by Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Does Pintu's voice sound familiar? That's because he's voiced by Star Wars Resistance and Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan.

Rafa Martez runs a laundromat as a front for her more nefarious schemes. The interior features Star Wars versions of machines and signage seen in real-world laundromats.

This isn’t the first time Ahsoka has tangled with a rogue load-lifter droid on the streets of Coruscant. The Star Wars: Forces of Destiny episode ‘”The Padawan Path” features a younger Padawan Ahsoka in a similar situation.

"Trace and Rafa are two girls that live in the underworld of Coruscant. They represent a couple of things to me." (1/3) - Dave Filoni (Executive Producer & Supervising Director)

"They represent the average citizen that's going about their daily lives on Coruscant, and I wanted to show, in many ways, that the Jedi are out of touch with those people." (2/3) - Dave Filoni (Executive Producer & Supervising Director)

"They also represent, to me as a storyteller, Trace is the younger, slightly more naive but ambitious Ahsoka. And Rafa is the potential, slightly bitter, going-dark, doing-whatever-it-takes-to-achieve-an-end, possibility of who Ahsoka can become." (3/3) - Dave Filoni (Executive Producer & Supervising Director)

"I remember Dave first telling us about Trace and Rafa. When we first found out it was going to be these sisters, I was like, 'Okay, this is cool.' I really liked the different characteristics. The voice actresses for both of them did such an outstanding job." - Keith Kellogg (Animation Director)

"I think one of my favorite shots is before [the latter half of the fight] starts. One of the brothers goes to punch and [there's] the hand that stops it, and then you pan around and then you see Ahsoka there, holding him." - Keith Kellogg (Animation Director)

"We wanted Rafa to really talk with her hands a lot, so we tried to incorporate that a bit more." - Keith Kellogg (Animation Director)

"I just like that story in general. So working on those episodes was really fun." - Kimberly Patrick (Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Editor)

"Really, I think, Ahsoka as a young person wants to fit in. She wants to find how does she fit in, what's her place. And her worldview is getting challenged by these two girls, and her worldview was just kind of broken by the Jedi. So what does she do and where will she end up? Those are the questions I wanted to attack as we see her making these life decisions, heading toward the end of the war." - Dave Filoni (Executive Producer & Supervising Director)

Ahsoka by Kilian Plunkett

Ahsoka's speederbike by Russell Chong

Coruscant Industrial Zone Detention Center by Wayne Lo

Coruscant Portal Mech Bay by Pat Presley

Coruscant Portal Mech Bay by Pat Presley

Rafa's laundry by Chris Glenn

Warf by Carlos Sanchez

Type II Loadlifter by JP Balmet

Trace by by JP Balmet

Ahsoka lighting concept by Jason Boesch

Ahsoka lighting concept by Jason Boesch

Wharf lighting concept by Jason Boesch