Chapter Sixteen

"…and press releases from both the Jedi Order and the military continue to reassure the people of Galactic City that everything possible is being done to prevent future attacks."

"Continuing with our coverage of what is still a breaking story, we can now confirm that the rogue Jedi who led Coruscant Security Forces and the clone soldiers of the Coruscant Guard on a harrowing chase throughout the city over nearly two days was finally captured last night when tactical units responded to an anonymous tip connected to a warehouse break-in on level 1315. HNN's own sources inside CSF have said that the Jedi, whose name was not released along with her description, was apprehended in possession of significant quantities of high explosive similar to that used in the recent bombing attack on the Jedi Temple."

"When asked for comment, Republic Navy Admiral Wilhuf Tarkin, lead military investigator for the incident, said that, while there was no evidence of any plans for further bombings, the seized ordinance paints a disturbing picture of what was possible had the fugitive not been stopped."

"While further details of the case remain privileged, the trial has been confirmed to begin latter today, handled by a Republic court, rather than those of the Jedi Order…"

"Shut it off." Ahsoka said, no longer able to stand listening to the human woman anchoring the broadcast talk about the ongoing destruction of her life for what had to be at least the twentieth time today.

"I told you it wasn't worth it" Ghes said, walking over to the small screen in the corner of the room they'd stuck her in to wait for her trial and deactivating it before coming back to sit on the small couch beside her. "At least the didn't give out your name."

"Yet." She pointed out. It was only a matter of time, though. If she was convicted, that would be it for any right she had to privacy, as much good as it would do her at that point.

Not if, Ahsoka reminded herself, when.

Because it was a sure thing, wasn't it? As sure as it could be, at least. That's why they'd done it, the Council, expelled her from the Order so she could stand trial before a Republic court. It didn't matter that she'd said she was innocent, or when Anakin reminded them of all she'd done for the Jedi and the Republic. In the end, years of loyalty and service hadn't bought her any in return. And why?

So the Order can save face, a cynical side she could no longer ignore prompted, that's what matters to them; image. It's all politics.

Not that the Republic was treating her any better, but there was something far less personal about being betrayed by something that had always been so vaguely defined in her mind compared to the beings who'd essentially raised her. Next to that knife wound to her heart, a petty, sadistic bureaucrat like Tarkin seemed almost inconsequential.

Not everyone had abandoned her though, Ghes hadn't left her side since before she'd met with the council, before…

Her hand went subconsciously to were the beads she'd worn as her Padawan braid had been for the two years she'd worn them. These two years since she'd been sent to train under Anakin had been the best of her life, thinking back on them. That might seem odd, considering all the horrors she'd seen during the war, how many times she'd almost been killed, all leading here, to this. But looking back at all the good she'd done, the friends she'd made; Anakin, Rex, the men of the 501st, Ghes… well, she couldn't think of much she'd do differently.

"You should have called me." Ghes said, breaking the silence they'd fallen into without the holoscreen.

"It wouldn't have changed anything."

Ahsoka had thought about that a lot after she'd woken up back in a prison cell, who she could have contacted, what she could have done different to avoid falling into the trap Asajj Ventress had laid for her. Nothing she'd been able to think up had helped the outcome.

"If I had, you'd just be on trial with me."

"I could have gotten you off world." Ghes insisted. "I would have gotten you off world. Everything was ready…"

"Stop that." She silenced him. "I couldn't run, not from this. Knowing what people would think of me, that they'd be hunting me for something I didn't do, I don't think I could live like that."

"Better than this." Ghes said, gesturing at the room around them but she knew what he meant. "I tried, Ahsoka, I tried everything, but none of it… I'm… I just feel so…"

Useless.

She didn't need to hear him say it, didn't want to hear him say it, didn't want to say it herself.

"I know." She said instead, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. "Don't worry, we'll think of something."

She looked into his eyes and forced a smile, he smiled sadly back at her. He knew she didn't believe that, but she also knew that he desperately wanted to.

"I know." He lied, moisture glistening in his eyes. "We always do."

It was strange, much as Ahsoka knew what was happening to her, what ultimately could happen to her because of it, she didn't worry about that so much as the people she'd be leaving behind. Ghes, Rex, Anakin, they relied on her. Who was going to watch out for them if she couldn't? Who was going to keep them from getting themselves killed? Kind of stupid to think about that now, she knew, but she did anyway.

There was a knock on the door, soft, cautious, like whoever was there was trying to get the attention of someone they weren't sure was sleeping and didn't want to wake if they were.

"Come in." Ahsoka called out, trying her best to keep all the stress she was feeling out of her voice.

Ghes stood up off the couch, wiping the tears he'd been on the verge of shedding away with the heel of his palm. It was the closest she'd ever seen him get to crying.

"Ahsoka." Anakin greeted her sullenly. He entered the room carefully, like he was walking on broken glass.

She knew her master well enough to guess at what had been going through his mind during all of this. A lot of it was anger; with the Republic, and with Tarkin in particular, for what they'd been doing to her, but even more so with the Council for not protecting her from any of it. He hadn't been letting it show in front of her, though, as if she couldn't tell it was there if he didn't, and he seemed to be treating her very cautiously as a result. Ahsoka suspected it was as much him trying to deal with the situation as him trying to protect her.

In contrast to her husband, Padme moved with the same confidence and purpose she always did, the grace under pressure that had always been her most admirable quality so far as Ahsoka was concerned.

"Ahsoka." The woman greeted her with the same somber tone everyone seemed to have with her today.

"Padme." She said in return, trying to keep up the small smile she'd been attempting to reassure Ghes with. She could tell immediately that it hadn't become any more convincing.

"Senator." Ghes said deferentially, sounding better now that he'd taken a moment to compose himself.

"Colonel Marczak." Padme said, smiling more convincingly than anyone else seemed able to. "Anakin and Ahsoka have told me a lot about you. I'm sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances."

"Uh, thank you, ma'am." Ghes responded, a little awkwardly. He moved away from the couch, silently offering for her to sit. "What your doing, it, umm… it means a lot."

"Anything to help Ahsoka." Padme said, seeming immune to whatever was affecting Ghes. She moved past him and Anakin and sat down on the couch, folding her hands in her lap.

"Thank you." Ahsoka said, wondering what she'd done to deserve even the few friends she had left.

"I'll admit, your position doesn't look very good right now." Padme said, clearly trying to sound very… diplomatic about the situation. "But Anakin told me that you might know who's really behind this."

"Ventress." Ahsoka growled. "I never should have trusted that witch."

"Yes," Padme continued. "I saw that she was involved. Admiral Tarkin has her as your accomplice…"

"She's not…!" Ahsoka started to yell, then caught herself. "Ventress tricked me. I thought she was helping me find out who was framing me, that's why she was there when Wolf tried to arrest me. I left her outside that warehouse to keep watch, but she must have been following me… she didn't say anything to me, she just drew her lightsabers and attacked. She's the one who's really behind everything that's happened, she has to be."

"Did any of the troopers who apprehended you see anything?" Padme asked.

"She was gone by the time I got there." Ghes said, shaking his head. "But she had to be the one that called in the tip, that's the only reason I can think of why tac teams showed up when they did."

Ahsoka had found out from one of the shocktroopers guarding her that Ghes had been the first one to find her, that he'd been trying to carry her out when he'd run into one of their teams and had to hand her over. It explained a little more why he'd been so frustrated with himself.

"If Ventress is our only lead, then we need to find her." Anakin said, speaking up for the first time since he'd entered the room.

"It's not that easy." Ahsoka pointed out. "She could be anywhere on the planet by now, and she's probably already been hiding here for months without any of us knowing it."

"I've been up against worse odds." Anakin joked. "And anything's better than waiting around here."

"So you're just going to leave?" Padme asked skeptically.

"I don't see what else I can do." Anakin countered.

"I'm going too." Ghes chimed in. "It's not like we have any other options right now."

The two men looked to Ahsoka. She could tell they were both reluctant to leave her, but also knew they needed to do something, to be proactive rather than feel like they were just waiting around for whatever was going to happen.

"Go." She told them.

Anakin nodded to her and started out the door. Ghes turned to follow, but hesitated, as if realizing something. He dropped to a knee in front of the couch and wrapped his arms around Ahsoka, hugging her tightly against his armored chest.

"I love you." He whispered, voice trembling a little, and she could tell he was starting to tear up again.

"I love you too." Ahsoka replied, starting to feel the pressure of building behind her own eyes. She kissed him on the cheek and then gently pushed him away. "Now go, find Ventress."

Ghes stood, clearing his eyes with a palm again, and nodded. He glanced briefly at Padme and blushed. He'd forgotten she was sitting next to them.

"Senator." He said sheepishly before turning and rushing out the door to follow Anakin.

"Okay…" Padme said, seeming just a little uncomfortable for the first time since she'd gotten there. "So I assume that means we're going to focus on delaying until we hear from them. I think there's a few things I can…"

Ahsoka wasn't paying that much attention as Padme started laying out her plan to make sure that the trial was going to last long enough to give Anakin and Ghes a chance, odd as that may seem. She had no doubt Padme could do what she claimed, at least for a while. It might even prove to be enough, but the thought that it might not be nagged at her.

"Padme," Ahsoka interrupted the longtime senator who was probably the calmest and most levelheaded person she knew, all things considered. "I need you to promise me something."

"What?" Padme asked, a little thrown by the question. "Ahsoka, what is it?"

Ahsoka sighed, this wasn't going to be easy.

"I need you to promise me that, if this doesn't go the way we want it to, if I'm… I just need to know you'll keep Anakin and Ghes from trying to save me."

"Ahsoka, it's not…" Padme began to protest.

"You know Anakin." Ahsoka continued. "You know he'll go off half-cocked on whatever plan he thinks might keep me from getting hurt. Ghes is the same way. If I get convicted, they'll either get themselves killed or get a lot of other innocent people hurt, and I… I can't let them do that for me. That's why I need you to promise me that you'll stop them."

It was a lot to ask, she knew. Hell, Padme barely even knew Ghes and Ahsoka was asking her to prevent him from… well, she'd seen what Anakin had done to save Padme, and she knew what she'd do if Ghes's life was in danger, so she had a pretty good idea what Ghes would do. Ahsoka trusted Padme, though, at least to keep Anakin in line if nothing else, and maybe she'd find a way to keep Ghes from throwing his life away doing something foolish for her sake.

"Okay." Padme relented after a long moment. "I promise."

Ahsoka smiled, still sadly, but, for the first time today, there was something genuine behind it.

"Thank you."

He didn't have any trouble with crowds, hadn't for a long time, and today didn't look like it was going to be different.

Clerks, aides, and the other assorted civilians that filled the halls of the Courts of Justice building scrambled out of Anakin's way as he stalked past them, in sharp contrast to the shocktroopers that simply sidestepped to make way and saluted. Most beings seemed to understand that it wasn't a good idea to block his path, whether that was because they knew who he was or they could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't someone to be messed with was largely immaterial, so long as they moved. Especially today.

Today, Anakin Skywalker was on the warpath.

Distantly, almost subconsciously he knew that none of what he was feeling, the anger, the hatred, the drive to protect someone he cared for at all costs, none of it was the Jedi way. That didn't matter to him, though, had mattered less and less over the years, ever since…

Not again, mom. I swore I wouldn't let it happen again.

He'd thought a lot ever since then about what the Jedi way was, what the Code said it was, what the Council said it was. As a child he'd heard the stories, the ones about brave, noble and powerful knights who roamed the Galaxy fighting injustice. He'd believed in those stories, enough that he'd been willing to leave his home, miserable as it might have been it was still all he'd known, to become a part of them.

And I was supposed to come back, mom, I was supposed to come and free you.

Padme had told him to remember what that crippled man, Lars, had said, that she'd been happy before… before the end. He tried to remind himself of that.

He shouldn't think about her at all, though, should he? That's what the council said, at least, and the Code. He'd loved his mother, he still did, and that made him weaker, interfered with his focus, made him less able to serve the will of the Force. That's what the Masters believed.

Anakin couldn't believe that, though, couldn't believe that his attachments; to his mother, to his wife, to his friends, could make him weaker. And he couldn't believe that their lack of attachment had made them stronger, especially not now that he'd seen what it had made them; callous, uncaring, willing to throw one of their own to the wolves…

He'd had issues with the Council in the past, even some where he'd be willing to admit with hindsight that he'd been the one in the wrong, but he'd never believed they'd do anything like this. Ahsoka had done as much as anyone in the past two years of war, more than enough to earn the benefit of the doubt. That they'd decided to go along with Tarkin's request anyway, out of what? Fear that the Order would look biased, that they'd be seen as acting above the law? That wasn't exactly the Jedi way, now was it?

"General." Marczak caught up with him just as Anakin was stepping out onto the landing pad where he'd left his speeder. "Hold up for a second."

Anakin looked over his shoulder at the man, wearing that camouflaged armor, of course, because he rarely ever seemed not to be, looking down at what appeared to be a civilian commlink.

No matter what he'd told Ahsoka or Padme about getting over it, putting aside his "irrational" hatred, he still didn't like this man.

It hadn't always been that way, of course, for a long time Marczak had just been one of his subordinates, an effective one who hadn't needed much guidance to get the job done. Because of that Anakin had respected him, had trusted him enough to let Ahsoka shadow him so he could have some alone time with Padme. He'd thought more than once since then that that had been a mistake.

It was natural to be protective, Padme had told him, but he had to respect Ahsoka's choice. And he had, but he still couldn't help but see Marczak as the instigator, the seducer, and it colored his opinion very… strongly.

Anakin had kept his mouth shut for a long time, though. He'd respected Ahsoka's relationship with Marczak, he'd worked with the man when he had to, he resisted the urge to keep sending him on suicide missions until he eventually didn't come back. He hadn't even batted an eye when Obi Wan had suggested they leave the two alone on Onderon for the better part of a month. So long as Ahsoka was happy and they kept a low profile, there really wasn't anything for him to take issue with.

But now things were changing. The heated exchange between Marczak and Tarkin after Ahsoka had escaped custody, the admiral knew, and he hadn't been subtle about making sure Marczak was aware of it. The colonel's reaction hadn't helped things, and a part of Anakin was wondering who else in that briefing had put the pieces together.

"Go home, Marczak." He told the man, continuing toward his speeder. "I can handle this on my own."

"What?" Marczak said as he started to follow. "If you think I'm going to sit on my hands…"

"I gave you a chance to help fix this." Anakin snapped over his shoulder. "You failed. Now it's my turn."

That had been another mistake, letting Marczak go off and leaving him to his own devices. Anakin had hoped… well, he wasn't sure what he'd been hoping for with that, but he knew that the nothing whatever plan the man had thought up had amounted to wasn't it.

"I found her." Marczak countered. "I had her in my arms…"

"…and then you got caught." Anakin finished for him.

"What did you want me to do?" Marczak asked. "Shoot my way out?"

"It doesn't matter." Anakin said, stopping next to his speeder and grabbing onto the side to climb in. "You got caught, end of story. Now stay out of my way so I can fix your mess."

"What's your problem with me, Skywalker?!" Marczak shouted, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Get your hands off me!" Anakin spun around and shoved Marczak away one-handed.

"All I want to do is help Ahsoka." Marczak continued. "Same as you."

"You are not the same as me!" Anakin snarled. "She's my Padawan, it's my job to protect her!"

"Don't pull that Jedi osik!" Marczak shouted back. "Not after your di'kutla Council sold her out! This isn't about any damned code you're the first one to wipe your shebs with anyway, this is about how you can't stand Ahsoka being with me for some reason I have never been able to understand!"

"I don't have to justify anything…"

"Yes you do!" Marczak demanded. "Ahsoka trusts me, why can't you?!"

"I did trust you!" Anakin screamed at the man. "I trusted you to watch out for Ahsoka and you took advantage of her!"

"What…" A stunned Marczak muttered under his breath

Anakin could see the man tense, and, for a moment, he could even feel a hint of his rage as it boiled over into the Force around him. Marczak lunged, throwing a powerful right cross aimed squarely at Anakin's jaw.

But he was too angry, not in control, and the strike was sloppy.

"You son of a…" Marczak swore as Anakin slammed him face first into the hood of the speeder. He struggled fiercely for a moment, but Anakin kept him pinned by an arm forced up against his back.

What did she ever see in you, Anakin thought bitterly as he looked down at the man trying in vain to free himself from his grasp.

"I was going to kill those men." Marczak admitted once he'd finally stopped struggling, voice beginning to crack as he continued and lost what little composure he had left. "I was going to kill them before they could take her. I love her, Skywalker, I can't stand the thought of losing her, but I didn't kill them because I knew what those deaths would do to her. I don't care what you think of me, but don't you ever think I'd do anything to hurt Ahsoka."

Anakin wasn't sure what to say to that, wasn't even sure what to think, really. The truth was, he understood what Marczak had said, probably understood it better than most beings could ever hope to, and it annoyed him. He'd spent so long casting the man as a villain, he wanted to be right about him, wanted Marczak to be selfish, shallow, manipulative… Anakin couldn't read Marczak the way he could most people, but in this case he just had to look at the mess of a man trying to maintain what dignity he had left to know he wasn't lying.

"Get in." Anakin said finally, releasing his hold on the man and stepping back.

"What?" Marczak croaked out hoarsely, turning to face him as he tried to wipe the evidence of his emotional outburst from his face.

"I said pull yourself together and get in." Anakin repeated, vaulting over the side of the speeder and into the pilot's seat. "Ventress has a head start on us and we don't have a lot of time."

"Right," Marczak said, unclipping his helmet from his belt and pulling it on over his head as he moved to the passenger's side of the craft. "About…, I think I might have a pretty good idea where she is."

The residential area Marczak led them to was not the first place Anakin would have thought to look for a Sith assassin.

That wasn't to say that the place was upscale, or even particularly nice for that matter, it just didn't seem to him like the sort of hole he expected a fugitive like Ventress to run to. Then again, Anakin didn't have all that much experience hunting fugitives, not compared to someone like Marczak who'd been a bounty hunter before the war, so maybe he wasn't the best one to ask about these things.

What he couldn't write off as easily was Marczak's behavior once they'd arrived. He seemed largely unconcerned about the possibility that Ventress might know they were coming, which she probably did since Anakin had been able to sense her from a few blocks away.

That was another weird thing now that he thought about it, he'd have thought Ventress would be trying to hide her presence. Did she think no one would be looking for her now that Ahsoka was on trial? If that was it, why hadn't she at least tried to hide once she'd felt Anakin searching for her? That she hadn't certainly made it less likely that she was setting any traps for them.

Still, Marczak hadn't elaborated on where exactly the tip they where following had come from…

This is trust, Anakin reminded himself, this is what we're trying.

As uneasy as Anakin was with following Marczak's lead, it was hard to argue that the man didn't know what he was doing. After all, he had found Ahsoka on his own without access to GAR resources.

Marczak stopped in front of an apartment door at the end of the fourth level. Anakin went to pull his lightsaber from his belt, but was surprised and a little confused by the colonel waving him off and not making any move for his own weapon. He was about to ask for an explanation when Marczak went a step further by knocking on the door.

"Colonel…" Anakin started, keeping his hand resting on his lightsaber.

"Relax, general." Marczak reassured him. "We're not here for a fight."

Anakin eyed the door wearily, unsure were Marczak was going with this. He could still feel Ventress, she was in there, but he wasn't getting much of anything else from the witch

"Gamma four-seven." A voice, familiar but definitely not Ventress, said after a moment.

"Alpha two-six." Marczak responded.

The door opened to reveal a man in gray aftermarket armor with a purple sigil on the breastplate Anakin didn't recognize. He stepped aside to allow them into the apartment.

"Sir," The man said, looking Marczak and Anakin over as they passed. "are we back on the clock?"

"Not yet." Marczak answered, taking off his helmet and tucking it under his arm. "Things got a whole lot worse, Vor, General Skywalker's working with us now."

"General." The man, Vor, nodded toward Anakin, taking the cue to remove his own helmet.

"Trooper." Anakin nodded back.

This explained why Marczak hadn't been worried about a trap, and where his tip had come from. But why was Ventress here with this trooper?

"Are you going to explain what's going on here, Marczak?" Anakin demanded, following the colonel further into the apartment.

They stepped into an open space that looked like it had once been a living area, though someone had replaced all the usual furnishings with weapon racks, lockers, and a single bare metal table surrounded by four similar chairs. There were three more troopers sitting around that table, helmetless and clad in the same armor as Vor.

"General!" One of the men said, all three hoping to their feet and saluting Anakin.

He returned the salute quickly and turned back to Marczak, crossing his arms across his chest and making it clear he needed an explanation before they did anything else.

"These are my men." Marczak began, gesturing at the troopers. "Well, I guess they're your men too, technically, but you get what I mean. I called them in to help me find Ahsoka and get her off world. When that didn't work out, I had them go to ground here."

So that had been his plan, then, to get Ahsoka off Coruscant. Not bad, considering the options, but not something Anakin could see her going for. Ahsoka wasn't the type to run from things.

"And here is…?" Anakin prompted.

"One of my bui.., my father's safe houses," Marczak continued. "Gear's his too, I'm borrowing it."

"Sir," One of the troopers asked Marczak, concerned. "what happened, where's Commander Tano?"

Marczak sighed.

"They have her, Niner." He told the man. "She's in custody awaiting trial."

"Who has her, the Jedi?" Another asked.

"The Jedi Council," Marczak began bitterly, glancing sidelong at Anakin. "has decided that Ahsoka's not worth sticking their necks out for. They gave her the boot and handed her over to the Republic courts."

"Bastards…" The third trooper muttered under his breath.

Ahsoka had certainly made an impression on these men, Anakin noted. But she was like that with everyone, wasn't she? Rex had had a similar reaction when he'd told him about the Council's decision, he'd probably be here with them if Tarkin hadn't restricted all the 501st elements on planet to their barracks until further notice. Anakin was really learning to despise that man.

"What about Ventress?" Anakin asked impatiently. He could feel that she was here, but he couldn't see where. "You said you knew where to find her."

"Show him." Marczak said, nodding to a datapad resting on the room's one table.

One of the troopers, Niner, Marczak had called him, passed the device to Anakin. On the screen was an image of Asajj Ventress, alone in an otherwise empty room, shackled to a chair with her arms around the back.

"She's in the other room, general." Vor explained, gesturing towards a door partially hidden between two lockers. "Feed's live."

"You caught her?" Anakin said disbelievingly. "How?"

"Found her unconscious in an alley near that warehouse where they caught the colonel and Commander Tano." The trooper continued, nodding towards one of his compatriots. "Stalker recognized her from the HVT roster."

"I didn't know they grabbed her until I reestablished contact on our way out of the court." Marczak added. "Figured it was best not to say anything anywhere Tarkin might have ears."

That hadn't exactly stopped him from very loudly arguing about his relationship with Ahsoka, Anakin thought, but that little "secret" was, admittedly, pretty low on their list of concerns right now. Ventress, on the other hand, was just what they needed to throw a spanner into Tarkin's overblown case.

"How are you keeping her restrained?" Anakin asked Vor, knowing all too well that the witch was usually more trouble than she was worth.

"Stun cuffs." The trooper said, pulling a small control device off his belt. "Took a few hits first couple of times she came to, but I think she's got the point now."

"Good job." Marczak said approvingly, looking at the datapad over Anakin's shoulder. "She say anything to any of you?"

"Haven't tried to talk to her." Vor shook his head. "Figured it was best to wait for you."

"Alright, then." Anakin said, placing the datapad back down on the table. "Let's see what she has to say for herself."

Marczak nodded, pulling his helmet back on as he led the way through the door Vor had indicated. The room beyond was bigger than it looked on the cam, but not by much, probably about three meters across both ways. Anakin couldn't imagine what the space had been originally, other than maybe some kind of walk-in closet.

"Skywalker." Ventress said, looking up at the two men as they entered. "Is this how the Jedi operate now? Sending your lackies to kidnap people off the street?"

Anakin glanced sidelong at Marczak and the slight nod of ascent the man gave him as he leaned back against the wall.

"Ventress." Anakin said gruffly. "You should feel lucky we need you alive."

The Dathomiri smiled thinly.

"Of course, your little Padawan." She spat bitterly. "I take it she didn't find what she was looking for?"

"You know exactly what happened to her, witch." Anakin growled, leaning down closer to the woman. "And you're going to tell me why."

The Sith assassin looked back at him disinterestedly for a moment, then cocked an eyebrow and looked past him to where Marczak stood off to his left.

"Who's that?" She asked. "Not one of your clones, I think, but I can't read him."

"He's none of your concern." Anakin said, shifting left half a step to try and pull her attention back to him. "Not so long as you tell me what I want to know."

"Ha!" Ventress laughed in his face. "Good cop doesn't suit you, Skywalker. I'm not afraid of either of you."

"This is a waste of time." Marczak scoffed, standing up off the wall and cracking his knuckles loudly. "I'll get her to talk, general, all I need is five minutes."

"I wonder what your stake in this is." Ventress continued, unperturbed by the threat. "A clone I could understand, they're like dogs, blindly loyal to their masters. But you… Why do you care what happens to Tano, unless…"

Ventress smiled slyly as she let the implication hang in the air for a moment.

"Is that it?" She asked. "Are you her little toy soldier?"

"I'll show you…" Marczak growled, trying to step forward only to be blocked by Anakin.

"Enough!" He snapped, as much at Marczak as at Ventress.

"I thought you would have taught her better, Skywalker." The witch scolded. "Or did Kenobi skip that lesson too?"

Anakin was well past his limit at this point. They had Ventress, they could turn her over to clear Ahsoka's name, at this point she was just trying to stall them.

"You're right, colonel, this is a waste of time." Anakin spat. "If she doesn't want to talk to us, she can talk to the court."

"Is that really what this is about?" Ventress scoffed, struggling against her bindings trying to lean forward in her chair. "I was helping your little brat!"

"Somehow I find that hard to believe." Anakin said. "You don't seem like the helpful type."

"I didn't go looking to help her." Ventress explained. "I was trying to collect the bounty on her head, but she convinced me I had more to gain from helping her."

"How?"

"Apparently you have the ear of people powerful enough to have me pardoned, though that doesn't seem to have done her much good." She continued. "She and I have a lot in common now, don't we? My master abandoned me, and now your precious Jedi Order's done the same thing to her, hasn't it?"

Anakin winced involuntarily. There was something about hearing the former Sith repeat what he'd been thinking that felt… wrong.

"I'm not buying it." Marczak shook his head. "Ahsoka said you followed her into that warehouse and attacked her."

"I never set foot in that damned warehouse!" Ventress shot back. "I was waiting for Tano to return when someone jumped me. Then I woke up here."

"Doesn't prove anything." Marczak said. "I've seen men take a blow to the head and get a few hundred meters before passing out."

"Or maybe I'm telling the truth and someone wants you to think I was in that warehouse." Ventress suggested.

Anakin looked over at Marczak and raised an eyebrow. Ahsoka had mentioned something had been off about the confrontation.

"Vor!" Marczak snapped over his shoulder at the holocam mounted above the door. "Did she have any weapons on her when you picked her up?"

"Just a small knife, sir." The trooper's voice came from overhead.

"That's it?" Marczak said disbelievingly. "You're sure?"

"Yes, sir." The clone confirmed. "If she'd had anything else, we'd have found it."

"Oh my," Ventress said, feigning surprise. "I wonder what could have happened to my lightsabers?"

"Ahsoka said she had..." Marczak began quietly, turning away from the woman and tilting his head closer to Anakin.

"I know." Anakin said, scowling.

"Could she have ditched 'em?" Marczak asked.

"I don't think she would."

"Well then what are we going to do?" Marczak said, an obvious note of panic sneaking into his voice. "She's our only lead, Ahsoka didn't talk to anyone else…"

"That's not true." Ventress interrupted.

"What?" Anakin asked, looking around Marczak at the woman.

"Tano contacted someone for information." Ventress explained. "How'd you think she found out about that warehouse in the first place?"

"Who was it?" Marczak demanded, wheeling back on the woman.

"I wasn't exactly party to the conversation," Ventress sneered. "but I heard a name. I think it was… Barriss?"

"Barriss?" Marczak repeated, dumbfounded. "She called Barriss?"

Anakin couldn't help but sympathize just a little bit. Barriss Offee was hardly the first Jedi he'd have thought of in a crisis, not that she wasn't competent, she was just very… reserved was probably the best word. She was Ahsoka's friend, though, and she was much less likely to be scrutinized then he or Marczak. But could she have had anything to do with all this?

"This'd better not be a trick." Anakin growled. "Otherwise…"

"Yes, you'll kill me." Ventress sighed. "Such promises, Skywalker. Now are you going to have your lackies release me, or…?"

"You go free when we know you're telling the truth." Marczak said flatly as the two turned to leave. "Save us the trouble of having to hunt you down."

It seemed like the longer this day went on, the less sense this was all making. As Marczak gave his men final instructions on what to do when they released Ventress, Anakin thought back to the last interaction he'd had with Barriss. It had been at the memorial for the Temple bombing victims, she'd been standing with Ahsoka during the service and he'd talked to her briefly. The young Mirialan had seemed distant, unfocused. At the time he'd written it off as grief, but could it have been something else?

"Do you think…" Marczak began once they were outside the apartment.

"I don't know." Anakin said, guessing what he was asking. "Maybe. Either way, it's the only lead we have."

They were running out of time, Ahsoka was running out of time, and what they needed now was answers. However much Anakin didn't like where it seemed to be leading, there was clearly only one way forward.

They were going to the Temple.

The Jedi Temple had always bothered Ghes. It wasn't the hardest thing in the world to explain, he'd never much liked Jedi and the Temple was the big, fancy building where all the Jedi were, ergo all his negative feelings transferred over. But it was a bit more than that, or, at least, it had been since he'd first visited the building, just a general sense that he was unwelcome, an outsider trespassing where he didn't belong. Maybe that was his Mando blood talking, a few millennia's worth of inherited grudges and prejudice doubled down on by his buir with the oft repeated fact that Jettisse had slaughtered the rest of his clan on a backwater world named Galidraan. Sometimes Ghes wondered if he'd met any of those Jedi, the one's that had been there, it hadn't been all that long ago after all.

That story, the story of Galidraan and the injustice done to Clan Marczak and Mando'ade as a whole had run through so much of his training. Jedi are treacherous, Jedi are hypocrites, Jedi are the enemy, repeated often enough that it was almost white noise to him, always in the background. Ghes knew everything his buir had known; about the Jettisse, about the dar'Jettisse, about what both orders had done to Mandalore over the thousands of years Mando'ade hadn't forgotten. Buir had even taught him how to kill them, though Ghes's more recent experience with Force-users had cast a little doubt on whether any of what he'd been taught would actually work. What it boiled down to was that he'd been programed pretty much from birth to hate Jedi, and yet he worked with them.

Necessary evil, was always the response to that thought, knew what you were signing up for.

It was hard to believe that it'd been less than three years, felt more like ten, but Ghes remembered. He remembered being eighteen and thinking he'd known everything because he'd been around the block on Coruscant a few times, it'd all seemed so exciting, a chance to do something outside buir's shadow, to fight a real war. He'd grown up quick, though, especially after Yavin.

And then there was Ahsoka…

You get paid to work with Jedi, no one's paying you to sleep with one.

Truth was, Ghes hadn't really considered Ahsoka a Jedi for a long time, at least not the way he did Kenobi, or even Skywalker, really. She was in a category of her own so far as he was concerned. And now she wasn't technically even a Jedi anyway, was she?

If there was anything that was going to make Ghes question fighting for the Republic, it was this mess. Tarkin he probably could have written off, petty, scheming, mid-rim nobility tended to be at the core of a lot of problems, but the Jedi Council…

Much as he might have disliked them, Ghes had never thought they'd do anything like this, he'd thought the only loyalty most Jedi had was to their own. But no, they'd let themselves get dragged into politics and bureaucracy, and now Ahsoka was going to have to pay for it unless he and Skywalker figured out who was really behind this. And, for that, they'd had to go to the Jedi Temple.

Everything was somehow even more dower than usual as Ghes followed Skywalker through the unnecessarily ornate halls of what he couldn't help but see as a monument to the Jedi Order's arrogance ever since Ahsoka had first shown him around. Something was getting to the Jedi, maybe it was the bombing still fresh in their minds, maybe some of them actually managed to realize what was going on around them enough to disagree with their leaders decision, Ghes didn't know. Whatever it was didn't distract them enough to change their reaction to him.

Ghes knew he made them uncomfortable, and he knew it was because they couldn't read him. Had to be disconcerting, being so used to casually intruding on people's thoughts, to know what they were thinking, what they were about to do, and then suddenly you find someone who's a completely unknown quantity. It would have bothered him.

There was something about Skywalker too, something that drew their attention, but also made them give the man a wide berth. That was something Ghes had never been able to pin down about his commanding officer, what it was that made Jedi, especially the younger ones, seem so awed by him. Ahsoka had tried to explain a little bit about it once, but all he'd understood was that it was some grade-A Jedi osik about prophecy and the will of the Force, or some nonsense like that.

Ghes tried to humor Ahsoka, because he loved her and didn't want her to think he wasn't interested in what she had to say, but he'd never really put much stock in Jedi mysticism. Sure, he couldn't deny that the Force was real, he'd seen what Jedi could do with it and he even had a sense of it himself, though he guessed that what he could feel of it was likely miniscule next to what Ahsoka or Skywalker was capable of, but the rest of it? He'd never seen any evidence of any grand plan or consciousness that was supposed to be guiding the Galaxy, the "Will of the Force" or whatever you wanted to call it.

There was a Mando concept that made more sense to him, the manda, a sort of oversoul, the communal spirit of Mando'ade. He wasn't sure if Jedi had a similar concept. What was it Ahsoka had tried to tell him about a "living" Force…?

Ghes stopped himself a second before he would have walked right into Skywalker's back. Silently, he chastised himself for zoning out and looked around. They were in one of the dormitory areas now, maybe the same one Ahsoka had a room in, but he had no way of knowing, really. Skywalker had stopped in front of the first door in the row.

The Jedi knocked and, a moment later, the door slid open to reveal a slightly confused Barriss Offee.

"Master Skywalker?" The Mirialan girl said, sounding genuinely surprised. "What brings you here?"

"Barriss." Skywalker greeted her. "Do you mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?"

"We?" She seemed to only now notice Ghes, standing about an arm's length behind Skywalker. To her credit, she took it in stride.

"Of course." She said, stepping aside to allow the two men to enter.

"You know Colonel Marczak?" Anakin prompted as he passed Barriss.

"Yes." She answered. "Ahsoka's… friend."

Ghes had only met Bariss once before, the one time he'd let Ahsoka convince him to come to the Temple for something other than official business. She knew, of course, about him and Ahsoka, though that seemed like less of a big deal now that he was long past caring about keeping that secret. What impression he had gotten of her was of a quiet, reserved woman, essentially the exact opposite of Ahsoka. It made a sort of sense that she'd been the one Ahsoka had contacted, now that Ghes thought about it without the kneejerk annoyance that it hadn't been him. Tarkin probably didn't even know Barriss existed, and he definitely wouldn't have had her watched the way he had Ghes and Skywalker.

What Ghes didn't understand, though, was what her connection to all this could be. Barriss didn't really strike him as the scheming sort, she had this air of earnestness around her that was hard to fake in his experience. Maybe a patsy, like Turmond had been? This whole mess was already too complicated…

"We were told Ahsoka contacted you while she was on the run. Why didn't you say anything?" Skywalker asked, walking past Barriss to the back of the room and fiddling with the lightsaber she had left on the dresser.

"I didn't want to get in trouble." Barriss said, looking annoyed at the older Jedi but not saying anything. "We've been friends for years. I was only trying to help her."

"Relax." Ghes reassured her, staying near the door and keeping the girl in between him and Skywalker. He subtly tapped a control on his gauntlet, bringing up a display for a voice analysis program he'd brought over from his buy'ce. "We just want to know what you told Ahsoka and if there's anyone else that could have had that information."

"I thought I had a clue for her, but I don't think I was really much help." Barriss said, eyeing both of them cautiously, but focusing more on Skywalker. "Did Ahsoka not tell you?"

"Ahsoka didn't say anything about you helping her." Anakin explained, still turned away and focusing on the lightsaber he was turning over in his hands. "I guess she didn't want to get you in any trouble."

"Then who told you?"

She sounded defensive, and Ghes watched as a slight tremor snuck its way into her voice. Nervous. Maybe a little bit more of a nudge….

"Ventress." He said, mostly to Barriss's back as she stayed focused on Skywalker.

"Ventress?" The girl spat back at Ghes over her shoulder. "Didn't Ahsoka say she was the one really behind all of this?"

"She did." Skywalker confirmed, half turning back toward her and putting the saber back down on the desk, though he kept his hand on it. "But we're not so sure. Ventress had some… interesting things to say when we tracked her down."

Barriss's back stiffened. Not much, barely a twitch, but Ghes knew he saw it. She knew something. More importantly, she knew that Ventress knew something.

"I'm sure she'd say anything to stay out of prison." Bariss scoffed, turning side on and looking back and forth between the two men.

"Maybe." Ghes shrugged. She was agitated now, would probably let something slip if they kept the pressure up. Had to be careful though, no telling what she might do if…

And the distinctive sound of a lightsaber filled the room three times over as Skywalker swung Barriss's saber at her head and two red blades rose to meet it.

Dammit, Skywalker! Was Ghes's first thought as his reflexes took over and he drew his sidearm.

He barely had time to train the weapon on Barriss before she stretched out a hand and sent him flying back into the wall. The back of his head smacked hard into the painted duracrete, at a bad angle because of how the wall curved inward toward the ceiling, and his vision faded quickly into black as he slid down to the floor…

The Jedi were gone when Ghes opened his eyes. He glanced at the corner of his visor, where the chrono should have been. It wasn't there, his HUD was dead.

Of course, he groaned inwardly. He pulled his bucket off, tossing it aside as he took stock of himself. His head was screaming, padding had kept his skull intact but hadn't done much for the concussion. Neck hurt like hell, lucky he hadn't snapped it hitting at an angle like that. His chest… by the shabla Manda his chest was on fire. Probably that one rib that had never really healed properly, but maybe one or two more on top of that.

Crazy little chakaar hit pretty hard for such a little girl, harder than Ahsoka ever had. So she had been going easy on him…

Wait, girl?

Barriss!

He pushed through the haze of pain and possible traumatic injury and looked around. The window was broken and if he concentrated he could hear what sounded like lightsabers coming from somewhere outside over the ringing in his ears.

All right, di'kut, up and at 'em, the motivational voice in the back of his mind that for some reason always sounded like buir yelled, The fight ain't going to wait for you to do your hair!

"I don't have hair, buir." He muttered back, more to help distract from the pain than anything else. "Helmet just musses it up."

He grabbed his pistol from where he found it laying next to him and started struggling to his feet. Moving didn't do anything to help his ribs and he felt the whole way like he was going to toss up the lunch he hadn't eaten, but he made it to his feet and braced his arm against the wall he'd left a noticeable indent in with his head.

There was no way he was climbing out that window in the state he was in, so he stumbled out into the hallway and found his way out onto a walkway overlooking what looked like a garden.

"Why'd you do it, Barriss?" He heard Skywalker yell over the clash of lightsabers somewhere below. "Why betray the Jedi?! Why frame Ahsoka?!"

The sunlight hurt his eyes, which was another bad sign, but he fought the compulsion to close them long enough to make out two blurry shapes fighting while a bunch of what looked like children scattered around them. He fell against the low wall that lined the outer edge of the walkway, bracing his upper arms on top of the barrier as he aimed his pistol two-handed.

"Because the Separatists are right!" Bariss snarled, managing to block or avoid all of Skywalker's attacks as far as Ghes could see. "The Jedi Order and the Republic they serve have become corrupt! By allowing yourselves to be caught up in this war, you've betrayed everything we stood for!"

Ghes blinked away the darkness that was creeping its way around the edges of his vision and tried to line up a shot on the suddenly loud-mouthed Mirialan, silently cursing his service pistol's designer for not putting iron sights on the weapon

"Ahsoka was your friend!" Skywalker shouted.

Alright, Ghes, only going to get one shot at this, he told himself, try not to hit any kids.

"She's no better than the rest of you hypocrites!" Barriss scoffed and gestured back toward the room where they'd left Ghes. "Consorting with that…"

Breath in, breath out, clear your mind, visualize the target, feel the shot…

Ghes pulled the trigger, watching as the stun bolt leaped from the barrel and caught Barriss in the lower back mid-tirade.

"So that's what it takes to shut her up…" He muttered, letting himself fall to the ground with his back to the wall he'd been bracing against.

"Colonel?" He heard Skywalker call out to him, sounding surprised. "Are you all right up there?"

"I'm good!" Ghes yelled back, giving a thumbs up over the wall. The adrenaline was starting to wear off now and he was fading fast. "Just gonna sit here and… black out… for... a… while…"

It didn't rain often on Coruscant. Like everything else on the world, the weather was artificial, controlled, scheduled…

Ahsoka watched numbly as the lights of passing traffic reflected through the droplets that collected on the transparisteel window of Ghes's apartment, feeling the cool of the material pressing against her forehead. Today was a rain day, at least in this part of Galactic City.

Most beings, beings who'd lived here all their lives, they wouldn't notice the difference. Sure, they'd look up for a moment, maybe make a comment to themselves, but that would be it. Then life went on, for a month, maybe two, before the next rainstorm made them look up again. So went the rhythm of life for the citizens of Coruscant.

So had gone the rhythm of life for Ahsoka Tano.

Fourteen years of her life she'd spent on this planet. Fourteen years she'd spent inside a square kilometer.

The Jedi Temple, the Jedi Order, had been her entire life for fourteen years before she'd seen anything outside it's confines. They'd fed her, clothed her, taught her, and in return she'd pledged her life, to the Order, to the Republic, to protect the ideals both ancient institutions, so entwined as to be inseparable, were supposed to be founded upon. And she'd believed to, she really had. Maybe not always in the minutia, but in the principal of it all.

When Anakin had brought Barriss into the courtroom, what she'd said… it was like a knife run right through her. Barriss Offee, her friend, one of the most dedicated Jedi she'd ever known.

Maybe that's why she'd refused the Council's offer. Maybe Barriss had just thrown the whole thing into perspective. Anakin hadn't wanted her to, though, he'd wanted her to stay. He'd said he knew how she felt, knew what it was to want to walk away from it all.

He didn't, though, he couldn't. She knew why he wanted to walk away, but it wasn't for the same reason that she had to.

She had dedicated her life to the Jedi, had given them everything she had, but in the end, what had it earned her? They hadn't stood by her, they'd thrown her to the wolves without hesitation. And now they wanted her to come back into the fold as if nothing had happened?

No, Ahsoka made the right decision, she'd walked away.

But knowing it was right didn't make it any easier.

"Ahsoka?" Ghes asked softly from somewhere behind her. "Are you okay?"

He was concerned, and she understood why. She hadn't said anything since they'd left the courthouse, what felt like a lifetime ago.

"Cyar'ika?" Ghes said, placing a hand on her shoulder, firm, comforting.

It had been easy at first. She'd hardly been tempted to look back as she'd walked down the grand staircase away from her old life, away from her master. She'd hoped, desperately, perhaps foolishly, that it would stay that easy, that it wouldn't catch up to her. But it had.

Ahsoka fought the tears, fought them harder than she'd fought anything in her life. But they came anyway, and they kept coming.

And, as she wept, Ghes took notice, sitting down beside her and wrapping her in his arms. He ran his hand along the side of her montal and lekku, soft and soothing as was possible.

"Shh…" He whispered softly. "It'll be all right, cyar'ika."

"What am I going to do, Ghes?" She sobbed into the window, her breath fogging the surface.

"You're going to get through this." He insisted, pulling her head off the window and onto his chest. "You'll get through this because you're too strong not to."

Ahsoka wanted to believe him, knew she had to believe him, but it was such a hard thing to do. Part of her screamed to go back to the Temple, to accept the Council's offer to come back, but the rest of her knew that was foolish.

"I've lost everything." She admitted.

"That's not true." Ghes countered. "You still have me, and I'm not going anywhere."

"You going to take care of me, Ghes?" She asked, sniffling and wiping away her tears with a palm.

"If you want me to." He said. "But I was thinking of something else…"

"What?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Wanna get married?"

The question came as a shock to Ahsoka. Not that she'd never thought about it, it was just that, with the position they'd always been in, marriage had seemed… impractical. But it was different now, wasn't it? She wasn't a Jedi anymore, and that meant she wasn't in the GAR either…

"Now?" She asked.

"Why not?" Ghes said. "I'll get a judge to sign off on a few forms, fill out some paperwork to change over my benefits…"

"You make it sound so romantic." Ahsoka said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, excuse me." Ghes joked before sliding off the seat and kneeling in front of her.

"Ahsoka Tano," He began, taking her hand. "Cyar'ika, love of my life, will you marry me?"

Ahsoka, despite herself, smiled and laughed.

"Yes, you idiot!" She said, falling into his arms and embracing him. "So, how do you want to do this?"

"We can do a Mando ceremony right now if you want." He shruu. "Only takes a minute."

"Really?" Ahsoka asked. "It's that easy?"

"I mean, I still have to do the paperwork thing tomorrow." Ghes admitted. "It's more a cultural thing, really."

"Let's do it, then." She said.

"Alright." He began, taking one of her hands and meshing his fingers with hers. "Repeat after me; Mhi solus tome."

"Mhi solus tome." She repeated, fumbling a little with the pronunciation.

"Mhi solus dar'tome."

"Mhi solus dar'tome."

"Mhi me'dinui an."

"Mhi me'dinui an."

"Mhi bajuri verde."

"Mhi bajuri verde."

"And that's it." Ghes said after she'd finished the last line. "We're married."

"Simple." She commented. "What does it mean?"

"We are one together," He translated. "we are one when apart, we share all, we will raise warriors."

She must have winced when he translated the last line, because Ghes suddenly seemed embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." He apologized quickly. "I should have left out the last part."

"No, no, it's fine." She reassured him. "It's beautiful, I like it. I just didn't realize…"

"You know I don't care about that, right?" Ghes insisted, taking her other hand.

"Ghes…"

"I'm serious." He continued. "I want to be with you, Ahsoka, no one else."

There was an earnestness to what he said, in his voice and in his eyes, that made her feel… grounded. With everything that had happened, everything that had gone wrong, everything that was going change, Ghes was still the same, still there for her, an immovable object amidst the chaos her life had become. It was what she needed now, support, a reminder that there were still people who cared about her who she didn't want to leave behind entirely.

Ahsoka leaned into Ghes and rested her head against his chest, smiling to herself.

"I know."

Author's Notes:

So, this came out way later than I wanted it to. You don't know this because last chapter's notes got cut off (last time I try to use the damn mobile app for anything), but I had initially intended for this to come out somewhere around the beginning of June, which it would have if a stable if shitty situation hadn't rapidly devolved into what it did. You all know what I'm talking about, and that's the last I'm going to mention it because I, unlike a lot of people, understand that attaching blatant political statements to any work connected to a long-running and widely popular franchise like Star Wars only serves to alienate people and spoil the entertainment that's supposed to be an escape from the dumpster fire that is human civilization. The closest thing to a political statement you'll ever hear from me is using the stereotype of the slacktivist college student to make fun of Lux Bontieri. Well, maybe I'll through in an offhand "screw the PRC" every now and then, but I don't see how that could be controversial anywhere outside mainland China or a Hollywood boardroom.

There, now that's out of the way and I can get back to my usual shpeal. Thank you, TragicFiction, for your for the compliment, I did work really hard on that last chapter after initially planning to just skip Ahsoka on the run because I didn't think I could do anything interesting with it.

Shanarchy, that one's on me, as I had intended to, and thought I had, included in the narration that Ghes's personal sidearm didn't have a stun setting, as heavy blaster pistols and rifles are sometimes depicted. I didn't though, so the resulting plot hole is on me. It probably doesn't help that, looking back, Ghes does switch back and forth between his GAR and Mando kit often enough that it might get a bit confusing, and I don't always draw attention to which he is using, so that is also on me.

One thing that is worth remembering that, while I have been changing a lot of details, I still follow roughly the outline of what happened in the show up to this point, so the end point of Ahsoka's trial and her leaving the Jedi because of it had to be reached. Now I'm free to pretty much do my own thing, because this is where Ahsoka's story in TCW ended when I initially conceived of this story several years ago. Obviously that's no longer the case, and the four-part series finale that ended up being one of the best in television history has put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm now that it's there for whatever I do to be compared to, but I will nonetheless continue with my original plan.

Talking specifically about this chapter now, it's one that I haven't been as sure about. It's definitely a bit more experimental, with that news segment at the beginning, and switching the POV from Ahsoka, to Anakin, to Ghes and then back to Ahsoka. Maybe it works, maybe it's too inconsistent with the preceding chapters, I don't know, but I do want to know what you all think.

The ending might also be a little cheesy, but it's toned down significantly what I was initially going to go with, so there's that.

I don't know how everyone feels about the bits I skipped, all the courtroom stuff and Ahsoka rejecting the Jedi's offer. Personally, I think showing the aftermath was more interesting, and that's definitely something that's still going t feature in upcoming chapters.

You know, when I first saw this arc when it premiered years ago, I wasn't the biggest fan of it. Looking back now, though, I think Dave and company may have accidentally stumbled onto something very poignant that I think a lot of people who've made careers in the military and in law enforcement can relate to; disillusionment. More specifically, realizing you've dedicated your life to upholding an organization that couldn't give a damn about you. Now, don't misunderstand me, being a soldier means being willing to die, it's part of the job description, but that's not really what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is your buddies getting killed because some bureaucrat is worried about how collateral damage looks on CNN, or being strung up as a sacrificial lamb because something went wrong and they've decided someone has to take the blame, or reacting to a situation the way you were trained to and getting strung up anyway because a bunch of Monday-morning quarterbacks decide it should have gone another way. This is the shit that makes people feel betrayed, and ,when you really believe in what you're doing, it's one of the most painful feelings you'll ever experience.

Now, this situation is admittedly a bit different, contrived for a conspiracy plot with a very black-and-white situation, Ahsoka didn't actually do anything wrong, but the effect is the same. The betrayal aspect is probably worse, actually, because if it all had been over a questionable call she'd made in the heat of the moment then there would always be that little voice in the back of her head wondering if what she could have done differently.

You ever have that? That voice of doubt nagging at you? Well imagine how bad it would be if someone had died because of what you'd done, and now you have people interrogating you and throwing everything you could have done in your face. That'll mess you up real fast.

And, on that cheerful note of insight, I'll leave you for a while. Remember, now that I've reached something that could be considered a natural breaking point, I'm not going to post anything until I have the remainder of Pt. II finished and ready to go. How long is that going to take? I don't know, and I've learned in the last year that promising anything concrete is just going to come back and bite me in the ass. I've got some other things in the works too, though; two Ghes-focused prequels and a sequel to Pro Bono, plus there's still the missing ending for my version of the Onderon-arc, so there's no telling what else I might do between now and the nebulous future.

Until the, though, thank you for reading, Jim out.