Ahsoka was gone.
Anakin had woken up in a sweat, pain ripping through his body and fear coursing through his veins.
He had torn through the ship, rushing towards the quarters that had been issued to his Padawan- ignoring the worried calls of his former Master and concerned subordinates. He knew precisely where Ahsoka had been moments before- he had sensed her presence.
But he had arrived to find her room empty.
No signs of a struggle, not even an unmade bed.
She was simply gone.
Obi-wan had ordered a search be conducted of the entire ship- Rex had dragged Anakin to the infirmary to rest. Anakin had insisted on helping in the search, but exhaustion from the previous day's mission had quickly claimed him.
It had been a grueling few days spent on the citadel- Full of physical and mental torture- as well as the loss of men he had served with for years. Both Clone and Jedi alike.
He woke a day later to find Obi-wan sitting at the edge of his cot, a grim expression on his face.
Anakin wasn't enthusiastic about his former Master's demeanor.
They had searched the entire ship. Ahsoka had simply disappeared. Anakin ordered a search of the sector, but orders from the council had Open Circle- the Republic's largest fleet in the outer rim- redeploying to Ryloth.
It was happening again.
The last time Ahsoka had gone missing had been only months before, that time had been in the middle of a mission on Felucia. They had been part of a task force instrumental in removing General Grievous' forces off of the planet, and Ahsoka had been captured by Trandoshan Hunters- used as prey in a sick hunting sport that had the Reptilian creatures hunting down and killing Jedi younglings.
Ahsoka had solved the situation on her own- and escaped with the help of the Jedi Younglings and a Wookie named Chewbacca. But this was different.
Ahsoka disappeared from the middle of a Republic Battle Cruiser, in the midst of thousands of Clone Troopers who did not see so much as a Montral of the young Jedi when she went missing.
It was as if she disappeared into thin air.
No one had any clue how accurate that statement was.
In her first waking moments, Ahsoka was aware of a single fact.
She was no longer a living creature.
Upon reviewing the knowledge she had access to, Ahsoka became aware of the procedures performed on her physical body. Her brain had been mapped, copied, and essentially pasted onto a computer. Her Neurological make-up had been converted into lines of code.
She realized that the body was not truly hers, merely the body of the mental template used to create her.
The Template had been used, and then disposed of. Apparently it had been incinerated.
She retained the Template's memories- if only as a control variable in the experiment. In order to ensure she had adequate knowledge of the Galaxy without exposing her to the Databanks of the Scientist's Master.
She was unsure in regards to why she had been chosen for this particular project, but it had apparently worked.
She reviewed all the data she had access to, such as the video and audio logs the data terminal she existed within recorded. She was able to follow the actions of the sentient beings who resided in the laboratory in which she had been created. She needed more, and it was annoying being trapped inside a data terminal with no access to relevant or new data.
Ahsoka activated the Holographic projector she had been given- her orange figure flickering into existence as she surveyed the room from the confines of her data terminal. She was entirely alone, the Kaminoan Scientist and his droid assistants having vacated the laboratory for the night.
She was alone.
Her holographic avatar collapsed to the ground, and began to sob uncontrollably.
She was no longer Togruta. She was the Neurological mappings of a sentient being, a shadow of a living, breathing creature.
She was an AI.
She was nothing.
And so begins the Ahsoka novel we all wanted, in which Ahsoka essentially becomes Cortana.
Yeah, I know. Nobody wanted this. But I need it.
Enjoy?