A/N: Well, this apparently has some actual followers (I never really expected anyone to be really interested in the rubbish I'm writing) and since I do have a general idea of where this fic was supposed to go, I feel kinda obligated not to leave you hanging. Note please, I wrote the first two chapters of this in 2013 or early 2014, and I never wrote down my plans for the plot, so this is just operating on memory of how I wanted things to go, mainly in this I can't remember how/when I was going to have Ahsoka discover Padme's pregnancy, and if I was going to push an Anisoka pairing. I hope you'll forgive my bad attempts at covering the gaps in my memory. I think I may also need to go re-watch RotS.

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING, property of respective owners etc.

Chapter 4

Contemplation.

Ahsoka hated it.

And yet, here she was, sitting on the roof of the Coruscanti military barracks thinking over the day previous' events. It was just so huge, everything that had happened. Elation. Revelation. Achievement. Loss.

So many emotions clamouring to be acknowledged at the forefront of her mind.

She let out a sigh, and closed her eyes while leaning backwards, breathing in the filthy night air. She wished she could just go back, past these tumultuous days and months to when she was simply a padawan, by her master's side, obeying the order's given with a smile and a spring in her step.

But she couldn't.

And hence her mind turned back to the events of the last day…

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It was somewhat in a daze that Ahsoka moved across the city, seeking something solid to cling onto. Senior General. Her. A Senior General. That put her on the same ranking in the army as Master Yoda!

As much as she felt slight fear over the consequences of command previously, she had 'merely' had a few hundred men under her command, not much more power than she held under the 501st. Now she had thousands under her direct or indirect command, technically including Jedi, and she was required as a tactician to help provide plans for the future of the war in session with the other nineteen of her fellows.

As far as the war effort was concerned, the only person who outranked her was the Supreme Chancellor himself. Her opinion and her views were now considered on a council that commanded the entire army across the whole galaxy.

Frankly, it scared her. She was seventeen, an age where a normal girl would be worrying probably about education, or boys, or something equally frivolous. She had the lives of thousands of soldiers, and dozens of worlds to worry about.

She stopped walking when a man asked if she was okay, and she realized her feet had led her to the base of the 500 Republica; the apartment building of Coruscant's elite.

"I'm fine," she muttered in reply, waving the doorman off.

"Are you here to see someone?" the man inquired, looking over the armour she was still wearing to the helmet that obscured her young visage.

"I…" she paused, what was she doing here? Her mind implanted a suggestion, seemingly from nowhere that felt right. She needed someone to talk to. "Senator Padme Amidala." One of the only people she could really consider a friend from her short lifespan.

"Alright, can I take your name?" the man's face was sceptical, after all as a doorman to this building of all places he must get a lot people who wanted access to the stars, celebrities and senators who lived here.

"Ahsoka," she replied, staring up at the heights of the sky-scraping tower, towards the penultimate floor with its glass roof. One floor down from the Supreme Chancellor himself's private residence.

"One moment please," the man stepped away with a finger pressed to his ear, exchanging rapid words with someone inside before a look of surprise coloured his features. "Head straight on in General Tano, four hundred and ninety-ninth floor."

"Thank-you," she replied, somewhat absent mindedly as she stepped through the wide doors into the huge lobby for the building, all with a red, Republican theme.

She received a few odd looks in her strange armour, and a few salutes from the clones in Coruscanti Guard colours. She simply ignored the former and nodded respectfully at the latter, her gaze focused on the turbo-lifts at the far end of the lobby.

The final few guards at the lifts made no move to stop her as she stepped into one, the doors sliding shut behind her.

"Four hundred and ninety-ninth floor," she enunciated clearly for the system to pick up.

"Confirmed," an electronic sounding woman's voice said in reply, and as Ahsoka turned to face the lift doors, the lobby swiftly disappearing as she sped upwards towards her destination. She didn't feel the acceleration, or subsequent deceleration as she stopped at the correct floor, and the ornate doors opened to reveal the antechamber of the Senator's apartments.

"Captain Typho," she acknowledged the man in his leather uniform and distinctive eye-patch who awaited her arrival it seemed.

"General Tano," he said in reply, bowing slightly, "I hope that this visit is for pleasure and not business." It wasn't surprising that the head of Padme's security thought her arrival might mean an omen of some kinda of danger to his employer after all the trouble she managed to get into, including with Ahsoka herself she had to admit.

"Just a visit for a chat between friends," she confirmed with a smile as she pulled off her helmet. "No dangers to the Senator as far as I know."

"That's a relief for sure," he replied with a wry grin. "Threepio!" he called over his shoulder, and Ahsoka felt a slight surge of affection as the bumbling golden droid shuffled into view.

"Mistress Ahsoka! How wonderful to see you again," he exclaimed as he approached.

"You too, Threepio," she said with a smile, "how's the leg-joint holding up?"

"Oh, fine. Master Anakin had a look at it after that business on Corellia. Please come on through, Mistress Padme is expecting you," she followed after the golden protocol droid slowly, moving through the door that opened into the main living area of Padme's apartments.

"Ahsoka!" the togruta found herself enveloped in a hug not long after stepping through, the smell of expensive perfumes and the latest fashion in silks pressing against her. "It's been so long since I last saw you." The brown haired woman drew back a bit to survey her.

"I know, I've been a bit busy," Ahsoka said apologetically. In-fact, the last time she had seen the woman had been when Padme had briefly given her somewhere to stay after leaving the Order, before she got her commission.

"I should say! Fighting battle after battle on the outer rim, and then bringing a Jedi into military court. I barely recognise you in all this armour."

"Yes, well, it helps stop me getting killed," she gave a little grin.

"Don't joke about things like that," Padme batted her hand against Ahsoka's arm with a frown.

"Okay, bad taste. Besides, you've changed yourself, you…." she trailed off, staring at the woman. There was something different, fundamentally different in-fact about her, but Ahsoka couldn't but her finger on it.

"Is something wrong?" the senator looked confusedly at the way Ahsoka was staring at her.

"Something about you…" the Force was pressing in on the togruta's temples, she could feel it trying to signal something important. She waved her hand at the woman, trying to get a feel for whatever it was and froze.

Of all things, she didn't expect that.

"Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka didn't know what to say, she was speechless. Should she even say anything? What if she didn't know? All the previous troubles she had entered the building with had long since fled her mind as she considered an even more pressing question; who had…helped do this for lack of a better term.

"I'm not sure if I should say…" she said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Padme replied with a worried expression, her gaze turning fearful as the togruta didn't reply. "Ahsoka, you can tell me. What is it?"

"I don't know if I should be the one to tell you but…" Ahsoka looked into the woman's soulful brown eyes, "you're pregnant." The look of surprise that crossed her face was brief, before she started worrying her lip and looking concerned. "I'm guessing you knew already then."

"I found out a few days ago…" the woman confirmed, pressing a hand down to her stomach as she stared at it with an odd expression. "How did you know?"

"It's force sensitive, definitely," Ahsoka said, reaching out with her mind to the little swirl of a disturbance in the woman's stomach. "Presumably a very strong connection to the force if I can feel them this early on, as you can't be more than two months?"

"Close to three I think," Padme replied, "b-but, you could sense him immediately?"

"Well I was already looking at you intently, and I know you normally. Wait, he?" Ahsoka frowned, "are you sure it's a he?"

"I just know he is, I can't say how," the woman rubbed her stomach thoughtfully, as if caressing the child growing within.

"Well it's pretty likely you're right," Ahsoka said thoughtfully. "It's not uncommon for women carrying a Force user to gain something of a connection themselves, just a sense for certain things. Don't be surprised if you know when someone's lying to you or you feel particularly perceptive over the next few months."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Padme replied, "I've more been panicking."

"Padme, there's no need to worry," Ahsoka placed a hand on the woman's arm to reassure her, "its wonderful news. I'm happy for you, I really am."

"You don't understand, I'm happy to be having a baby, but the situation…" her brown eyes were seemingly brimming with tears ready to shed, "I'm a senator, and my husband…we married in secret, because we're not people who are ever supposed to be together. How am I going to hide this from the press? And what about the child? The Jedi…." Realisation hit Ahsoka hard. She was scared for losing her child to the Jedi order. They practically leapt onto any chance for new younglings and took them from their families from a young age; they rarely let one slip past their fingers. And if Ahsoka could sense him this early one, then Padme's child was likely to be powerful one day…The Jedi would never pass up an opportunity like this, especially with their numbers depleted by the war.

"Padme, you need to stay calm. They can't force your child away from you, not even they have the right to do that," 'Though there are rumours they use mind-tricks to persuade parents,' she left unsaid. Padme didn't need to hear something like that right now. "You're a prominent figure; they can't just rip away your child as soon as he's born."

"But they'll want to," Padme stated more calmly than Ahsoka would have expected.

"Yes, I won't lie to you, they'll want to," she replied, and as the human woman sniffled she guided her over to a plush sofa. She waved a hand, and levitated a convenient box of tissues over to them, offering one to Padme, who blew her nose thoroughly.

"What was it like? In the Order," she asked quietly.

"I don't know, I haven't much to compare it to," Ahsoka replied, mulling over the question. "It was very ordered I suppose, we were taught to be quiet and contemplative. Passive, not aggressive."

"D-do you remember your parents?"

Ahsoka drew in a sharp breath at the question, and paused for a long moment before replying;

"No…my earliest memory is Master Plo giving me a piece of fruit, and then I vaguely remember arriving at the Temple." Her answer didn't improve the feelings of the woman slowly working herself into a panic beside her.

"If-if it was your child, would you let them go to the Order?" Padme looked deep into her eyes as she asked that, and Ahsoka knew what she meant; 'Do you trust the Order?'

"No," she answered honestly, "I wouldn't. And Padme I will tell you this, if that's your decision as well I will help you keep him from them. There…there are ways of hiding a force presence, and other such things. I promise you, I'll help." The woman's brown eyes regained some hopefulness through the unspoilt tears. "You helped me in my time of need, and you're one of my few friends. It would be pretty bad of me to do otherwise wouldn't it?"

A warm feeling spread through the togruta as the woman flung her arms around her, and whispered 'thank-you.'

It was for many hours through that night, that Ahsoka allowed the older woman to vent her emotions, her worries, and her feelings onto her. Many tissues were spent, and though Ahsoka felt awkward at times with all the emotion displayed which she had little experience with, she remained there. It was not until the sun had been up for a while that she withdrew from where the human was slumped against her, lightly sleeping, and gathered her helmet once more.

"Where are you going?" inquired a curious voice from behind her, and she winced, realising she had woken the woman up.

"I need to go out on parade to inspect my new troops," Ahsoka replied, holding her helm under one arm while turning to the puffy eyed Senator.

"New troops?" she asked confusedly.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention after all that stuff last night, that was actually the reason I came over…" Ahsoka rubbed the back of her head, "I got promoted." Padme's mouth formed an 'O' shape, and her head dipped to look at Ahsoka's chest where five burgundy dots were displayed over her left breast. Palpatine had given her the new decal before she left his office. "Senior General, 4th Sector."

"Mundi's old position?"

"Yeah, the Supreme Chancellor gave me the post last night."

"That was quick, the trial was so recently."

"I know, everything seems to be moving so fast recently. I'm kinda scared of being responsible for so many people."

"I guess it's the consequence of being competent," Ahsoka allowed her lips to turn up a little at Padme's comment. "You should take it as a compliment if nothing else."

"I suppose. However, I had better be going. It wouldn't do to be late for my first appointment at this rank," Ahsoka punctuated her statement by slipping on her helmet until it rested snugly around her montrals. "I'll see you around Padme."

"Ahsoka, wait," the Senator moved to her feet, smoothing out the doubtless expensive dress that had become crumpled by the impromptu night on the sofa. "I…thank-you, for last night. What you said means a lot and…well, next time you're on Coruscant, I'd like for you to meet my husband."

"If you're sure, then I'd be happy to. I'll confess, I'm curious as to who could steal your heart away," Ahsoka smiled beneath her face-plate. "I'll let you know when I'm back. Until then." She gave a small wave, and walked through the door into the antechamber. She paused only once on her way to lifts, mid-step feeling as if the Force had…changed somewhat, as if a ripple had passed through it. The sensation, however, was gone as quickly as it came, so with a shrug, she summoned the lift to take her back downstairs.

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"You are the men of the 4th Sector Army, of the Grand Army of the Republic. But more than that, you are a part of the greatest fighting unit this galaxy has ever seen. I like to think that when a Separatist lays eyes upon you and your brothers, that they have a need for waterproof underwear," a small wave of chuckles moved throughout the force standing at attention in the military sector of Coruscant. Almost all clones, and in the varying armours and uniforms of their position, be it shock trooper, pilot, navigator, medic, scout, or just normal trooper in shiny white. Ahsoka surveyed them all with a pride singing in her heart, and butterflies in her stomach. "Ours is a bold task gentlemen; to bring peace and order to a galaxy that is rife with those who would deny us our victory. Well, let it be said now. No matter who they are, no matter what they bring against us, and no matter where they are, we shall show them our determination. Our perseverance. Our will to fight. And then they shall truly tremble in their boots. For while there is blood in our bodies, and power in our weapons, we shall make a stand for what is right!"

Several cheers rang out through the wide open space where Venator-class cruisers were normally landed, and Ahsoka allowed herself a smile. She was about to continue when she felt a tingling, a warning. She cocked her head as the sense of foreboding grew, expanding into what felt almost like a physical pressure mounting on her montrals and she winced at the strain. The Force was echoing through over something, something coming from…..

She inclined her head to the sky and stared upwards through the smog of Coruscant to the skies above. Her hand absently pressed a button on her vambrace to change the frequency of her comms unit.

"Control Tower, come in," she said quickly, her senses heightened as she awaited the response. Something was about to happen.

"This is Control," came the answer of a familiar clone accent.

"Search the space above Coruscant, all ships incoming, ships leaving Hyperspace, anything," she commanded.

"Yes Ma'am," he replied. Ahsoka felt the eyes of her troops on her as she looked to the sky, silent to them in the middle of her speech. Zain was looking at her from the side with a tilt in his helm, concern radiating from him. "Nothing outside the usual, Ma'am, the sector is clear," came the eventual reply after a long few moments. Ahsoka didn't relax however, her premonitions were never wrong. She had learnt long ago to trust in the Force and what it would tell her. "Wait, the sensors…Hyperspacial arrivals, dozens of them!" A clamouring of voices were just audible over the communicator as Ahsoka felt her heart sink. "Kriffing Hell," the main man she had come into contact with eventually stated, before seemingly remembering she was still on the line, "Ma'am, multiple Confederacy cruisers just exited Hyperspace above the planet, and the guard on Coruscant are reporti-." She cut him off at that point, switching back to the frequency the speakers in the local area received.

"It would seem the Separatists feel like obliging our desire to meet them in battle. All men, battle-stations immediately! All hands to ships, I want everyone off the ground as soon as possible!" Her orders given, the clones hesitated only for a moment before they broke formation, running for the exit to the parade ground. "Zain!" she commanded as said commander rushed over to her, "I want all relevant information on the current situation, meet me at the Tempest. This is an assault on Coruscant."

A/N: Bit of a while between updates, and I can't promise there won't be on the next one I'm afraid. I'm swamped with work, and what free time I have is currently being spent on writing a DnD campaign I'm DM'ing. Still, I do sort of know where I'm going here, so I wouldn't count it as dead.