The Chase
Ahsoka, Captain Rex, Denal, Echo and Fives all sat in handcuffs along one side of a table in a small, windowless interrogation room in the Coruscant police department headquarters. All personal effects confiscated, they had been waiting for nearly a half hour for anyone to show up with information about what was going on. Echo easily wore the most worried expression out of everyone.
"And here I thought leave would be boring," Denal, sporting a wide, shaved stripe on either side of his head, snickered. He was the first one to break the silence.
"I get how we were dragged into this," began Fives, tossing a thumb in Echo's direction, "but how did this all start in the first place?" In reply, Denal and Rex stared right at Ahsoka. The Togruta huffed.
"It's not like I planned for this to happen!" she retorted as she tugged in vain at her binders. With Fives' and Echo's gazes upon her, Ahsoka slouched further into her seat and sighed. "It started earlier this evening with Anakin..."
Anakin Skywalker entered the mess hall in the 501st barracks to find Ahsoka, Captain Rex and Denal all at one table, cards in hand, in an otherwise empty room. The clones sat comfortably in their off duty uniforms.
"Really?" the general asked, nearing the table. "You're in the barracks of all places during your leave?" Denal and Rex merely shrugged, the former focusing more intently on his cards.
"Does this have anything to do with the rumor that the 501st is banned from that pro-clone club you boys go to at every opportunity?" Anakin persisted. "Lek-flesh... or whatever?" He folded his arms across his chest and stared at both soldiers in turn.
"I haven't heard anything about that, sir," Rex said with a shake of his head.
"Yep," Denal added quickly, avoiding eye contact, "me either, General." Ahsoka looked up at her master innocently.
"So, it's just a coincidence that you're here?" Anakin's gaze flicked across everyone in the party.
"Funny how the galaxy works, sometimes," Rex said, wearing one of the cheekiest smiles Ahsoka had ever seen.
"Yeah, who really wants to be out at a club on a weekend?" scoffed Denal. "Only everyone else would be there. Come on–" The trooper gave a grunt when Rex kicked him under the table, but managed a weak, "...sir."
The general pursed his lips. "I'm going to find out what you're hiding. I'd find out tonight if I didn't have prior obligations."
"Oh, right, the senatorial dinner," snickered Ahsoka. "That's gonna be the most boring thing in the galaxy tonight. So glad I don't have to go to those."
"S'what happens when you're the Chancellor's favorite," Rex grinned at her. He finally regained some semblance of propriety when he looked back to his general. "We'll probably still be here when you get back, sir."
"Don't wait up; looks like it's going to be a long night," Anakin responded with something between a huff and a sigh. "But when I get back, I'm going to find out why you're all acting so suspicious." He let his gaze linger on each of the three for an uncomfortably long time before spinning on his heel and leaving the hall, Ahsoka's gaze following him the whole time.
"Your move, kid," Denal prompted. While waiting for the Togruta to consult her hand of cards, Denal nudged Rex. "Think he's serious about finding out why we're banned, sir?"
"Eh, it's a temporary ban. Once it's lifted, he'll forget all about it," replied the captain with a dismissive wave of his hand. All the same, both clones stared straight at Ahsoka, making the girl wince.
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think the club was really serious about age limits... and I really didn't think they'd ban the 501st! I can't believe they even found out," she practically whined.
"Two weeks," grumbled Denal. "Of this." He smacked his cards on the table and glumly propped his head on his fist. Ahsoka perked up slightly.
"I have an idea!" The sparkle in her eyes was obvious.
"Your last idea ruined my leave," Denal shot back. Ahsoka scrunched her face at him and beseeched Rex.
"I know for a fact that Anakin does not have a dinner to go to tonight."
"That's all the general's been griping about this whole week," Rex said, exchanging glances with Denal.
"C-3PO told me there is a dinner tonight, but the Chancellor isn't going to be there. He said it's some political hoopla to sway more senators to vote for something-or-other, and Jedi weren't invited." Her white eye markings shot up into a meaning stare directed at both clones. "So, gentlemen, I ask you: where is my master going?"
Denal straightened and shrugged. "The general's a grown man. He can do what he wants."
"But he lied! To everyone! He's told everyone in the battalion that he's got this dinner tonight!" Ahsoka dropped her cards to wave her hands above her montrals at the seriousness of it all. "He's up to something!"
Rex smirked at her display. "For all you know, he could be on some super-secret Jedi mission."
"He's not. Otherwise, I'd be going with him," the Togruta stated, turning her nose up at the idea of being tactically left behind.
Denal shook his head with the ghost of a grin on his features. "You think too highly of yourself, little one."
"Hey, no," Rex interjected almost immediately. "Come up with your own nickname. 'Littl'un' is mine."
"Sir, you can't claim sole ownership of a nickname," retorted Denal with an expansive shrug.
"Yes, I can. I'm ordering you to come up with your own nickname."
Denal stared blankly at Rex before sliding a palm down his face, grumbling, "...Two weeks of this." Both soldiers turned back to the padawan's seat across the table only to find it empty. The closest door whisked open and Ahsoka stopped in the doorway, beckoning the clones with a wave of her arm.
"Don't tell me you're not in the least bit interested!" she cried when neither made a move to stand.
"And that's when you two came in," concluded the Togruta.
"Sir, we just wanted food," Echo defended. "And I'm still hungry."
"'Scuse us, Commander," a voice spoke up behind Ahsoka. Echo and Fives stood there in their gray undersuits, waiting for the Togruta to unblock the door to food. She smiled when she saw them.
"Boys! Do you want to help me? Anakin snuck off somewhere again and I'm going to follow him!"
Fives pointed to the mess hall. "Is he in there? I'd follow the general in there." He tried to squeeze around her anyway. Ahsoka obliged and focused her begging expression on Echo.
"It could be fun..."
Echo appeared to contemplate it before saying, "Sir, fun was getting the commlink frequency of that Twi'lek I met at the club last time. Who's been banned since then? This clone." He skirted the pouting Togruta, following his brother inside.
"That's not a very good excuse when you're the one too shy to contact her," she heard Fives retort from halfway across the mess. With a huff, Ahsoka scanned up and down the corridor from her spot obstructing the mess hall door. She gave an excited laugh.
"There's Hardcase! He'll help!" And off she ran.
Not a second after the door closed, it zipped back open and four clones hurried out amidst a chorus of, "No! Bad idea, commander! Just wait!"
Finally the interrogation room door opened and in walked a clone trooper covered in red markings. His visor swept slowly over each prisoner before glancing down at the datapad in his hand. "I am Commander Fox," he stated crisply. "They brought me in because they said clones were involved in this debacle. I didn't believe it at first, but now that I see you're part of the 501st, it makes a little bit more sense."
"What are the charges?" Rex demanded. When Fox's visor stared unwaveringly at him, the captain spat out, "Sir."
"Stealing a vehicle by driving it out of its allocated sector; reckless driving; not one occupant of the vehicle having a civilian driver's license, let alone the driver–"
"So piloting a larty makes me unqualified to drive a civvie sky sled?" quipped Fives.
"I've blown up things bigger than what we were driving," Denal added, as if that justified matters.
"I have fallen from greater heights than we were flying. We were completely safe," Ahsoka piped up, only to be jabbed in the side by Rex. Commander Fox looked at everyone down the row before shaking his head.
"Can someone tell me what exactly you were doing with a hover taxi tonight?"
"Well, we took a regular taxi to the sector in question, but we got... separated from another in our party," Rex began carefully.
Ahsoka sat beaming in the backseat of a Coruscant taxi, squished among Fives, Echo, and Denal. Captain Rex had pulled rank in order to get the front passenger's seat all to himself. Their Dug driver never once protested to the over-crowding; perhaps he had seen worse.
"Well, this is great," muttered Fives. "There are thousands of vehicles flying around out here. There's no way in haran we'll find the general."
"Except that I put a tracking device on Anakin's speeder..." the little Togruta practically sang, holding up a small handheld device emitting a holographic map that pinpointed two moving dots, one red and one blue. All clones slowly looked from the map to the deviously grinning padawan.
"And just where did you get your hands on a tracker, kid?" Rex questioned from up front.
"Oh... around."
The air speeder entered the lower levels of the planet where those that wanted to make an honest wage all too often were forced to compete with the riffraff trying to cheat their way into the privileged levels. Traffic in these parts flew so low that ground-level pedestrians were visible.
"There!" shouted Ahsoka, pointing toward a line of parked cars along the paved street far below them. The two dots on her projected map turned into one purple blip as their taxi landed on the road. The Dug appeared to be uncomfortable in this sector for the speed at which he took off again into the sky once Rex paid him. This part of Coruscant wasn't as bright or as inviting as what Ahsoka was used to. The neon signs were old, grimy. Establishments well on their way toward dilapidation lined the street; the buildings in this area were not much taller than two or three stories. There were a couple cantinas, small shops, and a diner. The many people wandering about all looked underprivileged, from their severely threadbare clothes to their time-weathered expressions.
"Are we sure we're in the right area?" Echo asked. Almost naturally, the clones had formed into a protective circle, all facing back to back with the little padawan right in the center. She pushed past Denal and Fives to lead the group out of the street and into a more concealed location between two buildings.
"Yes, see that red speeder in line? That's Anakin's. So he should be right around here." The map tracker was already stowed.
"Where exactly is 'here'?" questioned Rex. He squared his shoulders at all the passersby who hurled suspicious gazes in their direction.
"I think our shadowing just turned into an extraction," Fives muttered.
"If Anakin sees us, it's over!" argued Ahsoka.
"The Commander's right," Denal said. "We need to be smart about this. We can break up into groups to cover more ground while being inconspicuous. I'll start in there." He tilted his head toward the nearest cantina.
Rex gave a quiet laugh. "I knew you were up to something."
"I'll call if I find anything," announced Denal with a wave as he crossed the street. When Ahsoka looked back at the rest of the clones, Fives and Echo were already halfway to the diner. They shouted promises to call if they saw anything, as well. That left Rex.
At least one clone was focused on the mission. "Should we start with the pawn shop, the repair shop, or the five credit store?" Where all goods cost five credits or less.
Ahsoka's brow furrowed at the scant choices; none of these options sounded like normal places Anakin would visit. "Well, let's go down the line and see what we find," decided the Togruta. Just as she stepped into the street, a flurry of motion caught her eye from a nearby rooftop: a dark figure wearing a fluttering cape. In one bound, it scaled to the roof of the next building over, which stood almost two stories taller. "That's gotta be Anakin!" Without waiting for acknowledgement from the captain, Ahsoka broke into a sprint that catapulted her onto the roof of the repair store. Rex huffed.
"Always getting left behind..." he muttered to himself as he stalked out from the alleyway. "Jedi just assume everyone else can keep up..." Rex located a taxi landing pad on the next street over and commandeered a hover taxi, a sled-like vehicle where all occupants rode standing on a platform in the back of the transport. The captain piloted the vehicle back to the original street to scan the rooftops for Ahsoka. The engines whined under the weight of another body climbing onto the platform; Denal gave a shallow nod of acknowledgement to Rex, who had spun about almost defensively.
"Back already?" the captain asked before returning to his previous job of searching.
"Bartender told me they don't serve 'my kind' in there, like I'm some kind of kriffin' droid. I want to chuck a detonator into that cantina so bad!" growled Denal. Both fists tightened around the hand rails until his knuckles turned white.
"This is why you don't leave home unprepared," Rex chided lightly.
"Sir, if you have a thermal det on you right now, I will kiss you." Denal's eyes darted across his captain systematically, pausing on all the common areas where weapons were stowed.
"Unfortunately, I don't. But at the moment I need your help finding the commander."
"Misplaced her again, huh?" Denal pointed down the street at two figures lunging across buildings. Rex steered the hover taxi to glide at rooftop-level, well below the lowest lane of flying traffic. The two runners led them down side streets, into the apartment suburbs, and then into another business sector. Ahsoka only accepted a ride in their taxi after she missed a jump that the cloaked figure made with ease, and fell through the air. Rex positioned the hard platform to break her fall before speeding after the runner.
"Kid, I'm pretty sure he knows we're after him," he called over his shoulder as Denal helped the Togruta to her feet. Her commlink beeped.
"Commander?" came Echo's voice. "We just saw the General leave the five credit store. He got in his speeder and drove off." Wide-eyed, Ahsoka snatched the tracking map from her belt and turned on the holoprojection. Their little red dot was traveling opposite of Anakin's blue dot. Rex glanced from the map to the caped figure still springing across rooftops.
"Wait... then who are we chasing?"
"There are plenty of guilty people in these parts; take your pick," Denal said with a shrug.
"Turn around!" cried Ahsoka. Minutes later, their hover taxi zoomed back down the street of the diner and the five credit store. Echo and Fives, loitering in the same alleyway, quickly hopped on board when they saw their captain. Ahsoka shouted directions to Rex, who piloted the little hover taxi borderline recklessly. They nearly collided twice with other vehicles as they merged into higher altitude traffic lanes. With protests that Rex was going to kill them all, Fives elbowed his way into the pilot's spot.
"Faster! He's getting away!" Ahsoka shouted over the roar of surrounding traffic. Her eyes were glued to the holographic map. The group was once again traveling into the elite section of Coruscant: floating advertisements, skyscrapers, flashing lights... and sirens? All passengers turned back to see a police speeder flying directly behind them.
"You can take the wheel again anytime!" Fives shouted to Rex.
"And... that's that," the captain finished, staring almost defiantly at Commander Fox.
"You all are lucky there was someone willing to pay your bail. What I wouldn't give to see you in front of your commander when news of this spreads." Fox vented a disgusted noise before exiting, leaving all clones to peer around at the little Togruta.
"Well, Commander? What's the verdict?" asked Rex, grinning. A darker orange color tinted Ahsoka's cheeks.
"Nobody breathe a word of this to anyone, understand?" she ordered. "I don't even want to imagine what Anakin would do if he found out..." Two non-clone police officers entered then to escort the group through the station. Their handcuffs were only removed once the five were at the front desk where Obi-Wan Kenobi stood waiting.
"When I said, 'What could possibly be worse than her showing up at a nightclub,'" the Jedi Master told Rex, a hand firmly planted over his eyes, "I wasn't issuing a challenge..."
The group's personal effects were returned to them at the front desk, and Ahsoka took a moment to hide behind Echo and Denal to check the holographic map. Anakin's dot was blinking near the senatorial apartments, where the political banquet was being held. Her shoulders slumped. Maybe he hadn't been lying after all.
The next evening, Ahsoka sat with Captain Rex, Denal, Fives and Echo in the barracks mess hall playing cards. Anakin walked in and gave an exasperated groan.
"Guys, go out and do something with your lives!" he announced, nearing the table. "How can you waste your leave sitting around playing cards?"
"There are worse places to be, sir. I know," Echo announced. Both Fives and Denal, sitting on either side of the trooper, switftly kicked him under the table. A permanent, cheesy smile was plastered on Ahsoka's face.
"Personally, I've had enough of this planet. I'm ready to go back to war," Fives said, Captain Rex next to him nodding his assent.
"Well," started Denal, "I do have some unfinished business with this one cantina here, but no one in the armory will let me sign out a thermal detonator." Anakin looked around warily at all other table occupants to see Rex give an exaggerated roll of his eyes with a shake of his head.
"Fair enough. Cards sound like a great way to pass the time." The general sat down next to his padawan. "Mind if I join?"
A.N. Really dialogue heavy, but trooper banter is super fun to write! Also, I featured Denal in this chapter because the poor guy doesn't last very long in season 2. :(
I figure Obi-Wan pulled some strings somewhere along the chain of command and that's why Rex and his compatriots didn't get in trouble with the 501st. Good ol' Obi-Wan. Comments, questions, opinions welcome!