"Alright, I think that went pretty well"
To Ahsoka it had almost been too easy, slaying the guards outside had been child's play and like Ventress and Quinlan, she was no longer hesitating to kill. With droids it had been different, but with living beings it was something else. But now she was fully embracing the darker side of herself and butchering the lines of security like it was nothing to her and being this close to her final goal and this close to truly going back to where she belonged, she fought with every fibre of being that she had.
Now the outside was clear, they barged inside and Quinlan, herself and Ventress were easily able to slice their way through the panicked sercurity.
"This is amateur-ish, it's too easy" Ventress snapped supicisouly.
"It's clear they want us to fight them, this is just the warm up" Quinlan said, deflecting a blaster shot that landed in a Twi'lek man's head, killing him instantly "So let's grant them that wish and let's go!"
They made their way up a rickety staircase, at this point there was no security to speak of, reaching the first floor, Ahsoka looked at the end of corridor to see a door standing ajar and standing there was...
"Greetings, Missy, we've been expecting you" Cad Bane said.
"Oh isn't it great to meet up like this again, hon?" Aurra Sing purred, sauntering into view next to Bane.
"You'll pay for what you did to Padme!" Ahsoka snarled back at them, feeling rage build in her gut at their smug expressions.
"Well then go on, make us pay" Sing teased, "I must say I was so frustrated at you stopping me from doing it last time, this is gonna be great, give us a real fight, will you?"
"Oh don't worry, I WILL!" Ahsoka roared, she flew forwards, lightsabre raised in the air, as Sing grinned and rolled to the side and instantly fired a powerful blast at Ahsoka, which caught her lightsabre, knocking it off balance, Bane reacted a few seconds later firing openly at Ahsoka. From behind her she saw Ventress deflecting blasts from where Bossk himself had tried to flank the pair of them, Vos was out of sight, but no doubt, fighting.
"Aw, you brought a friend!" Sing teased "and my, my how the mighty have fallen, Asaji Ventress".
"How they have" she replied "The famous Bounty Hunters stuck cooped up in a house, getting everyone else to do their dirty work" Ventress snarled "When this is over, I'll kill you. Slowly, but surely and you won't die until I learn where Dooku is".
"Well then..." Sing said, lowering her gun for a second "You won't have to look very..."
Her guard was down, Ahsoka charged forwards, but was then stopped. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she panicked as Sing openly laughed at her.
"Oh honey..." she raved, her eyes alit with malicious glee "I wish we really could go all out on you, If I had things my way, I would do that..."
"But we have orders" Bane interjected "and you walked right into our trap".
"Indeed you have" came a new voice, a dreaded, cold voice that sent shivers up Ahsoka's spine. Recognising it, Ventress roared in rage and charged towards where Count Dooku emerged from the shadows, but a quick burst of force lighting sent her soaring across the corridor. She landed in a heap next to Bossk, quickly gazing back in front of her, Ahsoka could see Bane had grabbed her lightsabre and Dooku was approaching her, with his red lightsabre at the ready.
"The young are so foolish and headstrong" he muttered, "I can't say much other that my master ordered me to kill you once and for all".
"Why are you here!?" Ahsoka growled, trying to distract him from the killing blow.
"I just told you, to catch you by surprise and end your...!"
He didn't finish his sentence, Ahsoka (rather than rely on her lightsabre) used the force to catch Dooku by surprise, as part of the ceiling above him gave way, sending dust everywhere and knocking him back, his grip on her was broken as she quickly focused her mind as felt as her lightsabre (missing Bane's bony fingers) slip back to her, she ignited it.
"VENTRESS! GET BEHIND ME AND..."
"AHSOKA LOOK OUT!"
She turned around and her heart sank, Ventress had been restrained by Bossk, but then what did she have to look out for? If Bossk was busy with Ventress?
She found her answer seconds later.
"We know a massacre occurred here, that's why the Wookies attacked us" Rex summarised "It was led by General Grievous, the droids and... this other Jedi you mentioned. There's no way you could brainwash a whole army like that. A clone always obeys his Jedi General, even if it means the worst" he said, thinking back to Umbara.
"So the Jedi you mentioned, he must have given the order" Kix muttered "Then when he was finished, they simply slaughtered our brothers anyway, just like disposable garbage".
The other clones in the clearing, shuddered at this.
"It's Umbara all over again!" Jesse roared, the usually cheery and good humoured clone was now seething in rage.
But none more so than Anakin Skywalker.
"You know who led the 329th didn't you?" Rex said, seeing the answer on his general's face "It would be a Jedi who despises us clones, a Jedi with reason to go to the dark-side, a Jedi who..."
"I saw" Anakin muttered in rage, without thinking he sliced his lightsabre in a blind fury, decapitating the wookie in front of him, as Anakin roared in rage. He knew all he needed to know, as the clones cautiously backed away from their general, but Rex held his ground.
"Calm down General Skywalker" Rex demanded, facing him directly, Anakin glared back at him. But the fire in his eyes soon burnt out and anger was replaced with horror and shock.
Because he knew now, what a grave mistake had been made.
"Ahsoka..." he croaked in horror.
"Sir?" Rex asked in concern.
"But which Jedi was responsible!?" Cody growled, louder this time "and how could the republic cover this up!? If Kashyyyk was attacked, if a whole legion went missing...!?"
"A whole legion was slaughtered!" Scorch snarled, correcting him "The council were lied too, by the Jedi who survived! They said the clones were brainwashed by the Separatists and slaughtered the wookies! Because of the war, the whole thing was hushed up, the thought of the clones turning on them and their allies was... frightening".
"The Jedi council wouldn't do that!" Cody snapped "I can't believe any of this"
"Believe it" the quieter green clone said "We have no reason to lie to you"
"Yeah, me Boss and Fixer can't all be lying!" Scorch exclaimed, as Cody made a mental note of the green clone's name.
"One thing I struggle to believe" Cody began "Is that...?"
"We got caught and spared? Well the council needed somebody to blame, an elitist force of clones who'd masterminded the whole thing" Boss explained "We tried running, but grievous and the droids found us. Probably just confirmed our guilt when we ran, we were gagged so we couldn't explain ourselves. By the time our beloved Jedi in question contacted the council. Grievous and his droid pals were gone, it looked like he had solely brought us to justice!".
"This is too far-fetch..."
"You think the council are immune to stupid decisions!?" Boss snapped, as Cody fell silent, which only proved the leader of delta squad was right about that particular point.
"Only a few of them saw us, Master Windu, Master Luminaria and a few others... They agreed to keep the incident silent between them. I don't think the whole council knew. But regardless, against their better judgement and because of our certain Jedi friend, he convinced them, rather than take us back to Coruscant for a fair trial. To take us directly to Kamino, so Kaminoans could... assess us before we were brought back to the council".
"The council and the senate would..."
"Do you think the senate knows about this? Do you think anyone knows about this other than a select few Jedi!? Our traitor was very a good liar, he managed to convince the Jedi themselves that if this was made public more clones would be harmed. The army would lose support, then the republic would be in real trouble without a reliable force to defend it" Boss informed him, before continuing "To be honest, sending us to Kamino rather than making this news public was their way of sweeping this entire thing under the rug. We knew we'd be terminated, we knew the Kaminoans would come up with some genetic, malfunction excuse to ease the minds of the Jedi".
"So how did you escape?" Cody asked.
"Long story, we'll get to it a minute" Boss said.
"Then who betrayed the council? The Jedi Order? The republic!?" Cody demanded to know "Who was the Jedi!?"
"It was..."
"Quinlan..." Ahsoka trembled, the laidback Jedi's face was now a picture of rage, as he pressed his green lightsabre down on her own.
"...VOS!" Anakin roared, punching a tree and wheezing to himself, remembering how causally, the laidback Jedi had lied to him about the council and the chancellor. He should have known there and then Quinlan was not somebody worth trusting. Yet he brought into the whole act and sent the traitor (the one who'd slaughtered the wookies and clones alike) straight for Ahsoka and between the traitor and Asaji Ventress then...
He felt sick. This whole thing was planned to eliminate Ahsoka.
"She's... she's gone..." Anakin muttered hollowly, the truth dawning on him there and then.
"Sir, we don't..." Rex began, before blaster fire sprang up once again and the cry of "WOOKIES!" dominated the clearing. Seeing their deceased ally had sent the wookies into a fury as the second wave of the attack began, Anakin simply remembered igniting his lightsabre, the wookies were furious.
But he... he was something else.
"W-why!?" Ahsoka croaked understanding it all instantly, as Quinlan shot her a dark smile, as she held her ground, a surge of force lighting caught her off guard, she screamed and fell back next to where Ventress was being restrained. She looked up at Bossk's dark, fanged smile above her and Dooku savouring the moment for the killing blow. He fired another wave of the lighting at her as she withered and screamed on the ground, her body felt like it was on fire.
Eventually, her throat dry, her limbs numb and her skin smoking, she gasped and looked up to see Dooku had his lightsabre at the ready once again.
"HOW COULD YOU SIDE WITH HIM!?" Ventress screeched from above, towards a still grinning Quinlan "HE...!"
"Silence" Dooku snapped "Quinlan here made the smart choice, he'll make a far better assassin for me than you ev…!"
"FIRE!"
Everything was moving too fast, Ahsoka cleared her eyes to hear familiar blasters going off. She felt her heart soar and could barely believe it.
The clones.
They were here!?
There was not time to wonder about that however, a blaster shot had caught Bossk on the arm, he gasped and released Ventress, who kicked him harshly and retrieved her lightsabre's she charged blindly at her former master, who simply threw her back with the force, disorienting her. While this was occurring Ahsoka rolled out the way and down the stairs, a narrow shot from Sing missed her head by millimetres, as she joined the two clones that had shot at them to rescue her.
"AHSOKA!" One of them exclaimed, as Bossk howled and held his arm, while Bane rushed into the scene and fired two blaster strikes, that sent parts of the stair rails, splintering into a thousand pieces.
"FIVES! TUP!?" She exclaimed, recognising their armour instantly.
"WE NEED TO LEAVE!" Tup bellowed back and Ahsoka was in no room to argue with him. Ignoring her aching body she ran towards the exit, with Tup and Fives covering her escape, but before she could leave she heard a yell from behind her. She looked back to see Ventress had been grazed by a blaster shot from Bane. She couldn't do this much longer, she had to leave now, or she'd be swarmed and killed.
"VENTRESS! WE HAVE TO GO, NOW!" Ahsoka roared back at her.
Ventress' hate fuelled eyes locked on Dooku and then at Vos behind him, Bane readied his gun again, Sing was smiling and preparing to fire. Bossk was still clutching his arm, whereas Dooku's lightsabre was pressed against her own, she could have done it, tried to strike him. But she'd surely die in the process...
Something changed in her however, she muttered something under her breath and force jumped over the balcony, landing next to the clones she joined Ahsoka as the four of them retreated from the house.
"Find them and kill them" Dooku snapped harshly at Quinlan "Do not return to me until she is dead, is that understood!?"
"Yes master" Quinlan replied, he ran after them, cursing their luck. Everything was in place! That should have succeeded, that should have worked!
"Damn clones" he snarled at himself.
A/N: Okay everyone thanks for reading this chapter! Will clear up a lot of things in the upcoming chapters, like how the Jedi fell for Quinlan's lie, how the Fives and Tup suddenly got to Ahsoka etc... etc... now onto answering reviews, lionskingfactsguy3 now you know who the traitor is and what happened (somewhat) so I hope it's a satisfactory answer, if not feel free to leave a review as I'm fine with criticism and ccmonty yep thanks for the noticing the change little things like that help me improve as a writer and it would be stupid to ignore advice.
Now onto your review oykoyr, I'm going to be honest your words stung and lot and knocked my confidence, but I asked for honest criticism and glad you gave it. Looking at your review I can understand that killing Padme straight away was a "flat event" with no emotion behind it. and will honestly admit maybe I am slightly out of my depth writing this, as I'm not as knowledgeable about the star wars universe as others I've written. But I will say this, I am genuinely writing this fic as I enjoy what was established in the clone wars TV series and I hope to bring a lot of the characters and events together in this fic which is a set-up sort of AU universe where things have been altered to what I like.
Also I don't play tabletop RPG's but I understand your point about setting up a playing field that I can't compete with further on down the line, the lack of tension or planning you noticed is a fair complaint as reading it back the chapter does feel rushed and very point to point rather than have set-up for the senate meeting, indications of Padme's assassination or any set up with Sing and Bane etc which would have admittedly been better than just rushing into it and starting with an event which was purely meant to shock, along with just handling major characters as if I'm just throwing them in with their beliefs (such as Bail Organa being good, while the trade federation being evil-ish).
I hope the later chapters (I know you probably haven't read them, or might read this response from me if you're not interested in the fic, which is fair enough) are something of an improvement, with more planning and character moments set up. However if you still want to criticise or leave feedback you are more than free to do so, more so on what can be improved or what's horrible about this fic...etc... I think my main problem is trying to shove too many characters and events into much shorter chapters than I've written in my previous fics hence the lack of tension or impact it had on you.
So yeah, what I'm getting is that I'm not skilled enough a writer to take on a fic this ambitious, which is valid complaint but I will carry on writing this fic to improve and hopefully get better in the future, it wouldn't be professional of me to just ignore what you're saying, but I don't want to stop writing this either as I generally do enjoy updating this, hope to hear from you again, whether it be good or bad words you have for me!
So I hope you all liked this chapter, like I said any review or criticism I'm open too, so review away!