Chapter 24 - Road to Freedom

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. xD

Author's Note: In which very unexpected things happen. Kudos to anyone who wondered correctly about Echo's behavior in the last chapter. ;)

~ Amina Gila

Anakin can hear and see the sound of heavy fire as they run towards the waiting ship. Of course, Obi-Wan had to get himself in some grand mess. Typical. Dodging the artillery fire, they dash for cover behind one of the walls. A door to the building opens and a large group of crab and battle droids march out and start shooting at Obi-Wan's group.

With Ahsoka and Anakin in the lead, they run to the next wall for cover, trying to get closer to the ship. "Sorry I'm late," he states.

"How nice of you to join us," quips Obi-Wan, smirking despite the chaos surrounding them.

"The ship is surrounded," warns Ahsoka, peeking around the wall for a second before quickly ducking back, a blaster bolt nearly taking off her head.

"We need to launch a full-forward assault and take that vessel," insists Tarkin emphatically, waving his hand.

"We may have a bigger problem," retorts Obi-Wan. "Those turrets. If we don't take them out, they will use them to destroy the shuttle and prevent our escape."

"Which is precisely why we should get aboard that shuttle and use the weapon systems to decimate those droids," Tarkin growls.

Anakin totally disagrees with Tarkin, but they have to get to the shuttle. First, though, they need to take out those tanks. "Whatever we're going to do, we better do it fast," Anakin declares, standing up. Danger is humming in the Force, and it only takes him a fraction of a second to figure out why.

A group of assassin droids on speeders swoop in from the sky, opening fire on them. A huge explosion shakes the ground, throwing everyone down. Anakin scrambles up again, igniting his lightsaber simultaneously with Ahsoka. The droids circle around, swooping down again firing non-stop as the Jedi Masters immediately join them, deflecting back the blaster bolts.

Piell runs forwards, leaping through the air cutting off the head of one of the droids. He and its bike go flying across the platform. Anakin jumps into the air as the next droid zips by, throwing it from the speeder and taking over the controls. He fires down at the crab droids attacking clones, zooming out of the way as several of the other battle droids on other speeders start shooting at him.

As he circles around again, Piell jumps on behind him, deflecting blaster bolts shot his way. Anakin dives around the tower, blasting apart a bunch of the droids circling. Ahsoka dashes across the platform, jumping onto another speeder joins him in the air. She shoots down one of the other droid speeders, then blasts down at one of the tanks.

A group of assassin droids with shields march out, joining the battle.

"General Skywalker, a droid is manning one of those turrets," Anakin hears Rex say through his comm. "They're going to blow up the shuttle, sir."

"We've got to stop him," he yells, diving in shooting at the tank. A stray blaster bolt suddenly strikes his speeder, and it explodes, throwing him and Piell to the ground many feet below. He hastily leaps to his feet again as cannon shots begin raining down around them. Anakin ducks aside to safety. Ahsoka's speeder is suddenly hit as well, and she lands on the ground a short distance from him. "You alright?" he asks her worriedly as she stands up, ducking around a corner next to me.

"I am," she replies, glancing back out at the ship.

A sudden, surging sensation of dread swells inside him – not that uncommon in battles – and he turns to the ship. Echo is running towards it, picking up one of the shields the assassin droids were using to protect himself. One of the tanks is aiming for the ship, and Anakin knows there's nothing he can do about that. His focus is instead on the clone, one of his best friends, and he flings him to the ground with the Force as the tank fires.

The explosion is deafening, the ship transforming into naught but a pile of flaming debris. And just like that, their escape route is gone. Anakin sprints forwards towards the clone, pulling him to his feet. He seems more or less uninjured; his armor took the worse of the blast.

"Are you alright?" Anakin asks worriedly when the clone rubs his head. He must have hit it, not that that's a surprise, but something whispers in the back of his mind that this isn't right.

"I'm alright," Echo assures him, heading back to rejoin the others.

"We have to go! Now!" shouts Obi-Wan as everyone starts scrambling to their feet from where they were thrown to the ground from the force of the explosion. Ahsoka moves to set Artoo upright again, and the group breaks into a run across the hanger.

Obi-Wan's comm suddenly beeps as they sprint across the rugged terrain. "Master Kenobi, what has happened?" Plo's voice crackles through the line.

"I'm afraid we've had a situation with the shuttle," Obi-Wan pants as they keep running.

"By 'situation' he means big explosion," Anakin clarifies, tapping into the frequency on his wristcomm, so he can communicate as well. "We're going to need a rescue."

"It will be done," Plo responds, "I'm sending our cruisers now." The connection breaks, and the two of them glance at each other.

"We'll need to hold out until the Council sends a ship," sighs Obi-Wan.

"Not a problem. We've beat them once; we'll beat them again," Anakin insists with more confidence than he feels. They should, right? They already destroyed much of the security and droids present. The group continues at a fast pace, but it still doesn't take long for the Separatists to gain ground on them after they've had a very brief talk with the Council.

"They're boxing us in," Ahsoka warns worriedly as they retreat closer and closer to the edge of a cliff. She spins around to deflect blaster shots back at the approaching forces while Anakin steps over to the edge of the cliff and looks down. The only way they're going to get out of there alive as if they go down it.

"Lock in your cables," Anakin orders, firing his at the ground a distance away. Everyone else begins to follow suit. "Artoo, we need your droids to hold off the enemy as long as possible," he adds, glancing back at the faithful little droid. Not that the three reprogrammed battle droids are going to do much against an entire army of droids, but maybe at least they can slow then down enough for everyone to get over the edge of the cliff. Artoo beeps in the affirmative. "Good. Everybody, follow me!"

"This is sheer madness!" rants Tarkin and Anakin ignores him, pulling him down the cables anyway. Would he like to have been left behind? Because given all his whining, Anakin is beginning to wonder. The others start coming down after.

"Keep moving!" Obi-Wan calls

As everyone starts reaching the ground, Anakin stays in the back to cover for them and deflect the blaster bolts from the droids atop the wall. As soon as everyone else is safely out of reach, he dashes after to catch up. Now they're moving on to the meeting place arranged with Master Plo. Hopefully, they'll get there before the rescue team does.

"What if your Jedi friends are not there when we arrive?" Tarkin grumbles.

"Keep moving, and you won't have to worry about that, Tarkin," Piell retorts. The captain finally clamps his mouth shut. Thank you, Piell. Anakin's respect for the Jedi Master goes up a few levels, and he casts a worried glance at Echo when he sees the clone rubbing his head again. He must have been injured during the explosion, because he seemed fine earlier. Anakin really, really doesn't want to lose him – or anyone else – here.

"Did you hear that?" Ahsoka asks suddenly as they keep making their way across the brown rocks, tinted golden from the rivers of lava flowing past. The growls of whatever is being sent after them now piece the air again. Anakin isn't really sure what they are, but he knows they're nothing he wants to be running into.

"Yes, we're going to have company," sighs Piell.

"Those creatures are gaining," Rex warns as they continue walking in mostly silence.

"If they've caught our scent, they'll lead the droids right to us," adds Piell. Just what they need right now.

"We're gonna have to deal with them," Anakin declares at last. There'll be no avoiding it, and even if he doesn't want to, it's best to get it over with.

"What about using this cave to surprise them?" proposes Ahsoka, as they spot one up ahead. It's probably a good thing she's so skilled at sneaking around, Anakin decides. She has the uncanny ability to pick out the most unexpected places to hide.

"If we can get them to pass by, we can track them from behind," Piell says, "But we need a distraction."

"Leave that to me," Anakin replies with a grin.

Obi-Wan gives him a look. "... and Obi-Wan, of course," he hastily amends. The duo goes ahead with Artoo in front, allowing the others to remain behind and step into the cave. Anakin can hear the snarls of the creatures as they rapidly gain ground. Obi-Wan stops first and draws his lightsaber. Anakin follows his lead. He can hear their pounding footsteps now, though he can't quite make them out over the golden haze settling over the area yet. Artoo beeps fearfully in anticipation behind them.

Then all at once, he sees them. Three at first, charging at them with every intention of tearing them to pieces. Anakin raises his lightsaber as he and Obi-Wan move away from each other. The first runs right past Obi-Wan, and he cuts the second in half as it jumps over his head. Anakin throws two others into a nearby rock with a simple wave of his hand, stabbing a third straight in the heart.

Another sound catches Anakin's attention, drawing his gaze to the sky. Six more droids are flying straight towards them, on speeders. He deflects a few shots, then duck aside as two more of the creatures leap over him. Blue blasters fire from behind the rocks. The clones have finally come to help out. One of the droids starts shooting at him, and Anakin jumps backwards onto a rock, bracing himself to leap onto the speeder but one of the clones – most likely Rex – shoots it out of the sky first.

He senses it right before he sees it; another creature jumping towards him. Momentarily caught off-guard, he tries to roll aside, but it tackles him, throwing him onto a ledge slightly below. Normally, it would never have been a problem, but after having been electrocuted and taken the landing he did, after fighting for hours, he already feels totally worn out like he could sleep for the next two weeks. His lightsaber flies from his hand, clanking across the rocky ground, and he grabs the creature with his left hand, forcing its head away before it can tear his off.

It snarls, throwing its weight against him as Anakin struggles to push it back. He reaches out with his free hand, grabbing his lightsaber and slicing off its head. He throws its body aside and collapses back against the ground, panting. He wishes he could stay here for a moment. He can't. There's a battle to fight.

**w**

Ahsoka can feel the danger flaring through the Force a split second before an enormous crab-like droid clamors over the edge of the cliff, stopping right behind them. A couple more quickly follow suit. She whirls around, white lightsabers activating as it fires on the first clone, killing him instantly. Lunging forwards, Ahsoka cuts through half the droid's legs on one side and stabs it in the center. Piell makes quick work of another one of them.

"Go! Ahsoka and I will take care of the droids," Piell orders.

A third immediately opens fire on Ahsoka and she deflects several bolts away before flipping through the air, landing on its back, impaling it. Ahsoka jumps off the falling droid glancing back to see all the clones dashing away from the remaining crab droids as they were supposed to... except one.

He raises his blaster at the droid Piell is fighting and stands there for a long moment, almost as though confused before he suddenly fires. As the Jedi Master stabs his lightsaber through the center of the crab droid, the blaster shot strikes him in the back. What?!

The clone – Echo, his name was, if Ahsoka is remembering right – then whirls towards her and fires again. Straight at her head. Ahsoka dodges the blast, ripping the blaster from his hands and spins around to defend against the next shot from the advancing crab droids. If she can't focus on them, they'll overwhelm the clones, but why did that clone suddenly turn on the Jedi? What's going on? Why is one of the clone troopers attacking them? She needs to get someone to Master Piell right away, too. His injury looks fatal.

"Fives!" Ahsoka shouts after the retreating clones. He stops and looks back as Echo lunges for her again. She Force-throws him to the side, the temporary distraction allowing one of the crab droid's legs to slam hard into her, knocking her over. One of her lightsabers slips from her grasp as she dodges out of the way of the blast it fires straight at her head from only a couple feet away, blowing a smoking hole in the rocks.

Rolling to the side, Ahsoka stabs the droid from underneath and shoves the pieces of metal off her. Finally, the last one is down, but there's probably more to go. A snarl splits the air. One of the creatures that was attacking Anakin and Obi-Wan earlier leaps through the air straight at the Togruta. Ahsoka raises her lightsabers, slashing through it as hits the ground next to her. She stabs one of her blades into its head, killing it instantly before she hears the sound of another blaster shot.

Turning, Ahsoka spots Fives standing next to Echo who's lying on the ground. "I stunned him," Fives tells her. "I don't know what's happening."

"I don't know either, but you're responsible for him for now," she replies at last, hurrying over to Piell where he lies face down on the ground. Please still be alive. Crouching next to him, Ahsoka inspects the injury. It's serious, but he'll survive if they can get him treatment immediately. Treatment they don't really have on the Citadel. This is not looking good.

Sighing, Ahsoka picks him up as gently as she can and runs back towards the others. Piell may have to tell someone else the information, but he'd never trust her with it. She's pretty sure Fives is bringing Echo back to where the others are gathered, but she doesn't stop to check.

"What happened?" demands Anakin worriedly as he catches sight of them approaching with the bodies.

"We defeated the droids, but we have a new problem," Ahsoka responds grimly, gently laying the Jedi Master on the ground in front of Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"Master Piell?" calls Obi-Wan in concern as he kneels down to check his injury. As much as Ahsoka hates to say it, she doesn't think he's going to make it. They simply don't have the kind of medical attention he needs out here, and even if they did, the chances would still be extremely slim.

"I must tell you... the information," Piell manages to speak with difficulty. Ahsoka can already feel his life presence slipping. Obi-Wan leans closer, and she hears Piell talking though she can't make out what he's saying. Slowly, the life presence fades from the body.

Ahsoka tears her eyes away from Piell's still form, looking up at the others again. "Something happened to Echo... He shot Piell, then tried to kill me. Fives managed to stun him, but I don't know what's wrong with him."

"It appears that one of your men has turned traitor," Tarkin answers loftily. "Is it really that hard to figure out?"

Ahsoka gives him a withering glare. He's been getting on her nerves since the mission started, and if he doesn't be quiet, she might say or do something she'll regret. "He wasn't acting right. There's actually something wrong with him. I can assure you he didn't turn traitor like that." Ahsoka isn't sure what happened to Echo, but now that she has time to think of it, she can't shake the feeling that maybe somehow, this is connected to how Sidious is planning to destroy the Jedi. Maybe this is the first step in taking down the Sith Master.

"Echo's not like that," Anakin retaliates angrily. "I know him well. He would never do something like that of his own choice."

**w**

"We'll take him back to the ship and try to figure out what's going on then. We don't have time right now," Anakin says with a frown. This doesn't make any sense. Why would Echo be attacking his superiors? He knows there was that traitorous clone on Christophsis, but something about this feels different. Besides, he's known the clone for some time. They're friends.

"Taking him with us will only slow us down," grumbles Tarkin. "He's obviously a traitor. We should leave him behind."

"If he was really a traitor," Anakin replies coldly, "All the more reason we should take him to try and get information. Not like you're going to be the one who has to carry him." He turns his back on Tarkin, silencing any other arguments. No matter what, Anakin is not going to be talked into leaving one of his men behind on a mission like this. It's wrong, and it's not what he does. The 501st never leaves their own behind – a trait Anakin picked up years ago on Tatooine.

"Let us take this moment to honor Master Piell," Obi-Wan interjects, "Then we must keep moving. We're almost out of time, and he would have wanted us to complete our mission."

They gather around at the edge of the cliff overlooking the lava river far below, silence setting over everyone. The grim atmosphere is almost tangible, then Obi-Wan and Anakin pick up the body with the Force, slowly lowering it into the river. No one speaks, all of them taking the moment of silence to... remember. Moments like these are always hard, the knowledge of someone leaving this life forever, knowing that they'll never come back. No one moves until the body slips over the edge of the lava fall, disappearing from sight. Anakin can't help but think that it seems wrong to leave him here on the planet where he was killed far away in enemy territory, same for all the clones who died here, but they can't really take them with them... right?

**w**

"There's the extraction point," Obi-Wan calls as the group continues walking, soon coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff, overlooking a river of lava. The island is on the other side.

Anakin and Cody fire cables across to the other side. Rex and Tarkin are the first to climb on them. It's a very precarious position to be in, since they have to climb over the cables. One wrong move, and you'll fall to your death into a river of lava. Rex reaches the other end, then helps pull Tarkin to safety.

"Incoming!" calls Rex suddenly, pointing. Spinning around, Anakin looks up to see droids on speeders in the air zooming towards us, winding between the cliffs. Several of the clones and Ahsoka have started crossing the cables. He and Obi-Wan activate their lightsabers, deflecting the shots as the droids – and their commander – open fire. Rex and the other clones start shooting back. Obi-Wan jumps onto one of the speeders – causing the droid to start spinning wildly – beheading the droid.

Another speeder flies closer to Anakin. He runs up to the very edge of one of the ledges, jumping onto the speeder. His lightsaber flashes, cutting through the droid's head. Anakin twists the speeder, throwing off the droid and taking seat on it.

The lizard-like commander suddenly smirks evilly, shooting down at the cables connecting the land. Artoo blasts into the air, smoking up the nearby area, blinding the commander. A second later, a shot from one of the clones strikes the commander's speeder, sending it spiraling towards the ground on the island. He crashes a short distance away from where everyone is safely gathered. Anakin and Obi-Wan finish cutting through the rest of the droids, jumping off the speeders as they fly above the island. Down below, everyone has made it to the other side, including Echo. Good, because they really need to know what's happening to him. Fives is standing nearby to make sure nothing happens.

Tarkin picks up a blaster, firing at the Separatist. The creature leaps to his feet, attacking the slightly caught-off-guard captain.

"If I can't have the information," snarls the being, "It will die with you." It carries him over to the edge of the lava. They can't lose Tarkin. He has the information, and... while Anakin may not exactly like him, he's not going to let him die. Anakin runs forwards, but Ahsoka reaches him first, white lightsaber stabbing through the creature. She ducks aside as he howls one last time, falling to the ground. Tarkin hits the ground a moment later, standing up crossly as he rubs his wrist.

"My thanks, Padawan Tano," he says with the most gratitude Anakin has ever heard – which isn't exactly that much, before looking over at Anakin. "I see you've trained her well." Anakin refrains from commenting that he wasn't the only person who trained her.

"The rescue ship should be here by now," Obi-Wan frowns, looking up at the sky.

"So should the rest of the Separatist army," Anakin replies. Suddenly, a group of crab droids start crawling up from around the sides of the island, open firing.

As if in response, a gunship finally flies out from between the hazy clouds above them, heading for the island. "I believe you've worn out your welcome," calls Plo cheerfully as the doors slide open.

They all hastily scramble onboard, Fives carrying Echo. Anakin jumps on last as the ship starts taking off, the doors closing after him and shielding everyone from the remaining blaster fire. Finally, it's time to get out of there.

**w**

"How's he doing, Rex?" Anakin inquires, stepping into the room on the cruiser where Rex, Echo, and the rest of the clones are gathered. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are close behind him. Echo woke up a while ago, and Anakin is still very confused as to what could possibly have happened.

"I'm not sure, General," Rex replies. "It seems like he just snapped."

Rex steps closer to the clone. "Echo, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Captain," he answers, though he sounds and looks like he's in a daze. Anakin isn't sure what's going on with him, but he honestly seems to have no idea what's happening.

"What happened?" he asks.

"What do you mean?" Echo questions, confused.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" demands Fives.

It feels as though his mind is... fogged over. Something is preventing his thought process from working correctly. "Good soldiers follow orders," mumbles the clone. "Good soldiers follow orders."

Anakin frowns. This makes no sense. "What is he talking about?"

"I have no idea," replies Rex, waving a hand in front of his face. He only continues to chant the same words over and over. Ahsoka is looking more and more worried by the moment. Her gaze keeps darting to Anakin, and he gets the feeling she has an idea what's going on even though she isn't saying anything about it.

Echo finally raises his head, looking at the three Jedi in the doorway as if through a haze. "Kill the Jedi!" he shouts suddenly, lunging forwards, shoving Rex and the other clones aside.

Anakin reacts first, raising a hand and shoving Echo back into the wall before he can hurt anyone else. This is his friend, one of his men, and he's both upset and confused, but most of all, Anakin doesn't want anyone to get hurt here. "We should take him back to Coruscant to figure out what's wrong," Anakin decides. "I don't know what this is, but I don't want anyone else to get involved if there's a choice."

Ahsoka nods her agreement.

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