Soph-Katarina wasn't afraid as she watched her best friend assist the Chancellor in killing Master Windu. She wasn't afraid as he turned to her, his eyes glowing an unstable gold. She looked into them, silently pleading with him to stop, to go back, to be himself again. No, she wasn't afraid. All she felt was a deep, harrowing sadness even as her friend turned his lightsaber on her.
"Please, Anakin," she breathed. "They're killing us. All of us. He's killing us. Help me stop him. We can still fix this."
She was lying. She knew she was, but she also knew she had to reach him fast or he'd be completely swallowed up by the dark side. Unfortunately, he also knew she was lying.
"You know I can't go back, Soph," he told her softly, pacing toward her. She eyed his lightsaber and took a breath, pulling on the Force to steady and calm her mind.
Anakin stood directly in front of her. Soph breathed out slowly and nodded once. "It's okay, Ani. I… I forgive you."
She closed her eyes and waited. After a long, silent moment, he finally raised his lightsaber and flicked it on, letting it go through her heart.
Soph was dead. The last obstacle out of the way, he turned to Palpatine.
"What next, Master?"
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The light was blinding more than anything else, but it was also warm and almost… gentle. It wrapped her up and moved, taking her along.
She didn't know what was happening. One moment, she stood firmly in front of her best friend and biggest supporter as he killed her and the next, she was wrapped in what she felt and knew was the Cosmic Force. Her mind drifted to what she'd learned as a child. "There is no death, there is only the Force."
She knew she'd become part of the Cosmic Force one day, but she hadn't imagined the light of the Force would violently deposit her somewhere in a bright flash of light. She dropped to her knees and grabbed her chest, staring down at it, amazed.
It was fine. She was had a visible scar - how had it turned into a scar already? - where he'd stabbed her, but the wound was completely healed.
"What?" a voice shouted behind her. She spun around, her eyes settling on… a clone.
"Shit," she cursed, frantically reaching for her lightsaber. Pulling it out and turning it on, she held it in front of her defensively. "Don't move."
"Watch out!" another clone yelled. He tackled her and she watched as a giant eel threw itself in their direction. It soared over them and off the cliff, falling rapidly.
Soph pushed the clone off of her, confused. He'd saved her? Before she could say anything, the eel came crawling back. It tried to take a bite out of the man before her and she quickly threw him out of the way with the Force and spun to chop its head off. Without bothering to watch it fall, she turned, her lightsaber still in front of her. "Drop your weapon. Now."
The clone did as she ordered. She relaxed a little - he didn't seem like he was going to attack. She took a breath and finally looked at him. She saw the 501st blue and gasped. "Rex!"
"General," he replied slowly. "What's going on?"
"I don't… know," she admitted. She looked down again and touched where Anakin had stabbed her. Rex's eyes drifted to it and he tensed. He glanced around and lowered his voice so the other clone couldn't hear him.
"Kat, what the hell happened to you?"
"Rex," she breathed. "I don't… understand. Ahsoka said you attacked her."
He removed his helmet and stared at her with a deep frown. "Why would I do that?"
"Your brothers, too," she whispered. Horror over Order 66 was finally settling in, and it showed on her face. "Wolffe shot Master Plo Koon down. Cody turned on my Master. So many Jedi… dead. And… Anakin… shit."
"Go find the others and shut down the all-clear while I help the General," Rex ordered.
"Yes, sir," the unmarked clone nodded sharply. Rex waited until he was gone to move closer and touch her arm lightly.
"Kat, what are you talking about? Cody's here and General Kenobi is fine. Just… tell me what the scar is from. Please."
"Anakin. He… shit, Rex. He killed me."
Rex's eyes sharpened on her. "You're right here. You're fine. You… I don't understand."
"I felt it. Dying, I mean. It felt like my very soul burned. The Force, the Cosmic Force had me, and I moved and… where are we?"
"The Rishi moon outpost," he answered quietly, looking very concerned.
"Rishi," she repeated. "I don't understand."
"Sir!" a soldier called from above them. "The all-clear is off and the 501st is on their way."
"And the droids?"
"Taken care of."
"Let's get inside," Rex told her gently. "Then we'll figure out what's going on."
She sighed but agreed. It was a bit of a hike back to the base, but they finally got back to the command center. Rex sat her down and found water for her. "You don't believe me."
"I want to," she said softly. "If it all could just be a bad dream, but… I'm here, and this scar is proof."
"Cody," Rex called the other man, who had been giving them space. He made his way over.
"General," he inclined his head.
"Where have we been today? Why are we here?"
Confused, the commander answered. "We're on Rishi. We came to inspect, but there was an attack."
"The attack on Rishi," Soph whispered. "But that was… years ago."
"Years ago?" someone said behind her.
"Go help the rest of Domino clear out these droids, Fives," Rex told him.
Soph's eyes widened. "Fives."
"General?" he blinked. She stared.
"Remove your helmet, soldier," she ordered. He did as she instructed and tried not to squirm under her intense gaze.
"Fives," she repeats softly. Images of his death flash through her mind.
He'd been right, she realized. The clones were chipped. It explained why the most loyal clones in the entire GAR had killed or tried to kill Jedi.
Slowly, as she looked at the three men around her, she began to understand. "Oh. Oh, I… I see."
"What?" Rex asked.
"I died," she told them. "I was killed, but the Cosmic Force, it… it sent me here. It healed me."
"That… doesn't explain anything," Rex tells her slowly.
"Look, if I really tell you what happened, you won't believe me."
"Respectfully, General, you can move things with your mind. I'd believe just about anything you tell me about the Force.
"Okay, but you may change your mind about that," she warned. "Some information first. Cosmic Force is death, space, time, and healing. It controls it all. My current… theory is that when Anakin…" she took in a slow breath and let it out, trying to calm herself. "I died, and it sent me here - years in the past and to… you."
"Years in the past," Fives repeated. "How do you figure?"
She sighed. "Because, Fives, I… I watched you die in Rex's arms."
"What?" Fives and Rex ask sharply.
"And you were right," she said softly. "The chips must have been why Rex and Cody and Wolffe and Thorn and everyone else attacked us. You'd never just… you wouldn't. It was the chips, and you were right, Fives. Tup's really did malfunction."
"General… that sounds a lot like you're saying you traveled back in time," Cody told her cautiously.
Soph let out a short, amazed laugh. "That's… exactly what I'm saying."
"That sounds…" Fives took a moment before he continued, unsure how to phrase it without offending her. "No offense, sir, but that sounds unbelievable."
Rex sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. "Normally, I would agree. That being said, I believe you."
Her eyes widened. "You believe me?"
"You didn't have this scar yesterday," he nodded at it. "And it looks like it's been healed for weeks. You can do amazing things, General, but you've never been able to heal this quickly before."
"But if she's telling the truth, I… died," Fives said, looking troubled.
Soph sighed. Her mind was a mess as she considered the situation she found herself in. She was in the past. It was years before she'd died, which meant… "I can change it."
"Huh?"
"I can change it. I can… change it all," she whispered. "I can fix this. It has to be why the Force brought me back here, healed me. I have to change what happened, or we really will lose to the dark side."
"But General," Rex's eyes sharpened on her. "You said General Skywalker-,"
"He hasn't done anything yet," she snapped. She winced at her tone. "Look, I can't think of it that way. The man that killed me was not the man I've known my entire life. Something happened to change him, to corrupt him, and I have a damn good guess what it is."
"The 501st is almost here," someone called, walking back onto the command deck. He and three others stopped by the table, all looking rather surprised at the sight of her. "What's the General doing here?"
"Echo," she smiled softly at the familiar man. He hadn't painted his armor yet, none of them had, but she easily recognized the smart man in front of her. "And… I suppose this must be the rest of Domino squad."
"Sir?"
"Sit down," she requested, waving for them all to sit. They did, and she nodded. "I'll tell you boys what I've just told them. I died."
"You what," Hevy deadpanned.
"I died to my best friend, and the Force took me back here," she explained. She looked around and her brow furrowed slightly, a new question rising. "All five of you… how?"
"How what, sir?"
"How are all of you alive?"
The question had Domino exchanging a glance.
"I'm not back in time," she realized, taking in the situation slowly. "I'm… in a different timeline altogether."
"So you're… not from here?" Rex frowned.
Soph sighed. "No, I am. But- look, when time is changed in any way, it creates a new timeline. A splinter off of our own, one that changes depending on either massive or miniscule decisions and actions. That has to be what happened. I came here where, for some reason, all of you lived."
"And… where you're from, we died?" Droidbait frowned at her.
She inclined her head sadly. "Fives and Echo were the only survivors aside from Rex and Cody. Droidbait, you died to a droid. Cutup got eaten by an eel, and Hevy, you blew yourself and this entire base up to turn off the all-clear."
There was silence for a moment as the team took that in. They were looking at each other as if confirming that they were okay.
"What does it mean, if we survived, then?" Echo wondered.
She considered the question carefully. "I think… maybe it means you're meant to help me change things. All of you."
"I still don't understand how this is possible," Cutup admitted. "Time travel?"
"Mm, I understand your hesitance," she promised. "There's not much I can do to prove to you that I'm telling the truth. I can tell you of things that will happen, but you'll have to wait and watch it yourselves. In the meantime, I hope you can try to trust me, because I'm having you transferred to the 501st to work under me."
"We- sir, the 501st?" Fives asked, hope in his eyes. The 501st was famous among the clones. It was a well respected battalion holding the cleverest, bravest, and most reckless clones in the entire GAR. It also held two of the best generals, an opinion formed by clones because of the way the two respected and deeply cared for their soldiers.
"Yes," she confirmed. "If I have anyone by my side helping me, I want it to be Domino. Not to mention Rex and Cody."
"I'm out of the 212th, sir," Cody reminded her. "How can I help from there?"
"You can help me help Master Kenobi," she explained. "If I decide not to tell him, I'll need your help making sure things go as smoothly as possible."
"You won't be telling the Jedi Council?" Rex questioned.
Soph shrugged. "There's someone close to the council that will betray us. If Krell finds out I know how the war will go, how it'll end, then the man puppeting the entire war will find out and… I won't be able to do anything at all. No, for now, I only want you seven to know. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," they all said.
"Good. And Rex?"
"Sir?"
"I want them trained as ARC troopers."
Rex blinked. "All five of them?"
"All of them," she confirmed. "As soon as possible and as quickly as possible. If they're going to be my squad, they're going to be the best they possibly can be."
"Yes, sir."
"For now… let's go over some things that will happen soon. Proof of sorts, as delayed as it may be."
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Things had gone as well as she could've hoped. They were listening carefully, taking in everything she had to tell them. She made sure that they knew where they'd be heading to next. Things got held up, however, when she opened it up for questions.
"Did Echo and I die?"
Soph looked between Fives and Echo and winced. "Echo, you didn't die, but… you were captured by Wat Tambor and used by the Separatists for years before we realized you were alive."
"Shit," Echo cursed, eyes wide. "Years?"
"I'm sorry," she inclined her head. "We will protect you this time. We've failed you once and we won't be doing it again."
He grimaced. "Thank you, sir."
"Fives…" Soph sighed. "I think it's time to explain the chips."
"Chips?"
Looking between the seven clones, she felt panic grip her chest. They were all chipped. She didn't imagine that Order 66 was the only thing the chip programmed them to do. They could be forced to do anything. The chips turned them into slaves. "Fuck."
Rex's eyes snapped to hers. "Kat-,"
She shot him a look. His concern for her made him reckless, and it always had. She was pretty sure most of the 501st knew that the Captain and General were a bit too familiar. "Let me just… start from the beginning."
"That would be best."
"To be blunt, and I- I'm so sorry, all of you, but you're chipped."
Cody frowned. "Chipped, sir?"
"The Kaminoans put chips inside of you to control you. It ensures loyalty, is what they said, and suppresses aggression. But that wasn't all it did. Rex, I told you that you attacked Ahsoka and Cody shot down Master Kenobi."
"And Wolffe killed General Koon," he agreed. "Are you saying-,"
"The chips were activated, and I believe they forced you to attempt to kill any Jedi around," she explained. "I'm sorry."
"Fuck," Cutup whispered. "They're… controlling us?"
"Fives," she sighed. "You died for this secret. I wanted to help you, but… Fox got there. You tried to get his gun, to defend yourself, and he just- he shot you. You died in Rex's arms while I watched. There was nothing we could do. The Chancellor-," her eyes widened. She'd wondered why Fox had shot him instead of stunning him, and she quickly realized that he'd been in the room with Palpatine and Fives. Palpatine must've activated Fox's chip. "Shit. This is a fucking mess."
"I died for it?" Fives looked understandably troubled as he watched her.
"You did," she confirmed. "Your friend Tup killed a Jedi because his chip malfunctioned. You- I don't have all the details, but somehow, you found out about the chip and had a droid remove yours. You tried to present us with the proof, but the Kaminoans came up with the lie about the chips, you supposedly attacked the Chancellor, and… things went downhill fast."
"General Skywalker is never far from you," Rex told her. "He was there."
"Yes," she frowned. "He was furious. He's too fucking close to Palpatine."
"I don't understand," Droidbait admitted. "The Chancellor… has something to do with this?"
"Palpatine is the Sith Lord we'd been looking for," she explained quietly. The details of her death and the situation surrounding it made her feel uncomfortably numb. She couldn't help as the fury in her eyes fell to a dull numbness - one that was visible enough that Rex leaned forward in worry. "Anakin… he was manipulated, has been his whole life since leaving Tatooine. Palpatine has him too close. I'll have to be careful with that, make sure he loses faith in him and fast."
"He's a Sith Lord," Hevy repeated. "What?"
"He's the one that ordered the attack on the Jedi," she whispered. "I watched it happen. I watched the holo as it happened. Hundreds of Jedi, dying all at once. The shift in the Force was so aggressive that I couldn't breathe. It was suffocating. And then Master Windu was there, and I thought- I thought it maybe would be okay if the three of us could fight Palpatine off, but- but Anakin…"
"Breathe," Rex coached quietly. "We've got you, General."
She did as he instructed, taking in a slow, deep breath to try and calm herself. It didn't work. "He turned to the dark side," she told them, pain evident in her voice. "I watched him kill Master Windu, and then he turned to me. I knew… I knew, but I couldn't look at him as he did it."
"General Skywalker killed you," Echo realized, his eyes wide. "But they say you're the best team out there."
"We were a team," she agreed, staring down at her hands, where she was flipping her lightsaber around anxiously. "We've been best friends since he came to the temple. Obi Wan was allowed to take on an extra Padawan because of the war, something previously unheard of. We were… family."
"And he killed you," Fives' eyes flashed. "How could he do that to you?"
"He was seduced by the dark side," she answered flatly. "I saw it coming. We all did. After he lost his mother… and his fear over losing the person he loved the most, he was lost. I saw the moment it happened. He was broken down. He wasn't… the man that killed me wasn't Anakin Skywalker. Not anymore."
"So how do we change that?" Cody wondered.
"Therapy," she muttered, though she truly considered the question. "We need to find proof that Palpatine is behind this and quick. If we can get solid proof, he'll have to accept it. In the meantime, I'll try to keep him as stable as possible."
Rex's eyes flashed. "You're not going anywhere near him."
Soph's eyes shot to him furiously. "Excuse me, Captain?"
"It's not safe," he argued.
"That isn't your concern."
"Like hell it isn't," he growled, glaring at her. "You died once, I won't watch it happen again!"
"Rex!" she snapped. "Get control of yourself! I am not helpless. I could have stopped Anakin."
"Then why didn't you?" Droidbait questioned softly. Domino was looking between the Captain and General, confused. Cody just stared at them like they were complete idiots.
"I refuse to fight him," she answered, still holding Rex's gaze. "Anakin may have turned, but he is still my brother. What happened was inevitable, and I wanted him to live with his decision to end my life."
"You can't go back to him," Rex told her sharply. He took in a slow breath before adding, "Sir."
His poor attempt to control himself almost irritated her more. He'd already messed up, suggesting their… close relationship to Domino. There was nothing that could be done about it, so she narrowed her eyes at him. "And are you going to stop me, Rex?"
The question stumped him. He sat there, staring at her for a long moment before he finally crossed his arms over his chest and looked away and out the window. "No, sir."
"They're here," Echo told them, nodding out the window where they could see the Twilight landing.
"Let's go," she told them, getting to her feet. "There's much to be done, and I want you five sent immediately to ARC training. When you're done with it, we'll be removing those chips from your head."
"Not before?" Hevy frowned.
"Training is on Kamino," Cody explained, following her line of thought. They'd always worked well together, and she appreciated not only his friendship, but the way he'd protected her secrets. "If they try to mess with the chip at all, alter it, they'd see you don't have it and… well, we have no idea what that would do."
"Exactly," Soph agreed. "For now, let's get back to the Resolute. We'll start working soon."
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