As they left the hall of the temple, they found more soldiers making their way over. Before anyone could move, Soph pressed the button again and watched as they stumbled slightly, startled from the feeling of the chips deactivating.

Domino had formed a protective circle around her, something that she thought was a bit ridiculous. "You guys know I'm a Jedi, right? I can deflect shots. You can't."

"Better that we protect you needlessly than you die and the captain kills us," Hevy replied as they moved. She had to admit he had a point, but it didn't ease her frustration.

They took a shuttle back to the senate building. It was a risky move, but they needed a quick gauge of how many clones' chips had been activated. There weren't any issues when they arrived, and they managed to get into the building without being attacked. Inside, no one bothered them.

Soph sighed and looked at her men. "I'm going to do something stupid. We are not telling Rex about this, understand?"

Fives looked pained. "If you think he wouldn't approve-,"

"I do plenty of things he doesn't approve of," she waved him off. "But this is the most efficient way to deactivate these chips. It's certainly easier than walking the entire senate building to deactivate them."

"What are you going to do?" Droidbait asked, looking more and more nervous. He had a guess, and he had a feeling he was right.

"I'm going to call all of the clones in the building to the meeting room Senator Amidala uses," she explained. She almost laughed at the horrified looks on their faces. "Relax. Things are going well so far. It'll go well."

"Oh, don't jinx it," Hevy complained.

"If we're doing this, we should do it now," Cutup told her. "Before whoever did this manages to activate more chips."

Soph gave a firm nod. "I just need to figure out how to… Oh! I'm a general."

"Yes, you are," Echo said, amused.

"Hold on," she said, grabbing her datapad. She spent a moment messing with it before she nodded firmly. "I sent a memo ordering everyone to the meeting room. It's decently large, so it should fit most if not all of them. If I recall correctly, there's at max around a hundred men in the building at all times. Well within the range of the transmitter."

"Let's get moving, then," Cutup suggested.

It didn't take long to get to the room in question. There were already some men there, so Soph was led inside by Domino. When no one attacked, she stepped outside of the protective circle to stand at the front of the room.

It took a while for everyone to get there. Soph waited patiently, more than ready for an attack.

Once the doors were closed, she scanned the crowd. Her eyes settled on a familiar man and she smiled softly at him. "How do you feel, Fox?"

"Fine, sir," he said slowly. "Although I won't say I understand what happened. One moment, I was guarding the Chancellor, and the next-,"

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "You didn't deserve that. The situation is complicated, but Palpatine was controlling you via a chip he had implanted in every clone's brain. He said the magic words and you attacked. We were prepared for it, and we don't blame you for it."

"We're chipped?" someone asked, horrified. Soph nodded grimly.

"It wasn't just Fox," she told them. "More of you just attacked us at the Jedi Temple. Were any of you there?"

"I was," someone from the back of the room said reluctantly. "Sorry, sir."

"We were more than prepared for the attack. I appreciate the honesty, soldier. I have some questions - who activated your chip and how?"

"His name was General Tambor," he answered slowly. "I'm a comm officer. He called and said- er, I don't want to repeat it, just in case."

"We know the words, and him," she said uneasily. She glanced at Echo in concern. He stood unnaturally still and she grimaced. She was sure he was remembering things he was never meant to know about. She wished she could help, but there was a job to do.

"Can they be removed?" a man to her right asked. "The chips."

"They can be, but we don't have to remove them," Soph said. She nodded at Echo. "Echo worked with the 501st's most talented medics and came up with a device that successfully deactivates the chips. I have one with me now. You'll feel something… different, but it isn't painful."

"And we'll be…" a soldier began, but he didn't seem to know how to finish the question.

"You'll be okay," she said gently. I'm going to use it now."

Soph turned on the transmitter. It sent out a pulse and, just like that, they were free.

"It does feel different," a man at the front said. "Like it's… lighter."

"Thank you," Fox said earnestly. "You have no idea what you've done for us today."

"You don't deserve what those chips did to you," she replied quietly. "No one does. But I'm leaving this with you, Fox. I need your help freeing your brothers. There'll be Jedi helping, but we need all the assistance we can get."

"Of course, general," he took the transmitter gratefully.

"I'll send you my personal datapad I.D.," she said, doing so as she spoke. "I want updates every rotation, Commander."

"At the very least," he promised.

Soph let out a small sigh of relief. They were making progress.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Cody was amused and he didn't bother hiding it.

Rex stood, waiting for a response. Soph had her arms crossed over her chest stubbornly.

"It sounds exactly like any other plan she makes," Cody shrugged. "It went well, too. I don't see the problem."

"And I had my men with me," Soph added. "It was fine. We handled it."

"We can't win this war if you continue being so reckless," Rex told her. "We need you alive, Kat."

"And I am," she snapped. "I'm not being outrageously reckless, Rex."

"Just her usual amount," Cody said, gaining glares from both of them. He coughed to hide his laugh.

"You're mad because you're scared I'm going to die," Soph told Rex sharply.

"Because you already did," he answered.

"Rex, I love you, but get your head out of your ass," she glared. "This war is bigger than either of us. I'm going to live, and I need you to trust in that again. Please."

"I'm going to… go," Cody said. He'd been there for many of their fights, being one of their closest friends, but that one was a bit too personal for his comfort.

"Stay," Soph said. Cody grimaced, recognizing it was less of a request and more of an order.

He hated when she did that.

Rex was quiet. "You can't die again."

"I'm not going to," she said, her voice softer now. "But I need you at your best, love. You trusted me and my stupid plans before. I just need you to trust me again."

"If you died before-,"

"I didn't die from a plan I made," she reminded him. "I died from a betrayal. It's different."

He frowned. She was right, he knew. He was just so scared, but she had a point - nothing she'd done had caused her death, aside from her refusal to fight Anakin. "You're right. It is different."

Cody breathed out in relief. Truthfully, he'd known Rex was in the wrong, but his friend was extremely stubborn. Soph had finally gotten through to him, and Cody couldn't have been more grateful.

Though he did sometimes feel like a marriage counselor, he didn't mind. It wasn't as if they had many options to talk about their problems with. Cody was the most impartial person they could go to. He also found their arguments amusing, most of the time.

"Thank you," she breathed. "Now we need to go back to Serreno."

Rex raised an eyebrow. "Dooku?"

"Dooku," Soph agreed. She glanced at Cody and grinned. "Wanna join us?"

"If we weren't in the Outer Rim, I would," he said. "You guys have fun."

"Doubtful," Soph scrunched up her nose. "But thank you. We'll let you know what happens. Good luck, Cody."

He snapped off a two fingered salute and turned off his holo projector.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"How're you doing?"

Echo glanced at her. He took a shot and set down his rifle before turning to her. She'd tracked him to the shooting range and was leaning against the wall with her hands behind her back. "I'm good."

She sighed. "I talked to Fives, too. He said you've been here all day."

"I have been," he said. "I didn't realize it had gotten so late."

"I wanted to make sure you're okay," she explained. "You know things you were never meant to know. Wat Tambor-,"

"Has never met me," he interrupted. He'd have apologized if he wasn't so tense. She frowned in concern rather than irritation. "I can't hold a grudge against someone that's never actually done anything to me."

"He did in a past life, and you know about it. You experienced it through that life. What you went through had to have been traumatizing."

"Yes," he agreed shortly.

"Look, I know about someone messing with your head," she said quietly. "Controlling what you do. It's… the worst, deepest hopeless feeling that there is. It's okay if you're not okay."

Echo frowned. "Can I ask… what happened?"

"Dooku," she replied. She looked deeply vulnerable, and he knew he'd stumbled on something he wasn't sure he was meant to know. "Last time… when we met, he used me. He invaded my mind and controlled it. Even with Jedi and Sith, it's possible to do, if you're talented enough. He got many, many dangerous secrets out of me before Anakin and Obi Wan got there to save me. It's… the worst feeling there is. It did a lot of damage to me in the short term and in the long term."

"I'm sorry," he told her softly. She did understand, and better than he'd expected. It left him overwhelmingly sad.

"I've never told anyone what he did to me," she admitted quietly. "They assume I was tortured physically. He did that as well, but the torture of the mind… in my opinion, it was so much worse. Jedi treasure the mind and energy before the body."

"Tortue," Echo repeated. "It… it is torture."

"It is," she agreed. "Which is why I'm worried."

"How can you… be around him? Work with him?"

"I have to," she said quietly. "If I want to end this war… I have to."

"I'm sorry."

Soph shook herself and put on a tense smile. "I imagine Tambor is going to be leading the Separatists now that Palpatine was arrested, Dooku is gone, and Grievous has been caught. If you're not okay to do this, I more than understand and we can-,"

"No," Echo interrupted. He winced. He really didn't need to make a habit of that. "Sorry. I just- all I want is to win this war and catch him."

"Okay," she nodded. "But if at any point it's too much, or if you become… it's easy to become obsessed with catching the people that hurt us. If that happens, I may need to sideline you."

"I understand," he promised her. "I'll… be okay. I just need some time."

"Well, you've got that," she assured him. "Anakin and Ahsoka left with Obi Wan to take out a droid factory. We are going to be working on freeing the GAR. We shouldn't run into Tambor for a while yet."

"I'll pull myself together before then."

"If you need anything," she offered a small smile. "I'm here. I understand."

"I know you do… thank you, Soph."

"Always."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Soph only brought Rex to Serenno that time. None of Domino had been happy about it, and she found it funny that they were now more worried for her safety and reckless plans than Rex. He'd certainly calmed since their talk, and she appreciated it greatly.

On Serenno, she was greeted upon getting to Dooku's palace by a droid. They were escorted inside and to the man's office. Despite the fact that he'd helped her, she was on edge. Rex had pointed out that it was entirely possible that Dooku planned to take over Palpatine's place in the war and had been using her. She knew she couldn't discount the idea entirely - Dooku had been awful in her last life.

Since her conversation with Echo, she'd been thinking about the incident with Dooku more, and she did find herself tensing the closer they got to his office.

The first time they'd gone, she'd pushed her past down as far as possible, but she found it difficult to do so again. She supposed it may have something to do with reliving her trauma to help Echo. She didn't regret it, and found it completely worth it, but it did have her tapping her lightsaber against her leg anxiously, earning a concerned glance from Rex.

"Master Dooku is waiting," the droid said, waving them inside the office.

Taking in a breath, Soph walked inside with Rex behind her. Dooku was, in fact, waiting patiently. She came to sit in front of him, and this time, Rex joined her. "I'm glad to see you made it here safely, young one."

Soph nodded, nausea rolling through her. She cursed herself inwardly - the last thing she needed was to lose it over something that had happened a lifetime ago. "I bring good news. We've arrested Palpatine, and I spoke to the Council."

"And?"

"You're a free man," she said. "As I promised. I won't say they're a fan of you, but they did agree that your contribution to this war was invaluable."

"Well, I'm grateful to hear it," he told her. "This has been a beneficial partnership. Would you care to continue it in the senate?"

Everything in Soph screamed that she didn't. She gripped the arms of the chair to keep from her hands shaking. She knew she failed from the frown on Rex's face.

"We can talk about it," she said finally. "But there's other things to discuss first. Namely, your apprentice, Ventress. You cannot continue to train her."

"I never planned to," he assured her. "She is on her own."

"You may want to prepare for the chance that she holds a grudge against you," Rex said. He was eyeing Soph in concern - she wasn't steady, and she needed to be in case something happened. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but she needed to hold herself together for a little longer.

"I can handle Ventress," Dooku assured him. "Should she come to me, she will surely regret it."

"Good. She's caused too much trouble for us," Soph said, nodding to herself. "What do you expect us to change within the senate?"

"Someone needs to get Mas Amedda out of the chancellor's ear. Aids are in place to restrain chancellors from doing their jobs - from doing good."

"I can agree with that."

"Aside from that, there must be a way to unite the senate once more. The banking clan is the biggest hurdle to that."

Soph hummed. She was surprised that their views lined up at all. They likely deviated aggressively, but she was comfortable helping him with those two objectives. "And if you had your choice of chancellor, who would it be?"

Dooku considered the question. "Senator Organa is the most impartial and diplomatic senator there is."

Soph's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Senator Organa. Really?"

"You're surprised. I don't crave death and destruction, Soph-Katarina. It was an unfortunate means to an end that I could no longer justify. I will not pretend I don't have regrets."

She frowned at his words. She wondered if he'd ever regretted what he'd done to her. The thought had her upset, and she nodded sharply. "I can support Bail as chancellor. If anyone can once again unify the senate, it'll be him."

"Then help me bring him to power," he requested. "I hold Serenno's seat on the senate. Perhaps you can convince Senator Amidala to assist us."

"It's worth a shot, I guess," she sighed. The comm set on her wrist beeped twice, so she pulled her datapad out and glanced at it. She frowned. "I'm afraid I have to cut this meeting short. I've been summoned."

"Get in touch when Senator Amidala agrees to help," he told her. She nodded and stood tensely. "I am grateful for our alliance, young one."

She didn't reply.

When they were back on the Twilight, Rex came to sit next to her as she prepared the ship to leave. "What was that, Kat?"

"I don't want to discuss it," she whispered as she flipped the switch to close the doors.

"You didn't struggle with him before," he pointed out gently. "What's different?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it, Rex."

"Yeah, but you may have to," he pointed out calmly. Her words were sharp, and he got the feeling he was approaching uncharted waters. "If you're going to work with him-,"

"I can handle it," she snapped. "Drop it."

"Kat-,"

"I said drop it," she said, finally turning to glare at him. "Do I need to make that an order?"

Rex's eyes sharpened on her. She never gave him orders outside of the war. Whatever it was, it was bad enough for her to cross a firm boundary. "Soph."

She winced, and all the energy drained from her. Her voice was soft and ashamed. "I'm sorry. I just…"

"What did he do to you?"

"We fought about this enough last time," she informed him. "You didn't get it out of me then, either."

"In the same sense that I can't be distracted by protecting you, you can't be distracted by whatever happened. You need to talk about it."

She sighed as they entered the Resolute. She opened the doors and began turning the ship off. "Fine."

"What happened?" he asked again, gentler this time.

"I talked to Echo. I- he needed to know that someone understood what he was going through. Hearing about Tambor enslaving his brothers was… bad, Rex, after what he did to Echo. So I told him what happened with Dooku."

"And what was that?"

Soph led him out of the Twilight. There weren't many people around, so she spoke quietly. "Dooku invaded my mind. It's… it's a horrible, horrible thing to do alone. He wasn't content with just that, though. He used my mind. He used me. I got men killed because I wasn't strong enough to stop him. This was after his physical torture tactics failed. He almost killed me, Rex. There's only so much the body and mind can handle at once. Both were being brutally attacked."

Rex's eyes widened. "Kat-,"

"And it's fine," she continued. "It's fine. He didn't do it here. He didn't- he hasn't hurt me. But fuck, Rex, it feels like he did. Last time we saw him, I- I was so focused on not thinking about it. I used every distraction possible, but after talking to Echo, it's just- it was too much."

"I'm sorry," he said. There was a furious fire in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Kat."

"And it's fine. It has to be."

"But you're not fine."

"But I have to be," she repeated. "We don't have time to sit and talk about it until I feel better. I don't even think going into detail would help at all. There's nothing to do but keep going."

And Rex really didn't know how to argue that. While, as her partner, he was deeply concerned, he knew as a captain that sometimes, you just have to hold on until there's time to heal, and she was right - they didn't have the luxury of taking the time.

"I'm sorry," she said after a quiet moment. "I crossed a line and I'm sorry."

"I wouldn't have listened if you had made it an order," he said. "It's okay."

"I don't know what I'd do without you," she said honestly. "I don't want to find out."

"You won't have to."

OoOoOoOoOoOo