Authors Note: Hello everyone, It's That Star Wars Guy, and I just want to say that I am very new to writing, especially something on this level. I never did well at English in school, but that's just because of the technical parts of English, when it came to creative writing, I always thought that I was pretty good at it, but now I have the chance to prove that to the audience of Fanfiction. Anyways, less about me, more about the story.
So I came up with this idea a couple of weeks ago, and I was just thinking: what would happen if Plo Koon survived Order 66? When I looked at the website, I expected there to be at least one or two stories with the concept, but surprisingly there wasn't any. So if someone else won't do it, I guess I will. So, in terms of the story, it begins during the graveyard scene in Clone Wars Season 7 Ep:12. Ahsoka has just dropped her Saber when Plo Koon calls out to her. This is where the story shifts from canon. In this story, Plo Koon survives in his fighter for a lot longer, but what happens after will be fleshed out next chapter, if I can remember how I structured it. Anyways, less talking from me, just read on and enjoy my first ever chapter of a story on Fanfiction.
Chapter One: Burying The Dead
When she and Rex recovered the dead from the wreckage of the ship, Ahsoka couldn't speak. Kriff she was struggling to move as she saw the carnage that lay before her. She had seen death and destruction before during her time as a Jedi, but the scene before her was enough to make even her have to bend over for a second and catch her breath and stop the tears that inevitably fell. If Rex's body had been among the dead, she would have lost more than her sanity.
The men of the 332nd, innocent men who had painted their helmets as a matter of respect to her only a matter of days ago, lay strewn across the area, some mangled beyond recognition, while others just laid there, motionless. Some, like Jesse and Ridge, had fought beside her for years. Ridge had been there from the beginning, surviving Teth on Ahsoka's first proper mission, only to be cut in half by armor plating, most likely at the hands of Maul when he rampaged across the ship. Jesse on the other hand, Ahsoka was a lot closer to him. Having joined the 501st not long after Teth, he and Ahsoka had grown to form some sort of friendship. He wasn't as close to her as Rex or even Fives for that matter, but they were friends in the end. He even became an ARC trooper after she left, which was something she knew should have happened a lot earlier.
However, in three words, Jesse, Ridge, and all the other members of the 332nd were ripped away from her. She had only been able to free Rex from the clutches of the chip thanks to his foresight about Fives in the moments before his mind was overwritten, his will to protect Ahsoka overwhelmed. Even though she had saved Rex, she couldn't save the thousands of others who had been laid to waste by the order they were programmed to follow, and Maul, who had crippled the ship during that horrid couple of hours.
Even now, as she looked across the graves of the remnants of the 332nd, she could barely control her feelings of anger at the man who directly caused the massacre of so many good men. She couldn't begin to fathom how torn up Rex was, considering the steely expression he tried to show. If she peered into his mind, she wouldn't be surprised at the turmoil boiling over in his brain, but she would worry about that later.
Nevertheless, despite leaving the order, Anakin, and even Rex, she was still a Jedi at heart, and eventually suppressed her anger. But still, she could only look on in sorrow at the lines of graves. She knew this wasn't all of them. Many were still lost within the bowels of the ship, never to be seen again, but she and Rex felt that it was their duty, to give those they were able to find a proper send-off. An honorable send-off at that.
However, it wouldn't just be the clones that died there and then, and as she looked down at her lightsaber, she wished she could keep it, but she knew it was dangerous. Despite not being a Jedi, the clones still fired on her, and as a result of recent events, she had come to the decision that as well as the clones, Ahsoka would have to die as well.
And as she dropped her saber to the ground, her shoto having been lost during the freefall which would actually benefit her and help confirm her faked death, she felt a sense of clarity and peace as with her new upcoming life. That peace soon dissipated as she felt someone call out to her across one of her force bonds. It wasn't Obi-Wan, and it wasn't Anakin either. But it was her long-dormant force bond with Plo Koon that called out to her.
'Ahsoka'
'Master Plo.'
'Thank goodness you heard me Little 'Soka. I do not know what is happening. My clone wingmen turned on me. My clone troopers have been hunting me down ever since they turned on me.'
'Yeah, the same happened to me. Rex told me that the entire clone army has been affected. All Jedi are being targeted.'
'I sensed something earlier, something terrible must have happened for this to occur, but why are the clones doing this? And why were you targeted; you left the order months ago?'
'That doesn't matter right now, what matters is telling me where you are so me and Rex can help.'
I am on Cato Neimoidia, I was shot down out of my fighter, my Astromech is gone. I've been running on foot. But do not come and find me. Keeping yourself safe is what matters most. Get away from the Republic, trust in the force, and stay ali…'
Ahsoka clutched her head in pain as the link with Plo Koon was broken. Seeing Ahsoka clutching at her head, Rex was by her side in a matter of moments.
"Ahsoka, what is it? Ahsoka, talk to me."
It took her a few moments but, in the end, she was able to compose herself enough to answer.
'I-I'm fine, but we need to go, now," she replied, albeit rather shakily.
"Go? Why? What's happened? Is someone coming?" Rex asked reactively tensing up at the possibility that they would have company.
"No. No-one is coming," Ahsoka answered, which caused Rex to relax slightly but even still looked at Ahsoka with worry, as she lifted her head up so she was looking at Rex with slightly teary eyes. "It's Plo Koon. I-I think he's in danger…"