Chapter 20 – Christophsis
DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. xD
Author's Note: The Clone Wars movie has begun, except Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka are on the other side... Lol.
~ Amina Gila
Ahsoka sits curled in the co-pilot's seat, unable to keep her fingers from fiddling with the anklet on her right leg. Dooku had promised that the code he gave Sidious for the anklet would only allow him to track her movements, not blow her up, like the one Anakin used to wear at the beginning. She trusts that the Count is telling the truth, if only to keep Anakin happy. Said Sith is currently piloting the shuttle down to the surface of Christophsis. It hadn't been easy to slip in past the Republic Star Destroyers without being noticed, but Anakin is an expert pilot. He made it look easy.
"You okay, Snips?" he asks, worry coloring his tone.
"I'm fine," she states flatly, not looking at him. She knows that he can feel the lie, and probably sense her true feelings through the Force.
"Listen," Anakin begins hesitantly, glancing at her. She can feel his eyes but decides not to meet them. She's feeling vulnerable enough without him reading her every fear on her face. "Ahsoka, you don't have to do this. No one will know if you stay here. I – I'll cover for you if you really can't. Asajj will too."
Ahsoka swallows, unable to answer his words. He lands the shuttle on the landing platform which is near the center of the current Separatist base on the planet. She – she doesn't want to do this. It will hurt to betray someone she considers a friend, but Anakin is like her brother. She saw him suffer. She knows he's dark, but by the Force, that doesn't mean she loves him any less.
"I want to help you, Anakin," she finally tells him. "I don't want you to have to do this alone. Besides, the plan centers around my involvement."
"Don't worry." He shoots her a cocky grin. "I can improvise as well as I can breathe. If you aren't comfortable with helping, then you can stay here. I'll handle it on my own. Besides, Asajj will be there to back me up."
Oh, how she wants to take him up on his offer. Pledging her allegiance to a Sith Lord is one thing, but actually acting on her words is another. She's not used to using the Dark Side – not that she needs to – but this smacks too close to betrayal and deception for her to believe that she won't. If it comes down to a fight, she'll pull from the Dark Side. She knows it. She can still back out. Anakin won't think any less of her if she does but –
"I –" She shakes her head. "I'm grateful for the offer, Anakin, but I can't take it. I'd be deluding myself to think this won't become a regular occurrence. I might as well get used to it now." She pauses, finally looking at Anakin, who gives her a soft smile, which has a touch of pride in it.
"You're right," he agrees, "And with that mindset, you won't go wrong."
Ahsoka straightens, swinging her legs to the floor and resolutely ignoring the anklet. Thinking about it won't help. "It's hard to fight on the opposite side of something I've believe in my whole life," she confesses, subconsciously straightening her lightsaber hilts.
Anakin grimaces. "Yes, I imagine that would be hard," he muses. "This whole war is a sham though, and no matter which side we fight on, we'll be aiding Sidious."
"Great. So, all we can do is go along with it until we decide to overthrow Sidious?" Ahsoka asks, rising from her seat.
"Pretty much." He stands up as well, leading them to the ramp to disembark. Ventress is standing on the platform waiting for them. Ahsoka finds herself being distracted by the unfamiliar buildings and landscape all around them as she follows Anakin.
"Finally!" Ventress lets out an overly exaggerated sigh. "I was beginning to get concerned. We only have around four hours to capture Offee and get you two out of here before the Republic's reinforcements arrive." As she talks, they walk into the nearby building which is the current Separatist headquarters.
Anakin moves over to a holotable in the middle of the room and activates it. "Let's go over the strategy again," he decides, all humor gone from his voice. He's slipped back into the persona of a Sith, and it makes Ahsoka a tad nervous. Still, she obediently looks at the plan of the city as it hovers in front of them.
"We're here," Anakin motions to one building, "And the Republic troops are located here." He points to another. "Asajj, what's the plan?"
"I have a spy among the clones," she informs them. "The Republic is planning to set up an ambush in these two towers." She indicates their position on the map. "General Loathsom was waiting for your arrival before dispatching the next brigade of droids. He hopes that we can overrun the enemy troops by trapping them inside the tower and systematically killing them."
From Anakin's sharp look, Ahsoka knows that she isn't the only one who caught the hint of reservation in Asajj's voice. "Having second thoughts about killing clones, are you?" Anakin queries, lips quirking into a mirthless smile. When Ventress ignores him, he pushes further. "Does this have anything to do with your sudden infatuation with Rex?" he teases.
If looks could kill, Ahsoka is certain that Anakin would probably have been vaporized. "It's bad enough that I have to live with you fawning over Amidala all the time," she hisses, blue eyes colder than the ice on Hoth. "I'm not going to start doing the same thing."
"I'm hurt," Anakin intones, an expression of mock offense on his face. "You like Padme."
"I don't even know her," Asajj retorts, pointedly looking back at the map in front of them.
"Ahsoka," Anakin turns to her. "Your mission is to reach the tower where the Republic is waiting a few minutes before the droids do. It needs to appear as though you're escaping from them, okay?"
"Got it," she confirms, anxiety rippling just under her skin. This really smacks too close to deception for her liking. Again, she doesn't have a choice.
"You should take this path," Asajj suggests, pushing a few buttons. A red light appears on the map, tracing the path from their current location to the end point. Ahsoka studies it carefully, committing it to memory. "I'll send the details to your comm," Ventress assures her.
"You'd better go now," Anakin advises, hands clasped behind his back. Unlike many times, he's not wearing an outer cloak right now which has allowed Ahsoka to study his armor. It's tight, fitting snugly, but it also provides a lot of maneuverability and protection. Of course, it's black, but the metallic shine can't be hidden.
"Stick to the cover story," he continues, "And you should be fine. The sooner you lure her into the trap, the better."
"I understand," Ahsoka nods, turning to leave.
"Ahsoka, may the Force be with you," Anakin calls softly as she slips out of the building and onto the streets. It's relatively quiet, though the tenseness in the air is undeniable. Ahsoka pulls up the directions on her wrist comm and sets out at a brisk pace. She knows that the droids will open fire on her when they see her which is according to plan. The further she is from them, the better it will be. She'd rather not spend useless energy fighting when it's not necessary.
She moves as swiftly as she can, and the feeling of aloneness increases the further she gets. It's too quiet right now, the lull before the brewing war. Deep inside of her, she can sense the imminent bloodshed, the Dark Side hovering almost in anticipation. Ahsoka firmly pushes the sensations aside. None of it is useful, and she cannot afford to dwell on how the Dark Side has been calling to her, whispering sweet, seductive words of power more than it ever has before.
Her sensitive montrals pick up the sound of the marching droids which are drawing far closer than she'd expected. She needs to hurry. Inhaling, she draws on the Force and bolts forward, running as if her life depends on it. She knows that the clones in the tower ahead will have picked up her erratic flight from an alley and down the side of the main street. As the first warning sings through the Force, she ignites her lightsabers, defecting bolts as she races for cover.
The thrill of battle begins to fill her, and she lets herself get lost in it. She can't defeat nearly all of these droids, but she can put up a fight. The doors to the tower are ahead of her, and she uses the Force to throw them open, dashing inside, panting. Closing them behind her, she slashes her lightsaber through the controls. The droids will have to take their time getting in here; she won't make it easy for them.
The building is empty except for the life forms of the clones and Barriss above her. She follows them, taking a turbolift to the top floor, stumbling out, limbs shaking from the effects of escaping the droids. It was close, too close for her liking, but this is all an act anyways. Continuing to play the role of a terrified escapee, she slumps against the opposite wall and slides to the floor.
"Ahsoka?" The shock in Barriss's voice makes her head snap up.
"Barriss?" she whispers faintly, shaking her head slightly. She hadn't heard the other girl approach. Focus, she scolds herself silently.
"It's you!" The Mirialan relaxes, crouching down in front of Ahsoka. "What are you doing here? I heard you were captured by the Sith."
"We have no time," Ahsoka mumbles, pulling back and standing up determinedly. "The Separatists know you're waiting here."
"What? How?" demands Barriss, alarm flaring in the Force.
"There's a traitor. I don't know who," Ahsoka explains, eyes flickering to the clones who have moved to the room and are watching silently from a distance. "Dooku wanted me to join him, and I refused, but with the war going on, he decided to force me into working for him. He ordered me to be brought here to see how you would be defeated, and I took a chance. I – I ran. I can't believe it…" Her voice trails off as she struggles to project an aura of relief, though she finds that the guilt is too strong, so she hides all her emotions instead.
Barriss touches her arm comfortingly. "You're here now. You're safe." Anything else she might have said is cut off when the turbolift doors open. Ahsoka feels a prickle of fear as a group of droids march out. She knew they were coming, but she didn't realize they'd get here so soon.
The clones immediately open fire, and Barriss ignites her lightsaber, deflecting blaster bolts and covering her men as they race back to the main room overlooking the streets below. Ahsoka joins her, Force throwing the droids backwards and knocking over the front lines, not that it matters when they are pouring in every available entrance. "We have to pull out!" Ahsoka yells at her friend. "We need to regroup."
Barriss activates her wrist comm. "We need evacuation at the south tower," she reports. Ahsoka whirls as more droids march in through yet another entrance. This wasn't what she had in mind when agreeing to the plan. She doubts Anakin realized it either. Is Sidious trying to get her killed? That would hardly be surprising. No. She's not going to let that happen. She won't leave Anakin to fend for himself. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Asajj, Dooku, Rex… she owes it to all of them to come back in one piece.
Fending off blaster bolts with one hand, she focuses on lifting one of the blaster cannons, hurling the weapon towards the droids and knocking over the ones entering through the doorway. One of the other clones, seems to get a similar idea, except he doesn't throw the weapon. He activates it, firing at one of the doorways. The explosion is so loud that Ahsoka's head is ringing, her sensitive montrals overwhelmed by the sound and shock waves.
As the smoke begins to clear, it's obvious that the droids entering in that doorway have been demolished. All around her, the clones are falling, injured or dead. Across the room, Barriss is mowing through another approaching column, keeping them at bay. Ahsoka sprints to the second doorway, stepping over the blaster cannon which is laying on the floor, lightsabers spinning as she cuts through the droids in front of her, scarcely pausing long enough to let them shoot at her.
"Call in the reinforcements from the other tower," one of the clones calls. "They can use their ascension cables to get across."
Ahsoka hears the command being relayed and turns, using the Force to shatter the windows facing the north tower. She almost wishes that she'd taken Anakin's offer to stay out of it. If she had, he probably would have come here alone, and the battle would already be over, with Barriss in custody – that is, unless he accidentally killed her. Of course, that would entail killing all the clones here so they couldn't give evidence. As it is, she was sent here to lure Barriss away so that no one will realize she was involved, at least not until Sidious wishes it.
She focuses on the droids in front of her, blocking any stray bolts which fly at her from behind. They don't have much more time. Where is the evacuation ship? It should be here any moment. The rest of the clones arrive, leaping through the windows and immediately joining the fray. Ahsoka risks glancing over her shoulder. "We need to evacuate to the roof!" she yells to the others. "The shuttle can pick us up from there."
She feels the murmurs of agreement running through the others, and they begin retreating into the hall towards the turbolifts. Barriss joins her, helping cover the troops as they enter one of the turbolifts. Several of the clones were killed, but those injured who could walk – which were most of them – are with them. As the lift rises, Ahsoka has a sudden thought of what the war would be like if Anakin was a Jedi and her master. She banishes it a second later, because it's nothing more than a fantasy. It will never happen.
The roof provides much better protection than the inside, so the clones move to conceal themselves and provide cover for Barriss and Ahsoka as the droids follow them to the roof. The battle breaks out again, and Ahsoka throws herself into the midst of the enemy, slicing apart droids and deflecting bolts as fast as she can. Barriss joins her a distance away, and together, they rip apart the droids until the sound of an approaching gunship breaks their concentration.
Ahsoka backs up, continuing to cover the clones as they retreat onto the gunship. At that moment, a tactical droid emerges onto the roof. Without wasting a second, she yanks it over to her with the Force, ripping off its head for later analysis before leaping onto the gunship to join the others.
"Here," she pants, passing it to the clone captain whose name she doesn't know. "This should help us figure out what's going on."
"If you hadn't come, we'd all be dead," Barriss tells her quietly as the ship flies away back towards the Republic base.
Ahsoka flinches, knowing that no one can see the movement in the dark. She smothers her guilt and uncertainty, forcing herself to think about Anakin and how much she cares for him. It's completely against everything the Jedi have ever taught, but she's not really a Jedi anymore, is she? Using the Dark Side doesn't make her a Sith; it will only make her a gray Jedi if that's what she wants to be.
"We need to find the traitor," Ahsoka whispers back, changing the topic. With the battle they just faced, she doubts that Barriss will ask too many more questions or be suspicious, but it's better to be safe than sorry. The sooner she leads the Mirialan to Anakin, the better.
It's not long before the gunship touches down on the landing pad, and everyone disembarks, most heading to the medical center to be checked by the medics. The rest head to the control room, including the captain who has the tactical droid's head. Ahsoka honestly doesn't know if that will provide the information they need, but she doubts it. There's no way that Anakin – or Ventress – would allow such a thing to happen.
"Come, Ahsoka," urges Barriss, grabbing her elbow. "You should be looked at. I don't know what happened when you were a prisoner, but it can't hurt."
"I'm fine," Ahsoka insists, but lets herself be led away. The medic declares her perfectly healthy, though the anklet doesn't go unnoticed.
"Did Dooku put that on you?" her friend questions, pointing towards the object in question.
"Yes," Ahsoka admits, fiddling with it slightly. "I'm not sure what all it's functions are, but I think it might be a tracker. Or an explosive. We need to get it off, but I don't think we have any tools here which could work."
"Or we could use the Force," Barriss reminds her, blue eyes worried.
"Maybe," Ahsoka shrugs. She doesn't know what would happen if it was removed, and she's not sure she wants to find out. It won't hurt anything if she succeeds in the mission though. Closing her eyes, she reaches out with the Force, letting herself feel the mechanism enclosed around her ankle. She can feel the components, but nothing is clear enough for her to be able to successfully deactivate and remove it.
"I don't think it will work," she says finally, biting her lip. "I'd rather not accidentally blow myself up. We'll have to wait."
Barriss doesn't look happy, but before she has a chance to protest, the door opens and the clone captain enters. "Commander, we accessed the droid's memory banks," he reports, saluting. "The Separatists did know that we were waiting in ambush, but we were unable to determine exactly how it knew."
"The spy," Ahsoka mumbles, glancing at Barriss.
The other girl nods, motioning for Ahsoka and the captain to join her as they walk down the hall back towards the control room. "Ahsoka has told me that she overheard talk about there being a spy. I know you don't want to believe any of your men are capable of treachery, but we need to at least keep that consideration in mind."
Barriss stops, opening the door to the control room. They enter, and Ahsoka spots two other clones in the room standing near a table which has the tactical droid's head resting on it. "For the Republic to succeed, we must investigate this matter further," Barriss decides. "The reinforcements will be arriving in a few hours, and then we'll be able to press the attack against the Separatists."
"Maybe we can try to get information from the Separatists?" Ahsoka suggests carefully.
"Perhaps," Barriss replies slowly. "I expect that will be the best way of discovering the truth."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Ahsoka queries, silently hoping for a positive response.
"Yes," she responds instantly. "I think whatever you know about the Separatist base will prove useful in our investigation." She turns towards the clones. "Captain, do not let word of our departure leave this room. No one must know that we are coming."
"Yes, sir!" he salutes her again.
Barriss glances at Ahsoka one more time before they leave the room, heading towards the hanger bay to get speeders for their journey into enemy territory.