A.N.

RE-reuploaded to fix minor errors. ;)

Enjoy!

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Chapter 6- Deception

Toledo's upper atmosphere was a terrifying display of smoke and fire. Burning shards of metal exploded off the hulls of both Republic and Separatist ships as they crossed paths and unleashed their cannon barrages. Ahsoka wrestled with the hijacked gunship to avoid the falling debris all around her and still follow the stream of gunships ahead of her. She was glad to make it this far but she hardly planned anything more beyond this point.

Right now getting away from this planet is her only bet to survive the situation she's in now, and there's no way she was going to get far on this thing. What she needs is a ship with a hyperdrive. One that she can get lost with and no one would be able to find her- and The Twilight is the only nearest ship to her that fits that description, but the only problem she's facing is getting on board The Resolute and escaping undetected.

She grunted as her ship shook to an explosion that was a little too close for comfort and steered away from the remains of another gunship that blew apart right in front of her. Slowly the battle began to fade behind and Toledo's blue skies made way for the blackness of space. Not far beyond was Anakin's cruiser, a vast star destroyer with the familiar Republic red markings on its dual command bridges. She followed the line of gunships rocketing towards its open top hangar and breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, all she has to do is board and escape on The Twilight. If she does this quickly the unsuspecting clones won't have time to react and since Anakin is most probably still on the planet holding off the droids there'd be no one to warn them she was coming.

She tightened her grip on the steering yoke and hit the thrusters. The burst of speed pulled her back against the seat and allowed her to cut past the other gunships. She could feel the alertness of the clones and hangar crew ahead of her when they saw her coming at such an alarming rate- they knew as well as she did there was no way she was going to land this thing safely. But she was betting on that. So, she clenched her teeth and braced for impact.

The gunship tumbled through the hangar bay at an incredible speed. She winced as clones dived for cover in the nick of time and was almost knocked out of her seat when she heard a loud crash- the hull had hit the hangar bay floor but was still skidding on its belly. Ahsoka gasped when she realized the gunship was on a collision course with the hangar wall and pulled back on the steering yoke hoping to regain some control. Sparks flew in all directions and she yelped when she bumped her head on the control panel as the gunship tipped on its side.

The gunship finally stopped when it smashed against the side of the hangar. Alarms blared throughout as emergency clone crew clad in yellow and grey uniforms rushed over to its sides trying to put out the fires that erupted around the crash.

Ahsoka felt numb and dazed- she could feel her back uncomfortably positioned against the side of the cockpit, but at least she could feel it. She coughed and struggled to breathe. Everything around her was sparking and smoking. Noise was muffled- she could only just hear an alarm going off somewhere in the cockpit. A clone's face appeared in the viewport. He was obviously a technician coming to inspect for any survivors. He then looked back, shouting something to his colleagues but she couldn't hear what he was saying. He then pointed at her and said something a little more intensely.

This was bad- she had to get out now!

She lifted her legs- as much as it pained her to do so and placed them against the viewport. The clone offered her a confused stare then shook his head, insisting that she should wait till help arrived. But Ahsoka had her own agenda.

She kicked against the viewport once and twice, but it wouldn't budge. She took a deep breath and tried again, kicking harder this time but it only cracked. The clone took steps back and finally Ahsoka drew on the force and used her arms for support- she kicked with both legs, hurdled out of the cockpit and landed on the hangar floor.

Dizziness overtook her and she struggled to sit up without taking deep breaths. Crash landing the gunship was most certainly a bad idea. The clones offered to help her up but she brushed them aside and began looking for The Twilight's hold.

She journeyed until she found Anakin's recognizable Jedi starfighter, her eyes then fell on the familiar large hull of The Twilight and made a run for it, ignoring the clones behind her and the weariness that slowed her down. The open bay was in sight now, waiting for her to clamber aboard and make her escape, but she stopped short when a gunship hovered low- intercepting her path. Its doors opened aside allowing Anakin and several clones to hop off.

She gasped, reaching for her lightsaber hilt and desperately tried to find a way around, but clones closed in on her from all sides, her gaze fell back on Anakin- wearing a menacing smile, "Where do you think you're going, Snips?"

Humiliation swelled up in her, she failed once again when she was so close to escape- just proving the same point over and over that she is and always has been a failure. She watched as the smirk on his face faded to reveal an angry frown, coldly staring at her. Unable to face the torment, she lowered her gaze and bit her lip.

Anakin scoffed, "Take her to the prison hold and plot a course for Courascant."

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The holding cell was small and brightly lit. All it had was a metal bench sticking out of the side where Ahsoka sat as far into the corner as she could with her arms wrapped around her legs.

Anakin stood over the monitoring screens outside watching her carefully. He wanted to sympathize for her but he couldn't. After everything that's happened today it was almost impossible to contain his emotions.

Back on Toledo he refused to leave her behind because of some fear that she might fall in the hands of the enemy or end up hurt or killed in the jungles. Now that he has her on board and finally under his care and attention his feelings switched- he might just as well throw her out the air lock for all she's done to him today.

He turned towards the clone sat at the panel, "Open the cell and keep security on standby in case she tries anything."

The clone nodded and Anakin made his way down the corridor leading to the shielded prison cells. A couple of armored clones standing in front of the doorway to her cell stepped aside for him to enter, but he didn't touch the door panel until he took a deep breath.

Her attention instantly turned to the door as soon as it whooshed open and he stepped through- worry, frustration and fear all written on her face. Anakin said nothing, but his furious glare was more than enough to make her look away shamefully.

He knew exactly what sort of fears were going through her mind- something along the lines of disappointing her Master, facing trial by the Senate and exile from the Order. And that might not even be the half of it.

He sighed, shaking his head and giving her his back, "We lost a lot of good men today, Snips."

He glanced back to find her face wrapped under her arms, still tightening herself in that corner, then he continued, emphasizing on every other word, "Jedi Master Jerandeel Forn- dead; Captain Rex- dead; Jedi Padawan Ross…" he turned around to glare at her and spat the next word, "dead!"

She flinched this time, Anakin could hear her muttering something, but it was barely audible. He tightened his lips and proceeded to pace back and forth as he carried on with his rant, "You deliberately betrayed me, Snips! I did everything I could to teach you how to become the best Jedi Knight you could ever hope to be and you repay me with this?"

She slowly raised a part of her head from under her arms and met his gaze, her voice shaking, "Master, I… would never betray you."

"But you did!" he snapped.

A part of him knew what she said was true, but another part of him just wanted to blame everything that went wrong on her and never forgive her. It wasn't fair, but the losses he suffered from today were almost unbearable and here sits his closest friend who threw everything they had of companionship and affection out the window and compromised everyone's lives for no reason at all. No…no, there had to be a reason for it.

"Why?" he finally asked, "Why did you do it?"

Ahsoka stammered, "I don't know-I…I just did."

She sighed heavily, covering her head beneath her arms again. And that was it? That wasn't a valid answer at all. She must be hiding something, but there's no motive- and he didn't feel any suspicion coming off of her in the Force. Unless she genuinely doesn't know, then perhaps his best option now was to examine the evidence and see if there was any indication as to why she could've possibly behaved abnormally. Somehow, he was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Fine then. I'll have to find the answers myself." he stormed out.

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The medical bay was a bustling hive of wounded clones. Unsurprisingly, it reeked of Toledo as well.

Anakin was carrying Ahsoka's backpack and made his way to the bacta tanks where a medical droid stood opposite them over a testing table. The table had flasks and tubes aligned all over for treating certain ailments that were common on jungle planets. But Anakin wasn't here for treating any ailments.

"How may I help you, sir?"

Anakin placed the backpack on the table and emptied the contents- a towel, a drinking flask and Ahsoka's training lightsaber, "I need you to examine these for me. Tell me if you find anything that could cause a young, Force sensitive, female Togruta to misbehave."

"Are you suggesting spice, sir?"

Anakin was about to confirm that, but for the sake of Ahsoka's reputation and considering the talkative nature of the clones all around him, he thought otherwise. Just because she might've murdered someone doesn't mean he was going to allow people to step all over her dignity, "Anything at all."

The droid picked up the backpack and scanned its material from all sides. It then activated its night-vision photoreceptors to study the inside, "Other than safely edible Dantooine flapjack residue- there is nothing to indicate that this bag contains mentally inducing chemicals, sir."

"How about this container then?" Anakin handed the droid Ahsoka's drinking utensil and watched as its hand twisted it around while it murmured thoughtfully. It opened the top and scanned the remaining liquid inside, "Ah."

"What is it?"

"There appears to be a substantial amount of Kluurf sap and residue in the water, sir!"

Anakin peeked into the utensil, "What?"

"This Kluurf flower was carefully grinded and dried before it was placed into the liquid container. I believe this is the evidence you were seeking, sir."

Anakin held the container up to his nose and took in a whiff, then asked, "Is it dangerous?"

"No, but the side effects of the Kluurf flower tea has never been properly reviewed."

"Well, I suppose now is a better time than any to review it." Anakin shrugged and gulped what little was left of the liquid down. He then waited, half expecting to fall to the ground clutching his throat- or something like that- but nothing happened.

The medical droid edged closer to Anakin's face, "How are you feeling, sir? Should I prepare a medical inspection for you?"

"No, that won't be necessary." Anakin frowned. Perhaps this tea only affects Togruta? He held up the container again to contemplate further, but the droid interrupted him.

"Sir, perhaps the affects are unnoticeable, if you wish I could…"

"I said that won't be necessary, droid!" Anakin snapped and suddenly all activity fell silent. He turned to find the clones staring back at him, as though they had nothing better to do- weren't they ever irritated by the sheer nuisance a droid could cause when it asked the same question over and over again? It's nothing new!

"What?" he asked the crowd, "Never seen a guy yell at a droid before?"

The masks of Captain Rex's complexion taunted him. Behind those eyes he could feel the scar in the bloodline, the loss of their brother and the pain of leaving him behind just fueled the rage he already directed at himself, "Stop staring at me, all of you… stop it!"

He savagely kicked the trolley of medicines beside him, knocking it over, and slammed his fists against the wall, "None of you understand me. None of you know what I'm going through!"

"Sir you need to relax," The droid approached him, "It seems the affects of the…oh dear!"

Anakin snapped around, thrusting his arm forward and Force pushing the droid into a bacta tank, "Shut up!"

Liquid and glass exploded in all directions as the droid screeched in terror. The alarms began to blare and clone troopers quickly rushed over and pressed him against the wall, "General, you need to calm down."

Anakin struggled, but his breathing finally calmed and rational thought returned to him, "I'm fine, I'm fine…I'm…calm."

"What's gotten into you, sir?" a clone asked.

Anakin smiled, he found exactly what he was looking for. He had only drunk the little bit that was left in there- it's a wonder how Ahsoka didn't attack the entire camp with the amount that she had. Whoever was trying to frame her must have done so for a reason. And that reason cost Ross, Master Forn and Rex their lives. But, who's to say the plan couldn't have backfired? Rage is unpredictable. It's like a fire- it spreads uncontrollably and burns anything in its path. But he did what he set out to do in the first place; he cleared Ahsoka's name and he needs her now if he's ever going to solve the rest of this case- and that means reconciliation.

"Clear up this mess, trooper. I need to talk to my little Padawan."

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A.N.

Trivia:

1. I would imagine The Twilight would have multiple transponder codes- in that way Ahsoka assumed she'd be able to escape and go into hiding, at least until she found other means of travel.

2. Spice is the common term used to refer to mind altering drugs. You might've seen crates of them in the Clone Wars episode "The Gungan General" when Hondo and the Weequay pirate gang bargained for them.

3. Yes, tea does exist in the Star Wars galaxy- many different kinds of it, actually. I'm pretty sure Obi Wan was drinking tea with General Loathsome during the ceasefire talk on Christophsis.

4. The Dantooine flapjack is a snack referred to in the RPG book, Scavenger Hunt.

Big thanks go to my good readers Sacred White Phoenix, Star Tail, PJSpikeGirl, powerstaark and my brother Tenkan for their kind reviews.