Chapter 54 - Onderon

Author's Note: No regrets. ;)

~ Amina Gila

Something seems strangely strained between Anakin and Ahsoka, Rex can't help but notice, as they head down to Onderon's surface. He couldn't even say what it is, except that instead of lingering at Ahsoka's side the way he usually does, he's standing near Rex instead. He can't help thinking that it seems like there's... some strange form of lingering tenseness between them.

"Are you alright, kid?" Rex finally asks, when he has a moment alone with Anakin. Ahsoka is studying a holomap in the back of the shuttle, something they should both join her in, but he needs to know.

"Yes," Anakin replies, blinking himself out of whatever he was distracted by. The answer is very unconvincing, though.

Rex wants to ask further, but now isn't the time or place. "We should join the General."

Anakin's expression tightens slightly, but he nods, moving to the back without another word. Rex follows him, though he doesn't press further, for all that he wants to. Anakin is very open, he's noticed – far, far more so than his own general – and it's... worrisome that he doesn't want to mention it. Even so, considering the circumstances, Rex will just have to trust he... knows what he's doing. Not that he has any doubt that he does.

"We'll teach the rebel fighters everything they need to know, but primarily, we must only be there to observe. They have to learn to fight on their own. Are you... clear on the plan?" Ahsoka asks, with smoothness that seems nearly forced.

Anakin nods.

"Yes, sir," Rex replies.

"Then we're going in," Ahsoka says.

The shuttle drops them off before flying away, and they silently make their way through the woods, looking for the encampment. They don't have to look far. The rebels are hiding out in the forest, and they've apparently been searching for the Republic, too.

"This is Saw Gerrera," Steela introduces, once they've been brought into the camp. "He fashions himself as our leader, though no one elected him."

She elbows him, and he nudges her back.

"Well for now, we'll be giving you the instructions," Ahsoka replies.

"You're General Tano," Saw speaks up, a hint of near awe is his voice.

"I am," she agrees, raising an eye marking.

"Let's just say, he's a big fan," Steela offers. It's unexpected, but Rex finds he's not really surprised. The General does have a lot of support among the populace; she also has a lot of criticism. People are... very on the fence about her, and he understands that.

"I've heard a lot about you," Saw agrees, "I always hoped I'd have the chance to meet you."

"Well, now we have the chance to work together," Ahsoka says, giving him a half smile before her General-mask falls in place again. "Let's get to work."

**w**

Now that they're on a mission again, it's easier, and Anakin's managed to shift his attention to something else. The training is going well, until Anakin suddenly senses an inkling of... something in the Force.

He's moving a droid head around for Steela to target practice on, when she suddenly freezes. "What's that?"

Anakin realizes a moment before it fires just what it is – as a blaster shot explodes through the trees, tearing through the ground right near him. He draws his lightsaber instantly, falling back to where the others are gathered to cover them.

"Should we –" he starts to ask, glancing to Ahsoka.

"No, we can only protect them. The point is to let them fight," she reminds, above the commotion.

Right.

But it still feels... wrong to just stand back, even if his master is right. The point is that they learn to rely only on themselves. So far, it seems to be working almost better than he thought it might. It's an interesting way to conduct a rebellion. He knows that there were... movements of this nature on Zygerria, but it was never something he saw much of. He was too young, and the memories are too faded.

They're holding their positions for now, but Anakin doesn't know how long it will last. Still, the people are clever, and they're letting them lead this. Ahsoka doesn't seem to have any intention of offering advice, and if anything, she seems to be waiting to see how they want to handle it.

Finally, though, Steela gets the idea of shooting free the animals in the nearby fence, and they trample through the droids. It's easier to destroy the rest from there, but they can't wait around or more will be coming.

"When we get into the city, do you think you'll be able to handle this on your own?" Ahosoka asks, leaning closer to speak to him quietly, as they ride on the transport for the city gates. If she's leaving, it'll be easy for her to do it before they get inside.

Anakin glances up at her – their hoods mostly concealing their faces. "I – yes." She already showed him how to do this, and it's not that different from a covert mission. Except, he's working with people who he's not in charge of, and... he can't fight for them. That's what really makes it hard.

"Good," she says, giving him an encouraging smile. There's no traces of... their discussion left now, and he just wants to forget it happened, even if that... sick feeling he can't even describe is still lingering a little. "Just remember to offer advice only when they need it. This must be their war."

"What if they need help, and I could've saved them?"

"You can protect them, but they have to lead."

That's a thin line, but he'll figure out what it means when he gets that far. "I think I understand," he offers.

"You'll be alright?" she asks again, briefly touching his shoulder.

Anakin nods, though it feels unconvincing, even to himself. "Yeah. I'll be fine." Somehow, he thinks something is going to go wrong.

**w**

"It has been a while since we worked together," Ferus comments, as Ahsoka steps off the gunship into the devastation left from whatever battle he just finished fighting. The air is still full of smoke.

"It has been," she agrees, taking a moment to assess the damage. The sight is too common, but that doesn't make her any happier. "What's the situation?"

"The populace claims to be neutral, but there's evidence indicating otherwise," he replies, crossing his arms, "They have a factory of some kind, for supplies, a distance away from here. I believe some of the locals are working there. That's what we need to take next. The men are handling a different front elsewhere."

"Then let's get to work," Ahsoka decides, instantly. They've done it a million times.

Coming up with an attack plan is easy enough, and they head out immediately. There's no use waiting for cover of darkness – the droids will see them coming any time of day, anyway.

They send their own tanks forwards first, and Ahsoka watches as they fire on the fortification at the front of the building. The droids up on the wall around it instantly return fire.

Ahsoka breaks into a run, the wind whipping across her montrals, as always, as she deflects the blasts away, charging for the front entrance. Ferus is close behind, alongside Kalifa.

The clones follow behind them, giving them cover fire.

She can feel the ground tremble beneath them, though, and only has a moment to question why or what's about to happen – she can feel the danger growing in the Force – when the front entrance slides open, and Separatist tanks start rolling out, firing back at them.

Ahsoka throws up a hand, deflecting aside the first tank blast with the Force – throwing it off-course a little. But there's not nearly enough cover out here. It's going to take a heavy toll on their men.

The next blast strikes far too close, the ground beneath her trembling violently, and she hits the ground, panting, rolling into a small crevice in the ground for cover as she takes moment to recollect herself. "Ferus?" she calls, into her comm. "Can you handle a distraction? I'll get the tanks."

"Won't be a problem," Kalifa says cheerfully.

"We have it handled," Ferus concurs, tone clipped.

"Good." She pushes herself off the ground and breaks into a run again, for the wall up ahead. Blaster shots rain down all around her, and she can barely keep up deflecting the shots until she's finally up against the wall, where the droids currently can't see her. Without wasting a moment, Ahsoka plunges her blades into the wall, cutting a hole and sprinting into the building, right near the entrance, hastily taking down the droids that are gathered thee. She can hear more coming, but now, she can circle back and attack the tanks from behind.

But... something's not right about this. She doesn't know what it is, but she can still feel the misery and pain in the Force in here. And... that doesn't make any sense, because Separatists only have droids. Unless they're holding prisoners here, but she doesn't think that's right either. It's something else. They'll have to check it out after the main part of the battle is over. There's no time now.

Running up behind the tanks, she uses the same tricks they always have – cutting her way into one of them in the back where no one will see her, throwing out the droid and then using their guns to start blowing up all the other tanks from behind, along with the rest of the Separatist forces.

The Force hums with danger, and she hastily clammers out of the tank in time to see one of the others turning to fire on it. She flips off, landing easily on the ground in the midst of the droids, slashing them down.

From there, it's easier for the rest of the Republic forces to keep pushing forwards, taking out the remaining defenses.

"I would have expected more resistance," Ferus comments, as they move through the destroyed courtyard, into the building. There'll still be droids in here, but most are gone.

Now that she's inside, and can actually look at the place up close, Ahsoka has a sudden sinking feeling that she does know what's going on. "I don't think the droids were left here to protect the factory," she realizes, "I think... they were meant to keep people inside."

"What?" Ferus asks, confused.

"Why would they do that?" Kalifa objects.

Something dark and angry clenches inside of her. "Why don't we find out?"

Ahsoka stalks forwards, drawing her lightsabers again as they cut their way through to one of the manufacturing areas in the factory.

One look around the room tells her everything she needed to know. The people here are slaves. It's obvious from how the droids are overseeing their work, the misery they're radiating into the Force, the... everything, and she's already furious.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here –" a battle droid squawks, approaching.

Ahsoka lashes out without thinking, crumbling the droid into a hunk of metal. "We're not stopping until everyone here is freed."

Kalifa glances between Ahsoka and her master. "They're slaves?"

"They are. It's common among the Separatists. And I imagine if there's some here, there's more. We need to look into this further." If there's more slaves on this planet, she won't stop until they've freed all of them.

"Our other forces will need our help," Ferus reminds, "But I agree."

She nods, tersely. "I'll call in my special operations group. They'll help us finish here. The boys should be able to hold out a little longer on the other front." Or at least, she can hope so.

And she knows Kitster's group – now part of the 501st, but in a special division – will be happy to come here and help them.

Except, of course, that Ferus reminds her they need to take this change of plans to the Council.

Sometimes, it feels like her predictions are what makes it happen, because she was certain the Council wouldn't be very happy about the distraction, and from the looks on their faces, they're not.

"We received a detailed report of the situation from Knight Olin," Mundi replies, grimly, "We must destroy the Separatist forces where the rest of your men are fighting. And if that fails, we cannot afford to spend any more resources on the planet. Supplies are already running very low."

"We can't just leave the people!" she protests, indignantly, "They need our help. They're being enslaved."

"Help who you can," Shaak Ti advises, "But we cannot stage a massive operation right now."

"The Separatist supply lines in the other position must be cut off immediately," Mundi insists, "You need to deal with that at once."

And she already knows this isn't going to go anywhere. Yes, she understands that sometimes, it's necessary to sacrifice a few for the needs of the many, but there's no reason they can't deal with this first, before going to deal with the other forces. Even if it is fairly time sensitive. She won't deny that her own feelings might be clouding her vision sometimes, but just leaving those people is... wrong. They have more than enough forces to do both.

Yes, the clones need their help also, but –

"Yes, Masters," Ferus tells them before she can continue arguing, ending the call.

"This," Ahsoka all but snaps, "Is what I mean."

"I... am beginning to understand why they upset you so much," Kitster agrees, quietly. He's been in the room for the meeting, because he was with her to help with the operation. It's good to have him here, since she has so little time anywhere else to be with him.

"I don't understand why we can't do both," Kalifa objects, shifting, "When I was... captured by the Trandoshans, I didn't think anyone would come, so I didn't see the point of continuing to fight." She shifts, looking down. "I'm sure the slaves here feel the same way. If we give them a reason to fight, I'm sure they will."

"They will," Ahsoka agrees, with conviction.

"What if we divided our forces?" Ferus proposes, 'You can deal with this, while Kalifa and I attend to the attack the Council wants."

"It will make both operations take longer, but... that may be best," she concedes, reluctantly. They can't outright disobey this order, even if it's completely senseless. Well, they can, but... She knows Ferus won't. "I'll call in the Malevolence for backup," she adds, as an afterthought.

"We should move out," Kitster interjects, "I already have more positions we should check on."

She doesn't know why she has such a... bad feeling about this, but she can't shake the feeling that something's going to go wrong with this plan. Sensing the future isn't her strong point, either, so she doesn't know what they ought to be doing differently, but at least if the Malevolence is on its way, they'll have guarantee of support if things go wrong.

Assuming the ship gets here fast enough.

**w**

Working with the rebels is going smoothly enough. Anakin doesn't mind the change from the normal mission at all, and if anything, it's... interesting to learn hands-on how to lead a movement like this. This once, he thinks Ahsoka's right that it could be very useful for them.

Although, seeing the way Saw keeps insisting that this is war, and they should focus more on winning than worrying about casualties, he can very well see why the Council was so reluctant. At least, Steela is here to balance him out. In many ways, Saw reminds him of Ahsoka sometimes.

But at least it's not an active issue right now, so he's... trying not to think about it.

What is an issue is that the Separatist forces followed the rebels to their hideout in the mountains, and there's nowhere they can fall back to without being pursued. And they're running out of resources, fast.

Anakin doesn't know what to do. He doesn't think anyone does, so finally, he does the only thing he can do – contact Ahsoka for help.

"We need help," he tells her, breathlessly. It's hard to breathe through the smoke of the explosions, as the Separatist ships fire on them. "They have ray-shielded ships, and nothing's getting passed them. It's a full-scale war."

Ahsoka's expression tightens; from the way she glances around, and the way the hologram seems to be moving, it looks like she's a little caught up at the moment, too. "At this point, the Council would never agree to send help."

He knows that, and it's – "Is there anything you can do?"

"I've had mercenaries help in the past. They're all I can spare right now. And I'll send in some more weapons. Will that be enough?"

Anakin ducks a shot that comes far too close, glancing at everyone falling around him. "Better than nothing, at least." He can only hope the help arrives here fast enough.

They don't have to wait much longer – though, they end up retreating deeper into the mountains, to one of the last strongholds they have.

Anakin watches the incoming ship warily as it lands, and he's definitely not expecting who steps off. "Asajj?"

"Been a long time," Ventress drawls, reaching up to dramatically pat him on the head, but he ducks out of the way.

"I am not shorter than you anymore."

"No, unfortunately," she replies, lightly, "And I'm here with that weapons delivery you were asking for."

"Are you staying?" Anakin asks, "We could... use the backup." The people might need to learn to fight on their own, but they can't stand back and let them loose just as a... test.

"Did you really think I'd reverted to a cargo transporter?" Ventress asks, sounding almost bored.

Hope flares inside of him. Maybe – maybe they'll have a chance to reclaim Onderon, after all. "Then let's go," he advises.

"I'll get more droids than you," she calls over her shoulder, running into the fight, drawing her lightsabers.

He has no idea why he has the sudden strange feeling that... their paths might end up closer together some day, fighting side by side like this. Shaking it aside, he instantly joins her in the battle.

**w**

"I can't believe there's so many of these here," Kitster comments, thinly veiled anger in his voice, as he and Ahsoka sneak silently through another manufacturing plant here. It seems the Separatists took over all of them, turning their current workers into slaves.

"They're doing it everywhere," Ahsoka replies, grimly. And to think there's a chance that they could have left these people behind. There still might be, if they aren't able to chase the Separatists from the system, but at least this will give some of the people a chance to get away.

"When did Tarkin say he'd get here?"

"He was finishing up another battle before coming, so... in some hours. Hopefully." He's always eager to use the ship, but she just... doesn't trust that he'll prioritize what she wants him to.

They break into a run through the halls again, the clones' footsteps behind them as they make their way for where a group of the slaves are being held.

They don't get any closer before battle droids swarm out the nearest entrance, raising their blasters. Ahsoka charges them, cutting them down with far too much satisfaction. This is something she's always wanted to fight for, and she can truly see the benefit of what she's doing. Kitster is right alongside her, shooting down the droids.

She wishes they'd be able to fight side by side more. Even if he's part of the military now, his missions are usually special and separate. But at least this once, they get to be together, doing what they once always dreamed of.

It doesn't last long before all the droids are smoking debris on the floor, and she deactivates her blade.

"You're free now," Kitster tells the others, approaching them.

"We didn't think the Jedi would come," one of them says.

They almost didn't, Ahsoka doesn't say. "We'll take you somewhere safe, until you can return home. Unless you would prefer to stay and fight."

Some do, and some don't, but at least she's freed them. For now.

Her momentary happiness at the victory starts dims slightly, when she feels the slight inkling of... something in the Force. Something's not right. The danger is approaching, whatever it is, and that's when her comm beeps.

"Ahsoka?" Ferus' voice crackles through the comm. He always sounds so... emotionless, so something about the strained tone instantly sets off alarm bells.

"What is it?"

"Our forces are being overwhelmed, and we have to pull back. It was an ambush. And more forces are incoming."

She can't help the Huttese swear that escapes her. She should have known something like this would happen, and if they could've taken the time to coordinate their attacks properly together, it wouldn't be going this far.

"I'm tied up at the moment," she replies, glancing around. They're still fighting out here, and they can't just pull back and lose everything. "Pull back as far as you need to. I'll send in reinforcements as soon as possible."

Except they don't get that chance, because the Separatists must have noticed how they were dividing their forces. And they used it to their advantage. Droid forces are pouring in now, trying to surround them, and Ahsoka instantly joins the others in trying to fight them off.

"This isn't looking good," Kitster tells her, grimly. Too many are falling.

"Evacuate everyone you can," she instructs, shortly, "I'll hold them off." And then, they'll have to retreat into space. Tarkin had better be here by now.

The fight blurs together after that, until she's reunited with Ferus not long later. Something is definitely wrong, though, from the tightness of his expression, and –

Wait.

"Where's Kalifa?" Ahsoka asks, frowning. But somehow, with a sinking feeling, she thinks she already knows the answer to that.

"She's... gone," he replies, stiffly, but from the sharp pang of grief she feels coloring the Force around him, it's obviously affecting him badly.

Oh.

It's... somehow, it doesn't even take her by surprise. Padawans die all the time on the battlefield, but it's different that it's one she knows – and more importantly, one of Anakin's friends. He... will not react well to hearing this.

"I'm sorry," she offers, solemnly, a sudden sharp anger coiling inside of her. If they had gone with her original plan, and Kalifa had been with both of them, this would probably never have happened. Anakin was close with her. They bonded deeply, as all the padawans who were kidnapped had, and... she knows he won't take this well. Especially right now, when he's still adjusting to... what happened with Obi-Wan. Going back to tell him will be hard, but she files that concern away for later.

Ferus just nods – not that there's time to say anything more right now.

They have to focus on retreating, back into space where the Malevolence is finally in view, firing on the Separatist reinforcements just coming out of hyperspace.

Ahsoka heads for the bridge there, immediately, to help direct the battle.

Before long, most of the forces in the air are down, and now, there's only the ones on the surface below. "The disintegrator would be most effective to destroy those targets," Tarkin declares.

What – "There's civilians down there," she retorts, "Slaves. We are not sacrificing all of them."

"Some may be lost, but the planet will be free and in Republic control."

"That's senseless," she argues, "Who are we freeing the planet for if we're killing the people? Besides, with this to blockade the planet, no more reinforcements will arrive. There is only so long they will be able to hold out." If there were only droids down there, she might agree, if only to end this sooner, but not in this circumstance.

Tarkin isn't going to stop arguing, though, and in that moment, as they're debating, Ahsoka spots a Separatist ship hurtling straight for the bridge of the Malevolence.

Obviously, it's intended as a suicide run sort of thing, and with most of the power diverted to shooting, they have little for front shields right now.

"Look out!" Ahsoka yells in warning, scrambling away from the viewport.

She's far enough away from the front when the droid fighter smashes through the glass that it doesn't affect her. And maybe she could've shielded Tarkin – who's a step behind her – with the Force, but she just... doesn't.

It wasn't planned – intentional – really, but she can't deny that it wasn't not either.

"Divert shields to the front," Ahsoka orders, as a blast shield closes over the opening. They can't have something like this happen again. The Separatists are fighting awfully hard to keep this planet – is it because of the slaves?

Avoiding the flaming debris, she goes in search of Tarkin, or rather his body. He's... dead.

She should feel bad, because she let this happen when she could've stopped it, but she doesn't. The only way to get Tarkin out of her way was like this, and maybe it finally means she'll be back in control of the ship, to properly control where it's used and what it's used on. Maybe it's not likely, but...

Frankly, she's just glad that Tarkin is gone.

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