Aboard the RSD Kestrel, Athega System
19 BBY? (16:05:20 GrS)
Seismic shifts rippled through the Force. It was an upheaval so great it stole Ahsoka's breath, leaving her gasping for air as if she had been starved for years. Her own awareness of the Force, which had been confined to just a matter of meters for the past few months, now unfurled again, stretching its tendrils across kilometers, even parsecs.
For the first time the Togruta could recall, she wasn't confined to sensing only those Jedi within her vicinity, which in the Kestrel's medbay were the Bothan Jedi Knight Kev Rel'skar and his Rodian Padawan Ekos. She now sensed the presences of ALL living Jedi. It was like swimming in the relatively uncrowded portion of a sea filled with nearly ten thousand others.
Kev Rel'skar's dark fur flattened as he stared at the bulkhead behind the Togruta's head. Ahsoka was acutely conscious of the fact Coruscant lay in that direction. It was a gathering of Jedi presences that felt as though it were merely steps away, as opposed to thirty thousand lightyears of interstellar void.
"Don't be afraid," Ahsoka said, smiling reassuringly at Kev.
"What the hell is going on?!" snarled Lir Sey'les, her unkempt figure contrasting starkly with the medbay's sterility. She glared at the Jedi impatiently.
Ahsoka regarded the ashy-furred Bothan for a moment and considered the question. "You really can't sense it?"
Sey'les folded her arms and scowled. "No."
"Perhaps she can't feel it because she's not a Jedi," Ekos said thoughtfully.
"I would like to know what is going on too," said Perla, the Kestrel's Mon Calamari doctor.
Ahsoka believed she knew the answer. Yet, she did not know how to explain it succinctly. She had traveled through time, from the distant future where the Galaxy suffered through decades of tyranny under the Galactic Empire. After Alderaan, Yavin, and Endor, a Rebellion had toppled the government, replacing it with an extremely ineffective New Republic. Ahsoka figured out how to time travel after being saved by Ezra Bridger, and she interfered with Sidious's ability to recruit Anakin Skywalker. There were hurdles along the way. Ahsoka had been discovered by Sidious. She had been poisoned. Disfigured. Dragged back into the Vergence Scatter by a mysterious Force user taking the form of a weasel and brought onto the Republic Venator Kestrel where she encountered two familiar beings.
One was Morai—the Convor who embodied the Daughter whom Ahsoka had once met on Mortis. The other was the aforementioned Lir Sey'les. A feral Force-sensitive gray-furred Bothan who, in Ahsoka's own timeline, had somehow been an Imperial Governor and then the head of the Bothan Combined Clans under the New Republic. Ultimately, this Bothan had given her access to a Jedi Temple, which contained another portal to the Vergence Scatter, like the one on Lothal had. Ahsoka knew it could not be a coincidence that ghosts from the future and creatures who dwell beyond the veil were on this ship.
But, in any case, in spite of the time travel, in spite of all the complications, in spite of all the hazy bits of the story Ahsoka was not one hundred percent sure of, she thought she knew roughly what was going on.
The Jedi had won.
Their presences, now palpable to her, signaled the defeat of Sidious, the lifting of his dark shroud, and the restoration of balance to the Force. Ahsoka could only speculate as to how this was the case. Maybe that weasel, Veryk, and Morai had vanquished Sidious themselves when they rescued her. Maybe Sidious had tried to take on the Jedi without Anakin and been swarmed. Maybe—
Ahsoka gasped again. She felt the life force of a Jedi extinguish, followed by another, and then another. The deaths cascaded, dozens falling in rapid succession. From the heart of Coruscant to the Outer Rim, Jedi were succumbing to blaster fire, shrapnel wounds, blunt force trauma, and even fire. The triumphant symphony of the Force had turned into a requiem.
Not again. NOT AGAIN!
A ripple of danger went through the Force. This time, Sey'les seemed to sense it. Before Ahsoka had reacted, Sey'les was edging her way around the medbay, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon.
Kev warily stepped out of bed, his new cybernetic legs still visibly healing, and ignited his green blade. Not a second later, a single Clone wearing mechanics overalls and carrying a blaster pistol stepped through the door.
Perla's skin darkened to an angrier shade of orange-brown. "General Rel'skar, what is the meaning of—"
Before the Mon Calamari could finish her question, Ahsoka had leapt out of her bed, tackling the doctor out of the line of fire. The Clone mechanic began squeezing off blaster shots, which Kev deflected to the left and right.
"Don't kill him," Ahsoka ordered, sensing Kev's intent. "None of them know what they are doing."
The Wookiee cleaner, Awerl, whose place in this story Ahsoka still did not quite understand, let off a roar and began throwing random items at the Clone. Another being, whom Ahsoka could only describe as a very tall blue-furred Squib, apparently named Nebhir, squeaked and dove for cover.
Ahsoka reached for her holsters, expecting to feel her lightsaber blade and a shoto, but felt nothing and realized that Veryk or Morai still had her sabers.
"Anyone who doesn't comply with Order 66 is a traitor!" the Clone screamed, aiming at the Wookiee.
Kev's Padawan Ekos, also equipped with clearly brand-new cybernetic legs, ignited his own blade and jumped in front of the Wookiee, deflecting a shot downward and into the floor. "We can't keep this up forever!"
"My Padawan's right," Kev said through gritted teeth, deflecting further shots.
Ahsoka decided to end it. Reaching out with the Force, she yanked the DC-17 out of the Clone's hands. The mechanic's face hardened with fury. Armed with nothing but a hydrospanner which he pulled from his utility belt, he suddenly charged Ahsoka, Sey'les, a full-grown Wookiee, and two Jedi with ignited lightsabers.
"AHHHHHH—"
Awerl's giant leathery Wookiee fist collided with the bundle of nerves just beneath the Clone's left ear. The mechanic collapsed to the blaster-pocked floor, dropping his hydrospanner, bolts, and other maintenance equipment.
Two non-Clone security officers in gray-green naval infantry uniforms and black helmets rushed into the room, blasters drawn.
"Order 66 is happening," Kev growled warily. "You know the drill. We need to secure the medbay and hasten chip removals."
Despite the fact Sey'les had used the phrase 'Order 66' when Ahsoka had first woken up, she was still half-surprised to hear a Jedi mentioning it.
"Get that Clone to the surgical pod!" Perla ordered, pointing to a section deeper in the medbay. "And secure the door," she added to the security officers.
A Clone medic stepped forward, wearing a surgical gown, and Ahsoka tensed up, reaching out with the Force to throw him. Right when the Clone's feet left the ground, Sey'les jumped at Ahsoka, grabbing the Togruta's arm.
"NO! HE DOESN'T HAVE AN INHIBITOR CHIP!"
The Clone crouched as he dropped to the ground. He casually bounced back from Ahsoka's attack as if he got lifted in the air by Jedi every day of the week. "Sorry to scare you. It's good to see you again, sir."
Ahsoka blinked in astonishment, wondering where in the Galaxy she could have possibly met a Clone medic who was now stationed on the Kestrel. After a few seconds of searching the Force, she suddenly realized who the Clone was.
"Kix!"
o.o.o.o.o
KELIA LOS'EAN
Eyes focused on the holodisplay of the fleet formation, a conversation in the background was barely registering to Kelia.
The fiasco that had erupted when they'd been pulled out of hyperspace, while the Bothan Commodore was sleeping off a concussion, had been so sudden she'd barely had time to put a shirt, boots, and a belt on before rushing to the bridge. Standing half-dressed in the most forward position of the Kestrel's bridge, she evaluated the situation as it stood.
After some quick thinking, they had opted to make a run to Nkllon, where they'd be safe from the star Athega's powerful radiation so long as they stayed in the shadow of the planet. Many of the Separatist vessels were slower than the Republic's slowest vessel, so the enemy fleet was now divided. Nimbler Recusants were nipping at the Kestrel's stern, struggling to keep up while the Kestrel dropped space mines in its wake. The fleet was now less than an hour away from safety, where a proper defense could be mounted against the by-then badly-radiation-damaged and limping Separatist cruisers.
Unfortunately, she had no immediate counter for the bulk of their main fleet, which was sitting at a safe distance from Athega and slowly tracking the progress of the Republic vessels. Those vessels were just waiting for the Kestrel to attempt an escape, in position to block potential exits.
"Uh, Captain, we're decrypting the transmission now," said a Clone sitting in the portside data pit. Kelia's ears perked up, and a slow ripple crossed her blonde fur.
Captain Jural Dan'lya, fellow Bothan and Kelia's second-in-command, put her hands on her hips impatiently. "How much longer?"
"Just a few seconds…"
"What transmission?" Kelia asked, still not taking her eyes off the display.
Jural turned her attention away from the data pits. "Commodore, we received an encrypted transmission from the Separatist flagship."
Now that was alarming. Kelia stormed across the bridge, walking between the port and starboard data pits. "Do you know who it was to?"
"That's the thing," Jural said, "It seems to have been wideband. Directed to the whole fleet."
"Then why aren't we—" Right. Encrypted.
Kelia stroked her whiskers, and one concerning possibility came to mind. Perhaps there was a spy somewhere in the fleet. In this case, the Separatists weren't sure of the spy's precise location, so they sent the message to the whole fleet. Even worse, it was possible the spy was a droid, or perhaps the message contained malware to affect any one of the droid's operations.
"I have it now!" the communication officer yelled excitedly.
"Let's hear it," Jural said.
A shadowy figure in a black cloak appeared on the holodisplay. From the holofootage Halfdan and the Loth-wolves had shown them a day ago, Kelia already knew who this was before he started speaking. Sheev Palpatine. The next words out of his mouth were no surprise.
"Execute Order 66."
Kelia and Jural exchanged a panicked look, and then Kelia snarled, fear replaced by anger. "I ordered you to block all transmissions from Coruscant!"
"We did, Commodore. It came from the Separatists!"
Kelia grimaced, glancing back at the rear of the bridge as a commotion erupted amongst her subordinates. All of the Clones who worked on the bridge should have had their inhibitor chips removed by now, but there hadn't yet been enough time to remove the chips from all Clones on the Kestrel, let alone in the fleet.
"Block further transmissions from the droids!" snapped Perth, the Kestrel's Clone XO.
"It's already too late for that!" Jural shot back, glancing around the bridge, half-expecting some of the crew to pull out blasters and start a firefight.
"If we can stop at least some of the men from receiving Order 66—"
"Enough!" Kelia snapped, checking her WESTAR-35 pistol in its holster before returning it. "All of the Jedi in the fleet are on this ship, and this could make us all a target. We need to enact contingencies now. Send the alert to all non-Clone troops and de-chipped Clones and get Rider Squad and the DAOs ready for combat… We might only have—"
The doors at the rear of the bridge hissed open, and a dozen Clones led by a Lieutenant walked in, all bearing the violet trimming and Bothawui Sky Dragon decorations of the 608th Mobile Regiment.
"Commodore," intoned the Lieutenant with a salute.
"At ease," Kelia replied uneasily as the Clones all came to a coordinated halt. "I didn't request your presence here."
"The Jedi have betrayed the Republic. Sir, we need your help to lock down the ship to ensure they can't escape."
What a lot of osik, Kelia thought, glancing over at one of the Fleet Security Clones nearby. Their hands tensed on the grips of their carbines, preparing for the worst.
"We've been discussing this for almost two days now," Perth said firmly. He stepped up to the two squads, talking to them Clone to Clone. "You're confused because the inhibitor chips in your brains have activated."
Jural squatted, leaned over the port datapit, and spoke in a low whisper to a group of Clones staring back up at her. "Lock down all exits from the barracks. Alert security. Silent alarm."
Kelia stepped up to Perth's side, intending to help de-escalate the situation until more security could arrive. She whipped out her datapad and surreptitiously downloaded the Clone Lieutenant's personnel file. Every Clone member of the GAR had an implant in their wrist that contained their operating number and other personal details. His simplified operating number was CT-7647, and his nickname was Shin.
"Do you remember the file you were all sent, Lieutenant?" Perth asked. "I am sure you were there on the Obrexta-III when we rescued Kix. You must know about the inhibitor chips."
"None of that changes the fact that the Jedi have committed treason and need to be eliminated," Shin insisted.
"Shin," Kelia said, causing the trooper to tense up at the use of his nickname by a complete stranger, "I am ordering you and your men to return to barracks. There, you will wait until it is your turn for your scheduled inhibitor chip removal."
"I can't abide by those orders, sir," Shin said stiffly, regaining his composure. "Our orders come from the very top. Anyone who interferes with Order 66 is a traitor and must be contained and eliminated."
"Very well," Kelia said, returning her datapad to its pouch. In one movement, she surreptitiously lifted her hand from the datapad pouch up to her blaster holster and flipped the setting from safety to stun. "Follow me."
"Yes, sir," Shin said, walking closely behind Kelia down the bridge between the two data pits.
"Uh, sir?" Perth asked in alarm, jogging a few paces to catch up.
"You heard the man," Kelia said in a calm voice, about halfway to the frontmost portion of the bridge. "The Jedi must be contained and eliminated."
Her strategy was to lure all of the Clones into a tight formation between the two data pits and then begin stunning them. From that position, the chip-activated Clones could be shot from overlapping fields of fire, with the bridge crew using the data pits as impromptu trenches. During boarding simulations, Kelia had trained all three shifts of the bridge crewmembers in this tactic. She only hoped the crew would have enough common sense to set their blasters to stun.
But to the Commodore's chagrin, only the Clone Lieutenant was cooperating. The rest of the Clones remained standing at the rear of the bridge, directly in front of the CIC and entryway to the turbolift cluster, not budging an inch.
Blast it.
Kelia raised her voice, beckoning to them. "I could use you troopers over here at the security station. We have three Jedi on the loose, and the more eyes watching, the better."
When the two squads started walking forward, Shin raised a hand warningly to stop them. "Sir, I think my men are fine just where they are. We have to secure the bridge after all, and the rear is the most advantageous position."
"I insist," Kelia said firmly, looking directly into Shin's vizor.
Shin stood a bit taller. In the corner of the Bothan's peripheral vision, she could see the chip-activated Clones slowly raise their blaster rifles. She had no choice.
Kelia whipped out her blaster pistol and squeezed the trigger, firing a stun bolt into Shin's chest plate at point-blank range, and then dove for cover into the starboard-side data pit. Perth followed her but clumsily landed butt-first on top of the science station terminal, manned by the Caamasi Lieutenant Chalcendona Vra'tis. His boot crushed the lever controlling the science station's astronomical focusing lens, sending sparks flying as he struggled to find footing.
Vra'tis's yellow eyes flashed with anger at Kelia and Perth, and her lips curled in a snarl, revealing many sharp, pointy teeth. For a brief second, it looked to Kelia like the Lieutenant might start berating two of the highest-ranking officers on the ship. But then the Caamasi's eyes widened in fear.
Blaster fire cut through the air, and it wasn't stun shots. Bright blue blasts sizzled against transparisteel windows, computer terminals, and furniture. All of the remaining chip-activated Clones were firing indiscriminately at everyone and everything.
At the front of the data pit, a fiery blast cut through the Quarren scantech, an Ensign whose name Kelia never learned. The two security troopers returned fire on the chip-activated Clones, taking out one of them.
Jural screamed over the blasterfire, "SET WEAPONS TO STUN!"
Standing on top of the science terminal, Kelia poked her head over the top of the data pit's wall and fired stun blasts at the nearest Clone, who was about four to six meters away.
The Trooper staggered and went down in a heap.
Kelia crouched, still standing on top of the science terminal, and ducked for cover as a stream of rapid-fire blaster shots seared the deck plating right in front of her snout. She swore under her breath as hot sparks landed on her uniform shirt, wondering if she would be able to live with herself if she intentionally killed members of her own crew, even in self-defense.
Then, there were screams so loud they cut over the sounds of battle. Someone beneath Kelia grabbed her around the thighs and shoved her upward, right towards the incoming blasterfire.
Gasping, the Commodore turned around and saw that it was Lieutenant Vra'tis who was pushing her—lifting her up and physically shoving her out of cover. Fully convinced that the insubordinate Caamasi was now attempting to kill her, she slammed her elbow down onto the Caamasi's right ear with one arm and snapped repeated stun bolts off at the Clone Troopers with her other. When that didn't work, she began slamming her foot into Vra'tis's shoulder to try and get her to let go.
"STOP!" Jural shrieked, blocking a boot strike that was about to hit the Caamasi in the face. The Captain began helping Vra'tis push Kelia up out of the datapit.
Kelia involuntarily plopped down onto the ground, completely dumbfounded, as Vra'tis and Jural stepped out of the data pit and into the line of fire. Blasterfire seared overhead, yet they were quickly followed by six Clone navigators and technicians, all using the science terminal to escape the data pit and step out of cover.
Before Kelia could ask why Jural had teamed up with Lieutenant Vra'tis in lifting the fleet's commodore up—carrying her into danger, she suddenly noticed there were patterns to the shouts, barely audible over the blasterfire and screams.
And then there was the dull beeping.
"DETONATOR, MOVE!"
A violent explosion tore through the datapit, spewing fire and bodies into the sky. Lying prone or on their backs, Kelia, Jural, Vra'tis, and one Clone navigation officer were bucked into the air by the warped deck plating. The five Clone technicians who had been standing next to them were eviscerated by a cloud of shrapnel.
Smoke filled the air, then fire suppression foam rained down from the ceiling.
Nine of the original twelve troopers from two squads of the 608th suddenly charged, swarming the injured and dying bridge crew. She witnessed the communication officer she had been speaking to moments ago, Trip, she thought his name was, sitting up and clutching the stump of his left arm with his right. An approaching chip-activated trooper mercilessly sprayed his chest with repeating fire, then leveled his blaster at Kelia, Jural, and Vra'tis.
Kelia couldn't even feel the sting as the slightly caustic suppressant foam caked onto her eyes and nose. Ears ringing, the Bothan was otherwise numb to all pain as she stood up, blaster pistol raised. Squeezing the trigger, she was surprised when the trooper's chest plate erupted in flames, clearly hit by a lethal shot.
Vra'tis and Jural stood too, blaster pistols in each of their hands, and began firing, taking three of the Clones down. But it was still five fully armored Clones with blaster rifles versus three bridge officers armed with pistols.
Shock and adrenaline wearing off, Kelia felt a grim certainty that she wouldn't actually survive long enough to need to worry about a guilty conscience. A blaster bolt flew over her head, grazing so closely that it skimmed the top of her patrol cap, burning the tips of her mane.
But blasterfire erupted from the un-detonated port data pit from at least a dozen sources. The Clones crouched, caught in the crossfire between Kelia, Jural, and Vra'tis in front and an entire data pit filled with armed bridge officers to the right. In a fraction of a second, they were cut down in a hail of blasterfire.
Gasping, Kelia lowered her blaster and spat a wad of blood on the floor. The phantasmagoria of gore, wreckage, smoke, and fire all around her was completely unreal. As a Commodore, she had to maintain a certain distance between herself and most of the junior officers and enlisted. But to see so many of them of them dead, killed by other members of her crew—
"MEDIC!" a voice screamed in the distance as six Security Clones and four Navy Troopers rushed from the secondary alert station at the back of the bridge tower, securing Shin and the stunned infantry troopers while policing weapons and helping tend to the wounded, including those chipped Clones who hadn't been fatally shot.
That entire shootout took just over a minute, Kelia realized as reality set in. Even without an alert, it had taken maybe a minute and a half for the alert station team to get geared up and to them.
Kelia stepped out of the way as three crew members pushed their way past her. She looked over to Jural, who nodded, then to Vra'tis, whose nose was filled with blood; no thanks to Kelia's own incorrect assumptions. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. You saved my life."
"Don't mention it, sir," Vra'tis said, "I'm sure you would have done the same for me. There's also the fact you were blocking the exit."
Turning away, Kelia tried to blink the pain out of her eyes, which were now watering from the shab'la suppressant foam. It was getting difficult to see. A panicked realization suddenly came over her. Perth. Where's Perth?!
"Perth?! PERTH!"
"I'm over here, sir," a strained voice said.
Kelia spun around and saw her first officer standing at the security station. Both of the security troopers were dead, and a red liquid was pooling at Perth's right leg.
"You're bleeding!" Kelia cried out, jogging across the bridge to him.
"Yes, sir," Perth said stiffly, typing commands into the terminal. "We have a problem."
A passing technician handed a first aid box to Kelia. The only medic on the bridge was a chipped 608th trooper who was currently unconscious, courtesy of a stun bolt. She stooped down and began tightening a tourniquet around Perth's leg.
"Thank you, sir," Perth sighed.
"WHY THE KRIFF HASN'T A MED TEAM BEEN CALLED?!" Jural shouted, stooping over an injured Rodian.
"That's the problem, Captain," Perth gestured to the screen.
Kelia stood up and sighed. An entire platoon of chip-activated Clone troopers was standing just outside the turbolift, trying to override the locked doors.
We barely handled twelve half-alert troopers… Thirty-six prepared ones will end us.
"We're getting hailed by the Foretoken!" cried out a voice from the port datapit. "It's a fleetwide transmission."
Finishing Perth's leg, Kelia walked around the charred crater that used to be the starboard data pit. The explosion had punched a hole through the floor, and empty chairs and smashed computer terminals were wedged in the gash, having sunken halfway between decks.
When she arrived at the portside of the bridge, the plump human holopresence of Captain Gretz was already being projected from one of the remaining comm stations. Everyone who wasn't busy tending to the wounded turned to listen.
"A group of clone troopers has taken the bridge and are now demanding that I read the contents of this datapad." Gretz waved a datapad with a scoff as if to demonstrate. "The gist of these insane demands is that we kill Kev Rel'skar and his Padawan, or at least stand idly by while they do our dirty work for us. It is… Well, just as the Loth-wolves said."
"Hail him!" Kelia snapped, realizing with horror that Gretz was probably going to do something suicidal. All she had to do to hold the fleet together was convince the mad Clones on the Foretoken that Kev Rel'skar and Ekos were dead. None of them knew about Ahsoka Tano.
"I'm trying, sir! He's not picking up."
"Commodore Los'ean remains in command of the fleet, and the decision is ultimately hers. But if you ask me, the Jedi have been nothing but loyal to the Republic. We should have flushed these Clones out into space two days ago with the refuse and been—"
Struck by a blaster bolt from somewhere off-screen, Gretz stooped over in pain, the fleshy part of his thigh sizzling.
"Read the datapad!" a furious voice yelled at him.
"Lock down the bridge controls," Gretz said defiantly, "authorization golf zero aurek!"
Several voices gasped as another blast took out the back of Gretz's head. A trooper with a command pauldron stepped into view, holding a smoking blaster pistol.
"I've seen enough!" Kelia barked, prompting this communication officer—also a Clone, to end the transmission.
"You can't just vent us into space, sir!" Perth shouted across the bridge, clearly having pulled up the transmission on his terminal too.
Kelia took a deep breath, then slowly turned in place, locking eyes with everyone who was staring at her. Out of the thirty-six bridge officers who had been stationed on the afternoon watch, only twenty-two could stand, counting Kelia herself. Twelve of the twenty-two were Clones, as were several of the injured crewmembers sprawled out on the deck plating.
"I'm not planning on it," she said at last. "Prepare a transmission to the fleet."
