The injured were quickly taken away to the medical bay at the temple, and the dead were brought down to the morgue for further investigation. Everyone who was on board was expected to report to the council immediately in order to be properly questioned.

One by one they were brought into the council chambers and questioned in front of the entire council-minus Obi-wan. Eventually, it became Anakin's turn.

"What were you doing when the explosion went off, Young Skywalker?" Mace asked.

"I was making my way to the elevators to go up to the master's gathering area," he answered honestly, "because I wanted to go and talk to Obi-wan and thank him for making go on that trip. I was actually enjoying myself like he said I would." He couldn't help but smile when he remembered the moment of happiness he had before it quickly went to hell.

"So you didn't want to be there?" Ki Adi asked.

Anakin confessed, "Not initially, but I was actually starting to enjoy the cruise before the explosion went off."

Shaaki Ti asked, "Were you with anyone else?"

"Ahsoka was with me when the explosion happened" he said, "we were just talking."

Mace brought up a hologram and explained, "After the bombing, Barris was resourceful enough to save all the recordings from every camera on board. Unfortunately, the ion explosion ruined the sound, and it cuts off as soon as the bomb goes off, but we have a visual of you and Ahsoka doing what looks like more than 'just talking.'" He showed them clearly arguing in the hallway.

Anakin said, "It was a quick argument. It didn't lead to anything important."

Yoda asked, "Arguing about what, were you?"

He couldn't believe he had to get into this again. He explained as calmly as he could muster, "She tried to get my attention, but I didn't hear her the first time she called for me so she called me a word she thought was some old nickname of mine and I didn't appreciate that."

Now confused, the councilmembers looked at each other. Mace asked, "What did she call you?"

"Wenuchulla," he said, looking at the floor, "it's a Huttese word that means 'slave vermin.' She didn't know that, but I lost my temper at her after hearing that word again anyway." His shoulders got tense as he remembered being called that most of his childhood.

"Where would Ahsoka have heard that word if not from you?" Shaak Ti asked.

"That isn't relevent," Anakin insisted.

"We'll decide what is and isn't relevent," Mace said, "answer the question, Young Skywalker."

He answered, gritting his teeth in anger at reliving the experience, "Davy Stardust called me that in front of her. She got it from him."

The councilmembers exchanged glances, but moved on. Yoda turned to him and asked, "Next, what happened?"

"The bomb went off," he said, "and then I ran for the stairs to get to Obi-wan because I could sense he was hurt, along with a bunch of others. From there I tried to get our communications back online, but the next thing I knew, Davy was landing the ship on Tatooine."

He recounted the entire tale, from the Tusken Raiders showing up ready to kill them all to the sink hole and meeting up with his family again. He didn't mention the wedding invitation he received, but he brought up everything else, and finished off with how they raced back to Coruscant and contacted the chancellor immediately.

Mace brought out a scanner and scanned Anakin's entire body. He asked, "What is that scanning for?"

"Are you aware you have a large number of micro droids on you right now?" he asked, glancing up at him from the scanner.

"Micro droids?" Anakin asked, "Is that how the explosion went off?"

Ki Adi answered, "That appears to be the case."

Anakin gestured to himself and said, "I don't know how I could have gotten those on me, but remote activated micro droids would make the most sense. That means the person who did it is likely alive and well. I would have figured they got themselves injured or even ended up among the dead." He paused. "It's possible whoever did this put the microdroids on everyone to cover their tracks."

"We've taken notice," Mace said, "and you have the most on you compared to everyone else we've questioned thus far, and you were in a hallway rather than in one of the main gathering areas at the time of the attack, and to add to that, you were angry right before the bomb went off."

Anakin froze. "What are you saying, Master?"

"We're holding you for further questioning until we get to the bottom of this," he answered, standing up, "Anakin Skywalker, you're under arrest."

"What?" he said, stepping backwards away from him, "But I didn't do it! I rescued everyone when we crashed!"

"You just so happened to land the ship on your home world-"

"Everyone knows I hate that planet!" he insisted, "Davy was the one at the helm! He's the one who decided to land there! Not me!"

Mace asked, "And why was he at the helm?"

Anakin hesitated. This was quickly getting worse for him, and he had no idea how to stop it. "Because I put him in charge of navigating the ship," he explained in desperation, "and I only told him to do that because I was the highest-ranking member still conscious! Everyone else was injured or dead!" He covered his mouth in horror. "That sounded a lot worse than I meant."

"We still have more people to question," Mace said, "but this isn't looking good for you, Young Skywalker."

Ki Adi said calmly, "Keep yourself at ease. You'll be brought in for further questioning later. For now, you're under arrest for the suspicion of 8 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder."

Mace brought out the cuffs and Anakin held his wrists up for him. He couldn't believe this was happening. It was like the ultimate betrayal. He just saved everyone's lives and this was the thanks he was getting?! He watched in sadness as the cuffs went on.

"We'll have clones excort you to a holding cell off temple grounds," Mace explained, "you'll stay there until we get things sorted and come to question you again."

A group of armed clones surrounded the entrance to the room. Anakin was forced to walk in front of everyone who awaited their turn to be questioned in the hallway. They all turned and stared in shock and awe.

Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, the clones stopped once they were on the shuttle and didn't move.

"Guys?" Anakin asked, "What's going on? Can we get this entire humiliating experience over with already? This is embarrassing enough as it is."

"We're awaiting on one more arrival, General," the clone at the wheel said, "per General Windu's orders."

Anakin turned and saw Ahsoka was getting escorted by another platoon of armed clones. "Ahsoka!"

"Master, I didn't do it!" she shouted at him.

As she was pushed inside and forced to sit beside him, he said, "I don't understand what's happening. We didn't bomb anyone!"

She said, "They claimed I'm covered in micro droids, head to toe!"

"Someone must have planted remote controlled ion micro droids on the scene and then spread them to us and everyone else on board," Anakin explained, "Who did you talk to right after the blast?"

She thought back. "Uh," she hesitated, "you, and Bariss, and that Huron guy, and Davy, and Obi-wan, and so many other people! What about you? Who did you talk to?"

He said, "I addressed everyone and went to fix the communications system alone." He sighed. "That means the person behind this got to us later. I interacted with everyone who was concious at least once by the time we got to the farm-especially during that mud fight we had."

"I did too," she said sadly, "we're never going to narrow this down."

"Ahsoka, we'll get through this together," Anakin insisted, taking her hands in his, "the council will figure out we're innocent and catch the real criminal. Have some faith."

"And if they don't and we're jailed forever?! What then?"

He shook his head. "The truth can't be hidden forever," he replied, "practice your patience and you'll see it to be true in the end, my padawan."


When the shuttle stopped, Anakin was surprised to see a military prison standing before them. "What's this?" he asked angrily, "We're only going to a holding cell, not prison!"

"Change in plans, General," a clone explained, "per the Chancellor's orders, this is now a military opperation under the command of Admiral Tarkin due to the number of deaths and to keep the jedi as neutral as possible in this matter."

Ahsoka said, "But we haven't been convicted anything!"

"We have no say," the clone replied, "our apologies, master jedi."

Anakin and Ahsoka were both processed and booked separately on the charges, and then were put in their own cells next to each other. Their lightsabers were taken from them.


Now able to walk on his own and half recovered, Obi-wan stood before the other councilmembers and told everyone what he saw and heard on board.

"Thank you for your testimony, Master Kenobi," Mace said, "unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. We've already charged both Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano for several counts of murder and attempted murder."

"What?" Obi-wan almost couldn't breathe, "Anakin wasn't the one who did this! He's never had anything disparaging to say against being a jedi, and neither has Ahsoka!"

Shaaki Ti explained, "That's the problem we keep running into. Everyone board has never had any reports of claiming anything negative towards the jedi as a whole, yet here we are with several dead and several more wounded."

Ki Adi asked, "Master Kenobi, what were your reasons for insisting both Anakin and Ahsoka join the padawan reunion cruise?"

He sighed and answered, "We had just come off one of the worst fire fights in the entire war. We've had mass casulties and many failed attempts at rescuing hostages among other terrible things we had encountered. Anakin was so tense afterwards, I knew he needed a break. And I know we're all aware of the difficulties Anakin faced when he first began his training with us. I simply asked Ahsoka to accompany him because I thought having a friend by his side when reuniting with those who bullied him would be helpful."

"Have you ever heard Padawan Davy Stardust call Anakin a Huttese slur?" Mace asked.

Dumbfounded by their sudden change in questioning, Obi-wan said, "No? When did this happen?"

Ki Adi said, "I wonder if anyone can cooberate Young Skywalker's story."

"Thank you, Master Kenobi," Mace said, "that'll be all."

"Where are Anakin and Ahsoka now?"

"In holding, they are," Yoda answered, "requested by the chancellor and Admiral Tarkin, it was."

Obi-wan asked, "They're in charge now? This is clearly an internal affair!"

"The military are the ones who commissioned the ship under the rule of the chancellor," Mace explained, "that and the number of deaths and injuries to the jedi means this is a military operation now. We're still questioning people, but Admiral Tarkin is going to question them again on his own."


"Master," Ahsoka said through the wall of her cell, "how can you be so calm right now!? We're about to get convicted for several counts of murder and attempted murder if we don't get out of here and find the real criminal!"

Meanwhile, Anakin sat in a meditation stance and said, "Ahsoka, I have faith Obi-wan will get down to the bottom of this, and while I don't agree with the council most of the time, I know they're smarter than this and they'll find the culprit. Clearly whoever did this is afraid of us for some reason, why else would they frame us?"

"I don't know."

"You said you felt bad intent before the explosion," he continued, "but was it towards us specifically?"

"No," she answered, "it was towards the jedi in general."

Anakin explained, "Whoever did this has lost faith in the jedi. If I've learned anything about this war, it's that it's pushed people in directions they've never thought of before. We can't crumble at the first sign of adversity, Ahsoka."

She couldn't help but smile. "Since when have you become so wise, Master?" she snarked, then turned and saw the key-card to open her cell sitting right at the entrance, within her reach.

"I've always been wise," he snarked, "you just haven't been paying attention."

Ahsoka leapt for the key-card and immediately opened her cell. Anakin heard the noise and stood up. She exclaimed, "Our luck has just changed! I'm getting us out of here!"

"Don't!" he begged, "Ahsoka, if you leave, you're only going to make yourself look guilty." He watched as she opened up his cell and motioned for him to follow her out. He shook his head and backed away from her and the opening.

"I'm not guilty!" she shouted, "You know that!"

"Yes, I do," he replied, "I do know that, but think about this from the council's perspective-"

She asked, "Since when do you care so much about the council and their opinions? They've always looked down on you, and now look what they've done to you! How can you trust them after this?!"

He explained, "They're the ones in charge, Ahsoka! Running away from this is only going to make this worse for both of us. Don't do it!" He reached out and grabbed her with his right hand by the wrist. "Stay and fight this the legal way!"

She tried pulling away but he was too strong. "Get off of me! I'm going to solve this on my own!"

"Stop making yourself look guilty!" he yelled.

Ahsoka turned to face him and said calmly, "I'm sorry, Master, but I have to do this." She used the force and crushed the metal part of his wrist. Anakin recoiled as it broke into pieces and she stole his hand.

"Ahsoka!" he shouted after her, holding his now missing appendage.

Their commotion brought attention to the guards. The clones moved in and quickly stunned Anakin, "Wait!" he choked out before he was knocked down and out.

Meanwhile, Ahsoka made a run for it. She kept running and running, on and on down different hallways until she finally made it for an exit and freed herself from the prison. She knew exactly what to do to try and solve this mystery on her own and catch the person trying to frame her and her master.


When Anakin woke up, he was back in his cell. He looked down to see his right wrist was broken and his metal hand was missing. He groaned as he sat up and the grogginess of the stun gun wore off.

"My friend," the chancellor's voice said from the entryway, "I'm so sorry you're locked up in here, and now your padawan is on the loose."

"I tried to stop her from leaving," Anakin said, leaping up excitedly to meet him at the rei shielded door, "I tried to get her to stay here and prove her innocence the proper way, but she insisted on running!"

Palpatine said, "So she has a tendency not to listen to her superiors. I wonder where she got that trait from."

"Don't give me all the credit, your excellency," he snarked, then added, "but seriously, she's in danger and she doesn't seem to know it."

"That's why I'm here," he said, "Anakin, there are no secrets between us. You can tell me where she is, and I can assure you no harm will come to her. Whoever is framing the two of you may not stop at a prison sentence-if you know what I mean."

He said, "That's why I'm so worried for her! I don't know where she is! All she said to me before she left, was she was going to solve this mystery herself." He paused. "Wait, you know we're being framed?"

Palpatine nodded, "Well of course, how else would the chosen one turn and kill his fellow jedi so suddenly?"

Anakin quickly expressed his relief. "I'm so glad someone in charge believes me, " he said, "but I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you where Ahsoka went, but I don't know. Please find her before the jedi murderer does."

"I'll do my best, my friend," he replied before he turned to leave.


Ahsoka got herself a micro droid scanner and hid in an alleyway away from security cameras in the middle of Coruscant. The council was right, she was covered in the little droids, but where did she pick them up, and when? Who gave them to her?

She took them to the criminal she met when she lost her lightsaber months earlier, and asked if he knew anything about them. He only knew the brand name, but that was enough to send her to the manufacturing port they came from right there on Coruscant. To her surprise, she wasn't alone.

A hooded figure appeared, their face hidden behind a mask. The only thing Ahsoka could tell was that she was a woman, and she had a lightsaber. Without her own lightsaber, Ahsoka knew this was going to be tough.

Ahsoka threw everything she could at the mystery woman, everything that was on the platform with the force and then some, but this lady had force sensitivity as well! A jedi was fighting her?

Just when she thought she was going to get the upper hand, clone troopers came storming in from every angle.

"I found her!" the woman exclaimed, then took off her hood to reveal herself.

"Bariss!?" Ahsoka gasped.

Before any explanations were had, the clones stunned Ahsoka. She was instantly down for the count.