Ahsoka and Rex - I want to go far away and never come back

Chapter 19 - Alone

Anakin stepped off the ship in the Jedi Temple hangar that just had been brought back to use after the incident there. He sighed. What was he suppoused to do now? He knew the answer of course. He started walking towards the council chambers. Go to the council, report on the chase, recieve new orders, follow the new orders. He was suppoused to be the perfect Jedi, and always do as the order demanded of him. But he grew tired of it in bad times, like now. How did they expect him to be emotionless and cold when his own padawan was in danger? She was powerful, so he didn't doubt that she would manage but he still didn't like it.

He took the lift up to the tower. Once there he waited outside the doors until he was summoned. He gave them his report of what happened and they then listened to Admiral Tarkin's investigation of it. It was long and full of procedures and protocols and Anakin in his corner only wanted them to get to the point.

Finally, he thought when they started telling their conclusions. "... After further investigation there can be little doubt that the clone officers murdered in the escape were killed by none other than Ahsoka Tano herself." The council looked around themselfves. How had it come to this? Tarkin's cold face in the hologram showed no pity for either the Jedi, clones or Ahsoka. "She used a Jedi mind trick to convince the clone to open the door and then proceeded to cut him down along with five other clones along the way."

The mood was dark in the tower. It hung like a heavy fabric over them and dimmed all light that tried to come through. Anakin clenched his fists the way he knew would turn his knuckles white, luckily he wore his glowes that covered it. The order didn't like feelings, especially not negative ones.

Master Plo Koon spoke first. "I cannot believe that Ahsoka could have fallen so far." It seemed like most were in agreement with him. He sat leaning forward in his chair with his elbows resting on his thighs and his fingers entwined just by his head. His facialexpression was more or less worried, Anakin couldn't really tell. The Jedi's face's lower half was covered by a mask that made him able to survive where there was oxygen as it was toxic to his species and his eyes were covered for similar reasons leaving little to be seen. The Kel Dor species also missed eyebrows.

Tarkin looked straight through the council like he was above them somehow. "The beliefs of the Jedi Council are irrelevant," he said very firmly. "We deal strictly in facts and evidence, and the evidence points to Padawan Tano being guilty of the attack on the temple and the murder of the Republic officers. This is sedition." The signal cut out and the hologram dissapeared.

Anakin did not look forward to telling Rex or the men of the accusations. They had been SO close. If only they hadn't fired at her.

The meeting ended shortly and Anakin hurried down the stairs where he had left off Rex less than 12 hours ago. They let him stay on the mission to bring Ahsoka in at least, that was some good news. He had hurried ahead of the Kel Dor Jedi Master assigned with him, he imagined Rex would need some time, as well as the men. They put their trust in Ahsoka every day in every battle, dealing with her as a traitor wouldn't be easy.

The rain had moved as the day went and covered the Senate District too now. The sky was dark though it wasn't yet night. Anakin jogged. He didn't want to be completely soaked having just changed his boots after the sewers, it would mean walking around in wet socks in the heat in the lower depths for who knows how long. Mace Windu had been right saying it would be hard to find Ahsoka, and this task was the type in which you got rest once it was finnished. It could mean weeks if they were unlucky, but also depended on if Ahsoka found the evidence she looked for.

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She had looked back up at Rex, pushing an appology to him through the force. I'm sorry, she had said. Hopefully he understood that it was from her.