Judgment Day

Chapter 11 - To The Rescue

Author's Note: Pretty much everyone here needs a hug. Lol.

~ Amina Gila

The only reason Ahsoka didn't join Maul when he offered her a chance to destroy Sidious – she knows now, that her and Rex's suspicion on who it is, is right – was because he's a Sith, too, and she can't trust him. Of course, there was his ridiculous delusions about getting her to help him kill Anakin.

She stands on the bridge, staring out at the white-blue swirl of hyperspace outside the window, though her thoughts are a million miles away. She needs to get back to Coruscant as soon as possible and tell the Council what she's realized, assuming they haven't been able to figure it out on their own by now.

Sidious is trying to turn Anakin.

It makes so much sense now that she's thinking about it. She always respected Palpatine because he was the Chancellor, and she knew Anakin looked up to him, but she remembers how he always wanted her out of the room whenever he talked to Anakin. She never thought anything of it because she was just a padawan and he was a Knight, but now, she can see it was for more reasons than that. Palpatine was grooming him.

Force, he's been trying to make Anakin Fall. She can't imagine how he ever could, but –

"Anakin has joined forces with the Son. Do not engage him."

He'd Fallen then on Mortis, assuming it wasn't a vision, but she'd never actually seen him like that. For all she knows, the Son may have been mind-controlling him too. Still, she knows it's not impossible, and the thought scares her more than she could ever say.

Maybe she should call Anakin, just say something to him.

The mission the Council gave Anakin is essentially giving Palpatine unlimited access to him, right when his plans are about to reach a head, and Force, this is bad. What if she gets back there and it's already too late? What if –

It's at that very moment that she senses a sudden surge in the Force. A disturbance that's steadily growing in intensity, and she doesn't even want to know what this is. Is this what Maul was talking about? Are all of Sidious' plans ending here and now?

A nearly blinding panic grips her, but she struggles to think past it. If this is really the end, it means Sidious is planning to make the clones turn on the Jedi, and –

She whirls around, racing onto the deck. "Rex!"

"Yes, Commander?" he asks, turning around with a frown.

"Shut down all incoming communications to this ship immediately," she orders.

"Yes, ma'am," he replies immediately, turning away to give the orders.

She doesn't dare breathe a sigh of relief. Everything is falling apart, here and now, and she can only hope that at least she can protect the clones here from what's to come. It's all she can do right now. If only she'd taken the time to talk to Anakin or something, because she doesn't even know if he'll be who he once was by the time she gets back.

She approaches Rex again as soon as any type of communication is closed off. "We need to start removing chips immediately," she declares. "Everything is happening right now. I know it's risky, but we can't wait."

Rex nods firmly, heading off to give the instructions.

The bridge is empty now, as Ahsoka stands in front of the controls, where an incoming transmission continues to beep. She throws a quick glance around before answering, against her better judgment.

A hooded figure, who sends the chills through her just seeing it, appears – though she's pretty sure it's just a recording of the message at this point. "The time has come," he hisses, "Execute Order 66."