ThisisreallyreallyreallylateI'msosorryplsdon'tkillmeaaahh… I am really sorry that I haven't updated this in a while.

DojoYoyo: Anakin, take a chill pill. Or a Snickers, either is fine just calm the heck down dude! XD I'm glad you liked Rex and Cody, I love those two. Also, I'm glad you noticed the Scipio reference...it's all coming together….


The next day…

A faint beeping caused Ahsoka to wake up, blinking into her still-dark room. Her brow narrowed and she squished her face into the squeaky mattress. What in the haran had woken her up? She got the answer a second later when the beeping sounded again, coming from the direction of her left wrist. Snapping awake fully, she jerked upward and fumbled with the communicator before opening the channel. "Ahsoka here."

"Commander, we've got a mission." Ahsoka bit her cheek as Rex spoke, trying not to reprimand him for calling her Commander. It seemed all the clones were inclined to ignore the fact that she officially no longer held the title.

"What is it Rex?" Ahsoka asked, already slipping out of her bed to change into her clothes.

"It's a small, backwater planet sir." Rex announced, his voice ringing crisp and clear through the comm link as she changed. "The Separatists have set up a base, probably trying to get whatever resources are on that planet. We're going to board everyone on the cruisers shortly, can you be at the hangar in twenty minutes?"

"I'll be there in five Rex." She grinned, before shutting off the comm. The familiar adrenaline was pumping through her body, the anticipation of the coming battle and of the wildness of the front. She wouldn't say she'd missed it, but Force it was nice to have something feel the same. Unlike the day before, she threw open the door and ran down the stairs without trepidation. Finally, finally she could do something instead of sitting on her shebs all day. Coruscant could be pretty in the early morning, when the planet's sun hadn't even risen. There was a hush over the usually bustling city; aside from the occasional early-riser, no one was out on the streets. The cruisers were already being primed, Ahsoka could see the dull blue glow of the repulsors being primed. As she approached the doors, the whooshed open and she nearly jumped backward in surprise. There were all the men, lined up and wearing the helmets with her markings. She grinned widely, feeling some tears gather in her eyes. They were still wearing them, they still trusted her and respected her. Rex walked up, a smile like her own plastered on his face.

"I had the boys get ready, I knew they wouldn't want to miss their favorite Commander arriving bright and early." Ahsoka rolled her eyes but nodded to all the men present.

"Thanks boys, it's nice to be back." She wasn't lying, it felt good to be with the 501st again. She raised her hands in the air, splaying her fingers wide. "Now who wants to crush some Seppie scum?" A loud roar answered her, some of the seasoned soldiers raised their blasters in the air and rattled them in preparation for the fight. Rex's smile widened and he rubbed the back of his head. A white bandage was plastered to the top of his head, Ahsoka frowned.

"Rex, what happened to your head?" Rex froze and immediately removed his hand from the bandage. "Did you somehow get shot with a training bolt? Did you not have your helmet on?" She crossed her arms as the men disbanded to their quarters for the flight. "Do I need to call Kix to make sure you don't have an infection or something?"

"No, no it's nothing like that." Rex said hurriedly, his eyes darting around as though someone would overhear them.

Ahsoka's eyebrow markings rose all the way up her forehead. "Rex, why are you acting so weird? You haven't done something illegal, have you?" She almost laughed at the thought, but Rex was starting to worry her.

"Commander, I think we need to speak in private." He fiddled with his hands, constantly checking over his shoulder.

"Rex, I've told you to stop calling me that." He just stared at her, pleading in his gaze. "Okay," she sighed and gestured for him to move, "we'll go to your office." Rex nodded and immediately launched into a near run towards his office. Ahsoka nearly jumped, why was he in such a hurry? What was going on? Starting to get nervous, she quickly moved after him and tried to keep as low a profile as possible. Rex ducked inside his quarters and she was barely inside before he slammed the door shut. "Rex, what's going on? Why are you so nervous?"

"Cody and I had our chips removed." The straightforward confession caused Ahsoka to do a double take. Wait, what?!

"You—you what?" She said aloud, her forehead pinching in confusion.

"Me, Cody...we both got our chips removed." She blinked, that was….interesting.

"Why?"

"The Jedi Council wanted to see if those chips really did anything good or if we could function fine without them. If we work just fine without them, they'll try to remove them from every clone because it could get them killed like Tup or—" He cut himself off, his hands clenching and unclenching.

"Or what?" Ahsoka asked softly, moving a little closer to him.

"Or we could do something terrible...like kill all the Jedi." Ahsoka sucked in a sharp breath but nodded her head slowly.

"That's what Fives has been saying." She whispered, almost to herself.

"I know," Rex responded just as quietly. "There's a lot of doubt surrounding him, but he's a good kid. I know he wants to help, and I know he's telling the truth. It's just hard to accept it."

"I know what you mean," she sighed and folded her arms. "I'm assuming this was done without the knowledge of the Chancellor or the Senate."

"You assume correctly Commander." Rex fiddled with his helmet, looking somewhat abashed. "It's a precaution, just in case the conspiracy goes all the way to the top."

"This just gets messier and messier the deeper we dig." Ahsoka grunted, massaging her temples with her index fingers.

"The truth is never easy Commander, no matter how badly we wish it. Sometimes the best things are the messiest to achieve, but they're well worth the wait." She gave a half-hearted grin and moved over to punch him lightly in the shoulder.

"Why did you get so wise while I was away? Now I feel like an uneducated youngling." Her words had the desired effect as Rex gave a light chuckle, one of the closest things to a full-bellied laugh the Captain could give. "C'mon, the men are probably already throwing paint at each other in the two seconds we've been in your office." Rex laughed again and they both exited his quarters to go to the bridge. The pilots had already set the coordinates for the planet and were lifting off the ground. As Ahsoka stood on the bridge, she felt a familiar sense of ease. This was just another battle against the same stupid battle droids, the only thing missing was her Master at her side. Leading the battle with his confidence and helping her when things got tough. Come to think of it, where was Anakin?

"Sir," Rex spoke up as though he could read her mind, "the General was unable to join us on this mission. He did, however, say that he had full confidence in your abilities." Ahsoka felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. This was her first time back to the front lines in nearly two months and Anakin was trusting her with the command of the 501st? "Oh, he also left something for you in his office." Rex's calm voice snapped Ahsoka out of her mini-spiral and she turned her attention on him. "You should probably get it before we begin the siege." She eyed him for a clue as to what she was receiving, but he just shrugged his shoulders. Snorting, she turned and made the way to Anakin's office.

As she entered the room, she had to pause. The setting was so familiar; the same casual air created by datapads piled into somewhat neat stacks and robes strewn across the bed. She felt like if she turned only a little to her left, Anakin would be humming along to some obscure tune while working through a pile of reports that had been due the week before. She cracked a small smile at the thought before something caught her eye. On Anakin's desk, there was a small slip of paper on top of an ornate box. She reached over and took the paper, unfolding it to find a message scrawled in Anakin's loopy script.


Ahsoka,

I'm sorry I couldn't be with you to lead this siege, but I've been summoned to Scipio. Apparently there's been some misunderstanding or something with the transactions. They want me to help smooth things over, which is a terrible idea. I've never been good with negotiations, I can only hope that you learned that art from Obi-Wan rather than me. If all goes well, I should be back on Coruscant rather quickly. This should be your only solo command for a while, but if it's any consolation I think you'll do great. There's not many people I trust to lead these men, and you're one of those few. Please open the box that is beneath this letter, take the contents without a second thought. I'll sleep a little better at night if I know these are with you rather than just sitting in an old box. Take care of yourself and try to come back in one piece.

Anakin


Ahsoka smiled softly as she read the letter before folding it neatly back up. Anakin was never really good at phrasing things eloquently, which was relieving in a bizarre way. She could always trust him to say what he meant and not muddle the meaning. Her hand rested on the box, still she felt hesitation. She knew what the contents were, she could feel the energy pulsing from their core. Taking them would mean that she was really going back to the war, she was really going back to this life. And what's so bad about this life? She challenged herself, you have men all around you that are like family. You have people who care about you. So stop being such a coward and pick up those lightsabers.

Before her doubts could come crashing down on her again, she reached into the box and grabbed her sabers. She flicked them on and the azure glow flooded her body. Despite herself, Ahsoka smiled and twirled the blades in her hands. Good balance, there was even a slight curve for her hands that was better suited for her reverse grip. Anakin had indeed made them a little better. She placed the sabers by her hips and walked back out to the men who fortunately were already gathered around the holotable. Rex's eyes moved across her face then down to where her lightsabers hung secure at her hips. He flashed the briefest of smiles and she returned it before nodding her head to the men present. She saw Jesse, Vaughn, and Kix were there; shouldn't have been a surprise.

"Commander on deck!" Rex's voice had every man snapping to attention and Ahsoka rolled her eyes playfully.

"All right, at ease men." She flicked a couple of switches on the table to bring up the image of the planet. "Now, tell me what we're up against."

"Yes sir," Jesse stepped forward and pushed a few more buttons, zooming in on the image to reveal a small squad of droids. "There's a Seperatist base towards the outskirts of a dense forest. They have squads like these patrolling the whole area, occasionally accompanied by a tank. The trees are too thick for our helicarriers to land, so we'll have to land a little farther out then go in on foot. It won't be easy Commander."

"Since when has any mission been easy Jesse?" Ahsoka quipped, earning a chuckle from the ARC trooper. "If we send in smaller groups here and here," she zoomed out and pointed to a few spots on the map, "we could spread out through the forest. As long as everyone's within radio distance of the other squads, we could move through the forest pretty quickly." Vaughn and Kix were nodding along as she explained her plan and Rex was smiling.

"Sounds like a solid plan sir," Jesse grinned, dipping his head towards her. Ahsoka nodded back respectfully as the others murmured their agreement.

"Sir, do try not to tear your shoulder ligaments again. Which means no fancy moves." Kix's stern voice made her smile and shrug as innocently as possible.

"Okay, okay, I promise." Kix gave an unimpressed snort which in turn made everyone laugh out loud.

"I'm serious Commander," Kix tried to keep a straight face despite the smile tugging mercilessly at his features. "I do not need you completely damaging your shoulder for five seconds of showboating." This only invited everyone to laugh harder, Kix included, before Rex put them all back on task.

"All right all right, enough chit-chat. I'll get the men prepared for landing."

"Are we already that close?" Ahsoka turned in surprise to see the pilots preparing to pull out of hyperspace.

"Yeah, the planet's not too far into Seppie territory." Rex spoke up, his arms crossed. "Let's hope this goes mostly according to plan."

"Oh Rex, you still think any plans work out the way we want?" Ahsoka grinned, throwing some of her old sass behind the words.

"Sir, it never hurts to be somewhat optimistic."


"How's that optimism going Rex?!" Ahsoka shouted through the comms, ducking as blaster fire rained down on her position. Almost the second they touched the ground, chaos had ensued. The droids were farther from the thick forest than they had thought, but Jesse's group had already breached the base.

"Just peachy sir!" Rex called back, and she heard the rumble of an explosion through his end. "We're just about finished up over here, we can get to the base and try to deactivate the droids."

"Good, we can hold out for a little longer here." She broke off to impale a droid that came up behind her before deflecting more blaster bolts. "Just try to make it quick." She didn't hear Rex's response through the sound of cracking wood and whipped her head up. A tree was falling, vines and twigs snapping as it barreled toward the troopers. "Look out!" She cried, reaching into the Force and yanking her men away from the tree just as it fell. She dove to the side, covering her head as her shoulder screamed with the unexpected movement. Leaves and dirt exploded as the huge tree hit the ground, branches whipping her body. A high-pitched whine was ringing through her head and her vision was doubled.

"Commander Tano!" She grunted, shaking her head to stop it from spinning. She blearily saw a trooper approaching her position, she couldn't tell who. "Are you okay sir?"

"I'm all right trooper, thank you." Ahsoka stumbled to her feet, her eyes still struggling to focus. "What's the status?"

"Well sir, it's actually good news." She stared at the clone, his words taking a moment to settle in.

"What?" Ahsoka asked stupidly, blinking and tilting her head in confusion.

"That tree actually took out the tank and the rest of the droid squads. We can now advance farther into the enemy's territory."

"Oh," was all she could say, knocking herself on the head a few times to focus her vision. "Well, that is good news. Did we lose any men?"

"No sir, your quick thinking saved their lives." She sighed in relief, some of the tightness easing from her muscles. Unfortunately, her shoulder chose that time to remind her that it was hurt by sending white-hot all throughout her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, waiting for the wave of agony to pass before opening her eyes.

"What's your name trooper?"

"Aries sir," the clone dipped his head respectfully.

"Aries," she noticed now that he had a small bull face tattooed on his helmet. "Well Aries, do you think you can gather the rest of the men? We need to reinforce Jesse and Captain Rex at the Seperatist base."

"No need for that Commander," Ahsoka's comm crackled to life and Jesse's voice filtered through the device. "We just captured the base, all the droid squads had been moved to your position so there was no one guarding the base."

"Oh," was all that made it out of Ahsoka's mouth again, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I guess we can call the pilots to pick us up. That is, once we're out of this forest."

"Yes sir," was all Jesse said before the channel went dark. She frowned, rubbing her chin nervously.

"Sir?" She lifted her head to meet Aries's gaze, she could tell his eyes were concerned even through the visor. "Is something wrong?"

"This just seemed too easy," she replied, crossing her arms. "Then again, it is a backwater planet. Maybe I'm just restless, but there's been something off this entire mission I just can't put my finger on. Oh who knows, maybe I'm not even thinking about the mission anymore."

"Sir?" Aries's voice was laced with confusion and Ahsoka had to suppress a smile. She forgot, not everyone could sense through the Force.

"It's nothing Aries. Something's been nagging for a while, that's all." Aries just nodded and moved to attend to his brothers. Ahsoka's face dropped back into a frown and she pinched her forehead. Maybe what Rex had said about the chips was getting to her more than she thought. Throughout the whole departure and even when they arrived on the cruiser, she still couldn't get the feeling to go away. She was currently pacing in the back of the ship, her hands flitting around nervously. Something was wrong, but what was it?

"Ahsoka?" She jumped when Rex's voice startled her from her thoughts. She turned to find him giving her a weird look. "I was just going to tell you, we made it back to Coruscant."

"Good, that's good." She mumbled to herself, her hands flicking to her lightsabers then away over and over.

"Is something wrong sir? Is it your shoulder? Do you need Kix?"

"No, no Rex it's not that." Ahsoka waved her healing arm just to show him it was fine. "Kix cleared me once we got on board I just…" She sighed in exasperation and pinched her forehead again. "Something is wrong Rex, somewhere something is wrong. I just don't know what or where and it's driving me crazy."

"Well, how about we disembark for now? I can't have you sitting in this ship the whole day and into the night." Ahsoka just nodded, it was nice knowing that Rex cared. Even if he didn't understand what was going on. Once they stepped out of the ship, Ahsoka's gaze fixed on a figure moving towards them. They were coming fast, it looked like they were sprinting. She frowned, moving towards the figure at almost a jog.

"Rex, Rex!" She blinked, her eyes widening. That was Obi-Wan, what was Obi-Wan doing here? "Ahsoka?" The Jedi Master screeched to a halt as he saw her, his blue gaze moving first to her lightsabers then to Rex who appeared behind her. "How did you—? Never mind, both of you need to come with me now." There was concern in Obi-Wan's voice, he sounded almost nervous. The dread Ahsoka had been feeling returned full-force and her eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" She barely kept her voice from trembling, her eyes searching Obi-Wan's face for a clue. "What's happened?"

"It's Fives, he's been shot!"


Dun dun duuuuuuuun, cliffhanger! 0.0

Again I am so, so sorry that this chapter was so late and if there were any mistakes. I didn't really proofread it because I felt like I had to get this out as soon as possible because I'd left everyone in the dark for so long.