It's Commander Tano, Not Padawan

Chapter 19

"Commander Tano. Thank you. Thank you for trusting me," he said, voice off in some way Ahsoka couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, Rex noticed too, their concerned eyes meeting, a silent question passing between the two.

His words wrapped around her heart, taunt as a barbed wire, digging into the raw, exposed tissue.

Always, Fives.

However, his next question didn't do much to calm her strained nerves and Rex peered over at her with an arched brow.

"Now, have you come without troops?" he asked.

Ahsoka took a breath.

The Force was with them.

"We have," she confirmed, still turning, still searching for a faint reflection of armor or eyes.

"Put down your weapons then," he demanded. Begged.

Desperation. That was the foreign influx in his words that she had seen earlier in his holoimage. It hadn't left him, seeming to join itself with the man as if it was twisted in his very soul. Like it had become a piece of him instead of an invader.

What did they do to you, Fives?

Ahsoka felt Rex's eyes upon her, breath paused in anticipation for her decision. She dipped her head once, jerkily as she extinguished her saber, allowing the darkness to expand, though the overhead lights provided rays just strong enough for her to clearly see Rex's contoured form.

Hooking her weapon back to her belt, her Captain spoke loud and clear, both DC's drawn. "All right. I'm putting my pistols down," he said, lowering the blasters on to the crate to their left.

Neither had found the source of Fives' voice and they shifted around one another, ever alert.

As kindly as she could, Ahsoka asked, "What are we here for, Fives?"

"I need your help," he replied, response reverberating ominously off the boundless quantity of durasteel material.

Despite the circumstances, Ahsoka smiled, if only to herself.

"That, we can do. But we need you to come down here and talk to us. Let us figure out what you need, Fives."

There was a pause and Rex shuffled closer to her as they waited for him to decide, uneasy. But then a skeptical inquiry reached her montrals and Ahsoka couldn't restrain her wince.

"You – you promise just to listen?" he asked, mistrustful that they would agree so easily.

"Yeah, Fives. We just want to listen – to hear your side of the story. We promise."

That's all I wanted when I was where you are now. 

Another longer bout of silence dragged on as she could sense his suspicion-fear-disbelief-sincerity radiate from his deliberations. So much could go wrong here. The Guard could find them, Fives really could have lost it –

But no. The Force had been warning her, prodding at her since the very beginning of this entire disaster. It had chosen her – not Anakin, not Masters Tiplar or Tiplee. Her.

She would follow it through till the very end and her instincts told her Fives was innocent. That he could be trusted.

However, none of that would matter if they didn't act swiftly. The Guard were good soldiers, and they were increasing their chances of being found with every second that passed.

"O – Okay. Just... please, hear what I have to say and... don't move." As he spoke, his voice slowly drew back, and they were finally able to estimate where he was at.