【ｍｉｓｓ ｔｈｅ ｍａｒｋ】| Crosshair x OC (BOOK 1 of the CHANGING WAVES series)

20 | Old Tally

With a beep right on time, the Chancellor appeared. Rylann had never been a part of a meeting with Palpatine before. She had seen his propaganda and some of his dissertations, but never had seen him live as such.

"Hello, Generals, Commanders, and Captains," Chancellor Palpatine started, clasping his hands together. "Thank you for joining me for this call. I sadly can't make it out to Kamino since I'm stuck on Coruscant with—"

He never got to finish because the door slid open, revealing Anakin, Ahsoka, and their clone captain in blue. "Sorry we're late!" Anakin blurted out, his charming smile making its way onto his face. "Ahsoka had to stop by the caf and see if the soup really was gelatinous."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes as Rylann flushed. Ry had told Ahsoka about the nasty soup after she had it the couple of months prior, not having a clue that Ahsoka would tell Anakin. And she had not guessed that Anakin would bring it up in front of so many important people. How was Ahsoka not upset?

"Thank you for joining us," Plo Koon said, a hint of a smile in his voice. "How was your trip?"

"Good," Ahsoka and Anakin said at the same time. Rylann hid a laugh as she buried her head into the tablet again.

Ahsoka slid into a chair next to Rylann, Anakin sitting beside her. Their clone captain stood behind them, arms crossed behind his back, tapping his foot nervously. Rylann could immediately feel secondhand embarrassment rolling off of him.

The Chancellor cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the whole room. "Now we must cover the order of events—" the Chancellor started, but suddenly, Rylann got woozy. A headache pounded heavily in the back of her head and all she saw was black.

"The time... Execute Order..." The cries. All the voices. All the pain.

Rylann felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Shaak Ti. The Chancellor was still talking about the plan of the day, but Shaak Ti was the only one who seemed to notice Rylann's "moment."

Shaak Ti didn't need to use words to ask how Rylann was, her eyes said it all. Rylann shook her head, giving her master a thumb's up as she blinked away the residue of the pain. Whatever happened, it was mostly gone except the sickly feeling in her stomach. The Chancellor finished his sentence, eyes landing on her. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck and for a moment, a powerful wave of darkness rolled into the room. It was suffocating. But it was gone as fast as it appeared and the Chancellor made his rounds talking to different Generals at the table.

What was happening to her? Rylann felt like she was in some fever dream but it was somehow all real. What was the voice she heard? Why did she feel like a thousand deaths in a single moment? Why the darkness?

Rylann didn't know. All she knew was that she had more questions than she did answers.

【 ⌖ 】

The meeting was adjourned and the holo clicked off. To be honest, Rylann didn't pay much attention to it because she was still trying to wrap her mind around what happened.

Ahsoka nudged Rylann with her elbow, gaining her attention. "Hey, Ry, long time no see!"

Rylann turned to her friend, smiling broadly at her, glad to forget the previous events in the moment. "I know right? So much has happened," Rylann paused, not knowing how to explain the Bad Batch to her or if she was supposed to since they were a specialized and somewhat secret clone force. "So, what adventures have you and Skywrecker been on?" Rylann asked, deciding to divert. "Did your master crash any shuttles yet?"

"Does he ever not?" Ahsoka asked, standing up as Anakin made his way over to Kenobi to conversate with. She looked over her shoulder at their blue-donning clone captain, before excitedly turning to Rylann. "Oh, this is Rexter, the best captain of the 501st legion."