Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.15.5

A couple of hours later, all of the troopers were asleep except for Rex. They were exhausted, Rex included, and they had just talked for a while about what was going to happen. They trusted General Tano, but this was unknown territory, even for them. None of them had ever dreamed that they would be on the run from the Republic and they had no idea what to expect. Even Jesse and Rex had a few doubts, although they took it upon themselves to support and assure their younger brothers. 

Parts of their armor were in stacks on the ground and most of them were curled up under blankets, although some of them had doubled up. Rex still had all of his armor on just because he wasn't planning on resting yet. For some reason, Jesse was sleeping with his helmet on, which Rex assumed was to muffle his snoring. When asleep, the ARC trooper was louder than a sonic boom. 

Rex was sitting in one of the seats, wondering if he should go into the cockpit or wait a while longer. He hadn't heard Ahsoka working for a while, and the last trooper had only fallen asleep about ten minutes ago, but he knew she had been through a lot in the past few hours and that she was going to have to process it sooner or later. In the end, though, he stood up, trying not to wake his brothers and slid his helmet back on. He felt like he needed the confidence boost right now.

Ahsoka was sitting in the pilot's seat again when Rex walked in. She turned when she heard the door open, and pivoted the seat to face him. "How are they doing?"

"Alright, for the most part," he replied. "Some better than others. It's a lot to process. Most of them are sleeping now, though."

She nodded, still trying to process everything herself. Standing up, she explained her own situation. "The tracker is down, no one from the Republic should be able to find us. I scrambled the ship's identification code, and I sent a message to Anakin. If he finds it, he'll know how to find us."

The message in itself was good, but Rex caught the keyword in there. "If?"

Rubbing the side of her arm, she admitted, "It's a little obscure, it may take him a while to check where I sent the message. I don't know when he will get it, or if he'll even receive it in time."

"He's been in tighter spots before," Rex assured her. If Ahsoka could escape the detention center two years ago, he knew Skywalker could pull himself out of Coruscant. "We can wait it out once we land on Xlenia."

Ahsoka nodded, but didn't respond and let her gaze slide away, towards the hyperdrive. She couldn't see his eyes under the helmet, but he could see hers, and he knew something was up. "What?"

Swallowing, Ahsoka breathed in, going over the words one more time. The work she had done hadn't taken the full two hours, but rehearsing how she wanted to say this had. "I don't think it's a good idea for you guys to stay on Xlenia."

"Then why even go there?" Rex asked, looking back at the hyperdrive to see if she had messed with it. "I thought you said it was abandoned, that no one would see us there. Isn't that the safest place to be?"

"The safest place you can be is as far away from me as possible," Ahsoka told him, hardening her eyes and forcing herself to look up at him. She had already thought this through, and she had to convince him that it was the truth.

She was glad he was wearing his helmet though because Ahsoka wasn't sure she wanted to see the face he was making right now. "Are you insane?" He asked, almost angry but not quite, and keeping his voice low.

Gesturing to the controls of the ship, Ahsoka explained her plan. "The Republic doesn't know what you've done yet. If you go back without me, they won't accuse you of treason. You could bring my lightsabers back with you, and just say you dumped my body somewhere. They won't be able to prove anything-"