Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.15.4

Ahsoka rummaged in a closet for tools she could work with. She found a toolbox with what she needed, but upon grabbing one of the tools by the handle she immediately wished she had her own. The rubber grips on these ones were really worn.

I'm not going back there, am I? she realized, staring at the pliers in her hands. The Republic may have bought Rex's story, but I can't show my face on Coruscant again. I'm too well known there.

She felt bad for what she had told Fuller and the other workers there. They would be able to manage without her, but she didn't want them to worry about her. If they paid attention to the news at all in the next few hours they were going to hear about Order 66, and with the way her day was going so far, they would catch wind that she was dead. Ahsoka didn't want to think about how they would react when they heard that, especially some of the more sensitive of her coworkers. 

Thankfully, she didn't get a chance to. Rex walked in behind her and stood behind her, asking, "I assume you have a few tricks up your sleeve?"

"All that time I put in as a mechanic might just pay off," she agreed, straddling the box against her hips and standing up. "I've got to do a more careful job with the tracker, and it won't hurt to scramble the ship's identification signal. Hopefully, when I'm done, the only way anyone will be able to tell what kind of ship this is will be if they look at it with their own eyes."

"Doubt that will happen, especially if Xlenia is abandoned," he commented, reaching into a pouch on the back of his belt. "Before you get to work, though, you should see this." 

He pulled out a small projector and handed it to her. Setting down the toolbox, Ahsoka activated it and saw the one thing on it: a recording of a transmission that had gone to their cruiser. She tried not to think about how that ship might as well be a gigantic pile of scrap by now. "What is this?"

Setting his helmet down, he explained. "It's the message that the Chancellor sent to activate Order 66."

Ahsoka wasn't overly excited to watch it, but she played the transmission regardless. Chancellor Kanai appeared above the projector, seated at her desk in the Senate Building, presumedly. "Commander Rex, execute Order 66."

"Yes, Chancellor Kanai," Rex's recorded voice responded, "but I assure you, there are no Jedi on board this cruiser."

This seemed to satisfy the politician, and she was about to end the call when something made her change her mind. "Correct me if I am wrong, Commander, but isn't Ahsoka Tano on board?"

In real-time, Ahsoka glanced at Rex, understanding why he had shown it to her. Rex pointed back at the hologram though, because that wasn't everything she needed to see. 

"Yes, she is escorting Maul to Coruscant. Is she marked for termination by Order 66?"

"Well, I suppose that-" the Chancellor seemed to concede, confusing Ahsoka, but at that moment, Kanai's face contorted, and she struggled against a force that the recording didn't show. It looked like she was in pain, like she was fighting something for control. Then it passed like a fleeting shadow and her face went blank. Too blank. "Yes. Ahsoka Tano is to be executed, as well as Darth Maul."

"Yes, ma'am," Rex responded, and the recording ended. 

Ahsoka, stunned, wound the footage back to the moment where the Chancellor had been in pain, pausing it so she could look at her face more clearly. 

"Yeah, I figured something was up with that," he admitted, crossing his arms. "I haven't met this particular Chancellor yet, but I'm pretty sure that's not normal."