Ahsoka didn't get a chance to send Anakin a report until later when Maul's containment module was being escorted down to the detention level. It would have been nice to call him, but if he was guarding the Chancellor he probably ought to not be taking calls he didn't have to. Besides, the two of them could probably chat for hours without noticing. She settled for a recording of herself.
As much as it was troubling her, Ahsoka didn't talk about what Maul had told her about Sideous and the Rule of Two. Now that she had heard about the Council's losses, she didn't want to add anything to his plate, or that of any other Jedi. There would be time to process later, once Maul was secure on Coruscant and Ahsoka was back at her house. No one here needed to know what was happening. Besides, Ahsoka had fought the spirits down, and she hadn't turned into a power-hungry totalitarian yet.
In the command center, she began the recording. "The siege on Mandalore has been successful. Maul is in custody and is currently being taken to Coruscant. We're about to jump to hyperspace and will be there within the next few hours. Unfortunately, Barriss Offee was not found in the city of Sundari, and Lady Kryze's sources report that she had not been seen on Mandalore for as many as two weeks. Maul claims that Miss Offee is being held hostage by Count Dooku, although no proof for her location was provided. I advise that, if possible, this claim should be investigated.
"As for Mandalore, Lady Bo-Katan Kryze has taken over leadership of the city and is working to unify her people. Prime Minister Almec has been assassinated by the warrior Gar Saxon, who was loyal to Maul and is currently being held by Lady Kryze and her allies in Sundari. The rest of Maul's leadership either has or will be detained. Lady Kryze has expressed her intent to inform the Republic of any updates of the situation in Sundari as they happen."
Turning off the recorder, she uploaded the message and sent a copy of it to the Senate Building, to the Jedi Temple, and to Anakin privately. If she didn't there was no telling when he would get the message.
Rex walked in to join her, and together they went to the front of the bridge and watched their cruiser jump to hyperspace. Only then did Rex finally ask Ahsoka, "Something on your mind?"
She hesitated. Ahsoka didn't want to say it, because saying it out loud meant that there was no denying it anymore. It was Rex, though. She owed it to him after everything he had gone through with her. "Before our duel, Maul...realized that I had trained with Sideous. He was talking about his old master, and my guard slipped."
"How did he take it?" he asked, making sure not to speak too loudly.
"He told me about something that he was certain would happen to me, because of what I did," she said, being intentionally vague. "It hasn't happened yet, but I-I can't get his words out of my head."
Her eyes hardened the same way they had earlier and Rex saw her spacing off, staring at nothing outside the window. Trying to ground her, he rested a hand on her shoulder. It startled her out of her train of thought and she looked at Rex. "You made a sacrifice, one that stopped horrible things from happening. You tried to end a war that shouldn't have happened in the first place. No matter what he said, you can't forget that."
Somewhere in her, Ahsoka found a smile. "Is that the soldier talking?" she asked, and Rex nodded.
"Well, I've known no other way. We're born to do this." He paused, then decided to be vulnerable. "Gives us clones mixed feelings about the war. Many people wish it never happened, but without it, we clones wouldn't exist."
Ahsoka knew this was true, and she wished that the reason for their creation wasn't so cruel and inhumane as she knew it was. Still, it was the reality they lived with. "Well, then perhaps some good has come from all of it. The Republic couldn't have asked for better soldiers, nor I a better brother, a better family."
She saw him grin, and they saluted each other, despite every reason that demanded that they didn't have to. A general didn't need to salute to a commander, but a soldier didn't need to salute to a citizen either. It didn't matter, not to them.
It was only when one of the admirals walked up behind them that they were reminded of where they were. "Commander Rex, the latest briefing has come in."
"Want to have a look? It might have an update on General Kenobi's efforts," Rex offered, but Ahsoka shook her head. She needed to clear her mind before she got swept back into military briefings.
"You go. I'm sure it's more good news," she told him. They exchanged one more look before Rex walked off, and Ahsoka turned back around to face the front of the ship.
It was still a little disorienting to stand here alone. With Rex in the other room, Obi-Wan on Utapau, and Anakin on Coruscant, she was by herself again, staring out of the window of a cruiser that (unofficially) answered to her. Now that she was alone, though, she had a moment to talk with the Sister again.
You still alright riding shotgun? she asked tentatively, and she could practically see the Sister roll her eyes.
How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want to be a Sith, and I don't plan to become one.
Maul just seemed so sure, like it was inevitable. He trained under Sideous for years, much longer than you did. There's got to be hundreds of things that he knows, but we don't.
Maybe, but what I do know is that the way of the Sith is not one I want to follow. I killed Sideous, remember?
I do remember, and that's what put us into this situation in the first place.
I didn't do it for myself! I did it for you, so that you could go back to the life you wanted to live! I did it to protect your friends, your Jedi, your Republic! Everything I sacrificed was because of you!
She paused, stunned by the Sister's words. The two of them had long since recognized each other as separate people and they knew that they were stuck with one another, probably indefinitely. It hadn't always been that way, though, especially not at first. The Sister had been drawn to the power the Sith had offered Ahsoka, and didn't always agree to betray Sideous when the time came. It was the reason Ahsoka had forced herself to gain control at nights: so that neither of them would forget their final goal. The Sister had come around eventually, right before she had been deployed to fight the Jedi.
Yet even during all of that, the Sister had done it for Ahsoka. Ahsoka, who had hated the Dark Side and anything to do with it. Ahsoka, who for months afterward had suppressed the Sister because she was afraid of her. Ahsoka, who had been a Jedi and still believed in the Light.
I may be a part of the Dark Side, the Sister admitted, but I don't believe in what they believe in. I don't want this power that's inside of us just as much as you don't. Just like you, I've only decided to use certain parts of my side of the Force. This power isn't it, just like the Jedi Way isn't it for you either.
I know, Ahsoka told her, breathing out slowly. I'm just scared. I don't want to be what Sideous was.
We won't, the Sister promised her. As long as we deny the Rule of Two, we won't.
Ahsoka had to believe that promise. She opened her eyes, trusting the Sister enough to let the matter go. It didn't scare her any less, but she could move forward despite her fear.
She looked out again at the hyperspace tunnel, letting the light streaming by them calm her. It worked for a while, until her stomach pains flared up once more.
Oh, not this again, she groaned, holding a hand to her abdomen. These aches had been sneaking up on her with no warning for weeks now. When she was working, or eating, or sleeping, all the time, randomly. She had thought it might be period cramps at first, but they hadn't gone away like cramps usually did. Wheeler had suggested that she go to the doctor, but Ahsoka didn't want to spend that money if the pains weren't killing her yet.
Ahsoka was on the cruiser, though. They had medics on hand and they didn't charge their patients. While she was on board she might as well take advantage of it, preferably before she threw up.
She held her stomach, forcing herself to fight down the urge to vomit. Ahsoka needed to let Rex know he was going to have to take charge of the cruiser without her for a while because she really needed to figure out what was causing these aches. Turning and walking towards the command center, she hoped she would make it all the way down there. She didn't want to have to mop up her own puke.
The doors to the command center opened. "Rex, I'm sorry about this, but I think I need to head to the medbay for a little bit."
She had planned to walk past him, after he knew that she was going to be missing for a while, but instead of responding, Ahsoka saw his helmet slip out of his fingers and thunk on the floor away from him. "Rex?" she asked again, all of the alarm bells going off in her head. If something had shocked him this much, then it was serious. Rex didn't lose his composure easily.
And then she heard the blasters be raised behind her, by the troopers standing guard at the door. Ahsoka felt her heartbeat race as the uncanny memory of her arrest pulsated through her head. Not again, not again! Before she could react, though, Rex called them off. "No! I'll do it."
He turned around, and Ahsoka tried to talk to him. "Rex, what's happening?"
"Stay back!" he shouted at her, and without warning he pulled his blasters on her. Ahsoka wanted to recoil, wanted to run, but this was Rex...why was he doing this? Hadn't they just been talking about how they were friends, how they were family?
And then she saw his eyes. They weren't certain and they weren't apathetic. No, they were scared. Something was scaring him and he wasn't saying what, either because he couldn't or because he wouldn't. Ahsoka wanted to help him, wanted to do something to fix whatever was causing this, but the blasters pointed at her prevented her from moving a millimeter.
She stared at him, trying to understand what was happening, trying to know. She wanted to talk to him, without the blasters and without the others. She tried, Ahsoka tried to understand, but his eyes couldn't speak, only show. They flicked momentarily to his right hand, and Ahsoka followed his look. As subtly as possible, she saw him tap three fingers against the blaster. Then two.
It's a countdown, she realized. A countdown to what???
Then one, and his finger tightened around the trigger. Ahsoka figured out 'what' pretty quickly. When the shot came, Ahsoka tackled him backward, knocking his head against the holotable in the center of the room. The two clones standing guard took initiative, and for the second time in as many years, she was being shot at by the clone troopers, by her friends.
She deflected the blasts, directing them back at the troopers that shot them. With the Force, she closed the doors, hoping it would hold them long enough to get an explanation. "Rex!" she called out, but there was no time. The other set of doors opened, and more troopers came into the command center from behind her.
For a few seconds, it was all she could do to stay alive. She deflected the bolts, not wanting to use them against the troopers but so desperate at the same time. Before long she deflected enough of them up, and when the smoke around her got thick enough, she jumped to her escape, hiding in the inner workings of the ceiling. Someone in the command center called to cease fire and Ahsoka held her breath as the shooting stopped.
A few moments of tense silence passed. Ahsoka held her breath, praying that they couldn't hear that she was still there. "Sir, are you all right?" Someone asked, probably to Rex.
"Fine, just tired is all," he replied, but Ahsoka wondered if that was true. At least they thought she was gone, though. "I want you to go to the detention level. Execute Maul."
As much as that would please Ahsoka, she knew she couldn't let them. He was the unknown variable right now. As far as she knew, his presence on this cruiser was the only difference from earlier that day and right now. Maul might have answers that she needed, and if he was dead she wasn't going to get those answers. For all she knew, he was to blame for their sudden turning against her. Silently, she crept away, hoping that there was some reason for all of this.
This wasn't like the first time when she could escape to the Lower Levels to hide from the clones. The cruiser was in hyperspace, and she couldn't bring it out without risking damaging the ship or going back into the bridge, which was suicide at this point. Ahsoka's only chance was either to find out what had caused the clones's betrayal and undo it, or to survive long enough to make it back to Coruscant, where she would have to sneak off the cruiser and go back into hiding.
The question was, could she do it?
She didn't know, but she knew that she needed answers, and Maul was her best source at the moment. Ahsoka crawler through the vents, making sure to keep quiet. If anyone figured out where she was, she could die. The clones were trying to kill her, not just stun her. She had once chance to get this right.
A group of clones passed underneath her, and Ahsoka held still while they ran by. She was about to remove the cover and drop down, but a pit in her stomach formed, slowly, then growing rapidly and forcing Ahsoka to double over. This was a different pain than before, she knew. She focused on it, trying to understand what was going on.
She wished she hadn't almost immediately. All across the Force, she felt holes ripped into the places where life should have been. Ahsoka had been able to hold off the effects until now, but it all came crashing on her shoulders at once. There was so much death, people screaming and crying out in confusion, trying to reach out to friends. They tried to hold on, tried to keep going, but they were just...gone, gone and they couldn't come back. All of them were dead, and all of them were...
...Jedi.
No!!! She wanted to scream, wanted to mourn and weep for the loss that was consuming her. Not now, not when the end of the war might finally be here! There was nothing Ahsoka could do, though. She couldn't grieve, she couldn't save them, she couldn't even think. How? How did this happen? What's going on?
Ahsoka wanted to focus, to try and come up with an answer for the horror that had surrounded her, but she couldn't concentrate, couldn't have understood it even if she tried. So much pain was coming through the Force that she could only bear it for so long. If she tried to open herself up to it, it would overwhelm her and prevent her from focusing on anything else. If she wanted to keep moving and save herself, she couldn't focus on the Jedi who were dying all across the galaxy. One thing at a time, she told herself. I have to find Maul, I have to stay alive.