Obi-Wan slept the whole way to Xlenia. Anakin didn't mind, he had been unconscious for the whole night he had been trapped under rubble. Not to mention Obi-Wan probably hadn't slept since before he arrived on Utapau, and a lot had happened since then. As far as Anakin was concerned, Obi-Wan deserved to rest.
While his master was out cold, Anakin and Artoo tried to figure out more about how the chancellor had been killed. Technically, Kayla Kanai had been Anakin's charge, but he knew that he wouldn't have been any help protecting her if the same clones that tried to kill him had also targeted the chancellor. He probably would have done more harm than good, but it was still weighing on his mind. The Senate no longer had a leader for the second time in less than a year. Between that and the loss of the Jedi Order, the Republic was in for months of setbacks, maybe even years.
The only thing keeping Anakin from losing his mind about it was the certain knowledge that he couldn't change it. He could help, and if the opportunity arose he would be willing to try to start the recovery process, but he didn't understand enough. Until they knew more about what happened, he had to survive.
He opened the file concerning the chancellor's death. Her body had been found in her office, slumped over in her chair with a blaster wound in her chest. No suspect had yet been found, but a clone blaster had been left in the room. Kanai had been shot not long after Anakin had fled to the Lower Levels.
Anakin had to admire the strategy involved. Whichever clone had turned against the chancellor had taken advantage of the fact that his DNA was the same as millions of other clones, any of which could have been the suspect. Granted, most of them hadn't been on Coruscant, but even that wasn't enough to narrow down the search enough. If the killer had taken the precaution of completely blank armor, with no paint or design to speak of, there would be no way to identify the clone.
They didn't even have video evidence to work with. Sometime after Anakin had left her office for the last time, the security footage had been sabotaged. There was no way to see exactly what had happened, and the footage from the hallway outside her office wasn't any help either. No one had come in the room or gone out of it in the time that the chancellor was killed, and the occupants of the hallway had been so panicked by the attack on Anakin earlier that they had all hidden inside rooms, so no one even heard the shot be fired. It was brilliant. Cruel, of course, but brilliant.
After hours of flying through hyperspace, Artoo alerted Anakin that they were almost to Xlenia. He woke up Obi-Wan, who seemed to be doing better after a decent night of rest. A few moments later, the hyperdrive was disengaged and the ship halted above Xlenia's atmosphere.
Immediately, Anakin could tell that Ahsoka was there. Her Force presence was much stronger, and Anakin could more or less pinpoint where she was. Sighing, he told Obi-Wan, "She's all right."
While he trusted Anakin, Obi-Wan didn't have a Force Bond with the Togruta, so he felt less sure of the fact than his apprentice did. Activating the communications aboard the shuttle, he scanned for any broadcasting signals. There was only one, coming from the surface.
They connected to the source and Anakin sent out a message. "Hi, I'm here to pick up an order of Snips?"
Facepalming, Obi-Wan shook his head at Anakin. "Seriously?"
"What? Only Ahsoka wouldn't question it, no harm in being cautious."
"It's good to hear you," a relieving voice replied. "Took you long enough."
Obi-Wan laughed at their teasing, grateful for a little humor. Mortis knew all three of them needed it right now. He never thought he would be so grateful for their banter.
"I have Obi-Wan with me too," Anakin told Ahsoka, glancing over at his master. "Figured you should know."
"HAH! I told you!!!" An unmistakable voice shouted in the background, giving Anakin and Obi-Wan goosebumps. That was a clone's voice, and it almost sounded like....Jesse?
Someone else groaned, and they weren't Ahsoka either. "Really, Jesse? Right now?"
Staring at Anakin, Obi-Wan noted, "I must be hearing things because I could have sworn that last person sounded like Rex?"
Instead of responding, the projection feature on the communications console was activated, showing Ahsoka standing with Rex by her side, as well as a few more troopers crowded around them. Ahsoka wasn't alone on Xlenia. Smiling, she briefly told them, "Your hearing is fine, Obi-Wan."
"Oh, this is going to be a good story," Anakin grinned, activating the thrusters and beginning to descend to the surface. "Where should we meet you guys?"
"There's a landing platform next to the Executive Headquarters, in Capital Square," she explained, transmitting coordinates. "I'll wait for you down there."
"See you in a few," he affirmed and ended the call.
Beside him, Obi-Wan ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "How...how in the blazes...?"
Shaking his head, Anakin just responded, "I have no idea, but I'm almost sure Rex had something to do with it."
They sped towards the capital of the abandoned planet, which wasn't hard to pick out even without coordinates. It was the only signal broadcasting from the surface, and it looked like it was the only active building in the city. Anakin found the landing platform Ahsoka had mentioned, and he set the Jedi shuttle down next to the ship Ahsoka and the clones must have taken to get to Xlenia.
Ahsoka was waiting for them alone on the landing platform and approached the Jedi as the descended the ramp of the shuttle. She was sporting a few scratches and bruises but compared to the other two, she looked fine.
What Obi-Wan wished he hadn't seen was how old Ahsoka looked at that moment. Sure, she was taller than she had been a few years ago, but that wasn't what disturbed Obi-Wan. Immediately, he could tell that she had felt the pain of so much loss just as much as he had, and she was wearing it on her shoulders as much as Obi-Wan was wearing it on his face. Ahsoka was standing tall, tall enough to keep fighting on despite how much the past day or so had hurt her. Every crease in her face bore knowledge, and with knowledge came pain.
The only thing that seemed to offset the burden she carried was the hope on her face when she saw Anakin and Obi-Wan, alive if not well. Maybe the world was falling apart, but reuniting with them was a gain, not a loss. She refused to forget that, and seeing her bright face in such a dark time sparked a little hope inside of Obi-Wan too.
She did look concerned for them, though. Anakin still had dust in his robes and he was limping ever so slightly, and Obi-Wan was still a mess from the battle on Utapau and the fight in the Temple. If it weren't for the fact that they were still able to walk, she would have called for Rex to prep some medical supplies.
"Are you all right?" Obi-Wan asked, still not quite believing it despite Anakin's assurance that she was.
Ahsoka nodded, glancing at their condition. "I'm okay, and I might just be doing better than you," she noted, standing in front of the Jedi.
Obi-Wan laughed, once. "I certainly hope so," he told her, trying to add some sarcasm to lighten the mood, but it didn't fool her or Anakin for a second.
The three of them stood there in silence. Ahsoka looked at Obi-Wan, sensing that there was much pain that his last sentence had come from. He had been gazing down as he spoke, but when he looked back up at her, he saw the sympathy in Ahsoka's face, as well as the ghost of the little girl he had met for the first time at the Jedi Temple. The reminder of her innocence brought back the image of so many dead Younglings and Padawans that were still lying on the floor of the Temple, and for the first time in...probably ever, Obi-Wan hugged Ahsoka, just grateful that she was still okay.
What has he been through? Ahsoka wondered, hugging him back. Anakin, being the tallest, wrapped his arms around both of them, and Ahsoka got the sense that she indeed had been the luckiest out of the three of them. Anakin seemed to be holding up better than Obi-Wan, but he had been in the heart of the Republic when Order 66 struck. To be fair, they all just really needed a break.
Releasing slowly, Ahsoka thought back to the last time the three of them had been together. "You know, when I said we would have to catch up another time, this wasn't what I had in mind."
"You think?" Anakin teased, hardly able to believe that conversation had only been a few days ago. He looked around, taking in the abandoned city. "How did this even..." he trailed off, leaving the question in the air.
"So much for coercing the Separatists into surrender," Obi-Wan muttered, crossing his arms. Ahsoka led them inside the building she and the clones had set up camp in, and they all walked side by side, with Anakin in the middle of the three. "We'd be lucky if Dooku gave us a chance to surrender at this point."
Ahsoka laughed curtly, trying to imagine it. "I wouldn't hold your breath. No matter what part he played in this, I'm sure he would rather destroy the Republic than allow it to surrender."
That sounded like Dooku to the Jedi. "So we all agree he had something to do with this?"
"If he didn't, I'd be very surprised," Obi-Wan agreed, and Ahsoka was nodding as well.
"I'm almost sure of it," Ahsoka added darkly, looking forward. "I'm not sure what he did exactly, but this has his name written all over it."
They started climbing stairs up to the command center where the clones were waiting. "Between all of us, we should be able to figure something out," Obi-Wan reasoned. "At least form a plan, or send a message, or something."
Ahsoka, who had been with the clone troopers since she had left the cruiser, asked, "Do we have any allies that we know of?"
"Two," Anakin answered. "Senator Organa managed to smuggle Obi-Wan back to Coruscant, and Padme sent us a message before we left. ." He thought for a moment longer, before adding, "Three if you include Artoo."
Behind them, the astromech beeped, using his rockets to follow them up the stairs. At the next landing Ahsoka stopped and stroked the droid, smiling. "How could we forget Artoo?" He whistled proudly, something about always having to save their skins.
"Are we including the clones you have with you?" Obi-Wan asked, continuing to climb. "Which I still don't understand, why are they here?"
"I'll let them explain," she told him, looking up the staircase. "It's their story to tell. The short version is they aren't helping the Republic kill the Jedi."
"Leave it to Anakin's men to deviate from the rest of the clones."
"Hey! And for the record, I'm glad they did!"
"He's got a point, I would be dead if it weren't for them."
"I'm just saying, we should have expected as much. The 501st take after their General."
"Thanks."
"And where do you think he got that from?"
"Qui-Gon."
The three of them cracked up, releasing quite a bit of stress from the past few days. Ahsoka had never met Qui-Gon Jinn, but if he was anything like Anakin, she got the idea. Even Anakin himself, who had only known him for a few days, could understand. At any rate, they just wanted to laugh at something.
Ahsoka led them through the lobby to the command center, and when the clone troopers waiting inside saw them, quite a bit of cheering went around the room. Anyone that was alive was worth celebrating at this point. It also put the Jedi at ease, because the memory of clones pointing weapons at them was still pretty fresh in their mind. This was a nice change of pace.
Looking around the room, Anakin nodded approvingly, asking, "Who's idea was it to commandeer a command center?"
All twelve clones immediately pointed at Ahsoka, outing her as the mastermind.
"I'm surprised some of this still works," Obi-Wan noted, taking a look at the radar console. "How long did it take you to get everything running?"
"About half an hour for the basics," Ahsoka answered, while Anakin explored the back of the room a little bit, "but getting the HoloNet portal to work took the better part of two hours."
"What the-" Anakin had found a closet, full of a bunch of crossing wires and suspended tech, some of which looked like it had been transplanted from somewhere else. "Yeah, it looks like it took two hours. This is a mess."
Ahsoka shook her head, correcting him. "No, that's after I fixed the mess. It works fine as long as NOBODY TOUCHES IT." (All my engineers in the room can relate)
He backed away, closing the door and holding his hands above his shoulders. "Who already touched it?"
"Levi." "Levi." "Levi." "Kriffing Levi."
"Okay, you know what?" the clone Levi complained, throwing his head back. "I barely even bumped it, and I did it on accident! Let it go!"
"Not a chance," Rex decided, much to the amusement of his brothers. "You aren't allowed on that side of the room anymore. It took the general an hour just to fix everything."
Obi-Wan and Anakin caught the tail-end of that statement. "General?" Obi-Wan asked, turning to the Togruta.
Ahsoka just pointed behind her across the room, not bothering to turn in that direction. "Rex's fault."
Despite the blame, Rex looked pretty proud of himself. "Hell yeah, it was my fault."
She glared at him, but Anakin just smirked. He wasn't surprised in the slightest. From next to the commander, Jesse reminded them, "It's not like the Republic is gonna care anyway. We're all traitors, as far as they're concerned."
"I'm pretty sure none of us have a rank now," Anakin agreed, stepping up to the old holotable in the center of the room. "Come on, guys. It's storytime."
Everyone else crowded around, following his lead. Time to figure out what in blazes had happened to each of them.