Illusions

Chapter 7 - Remade

Author's Note: So, it turns out that a lot of readers were wondering what Palpatine thought about the invasion and all, so there's a tiny bit from his POV for those of you who were curious. :)

~ Amina Gila

When Sidious ordered Dooku to track down Anakin, to destroy any other Force Order if there was one, this... wasn't quite the consequence that he had in mind. This could very easily make his plans fall apart entirely, or it could make them easier once some of the chaos starts to settle, but either way, he's not in as much control of the situation as he would like to be, and he doesn't like it. But he knows how to manipulate situations to his benefit, so for now, he'll watch and wait.

And hope the invasion doesn't spread to Coruscant.

***

It's been weeks since this started, and the damage it's caused everywhere is already catastrophic. And Rex still doesn't see an end in sight, though the Republic and Separatist Senates have reluctantly to reach a temporary peace agreement, so that both sides can focus on fighting the invasion. It's a good start since the last time peace negotiations were attempted, they fell apart before they even finished, but... he can only hope this lasts, for the sake of all his brothers and the galaxy.

The 501st is fighting on a planet in the Outer Rim now, formerly a key position the Separatists and Republic were constantly fighting over. Now, they're just trying to save the place from complete annihilation.

A laser blast cuts through the rocks right next to him, and Rex barely jumps out of the way as they turn molten. He fires up at the ground-machine but the shots do nothing. He can only hold its attention until Anakin gets here to deal with it.

They've analyzed their structures and found other weak points, but it still requires heavy fire from space to take them out, for the most part. They're only fighting on the ground in the first place because the forces are too dispersed to deal with from the air.

Except, it's Ahsoka who gets to the machine first, jumping it with her blades. She stabs them into one of its legs and holds them there, letting them burn through the metal as Rex and the other boys keep it distracted. At least these things don't really have any reasoning power.

She's still cutting through it when a group of the cybernetic warriors swoop in, and Rex spins to shoot at them. He narrowly misses being shot as a few of the clones around him fall.

But then, he hears the Commander suddenly yelp, and jerks to look back at her for a moment. There's a blackened, smoking mark on her leg – he can't tell how deep it is – and she stumbles back, though not before she finishes cutting through the machine.

And then it's falling, right into the oncoming warriors.

Rex scrambles out of the way, and sees Ahsoka Force-jump, though she suppresses a yelp again as she lands wrong. He hastily shoots down the remaining warriors who weren't crushed when the machine collapsed and runs towards her.

Except, even though it's on its side, the machine is powering up again, and it's aimed straight at them. Ahsoka narrows her eyes, throwing one of her lightsabers at it – though she's still controlling it's move – and slashes through the eye, jolting the blade back to her hand right as there's an explosion.

The machine goes still, though he doesn't know that it's as irreparably destroyed as they probably want it to be.

But right now, he needs to focus on the kid. "Commander?" he asks, crouching in front of her.

"I don't think it's too bad," she replies, leaning down to look at the injury, though wincing as she does.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin calls, hurrying over to them.