Blurred Sides (COMPLETE)

7.7.1

Master Mace Windu looked out over Coruscant from the viewpoint of the Council Room. His back was turned towards the door, but he waited patiently for someone to walk through it. He had waited this long, and he could afford to wait a few minutes longer.

He did not stare at one fixed point on the horizon, but observed the scenery as a whole, as one. There was not a citizen now that did not know of the Inquisitor and not a citizen that was in danger because of her. The Republic and the Order needed answers. If they wanted to protect the civilians they needed to capture the Inquisitor, and sooner rather than later. Put her somewhere where she couldn't hurt people.

As he watched the ships flying past the window, he felt Skywalker reenter the Temple. He looked down over the lip of the building and saw his tall figure climbing the steps. He paused at the top, and looked back over his shoulder, then turn back towards the way he had been walking and continue on. Mace didn't need to know what his face looked like to know that he was thinking about Tano.

The surprising thing was, in Mace's opinion, that nearly every Council member believed that Tano was the Inquisitor. The only other was Master Yoda, and even he was willing to accept it if it was proven true. Yoda, though, was being cautious, as was his nature. Mace understood that.

Mace knew that he was in opposition to many of his fellow Council members. Many of them believed that Tano, or the Inquisitor, had fallen at the fault of the Council. When he had voiced that it was Tano who had chosen to fall to the Dark Side, he had been stared at for quite some time. Not long after some of the Council members had agreed with him, but not all of them. Kenobi and Billaba, in particular, were rather opposed to the idea. When asked, Mace had claimed that they needed to consider the worst-case scenario, but that wasn't his real reason. He hadn't had the heart to tell them his true motive.

He had known Ky Narec before he was killed in action. They had become quite close, probably closer than they should have been, and because of this, he had also known his Padawan, Asajj Ventress. He had watched her fall to the Darkness, just as he had watched Dooku and countless others do the same.

He had wanted to hunt Ventress down to bring her back and try to help her see the Light again, but his request had been denied by the Council. She had disappeared, just like Tano, and the next time she was seen she was holding two red lightsabers. Then Dooku had abandoned her, just as every Sith is abandoned by those who feel threatened by their power. He had shown no sign of grieving, no emotion whatsoever, but it had broken his heart to see Narec's apprentice so vulnerable, so lost. She had nearly died because Tyrannus' thirst for power was stronger than his duty to his apprentice.

Mace didn't want to hunt down Tano because he wanted to make her pay. He wanted to help her or help Skywalker help her. He didn't trust Skywalker, especially not after Tano's trial, but if it wasn't already too late he wanted to save Tano. All they had to do was bring her back and keep her from hurting more people than she already had, but to do so, they needed to view her as an enemy, for the time being.

Skywalker was unstable, but he could act as bait. All the Council had to was draw out the Inquisitor. Then they could decide what to do with her.

Of course, maybe she was already too far gone. Maybe she was lost. Mace stared at his own reflection in the window. If it came to it, he would have to kill her. Not because he wanted to as Skywalker probably thought. No, it wasn't because of that.

He wanted to kill her because he didn't know if he could take it if he saw another Padawan go through was he saw Ventress go through. It was a strange feeling, wanting to help someone you didn't trust.

At that moment, Master Yoda walked in. Mace turned and sat in his seat next to the Grandmaster.

Yoda settled down and studied Master Windu. "A proposal, you have?"

"Yes, Master Yoda," he began. "You cannot deny that the Inquisitor has a certain...preference to Skywalker. He's the only Jedi who's seen her more than once."

Yoda nodded. He assumed that was what Mace had wanted to talk to him about.

"Would it not be unwise of us to not use that to our advantage?"

"Use it, how do you plan to do?" Yoda stared at his eyes, but only saw the hardness that never left them.

"If we send him to a smaller system and let the Separatists know, the Inquisitor should come running. We can detain her, and take her back to Coruscant."

"'Detain her'?", Yoda questioned.

"We need answers," he told the Grandmaster. "You know we do. Once we have her, we can clear a few things up."

Yoda nodded solemnly but questioned him again. "And if Tano, she proves to be, what will you do?"

He saw Mace tense up, and no answer came from the Jedi Master. His eyes did not soften, and his hands tightened around themselves so much that they turned red. Finally, in a smaller voice than Yoda ever remembered hearing before, he said, "Whatever it takes, Master."

~

Obi-Wan and Anakin boarded the cruiser without much difficulty. The plan was simple. They were just going to hang about in the Xlenian system and wait for trouble to show up. Master Windu's ship would be a light year away, waiting for their signal to corner the Separatists. With any luck, the Inquisitor would fall into their trap.

Unfortunately, the plan involved the 501st waiting above an abandoned system for multiple rotations. At least the 212th got to hang out with the 187th until the call came.

Rex greeted the Generals as he always did before heading to the mess hall to eat. He was on the night shift, as much as it could be 'night' while they were in hyperspace, and he was going to need the energy to make it through the shift. The doors slid open, and he walked through the food line. Again, not really good, but it wasn't important.

He sat next to Kix and started to eat. Their helmets were on the floor, leaving the whole of the table for food space. A year ago, the mess hall would have been lively and somewhat chaotic, but not anymore. Everyone on the ship knew that they were going to lay a trap for the Inquisitor, and everyone knew that she might be their long lost commander. It was silently agreed among them that they would only shoot to kill her if ordered to.

Rex and Kix ate their meal in silence for the first few minutes. Kix finished before Rex did, and looked up at his Captain. "I don't suppose you know anything about..."

"No, Kix," he told him. "I know as much as you do. If I knew, I'd tell you."

"We aren't going to kill her, are we?" He confirmed. "It's just a capture?"

"That's what I was told," he admitted. "I don't plan on killing our commander."

"What do you thin-"

Anakin and Obi-Wan walked in and they paused their conversation. Rex started asking about a new medkit that didn't exist, and Kix started explaining that the medical branch had been in need of a new analysis program for on-site procedures (they still did). They didn't change the subject until the Generals had vanished behind the doors on the other side of the mess hall.

The two looked on long after they left. Again, it was Kix who started the conversation.

"What's going to happen to him? If it's her?"

Kix's question caught Rex off guard. In his mind, Rex had thought about this. Should the impossible be true and Ahsoka really was...her, then Rex knew without a doubt that it would break her master, probably beyond the point of healing. Rex didn't know what would happen after that, but he had imagined all of the worst. Madness, mostly, in multiple forms.

All he told Kix was "I don't know, and I don't want to find out."

Kix looked down. "I've seen men go mad. I've seen it, Captain. If Skywalker loses her again..."

He didn't need to finish his sentence.