Child of War

Lies

I dashed over to Anakin as he boarded a gun ship full of clones. "Not so fast. I'm coming with you."

"Are you sure you want to?" He asked.

"Yes." I affirmed. "I want to help bring her in. I want to prove she's innocent."

He sighed. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

I shook my head.

"Fine." He agreed and made room for me on the gunship.

I stood between Anakin and Rex as we flew towards the prison. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't believe that Ashoka would do this. There was no way. As we hovered over the prison, I sensed something. Distress?

I looked at Anakin. He didn't seem to notice it.
"I'm going to take a look from the ground."

Anakin hesitated, but nodded curtly.

I leapt from the ship, landing lightly on the pavement below. I had to find the source of that distress. It was probably Ahsoka.My heart skipped a beat as I entered the prison. Dead clones were scattered through the corridor. Lightsaber marks scarred the walls and mutilated the electronics. I walked carefully through the massacred building.

A silhouette stood in the hallway, staring at one of the corpses.

"Ahsoka?" I tried.

The figure turned, revealing the Togruta's terrified face.

I looked back the way I had come. Ashoka hadn't been there yet. Otherwise, why would she return to the prison? "You didn't do this." I didn't say it as a question, but Ahsoka nodded.

"Someone's framing me." She refused to look at the dead clones.

I nodded. "Anakin and Rex are here to... arrest you, again."

"No." She breathed.

"You have to get out of here." I grabbed her arm. "Follow me." We raced down the hall.

I stopped at the main door. "Here's the tricky part, avoiding them." I watched the patrols of clones march passed.

"It looks like there's only one way to do that." Ahsoka stared up at the wall and huge statues to our right, just outside the entrance. She met my gaze.

"I'll distract them." I offered. "Good luck." I walked out the door and approached the nearest group of clones. "She's not inside. She must've already found a way out. Who knows where she is by now." I caught a glimpse of a shadow jump from the wall to the immense statue. "We should fan out and start searching the city. She won't get far with her face plastered on ever screen on the planet."

One of the troopers happened to look up. "There she is!"

A spotlight illuminated Ahsoka as she knelt atop the statue.

I cursed under my breath and followed the clones as they chased her to a nearby pipeline.