14

The thick jungle of Nal Kopak was ancient.

It was alive with life – with animals and plants, trees and flowers. The Force was practically glowing with all of the living creatures around, echoing with the souls of every living thing that had called this planet home. Saedii closed her eyes as she let the soft energy flow over her, as gentle as a breeze.

She felt everything. The sleeping forms of small creatures, burrowed deep beneath the roots of a nearby fern. The idle, ancient energy of a towering tree, roots stretching thousands of feet below the soil. Flowers that craned for the barest flash of green sunlight filtering in through the canopy overhead.

After being stuck at the Fortress for nearly a year, where the Force often felt cold and unbearable, this was a welcome reprieve.

This was how the Force was supposed to feel.

Kalth and the Third Brother were both scouring the ground, searching for clues. Saedii was supposed to be helping, but she was sure that there would be nothing to find. Ahsoka and Rex would have covered their tracks.

Ripe, sweet-smelling fruit hung from a nearby tree branch. Bright orange with violet spots, it was roughly the size of her palm. Carefully, Saedii stroked a finger along the side, feeling the downy fuzz along its thin skin.

"If you're done exploring, Sister," the Third Brother snapped.

Saedii let the fruit slip from her palm. She turned back to the path they'd been following for the past hour.

Footsteps had made an unorthodox path from the prison and through the jungle. It was easy to see where they had come from. How they'd hidden themselves among the trees while waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The Third Brother wanted to follow this path until they found its end.

But there would be nothing at the end – nothing but evidence of a hasty take off. Reluctantly, Saedii returned to the eddy of boot prints, pretending to look it over with fresh eyes.

They hadn't gone far. Clear light from the prison clearing was visible only a half mile behind them. They were still close enough that Saedii could hear the shouted commands of the stormtroopers searching through the wreckage.

Kalth was crouched low, gloved fingers running along the mess of footprints. Even with his helmet on, Saedii could sense that he was not watching the path in front of him, but her. She could feel the weight of his gaze along her skin.

He'd been watching her since they'd entered the dense jungle. Cataloguing Saedii's every move. She wasn't sure what he was looking for, but she was sure that he was suspicious of her.

Saedii kept walking. Pretending that she couldn't sense him watching.

"The insurgents followed the same path. See their footprints? Some are going towards the prison, others away," the Third Brother said.

That much was obvious. Saedii wasn't sure what the Third Brother hoped to accomplish by pointing it out.

When neither Kalth or Saedii answered, the Third Brother supplied, "They had this route well-planned. They must have scouted beforehand. That Captain Brek was a fool as well as a coward. The insurgents were on his doorstep for weeks."

That was a wildly unfair conclusion. Clones were highly-skilled warriors, rigorously trained in covert missions. The Third Brother was downplaying their skill by placing the blame on the stormtroopers.

Ferns hedged in on the path up ahead. The footsteps led towards them, away from the prison. Saedii walked forward, wanting to get some distance from the Third Brother.

As she pushed the ferns away, Saedii found a much smaller clearing waiting for her. Burnt grass and bracken waited at the direct center. Flattened divots pressed deep into the earth from landing gear.

Their takeoff zone. Exactly what Saedii had expected to find.

"The path ends here," Saedii called.

The Third Brother and Kalth joined her immediately, observing the clearing for themselves. Branches from nearby trees had been sharply snapped off, leaving the airspace clear for landing and take-off.

When Saedii closed her eyes and let her mind fall into the pleasant current of the Force, she got visions of a night-darkened path, of the forest alive with calls of nocturnal creatures, of blasters clutched tight in anxious hands as bone-white armor marched towards a waiting ship.

And among it, the glow of two blue lightsabers. Leading the charge.

Ahsoka.

Sensing her presence after nearly a year was like waking after a troubled sleep. Ahsoka's gentle presence in the Force was a welcome reprieve after the cold sharp claws of the Inquisitors. Like the call of a friend welcoming her home.

An ache burned in her chest. She missed her friends.

Kalth was tilting his head, listening to the Force as well. But he seemed to sense something different.

He strode forward, helmet focused on the ground. Walking to the other end of the clearing, where he came to a stop at the edge of shadow that fell from the nearby trees.

"Tano's path didn't end on the ship," Kalth called.

Surprised, Saedii reached back into the Force. Searching for whatever it was Kalth had seen.

Another vision: Ahsoka, running past the ship, disappearing beneath the eaves as the attack shuttle took flight. Continuing east.

Where had she been going? Why hadn't she gotten on the ship?

"She appeared to be in no hurry," the Third Brother commented idly, following her thin footsteps towards the place Kalth waited. "Her footsteps are deep. She wasn't running fast."

Saedii crouched down, observing for herself. Sure enough, Ahsoka's boot prints were clear in the soft dirt. Even an amateur tracker, like the Third Brother, would be able to follow them.

What was Ahsoka doing? Why hadn't she covered her tracks? It would be too easy for Saedii and the others to follow.

Kalth had already began a sweep around the perimeter. Searching for more clues. At the very northern-most tip, he called, "There is another set of boot prints here. A Clone, heading north."

What the hell was going on?

Something uneasy filled Saedii's stomach. Rex wasn't sloppy. He always covered his tracks when he could. And even more than that, why were they heading further into the Nal Kopak forest? What more could they need on this planet after freeing the Clones?

It wasn't adding up. Not with her vision of Ahsoka or Rex. They never made mistakes like this.

"Third Brother," Saedii said quietly, frowning. "I think we should return to the prison and await the Grand Inquisitor's arrival."

Whatever was happening, wherever Ahsoka and the rogue Clone had gone – it was important. Saedii didn't want to have any part of its discovery. To have to report her friends.

A sardonic twist pulled the Third Brother's lips. "The Grand Inquisitor would be disappointed in your cowardice, Sister. Perhaps even disappointed enough to punish you for it."

The warning skittered down Saedii's spine, raising goosebumps on her arms. She fell silent.

"I agree with the Twelfth Sister," Kalth said to Saedii's surprise. "These tracks are troubling."

"How so?" the Third Brother demanded.

"They're too perfect."

"Perfect? They're so light we never would have seen them without direct sunlight. It was sloppy on Tano's part."

But Kalth was right. Ahsoka wasn't sloppy.

Kalth crossed his arms. "Why would Tano and a Clone disappear off into the jungle? Why not escape in the shuttle?"

"That is for us to discover." The Third Brother took a step further under the eaves of the trees, shrewd eyes plotting his path.

Kalth and Saedii both hesitated. Their thoughts must have been in-line.

"Brother, you will investigate the Clone's path," the Third Brother ordered. "Sister, you and I will follow after Tano."

Alarm ran through Saedii's mind. "I would be happy to follow the Clone's path, Brother."

"And run away as soon as you're free? Not likely." The Third Brother sneered at her. "I want you close."

Kalth seemed to be hesitating as well. "I don't think it's wise to split up. Tano is a skilled duelist. It would be better for all three of us –"

"And I want to know where that Clone got off to."

Leather creaked as Kalth's hands clenched along his arms. "You could be walking into a trap."

The Third Brother laughed. "If Tano is foolish enough to lay a trap for two Inquisitors, then we will grant her wish. Won't we, Sister?"

Saedii didn't answer. She agreed with Kalth. Whatever Ahsoka had planned, it wouldn't be enough for Saedii and the Third Brother to handle on their own.

"Go, Brother," the Third Brother snapped, losing patience. He turned a withering look to Saedii. "We will continue on. Report back within the hour."

Reluctantly, Kalth turned back towards the other trail. Saedii ducked her head as she followed the Third Brother beneath the trees.

The further they tread into the dense jungle, the less Saedii liked this plan. Ahsoka's path was clear in the dirt – not deep and obvious, but just visible enough to be seen by the naked eye. By the untrained eye. Even Wrecker, who notoriously had no patience for tracking, could have followed it.

It made her anxious. She knew Ahsoka wouldn't have left it in error.

Twigs and broken shrubs lined their path. Evidence of a hasty and sloppy retreat. Also not like Ahsoka. She was as quiet and sure in the forest as she was on a cruiser. Saedii had seen her moving through the trees during their training last year. Ahsoka moved like a ghost. A part of the forest.

A grin was stretching across the Third Brother's face. Confidence spilled into the Force around him. He anticipated an easy victory.

For her part, Saedii had begun to reach out into the Force. Searching the trees not with her eyes but with her mind. Sifting through the dozens of images of living beings and verdant brush for any glimpse of Ahsoka and the trap she'd laid.

Overhead, the sun had crept further towards the horizon. The hazy green light was quickly dimming, darkening to a light navy beneath the thick cover of leaves ahead. Soon, there would be no light to guide them.

Warmth tickled against her senses. Just a brush. A whisper.

It was more powerful than the fuzzy lifeforms that hid around them. More aware than the hazy green plants that glowed with life.

A Force user.

"Someone is here," Saedii whispered.

As she spoke, something danced across the back of her neck. An awareness.

They were being watched.

"It's Tano," the Third Brother said eagerly. He pulled his lightsaber from his belt, anticipating the fight to come.

But when Saedii's mind melted into the forest around her, she had a vision of cold, silvery metal. A long rifle, sighting towards them. An anxious finger straining on a trigger.

"Wait!" Saedii said, but the Third Brother was moving forward, shoving plants and flowers out of his path.

Another brush of power – this one even more powerful than the last. An unending well of power that seemed to channel the Force. Calling to it like a rod to a strike of lightning. Immediately, she recognized that signature.

Anakin.

The jungle was suddenly alight with blaster fire. Saedii's lightsaber swung before her, batting away the shots of blue light that swarmed for her face. Distantly, she recognized that they were stun blasts. Not blaster bolts.

Ahead of her, the Third Brother was batting shots away as well. Charging towards the ripple in the Force ahead of them.

"Jedi!" he shouted into the growing dark. "Come and face me! Fight me, if you dare!"

"If you say so," a light voice said, from off to the right.

Then, with incredible prowess, Obi-Wan Kenobi leapt down from the canopy above, landing only steps away from the Third Brother.

Ahsoka was not far behind him. Blue light lit off the tree trunks as they powered on their lightsabers, both fanning out in a casual half-circle to block the Third Brother's progress.

The eager expression fell from the Third Brother's face. He held his lightsaber before him, not so confident in the face of two opponents.

Another shadow fell, landing behind the Third Brother. Boxing him in. A dark smile stretched across a handsome face.

Anakin Skywalker stood at his intimidating height, looking menacing in the shadowy light of the jungle. Watching with an arrogant amusement as the Third Brother's face drained of blood with recognition.

From the trees around them, a contingent of Clones suddenly appeared, sighting down their blasters. In the dark, Saedii glimpsed familiar helmets. Rex, standing right behind Anakin. Cody, lingering in the trees above Obi-Wan. Gregor, sighting down a rifle directly above Saedii's position.

A soft snap drew Saedii's gaze behind her as another Clone emerged, boxing her in. Double blasters raised in tandem. Grey paint playing along his chest plate, in the pattern of a snarling wolf.

Wolffe.

Saedii's lightsaber faltered. Around them, by quick count, there had to be at least twenty Clones. Most them them, Saedii knew. All of them with their blasters trained.

Kalth had been wrong. This wasn't just a trap.

It was an ambush.