My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 44

There are many ways to change someone's opinion.

I run back towards the center of the outpost, which is clear of droids. I have to warn someone about this. Ahsoka is lost, and I am the last person to have seen her. The first person I see—standing on the platform of the main command centre—is my husband, which fills me with guilt.

"Good job," Anakin remarks, then scans the area for a few seconds, leaning down. "Where's Ahsoka?"

"I don't know," I reply in all honesty. "She stayed behind while everyone scaled the wall, and the next thing I knew, she was gone." I know how stressed I look, but I also know how both of us refuse to think Ahsoka would just vanish. She must be somewhere out there.

"Everybody fan out," Anakin orders. He won't bother mentioning the fact that the blame should be entirely on me for not watching her; he's too focused on locating Ahsoka. "I want a perimeter sweep now."

Master Plo and I stay behind with him as the rest of our men leave to survey the area. They head out in droves, eager to find their lost commander. After all, I know she would do the same for them, if that situation did arise.

"Ahsoka, state your location," Anakin attempts to reach her via his comlink, to no response. "Ahsoka, come in. Are you there? Can you hear me?"

The line is still silent. Not a sound resonates from nearby except the flooding footsteps of troopers, looking, searching for Ahsoka. The worry within me only grows, and I hold my arms in an attempt to calm down. That doesn't work.

"Ahsoka, come in. Where could she be?" Anakin wonders, his voice lowered to speak to himself, though I can hear clear as day. "Ahsoka?"

The comms channel goes static. Something about this is very wrong.

***

Our troops have surveyed the ground surrounding the base for hours; we've stayed up all night as they went over and over again without a single trace of Ahsoka. Every hour we pass with no result is boiling more and more anxiety within me.

What if we never find her? It will all have been my fault, and I know that. Ahsoka could already be dead; perhaps dropped out of an airlock, or simply shot by a blaster. No. I can't think like this.

With every unsuccessful result, Anakin has grown more impatient. He won't give up this search until we find Ahsoka, and I know he'll make this a priority over anything else. Whenever his emotions or attachments are involved, he's at least ten times more determined.

The search has continued on until dawn, way past how long this mission should've lasted. We should be back on Coruscant. I should be easing down, still shaken by the events of Lola Sayu. But we are on Felucia, trying to find Ahsoka Tano.

"Generals, we've been over the same area a dozen times," Rex says. "There's no sign of Commander Tano." We have heard this very thing many times throughout the night, but still we are both persistent.

"Not good enough, Rex. Try again," Anakin orders. He's in one of these times where he won't give up on something, and to him it is critical. I've seen this happen during our extensive search for General Grievous, after he almost captured me on the Malevolence.

"We're bound to find something eventually," I add. This is all the hope I can manage right now, because I don't like lying. If I said we would find Ahsoka this time, I'd be lying. But we can hope for a clue.

Rex nods and turns back, ready to survey the surroundings again as Master Plo approaches us. "We have alerted our forces throughout the Outer Rim and intelligence assets inside the Confederacy," says Master Plo. "If she's spotted, we shall know about it."