Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.17.3

"The horror doesn't stop here, however. Not only were the active Jedi killed but every Jedi, from the young to the old, were targeted in what is beginning to be called the 'Jedi Purge'. After killing Skywalker, clone troopers across Coruscant marched upon the Jedi Temple, the sacred home of the religion's disciples. From the eldest Master to the newest Youngling, no survivors were found among the ruins of the building. Again, some Jedi are unaccounted for but where they may be is uncertain."

"What the hell..." Journey murmured, turning to the others. "Do you think Tano knows? I mean, she grew up with these people, she's probably known them since she was a kid!"

Thyla rested her head on his shoulder, sighing deeply. "I'm just glad she's not a Jedi anymore."

Agreement went around the room as the reporter kept talking. "Well, not technically," Luce conceded, "but she definitely still acts like a Jedi. She just ran off to go save another planet, didn't she?"

"She's always running off to go do something," Jackson agreed, smirking. 

"SHH!!" Wheeler admonished him, pointing at the screen.

The scene had shifted and the reporter was no longer talking about the Temple. "As if that wasn't enough, we are being forced to mourn the death of all Jedi, both present and past. Not even those expelled from the Jedi Order were safe from the Jedi Purge."

A pin could have dropped in the room and all of the occupants could have heard it. No one was making a sound. 

"Less than an hour before the attack on Coruscant and the Chancellor's life happened, former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, better known as the 'Jedi Gone Rogue', was sent as an advisor with a division of the 501st Legion. Her teacher, General Anakin Skywalker, sent all of them with representatives from the neutral system of Mandalore to liberate it from the rule of the renegade Sith Lord Darth Maul. According to Tano's most recent report, she had succeeded in capturing Maul and was on her way to deliver him to Coruscant.

"Minutes later, however, the Venator-class cruiser dropped suddenly out of hyperspace. The cause for the drop has yet to be identified, but the last reports sent out by the cruiser notified the Republic that while Maul escaped capture and fled from the ship, Ahsoka Tano was executed."

Tano's name and image appeared but Wheeler snatched the projector, turned it off, and hurled it at the nearest wall. Everyone else was too stunned to stop her. Tears had already started falling, and Leslie had actually run out of the room, pushing past Fuller who was standing in the doorway.

Fuller stared after her before looking back at the occupants of the room. "I was just..." he trailed off, having heard enough of the news report to know why some of them were crying. Clearing his throat, he told Trace, "Your sister's here to pick you up." He walked away, and seconds later they could all hear a door slamming. 

"She's gone," Tyme whispered, looking at the floor. No one knew what to say after that but after a moment of tense silence, she quickly grabbed her bag and left the room, no longer feeling welcome. They all watched her dash away to her sister before looking back at the floor, letting the grief fester.

When he couldn't take it anymore, Nox asked, "Why? She wasn't a Jedi, so why?"

Luce shook his head, biting his lip. "No, that's not it," he told him, suddenly slamming his fist on the table and standing up. "SHE WAS THEIR FRIEND!!! Tano was their best friend, she talked about them all the time! Didn't she say? DIDN'T SHE SAY THAT HER BEST FRIEND ON THE SURFACE WAS A CLONE???"

"It didn't matter," Wheeler spat, clenching her fists. "People on the surface don't care about anyone belowground. They never have, never will. Once Tano came down here with us, they dropped her like dirt."