She looked out the viewing window, ignoring the swish, swish of her master's cloaks and the beep and buzz of the ship as it flew. Hyperspace was more interesting, the streaking of bright stars and planets into a blur. It made everything seem like a part of the whole. Ahsoka sighed, that was a Jedi thought, and if she hadn't been taught to block her thoughts, she was sure Dooku would be intolerable and go on another long winded rant. If she were unlucky, as she seemed to be lately, she'd be struck with force lightning. She shuddered and focused on the stars that shot by.

"Apprentice." Ahsoka turned towards the man, his white beard accentuating his frown. His face was drawn, but this time not in his usual gaunt expression, he was angry again. Hopefully though, not at her.

"Yes, Master?" She knew better than to make a flippant remark when he got like this. Normally he took it with a scowl and a dry retort but on days like these...

"It seems Master Yoda has won over King Katuunko, a rather unfortunate turn of events."

Ah, it was about that. Ahsoka remembered her master mentioning something about Toydaria a while ago. The Separatists had caught wind of the Republic wanting to ask King Katuunko to allow them to build a base on Toydarian soil. Jedi Master Yoda was to visit Rugosa a past holiday moon for the Toydarians and meet with the monarch. Of course, Ahsoka mused, the Separatists couldn't take that lying down, so Dooku had sent them a little offer and gift of their own. Exactly what that was, Ahsoka didn't know, and she didn't really care either. However, she had a feeling she was going to find out anyway.

Unfortunately.

Ahsoka looked up with a smile, "Unfortunate? You mean for them, right?"

Dooku grimaced a bit, but he covered it with a genteel smile and appraised his... outspoken, apprentice. "How so?"

Ahsoka grinned, straightening from her slouched position that she knew Dooku loathed. It was always prim and proper with him, until it came to the battlefield, then, it was all blood and gore, it was only the shouts and screams of the tube spawn.

"Master, do you really believe it's okay for those Jedi scum to have a supply base on Toydaria. It's a neutral planet right now, and if they permit the Republic," Ahsoka said the word as a hiss, as if the name burnt her tongue. "such a luxury, we could lose our standing with them." She smiled and tilted her head, her lekku waving against the back clothes. "So perhaps a little persuasion with Katuunko is needed," Her eyes brightened, "or an accidental bombing. Purely an accident."

Dooku approached her, his brown cloak sliding across the ship's floor. The light of the room, a pale red that thrummed like the working engine, cast an eerie glow against his face. "Calm, child, Katuunko knows the repercussions for turning to the republic. His people want peace, any flicker of allegiance, to either side, will cause dissent in his kingdom." He closed his eyes, but Ahsoka could feel the air turn heavy with the force. Eleven years with the man, and she still wasn't quite used to his presence in the force, it was so aggressive, like a smaller less stingy version of his force lightning. "It is not he who we need to worry about, it is the rumors this shall start."

A white eyemark rose in genuine curiosity. "Rumors?"

Rage, it whipped around the room, before being shut off like a pressure door cutting off the vacuum of space. "It seems Master Yoda allowed a little saying to bloom. 'A Jedi is worth a thousand droids'. And Ventress' temper seems to only have solidified this, and perhaps added a negative connotation to it." Dooku grimaced. "As you said apprentice, an accident is in order."

He did not need to say for whom the accident was for. Ahsoka brightened, she never did like the bald witch.

"And what would that be, the connotation? Although if you want to clue me in on that accident too, I'd be glad to help, Master." She didn't really care, it only riled him up, but if his rage was directed at the witch, it was worth continuing this seemingly useless conversation.

"A Jedi is worth more than a Sith."

"Psh," Ahsoka rolled her eyes. That's it? "Because the harpy's actions really damage our reputation. Can she actually be counted as a Sith? Sure she's got the anger, but I'm so much better, stronger, younger, and faster, eh, better sums it up pretty well, huh?" She twirled her lightsaber in hand regarding it with feigned interest, just like she did with this little exchange of words. "You should have sent me, Master, I can be much more persuasive than her." The lightsaber paused in mid air held aloft by a gentle nudging of the force. With a flick of her wrist, the blade extended in a bright shot of red. "You ordered her to kill him, didn't you?"

His eyes glazed over her and he ignored her question in disdain. "Overconfidence will do you no good, apprentice." He turned on his heel, facing away from her, and she wondered if he just wanted to vent to her. It wouldn't have been the first time. "Do not worry, she will be rightfully," He paused and the force flared with a sadistic anger. Failure did not sit well with him. "punished."

Ahsoka grinned and nodded before she turned back towards the viewing window. Now that this was settled she could sink off into innattention.

"You will be going to the Abregado system to convene with Grievous, the new cannon is under his command, you shall oversee that his mission does not fail."

Kriff.

She nodded and realized that the conversation had built up to this single order. Fail, and you will be dealt with in a most vague and terrifying way. A smile curled upon her face, "Entrusting me to watch over the Tinnies. Master, you underestimate me. Everything will be fine."

Dooku merely glared at her for a moment, wishing that his young apprentice was a bit more humble, if only for his own sanity. Then he turned away towards his quarters, no doubt planning for a less than pleasant welcome for the assassin.

Ahsoka sighed watching her master walk away. Despite her bravado she really wasn't looking forward to being around the grumpy general. He was a glorified droid, that was all. Her talents were wasted on babysitting the automated idiot.

Although a new mission might be good for her. She had spent far too many hours staring out the window on the viewing deck. Maybe something fun would happen, something fun and bloody.

~0~0~

"Have you ever thought about getting a Padawan, Anakin?"

It was another average day at Coruscant and the Jedi Temple's halls were graced with the fluid movement of force sensitives and the occasional droid or clone.

Anakin Skywalker had arrived less than four hours ago and the Council had already summoned him for another mission, Obi-wan Kenobi had come down to greet him, and engage in harmless chatter much to his old Padawan's chagrin.

"I've told you before Master, I have no desire to babysit some inexperienced younglings." Anakin was growing tired of the constant missions, the to and fro of battle to home and back. But there was no helping it. If there was just more hope for the war to finally be over or even a solid victory to occur, he would feel better, but things just seemed to get worse.

"Youngling, Anakin, I wouldn't trust you with a plural amount of children."

"..."

Obi-Wan crossed his arms behind his back and calmly kept pace with Anakin's rapid stalking through the halls. He nodded politely to a passing clone. "They are not all so young, Anakin."

"They are too, Master!" He lowered his voice at Obi-Wan's inquisitive stare, "You've seen them. As this war goes on and as more and more Jedi are needed at the front lines, they send the younglings out before they're ready. Before they've had real training." He shook his head, trying to reign in his emotions, it had been a long week.

"I understand your sentiments, Anakin, but it is part of the world we live in. One must accept that this war has not progressed as we have hoped it would, and adapt to the needs that are necessary to sustain it. Through that we will make strides in it." Obi-Wan turned to face his old Padawan and saw how much older Anakin looked. How much older he surely must look as well. "They may be young, Anakin, but they must learn at some point." He grinned despite the rather solemn topic. "If you wish to, think of it as protecting another young life, teaching them what they lack."

Anakin replied with a rather less than enthusiastic glare.

Kenobi laughed, "If I remember correctly, Anakin, you were quite young when you became my Padawan. And you turned out acceptably."

Anakin shook his head, letting his brown hair wisp across his eyes. Joking again, was he. "Always the optimistic one, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan nodded sagely glancing about the halls as they neared the Council room. "And you the rebellious one." He walked forward tilting his head towards the guards, "And Anakin."

He looked to his former master a smile just about to slip onto his face.

"Do not make a fool of yourself today." He slid into the gently lit room fighting back a good natured chuckle.

"Hey! What do you mean by 'today'?" Anakin ran into the large room, oblivious to the peculiar stares directed towards him. Perhaps this day had started off nicely, for once. He looked upwards sheepishly, the trace of a grin still hanging at the edge of his lips. "Masters." Anakin coughed once, trying to pull Obi-Wan from his hardly hidden giggle fit. Dipping low he glared at the copper haired male and he pursed his lips, a stray breath of air puffing out here or there.

"Jedi Skywalker, glad to see you we are." Yoda sat perched atop his cane and eyed Anakin with quiet mirth. Just the other day he had come back from a very successful mission in Toydaria, and by the looks of the clones as they came back, it was successful in more ways than one. "For you, a mission we have." His wise eyes closed calmly and Anakin took the time to scan the room.

Few of the masters were present that day, they were stretched thin during these hard times. Without the blue light of their holographic projections the empty spaces shed a darker light on the room. The cobbled floor with intricate carvings that stretched onto the walls were in bright relief however, and when before, the delicate swirls and patterns were blurred behind holograms and chastising faces, Anakin could now see more of them than he had ever wanted to. Today, only three masters were present, not counting the two flickering projections of Master Windu and Master Fisto.

Anakin resisted the urge to sigh, his grim mood crawling back to mind, it clawed and growled there waiting to pounce upon any hope.

Obi-Wan was leaning back in his chair, legs crossed in a casual manor, but his were eyes attentive. He had noticed changes in his old Padawan, his old friend. Anakin's opinion on the war was growing darker and darker, no longer could a simple spar or visit to a certain senator lift or alleviate his moods. Now they were shelved away, until quickly found by a search through the young man's mind. Obi-Wan had always known Anakin held a different perspective when it came to the war, every loss was personal and every failure was one without good reason. It caused for him to be reckless and brave, it created victories that trumped any before. But his views, his behavior, they were strikingly similar to an old Jedi, one that had been one of the greatest, and now the greatest loss.

He stroked his copper beard half listening for the next part of Master Yoda's assignment. The council had yet to notice any great change in Anakin. His methods were always unorthodox to say the least. But there were subtle differences. The way he addressed the clones, before always open to a joke, a casual nickname in place of sir or general, that had changed into suffocating formality, one that not even the strictest and rule abiding Jedi Masters had. His moods had changed as well. A constant to and fro, swinging from depression to bursts of unbridled anger. They never lasted long, sometimes only a quick flare in his eyes, the slump of his shoulders as he walked down the hallways, but they were the polar opposite from Anakin. The little boy from Tatooine who flew like a madman and walked with a cocky swagger. It wasn't healthy for him, and Obi-Wan had his worries about the young man's mental health.

"To Abegrado you must go. Master Plo Koon and squadron, help they are in need of." Master Yoda's face took on a grim tilt and the grave sound of his voice made his position atop the cane look almost ludicrous.

Anakin's mouth twisted into a sick smile, and he nodded. Everything wasn't as it appeared anymore. Everything was masks wearing masks, and that was all anything would ever be. At least until this goddamned war was over.

"Or course, Master Yoda." He nodded his head, knowing he was cutting the necessary briefing statements that detailed the mission and stood to leave.

Master Ki-Adi-Mundi was sure to say something choice to him later, but Anakin was tired of the leisurely talks and calm room. The sunlight hid things just as well as shadow, and in Anakin's worn and tired mind, sometimes better. The light blinded, while the darkness only hid.

He turned around feeling the stares of the Jedi council boring into his back. He noticed the appalled glances of the guards whose bodies were sliding out of parade rest, weapons tilting upwards almost in the ready. He ignored them all and pushed out of the room.

He was tired of calling people master.

Obi-Wan tensed in his seat and stared at the shocked faces. Anakin was rude, he was coarse, he was a child at times, but he always had the mind to feign attentiveness. Even he was on his best behavior when it came to Master Yoda. Obi-Wan turned in his seat and Yoda nodded.

"Go with him, you will. Anakin I fear, growing weaker is. Watch over him you must."

He nodded and hopped down from his chair and nearly ran from the room, the jesting exchange of the morning lost in the Jedi council room. The regal aura lost.

~0~0~

It was the third time that kriffing week! Dissent had rose in the squadron ever since the display.

Their general had grown reckless, more so than was normal even for him. His brothers had noticed, noticed long ago. One had to be attentive, perceptive in this line of work, in their line of work, and even more so when your life was in the hands of one PMSing Jedi.

Rex growled shoving his fist down an imaginary throat. The training room was empty, a sand bag snapped back and forth from a thick chain. The jingling of links against links the only sound in the room other than the captain's grunts and heavy breath.

It was twenty three hundred and they were on the ship, the training room gently rocking with the low humming engines. The florescent lights above glared down at him, on a normal day they would gleam off of white dinged armor streaked with blue, but today was not a normal day.

He jabbed to the lower right and ducked forward shoulders rolling back as his fist whipped back into position. No, every day was progressively changing from, from what he didn't know. When it started, that was even murkier. The monotony of war, when it coiled up in the pit of your stomach waiting to strike at your final moment, that was before the change. Now the snake was slithering and roiling in every clones belly, and that was after they noticed it.

Slam! The sandbag reeled backwards, if it were a real man, he would have been on its knees gasping and frothing from the mouth, hands clenched at his neck. Yes, Rex was imagining a human opponent, not a droid, not a kriffing shabla tinny.

He sighed, grasping onto the bag as it swung back at him, the chain rattled back into place.

His brothers were tired of it, force, he was tired of it too. More men died every time, and the missions were becoming haphazard and half baked.

General Skywalker. Rex wondered what he thought about the war. Before, he had a window into the man's brain, smudged although it had been, he could understand the man. He valued lives and honor just as much as free thinking and success.

Now, Rex wasn't so sure what the man valued anymore.

The engine roared, and he knew they were going into hyperspace. Stuffing his gloves into his back pocket, he decided to pop into the mess for a cup of caf. He wasn't going to sleep tonight, he'd have quick nap in the morning so he'd wake up bright and sunny as always, but he'd stare at a screen for the rest of the trip. Rex was going to plan on how to keep his men alive, and inevitably that meant fixing whatever the hell was bugging his Jedi friend.

At least if the man still was his friend. Rex couldn't say if he was sure anymore.

Rex rolled his eyes, angry that the Jedis couldn't just scream and chop something up to deal with their emotions. Shooting droids always made him feel better. Instead they bottled it up and had the emotional maturity of a three year old. He was angry that he had to deal with said three year old, he wasn't a kriffing babysitter. Most of all, he was angry at the Kaminoans for not teaching clones how to deal with emotional men.

Oh, force how that lesson would have come in handy.

Shaking his head he ran a hand over his short cropped hair and wished there was something out there that could take his mind, everyone's mind off of this too long running war.

"Rex, report."

He glared down at his wrist-com. Always when there was something to be done. He clicked the button to reply, effectively cutting off any further attempts to grab his attention. "Sir?"

"Briefing of this mission will occur bright and early soldier, be ready."

Rex sighed, no jokes on how he was missing sleep already and he should get to his damned bed? He knew the general was acting odd when Rex missed those jabs. "Roger, Sir."

The line fizzled to nothing. No reply at all.

Rex threw one ungloved punch at the hanging training bag and hissed as his fist connected. So much for staring at a blank screen all night, he'd now have to do that during the day too.

"Message received loud and clear, General."

This was going to be one long mission.

A/N: This will be written episode by episode for the most part because I love overloading myself with work and research! However, it may not feature the main plot and will only mention it, such as the chapter below. I will focus obviously on Ahsoka, but also Anakin and how he struggles with the Dark side and Rex. Rex partly because everyone ships Ahsoka with him so I thought this would be fun, and because he's the most mentioned clone.

Why am I starting this with another story just started as well? Because I'm insane and this was on my computer for much too long. Anyways, I've always wondered why this plot bunny of a dark Ahsoka from the beginning wasn't more cliche or used. Or perhaps it is and I'm just too lazy or oblivious to notice.

I don't think this will somehow morph into a shipping fic, however there will be some hints of it, cause tension between the Republic and the Separatists equals angst. And as we all know angst is hot.