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The recording ends with Ahsoka Tano on her knees.
A shock collar circles her throat. Dirt streaks her face and montrals, while one side of her borrowed slave clothing is dark with blood. Captain Rex kneels beside her, wrists bound behind his back, his face swollen enough that one eye has nearly closed.
Neither of them looks at the camera.
Behind them, Togruta prisoners move through Kadavo’s processing facility under the watch of armed Zygerrians. Metal platforms hang over a volcanic abyss, connected by narrow bridges and guarded at every junction.
The facility overseer steps into view and smiles.
His demands are simple. Withdraw Republic forces from Zygerrian territory, recognize the restored slave empire’s sovereignty, and provide compensation for the Republic’s interference.
Otherwise, Commander Tano and Captain Rex will be publicly processed with the rest.
The holorecording goes dark.
Silence settles across the Council Chamber.
Yoda keeps both hands wrapped around the head of his cane.
Across the circle, Obi-Wan sits unusually still. His robes hide most of the injuries he brought back from Zygerria, but not the exhaustion carved into his face. Anakin isn’t present. The Council had recalled him to the Temple after his reaction to discovering his Padawan and captain were missing became destructive enough to threaten the mission.
The doors would need replacing.
Several walls might as well.
At the center of the chamber, Chief of Defense Fox stands in blue holographic light.
He’s aboard the Sentinel, dressed in black-and-red ARC armor without his helmet. His gold eyes are fixed on the empty space where the ransom recording had played. A vein pulses along his temple.
He looks calm.
Yoda has lived for nearly nine centuries. He knows better.
Fox lifts his gaze to the Council.
“Please tell me my spies are lying.”
No one answers immediately.
Master Windu leans forward. “The recording appears authentic.”
“I know it’s authentic.”
Fox’s voice remains level, which makes every word land harder.
“My people located the Kadavo facility eleven hours before this message reached the Office of the Chief of Defense. They followed Commander Tano’s convor through Zygerrian airspace after the animal appeared near one of our intelligence cells.”
His mouth tightens.
“The bird found them before the Jedi Council did.”
Obi-Wan closes his eyes briefly.
Yoda feels the accusation spread through the chamber like smoke.
“Explain this, we must,” Yoda says.
“Yes,” Fox replies. “You must.”
The chief reaches toward something outside the holoprojector. A mission dossier appears above the chamber floor, stamped with the Chief of Defense’s refusal code.
The date is six weeks old.
Fox expands the personnel section.
“Six weeks ago, this mission was submitted to my office for strategic authorization. I refused it.”
Images appear beside each name.
“General Kenobi is Stewjoni. His phenotype makes him a prime target in high-value slave markets. General Skywalker is a former slave with known trauma involving Zygerria. Commander Tano is a sixteen-year-old Togruta sent to infiltrate a species-specific slave operation.”
His eyes flick toward Yoda.
“She spent her birthday in chains.”
Yoda’s ears lower.
Fox brings up Rex’s service file.
“Captain Rex carries active campaign codes, troop dispositions, command frequencies, classified intelligence on General Skywalker’s strategies, and enough access to compromise the entire 501st Legion.”
The dossier vanishes.
“I wrote that sending this team was asking for a catastrophic failure. The Council authorized the mission behind my back anyway.”
“The colony, found we did,” Yoda says quietly.
Fox stares at him.
“Congratulations.”
The word sounds like an insult.
“You found the missing Togruta colony. You also delivered a Togruta minor, a senior clone officer, one of the Order’s most recognizable generals, and a member of a species prized by slavers directly into the hands of the Zygerrian empire.”
Windu’s jaw hardens. “The original operation was intended to be covert.”
“So was my birth.”
The answer cuts through the chamber.
Fox doesn’t raise his voice.
He doesn’t need to.
“You lost contact with Commander Tano and Captain Rex six weeks ago. You searched without results, informed neither my office nor the GAR intelligence network, and allowed two Republic officers to remain inside a slave-processing facility while you attempted to contain your own failure.”
“We believed involving more personnel could endanger the prisoners,” Windu says.
Fox’s expression doesn’t shift.
“You believed wrong.”
The drill of anger behind his words is almost physical.
“The Chief of Defense exists so one office can coordinate military intelligence across the Republic. My agents were already inside the Zygerrian slave markets. I had informants tracking shipment manifests, processing routes, auction lists, and prison transfers before your mission began.”
Yoda looks toward the frozen image of Kadavo.
“Young Tano and Captain Rex, alive they are.”
“For now.”
Fox steps closer to the holocamera.
“My spies report that Rex has been singled out for interrogation because he refuses to identify Tano as a Jedi. The facility overseer is using the other prisoners to punish her. If that recording is accurate, they’ve both spent six weeks being processed.”
Obi-Wan’s face loses what little color remains.
Yoda feels his own failure settle heavily around him.
Fox looks from one Council member to another.
“You didn’t tell me because you knew I’d say no.”
No one disputes it.
“You went around the chain of command, ignored a written strategic refusal, lost two officers, and then hid it for six weeks.”
Windu rises. “Chief—”
“No.”
The single word stops him.
Fox’s nose begins to bleed. A thin red line slips over his upper lip. He wipes it away with the back of his glove without appearing to notice.
“I’m deploying the Sentinel, the 104th, and two SpecOps teams to Kadavo,” he says. “General Kenobi will provide everything he remembers about the facility. General Skywalker will remain at the Temple until I decide whether he’s capable of returning without destroying the operation.”
“Authority to command Jedi, you do not possess,” Yoda says.
Fox looks directly at him.
“On matters of strategic defense during active war, I possess authority over every military asset in the Republic.”
The Council Chamber remains silent.
“That includes Jedi.”
Fox ends the transmission.
His hologram vanishes, leaving the Council alone beneath the weight of Ahsoka’s last recorded image.
Yoda looks down at his cane.
Wrong, Fox is not.
That, perhaps, is the worst part.