Work Text:
Wolffe and his assigned team of Coruscant Guardsmen held their position at the corner of 12th-and-G. Just ahead was the coordinates that one of the probe droids had sent in.
Wolffe had been on Coruscant when Commander Tano had escaped the RMB. He couldn’t believe it when Fox had radioed in that she had killed men , not clones, but men and then shortly afterwards an All-Points Bulletin was sent out by Rex.
What was she thinking?
It felt absolutely unreal, especially having been there when General Plo Koon had found and taken Ahsoka in under his wing.
Wolffe and the Pack were nearly as close to the Commander as Rex and the men of the 501st were to her, but he knew he still had a job to do. Orders were orders, afterall.
So when he heard on the radio chatter that Ahsoka had been riding with Ventress, his blood immediately began to boil and still didn’t quite believe that Ahsoka would stoop so low.
He wanted to see it for himself first. And if it was true, then… at least he’d know for certain. Besides capturing her, he still had a score to settle with Ventress for nearly taking away his vision back on Khorm.
Luckily his helmet took most of the damage and he only suffered the loss of one eye that had to be replaced with a cybernetic (courtesy of his General), in addition to the giant scar he had to show for it.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he leaned around the corner and saw the Commander standing with Ventress down the street. The pair were quietly conversing with each other by a public comm booth, presumably having contacted someone.
How had the little Commander fallen so far?
Contacting someone after murdering clones, evading the authorities several times and then taking in Ventress’s assistance did not bode well at all, nor did it lower Wolffe’s suspicion of the young Togrutan Jedi.
With that, Wolffe silently signaled to his men to move forward and surround the two fugitives. The Guardsmen immediately blocked off any escape and surrounded the pair with perfect clone-efficiency before they could do anything but stare.
Wolffe pushed through the line of Guardsmen and growled, DC-17s raised.
“You’re surrounded. You know what we’re here for, so put down your weapons and surrender.”
The Commander’s gaze locked with Wolffe’s T-visor and her eyes flashed with recognition when she saw him.
“Wolffe- please! You don’t need to do this!” she said, desperation evident in her tone.
“The hell I don’t, Ahsoka,” Wolffe snarled, then tilted his head towards Ventress. “What the fuck are you doing with this karking witch ?”
Commander Tano winced at Wolffe’s harsh tone and looked back as Ventress simply laughed at the clone’s hostility.
That emitted another growl from Wolffe, and the Commander immediately attempted to mediate before things decided to get violent.
“Look, I’m being framed. I’m on the run because someone is trying to pin me for something I didn’t do. I did not kill Letta Turmond or any of those troopers!” She took a deep breath and then glanced at Ventress. “She- well, we had a mutual understanding. She’s helping me.”
Wolffe let the information sink in before shaking his head in disbelief.
Is she trying to make herself look more guilty?
He barked out a harsh laugh. “Are you trying to make yourself look more guilty? Because it’s working.” Ignoring the noise of frustration from Tano, he pointed at Ventress. “As for you , we have unfinished business.”
Ventress looked at him, confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He reached a hand up and snatched the helmet off of his head, then pointed a finger at his cybernetic eye. “ You did this to me!”
A faint sliver of recognition began to grow in her eyes as she smiled. “Ah, I remember you now.”
“I would kill you where you stand, but the Republic has different plans for you. And I rather see you rot in prison, anyways,” Wolffe half-shouted-half-snarled as he attempted to keep his anger under control. He compromised, gripping his helmet tightly in white-knuckled fists and hoping that it would drain away some of the fury before slamming it back on his head.
Ventress continued to smile, which only aggravated Wolffe further. “Ah, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen, my dear Wolffe.”
Tano turned to Wolffe again in a last-ditch effort. “Wolffe, I’m going to make this clear- you are not taking us in. Please let us go.”
She stared at him imploringly. “You know me, Wolffe. You know deep down in your heart that I did not do any of the things that I am being accused of.”
‘Accused of’? Wolffe had heard Fox call out over the radio in anger that she had murdered his men, heard Rex call out the APB on the Commander in a tone of disbelief. There had been witnesses of her fall into murder and lawlessness.
Wolffe considered himself to be one of those witnesses, because if that wasn’t Asajj Ventress standing right next to her, then Wolffe had never lost his eye to Ventress and she had never murdered hundreds of his brothers in cold blood.
So what did she mean ‘Accused of’? Why was she acting as if she was innocent of everything that had happened in a matter of days?
Wolffe was torn, and began to lower his blasters. He hated this feeling of uncertainty. The answer was simple, he needed to do his duty. It was what made sense.
He wanted to believe what she was saying was the truth, but all of the evidence so far only pointed towards her guilt.
And the evidence was reasonably compelling. Evading the authorities, collaborating with a known Separatist terrorist, murder of several clones, Jedi, and Republic citizens. Running only pulled her deeper into the hole, and he just couldn’t comprehend why she wouldn’t turn herself in and tell her side of things if she really was innocent.
Right now his duty was to apprehend Tano and ensure she did exactly that. This was no place to be wavering in that duty or questioning orders or allowing the obstruction of justice.
Decision made, Wolffe lifted his blasters and pointed them back at the fallen Jedi, taking a deep breath. “Commander Tano, Asajj Ventress, you are under arrest for suspicion of involvement in the bombing of the Jedi Temple and the murder of several clones and Republic citizens. We will use force if you do not comply with our orders.”
Wolffe watched Tano sag a little in what appeared to be defeat, but the motion disappeared so quickly that he wondered if it had actually happened.
Ventress pressed a button to lower the mask down on her head and ignited her duel lightsabers.
“Let’s play!”
The Commander took up a fighting stance and reached down for her lightsabers, but immediately drew her hands back when she realized that they were no longer on her belt.
Wolffe took notice of this. A quick search determined that Ventress carried one of Tano’s lightsabers while the other had been lost, most likely earlier in the chase. She would be overwhelmed by the clones with no lightsabers to block stun blasts or slice blasters.... or clones to cut down, seeing that she didn’t have any problem doing just that to several members of the Coruscant Guard earlier.
Tano backed up next to Ventress, maintaining her defensive fighting stance. “We don’t want to fight! Now, I’m not going to hurt any of you-” she turned to Ventress and gave her a glare. “- we’re not going to hurt any of you. But you are not taking us in.”
Wolffe and the rest of the troopers pushed in closer and tightened the circle. “We are taking you in, Commander. That bitch is going too.”
Ventress scoffed from under her mask, then twirled her lightsabers before taking up an offensive fighting stance, to which Ahsoka gave her another look of warning.
“Apprehend Tano, troopers,” Wolffe ordered. He pointed a blaster in Ventress’s direction. “The witch is mine .”
Fighting broke out as soon as one of the Guardsmen placed a hand on Ahsoka’s shoulder. She immediately twisted around and jammed an elbow into the trooper’s helmet, knocking him back.
Wolffe turned his attention back to Ventress, who had just finished slicing through two trooper’s blasters and knocking them unconscious with her fists.
He immediately began firing stun blasts at Ventress, who blocked them with her lightsabers.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to be able to take her down with his DC-17s unless she deactivated her sabers, Wolffe slammed the blasters back into their holsters and charged head first, catching Ventress around the waist and plowing her into the wall.
The air was knocked out of the Sith bounty hunter or whatever she was now, and she had dropped her weapons upon impact with the wall.
According to her reaction, she hadn’t been expecting him to recklessly charge head-first against a lightsaber-wielding Force-user and was caught off-guard. He assumed he was only this lucky in gaining the advantage because Ventress was actually trying to avoid killing him and his brothers, much to his surprise.
Even if she did have a change of heart, Wolffe didn’t care. She was still going down regardless after everything she had done to his brothers and the Republic he had sworn to protect.
With Ventress still stunned from his attack, he grabbed her by the arms to slam her against the ground only to have his feet be swept out from under him. Growling and maintaining an iron grip on her forearms, she was forced down to the ground with her on top, which gave him an opportunity to snatch Tano’s remaining lightsaber from Ventress’s belt while she was distracted and toss it to the side.
He immediately rolled over as soon as she attempted to pull herself out of his grip and quickly placed all of his body weight onto her upper body, pinning both of her arms above her.
Feeling Ventress struggling below him, Wolffe’s immediate reaction was to go for his special Force-blocking binders that he’d brought with him to apprehend the Commander in the event she wasn’t willing to cooperate, which quickly turned out to be the case.
But in doing so, he’d have to relinquish his grip on one of her arms, which gave her the perfect opportunity to strike.
Even unarmed, as a Force-user and a ruthless Sith, she could be quite deadly in close quarters should she get control of her arms back. Though, he still held the advantage because she was holding back for whatever reason.
With all that in mind, he shifted her arms into his right fist, snatched one of his blasters out of its holster using his left, double-checked to ensure it hadn’t been accidentally switched from stun to kill, and pulled the trigger, letting loose a single stun round that impacted her struggling figure directly in the chest.
Immediately, Ventress ceased her writhing and stilled, upper-body slumping back and muscles relaxing.
Without missing a beat, Wolffe relinquished his grip on Ventress’s wrists and retrieved the Force-blocking binders on his belt with his free hand, slapping them on in quick, effective motions just like he was trained to do.
Now confident that the witch wouldn’t be going anywhere, he glanced up and saw the Guardsmen engaging Tano in hand-to-hand combat.
She had managed to sweep another trooper off his feet and then grab a second trooper by the wrist after an attempted punch to her face, quickly tossing the man over her shoulder and slamming him to the ground.
The clone let out a cry of pain and most likely had a broken wrist now to show for his efforts.
The other Guardsmen seemed to realize that she was picking them off one-by-one, and they began backing off to regroup.
The Commander had confusion written on her face when she saw them begin retreating, and shifted into a defensive stance.
Suddenly, the Guardsmen circled around her again, a few of them abandoning their weapons, and rushed forward swarming and surrounding her from all sides.
Overwhelmed, the troopers quickly gained control of her arms and brought her down to the ground kicking and screaming.
Wolffe watched as the little Togruta struggled defiantly for a couple more minutes until the Guardsmen finally gained control of her body, forcing her arms behind her. She was still thrashing around weakly, but eventually stopped after the Force-blocking binders went on and she was hauled up into firm, unyielding grasps.
Confident that the situation was now under control and the mission a success, Wolffe returned his attention to Ventress, who appeared to be out cold still.
He finally stood back up, pulling Ventress’s body to her feet and throwing her over his shoulder.
Commander Tano’s attention finally focused on him and she took in Ventress’s unconscious form.
Shock and sorrow written on her features, she called out to him, sounding like she was trying to stop herself from crying and hyperventilating. “Wolffe! Please! Don’t do this! ”
Wolffe willed himself to ignore her cries and shifted Ventress’s body around to ensure she didn’t slide from his grip.
He took in the unconscious troopers and the several abandoned DC-15S’s, and began to feel his anger boil back up. They had done this to his brothers.
Before he could do something he would regret, he quickly stifled the rising anger and remembered the fallen Jedi’s lightsabers lying nearby.
“Troopers!” he barked sharply. “Secure those weapons and set up a perimeter. Someone call in the other search teams and get medical out here. No one gets in or out. Understood?”
“Sir yes sir!” came back the immediate replies from the remaining conscious troopers.
He jerked his free hand behind him towards where he had taken Ventress down. “And someone get that witch’s lightsabers.”
---
Ten minutes later a trio of Republic Police gunships could be spotted in the distance, heading directly towards Wolffe and his team.
His wrist-comm crackled to life with a familiar voice. “This is Commander Fox to team one. We’re enroute to level 1313 with medical and arrest teams. Standby for transport. Fox out.”
He was relieved to hear from the fellow commander and his closest batchmate. The pair had gone through command and ARC training together, but were separated when Wolffe was shipped out to take command of the 104th and Fox the Coruscant Guard. He knew it wasn’t easy for Fox to handle the security of a city-planet and deal with all those politicians at the same time.
Wolffe turned to his team of Guardsmen who were maintaining a perimeter and checking each other's wounds until medical arrived before quickly glancing at Tano and Ventress, who were placed next to each other, each being watched by a pair of troopers. Tano herself had her head down and looked absolutely defeated.
“Alright troopers,” he announced. “Arrest teams are inbound with medical and transport for the prisoners. Get ready to head back to base. Our work is done here.”
This spurred the Guardsmen into action, and they began preparing for the arrival of their ride.
A lone Guardsman made his way to Wolffe, who was now checking the feeds on his HUD and comm for any further updates regarding Commander Tano’s situation, and gave a crisp salute.
“Commander, I think you’ll want these,” the trooper said in a knowing voice. Gripped in his left fist were Ventress’s lightsabers, and in the right was Tano’s single remaining lightsaber, all of which Wolffe had admittingly forgotten about. The weapons were definitely going to be given to General Koon, he’d know what to do with them.
Wolffe also felt a twinge of grim satisfaction in holding the same weapons that had taken his eye as well as the lives of countless brothers. He patted the Guardsman on the shoulder, accepting the lightsabers and clipping them to his belt. “Good job, trooper.”
“Sir!” the Guardsman saluted again and turned smartly on his heel, returning to assist his brothers.
“Wolffe… I-”
Tano’s voice broke off and he could hear the sound of whimpering. It was very much unlike the feisty and determined Togruta he normally knew, and even what had been left of that fire when she attempted to persuade him not to arrest her was gone.
Wolffe had his doubts and uncertainties about whether or not bringing her in was the right decision and whether or not she was truly the one behind all the murders. The Commander had been very adamant about her innocence and he realized that she had gone so far as to hold back in their fight that had occurred not just five minutes ago.
Not only that, she had convinced Ventress to not kill Wolffe and his men and the only reason they were now in his custody was because they had held back; avoided using their Force powers to obliterate them, which Wolffe knew they were fully capable of doing. He had seen how deadly the Force could be from General Koon.
But he also knew as well as any clone that he had a job to do. A duty to uphold. Doubts and uncertainties that could be handled and resolved during the trial in the Republic justice system, if she truly was innocent of any wrongdoing.
This line of thinking was going to get him nowhere. Doubt had no place in a clone’s life; doubt got brothers killed because doubt led to hesitation and second-guessing yourself. He had to keep his focus on his job so everyone else could do theirs, and that meant ensuring Commander Tano went to trial.
Wolffe sighed before turning around, taking his helmet off and placing it under his arm so he could smear a gloved hand against his forehead and wipe the sweat away. He stepped closer and locked eyes with Tano, giving her his full attention.
The fight had gone out of her eyes, and she sat awkwardly with her arms twisted behind her due to the binders. She looked small and scared, and the look in her eyes was pleading, but held a glint of terror in them as well.
Seeing the look in her eyes now, Wolffe’s mind began traveling back to the thought of if she really was innocent of wrongdoing, that there was something more going on that he wasn’t aware about?
No . What-ifs weren’t going to get anyone anywhere. Do your job so the justice system can do theirs .
With that final mental reprimand, he swiftly clamped down on that path of thought and returned his focus to the young Jedi sitting in front of him.
“Commander,” he started firmly, choosing his words carefully. “I’m truly sorry it had to come to this, but you know we have our orders. It is our duty to follow orders and our orders were to apprehend you for murder and involvement in the temple bombing.”
“But-” she began.
Wolffe held a hand up, silencing her.
He paused a moment before continuing. “You ran. You ran from the authorities and obstructed us from carrying out our duty. You collaborated with a known Separatist terrorist and Sith. People are dead. These men-” He gestured to the injured Guardsmen waiting for the transports to arrive. “-are injured as a result of your resisting arrest, and I have brothers lying dead in the detention center. Don’t you understand the severity of the situation, Ahsoka?”
The tiny Commander shot up. “Yes! Of course I do! But I’m telling you that-”
“Then you will trust in the system we fight for to do their job and understand that I also have my own job to do. One that I cannot allow you to hinder as you have been doing,” he interrupted before turning to meet the rapidly approaching gunships, pausing to add, “Think about it, Commander.”
Straightening up, he walked away from the pair of fugitives, leaving the little Togruta to contemplate over what he had said, and looked up towards the trio of gunships that were beginning to land by the crime scene.
“Wolffe!”
He stopped at the Jedi’s call and stiffly faced towards Tano.
“What if the system is flawed? What if the orders were wrong?”
Wolffe paused to soak the borderline treasonous questions in, glanced at some of the troopers that were eavesdropping on the conversation, and continued to make his way to the gunships.
What if the system is flawed? What if the orders were wrong?
Think about it, Commander.
Those were not questions that Wolffe would be entertaining with an answer here, but he would certainly be thinking about them.
Placing his helmet back on top of his head, he took a deep breath and strode out to meet the approaching Jedi Generals and clone officers.