When Ahsoka woke up, all she knew was that something was about to happen.

For the past few months, the Force had felt fairly calm and content, but this morning was different. Something had changed during the night and Ahsoka knew it wasn't just her. It felt distant, which hopefully meant that she had time to prepare, but there were no coincidences in the Force. Whatever was happening was on the surface, and if Ahsoka had interpreted her vision correctly, she was about to get involved.

Ahsoka got dressed quickly. Whatever was coming, she wanted to be ready. She grabbed tan pants and a blue top and strapped her belt on with the holster attached. She slid the blaster into its place, but when she turned to grab her lightsabers, she hesitated.

Do I want to bring them? she thought. Chances were if she was going to the surface, that the Jedi would be involved too. They might take it the wrong way if I show up with lightsabers without their consent.

With how the Force felt, she felt that she would need them, but did she want to show them off, or carry them in her pack? She held the sabers in her hands, weighing her options, before realizing that she was being irrational.

I have nothing to prove to the Jedi. If they have a problem, they can deal with it.

She did put them in her bag, though. It would be her hidden ace in the hole. Hopefully, whatever she was up against would underestimate her.

Grabbing a quick breakfast and extra credits, she ran out the door with no intention of returning that evening. She wasn't going to go looking for trouble, but she would let it find her. She ran to work, opening all of her senses as she went before she learned something new, even after three months of living underground. Today was a holiday.

Jedi had never been given days off of work since the war didn't stop for celebrations. If anything, they coordinated attacks to land on the other side's public events. So when Ahsoka showed up to work on Friday morning and no one was in the shop, she was confused. She went to the staff room and everyone, even Nox, was eating a cake someone had bought the day before.

Ahsoka walked in and set her stuff by the door. "Thanks for letting me know," she said sarcastically. "I would have shown up earlier if someone had told me."

"Says the girl who shows up at 7 AM on the dot no matter what day it is," a Rhodian, Luce, shot back, and some of the others laughed. "Shop tradition: Every holiday, Fuller buys a cake for breakfast. I hope you're hungry."

Tyme, another worker, handed a slice of cake to her and Jackson grabbed a chair for her. Ahsoka accepted both, turning to Tyme and saying, "Nice job on the cake."

He smiled, for, of course, he had been the one to cut it. Ahsoka grinned and grabbed a plastic fork from the table before digging in.

All in all, there were eleven workers and one boss at Gauges and Gears. Ahsoka was a part of the seven mechanics that worked there, and four other employees monitored the front desk in the lobby. Their boss, Fuller, owned the shop.

Jake, his mouth half-full with a bite, called out, "I'm surprised you know what cake is, Tano."

She scoffed. "I've been to much fancier galas and parties than this. You should see the catering on the surface. Besides, don't you remember? Leslie made a cake for my birthday two months ago."

"I thought Jedi didn't do parties," Wheeler said, but Ahsoka smirked.

"We get called to events as security. I just snuck into the kitchens every once in a while."

Rya and Leslie spat out the food that was in their mouth. Everyone else nearly fell out of their chair laughing.

The eleven of them sat there long after the cake was gone, pulling out the Dejarik board from the closet. Wheeler beat Thyla first, but then Nox stepped up to the holochess board. The group began cheering, and Wheeler leaned over to Ahsoka.

"He's won every single time he's played. No one can beat him."

Ahsoka smiled. "Challenge accepted," She taunted him, and the game began.

It was true, Nox was really good. He had advanced strategies and a good analytical eye, but Ahsoka's was better. Part of it was playing Padmé Amidala more than a few times, and part of it was that Ahsoka had played a few times at Halda's with Anakin. It took a while, but Ahsoka finally started to gain the upper hand.

She was about five moves away from winning when Fuller ducked his head into the staff room. "Tano? You've got a visitor."

Journey laughed. "What are you talking about, boss? We're not working, why would anyone come her-"

"It's a Jedi."

The room fell silent. Ahsoka furrowed her brow and concentrated. She didn't feel any Jedi nearby, and she was sure that she would have if one was so close. She stood up and abandoned the game, following Fuller out to the lobby.

As she walked, she remembered the Father's words from the night before. She needed to be ready for whatever or whoever was waiting for her. Ahsoka set her face and walked in.

It certainly looked like a Jedi was standing in the waiting area. Mace Windu was waiting for her, clad in robes as usual, but Ahsoka knew without a doubt that whoever that was certainly was not the Jedi Master she remembered.

When he saw her, the fake Windu addressed her, and Ahsoka made sure to stand between him and the other workers, who had followed her out of curiosity. "Padawan Tano, we need you to come to the Temple. We have something to discuss."

Yeah, uh-huh. Sure. This guy was a horrible actor, whoever he was. He clearly didn't know Mace Windu.

First off, she wasn't a Padawan, and the real Mace Windu wouldn't call her one. Secondly, no one at the Temple would have anything to discuss with her, and if they did she doubted they would have sent him. Thirdly, Master Windu didn't talk like that. He spoke with a certain tone that this fake lacked. This person almost sounded nervous. And to top it all off, his lightsaber was on the right side of his belt, not the left. Incorrect attire was a dead giveaway. Not to mention this person was not Force-sensitive whatsoever. How stupid did this person think she was? And why were they here?

Ahsoka smiled sweetly. "I'm sure I can take some time off of work to help you with anything you need," she lied. Someone behind her tried to correct her by saying they weren't working, but someone else jabbed them in the ribs and they shut up.

She walked up close to the fake Jedi, who put his hand awkwardly on her shoulder. Ahsoka pulled it and kneed him in the gut, kicked his legs out from beneath him, and socked his jaw. He fell to the ground, unconscious. Too easy. Master Windu would never have fallen for that.

Her colleagues and her boss jumped back when she attacked the 'Jedi,' but she assured them, saying, "This isn't the real Mace Windu. It's a fake."

They all seemed to relax a little bit, and Ahsoka turned her attention back to the imposter. She removed his lightsaber and hooked it onto her own belt, and slipped his comlink into her pocket. Then she studied the robed liar himself. If it was a him.

Ahsoka remembered back to the first years of the Clone War when a Changling had infiltrated the Temple as Madame Jocasta. It wasn't impossible that something similar had happened again, but Ahsoka didn't have proof she could bring to the Republic or the rest of the Jedi Order, assuming they weren't compromised either.

She reached into the neck of the robes and felt around for a second. Changelings had a pressure point that, if pinched, initiated change into their natural form. After a moment, Ahsoka found it and pressed it. In seconds, Mace Windu morphed into a Changeling.

Leslie shrieked behind her. A few of the others made various noises of disgust, and someone might have thrown up. Even Fuller looked slightly repulsed. "What is that?"

"That is a Changeling," Ahsoka informed him, and she glanced back at Nox. "I'm going to have to postpone the end of our game."

"You forfeit, you lose," Jake called out, but Ahsoka didn't care. If a Changeling was posing as a Jedi, and getting her involved, then she had a job to do: find someone who could address the situation. As a civilian, she couldn't do much, but she knew the people who could.

Jackson called out from the back of the group and pushed his way through the door. "Tano, someone just called for you. It's another Jedi."

Of course. "Did they say who they were?" She asked, but to her surprise, he nodded.

"It's some teenager, he says his name is Caleb Dume."

Ahsoka felt all of the muscles tense in her body. If something had happened to Caleb Dume, then it was about to get personal. No one messed with that kid, not if she was there.

As she stood up, a thought passed through her mind. How many of the Jedi have been compromised? She kept it in mind as she hardened her eyes and walked towards the offices. She pulled her blaster out and set it in Wheeler's unexpecting arms. "Keep an eye on him," she instructed, but before she could leave the lobby, Journey stopped her.

"Hang on. One fake Jedi shows up, and now another one is calling you. When did their problem become yours?"

Ahsoka halted her footsteps and looked at Journey. She wasn't quite glaring, but the stare that pierced his eyes clearly conveyed that she was in control, and the surety that pulsed from her was so startling that he recoiled.

"The Jedi Order is the best line of defense the Republic has. If the Order, and especially the Council, is compromised, then it's not going to matter whose problem it is because it will become everyone's problem."

The voice she chastised Journey with was not a voice he, or anyone else in the room, recognized. In the thirty seconds since she had walked into the lobby, Tano the friendly, sarcastic mechanic was gone, and a serious, dangerous warrior stood in her place. She jerked her head back at the unconscious Changeling. "Don't let him move," she told Wheeler again, and she made for the offices. The others parted before her, not daring to stop her. The fire in her eyes shone like a beacon, and no one wanted to get singed.

Ahsoka needed a way to figure out if the Caleb Dume that was calling her really knew her or if it was another Changeling. There were only so many things she could do through a hologram, but she had been a mentor to him for almost a year and knew him almost as well as his master did. Or, at least, she used to. Maybe he was different now, but their past together hadn't been altered. There were some things only the true Caleb would know.

Sure enough, when Ahsoka entered the room, a hologram of Caleb Dume was projecting from the communicator on the side of the office. Ahsoka closed the door, keeping out the others, and stepped in front of the camera so that either Caleb or his double could see her. She spoke first. "Have you fallen off of any speeders lately?"

The caller had been initially shocked to actually see her after so long. He stared for a second, before grinning. "Are you ever gonna let that go?"

Ahsoka relaxed and sighed gratefully. "That wasn't why I asked. I had to make sure it was you." She smiled up at the Padawan. "It's good to see you, Caleb."

"Yeah, it's been a while," he agreed, but his voice was tense, and Ahsoka could tell he was on edge. "That's not why I called though. Ahsoka, we need your help." His voice lowered to a whisper, and Ahsoka put a hold on their reunion.

"It wouldn't happen to be because some of the Jedi have been replaced with imposters, would it?"

He stared at her. "How did you know?" He asked, then admitted, "I mean, I'm not surprised, but..."

It was almost enough to make Ahsoka laugh. "A Changeling just came into my workplace pretending to be Master Windu. That's why I thought you might not be who you said you were."

"He's not the only one," he whispered anxiously. "Depa's gone too, and more of the others. Some of them have replacements, but not all of them. I don't know where they're being kept, and I can barely tell who's real anymore."

It's already begun, Ahsoka thought. The Changelings are taking over the Order. "Do you know of anyone who is not an imposter?"

"I've rounded up the Younglings you brought to Illum, along with a few friends," he answered. "They're keeping watch while I'm calling you. I don't think any of the Younglings are fake, and most of the Padawans seem real, too."

Ahsoka thought rapidly. "Caleb, the Younglings have to be protected at all costs. If anything happens to them, there won't be a future generation of Jedi. Can you get them, and as many true Jedi as you can, into the emergency nurseries?"

Caleb nodded. "I'll team up with the others and get everyone to the basement. We can keep them safe there."

"Don't let any Jedi Knight or Master see what you are doing. Your top priority is safety, no matter what."

"What about the adults?" he asked. "Master Depa, Master Windu, the others- how are we going to get them back?"

Ahsoka held up a hand to reassure him, even though there was no way for her to touch him. "One step at a time. We need to get the Changelings out of the Temple first, and I have a plan for that. Just keep the Younglings safe and wait for me. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"You're coming back?!?" He exclaimed, before realizing that he raised his voice and covering his mouth.

Ahsoka smiled, with a gleam in her eye as sharp as glass. "Leave the Changelings to me. Stay safe."

Caleb disconnected the call, and Ahsoka strode out of the office. The other workers and Fuller were waiting in the staff room for her, but Ahsoka spoke before they could ask any questions. "I'm leaving, and I won't be back anytime soon." She left without another word, and no one tried to stop her.