Time and Faraway Space


"You don't just give up. You don't just let things happen.

You make a stand!

You say no!

You have the guts to do what's right, even when everyone else just runs away."

- Doctor Who, "The Parting of the Ways"


Chapter 6. Order 66 in Sixty Seconds, Part 2


Even amid so many men, she stood alone.

Eyes closed, Luminara could hear the sound of surf on the shore, breaking against the sea wall littered with the remains of droids. Medics were pulling the dead and the injured out of the water for triage, troopers chasing down what remained of the enemy fighters, and Gumbaeki and his Wookiees loudly celebrating their victory with the joy of a warrior people who would remain free.

She should not feel such a sense of foreboding. The battle was won; she should report to Master Yoda, to tell him of the victory on this front, so that their plans could move forward. But Luminara Unduli had not lived as a Jedi Master for so long without listening to her instincts. Without trusting that some subconscious part of her mind was trying to warn her against some danger her more ordinary senses could not yet detect. And so she stood alone on a grey beach, closed her eyes, stretched out with her feelings, and tried to determine the shape of things to come.

The aftermath of battle was always jumbled, a many layered creature of celebration, relief, hunger, exhaustion, pain, loss, and emptiness, all lumbering forward in time. And, as it had become during the years of the Clone Wars, a creature of familiarity. Its' presence was all encompassing, pervasive, dull in places of pain, sharp in places of loss, bubbling in places of celebration. The sound of the surf on the sea wall was a steady, slow beat, rushing in and out as waves broke over the shoreline. The water rolled in, retreated, rolled in and retreated again, the sea gurgling and whispering to itself in a slow, steady drumming. Fine spray from the bay hung in the cool air, clammy on her skin, and she could feel beads of water on her cheeks. Wind blew across the shore, up the beachhead and into the wroshyr trees, standing massive and tall at the forest's rocky outer edge. The branches of the great trees were too thick and sturdy to tremble in a wind that was short of a gale, but the wide green leaves rustled in response to the rushing waters of the bay; the sea and the land having a whispery conversation, warning each other of a storm.

She could feel it approaching, as her mind wandered further from the activity around her, growing strangely still as one by one, men ceased to move. Clouds were amassing in the west, she knew, turning the day dull and sapping the brightness from their victory, but this storm seemed closer, different, less tangible and more elusive, as though it was gaining strength, drawing closer, matching the beat of the pounding surf, fading in and out with each breath of wind in the trees and across the water. A storm was coming, but it was not just one of wind and water rushing across land. The power of it seemed poised just beyond her, hovering just before the tipping point where it unleashed its fury.

She opened her eyes and felt the first prickle of static crawl across her skin as something scraped the air. It pulsed in time to the rush of water and she breathed in sharply, snapping her lightsaber off her belt and igniting it. Bright green, it cut through the grey of afternoon clouds, and her feet sunk into the sand of the beach as she turned to face whatever it was that was approaching from the very air.

Several meters to her right, there was a soft, repeating flash, but the sensation in the Force was anything but gentle. Each strobe had all the energy of lightning, crackling through the air and splitting it with the sheer power of electricity. It felt like an electrical storm, both terrifying and beautiful at once, lighting up the darkness again and again, one moment after another, all striking in the same place.

To her left, standing on the small, metal pavilion that was their base of operation during the battle, Commander Faie was lifting his blaster while gesturing towards her. One by one, the camouflaged troopers began to move, lifting weapons and closing on her position.

Thunder rumbled through the sky, just as something blue began to appear beneath that pulsing, wheezing spot of light.

A ghostlike stab of lightning moved through her, slicing through her back, through her chest, through her heart - a portent of an attack to come. But its origin was not to her right, but to her left, guarded so thoroughly by Faie and the men of the 41st Elite, who were so strangely silent in the Force that when she turned, her green lightsaber whirling through the air in time to intercept a blue bolt of plasma and drive it into the sand, she could barely feel them.

Empty. For men who, a moment ago, were so full of emotion, so full of victory, exhaustion, relief, pain, success, they were strangely drained, as though someone had sucked the life out of them. One man in commander's armor and colors was standing a little more forward than the others, the barrel of his blaster smoking and marking him as the shooter. She had not worked with him before this campaign, but she knew of his reputation. Ruthlessness against an enemy could be used to an advantage, but turned against an ally, such a man was almost as dangerous as lightning.

"Faie," Luminara said, her voice soft but carrying in the sudden silence. "Stand down."

Her only reply was a snort over his audio channel. Then the beach erupted into blaster fire.

Luminara moved and her lightsaber sang. Of all the styles, Soresu was best suited to combat against blasters, when there was one against many, and she was a master of it. Cutting through the air, her blade met bolts again and again, as she twisted to the left, then the right, down and then leaping up in a dark swirl of robes. Sand scattered around her feet as she landed, slicing through Faie's blaster and cutting it in two as she reached out with her left hand, planted it in the center of his chest, and pushed. He exploded backward, flying several meters along the ground until he slammed into a pair of troopers rushing up behind him and firing. The impact of his body knocked the pair down as Faie continued to roll along the beach, now screaming as their friendly fire tore into him.

But Luminara was already gone, moving again, deflecting two shots at once as she spun low to the beach, left hand out and cupped, catching sand on a current of Force and spiraling it around her and outward, aiming it at eye height. Sand whipped into the visors of the nearest trooper's helmets, and the rush of dirt was the last thing they saw before they were flying through the air, stopping only when they hit the massive black trunks of the wroshyr trees beyond the beach.

A roar of challenge went up around her, not from the clones, but rather from the Wookiees, alarmed by the sudden shift in their allies' behavior, of men turning abruptly and without reason against their leader. Amid all the noise of roaring Wookiees, shouting clone troopers and firing blasters, no one heard the sound of a wooden door slamming open, or the startled cry from the Jedi that emerged from it. Luminara, though, felt a sudden ripple, as though the air had become molten from a lightning strike, and then the unexpected, but familiar presence of a Padawan who had saved her life so long ago.

She shifted her weight, spinning on her right foot and dodging a point blank shot as she lifted her lightsaber to head-height and rammed the pommel of it into the side of a trooper's bucket. He jerked to the side, and in the same movement, she finished the flow of her movement, cutting his blaster in half with her lightsaber and slamming her hand into his hip, pushing with the Force hard enough to send him careening into another trooper who was still taking aim. The strike ended with her making a full circle, returning to the movement's starting point in time to deflect a shot from one trooper into another. She winced once as the second man dropped onto his back, writhing, but sprang forward and cut the first man down. It was easier to think of them less as men and more as enemies, but her memory pushed each of the three men's names forward. Bin. Deal. Raft. Bin was usually the first to greet new troopers. Deal liked playing cards. Raft had only just gotten his name two days ago, as they'd prepared the beachhead for attack.

Her first thought was that they'd all gone mad. Her second thought was that this ran far deeper than mere mutiny. She knew her men in the 41st. She'd fought beside them for years, trudged through every swamp and desert and jungle alongside them, had been injured with them, healed with them. They were not her friends, but they were her allies, her responsibility, bound by blood and pain and time and experience, and they would not turn on her, not even Faie, with all that anger in him, without reason.

She did not want to kill them, and though they fought and tried to cut her down, they did not want to kill her.

The storm had arrived, and it was not in the form of the strange pulsing light she had expected. Instead, an old friend was standing before the blue box that had accompanied the light, her green and yellow sabers whirling around her as she defended it. Dirty, battered, and clearly exhausted, Ahsoka Tano was not giving the men of the 41st an opportunity to get past her defenses. Luminara moved, sliding between shots and deflecting those she could not dodge, inching her way towards the blue box, Ahsoka Tano, and what she was slowly beginning to suspect was some kind of rescue.

The blue box was the center of the storm, a pool of calm amid the chaos, and she fought to reach it. An outraged Wookiee bellow sounded from behind her, from the pavilion, and Luminara spun in time to see Gumbaeki and two of his lieutenants rip the top off of one of the AT-TE's, reaching down into the pilot's seat and lift one of her troopers out of the controls, flinging him to the dirt just as a shot fired from the forward canon. Without a pilot, the shot flew wild and wide, skimming overhead and streaking out towards the sea. The three Wookiees roared as one of the lieutenants dropped down inside, and a moment later, the walker shuddered and collapsed onto its forelegs, sand spewing up from where it crashed.

"Master!"

Luminara whirled, catching a stray shot on her lightsaber, then reaching out and grasping the shooter around the waist with an application of the Force. Hurling him upward and into the path of a man on an AT-RT, she bowled the pilot off the back of his small walker with the trooper, sending them both sprawling into a mass of arms and legs on the beach. Another spin, and she was only a meter away from Padawan Tano, and the younger girl leapt forward to fill in the place her former Padawan so often occupied.

Barriss was on Felucia, though. Was this happening to her there? Was she safe?

Back to back, the pair fought. Though it had been some time since they'd battled together, Luminara was accustomed to having a Padawan at her side, and Ahsoka a Master, and their adaption to each other's presence was instantaneous. With the blue box at their back, the clones could only move towards them from the front and the sides, and the Wookiees of Palsaang seemed to have decided that they should support the Jedi, rather than the bizarrely behaving troopers. The melee was becoming wild, as troopers fought to push back the Wookiees and their bowcasters, while still trying to take down Luminara and Ahsoka.

"Master, they're not after the Wookiees!" Ahsoka called over the noise of blasterfire and Wookiee battle cries. "Tell them to fall back and get into the box!"

She'd made the mistake of not listening to Padawan Tano once before. It was a mistake she'd almost not lived to regret, during that battle with the dark Jedi, Asajj Ventress, on board the Tranquility. Tano was as impulsive as her Master, but the girl was no fool either, and Luminara nodded. The feeling of raw power was pressing against her back, exuding from the blue box behind them. What it was, she did not know, but Tano had emerged from it in time to come to her aid. It did not feel dark, but there was an undercurrent of danger to its electric brightness that made her wary.

Their positions shifted subtly as Luminara reached for the communicator on her wrist, opening a channel to Gumbaeki. A growl greeted her, and she shifted into a more defensive stance, her lightsaber out, forward, running diagonally across her body so that she could shift it quickly. "I suggest you fall back, chieftain. I believe the troops are after me rather than your people. Retreat to the trees and contact Master Yoda for guidance."

A howl of assent bellowed through the channel, and Luminara quickly cut the line and edged backward, Padawan Tano mirroring her actions from the other side of the blue box's doorway, converging on its entrance. She paused there, and there was a grunt of understanding from the Padawan as she crossed her blades before her to deflect another shot. The troopers that were not pushing back the Wookiees had formed a ring around the blue box, and as the Wookiees began to melt back into the forest, more troopers were turning around to join the fight against the Jedi, keeping up a steady rate of fire. Luminara, though, refused to get into the box first. Tano was a Padawan, and an exhausted and injured one at that. It was her responsibility to ensure her safety, rather than the other way around.

The moment Luminara saw Ahsoka slip inside the blue box, she stepped backward and through the narrow threshold. A tiny current of the Force rippled past her, and the door snapped shut just as another blue bolt of plasma winged its way towards her. She breathed for a moment, looking at that frail looking bit of wood that constituted the door, but nothing burned or blasted its way through.

It was no ordinary door, but it was hard to disbelieve her eyes, even when her perception in the Force so strongly indicated otherwise. She turned around, and found herself in a room far larger than the box should have been able to contain. She was standing at the base of a ramp, and at the top of it, Padawan Tano stood, her lightsabers off and hooked to her belt. One of her hands was extended tentatively, palm up and out, as though she were ready to calm her or perhaps restrain her. Luminara breathed again and looked a little further past the Padawan and on to a man in a blue suit, human looking in appearance but inhuman in every other way. He was poised halfway between Ahsoka and what could only be the command center of the room, though she was unsure of what, precisely, it commanded.

Her attention shifted a little further to the right, and that was when she stopped breathing for a moment. Past the curving coralline pillars were three people; one was in the unmistakable armor of the 501st. The second was hard to see, lying on the ground and exuding dull, oblivious pain. The third she would recognize anywhere, though her former Padawan's face was almost completely hidden by her cowl.

Luminara was moving in an instant, her lightsaber flicking off and returning to her side as she hurried past the unknown man and Ahsoka. The clone Captain, kneeling, edged aside a bit as she approached, but Barriss remained motionless, the cool feel of physical knitting rolling off her as she worked to stitch cells together; she was deep in a healing trance. Luminara grew still again when she saw who it was that Barriss was healing. She had never been close to Aayla Secura, but the Twi'lek woman was a formidable Jedi Knight, and by all accounts, her work on Felucia demanded respect. Crumpled, pale, and gathered up in Barriss' arms, her lekku streamed limply behind her. Her back was a mess of blaster damage – she'd been shot in the back, repeatedly, and Luminara felt a momentary flush of horror. The 41st had turned on her, and had the blue box and Ahsoka not appeared in the mixture, she would likely have suffered the same fate, shot completely without warning. She'd be dead in the sand right now.

She looked again at Barriss, her head bent over Aayla Secura and her eyes closed, looking far deeper into the wounded woman's body than the surface. Luminara let out a long, slow sigh. It was tradition, among Mirialan Jedi, to take apprentices of the same species; to pass on not only the teachings of the Jedi, but the culture of Mirial to future generations. When a little Mirialan girl had been brought to the Temple eighteen years ago, she'd gone to see her, a chubby baby just barely able to crawl. When she was at the Temple, she would stop in the crèche to see the girl. Luminara had seen her take some of her early steps. Congratulated her when she'd assembled her first lightsaber. Praised her when she decided to study the healing arts. Taken her to get her tattoos and her hood when she became a Padawan. Felt pride when her Padawan braid was cut, and she stood as a Knight. It was not the Jedi way, to cling to things or to people, especially in such a dangerous line of work. Nor was it Luminara's way to be overly demonstrative or affectionate. But she knelt down beside her former Padawan and placed a hand on her shoulder, sending a wave of relief into the girl – woman – who was, for all intents and purposes, her daughter.

A moment later, a faint pulse back acknowledged her concern, and then redirected itself to the healing work at hand. Luminara resisted a smile. She had taught Barriss well.

Luminara stood again and looked at Aayla's prone form, so pale, dirty, and charred. The clone Captain kneeling beside them was still, his face free of his helmet and watchful. She then looked at the man who seemed human, but was not. He had moved closer to the command module, and threw a lever as she watched. The glowing green column in the unit's center began to pump, creating that strange wheezing noise, and the prevalent feeling of a storm began to shift, like the wind had picked up and was sweeping the clouds further along, cool and swift. They were moving, though there was no physical sensation of movement. The place pulsed, crackled like lightning splitting the sky, and she could almost feel the joy of wind on her face as their transport flew. There was power here; an astonishing amount of power, churning through the Force and rolling out through the air like rain and thunder, gentle at first but with the promise of something more terrifying behind it. Whoever the strange man was, he was not ordinary, and neither was the ship he traveled in. She must be cautious of him, for all their sakes. For the moment, though, it seemed he was on their side, and that would have to be enough.

She looked quickly at Aayla, at Barriss, at the strange man, and then at Ahsoka, battered, scraped and with no small amount of crusted blood on her. This was a rescue mission.

She made a gesture towards Aayla, then looked firmly at Ahsoka. "This is happening everywhere."

The response was brief. "Yes."

The clones were turning on the Jedi. They'd shot Aayla in the back, attacked her, attacked Ahsoka, and presumably attacked Barriss as well, judging by the amount mud clinging to her robes and her presence in the box. The strange man was standing at the console, looking at the little group of Jedi out of large dark eyes. She had plenty of questions regarding the man, as well as the technology capable of making something larger on the inside and encompassing the Force in such a natural, vibrant way, but there were more pressing questions, if lives were at stake. She turned back to the clone and said, cool and sharp, "And I assume you can tell me why?" She paused, and delved into her memory of Geonosis to find his name. "Captain Rex?"

"Master…." Ahsoka tried to interrupt, but Luminara ignored her, focusing instead on the clone. He was standing, squaring himself, and meeting her sharp gaze with his own.

"I can," he said flatly, staring back at her. He was not without fear, she knew. It would have been inhuman for him to be unafraid, knowing that she was a Jedi Master, that he was one of those that had turned on her people, and that she had those who were injured and young to defend. He concealed it well though, beneath layers of toughness and resolution. She gave him a small nod, and he continued. "As I explained to Commander Tano previously, the order that's gone out is a contingency order given to all clones during training. In the event that Jedi commanders are determined to be acting against the best interests of the Republic, clone commanders are to remove the Jedi from their positions of leadership with lethal force."

There were no such contingency orders that she knew of, and there were few Jedi ranked higher than she, short of Council members. If this were true, something had been hidden from them. All of them. If it was an instruction given during training, it had been placed there long ago and kept hidden, even after Shaak Ti had arrived on Kamino. That meant someone very highly ranked, capable of outmaneuvering the Council and deceiving even Master Yoda. There was only one man she could think of capable of such a thing, with others in the Senate too wrapped up in their own petty power struggles and less involved with the Jedi. Though to think he could delude himself into thinking his will was equal to that of the entire Republic? Absurd. And megalomaniacal. And murderous.

"The Chancellor?"

The clone Captain nodded once in affirmation, and she looked to Ahsoka for confirmation. The girl's weary appearance was convincing, as was the look of tired gratitude towards the Captain. Luminara's lips tugged into a frown, and she returned her attention to the clone. "And why is it that you seem to be immune to obeying this order, if it comes from the Supreme Commander of the GAR?"

The Captain's eyes flicked past her towards Ahsoka, and then returned instantly. Luminara's frown deepened at that look. But that intimate exchange of glances, between clone and Padawan, was gone in an instant, and Captain Rex was talking again. "I've seen traitors before, sir. One a member of the 501st. The other," he paused, and a look of such bitter fury crossed his features that Luminara found herself softening in response. She'd seen that look on her men so many times, most frequently on Gree, after a bad battle. It was the expression of helpless frustration, of guilt, of loss. There was anger on Captain Rex's face as well, and determination that she could not help but respect. It was the sign of a good leader. One who cared. And there was only one traitor who could elicit such a strong, personal response from the Captain of the 501st.

"The other was a Jedi," Captain Rex continued, grinding the words out but not breaking eye contact. Luminara's fists tightened as the Captain invoked the memory of the traitor, Krell. She had not been involved in Umbara, but the former Jedi's behavior and the losses he incurred in the 501st and 212th were now infamous.

But Krell was not the first of the Jedi to turn from the Light and pursue the Dark. Dooku went before him.

Captain Rex's voice was harsh, scraping the air as roughly as the wheezing control column did. "And Ahsoka is nothing like Krell." He tilted his head down slightly, somehow making his expression even more serious in the process. "It may be my duty to follow orders, General, but it's also my duty to protect my men." His eyes flickered ever so slightly, and he amended, "and women. Commander Tano's part of my responsibility, and I owe her the same treatment I owe the rest of those that serve in the 501st. I couldn't just kill her. Not when she hadn't done anything wrong."

There was a feeling then, of sunlight breaking through the storm clouds. Bright and clear as truth, it was warm, as though passing through translucent glass and emerging the other side. There was also a reflection there, not quite like a mirror, but reflective all the same, of truth and trust from the battered Padawan at her side.

They had faith in each other, despite the war that had just been declared on the Jedi.

Perhaps in another moment, Luminara would have been more disturbed, more concerned about a clone and a Padawan having such an unexpectedly strong faith, trust, certainty in each other. Such things did not develop instantly, but over time, and such a bond could be dangerous. But that was in another moment, and in this one, she chose to see instead that a mutual trust had overcome something terribly dark. Had it not, she would be dead, as would Master Secura and Barriss. She owed that bond her life, and that of her Padawan, and for now, would simply be glad it existed.

She smiled, and the warm light seemed to pool throughout the room, the stormy winds slowing and growing almost playful. Captain Rex relaxed, easing in his posture, and Padawan Tano gave her a tentative smile in return.

But that was only the first issue. She turned to the strange man, watching the interplay between the Jedi with lifted brows and his hands tucked neatly in his pockets, as though he weren't sure if he should jump into the middle of things or feel entertained by the scenario. "And you," she said sharply, her smile fading. "Who are you and what is this place?"

"Me?" he replied, giving a small, courteous bow. "Oh, I'm the Doctor."

Luminara turned towards him more fully, the frown beginning to return to her face. If there was a locus of energy in this room, it was around him, a knot of thunder and lightning, swirling and grumbling, flashing to itself. He wasn't a Jedi, but there was a similar echo of power and depth to him that she couldn't identify. "Just 'the Doctor'?"

The repeated question seemed to catch his attention a little more, and he turned to face her, a smile breaking out over his face at her suspicion. "Yep, that's me. Just the Doctor. Hello."

Before Luminara could say anything else, she was nearly jolted from her feet as the smooth movement of the strange ship abruptly became jarring. Stumbling backward, she grasped one of the pillars that arched up towards the ceiling, then wrapped an arm around it as the ship shuddered again. Under her hands, the pillar felt warm, electric, and the hairs on her forearms lifted as though zapped with static. Another shudder wracked the ship, and she saw Padawan Tano lurch towards the Doctor and the central control unit. Barriss was still cradling Aayla on the ground, and the clone captain was in a similar position to herself, his arms around a curving pillar as he struggled to stay upright.

"What is going on?" she shouted as the floor bucked under them again. Ahsoka and the Doctor were clinging to the command console, and the Doctor was throwing levers and furiously typing when he wasn't staggering backward.

"Turbulence!" came the response, and another wave of shuddering sent them all stumbling.

"What do you mean, 'turbulence'?" Ahsoka was demanding as the floor shivered and the sturdy looking pillar Luminara clung to shook under her grip. "We're in space, there's no atmosphere to have turbulence!"

"Yes, well, we're not actually in space, we're in the time vortex and things can get a little bumpier here."

This was his idea of 'bumpy'? She heard Barriss cry out in alarm as she and Aayla tumbled forward, abruptly snapped out of her healing trance as the ship jounced. Luminara swung herself around her pillar, reaching for the two women, but found Captain Rex there first, bracing his back against the base of a pillar and steadying Barriss so that she could pull Aayla against her again. Between the two of them, they managed to get the injured, unconscious Twi'lek almost sitting, leaning forward and draping over Barriss, who had her hands firmly planted in the worst of the blaster damage.

Luminara swung herself back towards the control panel. Had he said time vortex? As the ship jolted again, she took another look around the room. Larger on the inside. Crackling with power, like the depths of a storm. What was this place?

The Doctor was swinging himself around the circular control unit, feet braced against the metal grated floor to keep himself upright as he began tearing something up on the panel. "Order 66 takes place over the course of just a few minutes, and for most, within the first minute or two of the order going out. It's instantaneous, galaxy wide. Hold that button," he instructed Ahsoka, and she slammed her hand down on a knob. "But, we're recrossing those same few moments now, repeatedly. Two of the same in the same place causes a paradox – you can let go of that now, but give me the hammer." Ahsoka released her knob and passed him what looked like a mallet, and he slammed it down into something that clanged loud enough over the shuddering ship that it echoed for a moment. Then the Doctor switched a pair of tubes around, stuffed them into the panel he'd torn off, and twisted a knob. The jolting of the ship came to an abrupt halt, and Luminara sagged against the pillar.

The entire place was humming with energy, tight as a Wookiee's bowcaster string, almost vibrating the air. The Doctor turned away from the control unit to face Ahsoka, who was still bracing herself against the console. "Let's say you meet yourself." He looked at the top of the console and picked up what appeared to be two lug nuts. "You meet you, all just well and good, but then you bump into yourself," he snapped the two nuts against each other so that they made a sharp rapping sound. "Paradox. Two versions of you can't be in the same time at the same place." He tossed the nuts back down onto the console and looked around the room, meeting Luminara's gaze for a moment before continuing on to look at Captain Rex, Barriss and Aayla.

"But we're not bumping into ourselves," Ahsoka said, straightening and pulling his attention back to her.

"No, but we are retracing our own steps over and over again, crossing individual timelines that all intersect each other and with the TARDIS is in the middle of it. It's not a paradox, but it is a strain, and that's what's causing the turbulence."

"What happens if there's too much turbulence?" Ahsoka asked, uncertain, looking quickly at Luminara, then at Barriss, Aayla, and Captain Rex. Luminara straightened herself, easing her grip on the pillar as she tried to understand what was going on. Paradoxes, recrossing timelines, time vortexes?

The Doctor shook his head, frowning. "Same as in atmospheric flight. You crash. Time crash. Except, you know," he sniffed once and rubbed his nose, "the chances of imploding the universe are much higher than in atmospheric flight. Time is tetchy like that."

Ahsoka sighed. "Wonderful."

As though to give emphasis to his warning, another shudder rippled through the room and the group wobbled, reaching for the nearest place for each to steady themselves. "Choose carefully," he said, stepping closer to Ahsoka, and there was a rumble that felt like an echo of thunder in the air. "We can't do this more than a few more times before we start getting pulled apart."

It didn't all make sense. Moving through timelines and causing paradoxes; she needed more information and a fuller explanation. But Luminara did understand that there was a spreading threat to the Jedi, and this ship was serving to rescue them, if possible. She glanced at Aayla Secura, lying helplessly in Barriss' arms, twitching periodically as some nerve cluster was touched, healed, or probed further. Barriss' face was stricken, but she was struggling to sink back into the familiar steadiness of a healing trance. Aayla needed bacta, and probably surgery as well. They needed to move, and quickly. Still, Aayla was a Jedi, and would want them to save as many as possible, even at the expense of her own life. Luminara pressed her lips together, frowning intensely. They would endeavor to keep that from happening. She wanted no more deaths this day. But for now, they needed to move, if they were running out of time. To get to the most Jedi as they could, and there was one place that homed more Jedi than any other.

"Cato Neimoidia."

Luminara's attention snapped away from Barriss, Aayla, and the clone Captain that was slowly pushing himself off the floor. The Doctor was already moving, programming in the location Ahsoka stated and making the central column of the room whirr and scrape. Plo Koon was at Cato Neimoidia. A Council member to be sure, but like Aayla, he would insist on reaching the most number of Jedi under threat possible. Padawan Tano's choice was a sentimental one, and though understandable, unwise. She cast a look at Barriss' dark form, and sighed. It was likely that same sentiment had saved her life just now. If memory served, Plo had been the one to bring Ahsoka to the Temple as a child. Though they were not Master and Padawan, Plo often spoke fondly of the girl. Her desire to save him was not surprising.

Still. They were not Master and Padawan. If Tano were moving first to save those closest to her, where was Skywalker? Where was Kenobi?

As the wheezing column grew still and silent, and Ahsoka raced for the door, Luminara sighed. As understandable as her feelings were, this would have to be the last person they rushed to in the field. It was imperative they get word to the Temple, or return to it themselves, should there be similar attacks happening on Coruscant. As important as the Council was, as important as Skywalker or Kenobi or any number of other Jedi were, they had to return home. If nothing else, they had to evacuate the crèche.

The door leading outside was flung open, and beyond the threshold, Luminara could see stars.


There was no sound in space.

Plo's breathing was loud in the small cockpit, vented into his antiox mask and out again. The sound of his astromech trilling broke the silence on occasion, as did the sound of Captain Jag relaying orders or checking in with members of the squad. The blue arc of Cato Neimoidia's surface glowed beneath him as they pressed forward, racing towards the last few straggling vulture droids, each desperately trying to make it to a retreating Lucrehulk that was already poised for a jump to hyperspace. The battle progressed in silence, save for its' punctuation by alarms and orders and death cries.

There was no sound in space, nor was there substance. The void was vast and endless, except for the places where planets, stars, moons and ships occupied it. He could feel the places where his men were, in starfighters of their own, moving in rapid formation just behind and beyond him. Other squadrons arrowed in across the scene, some above, others below, visible against the atmosphere of the planet. Here and there, explosions would eliminate the ships that took up space in the emptiness, bursting in blossoms of flame and shrapnel before dissolving into nothing.

Off to his starboard side, he could feel something - and then nothing. There was a presence, an occupation of space, then an emptiness of space. It pulsed in and out, there and then not there, completely anomalous and despite the sense of here-but-not-here, utterly still. It didn't move. Didn't fly, didn't strike out at ships, either Separatist or Republic, didn't send out signals.

There was a pulsing light, just off to his right, visible now as he approached it, changing his vector. The light was small, strangely so - the presence, when it was there, was big. Not a tiny speck against the black sky. But that was all it was. A small, pulsing light, and a wash of blue beneath it, growing a little more visible, a little more real, with every beat.

It was wrong. Not evil, not dark, but wrong. In the wrong place. It didn't belong here. He opened a hailing frequency as the unidentified blue object seemed to finally fade into existence, a solid box a little over two meters in height and one across, idly spinning in the night.

It was in the same moment that the front of the blue box opened that he felt something else that was wrong. A heat, a pervasive heat, and then a shocking cold, but only a premonition of those sensations. They hadn't happened yet, but they would in a moment.

Struck in the golden light of the blue box's doorway was a silhouette. Between one blink and the next, as the premonition of fire and cold suddenly became acute, impending, he recognized the person it belonged to.

Ahsoka Tano was reaching out to him with both arms, her eyes wide, her mouth open in a scream.

The sound in his cockpit was a wheeze of surprise. R4 suddenly screeched wildly in alarm as the ship rocked around him, klaxons clanging as his starboard wing suddenly erupted in fire and smoke.

The last thing he saw, before the fire and cold surrounded him, was the face of a girl he'd found on Shili, so many years ago.


It almost looked as though the starfighter was cupped in her hands. The distance between the TARDIS and the Aethersprite made it seem far smaller than it was, and as Ahsoka reached out, grasping with the Force for the little ship and the man inside it, it seemed like she could catch it between her palms.

For an instant, she thought it would somehow be alright. Plo Koon was alive, moving through the sky unhindered by blaster shots. In the next instant, she knew it was futile. They were in space, not on a planet, and the little narrow door wasn't large enough to let in a starfighter. The instant after that, blue fire erupted from the forward cannons of the clone-manned fighters behind him, and his starboard side was on fire, and then there was nothing coming towards her but scrap and fire and the swiftly diminishing presence of the first Jedi she'd ever met, who found her and took her to the Temple where she belonged.

The remaining fighters were still in formation, still driving forward, drawing closer. They passed through the place where Plo's ship had burst, and fragments of pale starlight reflected off the bits of metal waste that was all that was left of him. The moment she saw their forward cannons reactivate, light up in blue, was the same moment the wooden door of the TARDIS snapped shut behind her, and she felt a slim hand fall on her right shoulder and pull her back.

She realized she was screaming when Master Luminara turned her around by the shoulders and gave her one firm shake. "Padawan," she said firmly, but not unkindly. Luminara's blue eyes were large in her face, her dark lips pressed thin. Ahsoka gulped in a breath of air and turned to look up at the central area of the control room. The Doctor was halfway to the ramp, a stricken expression on his face. Rex was standing upright, and as she watched, his face turned grim and he looked away.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she lowered her head. Master Secura at least had a chance. Master Plo had none. And this was happening everywhere. She winced. She was too late and too helpless, and it was not enough. She couldn't do enough to save them. Even with help from the Doctor, even with the ability to traverse the galaxy in a time machine, she couldn't save them. Master Plo had found her as a toddler. She remembered him telling others in her tribe that she was gifted, that she was special, that she was blessed and lucky, for the Force was strong with her. He'd seemed so large and intimidating in appearance, but she'd known, somehow, that he was kind.

Master Luminara's voice was low but carrying in the quiet of the control room. "He brought you to the Temple, did he not?"

She nodded once. "Yes."

A hand moved from her arm up to her face, cupped it in her palm, and then a thumb ran across her cheek, wiping away a streak of wetness there, cutting a track through the smudges of dirt and dust. "If you wish to honor him, then do so through your actions." Luminara's hand slid under her chin and forced it upward. "Not your tears."

She was a Jedi, and had been brought to the Temple to be trained as a Jedi. It was not only duty that drove her, but desire to do some good in the galaxy. To make a difference. To protect what was worth protecting. Save what was worth saving. Tears and panic would not save more lives. She pulled in another deep breath and nodded once at Master Luminara, who returned the nod more formally and released her, stepping back a pace to give her room.

Plo had brought her to the Temple where she belonged. To the Temple where there were so many more Jedi, and so many of them young. The Temple had to be warned. Running around and trying to save one Jedi at a time wasn't enough. It was too scattershot. They had to spread the word more widely. The Temple itself would surely be safe, filled with Jedi like Master Windu and possibly even Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi, if they hadn't departed for another battlefield already. The 501st would follow Master Skywalker. They'd been through too much together for them to turn against Anakin without reason. The 501st was different. They weren't blind, and they'd follow Anakin's lead. If he told them to wait, it would be enough, at least until some sort of confirmation or explanation were achieved. Rex had stopped, had thought it through, had saved her life. The others would do the same, surely, even without Rex there.

Ahsoka struggled to keep her voice intact and without breaking when she said, "We should probably go to the Temple next, then."

Luminara agreed. "That would be wise." The two of them turned towards the Doctor. "Can you take us there? To the Temple? The youngling crèche would be best, to initiate evacuation if needed. I can direct you to its location within the building."

The Doctor's expression was grim. "I can. Though I can't guarantee what you'll find there. But we can try."

Ahsoka looked at him, felt the varied song within the TARDIS grow slow and somber, a lament that contrasted sharply to the cheerful rush of travel or the intense aria of battle. Something sick began to well up in her stomach. The Temple wouldn't be breached. It was the Temple. It was home. No one could get past the Temple's defenses. Even if they could, it would be defended by the lightsabers of every Jedi within. No attack could get inside. No one would dare to cut through to the crèche and hurt the younglings there.

Ahsoka reached out and placed a hand on the rail that edged the ramp, and tried not to feel dizzy from blood loss, injury, and the sudden feeling that she'd erred in her rush to save Barriss, to save Aayla, to save Master Luminara, to save Master Plo. She'd failed to save Master Plo. How many others would be lost?

A small, sharp cry from Aayla sounded in the room just as the first wheezing and scraping started up again, the Doctor once again at the controls. Master Luminara moved quickly across the space, shooing Rex aside as she knelt on Aayla's other side and placed a hand on her forehead. The blue tips of Master Secura's lekku were twitching spasmodically, and Barriss was readjusting her position, turning Aayla more towards Master Luminara. The older Jedi's eyes were half lidded, and she was frowning.
She looked up and locked eyes on Ahsoka. "Barriss is repairing what damage she can, but there is much internal bleeding. I will aid her in keeping Aayla stable, until we can get her to another healer. Sound the alert, Ahsoka. The crèche may need evacuation. Alert the youngling minders and prepare them. Contact Master Windu immediately and inform him we will be under attack shortly, if we are not already. Let us hope our defenses are strong enough to repel attack or permit evacuation." Her eyes slid to the Doctor. "How many can this ship hold, if need be?"

"If need be?" he repeated, glancing towards the back of the control room where a single door waited, unopened. He replied, solemnly, "As many as need be."

It was bigger on the inside. But exactly how much larger on the inside? Ahsoka climbed the ramp and nodded at Rex, who stepped around the three Jedi on the floor and slipped his bucket off his belt, returning it to his head.

She wouldn't be going alone, at least. Rex took up a place beside her.

The two of them turned to look at the narrow door as the sound of scraping faded, and the song of the TARDIS slowed again.

Ahsoka reached out and opened the door.


Another couple of chapters that had to be split. My initial draft has chapters 5 and 6 (combined) as 27 pages. So clearly, it needed splitting. And here I thought chapter 4 was going to hold what's now chapters 4, 5, and 6. This fic keeps getting longer and more complex every time I try to write it...

~Queen