Anakin was a nervous wreck. Padme had gone into labor nearly 4 hours ago. While the healers had repeatedly assured him that everything was alright, that nothing was wrong, that both Padme and the babies (and hadn't that been a shock when Padme told him they were having twins) were ok, he was still not doing well. He'd been able to push the memory of his vision to the back of his mind since that night, but now that it was actually time, it was front and center in his thoughts. No matter how much he tried telling himself that he hadn't had the vision since everything had changed, that that probably meant that the future had changed, he still couldn't shake off the feeling of terror. He tried letting it go into the Force, but was only partially successful. The fact that this was the first time in several thousand years that a serving Jedi was having a child also wasn't helping.
Padme and the Healers had tried to convince him to wait outside, at least until she was farther along, but he wasn't going to let Padme out of his sight until both babies were born and healthy. When he had made that declaration, Padme just rolled her eyes and accepted the inevitable. Master Che, on the other hand, was a bit more hard nosed. And Anakin felt his inner darkness start to take hold. Only Padme squeezing his hand, hard, pulled him back. He took a deep breath, centered himself (as much as he could anyway) and as politely as he could, informed Master Che exactly where she could stick her opinion. That earned him whack across the shins from Master Yoda who happened to be passing by at the moment and a stern lecture about his manners. Anakin really didn't care.
6 hours later, Luke and Leia entered the Galaxy, yelling and screaming for all they were worth. Holding them in his arms, Anakin knew, that they were the most important people in his life. And he knew, with out a shadow of a doubt in his mind, that he would never approach the Dark Side ever again. These two bundles in his arms radiated light. Just from holding them, he could feel how immensely strong in the Force they were. And that strength was pure, with absolutely no darkness within it. And Anakin would be damned if he would be the one to bring it into their lives.
Sitting in the room with Padme, Anakin felt a sense of contentment and happiness that was unlike anything else he had ever felt before. Smiling down at his wife and children as they slept, he knew that nothing could ever get better than this. How could he have ever even considered falling? Now that Palpatine was no longer playing with his head, everything seemed so crystal clear to him. How couldn't he have ever noticed what he was doing? Thank the Force that he had a rare moment of wisdom and spoke to Yoda about his vision. He nearly physically shuddered at what might have been otherwise. From beside him, he heard a quiet, "Hey."
Smiling at Padme, Anakin said to her, "Hi Angel. How are you?"
"I'm ok. Tired. How are you Dad?"
Grinning at her, "I'm great Mom." Laughing, "These two little bundles of joy are absolutely perfect."
Smiling her husband, "Ani, what happens now? I mean, with them?"
"We take the best care of them that we can. I have to talk to Obi-wan about how we're gonna handle them as initiates. They're immensely strong in the Force."
"But we're not going to be forbidden from seeing them, right?"
"No, you won't," she heard from the door, as Obi-wan entered the room. "The Council has already discussed it. With the exception we made for Anakin, it was decided that we couldn't exactly stop you from raising your children. Privately, we're reviewing the entire policy on attachment."
"See? What did I tell you Angel?" Anakin said toPadme.
Sitting up in the bed, Padme looked at Obi-wan, "Want to hold one?"
"I do."
Anakin handed him Leia and showed Obi-wan how to hold her. For Anakin, it was actually humorous to see Obi-wan like this. Obi-wan hadn't been to a Crèche in nearly 20 years. "Are you ok over there, Uncle Obi-wan?" he asked.
Looking up with a start, "Uncle?"
At this, Anakin couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. Of course, this woke up both Luke and Leia who promptly started to cry. Padme motioned for them both to be handed to her so she could feed them and Anakin and Obi-wan stepped outside after handing them to her.
"Obi-wan, you're my brother. You've always been my brother. I know the Order as a whole may not agree, but, you are. I know I wasn't the best student, I was arrogant and headstrong. And I never listened. But I wanted you to know, what you taught me, it did sink in. It took me awhile, but it did. And I want you know that, as far as I'm concerned, you're my brother. Till the day we die."
"Anakin, you're a fine Jedi. And I am very proud of you. More proud than I probably should be. Over the last few weeks, you've grown immensely. You've proven yourself to be the finest man I know. You've been my brother too, you know. And you always will be." Just as he finished saying that, Anakin grabbed him and wrapped him up in a big hug.
"So, have you decided on who your next Padawan is going to be yet?" teased Anakin. Obi-wan could only role his eyes as it had become well known that he had tried, and failed, to convince the Council that training Anakin was equivalent to training multiple Padawans, and therefore he should be exempt from the new policy.
Yoda's reply pretty much ended that argument, "If take a new Padawan I have to, take a Padawan as well do you."
On Kamino, Fox, CT-0000/1010 opened the crate he and his men had just brought in. "Have a good trip, General?" He asked Quinlan Voss.
"Fox, you know damn well I didn't. I get it, you're tired of the war. But did you have to hit every door on the way in here to show me your displeasure?" asked Voss.
"Did I have to, sir? No, Sir, I did not. But I did want to."
"I figured as much. Tell you what, why don't we just get our jobs done so we can get out of here without having to fight, huh?"
"Sounds like a plan, Sir." Pulling up a schematic of the facility, he highlighted a portion of it. "Here, sir. This is where the Inhibitor Chips are stored and programed before implantation. The problem is, each chip is inspected before and after programing and again before implantation. Any chips that are defective are discarded. So how do we disable these kriffing things without the Aiwha-bait finding out?"
"We don't. We always figured that the Kaminoans would be obsessive about checking the chips. We've studied the ones they put in you." Hearing that Fox absentmindedly rubbed where his chip had been removed "What we're going to do is, we're going to change how they work. Instead of them forcing obedience, we're basically going to render them inert. When they're tested, they'll show up as in perfect condition with all the correct data and while hooked up to the computer, they'll show fully functional.But once they're implanted, they won't do a damn thing."
"Very good Sir. Lets get to it. But you can't exactly walk around here in your robes. You'd be gunned down in seconds. Put on this armor. You're close enough to the same size I don't think anyone will notice. At least not until after we're done. Hopefully."
"Right. Lets get going." Voss hurriedly got into his "borrowed" armor and he and the men with him quickly made their way to the chip storage area. Fortunately Fox was very good and had managed to forge a set of orders for he and his men to take over guard detail. So at least he'd have a little warning if anyone approached. Quinlan was taken aback by the sheer number of chips in the room. Thank the Force he had come prepared. An hour later and it was done. Every chip had been modified and the storage racks rigged to modify every chip that was placed in them with a burst into each chip. "One down, one to go. Time to go play with the standing Orders."
This part was far easier. One sliced terminal later, and the standing orders were changed. The worst of the orders, if Palpatine ever tried to issue them, would result in the Clones believing that Palpatine had been declared unfit and was to be removed from office with lethal force. That completed, Quinlan, Fox, and the dozen other men with them slipped back out the way they had come in and headed for Kashyyyk. He had to get his wife and son safely to Tython before the Empire found them.
For Nejaa Halcyon, the last few weeks had been exceedingly trying. First, the warning from Master Yoda. Then hearing Palpatine's speech to the Senate. Now he was being hunted by the Clones and planetary security. The one thing he was determined to do, however, was to get to his wife and son. Only then would he head to Tython. Unfortunately, that was proving more difficult to do than he'd expected. In the end, he found that actually landing on Corellia was just too difficult and he had resorted to comming his friend Rostek Horn. Rostek promised to get his wife and child safely off planet and to meet up with him after. All he could do now is wait.
After what seemed like years, but was in reality only a few hours, Nejaa's comm went off. It was Rostek. "I've got them. We'll be at the rendezvous in 15 minutes." A weight immediately lifted from his shoulders.
With a huge sigh of relief he replied, "Thank you Rostek. I owe you." 15 minutes later Nejaa, Scerra and Valin were on their way to Tython. Looking at his wife,he smiled. "Look on the bright side, the Order can't kick me out anymore."
Jedi Explorer Seryana Ky was absolutely loving her job. She had managed to map out the entire Tython system and was now plotting new hyperspace routes into and out of the Deep Core. So far, she had found 3 routes that could be used, though only the first two were really viable. The last one skirted around the edges of four different black holes. A pilot really had to know her stuff to risk that one. Obviously, that one was her favorite. For her, the ExplorCorps had really sunk into her bones. While at first she had been disappointed, and a little angry, no one had chosen her as a Padawan, she now couldn't imagine any other life. She thanked the Force every day for placing her here. Her last jump had brought her to where her charts indicated another planet would be. She was supposed to see if it was capable of supporting life or not. It was. But the planet also reeked of the Dark Side. She could feel how cold it felt from orbit.Deciding to report it to the Council, she headed back to Tython and left Byss behind.