A/N: So, to prepare for this particular chapter, I went back and watched parts of A New Hope. More specifically, the raid on the Death Star by our lovely protagonists. Ah. The first lightsaber duel. Classic. Imma set someone else on Vader this time around, though. And not an army of Padawans to be butchered.

Obi-Wan Timeline: Jedi Apprentice 12: The Evil Experiment

Characters:

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Siri Tachi

Bant Erin

Galen Muln

Anakin Timeline: Post Jedi Quest 7: The Moment of Truth

Characters:

Anakin Skywalker

Ferus Olin

Tru Veld

Darra Thel-Thanis

Jacen Timeline: Young Jedi Knights 5: The Darkest Knight

Characters:

Jacen Solo

Jaina Solo

Anakin Solo

Tahiri Velia

Ikrit

Tenel Ka Djo

Lowbacca

Ahsoka Timeline: Season 1

Characters:

Ahsoka

Olin Timeline: Before Roan is Padme'd (Vader's words, figuratively)

Characters:

Ferus Olin

Roan Lands

Solace

Trevor Flume

Lune Oddo Divinian

Published: 11/08/2018

Warnings: None


Chapter 11

A New Hope III

Princess Leia of Alderaan laid trapped in her cell. This was it. This was the end. Her planet… Her entire planet, gone. Gone and destroyed, blown up by the Empire.

She had known they were evil. Known it from a very young age. Known it since she walked the halls of the Imperial Palace, since she saw the horrors and oppression opposed by Palpatine after he amassed more and more power.

Known it, but hadn't realized how terrible it was. How truly vile the Empire was at its core. At its heart.

Alderaan's broken shards spoke for themselves.

Suddenly, the door to her cell slid open. Looking up, Leia gazed as a Stormtrooper wearing that shinny Imperial armor stood at the threshold, likely here to take her to her execution.

They could do their worse. They'd already done that. Leia didn't fear death. Not now. Not anymore.

When the Stormtrooper did nothing more than stand there gaping at her, Leia decided to take the initiative for him.

"Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" She snarked.

"Huh? Oh, right, this thing!" The Stormtrooper proceeded to rip of his helmet, which was a serious breach in Imperial code, revealing a blond boy with a healthy tan, of all things. Huh. They must have tanning beds around here somewhere. No light was getting through that armor.

"My name is Luke Skywalker," the boy introduced himself, "I'm here to rescue you!" he announced.

Leia spluttered.

"What? Who?"

"Luke Skywalker! I'm here with Ben Kenobi!"

"Ben Kenobi? He's here?!" This was the best news Leia had heard all day. Perhaps, just maybe, they might turn this thing arou-

"Hey, Skyguy Junior, hurry it up in there! Even a dozen Jedi Apprentices can't hold off an army of Stormtroopers indefinitely!" a voice rang out.

Leia blinked.

What?

"Oh, right." Farmboy looked flustered before striding forth, extending a hand to Leia. "Come on, we gotta get out of here!"

"Dozen Jedi Apprentices?" Leia repeated, stunned. Just how busy had Ben Kenobi been over the years? If he truly had trained a dozen apprentices while in exile, then the Rebellion's chance of victory just skyrocketed.

"Yeah, a dozen Jedi Apprentices," Luke affirmed, sounding just as stunned. "Most of them are from the past, but a few of them are from the future."

Confusion returned.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Just then, one of the apparent Jedi came in behind Luke. He was younger. Far younger. In his early teens, Leia would wager, with dirty blond hair that was just a faint buzz on the side of his head.

"Luke, my son, hurry u- ohhh, I see what's holding you up." the teen shot Leia an appraising look before wagging his eyebrows at Luke. Luke blushed and, outside the room, a certain pit of twins began to gag for reasons unknown to them.

"Your son?" Leia repeated dimly. Okay. Okay. Her rescuers were insane. Insane, but regardless, Leia would take it. Anything was better than staying here and waiting for execution. Standing, she strode forth. "Well? What're you both waiting for?! Let's get out of here!" Leia snapped.

The two boys looked at her, wide eyed as Leia strode past them.


Tahiri Veila truly loved her best friend. She did. She did with all her heart. Anakin Solo was the bestest friend a girl could ask for. He was kind, he was good, he was there for her whenever she needed him, he listed other when she ranted hours on end while she knew anyone else would have probably snapped and told her to stuff a sock in it.

Okay, so he was a little weird and way too quiet and, at times, she was pretty sure he preferred droids to actual people, but still, he was her bestie. Her very and utterly infuriating bestie that she was going to strangle the next time she came across as Anakin proceeded to dump her and company before vanishing in a flurry of light.

Tahiri twitched.

"Where are we? This does not look like a vacation spot. Not that I should be taking a vacation."

"I'd say you can use it."

"I agree with Roan, Fer-Wan. We need to get that massive stick out of your a-"

"Hey! There is a child present!" Roan interrupted, before covering the ears of a young Lune Oddo Divinian.

Trevor raised a single unimpressed eyebrow towards Roan

"If you think the kid hasn't heard worse than that, then you don't know children."

Roan frowned at him.

"Just because you're a corrupt little brat does not mean you will corrupt this little brat."

Tahiri sighed, turning away from the bickering, taking a look around and trying to get her bearings. Wherever this was, this certainly didn't look like the green pastures of Alderaan.

When Jacen had the marvelous idea of vacationing on Alderaan, he had, of course, decided to bring company. Regular company, of course, was too plain for Jacen bloody Solo, so the teen had to go all out. Which he had. On steroids.

They'd gone off and collected individuals from several eras. Several eras that Jacen tended to visit when he was bored and annoy.

He'd deny the annoy bit, but Tahiri was certain Revan would disagree. Solo children made regular children look utterly innocent, even when standing in a messy kitchen covered from foot to toe in baking materials.

"It seems our young friend has departed," Ikrit stated the obvious from Tahiri's shoulder. The blond girl shot the ferret like Jedi Master a look.

"No?" Tahiri stared, mock stunned. "Really? I had no idea."

Tahiri received a smack upside the head for her troubles. Crying out and rubbing at her skull, Tahiri turned to glare at the culprit.

Jedi Master Fy-Tor-Ana, or, as she now liked to be called, Jedi Master Solace, gazed at Tahiri with a single raised eyebrow, hand on her hop.

"Be more respectful of your elders, brat." Solace snapped.

"I did not ask to be defended, thank you," Ikrit interjected before Tahiri could yell at the woman.

"Where are we?"

Ferus Olin, or rather, the older version of him, was looking around in suspicion. Tahiri did not blame him. She was not sure where they were either.

"I have no idea. This definitely isn't where we were suppose to meet up." Tahiri admitted.

Solace shot her a sharp look.

"You mean you've brought us through time and space and you don't even know where you've landed us?" The Jedi Master demanded.

Tahiri's silence spoke for itself.

"You are not very good around children, are you?" Ikrit said, crossing his furry arms, shooting a disapproving look at the human Jedi Master.

"I trained Initiates back on Coruscant. What did you do? Hide in a hole while the Galaxy shifted around you?" Solace sneered.

"A true Jedi knows when the Force demands passivity," Ikrit shot back.

Solace did not look impressed. Tahiri honestly could not blame her. Ikrit had literally slept through the Empire's rise and fall.

Then, Ferus twitched, twisting his head to the side and staring off in wonder.

"Ferus?" Roan spoke.

"I… I feel them. But that's not possible- they're- huh, guess there really is something to this time travel thing, huh?" Ferus' face broke into a wide grin, a wild dichotomy form his earlier behavior. "That a way!" The man declared, pointing forward before marching out without a second thought.

It should be of no surprise, then, that they immediately came across a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers that proceeded to open fire on them.

Elsewhere, Anakin Solo hummed to himself. A random sense had told him he needed to get help and back up. Force knows why they'd need it on Alderaan, of all places, but that's what his feelings were telling him and Anakin always listened to his feelings.

So, after dumping the others at the drop off point, he'd vanished without another thought.

Hm.

Who should he get?

Oh. Wait. Yes! Brilliant!

Humming happily to himself, the teen knew exactly where to go. Or, more accurately, when.


Out of all of them, Luke was convinced that only he and Chewbacca actually agreed that the kids really where from different time zones, which was surprising. Then again, maybe not so much as Chewbacca cheerful was getting acquainted with his nephew. His nephew that had, apparently, not been born yet, a fact that didn't seem to bother Chewbacca in the slightest which actually made Luke just a tad bit suspicious that Chewie knew more than he was letting on.

Luke knew Han didn't believe the kids, but he did. Luke didn't have much trouble believing, to be honest. The past week had been so insane that someone could drop by and tell him he was the Heir of the Empire and Luke wouldn't bat an eyelash.

Time travel wasn't that far out there. Not when everything else in his world had already been turned upside down, sideways, then curved into the next dozen dimensions.

It didn't seem Leia believed either.

"You're telling me you are all from the past?" she declared skeptically.

Getting away from the Stormtroopers was surprisingly easy when you had dozens of teens who could literally sense danger and move to avoid it. As it was, they finally had some breathing room to finally talk things out. Slightly.

An empty meeting room worked very nicely for that. If anything, it was nice to rest up a bit before they had to move on out.

"No, of course not." Tenel Ka shook her head. The one armed Jedi Initiate frowned at Leia. "Jacen, Jaina, Lowie and I are from the future, as is An-" the Hapan girl froze.

Then, she turned, shooting a startled look at the Jedi Twins.

"Friends Jacen and Jaina, where is your little brother?"

The twins froze before shooting each other looks. There was a third one? A third nephew?

Yes, Luke hadn't missed that particular detail, although how he had nephews and nieces was beyond him but hey, who knows, maybe it was an honorary term or something like that.

Still. There was a third one and the other two hadn't noticed he was missing?

"Crap. Anakin, loose on the Death Star?" Jacen said, sounding panicked.

Luke could relate. He'd only just learned about their brother and he was getting worried.

That, and the name of their apparently brother was even more proof that he was their uncle. Who else would name a kid Anakin?

Hey, wait a second…

Did… Did Luke have a secret sibling that had been hidden from him all his life only to be revealed at the last possible moment because the plot called for a convenient twist?

Nah.

"He's liable to supercharge the Cannon to the point where it can level stars as well as it levels planets." Jaina said, sounding just as agitated as her twin.

Luke blinked. Okay, apparently he was not on the same page.

"Ani wouldn't do that," Jacen said dismissively. "Even he'd figure that would be a bad idea."

"This is the same boy that fired a repulsive wave strong enough to send a planet through Hyperspace just because he wanted to see what the big shiny button did." Jaina countered with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" Leia's voice rang. The twins paused, startled, looking at Leia with wide eyes. "You brought your kid brother along? Your kid brother that, apparently, is good enough with machines that he could alter the Death Star itself if given enough time?" Leia sounded skeptical.

Like couldn't blame her. That did sound a bit far fetched. Then again, time traveling grandchildren was also a far fetched concept.

"Could he disable the canon?" Obi-Wan interrupted.

The words froze them all.

Disable… the canon.

Alderaan's scattered remains flashed in all their eyes. Alderaan, broken apart by the destructive force of this massive trap of death and destruction. But, if the canon could be disabled…

"Don't be silly, Obi-Wan. Regardless of how good the boy is with machines, this station is the size of a world. He'd never have enough time to do something like that." Bant spoke up.

Obi-Wan turned to the Mon Calamari.

"But, suppose he could? Suppose he could stop this death trap, and we help him along the way? At least it'll make this trip mean some-"

"Alright, look kids, I'm your only ride outta here, and I am nipping this right in the bud." Han cut in, stepping forth. "The Mon Cal's right. This station is too big for anyone to disable it before the Imperials catch on, regardless of whatever technical wonders said child has."

Luke did not need the Force to hear the sarcasm dripping in Han's voice.

"But-"

"No buts! Okay, I'm willing to admit you kids and this Force maybe more real than I had anticipated." Han looked like the words cost him. A lot. Still, after seeing children take apart trained soldiers, it was hard not to believe there was something more to it than luck. "But, we don't have time. As soon as that old fossil disables the tractor beam, we need to get goi-"

It was then that the door was tossed unceremoniously open.

Several lightsabers sprang on.

"Aha! Told you I'd find 'em! There they are!" a voice announced. Luke turned. And blinked. Once. Twice. Third for good measure.

Nope. His eyes were not playing tricks on him.

Looking back and forth, it was undeniable.

The younger Ferus gaped at his older grinning self. Luke himself felt a bit smug. Turning towards Han and Leia, Luke smiled.

"Believe the time travel now?" Luke asked.

He relieved a pair of glares for his troubles.


The older Ferus, whom at this point in the story shall be referred to as 'Olin' to avoid unnecessary confusion, grinned.

Okay, so being dumped randomly in the middle of a Stormtrooper brigade had not been fun, but the fact that he could feel his old friends through the Force again at last made up for that. Friends he'd lost along the way, friends he'd never thought he'd get the chance to see again.

Friends and strangers, most of whom had risen upon Olin breaking in and had drawn Lightsabers. Wow, and what a sight that was. Olin didn't think he'd live to see another showing like that, not ever again. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope for the Galaxy after all.

"Oh, hey Ferus-Wan!" Jaina waived at him, deactivating her lightsaber first. Olin pretended not to see the way Anakin reacted to the nickname, a strange mix of paling followed by red hot anger that lit his face like the glow of a Sith lightsaber. "I was wondering why you hadn't shown up."

One of the other Padawans, a female Togruta that looked mysteriously like the Padawan Olin had heard Anakin had taken, shot Jaina an incredulous look.

"Five minutes ago, you didn't even realIze your brother was missing." The girl pointed out.

"Anakin is running around being Anakin," Tahiri said, as if that explained everything. The said thing was, with Anakin Solo, it did. "He literally left us here, said something about having a feeling we'd need 'backup', and vanished on me."

There was a moment of silence.

"... Ani thought we'd need backup?" Jacen repeated incredulously, looking around the room at the dozen Jedi already there, not even counting the two Jedi Masters that had just waltzed through the door.

Then, his eyes widened in sudden alarm at what else came through the door.

"This place is cool! Although, it could use a bit more color." Lune said.

"Black and silver are cool." Trevor responded, sounding miffed. Considering he had slate colored hair, Jacen could see why.

"You brought the kids!?" Jacen examined, alarmed.

Olin frowned, crossing his arms.

"Of course we brought the kids. We were expecting a literal vacation. Instead, we're dodging Stormtroopers and I had to get Roan a shiny new blaster."

Roan waved. Or, more accurately, waived his blaster, obviously picked from an Imperial. Ah hell.

"... Wait, you were actually warned this would happen?" Siri spoke. Olin blinked a few times. Wow. It was weird seeing such a mini version of his Master.

Weird and… oddly adorable.

Siri didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she turned and glared at the Jedi twins.

"Err… hehe, about that…"

"Wait, you mean your reclusive borderline antisocial little brother managed to communicate more than the pair of you did in getting this all set up?" Tahiri spoke, sounding incredulous.

The blushing commenced. Ah. Kids. So amusing.

Anyways… Olin had other, more important matters to attend to. Very, very important matters.


Discovering she'd been right all along was very satisfying for Ashoka. Obi-Wan and her Master wouldn't be able to fool Ashoka again, nope! Never again.

Not that Ashoka had ever been fooled.

'Oh, Gramps? That's just a nickname.'

Nickname? Really? Really, Skyguy? That was the excuse you were going for?

Ashoka didn't buy it even for a second.

And she was right, so ha!

Kids and grandkids! Her Master was so in a secret relationship, and Ashoka would bet her lightsaber that it was with Padme Amidala. Heh. Subtly, your name is not Skywalker.

Fighting Stormtroopers was a little disconcerting, though. It didn't take a genius to realize their armor was reminiscent of Clone Trooper armor. Not the same, not exactly, but still. That, and they felt different from the clones.

Ashoka had questions. Lots of 'em.

However… It appeared those would have to wait.

Why?

Simple.

Ashoka was currently under the bizarrest form of assault she had ever suffered and, quite frankly, she had absolutely no idea how to deal with it.

She was under attack.

Except, it was an attack she had no defense from because it was an attack she had never been subjected to. So it was that she literally had no idea how to respond to it.

"So, you're Anakin's Padawans! I heard he took one, but couldn't believe he was actually devoting that much effort into another living being!"

"Hey!"

"Just look at you! You-are-adorable!"

"Hey! Ferus, get you're crazy future self to stop pinching my Padawan's cheeks!"

"And you! It's been years!"

"Wha- what are you- What the-"

Anakin's voice broke off. Well. Not exactly. More like, changed tune. As in, her Master's younger self began to curse rather fluently and colorfully in Huttese.

Luke was actually blushing at the tirade. Interesting. Ashoka had to learn some of those words.

Olin had Anakin wrapped in a hug while the younger boy squirmed, more out of shock than anything else.

"Anakin! You're so much smaller and tinier! I mean, you were always smaller, but now you're a lot smaller, and you get what I mean!"

Olin, after attacking Ashoka, had moved on to Anakin. The man was a stark contrast to the teen, who was staring in abject horror at what he would apparently become.

Olin pulled back, looking straight at her Master. Anakin squirmed again.

"Hey. I know I never said it before, but I think I should now. Sorry I was such a prick growing up. Missed you."

With that, Olin let go of her Master, who stood there gaping. Then, he moved on.

"Darra! Tru! I'm so happy to see you guys!"

Each Padawan got a glomp, which they seemed to take in rather better than her Master had. In fact, after it was over, Darra turned to Ferus.

"I am never letting this go, Olin. Not as long as we live."

Ferus groaned, burying his face in his hands. The older's reaction, however, was what Ashoka was focused on.

He flinched.

Well.

That… Might explain why Ashoka had never met these Padawans her Master seemed close to as a kid.

"Ferus, you're scaring them." Roan called out.

Olin turned, rolling his eyes.

"Am not." The man denied. One look at Anakin Skywalker proved that was a lie. "I am getting reacquainted with cute adorable little Padawans."

With that, Olin turned towards Siri, loudly proclaiming that she was the best Master and the best older sister that a guy could ask for and that she was utterly the best. Emphasis on best, of you couldn't tell.

Okay. This… could take a while.


At his age, there were very few things that surprised Obi-Wan 'Ben' Kenobi. He had seen too much, lived through far too much for that. He had survived when others hadn't. He had persevered when the entire Galaxy had fallen to darkness.

Ben had seen worlds rise and fall. He had seen children grow, change, mature, and shift. He had seen governments rise and fall. He had seen an Empire rise and Republic fall.

He had experienced, first hand, the utter horrors of war. Of wanton destruction for destruction sake. As such, there was very, very little that could surprise old Ben Kenobi.

The sight before him was enough to leave him so shocked that, for a moment, Ben wondered if he had died a little bit too prematurely and if this was the afterlife. It wouldn't surprise him if it was.

Ben exhaled several times just to make sure he still could, stunned.

The image before him did not change. This was no illusion. This was reality, somehow.

Somehow, younger versions of himself, of Anakin, of Ferus and his tragically fated gang, stood before him. Looking at Anakin was painful, but Ben found that he just couldn't look away.

How could this have possibly happened? What force of utter chaos could possibly have brought this violation of time and space here? What deep secrets of the universe had been ruptured to cause this? What could possibly be the source of this utter disturbance in the For-

"Hiya, Uncle Obi!"

Jacen. Of course. He should have known. Beside him stood the other terror, Jaina. Where, though, was the last-

In a flash of light, they appeared. Ben turned. There, standing in the middle of the hall, was Anakin Solo, except he had not come alone.

"Hi! I brought the backup!" Anakin Solo exclaimed before forwining. "I mean, I still don't know why we need it, but my feelings told me we did so I brought them annnnd this is not Alderaan." the boy began to look around, hand reaching out and feeling at the walls, pensive look on his face.

Ben instantly became worried.

Anakin the first was a nightmare with machines. Anakin the second made those horrors a happy, happy time.

The boy's company consisted of three beings. A droid, of all things, its metal gleaming a reddish orange and blaster held in its hands. A human with a cybernetic arm, gray eyes and dark brown hair, two lightsabers hanging from his belt.

And, the last…

Ben couldn't help but flinch.

Her… Her presence in the Force. It… Ben had never felt anything like it. Had never felt anything like it at all. At least, not from the living. It was as if she was already dead.

Anakin Solo hummed before turning.

"Anyways, I brought the best Sith Slayer I could find!" The boy motioned to the woman.

Meetra Surik, better known as the Jedi Exile, cracked her knuckles, a wide shit eating not very Jedi like grin running across her face.

"Alright. Where's this Sith Lord I'm suppose to be taking on?"