The Skywalker Enclave

I can't thank you all enough! I love hearing from my reviewers and seeing all the follows and favorites this story has heard. I hope you all enjoy this story. We will be going through several time skips, and get glimpses of Luke and Leia growing up.

As always I do not own Star Wars, I am just borrowing the galaxy to practice my art.

It would be three months before the rebellions leaders were fully satisfied that the Clones were not a trap and that they were indeed free of the programming that had led to so much death. Anakin and Ahsoka were convinced within days, but Padme and Shaak Ti demanded rigorous testing on every member of Rex's fleet. The 501st had not only destroyed Kamino, they had 'debugged' the several hundred younger clones. Amid the confusion of the Republic's fall and the rise of the Empire the small group had begun kidnapping members of the Clone army and 'debugging' them. A small number had gone insane when the programming was removed, but most had immediately been horrified by their actions and driven to do something. When a few clones who had served under the Jedi declared that they had a duty to their purpose, the 501st had executed them.

They had soon been figured out and had to flee the army. Rex had built a small army, nearly a thousand strong, of his brothers. When the Clone Army was recalled with the end of the Clone War, there had been several debugged members who had gone with the Army to create dissension and hopefully force the Clone Army to appear troublesome to Palpatine. They had been helped in that regard by the problems that had begun to spring up in the aftermath of the Purge. Even clones still slave to the implant had been horrified by their actions. When the programming and conscience clashed, the Clones started to destabilize.

"Palpatine saw us as flesh and blood droids." Rex explained to Padme and Shaak Ti during his first briefing with the Rebellion and Jedi Leaders. "The Kaminos believed we were sub-human and could not be faced with the dilemma of a 'real' man. They were wrong. We retained a human spirit. The Jedi told us we had a presence in the Force like that of another man. We were made, not born, but we were made human."

"We should have considered the morality of making soldiers." Padme sighed.

"We are soldiers, Mistress." Rex replied. "That was built into us by the way we were trained. None of us can have that taken away. Our humanity has given us the will to choose who we soldier for. The Remembrance Fleet has chosen you and the Jedi."

"I thank you." Padme said.

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Anakin took command of the remembrance fleet once the Shaak Ti and Padme were convinced they were safe. Besides two hundred long range fighters, the clones had absconded with a Star Destroyer where they based themselves. For a few more months Anakin split his time between the fleet and Padme's Shield. While the Shield was given little attention, the renegade Star Destroyer began to gain the attention of the Imperials.

After several close calls, Anakin made the decision to remove the fighters and hide the Star Destroyer. Half were sent to build a base on the sparsely populated planet of Dantooine, and the other half were sent to settle onto Tatooine. He had explained that he had more than once shared his disgust of the second planet with Palpatine and had sworn not to back there. The first was far from the trade routes and had a very small colony.

Padme's network of spies was well in place by now. When the twins were two the first of the Dark Acts of the Empire, the suppression of the Wookies, happened. Count Dooku had taken a place in the empire, welcomed by those who believed the Jedi were evil, and he had begun to lead the Empire's most difficult struggles. With her finger resting on the pulse of the Empire, Padme had seen the time rapidly coming when certain proud species would speak up against the Empire's practice of using humans and other species of a similar appearance.

"It is time for us to end our nomadic existence." Padme decreed soon after receiving this news. "It has been hard on the children, and we have yet to been revealed to the Empire."

"I have wished to settle down myself." Shaak Ti agreed. "Most of the other Jedi have founded their homes by now and some have reported that they have taken on students. Once we are settled, I will test Ahsoka. She should have been knighted long ago."

"Where are we going to go?" Obi Wan asked. "Dantooine or Tatooine?"

"Neither." Anakin said firmly. "Rex and Cody are each in command of the bases. They have put together two teams to find and extract other clones and soldiers who wish to leave the empire. Padme and Shaak Ti should be kept separate from this. Shaak Ti has knowledge and command of the Jedi. Padme has her intelligence network and the refugee havens she is creating. The Army and Fleet are under me. We need to keep these three separate."

"Is it wise for the three of you to remain together?" Obi Wan asked.

"All of our intelligence indicates that the Empire has no idea there is a central leadership." Padme said. "Perhaps because only Anakin is truly a leader. Shaak Ti and I are merely guides. I would like us all to stick together. Anakin and I will stay together no matter what."

"I am in agreement. We must find a safe haven where we can settle. It should be kept separate from the rebellion." Shaak Ti said. "When we must contact the Jedi or the Rebels, we should do it away from wherever we settle."

"Master, I had been studying the holocrons that we had moved from the Coruscant Temple." Ahsoka said. "We have some of the lists of Force Sensitive children, but we also have parts of the history of the Jedi. These were all accounted for after the Temple fell. Palpatine does not have this information. There are planets that were abandoned when the Jedi moved to Coruscant. Some have no population at all."

"It is possible that the history of Force Users will make it a good place to hide." Anakin agreed.

"Indeed." Shaak Ti said. "Perhaps it will aid the younglings as well."

During their nomadic life, Luke had become the difficult twin. He refused to be separated from his mother, and in his father's increasing absences often woke up crying in the night from nightmares he did not have words for yet. Leia had bloomed, walking sooner and talking far more easily than Luke, but lately she had begun to also have bad dreams. As she had been a sort of bridge for the adults to helping Luke's night terrors and uneasy attitude her own growing dissatisfaction with life on the cramped transport ship had settled Padme's mind. Obi Wan and Anakin had both suggested settling down long before this, but neither woman had been ready until now.

"Alright Snips, if Master Ti doesn't mind, you and I will investigate some of these places." Anakin beamed.

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Three weeks later the Shield landed on the planet Devaron. Anakin and Ahsoka had liked that the best of the four planets they had scouted. All the planets had echoes of the Force there, and all were mingled with the joys of simple life and the horrors of the clash of the dark and light sides, but Devaron's echoes had contained the weakest echoes of both, and showed no sign of people for hundreds of years. It also contained a strong, natural Force Presence. The planet itself was bursting of the Force. The echoes weakness and the balanced presence of the Force indicated that the battles were long ago.

There were the remains of a Pyramidic Temple on the edge of the large flat field they had landed on. The native plant life was growing on it and in it, including some large trees that were starting to spread out of the Temple to turn the meadow into the forest behind the Temple. The decision to settle had changed their party a little. The Color Guard would remain in the galaxy at large. Jeda Red had joined the remnants of the 212th Battalion settled on Dantooine, and Sabe Blue was on her way to Tatooine where the others were settled in a vast desert not under Hutt Control. The other two had headed into the Core Worlds to do some intelligence work, primarily to get a full read on the Imperial Senate where Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were working. Either way, it meant that four Jedi, Padme and Lira, and the two toddlers were those heading into the Temple Ruins.

"I see that we will have little hope to use this as shelter." Padme said as she took in the fact that the temple was missing parts of its roof and walls. Lira was the only one to agree.

"Ley, Ley!" Luke eagerly fought for his mother to put him down. She did so, amused and pleased when his short chubby legs carried him to his sister and they began to explore. Leia followed him about, unused to his happy demonstrations while the adult Jedi looked around in awe, hearing something Padme and Lira could not.

Besides the faint echoes from thousands of years previous, they were seeing how to change the temple and soon turned to the two women with their ideas.

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Little Luke scrambled over the rubble in the center of the room and looked around. His sister was hurrying up the stones as well, wondering what got his attention. He could not explain what he saw, even to Leia. Words were still new to him, and Leia's mental communication felt faded as she was eager to taste each new word she learned. She could feel his delight, so she was following him.

The room was flowing with the pretty threads he had always seen. It was the first time he had seen it so calm. The toddler had discovered that smiles and frowns could make the threads move. In the ship the threads were always moving, jarred by the continual touches from the Jedi in the small confined area. There had been times when his mother's smaller, quieter threads were all that could help him hide from the emotions that ran through the time was a good time to. His father, his adopted aunts and Uncle who moved the threads stilled their threads when they sat in quiet. Leia couldn't do quiet time, but Luke was not usually bothered by her threads since they were always touching him. He had never known it any different, and could discern what made Leia's threads move so knew what would happen.

Here however, the adults' threads were little more than puffs of air that occasionally stirred the currents and there was none of the pushing that Luke had seen on the occasions when the Jedi had intentionally used the Force.

While Anakin had started having his children start to sit with him in meditation, he had not realized how much they were in tune to the Force. Leia was usually bored in meditation, but loved the displays of power, while Luke was opposite, sitting calm for hours when near his father in meditation. Instruction in meditation and calming your mind was the first lessons the Younglings learned, starting with observing meditation, and the twins had not appeared capable of understanding.

Luke couldn't communicate in words as Leia did so well. He would ask for quiet, but the adults had never understood why he would repeat that word over and over when the noise level was not raised. Leia had some inkling of what her brother wanted, but had never thought to share this with the adults since it was boring to her. Their minds had been connected since the womb, and they always were sharing thoughts and feelings. Despite the knowledge that Luke could reach out with his mind, the adult Jedi had never tried to reach back, afraid to overwhelm the young mind with the adult thoughts and emotions.

For the first time in Luke's memory, since he did not recall the happy first months of his life, he felt at rest. There was so much room planet side, that the noise and wildness of the threads being moved was spread out. He sat down in his quiet time pose, smiling at the big open temple room.

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Devaron had been the right decision. Anakin felt like he could breathe easier after a year and a half on the ship. He had missed living planet side, but had not realized how much until presented with this new home. All the ship's crew were looking happier. Leia had become a wild, mischievous terror, and Luke had become calmer and happier. Luke had begun to try to talk more.

Both younglings had watched the four Jedi use the Force to remove the temple roof completely, then lower the temple walls and clear out the rubble. In the large open area, they began building several small homes, using the strengthened, shortened temple walls to surround the little village that sprang up. At first, they had wanted to remove the trees as well, but soon it was decided that the large trees could help conceal the three buildings from visual view. The largest of the small homes was for the Skywalkers. Anakin and Padme were thrilled to have two separate bedrooms, as the twins had been sleeping in a small cradle together in their parents' room. Their concerns that the twins would not like this were unfounded. Leia was in raptures on being given a big girl bed, and Luke had only asked if Kado, the loyal cat who had lived ship board all this time, could sleep on his bed.

Obi Wan declared the tiny settlement was the Skywalker Enclave and the name stuck for the inhabitants, though none would ever use it outside the Enclave.

After a few months, they began to enlarge the buildings, adding a common building where Shaak Ti and Padme worked on keeping track of the Jedi and the Rebellion. Obi Wan with the newly knighted Ahsoka built a simple Dojo. When it was complete he undertook the first formal training of the two younglings. Since Anakin was often absent as he commanded the remembrance fleet and Ahsoka soon went with him, it fell to Kenobi to teach the twins.

For over a year these would be the only inhabitants of the enclave and the planet. It was a good year, marred only by Anakin and Ahsoka's absences. The Jedi and the rebels had learned how to hide, and knowledge of a death or arrest came rarely, even with Dooku manning the hunt. Anakin and Ahsoka led raids on supply runs from the core worlds to the mid and outer rims where the Imperials were continuing to build their outposts and bases, but were careful to conceal who they were, so the Imperials believed it to be pirates and merely tightened security around the supply runs while issuing an unanswered reward for the pirates.

Little by little Anakin and Ahsoka began to work out the tactics of the new Tie Fighters, using the raids to create a new way of flying and fighting to adjust for these maneuverable though fragile fighters. They learned how the Imperials worked, testing the strengths of the various fleets and commanders, building up a repertoire of knowledge. Due to the predominance of humans in the Imperial Fleets, especially all the command positions, the small band of Rebels had the advantage. Most of the rebels were clone troopers and deserters who had fought along the clones and Jedi in the Clone Wars, but through Jedi acting Grand Master Shaak Ti Anakin received advice from a number of species. Although much similarity between the galaxy species existed in emotions, sciences, and morality, there were some species who held the edge in war or in education or in healing. The Emperor had limited his government to a narrow field out of the thousands of species that existed. The Rebellion had no such limitations.

In the meantime, Padme had asked for several strike teams to start getting into the oppressed worlds to pull out those who were gradually being enslaved to the Empire. She was building her repertoire of testimonies. The Wookies her small teams freed swarmed to aid them, and by the end of that first year on Devaron, Padme's strike teams had doubled and some of those rescued from slavery were led to Yavin 4, which had never been found by the Empire. Here Gleem Gold and several military commanders from the Clone Wars who had seen where the Empire was going and deserted began the training of the Rebel Army.

The Empire, and Palpatine himself, failed to see the unified hand behind the pockets of rebels that were springing up. The Jedi were scattered and in the rare occasions the Empire stumbled onto one or two they were never led to find more. Few Jedi knew more than their own enclave. Certain Jedi knights, led by Master Mace Windu would travel among the Enclaves gathering knowledge to pass on to Shaak Ti and Padme Skywalker. With the Empire focused on making sure the Mid-Rim belonged to them, the rebels were considered merely a nuisance. Anakin and Padme Skywalker were nothing more than names now on a wanted list now. Naboo had declared Padme dead after two years, though it was a political move to release the vaults and properties she had held as a former Queen.

Few visions and dreams visited the Jedi or Palpatine in this time. Though Palpatine often stretched his thoughts to find their fate, especially as he suspected the failure to capture the pair must have resulted in the conception if not birth of the son he had foreseen. But even those dreams haunted him no more. As his Empire solidified, and he wielded the force of the Sith through Count Dooku, and the Skywalkers seemed to have vanished into Wild Space, even he let the thought of the Skywalker son be set aside.

In the meantime, young Luke Skywalker learned meditation and to shield his mind after a frustrating few months in which Obi Wan, Leia and Luke had gone around in circles trying to figure out how to explain it to Luke. Once Leia had forced Luke to see what she learned to do, Luke figured out how to use the threads in the manner she did. Able to protect his mind from the emotions of the adults he calmed down as he grew older, keeping the innocent enjoyment of the threads, dimly aware that no one else saw them, and as he continued to play with them he began to stumbled across new uses of the threads. Only Leia noticed, and she didn't know it was unusual.

Devaron was good to Luke and he felt safe and at peace.

Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoy watching Luke and Leia grow up. Please tell me what you think!