~Ahsoka's POV~

One strong arm held her encased in a grip of warmth. Ahsoka's eyes fluttered open, weakly, in no hurry whatsoever, to firstly notice a distance away the sight of brown booted feet not her own.

Her new surroundings, also worth noting, smelled of tangy spices and freshly cut wood. The next thing she noticed was a hard chest underneath her cheek, slowly rising with even breaths and heartbeat steady beneath her palm.

Her eyes traveled up to see Jinx's face, his chin resting lightly between her Lekku-a perfect fit-and expression so peaceful it was hard to imagine she had met this same boy-now-a-man on Iwasskah all those years ago.

They were still dressed. His large hand rested on her waist, grip protective and soothing, her other arm was draped around his stomach underneath the cloak still shielding them.

Bleary with sleep, half in dreamland yet, she reached up, ever so slowly, and gently traced one broad cheekbone, jutting out with aquiline features. It woke him, his eyes fluttered open as well, black eyes now liquefied into passive warm orbs.

The muscles underneath her shifted, somewhat. He inhaled deeply, at the same time as in the dim light, he looked down at her, and his eyes widened indistinctly, surprised to see her there.

They stared at each other a moment, before they were yanked back into reality by the sound of a third person clearing their throat loudly.

Ahsoka, horribly awake now, snapped her head over to see Intrepid standing to the side, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently, eyes stern with admonishment.

Immediately, Jinx and Ahsoka remembered who they were and, more to the point, where they were and what it must have looked like they had been doing all night. "Intrepid!" Ahsoka squeaked, thoroughly alarmed, as she scuttled from under Jinx's arms and hurried to her feet clumsily.

Jinx, in his quite startled scurry, jumbled madly to his feet as well, brushing himself off with the air of someone trying to rid themselves of a bothersome itch. Intrepid, sensing their embarrassment, and probably seeing it in the way they both looked away and then down at the ground, cocked an eyebrow.

"Hmm," said the vicious upholder of the Code and Jedi Way. "It's not what it looks like!" Ahsoka hastened to explain. "Hmm," said Intrepid, with a glance at Jinx, a glance that said that she was pretty sure she knew what it looked like, thank you.

"We were just…We were tired," Jinx butted in, sounding as embarrassed as he never had before. His olive skin had turned light purple, the color most Twi'lek's turned when blushing.

"And we had just gotten into a fight," Ahsoka added. "Not a real fight!" Jinx stuttered when both of Intrepid's brows shot up in response to this, glancing worriedly at the bruises lining their skin. "We just…It's like…We just hit each other a little bit. We're okay, and then…"

"We were tired and you locked me out of my room..."

"So we came in here to sleep, I was worrying about Lux…"

"And somehow we fell asleep together…"

"But we weren't like, sleeping with each other! Just…"

"Just together. Like, sleeping together. There. Like that." Jinx finished, with an emphatic nod. Intrepid nodded, slowly.

"Hmm," she repeated, eyes narrowing. "Well, sleep buddies, in case you'd forgotten we're supposed to be getting ready for a battle in a few moments," thus neatly dismissed, Jinx nodded in acknowledgement and sent her a subtle glance before fairly running out the door.

Ahsoka stood awkwardly once the door closed behind him, wondering what to say and even if there was anything she could say. Intrepid studied her a long time, brows still raised and then, after a moment, she grinned and said the last thing Ahsoka had ever, ever expected to hear from her mouth.

"Jinx is cute," observed her friend. Ahsoka looked up, incredulous. "What?" She squawked, wondering if perhaps she had gone mad all of a sudden.

"Pessimistic, witty, hotheaded, dexterous, cunning…I can see the appeal," Intrepid continued, thoughtfully. "But do you think now is really a good time?" Ahsoka was so confused she lost track of all thought.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, until she finally found her voice. "Me and Jinx are not…!" She began, but Intrepid only raised a hand. "Never mind. Just stay focused, alright? We are Jedi," she advised, sounding for all the galaxy like her master.

"But we aren't…" She started to say again, but Intrepid only sighed and stepped forward, placing strong and gloved fingers on her shoulders solemnly. "May the force be with you," she declared gravely.

Ahsoka's vocal chords ceased function. Seeing her wordless, Intrepid's eyes shined with blasé amusement. She patted her on the shoulder and swiveled on her heel, hands folded behind her back.

Ahsoka knew she had turned so that Ahsoka could not see her laughing. "You'd better get ready for the battle," she advised laughingly.

Then, abandoning Ahsoka to wallow in her ceaseless embarrassment and bewilderment, she turned and walked out of the door without another word to add to the awkward moment.

~Anakin's POV~

"Engine check, Artoo. All ready to go? Good. Flight stability? Good. Fuel cell count? Good, check the wing controls, forward and backwards flight….Perfect," Anakin muttered, eyes checking over everything on the screen, which flashed before his eyes.

"What about ammo?" A small voice inquired from below. Anakin looked down to see Luke standing by his fighter, a smear of grease lining the side of one cheek, grand blue eyes gleaming with love. He grinned.

"Got enough to take out the whole Imperial fleet," he agreed cheerily, reaching down to swipe away the tiny smudge with his thumb. "Now, you remember what our deal was? You and your sister stay in the med-war with Intrepid. She'll show you what you can do to help," he checked again, just in case.

It hadn't been his idea to let the twins anywhere near any sort of action during the battle, but as Bail had helpfully pointed out, they were bound to escape their cell at any rate. And they couldn't very well take out the air ducts, so the twins escaping were inevitable.

Grumbling and sighing, he and Padme had agreed, especially since hearing of the Twin's outlook on their first battle.

The force was strong with them, and they weren't experienced enough to learn how to shield their minds from the carnage, so keeping them busy was the only available tactic to keeping their minds off of what they saw naturally.

"We remember," Luke promised as Leia and Padme joined the circle. Again, against his initial wishes, Padme had agreed to be part of the team that flew the newly repaired and remodeled Rescue Bird during the battle.

It had saved lives once, the Jedi intended for it to do it again. Also to the council's surprise, the Rebel Council members had been the first to volunteer to be the crew inside of the bird and help with the clones.

"Politicians actually doing something to help?" Nava had squeaked. "There's a first time for everything," Padme had replied with a grin. Anakin, like most of the Order, was stuck between wondering how long this new courage would last and whether it would last the entire battle at all.

After all, saying that you would help was a completely different matter than doing it at all.

"The Rescue Bird is at top working capacity, as well. Master Mundi thinks we're ready to go," Padme announced. She looked the very picture of the woman who had been towed into the arena with him on Geonosis; in fact it was almost the same outfit, only rescaled to fit her new size.

He smiled at her, releasing anxiety into the force, and nodded. "Be careful, alright?" he said, for the eighth time. Padme gave him a: 'of course I will, you dolt,' look and nodded.

"Don't worry about me, Ani. I'll be fine. You be careful too," then again, this was her seventh time saying it, so it was alright.

Artoo whistled out an edict, it was almost time to go. "Get along, you two," Anakin shooed the twins. "And don't get in Intrepid's way," he warned. They nodded. "Bye fatha. May the force be with you," Luke said, stepping up to get his kiss.

"Blow up a bunch a ships, shoot down sleemo's, all that good stuff," Leia agreed with a smile. Anakin chuckled. He really shouldn't encourage her, but who couldn't? The girl was so darn cute. "I will, promise. Off you go," with that done, the twins scuttled off to the med-ward, where Anakin suspected Intrepid would have plenty of work for them to do.

Padme stepped up and gave him a smile. He could sense her anxiety ion the force. She always worried when he went in to battle. "Don't worry," he reassured her, lowering his voice.

"I'm the best pilot in the Order, remember? Besides, you will probably see me plenty. I'll be the show-off barve pulling all the stunts in the sky," he told her. Padme reached over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Anakin couldn't help but blush, like the teenage boy who had married her years ago.

"I know. Good luck Ani!" she called, sauntering off to her blasted bird, which was taking up too much of her blasted time and blast, when had she learned to walk like a that?

Pulling himself back into the present moment, and not on her backside, no small feat of self-control, he turned to the nav computer before him.

"Here we go, Artoo. Almost time for takeoff," he said, the words rolling of his tongue with the ritual of long formality. He had said this exact thing for almost eight years now during every space battle.

The long formality was good. Ahead, the signal for ready all ships flashed on the hangar doors. They were about to go. Anakin powered up his engine. Slowly, graceful as a rising dove, the starship levitated off the ground. Artoo squealed with excitement.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins, making him smile with the thrill. Sitting inside his own personal atelier, commander of his chosen vehicle, this was the best feeling in the galaxy. This is where the fun begins.

The fun resumed a second later when the light emitted a neon green glow and Anakin's fighter was the first out into the open recesses of space. The Force springing and preparing with him, he pushed several buttons, readying himself for the barrage of vulture droids which he knew would come to greet them as soon as the Sith saw that they were on their way.

Next chapter Lux escapes Dooku's clutches with the help of an old friend...

~Queen Yoda