Author's Note: One last time.
Epilogue
Rising from the Emperor's podium, in the center of Coruscant's Galactic Senate Chamber, a scowl was hidden beneath a darkened scarlet hood.
His gnarled hands gripped the podium's surface, which had been repainted in the years following his destruction of the very chamber in which he presided over.
Greeting the convocation, which had gathered in the thousands at his very call, Emperor Palpatine mustered his deceptive charisma to entertain the systems of the Empire.
"My esteemed colleagues." He began, gravelly voice scraping through the sound systems of the Senate chamber. "You are called here today to bear witness."
One could hear a pin drop in the echoing hall.
"The traitors of the old Republic. The Jedi Order, waged war against our own brave armed forces. In the process, they exterminated thousands of innocent lives, and spilled the blood of one of our greatest military leaders."
Images of Baradas' war-scarred surface emerged, though they appeared manipulated. Palpatine had seized on the moment to further alienate the Jedi from the galaxy.
Seated within the Senate Pod for the Alderaan system, Bail Organa glanced across his row to a friend nearby.
Mon Mothma met his eyes, and they exchanged a faint smile.
They knew the truth.
And they would fight on.
"Today we honor the sacrifice of our own soldiers and officers, who died defending our great Empire with their dying breaths." Palpatine said, eloquent as ever.
Not a single mention of Eera Vantu escaped his lips.
The control panel of the Emperor's podium flickered with images of Moff Vantu's exploits and conquests. Her very face, once the poster girl for the Empire's recruitment efforts in the Mid Rim and a glorious hero of the Republic era, reduced to nothing but an afterthought beneath the Emperor's crooked fingers.
"You are the brightest star in this galaxy."
On the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer, his eyes found only the cold depths of space.
Black durasteel rose from the walkway, culminating with the spectral neural interface of a darkened helmet, one that struck fear into all those who found its hollow eyepieces.
Falling down behind him, a billowing orthofabric cape.
A shadowy construction of terror and suffering, he was the Empire's greatest weapon.
Standing alone against billions of stars, he overlooked his gathering armada.
Only one dared to address him.
"Lord Vader."
He did not budge.
Silence pervaded, until the Dark Lord of the Sith chose to speak.
"What is it, Admiral?" The growl uttered low, as if rising from the bowels of hell itself.
"During our salvage operations at Baradas, we found something."
"Go on."
"The Emperor's prize."
"Is it still alive?"
"We believe so, my lord."
Vader fell into silence again.
"What are your orders?" The Admiral inquired.
"Bring it to me. Now that Moff Vantu is dead, we will see what the Emperor wants to do with this prize."
"Right away, my lord."
The Admiral remained a few steps behind Vader, who immediately noticed.
"You have more to say, Admiral?"
"Just one thing, if I may."
"I'll allow it."
"We learned more of the Jedi who's been combing the Mid Rim as of late. We suspect they are the same one from Raada, four years ago."
"Were they on Baradas?" Vader pronounced.
"We believe so. Escaped crew from the Prosecutor confirmed it."
"And?"
"They are Togruta, my lord."
He said nothing, only immersed in thought. The world shrunk and grew slower around him. Every breath, every droplet in the air, every thought and emotion running through his crew. The clinical air of the Star Destroyer's bridge floated about his imposing stature, molecules impacting Vader's helmet and recoiling towards the transparisteel of the viewport.
He could sense it all.
"My lord?" A voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Are you sure, Admiral?" Vader never once flinched, nor left his position.
"We are."
"Very well. You are dismissed." With a wave of his hand, the Admiral departed.
Togruta.
Vader stared off into the vast expanse of space. The dizzying number of star systems under his control twinkled over the galactic vacuum, and reflected like a calm blizzard across his helmet.
His memory wandered into a place he long sought to suppress.
A flood of images pranced through his tortured mind.
Could his apprentice still live?
Darth Vader's gaze wandered down to his own reflection in the transparisteel.
Anakin Skywalker gazed back.
Rising from the desert mirages of Seelos, a lone shuttle found its footing in the sweeping sands of the planet's northern hemisphere.
A pair of clones descended from the loading ramp, and were met with only a biting wind and a jaggedly cracked ground.
Looking across the flats, Rex noticed something in the distance. The broken husk of a Republic walker.
"Is that-..?" He asked.
"Sure is." Wolffe said enthusiastically. "Repairable too, I bet."
"Looks like we'll be just fine here, brother." Rex quipped back.
The third figure followed them slowly, with a wheeled blue-and-white astromech droid behind her.
"Are you sure you'll be okay out here?" Ahsoka pressed.
"We'll be alright." Rex said. "Just reassured myself of that."
Ahsoka didn't seem completely sure.
"I promise."
"The last person who promised me something ended up dead. Don't you leave me either." She insisted.
"It's the last thing on my mind, Commander."
They embraced, and she left a lingering peck on his cheek.
"Take care of yourself, Rex." She said. "And thank you."
He nodded, smiling at her.
R2-D2 chirped at him, and Rex's hand found the hood of the astromech.
"Be safe out there, little buddy." Rex said.
Ahsoka's eyes found Wolffe's.
"I know you'll keep an eye on Rex, won't you?"
"Of course." Wolffe replied, sarcasm oozing. "Everything will be peachy."
Ahsoka grinned, and they embraced.
"You know." Wolffe said. "General Plo finding both you and Orren all those years ago was probably one of the best things to happen for this galaxy."
Ahsoka thought about the implications of her discovery, what felt like centuries ago.
Whether or not she felt the same, she decided not to speak further on it.
"Be seeing you, Wolffe."
"You take care, Commander." He offered a salute to her.
Stepping back towards the shuttle, she allowed the two clone commanders to take their first steps on Seelos alone.
"If I ever need you in the future?" Ahsoka called out. "Will you be there?"
"You'll know where to find us, Ahsoka." Rex smiled.
Their eyes lingered for a few fleeting moments, until breaking away for the last time.
The shuttle's ramp lifted, and the clones set out into the eternal desert, towards the outline of a familiar construct on the horizon.
Descending from a pulley rope, a single clone dropped into a dense residential district in Coruscant's underworld.
Nestled in his arms as he dangled from a low-flying pursuit craft, was a secured crate of bacta.
Hundreds of people of countless ages, species, and backgrounds swarmed him from the walkways below.
He reached towards them like a falling angel.
Handing the first crate down, the second was tossed down to him promptly.
Dynamo observed the hubbub, watching the people of the lower levels distribute the lifeblood amongst each other freely and without conflict.
Down the walkway from their position, he noticed the lights of a dive bar.
Chuckles' favorite.
In the distance, the sound of Imperial police klaxons wailed. With the crowd alerted, he picked up the pace.
Dropping the second crate to the populace, he was hoisted up rapidly.
"Gotta go. They found us." Al told him from the cargo bay. Dynamo looked downward, and was met only with waves of goodbye and jubilant families.
"Firing up the engines!" Kya shouted from the corridor. "Got two police craft on our ass. Buckle up."
The Paragon surged to life as the trio reunited in the cockpit.
Dynamo watched the countless neon signs pass them by as they ascended through a massive ventilation shaft to the surface.
The flashing lights of the Imperial police speeders glistened across the ferrocrete and glass supertowers of Coruscant's lavish surface as they hastened their pursuit of the Paragon.
Darting through multiple skylanes, and weaving between an apartment complex, they shook off their pursuers near a cluster of government cloudcutters.
"Another one bites the dust." Al said, taking the copilot's seat with a smirk.
"What's next?" Dynamo asked.
"Big operation on Fondor. You'll like this one, Dy. Packing all the heat." Kya remarked, sending power to the drive engines. "We do it for the people."
Dynamo nodded, and gazed out across the steel superstructure of Coruscant's endless ecumenopolis, coming to life against the growing nightfall.
He smiled.
As the months on Auratera drew on, and summer became fall, the village of Klaria found new inhabitants.
Outside the freshly minted "Karma's Fix" mechanic shop, Juuna, her daughter Sienn, Sala, Tali, and Tyno eagerly welcomed the first new guests.
Just inside, two clones milled about an empty mechanic's bay, ready for business.
"Still think this is a good idea?" Fix asked.
"Got nothin' to lose." Karma grinned.
Processing the first customer to step within the door, the pair got to work.
Overlooking their joint venture from a hundred meters overhead, was a sweeping new structure that had been built and attached to Orren's hut.
On the namepost hanging above the entrance, one could read the words: Klaria Medical Center and Home for Children.
Youth mingled and darted about in the grasses of the bluff, with a Matron looking on fondly.
Laeda and Commander Noble stood at the base of the entry door, watching the children.
"Will Lyro be here for the ribbon-cutting?" Noble asked.
"He promised he would be." Laeda replied. "Comes with the job of mayor." She smirked.
They let a breeze wash over them, as the brisk autumnal air surged out from the conifers.
"I think Orren would've loved this." Noble said.
"Me too." Laeda returned, kissing the clone on the cheek.
Their hands intertwined, and they looked on.
In the waning daylight of the seasonal autumn harvest, a Togruta and a young boy reached the precipice of an ever-growing Uneti tree.
The expanding dusk began to boast a gathering of stars twinkling overhead.
"I've been thinking." Luko said. "Maybe Orren is connected to this tree? He did plant it, right?"
"Right." Ahsoka said. "Maybe you're right. It's a Force tree, so perhaps he's in there somewhere."
"How will I know this is gonna work?" Luko inquired hesitantly. "What if I don't feel anything? Does that mean I can't be a Jedi?"
"You will. Trust me, Luko." Ahsoka replied. "Go on."
With a bit of an encouraging start from his mentor, Luko took his first steps towards the Uneti.
Swaying in the wind, the tree offered no resistance through the Force, and the boy obliged.
He stepped over the first bulging root system and into a soft clearing at the base of the trunk.
Luko glanced back at Ahsoka, who nodded.
Taking a deep breath, the boy placed his palm against the bark of the tree, and the synergy was instant.
Rushing through him, a resurgence of Force energy pulsed through the planet's core, gathering in the distant cave, and running beneath the earth into the roots of the Uneti.
The luminosity of the Force wrapped around the boy's hand and filled him with a newfound sense of perception. He gained clarity, perception, a determination to persist.
In the shadow of Orren Kara's gravestone, Luko had found his light.
Eyes wandering up to the dazzling display of star systems that poignantly watched from above, Luko's delight could be seen through the myriad of golden leaves that peppered the branches of the mighty tree.
Spirits of old danced around the boy, and the Force cascaded through the redwoods and conifers of the forest.
In the collecting eventide, Ahsoka looked on in joy, and reached into the Force's energy herself.
While the valley winds gathered around her and fluttered the hem of her cloak, she felt a familiar presence nearby.
Not physically present, she knew who it was.
"It's him!" Luko shouted over the gale. "It's him!"
Ahsoka found herself smiling.
The Force allowed them both to say their goodbyes to him, and within a flash, Orren Kara's presence faded into the netherworld in finality.
As the synergy died down, Luko removed his hand from the tree, and looked to Ahsoka with an eager smile.
She reached out to him.
Beneath the flourishing leaves of the Uneti tree, Luko took her hand.
Epilogue Note: Thank you so much for reading. I had an absolute blast writing this, and will never forget it. It's my first work, and the first big creative piece I've ever finished in my life. I have OCD, so completing tasks can be a challenge. This was really a symbol of perseverance for me, and it means a lot. As a huge Star Wars fan, I'll admit, it's far from perfect, and I'm sure it has plenty of flaws, but imperfection makes us human rather than droids, and I love it anyways. I hope you did too. The last post after this is literally just trivia and inspirations behind the story, and it's already up. If you enjoyed this, definitely check that out. Be well, and take care of each other.