Vader's second chance

A Star wars story

Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Disney owns everything except my plot.

Hello there everyone and welcome back to another chapter of the story! Before we begin, I have to give a massive "Thank you" to all the people that have followed, reviewed and added the story to their favorites! As a side note, I decided to give the clones some chapters of their own so the next couple chapters will be happening in the very small time frame of around two days. In this chapter we'll follow Commander Bly, who is trying to find information on the Sith apprentice Rex mentioned. His primary source of information is his General, who he has feelings for. The brave commander of the 372th legion will have to complete his mission without alerting his General, or getting distracted by how he feels. Today we'll follow him as he tiers to complete this daring operation. Enjoy and don't forget to review!

Note: The acronyms BFE and AFE are non-canon, but I have seen them used in a lot of fanfics here on FF and other sites like AO3, so I'll be using them. Also, I think it makes sense that Palpatine would have changed the "year zero" of the galaxy, considering that in Legends the Old Republic did exactly that after it was reformed 1000 years before ROTS.

Note 2: Because there is no record of Bly's whereabouts during this time period, I'm going to say that he is on Coruscant, in his personal quarters. I hope you guys are okay with that.

Coruscant, Commander Bly's quarters, Bly's point of view:

After talking with Rex and Cody I decided to take matters into my own hands instead of just waiting for something to come up and ask General Secura, even if I didn't want to. Everyone in the 372th admires and respects her, but I see her as something more than just my General. Unprofessional or not, I wasn't going to deny the fact that I felt this way towards her, as soon as I figure out exactly what I feel of course. Deciding to drop this train of thought for now, I sat on my bed, trying to figure out how to approach the situation. I had no experience in talking with a female before, with the exception of some long-necks and the General herself, but only when we were talking strategy. I barely interacted with her outside of the field and I quickly became frustrated because I couldn't bring myself to ask her a simple question. I thought about this a little more, trying to predict how she would respond to my question. After about an hour of thinking, I decided to go talk to her, thinking I was ready to confront her. I exited my quarters and made my way across the ship in order to reach hers. I kept on thinking about the question and trying to stop being so nervous, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I mean, it was just a simple question I had to ask so I could help a brother, I wasn't going to ask her out or something stupid like that. I was lost in thought and seconds quickly became minutes before I realized I had been standing outside her room for some time now. Two brothers passed by and I could practically see the looks they gave me through their helmets, but I didn't comment on it. I waited for them to pass and knocked on the door of the General's quarters, expecting her to open it. When nothing happened I knocked again, but there was no response. I was about to knock for a third time, but I was interrupted by someone that was standing behind me. I turned around, only to see that the General was standing right behind me!

Bly-Uh, hello sir.

Aayla-Hello Bly. Do you need something?

Bly-Um, it's not so important sir.

Aayla-Commander, you made the effort of coming here to speak to me. Surely it's important enough for you to seek me out.

Bly-Uh, well…I wanted to ask you something, but I can leave if you're busy.

Aayla-It's quite alright Commander. Please come in.

Bly-…Thank you sir.

General Secura opened the door to her quarters and showed me inside the room. There wasn't much furniture inside her quarters, just a bed and a small desk with a chair for her to sit on. Her room turned out to be almost the same as mine, with the exception of the datapads that were scattered on her desk. She told me to sit down and I sat on the chair. She sat on her bed and looked at me, while I said nothing.

Aayla-Commander, you said there was something you wanted to ask?

Bly-Yes sir. You see, I have a question about these Sith that are leading the Seps.

Aayla-What do you want to know about them?

Bly-Um, what are they like? I mean, what do we know?

Aayla-Well, nobody knows the true extent of Lord Vader's power and almost nothing is known about his apprentice, so there isn't much to tell.

Bly-Well…I'd like to hear it, if you don't mind.

Aayla-Very well. Lord Vader usually likes to test his opponents before he actually fights them. I have never fought him, but Master Kenobi admitted that Vader could have killed him and Knight Skywalker on Nar Shaddaa, but he chose not to. He is powerful and strategy wise, it's best to not engage him at all. His apprentice is still a mystery and we don't many clues to either of their identities.

Bly-Sir, what do we know about her?

Aayla-Commander, why are you so interested in them all of a sudden?

Bly-Uh, no reason sir. I just want to know what we'll be going up against.

Aayla-Commander, that is a reason.

Bly-Really, that's all I want to know.

Aayla-You are nervous. If that was all, then you wouldn't feel the need to be nervous about talking to me.

Bly-Sir, I assure you, that is all.

Aayla-Very well. We know that Vader is a cyborg of some sort and that his suit is vulnerable to electricity, but we have no idea if he's found a way to counter such attacks. Vader's apprentice is agile, powerful and has learned how to use Force Lightning, which can incapacitate, or even kill someone in mere seconds. We know that both are experts in lightsaber combat, but nothing about their past.

Bly-Is there a record of where they were last seen before the war?

Aayla-If there is one, we haven't found it. Republic Intelligence is still working on that.

Bly-What about their origins?

Aayla-We suspect that Vader is a human and we know that his apprentice is a Togruta, but there is no record of their whereabouts before Geonosis.

Bly-Well, thank you for the information sir.

Aayla-It was no problem Commander, but I suggest you don't lie next time.

Bly-Lie?

Aayla-I can tell when you lie. You didn't come here to talk about strategies and me asking you about the reasons behind your behavior wasn't the thing that made you nervous.

Bly-Sir…

Aayla-I won't push you, but I suggest you tell me what's going on.

Bly-Sir, it's not a big deal.

Aayla-Another lie.

Bly-…

Aayla-You may go, but we will discuss this later.

Bly-Yes General.

Moments later, Aayla's point of view:

As soon as I allowed it, Bly practically ran out of my room. I didn't really know what this was all about or why he wanted to know about Lord Vader and Lady Reaper, but that wasn't what I was thinking about. I closed the door and lied down on my bed, thinking about my Commander. I wasn't really interested in his questions, just him. To me, the reason he came to see me didn't matter, just that he did. When he left I felt something, but I wasn't able to understand what it was. I kept on thinking about our conversation and my mind kept drifting to other things, like his looks and him being nervous to see me and…wait... Was I attached to him? Surely I couldn't be. Not only was it unprofessional, it just happened to against the very code I've lived with for nearly two and a half decades! I had to stop thinking about him, right? Yes, yes I did. Jedi aren't supposed to have attachments, they are a path to the Dark Side. Well, that's what Master Yoda has always said, but was he right? I began questioning things I had taken for granted before and after what felt like hours I suddenly stopped. I got up and walked to the fresher. I looked at myself in the mirror and I realized something. I was attached to him. I realized that it wasn't a question anymore. I had feelings for him. Then another question came to my mind. What type of feelings do I have for him? Surely I don't love him right? No…that would be absurd. There had to be a better explanation. All I had to do was find it, so I tried to do just that. I sat on my bed once again, thinking about this new discovery and trying to explain it, but the more I looked into it the more clear it became. I loved him. For some insane reason…I loved him.

So, plot twist! In the next chapter we'll continue exploring the relationship between these two and Aayla is going to find out that Bly loves her back. The only question is, will they act on their emotions, or will they try to seal them away? Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was really fun to write Bly, who is a man committed to his mission and will do practically anything for the Republic as someone who despite his bravery, still struggles with the same problems normal people do. I especially enjoyed the part with Aayla figuring out that she loved him, because it opens up a whole new relationship to explore. We won't be seeing as much of them as the other pairings in this story (Anakin/Padme, Vader/Ahsoka and Obi Wan/Satine), but we will get to see parts of their relationship. Also, there has been a small change of plans regarding the timeline we'll be following, but I'll tell you about it later since it won't come up for quite some time, probably until year two of the war. As a final note, there will be a time skip in about two chapters that will take us a couple months forward all the way to the Battle of Ryloth so we can finally begin progressing through the timeline of the Clone Wars, but I'll get to the details in later chapters. For now, May the Force be with you. Until next time guys!