The Will of the Force

by FMPtrumpets

It has been a long time since Yoda had such a clear Force vision. Even longer since the Force made it's Will clear so plainly. He could do nothing but obey its wishes. That one act brought many more things to light. At least it also ruined the plans of the Sith Lord.

2. Chapter 2

I do not own Star Wars, I did not think up Star Wars, I wasn't even born yet. It would have been cool if I had been the one though. Unfortunately my wallet is a little empty for that to have been the case.

---

"We'll send a battalion to take Kamino, sir. That way they can't keep making clones for the empire, they can't kill the cadets that are still there, and we can get the chips out of them." Rex said after a short discussion with Cody.

"Good, Cody, could the 212th take off quickly?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Alert them and the... 187th. We'll leave for Kamino in two hours." Obi-Wan ordered, already planning on going with him. He knew Mace Windu's battalion would appreciate having something to focus on right now. They were still reeling from the loss of their Jedi.

"I will go with you." Shak Ti said.

"Alright. Just be careful. Both of you." Luminara said.

"We will." They promised.

"Then may the Force be with you both."

"How did the meeting go?" Anakin looked up from the repairs he was doing on his arm when Padme and Rex entered his room on the Resolute.

"Good. Generals Kenobi and Ti are taking the 212th and the 187th to Kamino to free the cadets, stop them from making more Clones for the new empire, and rescue the ones that aren't born yet." Rex said, satisfied.

"And plans are being made to send battalions to the planets leaving the empire. Hopefully before Palpatine gets his act together." Padme sighed and sat down. "I think they're also making plans to build a new Jedi Temple out here. Or at least some kind of permanent housing on the planet so we're not living in the ships." And so that the young ones could have somewhere to run without getting in the way.

Anakin sighed and put down his tools. "Yeah, I don't think we're going to be going back to Coruscant for a long time." He glanced at his wife. "How are you doing? Have you heard anything about your family yet?"

"No." She shook her head. "I mentioned them to Bail, hopefully he can get them somewhere safe."

He reached out with his flesh hand and pulled her into a side-hug.

"How are the repairs going?" Rex asked his general. His arm had been damaged during the battle in the Temple, a Guard had gotten in a lucky shot and somehow managed to get a bolt under the protective plating of the wrist and completely destroy some of the wiring. Anakin had been so stunned that it happened, it was only Rex's quick reflexes that kept him from getting shot again.

"I'm having to scrounge for materials from what we have, we don't have access to all the supplies and stuff a huge city like Coruscant has to offer." He grumbled. Unless one of the planets they were going to go protect soon could spare the materials he needed to fix his prosthetic, he was useless in a fight.

The Jedi Order just didn't have access to the kind of resources they were used to anymore, and it was already showing.

"We don't have anything on board?" Rex asked, confused. The General had a prosthetic, they were sent to the heaviest pockets of fighting for the entirety of the war, and they didn't keep spare parts for said prosthetic on the General's own ship?

What?

"No." Anakin was furious with himself for overlooking it, now. "I've never damaged my hand like this before, any damages I did do were easily fixed on our next trip to Coruscant or medical station run by the Kaminoans." And, despite the kind of weapon all Jedi carried from the time they were at least six, there weren't that many Jedi with prosthetics requiring the Healers to keep a ready supply of all the parts needed for repairs. Which meant that in the scramble to grab things and evacuate, what supplies they did keep on hand were not brought along.

He was kicking himself now, but at the time they were so focused on the younglings that he had completely neglected to make sure the temple was cleared of any essential supplies or equipment that they had on hand, like parts for his arm and certain medicines the Healers kept on hand that they no longer had access to. They had specialized equipment that they no longer had access to, that was designed to withstand a Jedi losing control of the Force in a moment of pain, even equipment to temporarily cut a Jedi off from the Force if they needed to for the safety of everyone else and did not have the time to focus on cutting them off through the Force.

Some of it was equipment that was too big and heavy to be carried in the rush to evacuate, even though the Healers had grabbed all the small things that they could. They'd known that evacuating was a possibility, that was why they got the younglings out earlier. Even if the attack hadn't come for a long time yet, they could have ordered new equipment if needed, while having the old equipment safely on a ship where they could have it later. It was going to be a while before they could rebuild or otherwise replace some of it.

Even though they took steps to protect the younglings, and knew this was coming, it still caught them off guard far too easily in his opinion.

He shook his head and picked his tool up again. "And, doing this one-handed is harder then it looks." Especially since he was right-handed, and was trying to do delicate work with his left.

"What about a medical droid?"

"Busy with wounded or chipped clones." Anakin muttered. They'd managed to capture four ships full of chipped Clones before they fully withdrew from the capital planet, as well as four more on their way to this planet, along with the ten more captured and brought in by other Jedi generals from other parts of the galaxy. That was including the members of the Coruscant Guard that they stunned during the battle and brought with them. All the medics and medical droids were working overtime to deal with the chips or monitor them.

Even now, two weeks later.

"What about a Jedi Healer?"

"Clones." Rex didn't bother asking about the battalion medics, he knew what they were busy with.

"I'll get with some contacts, maybe I can see about getting parts and supplies for a prosthetic from somewhere." Padme grimaced in sympathy for her husband, and stood up to go. Mon or Bail would be her first choices, but she didn't want to call them too much, it increased their chances of the communication being intercepted.

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking up, worried. It had been a stressful few weeks, something Master Che had expressly warned was not good for the babies or Padme, and he wasn't sure if she should be moving around so much. Che had told her to get some more rest.

"I can make a few calls." She assured him and left.

"How did you manage to hide that from us for so long?" Rex wondered out loud, watching the looks between the couple. "We knew that there was something between you, but..." He trailed off.

Anakin ducked his head back to his arm to hide his smirk.

"Speaking of a medical station, sir..." Rex said thoughtfully, changing the subject. "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for us to take a few more of them."

Anakin stopped his repair work again and looked up, already knowing where he was going. "They would have all the equipment we could possibly need for all our medical needs, and more supplies then we currently have. For now, at least. And there might be some wounded clones still on board for treatment that would be chipped." He nodded before thinking about it some more.

They already had two stations, taken by the Jedi whose battalions were receiving medical treatment onboard them at the time of the Order being given. They'd managed to not only survive the initial Order, but they'd then been able to capture the other battalions also currently on the station, the platoons stationed there for the stations defense, and the stations themselves. Anakin was quite impressed, and according to the Clone grapevine the actions were considered '501st worthy'. (Rex was ridiculously proud when he heard).

The only reason he hadn't already checked the stations for the parts he needed was because they were so busy with dechipping clones. And because clones weren't provided with prosthetics when they needed them. The Kaminoans 'decommissioned' them if they were ever that badly injured. The only station that kept parts for a prosthetic was the one that his battalion frequented the most often, and that supply was kept solely for his use.

Which made it even more frustrating that he didn't keep a supply of parts on his own ship.

"Let the Council know, and see if... Koon and Secura can't join us. We should aim for six for now, that makes it two for each battalion to go after." He decided. Eventually, he wanted to get all of them, but for right now they weren't organized enough. Six of them, along with all the Clones and supplies on board, would be about all they could handle right now. Actually, it just might overload them until they could adjust.

"Yes, sir." Rex nodded and left. He knew better then to suggest the general stay behind because of his arm, he knew how stubborn the general could be.

---

"Are you sure you want to go?" Luminara asked suddenly after they had finished going over star charts, planning which medical stations they would take and how they would get them back to the rest of their fleet.

So far, the plan was to take along a small skeleton crew of medics, pilots, and navigators from other battalions and leave them to bring the first station back, that way they still had a full battalion to take the second station. They were going to hit hard, and fast, and if they hurried, they could hit them at the same time Obi-Wan and Shak Ti reached Kamino and started their attack.

"What do you mean?" Anakin asked, confused.

Luminara sighed. "Your wife is almost ready to give birth. Surely you would rather be here for that?"*

Anakin got quiet, and the two Masters could feel his conflict in the Force.

"Go." Padme said, coming into the room. "You won't be able to relax knowing that your men and Ahsoka are out there without you. If something happens, you have the Twilight, you can come back quickly, and Ahsoka can handle the rest."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go. Rescue more troopers, get parts to fix your arm, and get us more medical supplies." She shook her head.

Anakin immediately relaxed, squeezed her arm affectionately, and turned to the Masters. "May the Force be with you both." He said, and left to return to his ship, intent on getting underway. The sooner they left, the sooner they claimed those stations, the sooner he could get back.

Luminara sighed and shook her head. "So impatient." She muttered, before repeating the parting phrase and taking her own leave. She needed to check with those on the planet right now.

All available Jedi and clones were working on clearing an area and gathering materials to build a new Temple and storage buildings, while the Agricorp was establishing crop fields, finding local animal life that they could domesticate for livestock, and surveying the oceans for sea life that they could fish for.

She found herself grateful that somebody had thought to stop by the planets that the Agricorp worked on to retrieve those Jedi. They may not be fighters, or even fully trained after failing their final exams or failing to be chosen as Padawans, but they were still part of the Jedi Order. They did not leave any of their own behind. She found herself even more grateful for the creche masters and the instructors for ensuring the younglings' education continued uninterrupted. It kept the younglings out of the way and from becoming bored (which usually led to trouble of some sort), letting the rest of the Masters and Knights focus on ensuring their survival.

With a sigh, she moved towards the hanger of her ship, intending to catch the next gunship full of supplies for the planet.

---

Bail turned off the long-range communicator and sighed before looking at his companion. "Are you sure you don't want to join the Jedi? You are still the Grandmaster." He asked.

When he picked the ancient Grandmaster up from the Senate building after he lost the fight with the new emperor, he'd expected to find some way of sneaking the Jedi off planet so he could rejoin the Order on their new planet. Instead, Yoda had not only refused to leave, he forbade Bail from letting the Jedi know where he was! He even refused to get in contact with them himself!

"Sure, I am." Yoda said heavily. "Old, I am. Stagnant, I am. Set in my ways, I am. New blood, new leadership, the Jedi need."

He'd never felt his age as keenly as he had in those moments after his captain told him they'd received Order 66, those moments where he felt hundreds of Jedi die. Thousands had escaped, but that didn't change the fact that the Order had almost been destroyed under his leadership. If it weren't for the 501st discovering the chips, they would have been. His leadership, all several centuries of it, had almost ended in disaster.

He'd had plenty of time to think in the last month or so, and hindsight was most certainly twenty-twenty. He'd realized that there were many times that he should have noticed what was going on.

Force, he hadn't even remembered that Plo Koon's battalion was in orbit around Coruscant! He was the one to pass the orders on when the Chancellor ordered three Jedi battalions to stay while the rest of the fleet went back out.

No, he was too old, if the Jedi were to truly grow from here, he needed to step aside and let the younger ones take over. Obi-Wan was right, there were some parts of the Code that needed to change. He'd acknowledged this before, but now he knew that he could not be the one to truly implement those changes.

Bail sighed. "At least let me tell them you're safe, otherwise they might use resources they can't afford looking for you." He tried to reason. He didn't know much about how the Force worked, but hadn't one of his Jedi friends told him once that they could feel each other through the Force? Which meant that they would be able to feel that Yoda was still alive, right? Knowing the Jedi, that would mean they would try to find him, right?

"Tell them I am safe, you may. Tell them where, you may not." Yoda finally said, seeing the wisdom in those words. "A ship, I need." He started moving towards the door. He already had an idea of where he was going to go, Dagobah was a planet particularly attuned to the Living Force, which would be perfect for the training he was going to do with Qui-Gon. First, though, he still needed to address the galaxy, and then he was going to take steps to ensure the safety of the younglings future as Jedi, the Khyber crystal mines.

---

"Master, are we going to be able to take them to get their crystals?" The Padawan asked the instructor he'd been helping for the day. The younglings, who had been leaving to head for their next lesson, stopped and turned around, eager for answers to that themselves. This was the class that Obi-Wan had been scheduled to take, and the trip had been put off, for obvious reasons.

The instructor pursed his lips and sighed after a moment. "I don't know. I believe that once we get ourselves established here, that we can probably start to resume normal Rites, but I don't know when that will be." After all, the Order's normal activities (like earning crystals and Knighting ceremonies and the like) didn't stop even when the galactic civil war first started, so he didn't see why this would stop them. But right now all hands were needed to build and/or continue fighting.

(Of course, at the start of the civil war, the Jedi Order had the backing of the Republic government and were feared or respected across the galaxy. Now they were being hunted by what used to be the Republic government, and all of the respect was now limited to a handful of systems that refused to believe Palpatine's lies about the Jedi being traitors. Those systems were struggling to form their own governing body and raise a military force to fend off the Empire once Palpatine was able to turn his attention towards them.)

After all, just because the enemy had been changed, did not mean the war was over.

If anything, he would hazard a guess that the war had just only just begun.

Just that morning, the 212th, 187th, 501st, 104th, 327th battalions had all left on various missions that would hopefully result in having more supplies and Clones to help them. Once they had that done, and were more established here, it wouldn't be long before the rest of the fleet was being sent back out to the new front lines.

He would have to wait until those five returned, though, seeing as how three of the five Generals going were some of the few remaining council members. He could ask Master Luminara, but there was no need to place yet another concern on her shoulders, not when she was already handling so much.

All of the younglings slumped in disappointment before leaving to let the next group into the area for their own lesson, and so they weren't late for their next one.

---

"Did you hear-"

"I can't believe-"

"Master Yoda-"

"He said-"

Obi-Wan looked around, curious. While they were busy with Kamino, he hadn't been able to hear any news from the former Republic, or from the Order. Coming back, he'd expected to have to ask Luminara to catch him up on what happened while he was gone, he had not expected the snippets of excited conversation he overheard on his way to the makeshift Council room. All the Padawans were gathered in groups and gossiping about it, while their Masters were doing the same thing not too far away.

And here he thought that seeing six medical stations (that were not there before) floating in orbit would be big enough news.

"What happened?" Were the first words out of his mouth when he entered the room, taking in the rest of the Council, Anakin, Padme, and Rex. Shak Ti had stayed on Kamino to oversee the surgeries to dechip the Clones there and to go through the Kaminoans records now that she had free reign.

"Master Yoda went live across the holonet. He gave a brief speech corroborating the reports Bail and the others released about Palpatine, commended the Jedi Masters on their quick thinking in rescuing the younglings from the unprovoked and sudden attack of the Coruscant Guard, and released all the information we have about the chips and everything we know about who hired the Kaminoans to produce the Clone army. He said a few more things, but you will have to watch it for yourself." Luminara sighed. "He also instructed us that we are not to look for him. That his time leading the Order was over, and summarily promoted Plo Koon to Grandmaster of the Jedi Order."

Minutes before the broadcast, they had received a message from Bail saying that Yoda did not wish to return to them at that time, but that he was safe. Bail must not have known that Yoda was planning that broadcast.

Obi-Wan was stunned speechless. "Wow... Master Yoda is not returning?"

The rest of the group shook their heads. "He told Bail that he is stagnant, set in his ways, and that the Order needed new leadership if they are to truly grow." Padme said quietly from beside her husband.

"We have to trust that Master Yoda knows what he is doing." Plo Koon finally said, having finished digesting the fact that he was now in charge of the Jedi Order. "First, how did the mission to take Kamino go?" He asked Obi-Wan.

"Successful. Kamino is ours. When I left, Shak Ti was overseeing the first of the surgeries as well as the clean-up. She's decided to stay there, after all, technically she is still in charge of overseeing the Clones training. Now, though, the cadets and younger clones are being given the choice about what training they receive." She wasn't going to force any more sentients into fighting for a war that had nothing to do with them, just because they were created just for that purpose.

Those that did not want to fight were going to be given the opportunity to decide what else interested them, and then they would receive the required training to pursue that as a career. The general education for all the clones was also being expanded to what was considered essential for all children in the Republic, rather then what was just needed for fighting a war. She'd also set the remaining scientists to reversing or stopping the accelerated aging process (under guard, of course), and no more Clones were being created. The ones that had already been started would be 'birthed' and raised, but they would not be forced to fight, either.

Now that she no longer had the Senate watching her and the trainers every move, and now that the Kaminoans were no longer in charge of the Clones training, she was going to do what she'd wanted to do for a while now. Which was to give them a choice.

"Good." Plo Koon said simply. "Our mission to take the medical stations was also a success. Though it is a strain on our already overworked medics and Healers, the Clones have been added to the roster to be dechipped." Medics and medical technicians from the stations were being jumped to the front of the line in order to give the medics currently working a chance to get some rest. Despite the rotation system they'd been using so that they could still eat and sleep, they were still exhausted. The influx of fresh medics would be very much welcomed by them.

"Did you find parts for your arm on one of the new stations?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin, who nodded, pleased. When he looked, he noticed that Anakin's arm looked like it was completely repaired now.

"Yup!" Anakin said cheerfully. "The first one we took, actually. It's our usual station when we need to stop."

"Which is not as often as you might think." Rex muttered. Some of that may have more to do with the skill of the medics in the 501st then it did anything else, though.

"Hey!" Anakin protested, glaring at his captain, who ignored him with practiced ease.

"What now?" Luminara asked Plo Koon, deferring to his leadership without question out of respect for Master Yoda and his decision.

"First things first. How are the farming efforts going?" Plo Koon turned to Luminara, who had been the only one to stay behind while the rest of them secured more military assets for them all.

"Good. They report that the crop fields have successfully been planted, they will be ready for harvest in several months. Several animal species have been identified as problematic, they are observing them further for behavior patterns so they can draw up guidelines and map their movements. They have also identified some sea creatures that could be harvested for food as well, again with several species that could be problematic for any fishing efforts." She reported, barely glancing at her datapad for the needed information. "The pens and barns for our new livestock herds are also completed, they just need to be connected to a power supply to keep predators out. And they are waiting for the Healers to be freed up so they can help identify and catalog some poisonous plants they've found."

The Agricorp workers could identify that the plants were poisonous, but the Healers needed to take a look and run tests so they could document what effects the poison would have on the different species that made up the Jedi Order, as well as work on creating antidotes in the event that they were needed. A small team of Healers was already being spared from the dechipping efforts to try and identify any problematic bacteria or viruses on the new planet that they should be aware of. They honestly couldn't spare any more then that.

"That's excellent." Plo Koon said, pleased with the thought of being self-sufficient. The Jedi Order had been reliant on the Senate for so many decades, centuries even, and they'd seen what happened with that. Looking back, he could see that they had not been doing their jobs, they had been turned into the Senate's personal attack force instead.

They did not go out into the galaxy and try to help people. Instead they sat in their temple and waited for the Senate to tell them where to go.

Anakin had often complained that they didn't do enough to help people outside the Core and Mid-rim worlds, which looking back, he was ashamed by.

He was going to try and restructure the Jedi Order so that they were more conscious of those planets and the people that had gone ignored in the past. It shouldn't be too difficult, everyone that would have protested the direction he was going to take them, died in the Chancellor's office with the Republic, or at the temple in the attack. At least, those with the authority to protest the direction he was going to take them in.

"What about housing?" Rex asked. They needed to get the non-combatants off the ships, they needed to be able to go into combat at a moment's notice. They couldn't do that if the ships were full of non-combatants, especially the Resolute, which was still housing the majority of the Jedi younglings. It had been odd, having to use a different ship so they could take the medical stations. But the Resolute had to stay here so long as it was being used as a nursery. They also needed somewhere to move the wounded to when they had them, the eight medical stations they now had were only so large.

"The hospital is scheduled to be completed in two days, the creche building is going to be started right after that so we can get the younglings moved in, and I think they had plans to begin housing for everyone else immediately after." They'd had to gather supplies and materials from the planet, and then form them into something they could use, before they could even start building. The hospital was being built first for obvious reasons, it was an essential building, even though they had several medical stations in orbit.

But those stations might need to be moved so that they were closer to the front lines, however those ended up looking once the political shifting and maneuvering was done and Palpatine had his troops in order to send after any who threatened his complete and utter domination of the galaxy. Or those who dared insult him by thinking they could leave his new empire.

"After the housing is completed, they have already located a good site to build a new Temple." She finished her report.

"Good. That's good." Plo Koon said, deep in thought before he turned to Anakin and Ahsoka. "How did you even find this planet?" He asked. He'd been wondering about it ever since they first arrived, especially given how perfect it was. He was even more amazed that they hadn't found any ruins of an Ancient Jedi Temple already established. The planet was rich in resources and brimming with the Living Force.

Ahsoka looked to her Master, who looked somewhat pleased with himself while ignoring the dark look Rex was giving him. "I came across this planet while doing some exploring of this area of space... I actually hadn't been planning on it that time, but I had the strongest urge to come see what was here." He explained simply, to the shock of all the Jedi in the room. "I told some of my navigators about it when I returned, so they could mark it's location in the main system."

Ahsoka took up the tale from there, even through her shock. "When we were ordered to leave Coruscant for the safety of the younglings on board, our chief navigator mentioned that it would be the perfect place to lay low and make plans for getting the younglings to the three planets that had already offered to take them in if needed. I didn't think it would be this perfect, he only suggested it because of how remote it is." She admitted. She'd been shocked when she got a good look at the planet with her own eyes, and read the results from the planetary scans they'd done.

"Was it a directive from the Force to come here and find this planet?" Plo Koon asked slowly, studying Anakin intently.

Anakin bit his lip in thought and reached out to the Force in question. The Jedi all gasped when they felt the confirmation of the question.

"The Force led you to finding this planet, and a year later we are forced to take refuge here and make it our home." Obi-Wan said, huffing a laugh. "Amazing." He would never fail to be in awe of the Force.

"We should reach out to the planets that have shown their support of us, and withdrawn from the empire. They are trying to form a new interplanetary government, and raise a military force to protect themselves." Padme cut in after a moment. "According to Mon, Palpatine is almost ready to go after them and force them back into his empire." Any military they could raise would never be ready in time, but the Jedi still had their army mostly intact, even if they were outnumbered by how many Clone troopers Palpatine still had under his control through the chips. Especially given how so many of the Jedi's clones were still being kept unconscious until they could be dechipped.

Well, at least they'd taken away the possibility of Palpatine raising more clone troops by taking Kamino. They could change those numbers, though, if they continued capturing as many ships as possible and dechipping the Clones on board.

"Are we in a position to do that yet?" Obi-Wan asked nobody in particular.

"The adult Jedi can camp outside for a while and the Resolute would need to stay here until the creche is built, but if we can get the ships cleared of non-combatants, then we can head into action at any moment, sir." Rex reported. They couldn't expect the babies and toddlers to sleep outside, after all.

"Well, if we can move the younglings into the hospital, they can curtain off an area for them or something until the creche hall is completed." Anakin refuted the Resolute staying here.

"We should probably also reach out to some of the Confederacy planets." Padme said slowly, biting her lip. "Some of them didn't want to keep the fighting going any more then Bail, Mon, and I did. I almost had peace negotiations started, the Confederate senate had voted for negotiations to begin, until Mina was killed. Of course, not all of them voted that way, but... those that did I think would be worth reaching out to right now."

"The Republic senate weren't the only ones who were lied to." Luminara said after a moment's thought. "Those planets might be willing to join the new forming government, or they might be willing to offer supplies and refuge for those that need it." She didn't know how much control the senators and governors of those planets had over their local droid contingents, but having some of those on their side could prove useful, at least while they lasted. It could at least buy them time to build up a respectable military.

"Where are we on dechipping Clones?" Plo Koon asked, wanting to know just how many numbers they had.

"With the addition of the six stations, we've been able to dechip twice as fast, it would be even better except that those stations came with even more Clones needing dechipped..." Kix grumbled for a moment. "We've got three battalions free of the controlling chips, and three more battalions started. After that, I don't know how many more we're going to be able to do before we run out of supplies." He admitted. "But we're still inventorying the new stations, so that might not actually be a concern as far as dechipping goes."

"But after the Clones are all dechipped, we're going to need more medical supplies." Obi-Wan filled in the blanks.

"Yes, sir." For the most part, the Clones that still had the chips in their brains were able to function normally again, there had only been a couple of incidents where they thought they were 'normal' again, until they caught sight of a Jedi and it was clear they were still under the influence. Those Clones were immediately knocked back out and kept under sedation so as to not risk it again. They just didn't have the supplies on hand to keep them all knocked out, so they risked letting the chipped ones move around and carry out duties under surveillance.

"We can reach out to our allies once we make our move against the empire." Plo Koon decided. Well, he supposed that it was unavoidable that they remain dependent on others for some things. For now at least.

"I already reached out to Bail and Mon about it, Anakin needed parts to fix his arm and I didn't know they would find them on the medical station." Padme spoke up. "Bail is getting a ship ready to send to us, but he's having to do it covertly since officially Alderaan is still part of the Empire. So it may take a little longer to get to us." Bail and his wife had talked, and agreed that they would stay and funnel information to their Jedi allies from the inside, while Chandrila had been one of the first to pull out of the Empire on their senator Mon Mothma's recommendation.

They all relaxed hearing that.

"Before we leave, some of the combat instructors asked me if or when we might be able to take the younglings to get their crystals." Luminara said before the meeting could be broken up.

"The Cha- emperor would know where our Crystal mines are, or at least what systems they're in." Obi-Wan pointed out. It wouldn't be too difficult for him to put a battalion in the way to keep them from accessing one of the Jedi Order's most precious resources.

"Yes, but we cannot disrupt their training too much, and to not even go to get their crystals! Such a sacred rite of passage..." Padme cut in, biting her lip. She knew a bit more about it then most through Anakin, so she knew how important this was to the younglings themselves, as well as their futures.

Somehow none of the Jedi there were the least bit surprised of how much she was aware of.

"I'll take them tomorrow. They would have already gotten them, if all this hadn't happened." Obi-Wan said after a moment's thought.

"You are not going alone, take Commander Cody and a small unit with you. As well as... Knight Vos." Koon instructed. "Stay as stealthy as you can, I will assign one of my pilots to fly you, as well." His pilots were the best in the fleet for a reason, he could trust them to get the group through any blockade that might be in place, or fly them in undetected.

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement with his orders before he left to make the preparations. Thankfully somebody had thought to bring their supply of materials used in making lightsabers, or they would have to find some way of getting access to those, as well.

---

"Master!" Ahsoka called her master frantically on her communicator. Padme was holding her belly desperately and was clearly in pain. They'd been in the hanger-bay when the former Queen admitted that she'd actually been feeling pain in her lower back for most of the day, before suddenly hunching over as a stab of pain went through her abdomen area, followed by a rush of water.

"Ahsoka, what is it?" Anakin asked, confused and worried.

"I think the babies are coming." Ahsoka said, trying to support the Senator so they could start moving towards medical and talk through the communicator attached to her wrist at the same time.

"What?!" Anakin burst out. "Where are you? I'm calling Master Che!" He said, already starting to run towards the general direction he could feel the women in.

"We're in the hangar bay." Ahsoka said and hung up so he could actually call the Healer and she could get a firmer grip on her friend. "It's alright, Anakin is coming." She tried to reassure her. Around her, clones that had been busy with loading or doing maintenance work on ships were starting to realize something was wrong.

A few minutes later, Anakin burst in to find his wife and Padawan surrounded by worried soldiers, all of them just trying to help. Two of his Arc's had linked their arms together to form a chair, since they'd been unable to find a stretcher anywhere in the hanger and there really wasn't anything laying around that could quickly be turned into one. "Padme!" He ran over. "Master Che is coming, let's start moving to medical." He instructed. "If you were doing something important, finish that before you come down." He had the mind to order his men before they left.

Half the soldiers peeled off from the group and went back to what they had been doing when they realized that something was happening. The sooner they finished up here, the sooner they could camp outside of medical or gather in the mess hall to wait for news.

Once the group reached medical, Ahsoka stayed outside to call Obi-Wan and Plo Koon, since they'd both left instructions that they were to know immediately when the babies were born so they could be there. Thankfully they were both still here and not on their way to the newly shifted front lines. Although, she supposed that Plo Koon wouldn't be going anywhere for a long time yet, not since he was the new Grandmaster. When she hung up, she spotted Master Che hurrying down the hall.

"They're inside." She reported, and the waiting clones immediately got out of the Healers way so she could go inside. Ahsoka was concerned when the Healer mentioned something about the babies being two weeks early, but didn't let it bother her too much, the Master Healer wasn't going to let anything happen to Anakin's family, even if there wasn't the danger of Anakin Falling because of it.

"Hey, kid. Have you heard anything yet?" Rex ran up, having been on the bridge when word reached him.

She shook her head. "Master Che just arrived. It could be a while, from what I've read, human labor can take minutes or it can last hours, days even." As soon as her master had told her that he was going to be a father, she'd read up everything she could on human pregnancies, just in case and so she would know what to expect. She hoped it didn't take that long, for Padme's sake at least. She'd also read that it could be very painful for the mother.

Ten minutes later, Obi-Wan and Plo Koon were running up as well, along with several Knights and Masters. "Well?" Obi-Wan demanded.

"Nothing yet." Ahsoka shook her head. Plo Koon nodded and slipped in quietly, motioning for everyone else to stay put.

Over the next three hours, some Clones came and went as their duty shifts started or ended, but Rex and the Jedi stayed, wanting to hear news quickly and wanting to greet the newest members of the family. Three hours later, a few of the Jedi have come and gone as their duties permitted, as well.

Finally, the Jedi perked up and focused intently on the door, leaving the Clones to think that something had happened. They don't think it's anything bad, though, because the Jedi look excited (as excited as a Jedi can look), not worried. Not long after, Plo Koon came outside, releasing the sound of two unhappy cries before the door slid closed again.

"Well?" Ahsoka ambushed him, to everyone's amusement.

He grinned behind his mask. "Two healthy babies. Give the new parents some time with each other and their children before you can go in." He instructed Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex. "We will have a celebration welcoming Luke and Leia Skywalker tomorrow morning, we can all greet them then. Until then, the medics ask that this hallway be cleared." He called to everyone else in the hallway, who all grumbled, but left, anyway. The Clones went a little more quickly then the Jedi, eager to spread the news.

The Clones also knew better than to disobey the medics about anything regarding their patients. The medics wished that their brothers listened half as well when they themselves were the patients.

"You can come in, now." Che finally poked her head out and looked at the three that both Anakin and Padme had specifically asked for. And, because he was the Grandmaster, Plo Koon came back in with them. Che just pursed her lips and glared lightly, but she didn't actually kick him out.

When they entered the back room, they were unsurprised to see Anakin sitting on the edge of Padme's bed, supporting her weight while they both held a baby, although if you want to get technical, it was more like Anakin was holding all three of them because Padme was so exhausted.

"Hey." Ahsoka said quietly in an effort not to disturb the very tiny humans. Anakin looked up from his family and beamed.

"Hey. Come meet Luke," He gestured towards the baby being held (sort of) by Padme with his head, "And Leia." He motioned towards the baby in his arms. Padme smiled tiredly and shifted her weight a little.

"Oh, they're so cute!" Ahsoka cooed, still keeping it down. Anakin chuckled and rolled his eyes a little as he remembered her doing the same thing with Jabba the Hutt's baby slug.

"Congratulations." Obi-Wan said, clapping a hand on Anakin's shoulder and brushing his hand over Padme's hair lightly.

"Thank you." Padme smiled at him before turning to her husband's Padawan. "Do you want to hold one of them?" She asked, already shifting Luke in her arms.

"Please?" Ahsoka asked hopefully. Anakin nodded and moved so she could reach Luke easier. He wasn't worried about her not holding him properly or dropping him, not with how much time she spent in the creche helping take care of the Jedi babies and toddlers. He suspected that when all this was over she would eventually find herself assigned to the creches full-time, mostly by bothering Plo Koon enough that he just made it happen despite her skill and experience in combat.

"Congratulations, sir." Rex said with his own smile, coming closer to see them but making no move to touch anybody. He wasn't sure if he could trust himself with such small beings, honestly. He was afraid he would be too rough with them, or that he might hurt them. He was used to a battlefield, he wasn't used to domestic scenes like this.

"Thank you, Rex." Anakin smiled and motioned him closer. He could feel Rex's hesitance, and he wanted to make it known to the Clone that he trusted him, so without ceremony the Captain found himself with a small baby in his arms, arms carefully being maneuvered to hold her properly.

"Uh, sir?" He practically squeaked. Anakin just smiled when the soldier's arms automatically curled around his daughter protectively.

"Plo Koon has already announced the celebration for tomorrow morning." Obi-Wan said after a few minutes of everyone staring at the babies in awe.

Anakin nodded in agreement. "He mentioned it yesterday, we didn't expect it to be so soon, though." He admitted.

"Yes, well. Babies will come when they want to come." Che muttered, checking some monitors in the room.

"A celebration?" Rex asked, finally looking up from the little girl curled into his chest. This brought back a longing that he hadn't felt since he left Cut back on that planet with his pseudo-wife and children. That kind of longing was dangerous with the war still on.

"The Light side of the Force is all about life, so we celebrate new life, no matter how it came into being." Obi-Wan said simply, smiling slightly. Luke and Leia weren't the first children born into the Jedi Order, admittedly that wasn't because the parents were secretly married, it was more because they didn't take appropriate precautions when sleeping with somebody. Just because they discouraged attachment, did not mean that they required complete celibacy.

Accidents sometimes happened. Usually though, the non-Jedi parent had custody until or unless they were tagged as future Jedi, then they were raised in the creche with the other younglings, and may or may not be informed of who their Jedi parent was.

"Everyone who wants to come is of course invited." Plo Koon gave Rex a small smile. As if they would keep the Clones away, especially when the Clones were the only other inhabitants of their little planet.

Besides, the Clones had long since become their trusted companions, brothers-in-arms, and whatever other term one might use for them.

"Alright, if you expect the mother to be able to attend her own children's birth celebration, you all had best get out." Che finally shooed everyone who was not a Skywalker out of the room. Rex carefully passed the girl to her father, earning a small, knowing smile before he left to be interrogated by his men about their new niece and nephew, as their General had been referring to the children near the Clones every chance he could. Ahsoka followed the Healers orders and carefully put Luke down in the crib by the bed, since it was clear Padme needed to get some rest.

"Goodnight, Master." She said, and surprised him with a hug before she scurried out of the room.

Padme laughed at the look on her husband's face after the hug and settled in to get some sleep, trusting Master Che and Anakin to look after the babies while she did.

---

Sidious stared out at the city below him, fuming, wondering where his plans fell apart.

Oh, sure, he won. He was the Emperor, the galaxy was his.

But the victory wasn't complete.

The Jedi escaped, mostly unscathed, and took a good deal of the clone troops with them. He failed to acquire his apprentice as he'd expected. That meddlesome Senator from Naboo had also escaped his clutches, he could no longer use her to facilitate his apprentice's Fall from the Light. Even her family was no longer anywhere to be found. And the 'true' Separatist leaders were still alive, his Apprentice was going to destroy them since he no longer had a use for them.

Truthfully, nothing had been going exactly to plan since he failed to get rid of his Apprentices' Padawan. She and Amidala were the ones that were truly hindering his Apprentice from embracing the Dark Side, as evidenced by the fact that the Togruta had been able to calm Skywalker down and convince him to listen to that Arc trooper that found out about the chips. He was sure that was why the Jedi were able to escape, they were forewarned and so took measures.

He knew he should have taken greater precautions with that Clone, but he'd deemed the soldier inconsequential. He was just a Clone, after all. It wasn't like they were even really people.

But he still had the majority of the Clone army, the Jedi were only able to remove the chips from the Clones under their direct command. He was sure that his superior numbers would be able to win in the end, if only the Jedi hadn't also taken measures to ensure Kamino was no longer immediately available to him. Well, he could deal with that later, he was sure that he would be able to retake the planet and put the Kaminoans to work again if he needed to.

But first he had to deal with the planets who thought they could refuse his rightful rule, and finish wiping out the Jedi.

The transition hadn't gone as smoothly as he'd expected, that troll Yoda's broadcast had made more waves then he'd predicted it would, and that was without taking into account somebody leaking the security feed from his office of the night the Jedi Masters tried to kill him, before he could have it doctored and his version of events played for the galaxy. It gave people the idea that they could refuse him, it bred ideas of resistance, which he was going to have to spend time stomping out.

Time he didn't really want to spend, especially since it should already be his.

With a hum, he turned around and sent a message to his engineer and gave the order to begin construction on the Death Star, and to speed up the anticipated time frame.

His head shot up and his eyes narrowed when he felt a disturbance in the Force, immersing himself briefly, his lip curled when he realized what it was.

The Skywalker brats had been born, had they? Well, he was going to have to do something about that.

---

Mace Windu looked up when he felt the Force's jubilation at something.

Forcing himself to concentrate through the pain he was in, he almost gasped when he felt the joy of new life in the Living Force. Looking deeper, he felt that it was centered around Skywalker and... ah, the twins had been born.

The rest of the Jedi imprisoned with him raised their voices, quietly so as to not attract the guards attention, in celebration in response to the joy they could feel through the Force.

His determination was renewed to escape, and to bring all the long-thought-dead-or-missing Jedi with him.

---

Yoda's ears perked forward, and he smiled to himself when he felt the celebration through the Force of the Skywalker Twins birth.

The Force had been torturing him with Visions of what could have been had things gone differently, and the reprieve was much welcomed. He let himself sink into the joy that was new life and let it wash away the horror of massacred younglings, hunted Jedi, destroyed and decimated populations and planets... He resolved that none of that would come to pass now, he had handled things differently then the Yoda of that other future, the entire Order had. Things were different now, and he would continue to do his part in ensuring the future of the Jedi was a sure one.

He allowed himself a moment to send a 'congratulations' through the Force before he turned his attention back to the view-screen in front of him, looking at the icy planet below. So far there hadn't been any kind of military presence at any of the crystal mines used by the Jedi Order, but he still had to hurry. Three planets, and three mines were now hidden in the Living Force from any darkside user or insensitive.

But he still had ten to go. The only rest time he was allowing himself between planets was the time it took to travel, and he wasn't young anymore. He had to move quickly, and make it to Dagobah before he could allow himself to truly rest before he began his new training.

---

Three figures sat huddled in a room, grimly studying a map.

"... At least a block from the clinic. That's the best place to grab them from." One of them, a Twi'lek by the name of Kash, said.

"Where it will be my turn." Another, a human named Orion, said with a huff.

"You're the doc, doc." The third, a second human ironically named Rex, tried to joke. They were waved off. "Did you get the information you needed to find it?"

"A splicer friend of mine managed to get hold of some more information. This will require a level five atomic scan just to find the dumb thing." The doctor sighed. "It's a good thing my clinic is big enough to need that kind of equipment." He'd already gotten the medical droid at his clinic downloaded with the necessary programming to assist him, which had cost him almost the entire month's supply budget.

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds serious." Kash said, worried.

Orion waved them off. "You get that clone patrol unit to my clinic, let me worry about the rest." He said, determined.

---

Commander Thire woke up with a splitting headache, and the sense that something was wrong.

In the next moment, he was bursting out of the bed he was laying in, hands searching for a weapon, eyes wildly searching the room.

The doctor, for they were clearly a civilian medical professional, raised their hands in a sign of peace, showing that they held nothing but the datapad they'd been using to check their patient... him?

"Easy, commander. You're just coming out of surgery." They said carefully.

"Where am I? Where are my men? Surgery for what?" He demanded, rapid fire.

The doctor sighed. "First, you're in my clinic, in the first level." The first level of the Underground, then... "Your men are fine, they came out of surgery just as nicely as you did, they're all recovering in the next few rooms... And surgery to remove the controlling chips in your brains." The doctor revealed bluntly.

Thire froze. "What?" He asked incredulously.

The doctor sighed again and reached for another data pad on a nearby table. "You... might want to catch up on the news." He said, almost reluctantly, and held the pad out for the soldier to take. When he did, the doctor quietly stepped out of the room to check on the rest of his patients, not even bothering to try and force the soldier back into bed, knowing that he wouldn't succeed.

He was met outside the room by his two friends. "He awake?" Kash asked, glancing at the door nervously.

"Yes, he's catching up on news, if you want to help explain things..." The doctor pointedly raised an eyebrow and continued for the next recovery room.

The two made faces at each other, but went in, anyway. "Sir?" The second one asked carefully when he saw the devastated look on the clone commander's face as he scrolled through the compiled news reports they'd gathered for this very purpose. Included were the Emperor's speech declaring the Jedi to be traitors, the leaked security footage from the then-Chancellor's office, and Jedi Master Yoda's address to the people.

"How can I look any of the Jedi in the eyes again? How can... a raid on the Temple... what are the numbers? Just how many Jedi did we kill?" The Commander demanded, head snapping up.

"We don't have those numbers, they were never released to the public." Kash admitted. "I managed to get fairly close as they were bringing out bodies, though. There were a lot." And he was chased out fairly quickly.

"But it wasn't your fault, it was those chips." Rex said adamantly.

Thire just stared at him, and the two could see that the soldier didn't quite believe them on that, or maybe wasn't willing to believe them.

The doctor came back in, then. "Your men are starting to wake up. If you could please help keep them from destroying my clinic." He said, not happy about it, but he'd only stopped the drugs keeping them asleep when he was sure that the surgery had been a success and they would be fine, and it wasn't like they had a lot of time before they would be missed and another patrol would be sent looking for them.

Thire nodded and got up. "Wait, where's my gear?" He asked, feeling more then a little exposed without his armor.

"In my office, locked. I'll show you where it is once everyone's awake." The doctor assured him.

Within ten minutes, all the clones were awake and had been informed of the past month's events. All were shocked and horrified at what they'd done, what they'd been made to do.

"Commander, what do we do? We were made to serve the Republic, but... there is no Republic anymore." One said, begging his commander with his eyes to tell them what to do to fix this.

"Maybe not in name... but the people are still there." Thire said after a moment. Then he turned to the doctor. "Would you be willing to help free the rest of the Guard?" He asked.

The doctor pursed his lips and studied him for a moment, but finally nodded. "Yes, I would. I might be able to sound out some colleagues of mine, too. They can help, that way we can do this quicker." He decided.

"Our thanks." Thire said, making a mental note to make sure the doctor and his friends were well rewarded when this was over. They didn't have to help, but they were. And judging by the size of this clinic, the doctor was going to struggle for a while because of his help, especially if he kept helping them.

"What are your names, anyway?" Another clone asked, tilting his head to the side when he realized that the three civilians had never introduced themselves.

"I'm Orion, that's Kash, and that's Rex." The doctor introduced themselves after a moment of embarrassment that they hadn't done that.

"Pleasure. Now... how are we going to get the rest of the Guard in here without drawing attention?" Thire questioned nobody in particular, eyes narrowing as he thought about the problem.

He was just going to ignore the part where three civilians (two if you considered that the doctor had most likely stayed at the clinic to make sure he was ready for them) got the drop on an entire squad of highly trained soldiers.

---

"Somehow I thought a celebration thrown by the Jedi would be more... subdued." Cody mentioned to Rex, amused. Every Jedi and Clone that had not already shipped out to the front lines had been invited, as their duties permitted (it was apparently going to be an all day event) to the celebration of the birth of Luke and Leia Skywalker, with the new mother seated proudly at the head table (so she could still be there without having to strain herself so soon) with her babies beside her.

Rex had grinned when he saw 3-PO fussing around her until the Healer finally turned him off in annoyance. General Skywalker had not been happy about the way she just shut the droid off, something about damaging his circuits? The General himself was occasionally mingling with the crowd of Jedi and soldiers, but for the most part he stayed with his wife unless she asked him to get her something from the lines of buffet tables.

Jedi and Clones alike were occasionally going up to her to either offer their congratulations, talk for a bit, coo over the babies, or to sit for a little while and simply keep her company. At first Padme had seemed overwhelmed by all the attention, but she'd seemed to calm down, either that or she was simply drawing on all her political training in order to hide just how overwhelmed she was. She did seem to relax a little more whenever Anakin returned from his mingling, though.

"Well, everybody needs an opportunity to let loose." Rex shrugged. "Besides, you have met our Jedi?" He asked with a chuckle. Cody snorted.

"True, General Kenobi not so much, maybe, but General Skywalker certainly joins in happily enough during our post-campaign celebrations." Cody shook his head.

Throughout the courtyard and the surrounding 'streets' (or the beginning of them, it was really the spaces between the planned buildings that would become streets) outside the now completed hospital, younglings ran and yelled while playing their games (even though the Clones were used to displays of Force manipulation from their Jedi and Commanders, it was somehow still startling to see children achieving similar feats. Also, they usually see it happen during battle, not through a child's innocent play), and many Jedi were dancing in the cleared area in the middle of everybody. All in all, it was a much more lively affair then they would have suspected of the often emotionally-suppressed Jedi Order.

Suddenly, Rex's comm went off. "Yes?" He asked, wondering why he was being called.

"We just got a call for you from Coruscant, sir. It's encrypted. Echo managed to trace it, anyway, it's from Commander Thire's office." The officer on the other end reported quickly.

"Thire? How could he be calling, aren't they under the chips influence still?" Cody asked beside him, confused. A wave of grief was quickly shoved away. They would figure out a way to help their brothers. They would free them from the chips and the emperor.

"I don't know." Rex shrugged, and got Plo Koon's attention, not wanting to bother his own Jedi with this, or Cody's. They were both busy helping Padme with the new babies, who had just woken up hungry. And Plo Koon was the Grandmaster, anyway. If this was something significant, he'd have to hear about it, might as well skip the middleman. "Sir, there's a message for me from Commander Thire of the Coruscant Guard."

Plo Koon frowned. "Well, let's go hear it." He decided. Rex nodded, glanced around for his General (he'd disappeared with his family to somewhere more private to feed and change the babies), then followed the Jedi to one of the smaller shuttles to return to the Resolute. "We're on our way." He informed the Clone on the other end of the comm line before ending the call. He almost sat in the pilots seat, but was politely (and firmly) moved out of the much more experienced pilots way so the Grandmaster could fly them.

"I realize that Anakin would have taught you to fly, but I've also seen his flying." He said bluntly. Anakin Skywalker was an amazing pilot, he was. One of the best pilots in the galaxy, easily. But he was also a reckless pilot.

To those that knew Obi-Wan well, they knew how much the young Master loved flying. Until his young Padawan came along and introduced his new teacher to his particular brand of piloting.

"Fair enough." Rex said, amused, and sat down behind the Jedi Master. "What do you think happened with the Guard?" He couldn't help but ask, worried for the brothers they were forced to leave behind.

"I don't know." Plo Koon said thoughtfully. "The Force is silent on the matter. But I think it will be something good." He hoped so, anyway. The fact that one of the Guard Commanders was calling them on such a heavily encrypted frequency certainly alluded to that.

On the bridge of the Resolute, Rex motioned for some privacy, and nodded to the communications officer who called him. A moment later, Commander Thire appeared over the holo-projector.

"Rex, thank the Force you're alright." He said, relieved. "What about everybody else?" He asked, unable to help himself.

"We're all alright over here." Rex said warily, this could be a trap by the Emperor, some way of tricking them into giving information by making them think the brother in question was free. But Thire was acting like himself, and nothing like the brothers had while under the influence. "Is it really you, and not the chip?" He asked.

Thire sighed. "Yeah, it's really me." He said. "A group of civilians got the drop on me and my squad during patrol and took us to a clinic, where they removed our chips. We're making plans to get the rest of the Guard over there, too." Thire reported. "I just... I just wanted to... how many Jedi died?" He finally asked, expression crumpling. The news reports hadn't said, and he hadn't taken the time to go back over his own reports from the past month yet.

Plo Koon stepped forward. "Five hundred at the Temple. Two hundred more out in the galaxy." He answered the distressed Clone.

Thire swallowed. "That's a lot, sir. I am so so-" He started to apologize for everything the Clones did, but the Jedi Master cut him off.

"It is not you or your brethren who are responsible for this, Commander. It is the one who ordered the chips be implanted, it is the one who activated the chips." He assured the Commander that he did not blame the soldiers. "We will figure out how to save the rest of your brothers, that I can promise."

"Thank you, sir." Thire breathed, bowing deep in a Jedi show of respect. Plo Koon merely nodded.

"You and your men were really taken down by a group of civilians?" Rex asked, amused, after a moment to let Thire collect himself.

Thire made a face, but ignored the comment, to Rex's amusement. "What do you wish us to do after the Guard is freed, sir?" He asked Plo Koon, ignoring Rex completely.

Plo Koon hummed. "The Guard knows Senate schedules and the locations of Senator dwellings, correct?" He asked slowly.

"Yes, sir. We help with security for the Senate Building, too." Thire's face split into a wide, anticipatory grin. "We can handle that, sir." He promised. "And I can try to get you information on troop movements, too." He nodded decisively.

"Just be careful. You can't let on to the Chancellor that you're freed." Rex warned, brow furrowed.

"We can disappear fairly easily into the Underground, and find a way off planet from there if needed." Thire shrugged.

"Still, be careful." Plo Koon echoed Rex.

"Yes, sir." Thire withheld a sigh.

"I will send an ally a message to meet with you, quietly." Plo Koon said after a moment. "They will be able to provide you with some cover if needed, or resources."

"Good, because the doctor that runs the clinic we were taken to, I don't think he really had the resources to help us like he did, and they've already promised further help." Thire confided. "I was going to look into doing something for him and his friends to thank them, but wasn't sure what. Or how."

Plo Koon hummed. "I will inform Senator Organa of this." He promised.

"Thank you." Thire said, and frowned. "How many battalions have you managed to free so far?" He'd read part of a report detailing how many Imperial troops remained after the Jedi's evacuation from Coruscant, and the numbers didn't add up with how many battalions were actually commanded by the Jedi.

"In our initial escape from Coruscant, we managed to capture twenty battalions worth of men. Dechipping is slow going, there are just too many of them. Since then, we've already started engaging Imperial forces and managed to capture a couple more battalions. There were casualties on both sides, though." Rex reported sadly.

Suddenly, the door opened to show Admiral Yularen, one of the few Republic officers to stay with the Jedi when they had to flee into hiding. The majority of them had been killed by the Clone soldiers they commanded when they either tried to enforce the Order, or they were dropped off somewhere when they refused to support the Jedi Order, even though they'd been serving with the Jedi throughout the entire war and got to know the Jedi they served with.

"The medics from the 51st just sent a message, they examined the Clones they captured in the last fight and they all show signs of brain trauma radiating out from the chip. They theorized that the chips were not meant to be used for long periods of time." He reported grimly.

"No..." Rex breathed in horror. Even if they got the chip out, the brothers still wouldn't be completely free of it, they would have to live with the damage from it for the rest of their lives.

"I've alerted our medics, they are speeding up the dechipping process, but they report that everybody who is still chipped is either kept under sedation, or not currently under the influence." Yularen said tiredly.

Thire closed his eyes and cursed. "I'll alert the doctor." He promised.

"Did the medics say if the damage can be repaired or... Or give an estimate on how long the other brothers have until..." Rex started, worried.

"They gave a positive prognosis on recovery. But they estimate that in another two to three weeks, the clones currently still under control of the chips will start to suffer irreparable brain damage if they are not released from the chips and the damage treated." Yularen sighed.

"That's not much time to save them all." Plo Koon said, closing his eyes in resignation. "We have no idea if they have any intention of releasing their army. Strategically it would make more sense to leave them under, especially since they aren't being sent after droids anymore, but other Clones." And they already knew that Palpatine had no care for the lives of the men serving in his army. He wasn't going to care that they were being hurt or killed by this.

"Maybe, but in a couple of weeks he's not going to have an army anymore if he doesn't release them." Rex pointed out.

"I'll talk to my boys. We'll start our operations and get the Guard here freed." Thire promised. "As soon as I get troop movements, I'll send them to you so you at least know where Imperial battalions are positioned instead of having to waste time searching for them or something."

"Thank you, Commander. May the Force be with you." Plo Koon said, bowing slightly as Thire returned the parting phrase and disconnected the call.

"Force." Rex breathed. "All those brothers out there..." He muttered, despairing for all the brothers they couldn't possibly get to in time.

Plo Koon laid a hand on his shoulder. "We will do everything we can to save as many as possible, Captain. You have my word." He promised.

---

"Mom!" Padme exclaimed, rushing forward and leaving Anakin to handle the twins while she greeted her parents and sister, along with her sister's family.

"Padme!" Her father, Ruwee Naberrie gathered her up for a crushing hug before his wife had a chance. Jobal smiled slightly at her husband's antics before joining the hug, her husband skillfully moving aside enough for her to reach around her daughter. Sola rolled her eyes before joining in, leaving her own husband to greet Anakin and meet his new (unknown) niece and nephew before the family he'd married into noticed the babies and hogged them all to themselves.

"Hi, I'm Darred, Sola's husband." He introduced himself to the Jedi Knight. "You remember Pooja and Ryoo?" He asked, motioning towards his two daughters. Unfortunately he'd been gone on business while Anakin and Padme were on Naboo before the start of the war, so he had not yet had the pleasure of meeting his sister-in-law's friend. His daughters had plenty to say about him, of course.

"Hello, I'm Anakin. This is Luke and Leia." He motioned towards his twins proudly. His nieces tackled him with quick hugs before hurrying to examine the babies.

"I don't think they're going to let go of her any time soon." Darred said with a wry grin, turning to look at the small family, who were still in a massive group hug.

He understood, though, one minute they were being told that Padme was taking a leave of absence and would be home for the duration, with a surprise for them all, the next Padme is calling them and asking if they would be willing to house several Jedi younglings for a time. Then the Jedi are being declared traitors and are being killed left and right. Then it's revealed that Padme has escaped with the Jedi and is also being considered a traitor to the new Empire, and their family is suddenly being watched until they were contacted by Bail Organa who told them to simply be ready to move. They weren't told where they were going, merely that it would be safe, and Padme would be there. Honestly, he didn't think he'd ever seen his wife or in-laws move that fast to pack in his life.

Anakin let out a short bark of laughter that attracted the attention of the Naberrie. "I don't think any of us were quite expecting any of this." He admitted.

"Anakin Skywalker, we haven't seen you in a long time." Jobal greeted her daughter's Jedi friend with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, Jobal." Anakin said with a smile. "I would have visited more, but..." He shrugged helplessly. He'd kind of been stuck on the front lines of a galactic civil war almost exclusively.

"I know. Busy fighting a war." She gave him a small smile.

Anakin gave a grin. "I like to think that we were starting to win it, too." He quipped as Padme returned to his side before her father approached to shake his hand.

"Who's this?" Ruwee asked, looking at the twin infants.

Padme glanced at Anakin, knowing that her father was not going to be too thrilled to learn that she'd gone and gotten married without telling any of the family. "Mom, dad, Sola, meet my husband, Anakin Skywalker, and our children. Luke and Leia." She formally introduced her husband as her husband and not just a friend.

Her family was shocked. "I take it this is the big surprise that the Queen mentioned?" Darred asked after a moment of shocked silence. Padme nodded sheepishly.

"Oh my- when did this happen?" Her mother demanded, sweeping her into another hug.

Anakin cleared his throat, uncomfortably eyeing Padme's father, who he would freely admit scared him a little bit. "Right after the first battle of Geonosis." He admitted.

Jobal let go of her daughter in shock. "Fi- five years? You've been married five years and didn't tell us?" She demanded, while Ruwee's expression completely closed off. Anakin cleared his throat slightly and tapped his lightsaber while his mother-in-law wasted no time in picking up her new grandson.

"Of course, the Jedi's 'no attachment' policy." Sola realized, already cradling her niece in her arms and getting to know the baby.

Padme nodded. "Anakin would have been kicked out of the Order. And then, with the war going on, and all the enemies and assassins I was attracting..." She trailed off. "It was just safer to keep it quiet. It wouldn't have been forever, just..." She shrugged helplessly.

"I had my share of enemies and assassins after me, too." Anakin reminded her. "I can't imagine what they would have done if they knew we could be used against each other." He shuddered. Ones like Cad Bane especially, who had a reputation of going after Jedi and occasionally winning. There would have been very little that Padme's security team could have done against him if he'd decided to go after her.

Ruwee's frown deepened before he finally nodded slowly, visibly relieving his apparent son-in-law. He was proud that he could strike fear in the Hero with no Fear himself. It raised his fatherly ego like none other. With his position as 'feared father-in-law' established, he turned to greeting and cooing over his newest grandchildren along with his wife and other daughter. Padme hid her smile at her husband's expense, but he still felt her amusement through the Force, and frowned in her direction, although the twitching lips gave it away.

"Master!" They heard called, and the family turned to see Ahsoka running towards them with Rex behind her.

"Ahsoka, what's wrong?" Anakin asked in dread. He was still on leave so that he could spend time with his family, and so that the Mind Healers could make doubly sure that he was healed from the most recent attempt to make him Fall.

"It's Chandrila." Ahsoka said, glancing at Padme in apology. "The entire Imperial Fleet was suddenly pulled back from their positions and was last seen converging on the planet."

"Force." Anakin breathed. "He's going to wipe them out. This is retaliation for something." But what?

"Mon, Bail, and I were the leaders of the movement to get Palpatine out of office on the grounds that he was amassing far too much power for himself and we didn't like the direction his policies were heading." Padme said. "He's going after Mon because of that, I'm sure of it."

"It could also be because she's a friend of yours. And since he failed to make me Fall through you, he could just be trying to hurt you at this point." Which would be extremely petty, but he would not put it past the Sith.

"Chandrila is also the center of the new government, like Coruscant is for the Repub- the Empire." Rex reminded the group. "If they take or destroy it in such a large display of force, the other planets that left might return to the Empire out of fear." The fact that Chandrila so openly supported the Jedi was probably just a personal bonus for Palpatine.

"What is Master Plo's plan?" Anakin asked.

"He's sending all available cruisers, including us, to do what we can. At the very least, we can evacuate as many citizens as possible." Ahsoka said, under no delusions that they would be able to hold off the entire Imperial Fleet, which still greatly outnumbered the fleet the Jedi had managed to amass against Palpatine using the Clones they'd rescued from the chips, their own battalions, the droids the former Separatist planets had managed to provide, and what army the new government had managed to scrounge up from their civilian populations. But that army wasn't anywhere near ready to fight a war, no way.

"Alright, get the Resolute ready to go." He ordered Rex, who saluted and ran off again, already barking out orders through his wrist comm. He turned to Padme then. "I'm sorry, I know I'm still supposed to be on leave." He sighed.

"Not your fault." Padme shook her head. "Go, you two be careful out there." She warned both Jedi, who both grinned and said that they were always careful! She shook her head and sent them off. "And may the Force be with you."

"And with you." Anakin said softly, kissing her before running off, his Padawan following closely.

Once they were out of sight, she turned to her family with a sigh. They'd tactfully given them their privacy to discuss the situation by focusing on the infants, but now Jobal was looking at her daughter in concern. "Come on, I'll show you where you will be staying later." She said, and started to lead them to the house she and Anakin were given once that section of the housing units was done. They were given first priority because of the twins, otherwise she suspected that one of the Masters would have gotten the house instead. It was big enough for their family, for now.

Once the Twins were old enough, though, they would probably have to figure out something bigger. The homes and apartments were built with the Jedi standard of two bedrooms, one for the Master, one for the Padawan. There were plans in place for barracks and other apartment buildings for the soldiers and officers, as well, plus any other non-Jedi who might someday come here to live, or any potential visitors.

That last part would have to wait, though, for the war to end.

---

Sidious sat back on his throne, satisfied with his latest scheme, as he watched his elite assassin leave the room.

It had taken a long time before he was finally able to track where the Jedi had fled to, but a series of trackers on the ships that the Jedi were capturing (even if they were found and disabled before reaching their final destination) had given him a general area to direct his searches, and the remote planet was eventually found. Unfortunately, it was too remote for him to just drop his fleet in orbit and blast them all away. His fleet would be seen from lightyears away, giving the Jedi more than enough time to evacuate again or hide.

No, he had something else in mind.

Yes, in a few days the center of the new rebel government would be destroyed, and so would the Skywalker Twins. The fact that the Jedi would be deploying everything they had to come to Chandrila's aid, leaving their home base vulnerable in the meantime, was the perfect opportunity.

What was that saying? Something about killing two avians with one stone?

---

"I'm worried about sending so many ships to Chandrila." Plo Koon admitted to Wolfe as his battalion prepared to leave. His commander had been his confidante for so long that he didn't think anything of going to him with his concerns.

Wolfe was quiet for a few moments. "It would be the perfect opportunity for a sneak attack. Especially on the younglings." He said, sitting down on a nearby crate to give this conversation his full attention. The rest of the men in the hanger politely ignored them, used to these last minute discussions before a campaign or mission. "Palpatine has to have realized where we're based out of by now." With all those trackers they'd disabled, even a complete idiot could have narrowed down their general location by now.

"That's what worries me." Plo Koon muttered.

Wolfe sighed and looked down in thought. "I was talking to Fax over in the 187th the other day, they did some exploring and said that they'd found a cave system on the western continent, close to the shore." He suggested. It wasn't uncommon for a group of Jedi, Clones, or mixed, to go off when they weren't on duty (or busy helping with construction) to explore their new home. In fact, it was somewhat encouraged by the ones in charge since it was helping the Agri-corps and cartographers to survey and map the planet and find any potential hazards.

"How much did they explore the system?" Plo Koon asked, frowning. They hadn't been here long enough to have truly found all the animal and plant species that called this planet home. Especially on the other three continental land-masses. They'd explored the land mass they settled on extensively, enough to know what was dangerous on the surface, but even then they still hadn't learned everything there was to know.

"Enough to know it's large. They didn't have time or the equipment to really search it before they had to return for their next duty shift." Wolfe shrugged.

"Send him a message to give the cartography team the coordinates of that system, they can take a look. It might be a good location to hide the younglings if this planet is ever attacked." Plo Koon decided.

"Yes, sir." Wolfe said, and made a note of it before they returned to talking strategy for the coming battle and evacuation of Chandrila. Several of their ships had already reached orbit and the clone troopers were organizing a controlled mass exodus of passenger, commercial, private, and cargo ships full of non-combatant women and children from the planet, while organizing the planet's limited defense force, supplemented by every other civilian that wanted to fight. All the inter-planetary dignitaries and a great deal of the local politicians made sure they were the first ones on the ships, except for Senator Mon Mothma and the ruler of Chandrila. At the last report, they were refusing to leave their people behind, despite protests from security or military personnel.

At the same time, the Imperial ships had started to arrive and begin their assault. So far the vast majority of them were hanging back and gathering in a nearby system with a few of them already engaged, but they all knew that the majority would be ordered into combat soon.

Wolfe was cut off by a Jedi star-fighter suddenly screaming into the hanger, startling everyone working there. "Skywalker?" Plo Koon questioned, sending out his query through the Force as well, along with an admonishment.

"Sorry!" Anakin apologized, running up to them. "But I got it! I figured it out!" He grinned broadly.

"Got what? Figured what out?" Wolfe asked bluntly, confused.

"I know how to disrupt the chip without further hurting the clones under its control." Anakin revealed proudly. He and Ahsoka had started working on it, quietly, ever since Yularen revealed the brain damage that long-term use of the chips caused. After Ahsoka came to get him for the council about how to deal with the current situation, he'd rushed to finish the project.

"What?" Wolfe asked, standing up in his shock. Every Clone in earshot stopped pretending to ignore them and started crowding closer.

"I can disrupt the chip, freeing the Clones and letting us get them to stand down. If the headaches described are accurate, then at the very least they'll be unable to function, let alone invade a planet, long enough for us to traipse onto their ships and take control. The only ones we would still have to deal with would be the officers and any droids, but we haven't gotten any intel to indicate that there are any more officers on board those ships then normal, right? So that won't be a problem." He dismissed.

"How did you do this?" Plo Koon asked, getting him back on track.

"This." He held out a device. "It'll emit a signal strong enough to override the chips. We would have to splice into the communication arrays and broadcast it fleet-wide, but Artoo won't have a problem with that. And since the Imperial fleet is all conveniently gathered in one place..." He trailed off with a satisfied grin.

"That's brilliant." Wolfe breathed, shocked and elated that his captive brothers would be freed soon.

"After that it's a simple matter of removing the chips so that they can't be activated again." Anakin finally admitted. "This, unfortunately, isn't permanent. But the ships will be dead in space without the Clones able to function enough to get them out of there and back to somewhere so that Palpatine can realize what happened."

"Some of them might still get away if the officers are competent enough. But this should get the vast majority of them. And if the officers are cruel enough, there might still be some deaths, especially if a clone is doing something at the time we deactivate the chips, like training or repairing something in the engines." Wolfe warned.

Anakin's face fell. "I know. But this is the only way I can think of to free them, and get as many as possible." He told the listening clones sadly.

Wolfe took a deep breath. "I know, sir. We knew we couldn't save them all." He assured the two Jedi who had been working the hardest to find some way of saving all of their brothers. The Clones appreciated their efforts, but were realistic.

This was war. No matter how much you tried to minimize casualties, they were going to happen. Especially among those fighting the battles.

---

*I know that in the movies, Padme gave birth already by this point. But they also had to perform emergency surgery to get them out before they lost all three of them. It was never said exactly how far along she was, but it can be assumed that Anakin/Vader's actions caused a premature birth.

... And I know that there is nothing in canon about the chips causing damage to the clones, but... well, this is my fic. And in all the fics I've read where the clones chips were being activated for whatever reason, it was never longer then a few days, maybe a week before they were released again. The main explanation given for them using clones at all instead of droids like the Separatists did was that they wanted the unpredictability and ability to think critically/plan ahead of a human/sentient being. But even after the Jedi Purge, the clones were still not kept under. They were released, eventually began training their replacement stormtroopers, and were basically released from service and forgotten about. So... the way I see it, there has to be a reason why they were released beyond wanting the planning and thinking skill that a droid (except Artoo) just didn't have.