First chapter = disclaimers

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Anakin paused before he knocked tentatively on Tahiri's door. A soft "Come in" encouraged him to slip quietly into her room.

"Anakin, what are you doing here?"

"Tahiri, we need to talk. Have you ever heard about a working bond?"

"Of course, I know all about them."

"You do?" Anakin was incredulous.

"Of course, Master Jinn stopped by about an hour ago to talk to me."

"Those two… honestly, they plan everything together."

"I was under the impression that that was what made Master Kenobi and Master Jinn a formidable team."

Anakin shook his head, "No, what makes them formidable is that they fight constantly but always back each other up. You never know exactly what they'll do, but you're never truly surprised when they do it."

Tahiri smiled, "Is that what we are going to be like?"

Anakin shook his head again, "Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon don't make out it the back seats of speeders."

"They prefer the front seats?"

"Ewww, that is such a bad visual image. That's worse than thinking about Mom and Dad, you know…"

Tahiri giggled then paused before she spoke, "Anakin, are you nervous?"

"A little. I'd prefer to have tested out this bond before rushing into battle with it."

"Our preferences are rarely met in our lives. We must accept what we get and plan for the future."

"You talked to Master Mace."

"How did you know?"

"That is the exact same quote that he gave Obi-Wan when Master Qui-Gon died."

"Thank you for casting such happy aspersions on our upcoming bonding."

Anakin gave his girlfriend a peck on the cheek, "Forgive me?"

"Always."

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Leia closed her eyes and breathed deeply. They were safe in her apartment on Coruscant. As safe as they could be given the general state of chaos reigning. Five assassination attempts, not including the attack on Ani's trial, had occurred in a twenty-four hour period.

Mara sat with Ben on her lap. Jaina stood behind her, having come directly to the apartment after her duty shift was over. Chewie had greeted them as they landed. He'd alternately growled at Han for getting the ship damaged and told them the horrible news of the attacks.

Ani paced around the room, "This is it. We need to attack these people. I need to attack. You won't be able to handle Xanatos and a band of fully trained Jedi. Not alone. Hopefully, Luke and Obi-Wan will begin their mission in time to stop reinforcements from coming, but the ones who are here now are more than enough trouble."

Leia shook her head, "You'll just end up causing divisions in the effort."

"Leia, look around you. These are the same people Palpatine took over. Do you really think they can think up how to defeat a group of Jedi? They needed me to defeat one Sith. And the only reason that worked was because of Luke."

"He's right," Han's voice came from beside Leia, "Maybe you high flyin' Force users didn't notice, but he just caused a localized earthquake. I call that impressive here in "Non-gifted-ville." Who do you think should head this up? Luke's gone, so is Old Ben Kenobi."

Tenel-Ka nodded with support to Han, "My people will follow Ani's lead. We were attacked, and we had nothing to do with either the Republic or the Empire. It is their wish for conflict to be over as quickly as possible. Ani is our best hope."

Mara grinned, "Not to mention the fact that it will look great on his trial."

"It will look terrible if he fails," Leia spoke softly.

Ani's eyes widened as he realized that Leia was actually worried about him, "Leia, if I fail I'll be dead, but I'll have taken them with me. If I don't fight, the casualty numbers will be higher. The Order was established to defend and edify the Republic. I think it is about time we did that."

Leia sighed and nodded, "I will speak with the Department of Defense and see what we can get. I'm sure there are some people who have changed their minds about the Callista problem after today's attacks."

"Has anyone attempted to contact Uncle Luke and the attack force?" Jaina queried.

Leia nodded, "We sent out a message, but I don't think we should look for help from them. They need to cut off the supply of troops. Our current problem is miniscule in comparison."

Mara snorted, "And we thought 'Rebellion Leia' had disappeared for good."

Ani grinned, "Well I'm a poor substitute for Luke, I know, but if Leia, Han and Luke could blow up a Deathstar, I think we can handle a bunch of unruly Jedi."

Bant glanced up, "We hope."

Ani's grin faltered, "Yeah, we hope."

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Luke gritted his teeth as he flew out of the way of a blast of fire. They had engaged in battle a scant fifteen minutes ago. The transports were still landing, and his job was to keep them safe. Unfortunately, Jedi pilots were harder to fight than normal ones. The amount of Force energy he had used in the last fifteen minutes was phenomenal.

Since before he married Mara, he had used most of his connection with the Force to guide him in meditation or concentrate on the will of the Force. Now he felt like the old Luke, fresh off the farm and swinging the Force around like a club. In a way, it was exhilarating to loose himself in the fighting. He dimly wondered, as he often did, what Old Ben would think of his actions. With a rueful smile, he realized that he would actually have the opportunity to ask once this fight was over. Assuming, of course, that they both lived.

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Anakin closed his eyes as a brush of wind flew by his cheek. At least he told himself it was just wind. It would be much more disconcerting if he actually admitted that it was the slash of an enemy lightsaber.

Tahiri swung and dismembered the arm of Anakin's attacker.

"Ah, Kenobi 101, how to hack of arms," Siri's voice sounded as she  came in from the other side.

Anakin grinned, "Tahiri is a quick learner." He stopped to plunge his lightsaber into a security monitor.

Siri nodded, "Speaking of Kenobi, he just radioed, the last of the invasion force is on the ground. We can start the attack on the main compound now."

"Joy. Well, let us move onward," Anakin said in his best pompous voice.

Tahiri gave his arm a squeeze as they began to run towards the east section of the cloning facilities, "Hey, be fatalistic after we win. It will be easier to deal with."

Anakin grinned, "Agreed."

Siri snorted, "As long as you're at it, be love birds after we win too. We've got some Jedi to free in there. Do you have the extra lightsabers?"

Tahiri nodded, "We distributed them in the transport on the way down as planned. Everyone's got an extra clipped on their belts. Hopefully, the brainwashing room is in the same place that you remember it."

"And hopefully," Anakin continued, "they'll be in fighting condition."

"And on our side," Siri finished the thought.

Tahiri grinned and they met the first wave of resistance, "Well, never let it be said we're not optimistic."